Could be a tad damp for the ride home.

2 seconds too slow from me

Here you go

All valid points. Think I’ll avoid tubeless for this one if I intend to stick road tyres on occasionally. Swapping around tubeless tyres can be a bit of a ball ache.

Seems to be Open Pro CD or Crests for me then. This was a worthwhile thread since I had previously dismissed both.

If I can live without 25c tyres (or if BWD can confirm me that 25c will be okay on Crests), that is a handy option, as they are a lighter rim than the Open Pro CDs, and being able to buy Hoops will probably be easier and cheaper than a custom build. Otherwise, the Open Pro CDs look quite smart in grey, and seem to be the way to go for a custom wheel build for narrow tyres.

* Makes note to look out for Al at lights on the way home *

I ride my singlespeed MTB to work, so I’m woefully undergeared on any fast sections. People on BSOs pull away on descents – terribly embarassing.

Passed a middle aged beardy bloke on the North Edinburgh cycleway the other week. I caught him up as he slowed over the bridge at Crewe Toll. A few minutes later he was breathing down my neck as I was spinning away on the slight descent towards Trinity/Leith. Not bothered about spinning any faster, I slowed slightly and explained with a friendly smile that I could clearly do with a few more gears. Grumpy old git gave me a blank stare before pedalling past and then pulling over again 200m later. How odd. I’m all for a bit of commuter racing, but I can only assume that the poor old codger needed a rest after his 500m sprint to catch me and my wildly spinning legs. Was it you Al?

Nice one BWD – cheers.

Al – I admit it, I’m a poser. I can’t help it, but I don’t fancy shiny braking surface on my new disc equipped build. Alpha 340s seem a little bit pricier than 29er Crests and Open Pro CDs, so I can almost justify dismissing them on cost grounds too (based on Just Riding Along prices anyway). :?

Thanks for the link. I did a bit of googling earlier but couldn’t find it.

Sounds promising. Certainly no issue with CX tyres then, but still not 100% convinced that they will take a 25mm tyre well. There is a difference between mounting one and it running well for 1000 miles. Hmm….

Hmm, intersting. I had dismissed the Hoops as I thought the rims would be too wide. I’m sure I read somewhere else about people having issue with narrow tyres on them. They would be cheaper and lighter than a custom build too.

Anyone here run their 29er crests with 25-28mm road tyres?

Paul – possibly interested in some of your bits, but not buying anything until the frame is ordered, which isn’t likely to be until next month. Will give you a shout if I still need something then and you haven’t sold the lot.

Thanks – that has just been bumped up the list of possibilities. Looks okay in grey.

As above.

Off the top of my head, set your SMTP server to smtp.o2.co.uk when using 3G, and disconnect from WiFi to send email. If you are at home, the same SMTP settings as your MacBook should work.

I’ve got Ashima on one bike, mainly because they are good value and lightweight is a bonus. I didn’t use them for long but they are now on my wife’s bike after changing wheels around, so I can’t comment too much on them. Would buy again though. Good value at Merlin.

It can be helped/hindered by the bike setup. I bet that when you were a kid you had a tiny bike with the seat too low to be efficient, and a short stem. Your average XC orientated bike is designed to keep the front end down on climbs, so the geometry is all about putting weight over the front, making it more effect to wheelie.

Jump on your shorter wife’s/child’s bike and it’ll be easy.

Definitely depends on how you ride and what kind of terrain. My singlespeed Inbred does a lot of flat smooth riding, and since my bikes are generally set up for XC riding, I run a 90mm stem on my 16″ Inbred, although I’m a short 5ft7in. Comfy enough to ride and I don’t feel the steering is too slow.

Can be a bit nose heavy of descents, but that’s got as much to do with the XC saddle height as anything.

Yep, I keep one spare in my rucksack once I’ve taken it off a used chain. Or I did until I had to give it to my friend as I couldn’t be bothered joining his chain with a tool. Not tight, just sensible.

This could get fun. A welcome distraction from what I’m working on.

Biscuits anyone?

….if I could find my cycling shoes!

Try to the dog house. They may have dog wee in them though.

Thanks a very tidy looking bike tk46al. Resprayed Scandal I assume? I like the colour and the simplicity.

[/url]
On-One Inbred ride in January 2011[/url] by pixelmix[/url], on Flickr

Hmm, I think it is time that I got some proper pics given that it is now July.

I thought public transport in Edinburgh was fandabydozee……??

Buses are great. Or they were until they dug up every street in the city centre.

Oh no, that’d be train right past it then bus or taxi out there again.

Joined up travel! In about 5 years time you can get the train to Waverley, taxi to the nearest trams stop, tram to Gogarburn, then the bus from Gogarburn to the airport. Public travel has never been this integrated!

You’ll get two bikes plus kit in the back of pretty much (but not quite) anything with front wheels off. Nissan Micra was fine for weekends away with bikes in the back.

I’m not bothering to open daily mail links from threads these days. They continue to print rubbish with sensationalist headlines as it generates paper sales or web traffic. Along with the BNP, I’m just pretending that they don’t exist.

[Sticks fingers in ears]La la la la la[/sticks fingers in ears]

Given the railway lines already skirt the airport surely there must have been a cheaper option to create an airport spur off of that?

Every half sensible person in Edinburgh would agree. Unfortunately our council loonies didn’t. I suspect that a railway spur would have been built for a fraction of the price, and would have been genuinely useful (actually joined up thinking for travel).

Here’s to another 5 years of closed roads and Edinburgh looking like a dump. I’m sure the tourists that the economy depends on will love the metal barriers. :?

I blame wives and girlfriends for SPD fails.

On a gentle ride with Mrs PixelMix she stopped abruptly on a bend. I managed to stop without hitting her but didn’t have time to unclip. If she hadn’t been there, I would have had time/room to unclip, but as it was, I starting falling to the side, and leaned on her whilst simultaneously unclipping. I got my foot out, but she wasn’t amused since I effectively pushed her over. :-)

These[/url] guys seem to get on pretty well with their GTs. I suspect they don’t buy them though.

it’s culturally acceptable to be xenophobic towards the english

No, it’s culturally acceptable to have a bit of rivalry between two close nations. Too many people fail to see the difference between rivalry and xenophobia and immediately tar everything as xenophobia.

Not ridden it, but how about the Canyon Lux? Well within budget at £1,529.

You can also pick up 2010 Anthem Advanced framesets for not much more than £2,000 according to a quick google search.

New AS-R carbon looks quite appealing (IMO) without the seatmast.

I would just like to stress that this thread is in no way linked to this story. I was sitting on my own sofa at 10pm. Honest guv.

Went out last night so will skip this.

Gardening!

Settling in to married life well I see.

I can’t make tonight, but fancy joining you gents again sometime, possibly next week.

Boom. Thanks for the replies – think I’ll persevere then.

Sounds like it needs some tyres down it to make it rideable in summer. Will give it another bash some time.

Edit:- Thanks TJ. Will also check the north side at some point then too.

+1 for Mabie being very accessible from the train. Did it years ago as a student – short easy ride out from Dumfries town centre.

No complaints about the Shimano M122 from me. Got one pair which are 2 years old and started falling apart only recently, but are still useable. I now use those for muddy days and have an exact replacement pair for everything else. Won’t keep your feet dry, but fine for the summer etc, and can be had for £60. I use mine on average for about 3 rides a week, so pleased enough with the longevity.

Now replaced by the M123, or if you want a ratchet closing thing, the M161 or M183 are next one up.

This should do the job.

Thanks for that MrSparkle :lol:

This is good news. Lee/Cragg are 30mins drive away from my wife’s parents, so I nip along for a quick blast when we are visiting. Next time I go I won’t need to put up with Jon Rambo’s whining and trolling, since he won’t be there. More space on the trails for me. :)

White rimmed cross bike you say? Beard big enough to hide a badger?

http://www.great-rock.co.uk/blog/%5B/url%5D

Do-able with a trailer I reckon. You’ll want low gears after Fort Augustus and Invermoriston though – my singlespeed was hard work and I wasn’t pulling a trailer.

After Drumnadrochit, I too used the road (old cycle route) briefly, A831 then A833 before cutting off to the right and picking up the walking route again near Abriachan. I’m told that the section out of Drum on the waymarked route is tough on a bike, so didn’t fancy it on the singlespeed after an already long day.

If you aren’t buying until October, you will find a lot of disc frames released between now and then I reckon. UCI changes mean that a lot of manufacturers will have new disc ready frames out for next CX season.

Planet X / On-One have a carbon prototype thing (pics on their facebook page a while back), and Kinesis have a a Crosslight Pro6 disc due in a few months. I’m sure all of the big guns are prepping disc ready frames at the moment too.

Not sure of the difference between the M771 and M772 rear mechs, but I’m happy with my M772 – it is lighter and to my mind looks better than the M771. It will work fine with the XT shifters you mention.

As above, if using a double ring setup, you are better with the GS (medium) rather than SGS (long) version, as it will flap around less. You only need the SGS for triple setups.

With Merlin VIP pricing you are a few quid cheaper for the mech etc. I think you get VIP pricing just by signing up for the newsletter.