Drunk from afternoon works do.

I don’t like the way this thing looks or the height of the top tube but boy-o-boy does it like the gnar!

Looks “meh” but rides “grrrrrr”.

Nicolai UFO? Special order only now or secondhand.

Jr Messiah#1 already has an MTB so Santa is bringing one of these.

Looking forward to seeing his face, and having him with me at the ramps 8)

Why the short cranks and different gearing? I use the same spread as on my SS since I ride the same trails fixed as I do free…

I was running a splined XTR crank-ring and have experienced the lockring come loose and play on the ring/spline interface.

When running fixie offroad using the brakes is a sign of weakness… you must resist the chicken-switchen 😉

Tazzy’s absinthe!

Nothing comes to close to Formula RX/R1/Th1 for lever feel IMHO… best brakes I have ever used.

I sailed across the atlantic in this in 1991…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fryderyk_Chopin_(ship)

Straight out of the Clyde into a force 9 in the Irish sea was a good start.

Force 10 off the Bay of Biscay was entertaining, especially when one of the top “sky” sails came loose and needed to be lashed down in the middle of the night… guess who was volunteered!

Next big dodgy was off Bermuda in a 10. The fastest she had gone at this point was 12knotts with all sails set. We ended up doing the same with only one sail, and with the wind from behind it was pretty rough going. Only certain crew were aloud on deck for safety reasons and there is a huge risk of driving the ship into a wave and thus down into Davy-Jones-Locker.

Great adventures but hairy at times… but nowhere near as hairy as it must have been when this happened to it…

*shudder*

From the “central belt” where many folk live Laggan is straight up the A9… Tomintoul and Glenlivet is the arse-end of nowhere 😕 It will work as a multi center stay with Aviemore and Laggan but as a day trip from almost anywhere it’s an arse to get to.

PS. If people think MTB’ing in Scotland is crap then feel free to stay away and leave the trails to those of us who appreciate them 😆

PPS. I love trail centres, and moontains, and forests… I just love biking me

… none of them are Irish?

Raceface diabolus bottom bracket has really long cups with loads of threads on them, might save the day.

Yep – getting them involved with everything works well. We hav a little Ikea wooden stepladder in the kitchen so they can come and help us with most things… it invariably ends up in chaos and mess but it’s great fun… and they always eat whatever they help make.

My two boys love gutting squid… but even I think that is weird.

Toad in the hole is always a dinner winner in our house. Kids love mixing the batter, which is the same for pancakes and yorkies 8)

Banana muffins if you want a cake option.

Most Sunday morningd in our house involve the above pancake batter with grated apple, mushed banana and cinnamon… delish.

Right – so how are you going to slow for the obstacle / stop yourself acheiving escape velocity? Some of us ride where descents take many minutes dropping hundreds or even thousands of feet

I use my head… which is why I wear a helmet 😉

Skillz innit.

If I only rode on dry dusty trails I’d have only been out twice this year.

As above – embrace the filth.

My local forest is horrendous when it’s wet, which is most of the time; after twenty five years of hacking the trails up through the winter months I can report that the trails are still there… and when the forestry decide to chop down the lot the damage we have done will be gone 🙄

Changes by the day – but always the following.

Tube – one or two depending on length and location of ride
Puncture repair kit
Multi-tool (must have chain breaker)
A few links of chain
Piece of rag
Space blanket
Go-bar

Probably
Windproof top
Hat or buff or bandana

Winter possibles
Spare gloves
Spare hat
Spare buff
Down gillet
Waterproof jacket and/or trousers (I try not to ride in these as I always boil so they are emergency items unless I have to wear it).

Key not carrying too much is to tailer what you carry to the ride so as not to carry stuff you will never need.

Are short chainstays on 29er’s to be a short lived fad as they were in the 26er elevated chainstay era?

PS. I have no idea… 29er virgin over here but just wondering if history is going to repeat itself (like a kipper burp).

Actually one of the reasons I ride rigid is because I can’t stand the dive in front forks on descents if you hit the brakes, so I sympathise with those people.

Brakes and descents don’t mix – one or the other but NEVER together.

I love bikes… but people who ride them are invariably people 😉

Riding the cheapest and shonkiest bike is the “next niche” as it shows everyone (who is looking… and cares) that your clearly the better rider 🙄

Enjoyed that, looking forward to dry springs trails already.

215 x 63 CCDB = 550g + 450# Steel coil at 520g = 1070g

215 x 63 CCDB + 450# Ti coil at 310g = 860g

215 x 63 Fox Float = 280g

Spot the lightest option… but the CCDB does feel much better in the GNAR!

I once had a 375# 5th Element Ti coil for this size of shock which weighed 180g… shame I had to run my frame on the 4″ travel setting to get it to work.

My Balfa Minuteman was 7-1/2lbs of rad-core-steelness… I still cracked it 😈

Or, if you love your bike and everything else on is perfect then why not save 200g and buy that Ti spring baby!

I did a back to back test thing in the summer and wrote it up on here. If I wanted or needed a new air shock it would probably be a VIPr, but my custom Pushed Float is good enough for me not to change.

Cane creek steel spring will be about 520g and Ti will be about 310g.

Happy to reccomend what I have…

This is a Medium frame from 2010 with 1.5″ Headtube and HammerSchmidt mounts. Free options… no Nicolai’s are stock since you get to spec things for free.

I run air or coil shocks on it depending on what the ride deserves (or if I can be bothered changing them).

I’ve had it nearly two years and it’s an extremely nice bike. I have nothing to complain about, as Geetee says above there are no bad habits and hence nothing about the frame I would change.

Similar position last August. Tarted up CV… had a few enjoyable interviews (I know… A process I was dreading but which turned out to be good and made me realise how useful I am 🙄 ).

Found a far better job, enjoyed the process of quiting and the exit interviews and am much happier etc etc the end.

As above – go find better.

Why is “steel” an upgrade from “Aluminium”?

Please expain on the back of a kebab, salad and sauce please 🙄

When trying different length shocks on bikes they advise you to do a clash check by taking the shock off and taking the linkage through it’s range of motion – I guess this is not something you would necessarily think to do when using offset bushings… and yet there is obviously a clash there. Buff it smooth and move on… I doubt it’s done any structural harm.

I’m not convinced that peated whisky ages as well as non peated. Some of the most enjoyable peated’s I have tried have been young and the older ones disapointing… but I’m happy to be persuaded otherwise. I do like a nice session of tasting loads of different whiskys.

I’ll have a double (post that is) 😆

Old Pulteney is a current favourite of mine. It tastes like the sea, but without the jonnies and shite in it. It’s the northern most distillery on the mainland and has a complex taste, a bit sweet, and is nowt like laphroig.

Agree… if you like HP then the Old Pulteney is a must to try. For more of a peppery hit try Talisker.

For smooth get a Dalwhinnie… it’s next to Laggan so think of trails as you enjoy

To my mind, you need to match the geo when the forks are at full compression. That would give you a comparable angle, and that’s when you need your geo to be “right”.

Disagree – when your forks are likely to be at full compression you’ll be hanging on for a white-knuckle-ride… set the geometry for how the bike will be when ridden… but make sure that when at full compression the head angle isn’t so steep as to feel like it’s going to tuck under and throw you over the top (this where slack head angles come in), and that the BB isn’t going to hit the ground! Where the saddle is at this time is unimportant as your ass won’t be on it 😆

Anyone for a game of Quango? =

a. A group who’s sole purpose is to make Scotland the greatest place to be a mountain biker and deeply cares about our wants and needs
b. A group of self serving Muppets who’s only interest is bank rolling their own lifestyles by hoovering up all the available grants/cash and giving F-all back
c. Some bizarre ineffectual mix of the above two options which may have it’s heart in the right place but seems incapable of producing anything other than meetings and the resultant reports

I would so love to be proved wrong but history is on my side 🙄

ok –

*shudder*

Iscg?

2 days ago.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/truvativ-hamerschmidt-qs

Kill or cure…