.. speaking from my present situation: Tassie's pretty ok for riding (ish). Some really good trails hidden away there, but like above says – there's no public rights of way network here, so it's best to hook up with some local riders who can show you the way round.

… That said, I've discovered some great routes here – a 100 yr old disusued tramway singletrack route through the rainforest at the weekend was a particular highlight. :-)

… Then again, I have to mix MTBing with 50% darkside now (otherwise I'd simply be riding the same routes every week, which would quickly get boring!)

… Climate in Tassie's not as bad as UK. It does rain here in winter, but we got 42C in the summer and way more sun than the UK generally. Very chilled out, loads of space, no urban sprawl – there's definitely some good things here!

SFB makes me laugh… he's just soooo consistantly silly, it's endless.
(And I actually mean that as a compliment)

Firsty – This is not intended to come across as condescending, so please don't take it that way – you've made a good step by initially recognising that you might have some problems – I've got a mate in a very similar situation to you. The thing he's done – and I'd recomend this to you – is go to your doctor and talk about any issues you might feel you are having with the drink / weed. I think if you want to get out of this 'mess' (as you put it) you're likely to need some help – and this will make it easier for you in the long run. My mate is finally (after many years!) attending a drink/drugs programme, which is a very positive step.

You've recognised that your friends may be part of the problem – and in fact I had a similar issue a few years back – standing in the same social circles just leads you to repeat the same things over and over. A clean break, with help, is probably what you need.

There are lots of positives to come out of this and I'm sure you'll find them.

Cheers for the info..! but, sorry to be pedantic, just to clarify – do ALL Rebas go down to 80mm?

@ timdrayton – I'll send you an email..!

Naaaaa…. I reckon you've gota be a proper mentalist to want do the full-fat version! :wink:

I never cease to wonder at the number of dull, pedantic facile engineering-type 'I know this / I know that' arguments that take place in this forum… Hmmm..

*grabs coat*

*hides*

TBH.. I think a Half-Ironman prbably is a bit easier than a 12 hr race! I wouldn't fancy doing one of those 12 hour things, not for no amount of money/fame/glory!

You're right about the cost and the start time though!! JEEEZUS! 6:30am start and a 100 quid entry fee…. add to that the cost of getting there and back (another 100 quid), accommodation (50 ish?), one of those triathlon wetsuit thingies (50 quid on flea-bay) and all of a sudden I'm looking at the best part or 300 quid just to do one race. Hmmmmm…

I'm sure I could build up a rough-and-ready rigid secondhand 69er for that money (amongst other dreaming things).

Yeah, fair point..

I turn my back for 24 hrs and see that this debate has really kicked off, hasn't it..?

… Awesome!

This rights of way issue always does run riot on STW, I remember opening a veritable hornets nest a few years back when I asked about cycling on foot paths in the Peak.

Try an Australian perspective:

…I'm living in Australia at the mo' – and there are no real public 'rights of way' here whatsoever. Just vast expanses of open land that are totally off limits. If you were to stray onto them, someone would most probably shoot at you (no joke!).

Add to this – the few 'cheeky trails' here and there that have been created by mountain bikers – which are so often charmingly boobie-trapped with sharp wire at neck hight. 8O

…and you think you've got it bad in the UK??!

The vast network of public rights of way in the UK are probably singularly one of the best things about our country. They're definitely worth fighting for..!

Yup… a friend of mine has had an immaculate 1996 Klein Attitude that he's had locked away for years. I don't think he's ever (literally!) done more than 20 miles on it since 1996. The thing's like a ferkin' time capsule!!

I have eyes for it.. 8)

The question is: Where can't you ride from Guildford?

Sheesh, the area is MTB heaven, provided you aren't for some strange reason addicted to bridleways that feature endless piles of rocks and bleak, bleak, windy moorland.

Oh, hang on… You're from Sheffield. You might find a bit of a difference there then!

Surrey Hills / Guildford riding is: endless amounts of sweet, sweet singletrack beneath dappled forest canopies, intersected with a network of bridleways that go on for miles.

Go explore. Enjoy.

I'm just amazed that SFB has been so quiet thus far.. Is no one going to goad him into some sort of polemic rant..? :wink:

This is brilliant! The OP says "I tried Googling 'trance' and all I got was a list of hundreds of names I'd never heard of"

… and now by way of STW he has an endless – and conflicting list – of names that he will (inevitably) never have heard of. :lol:

Sasha and Digweed were good in their time, not sure if I'd call it 'trance' though..? Progressive-trancey-house?

Judge Jules (hard house) can occasionally get it banging..

Keep it simple – and download any mix album with 'Euphoric Trance…..' in the title, not exactly the best of the ouvre, but probably good enough to train to.

Whatever happened to house music though? It more or less seems to have eaten itself..

Here's mine resting:

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and in anger at the Kelivie 24hr race in Tasmania:

Said in M&S 'Slo-motion food' advert voice:

"These aren't just pictures of bikes, this is… B.I.K.E P.O.R.N."

xcstu and brakes – those are probably the nicest looking bikes I've ever seen, ever, ever, ever!!

Why don't bike manufacturers bother to make really good looking bikes anymore? I mean FFS, those two bikes are mobile works of art!! Most of the stuff produced today just looks so…. sortof… joylessly purposeful. As if it's like we're not really allowed to be having fun anymore, because we've gota be Xtreeme, man… Follow?

I have a Klein Attitude, which I keep warm and toasty in my lounge. I can just sit and absent mindedly take in its beautiful polished lightweight curves for hours, then head out for a blast on it.

Sick of hearing about Doddy this, doddy that. Hes probably a top bloke, seems to be a decent rider as well. Heaven knows we are shown every angle of him jumping, relaxing, riding, thinking..you name it…what next readers husbands section with him laying ontop of a Lapierre? Seriously, balance MBUK. Its abit creepy.

Totally agree with you there. It's just a little bit weird isn't it? MBUK always was a little bit chummy with it's staff, sort of like a cliquey fansine for and produced by the people producing it – witness pages devoted to Rob Warner and a certain Brant etc. in the 90's.

The whole Doddy thing is really pretty bizzare from an adult viewpoint – maybe it's gauged to provide some sort of idol-worshipping appeal to impressionable 15 year old boys reading the mag? He evidently thinks he's simply the tits, when he's actually one of the most ugliest people I've ever seen in a bike mag, ever.

Awesome jumping action! Personally – those tabletops just scare the bejesus out of me, I used to potter over them – doing little hops occasionally – or taking the chicken run most usually.

I was also a tad bemused about the no helmet + knee pads combo..! v. brave.

Brilliant! …lots of wintery pictures! (Kindof what I was looking for..?)Sheesh – looks like you got some mad good snow over the winter!

Brought back lots of good memories though..!

Cheers!

Hmmmmm… I have a Montane Featherlite, but am loathed to use it most of the time – except in emergencies when I get caught out by unexpected bad weather. For this use it appears to be just about perfect – as you can stuff it away in its scrotum sack and just forget about it ’till you really need it…. but I wouldn’t want to use it as my primary rain jacket – it’s just waaaaaay waaaaaay tooo thin and tearable. I’m sure it’d fall to bits pretty quick if I used it all the time. A single layer of flimsy pertex is not very waterproof, breathable or warm either*.

I use a Ground Effect ‘Flashgordon’, which is great for right now in wintery rainy Tasmania, but I think you’re probably looking for a lightweight UK summer jacket, Hmmmm…? For this use the Flashgordon would be simply too heavy (and fairly bulky too).

Good luck with your quest!
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*NB I am using the basic Montane Featherlite – not the CRC H20 version as highlighted by one poster – dunno what that one is like, could be ok I suppose?

– A quick cheap fix (9.99) that should enable you to adapt pretty much any length steerer to fit any bike:

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLqrymode.a4p?f%5FProductID=10344&f%5FSupersetQRY=Kstem&f%5FSortOrderID=%2D1&f%5Fbct=

It’s meant to be for adapting an aheadstem so that it will fit on old skool ‘quill’ stem threaded fork steerers, but this device will just as easily slot inside the unthreaded steerer of modern ‘ahead-style’ forks – effectively giving you an adjustable steerer extension. Shims are provided to account for different steerer diameters. Slot it in, tighten it up and forget about it. You can increase your effective steerer length by upto 100mm or so, or just a few mm if that’s all you need. Being machined alloy it doesn’t add all that much weight either..

The Edinburgh Bicycle co. do other similar stem adaptor stuff to this on the website, but this appears to be the lightest + cheapest!

I’ve had one of these for about 1 1/2 yr on my Pace RC36s that I bought of the ‘bay – the seller had mis-measured (mis-sold?) the steerer length by about 10mm too short… Left me in a bit of a pickle that did, ’till I found this adaptor.

Similar to what previous poster said – I think it’s just great that I will forever remember exactly what I was doing when I found out MJ died.

Diana – In Edinburgh popping out to get the Sunday paper

John Peel – Listening to the radio while doing PhD fieldwork on Thursley Common

9/11 – Installing a new fish in my aquarium

MJ – Being a sad loser / noob on a geeky and fairly socially inept MTB forum.

TBH I find it actually quite a relief (for him) that he’s gone. Poor guy, never really seemed all that happy, did he now..?

8 coffees A DAY and 20 spoons of sugar..!

I’m left wondering how you are still alive!?? I think I would’ve ended up in A&E with atrial fibrulations or something on that sort of ‘diet’.

…seriously though, the headaches are the least of your worries – and TBH probably to be expected after such a massive caffine + sugar comedown. Stick at it though! You WILL feel much better for it, but it will probably take around 3 weeks or so for your body to readjust.

The headaches could be caused by low blood sugar?* I’ve had this sort of symptom before – and your body is probably used to overcompensating like crazy for all that glucose and still hasn’t corrected its typical response. Try eating good quantities of complex low GI carbs – oats, brown rice and certain fruits – to keep you on an even keel throughout the day..

But, hey WTF do I know? I’m a plant ecologist and I’m starting to sound like a dietician! …such is the armchair tuppensworth madness of asking the STW collective for advice on anything other than whether barends should be fitted to risers, or baggies should ever be used for the darkside.

… but what I’ve said does seem to make sense (to me) at least.
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* or some sort of tumor

“the reason Bar ends became popular in the first place was because bars had got so narrow that climbing was a real PITA,“

… or wasn’t it the other way round?

I’m sure that I started off in 1989 I rode with very wide flat bars, then when bar ends came along – the effective bar grip width became shortened to accomodate all that extra space taken up by the bar ends…

… Then when people stopped using bar ends, the shorter effective handlebar length remained in vogue, because people had simply got used to it / it was seen as fashionably jey.

That’s how I remember it, anyway.

*sighs* (oh for the days when being jey was cool)

You gota love the awesome ponceyness of this sport – the way we can muse endlessly about bar lengths, rise, sweep, what strictly ‘goes’ with what etc.

I can see a STW ‘armchair engineer’ thing kicking off again: Shear strength… molecular bonds… oh dear, here we go.

Super glue is very brittle though – definitely not my first choice for such a job.

Weight weenies has a build calculator – I love this! It even accounts for things like shifter cables – it’s totally anal.

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/listings/pbconfig.php

Apparently, my weight weenied 1997 Giant MCM team weighs just 20.5 lbs according to this.

Endura Singletracks are a popular choice – I have a pair and like ’em lots. Can’t speak for any other types/brands as I’ve never used them. They’re comfy, fit well and have some really useful pockets – such as two ‘map’ pockets towards the back of the legs. Kindof like the side pockets on combat trousers, but with the magical quality that anything you put in them won’t interfere with pedaling – very handy IMO.

…one downside – the awesome tendancy of most Endura clothing to eventually come unstitched. My shorts fell apart at the crotch after about 1 year of riding. Not a problem if, like me, you know someone who is handy with a sewing machine and can make a better join..

Totally awake – it’s 11:59am here in Tasmania..

My key piece of advice on this:

GO TO BED *SLIGHTLY* HUNGRY

You’ll wake up feeling fine, having slept right through (in fact probably better, even, because you haven’t been digesting food all night). The rest of the day you can just eat normaly – no hunger pangs.

My second piece of advice:

Train in the morning for 30 mins before breakfast 1 or 2 mornings a week

Do these two things – and avoid chocolate and other sugary cr@p and the weight’ll just fall off..

I think ‘retro’ is regarded by some as a bit of a dirty word on STW.

Shame..

MTFU man! Grrrrrr…

(i.am.taking.the.piss.man)

Grrrrrr…

Just tighten until it goes ‘click, click, click’ but before it goes ‘click, click, click, click’…..

:lol:

Couldn’t have put it better myself. When it goes ‘click-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-SCRUNCH’ you’ve probably over-cooked it.

[wonders]

Is it actually possible to over-tighten a cassette lockring?

That is cooler than an otter sat on a rock cleaning its whiskers..!

So flinking coooooool!!!!!

I’m all here with you on this one.. I moved to Hobart, Tasmania 6 months ago and used to have the North Downs and Leith Hill nearby as my weekly playground. I was really excited, however, about the mountain biking prospects of moving to Tasmania – having a 5,000 ft mountain next to Hobart with a 22km downhill run from the top down to the city and a ‘world class MTB park’ in the suburbs. …what’s not to like about that?

Unfortunately, I now find I really miss the freedom, beauty and wonder of UK trails. Being able to mix it all up on a variety of routes and at different technial levels, linking them all up with a huge network of bridleways (and cheeky footpaths), and watching horses champing in the medows below Holmbury, while the sun sets over the Southdowns… That sort of stuff.

The reality of Tasmanian riding is that there are a short handful of truly world-class trails. But that is it. There’s nothing to link them up and once you’ve ridden – all 3 of them – you can ride them all again, if you like. And the ‘MTB park’ turns out to be a dusty wasteground with a very badly signed, and mostly very badly washed out ‘XC loop’. Frustratingly again, there’s a short 1km section of this which is absolutley brilliant, but then again – it goes absolutely nowhere.

In short I guess the phrase ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’ comes to mind.

…and to think, I was actually considering moving to ‘North Shore’ Vancover as a future option. Don’t think I will now.. :(

ajc

I think everyone just assumes you have a tiny winkle if you wear baggies on a road bike

…The trouble is – I am rather generously endowed in that department. TBH Lycra is just embarrassing in this respect, as I feel fairly self-conscious, as if I’m exposing myself in some way.

Don’t get me wrong, back in the carefree days of the 90’s I wore Lycra just as happily as anyone else, it’s just that when baggies came along it was like a revelation – “You mean I don’t have to wander around with a shiny Bratwurst clinging to my leg anymore? How refreshing..!”

It’s nothing to do with fashion and more to do with just what feels personally comfortable. Besides, Lycra’s just so clingy and hot. Baggies are airy and breezy. They can even be made of showerproof material and have pockets.

I ain’t saying ‘look at me, look at me’ on club rides either; I just can’t be bothered to fork out for additional (lycra) cycling kit that I won’t ever feel comfortable wearing.

It’s called the darkside for a reason – and I love it wholeheartedly! ..But for me, in comparison to MTB-ing, the Road is a virtually joyless and seemingly puritanical aspect of the sport of cycling that we all love. Therein lies its addictive appeal though – it’s like the pure focused Zen of cycling, whether riding in baggy shorts, or not.

Lycra is just sooo wrong..! Last time I wore it was, like, 1995 or something, when lycra was all the rage. And now, I find myself getting slightly into the darkside of things, it just seems like a weird thing to wear on a bike.

Keep it loose, keep it chilled, keep it baggy, and avoid feeling like I’m somehow exposing myself.. :lol:

Magura Durins… Hmmm.. will look them up!

Yep. I suggested Rebas as a possiblity.

…I also suggested Fox as another possiblity.

But which models / year etc.?

I know next to nothing about them – particularly with Fox!

There really are some heavily aspergic people on this forum, aren’t there?

… This all reminds me a bit of the Singletrackworld definition – entered by someone calling themselves ‘Chipps’ – on Urbandictionary.com

“I’m an overwieght, stuffy, pompous engineer with a lack of personality is there anywhere I can go to have petty arguements with people just like me?”
“Of course there is, try singletrackworld”

Erm… I had that problem on an older pair of RC36s.

It was terminal.

If these forks work anything like my older pair of RC36s (which I’m pretty sure they do), I think you must secure the circlipped damping oil leg cover at the top BEFORE attempting to screw the damping rod down. Doing this the other way round will simply result in cross-threading the whole damping rod assembly and turning the forks to scrap.

I really hope you haven’t done this.

The correctly fitted damping rod cover acts as a guide to ensure that you don’t cross thread the assembly. It is really easy to cross thread otherwise, because the damping rod is so long. Check the threads to see what’s going on down there.

Check out the Pace website for a comprehensive range of pdf downloads for your forks that will explain most of these procedures.

Good luck!

Oww.. gauld. The poor guy! Pride and joy placed on here just to be ridiculed and taken to pieces.

… I have to admit though that my first response was one of “Oh my god, what HAS he done?”.

But I think it is redeemable.

1st Lose ALL the red stuff and then…

… go for some black, or even better – silver / grey decals, or maybe black + silver + grey decals. Then it might look cool.

Or just live with it. Hell, you probably actually LIKE it that way.