Shimano inners are drawn through a die to make the surface smoother and their ferrules have little o-rings inside.

In my experience sit-ons are built wider for more stability with less serious leisure use in mind.

I was back on a friend's motorike after 8 days and felt good as new after 3 weeks, but I was seventeen when I broke it.

Beer, cakes or big macs. Whichever or those is most available en-route.
Kebab if it's a night ride.

If you're running slicks on an ally framed MTB I wouldn't go thinner than a 1.5 unless you have an ar5e of iron.

Still loving my custom Ti four years on from buying it and can't think of anything else I'd have rather spent the money on, although it did take a lot of soul searching at the time before dropping that much on a bike frame.

I get all the burbling I want AND 75mpg.

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A 22 year old Honda VTZ250. Wish mine was still as shiny as this one.

I saw a lad on one locally last year. It looked like he had a complete bike frame minus the forks somehow mounted a couple of feet out from his own bike.

My three:

I'd never buy a Suzuki again after the SV650 I had new in 1999. After just 6 months and less than 3000 miles:
Brake calipers sticking
Rust in the tank seams
Fork lacquer falling off
Gear linkage seized
Lacquer falling off the engine cases
Almost all alloy components covered in corrosion fur

Then the dealer who supplied it told me it was my own fault for not washing it and polishing it every time I rode it.

Can't say I've ever been bored riding off road and only on road when I was regularly commuting past a very chavvy area of Southampton.

Gotta defend the New Forest and Thetford, partly because I know where the good bits are and partly because I like pushing my luck in corners and can do that far more happily knowing that if I get it wrong I'm not going to fall 100ft on to pointy rocks. Also, in the New Forest you're never more than 3 miles from a pub.

Last night I rode my Ti Dean for the first time this year and yes it is £1000 better than my steel Surly winter bike.

Because if it didn't it would quack up.

Stay out late, get drunk at a pub a long way from home and ride back once a week is good training for the overnight riding.

Ride it singlespeed if there's even a hint of rain. Any extra time you spend getting round the course will be more than compensated by the extra rest you get from NOT having to spend 45 minutes degunking your drivetrain after each lap.

Back sometime in the nineties I was riding with a couple of mates and as I neared the crest of a gentle 'up' I was sure I could hear bagpipes. I got to the top and found myself 50 yards from a lone piper in T-shirt and shorts striding along the Hampshire cliff tops playing as he went.

Standing up for me, except after a good night's sleep when it's less a sit than a supported handstand

I'm always quite grateful to them. It saves me taking the scrap from my shop to the tip myself.
Flat caps seem to be the 'uniform' round here.

I always set mine with no slack in the chain when stationary. When pedalling, frame flex will put a bit of slack in the chain.
If the chain has gone tight with use I'd start with lubing it unless……………..

Maybe the chain tension was set somewhere very warm and the differential thermal expansion rates between your steel chain and whatever material your frame is made of has caused your chain to shrink more than your frame when taken out in the lovely weather we're having at the moment.

Or maybe not.

Take off outer layer before entering the house and drop in empty bucket.
Take said bucket indoors and fill with warm water then swish it around a bit.
Wring out and transfer to washing machine.
Job done.

I'd say 3.5 hours a week is a little light if you're really serious. The general wisdom is to alternate hard and easy weeks to give yourself recovery time and to mix endurance and strength/speed sessions. I had my strongest legs when regularly chain ganging with the local triathlon club once a week. It'd be the same route every week so if you got dropped you knew your way to the tea shop. At first I'd be dropped half way round but each week I'd get a couple of miles further until after a few months I was making it to the end and pulling my weight in the rotation.

at least ten years with the 46, ten with aTA and the same with a middleburn 26. at least 15,000 miles.

Someone's really not trying very hard. I don't even get that kind of life on the road bike.

Full artical[/url]

Here's another:

Do it once a week every week, he'll eventually harden to it.

how on earth do they justify a £90 RRP? (Cost me £25 BTW).

Just because you paid £25 on Ebay doesn't mean that anyone selling at the RRP is making £70 plus out of a product. The RRP assumes a convential supply chain (manufacturer – national distributor – LBS) and enough of a mark up at each stage for an honest living to be made.

There are various reasons stuff appears cheap on Ebay or other sources.
Surplus original equipment being cleared out,
Obsolete or superceded stock,
Bankrupt stock,
Stolen goods,
or as mentioned above Fake Goods

Kinesis Decade, Surly 1×1, Cotic Simple there's a few out there.

My 93 Clockwork frame is still sat in the workshop. It's now unrideable due to much internal rust and cracking but I can't bear to chuck it out because of the memories it prompts whenever I look at it.
Here are just a few:
My best race results ever,
Touring Japan and America with slicks and panniers,
Meeting the wife…..

I did rig up a windsurf sail on mine once but there wasn't enough wind that day. Must try again.

Never did anything serious on mine, too flat round here. But my son used to love riding standing between my legs when he was 4 on some gentle grassy slopes locally.

Personally I love the feel of 'two pints riding' (off road of course). It makes me feel like I'm on rocket fuel and has the added bonus that as the alcohol thins the blood I keep circulation to my fingers and toes for longer on the frosty nights.
I drink far more on ride nights than any other days of the week. At home I'll rarely get past a single bottle of ale or a couple of glasses of wine.

Should've gone for the pink camo rims — a real man's colour

Looks nice though, and with a sensible ammount of gears.

Me and Wifey always overestimate our income so that once our accounts are done and filed in January we get a nice big lump sum after giving the real figures to the tax credits office.

We usually need it by then….

My singlespeed CK's frozen up before and now gets a strip and regrease every autumn.
I might try the oilbath idea next time.

The other problem I've had is grit and sand getting in the threads for the 'fun' bolts making it next to impossible to get them out.

Too late now, he's butchered it.

Why not?

There are 5 bikes in my shed and the closest to stock is the roadie. I've only changed the wheels and saddle on that.

Yep it's dead here now

and has been all day.

I've been trying to justify the SE Bikes Lager

I got my first FS (Merida AM3000) last year at the age of 44. I only bought it because it was cheap and I do really like it BUT, only when I'm riding trail centres or similar. On the local XC trails I'll take one of my hardtails every time.
If you're going to learn to love the Pitch you've got to leave the XC Jeyhead at home and concentrate on the things the full susser is best at like bumpy downhills and generally taking liberties such as bouncing off tree stumps instead of looking for a line round them.
Spend a bit of time playing with the suspension settings too, until you find what suits you best.