A lot of generic fixies don’t meet a minimum BB height for a lot of tracks. I learned that yesterday, never knew it before. Apparently the tracks don’t want people ripping planks out with their pedals. Seems fair enough.

Absolutely it should be a bit of a laugh. Those roadies arguing about whether it’s fair to do segments when you’re fresh… words fail me.

I still think people who intentionally disrupt other people having a bit of a laugh are cocks.

Alot of people may consider those getting worked up over Strava KOMs something of a cock.

If it upsets you that much. Why not race properly?

It’s pretty easy in terms of my earlier analogy:

Building sandcastles: Each to their own, bit quirky, doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, can be fun, does nobody any harm.

Kicking down peoples’ sandcastles because other people seem to be having fun doing it: Cock. Possibly sociopath. Probably no friends.

Where’s that bike park place?

Its all fun though … he still having a giggle because somebody is getting worked up about it.

That kind of thing might possibly expected from a six year old kicking over sandcastles on a beach, but it’s a bit annoying when a group of people care just a little bit about something engaging but trivial, and some cock gets his kicks from spoiling it.

Yeah, it’s not okay. It’s a nice social feature so people should be social with it.

I am very proud of my KOM. I got it Saturday. Only four people have ever logged a ride on the trail in question, but I’m fastest, and that effectively makes me brilliant

Just to second what other people have said, there’s no way I’d ride in that lane if there were parked cars to the left. Being doored hurts, and it tends to throw victims outwards away from the door (and under the wheels of whatever’s passing them in the main part of the road)

Shame they’ve not been able to shake off the twenty-or-so wheelsuckers

There’s an “Auto Rotate Map” feature which sounds like it might be just the thing?

Henry’s on the Lizard is very nice.

Oh gotcha. It’s like that with Sideways Tim, in my experience.

You can do this with Dave Yates

Best economy I’ve managed is 32mpg, thrash it on the motorway and you’d be in the 25mpg region, so yes, what you’ve heard is spot on.

Excellent cars, but yes, thirsty. The fact that they’ve got the aerodynamics of a breeze block doesn’t help i guess.

About 28-29mpg on a 2.5L turbo diesel.

If everything in the City is bonkers expensive, is it worth considering somewhere down the BART line? I know it’s not central, but you can get a decent motel in Milbrae for MUCH less than central SF, and there’s some decent riding out that way too I’d imagine. Anyway, appreciate it might not be at all what you want

Once you get above about 40% oil, starting can be slightly rougher on a coolish summer day. Make sure you let the glow plugs warm up. In winter I’ll probably go right down to 10/20%

(…in avoiding it, if it’s one of my local ones)

Whereabouts, thisisnotaspoon? You’ve got three profile locations and I only live in one of them, but I’m interested…

Steel frame so would it be easy enough to get it welded up? (it’s a tiny crack – maybe 6mm)

Probably be a total PITA of stripping down, paint removal, rewelding and respraying, I guess? But if you love the frame, worth it?

Cos they aren’t 6 months old and worn to hell

It *does* happen though. The two examples I just gave are high profile enough to be noticed, but loads of mechanicals happen in big races, away from the glare of the cameras. We just don’t see the bike changes and cursing on the telly unless it’s Millar in a breakaway or Schleck briefly interrupted from his endless staring at Contador

Looks like you’d need to buy some sort of pedals with the Commencal, unless I’m reading it wrong. SPDs are great once you get used to them but it’d also mean a shoe purchase of course.

Anyway, looks fine as an entry level bike to my eye, and that part of the European market is full of decent entry level suppliers (they’re competing with Decathlon after all).

On the growing thing, I definitely started most of these things late. I’m barely even shaving at 36. If i’d stopped maybe two inches shorter I’d probably have been fine with the biggest off-the-peg bikes (and good old Surly make bikes big enough for me, so I’ve got a karate monkey). I reckon you’ll probably be fine with most XL MTBs, but like I say, I wouldn’t compromise down a size. The bike that knacked my knee was my absolutely adored Airborne steel Black Widow, a 21″ frame. Cyclefit in London then told me to stop being stupid, I had the longest inside leg they’d ever measured, for gawd’s sakes go custom.

Kraken is £449.99 according to the Halfords Website, Fury is six hundred quid.

I reckon the Commencal looks just fine, as long as that RST fork isn’t a complete dog. That’s probably something you’d look to upgrade early on. The only obvious benefit I can see on the Kraken is 9 speed gearing over 8 speed, but that’s probably a marginal benefit really.

Haha I went from 6’4″ to 6’7″ at age 19.

Seriously, though, don’t. Not if you’re leggy too 😀 Or you end up on ridiculous 23.5″ gates like this

I’ve snapped a couple of chains before. Probably doesn’t help being 6’7″ and (at the time at least) about 16 stone. I think big heavy ungainly gear-mashers like me are always going to be a bit prone to it.

On one of those occasions it splayed out the plate, which proceeded to rip a brand new XT rear mech in half. Which was a bit of a bugger.

If its awesome power that snaps these chains, how come I didn’t see any broken chains in the Tour de France?

Millar missed out on a stage win in the 2008 Giro because of a snapped chain (in an escape of five, which suggests based on his stage win this time that he’d probably have got it)

Edit: And Andy Schleck lost a stage in the 2010 Tour to Contador because he snapped a chain. And not just because of Contador’s highly nutritious steak.

You’re in the right spot with their sizing chart: http://www.evanscycles.com/product_document/file/a66/cdd/bb8/73/commencal-normal-sizing-chart.pdf

(thank your lucky stars you didn’t grow another four inches of height like I did!)

Ooh, Gorrick 50, from years back. Swinley Woods. Horrible conditions. I managed 10 of the aforementioned 50, in the hub-deep, ten-foot-wide, trail of mud, then thought “sod this” and went home.

Edit – probably not my worst ever ride, but you stirred up a bad memory.

^
That’s an ordinary winter ride in the southern Chilterns.

I guess lots of us have had a really bad day. My worst was when all my technical skill seemed to desert me on the Ullswater shore path, on a day out with our club, up from the Chilterns. I couldn’t seem to find any grip anywhere, lost my bottle as a result, and actually really knocked my confidence for a good while.

For the next day’s riding I swapped out my 2.1″ Conti Vert Pros for some great big 2.5″ Bontragers and kind of salvaged my weekend, but I was really knocked back by it.

I’ve never tried Cannondales, but in my hard-learned opinion*…

If you’re 6’3″ and it’s all leg, then a Large isn’t going to be big enough.

I’m 6’7″ and all leg, and XLs aren’t big enough.

(*I tried riding bikes that were too small on rides that were too long, and as a result have a lot less meniscus cartilage in my left knee than I should have)

I’d suggest a “how to” book would be great when they have a dSLR. It’s well worth encouraging people to switch to manual mode, use a simple prime lens, and learn.

For now, how about a Flickr Pro account? Meets your price point, they can be given as a gift too I think, and lets them upload photos into a social community, connect with others, and get loads of inspiration.

We’ve got the Thule backbak and a fitting kit as discussed on the BongoFury site (ref above) but I’ve not got round to fitting it yet.

Bongos are bloody great things. Really nice to drive, comfy, easy to camp in even unconverted. And the diesels will happily run with a generous helping of veg oil mixed into the diesel. Sunflower oil is £1 a litre at Tescos in 10L batches. Every little helps (although the exhaust smells slightly like a chip shop)

I just use a jogger’s armband from Decathlon. It means I can use headphones at the same time, and navigating on the map is relatively easy even if it’s strapped just above the elbow.

Am I the only one representing the shandy South here? Couple more from me, then.

I tried sorting out a berth on an organised ride with one of the shops. They pulled out on me because it was raining and I was the only rider who didn’t cancel. Was very disappointing.

Chilterns, dry, in March.

Someone needs to tell Tesco that a 500g bag of ciabatta breadmaker mix doesn’t weigh the “expected weight” of 0.080kg reported on the screen. It’s tough being in the squeezed middle, and that’s one of the worst things about it.

Seatpost bolts? Does it happen when you pedal standing?