http://www.bikeweb.com/node/494

ARGHH MY EYES!

Priceless. Reminds me somewhat of this:

aircraft carrier (U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln) and Canadian authorities
off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995. (The radio
conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on
10/10/95 authorized by the Freedom of Information Act.)

Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to
avoid collision.

Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the
North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15
degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again,
divert YOUR course.

Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND
LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES’ ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE
ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS
SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES
NORTH–I SAY AGAIN, THAT’S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH–OR
COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

FTFY.

Seriously unless you’ve ever tried being fully self employed… stfu. You don’t know the meaning of the word work. :p

Taking photos of a bike lent against a tree in the week because you’re self employed = About as uncool as it gets.

Mad?

Ok, I am currently in Dalston, current home of ‘cool’, and a quick observation suggests:

Bicycle – Very cool.
Scooters – Lukewarm.
Motorcycles – Don’t be seen dead on one.

Taking it to another level of detail:

Cheap mountain bikes – Uncool.
Modern road bikes – Lukewarm.
Fixies – A bit past it.
Vintage Peugeot road bikes – Cool.
Vintage Peugeot road bikes, singlespeeded with swept-back handlebars – Ice cold. Fairly accurate breakdown of the entirity of London I’d say. Although i’d disagree about motorbikes – needs some sub categories, i.e.

Commuter motorcycle – Dead uncool
Blacked out cafe racer that makes people think the world is ending when it drives by – very cool. Girls like it more than singlespeed road bikes too so that has to be factored in.

In my sci fi minds eye I can imagine (and am craving) some sort of unmanned delivery vehicle that flies from a launch pad to a station and back and forth over thousands of miles. And yeah the civil the applications will be incredible but I guess that is a long way away due to H&S testing that will need to be done lol.

I think we’ll see a manned fighter jet using scramjet engines in the near future though.

Am I right in thinking there are no manned aircraft currently existing that use scramjet as opposed to ramjet?

Send Mr Warren Buckley CE of BT an email if you’re REALLY angry, for what little good it does it might make you feel better somewhat lol
http://www.ceoemail.com/

My profile was set incorrectly, and bumped it back up. He said it looks like TalkTalk will charge me the £50 even though the fault is not my fault. Put a new facia on the master socket and a new router “FOC”.

So there was nothing wrong with the router? Exactly what happened to us. BT are criminals. They set our broadband incorrectly but what was more odd is how it started fine – we never touched it, it just stopped working, as if they hit a kill switch and broke it intentionally to try and sell us a new router and charge us the call out fee. /rant

Er, no ISP makes anything like that – they’re all made for them. Increasingly by Huawei….

I said ‘Made for them’ with their logo on.

someone posted that vid earlier aye-aye but great watch none the less! 🙂

Plus net are great, yeah they’re owned by BT but they are run differently. A month or so ago we were told our router needed replacing – it didn’t. I called belkin and we fixed the problem over the phone. Half the time the person from the isp knows 0 about the router unless it’s made by them, and if its made for them and has their logo on it it’s going to be cheap crap 9 times out of 10. Alot of them know that their cheap crappy routers will need replacing as well, it’s just another way of making doe out of you. BT are robbers in every sense of the word, just like British Gas. Ditch them fast.

Hated the violence, hated the scenes where they were staring in silence endlessly.
Not one for me.

So you’re more of a die hard 4 come period drama fan?

3 / 10, i also deleted the soundtrack from all devices as thats crap too.

Some have taste… some dont. :p

Yeah looks like a featherbed frame. Supposedly the best or at least most acclaimed cafe style frame of the era? My dad says its the frame everyone wanted. And what better engine to have in it than a norton? :p

Fancy it then mikey, hob nob et al?

Ill 2nd comments about 661. They are much larger sizes than any of the other brands out there. They slip off my stick legs constantly.

Whereabouts Nuke? I’m West Sussex.

Kingley vale area. nearest post code is PO18 9JQ. Street directions are fairly simple.

From the b2146 You head through Walderton and then Stoughton village – both have lovely pubs in them. Continue straight through Stoughton and past the Hare & Hounds pub on the left, and follow the road straight ahead. Ignore all turnings until you go up the hill through the trees and come to a large bend in the road going left, Straight ahead you will see the gravel car park for stoughton downhill. There were no signs when I last went but there might be these days. There is a steel bar with a height restriction across the entrance.

Anyone who is interested, we’ll meet in that car park. From there – Looking down the gravel footpath from the car park, you push up the *2nd* track – in between the gravel path and the muddy trail that goes from the right side of the car park and straight up the hill. Keep pushing up that path until you see the track.

Is this north of Rogate? I’m loathed to mention the place as it’s not meant to be public knowledge…

About 14miles south of Rogate so probably a different track ;p

As long as it doesn’t end like my last bit of downhilling 5 week ago!

Holy bruise mark batman. That is a beast of a bruise did you get your back checked out?

Anyone on this thread based in the south/london/midlands area area fancy meeting for a ride this sunday?

Nice local trail in the south (west sussex) with some stuff for beginners and advanced riders. Scottfitz reckons there might be a few people riding there sunday so i’m going to head up and see whats what – haven’t ridden there in ages!

It’s a great trail (two of them open currently I believe) all built and maintained by locals, jumps drops berms rock gardens roots and an easy pushup. It’s a proper good laugh for a lazy sunday ride and theres a pub 5 mins down the road. Chicken runs off all big features too so you dont need a dh bike. Runs used to be about 1 minute 30 when I last rode there, might be longer now, mixture of technical turns up top followed by jumps, some huge flowy berms and drops etc. And they’re all real friendly up there. Free to ride, car park at bottom of trails free parking all day etc.

Who’s up for it?

I think people have tried before it’s usually flawed in that not a huge number of people want to rent them, and they’re put off by large deposits required to ensure such expensive bikes are simply stolen. But there are lots trail centres (usually the larger ones) that rent bikes out, because they have a market for it.

Although shops like torico near UKBP, pedalabikeaway near FOD etc. will normally let you use a demo dh bike for a day if you ask and are interested in buying.

Or just get up to the dh track near you on whatever you’ve got currently, meet people, make friends, try the tracks and try their bikes.

You can rent scott gamblers and other dh bikes from ps cycles near cwmdown. They have a big range of downhill rental bikes at fort bill too, so you could make a weekend of that if you wanted. Go with some mates, pitch a tent and have the full dh experience without buying a bike until you know you want to. Then there is glencoe and the nevis range who also rent dh bikes.

Also – ring the trail centres. If your nice there may well be people at the centre who will lend you a bike for a deposit if you pay for a full days track access, but it depends who you speak to.

Edit: sorry I thought you were posting from a personal POV not as a possible business opportunity. I would advise you to think very carefully before buying a fleet of dh bikes for rental – there are hundreds of pitfalls and there many very good trail centres out there who avoid rental for those reasons.

Why would you fall off because it’s a single speed? I commute on one. No different to riding a fully geared road bike besides the obvious, but it just means a little bit more grunt to take off and you have to power up hills.

Maplin are terrible- they keep old stock at its original price even when it’s totally outdated, and it chokes their shelves with crap since they can’t sell it.

I bought parts for a video editing rig in Maplins about 3 or 4 months ago. Great service, as cheap or cheaper than online retailers like amazon and I left knowing for sure it was all going to be gravy because we essentially walked round the store and built my pc there. Got home, took my time putting it together and it was spot on. Works perfectly and does exactly what I need it to.

should i even bother getting a 2nd hand one?

Buy a new one if you like, but they last forever in my experience. If it was registered with apple and it’s still within warranty (was it bought with an extended warranty or not?) then ring them and change the ownership. The previous owner will need to do this for you.

They’re great computers, and they last forever. Only thing you miss out on is they start to phase out your software updates past 2 or 3 years of age. But it isn’t a massive issue.

I hit a baby panda with a chainsaw the other day – it was messy! But how dare they arrest me before they can prove that it didn’t just throw itself onto my chainsaw?!

It can also be a bit hairy in winter when it’s wet, as it’s all on a chalk base.

Yeah Devils dyke is pretty challenging in the wet.

I never normally do but this crash made me wince. Seriously difficult to watch and I’m surprised he didn’t suffer any broken bones. Personally even if I had the balls to hit that (which I don’t ) I’d be wearing a neck brace – but he clearly has his reasons for choosing what safety gear to wear and what not to wear.

Good starter race suggestions welcome!

All the 661 series are brilliant, as are the British Downhill Races run by si paton – the atmosphere is always very friendly, but they are always packed out with the best riders in the UK because they have UCI points on offer for European races etc. So it’s very competitive at the top, but still friendly.

Otherwise there is the Gravity Project series coming up which looks set to be a goodie, and the races they do at UKBP which is great for beginners and also look out for races at Aston hill because again they are great fun and there is a good variety of tracks to ride. Theoretically a beginner could enter any race and have fun, there is no snobbishness about “you aren’t good enough to have entered this race” anywhere. Just be careful you check what track the race is actually happening on because you don’t want to do your first race somewhere very difficult.

it’s about 15 minutes pedalling from my house

Lucky for some! Aston is a right pain to cycle to haha.

There dont seem to be many downhill bikes in large size for sale, is the sizing different than for trail bikes? I’m ~ 6 foot, any advice on whether a medium or large is right?

Try some if you know someone with a newish dh bike or the kind of bike you want to buy. You can check the sizing chart on the producers website, but it’s very subjective. I’m 6ft exactly and ride a medium because I like quite compact frames. Each to their own 🙂

Will be doing my first proper DH races this winter

What races you doing bud?

The big table is bigger and the rock garden is 3 times the size and lots of tweeking.

Ill head up there in the next few days for sure then! Is it all open at the moment? I see that you guys are going through the process of getting it forestry registered etc?

Essentially yeah you either put the hard work in or you pull your wallet out to pay someone who has done the hard work for you. Although I wouldn’t call £5 grand a fortune for something that will make you grin ear to ear for years and is cheap to run :p.

No spud snaped his mech be for that was filmed, it’s Joe in the white. how long ago did you help out there? As you can tell from the vid its much bigger now!

Probably about a year ago or something? Maybe a little more actually. How much of it has actually changed?

Stoughton was the first place I ever rode and was my local for years 🙂 We helped out with building some of the trails there too. Is that spud in the white t-shirt in that video? Haven’t ridden there in ages, but will go back soon to see whats cracking!

Why would it be a wind up? Brycey… if you’ve got nothing nice/interesting to say, can you just leave the thread?

I understand that they’re customs but is there a popular marketplace where second hand ones are sold?

there are a few forums. Do the ton is the main one I believe. Try this thread to begin with. http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?board=7.0

Took this to Aston Hill yesterday

Beast! I love the idea of a gearbox bike. Never taken the plunge though (yet.) :p

I’m assuming full-face / goggles are absolutely essential here?

If you’re doing black run then yes, definitely. Having said that even if you aren’t doing black run I’d take goggles or some sort of eye protection just because of the time of year. If you’re going to bomb all the runs as fast as you can then take full face and goggles regardless of what you’re riding I reckon.

This might go without saying but the other thing you need are dual ply tyres. If you run them normally then your sorted, but if not you atleast need a dual ply on the rear. Pinch puncture territory and lots of slate.

As far as I’m aware you need pyjamas to qualify, I’m not that comitted.

You don’t need anything to qualify lol Although underwear is usually a good thing.

I definitely won’t mention how my neck brace definitely saved me from a bad case of whiplash, or worse, yesterday then….

I wear one too… sue me :p

It’s interesting to see so many people who like riding dh trails, really cool. As far as i’m concerned, and from my personal experience DH’ers as a group are really open, theres never a feeling of we are proper dh’ers and you aren’t because you ride x y or z. If you like riding downhill trails and hitting roots, jumps, berms and drops and it gives you an adrenaline rush that drags you back to the top to do it over and over then you are a downhiller. Doesn’t matter what bike you ride, and that’s always been the view at all the DH races/trail centers i’ve ever been to. Of course there will always be the occasional nob wobbler but I have to say they’re probably the nicest bunch in cycling 🙂

Got my son started early as well

Wish I had started early! If he keeps at it, he will be rapid one day!

I think I want a DH bike again. I’m glad i’ve been racing on the little bike, and i’m interested to see if it will make me quicker on a bigger bike now.

This was one of the biggest talking points in my circle of riding mates for a good year or so. I think it does work for some. I started on a hardtail but moved to a cheap fully really quickly. A year ago I decided I had plateaued and needed change to improve again, so I ditched my then fully and bought a hardtail. It just didn’t work for me because the feeling of discomfort and the lack of confidence outweighed the gains I made in my technical ability. So I think it’s a fine line and a very personal thing. I’m better than I was then but I definitely had to find some of the confidence I lost in that period again. It works a treat for some people though and I’d suggest trying it to anyone, if just for a change.

If you start with a modernish base bike that isn’t a BMW for whatever reason… make sure it sounds like this. 😉

Downhill riders I salute you. Some nice footage there tom. Whistler looks maad.

Another Scalp rider

They’re taking over the world! Thats like what.. 7 in this 2 page thread or something? 5 at least? Mad.

Gold black and white! Looks beast. I’ve only been on this forum a few days… there are a lot of fools. None of them are DH riders. Strange that. lol

I’m currently deliberating on whether to buy a Bell Sanction, a Bell drop or another THE. Because my current THE is pretty badly beat up. But I loved that helmet. Anyone tried the Bell sanction/drop?

DH bike is making me brave

embrace it while it lasts because bravery ebbs and flows and it’s better to have it than not in DH. I wouldn’t mind wagering more people are hurt by their fear than bravery. Atleast that’s what I’ve found once or twice when i’ve failed to commit to a gap drop or whatever. :0

what if said person is 5ft tall and ten stone?

Say wha’?

down to the ZF clutch in the Porsche, who’d have thunk it?

*faaaaaalcon SMACK* *SMACK SMACK SMACK*

Had enough yet?

Blue socks v Red socks? Which one should I wear tomorrow? I can’t decide.