then again the NT, SCC and YW as large landowners could just grant open access rather than legal minimum and a few token gestures

As far as the NT is concerned, go to their website and anybody who challenges you on NT land, show ’em this:

Guiding principles
1. The National Trust welcomes cyclists on its land and encourages cycling both as an activity and as a means of transport, recognising the benefits to health and that responsible use causes negligible damage to the environment.

2. New opportunities for cyclists should be reviewed regularly within the management planning process and the different needs of touring and off-road cycling recognised.

3. Irresponsible behaviour should be discouraged, eg excessive speed, lack of consideration for others and cycling techniques which cause erosion.

So the whole Peaks NP is covered by a bylaw preventing cycling anywhere except on Bridleways and above? Is this true in any of the other NP’s?

In general, does any countryside ranger, paid volunteer or whatever, have any right to tell any member of the public where they should or shouldn’t be riding? If I understand the law correctly, trespass is a matter between the landowner and the trespasser only. They might argue they are acting as the landowner’s “agent” but do they have any legal right to turf you off?

Hi Colin, the purpose of the grease is to keep water out of your nice hubs so look for a good water resistant grease. I like Park’s Polylube 1000 or Weldtite 2f2 with Teflon.
Not sure why your cassette is working loose. It won’t be to do with the axle because it fits direct to the freehub body which is separate from the axle. I suppose you could try some loctite on the cassette lock ring threads?

Yes

Once I had more than 1 bike I thought it would reduce the amount of wear and tear by spreading the load around. Instead I seem to have a garage full of bikes that need something doing to them every time I ride them. For instance, Last weekend I discovered my wife’s brake discs were worn out and removing one of them involved 2 hours of drilling to get a stuck bolt out. On Weds night I got a stick through my rear mech and bent it. Today I rode the road bike and the gears went all out of kilter. I found the cable was about to snap at the lever end :|

Well, that’s the 1st time I’ve heard that (the Noel, not the Ketchup thing)and I think that’s pretty strong – good driving riff with some interesting dark chord shifts underneath; decent enough singing. Better than 99.5 per cent of the drivel doing the rounds at the mo.

That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever read.

sheffield43 –

Wasn’t keen on Hamsterly either (about 3 years ago) but I suspect we didn’t find the best bits there.

You might find things have moved on a lot in the last three years!

– and there’s more where that came from.

Is this what you call a coil shock?

We got our first Christmas card on September 29th :x

A friend recently passed his bike test and was told NOT to indicate if there was no traffic around though – apparently it shows that you are aware of other road users.

My old driving instructor used to say, “indicating when there’s nobody else around is like talking to yourself. It’s the first sign of madness.”

Check that anyone who’s going to be using the racks is strong enough to lift the bikes up there.

I still buy books of Peanuts cartoons.
I make up songs about our cat, including the word “fluffy” as often as possible..or ideally “fwuffy”.
When I undress for bed, I have to flick my underpants off my toe and catch them on my head. My wife hates this – but she’s jealous because she can’t do it properly.
46 and three quarters.

I found a lot of “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid” by Bill Bryson to have a lot of laugh of loud parts. Even on the 3rd reading that are parts that made me laugh.

Ha! The set piece about the diner where they used to wind up the owner by putting insects in the soup. I thought I was going to have a seizure.

Yup, signed that! I suppose the next question to the minister is:
You have no plans to provide a public right to cycle on footpaths because….?

…no practical application as far as I can see

I believe people used to say that about electricity, when it was first discovered.
Would’t it be great if you could order from Wiggle and it turned up the day before?

Wow! After a reminder and 2 months I get a reply. Not from the minister of course. Any suggestions on how to pursue this?

Dear Mr The Wheel (my edit)

Thank you for your email of 6 July to Richard Benyon about your wish to see cyclists accepted onto public footpaths. I have been asked to reply and I apologise for the delay in doing so.

There are no plans to amend legislation to provide a public right to cycle on footpaths, but as you are aware, the Government encourages local groups to work together to improve their networks and Defra believes local authorities should be positive about working with local riders and cyclists to improve off-road access.

It is open to local highway authorities to seek permissions and dedications, and also to carry positive policies through into relevant management schemes.

Each authority’s ‘Rights of Way Improvement Plan’ will have presented its strategic view of its rights of way networks, with users such as horse riders and cyclist particularly in mind. By working proactively with user groups and local people, authorities might find innovative ways of increasing and improving local access to off-road routes and the outdoors.

Cycling and riding organisations appear to have similar and shared interests in the access network and Defra believes they are engaging with each other at a national level in order to help progress their shared aims. Effective joint working at a local level may also be important.

Yours sincerely

Julie Tucker
Customer Contact Unit
Defra

Signed

pedal like the wind when the rossers turn up

They never do and they never will. It’s nothing to do with them because it’s not a criminal act.

People who say “pacific” when they mean “specific”.
Click…bang!

People whose idea of music is something that goes DOOF DOOF DOOF DOOF DOOF DOOF…..

This is one of my favourites but nobody else seems to like it. It came from Kurt Vonnegut:

Q: What is the white stuff in bird shit?
A: That’s bird shit too.

they aren’t EPSRC plc then, by any chance? Thought not…

Well, the Soul needs a longer fork – I’m happy riding a hardtail with 100 – 120 mm – got the full suss for trail centres – and yeh, I’m planning to transfer everything off the Orange (only the frame left of the original!)
As well as the Orange I’m thinking of maybe a Merlin, a Kenesis or …(fill in your suggestions here!)

Ireland. If it rains you can stay in bed all day :wink:

Rode it some years ago when it was brand new – a mixture of existing rights of way and a small amount of purpose-built stuff. I haven’t ridden it again so it can’t have made that much impression on me. Worth doing if you’re going to be in the area I suppose!
MOD: Image removed due to malware

I’ve just remembered why I love this site!

schnor – interesting, but it seems unnecessary. All that needs to be done is an amendment to the 1968 Act that alloweed cyclists onto Bridleways, so that it allows cycle access to all PROWs. Not sure of the procedure in these matters but that’s justy the mechanics of it.

I didn’t want this thread to degenerate into a rant about horses – we all know they’re a bit of a PITA – I just thought that the arguments he put forward for promoting multi-use of trails could equally be used to demolish all those tiresome arguments about why bikes should be kept of Public Footpaths.

Good digging qusamc – I’ll certainly send what you wrote to the Minister if I get an unsatisfactory response!

ChrisL and bbt – quite right. Del – I don’t think the minister is seriously talking about allowing horses down the Glentress black route. He’s talking about, for example, old rail lines and the like, and in particular local authority managed tracks.
My point is – everything he says about multi-user routes applies equally to bikes and he should apply his own logic to the issue of allowing bikes on Public Footpaths. Surely everyone on here would welcome that?

I cycled from Edinburgh to California, Moscow and back to Edinburgh last year.

Most of that’s sea, isn’t it? :-)

iainc – I’ll buy you a pint next time I see you! Amazon don’t keep them in, they order through an intermediate supplier when they receive the orders. I wonder if I’ll hear from them? Hey ho…

I couldnt find the scandinavian keyboard to get the umlauts(?) on the words

Hmmm – I assume you’re reading on Kindle? I don’t actually have one – I downloaded it to Kindle on Windows and it gave me the Scandinavian alphabets automatically. Amazon may be able to shed light on this. Worth finding out – there are some good Umlaut jokes!

Gee-Jay – Yay! Thanks for the mention – it means I can now legitimately plug my book on Singletrackworld…
So for those who haven’t heard of it…Kök & Tvätt – Through Scandinavia on a Tandem kindle edition
It’s also out there in paperback if you search for it!

So, lets get this straight…

Govt announced a public consultation into the future ownership of the PFE

Thanks to reactionary panic and scaremongering by a small group of politicos, and bandwagoning by every bunch of lefties with an axe to grid…

We now have the future of the PFE being decided by committee.

Well Done

Well, the consultation looked like this:
“We’re going to sell the forests. How would you like us to do that?”

If you’ve never ridden at Hamsterley before, this is a great opportunity! Why not make a weekend of it? Hamsterley Trailblazers will be glad to welcome you.

there is a theory that as soon as anyone finds out what the universe is and what its for it will instantly be replaced with something evenn more strange and unexplainable. . . . there is another theory that this has already happened

jonah – it’s only polite to attribute your quotes.
The universe is shaped like a pretzel.

Dark floor, whatever you do – unless you want to have to mop it every day for the rest of your life.

Nobody’s mentioned the great Cerys Matthews yet.
Mairead ni Mhaonaigh (Altan)
Christine McVie
Mary Coughlan

Hi again! Just a reminder that there are 5 days left to vote on this. Please take a few minutes to help us build more trails at Hamsterley Forest.
Thanks – we’ll let you know what happens.

Trailers are great when you are riding along but a nightmare if you have to get on/off trains.

+1 vote for the hospice, seems like a fine cause

LOL I know – imagine how we feel about that! Anyway, by improving people’s health by building more trails for them to ride, we hope they won’t ever need the hospice (ahem…)