You’ve put gears on an On One and still call yourself a Yorkshireman?

Battling Tops.
40 years on, I’ve still got it.

Have the Gorrick boys got it?

I was going to point out that Shimano do spare a 17/20T pair of sprockets for the XTR M970 cassette from their Yumeya (XTR pimping) range for only £119, but it’s been discontinued.
I wonder why?

I’d go back to singlespeeding if you’re still only using one cog or convert to 8 speed for cheaper chains and cassettes.

You only have to pick up a magazine to see he’s talking poop.

Since when have journalists lived in the real world?

I think some posters have been a bit harsh on the shop. I’d love to fill my shop with one of everything and plenty of demo models but if I did that in my current location I’d have to reclassify myself as a museum in a couple of years.

Hardtails are good, full sussers are good, fully rigid singlespeeds are good. Spend a bit of time finding out what floats your boat before taking the plunge.

Either the Trek because it’s practical and looks a bit girlie or the Lager because it looks clean and uncluttered.

I was going to suggest the SE Bikes Lager ——- until I saw this years colour scheme (below). If you can find one of last year’s black and white ones you might like it.

EDIT just found that they do an all white version too.

Also try Traitor Bikes

After last winter’s experiences I put oil in mine rather than grease now.

Skinny tyres will be best for snow. Last week we went out in 4 inches of the stuff and the guy who usually stays at the back was flying ahead of us a lot of the time on his 1.8s.

My Surly socks are lovely… 8)

What’s the difference between ‘driving without due care and attention’ and ‘causing death by careless driving’?
The answer is ‘very little’ just that in one there was someone unfortunate enough to get in the way. In motoring offences like these drivers are being judged on the consequences of their actions not the actions themselves. It’s arguable that anyone who jumps a red light, goes round a corner too fast etc etc should receive a jail term measured in years but it wouldn’t be at all popular or manageable.

If you’re still working at 5 I’d recommend the Headfunk show on Vectisradio.com (internet only). The rest of the day they’re mostly middle of the road though.

I don’t think I could cope with the heat out on a bike.

I’m willing to give it a go, it’s piggin freezing here.

Your son’s first Christmas

The first day of your house being filled to the brim with toys, gifts and cute things most of which he’ll play with once, twice or maybe never. All bought by well meaning friends and relatives who think you live in a Tardis. Be prepared for the shock when you get back……….

You’ve got ten years to plan something really special your 40th birthday party. Mine was a cracker. The morning after was a bit ropey though.

+1 for thirties being vastly better than twenties. Forties are shaping up pretty nicely too.

Woohoo it’s a whole degree warmer in here today, 7.1 degrees on the digi-thermometer.

Alcohol works wonders in the short term, my hands are always warmer after the mid ride pub stop.

A couple of years ago we went to a ‘Titanic’ exhibition. One of the blurbs explained that the chefs survival after 12 hours in the icy water was attributed to him drinking a bottle of whiskey as the ship went down. The alcohol apparantly stopped his blood congealing as it cooled.

In my experience prices from bearing shops are very quantity dependent.

A few years ago some of the local kids coming in my shop asked if I could get them bearings for their skateboards. When I first enquired at a local bearing wholesaler I was quoted £8 per bearing. After I explained that I would be needing to retail them at £15 for a set of 8 and would be ordering 100 plus they eventually got down to a price that made it worth me buying them.

Liked the Dust Junkies, fraid Invocal didn’t do it for me.

I think I’ll be opening up the motorbike kit drawer for gloves to wear tomorrow, although there’s a pair of Mace Cryogens winking at me from the display opposite.

Stranglers, Sparks, Plastic Bertrand, Donna Summer for ‘I Feel Love’.

All the trails get very very wet and lots of people wear out their brake pads creating a national shortage.

You could run it with a chain tug on the drive side and a non-turn washer on the disc side. As long as you’re not a big bloke or too strong that shouldn’t be a problem.

If you’re confident messing about with the Alfine axle spacing and have a machine shop on hand to make up custom spacers you could run the washers on the insides of the dropouts.

You’re not wrong about not being into cars, are you? That’s your T4 hiding back there, it’s not a T5

Congratulations, you spotted the typo. I’m not always at my best the morning after a Thursday night ride……….

Flying Ox, I may be about to dissappoint you but my ultimate driving experience is to be sat in my T5 high enough to see over most cars in front, the rear loaded up with camping kit plus bikes/canoe/windsurfng kit, the stereo turned up and a clear road between home and somewhere good to use all the stuff in the back.

I think one or two of you may have missed my point. The MR2 is Wifey’s car. She thinks they look gorgeous and now gets to feel smug/happy/superior whenever she drives it. She also thinks I’m slightly more wonderful than before. Wallet emptied, mission accomplished.

Myself, I’m really not into cars. I’m happy to trundle along in the T5 you can see behind the MR2. If I took my cycling competitiveness onto the road it would end in very big tears, I’m sure.

Flying Ox, I’ve read about those and they do sound a bit er ‘entertaining’.
Our early non-turbo MR2 could be a little flighty. Wifey span it on a wet roundabout with her Dad in the passenger seat and I did the same in front of the gatehouse at work. It wasn’t the power, they just didn’t like you lifting off while turning if the road was at all slippy. Her new one (a Revision 5) feels much more secure.

Lymington to Mudeford coast path.
Great on a clear still day, grim with a cold headwind.

Choose a sprocket from cassette, pad out freewheel with old cassette spacers or piece of plastic drainage pipe.

Not the best idea to use a cassette sprocket as they’re designed to promote easy shifting so are more likely to allow the chain to come off. A Shimano DX BMX sprocket is only £3.99 and has full height teeth which will be better.

I put some old XTR V levers on my 9 year-old’s new bike this summer connected to Avid cable discs.

He always refused to change gear on his old bike so I built the new one singlespeed. Could he be the youngest ‘proper’ (26″+ wheel size) singlespeeder here?

A Celica GT4, Integra Type-R or Skyline yes, but not an MR2. They’re absolutely horrible.

Wifey loves them and has always regretted selling the first one she had when our son was born. That’s what matters to me, although I do quite like them myself in a very impractical and not spectacularly fast sort of way.

Late 90s Japanese metal is where it’s at.

What a perfect moment to post a pic of Wifey’s birthday present at the beginning of this month.

Part-ex I suspect would be about £6k-7k for the car

If you’re really worried about making the most of your money don’t part-ex. Sell your car privately and be in a beter position to haggle for the new one.

Should I be thinking about changing it or keep it until I can’t stand taking it to the garage every month or so?

If it’s only just over 3 years old it should be many years before that happens.

Re all the posts about marathons, I did one once and found that putting in healthy times (1:21 to 1:30) for half distance was no preparation for doing the full 26 miles. Until you have tried it you are in no position to belittle the effort required or the sense of achievement at completing one.

Or in my case it was the sense of frustration that despite having plenty of energy left the pain in my ankles, knees and hips stopped my using that energy.

I’m happy with the Sony Wifey bought me a couple of Xmasses ago for £60ish. The cable I bought that connects it to the auxilliary port at the back of my car stereo was a good buy too.

DT Swiss TK7.1s for me. They’re discontinued and Madison were knocking them out really cheap in the summer so you might get lucky if you look hard.

I seriously thought about getting one to celebrate a good solo result at the Mayhem but never came up with a design I liked enough to go for it. Ideas included ‘sun and moon in a band round my upper arm’ and ‘Salvador Dali like clock with 24 in place of the 12’.

It’d be loads cheaper just to stick needles in my knees, hips and lower back to remind me of the pain.

£50/hour

I’d love to be able to get away with that down here.

I always advise customers to change the outers at the same time as the inners for best shifting and braking. If they’d done that with genuine Shimano outer cable and sealed ends then the £18 would only be a little over the top. If they really only changed the inners they should be ashamed of themselves.

They know who you are but do they know who your SO is and that they had made that offer when you bought the bike.