An update:

I’ve been using the Shimano/Magura combinatio for about a month now since the local trails got wet enough to bring out the winter bike.
They really are very nice brakes. Power is better than with the original Magura levers but not quite up with the Magura Louises I’ve got on another bike. There’s solid pressure at the bite point and the pads retract far enough that the sandy soil locally doesn’t cause rapid pad wear (unlike the Shimano Deores I used for a season).

Yes, I’m very happy with them.

Somewhere under £1000 a year for me, a bit over that for wifey. We make up for it in road tax and insurance as we have two cars, a van and a motorbike between us.

Early 2004. The company I was at finally found out I was spending most of the day on the internet. This was mainly because they didn’t have much work for me to do and had downgraded me from engineer to secretarial and told me that I wouldn’t be getting a pay rise until my pay fell in line with the work they had for me. I was suspended pending a disciplinary so resigned before they had the chance to sack me. I believe that gained me a month’s pay in lieu of notice. Six weeks later I opened my bike shop which I’m still running very happily.

I took a bike to Agadir when I went with a friend in the mid nineties. It was good for getting a little way out of town but we didn’t find much in the way of off roading in that area. The few trails we did follow were more dirt roads and dead ended at small collections of houses with kids hanging round looking at you like you’d just landed from another planet.

While we were there we hired a car and drove to Marakech, spending a couple of nights away from our hotel. I’d recommend that if you can tear yourself away from the surf. When you go take any old shirts and cheap watches you can find. I had many offers from locals to swap my shirt or watch for varius souvenirs.

Michelin Wildgrip’r 2.25s are fat, don’t cost too much and work in non-clay type mud. 26er only.

Conti Rubber Queen 2.4s are about the same size and look like they’d grip better but roll worse. They start at £14.99 for the wire beaded versions.

In one of the nineties winter olympics I remember hearing about a speed skater who won everything from the sprint to the marathon. Can’t remember who he was though, anyone here know?

Yes it would look better without the mudguard, but at this time of year I’d look a lot worse without it.

With fat tyres and a relatively upright riding position it’s really good for chugging through the slop we get down here through the winter. Certainly not a race bike but a very good ‘keeping going’ bike.
To my mind it’s the perfect winter bike; simple, solid and with enough personal touches for it to be MY winter bike.

Perhaps I should have used the title “Spritebike or Shitebike”

A red bell tho, awesome

It’s one of these

How comfortable do you find that seat?

It actually works very well for me, but then arses are like fingerprints, every one slightly different.

Yes, it looks like you can if you copy and paste the WHOLE address…………..phew

frantically trying to get the image to work…………..

+ a very big 1 for heated grips. They make a HUGE difference when we get some proper winter weather. When your hands are warm it’s rare that the rest of you won’t be.

If had a week to spare I’d look a little further afield. South west Ireland has a huge variety of bays and beaches and some of the best beginner friendly surf I’ve found. Not sure about the trails but I bet someone here knows.

To the OP, are you mixing new and old chains and cogs? That could cause the problem.

To kayak23, I ran my first singlespeed with that system and got ‘tip of the month’ in MBUK for it. Only problem is that it doesn’t give a full links worth of adjustment so you have to be lucky with your combination of cog sizes and maybe change the chain earlier than you might otherwise.

Blue ones.

The Halos I’ve just laced up for my Surly look fantastic.

and one of these:

There’s a place in Woolston that powder coats frames for £30ish. Several of the local gang have used them with good results.

I’ve got some bright blue Halo rims just waiting to be mated with my green Surly. ‘Seaweed bike’?

Three Maids Hill singletrack for the New Year route please.

Used to really enjoy club rides with the local tri club so one day I entered a local race. It turned out to be the most miserable competitive outing I’ve ever had. Before the race I was made to faff about disabling some of my gears. During the race we were all stopped by the police escort twice for chevronning across the road. I’d deliberately not worn any club colours to mark myself out as an individual and newbie and distance myself from anybody elses agendas yet I still had to endure verbal abuse for not following the ‘team’ tactics. I thought the whole point of a race was to try and keep up with the leaders not sit back and watch a few local heroes disappear into the distance. That was nearly 20 years ago and I’ve never felt inclined to enter another. Their loss.

I do still enjoy road riding for going faster and further in limited spare time and just sometimes the whole smoothness and efficiency of it.

EDIT. And not having to spend so much time cleaning up afterwards.

I’d be up for that ride

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Skateboarding memories from the late 70s…….

I lusted after a set of red Kryptonics but never got them although I did make myself a fibreflex deck in the garage, following the instuctions in a magazine.
There weren’t any skateparks on the Isle of Wight then so me and the lads used to catch the ferry over to Portsmouth and skate along the sea front to the Southsea Skate Park, which I think is still there.

My Gamut one is light and does the job, just like the ST review said it would.

Probably worth registering and posting on the New Force[/url] message board. There’s plenty of trails within easy reach of Winchester and a couple of groups who ride regularly in the evenings in that area.

Surly socks. Not cheap but luuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrvvvvvvvvvvvlllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

I may be a bit out of date but I think there’s better money and chances of work if you can get a more specialist license such as fork lift or crane operator. When I was in the forces those courses were regarded as pretty much a meal ticket for life.

47 here and struggle to get more than 2 good nights sleep in a row.
I don’t seem to have slowed down any on the bike but it’s easier to provoke various aches and pains. At the moment I’m blaming a completely manic summer at work for feeling knackered. Hopefully that’ll change after a quiet month or two.

Probably easier with a really big backside to act as a counter balance.

They DO create extra drag, but only when you’re not pedalling.
Hope freehubs in particular can induce a noticable dip in the top chain run when freewheeling.

Strange but true………
The MP3 player was set to ‘shuffle’ for the drive up. As we turned into the lane up to High Lodge it selected Ladyhawke’s ‘Dusk til Dawn’.

Sorry to hear your story Charlie.
Earlier this year I barred a pair of local pikeys for stealing. Occasionally they come back intent on taking the p155 and I sometimes wonder if that will ever escalate into uglier.

ADH are you sure you didn’t over tighten the lock ring? Some of the budget cassettes use plastic spacers between the sprockets which can be squashed if the lock ring’s too tight.

you can get XT at 50% of RRP which beats the smaller players prices.

It often beats the prices the small player can get components for through the official supply chain. Six years ago I used to keep a full set of XT on the shelf, it’s special order only now.

I rolled a 2.25 Racing Ralph off a 717 once on the rear. That was with 30psi, so not under-inflated for my 11 stone. After that I changed the rim for a Salsa Delgado. Loads wider, hardly any heavier and tough as something very tough.

Obviously some people have never heard of the 5P’s BB!

Perhaps we should add a sixth P, punctuality.
I was late, someone was grumpy. Everything else about the event was great so in the interests of forum harmony shall we call it evens?

Well done to the organisers although I’d like to suggest that in future registration should be kept open a little later. After closing my shop early and catching a bit of traffic driving up from Southampton to arrive just before 7 we were told quite gruffly that we should have been there earlier and may not be able to race.

Keep it in October, the weather can be pants at any time of year. How many dry Mayhems have we had in the last decade and that’s the closest weekend to midsummer’s day.

I rode 5 laps in a pairs entry and thought it was ok until about 2am, squirmy but with a good line to find through most places. After that it was just piggin hard work, although even as wet as it got the Double Shocker continued to put a smile on my face and help me forget the aching legs.

No knee problems but I’ve had some aches from the hips at times. I’ve been probably 95%+ singlespeed for the last 4 years.

Duran Duran’s Come Up And See Me (Make Me Smile) really wasn’t good.

Soma FM devotes a whole channel to covers here: http://somafm.com/covers/

Now playing Disco 200 sung by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds