Pink Gin with a dash of water… As drunk in the Cruel Sea.

I was at a Gin tasting a few weeks ago… Get the right Gin and you can ditch the tonic and hence feel like a proper man.

I’m back on an Mmmbop myself until I find something else.

If you want post a wanted on here. I got a few replies when I did that hence the little blue one 🙂

Innovation = 1×9, 1×10 and now XX1 1×11 for innovation… To get rid of the front mech for those that dont need all those gears… And let’s add in Pinion; if it works it will be the bolx!

Blunder goes to Ragley who had great products but showed how delays and poor quality control can almost kill a brand.

Nice retro RockShox stickers Gordy 😀

Did it for a while when my kids were tiny and all my riding was super short runs. It was a good way to make short boring rides a challenge, but now I have more time and better bikes I seldom bother. Interesting distraction for a while but I found it limited my riding after a while.
Old Kona Explosif with track ends and a bodged flip/flop hub.

If you fancy a Marley find a second hand Mmmbop… It misses the ISCG but they are great frames. Love Ragley geometry, not sure I trust their quality control after the last couple of years!

Having ridden the Bos stuff I’d still be tempted even with the maintenance issues… Fox pro pedal pish(tm) never did it for me and I don’t see the new CTD being magically better. Real shame Bos pissed off R53… I hope they sort something out.

Are both ends the same size? They should be on 44mm straight head tube so if a cup is tight in one end and loose in the other it’s fecked.

Flats for dicking-about and clips for getting agro-on-yo-ass!

I expanded that and found a few other bits including the part about Mud Engineer’s being a happy lot… and I still can’t figure out if it’s for real or a piss take?

My old next door neighbour was ace (he is still ace but I moved).

Works on the Isle of Barra but keeps this other house over here on the east coast of Scotland where he used to work as an teacher… a keen user of the belt with a reputation for colourful outbursts, and a habit of locking kids in cupboards.

His flat has no electricity and no running water. As far as we could tell it’s piled high with books and magazines with crawl spaces to get around. He is never seen without his trusty carrier bag and wears a sweater with holes in it… never any more or less whatever the weather. In the carrier bag is The Times, a country ways type magazine and probably some very hardcore homo porn (this is an assumption as we occasionaly got his mail which has been this, and we have seen him sitting looking at this with it hidden in his newspaper).

As a bloke to speak to he is increadibly interesting and knowledgeable but you don’t want to get too close as he smells a bit.
From the discussions with him we know he owns a load of propertys scattered about the country including one or two very large ruined castles.
I miss chatting with him and the next time I see him I’ll make sure he knows where we moved to so he can pop round.

My wife snogged Ally McCoist back when he was a footballer 😐

I was chatted up by Kim Deal (Pixies). She invited me to a party after a gig… unfortunately our conversation was intereupted and I didn’t find out about the invite for 6 months; the person she asked to invite me didn’t pass on the message as he wanted to go to a different party… the c&*^ 😥

Also available in ISCG versions… 55-65g so pretty light.

Cool vid. Not sure about the frame though…

Blackspire’s new ones look interesting.

What fork?

Here is another piece of excellent information for those trying to understand clipless and flats.

Fabian Barel on clips vs flats[/url]

Going from carbon soled disco slippers on dinky XTR pedals to 5/10 impacts on DMR Vaults is a massive change in levels of feeling.
With the disco slippers your connected to the bike in all directions but it’s a small metal to metal connection which has some float.
With Impacts on Vaults it’s like your glued to the pedal unless you physically remove the weight… there is absolutely more feel through the Impacts on flats.

I calm down if Im tired or not feeling it

This^

If I’m riding well and feeling great I’m unstoppable… but there are days and rides when I know to take the easy lines and cruise.

I try not to let loose the ego and bravado when riding in a group as that’s when things can go badly wrong.

I’m glad this thread made me look at my stash… I discovered that there are unlagged central heating pipes in the back of the cupboard where these were shoved when we moved house and a few of them which were up against the pipes were a bit warm.

I’ll be at B&Q tonight buying some lagging.

How many months/years of enjoying the benefits have you missed by waiting and fretting about if you’re buying the right one?

I found that an intersting read. I’ve spent the summer ridding flat’s for the first time in nearly 20 years 😳

I’ve ridden flat’s in the past but usually over winter… and I always ride flats for BMX so I have no problems switching back and forth; but it’s been an interesting experiment and I think my riding has improved because of it.

I’m heading back to SPD’s for the winter to get my warm boots out again… but I’ll be moving my cleats back a bit on the pedals and if there is a mild and dry day I’ll possibly be shoving the flat’s on to make sure I keep what I see as the good habits from having the skills to ride flats… but like the article says, if you have the skills SPD’s have the advantage.

“bucket heid”

Thank’s for sharing MrGrim.

I’m liking the gas bottle stove and if I can do this super cheap the summerhouse may well get some use through the winter.

Bookmarked for later use 8)

Next door neighbour fitted one when they gutted the house. I’ve no idea who installed it or if it works well but I could ask their cleaner as it is she who uses it twice a week 😆

Thanks for the link MrGrim that looks bang-on… although I think you do your summerhouse a dis-service by likening it to mine 😉

Another vote for a RH remote underneath on the left – it takes a bit of fettling to make it all work in there but I’ve managed it with SRAM and Shimano shifters.

The way I have it set up with the Formula brakes is perfect for one finger braking…. if your currently braking with two fingers I reccomend setting up like this and upgrading to one finger braking 😉

EDIT – I changed a 20+ year habit of two finger braking to one finger braking two years ago and it’s so much better.

I’m liking the idea of a stove for the summerhouse/hula hut.

Then use the summer sunloungers as winter day beds and get a Tilley lantern for all year round garden room tomfoolery

I think Stoners “Frontier” might take up a bit too much floor space to be a practical solution unless I can change the legs though… although being portable it would at least be easy to remove when not required.

I saw those pics. The black chilli’s don’t perish like that, but you can see the threads through the sidewalls which looks a bit off.

I thought it was only tyres on supermarket bikes sat outside railway stations with buckled wheels for years that had sidewalls which go like that

Here is a pic of my 17″ Ragley Troof (before the top tube cracked). It rode really well with the fork at 160mm and I’m gutted that it broke and could not be replaced with the same. I don’t fancy a Bagger due to the extra weight and different size headset and post which would mean I can’t swap bits to my other bike.

Here is the 16″ Mmmbop which I will run until I find something else or it breaks. Fork travel reduced by 30mm so as not to ruin the geometry. Feels like BMX in comparison to the Troof but gives me huge grins. Shame I have to faff with the fork travel now to swap the forks between the bikes.

I found 32mm stantioned forks such as Pike/Rev/Reba/Fox-32’s too flexy for my liking and the way I ride (I also broke the Pike and Rev).

I’m now running a Fox 36 Float with an internal spacer so the travel is reduced to 130mm… and I love them 8)

I’m running the non UST’s tubeless and I’m very happy with them. Be sure to scrub the inside of the tyre with soapy water and/or wipe with meths to remove the residue from the mold release agent (miss out this step and it takes ages to get Conti’s to seal).

I’m pretty hard on kit and these have been fine for nearly a year. If I was planning a trip to the alps or uplift I would be tempted to go UST for the back… as I had to do when running Rubber Queens… but the Baron feels more robust than RQ’s and I’ve not had a problem yet.

My sidewalls are beginning to look a bit shonky after a year but no problems other than not looking their best. All my Conti’s seem to do this but they last roughly 18 months to 2 years before they need replaced… the sidewalls do tend to go before the tread which either says the sidewalls are crap or the tread is long-lasting… take your pick, but that lifespan for me for tyres is what I’ve come to expect from all brands I’ve tried. I’m currently a bit of a Conti Black Chilli fan-boi as I like how the RQ and Baron tyres feel; other poeple have other opinions and YMMV etc etc.

New Alpine early next year… might be on my shopping list judging by the info below.

Dialled Alpine new version sneaky info release[/url]

Gives me a few months to break the Mmmbop 😈

Mike… will the seat tube be 31.6… please.

Ragley Bagger and Troof, Dialled Alpine, and Privee Shan are the only hardtails I can think of which cap properly take a 160mm fork without wrecking the geometry (raising bb and slackening the seat tube too much). But as others above have said; while a hardtail with a 160 fork can be made to work its a pretty specialist beast. I had a Troof with a 160 Float fork and it was a lot of fun until it broke, but the Mmmbop I have now with the same fork reduced by 30mm is also bloody good fun. Having said that I’m on the look out for another hardtail to take the 160 mm fork… But much as I loved the Troof’s geometry the Bagger is just too much weight for me to consider it (same geometry). Privee Shan also to heavy and Dialled Alpine no use as I run 1.5 forks and love Reverbs.

Dartmore Hornet is another one which might work… But not for me so I’ll keep looking.

Wife just finalised B&Q to do ours… It’s all been a pleasure so far. I hope it’s not a decision she/we will regret.

Gore Phantom +1. Best jacket I’ve used.
Add a Rab Generator Vest for when it gets freakin cold.

QR also because I run saddle at different height for flatties vs SPD’s.

QR for me. I like to be able to drop my dropper for some of the gnar I really enjoy.