Multitool, patches, powerlinks, at least one spare tube, pump (and none of your tiny pocket pumps, a proper big un that’ll actually inflate a tyre before nightfall), waterproof, my “soft shell” which is a cheap Mountain Warehouse fleece with the lower arms cut off…

Couple of big sticky plasters and some painkillers (got a couple of tramadol in there, in case I ever want to walk off a hill with a broken foot or something), phone and money. Oh and headphones for the phone.

Plus loads and loads of food, I like to eat as I ride. Clif Shots, energy bars, gels, dextrose tablets. Oh, and if I’m anywhere remote a foil blanket, good for keeping warm but better for signalling help.

The little topeaks are cool, I’ve got a Mini 6 somewhere which I got free with my hexus, it’s no damn use at all but it’s still ace…

I’ve been using Nevegal rear/Blue Groove front in 2.1 for a while. Just stuck a 2.35 Blue Groove on the front for a trip to Glentress and oh my word, the draaaaag. I’m not exactly fit but usually we do the red but climb back up to do spooky woods twice and either falla brae or the bottom of the blue twice. Last night, I thought my legs were going to drop off before we even got to the top once. Won’t do that again for a while… I’m not even convinced the extra grip was massive, the 2.1/2.1 combo has done me proud before.

I ran nevegals at both ends for a while but I found the 2.1 nevegal on the front doesn’t have very good side grip for getting out of ruts, while the blue groove is a lot better for that.

Topeak Hexus… Great quality, all the tools you need and none you don’t.

Yeah, depends on the tyre. Just compared 2.1 and 2.35 Blue Grooves back to back and there’s no room for doubt, the 2.35 is like riding through toffee- decided to try them at glentress today and I barely made it to the top! Like having the brakes on all the time. Some tyres just enlarge the same tread so don’t give the results quoted on schwalbe.

No problem, I can always be counted upon for completely unhelpful tips, come back soon!

It’s not all that portable, no. What you need for reinflating on the trails would be some sort of secondary tube, which you could fit inside the outer one, and which would hold the air. Someone should produce such a thing, it’d be way better than fannying about with lighter gas.

Can’t speak for spain but I love my nevegals for the pentlands, they just deal with it (2.1). 2.1 Nevegal rear, 2.35 Blue Groove front for trail centre use. I’ve tried a couple of others to try and get some speed back into the ride but these are the keepers.

This has gone to court before, but previously it’s always been ruled that it can only be a mitigating factor if it can be proved that wearing a helmet would have prevented the injury/death, which is impossible. I wonder what was wrong with the prosecution here, they’ve ****ed up massively if they failed to make that case.

I remember my grandad had a brilliant setup for fitting tyres (he was a back-street mechanic at one point). Old truck tyre and wheel, which he pumped up to ridiculous pressures with a foot pump. He then used a double-ended tyre hose with a valve at each end, attached one to the new wheel and one to the old truck tyre. DIY compressor! He did the compressing, it was the reservoir. Hard work though.

Carole Nash’s breakdown cover is first class…

RAC are honking for bikes. When my starter relay went, I phoned them up, conversation started like this:

“hello, I’ve broken down, I need a recovery”
“What sort of car is it”
“It’s not, it’s a bike”
“Oh, I don’t think we do bikes”
“Eh, you do. In fact it’s a single vehicle policy, here’s the reg”
“Oh, I don’t know, I’ll need to check with the supervisor”

Then,
“OK, apparently we do bikes. What sort of bike is it?”
“It’s a Suzuki SV650”
“I can’t see that in our system, I’ll put down Suzuki Swift”
“That’s a car. I’m on a bike. Won’t that be a problem?”
“Well, I’ve got to put something down don’t I!”

Then went on to them not being able to find me on the map, and asking “what’s the postcode”. I’M UP A MOUNTAIN! The rocks do not have postcodes.” Gave them the road number, the town I’d ridden from, the town I was riding to. “Well, if you won’t give me the postcode we can hardly send someone over can we? Why don’t you just ask at the nearest house?” “Can’t see any, did I mention I’m up a mountain?”

Then, “What’s wrong with it”. “The main relay is broken so the electric’s cut out” “OK, I’ll put down flat battery” “No you won’t” “Don’t worry, they’ll give you a charge and it should be fine” “The battery isn’t flat, it’s the main relay, the whole electrical system is broken.” “OK, well, we’ll let the mechanic look at it and see what they say” “I BUILT THIS BIKE MYSELF! I KNOW WHAT’S ****ING WRONG WITH IT! I CAN SEE THE BROKEN PART SPARKING!”

So, then they sent a van with no bike carrying capacity, who drove past me twice because, surprise surprise, he was looking for a suzuki swift. Spent all of 2 minutes talking to him and he says “Well, if it’s an electrical failure, you need recovery! Why didn’t they send out a relay? I’ll call one but it’ll be a while.”

Never again, I tell you. Carole Nash, on the other hand, led to a conversation like this:
“I’ve got a puncture, I need a recovery”
“OK, where are you”
“I’m on the M9 by Grangemouth”
“Someone will be there soon with a trailer”

Somone was there soon, with a trailer. There are some minor differences between these 2 experiences, see if you can spot them?

Yeah, mineral oil is basically just oil, DOT 3, 4 and 5.1 is I think largely ethylene glycol.

TBH, if you have a local halfords with a bikehut in it, it should have the little tubs of brake fluid, they’re reasonably priced and do the job perfectly. You can get cheaper per mm but there’s no point buying a huge bottle, the brake systems don’t hold much fluid.

“mcboo – as a manufacturer with our own design office I’ll be pedantic, design/built himself but manufactured by others is significant. Especially when made by cheap labour in the fareast.”

The current titanium On Ones are made by Lynskey, neither cheap nor far eastern.

I think the slims have less side protection

Huh, predictably if you search for “suitable for bikes” almost nothing comes up, the trail past bore stane in the pentlands is in here but apparently not for the likes of us. Still, if you ignore all that crap it looks pretty excellent- good link!

The lego space stuff was ace… I was always a bit bitter that the pirates didin’t come along til I was too old, just because pirates are awesome.

I know people say “It’s sad that lego has guns now” but come on, every kid who ever had lego space gave them ray guns, you used the megaphone things and stuck a red clear bit on the end, instant death ray. And it was a toy you could actually destroy when you had a fight scene, then rebuild after.

Raceface FR are great hard shin + knee pads. 661 Kyle Straits are IMO the best knee pads around, they’re just superb- no restriction at all on your pedalling, not too hot and sweaty either, and great protection, they even have side protection for tube knocks.

POC stuff is brilliant, I’ve not found any that actually totally suit what I want yet so I don’t own any but their quality and design is second to none.

I used to have one of the really cheap Fenders, an ST1 possibly? It was horrendous, made of chipboard, sounded like elastic bands stretched over a shoebox. Horrible. It didn’t even burn well.

Crafter make some very nice, inexpensive acoustics, I’m not sure where the prices are now but my little travel acoustic was £170 with a case, and it’s bloody lovely. Handles and plays like my telecaster, but it’s still got good volume and a lovely voice despite its tiny size, it’s probably my favourite guitar. I think you could get the Lite T spruce in your price range.

Yamaha are always the easy choice for cheap guitars I think.

P7 torches? Twice as bright, half the price…

I’ll get me coat :mrgreen: Ayups are lovely, really well made, great company too but they just don’t have the performance IMO. They’re behind the curve on the technology, if they’d update their products with the newer drivers they’d be onto a winner.

I’m generally pro-european and pro union, but I find it pretty hard to be a big supporter of the current EU. Still, I don’t believe that isolating ourselves is the way to go either. The fact is we’re a small player in a big game.

Looking good… Track is crazily wide, is it like that all the way down?

Hang on, they did glentress but not innerleithen? They’re only a couple of miles apart!

You can buy titanium bolts for ODI, from tibolts I think. Though the immense weight reduction might make it impossible to keep the front wheel down.

But yeah, it just sounds like mad overtightening, they need minimal torque.

Surely Soul and Ragley are completely different geometry/end use?

They are, but I can only afford one decent bike, and if this’d been around at the time I think it’d probably have got the vote. Not suggesting they’re the same, don’t worry ;)

Hmm, it seems like the areas which were lower res before are still lower res, and it’s just the bits that were already decent which are improved? Or is that just me?

Obviously this had to come along exactly 3 weeks after I spent too much money on a Soul :evil:

Anyone know what the difficulty/intended use is? The website suggests it’s basically a downward-pointing XC red? I’m assuming if I can do innerleithen red without dying it should be ok, I’m thinking a wee jaunt up to the fort in june might be on the cards…

I just got a set of Truvativ Noir Teams, £60 they were. Wee bit heavier than my EC70s but also wider and allegedly stronger. If I’m honest I just love how they look! No cosmetic weave, just a thick top coat for a cool smokey effect. Mine are the 680mm risers, but they do a 600mm flat.

Oh, if you don’t mind buying used carbon, I’m about to sell a set of EC70 flats in reasonable nick, not great but not knackered… I’ll be sticking up a classified in a day or two probably.

I’ve got a H20 and the gilet… Reasonably raintight, and they pack tiny, so there’s always at least one in my pack- better a less good jacket that’s always with you than an impervious one on the shelf. The gilet’s ace, sure your arms get wet but that’s OK, but it keeps you much cooler.

I’ve also got an Aldi raincoat, which is actually OK, but it packs down to about the size of my head and it’s sweaty as anything.

I’ve got a Revolution Courier Race, well, my brother does but I’ve stolen it. It’s basic but it’s good- 8 gears, bent coathanger frame, big wheels, weighs nothing. There was a disc version too, which I wish I had. But I think they may have been discontinued, and the new version seems to be on 26″ wheels.

Drops make more sense, I don’t like them personally but they’re still better than flats for proper road riding.

cheers, looking for ones without liner if possible

The one in the Alturas unclips dead easily, I hate adult nappies too so mine go straight in the bin :mrgreen:

I just came back to riding after nearly 10 years off, I was totally sick of it when I stopped, fed up of bad weather and constantly fixing parts and injuries and nowhere new to ride. I’m glad I stopped when I did, you can really kill your love for something if you push too hard.

But, I wouldn’t just stop, try and pick your riding better for a while- less riding but better. Dry days, spot on sorted bikes, good company. Just pick the best. The weather really hasn’t been bad, this has been one of the drier winters for years, I’ve been loving it personally! But laregely by avoiding the bad days. That’s why I’m on the computer now not on the bike!

OK, now I’ll sound like a fanatic, but the joystick’s just a very expensive torch. Good burn time and light weight but it’s not as good as a bike light as the P7 torches (a mate of mine has one, we swapped lights once, not too impressive). Good mounts though.

How baggy? Altura Mayhem are £25 from Merlin right now, or free with one of the magazine subs, MBUK maybe- sub, get gift, unsub? I’ve got 2 pairs of these, they’re ace. They’re not massively baggy mind.

Tesco? Nah. To get any worthwhile amount of light and spread you need several (I had 3 at one point, one with the collimator out) which means carrying loads of extra batteries too. Total pain. And not even all that cheap- it’s cheap for one but one is pointless.

“Are you sure about that? weight wise – inc batteries”

Yup, put one of mine on the scales. Surprisingly light…

The bus service from the town centre to the infirmary is really good, bit of disruption to some services for the tram works but otherwise it’s dead easy.

Topeak Hexus for the tool, Truflo Evolution Plus for the pump (if you don’t mind it being huge… It’s like a portable track pump.)

There’s not that many one-armed cyclists but there are a fair few one-armed motorcyclists (we make more of a habit of mislaying limbs than most people I think). Some of the challenges/solutions are probably similiar, so it might be worth a look here:

http://forum.disabledbiker.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=1

on the NABD website to see if there’s anything helpful. A thumb brake might be doable for the rear, frinstance. Might be no use at all but you never know

RR, why not a dealextreme torch? Lighter than the minewt or Stella you mentioned, self contained, cheap, and far brighter. The only real downside is the burn time, but you still get over an hour on full whack, and on low power on the 2-mode ones the output isn’t much less than the minewt…