650b marketing

Just finished season two of Treme’ and I really liked it. Not much happens if you want whizz bangs but the characters, landscapes and music make it enjoyable.

I’ll see your pooch and raise you a cat

Superdan; import duty was paid as expected 😥

greeble – I’m not worried about faster, and I’m not worried about warranty or spare parts for this stuff. It’s about trying something I want to try… the current offering from the main players don’t offer what I want; I don’t want to be flipping a lever from C-to-T-to-D because somebody in marketing thinks that’s what we riders want.

I’ve had my last three shocks custom tuned and run a CCDB for two years, by playing with these I’ve worked out what I want from a shock, and I’ve used a few forks in that time as well. I’ve now asked for the attributes I want in an Air shock and fork pairing; not something I could get off the shelf from the usual suspects.

Why the dire dhx?

It’s no longer just a Fox DHX… it’s an Avalanche Advantage Speed Sensitive Damping (SSD) modified DHX Air shock 🙄

I had considered a CCDBair but this is lighter and hopefully betterer… plus DHX Air’s are cheap because everyone says they are crap… I figured it worth a try after reading the Avalanche bumf.

But if you fry the sausages first, you’re left with sausage fat in the frying pan that you can use for frying the onions for the gravy…

Use some of the bacon juice from your dripping pot for the gravy 8)

Perfect Bacon Martini[/url]

Add Bacon[/url]!

Make your batter… seems to work best if it sits for a bit before being added. 2 eggs whisked, half pint of milk, 115g of flour, teaspoon of salt. A fresh rosemary sprig is nice if you like that sort of thing.

Toad tin with a little oil in the bottom in the oven at 200-220C. Once hot carefully put the sausages in (they will spit a bit). Back in the oven until the sausages are browned, then pour in your batter mix and arrange the sausages with a fork to get them even for serving.

Now make your onion gravy.

I too have been playing with an Airport Express recently. I was putting iTunes stuff through it and into my rather old Cyrus III amp and Dynaudio’s. It sounded the same as plugging in an iPod which is fine most of the time when it’s just for background but if I want to really listen to music then I use my Cyrus CD player (or a turntable)… as you have found I think it’s the whole iTunes thing and low end DAC that makes the music lack detail.

I’ve got bigger fish to fry at the moment so I’m not going to be changing anything more until I’m ready… but I was in Edinburgh at the weekend and popped into HiFi Corner to have a look at the Neat Iota Speakers and Linn Kiko system.

I liked the look of the Iota’s and it would be a solution as they are tiny but sound very good… but from the little fumble I had with the Linn Kiko it would be my choice for a full-on passionate f*&^-fest love affair. I’m struggling to get how good it was out of my brain… just not sure I can justify what is a horribly large amount of cash to spunk… albeit on something I will use most days and bring me lots of pleasure 😯

Bwaarp… there is a package from Avalanche Racing about to be delivered to my house

Care you guess whats in it?

Call me biased but here is what I would buy.

Nicolai Helius AM

Here is my three year old one built up for DH fun.

In a more XC/Enduro/AM mode

Some original paint and undercoat augmented with Black Hammerite, mud and rust

Soon… 8)

The ones on my wall above came from Germany via Linky[/url]

Some of them were a bit delicate and broke when being bolted to the wall, but that’s more about the sandstone wall which is very rough anyway.

Correction to the above post as to what I was drinking… to see for myself if Single Malt Whisky Cocktails are acceptable I decided to do a wee bit of research into this important and thought provoking area of Mixology (real word!).

I’m not a reviewer so please be gentle with my descriptions etc… I’d not normally put ice anywhere near Whisky but I like it with Bourbon… here goes!

THE QUINTASENTIAL
Glenmorangie Quinta-Ruban, 10 year old Tawny Port, Orange Bitters &
Brandy Marinated Griotte Cherries

I fookin loved this… really excellent flavours and very fruity tasting with the Whisky being mellowed but driving the drink.

Scottish Caipirinha
handmade scottish tablet muddled with lemon & lime wedges,
stirred with crushed ice, then topped with drambuie and
talisker 10 year old single malt whisky.

Interesting and very clever. I like Talisker and this did not ruin it in anyway (a bit odd when you get tablet chunks in your mouth… hmmm, crunchy).

Burnt Islay Old Fashioned
a very contemporary twist on an old classic. lagavulin single malt
whisky & makers mark bourbon, muddled sugar with orange bitters
and a dash of grand marnier, stirred over ice and served

Very pleasant. I love Lagavulin and again it was the driving flavour. The mixture here worked well with the orange and smokey flavours working together.

Remember… it was all just a bit of fun

I managed to glaze some cheap pads on my RX brakes which made them pish.

As soon as I replaced the pads and cleaned the rotors they were brilliant again.

I’ve used the scary light Ashima rotors with them and my T1’s with no problems; and I’d love to try these…

Sorry for the poor photo. Holds go round the corner past the leaking and redundant oil tank fixture (to be dealt with this summer).

It’s for little boys to do traverses, they really like it. The little foot holds make it challenging.

We’ve got one. Grandpa drilled and fitted the holds as a Christmas present for our two wee boys… it’s ace.

A couple of wee Cocktails last night… a smoky whisky sour and Scottish Caiparinha. Both were rather interesting.

My heid is remarkably clear this morning.

Eccurie Neep Kirkhill Forest Dyce.

I ran one of these…

I was still breaking axles every 2 months… I guess it depends how hard you ride 😈

For piece of mind get the EVO upgrade if your going 12mm. I’ve been running the EVO for over a year now with no problems, before the EVO I was breaking axles regularly.

Some light reading on the issue.

Rewski… the Formula Aluminium Carrier 6 bolt rotors are £62 each… and little to no lighter than the ordinary lightweight Formula rotors.

I’ve seen one of those Formula rotors bend itself in half in use… possibly got hit by something on the trails to make it happen… it’s not stopped me using my two pairs as I love the brakes.

I’m up for trying the plastic carbon ones as I think they will be brilliant.

Not horrendously expensive when compared to these then…

They look quite strong in this

Kettle have posted some interesting stuff on FB and utube recently.

Awaits a review rather than look whats landed on our desk.

I hope it works out for you.

Do you mean an orange botox junkie?

Those still look “just right” don’t they… 8)

Here was my stab at the one set of components two bikes thing (I was more aiming for two bikes with everything interchangeable but you get the idea).

The big bike.

The hardtail to take the same components.

I did this as I have a habit of breaking stuff so being able to swap major components about quickly appealed. Most of the components between the two were nearly identical so changes were a matter of minutes and the bikes had a very similar feel; but as it worked out I broke the Troof frame before I had tried all I wanted to try. I did learn that the Troof was a great bike but was more compromised as an XC/distance type bike than I would have liked due to the long fork geometry. Had a new frame been available from Ragley I would have taken it but none were so I took a refund and bought another second hand Mmmbop for about £100 (I had one before the Troof).

The little Mmmbop with the Fox fork reduced from 160 to 130mm is a much better all-rounder and again takes most of the components… but feels more XC than the Troof did. It’s not quite the point and shoot weapon the Troof was but it’s a huge grin inducing machine… in a way it’s more twitchy character is more involving and hence more fun.

Unfortunately fitting the Fox travel spacer means that swapping the fork over is now a bit of a PITA… and running the Mmmbop with a 160mm fork makes the bottom bracket too high. A travel adjust fork could work, but so would buying a second hand 20mm Revelation fork ( for £200 ). The Mmmbop I had before the Troof had a Rev fork on it and it was okay most of the time but it will not give the same bombproof front end feeling that the 36 gives it.

I’ll probably change out the Mmmbop at some point when I find something which I think is better, but I’m not sure it would be for a 160mm fork as the Troof did feel very singleminded and was not the all rounder I had hoped it would be. I like the look of the Shan but it won’t take some of my components, it’s expensive, and a bit weighty for my particular useage. It does look awesome though 😈 … and I’m moving away from the component swap thing as I’ve found I’m doing it less than I thought I would.

Ragley Bagger or Troof work with a 160mm fork… shame the Bagger is really heavy and Troof’s have a habit of breaking (IMHE). Also; hardtails with big forks like that tend to be very singleminded in what use they like… not good as all rounders IMHE again.

My wife worked with a rather thick girl with the surname “Prentice”. When she fell pregnant she continued to drink Barcadi Breezers and other Alcopops because they contained fruit juice and would be okay for the baby! Unfortunately the baby was eventually born a little damaged and despite the warning from my wife was called “Alice”.

Probably be lucky if she is an A.Prentice

Solaris certainly looks like the right size for you on flickr 🙂

I don’t think it’s the bike holding you back although it is set up for XC efficiency rather than gnar-core-lite(p).

A friend of mine who used to run a Rohloff struggled with it a bit in low speed tech due to the big chunk of weight being out the back… but it was probably more of a swearing point than an actual problem.

Is that a flexy SID fork? If your overbraking a flexy fork on the front will knock your confidence in that kind of terrain… let go of the brakes and let the bike role through the terrain.

New steed from Cove – dropper post friendly seat tube, ISCG tabs, all titanium frame, BB30 and 650b wheels.

From i-cycles via Cove on FB.

Looks a bit lush… other than the PF30 BB 🙄

Do you drop the saddle for the techy bits?
Do you use skinny XC tyres?
Do you use narrow bars and bar ends?
Have you considered using flat pedals to help gain the appropriate skills?

Edit… and is your bike too big for you?

I blame the mudguards and bar-ends

1991 when I last had a computer on my bike I used to clock 41 on a local offroad hill and 43 on a road hill… on my Rocky Mountain Blizzard with rigid forks.

I tried fitting a 52 tooth chainring to see if I could go any faster but it didn’t work.

I’ve not had a computer or GPS since as I really don’t care how far or fast I’m going.

Wowser…

Looks fast just sitting there 8)

I painted the repaired bits of mine with Hammerite. It’s now coming off and looks dreadful… like its been to hell and back 😈

Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing 8)

I’d love to demo one too… in north east Scotland 😥