These are my son’s Adidas Stan Smith’s, which have been his all purpose bike park/bmx and skate shoe for far, far too long. Although they are now exceptionally breathable, what with the extra holes, it wouldn’t be wise to actually breathe in their vicinity. In this case, some new shoes might genuinely save lives and significant decontamination expense.

Thanks all! I’ll give the Easy Composites ET 500 a go and update for future reference.  Cheers!

Man hoovering presents problems, in addition to the fact I hate doing it and the living room carpet is filthy.

With my wife finding the whole Zwift thing another mildly amusing temporary fixation of her greying yet in-denial husband I feel the need to join in the conversation, so I don’t start talking to myself about how awful or awesome my last ride/race was.

It all started so innocently, with my son’s dh season written off (possibly more than his season) with a complicated elbow break. To help his recovery/keep him motivated while the bones did the knitting thing, I bought an Elite Qubo from Wiggle for much cheapnness. Couldn’t get it to work (wrong ANT I now know) and by the time I’d upgraded the firmware and got it working he had completely lost his dh mojo, started pinging about on his bmx and I had a pristine, ridden-once smart turbo trainer. Thus it began…

Fast forward to now – and off the back of Zwift I’m back out on the road bike and contemplating all sorts of idiocy like enduros and road racing and slinging my leg over a track bike for the first time in a long(ish) while.

Anyway, say hello if you see my pixellated version out there – I’m racing Cat B and taking a kicking on the hills but hanging in there, under the admittedly odd name of M ezimov (although my first name is not ‘M’ and second is certainly not ‘ezimov’. Cheers all!

I’m on a 2015 Ariel 151 and the bushes have been replaced on numerous occasions. The offending articles are the central pair of bushings on the linkage but it looks as though the new models have a sealed bearing instead of a Norglide bush. The rep advised me that this part will be a straight swap for the old so there is hope for the rattling Ariels out there.

Other than wishing they made an XL, I’m still happy with mine: climbs OK, descends far better than I do. The 2017 model looks good but I’d give serious consideration to one of the 2016 models which have a chunk of cash off and replace the linkage with the new part. Having ridden one of the demo XT/Fox 36 bikes at Ft.William World Cup this year I’d recommend it.Better colours too, methinks.

Lovely bikes. Although not the full carbon version, I got a Kili Flyer 121 frame from Sprockets last year and built it up with Fox 34s and the usual Shimano mishmash for my wife. She is suddenly a better descender and still gives me a bending on the ups. Such is life, but the bike is ‘the best ever’, so she says.

Have a look at shredxs.com. Nice kit for the gnarlier sprog.

They’re a company based in the Highlands who support all the local events and some of the designs are based on kids’ own ideas.

Some very cheap hardtail 29er frames on there too. I’ve just coughed up somwhere approaching £53 for one of these:

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/cube-ltd-29-frame-green-n-blue-233720/wg_id-276

Worth a punt for a project, assuming you’re 6-feet plus.

The Black Isle Mountain Bike Club is going strong; based at Learnie with night rides Tuesday and Thursday and Sunday rides across a range of venues in the North. We’re mostly focussed on bringing kids into mountain biking and racing and have a big (and vocal) presence at local and national xc and dh events.

Facebook ‘Black Isle Mountain Bike Club’ and you’ll get the picture. Happy to have a guest grown up along!

Alternatively there is the Ben Wyvis CC, notionally based in Dingwall, who have an XC-race oriented wing and also cater for a wide range of abilities including women and kids too.They too are on FB. Hope this helps!

Cheers, James

I’ll second the sticker recognition as GL 330’s. The hubs look like Mavic 501’s; I’ve got a pair of these from 1993 which are still on the original bearings, so the’re certainly built to last.

Also, tub repairs aren’t difficult; it just takes patience, strong thread, some Copydex and a thumb of steel. Changing a tub on the road is one of the easiest puncture repairs you’ll ever do (assuming you remember to carry a spare).

I have a pair of the low Teva links and the mids and much prefer the mids. The sole is the same between the two and fits the bill for me; I like being attached but not too attached to shift my feet on the pedals and they work well, used with Wellgo Magnesium flats.
The extra protection afforded by the mids has saved my bacon from being snaffled by the rocks of Laggan, Golspie and the like. Also comfy off the bike and jet-washable without disintegration. Very highly recommended!

“It hasn’t sunk in yet: I emptied the tanks and am stoked to have podiumed”. Any combination of the above when uttered by a sweaty athlete. Or a dry athlete. Their state of post-exercise bodily cooling not being my main concern.

Thank you kind sir! 2 pairs coming this way!

Geoff Capes when I was a wee lad at an athletics meet at Meadowbank. The memory is particularly sharp given that a) it was my first brush with someone off the telly and b) it was my first brush with someone off the telly who my crazy old dad squared up to and advised to ‘go back home wee man’. I won’t say how it ended but suffice to say that a beard is not a sign of weakness…

Oops – wrong forum – please delete me.