Good point, I'm sure it'll make a good contribution to a relevant thread 😉

aracer – Member

CONGRATULATIONS? IT WAS YOU FECKERS WHO MADE THE WORLD WHAT IT IS TODAY!

Actually I suspect you'll find a lot of the dealers doing dodgy trades in financial instruments they didn't understand were in their twenties and early thirties. As were the people overextending themselves with mortgages they couldn't afford.

Presumably though you'd prefer the world to be like it was in the fifties?

And what the hell has that got to do with the thread?

meikle_partans – Member

^ That one is my favourite, actually makes me well up a little…

bloody hell. a cartoon just emotionalised me. id never seen that one before thanks toast.

me too. A sudden rush of emotion as I thought about the early days of riding with my dad (not like that) back in the early 90s. Looking forward to the book Jo keep up the great work.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE BORN IN THE 30s 40s 50s 60s and early 70s.

CONGRATULATIONS? IT WAS YOU FECKERS WHO MADE THE WORLD WHAT IT IS TODAY!

Wash mine when the wife's nagging reaches unbearable levels.

Campag and Shimano are both great in my opinion. I went for Centaur on my present bike, cos it looks nice. One gripe though – every now and then the shift levers behind the brake levers seem to jam, requiring a quick flick of the thumb shifter to release it (if that makes sense to anyone I'll be very suprised). Don't know if that's a common problem (carbon ergopowers)?

It happended enough to alarm us but I could never but it down to anything. It happended on many occasions when we both put her to bed and then both went down together. No electrical work was ever carried out during this period and it hasn't happended since. 6 months of very strange things, freaked the misses out somewhat and annoyed me as could never put my finger on why.

I bet it was your wife. There is a wealth of scientific evidence to support the conclusion that women are F**king Nutters. No offence to your wife like 😉

Impossible for that route. 12.5 mph for 22 hours inc Snowdonia and the Black Mountains – and the bits in between? At the time I wasn't far off the front of expert and even elite races and it still took 7 long days!

From the centre of Leeds you need to get onto the Meanwood Ridge (just to the north near Hyde Park area). Excellent riding within 1/2 mile of the centre. I can ride to Otley from Leeds nearly entirely offroad – great technical singletrack just head north – although muddy at this time of year. That said I wouldn't bother unless you can find a local guide – it's tricky to find the good stuff without 'the knowledge'. As for climbing, if it's dry and you have a car head to Almscliff – it's exposed so dries very quick. The best gritstone around. Final option, again requiring a car unless you fancy the ride, Stainburn is good for a few hours of technical riding/potential death.

At last, someone with the ability to use Google. Yeah, that looks right. 270 miles in 22 hours offroad is pretty good going…

Hi Barca!

Has to be a different route! I was reasonably fit then, as were my two companions. Absolutely no way you could do the route we took in 22 hours. I might look into it again. It was organised by Coyote Chris but I can probably work it out… Yeah, we had a few mechanicals too. Worst of whcih was me snapping my rear axle on the long descent of the final day. Made it to a bike shop in Swansea luckily. The final night saw us crashing a hen party with a free bar. It didn't take too many drinks to destroy us after that week. 😆

Did it in 2000 or so. We stayed in B&Bs. Bloody hard work but very rewarding, a chance to really get off the beaten track. Took us 8 days finishing at the tip of Worms Head peninsula. When I say 7 days, we were all pretty fit and experienced mountainbikers and we didn't mess around. It's harder than you might think. Especially day 1 from Conway which took us 10 hours including lots of carrying through bogs. B&Bs sound like the 'lightweight' option, but it was great at the end of the day to wash and dry kit. I Guess it depends on the weather when you do it.. but it is Wales. All the B&Bs we stopped in were very accomodating and let us wash bikes/kit etc.

Unfortunately the itinerary has been lost in the mists of time… Barca off these parts attempted it last year with a trailer… he gave up after day 2 I think but he may have a better idea of itinerary.

'spose it depends on the grass. Mine was quite fresh, I suppose dreid grass would be better.

I tried the old 'stuffing your tyre full of grass trick' which has been dragged out by numerous mags in the past as a trailside bodge when nothing else will work. Needless to say it's a load of bollocks and results in a green-brown mush covered flat tyre.

Once fixed a broken chain with a rock off a dry stone wall, and managed a 12 mile ride home with it…

^^^c0ck ring?

I think I would prefer chamfered edges for that… Also 34.9 might be a bit small for me…

😉

Duff McKagan from Guns n Roses is a keen mountainbiker. Read an article about him in MBA years ago, and somewhere else more recently.

I sold Curly Watts a bike when I worked at Neil Walton's in Didsbury!

Bodycount at Heaton Park. They, including Ice-T, got chased off stage by the police wielding truncheons, after starting to play 'Cop Killer'. Great gig, free too.

Other than that the Exploited and the Macc Lads…

Same problem for me but plus a dedicated Alfine shifter… got the shifter between the lever and grip, with the window removed. Only problem is that it's sometimes difficult to know what gear you're in with a hub gear!

What Hicksy said about the cable guide/chain proximity is true. I use a 9spd and there's only a very small gap (with the guide angled at 45 degrees ish). I use 20T with Middleburn 29T on the front.

finbar you beat me to it! 😆

30 litre Karrimor Hot with a liner. Or a pannier bag depending on the bike.

'Gas Pipe' 😆

(that'd be pretty cool actually!)

Never move my seatpost. I used to do dual slalom and dirt jumping back in the day, and had a bike for that with a low seat – so I know the benefits – I just don't need it for riding in the Peaks and Dales…

Shootin' cabins, Hayfield. On me own. 😆

Two excellent curry restraunts: the Red Pepper (a new-ish place) and the good old Jewel of India. My favourite pub is the Junction, opposite Chevin Cycles. It's a real ale type place but nice and friendly.

35-45min commute to leeds by bike? That's rather impressive – not sure I could get to Leeds city centre by car in that time!

It's 10 miles dead on to my work (uni). I leave at 6.15 am ish and miss most of the traffic. That said, even in rush hour you miss most of it on a bike. It's pretty competitive though, not that the other guys would admit this I'm sure….

during my undergrad I worked Sat and Sun at B&Q. As this involved a 6 am start, usually after a '10 pints for 50p' deal the night before, I often used to climb the racking in the garden centre and sleep it off in one of the garden sheds (they were displayed at several levels)… I wouldn't have done it if I had any kind of respect for my boss (fecker was always moaning he couldn't find me) 😆

I've lived in Otley for 2 years. Great riding from the door. Not rough at all, at least not in my experience and I've spent plenty of time in the pubs… 35-45 min commute by bike to Leeds. Although you can commute to Leeds and back nearly entirely offroad too!
Proper shops and market, loads of pubs and fish n chip shops. Annual criterium and folk festival. Ilkley's a bit public school for the likes of me… 😉

My pedants eye has had enough;

Reins! It's reins.

Monarchs have reigns.

Rain it in mate it's a bike forum 😉

She wasn't. I'm just asking….

alpin – what's the problem with reigns?

I can imagine if you were, for example, in a supermarket with your kid trying to do some shopping, they might be pretty useful. My little sister was insane/hyper and would do a runner at the first opportunity…

That guys is amazing, those spinning round and landing on the pedal things are great. lots of very technical stuff I don't understand. But I'd rather watch Danny M anyday, just looks so creative and smooth and flowing.

But what do I know, I'm just an early 30s mtber who used to be able to jump a few sets of doubles but now has trouble with high kerbs 😆

Remember to turn it off if your laptop is being used during a big international conference. It'd be terribly embarassing if your wife called during a presentation…. 😆

ahhh I remember using Fir rims and conti tyres – never to be separated!

As a youngster I converted my front wheel (normal 3x) to a snowflake pattern, but had to reduce it to 2x as the spokes weren't long enough 😆

Looks better than I thought! Back end looks a slightly darker orange… Hope you didn't pay cash.

forgot my giant cadex road bike which fell to peices on the turbo trainer. bb shell fell off!!

My seatstay snapped but my mates dad replaced it with a tube from some windsurfing application….. that was mid-90s and it's still going now! Scary!

God I'm bored too. Here's my list starting in 1990:

Townsend Smokey Bear 200lx (1st race on this bike: Brabyns Park, Marple Bridge. Came last).
Al Carter Country 500 lx
Trek 850
Freddie Grubb fixed (paper round bike!)
GT Zaskar avec U-Brake
Orange Clockwork (bent)
Offroad Proflex 853
Offroad Proflex 854 (sponsored)
Saracen kiliflyer (stolen and recovered twice!)
Giant Cadex 980c
Kona Lavadome
M & B Cycles 531 c cross bike (national hill climb champ!)
Yeti FRO (steel one)
Orange Aero
Hercules old school with Hercumatic gears and rod brakes
Rotec steel fillet brazed dual slalom thing
Spooky Metalhead
Spooky Metalhead (replacement)
Spooky Pitboss
Cannondale r1000
2 x Specialized team cross bikes
Azonic DS2
Azonic DS1
Scott Boulder (staff night ride bike!)
Ellsworth Aeon Isis
Kona Kilauea converted to SS
Rocky Mountain Blizzard
Cotic Soul
Pearson 531 fixed
Independent Fabrication steel deluxe
Ribble Sportive racing

and it all comes down to this…

On One slot dropout with Alfine! 😆

Why did the farmer win a Nobel Prize?

He was out standing in his field.

😆

NICE!
Our neighbours kindly cleared their drives and the adjacent patches of road…these are now impassable without the aid of skis..

Just said the same on the snow thread – cycled 10 miles from Otley to leeds this morning and I've never experienced black ice like it. Nearly had to crawl down some of the side streets (and walking on black ice with overshoes and look cleats ain't easy!). Main roads were mostly ok, just with the odd patch of black ice for those "sh*t sh*t sh*t" moments where you feel yourself drift slightly…

Still, didn't seem to affect the speed of the cars passing me, although the few in the hedge were somewhat slower.

Just rode in from Otley to Leeds. Never experienced black ice like it. It'll be bus home tonight for me!