No one with experiences of £5000 mountain bikes? Who’d have thunk it 🙂

I’d have the enduro. Actually no, I’d have a cheap bike and spend the rest of the money on crack and hookers

That isn’t going to fit without some fettling from the look of the picture

Technically he’s correct. But I’d have still told him to go **** himself 🙂

My fatty is still in the garage uncleaned. I expect it’s in a right old state 🙁

‘Twas a murky grotty ride indeed. Got utterly soaked, so much that I couldn’t even face the prospect of sitting outside the pub with a pint (or rather, the prospect of getting back on my bike and freezing my nuts off the last 3 miles home).

It was really a fun ride though – felt like a bit of an epic with the conditions the way they were.

Shit luck with your tyre Jez 🙁

I soak mine in diluted cheap *thin* bleach, which is the same stuff as Miltons. Why would you have winnits in your bladder? What filthy depravity have you been engaged in?

Surely she can hold on for 6 hours. Took my missus 24 first time round (lazy sod…).

Anyway, is it just me and Dan then? Or are there any more brave souls looking to get cold and miserable?

I use a Cyclo chain splitter I inherited from my dad, made before bikes, chains and roads were even invented, and it works fine

My Fatty is about 33 pounds when I look at the nice carbon fork and drilled rims. It’s about 36 pounds when I look at the massive heavy tyres or clean the big steel frame, and about 45 pounds when I have to lift the bastard over a gate. I guess the real weight is somewhere in between.

The bike industry needs some universally comparable method of quoting weight figures, like the car industry does with MPG. It doesn’t need to bear any resemblance to actual achievable real world weight

Is racing wise, if you’re about to give birth? Won’t giving birth on a mountain bike sting a bit?

Yeah, I’ll be riding. It’ll be a stinky grotty ride 🙂

A feeble excuse if ever I heard one 😉

So who’s brave enough for a bit of bog-hopping tonight? I’ll bring the fatty so I’ll be OK. The rest of you will just have to sink 🙂

Might be someone local who’ll let you have a go on theirs

wings are on the wrong way round. Fool.

Great thread – that sea vixen is fantastic

Seen plenty of photos of upside down bikes being used to support tarps – I guess having a wet tarp dropped on you while you sleep might wake you up. Not sure how successful you’d be chasing the thief while you’re still zipped into your sleeping bag though

Nice to hear it’s not just the cheapest Campag brakes that rust. My Veloces have rusty bolts and springs too and look shite, despite being only a couple of years old 🙁

There’s some decent (well, mostly fire trail stuff) riding in the Blue Mountains and there were bike hire places in Katoomba when I was there in 2007 (train ride from Syndey).

Blimey, right bunch of misanthropic cold hard pragmatists on STW aren’t we 🙂

I got no advice about you current relationship except to say you shouldn’t underestimate the difficulties a split may present when it comes to your relationship with and access to your kids.

As for this bit of fluff, my spidy sense is saying “gold digger / daddy seeker / old-man-curious home-wrecker / serial flirter”. Be careful (and a little cynical) there fella

Got wet rot on the garage door frame innit

You sure it’s supposed to need a puller? Mine has a self-extracting bolt

Swithy woods was proper grotty last night too – a real swamp with steam and smells and everything. Kept expecting Yoda or a dinosaur to jump out at me

Scrumfled – so does the £7 or whatever for Back country navigator include OS maps at a decent scale? Or are they separate purchases?

Isn’t there a right of way officer who sometimes posts on here? Might be able to clarify the legal position. I’ve heard of rights of way being created or upgraded (FP to BW) if there’s a long standing historical use of a particular path, but never down graded.

While I agree with the “don’t ride when it’s way too busy” request, I don’t like the “or else” bit tagged on the end – or else what?

Ordered some stuff a while back including a cassette (“lots in stock” according to the website), box arrives with no cassette and “OOS” on the packing note where the picker’s signature should be. No explanation or anything.

6 weeks later still no refund for the cassette despite being promised one 🙁

Sometimes they’re a couple of quid cheaper than CRC for consumables (pedals and stuff), but it’d be nice if they actually sent all the stuff you paid for.

Lovely bike. I think you’ll find that the stem is already on the right way and the bars are in the right place. Bloody roadies 🙂

It doesn’t need to be “bloody hell” tight, just fairly tight. If you can’t turn it any more it’s too tight IMO. And it’s not going to unwind as you ride unless there’s some other problem with the threads or cups

D0NK might be on to something there. The 819s are pretty narrow so if the inside part of the bead is a bit rough it might be rubbing on the tube

Think I’m in, assuming there’s no trouble at t’mill.

Man with Compass this week innit? Looking forward to shredding some ill gnar

You’re under no legal obligation to report a near-miss if you have no reason to believe any damage or injuries resulted

Perhaps I have anger management issues, but if I caught someone dragging branches into a path intending to injure cyclists I’d go apeshit and insert those branches into his arse

I’ve tried 2 cheap ones (can’t even remember what they were called / where from) and they were both complete crap. I guess the expensive ones are too.

Now I use cheap chains, wipe worst of the crap off them, and just have to cope with the sound of them grinding down my (cheap) cassettes

It’s hardly working for me either – takes ages to load stuff and a 502 bad-gateway error when returning back from Paypal

Really? £500 seems in the right ballpark to me – decent frame, wheels and fork with a decent drive-train and brakes

Is the cassette lock ring on tight? (does the cassette wobble much)

The only other thing I can thing is the mech hanger – does it index nicely at one end of the cassette, only to be out at the other end?

Blimey dude, didn’t realise it was that serious, glad you’re OK.

Smashing ride last night gents, really enjoyed it

Morris – I use Slime tyre liners (the plastic strip, not the gunk). They’re a ball ache to fit but are really good at stopping thorn punctures – halfords usually sell them (along with their own brand ones which are complete toss). Might be worth a try if you’re getting loads of punctures

sorry 🙂

What, the fella *breaks* your forks and transmission and stuff?

Cool, if I see a trail of sputum and phlegm on the ground at the junction of the lane and the bridleway I’ll know I’ve just missed you and will turn right towards the Beacon and catch you on the climb (heh), otherwise I’ll head to Woodhouse Eaves and crash head on into one of you