I have a Sportive Racing as pictured above. I ditched the god-awful saddle asap, and went for tasteful black tyres and red tape. No such thing as too much red tape. In short it's amazing to ride and amazing value for money, look up reviews via google.

I think Mr Agreeable has it summed up perfectly:

Drivers may be stupid but they are stupid in a predictable way. If you assume that everyone in a car is going to misjudge your speed, fail to signal, speed up through amber lights and generally ignore your existence, you'll be fine.

That's been my mantra of 18 years commuting!

I just got one of these with Centaur for £1059. Doesn't look as bling with normal wheels and is an absolute blast to ride. Couldn't recommend it more. As long as you can handle riding a Ribble. It's the same as one of the frames Fondriest use on a very highly rated bike in their range (can't remember the name). Value for money-wise it's amazing.

Ours is 13 weeks. Between 9-13 weeks she changed a lot. We didn't really realise it but the problem was that we were putting her to bed too late (about 8.30 – 9). We brought it forward to 7.30, then 7, then 6.30, now it's 6-6.30. She'll then sleep until 2-3 then 6-7.
Do yours get much sleep during the day? If ours doesn't she won't sleep properly at night.
We have a set routine of quick bath, feed, bed. It works well. No experience with twins though!

http://www.wilfs-cafe.co.uk/cafe.html

I say hello/nod to most other cyclists and get the same response. Sometimes I don't bother, it depends how I feel.

There's one old guy on a road bike I used to pass in opposite directions who used to gawp open mouthed at me everyday. I even shouted hello but the miserable bastid just wanted to stare and dribble. I don't know why but I'd like to kill him.

Often wondered this. However I would say that waking up with legs like lead doesn't always correspond to poor performance on the bike – sometimes quite the opposite for me. Strange eh?

As above really, generally used as part of a longer route by local riders but the descent from the Fox (pub) is one of my favourites (as is the one past the scout camp and the one from the Mellor Cross). Some cheeky singletrack around the perimeter of the scout camp too, including a big bombhole – I only know it cos they used to have cross and mountain bike races there back in the day… honest! 😆

Fair enough NBT. I've regressed over the years to 100 mm and flat bars! Don't know if you remember Ashley, back in the day he rode an Azonic DS1 with Boxxers, which I could never get on with, not that it held him back at all!

You can never tell from a photo but the orange one looks like it'd have a ridiculously steep head angle as soon as the forks compress! How do bikes like that handle with such long travel forks? I reckon about 130 mm is the longest I'd ever want on a hardtail… (not that I've ever tried anything longer).

Two pairs of shorts (singletrack I think) fell apart at the arse within a couple of weeks of use. Pretty shoddy in my opinion. Compare to a pair of Fox baggies I had for 4 years and have only become unusable as I have worn through the fabric on the arse. I won't be bothering again.

igm – Campagnolo corkscrews are awesome though! try one and then say they're overpriced! That said I've removed corks with pens and keys before now 😆

God you guys are a bunch of idiots sometimes. I've not seen the video before, despite coming on STW quite a bit, cheers raceface!

I've ridden both a Blizzard and Soul with 130 mm forks. I loved the Blizzard with that set up and rode it for a couple of years. I wish I hadn't sold it. After a short excursion into full-sus I bought a Soul also with a 130 mm fork, I just didn't really get on with it in the same way as I had the Blizzard. Just do it!

This has happened to me twice. Both times it was found in a shoe, and a shoe I don't normally wear so had been put in the wardrobe. I'm not sure what goes on in my head sometimes. Shoes are always my first port of call now.

The worst signs are the newest most reflective ones. There have been several times recently when driving at night that i've been nearly blinded , or at least dazzled and confused, by the sheer number of signs. All of which are probably pointless. Keeps/creates jobs though…

And the signs you do want to see are usually covered by trees!

Simply use 'left bollock' or 'right bollock'. Not if you're Lance though. He has half a pair of bollocks, or a bollock. Does that help?

Chances of anything commercially viable are slim anyway.. many exploration wells have been drilled and lots of exploration seismic has been shot all over the UK with only a small % yielding anything of commercial interest. So fingers crossed!

I use some pretty worn out Michelin all-mountains. slickish in the middle and knobbly on the outside. Perfect!

most riders on the continent never use the drops apart from straights and sprinting

You're talking about racing on essentialy undulating grassy courses. 'Normal' offroad riding is completely different, as are mnay UK cross courses where pros, including continental pros, will ride on the drops on the steep nasty rooted descents.

What about the benefits of spinning?

What sitting in a gym behind hot sweaty girls in lycra? That is beneficial.

Oh, I see what you mean. Using the big ring and spinning are not mutually exclusive!

So Hilldodger and Sam have provided my favourite answer so far. Seems reasonable to me!

LOL at No. 5. We used to refer to shifting to the large chainring as 'sticking it in the Abdou'! We were idiots obviously.

I like to be able to go offroad if I want to, and I mean proper rocky get a puncture on a 'cross bike offroad, or extend the route home to Stainburn or whatever. FWIW I raced 'cross for 7 years so am pretty familiar with 'cross bikes. Anyway, I was asking about the phenomena described!

Smoother somehow, even for the same ratio

Yeah, that's what I was thinking…

Why would I buy a CX bike when I want a mountain bike? I'm a mountain biker, it's just that I happen to ride to where I go offroad, and I commute (partly offroad). Thanks anyway.

I know, I was going to add that to the tags – "why do I like it in my big ring"? 🙂

People who say "Really???"

I hate that. Makes me want to repeatedly own the perpetrator's face with a pair of Bombers, whilst saying "YES, REALLY YOU ****!"

Also saying pair when refering to a fork 🙂

Congratulations! Things will change for the better. My daughter is 13 weeks old tomorrow! It seems like a lifetime already…
The rest of my life has had to change but we sneakily managed to move to a house 10 miles from work (before she was born) with lots of great offroad inbetween. I probably ride more than ever (like twice a day 5 days a week!)
I've always been prone to a bit of a 'what's the point?' and general despondancy but now I realise why I was put on earth and have never felt happier. How cheesy is that?!

even if there were a strict legal exclusion (which is unlikely) you could still encounter: fallen trees and rocks, animals, children & people who cannot read English or are too stupid to understand

Sounds like a similar argument I've heard from the red sock brigade:

Even where there is a strict legal exclusion you could still encounter mountain bikers who cannot read English or are too stupid to understand 😉

I could do with a narrower q-factor as I have a significant shoe/crank interface problem with HT11!

LOL @ jon1973. That's brilliant, I'll give that a go next time I apply for anything.

Tip: if using a hammer, screw a bolt into it first!

dunno, I'd cut treatment for smokers a long time before i cut IVF funding (unless your infertile due to smoking/drinking).

So a life that already exists is less important than a life which doesn't yet exist?
What if the child grew up to smoke? Could there be some test to determine future lifestyle choices the manufactured baby might make before we dismiss the smoker's life?

Aaaagh! My eyes!

That's what you'd say if you rode with the saddle angle of the second SBike!

It was fantastic. I can't recommend it enough, in fact i'd like to do it again. Train to Conway, train back from the Gower. Weather was terrible and the first day took 10 hours, other than that great. There's some serious wilderness in Wales I can tell you! I didn't organise it so don't know all the details, I suppose something will be kicking around on the net.

This one's a beaut:

Full-sus version:

anorak deed for the day done 🙂

S-BIKE!

I missed the 'rectangular' bit!