Scoffing pizza & wine here, perfect preparation. Then off to finish cleaning the bike. Sad, yes, but I think I’m developing a bike-related OCD condition…

I’m bringing the jaffa cakes!

Yeah fair point. I got to ride an alu LT2 at the Red Planet demo day, along with a few others, which sealed the deal for me. So many bikes out there, so hard to get a demo on all of the nice ones!

Kramer – it should be pretty easy to get a demo ride on an alu LT2, tons of dealers out there. The carbon LTs are only just coming into the country though.

xc4pot – I’ve ordered mine with an rp23, just wasn’t sure on the long term reliability of those monarchs yet. I see what you mean about the front mech cable routing…seems they could have planned that a bit better.

Great pics, thanks for sharing mate. First one in that colour I’ve seen. Looks very tasty. Can’t wait for mine to arrive :-). What’s the Monarch like?

I think you’ll generally have a lot more success by splitting a bike for sale. My 5Spot (medium) will also be for sale soon and I’ll definitely be taking it apart to sell…complete bikes just don’t seem to go for much. Incidentally, I might be interested in your wheels if you’re splitting it :-).

Talybont / The Gap etc

Join the Chilterns ride on sunday…?

looks fantastic, was thinking about doing something similar recently.

One contributing factor could be that CRC is now a popular site for the Americans as well. With the weak £ and good shipping policies, they’re doing a lot more trade in that direction I think…and I guess there are a lot more of them than us!

Check the garage at your in-law’s place – there’s a blead kit in there that I left behind. – It’s the genuine Hope deal, in a hope brake rotor box.

The pipe from the sump bottle doobry is ‘adjusted’ to fit a track pump so you can pressure the **** out of it…

Stupid me should have brought it with me, as a bleed kit over here is well expensive.

Hi matey, good to see you on here. Thanks for the tip…I’ll nip up there later & see if I can dig it out. If u need it I can always send it over…?

This could get interesting, although it could just be more posturing from the teams. Have to say, it looks pretty serious this time though.

August for the UK according to distributor

As above, no need to bring baby.

I find that actually using the chain cleaner, in itself keeps it clean…being that it’s full of degreaser & all. Quick hose out immediately after use…bonza.

Nope…although have some dealings with them. Not sure I want to reveal actually as I spend far too much time on here!!

agh really? Was just having that conversation this week…everything else has been cut…just the wfr package to go (well and maybe standby rates). :-(

lol yeah that’s my source for what the heck is going on in this beast of a company too. Head down…I’ve survived 10 years of these constant cuts, it’s becoming quite the sport in our area these days.

Buy a fantastic bike that’s totally wasted on you and hope that makes you better. At least, that’s what I’m going to try this summer.

hmm I think we might work for the same company, richc. 5% pay cut, sir?

Ooh I’m a SAN guy too. Gotta love that buggy Cisco firmware. I work for a VERY big IT company & SAN skills are pretty thin on the ground internally. Of course, they’re still refusing to hire anyone though.

getting another one? **** dat!

Did someone say “flapjack”?! :-D

Not too far to the Brecons. Tons of great stuff over there.

Actually, the most surprising thing I’ve discovered out of this is it appears Metallica have actually made a decent album again.

hmm I dunno, even the confirmation email says £8.98 for Mothership. Can’t complain mind you, that’s a good stack of albums for virtually no cash.

Nice one, 11 albums downloading & counting :-). Got caught out by the Led Zep one though…that’s full price…only noticed once I’d ordered.

website’s been down for a while this morning too.

I think the consensus is MTB is not consistent with early parenthood…

Agreed. Having had two sprogs in the past three years, I can vouch that biking can definitely take a big hit. I actually took an 18 month break soon after the first one. Being a bit more stubborn this time (3 months old) as I don’t like how unfit I got last time!

yep those kites are amazing. Massive wingspan when you see them up close.

Secure in your sexuality? Good. Now go look at some Manhattan Portage[/url] stuff.

You could get a boot-mounted luggage rack & an associated bike carrier to go on it. I’ve uses this combo on my MR2 for the past few years. Bit more expensive, but then you get a luggage rack out of the deal too.

Same here, looking forward to meeting everyone. Weather is looking good for Saturday so far, so hopefully that’ll carry over into Sunday. I’ll be in an MR2 with an orange Turner perched on the back.

I’ll definitely be there. I grew up in Watlington so always nice to pay a visit to the old trails.

Ah glad it’s still on, looking forward to this one.

Apparently, the Nukeproof Ti bars are being recalled. Oops.

Our 2.5 yr old loves Brum and 3rd & Bird (CBeebies). Her current favourite on the Sky+ hard drive is Toy Story, and Wall-E on Blu-ray is good for keeping her happy for 90 minutes or so. When a bit younger, she was entranced by Night Garden…it’s like drugs for kids.

I worked with a guy called Dave Hunt. He had a brother named Mike…

cheers mt

As you said cost isn’t an issue…Fivespot or Blur LT carbon.