Master Sheldon Brown covers this very topic. If I remember correctly a 130 rear wheel will probably be OK in a 120 drop out, and if you need to modify the frame, 531 should ‘cold set’ (bend) OK.

Man thems is a *lot* of pennies

I’m a freelance developer, mainly Java stuff and have ‘been around’ a bit (lot). The sad truth is that there’s no shortage of talent or experience out there, and if you just want cheap then there are lots of off-shore folks who’ll write rubbish for a pittance. Most recruiters will be looking for someone who’s got years and years of experience or is fresh out of University and full of piss & vinegar. This doesn’t leave much room for someone in your position.

If your employer has a specific and significant project they want you to work on and you’re up for it, then this is probably the only way to go from “training” to being employable as a developer. You might get some opportunities doing private projects in your spare time, but do you really want to leave the bike in the garage and sit in front of a PC?

If you’re happy to take the training for what it is (it might be that they want someone to understand what the dev team is up to a little better, fix a few bugs, micro manage the dev process, etc) then go for it. If you want to be a professional developer at the end of the training course you might struggle

I don’t usually have wifi in bed but each to their own.

I ride in gear that covers my legs and arms so I’m not muddy underneath. After a ride put my bike away then go round to the back door and get stark bollock naked before I go in, donning a pair of shreddies strategically placed near the door. Bish bosh, no shit up the walls

They got Alivio fronts for even less money. Seems like a pretty bang-on-bargain to me. If you die while using them, be sure to post on here about it

If the cameras were as small as possible (say they were each 1 Planck length long) and they were packed end to end, and each one took a picture as you pootled past over the speed limit for just 1 metre of road, how many points would you have 1.616 x10 to-the 35 speeding tickets translate to?

Yeah, it can make me really restless if I’m out after 11. But missing half a night’s sleep isn’t going to kill anyone.

I find that after about 10pm I just get really tired and my riding technique (which is shit anyway) completes deserts me

I leave it in the garage over night then in the morning hose the worst of the crap off frame and bits. I give the drive train a bit more hose action, then dry the chain off a bit with a rag. I then spray the chain with Gt85 – not for its lubricating properties, it’s just really good at displacing water. It’s then ridden round the block (or dragged around the lawn) dragging the brakes till they stop howling.

After that wipe the GT85 off the chain and re-lube it. If it’s really bad I scrape the grunge off the jockey wheels with a screw driver. 10 minutes all in, bish bosh.

In summer it gets left till it actually needs cleaning (maybe once every 4 or 5 rides)

was nearly 2 stone last winter. Put the bikes away in late October. Spent 4 months eating, watching telly, playing computer games and pleasuring myself. When I emerged in March I’d turned into a pasty fat man with claw hands

23s have been fine for me in the winter too. If you’re out when it’s proper cold be *very* careful – ice will put you on your arse in the blink of an eye

They clear brilliantly, but have sod all grip on the Leicestershire clay. Although I should point out that I usually ride a Fatty so expectations might be a bit unrealistic

I tried my 2.1 Gatos in the mud last week. Utterly utterly awful, worse (by far) than my old 1.8 nobby nicks

Decent riding boots

They’re a bike. No better or worse to maintain than any other bike, although mine does like to chew up headset bearings

Round any trail centre they would, I imagine, work fine. Nice and slack head angle on my Fatty gets me down steep stuff in one piece, they can be a bit bouncy and unruly on fast rocky stuff.

They are fun. They’re a lot less work to pedal than they appear, but are a lot less comfy than they appear

Did someone say “bun fight”?

Maybe it is a matter of time, but it’s not happened yet. I did have a massive lump of slate crash through the tread into the tube last week on a cold wet night in the woods. Getting any ridable pressure into fat tyres with a mini-pump is a fcking miserable experience. Getting enough pressure for bead to pop into place is just impossible. Lesson learned, Lezyne Micro Floor Drive HV Mini Pump in the way.

ljs1977 – you can have a bezz on mine if you like. I’m in Loughborough.

Yes, the pistons should be flush with the calliper, so there’s no gap between the pad and the body of the calliper. You may need to work the pistons in with a lever of some kind, but if wiggling the plastic spacer isn’t enough to do it then it suggests something may be amiss.

If they weren’t brand new, I’d remove the pads and get a ring spanner in there and ease the pistons back into the bores.

If they won’t go all the way back in obvious candidates are air in the system, too much fluid (unlikely IMO) or sticky pistons. My money’s on air in the system.

Never had a pinch flat on mine and I’m running thin tubes with low pressures on some fairly rocky terrain. And I’m no whippet.

Get one, they’re really rather good. The main downside is that they make your other bikes feel really quite weird. My on-one Fatty only feels heavy when chucking it over gates and stuff. It isn’t noticeably harder work than my hard tail, it climbs brilliantly and is a laugh going down (but can be a little unruly).

Here’s a bit of a bargain –
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOFATLTD/on-one-fatty-limited-edition-fat-bike

Get a pair of proper tyres for £30 each, and maybe the carbon fork, and you’re all set

Edit… the on one inner tubes weigh a *lot*. Drilling the rims and getting light tubes will make the experience even more agreeable

Indeed not, I confess to getting cranky. Being considered “an obstruction” rather than “a person” tends to have that effect.

I don’t recall starting this particular bun fight 🙂

It’s just more fuel for the “it’s cyclist’s own fault that drivers try to mow them down” fires. Posting it here is bound to piss people off which is presumably your intention.

Big groups of roadies being disorganised and not making it easy to pass them might be slightly annoying for the impatient bellend. Or very annoying for the self-important driving **** who think they own the road. Which are you OP?

5 whole minutes? Poor you

That’s not right.

Did you do the Spaff Dance / Stan’s shuffle with the wheel to get all the spooge chucked around the inside of the tyre?

They might settle, but it does sound like there’s a leak somewhere

The Holy Grail and Life of Brian are **** ace you miserable humourless sods 🙂

I’m running a 120mm Boardman FS with a 140mm Revelation. Seems to work nicely, but the front can be a bit vague on the steep climbs

You’ll be fine with no GPS, it takes a special kind of half-wit to get lost at Cannock

No headphones for me either. I tried riding with them and found that I had to do more looking behind me. Not sure if it had an impact on safety but it made me feel less comfortable. But I agree that headphones, along with helmets, high viz, etc etc are a stupid distraction from what should be the main point of the argument – people should stop driving like ****

I’m running 2.1 TNT Gatos on my hard tail with gorilla tape tubeless. They’re a bugger to get on the rim but seat and seal easily.

Grip wise, it’s not been massively muddy here by they seem to handle mud no worse than any other tyre.

For the money I think they’re totally ace

This is what I bought:

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYGEGAUST/geax-gato-26-inch-ust-folding-tyre

I also got a Barro UST for my susser, and like a fool left a glowing review, which appears to have hiked the price from 12.99 to 19.99

You’re a contractor. It’s not really your responsibility to make a fuss or pick up the slack, IMO. You’re selling your services – do these services include managing or appraising other contractors?

+ 1 million to driver attitudes being the main concern. The current (shitty) infrastructure would be a lot safer if drivers treated cyclists with more respect

Don’t write to them, don’t acknowledge their letters, completely ignore them

Great bun-fight. Can I pitch in? I (obviously) have no female friends at all, and if I did I’d be constantly trying to ingratiate myself into their shreddies or they’d be trying to get in mine (in my little made up world). All male – female “platonic” close friendships are the same, it’s just that folks are honest about it to widely varying degrees

Now that’s established, would you rather pork madam Boiler, or madam Cuzza?

Great offers if you have woman’s or giant’s feet 🙁

Can’t see why not. If you die tell us, yeah?

I let my missus borrow my GT85 sometimes

Also bear in mind that she’s discussed all this on TwistedOldHagTrackWorld.com with a bunch of random embittered spinsters and lezzers, who’ve told her to “dump that zero” or whatever the cliché is these days.

As this is the geezer equivalent, my advice is to ignore her and go ride your bike. What better gift can a bird give a man, than the opportunity (through dumping) to ride / masturbate / watch Wheeler Dealers / pick nose & arse as much as you like?

Next time you’re round her gaff, tip your concrete in her shreddies draw, and carefully observe her reaction. Report back and we can score your chances for you

I’ve also sent a join request (mine’s the crudely drawn face & daft name).

Whilst I have some reservations (as discussed at length on the Swithland wood thread) I’m definitely interested in being part of this, and will do what I can to provide constructive input.

Good man 🙂

Had a smashing family gathering here a few years ago, in The Dairy. Lovely place

http://www.midtownfarm.co.uk/index.html

near Appleby in Westmoreland