Hora,

Try these on for size, but not when driving …you really have to listen to this music to fully appreciate it.

Eric Satie – Gnossienes and Gymnopedie
Olivier Messiaen – Turangalila (bonkers!)
Steve Reich – contemporary classical but properly composed music, minimalist and very involving. Try out Music for 18 musicians or any of his ‘phase’ music
Michael Gordon – Industry, in particular the electric cello piece
Terry Riley – A rainbow in curved air

Hi, I just posted on your other thread.

I’ve got a brand new 456 Ti (Van Nic) that’s yours for £200 + postage. Fantastic Ti frame, shame to say it was never built it up.

Email in profile.

I had a Krampus in large, I’m 6’2″.

The Krampus was fun to ride but something about the riding position meant I could only get along with it on relatively smooth trails, which are in short supply in The Peak. It felt to me to be a bit head down arse up. I should probably have had the XL. Anyway, I sold it.

I now have a 24″ Plus and it’s THE most comfortable bike I have ever ridden, I’ve got 30mm of spacers under a 0 deg rise 90mm stem and carbon H/Loop 710s and I have a Thomson layback post. The riding position is quite upright but I really like it. I’ve got the eccentric BB in the 6 o clock position and have 175mm cranks but I get some pedal strike on rocky steppy climbs and in ruts so I’ll swap it to 9 o clock and see how I get on. I guess the low BB setting explains the bike’s unerring stability, it’s rock solid albeit nimble at the same time. I love how it feels and looks. It wheelies really well – it’s so long it’s impossible to flip 🙂

However I am disappoint at the Dually / Dirt Wizard combo being impossible to setup tubeless with a floor pump. When I get time I’ll try inflating with a tube in and then remove it carefully to leave one tyre bead locked in, before converting to tubeless valve and presto hey! I hope it goes up. I’ve not had any similar problems with setting up Stans rims.tubeless. I know some people advise a strip of tape just inboard of the rim’s inner edge which I assume is to stop the tyre bead sliding into the V of the rim before inflation – I think this is the problem I’m having when trying to setup; I don’t want to have to do this, and I shouldn’t have to either, the rims and tyres are tubeless ready. Maybe I need a compressor. Maybe I need Maxxis tyres. I really do need a tubeless setup as I’m getting pinch flats even with the tyres inflated to what I consider a too-firm setting.

Anyway, get yersen a blue one 🙂

Bit spendy, but the Jones Plus looks nice.

I think your sums are probably OK but IMO your logic isn’t.

If you drive 18k miles per year and you need something to take you, your wife and 3 kids in comfort with adequate safety and reliably why not buy a late 90s – early 00s Honda Stream 1.7 or 2.0 iVTEC import for about £4 to £4.5k with c50k miles on the clock?

Yeah they’re not a fancy new car with DRL, digital speedo etc. but they are known to be very reliable and well made. Running costs in terms of MPG will be higher, insurance could go either way, VED will likely be more, servicing might be similar.

Checkout the Goodmayes website (http://www.goodmayesmotors.co.uk/mpv-used-cars) to see what I mean.

If you already have £2k for a deposit you can add to it by borrowing the rest over 1 year (you could even whap it on the plastic) and in 1 year you’ll own a car worth £4k’ish and only have the usual running costs to support, and in 3 years you’ll have saved some money and own a £2-3k car with 100k on the clock with alot of life still in it.

You could put the savings you make to one side and treat the family to a holiday, invest for the future, add to the kids’ Uni fund, buy a newer car …hell, you could even spunk it all on a swanky Santa Cruz, imagine that!

But, if you really are happy with and can justify the financial burden go for it.

I like minimalist and quite modern stuff too…

Steve Reich – the Nonesuch ‘Phases’ collection is superb and includes some of Metalheart’s recommendations

Michael Gordon – Industry is fantastic, in particular the electric cello piece, a recording of which should be somewhere in this http://boilerroom.tv/session/jonny-greenwood-and-the-london-contemporary-orchestra/ …but my browser’s not playing, and besides I was there when it was recorded!!

Eric Satie – Gnossiennes and Gymnopedie both lovely

Terry Riley – A rainbow in curved air

Messiaen – Turangalila – a bit crazy, but if you like modern music it’s not much of a jump.

+1 on Clinic too, they’re headlining Manchester Psychfest at Night and Day at the end of this month

Pere Ubu – 40 years old next year and still busy, busy, busy …and playing at the Brudenell in Leeds next week for which I have a ticket!

+1 on Yo La Tengo

+1 on Lightning Bolt …and Brian Chippendale’s doing some great work with his Black Pus project.

Thurston Moore (ex Sonic Youth) is still great and his current sound is very recognisable 🙂

Throwing Muses are still fantastic!

Is the area on the bank above the sunken road ‘illegal’ as such or just something formed from shared use by all? Is it marked as a footpath?

I’ve completed the survey.

All being well I’ll be there, in fact I’ll probably drive over the hill with nbt

I wear my Sennheiser earphones, the ones with soft silicon ends that I use for the iPod.

At a couple of Swans gigs this year I had the earphone wires running up inside my T shirt with the in-ear ends poking out of the neck end and tactically deployed when it got super-loud, and removed when not needed.

Seemed to work pretty well and didn’t spoil the sound too much.

I’m just off Kings Rd at the Edge Lane end so I’ll also keep ’em peeled for you.

Hope you’re reunited soon.

My Singular Gryphon with Midge bars is a great bike for riding on the road.

I rode it around Belgium last summer with Flow EX rims on XT hubs running tubeless Ardent 2.25 at 50-60 psi (yep, true story and I didn’t die!), and I also rode it to work every day through the preceding year.

The comfort on the road is high, probably due to big tyres and a good amount of seat tube; the grip when cornering is phenomenal, it felt as though knee down would be possible!

Could have done with a higher gear range for the road but it was set up as a mountain bike using Middleburn Uno. I now have several cassettes with worn top two gears and the rest looking pretty new.

Different Trains – Steve Reich

Hooray!!

All being well, I’ll be there.

Lord knows we Brits could do with a bit less reserve in certain situations; this was one such occasion, the commentary was superb, really involving and purely emotional. More please!

It’s nice to be nice, NNTTM.

Full beam and hazards are not required.

All this talk of foot gestures on overtake has me recalling many halcyon days on 2 wheels on the continent; I always felt a bit giddy doing it when passing cars or other bikes in France, Spain, Italy etc. And it’s so much more ‘Top Gun’ when you pass a bike coming the other way and you take the left hand off the bars and do the pointy-salute thing.

Chris

I once came over to Marsden with some others (nbt and Bunnyhop + many more) for a Pennine Pootle; you were there and helped lead us round. After a lovely wet ride we ended up back at your house where your lovely wife (sorry I forget her name …I’m bad with names) had made food or us to eat. We all sat down at your table and you shared your food, warmth and hospitality, alongside some great laughs …I seem to remember nbt was on good form 😉 It was the nicest post ride nosh ever and lingers in my memory.

Anyway, you’re a good man and you can beat anything with a positive outlook and our wonderful NHS.

When you’re feeling stronger, and we have a dry spell!, let’s do that ride again!

Best of luck.

Iain

Ha ha you look as though you might be having fun …great to see that you’re healed and back in the saddle.

See soon x

Manchester has everything that you say you like.

There’s art, lots of music, theatre, independent cinema, a great university that keeps the whole place alive and on its toes, a just-out-of-the-city trail centre, Dark Peak riding from Marple or New Mills within 45 mins if you don’t live to the north of the city, great night life, swanky restaurants, China town, great pubs etc. The weather’s not brilliant and commuting can be a pain the neck.

But yeah, Hora lives here, so …

Is it even possible for the springs to fit in ‘upside down’?

As far as I’m aware you’d fail a driving test for joining and then (potentially) undertaking like the other driver did.

Isn’t the driver joining supposed to give way to traffic to their right on the road they’re joining?

Duly signed up.

Thanks to all those who are using their resources and time putting this together, it’s greatly appreciated.

30+ years at the R4 coalface here! In my opinion it’s better now than it’s ever been.

Just listen to Kate Tempest’s ‘The Teens’ Speech’ from Woman’s Hour today for all of you who feel that youth is wasted on the young. Very beautiful and thought provoking.

Put into top gear
Remove the chain from the front ring and let rest between crank and frame
Loosen QR and pull back on rear wheel until clear of dropouts
Lift chain from top gear on cassette and over QR ‘nut’
Job done

Install in reverse sequence

I’m allergic to drop bars offroad so anything cxey or fargo-esque is out

To be honest I was unsure before my first proper off-road excursion but, as Sam implies, it’s an ace seating position and one that the Gryphon executes very well.

I think I’d have enjoyed keener brakes, or at least a better setup, as I found power lacking but I think better cables and better levers might have sorted that out.

I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of Gryphons with flat bars too.

I have a Singular Gryphon in L with Avid road BB7 brakes on Dia Comp levers, Ultegra 10 speed bar end shifter and On One Midge bars that are clamped in a Ritchey Comp 90mm, 30 degree stem, a good-as-new Hope headset and a Shimano UN sealed BB for sq taper cranks …but obviously you can fit an external BB if you wish. I’ll even chuck in the 9 speed Deore rear mech which works a-OK with the 10 speed shifter for a 1×10 setup.

It’s a lovely, comfy and swift bike to ride on road and on dirt, it handles singletrack beautifully and has the EBB for single speeding options. And two sets of bottle bosses!

If you’re interested let me know and I’ll take some pics once I’ve given it a clean. Not sure about the price yet but it’ll be keen. I’m in Manchester / Peak district.

Cheers.

I’ve been using 29″ Stans Flow EX rims with Maxxis Ardents, tubeless and at 60 psi for 2 years now. Mixed commute of 10% riverside and smooth trail, 90% road.

They roll well and I’ve not had one flat in that time.

Previously I was averaging 2 flats per month on 32C Schwalbe Sammy Slick or Racing Ralph cross tyres with puncture protection.

In fact, I did a tour of Flanders this spring on the same combo …flippin great road tyre, sooooo comfy and masses of grip when cornering.

I kind of like James Blake’s cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘Case of you’ and I also like his cover of Feist’s ‘Limit to your love’.

The DW link plate should just press in by hand, a little grease may help.

Is it the DW link plate that isn’t pressing onto the pivot shaft? I.e. after you’ve installed the new bushings.

I’m trying to fit the pivot shafts to the DW link plate.

Basically I intend to fit both pivot shafts to the drive side plate then insert into the frame and swing arm then fit non-drive side DW link plate to the other end of the two pivot shafts.

Maybe I should place the pivot shafts in the frame and swing arm bushings first then push the DW link plate on, but if I can’t press the pivot shaft on to the DW link plate in my hand I’m not sure changing the assembly sequence will improve that.

I’d really like to know how the blinkin flip one fits brand new journal bearings like the one in your photo onto the hex shaped spigots on the DW link plates. Mine are so tight that once you’ve pressed on by hand, say 3-4 mm max, you can’t a) push it on any further by hand, or b) get it off without tools.

See here

I’d say you need new journal bearings.

Not my cup of tea but well done to your mate, I wish the band success.

Endo is a nose wheelie in other parlance.

Confusing, isn’t it?

I saw that French cat video on The Poke website, made me smile lots too.

Interesting, I like this sort of thing, but those folks in the picture sure ain’t Limeys.

The phrase Limeys comes from naval days when sailors were rationed lime juice to ward off scurvy whilst at sea.

I demo’d a Camber Pro last spring back-to-back with a Santa Cruz Tall Boy (carbon) and Orange Gyro …despite heavy wheels the Camber was my favourite and waaaaay the best value for money.

Good to see things are much happier than initial prognosis WCA.

Once you are full weight bearing you’ll be much less bored and eat/drink less through boredom as a result, you’ll be alot more mobile and able to start doing what you like. I suppose that you’ll have already attempted some early weight-bearing? With the metalwork that you have the last thing you need is to dislodge or weaken anything so take it steady.

Swimming will help get mobility and strength into your ankle; you could use a polystyrene float and just use your legs for propulsion. I’d definitely recommend yoga too but start gradually, no piling straight into hardcore Ashtanga!

Cut back on carbs, sugar & beer and up the amount of exercise a bit and the weight will shift.

Best of luck with it, you’ve come a long way.

Oscar Peterson and ‘that sort of thing’ is great …sorry, I’m not an aficionado but he was the first live act I ever saw.

Steely Dan – the acceptable face of rock-jazz crossover?

Cleo Laine was kind of fun too.

Yes I do, but then you knew that already.

I’m still torn between putting back on’t road and selling the van but the van’s just very convenient.

Uber reliable and mine’s the 1.8 VTi so has twin-cam and LSD and goes like a train if you want it to.

I reckon it’ll need £500 spending to go back on road …new suspension bushes, 1 new wheel bearing, 2 tyres, maybe some discs and pads.

I was looking at an Accord Aerodeck last week on Autotrader, FHSH, good condition and MOT’d for £600. A bargain and within reason just won’t let you down.

Linky

Congratulations Pook, you’ll be an excellent dad and I’m sure Mrs Pook = awesomemum.

We need a Pootle to celebrate though, surely?