That has a very purposeful look to it, I like it.

Pendle tow bar mounted two bike rack here. MPG isn’t much affected, the bikes are safely held and can be locked to the frame if you want to leave them somewhere for a wee while and it’s pretty sturdy.

It’s not the best design out there, the telescopic leg seals allow water ingress, the wheel holder and strap combo doesn’t work particularly well and the thumb-wheel screws to secure the legs are carp, but it’s OK and I can live with its shortcomings.

I’ve never had a tow bar fitted myself so dunno what it costs …less than £200 I’d have thought. My car has a detachable swan neck shape tow hitch that is rather neat – when detached you don’t see any evidence of the bracket as it’s bolted to the chassis and hidden behind the bumper. The leccy socket is behind the bumper too, although this means you have to get down on your knees to plug in.

Great ride Chris, as always, made all the betterer by the friendly group.

Cheers,
Iain

I think I’ll be OK for this too …count me in, Pook.

Is it based on the riff from All Along the Watchtower perhaps?

Or is it a Skunk Anansie riff from a song called Weak as I am.

I recently test rode a Niner SIR 9 and came away underwhelmed. It was harder to accelerate from stationary or low-speed, it slowed more quickly thatn a 26er when not pedalling on the flat (both those things could be due to the Trailraker tyres – they felt very, very draggy) and due to it seemingly not manualling or unweighting as readily as my FS 26er it seemed to be a bit less ‘perky’.

I’m still intrigued by them though and have been wondering about a 3rd generation Inbred with Rebas, an Alfine or 1×9, and lightweight wheels.

So, if you’re anywhere near Otley, Chevin Cycles might well still have a large Niner SIR demo to try out, and if you give them a bell I’m sure they’ll help out if possible.

From a R4 article I listened to recently the overall conclusion IIRC was that exercise in children has almost no bearing on their weight, it all comes down to the amount of calories being consumed. I suppose this applies to adults too.

I think there was an example of one of the previosuly inactive and now active kids in the experiment gaining weight; sounds counter intuitive but the argument was compelling, maybe something to do with an increased appetite due to activity, muscle mass etc.

One has to exercise pretty rigorously in order to burn off a significant number of calories.

You need a quite large number of calories to merely exist, and a growing child has to, well, grow.

So, who’s to blame? IMO it’s a combo of a lack of parental guidance or example, possibly some genetic or health influence(s), and the food companies that market their sometimes poor quality, hi-cal foods to kids and parents.

I may be wrong but not all food is VAT free, plus commodity prices have increased, plus it’s a good excuse …+10p on a cup of froth at my local in-work Costa!

I’m off for a brew!

h4muf – it’s very suited to HT & CX so ride it on the bike you like best.

It’s pretty smooth overall, really flows in sections, there are berms, there are one or two chutes to shoot down, some roots, some carrying climbs, some short, sharp climbs and a boggy field to cross.

It’s lovely.

Really lovely trails, I’ve never ridden there before but will be most definitely be back …one night this week hopefully.

Thanks to Jase and others for showing us round.

jimjam – Member

Why not include the toyota corolla in your list? or the Ford Fiesta, or the Honda civic?

Darn it, I was just about to add my 2p, the EK9 Honda Civic Type R …a jewel of a car.

We should all look to the great James Taylor for advice on this topic …”it’s true what they say about the squeaky wheel, always getting the grease”.

geetee1972 – thanks for your reply, it really helped. BTW I’m not being sarcastic. I did get a little bit wound up …I had too much time on my hands yesterday.

And as for your statement “I’ve reflected a lot on this thread and in some ways I’ve changed my views” I too have had a similar experience, thanks to the contributions from you and others.

So, for 2011 it’s out with the nihilism and existential angst (the latter should have been exorcised a while ago …late teens I guess, but I’m heading for mid 40s FFS!) and in with a new era of positivity, acceptance and more riding of bike.

Hugs all round.

Hora – incorrigible!

And I think you meant 12″, or is weight the new length?

c_g – good, and you are so right about love and warmth, I understand about that bit fully.

Most people say that modern life is not as good as life in, say, the 50s. There’s less moral fibre nowadays, less accountability, less shame and I would probably agree with that from what I have read and seen, but what I don’t understand is what has caused the change?

Junkyard – I didn’t offer the opinion that it is OK to buy an adult, or a child for that matter, so I didn’t feel it necessary to answer your question.

However, I think your point regarding consent of an unborn is important.

None of us consent to being born so the rule of consent must apply to all births whether money changes hands or not, so surely the real issue is what happens after birth. If the child is loved, nurtured, fed, sheltered does it matter on what ‘moral’ wave it rode into the world on?

I have no moral issues with internet brides as long as the marriage is one built on a foundation of love and support and that both people are under no duress to marry.

cinnamon_girl – I apologise if I offended you, and reading my post back it did sound a little bit rude. No harm meant but I stand by what I have written.

I simply couldn’t understand geetee1972’s dismal view on the youth of today and on society in general. I believe that we have a good society, far better than the likes of the Daily Express or Daily Mail would have us believe. I get really frustrated with that type of unfounded moral outrage because it is mainly a kneejerk reaction and almost always someone else’s opinion recycled to make, IMO, a weak point.

I don’t think that Zachary whatsisface will be in a worse situation than many other privileged children who might have the support of its parents and of the nanny staff, and I reckon that children are amazingly adaptable as long as they have love, shelter, education and emotional support. I hope that those things will all come to pass.

I’m not being argumentative, I just want to understand the reasoning behind some of the opinions and beliefs offered on this thread.

Of course I fully understand society’s view on this but I’m simply trying to dig out why you, or anyone else, subscribes to that view.

Your post only explained that you think it’s wrong, nothing was offered to support why you think it’s wrong.

And FWIW the child isn’t being bought for nefarious reasons; they just want to have a child of their own to love and bring up.

No, I want you to tell me why you think it’s wrong.

So £240 over 12 months is £2880.

For less than that you could buy a perfectly nice, reliable car. Say you spend max’ £1500 on a car with 12 month’s MOT, put 12k miles on it, service it once and sell it for £1000 or keep it another year (saving £2880), then another year. If you maintain it and it stays reliable then the longer you keep it the more sense it will make.

You’ll need to buy the right car obviously, but some lovely mid to late 90s Jap metal could give you what you need.

Or keep the Mondeo unless it’s on death’s door.

Sorry, but this is ridiculous –

geetee1972 – Member

But it’s also a worse place because there has been a degradation of individual responsibility, respect for society, a widening of the gap between rich and poor. You can see those effects all around you. Kids grow up without a balanced set of role models, in poverty, or in extreme wealth, but still without a sense of respect for the world around them, without a sense of duty or moral obligation. They grow up with a self-righteous, celebrity obsessed, ‘because I’m worth it’ narcissism and then it’s OK to behave like a vain, shallow and pathetic shell of a human being.

cinnamon_girl – Member
geetee – you’re absolutely spot on, as you were also with your other post.

What?!?!

Seriously, what?!?!

All that geetee1972 did there was recycle some red top tabloid paranoia rant as his own opinion and you clapped. Unless I am wide of the mark and geetee1972 has carried out a qualified study into the effects on our culture of post-war prosperity, improved equality, an increased spread of wealth, greater social mobility, the advent of consumerism, celebrity culture, global trade blah blah etc.

Society is something that has been built by mankind; it’s a false construct, the state of marriage is a false construct, the human family unit is a false construct, the ‘rules’ of sexuality are a false construct, human life is no more than a consequence of breeding and we are all FREE to do with it as we please – it is NOT sacred …however society has built a set of rules that we follow because we are individually weak and blinded by moralistic claptrap spouted, in the main, by church, media & government.

So, my questions to geetee1972 and cinnamon_girl:

Why is it wrong to do what Elton John and David Furnish have done?

What does it mean when you write ‘[it’s] degrading to the individual to start messing around with process of creation and by extension its degrading to society’?

Why does a child need a mother and a father?

And why is EJ & DF’s behaviour ‘utterly ridiculous, morally wrong, pathetic and shallow’?

I’m planning to be there & can’t see any reason why I won’t make it.

The standover height on a 56 cm shod with 35mm Conti cross race tyres from floor to the top of the middle of the tt is 800mm. Hope that helps.

Thanks v much, Merak, that’s a great help and much appreciated.

Enjoy the >X<

Has anyone yet explained their reason(s) for believing it necessary for a child to have a mother and a father?

Is such a belief just that, a belief, or is there some proper, studied evidence to support such a position?

Lovely gorgeous bike, I’ve been looking at one for Mrs N.

Paul at Cotic very kindly mocked up a 52cm one in the warehouse as best he could with forks but no headset and wheels but no tyres because I wanted to know the standover.

Don’t suppose you could do me a massive favour and measure the standover height on yours at the middle point of the TT please, pretty please? Then tell me what your frame size is so I can scale the measurement down to a 52cm version, as I presume yours is bigger than a 52cm …it certainly looks it.

I think Paul said the 52cm was 740mm standover without tyres.

Much appreciated.

No, they use splines and a self extraction system called X-type on Raceface Evolve XC, at least that’s what mine was like.

If they’ve not been off before they’ll be tight as hell so you’ll need some strength and possibly a hammer for ‘shock’ treatment.

You’ll need 2 allen keys, I forget what size, to fit the inner allen head fastener and the extractor cap. Loosen the outer extractor cap using the larger allen key then screw it back in against the inner fastener just finger tight and undo half a turn to allow the inner to move. Now using the smaller allen key unscrew the inner fastener so as it unscrews against the back of the extractor cap and the crank arm will be pushed off the splines.

If you have trouble loosening the inner a tap on the fitted allen key with a hammer might help to get things started; ensure that you’ve got the correct size of allen key fitted squarely and that you hold it in place with your free hand to prevent it mashing the fastener’s head.

Simples.

To refit, apply copper grease to the inner fastener and tighten that one first then the extractor cap which also acts to hold it all together. Loctite on the outer might help it to stay in place as they can come loose.

Well done for taking it in …nice doggy, woof!

I assume that a concerned owner will have left a message with someone at the ranger’s office or put up a notice somewhere obvious.

Go to vets and get him scanned for a chip.

Is the 100k a biggy …cambelt etc?

I used to commute a flat route on a SS Il Pompino …I had to gear it really quite high to avoid spinning out and the bouncing in the saddle that one gets from too fast a cadence. I wouldn’t have used that gearing off-road, no way.

I’ve got a Genesis iOiD with Alfine 8.

An Alfine gives you the best of everything …a decent spread of gears and commuter low-maintenance.

They’re quite heavy and the mass is concentrated at the hub but you don’t notice it after a while, and as your riding will be road based it matters not IMO as you won’t be bunny-hopping etc.

Shifting’s OK once you get used to backing off slightly to speed up the change.

42 and still setting stuff on fire, I like your style!

Happy b’day.

I was going to head over that way today then decided to just go and spin around local river banks and woods …it was way more slippery on foot than on the bike.

I usually avoid Linnet’s Clough as I’m always parked at Roman Lakes and want to avoid getting soaked right at the end of my ride.

Don’t fret Carter, you’ve bought a great bike.

Mrs Naranjada got a 2009 Stumpy FSR Comp 14 months ago and it’s been just great, a proper do-it-all FS bike.

EDIT: And the 2010 is a better bike!

Evans have some good web prices at the moment, several in your price range. Tahoes are £50 and you know they fit you.

Hey Tubs 😀

Standard advice would be to cut down your intake and eat more earlier in the day, tailing off your intake as the day goes by. I don’t know if that’s nonsense or not.

You store fat because you eat more than your body needs. Even if you are cycling to the moon and back every week, if you eat enough cake to get you there and back and just a lickle bit further you’ll probably store the excess as fat.

Don’t bust a gut and get all body dysmorphic, try and love the skin you’re in and be happy to be healthy and fit. A bit of fat is perfectly healthy, nay essential!

Or just eat less.

FAO sturmey, Quirrel & ivantate:

How utterly disrespectful and misogynistic, there is so much wrong with the little you have written I don’t know where to start.

One of them is misspelled?

On that civic, part history, 100kmiles and HOW MUCH!

Erm, I think he wants £800 but that’s negotiable within reason?

Seems like you’ve already settled on a Focus, so if you’re happy then go ahead. I was merely trying to check your enthusiasm for what I see as an overpriced Ford and help you have a lovelier kitchen.

Good luck.

TJ – yes I suppose that you know best and I am a bad man for taking a grieving father’s witness as accurate. What a fool I have been.

TJ – the father said that he had been stood 6′ from him when he had the opportunity to show remorse and did not do so. Heresay I know but he sounded perfectly level & reliable as he reported that.

Being a proud Lancastrian I am ashamed to say that Lancashire Tea is indeed t’minging.