Crusties will inherit the earth, though if you see one in a car, they're not a real crusty. So I'm told.

Sell the light on the classifieds and get an Exposure or a light with a small velcro on battery? Stumpy01's suggestion sounds very good though.

Understanding religion is important, understanding science is important, believing in either, neither or both is a personal preference.

I'm sorry, believing in science? What part of science education did you miss? The scientific method removes the need for belief, what with all that empirical evidence.

Crikey +1

Dawkins points to another way of understanding society, one without violent, irrational and divisive religion, and that is something I can believe in.

Your first mistake, see, was to buy gloss paint in the first place. It really is the devil's spunk.

I like to think about all this from a different perspective. Ultimately, mountain biking doesn't rely on the FC, British Cycling, the UCI or any other **** 'governing' body. It's land access, not specific trail centres that I believe is the battleground for mountain biking. I'm in favour of the small scale, the local, the grass roots. All this talk of 'development' and 'growth' strikes me as a whole mindset we need to step away from very quickly in all areas of our society, not just mountain biking.

Now, I understand mountain biking is reliant on technology, on companies, and thus on profit and growth. But there is rather a difference between real mountain bikers starting their cottage industries like Trout, and Trek, who allegedly give a shit, but which I somewhat doubt.

Let's disregard the large and focus on community, grass roots events, local riders doing whatever they want, secret trails, scoping natural routes and sharing via forums, whatever. That to me is the best possible way mountain biking could develop, not a £2m chairlift or more facilities and a visitor centre with a bike shop.

Vortex, thanks for putting the pics up, it looks great! I've got to say though, I'd have been super tempted to go 1×10 on it, save even more weight and have less chain flapping around, making the bike feel a little tighter maybe?

I use it for buying weed but use Gmail for everything else.

Confession of the day! 😀

Sturemy Archer[/url] make them. I'm sure you can order them from most any UK bike shop. They do many different hubs that are slightly different, so make sure you pick the right one!

You racist… Black of course

You're welcome.

I live in Glasgow, you are totally welcome to stay with me. We could go riding, and you'd have some pretty primo floor space and hot meals! Give me an email, no worries.

Sounds like common sense may be sweeping the middle aged male population.

Packet of condoms?

Make sure you get pictures up here when it's built Vortex!

So any other ideas why this bike is harder to hop for me than others?

I don't think it's my technique so much – I can hop my mates bike and my bmx pretty well. Does bar height impact how well you can hop, like on a bmx with their short forks but big bars?

The feeling I have when hopping it is: pulling up, weight back, then I when I shift my weight forward, it feels jerky and often I land front wheel first.

No, flats, with 5 Tens.

It's big bad world out there

To a large extent because of attitudes like yours, U31.

Actually, Elfinsafety, soft drugs like weed still make millions for drug cartels, and buying it directly finances masses of violence.

U31, I get the sense that you think you're being pragmatic and practical, but really you're just being selfish, in my opinion.

Definitely report to the police. Remember, cars are dangerous at the best of times, what with the thousands who die or are seriously injured every year, so bald tyres are symptomatic of a general disregard of public safety.

And as for

Imagine you are driving an older car and are on a low income.

Driving a car is a privilege, not a right. So if you can't afford to pay for insurance/MOT/new tyres/whatever other car shit you need: DON"T DRIVE.

pretty much 95% convinced the bike is the way to go

Only 95%?
Think once, think twice, think bike.

Cut down the fashionably wide bars you may be using?

It's torrential in Glasgow too. Bummer.

As others have said, I can't believe you even need to ask. Ditch the car and pedal you numpty!

I was thinking more:

Revelate designs. Maybe a bit overkill, but it's good stuff.

pk-ripper: my argument is this:

Yes, both motorists and cyclists break the law. However, when a motorist breaks the law (and even when they don't!) other people are regularly injured and killed. When a cyclist breaks the law, by and large he or she risks death or injury only to themselves.

So the incredible media (and forum) focus on the illegality of cyclists is rather wrong headed, especially considering the rampant illegality of motorists that we know causes far more death and injury, i.e speeding.

Elfin: great ideas, love it. Bicycle Liberation Army? I was thinking a bit less proto-fascist with the uniforms, more clandestine destruction of multi storey car parks?

Really? It's the likes of 'Elfin et al' that make the roads dangerous, because we refuse to obey the highway code, the rules of the road? What percentage of drivers commit speeding offences? Do you know anyone who drives a car and doesn't break the highway code by speeding? And yet it's a war on motorists, another tax on the motoring public, to even suggest lowering speed limits or putting more cameras up. Official road statistics clearly show that it is the motorists who are dangerous, it is the motorists who kill, maim and pollute, it is the motorists who clog our cities with their fat lazy metal coffins.

Elfinsafety – Fancy starting an urban guerilla anti car faction? Baader Meinhoff?

And yet, for all their rampant law breaking and dangerous stupid cycling, they are unlikely to kill anyone, bar themselves. I don't condone what those people do, in fact, quite the opposite: I find it appalling.

But lets not ignore the fact that cyclists don't kill people, motorists do. And motorists do this, not by breaking every point of the highway code like the cyclists in those videos do, but by their normalised illegality, i.e speeding, dodgy overtaking, using mobiles, paying bugger all care and attention.

I gestured that the cause of his myopia might be masturbation-related.

Brilliant! 😀

Get some Schwable Big Apples on there, at a 2.0" I reckon. Super comfy and surprisingly fast.

Nothing you choose to say will make any difference, so save your energy.

This is absolutely true in my experience. Remember, most motorists have never ridden a bike since they were little, let alone on a busy road in a city. They have no idea what it feels like to have a car pass by their elbow at 40, let alone 30, and so cannot appreciate how scary it is. Their idea of leaving space for cyclists is probably some way different than yours.

As I see it, there are three options:

1. Knock on their window/pull up in front of their car so they can't drive off and try and explain how it feels.

2. Keep Kalm and Karry on.

3. Ride with a basket upfront, like I do. Then, your 2kg hunk of Kryptonite U lock/spray can/house keys/bit of wood with a nail in can all be kept easily to hand in order to smash a wing mirror/paint or key their bodywork/puncture their tyres.

I go for a combination of all three myself.

Oh please… Show me a driver, and I'll show you someone who casually and habitually breaks the law. You're all at it. I imagine there isn't a driver on STW who doesn't speed or commit other "dangerous and pointless" motoring offences.

Yeah really bad drivers, like those breaking the law by speeding, the UK's full of them…
It's easy to overlook that 'minor' idiocy of your own, the one that is officially one of the major causes of road fatalities and injuries…

I will have a Cannondale with a lefty one day. I love them so much. That looks amazing.

My point is as bad as some drivers are there are equally some bad cyclists

I don't think you can say they are equally bad though. I mean if they really were equally bad, you'd see thousands of people killed and injured by cyclists every year. And, well, you don't.

Cyclists are not equally bad.

We only need to look to certain parts of Europe to understand that mass transportation cycling would make our cities cleaner, quieter, safer, more pleasant, and quicker to move about. There are so many part time cyclists, full time drivers on here.

I have no idea why people can't understand this: it is the motor vehicles that are dangerous, not the cyclists or pedestrians. The accident statistics bear this out.