Thaks Simon, looks like you’re correct.

Just spoke to Hope and it is just the spokes that are different, the j bend spokes aren’t quite as strong as the straight pull apparently so at 15+ stone i’ll probably plump for the straight pull for the sake of an extra £25.
Cheers

I was diagnosed type one just over 3 years ago. Injected insulin for around 6 weeks before constant hypos lead to me being taken back off it.

For 3 years now i’ve had no medication at all and just watched my diet. All the doctors and specialists are completely confused as by now I should have been back on insulin ages ago.

I hope your diagnosis Is good news but if you’re talking about type 2 the symptoms can be improved massively through exercise and diet. Type one is just bad luck, the causes are still unknown.

I have a Honzo and its a great bike. A bargain at the reduced prices now. The 2013 has a bolt thru rear end if that’s important to you.

Started with a 120mm Reba but changed recently to a 130mm Revelation which has made a far bigger difference than I ever thought. If the trails ever dry up I’m looking forward to getting out on it more.

The Ragley Bigwig is due out soon and is cheaper than most of its competitors. Maybe worth a look?

Vdubber, does it come with a seatclamp or do you have to buy one in addition?

And when you do debox it (you must have stronger willpower than me) can you let me know what you think of the finish/weight etc, thanks.

Which colour did you go for, i was thinking of the grey.

Nobody?

There must be one or two out there surely?

All i can tell you is that if your wife leaves them on her pillow next to your head in the morning while you’re still half asleep and you roll over and put your hand on them they wake you up very quickly!

But she swears by them (on 2nd set).

Classifieds or Ebay to pick up something suitably gash as required or if you want new then Rutland do 2 bikes by Forme that may fit the bill?

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/44933/Forme-Al-Fresco-Men-s-Hybrid-Road-Bike.html

There is a cheaper version as well at £199

For 3-4 miles each way there’s no point going for a decent bike as any bike will do that distance pretty comfortably with very little time difference between good and crappy bikes.

Surly Singleator is the stock answer usually. I used to run one in the pushing up position and it was faultless. Pushing down resulted in lots of chainslip under load though.

32 miles down the Tardebigge canal and out through Droitwich on the canals for me. Thought i’d take the full suss for once to blow the cobwebs off it as it’s sat unused since the ‘summer’. Bad choice, canals were far muddier than i’d been expecting and the rear end clogged up with nasty mud a few times. Enjoyed the ride though. My first use of Strava as well and there’s a segment for the main Locks. 4th at the moment but i shall return in the dry……
Little back lanes bimble on Sunday as well.

I’ve used some Specialized Borough CX in a 700x42c size and they were pretty good. Can be found pretty cheap as well which is a bonus.

Failing that, there are plenty of choices in the hybrid tyre sector, just have a browse on a few websites and see what tickles your fancy.

What are your impressions on the Krampus Charlie?

Ton,

If you browse Ebay in the US you’ll usually see a few on there set up in all sorts of ways, some even run flat bars. MTBR will have a few threads also. For the record i run Bell Laps.

I thought you were going to try mine out at the weekend but i didn’t hear from you so i didn’t bring it up?

Still considering one?

I can get full bikes in the back of mine without removing wheels but only smaller bikes, not my massive 29ers (front wheel off for them).

Up to 18″/19″ 26″ wheeled bikes should be no problem, especially if the front seats aren’t all the way back (mine are).

Unused one off my desk and should still be valid i think….

3CMXBNLG

I’m sitting in my office which is 13 degrees and i have not put on the fan heater. The body warmer is the next option when i get too chilly.

As above, 40 and bored by what i do but a ‘career’ sucks you in and you get used to a certain level of income.

I know i’d much rather do something else but what? I’ve always been envious of people who grew up knowing exactly what they wanted to do with their lives and had something to aim for.

The fear is doing something new for less money but ending up not enjoying that either. I am going from being self employed (and totally unmotivated) to being employed again though in the next 2/3 months so maybe that’s a start (same job type though but not sat on my own all day every day going stir crazy).

Take a look at this thread from earlier

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/radon-buying-experience

Radon (or is it Raidon?) seem to have some good bikes for the money and the chap in the thread said he got Reba’s for an extra few quid (don’t know if he’s talking 26″ or 29″ though).

I watched it from the start when it aired on FX and loved it straight away. Just got my mate into it as well by lending him all the DVDs.

Don’t have Netflix so haven’t seen any of series 5 yet but amazon says it’ll be available in June. Long wait but worth it.

Am always surprised how it never got a following on tv in the uk and was stopped after series 2, although mostly due to Five US cocking up the scheduling.

Along with Dexter (which starts again on Sunday) it’s my favourite show, great stories, characters and brilliant acting.

Triton have a 20″ Karate Monkey on offer at £259.

Non ebb and slider dropouts and he price Los includes the rigid forks.

Costello,

It must be new as i live about 500 yards away and i’ve never noticed any signs and never seen an attendant of any kind apart from on days when the football club opposite have a match on.

I’ve parked there loads of times to use other places nearby and never had anything (although as i’m so close i tend to walk or bike there if i’m not buying bulky stuff).

I’ll pop by later and have a look at the signs.

It’ll catch a lot of people out if it is new signage that’s being ignored.

Let us know once the demo bike is up and running Charlie and i’ll book up a trip to the seaside…..

Make sure you post up plenty of pics once it’s done :-)

Crystal Palace Park in 2001 as i lived just down the road.

On a Spesh Hardrock that i bought on a whim as i worked in Waterloo next to the Evans store. Still have it and it’s sat in the office behind me for occasional lunchtime pootles. Everything else is 29er now but i’ll never sell the Hardrock. May retire it at 10,000 miles, it’s on 8200 at the moment.

speedgoat cycles have a good range and some good prices if you wait for their ‘closeout’ sales.

Charlie, did the Krampus arrive on Friday as expected?

If yes has the build started?

I joined 3 non cycling friends for a section of this 2 years ago. They did it in 2 days althought they suffered on the 2nd day.

2 of them did pretty much no cycling and the other did a bit so i’d think you’d not struggle too much, although daylight hours will be against you (they did it in summer).

I use the guides you’ve shown and they are very good, i do a lot of miles around the Brum canal system in the summer months as it’s nice riding but some sections of the ‘towpath’ can get very muddy and unrideable in some sections.

Losing a bb spacer on the drive side worked on my Fargo (the same model as midlifecrashes but the XXL) and its not missed a beat in over 3300 miles. Tiagra 9 sp mech,105 shifters and a Deore 48/36/26 chain set.

Different set up on my Fargo and I run a set of 9sp 105 shifters running a tiagra front mech on a Devore chain set and XT cassette.
To get it all to wok properly my lbs ended up switching one of the bb spacers to the ‘wrong’ side so that the front mech would be able to get the necessary throw. Bit of a faff to begin with but has been faultless ever since.

I use the cheapest ones from Decathlon (clear) which are around £8 a pair and have been great. I bought several pairs are future spares as at the price they are almost disposable.

As above, i also have several different spare lenses for a few types of DHB glasses (they seemed to change the lense shape every time i bought a pair?) which you can have if they match your ones.

For sunglasses i have 2 pairs of ‘nice’ Giro glasses that my LBS sold me at cost when they stopped stocking them. £25 a pair instead of c.£100. Just goes to show the mark up on these things which is why i don’t buy expensive sunglasses anymore.

My cats now leg it the second they hear me cock the Nerf gun I was bought as a gift. A few (harmless I might add) shots across the room and I don’t see them for half an hour.

Strangly though they don’t seem to notice the gun and will happily sleep across it? Cats are ace.

Double post

I have a BNIB Sunline XC stem in a 90mm if its any use?

£30 posted. Pretty light and well made. Used to retail at £60 or so before Sunline dropped out of the MTB market last yet.

I’ve got a Honzo but the 1st generation qr rear. Can’t say I notice a lack of stiffness in it with the qr, it’s built strong to say the least.

It’s a fun bike to ride but its pretty heavy (not an issue for me). I run 120 reba’s on it but have just got some of the cheap crc 130mm revs to replace them and give better tyre clearance.

Why are they ‘shysters’?

Nobody forces people to take out these loans, people have a choice.

If you think that everybody taking them out is using the money as a last option to pay for their grannies operation then you’re the naive one. They’re more likely than not used by the ‘want it now’ generation to get whatever latest disposable tech is available or a holiday they ‘deserve’. They are also far less likely to pay it back, hence the high returns charged to cover the far higher risk to the lender.

Ton, I have a set on my Fargo so you can see them next week. I also have a spare set of the 53mm version which are fine up to a 2″ tyre (and at a squeeze a 2.35″ slick).

I tried the 2″ big apple tyre as per Charlies but found the 2.35″ to be far more comfortable (if a tad heavier/slower rolling). Wouldn’t use anything else now.

Is PF30 the same as BB30?

If yes then there’s a good selection of fsa ones on crc. Like this.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=90256

Edit -that’s a triple but there are several doubles.

I thought nothing was oversize?

Where are the ‘retro’ 25.4 handlebars then…… ;-)

Other than that, very nice.

I put Bell Laps on my Fargo and liked them so much that I put some on my road bike as well.

Gutted to hear that they have stopped making them but if the Cowbell is very similar then it’s not all bad..

I find the extra flare on them gives far better control on my 46cm versions.

It’s all luck of the draw.
I bought my new build house 7 years go (tiny ‘estate’) of 5 houses and there is a block of eight 3 story houses in front of us (with some decent sized trees/hedges separating us). 6 are privately owned, 2 are housing authority. When I bought there were no problems but after six months one set of old folks moved out and the local housing authority decided to try one if their social experiments by moving in a family from hell (in the hope that being around ‘nice’ people would rub off on them). It didn’t.
We’ve all now endured years of stupidly loud music, screaming street arguments, fights, lots of police presence, foul mouthed abusive kids, drug dealing, abuse (dad was recently removed for assaulting the kids – he’s back now).
To be fair they’ve been far better of late and don’t hugely impact on us anymore but it’s taught me a valuable lesson and I would never buy near social housing again as it can be a nightmare and its not as if you can simply move as nobody else wants to live near these people and you have to drive past their badly maintained house to get to ours.

Having said that, the second house is lived in by a working couple who have been fine so again, it’s all down to luck. The bad family don’t work, never have, never will so they’re there all the time, although their 18 yr old son (recently a father) is now in prison and that’s helped.
You have to make a judgement call and hope for the best I’m afraid but it’s not a gamble I’d take again.
Good luck!

I bought a basic Roadlite off them which has been great and it turned up with no problems and very well packaged (although you do pay c.£50 for the privilege).

Only problem i had was a bent mech hanger (after i simply knocked the bike over onto carpet) but when i emailed them direct to check which one i needed to order they never responded.

When they recently opened the uk office i tried again and got a response within a few hours.

My advice to you would be get a spare hanger when you order your bike (it’s cheaper then as well) as my new one will cost £10 in postage which is very annoying as the hanger is only £15 ish and the postage shouldn’t be more than £3-£4.

I’m a big FOtN fan. I was just getting into them as they split and had one chance to see them in concert but never made it.

I’m also a big fan of the Sisters and the Mission, both of whom i saw back in the day.

Not sure if it’s ‘Goth’ but i’d also recommend early Cure stuff (my favourite band) like the Pornography and Faith albums and also Jesus and The Mary Chain.

Due to this thread i’m now going to have to play the full 11 min version of Sumerland from Elizium on my phone in the office.

I miss the late 80’s……