mid 1980’s borrowed a mates slingshot handlebar silver muddy fox, maybe a courier, he was trying to sell it to me but i thought it a fad that would never catch on at the price being asked, and stuck with my off road motorbikes .. bought a Scott Sawtooth in 1987 and continued spending far too much ever since

Never banned but had a thread pulled after forestry commission solicitors wrote to the ed and thought i had besmurched the image of the then trail ranger at Coed y Brenin by suggesting I knew him to be an unqualified charlatan without much of a clue and was surprised he had landed Dafydd Davis’s job instead of the previous locally based riders who had actually been paid to work managing the trails …. was I right.. he left Coed y Brenin recently after a long bout of sick leave and is was last heard of applying for a job on an oil rig in the North Sea.. I would doubt Shell Oil will be writing to the editor on the occasion of this post.. if however the thread goes down this time.. sorry guys I should have kept my lips zipped and fingers folded

Probably one of the greatest bands ever who only aged but never allowed it to deteriorate their performance or taste threshold.. having seen them on Joolz here they are in 1992 with Jools playing Sugar Kane. .also proving what a damned fine show Mr Holland still runs compared to the deteriorating music press.
Sonic Youth – Sugar Kane live on Jools Holland 1992
Youths first TV Appearance on Letterman

check out how the quality has not deteriorated over the years.. don’t try this comparison test with U2 or any Metal band :)

I still have a Sub 8 team helmet he gave me at the worlds in Vail along with a few pairs of tyres that are now alas well gone. His dad is trying to set up a museum and it might be a better home than ebay… if you are interested I can tell Jim, I’ve offered some early NPS entry forms from races I organised he rode in that I decided to save from the bin and hang onto

Err those blaming Specialized have the bullet bang on target…. Enduro is an american term coined in the mid 70’s to rename a modified version of what the Europeans called Time and Reliability trials that combined bike reliability with self support and placed a time penalty regime to work out who was the best.

Specialized marketing folks naming the bike the Enduro, probably intended to rub some of the glam and tech of motorbike enduro into cycling then dominated by riders always looking for lightweight bikes that meant were not necessarily expensive. Perhaps if is lucky the early organisers of the first uk enduros did not choose to name the events ‘Nomads’ :)

The nonsense of naming a bike Enduro when it is built like an armoured tank could be alikened to a situation had the company that created the vacuum cleaner had been called Blower.. today nobody would be hoovering their carpets. Anyone likely to blower their carpets today?

No the race stops at 6 hours, however almost like in Mastermind .. if you were on a lap after 6 hours, since you had started a lap when the course was open, you get to finish and get to keep that extra lap to help your result

I was reading MBR

such a tome of great wisdom to be the basis of evidence for a critique, I’m proud you can read Oxboy

he’s not riding on the footway nor does it look like he had just walked 30 people over that green park area in the back ground, no way can that be SFB

Oddly I rode around with anti flat inner tubes passing numerous riders suffering the effects of not doing so… for a little extra weight I find they are well worth the nonsense on the hack bike even if i have to use schraeder.. your van was looking nice today Postie

In all my years of busting rims I have never seen a rim go at the valve hole

I have, several, but I would admit it’s was back in the days of canti / v brakes and well worn rims maybe its the big rocks around here?

if you have Presta size hole rims, the smaller hole will mean the rim is stronger, shorter presta valves will be lighter than shraeder. In addition Presta are specifically designed and used in High Pressure tubes such as the road where tyres are at 110psi + something not so relevant for mountain bikes. Usually I prefer Presta and in years of use running at all sorts of low pressures never encountered the problems Esme reports with punctures but there again i always use two lock rings done tightly to make sure they cant move. Schraeders can be better if you want to add no flat fluids to your tubes. As for Woods my dad used to have them on his old time trialer in the 50’s I suspect these days they are de rigeur in the faux fixie courier world since as another mark of non confformity to normal standards

PS the group they are consulting includes / included Tony Williams from Essex, who posts here sometimes, however he has now got a job with the Olympic Delivering Body running computer security so I do not know if he is still in there

Mm racing around farmland .. reminds me of the Flanders MTB Cup, I am sorry but I cant help think the Olympic MTB other than for a handful of Essex riders will be just another example of the appalling waste of opportunity that 2012 will deliver. It’s already evident in the amount of Sports Council cut backs occurring everywhere else around the UK is paying for it as money is clawed back to pay for the ‘overspend’. Everyone talks about legacy.. in Wales to justify the waste of money that is being pumped by the assembly into the Ryder Cup they were going to give a deprived area of Rhyl a Golf Driving Range, luckily the council decided not to stump up its share and now the land is set aside to become a bmx track.

I know the die was cast when Essex decided to help come in and fund the London bid in return for cherry picking a few events and this point has no doubt been done to death here already. It’s a shame the organisers did not bite the bullet and locate a more challenging venue in the Home Counties that was close enough to London and after the event may have provided a more useful facility to promote and develop mountain biking in the south east as a regional facility rather than develop a few molehills that might amuse the kids, 100 in attendance at a meeting run by a shoe shop owner hardly makes you think Essex people are gagging for the event either.

2012 should have gone to Madrid and I hope the IOC see sense and give it to them for 2016, the vast Casa de Campo Park, right at the edge of the city centre, at least has held some of the most well attended MTB XC World Cups ever and the Spanish know the true value of adequately funding sports as a social facility and right of the people

Aye .. .I’ll be closer to the start line than any of ye

Stiffee 69er review at silverfish website

Thats a 125mm fox 32 talas RLC, its a 2003 frame you should check with cove i would have though 140 would be on the limit, it is ok with a recent post 2005 stiffee

They were all blue all 69 of them and this is number 35 halfway through the run, the blue was a one off I was told by Pete from Silverfish, its a 2003 frame with the rear brake bosses removed and the cable run under the top tube the frame is identical to the 2004 Stiffee which i had before getting my 2008. They had XT and raceface finishing kits

here goes ton non original seat and stem….

it’s parked in the dogs bed, if you don’t like the bed discuss with the dogs :)

nor at telling the truth.. .:)

Llandegla is a good ride which always gives a grin especially in the winter when real natural trails are knee deep in sheep poo and everything becomes hike a bike.. it’s a good cert in any weather other than snow .. when the place closes… The riding is fun and safe at speed, there is no great rock fest but that’s local geology not the trail designers fault. You could take on a ride to the nearby Clwydians, one of the national mtb riding gems with details on http://www.ridetheclwyds.com starting in Cilcain with a few good downhills. You could also trip over to Llangollen and over to Glyn Ceriog and suffer some severe climbing but find the Lawnt for the rock ride from hell.

I changed to a Stiffee from years on xc race spec dales and stumpies so it was a kind of rebirth of riding stile more of a slack moto style which I found ideal especially for the formed trails at trail centres. I now have two, one with flats, wide bars, long forks and big discs fat rims wide tyres and the other with time clipless a lot skinnier, more xc, build but with fat tubeless tyres. I can ride either all day and I can’t quite get to accept this myth about them being short duration play bikes.. i think folk see the name and it creates a psychological block in their heads that it’s like riding a bike made of girders.. I am quite sure it’s not the same as Steel or Ti but I hear the same rubbish spouted about chameleons and know many who all day ride them with out any pain.. I will probably take one to Andorra this year rather than the G Spot without any fear of reduction in fun factor. For much of the UK natural trails if I switch from the G Spot to a Stiffee with the 2.3 – 2.4 tyres (and you could fit 2.5 if riding is dry) sat on them the front end is identical and as a result sometimes forget i have a rigid tail because they are supple and not harsh, it is not until i cut off some corner riding over rough rubbish at speed thinking the rear shock will soak it up and it does not that I recall the I left the G Spot in the kitchen

Yeah Ok the stickers are not, but the paint aint that bad I’ve seen worse finishes and longevity on expensive bikes from mainstream brands. Cove are a small shop, doing a wide range of colours jsut to ensure its hard to get the right one, the colours are sweet and mine only show wear where body or shoes regularly rub on the frame in muddy conditions.

Interesting lesson from Mister Crud.. if it really is Pete himself .. then no doubt MBUK have not done you too badly either over the years.. nice to see ya fella how’s life these days aint seen ya for eons….

She was pretty cookie awesome in “Frida” where her role meant she did not know what side she was batting for.. :)

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No but the Dyfi entries might be along shortly

i like the monopoly and sim city… .. avoid any gps apps and those requiring audio input….

also the complete shakespear… facebook if she must… air sharing to swap files between computer and ipod ( not sure if wintel compliant) palringo to do all the messengers when on a wifi network .. ebay to snap up those bargains on the move … converter and currency.. language phrase books .. tap tap .

es skate gear did a rather nice / nasty range of chinese tweed jackets…. not quite Harris but almost, I even featured in a mbuk 4x spectacular wearing it

I’ve been given that many free ones at races over the years i take out 3 or 4 in my pack and change em or use me for snot rags if needed.. buy a bufff… never

I flew to Denver and drove through the rockies stopping in Vale and Grande Junction on the way

David Vine has gone to the great toboggan slope in the sky…. long long long isn’t it

out with the old :(

in with the new :)

do that every weekend with mine lob it in the mesh bag and give it a spin ;) comes out looking clean…

I revolted, as a youth, from a parental obsession with road rsing rsf and tt. In rural wales hanging around with farmers you either became a young farmer, played rugby or got a motorbike. The main goal was always events, trials and later enduro at national level, in a competative group life could not have got better. By the mid 80’s I was getting knee problems the doc said swim or cycle to help it, since I could not swim there was no choice. I did not want to un-rebel and go back to skinny tyres and I preferred my fat tyres flat handlebars and slithering around in the mud.

A mate was hanging around with the Muddy Fox guys and he got me one on loan.. it was fun but never seemed capable of getting more fun than motorbikes. I then bought a Scott with indexing, my knees were improving and the competitor in me discovered Max Glaskin’s Mountain BIke Club, for a number of years I rode the MBC and NEMBA races which like enduros led me to travel to every end of the country meeting other nuts which allowed a kind of fanaticism to develop.

Fed up of leaving North Wales to travel to Norfolk to mtb race, I got together with Sian and Dafydd Roberts and decided to put on an mtb race which in 1989 was an outstanding success. From that we ended up hosting mbc races at Beddgelert and Coed y Brenin, and as far as running an early bmbf NPS and the first National Downhill Championships by which time I had but almost ceased to be a motorbike rider, I still have one in a shed but it is only ever used if needed to lay out xc circuits. I still have my second Scott from 1989 and at 4 Coves in the kitchen and have ridden most of the uk, mountainous europe and america

I’ve still got a 1989 Scott here with Infinity, I would have thought it more 541 than 853 was always found on mid range bikes.. Prestige was the stuff the gods bikes was made of.

I would imagine its demise was it became stupidly expensive and therefore forgotten about during one of the periods the yen shot through the roof of the currency markets, ti would probably have been cheaper

its a trekalized fishertastic xc hardtail, yes we’ll make one of them too shouts trek… nothing wrong with it .. a bike for the masses, pure vanilla blandness that the masses cry out for. This post that might have more of an impact on a forum frequented by BMW or Volvo owners and drivers… a mountain biking walkman.. every one will tell you with a tear of nostalgia that they once had something like that, then whatever replaced it was better

nbt and Zulu Eleven…It is the Countryside Act 1968 which removed the exclusion of cycles from bridleways thereby removing the offence., the kick backs given to horse riders were no racing and the requirement for cyclists to give way and for council and landowners no responsibility for making the ways suitable for cycles ( in 1968 it was more or less the rough stuff fellowship and elements or ctc on drop handled touring bikes that were going to be the users)

I have much respect for nbt but am surprised he was unaware of this reference .. do you not have a copy of the blue book ??

it will probably take 100 – 200 quids worth of work taking photos and crap before he is told to chuff off… the hole stays like it is and 200 quid of tax payers money evaporates. .if he wins first 10 k comes out of the budget to repair these things which is 10% of the annual budget after which the insurance picks up the rest..

basically the council, like most, has stuffed the 3rd party claims on the tarmac paths so with a well oiled machine these solicitors are loosing revenue and appear to have picked up on extreme sports as a means to extract more money to maintain the apartment in Gstaad, such claims would be unheard of even 3 years ago.

I’ve been out in Navarra doing the Pamplona San Sebastian Biarritz run with locals who took me over the pyrenees. You would need to ride out to Elizondo or further. check out the Camino de Santiago route information there are several routes and some follower a higher level rather than skimming the coast

its obvious… when you are dead or too old to balance without stabalisers.. 48 with a Monty 221 ti trials bike

obvious answer …….

Wrong Forum