There are times I really want the seatpost slammed 😯

TINAS… I can understand where your coming from about what the DH crowd do but they have the advantage of walking the course which is designed with bikes going through it in mind… not the same as coming into a section of steep techy trail and discovering it bears little resemblance to when you last rode it (especially at night).

I’m trying to break the habit of gripping the seatpost with my thighs/knees… this is what I used to do before I got a Reverb… I think it’s a bad habit and with the Reverb I’m now riding a lot more with the seatpost lowered (not slammed) and it feels great… but when the going gets GNAR slamming it the extra 60-80mm I have available makes a difference.

I don’t think it matters how tall you are it’s the terrain and how you like to ride which determines if 125mm is enough seatpost drop. IMHO and IMHE 125mm is enough for a lot of trails but I still use a QR with my Reverb’s so that when I’m hitting the real GNAR I can slam the post further… YMMV etc etc.

A worthwhile detour when you up there… makes for a nice little descent to the saddle 😉

Canberra

Ah now is that the classic that is Lochnagar? Did you manage the tricky right hander this time on the Glas Alt descent?

Didn’t even attempt it… the path below this point is really bad this year too.

Brilliant day out in the big hills 8)

Nothing new from me this year… but the weekend delivered an old favourite with good friends 8)

See also these… MT Zoom[/url]

I’m just not sure I would.

Thankfully (at last) we have seen the sun for a few days this summer so I have been able to justify this.

The bikes are just part of the terrible life my wife has… in her mind.

Road bikes all look the same to me…

Indeed. And it’s not as if it isn’t Friday afternoon and the sun is shining for the first time this year.
Let’s get out and ride in that beautiful countryside we’re all harping on about!!

Or sitting in the Brew Dog bar with tired legs from last night’s three peaks of Bennachie working your way through some fantastic beverages…
Tokyo!

To be fair though I’ve seldom had bad service from either of the main bike shops in town.

Neither have I… it was more a generalisation about other shops in Aberdeen but perhaps it reads as if I meant bike shops… oops!

For the record… I’ve not had bad servce from any of the Aberdeen bike shops 🙄

Well spotted gonefishin 😆

He’s getting stock in now and has great plans. I was sorry to see Joe, Chris and Sam from Cycle-World go but Arbroath is not that far away (even if going down there is a bit like going back in time 20 years 😉 ).

I think Aberdeen or Edinburgh are a great places to be based near. I’m in Stonehaven just south of Aberdeen and like to visit Edinburgh a few times a year to play in a city and get some extra culture (which can be a bit lacking up in Aberdeen); but I wouldn’t want to live in ANY city. The mountains, forests and beaches up near Aberdeen are amazing, although the weather can often make them only for the committed (IMHO this is a good thing).

A few of the villages/towns around Aberdeen have managed to retain some semblance of a community and are not total commuter shells. Stonehaven, Banchory, and Inverurie spring to mind as large enough to have other things going on. Stonehaven in particular is still a great holiday destination and has the outdoor pool in the summer and various festivals and events which are rightly famous… and all with a beach on one side and hills/mountains on the other (it always feels like a mountain when your riding out of Stonehaven as all the roads go up). In the winter there are often surfers in the bay and the sailing club hosts events through the summer.

Us Aberdeen people whinge about the commuting but if you’ve been in any other city it’s really not that bad (unless there is an accident or road works which almost always cause total chaos as most roads are single lane and the alternatives are often far worse). You could try to choose wisely on which side of town to be and if possible pick your hours to avoid the worst of the traffic, but your only commuting and at work for part of the time so best to live where you want and how you want (same as anywhere else then 🙄 ). If you can use the train then it’s brilliant, with some people biking one way and taking the train back.

There are quite a few independent little bike shops about as well as the obvious big boys in Aberdeen itself. The new bike shop (BikeRemedy) in Stonehaven should do well with Christian at the helm… he’s an Essex refugee but fits right in and loves the place. On the subject of shops customer service can be lacking in many of the Aberdeen shops but as with most places the independents tend to be better than the chains, you might pay a premium for this service but at least your rewarding service rather than filling shareholders pockets.

As above… see Aberdeen as Aberdeenshire and there really is always something going on somewhere, with the bonus of most people being friendly (outwith certain areas of Aberdeen… see local press for details ).

Transport links for holidays etc can be a pain although it’s not a huge hassle to drive to Edinburgh or Glasgow (or Manchester) to get holiday flights.

If you plan to bike through the winter budget for some bright bike lights and good winter kit 😉

Lola.

We had her brother Boris for a while but he dissapeared which made us sad.

No pictures… but I have a dream.

Large double garage onto the street, out the back of which are large french windows opening onto a paved area with a victorian veranda overlooking my herb garden. Not quite sure where to put the outdoor kitchen with wood fired pizza oven but near the herb garden and making use of the cover offered by the veranda would seem sensible. None of which can be overlooked by neighbours and yet is in the middle of a great little town.

I did say it was a dream didn’t I 😥

Maltese Falcon?

I’ve no idea what it’s like to ride or own but it felt light and not overly bulky when I picked one up at the Alpine Bikes shop at Glentress.

How hard can it be?

Frank Schneider won the Megavalanche Master Challenger Class on a singlespeed hardtail* 8)

*Frank Schneider = awesome skills.

If I sold the forks and added the cost of the avy mod I’m close to adding a few quid and getting some new forks.

Happy to spend cash on the forks but don’t want to throw money away.

But it “could” be argued that an Avy upgraded fork is better than any standard new fork**

**I’ve no idea if this is factually correct but Avalanche stuff does get good reviews.

Motion control was sh1t in Pike forks (a very overrated fork IMHO)… Upgrade to Mission control or Avalanche… I’d love to try the Avy.

Nice find wwawwas… perhaps I can take the trusty “corby” with me 8)

If only one of these would fit in my jersey pocket 😥

You never know…

Not sure I’d call this a mountain but it’s a great place.

This is a mountain but I didn’t take any pics at the top.

Wow… and I finished the ironing.

I was on an axle a month until I tried EVO… now I’ve been clean for nearly a year.

DMR Vaults, the huge platform makes the shoe pretty unimportant. Cheap Airwalks from TK-Max / Matalan?

My local forest has heaps of this…

I don’t really enjoy pulling tiny thorns from my fingers.

No offence but I think you are worrying too much.

This ^^^

I love my Reverb… if it breaks I’ll repair or replace… same as any other useful bike part.

Thinking about it my Reverb has now lasted longer than a couple of QR’s I’ve had

Merlin Malt 3

The MMX clamp works as a clamp on it’s own, it doesn’t need anything else. I run the RHS MMX upside down on the LHS and it works perfectly 😀

coffeeking +1

Water is the only thing I ever put in my camelback these days as I hate having to clean it…

I don’t like flavoured drinks so Maxim original which is a pure complex carb is the only one I have any experience with. I used to use it when I raced and I think it helped for the longer races and rides, but I see little point these days as I can stop and eat proper food.

Big glass of milk shortly after hard exersise in the “protein window” was reccomended to me by a few trainers to aid recovery. Bung a raw egg and a banana in for a extra salmonella and tasty burps.

I think the isotonic thing is pretty much BS and all an energy drink should be doing is putting carbs into your stomach for your body to process into energy…

I’ll not be watching the program as I suspect I’ll learn little and end up “shouting at the TV”.

I don’t like flavoured drinks so Maxim original is the only one I have any experience with. I used to use it when I raced and I think it helped for the longer races and rides, but I see little point these days as I can stop and eat proper food.

Big glass of milk shortly after hard exersise in the “protein window” was reccomended to me by a few trainers to aid recovery.

I think the isotonic thing is pretty much BS and all an energy drink should be doing is putting carbs into your stomach for your body to process into energy… YEMV etc etc.

NOt enough pics in this thread.

Good point well made Wrecker… 8)

140mm will make the bottom bracket daft high on a bike which already has an overly high BB… IMHO etc etc. YMMV etc so it could be worth a punt but I’d give it a whirl with the 120’s first and ignore the weight issue.

Vockler has been supurb!! Awesome riding from someone who might not have started. Would have been more interesting had he been firing at the start.

To correct a few Sky are not making it boring, it’s the fact nobody can match then that is. Like saying Aaron Gwin should slow down a bit to make it more interesting. Thats Not Racing

This… and was it ever much different when Amrstrong/Postal or Mig etc dominated?

It’s been a classic TDF and fascinating to watch IMHO… yesterday was awesome and I was on the edge of my seat when Nibali attacked and Froome/Wiggo upped the tempo and clawed him back… nail biting as usual. I love the TDF 8)

Messiah, have you weighed your AM in its different guises?

Hi Mildred, I’m sad to report that yes I have 😳

With the Float’s F&R it’s 32lbs and with the CCDB/RC3Ti it’s 34lbs.

Which is pretty good considering there is (almost*) no carbon and most of the stuff is burly enough to survive me… Hammerschmidt/Reverb/Flow-Hoops

*Hammerschmidt has a carbon bashguard… I’m sure that saves loads of weight 🙄

I’ve seen a couple of Thomsons break, so not indestructable. I’m a serial seatpost breaker (and not because my frames are too small… although there is evidence that some of them may have been pretty damn small).

Blackspire Shore if you can find one is very long and in my experience very strong…

The frame broke… 26.8mm is a really stupid size.

Oooh I do like that P20… and with flat bars and bar ends it looks great 8)

Rightyho… I’m going to take the “experiment” risers of my Explosif and put the flat bars and bar ends back on… it feels (and looks) wrong with risers (IMHO etc etc).