Montane do a heavier weight version i think – featherlight is about 115g and they do a 160ish g singletrack – I’d be more precise but I’ve left it at work. Its about £60 if you shop around so you can use the £100 you save on the rapha to line the montane jacket with fivers for added warmth 🙂 . Rapha is really nice but is a wee bit pricy, think its similar weight to the singletrack but rather classier looking.

Its going to depend on what they do and how well your body takes it but my other half had it done about two months ago and her experience was walking same day with some pain, walking unaided within three days and light gym (spinner bike) for 10-15 minutes 2 weeks after the procedure, she is back up to 60 minute+ sessions at speed on the spinner and elliptical but finds the real bike more of a challenge still. I had it done a good few years back and it took me about 5 months before I felt entirely normal but was riding within about 8 weeks.

Also you may want to consider knee pads if you’re getting back on soon after a procedure in case you knock the site (the entry wounds may be small but it can be pretty sore inside there)and defo spin rather than grind up hills.

Good luck with it.

Sad – her PR people really do seem desperate to turn her into some kind of laughing stock amongst the better informed, and as you say its still a fairly major achievement even if it isn’t a ‘record’ in some way.

I’m now off to break the world ‘cycling commute from my door to my work’ record, its never been attempted before competitively over this distance and course (or by anyone else counting) so I am hopeful of the record, its cold and a bit damp but I feel my training will see me through.

Must admit I’ve also never really ‘got’ Paramo gear – I can’t get past seeing a mate with soaking legs and torso after a particularly soggy scramble up a hillside – his knees were presumably stretching the fabric as he took big steps up/knelt down and his (admittedly really heavy) pack did a nice job of forcing water through the top. Lots of people do love it however.

Edit – thread made me google it as I also recall it was a pain that needed reproofing all the time, some people actually recommend proofing it before every decent walk, the fox forks of outdoor jackets?

I thought it was a really good show and a big improvement on previous years, some nice kit on display – good to see on-one’s lineup (and pick up the silly light frames), zipline and awesome cheese as noted above and the Madison stand had some silly cheap samples for sale – picked up a pair of goretex paclite trousers for £15, only disappointment was a lack of womens specific bikes as the other half is looking to buy a new one this year.

These do slightly scare me as the combination of weight from the frame/motor/battery, limited incentive to keep the weight of other components down when you don’t have to peddle it up the hard bits means a fair old mass in a crash over and above a normal DH bike, having been brained by my old fashion pedally bike more than once as its caught up with me post crash I wouldn’t want to be hit by one of these.

Ouch – hope it gets sorted, I’ve cut myself on discs before when working on the bike in the cold (rushing, not paying attention) but my worst disc related injury was a burn after a long descent – ‘that looks really hot’ say I before touching it just to make sure, still have the mark.

It depends on how wasted your quad muscles are really, if you’re wanting to 100% target the quad then the machines are good for isolation exercise so if you were say coming off an injury or an operation they work well for forcing you to work the atrophied muscle in a safe manner but it sounds as if you aren’t in that position so dynamic weights should work better overall.

Looking forward to some ‘in use’ reports – I keep seeing nice looking D2B kit at seemingly good prices but having spent many unhappy weeks on the fells during uni boiling in Regatta’s ‘breathable’ best i’m put off them.

I had a set, similar judder issues.

Angsty middle class white boys song covered by working class people results in STW middleclass “I’m down with the grungy edgy music” outcry?

Isn’t she another product of the Brit School? (googles…) Yep, and the Silvia Young theatre school, and the Italia Conti Academy. So pretty much exactly the same as the jarrow march 🙂

But yes people are being a bit precious – Trent will make more money either way, I don’t like the cover but its hardly the end of the world.

Another with poor experience of tredz – they took an order for two items via their website, didn’t ship either and ignored chaser emails for three weeks before I rang them, they couldn’t find a record of the transaction or mails so asked me to re-send everything to them via email.

Emailed me back three days later to inform me that the items were out of stock and couldn’t be supplied, claimed they had tried to contact me but my email address and phone number didn’t work which seemed odd given they had confirmed the order on the email address when I placed it and had claimed they had no record at all of the order when I called. Mail and phone details were correct on the order.

Out of interest I checked their webstore later that week while searching for alternatives and found they were still advertising the items as available.

Duffbag arrived today – thanks Duffman!

Sizing is generally slim, I take medium (5’10) across the range of items i have although my krypton is a little tight round my (fairly broad) shoulders. Montane are good in my experience at replying to questions so drop them a line – some items are more ‘athletic’ than others – my krypton equilibrium is less forgiving than other items I have and montane were helpful in confirming sizing

Thanks for the tip – Will have to pop in to Tescos – have found it really good on cycling kit (inc sweaty pads/armour) and use a lot for running and gym kit as well.

Would CTC cover you hitting someone on a cheeky trail? I would expect any insurer to simply argue that its an uninsured activity because you shouldn’t have been doing it in the first place. genuine question.

Also lol at V8ninety, I fell right into your trap!

I’ve also done the OD thing when I got the Pavoni – kept trying different grind/pull combinations and ended up sweating coffee, couldn’t sleep that night.

Wouldn’t reccomend the Pavoni for a first proper machine tbh, while I enjoy the effort and find it fulfilling to get it spot on it is a pain sometimes at 5.30 in the morning when you really just want some coffee, on the other hand it has an enormous brass eagle on it which is something you can’t say for the silvia. UK Coffee Forums[/url] have some guides and reviews of kit available in the UK in the forum including some cheaper grinders and machines that still do the job.

Quality grinder is as important as a quality machine, I’ve got a la Pavoni Professional (copper and brass, gorgeous) and a Pavoni Jolly Grinder although I’ll probably get a mazzer mini at some point to replace the grinder as its slightly unreliable with grind size.

Real question is how interested are you in awesome coffee, an automatic machine will do reliable decent coffee, a stovetop will do decent coffee but if you want top notch espresso you’re talking about serious kit and some real effort in getting grind/dose right. My La Pavoni is a bit of a faff but for me the quality makes it worthwhile, plus I can service it entirely myself and can get all the spares. Used to have a Krups than a Gaggia machine but got hacked off having them both die and being unable to source parts/get them fixed for less than the cost of a new machine.

Check ebay for the higher end machines, particularly levers – lots of people buy them then don’t get on with them/can’t be bothered with the faff, my pro and grinder were about £350 (about £800 new) although i had to service the grouphead and swap the gaskets out.

Off to make awesome coffee…

Graham Ferris is one of the vocal members of the local nimby brigade and does everything in his power to keep outsiders out of ‘his’ forest. His recent miltancy is linked (i think) to the recent sportives in the forest – quite a few of the local (by which I mean ‘moved into the area from london quite recently and don’t intend to share’) gang got upset at the number of bikes on ‘their’ roads and were quite vocal about it in local papers – was in the Red Shoot the weekend after the wiggle event and lots of the horsey set were in tutting about the number of bikes. I’ve also noticed a recent uptick in the number of ‘the forest is for horses’ comments when riding.

No joy here – ticketmaster was the usual pleasure and by the time I could access the site properly it was sold out

Two and a bit,

Marin Attack Trail – so cheap i couldn’t really say no 🙂
Spec Hardrock (set up to ride to work)
Cube LTD Race (currently in bits)

Have probably got enough parts to get the Cube up and running but some of the bits are a little tempramental and/or rubbish

I dropped out of riding for quite a few years before getting back into it, my big regret is selling the old bike. Modern kit is nicer but I wish I’d hung on to it, i’d suggest not selling the Soul unless you need the cash.

Ditto, it remains the only test/exam i’ve ever failed. I seem to remember got bored and tried to do skids on my new bmx

Full facer and neck brace, seems to freak a lot of people out on this forum.

Cover an outfit in cotton wool and go as Mint Sauce

I did sample the Monks, it was rather good, pop in on occasion to the Cask when i’m in town with work, fine pub

The Mikkeller was still on as of Tuesday, and was awesome, I preferred the ‘S**t Coffee’ but also enoyed the three black hole styles.

Was going to reccomend Kazan but its already been done!

A quick google brings up this Ludlow Advertiser story[/url] that agrees they are made in vietnam.

Thanks for this – just ordered the kyle straits, code worked as well

Theres not really anything to ‘get’ is there – he is a former champion trials rider, still riding for a living, promoting the sport and seemingly enjoying himself. Find it very hard to dislike him.

Its fun for shiny things (or at least it was when it was in london) and they had a couple of more ’boutique’ brands on display last time I went which was nice. My abiding memory however was the crushing disappointment of not being able to buy any of the shiny things, that and snagging far too much energy drink from stands and ending up confused and jittery.

To be fair thats probably the busiest junction in town during the school run, one of my ex-colleagues who lives in the Netherlands is a keen roadie and he commutes in to work by bike – he always makes sure he rides in to the town centre where he lives out of school hours so he can put in some reasonable speeds. On the way home he pootles a bit amongst the crowds on bikes and enjoys the fact he lives in a country that is pro-cycling.

Far too much bike for my riding hence I want it, lovely bit of kit

1) Honestly assess riding style, skill and need
2) Add 20mm travel at both ends, look for slacker geometry
3) Is it available in purple? how about white?
4) Purchase
5) wow thats a bit too much bike, and a bit bling

At least thats how i bought the last one, to be fair i did have a little go on a few before spending

Stay safe!

Waitrose carriers add a touch of class,

I’ve been using a Gourdon 20l for three years, starting to show its age but its done everything from commuting to shopping to hill walking and even a bit of mountain biking, ace bag.

200 more people would die from lack of exercise as they gave up cycling. thats the CTC position from looking at the evidence.

Bollocks. If you’re so vain that you give up cycling because you have to wear a helmet, you’re not going to become a fat bloater, you’ll find some other way to exercise.

Agree – every time I see those CTC figures I cringe, nothing to do with the helmet debate but its painful that on the one hand they demand the highest standards for data in favour of helmet prescription but on the other are quite happy to make this statement based on a limited body of study.

Actually given helmets increase drag, weight and perspiration surely we could aggregate up the health benefit of all that extra effort across cyclists and prove that mandatory helmet use would save lives through enhanced cardio workouts? 🙂

Still not in favour of prescription however.

And edited to add my sympathy for the poor lady who died, which was the reason I started to read the thread in the first place

Heart says Dolphins head says Green Bay, possibly also New England or even New Orleans despite the loss as i think they will sort out their line play as the season goes on.

Think your ‘skins will be held back by the QB situation, Rex is unpredictable and Beck is grade-A useless as he fears contact.

I’ll be surprised if any cyclist wins it this year, and being the best in the world in a small sport is no match for being known in a big one.

But I’ll still vote, and I still think Steve Peat should have had it in 2009.

They have every right to establish rules for their club, and if they are ‘serious’ roadies (team kit etc) they will almost certainly enjoy establishing rules about dress code, a couple of the club riders at my work mutter darkly about the lack of an appropriate ‘grooming standard’ at their club since they liberalised the membership rules.

As others have said clubs tend to have their own rules – some require everyone to carry tools, some frown on even tiny seatpost bags etc Its all a bit uptight tbh, there may even be a reason for this helmet rule – maybe one of the club took a bad spill in the past helmetless?

Is that why the alumninium fames are cheeper now? It’s all the re-cycled Stella cans?

I spilled coffee laughing when i read this.

Pity I’ve just ordered a new bike, carbon 456 looks very nice, may see if I can scrape up the pennies