I can’t help thinking that tyre is designed to carry a fair old bit of weight in an application where weight isn’t really a problem. ie, that tyre is going to be bastard heavy!

I’m not racing at the moment, but I am riding 3-4 nights a week, just using light both on and off road.

The Grifter was 3 speed.

If you’re reading this Dad, I still haven’t forgiven you for chopping up my Grifter.

I don’t understand the obsession with mega grippy soles me. Way I see it is if you wanted loadsaloadsa grip you’d just wear SPDs, which come with far far more grip at a lower price point.

Certainly don’t start out with a plank against some bricks at about 20 degrees, then try a board against a pile of builders sand at about 40 degrees. on a Raleigh Grifter. That is my advice.

Everyone just goes to GT for blue trails though.

Rail access isn’t going to help is it, you’ll only be able to put 4 bikes on each train and it will cost twice as much as driving.

There’s a few routes on connect.garmin.com

I rode above Hexham once, after it being recommended on here, the route was decidedly underwhelming, but I believe the riding is a lot better the further north you go.

Innocent until proven guilty?

Sure bike theft is a problem, but if the Police can’t prove that my bike isn’t mine, they shouldn’t be anywhere near it.

It is mine btw.

trickydisco, the ability to do what you suggest for Festivals etc exists through Google Latitude.

If it’s a replaceable mech-hanger then if all else fails, you can just buy a new hanger.

Yes, definitely. I just use my other lights to give me more range on full power as I’m often out for 3 – 4 hours and like contingency.

I run an 872 on my helmet, my only complaint is that when it’s on full it drowns out the Hope 4 on my bars such that I might as well not bother with is :)

That’s how mine is, I don’t like it either. But I think it’s your only option. It’s a fairly standard setup though, I had it on my Bullit, same on my Scythe too.

Got soaked tonight, but was pushing on a bit so kept nice and warm. Would not have wanted a mechanical though.

I took a bike up Blencathra once and had a blast. It was 11 years ago and I was hungover to hell and it was covered in mist at the top. Got a picture of it somewhere.

Anyway, we came down towards Souther Fell. I remember having to avoid a right turn that took you down Certain Death, then it was very fast and rocky. Times and bikes have changed a lot since then though, so i don’t know if i’d still enjoy it or if it would be a bit tame.

Only one way to find out!

Can’t work out what I think of these, I reckon for a fitness training they’d make you a bit lazy, bot on the other hand if you do 30 mile rides aiming for as many descents as possible, then doing a 50 mile ride instead for the same effort must be better. Interesting.

My thoughts are that I forgot about this feature on mine and had the pads wound right in for Keilder. Reckon it’s got to be better than a kick in the teeth, but I don’t know how big a gap it creates.

I bought the 1600 in your link on Tuesday Zippy, paid Wednesday morning, due for delivery today.

Screaming Mile and Derwent Edge into Cable Ridge are my personal favourites.

To line the tyre, you could try an old tyre with the bead stripped off perhaps?

I have no idea where Reddish Vale is.

The Waterdale stuff links in nicely with the Sustrans 6 route and the canal network around Little Lever. There are various bits that you can add to it. Hurst Woods, Moses Gate, Clifton Country Park, Nob End (snigger), Prestolee Road etc.

Get yourself on Google Earth or an OS and stitch a route together. You should be able to make up 20

Oh, well you should, let me know if you want a GPS track to follow! I’ll see what I can work out and maybe head on up that way sometime soon. Cheers

Harry, I live in South Manchester, my local loop is a 20 mile loop starting from Reddish Vale that heads out to Etherow and Marple. You probably know the area? I’m wondering if I can use the trails in Whitefield to get a similar length ride out? Is there more stuff you can get to if you just keep riding away from Manchester or do the trails run out?

Cheers

Take it in the shower with me, does the job.

Bumpuity bump bump, anyone got any suggestions?

Cheers!

Right, checked the crank bolt threads and the threads on the BB, these are fine. However the engagement points on the crank arms are gouged to bits over about the first 3mm of their length. I’ve reassembled with less grease and a lot of threadlock on the bolt. Will take it for a spin at some point, but I strongly suspect they are dead metal now!

Anyone got a spare drive side crank arm, compact triple and octalink?

Cool, will clean the bike up and properly dismantle to see what’s what.

Is there not a reason why all other ‘manufacturers’ put the mount on the back of the fork leg rather than the front?

I need more than the 1.5 hours I’m currently getting and the 2 hours that those batteries gave me from new. Neither give me contingency in case of mechanical etc, so a larger battery capacity is what I’m after. Will be doing rides that start after dark and are 3-4 hours fairly regularly over the winter anyway.

I read an interesting article on battery life somewhere recently, reckoned you could extend life dramatically (in terms of slowing their gradual decay) by not storing them fully charged, 50 to 80% recommended and keeping them in the fridge where they’re not subjected to fluctuating temperatures.

Good answers, I thought it was the right one. Is it possible to wire two batteries together with a Y cable so that the output voltage is correct, but both batteries get used at the same time? Saves swapping batteries over when it’s freezing etc and would be better for battery life I think as I wouldn’t have to think about rotating my batteries.

Ta.

So what’s actually happening for the cranks to come loose? Is the bolt unscrewing itself?

Cool cheers, not sure what bolts I’ve got lying around, but if I don’t have one I’ll find one on eBay etc and give that a whirl with some threadlock.

South Manchester went from very dry to quite soft over the weekend. One descent that is *always* wet was actually dry last week but has now reverted to type.

I either ride from the door or drive to a supermarket and park there, depends on a combination of the time of day (ie how long to drive across town) and whether I can be bothered with the hour of tarmac adding to my ride.

I’m generally ok out on my own, but it gets scary in Etherow Country Park, I think because you lose all the normal back ground noise and can just hear the sounds of a chap biking through the woods echoing off the trees. That and the badgers that are out to get me. And the swans.

Tend to just put my foot down and hope for the best!

connect.garmin.com, type in wooler and apply the filters and quite a few things will come up.

Anyone else wonder how on earth Paul Smith is still relevant in design circles? Every time I see one of his ‘limited editions’ it’s either all black or covered in stripes and ridiculously expensive. Is that all he’s got?

Does that Kinesis one work with your Pure CX Forks?

Where can a chap get one of these fork mounted mounts? Noticed it on my new build too.

Is there a mount that will still let me easily run mud guards?

That reminds me, I *really* need to bleed my front brake!

First choice has to be the Newcastle Vagabonds, firstly it’s named after a city, so must be biggerer and besterest and also, who doesn’t want to be a vagabond? A second and perfectly valid approach would be to pick the club with the best looking kit. I applied a combination of the above and it worked out well for me.