Guessing she was in the car which was slowed up by the old chap riding down the lane so she got out to take a swing then stuck the footage up on youtube for people to laugh at. I’m assuming once the police identify her she’ll have some explaining to do.

My issue isn’t with the austerity side as its mostly private capital, its with an international steel company being allowed to dump an awful building on top of the olympic site as part of our ‘celebrations’, its ugly as anything in the ‘flesh’ and its going to be seen round the world.

Funny but a little sad that the wider public will read that and associate it with bikes but if anything its more comprehensible than the average Dirt article 🙂

Europiccola Professional here, Bit pricy to be fair although the basic europiccola does go sub-200 fairly often on ebay and is still an ace bit of kit that will last a very long time if you maintain it.

Friend has the Dualit mentioned above and loves it, seems a nice bit of kit although (snob hat on) I can tell the difference in coffee between it and the europiccola. This doesn’t make it bad however and its a lot easier to live with.

Good beans are vital – Hasbean mentioned above are great.

I’ve had a montane jacket off them and some gels, legit but can be long (2 months) lead times.

I’d second the complaints about quality – i got a pair of the flow shorts at a big discount but they are dropping to bits after only a few uses – holes in the lycra between the pads and the waistband separating from the shorts despite treating them very carefully. I’ve got a cheaper pair of 661 padded shorts that have lasted far longer with rougher handling which seems cheeky given the POC’s are nearly 40% more expensive at full rrp.

CBA to get involved in the politics but in defence of Brewdog the ‘Sink the Bismarck’ was a jokey riposte to the guys at Schnorschbrau who took the worlds strongest beer title from them stating (jokingly) in their press release that the title belonged in Germany and not Scotland as ‘real men don’t dress as women’ (eg: kilts).

Spitfires advertising was on the other hand knuckle dragging jingoism and that campaign also featured a dash of homophobia as well (‘bandits at six o’clock’ with two moustached men) which put me off Shepherd Neame for life.

Beer at the end of a ride is lovely, one of the real pleasures of long distance XC for me is having a well earned local real ale you wouldn’t see at home. That said I am tending more and more towards craft beer rather than real ale if theres a choice but you don’t find many rural pubs packing the likes of Mikkeller 🙂

Its the standard practice for this type of expense – my (public sector) employer implements it in exactly the same way.

I’ve got a Don and like it a lot although its a bit heavier than it perhaps needs to be, not a problem when riding however – if you’re near a cycle surgery its worth taking a look as they had some 40% off last month.

661 evos, only crashed hard twice but seemed to work okay, do slightly worry about the D3O-flint interface mentioned above but they seem pretty good overall and very comfy for long days on the bike.

As for long term degradation of the D3O i’m unsure – partly because any padding is going to lose value after repeated impact/compression but mainly because the non-newtonian stuff is appearing in more and more sports kit (boxing gloves, focus pads, body armour for other sports) where it will take routine multiple impacts and I haven’t seen much on long term failure. Interested in any research anyone turns up as I’m trusting my knees to it.

Was up in Riva last summer – Prophets still available for hire, also lots of decent cube bikes. and go to Meckis, its great – older italian roadie rocked up while i was having a coffee there, stripped down to just his bibs and then sat smoking a cigar and drinking espresso corretto before heading back off on the bike. Cool place.

Friend who is living in Christchurch area echoes DrDJpower’s comment – he is seeing more aggro on the trails (and generally) as more people are stressed out.

Fat MAMIL needs to chill a fair bit, semi-gnar boy was silly but theres a fair line between being a prat verbally and taking a swing.

Not surprised at the support on this forum however given the fair demographic match 😉 Instead of raging he should join here and post self-affirming threads about how unfashionable his bar-ends/lycra/gearing are.

Myka FSR frame turned up today, great service from Bike Scene, thanks again for the post OP, away for a long weekend but will build it up before next weekend if all the parts arrive.

Bought one of the cheap sub zero wheelsets they were knocking out for £89 18 months ago, held up pretty well with minimal service and are now on my GF’s bike. Not the heaviest use but have been hassle free and are a very competitive weight compared to more expensive brands. No experience of customer service however as no issues with the wheels.

Girlfriend has become obsessed with it since she discovered how few girls use it so shes busy becoming QOM on all the local climbs.

Timely thread – just had an accounting of my bike cupboard in advance of a new frame arriving to build up, currently have:

1x cube ltd race frame (second hand, impulse ebay buy)
1 set of cheap (specialized hubs, alex 17 rims) wheels
9 assorted folding tyres (largely unused)
1 x almost new time clipless pedals
2 x KMC 9 speed chains bought when cheap on CRC
Full set of Gore Ride-ons i’m too lazy to fit
Full set of Transfil Nox-snake cables bought cheap, as above
Integrated headset (intended for cube)
Ragley spike seatpost
1 x SLX front dérailleur
1 x set SLX shifters

and left over from upgrades/bikes past/scavenged spares and kept ‘just in case’:

2 x generic mtb flatties
2 x 9 speed cassettes (lightly worn)
1 x set alvio shifters
1 x slightly crash mangled alvio rear dérailleur
1 x scuffed truvativ isoflow cranks
2 x generic handlebars
1 x generic seatpost
1 x cheap specialized saddle
1 x cheap WTB saddle

Also an ‘adults store’ worth of lubes I seem to have picked up at various times, really should run them down before buying more.

Friends lefty has a bolt there as mentioned above, no slot however

Just got back in – may be worth ringing them Jerome but the lady i spoke to was fairly sure the L was the last myka fsr in stock. So nearly bought a Pitch as well but haven’t got the space, already have one unbuilt mens frame in the cupboard and another would be overkill.

I like that, not a huge fan of oranges styling normally but I think the 29er wheels make the swingarm look less primitive than on the five, not that I’m knocking the engineering on them or how they ride, just they look a little boxy on the smaller wheels. Then again I own a Marin so i’m probably not qualified to critique styling.

Good idea on the money – will send some over now

Thanks Hora for the post – just got off the phone with them – Myka FSR ordered for the other half, they are sold out of the medium and large Myka FSR’s – I just ordered the last large, they aren’t looking at email inquiries yet apparently as its fairly chaotic at their end due to calls about the frame sale so if anyone has mailed they should follow it up on the phone.

Now to go fork and groupset shopping!

I’m at a wedding in yorkshire all that weekend which i’m already pretty sulky about and then you announce this! I can’t come to this dig but will happily help at any later one.

Well done WCA!

Just for balance I’ve got two female friends who did the dirt divas beginners course and got a lot out of it – mainly in terms of confidence to roll obstacles, basic body position and keeping up momentum rather than dismounting when things look even a little sketchy, one on one is almost certainly going to be better but it’ll partly be down to how the individual learns best and where your skills are already at.

Older women (50’s+) do seem particularly irritable, my favourite telling off ever was when I was having a break near Old Winchester Hill, had laid my (very shiny white) bike down about fifteen foot from the nearest path and was sat next to it. Three ladies (probably early 60’s) appear having just walked in from a nearby car park, they are loudly complaining about the lack of good parking, one of them wanders off the track, keeps going despite me saying ‘watch out’ twice and trips over the bike. She then tuts and announces ‘what a bloody stupid place to leave a bicycle’ before stropping off. It was all I could do not to fall about laughing.

Jelly Babies do seem to work well. I tend to carry them and Torq gels, as noted above they taste far better than most, GU espresso gels are nice too but jelly babies are a far more cost effective option and I usually take a couple of Nuun to stick in a bottle if i think electrolytes are going to be more of an issue.

Couldn’t really tell from the footage if Countryfile/organisers were acting improperly, presumably if they were then action will be taken although I doubt it as for many in the NF an article in the Telegraph is a decision of the highest court of all and no further investigation is needed.

Between the dire behaviour of the BBC and the existential threat of a chain pub in Lymington its a wonder the brave guardians of the forest can sleep.

Normally I’d agree with the points made above that reviews are subjective but in this case I can’t square the review, the claims made and the star rating even within the review itself.

If you can’t ride a bike downhill on short descents without stopping as its beating you up then its failed as a bike and shouldn’t get even 2 and a half stars, theres no ‘value’ in a good equipment if the bike is unrideable in intended use. If I accept the review as-is the frame must be awful (or the fork crocked).

To deliver a frame that is too stiff to ride downhill properly but too flexy to pedal uphill would be remarkable given how good most bikes are now and given I haven’t seen consistent bashing of the c456 on forums seems a little unlikely.

Oh my

There really does seem to be nowhere to fasten up a bike in Sandown, its weird given its a tourist destination and the island is keen to promote cycling but last I visited (autumn ’11) we couldn’t find any ‘proper’ place to lock the bikes to.

They aren’t 100% perfect copies – comparing the ‘retina burn’ jawbones on DX to the legit ones I have at home the screw that holds the jaw on is different (although i note on another colour its the same) and some of the text is black rather than white on the inside arm but they even have ‘Made in the USA’ and ‘Jawbone’ moulded into the frame. They are very good copies although knowing the variable quality of DX stock they may very well be more obviously ‘knock-off’ when you get them.

Totally unhelpful but that lonely planet thread is awesome, that chap is a ball of pent up rage.

Slightly more helpful – try the CTC or local club rides – mate of mine met his current beau on a long XC spin

Brighston has some more singletracky/techy bits in it but was a mudfest on my last visit this time of year, local mtb club short guide at:

http://www.extremists.co.uk/guide.html

KMC pliers are a really nice luxury item to have in your toolbox, I gave in and got a set and they do make life that little bit easier

Going a bit leftfield how about the SID-soundchip from the commodore 64? Its quietly become quite common across a whole range of electronic artists to either use a sidstation or direct sample/sid-style sounds. You could widen it out to accommodate the rise of chip-tune and other subgenres using outdated gaming hardware. Very ‘on trend’ !

I clicked through as well just to see if it was going to be as annoying as it looked, and it was.

my current cannondale i bought becuase it was on offer – i don’t so much regret it as i love the bike and the way it rides, just wish it had more travel – it’s only 120mm front and rear and i’d like 140 – 160

I feel a tiny bit of buyers remorse with my current marin as I bought a 160mm model when what I really needed was more like 130-140mm. It was on very deep discount and I’d been holding off buying a bike for months with money saved up. I’d always wanted to own a ‘proper’ quadlink II so went with it and while its a great bike I’m massively overbiked and feel more than a little silly. Good fun though and its getting used.

Also interested if you got any in.

Heading to Bristol to watch the Red Bull Hill Chasers event, probably have a beer or two while i’m there then sleep in sunday. Going to spend sunday PM teaching the other half to dismantle a bike drivetrain.

V interested in this thread as I have a 2010 Attack Trail currently uncracked, quick google suggests there are quite a few 2010/2011 attack trails unsold in shops so I’d suggest pointing out to ATB that they could source one that way if they don’t have any new ones themselves.