I’ve got some on my hybrid and they’re great- much better position for climbing out of the saddle. I try not to do that so much on my MTB so haven’t put any on but I reckon they’d have similar benefits, so why not? I have the stubby little Bontrager ones, just long enough to wrap your whole hand around.

Is 2×7 miles 5 days a week really that much? I’m kinda surprised it warrants recovery time. Whenever someone posts a commuting thread on here there always seem to be plenty of people commuting far further.

It’s not in the great scheme of things, but still, if you’re constantly fatigued then you’ll find it hard to improve.

Thanks aracer!

Oh! Looks like I’ll have to get the front one out and see what it is then, or get down to a shop and look in some boxes.

It’s a Wrench Force, and I’ve never had any trouble with it but I don’t think I’ve come across the threaded-all-the-way-down type before either. Just doesn’t move far enough down the stem to sit properly. Wanted to make sure I don’t end up ordering some with the same problem, but looks like I can get some Contis with confidence- ta!

Sounds like you just need a bit more recovery and less miles. A change from the routine can help too, if you’re always riding the same routes.

+1 for Molgrips and hybrids. I’ve never really got why people rave about the Road Rat and slate hybrids. Sure, mine isn’t as fast as my road bike on the open road- but I’m not on the open road, I’m in the middle of Birmingham. And it’s not as good offroad as an MTB- but I’m not going off road, only along the canal path. Suits me fine.

I didn’t watch it but I’m with Repack I think. I haven’t done it but I’ve no doubt it ain’t easy, so hats off to them for getting up and down. But I think these things are cheapened by efforts to make it sound harder than it is. It’s not a climb, it’s a walk. There aren’t any technical climbing bits on it. All credit to them for what they’ve done, but I’m not inclined to extend that credit to things they haven’t done, like climbing 300m vertical faces.

At the moment it’s not clear whether he wasn’t txting, or there was no evidence of him txting. I’ve got no issues with our justice system being based on ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, i’m just wondering whether it was known that he (or any person in a similar situation) wasn’t txting, or that there is reasonble doubt that they’re not txting.

But I don’t think you can be lead by the fact that he was texting earlier. For any given road accident the driver could have been composing a text, regardless of whether they’d sent any minutes before, but you’d have to assume they weren’t (assuming no evidence of course), ‘cos otherwise wouldn’t you have to consider the huge range of other things they could have been doing?

EDIT: What I mean is that the reasonable doubt is probably the same for this case as it would be for any other (or at least you could strongly argue that it is).

I like some of it.

Basically what CP said. I’m quite capable of reading a map, and have to for the odd AR race/event, but they are a bit of a pain in the a$$ on the bike. That’s not to say I never do anything where I’d need one, but frequent stops can be annoying. I’m not that keen on map boards as sometimes I like to be able to see my front wheel.

Does anyone have a ‘knife’ to comment on?

I must say its not the most appealing name for a saddle but a narrower less squishy version might be just the job for my ‘paperclip’ race bike…

I’ve got one but haven’t put it on yet so… bit of a pointless reply I guess. Looks nice though and it’s a good weight, if that’s an issue for you!

I think a lot depends on numbers. If cars are being held up by hundreds of bikes then the ‘we are traffic’ line has some merit. Cars being held up by 15 people deliberately cycling at walking pace spread across the road with enormous chips on their shoulders is something else in my view. If you’re after either a good ride or promoting cycling then I’d stay well away.

I like mine a lot, but like slowrider I found the cover has gone quite quickly, mostly at the stitching which seems quite prominent compared to others. Got a Knife sitting about waiting to replace it- when I get out my rounded seatpost bolts :-(

What STATO said- if he’s in the habit of running cyclists off the road he might already have come to their attention.

I think TJ’s right, but I guess how it pans out when the PC’s in front of you demanding you hand over your camera is another thing.

My mate (ahem) says the last lot may be Winger? And WASP are in there somewhere too. Apparently.

Mine annoys me a bit because of how tight I need to get the seat clamp to stop it slipping down.

Don’t see a problem? Some people do need telling, especially with vehicles that might have large blind spots.

As Evolution is only a theory and carbon dating isn’t as acurate as most people believe then, of course, it could be totally wrong (or am I the only one to shout out that the King’s got no clothes on) LOL!

Who’s saying it isn’t a theory? Can you enlighten us further?

Weren’t the BBC in the crap a while ago for basically doing just what Stoner suggests over things as important as naming the Blue Peter cat? You can’t have it both ways.

ClimachX is good but I’d agree that a whole weekend at Mach might be a bit much. I did Mach 2 while I was there and wasn’t that impressed TBH.

I’m sure eBay is full of fakes, but HTF do you know the boots in question are fakes?

How do the distributors know they’re not? Like everyone else says, you need to take it up with the people you bought them from.

The morning after it won all the Oscars I think I heard the words “Slumdog Millionaire” about 25 times in the space of 15 mins on the radio, which pretty much turned me off it.

There’s some studies that suggest Jesus was extremely short, slightly crooked gait and sharp features.

Really?! How on earth would you be able to back those up?

My mate used to have a very cheap racer (back in the day before we started calling them road bikes) that was so flexy you could very easily make the back tire rub on the chain stays when riding it.

Dunno what it was made of though, tin maybe.

The fact that I cant decide if the Saab advert is wrong with its “less emissions” – should it be “fewer emissions” or is it right because there’s less emissions of the same number of things.

I think ‘less’ is OK for ’emissions’- if they were talking about CO2 particles (or whatever they are) then it would be fewer.

Anyway, back on topic…

There don’t seem to be too many fixies around in Brum, but the ones I’ve seen make me smile because all the boxes really are ticked- the handlebars cut down so there’s just enough space for hands+stem, the jeans, the hat, the shreddies on show, the black hair… Wonder what they’ll be riding in a couple of years?

I also forget the website but did my Nokia for free online. Helpful eh?!

I can understand people’s views on driving lots, but then most of us drive lots anyway to trail centres, we all fly on holiday so it’s not going make any difference to the environment just because I’m not going to do it!

I don’t think the travelling is really people’s main issue with it (other than to point out that it’s really a driving challenge rather than a walking challenge).

Read Stu’s link again!

Depends on the amount of offroad stuff you see yourself doing I guess. I reckon it’ll be noticeably worse as a tarmac/canal path commuter but if you’re not in a hurry and don’t mind getting muddy then obviously it’ll do it and the rough stuff to boot.

People walking/jogging two abreast down a just-wide-enough-for-two canal path who can’t work out what’s going to happen when I’m coming the other way (on one side) until we’re about 2 feet apart and everyone’s had to stop.

I’ve got Medium in both the dhb Merstons and a few Endura things and they’re pretty much the same so I’d just go for your Endura size. That said, there’s quite a lot of variation in my Endura stuff despite it all being the same size!

+1 to pretty much everyone else above- I’d politely decline and explain why.

I liked it at the time (probably at least 15 years ago) but I expect I’d be terribly disappointed if I saw it now. I even remember American Flyers* had some good moments!

*Is that right- the one with Kevin Costner and the Hell of the West (or something?)

I guess factors are how much you’re spending, how much you’ve spent before and are likely to spend in the future, how much of a faff the job is, how bored/busy they are, whether they want their lunch, whether the guy before you spent £££s, etc.

I’d be disappointed if, say, I was buying some £300+ forks and was charged to have them fitted but away from the extremes they’re basically doing you a favour and you can’t really complain if you don’t get it.

Oasis (but skipped the being-good-in-the-first-place part)
Elton John

Yes they do, although I think that’s just because they like buying new shiny stuff rather than because they think it’ll make them a better rider. Do people buy loads of new clothes because they think they’ll get more sex? Do people buy new cars because they think they’ll get to work faster?

I already acknowledged the shiny-new-stuff factor, but it looks to me that in bikes/cars/clothes whatever lots of stuff gets bought after advertisers/magazine reviewers have suggested that it’s better than the (often pretty much equivalent) stuff people have already. So it’s not obvious to me that people are immune to being told their current stuff is no longer good enough.

and i’m glad my mind is not so full of hate

Who’s shown that they’re full of hate?

Too self-consciously trendy and what they’re doing is not actually that interesting. Maybe there’s space for people not dropping off cliffs in Stormtrooper outfits though…? But basically a bit crap.