I didn’t like KMC’s 3/32 offerings.

Strangely their 3/32 geared offerings didn’t wear well and i’d not buy them again, but the single speed hx series have proven much more durable even in 3/32 (to me at least).

+1 for the kmc z510 hx.

Can’t fault CRC myself. Ordered some parts, realised i’d ordered a wrong chain – emailed to ask to change it and customer services responded very quickly. And even though my order was dispatched too quickly (and i guess automatically) for the change to be made to my order so i actually received the wrong part, CRC were very accommodating about changing it for me.

I’ll still use them in the future.

Brands I’m working to wean myself off:

The Metro “news” paper

If it helps i found it much easier to give this up when i found it was printed by the same news group as the Mail.

mark b …. your the only person sad enough to actually think your a better rider than someone youve never met….shows how silly you are. you know what, you may well be a better rider than me..who knows..who cares..wave your kn0b elsewhere..

Whoops – seem to have touched a nerve there. After the ‘it’s intimidating in here’ thread i can only profusely apologise for the trauma caused.

Perhaps there’s a correlation between the age people started riding, and those who feel they need a course

Not my experience – i’d been riding for nearly 20 years before i had the chance to experience some coaching. Can say for me it was quick way to move off the plateau i was on. Made me a better rider than Beanieripper so well worth it.

I’ve got Endura jerseys that i realised the other day are now well over 10 years old and still going strong.

Also have a pair of Zymes that are lasting well. When the popper gave up i just sewed on a couple of hooks and eyelets to hold them together.

Mine aren’t ‘too big’ – they’re the right size considering the gene pool that went into making them.

Having said that i’m tall (6’7″) and my wife isn’t which suggest the height genes at least were dominant when we mixed them all together :-)

We had a salesman round last night.

Be prepared for stupidly high initial price, followed by ‘i’m not leaving till i’ve given you the best price i can get you’, followed by a massive discount.

Why not just quote me the sensible price first!!

Wharfedale – assuming you are a Wharfedale resident – which local company have you used ?

I’ve been over that before on a Cambrian Challenge ride – we rode/pushed up the foot path then took the BW north west across Moel Pearce before joining the Wayfarer to ride back over to Oswestry.

Can’t remember much about the riding – think it was mostly rutted – should be ok in the dry. I do recall hiding in a ditch to fix a puncture as the wind was pretty wild on the tops, and on the way back across the (very wet) Wayfarer we came across an MX bike stuck engine deep in the mud :-)

Isn’t that the easiest route down? Now if you’d posted a pic of you going down the drop that’s just round the corner….

Broke my right thumb last September (actually pulled away a flake of bone with a ligament attached).

Had the hand in a cast for about 5 weeks (which was inconvenient considering i broke the left collar bone at the same time :roll: ) and at least 12 weeks off the bike to give them chance to heal.

7 months on it still aches if riding for a while and the ligaments need a regular stretch to keep them flexible – however i would recommend being patient with the recovery. Difficult with it being sunny but better than having an unnecessary operation.

so I figure as I’m only on a gentle pootle on my 85mm Forked XC HT I’ll let them go first surely I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them?

Gave them 30 seconds or so, then caught the tail man inside of about 15 seconds, OK it’s the slightly pedally, slightly upwards incline bit at the start, He’ll soon rip away from me… Nah I was stuck behind this chuffing Mary the whole way down, the only feature on his bike he seemed familiar with was the brakes, Zero talent, should have bought a HT and learned to ride that first….

Yeah, you were fast, but last time i was out on my rigid singlespeed ego chariot i was faster…!

How about a bit of manual labour – dig the garden, build some dirt tracks, that sort of thing. Keeps you motivated and develops a bit of mental endurance as well.

And pumptracks are good for fun upper body workouts.

In order to put the whole argument into perspective maybe we need some feedback from the supposed harmed 3rd parties

Do you need to be a ‘harmed 3rd party’ to be offended by an inappropriate use of a word?

I’m driving a 100k+ x reg V70 – i like it – big solid feeling car. It’s thirsty if you are heavy footed on the accelerator but can cruise forever at a steady 70-80mph.

Fold the passenger seats down and we even fitted a 3 seater sofa in the back so bikes should fit in just fine.

Durable exterior as well so when i do get round to its annual spring wash it should come up looking like new.

I’m not sure comparing the actions of the police to those of some nightclub patrons in Dundee helps justify the actions of either party.

Did any of the F&M protesters get a hiding? Not on the video posted by RPRT.

Did you actually watch the video ? Right to the end? to the part where the police are forcibly prising the protesters apart and pining them to the ground whilst arresting them?

The police have made a rod for their own backs off the back of this protest.

I’ve got a standard Remedy – for the price i paid it’s an exceptionally good lid. Fit is the same as all the other Giro helmets i’ve ever had.

Not sure if that’s much of an endorsement – it’s great for what i use it for – but i’ve not tried any other full face helmet to make a comparison against (apart from a Giro Hammerhead and the Remedy is a whole different league in terms of protection – made me realise just how rubbish the Hammerhead was).

Pass this on my way to work.

Set amoungst the Victorian Architechure around it, it stands out as a oddity in a northern city.

Some listed 60’s concrete – well i like it.

OK so who’s up for a Singletrack rave revival weekend – go out biking all day then get mashed and dance to early 90s rave music?

I could DJ for a bit, anyone else? Just need a suitable venue….

Lee Quarry free party :)

My techno days were spent in Liverpool (93-96) at either Cream allnighters with likes of Carl Cox and Laurent Garnier on the decks, or at the much seedier Voodoo held in a tiny club down Seel Street. Even there they had the likes of Ritchie Hawtin, Dave Clarke, and Dave Angel. Happy days.

I’ve stayed at Sleeperzzz for a couple of nights up that way. Very quiet (when we were there) and certainly has a rare novelty factor. For £15 a night i don’t think there is anything to compare out that way that is as close to Golspie.

Just down the road is the SYHA Carbisdale Castle – not stayed but it looks very impressive and you have trails on the doorstep.

Don’t worry – Jedi made exactly the same comment when i posted a pic of the big berm at GT.

Glad he was around to correct my mistake :?

If you want a varied selection of bottled local ales i can recommend Pudsey Asda (near Leeds) – happened to be in there last night and they had thoughtfully displayed a selection of ales from all local breweries including Ilkley, Ossett, and Saltaire, plus many from further afield.

I now have some new brews to enjoy this weekend.

Not part of Leeds current station but if you look hard enough on your way in from the west you’ll see this reminder of a bygone era when Leeds had two stations and a network of tracks crossing over each other on viaducts.

All that remains are a few buildings that have been put to other uses, and this building which was designed to lift wagons between the two railway lines.

I’ve had them replaced at BTED. Bearings seem to be lasting well.

Two Marin Attack frames cracked around the main pivot. Bit of a weakness with these frames but replaced with no quibbles.

1997 Orange Gringo hardtail – snapped at the top of the seatstay. Had been riding it for about 8 years so can’t really complain.

My recommendation from the weekends sampling – Blandford Fly.

Like a pale ale and ginger beer combined, only better. From Sainsburys.

Max would love to support but doing anything with my MP is an utter waste of time, she’s been the MP of our rotten borough for at least 250 years and doesn’t give tuppence for anyone’s views.

Is there anything else I can do that would have an effect?

My MP is a shoe in Tory Back bencher who tries to ignore his constituents views. Doesn’t mean i can’t harangue him about his commitment to representing his constituents over this issue. After all he’ll be back asking for my vote again in 4 years.

I’ve a Witter towbar rack on sale cheap if you wanted one.

Only reason it’s for sale is my wife won’t let me fit a towbar to our already very long Volvo :-) So i’ve gone for a Thule clip on high mount rack which seems to be the half way compromise between a towbar mounting and a rack attached by straps. Certainly seems well made and came well recommended. Means not having to faff with chopping holes in the bumper and fitting extra electrics to get it to work.

My brother had his lump caused by a misaligned collar bone break operated on. They thinned the bone to remove the very obvious lump and stuck a plate over the area affected.

Next time he crashed hard enough to break a collar bone the bone snapped at the end of the plate where it was weakest :-(

Think he’s now had the whole plate removed to even out the stress. Whether he’d recommend plating it or not remains to be seen :-)

Think the type of sling used might depend on where you’ve snapped the bone. I had a poly sling which supported the whole arm as i’d snapped the bone near the end and the arm needing holding up to keep everything in place.

I’ve just been discharged from snapping the tip off my clavical. No surgery – tendons just pulled it all straight and with rest and imobilization it all healed fine. Glad really i didn’t need surgery. Took about 12 weeks to be fully repaired. My recovery was complicated by the broken thumb/tendon damage on the other arm :roll:

I’d recommend sitting back and letting nature take it’s course.

And why was i that patient – well my brother broke his collar bone in his teens. Couldn’t wait lomg enough to let it heal (impatient fool that he was) – used it too soon and ended up with a horrible lump sticking out the middle of his collar bone. This eventually was operated on to make it more sightly/comfortable but due to how much bone was removed he had to have it plated to strengthen it.

Then when he broke it again a few years later it snapped at the end of the plate where it was naturally weaker than the metal :(

Make sure you are well (over?) insured – my brother and his wife had their life in storage whilst travelling. The storage warehouse caught fire. They lost everything and had a real fight on their hands to get any reasonable payout back from the insurer the warehouse had insisted they insure with.

Alternatively check the spinklers work well in whichever warehouse/starage unit you use :roll:

the Max max does not share the same frame as the Absolut.

Quick flick in the Commencal online catalogue suggests they both use a Absolut AL frame. There is also a cro-mo version which may be where the confusion arises.

Maxmax frame is the same as the more expensive Absoluts so worth upgrading as mentioned above.

I’ll assume (again from a position of ignorance never having ridden one) that a 24″ wheeled bike is slightly more manouverable. Having said that the 26″ version has a steep head angle so it’s pretty nippy. I’m happy with the 26″ version but then i am well over 6′ and even the 26″ version looks small under me :-)

An excuse to post this picture again if ever there was one…

Commencal Maxmax?

I’ve got a 26″ wheeled version and it’s great fun to ride. Not much of a review as i’ve never ridden any others to compare it too :-) but for the money it seems fine. Most ridden/best value bike i’ve ever brought.

At my place of work the B2W has seen a significant increase in cyclists so i think it’s been used for exactly what it’s meant for. STW is not a representative cross section of those who have taken up the scheme :-)

Couldn’t find a bmx big enough so i have this instead – now i spend more time riding bmx tracks and skate parks than my kids
:lol: