Re the long trip debate.

There’s a guy on the (mainly US) VTR250 forum I’m a member of, who’s just bought another VTR250 from a member in Coastal California. Last week he collected it and rode it back to his home in Florida. Just under 3000 miles in six days on a 22 year old 250. Respect.

what an attention seeking $*&%

The kind of comment I usually see on AOL every time there’s a story about Katie Price.

Naturally slim (friends say skinny) but even when training hard never lost that last little bit to show a proper six pack. My body seems to react very slowly to changes in routine. I can eat lots or little and stay roughly the same weight and I can train lots or little and perform the same in races. I ride now because I enjoy it rather than following any kind of training plan but I still seem to do nearly as well as I did 20 years ago and weigh the same. The downside was that when I was training seriously I plateaued and never got any better.

Yes, I got home last night the cleanest I’ve been for many weeks on a Thursday ride.

What about orange squash !?? I can’t fit a bottle cage on my frame so I installed a long straw in one of the bolt holes on the top tube. Is that bad ? Will it kill my bike ?

It’ll be OK as long as it’s mixed 50:50 with anti-freeze.

Wear the warmest gloves you can find.

Spend a bit of time getting used to the extra weight when paddling it about. It’ll go past the point of no return far quicker than a 125.

+1 for taking it easy on the brakes.

Advertising IS a waste of money despite people phoning me up daily to try and persuade me otherwise.

Spending too long in the pub CAN spoil a ride.

BMW photoshoot for the (then) new 3 series.

UN70 series bottom brackets haven’t been available from Shimano for a few years now.
A few folks round here are using TA Axix titanium BBs. Very light and the bearings are easily replacable.

Nanny State

Unfortunately there’s an awful lot of people who really do need nannying.

I’m not sure that DMR do a qr version

DMR hubs come out of the same factory as On-One hubs and the axles are interchangeable. Some time ago a friend wanted to convert his On-One to bolt up so we swapped axles. Seemples.

Dothie Valley

Memories of watching a friend cartwheeling his way down the valley towards the river and thankfully missing all the protruding rocks. Very scary.
That happened in a dip where the path’s slipping away just before the rise up to the rocky step with the sheer drop.

Viz annual?

Riding the cliff top path from Milford on Sea to Barton on Sea in Hampshire one summer evening I once came across a man striding purposefully along the path playing a set of bagpipes.

No riding yesterday but I went running for an hour. At the furthest point I jumped a puddle on a grassy stretch and found the far side to be slippy as anything very slippy. My feet slid out from under me and I came down flat on my back on very soggy grass.

I actually quite liked the wiggly bit through the trees when it was muddy and slippery as a trialsy interlude. I agree that it wasn’t sustainable in that format though.

I bet the ‘natural’ section of the Raven must be interesting. The wiggly descent through the trees. I’ve only been there twice but it looks like a place that only rarely dries out. The whole place is an exellent build.

Back in the summer there were rumours that the Kinesis FF29 waas going to be made available with swappable dropouts. It’s had cracking reviews but we’re still waiting for the SS version.

My choice would be the Samta Cruz as they’re supposed to have put a lot of effort into making the adjustable dropouts work well and aluminium feels racier than steel in my opinion.

My Tomac Flint feels great to ride but the eccentric BB is always a fight to get adjusted and changes the saddle/pedals relationship cumulatively over time.

I do hope you mean the cat and not my dead relative. For the record I have neither.

That made me chuckle. I hope that was the intention.

In our experience introducing a new male to an existing male in the house has been OK with either tolerance or genuine friendship being the result, but we’ve yet to have a very successful male/female pairing. That could just be down to the individual cat’s characters though. Our longest serving inmate (16 years) has always been a playful boy and other males have seen a gentle swipe as banter whilst the females just get grumpy.

Plein Sud looks very nice but stretches the ‘affordability’ criteria too much for this year. Bardonecchia it is.

Will have a look at that thanks Flashy.

Thanks again.
It’ll most likely be the end of Jan or beginning of Feb we’ll go, preferably half board in a mid sized hotel with it’s own bar.
There seem to be several of those in the Neilson brochure.

We went to Bulgaria last year and got lucky, arriving the week after the biggest snowfall for 20 years.

You’re not the only one Flashy, I have seen it too. Not sure why, most of my recent non-bike browsing has been cheap flights for wishful thinking about next summer and books for Xmas presents?

Thanks

Soma FM[/url] Underground 80s at least a couple of days a week here. In a couple of weeks I’ll give their ‘alternative’ Christmas channels an airing.

I’ll also give 6 a go soon.

Act your age —————— get a skateboard.

+1 for spending some time out in the sticks. You won’t believe how dark it gets and how bright the stars look on a moonless night. Wherever I’ve gone I’ve found people in the rural areas to be more genuine. Unless it’s changed in the 18 years since I went there it’s worth taking some old T shirts and cheap digital watches to swap. I was asked for mine many times. Importantly, resist ALL offers of ‘wacky baccy’. I’ve heard stories that once you’ve bought it they demand more money not to tell the police you’ve got it.

The best secondhand one you can find if you’re intending serious off road use.

Shimano Revoshifters give the lightest action of any ‘gripshift’ and don’t cost too much. Some of the cheap twist shifts are really dire.

I swapped the shifters on my son’s 24 inch wheeled bike from twist to rapidfire and he still rode everywhere in the same gear. We had BIG arguements over that. When he graduated to a 26er I built it singlespeed and he loved it. It’s now 1×8 but only because I took him to Innerleithen.

Epic down river canoe trip somewhere exotic? Or is that too sensible?

Count me in………..

My lad got riding somewhere around four. There was no ‘eureka’ moment, it was a gradual progression so no particular date to remember 🙁

Tomac Flint. My best all round bike (now I’ve got bouncy forks on it) but when conditions are perfect just not as playful as my 26er. Am I allowed to say that here?

Or none at all even!

The building next to my wife’s bakery shop was for years semi-derelict looking and used for furniture storage by a student landlord. Just over a year ago he leased it to Sainsburys who turned it into a ‘Local’. Since then my wife’s takings have increased 40% as it contributes to making the whole area look smarter.

njee20 – Member
I stand by my comment, hub gears on a race bike do not belong!

I won the Guernsey Veterans XC using an Alfine 4 years ago!

Aside from any efficiency disadvantages, 9 tooth sprockets would wear horrendously quickly when used off road.

Pimptastic!!

If it was mine I’d be ditching the front mech and fitting a bouncy fork.

Nice though.

Just before his first birthday we took Junior Balanced to Greece. During the coach transfer he had one of his ‘special poos’. The kind that no nappy known to man can contain. It overflowed on to Wifey’s lap, the seat and then the floor.