Yes

22 laps got me 23rd solo in 2006, the only completely dry Mayhem at Eastnor. The following year in the rain a friend of mine got 22nd with just 12 laps.

36/17 for me. I tried dropping to a 16 at the back a while ago but whilst I had no problem turnng it, it made the bike feel duller and less responsive, so less fun.

You’re talking about spending £10k to save a few hundred a year in fuel?
Do we really need to do the calculations to show that it’s going to be a very looooong time before you’re any better off. If ever.
If the car’s just a utility to you then stick with the cheapest that’ll do the job.

The Forest’s great if you like flatland XC, not if you don’t. The closest comparison I can think of is Thetford. There’s plenty of cattle tracks that wind in and out of the trees and you’re never very far from a pub.
The sandy soil never clogs your tyres when wet but does kill drive trains, so singlespeeds are best (and no real hardship) in winter.

When I rode there the surface waas mostly covered in loose stones of tomato or apple size. That just made it far harder work than it should have been. Is it any better now?

A lovely bit in the New Forest that weaves it’s way over the spoils from a railway cutting and starts just a quarter mile from a pub. Known locally as either ‘The Ferns’ or ‘Collarbone Alley’.

To be honest I find Surly’s a bit lonbg in the top tube,

Strange. I find my 16 inch 1X1 quite short and run a 120mm stem to get the riding position right for me. I wouldn’t have a bigger frame size as I wouldn’t want to lose the standover. Run fully rigid mine makes a brill winter mud-plugger but when the trails dry out I’m off on something a bit racier.

I really don’t want to sound racist and I really hope the girl makes a career for herself but I’d feel that we were abandonning our heritage a bit if she was selected to represent the UK. I think most of us would expect Miss Japan and Miss China to look oriental and any of the African nations to send along black representatives.

Been riding SS as a winter option for 4 years and a couple of years ago converted the Ti summer bike to ride SS at the Mayhem. It never got converted back.

So this isn’t a golf thread then?

I always advise people not to fully derease their chains as doing so removes all the lube from within the rollers and that will have to be replaced somehow. Not easy.
If you want a clean looking chain wipe it down with a rag lightly wetted with white spirit or similar and then use a good quality chain lube that dirt doesn’t stick to.

Also it seems to be stuck on some kind of endless loop cos I hear the same music several times a day. every day.

Does R1 only have the latest ‘Now!’ compilation to choose from ?

Or maybe I just don’t get it because I’m not 9 years old any more.

One of our local stations, ‘Capital’ is exactly like that and my 9 year old son loves it.

Road mech should work but even that will bounce about on bumpy trails and allow the chain to drop off. A front chain ring with full height teeth (ie no ramps or cut outs to aid shifting) will help.

32 to 40 teeth on the front is reasonable depending on how big the hills are round your way and how wussy/heroic you feel. A short cage rear mech will give better chain tension.

If you’re riding off road you’ll most likely need a guide of some sort to stop the chain dropping off on bumpy trails. This could be a £5 cheapie cheap front mech or £100+ purpose built device with bash ring

It’s just the same in Chrome and I’m not running any ad blockers that I know of.

The video screen flashes up for a split second then disappears to leave a white space with the sound playing.

I re-installed Flash Player earlier

Erm, not a lot of use. See above………..

5’9″ here
29er for long spinny sat in the saddle rides.
26er for blasting tight woodland trails, log hops and generally pratting around.

Go out after work (yes I did see the bit where you said you finished at midnight). Start with an hour or two and build up. It’ll hurt at first but you’ll get used to it with time and it’ll be good preparation for night time laps on a 24hr solo.

When I was a student (in my late twenties) I spent a time working Friday nights graveyard shift at a filling station 11 to 7 folowed by 7:30 til 6 in a daytime job. After a few weeks of that I’d acclimatised enough to go clubbing on the Saturday nights afterwards.

We usually have a kitty with everyone chipping in enough to cover what they’re expecting to drink at the start of the pub stop. Anyone taking the p155 gets named and shamed.

The first ride on my Dean Colonel, custom built to mimic my old ’93 Orange Clockwork. It was a 45 minute scoot through local woods on a cold drizzly day five years ago this week and after six months waiting it turned out to be everything I’d hoped it would.

NOT ENTIRELY WORK FRIENDLY !!!!

Don’t **** with a f**ker

I witnessed that one being used very accurately when I was in the Army

Sixteen years after the divorce from the first Mrs Balanced I phoned to discuss something about our daughter. Mr Ex-in-law answered and proceeded to spend the next ten minutes telling me how I’d ruined all their lives and was the scum of the earth befiore slamming the phone down.

I completely wasn’t expecting that as up until then they’d always made me a very nice dinner on days I visited and we’d all (except my ex) chatted through it quite sociably it at the dining table.

A week or so later my ex, who had made herself absent on visiting days for the last ten years phoned to try and work out a peaceful solution.
I wasn’t expecting that either.

I bottled borrowing the money to buy a cheap flat to do up about 12 years ago just before the property prices went loopy. It went back on the market at £10K more than I could have got it for and would probably have made a big differenct to my retirement if I’d kept it until then.

KMC Z82 8 speed chains are well regarded down here.

Me, Echo Beach by Martha And The Muffins.

Wifey, Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House and Time Of Your Life by Green Day.

Strangely, we’ve had this conversation several times.

People who don’t will go and pay a little bit more per ml for the reassurance they are getting the right stuff.

I once had a guy in the shop insisting that he wanted a genuine Cateye battery for his cycle computer. When I suggested that the local jewelers or camera shop would be able to supply him with a replacement he gave me a look that made it quite clear I wouldn’t be seeing him again.

10 speed = 9 too many.

Surprised no one else has said that yet.

Mud’s fine by me but I am looking forward to some time on drier, faster trails. We had a taste of that a week or so back when the rain held off for nearly a fortnight.

11-34 9 speed cassettes have been available for years, 10 speed is 11-36. Not quite the revolution Shimano would like you to believe.

At the moment Shimano are selling 9 and 10 speed cassettes and chains for the same money. Watch that change once enough folks are hooked on 10 speed original equipment.

White Brothers do a 425mm carbon fork.

I wear baggies over lycra on the road in anything less than +5 degrees to keep the wind chill at bay. If I don’t my ‘gentlemans sausage’ gets very uncomfortably cold.

Er, I’ve got a pair of white and silver washers kicking about that I’m not using at the moment. Mail me at keithat perfectbalancecycles dot co dot uk if you’re interested. I may not be able to get back to you until the evening though.

The green is pretty mellow but he’ll probably need a helping hand on some of the ups at that age and make sure he can control his speed on the downs. The surface is pretty hard so make sure he’s wearing clothing that’ll take the edge off any tumbles.

Got it to work now, thanks.
I was using the complete Youtube ’embed’ code.

Nice.

How did you get the Youtube video to embed?
I’ve just had 3 minutes of frantic editing trying to get it to work.

To be honest WCA, from what I’ve seen of the way you live your life you must be way past the middle of it already.

I’m on 36 front and 11 to 34 9spd rear. That gives me a dead straight chain line in the gear I use most, 36/17, which is the same as I run on my singlespeed.

Has no one yet pointed out that 11-34 9spd (and 8spd) cassettes have been available for ages so this 11/36 ten speed malarky is hardly revolutionary, just more expensive to replace when it wears out.