I can see a racoon, a pelican and a poodle

I presume these are also compatible with Brio tracks?

We've got a set that were given to my son as a present, we've looked at buying him some more but the Brio stuff is pretty pricey.

An Ikea/Tescon/Asda alternative would be a better option if they fit.

Big hammer FTW

the worst that could happen is a bit of dye is release – not an issue on a black helmet strap

The Grid – Swampthing ? Not a comment on his future wife obviously

The Breeders – Cannonball ?

The Longpigs – On and on?

Thats an amazing concept, whats the store called?

Maybe look at other ways of getting your stories publicised so as to raise your profile a bit first.

Short story / creative writing competitions – submit some of your stories to people compiling a compendium of stories if they fit a certain theme.

It may be aiming a bit high but the Sunday Times magazine has a short story in it every week, I've got no idea how they select those but they seem to be from a range of authors.

Good luck though :)

My son had Specialized Hotwalk, which was awesome, nice and light and very well put together.

It also had pirates on it, which was a winner :)

That sunrise photo is awesome :)

Half fat = semi skimmed

therefore its SSS's SSSS
(SingleSpeedStu's SemiSkimmedSingleSpeed for those struggling to follow my deranged Friday train of thought)

On that high note I'm going home :)

I think the rims on my bike are Mavic Open Pros – built onto deore hubs.

Runs fine with 32mm cross tyres on 700c wheels.

Jeez, they're a tenner. Did you think it would become a family heirloom?

No, but I expected it last at least a year or so, if everything else had been great about it we might have got another one, but as it was we felt it wasn't worth it.

My wife has had one for about 8 months, initially it was great but the plastic has started to split around the watch mechanism and I think the face has started to cloud a bit as well. The process for setting the time etc was pretty fiddly as well.

We won't be buying another one.

IHN has pretty much right I reckon.

the best two I can think of

deraileur = gear failure
WTF SS FTW? OMG LOL!!1!

genius thread

yes to 14 of those, again I'm not saying which ones ;)

that vid is awesome

awesome :)

Whats the new frame Mama?

More than one bike is good because it means you've got one to ride when one is broken. :)

Also I think I'd be gutted if my bike had been nearly stolen and I carried on leaving it in that place only for it to get nicked. Far better to have a bike that you're not so attached to.

Nice one Pook – spinner I presume?

Hi Jimmy, your comments are taken in the way you intend them, but I don't think I land heavily on my saddle very often – twice in 18 months or so and I certainly don't want to keep on doing it. Its only highlighted by the fact that both times I've done it, its broken the saddle.

Seb – i had a DMR saddle for a while which I didn't get on with.

The skills course gave me the confidence to try new and more challengin stuff, I would expect to crash occasionally when trying new stuff as learning from your mistakes is part of the learning curve.

The three saddle breaking incidents all occured in different scenarios so I don't think there is a particulat aspect of my technique which is lacking, however I'm always happy to learn.

1st – front end washed out in a corner resulting in bent saddle rails – not entirely sure how I bent the saddle in this one, but it was the only off of the day so I reckon it must have happened at some point then.

2nd – forgot to put my seat down when jumping yet positioned my body as if the seat was down, so landed heavily on the saddle, bending the rails.

3rd – foot slipped off pedal going down a steep descent, lost control shortly afterwards resulting in me landing heavily on the saddle (dropped this time) bending the rails.

This is over the course of 18 months – 2 years so not really a high crash rate – it just seems to be the saddles that suffer when I do. Weighing in at 16 stone in riding gear its not unlikely that the saddle will suffer with me landing on it, I'm now wondering whether cheap/sacrificial saddle might be the best way to go, rather than getting a stronger saddle that will pass the force of the impact onto the frame or elsewhere.

Cheers Jimmy

Did a skills course last year and it inspired me to try doing more technical stuff and to mtfu when it comes to jumps/drops etc. which has in turn increased the likelyhood of crashing.

I'm not landing heavily on my saddle often, its just that when I do I break it, so I'm looking for a tougher one.

A recommendation from Ton for a tough saddle will definitely be acted upon :)

having looked at the I-beam, are there any other similar options from other manufacturers?

This happened to me recently

I walked into my local camera/photo printing shop and they extracted the photos off mine for me and put them onto a cd for me for the princely sum of £2.

I had to buy a new card though as the old one was borked.

maybe the axles have the wrong thread on them, so your left hand pedal has the thread for a right hand pedal on it?

Cheers Mr P

Thats pretty much what I built it up for, a good bike for getting the miles in, allowing me to get to areas further from my front door for exploring new trails etc

Not ridden it too much yet but so far so good :)

matt_outandabout – Member
Does this mean Canondale will start building the old crosser with discs and headshock they once did? my ideal commuter that…

I'm kinda doing that with this one – not really a crosser though –

include them in a bulk purchase deal eg. buy 5 tubes get free copy of ST or similar

Or if a product has been reviewed in the mag give the mag away free with that product – when I was getting started in mtb'ing I liked to see the kit I was using getting a good review as it helped me to be confident I had made the right decision.

worse for slovenia tho

leading the group going into the final round and then going home by the end of it

lol @ suggesticles :)

It wouldn't fire at all as there would be no oxygen to ignite the explosion, unless a few O2 molecules were passing by at the time

Freelap is apparently very good, no idea about cost though.

a bike / component valuation tool

Cool, will check tonight if no one else comes up with the answer before hand.

I've got a feeling its a 29.8 or 30.0 but that might be a hangover from my PA.

If its the same size seat tube as a Morning Glory I can have a look tonight when I get home. I imagine it probably would be, does it take a 27.2 post?

ham salad sarnies :)

Was stunning last night too, got back in at 10 and it was still light at 11:30.

Had a great loop round some of the witches trails – I've ridden my new bike twice now and it has a lovely coating of dust all over it :)

I felt very in tune whilst riding too, it felt like my body was reacting to situations before my mind noticed they were happening, it was rather cool. Until my mind decided I was likely to crash going down a steep section, which I know I can ride down. My body wsa sufficiently aware of what it needed to do to hurdle over the bars so that I ended up running down the trail as my bike bounced behind me :)

I've just stripped a Kona Dawg frame that I was running in a similar configuration- 140mm Pikes on the front and 100mm travel at the rear. It rode brilliantly like that. I don't know the weight of the frame but its a 17" with a TT of 23.3cm or similar.

The frame was intended for 100mm forks so the 140mm slackened it out nicely, no idea what the resulting HA was, but it rode brilliantly and was great on climbing yet confidence inspiring on the descents.

pic from flikr

as I say, I've just stripped it down to move the parts on to something with more travel and will be putting it up for sale soon once I've given it a clean.