I did Ladybower in the rain last Saturday – plenty messynes & I was dirtier than any ride this autumn/winter. Still loved it!

The Rushup/Roych/Jacobs route is much better during wet weather – the only bad bit being the top of Rushup – as the surfaces are more solid.
Me an’ the bike were cleaner doing that route than Cannock when wet (which is most of the last few months).

Took a road bike there last year. Testing hills!

bikebouy

Gotta be finbouys alter ego 🙂

As already advised: do try a Stumpy Evo.
Love mine!

One continuous loop.
It’s great if you accept it as fast single track (with a few bits of fire road) but if you want long fast descents or epic views forget it. There is one techy descent on the red and a few black sections.
It’s not up there with the Welsh centres & if ridden slowly uninteresting but if you hammer it you’ll know you’ve been round.
I wouldn’t bother on a sunny, unwindy day as I’d sooner be in the open so best saved for poorer weather when the trees provide shelter and the lack of scenery (you do get to see Fylingdales radar) isn’t an issue.
However, if I found myself up there with time on my hands and didn’t want to do an open country route I’d happily go there regardless.

If you fit a 40t on a 2×10 29er it’ll give a similar ratio to a 36t on 26 bike.
Slower than walking? Possibly but unlikely on a hil requiring that ratio & anyway I’d sooner ride.
Anyway I’m giving it a go but if it seems OTT or problematical keep your eyes peeled for a ebay bargain.
Nothing ventured…..

Our dog pulling my missus to the front door of my daughters house even though she’d only been there once before (The Dog, that is).
We weren’t even parked close to the house.
Amazing, their recollection.

My mate recently bought a 923 which is basically the same but accepts 3 bikes.
Excellent piece of kit which I’d buy if needed. 29er no probs.

I’ve just had all the alloy nipples on my new 29er Stumpy replaced with brass ones under warranty.
After 3 rides one had broken on the back wheel so I put a brass one on to get another ride after which 2 more broke & as fast as I replaced them others broke as I tried to retension the wheel.
Inconvenient but no real problem. Imagine if I’d been away on a several day trip or worse catastrophic failure of the front wheel bombing along down some rocky descent.

Pete b try readin 7 posts up.

Doh.
Yeah – good reult.

I’m not best positioned to offer this advice but you have to move on. As said life’s too short.
You’ve done all you can by reporting him.
Nothing more to do.
Except maybe feel sorry for a fat turd in a naff ‘car’ wearing a suit (the fat turd, not the naff ‘car’).
Mind you – I know how upsetting it is when people make personal remarks about your appearance – someone once called me a ‘bald headed b*stard. Gutted – until then I was under the illusion I had the best mullet in town.

As a cycle commuter I see all manner of people riding all manner of bikes in all manners.
I couldn’t give a fvck – am I lacking manners?

I can cycle to work without sweating on all but the hottest days when I’d sweat walking
However one of problems, or benefits, of road cycling is that you generate your own cooling breeze. Great until the bike shed’s reached & the breeze is lost but the body still needs to shed heat.
Slowing down well before getting to work would mostly solve this but it’s counter to do so.

The small screen is no match for a pukka map.
However a paper map won’t tell you where you are and requires a halt, remove from backpack & unfold. The latter van be a pain if there’s a breeze.
A handlebar mtd device requires one foot to be put down & a bit of squinting.
Often you only want confirmation of a way point.
If you’re unfamiliar with the area then a back up paper map makes sense.

Mine’s an 800 & is simple to set up & use. Touch screen is brill even with thick winter gloves. The OS mapping is good but needs good eyes & is slow to refresh sometimes. Better than nowt but we’re spoiled with modern phone displays.

On the road it tells me all sorts of nerdish info and has also helped as a sat-nav.
Off road it tells me all sorts of nerdish info and has also helped as a sat-nav.
Back home I can re-live the ride, analyse the route & see how to make it better – or not as the case may be.
The smiles are not diminished but the memories enhanced.
And I managed 20+ years of mtb’ing without as much as a computer on the basis the data wasn’t important but the smiles were(always had one on my road bike).

In a way my main bike as I use it every day for commuting (with road tyres, close ratio cassette, mudguards & rack no less) is my 1992 Trek 8000.
It still has the original stem & Deore DX front mech.
Until last year it still had the original XT brake levers – the XT shifters were cut off a couple of years previously but they still must have seen 18 years service.
The bike’s been raced, done mud plugging on the local green lanes & weekend trips to the Peak district & now does 2.5k a year commuting. (It was relieved of that duty for a couple of years when I bought an 8 sp Alfine Carrera from H*lfords but that heap of sh!t fell apart. Yes, I know, why would you buy a bike from there. Simple answer it was a bargain. Or would have been had it not fell apart).

So sad.Gone too soon.

Condolences to Steves loved ones.

The old, Cut Gate Path:

and the new, South Head:

I don’t like stopping bur taking a pee & having a snack are sometimes neccessary & it might as well be done somewhere with a view. Banana or malt loaf.

Wot bikebouy said.
I was even polite, cheerful & friendly with the guy who spent a couple of miles on my back wheel on Sunday after catching up with him.
Taxi, me 🙂

On my third ride, all of which were wet, the post wouldn’t lock securely so would occasionally drop when not commanded.
Before taking it back (the bike’s under warranty)I dropped a bit of oil into the top where the plunger is and normal service resumed.
I suppose I should really remove it, clean, lube & re-assemble.
Other than that hiccup it’s great.

At a personal level I’d be happy with two positions: High for normal riding and something a tad lower than the current mid postion for descending. I wouldn’t bother with the lowest position.
But that ties in with how I used to ride using a QR to adjust.
YMMV

I forgot to say that my brother had to have remedial surgery some time after the incident so he was unable to move on in the way I could anyway.

If your injuries are such that this might happen I’d be less inclined to wrap things up too soon.

My SJ Evo 29er before descending South Head to Coldwell.
Riding trail centres it was hard to gauge any advantages over my SJ FSR 26, but I was pleased it could handle tight switch-backs as well, however descending in the Peak really showed it’s capabilities.

It depends how you want to move forward.
I had witnesses & the driver was prosecuted so it was cut & dried.
I sent a claim direct to the other parties insurance & it was paid promptly allowing me to buy a new bike and move on from the experience.
I could possibly have got more out of it materially had I gone the lawyer route but it would have been protracted and a hindrance to moving on.
I must say my injuries, though painful, were superficial so no potential long term problems.
Before going direct I contacted a ‘no win – no fee’ firm who carry large adverts in the cycling press. When I went though their literature in detail I didn’t care for it & it seemed they might benefit more than me financially and I’d have the inconvenience .
I appreciate the insurance company probably dealt with me promptly to close things & avoid increased cost.

OTOH my brother suffered broken bones in an unrelated event and pursued it to the bitter end as he’s a bit like that.

Looking back on it I think we both acted in the right way for our particular circumstances.

I also joined CTC afterwards so if it happened again I would have a good source of advice, gained inclusive insurance & anyway would be donating to an organisation representing cyclists interests, which I hadn’t really considered before.

Too many variables – you need to track them down & not bother with forum guesses by people even if their limbs & torso sizes are identical to yours. They could be on the wronh size.

Stopping serious biking in my teens when girls & beer proved more attractive.
(Restarted 20 years later when I found bikes a more accessible ride & beer tasted better afterwards)

Have just ordered a stock of 26 Panaracer smokes and darts, plus some Mavic 531s, a Marco Pantani selle saddle and a second hand P-Bone fork just in case

Damn! That’ll inflate the prices before I get my order in.
I really must keep my best ideas to myself!

Invest in a vernier caliper, measure the ones you take out and then buy from wherever.
The only thing special about them is that they’re ‘full complement’ which means the balls are not caged within the races allowing more to be fitted.
You can use standard bearings if desperate but they might not last so long.

Just an idea:
Work out how long you intend keeping your 26 and then stockpile your favourite tyres, maybe a favourite rim or two and if you’re really paranoid a pair of forks.
More realistically re. forks get them serviced regularly and you won’t have to lay out a load of dosh up front.
Usually – barring crashes – by the time forks are shagged the bike’s long in the tooth and spending 5 or 6 hundred quid on a new pair would perhaps be better spent towards a new bike as umpteen other ‘standards’ will have changed anyway.
If you’re just into running a classic sourcing hard to find parts goes with the territory.

FFS get on the bloody thing & ride it until it’s ****.

taxi25 did scribe

If you want a new bike just buy what’s available now and enjoy it, whatever size wheels its got.

That’s my belief.
If you like a bike the wheel size is irrelevant. You are buying it for you.
Buy it, ride it until it’s worth not-a-lot and get another.
Forget about residual values and remember the fun.
I can’t see shortage of components for an out-of-favour ‘standard’ being an issue until the bike would be skip fodder anyway.

Bargain: http://www.mailordercycles.com/m1b0s1p2292/SPECIALIZED_Camber_FSR_Comp_Carbon_2013

Favourite centre? CyB & Afan. NyA close.
Favourite trail? Cut Gate path – but it has to be dry.

Then there are those who prefer to think that the risks can be greatly reduced by their own skill. Funnily enough I fall into the latter camp when it comes to riding on the road. I hear the stories of cyclists getting killed, but they don’t apply to me as I have good road sense. I know there is still a risk, but through my skill and experience I can keep it to a level where I don’t have to think about it. At least that’s what I believe.

That’s what I used to believe too.
And then one afternoon on a local roundabout with light traffic, dry, clear, as good as you’ll get conditions, someone approaching it when I was already on it failed to see me resulting in a collision.
But at least, I think, my road sense and bike handling skills acted in my favour to limit damage & I escaped with superficial, if very painful injuries (the driver, judging by the angle of his front wheels, road positioning etc clearly took no evasive action so I imagine me bouncing off the front wing was his first knowledge).
I’ve driven many miles & cycled a fair few but that taught me to take absolutely nothing for granted – the most benign scene ain’t necessarily so.

As the old advice goes as soon as the pain allowed I bought a new road bike on got back on it. But just a little more touchy when I felt my space was invaded and very wary at roundabouts.

I used P Clips to fit standard mudguards of choice – SKS Chromoplastics etc:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=capacitor+clips&rlz=1C1GGGE_en-gbGB467GB467&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=NtsIU-TEMsz07AbonoFY&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=799&dpr=1#q=p+clips&tbm=isch&imgdii=_

http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/p-clips

The last thing you want to do is push your limits when you’re tired

I did that one last year.
On the third consecutive day of Welsh trail centres I clipped my bar on a rock wall to my right on the original Coed Y Brenin trail. The bike went skew-whiff and I did a Superman, luckily somehow landing on some bracken between ugly mother boulders.
The usual bruised & grazed knees, dents to the bike and had to straighten the bars to carry on.
Fair souvenirs of a great long weekend but it could have been so much worse.

It was a basic error caused by fatigue but good luck over-riding bad luck spared me. Again.

t’s also a pity that Shimano freehubs are not serviceable, although it seems that there was a tool that will open them, and there are guides to it online.

I made a tool out of a piece of GFS (Ground Flat Stock)to open the freehub. Loads of tiny ball bearings to catch when you open them up. Then clean & re-assemble with just enough grease to retain the balls as you slide the body back.
Too much grease and you’ll regret it on a cold ride.

The non-drive side isn’t an issue and the fronts are fine but in my case water and muck would enter the freehub seal (no – I never use a jet wash)and wreak havoc unless regularly stripped and cleaned.
And seeing as I wasn’t much into that as a past time I’d usually end up buying a free hub initially but then found it better to buy a whole hub as a donor of parts to the one fitted to the wheel.
I’m talking XT here so maybe XTR is better but for all the folks who got mileages better than mine with XT & below I bow to your good fortune.

I must say I’d never heard of the Mudhugger until this thread – it looks fit for purpose.

So Shimano made some decent rear hubs in between when I stopped using their shite ones up until recently when they reverted back to shite ones.
Must’ve blinked & missed it.

Although I’m perhaps being unfair as there might be those who need an excuse to disappear into their garage at weekly intervals to service the ruddy things.

Hope would’ve have been my recommendation. Opinions a bit redundant now though.

Zefal. The only thing I found to suit a 135 29er. All mudguards are fugly but this is one of the lesser fugliest and at least doesn’t rattle.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/zefal-deflector-rm29-rear-clip-on-mudguard/

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/p526x296/1535464_10152108763200822_1412747021_n.jpg