Wharfedale is rubbish – don’t do it.

Not really – lived here for over 20 years after moving from the flat lands in the south. Use the Ilkley line train to Leeds (pre-Covid) on a daily basis and it’s better than driving the A65. Riding from the area to the city centre is excellent if you know where to look as well. Plenty of legit and cheeky off road options.

In terms of local riding and climbing then you are spoilt for choice. Surrounded by steep hills on all sides with both natural and hand built tracks. And if you like gritstone then 3 key areas (Caley/Ilkley/Almscliffe) all within view.

Sister in Law lives in Brum and it’s a very different place/experience. I recall driving to the Lickey hills from their house and thinking ‘is this it’…

In the before times, the train to Leeds was 20 mins and opened up more than enough variety of museums, activites, restaurants and night life to keep me happy.

Not found anywhere else (in the UK) i’d choose to move to yet….

6’7″ currently riding an XL Triple B with a 200mm dropper. Geometry chart says 476mm reach.

At first i put a longer stem on it thinking that i needed more space to move. Eventually have settled on a 35mm stem with 800mm bars and the bike feels (to me) better than ever.

All useful stuff – thank you. And it’s a tapered steerer if that makes any difference, although i’m currently running forks with a straight steerer and a convertor fitted.

Still using a set of 2006 bombers. Think they cost about £200 from CRC and have paid that back many times over.

Still work. Still smooth. Can’t see any reason to change them yet!

Hey el_boufadour – remember me :) Any chance of you PMing me details of the facebook riding group?

As has been said loads of great semi urban riding through out North Leeds and then west along Airedale. Probably sacrilegious to say it but possibly better riding from a technical perspective than most of the Dales :)

Meanwood Valley, Ireland Wood, Back of Goldenacre Park, along the Chevin (although choose your moment as it’s busy at the weekends), Esholt woods, Thackley, etc are all excellent for riding.

My parents moved there about 10 years ago so we visit occasionally (as any dutiful son should) – i usually ride the BW out to the west of the town. Lots of wilderness (or wilderness feeling) areas. It’s the only part of the world where even i can get a KOM!

Would be interested in some ideas on where to local for more ‘challenging’ riding than just the wide open tracks – as good as they are.

My son has a Saracen Amplitude 24″ wheel dirt jump bike he no longer uses (and i would happily sell to clear the garage!). Depends where you are though – bit too heavy to post!

Do they have to be biking specific or just a flat soled trainer with some grip?

If so i use DC court graffik which are much stiffer than the Vans they replaced.

I’ve been using the Enduro bearings from Bted for a while. So long in fact i’m surprised at how much they now cost :) Perhaps i’m not riding enough….

Car means congestion charge, living out East means we don’t get the reduced charge so it costs £11pd, not that I mind too much but for example like last night I had to pop into Condor to get my rear wheel of the roadie fixed (busted spoke) that meant taking the van with the bike in, it took me 2.5 hrs round trip leaving Shiney Town at 1730. That’s 2.5 hrs to go 4 miles, congestion charge routes finish at 1800 over my way and Condor fit inside it, so my journey for 20mins in the zone cost me £11, that is a pain, thats what we have to put up with, then the journey home took 1.5hrs stuck in traffic.

It’s the fact that Londoners seem very tolerant of this that always amazes me. I’d go postal in those conditions :)

Visit occasionally for work – like the place now it has smartened up. Walking along the embankment on a sunny day is probably my favourite part. Couldn’t ever cope with living there (although Knightsbridge looked ok last time i walked through it).

I thought most people;

a) had a tattoo
b) knew some lesbians
c) drank beer served by gimps.

and for here

d) made go-pro ‘edits’ that they thought looked proper knarly, but weren’t

So all in all, it’s a bit too normal for my liking.

I miss these

Trigger
IFTTT
BBC weather
Dynamic Notification
Clash of clans

The good – getting off the early train to Leeds on Saturday and seeing thousands of people pouring through the station and knowing it was going to be an amazing spectacle. Cheers on the Headrow for the riders signing on. Getting texts from mates at 8.30 in the morning describing the crowds already lining Scott Hall Road. Amazing atmosphere. On Sunday riding down the A59 from cote de Blubberhouses in a stream of happy people and bikes as far as the eye could see.

The bad – Cav’s crash. Nuff said.

The ugly – little bit of jostling for position in the crowd in Leeds, but that’s to be expected when you are close to the start line.

Amazing weekend.

Sat: Either Leeds or Otley

Sun: To be decided but going over Round Hill to the A59 is tempting….

Is this why developers consider Apple to provide the better returns on their development time.

N’owt to do with the actual app quality or content – more to do with the limited control over purchasing within the Apple eco-system.

Google tablet with multiple user profiles (mine protected by a pin) and a seperate password for every purchase FTW!

Anyway it sounds like the OP prefers Android to Apple.

I’ve managed to set my work iPad up with all the Google products i need quite successfully.

Talktalk for broadband/phone/tv and even mobile – all fine for me.

As above – horror stories can be found for any supplier of any service if you look hard enough.

There are some parts that would be ‘interesting’ for the trailer passenger – particularily the first section after the skills loop, and the last section i.e. all the good bits :)

Use it all the time. As above if you give it access to your info it feeds it back at the appropriate and most useful time.

Switching off the Google Hot Word improves my battery life.

Worth posting this on the Leeds-bicycle-users mailing list?

I’ve got a Saracen Amplitude (24″ wheels) that my son has grown out of that i need to sell.

If you want to drop me an email i can arrange pictures/provide further details.

Cheers
Mark

6’7″ with a 21″ voodoo wanga frame.

A colleague searching for Tiny Tears dolls put ‘tiny tears’ into google.

The results were not what she was expecting.

Do i just need to shorten the chain, drop some coggs off the rear cassette and space it out?

Pretty much.

You might consider something like this instead of breaking up a cassette.

The other sports with drug problems are either not in the public eye so much – e.g. rugby league – at the end of the day no one’s arsed about 26 northern steroid monkeys bashing into one another;

I know someone who plays in this environment and he tells me they get random testing even during their training.

I was an extra in Prince Valiant which basically involved spending two nights in a field near Llanberis running around with a load of other long haired soap dodgers. And getting paid for it.

Also starred Joanna Lumley and Chesney Hawkes.

Have watched it once and you can’t see me at all :(

My daughter has a 24″ wheeled specialized which is very well made and far beyond anything i had as a childs bike.

They seem to hold their 2nd hand value as well.

Sorry flatfish i’ll be taking the crown reducer. Will drop you an email verses.

Thanks all for the advice.

monkeyfudger – Member
People have kids in schools across different counties?

Yep – next year due to my location i’ll have my eldest under one LEA and my other children under another. I already know their Easter 2015 holidays are going to be at different times :-)

Not usually partial to Belgium/Wheat beers but this one works for me

Hebden’s Wheat.

Next year, you’ll be in Leeds on the 5th July.

Really smashed where a friend needed a trip in an ambulance and their stomach pumped – July 2007 – in Morzine on my brothers stag do.

Started badly with boxes of cheap wine, went down hill from there ending with green shots being drunk.

Left the bar – have vague recollections of wandering round Morzine on my own. Woke up fully clothed on my bed. Stinking hangover. The door to our chalet and bikes left wide open. Various people missing. Friend phoned from a hospital – he couldn’t speak French, had been ‘dealt with’ whilst drunk include having a head cut stapled together and he wanted to leave asap.

Cue 3 hung over lads making a tour of the hospitals around Lake Geneva trying to find him. We did discover a french grot shop and one of the doctors at a hospital we visited was called Dr Fromage which amused us greatly – till we found him sheltering in a bus stop.

Not particularly proud of that session and have avoided being that bad ever since.

On the bright side i went out for a ride in the afternoon afterwards and discovered the great riding out behind Mont Chery so not all bad.

Land of the giants in here…

6′ 7″ tall
15 stoneish

Tall enough to make gate like bikes look a lot smaller than they actually are.

My first date with my wife was a walk up Moel Siabod. Isolated from the rest of the main snowdon range so pretty quiet and yet a fairly easy walk to the top.

Great views as well.

Currently paying all my utilities/Direct debits/mortgage from our 123 account. They pay me about £10 a month and charge me £2(ish).

Better than the interest rate on most (if not all) current accounts.

At a friends wedding the ‘Mother of the Bride’ deliberately turned in a outfit that looked identical to the brides mothers.

To us this might seem like an opportunity for a bonding moment. For the bride in question it was a significant defining moment in her relationship with her mother in law :)

Many years ago i carried a bike up it.

Probably wouldn’t bother again :)

No idea what it would ride like going down.

I’ve got no forks and I can’t decide if I should go for some manly rigids, opt for some Basic Marz DJs or even hunt down some classic 30mm, bolted brace Bombers (Rose tinted memories)

The manly rigids i removed from my DJ bike were very very manly – much more so than the forgiving P2’s i have on my xc bike.

Argyles (which i use) and other DJ forks aren’t a really soft option – they just take the edge off the bigger hits. My wrists are always grateful.