50:18 on 26 inch wheels works for me.

Justine Frischmann (formerly of Elastica)

This, although it’s not very secret

Also, I own FOUR singlespeeds.

I take my ‘pratting about’ very seriously.

From the top of the beach to the sea, and back. Several times, usually after dark. And a few drinks.

Whilst in the Army we had a day at the end of an exercise in Dusseldorf and went to the gravel pits behind the camp for a bit of sunbathing and swimming. The locals were all stripped off so after a bit we did too. One of the lads with us was very religious and a bit hesitant. For a month afterwards he wouldn’t stop telling everyone how he expected to feel dirty but instead felt incredibly liberated. A true ‘born again naturist’.

I want a steel rigid singlespeed so that I can ride to the pub

Check out the Viking fixie range. Cheap, basic and reasonably robust although probably not up to jumps and drop offs.

I want suspension simple coil suspension with the bare minimum of external adjustability

Really not very easy when rider weights vary so much. Cars and motorbikes can do it because the vehicle weighs so much more than the rider/driver.

I’ve got both. The 29er’s the race bike, the 26er’s the ‘pratting about in the woods’ bike. They’re both fantastic in the right situation.

The insistence of using cheap shit bearings in very expensive kit.

Posh bearings and efficient seals add cost, weight and drag, none of which are qualities that win over journalists in ‘ride it a couple of times over a fortnight’ group tests.

Also
Trade magazines forever talking about maximising your profit and business efficiency.

I wouldn’t want to ride flats there over the roots and bumps. Clipped in every time for me.

I’ve done it in normal XC kit with no problems. Most of the trails are that bumpy that you rarely go very fast, it just feels like you are. It certainly is possible to hurt yourself there but I’d look at knee and elbow pads before a full face helmet.

Late last year I heard that North Atlantic sea surface temperatures corresponded with wet summers. Warmer water has more evaporation and what goes up must come down. Usually over us. Hence global warming means we’re getting less and less likely to have a good summer.

Good read. 26 inches will not die as a wheel size because it’s so established and there are so many cheap bikes using it. However, there may come a time when like 8 speed cassettes and 25.4mm bars, the higher end options become fewer and fewer. I hope not.

Walked in, does that count?

Turn the television OFF.

If you don’t mind having the shape of the saddle worn into your arse for a couple of weeks afterwards you’ll be fine.

Quite right, but there doesn’t seem to be a way of changing it once you’ve hit the button.

They look better in green than black.

UPDATE: I’ve now got apair of forks to offer with the frame. Marzocchi MX Comps, 2004 in good condition. All together £150 or near offer.

The worst that can happen:

The headset cups become loose and rock in the frame causing the steering to go stiff under braking as the steerer tube makes contact with the cups.

If you get to that stage expect to have to buy a new headset as well as frame as they’ll both be worn. If you’re going to continue to use the frame for now get a headset with as long a press in section as you can find. Dirt jump headsets usually fit that requirement.

Sealed bearings every time for me, although I personally don’t have much faith in Hope hubs. The local sand and grit finds it’s way into the pawl cavity in no time.

My personal favourites are the DMR 9 speed and singlespeed hubs. Bearing life and weight are reasonable and they’re very very easy and cheap to service. They’re also available in red, which floats my boat.

Or there’s a scheme I’ve been thinking of for the bikes I don’t have demonstrators of – a guaranteed buy back scheme. Buy the bike, decide you don’t like it, I’ll buy it back at some decent price (exact figures to be worked out).

That sounds like a huge can of worms. Trying to agree a buyback price on something hardly used then trying to sell on something a bit niche that has been used?

Orange bean bag top, still going strong after 15 years!

Neoprene tubes I made myself and wear on my ankles to properly seal my winter boots. It’s got to be really chuffing wet before I get wet feet.

Not so much a bike but a material. Someone needs to work out how to add colour to carbon fibres. Imagine the possibilities. Tartan frames, checked handlebars?

The market’s changed for me as a LBS in the last 9 years since I started. At my first shop which was very tiny and back street I used to regard XT mechs and cassettes as essential stock. Nowadays I’m in a more central location with a larger shop but anything over Deore is just a liability.

Not all brands will pick up the £15 or so each way postage for a demonstrator. I’m happy to let anyone have a roll around outside the shop on any stock bike but £30 on a maybe struggles to compete with using the time to make progress on the pile of Claud Butlers and Apollos awaiting repairs.

We’ve had good results down here with Slime tubes. Dr Sludge tubes work similarly well but the sealant in them often glues the valve up.

Soma FM. Choice of 20 channels, some more listenable than others. Poptron and Underground 80s are my favourites.

Bars and saddles on my off roaders roughly level for now but every few years the bars rise a little to combat the aches of increasing age. A couple of years ago I flipped the stem on my road bike so the top of the bars is now level with the saddle. By the time I get to retirement age it’ll be cruiser bars all round.

For my mini tour in the south of France last year I only had one ring on the front. It quite adequately turned the one cog at the back.

50:18 on 26inch wheels for the record.

There’s some Halo wheels about that could be well within your budget if you don’t mind polished alloy rather than black. Find a LBS with an account with Ison.

I’m liking the look of Tweedlove.

There are plenty of waymarked trails in the hills north of Carcassonne. Look for Parc Naturel Regional du Haut Languedoc. Carcassonne itself is pretty and has it’s old Citadel and views across to the Pyrenees but if you want to stay near the trails you will be out in the sticks 40 or so miles away. Lacaune is where I passed the start of an ‘Enduro’ event. I stopped a couple of nights at a very nice B&B run by an Irish lady about midway between the two, here[/url].

The venue change has got me thinking it might be worth a go

I’m sure that is exactly the reaction the organisers were hoping for.
The state of the site last year I can understand and accept, given the weather, but not providing shelter at the changeover area was just plain tight and unforgivable.

My plan this year is to cycle from Toulouse to the med coast via the canal du midi – approx 150 miles 1 way

If you’re down that way I can recommend La Charmante[/url], a B&B run by a very nice Irish lady. It’ll involve a bit of a detour from the canal but the scenery and views up in the hills are worth it.

One idea I had was to try for a French Three Seas route. Channel, Atlantic and Med, then fly back from the South. I might be pushing my luck trying to do it in the four or five days I’m likely to be able to take off for it.

The world of cheap flights from the likes of Ryanair, Easyjet etc could open up a lot of options for a European point to point without having to push your luck by being away from home for so long. Last September I flew Bournemouth to Carcassonne for a long weekend riding to Millau and back to see that HUGE bridge. Total flight cost with bike carriage was £150 and I could ride to and from the airport.

They’re fine as a cheap way of putting a roof over your head in the unfashionable end of somewhere touristy.

The usual ‘just over 4000 miles’ of which about two thirds will have been off road and almost all on singlespeeds.

@PeterPoddy – being wet, muddy and gritty is only uncomfortable and cold if you don’t have the right gear

Covering that expensive gear in abrasive cack is a very good way to shorten it’s useful life.

Also, leaving trail of cack in the pub is a no no.

get best worst of both worlds and go for a 27.5er wishy washy bike …

Not the 2 stroke Honda?

That was my first thought. I’m dissappointed now.

I must be the odd one out. I got bored and gave up after about half an hour.