Yeah, I was nervous about that head tube when I first got it. Luckily the cups went in fine.

I can feel I’ll probably go for something bouncy within a few years, but for now this is an absolute blast on descents. Not sure I’d ever want to get rid of it.

That ping sound MTB tyres sometimes make as small things fly out from under them.

Sad I missed this, was still rebuilding my bike. Looks excellent, and really lovely photos.

These were the conditions when I ran up the pike last week :D

I serviced mine last week, it has the same scratches but on a part of the stanchion that’s still hidden when it’s up. They correspond to the roller bearing inside. I’m wondering the same as you.

Go wherever you can do the stuff you love more.

I ended up in a similar situation, living somewhere flat, feeling kind of flat, and freelance work depending on not much more than internet and the ability to travel. I moved to Calderdale after looking for places in the UK with decent public transport and where I could mountain bike without needing a car. Worked out pretty well :)

Interesting. If they’ve made it work, with a 30t ring that’d have the exact same range as a 22-36 double with 11-34 cassette, which I’ve been finding fine for everything.

Shooter’s Sandwich. The recipe began “Take two steaks…”

I’ve had success with the non-dirt Lezyne floor drive too.

pinetree – Member
so you use your trusty Stanley knife instead.

Same, but removing a marsh guard that was rubbing on a brand new front tyre. It’s a very quick way to deflate a tyre.

“But I wouldn’t do *anything* dangerous, I have a baby in the car” – immediately after cutting me up, missing my bars by an inch or so, to get to a red light less than ten metres ahead.

I really liked the idea of adjustable travel, but just put some 160 bombers on my blue pig. Loads of adjustable forks I looked at just sounded like trouble, particularly marz ones at the time.

doh – Member
Add fatbike to ebike you get the perfect recipe to wind these people up.

IHREB

But it was a modified old MTB with a throttle and custom built drivetrain. It was great fun. The chap who built it said he often rides it to the shops.

If ebikes become a problem on Strava, they’ll probably add an extra category for them. It already has loads beyond ride and run.

Tube:
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Multi-Rail-Tube-Chrome-25mmx2-44m/p/530251

Fittings:
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Wardrobe-Rail-Super-Deluxe-Socket-Chrome-25mm-2-Pack/p/530284

Bought this as a cheap commuter when I was living somewhere flat, then put nice seat, bars and pedals on. (The company didn’t survive, but it was similar to Mango). 46-16 is unpleasantly tall for the hills round here, but it’s fine as a pub bike.

These Polaris ones for me. Not quite waterproof, but definitely delay the arse soaking and got me through this winter.

(and while you said no Endura, I like 3/4 Humvees for the DWR and big pockets on the backs of the thighs to shove winter gloves in).

Check the axle adapters are screwed all the way in. I have the same hub with QR adapters, and if I neglect it they loosen slightly from time to time, giving the wheel a bit of play and a noticeable knocking sound.

@Junkyard At low speed, climbing in the biggest sprocket, I’ve had a rock nudge a rear mech into the spokes and trash it as I squeezed the bike through a tight spot. I often raise a pedal to get the bike past something, and while I’ve only trashed that one mech in my life, it’s really easy to hit them on stuff. I descend using the smallest cog, and while I’ve never smashed a mech going down, I’ve sometimes noticed the indexing suddenly go awry, or fresh scratches on the cage.

Some 11 speed cassettes dish the largest sprocket toward the spokes, putting that mech in just a bit more danger.

dudeofdoom – Member

Yeah but that’s only a difference of 20mm or one gloved finger as it were

Per side ..

B… but my little fingers are closer to 15 than 20, and with a 35mm stem, they’ve started to hang off the ends when I’m sat down for a climb :D

oldmanmtb – Member
Motocross and enduro riders often work out what bar width they need by simply holding themselves in a press up position on a level surface and finding the most comfortable point then measuring the outside of their hand to hand width

That’s intersting, I’ve mostly been happy on 760 for a while, but that came out at bang on 800. What a perfect excuse to get new bars!

Seashore is also a decent, free image editor for OS X, and my go to for basic stuff like resizing images etc.

If you want to do vector stuff, iDraw isn’t free but is cheap, though slightly limited in terms of what it can import and export.

I never found a wallet that could carry coins well, and with or without a pocket for that, most still fell to bits within a year. I bought one of these though and it’s lasted six years and counting:
http://www.freitag.ch/Fundamentals/Wallets/BRANDON/pa/F54_00983

officerfriendly – Member
Does anyone have any reccomendations on standalone lights? Just going to get the Nitecore charger but man the batteries are expensive at £14 each for the 18650 3100mAh…

Most of them are based around XM-L2 LEDs now, which is what you want to go for. As Beagleboy says though, the lights are cheap and might break. I’ve seen a couple of people’s Brite-R style bodies falling to bits (and plenty more intact on the MNPRs), have had one of five P60 flashlight drop-ins fail, and currently have one of these UniqueFire branded ones that’s lasted through the winter (including some truly minging rain and an OTB that fully submerged it) without any signs of falling to bits.

I’d say these are for people who enjoy hacking mounts together in the garage, maybe even looking at battery discharge graphs. If you want better support, as TurnerGuy said MTB Batteries is a good shout.

trail_rat – Member
is that CE Conformité Européenne or CE – chinese export…

“China Export” is a widespread myth. It’s just badly done counterfeit CE marking and always has been.

If you’re in the UK, you can buy Nitecore stuff direct: http://www.nitecore.co.uk/Shop/Products/Batteries-AND-Chargers.html

(Beware of ebay, fakes have inevitably turned up here and there).

Batteries: Most quality, high capacity 18650s are rewrapped Panasonic cells. I got Xtar ones, Panasonic or not Nitecore will also sell decent ones but are on the expensive side. Whatever you go for, just do your research on fakes. (ebay user Big_f_d_d aka Torchy the Battery Boy has a solid rep and knows what he’s selling, but often only seems to have lower capacity ones).

The lights are generally fine. If you go this route just be aware your warranty is basically non-existent compared to buying more expensive lights in the UK. Also buy a Nitecore charger from somewhere reputable, a waterproof battery box and some decent protected batteries. The 18650’s (and the packs of them soldered together with tabs) that generally ship with cheap lights are garbage, and the cheap chargers like this are nowhere near the CE standard falsely stamped onto them.

I have some cheap batteries from years back that are still fine, a few have died (without exploding), but I’ve never left them charging them near flammable stuff or unattended. I bought a set of four good batteries for about £40 last year just for peace of mind.

IHN – Member
A possibly dumb question for/from the CO2-inflator uninitiated, are the canisters a one-hit and they’re dead job, or do they have the capacity to inflate, say, a couple of 25c roadies tyres?

Rule of thumb is one cannister per tyre because of the higher PSI you want in road tyres, but obviously there’s a lot variation.This is the genuine innovations chart.

I get one and a bit MTB tyres from a single 16g. That’s 26in 2.4’s at 20 – 25PSI.

bruneep – Member
Wouldn’t want to hold the other one linked to after its been discharged

The can ices up, the inflator doesn’t. It’s a tiny, really good quality bit of kit.

I got one of these because it’s made of metal:
https://www.ridepdw.com/goods/inflation/shiny-object

Still reliable five years on.

I got (literally) good mileage out of swapping two chains on my commuter bike.

I only buy the cheapest KMC ones for the MTB. In Pennine grit paste I found going even a step or two up from that gave me a chain that constantly broke. Swapped back to a cheaper one and it’s been reliable all through the winter.

A friend has been swimming regularly at a pond in London, all the way through winter, even when there’s ice on it.

I bought the tool eventually, but found a decent sized flat screwdriver did the trick. Just, as someone said, often gouged knuckles.

Gun

Wingsuit into a volcano.

Training to fly one and chartering the plane to take you up will probably be more expensive than most funerals, but you only live once eh?

I’ve had some good experiences with OK Cupid, but that’s probably because I’m a guy. My not-guy friends, as with all the other sites with a free tier, get constant filth and requests for skype sex. PoF seemed a bit shit; I tried Match around 2010 and it was a desert.

If you want to write a good profile, avoid:
“I like going out, and I like staying in too”
“I love to travel”
“I like all kinds of music really”
“I love my family and friends”

Basically all true of nearly everyone, and everyone says these things (usually in the same ways), so they tell people almost nothing about you. People are way too verbose, even though they probably know most people decide on attraction with the pictures. If people respond because of profile text it’ll be because of a genuine shared interest or because you’re funny. The best profile I’ve seen had the answer “Cans and mither” for “Typical friday night”. The worst began “I’ve been single since 2007” and ran on for another few million words.

Glad you all survived!

ninfan – Member
With regular practice you can easily break it off halfway through, like a human cigar cutter…

But can you synchronise that with a drum roll?

I used Send My Bag to ship a suitcase from the UK to some people in Antwerp, it got there fine and they were among the cheapest.

Excess Baggage Company quoted something like £200 (Everyone else I looked at was £30 – £60). Uni Baggage had some kind of problem with Belgian postcodes.

None of them accept any liability for electronics among other stuff.

If you want full shin+knee pads, I’ve found the Brand X ones from CRC are comfortable, stay up, and good enough to protect me against falls onto the concrete BMX at the NCC.

That’s pretty cool. At EMF camp I saw a lot of people struggling with multi-stage ones that were only getting about 30 feet into the air. A friend had a tiny launcher and was using the thicker plastic 0.5l coke bottles with a track pump, and getting them about four times that high. I gaffer taped a flip camera on and got this video.

(Oh, gifs, yes of course)

Definitely cursed that night.

Seatclamp bolt sheared off when I tried to undo it just after the first down. After messing around with zip ties, we gaffer taped the seatpost in place, meaning I could put some of my weight on it for the enormous climbs that came next.

I then pinch flatted on the very last few metres of trail.

Really, really excellent descents though :D

It felt cold on the tops after dark last night, so I’m sticking with shorts over bibtights.

(Also, Cheers Daz)