Perhaps a better question to ask would have been:
“If all your current mountain bikes were stolen and you had to buy a new bike now, what size wheels would it have?”

Me — 29inch

I’ve just come back from the doing the Passportes and can’t see why you’d want to ride the climbs out there when there are lifts. I ride singlespeed in the UK and would never baulk at a climb but riding in the Alps is all about getting the kind of jollies that just aren’t available in very great measure in the UK. Climbs from resort level to anywhere with a good view will be anywhere between 1 and 2 hours, which is a big chunk of the 4-5 hours you say you’re prepared to be away from the family for. I had a guided day from Morzine three years ago and left the group mid afternoon to do a big climb which I’m glad I did once but I wouldn’t bother again. Riding time there is just too precious to waste crawling your way up the hills. This year I took a road bike to satisfy the climbing urge, which it did very nicely.

Just my opinion.

Phil, I’ll have to work out how to get the file off my phone and try that.

Your hardtail has just weed in your shoes too

Warm wee in my shoes would have been quite welcome at the end of that ride. I got so cold riding back down from Avoriaz that I was quite literally shivering uncontrolably. And then the wife phoned just as I was about to get in the shower. “Why are you sounding so grumpy?”.

34:18 works for me but even before I got the SS bug I was always a high gear stomper and we don’t have particularly big hills down here.
Breathing hard is a natural part of working hard. It’s how long you can do it for and how quickly you can feel relaxed afterwards that seperates the fit from the unfit. Do as the Pimpmaster says and you should notice an improvement before too long.

Forecast here.
I’m thinking warmish clothing as the temperature will be noticably lower at the tops of the lifts.

I’ll be on a Guinness foam coloured Mojo and my friend on a Zesty, pads, full face lids, looking gnar

I’ll be in my regular XC kit looking worried.

I’ll be riding from Morzine on the Friday, on a matt black Merida.

A few years ago when I was importing secondhand motorbikes from Japan a ship carry8ing one of my containers had a fire in the Mediterranean. After the event the shipping company declared ‘General Average’, which under maritime law requires all those with goods on board to share the cost of the loss. I was very glad I had taken out the optional insurance.

HH. Have you considered the Santa Cruz HIghball or Tomac Flint? My Flint is very light and XC.

32 inch wheeled go-anywhere bike? Another niche for Surly to fill?
How about a 32 inch Cross Check?

I’d have thought bigger wheels on road bikes would make the most sense on tourers where steady speed performance and comfort would take precedence over acceleration and low weight. However, tourers are a small sector of the market and in my experience not ridden by the sort of people who would chop in a perfectly good bike to be part of the latest fad, hence it would not be worth any manufacturer’s investment in R&D and tooling.

A guy I used to know split up with his wife, sold the house and bought a train ticket to Perth, Scotland, then rode to Perth Australia. He came back across America so I suppose that sort of counts. He said he wasn’t in too much of a hurry and took 18 months or so.

I went from QR rigid forks to 20mm axle 100mm suspension on my 29er and the increase in steering precision was very noticable.

You can live perfectly well without a through axle but once you’ve used on you’re unlikely to want to go back to QR.

I’m 48 now. In my late 20s I used to get respectable placings in XC experts with my heart rate peaking at 180. I can still get top ten in veterans but rarely get over 160bpm. Human variation? Am I just more efficient?

I rode a hardtail solo at the only completely dry Eastnor race in 2006 and had the saddle print on my backside for a week or so afterwards.

Rigid should be fine if it’s wet.

The difference the weather makes to solo riders is huge. I finished 23rd on 22 laps in the dry. The following year a friend finished 22nd on 12 laps in the wet.

Southern Hampshire — I own three singlespeeds.

……..oh, and a 140mm ful suss ‘holiday bike’ that gets ridden twice a year if it’s lucky.

No more posts from me here then, don’t want to piss on my own bonfire.

I predict 7 pages

It’ll hardly make one. It’s a sunny Saturday so there really can’t be that many people stuck in front of their pcs that care.

You’ll never get me on ‘wishy washy’ wheels.
29 and 26 are both great but 650B is for people who can’t make decisions.

1994 Synchros seat post (once repaired) on my winter bike.

When I was in Morzine for a couple of days in August 2010 it was 33 degrees at resort level. I’m guessing that I may have been wrong to assume that it’s always like that throughout the summer months.

A road map of France. Handy for some ‘me time’ planning.

I’m close to ordering some Halo Vapours for their tubelessness as my current rims (older Halo and DT Swiss) leave tyres too slack. Anyone tried the Vapours yet?

Great to hear you’re back on two wheels Nick.

Bump again while there’s another ‘Driving to the Alps’ thread active.

A common problem with 10 or more year old shimano shifters is that the grease becomes glue like and that stops the tiny springs on the pawls from doing their job. If that’s the case then a strip and re-lube could be all that’s needed. I’m sure there’s an awful lot of shifters that have been binned over the years for that reason.

Have you tried new cables yet?

Thanks.

And finally…………..

140mm full bounce or 100mm forked singlespeed?

celebrity home for retired actors

How appropriate! Yes I used to think it was all real too. Fond memories of a carefree age.

I’m still likely to be up for it too.

My bling 29er SS shortlist:

Niner Air 9 Carbon
Salsa El Mariachi Titanium
Intense Hard Eddie
Santa Cruz Highball Carbon

Thankfully I haven’t got the cash spare for any of them. The decision might kill me.

Bump for a new week.

About £500 for the bike I ride to work every day and £750(ish)for the Surly 1×1 that I put most off road miles on last year. I do however have several other bikes that cost me far more but got used far less due to the cack weather.
It all depends how you define ‘main’.

Very tempted. I’d have to take the day off work though.
I live just down the road from 40mpg and Ciderinsport but you’ll only find proper beer in my house.

DrP. Are you aware that the British Heart Foundation London to Brighton Night Ride is that weekend? That was bl00dy good fun last year, just over far too quickly. The following weekend is the Dunwich Dynamo which I’m hoping to ride.

Team Sport.
My son started with a local league, junior team when he was 6 and to be brutally honest was a bit crap. At the age of 7 I remember him going off mid match and crying behind the goal after someone had a go at him for a mistake he made. We stuck with it and he has improved dramatically in all aspects. He’s now 11 and is a better player (no superstar though), he has the respect and friendship of the rest of the team, he has learned to shake off the knocks and has had the confidence in the last year to go full on into rugby which he is very good at and has been selected for every match the school team has played.

All is not lost. Over the winter I took my son to the British Cycling coached junior track sessions at Calshot Velodrome. I was quite surprised to see just as many girls as boys.

Another option if your limit scews don’t reach and you have a cable stop on the seat tube is to run a short length of inner cable with the nipple sat in the cable stop to hold the mech in position.

I bought a new Galaxy last year and after a couple of months got thoroughly pi55ed off with daily charging so spent £15 on a really basic phone. The new one usually goes 10 days between charges.

I went on a package to Agadir with a friend back in the mid nineties. Good surf and huge beaches on the coast and the resort areas were about as relaxed as anywhere in the Arab world. We hired a Renault 4 and drove it to Marrakech and back over three days. One night in Marrakech for lively atmosphere and another out in the sticks for quiet atmosphere. Would definitely recommend the country. Hassle to buy stuff can wear you down but just be firm with them and walk away. At the end of the week I gave in and bought a ‘camel hair’ (alegedly) blanket from a beach trader which we still keep by the sofa for snuggling under on cold evenings. Take a stock of old T shirts or cheap watches to swap for stuff. They love that kind of thing there.