Why are forks so expensive

Because we keep paying.

Some prices are a joke. £500 for a BMX frame???

Not going to lie, I when I see videos of people riding over drystone walls, playground equipment, roadworks signs, picnic tables and loads of comments like ‘We gotta go do this Ratdawg’ I don’t think it’s a positive thing.

2015 Trance 1. Excellent bike. Have ridden it for most things: natural, trail centre, raced, mess about at jumps, bigger days out. Never felt under biked (but would take a bigger bike if going somewhere like Stiniog just because I don’t want to smash it down downhill type trails) and have never felt over biked.

Good warranty on frame. Decent spec. I believe the newer ones are even better.

It’s hurting my head.

It has those mount tabs where the rear has vertical movement and the front horizontal rather than the slide back and forth version. Just cannot seem to set it up without a bodge of putting spacers under one side. And as for the 185 rotor, no chance. Even with CPS hardware the calliper was 10mm away from mount.

Have ordered a 180 Shimano mount to use with the 160 rotor to see if this solves the issue. I have looked at endless photos on the net with no joy.

Thanks for your input.

Anyone?

Brosnan’s first wage is clearly due.

Do people really not know when that much money has not left an account? I was on the phone to Apple over a 3.80 subscription to OS Maps I forgot I bought.

Had the pleasure of speaking to Charlie on the trails. Polite and mature beyond his years. Condolences to his family. As a parent, I cannot imagine the devastation they must be feeling and am genuinely upset to even think about it. God bless.

Just to clarify, I think/hope we all (teachers/SLT/ Ofsted) want the best for the children. Ofsted have made some changes and are, although you can never perfectly measure a school,moving in the right direction. Us versus them doesn’t help.

I feel the point that the OP’s child may not have adequate provision is patronising. There is no individual lesson criteria. Your child’s teacher might read those bullet points in the ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall judgment criteria and feel they are doing all of them. Doesn’t necessarily mean the outcomes will be ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. Conversely, a school deemed ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall could have staff failing to meet them. The inspection handbook is, in places, subjective.

I appreciate Hebden is offering advice but it’s an interesting insight into SLT train of thought. I read it, rightly or wrongly, as guilty until proven innocent.

Hebden, do me a favour, give one class of yours two pieces of information to remember such as their target grade and the dates for the beginning and the end of WWII – day, month and year. Tell them every lesson for a week. Then, on the first lesson after the weekend, get them to write that information on a piece of paper. You confident they’ll all remember it? What if some of them get it wrong? They don’t complain about you. Are you too nice?

As I said, your child may well have fantastic provision. My child’s primary school was in special measures. They came out the other side fine. There were a couple of policy changes and staff turnover was high. We always thought the school was good but knew Ofsted wouldn’t.

? Ofsted does not award a grade for the quality of teaching or outcomes in the individual lessons visited. It does not grade individual lessons. It does not expect schools to use the Ofsted evaluation schedule to grade teaching or individual lessons.

Do you mean this . . .

No. Not anywhere near correct.

Please say you’ve read it. If you are this poorly informed, then I hope you’re not really on SLT . . .

If teaching is inadequate, then your daughter may very well not be getting a decent level of provision. It may be that, day to day she has no complaints because her teacher is “nice” or whatever, but he/she may not be challenging her, covering subject matter in sufficient depth, or teaching the required skills.

Cannot help but find this a little patronising. Would help if those at the chalkface knew what it was Ofsted, and thus SLT, wanted to see. Usually the latest fad. Last time I checked there was no specific criteria for an ‘outstanding’ lesson. Judged wholistically and usually based on data. Correct?

Just for balance, seen plenty of ‘outstanding’ (whatever the heck that actually means) teachers in schools in special measures. There is a chance your child also has a fantastic teacher. For now.

Ofsted inspector

This was the guy that placed my former school in special measures. Report was absolutely damning and I personally didn’t recognise the school, staff or students the report described.

There was a time when more schools were going into Special Measures than they had HMI to support them. But, if you make the posts so small, no one is going to ever score a goal.

For me, after special measures, nothing really changed apart from an increase in intense scrutiny. Like any industry, some people are better at their job than others but what really stood out were the six excellent teachers from one department that left. Only two of them remained in the profession despite the brilliant (unpaid) holidays. All the others got other jobs. Revolving door of staff. Only losers were the kids.

Second hand Scott Scale. I bought a 2015 29er off eBay for £425. I love it and use it more than my supposedly ‘main’ bike.

You can’t on a shimano m540

You can get a long pedal spanner with Allen keys for pedals like these, CB and Time. Worth getting one for situations like this.

If you’re desperate, and don’t have access to a proper pedal spanner, if you have an old seat post, slide it over the Allen key and use it as leverage.

As said, make sure you’re turning the correct way.

Like both but totally dependent on the conditions.

Good weather I prefer the grassy descents of Rushup to Mam Tor and the path from Jacobs to Kinder Res.

Bad weather I prefer clockwise. Rockier descents and you can miss out the bog of Rushup via Chapel Gate.

Everyone should do it clockwise at least once but, I’m not going to lie, I prefer good weather and anti-clockwise with a Kinder Res, Middle Moor extension. Feels like there is more descending and there are more bends.

Burgess Park is where Peckham BMX are located now. If you have no joy with Brixton.

Hopefully you’ll be pleasantly surprised. In my experience BMX clubs are welcoming, family friendly and have people from all ages and abilities.

They have an active Facebook page so imagine they are still going. Some great folks down there.Also, some of the best talent the country has to offer has come out of Peckham BMX just down the road. They are now at Burgess Park I believe. If you haven’t seen One Way Up it’s worth a look to see what they are about. Never too old for BMX. Look at the age classes at The Grands just gone. 50+ is stacked.

Love UFC but so many threads and articles somehow end up about McGregor and are ruined by arguments between fanboys or haters.

McGregor is an extremely talented and dedicated martial artist but I cannot wait until he and the circus disappears. Saying that, would like him to defend at least one title in his career.

Both side towards the front of the upright bike to undo. I agree that the marks look like it’s slipping clockwise assuming that the bike in the picture is upright and non drive side.

I know you said there are arrows but stranger things have happened. Hope you get it sorted.

Bottom of golf course is running sweet and, as already mentioned, there is a bit of mud on the other one but I like it better now than it was before. Still enough rocks to keep you happy.

Cheers. That’s the one that goes through the golf course, isn’t it?

The path you asked about is open but I cannot find a link to the closure.

the problem is that races need to attract the average punter. the question is how?

Seems to me the problem is the punter, not the races. If you want to race, as in strap on a plate and race, then do it. If you’re not where you want to be, then train, work on your weaknesses, sort your diet, hit the gym, put in the miles. If you’re not willing to do that then you probably won’t ever be as fast as the guys at or near the front.

The sandbagging thing has many sides. Some folk just don’t have the time to dedicate themselves to ride the next category up and that’s fair enough. There are many BMX, 4X, enduro riders racing masters and vets that would still hold their own in more competitive categories but don’t have the time or the desire to train any harder than they do. If I’m riding masters and get beaten by a vet, or a master that was elite the previous year, then I need to either train harder or accept that I will not finish above that rider. No point expecting them to ‘ride up’. I also understand that some folk want to race up but cannot because of the system which is no fault of theirs.

I understand that organisers want people to attend the races but I don’t feel that they should water down their races so people attend. For me, racing is racing. You strap on a plate, sharpen you elbows and race. I don’t mean be rude or anything but it’s meant to be competitive. It was interesting to see some of the reaction to the Gee Atherton Foxhunt helmet cam. He’s got that mentality but a lot of people were critical of his attitude but he’s a racer.

Maybe the average punter isn’t a racer.

SJS is where I go for all my Shimano little bits.

eBay is full of five star man carrots. After numerous faffs posting I only sell collection only.

Did some reading about this and apparently adding ‘viewing welcome’ adds another layer of protection for those ‘not as described’ types. There is a guide and plenty of info on how to protect yourself as a seller but, fact is, eBay tend to side with the buyer so seems pointless even trying.

Cannot wait to see if Winstanleys do the same.

Personally have had good service, and this very situation, from both of them.

Good luck.

I have recently been converted. 5′ 9″ on a medium Scott Scale. Not going to lie, was a bit of a sceptic. Have a 27.5 bike which I love and several 26″ bikes I love. I bought one becaise I wanted a hard tail. It was funny because on the first ride I didn’t really have that ‘I am riding a 29er’ feeling. In fact, I didn’t really notice much difference. It seems to climb better but it’s an XC orientated bike so it should climb better than my trail bike. I’ve had it for a few months and I do love it. Where I seem to notice the positive difference is on the long flatter bits (roads and longer straight trails) where I wind it up and fly. If I had known what I know now (before I bought my full suss 27.5) I definitely would have bought an Orange Segment when I was looking for a new full suss.

Just reiterating the above. I was introduced to a whole new level of tiredness when my boy was born and, like you do when you’re tired, you get snappy and tense. It will get easier though and it now seems like a very distant memory now he’s six. Believe it or not, every now and then I miss those times when he was a real little nipper. Then I remember the tiredness!

I don’t really have much advice with regards to help. We just seemed to grind on, bleary eyed and in a daze. I thought it would never end but it did.

with Sam Hill, Gee (both past it but on big teams)

No doubt it’s been said but either of these could win any race on any given day.

I went to watch two football matches during Sydney 2000 . . . In Adelaide.

Pinkbike forum just rang. They want their argument back.

I agree with what Jared Graves said a couple of weeks ago about all cycling being good.

I rarely hammer down Little Mill after a couple of near misses with walkers but thanks for the heads up. It’s particularly rocky at the bottom at the moment.

I know I moved a large branch from across the BW on the descent that forks off to the right and from Laneside and there were loads of foliage on the BW after someone had trimmed the sides.

Why worry, just ride the bloody thing!

It’s a bike forum. He wants to know. . . He probably does enjoy it also.

Are these efforts after a thorough warm up? I find that a thorough warm up helps you to maintain that high intensity.

Did use Citroen fluid for years in shimano brakes (Saint/XT/SLX) without issue. Over the last year, however, my Shimano brakes started suffering the inconsistent lever pull and would never get a decent bleed.

Don’t know if anything has changed (I read somewhere that something internal had changed) but switched to genuine shimano fluid and they are now brilliant without issue.

No surprise, really, but did have years of issue free brakes for years on Citreon fluid. Won’t go back to it though.

Just for choice and value for money I would advise a race bike at your height. There will be more scope for a longer top tube, 21.5 or 22 inch (or longer) and there are plenty of deals cropping up on eBay or BMX Talk. £350 will get you good second hand bike if you hunt/are patient. There is also a BMX Trader group on Facebook that has a load of stuff cropping up.

I’m 5′ 9″ and have a 21.5 cruiser and 21″ BMX. Both great.

Do you have any other shoes to try them with or did you mean DX shoes rather than pedals.

CB with my 5tens was impossible and would have been lethal, with shimano shoe with shallow cleat recess, fine and, despite the regular maintenance, I won’t go back to SPD.

Could be the shoe rather than the pedal. Bought a pair of Five 10 Ravens to use with some CB Mallets and, after cutting away the rubber to expose the cleat recess, it became apparent that it was far too deep for Mallets even shims. I also tried them with Time DH4 and DX Shimano but even though the Shimanos engaged the best, even with shims the shoes felt like they would ping out unexpectedly.

Still got those shoes, never worn in anger because I can’t send them back after cutting them. Went back to DX style shoes and Mallet pedals with no problems. Run three Shimano shoes and Candy and Mallet pedals without issue.

Maybe Specialized shoes have a deep recess too?

Had this when I bought my Trance coming off a Five.. Rarely, if ever do it now. Must have just changed when/where I pedal naturally.

I have not degreased a chian in years. That factory grease packed in is a good thing.

I wipe clean and lube after every ride, use dry lube all year round and replace when .75

There will be 40 different opinions on this but that is mine.