“YANBU”:

Thread title is “Am I being unreasonable?” – reply is “YANBU”, so presumably “You Are Not Being Unreasonable.”

Proof if ever it were needed that women are perfectly unaware of how bloody difficult it is to work what they are talking about.

Now I know where the obsession with acronyms comes from! That website is sodding unreadable.

I’ll set about her laptop with my digital fly swat then.

Do you think there could any link between her getting her first email capable phone ( iphone5) two weeks ago and this episode?

Her Passwords are all different for everything she does and she doesn’t PayPal/eBay/etc so not worried there.

Cheers for the replies folks

You can do if anyway you like really. I have never threaded mine as i have never been totally satisfied with my brakes. I’m on set number three now and as they may be keepers I may go ahead and thread.

FYI, I have been using good old gaffer in neat strips to hold the cable to the swing arm.

Ride, Milk, nesquick (chocolate), banana, blender, drink, stretch, shower, proper food with carbs, protein and veg within the hour, massage with roller, rest. It’s a system you see, no one magic element, but lot of pieces of a puzzle.

Disclaimer – I’m not a pro and have not raced for years but I do have a degree in Exercise Science! The above works for me but its best to play with a few ideas and see what works for you.

Have you read The Obree Way? Well worth it for myth busting on this matter.

HTH

I’m going from a 2x 9speed set up to a 1x 10spd set up. From the tables below taken from sheldon brown you can see I will lose my three lowest gears. However, the flip side is my bike will be a whole pound lighter for losing the shifter, mech, granny, bolts and bb mount roller guide. So swings and roundabouts. I’m doing it for simplicity sake. I reasoned that I am carrying around a pound of bike that I only ever use a few times a year. I believe the future is the XX1 system.

[/url] image[/url] by mattbibbings[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[/url] image[/url] by mattbibbings[/url], on Flickr[/img]

1x with no chain guide. I assume its a clutch mech but have you come up with some other unknown wizardry to keep the chain on?

I originally posted this on bikeradar a couple of years ago. I’ve copied direct from there.

Ok, it’s a small victory but I feel so pleased I had to post the result.

I had been out on my fixie and was trying to turn right back into my road. I sgnalled and moved out to the middle of the road. A hay lorry was coming the other way so I slowed to a crawl (remember, I was on a 42×16 fixed) to allow him to come past before I turned. I heard a loud rev from behind me and before I knew it a White BMW pushed through on my left, missing me by millimeters and forcing me to swerve into the path of the oncoming Hay Lorry!I I managed to just miss the hay lorry and swerve back into my lane. Shocked, I took off after the BMW as I knew he was about to get caught at a traffic light.

I tapped on his window and (my langauge was a touch colourful but non threatening) asked him what he thought he was playing at. He replied in a similar fashion that he was in the right and had caused me no harm!

Heres the good bit…..

I asked him if he wanted to come to the Police Station around the corner and say the same thing to the Police.

HE AGREED!!!

SO off we went to the cop shop. I got there first and pushed the Duty bell and comended Him and his Wife for the bravery in coming to stand up for their actions (bit cheeky but couldn’t resist)

I told the Duty Sargent that I had come with a complaint about the agressive nature of the mans driving. He was a bit shocked that we were both there voluntarilly.

He took me off to get my side of the story and then questioned the BMW driver about his side of events. I think it helped that the Bobby was a cyclist too but he came down wholly on my side of the fence and told the guy off for not taking enough care around cyclists!
The BMW driver had to apologise to me and take a telling off from the bobby! Now I know thats not much in the grand scheme but firstly I can’t believe he came to the cops with me and then the fact that I was belived and supported by the police. I felt vindicated in my actions and a warm sense of support from the local police. To me, a victory.

PSA

LBS’s of the country – listen up! This story tells you all you need to know about holding off the onslaught of interweb bargains and bringing customers in and keeping them loyal. A little bit of service (especially if it gets the customer out of a tight spot) goes a very very long way.

That is all.

TBH one of the things that has tweaked my curiosity the most is to do a couple of ‘tests’ where I fit a component as I ever would and then see what the actual recommended torque setting feels like. Kind of like calibrating me in a more accurate way. Might be interesting.

Singular Swift I have just sold to MacB. Bloody love that bike but my wrists cannae take it no more.[/url]
image[/url] by mattbibbings[/url], on Flickr

Its one of the things I do for a living and out of all the outdoor activities I teach kids, gorge walking/ghyll scrambling is the most fun. Done right it is a hoot. Jumps, slides, swims etc. The kids always say it was the thing they liked best. Top tip is to find a provider who carries an AALA license[/url] . It’s only a requirement for those who provide adventurous activities to paying under 18s but it is a confidence boost for you as you know they are inspected regularly for the integrity of their health and safety provision. As their is no single qualification for Gorge walking, it is essential that the person or organisation providing it has taken their responsibility seriously and uses staff who are safe in what can be a high risk environment. But like is said, done right it is a hoot.

To my utter shame I stripped a break thread on a set of rockshox once. The moment you hear that slight crack and feel the Allen key spin is a moment of crushing failure as a home mechanic. Once experienced, never to be repeated.

As a dog owner who does GAF I am all in favour of enforcement of the fines. People let their dogs shit in public and leave it (bagged or not) because no one ever gets hit with the fines.

I think the one practical way to do it is to have some sort of enforcement officer out there. We do it for parking FFS so why not dog mess (and all litter in actual fact). Plain clothes litter enforcement officers – retrain one parking enforcement officer in every town to be a litter enforcement officer ( undercover turd monitor, of you will). Spend a few weeks doling out the fines and watch the public start to take notice.

Start outside Conwy in Rowen. Head up past Rhiw YHA and then take the obvious left that leads up to the summit of Drum. Have a flapjack at the top and admire the view. Do your helmet up tight and hold on for the descent because your going to drop 620m in 4k (!) all the way down to Nant Y Pandy. Turn east at Nant y Pandy and pick up the North Wales Path towards Capelulo. Basically you can’t find a bad trail in the network that will lead you back to the car from the ridge above Capelulo. Top ride that one.

I love the ones where you do something dumb and then get up, hope no one saw and pedal away feeling sheepish. Always funny after. Hope you are not too damaged.

Thanks for the feedback folks. I have the time to leave it alone for a few weeks. FYI,I smashed my wrists on a five!

@pik n mix, make me an offer!

Go 1×10 ( ditching the mech, shifter, cable, granny and 4 bolts ), lighter saddle and lighter (carbon?) post, foam grips.i reckon you could see it sub 10kg with that little lot.

http://www.hopetech.com/page.aspx?itemID=SPG240

Hope pick and mix. You should find something helpful here.

^ this

It’s the cameras own jpeg compression giving you the undesirable results so monkey with those a bit and see what happens. Also possibly a firmware upgrade might help. That’s a stab in the dark but you never know.

The advice above is all spot on. I would reinforce with you the importance of your attitude to a situation. The pup is gauging 2 things normally. How scary a situation is to them and how scary the pack think it is. You and your family are the pack. If you appear concerned/fretful/worried about the pups reaction to the traffic then pup will think

“the traffic scares me AND the pack – get me out of here!”

However, if you are the picture of calm and control the pup is more likely to think

” the traffic scares me but the pack seem ok with it, I’ll stick with it for now”

You being nice and calm+a view of a busy road from a safe distance+repeat little and often = route to success

Oh, By the way, we need pics!

Clever plug that…

I wish I was that smart to have intended it but now you point it out, I should have done this at 9pm when there were more folk about! But seriously I am stumped as to why I still have this bike.

Say thanks but no thanks and go elsewhere. Well done for supporting your LBS but when mine (JD cycles) couldn’t find me the road frame I was after I had a conversation with them about going over to the dark side and getting it from a big retailer. If they are indeed a good LBS ( like JD cycles ) then it’s all done with no hard feelings.

One of the simplest training programmes I came across at Uni ( for I have a Degree in Exercise Science dontcha know ) was the one plus one idea. Quite simply, one unit today, 2 tomorrow, 3 the next day and so on.

Theoretically you could take someone who had never run before and say one minute today, two the next and so on and they would be doing 30 min runs in a month with a very gradual increase in difficulty. Assuming you eat and sleep right it is a pain free route to basic fitness.

If you considered biking like this and decided that you could happily ride for say 15 mins now and that 2 mins was a nice and gradual unit of increment, then by day 30 you would doing 1hour13 min rides and have 22 hours of training under your belt. That would be a great base from which to begin to ride again and you will have gained it in a way that avoids too much too soon and gets you riding gradually.

However you do it, good luck and have fun!

If they are not at the PO try reasoning with the seller for a refund. If he did post them and the Package was tracked then it must have some insurance? If that fails, try PayPal. If that fails try your credit card. Here’s hoping they are at the PO!

Done. Thanks or the heads up on that one. As at 2pm today there stock showing in all sizes/lengths/drops etc.

Get em while they’re hot!

I’ve got the emperor on the phone. He says he loves his new suit.

I pad mini user here. I read billions of reviews and watched tons of online videos before plumping for this. Just like you, I wanted something for Internet based consumption. The ipad mini not only does all this extremely well but is gorgeous to use too. And I am normally a committed pc fan.

I am also finding that I am using my ipad mini as a radio and tv a lot more than I expected. It is a lifesaver for doing the washing up to. Ok, it’s a bit more cash than the nexus, fire, etc. but its sooooo worth it.

I am so happy with mine I would not sell it back for twice the price.

Looks like a 1x system to me. And a real granny.
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image[/url] by mattbibbings[/url], on Flickr

Konas website says it “kona chromoly double butted”. Can anyone elaborate on that?

Yeah. Nice vid.

Was looking at Zee for this. Think there are 2 versions though for 11-28 and 11-36 cassettes. No idea if the 11-36 version has enough spare capacity for chain growth on FS bikes. Hope it does, cos otherwise it’s right on the limit.

Good point bit I’m hoping as they are marketing this as a free ride/DH mech then that’ has been thought about and engineered in.

Good shout on the Zee mech there folks, I hadn’t considered that yet but the short cage makes practical sense as well as being cheaper and looking pretty compact and cool to boot.

I believe we have a winner!

I teach outdoor ed. I was teaching a group of year 8’s when their form tutor came to see them for two days (they kids stay for 5).

She’s gorgoeous and I was smitten. I asked her if she wanted my number on the second day. She said yes. That was Thursday. I went to hers for a pizza and beer on Friday and never left. 4 weeks later she proposed and 4 months later we got married.

I made sure the kids weren’t there when I ‘made my move’ and I asked her if she wanted my number as I thought it was less stalkerish. Now I know that she was pretty smitten by me too and I could have got away with more or less anything at the time and it all would have been sweet.

To the OP, bottom line is you will never know unless you get of your backside and do something about it! Life is full of missed oppotunity.

If or when you get totally hacked off with WMM, have a look at TrackAx. It is really very very good for (last time I looked) about £25.

That cube sounds perfect for your needs. You seem to be living very much in the real world and just been thrown a curve ball by the bike world trying to invent niches. The replies above are spot on. “XC” (as opposed to DH) was becoming too Lycra-clad-head-down-racy and that’s just way too tricky to sell to people who like fun. Plus no one was racing “XC” or “DH” on 140mm travel bikes. They were just out having fun. It needed a name for the bike reviewers and marketeers to hang their hats on, hence “trail” for anything that wasn’t competition – a ‘niche’ that seems to be able to include any type of riding. Out here in the real world we call it mountain biking.

Stand by for next years bike ranges telling you that you need to split the hair again between “trail” and “Enduro”.

I teach outdoor ed and work outside all day, 5 days a week, up hills, down rivers and gorges etc. Plus 3 or 4 good road or MTB rides a week, plus dog walking, plus (ahem) “home life”. If I don’t eat a massive bowl of porridge every morning, followed by at least 2 other meals of good quality carbs protein and veg then I am well and truly knackered.

I used to survive on cereal like wheatabix every morning but was always hungry by 10.30am. I switched to porridge and never looked back. Eating a normal meal of decent food also raises your metabolism and helps to keep weight down. I spent a lot of the last year sat on my shiny arse with two broken arms (5operations over the year) and kept up eating more or less the same, just ditched alcohol and 80% of the sweet stuff and only put on about half a stone.

Breakfast is good for you

Cute pup. Good name too.

Eddie (19 month old patterdale, mental) cried like crazy the first night we got him home. Three things that worked.

Ticking clock – supposedly it sounds like a heartbeat. Dunno, but it helped
One of my old, worn, smelly t shirts in his bed.
Earplugs. God bless the earplugs, good squishy-gummy ones from boots.

He stopped after about 3 nights. Good luck!

In the last twelve months I have had 5 operations to fix my two broken/smashed to bits wrists so I feel your pain. Time sat on ones arse being forced to rest is not fun and seems to stretch out into the future like some never ending highway. The good news is, it does end. Even I am nearly back on a Mountain Bike (although its only 19 days until op number 6 – metal work removal in left wrist). I know more about patience now than I care to mention.

My top tips for passing the time include dog walking (although your pooch may not be your favourite right now!), tv box setting (get a netflix account and watch House of Cards with Kevin Spacey, its ace), more dog walking, reading, building bikes, building bikes for mates, fixing bikes, cleaning bikes, Turbo Trainer time ( over the last year I have clocked over a thousand miles in my cellar, thankfully I had split pots most of the time so I could change the sock inside when it got sweaty), interweb tinkering and cooking.

Be positive though, above all else.

Take care.

Matt

It climbed like a monkey with it bum on fire.

Love this quote :)

Sounds like you are demoing the right bikes there Roverpig. I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts.