Definitely Garmin Connect for road rides – very quick and easy.

I use the free Garmin BaseCamp software for off road routes when I am plotting on OS maps, but it does take an age.

Assuming that the OP erred in his post, and meant is 36:36 any different from 32:32 then the answer (mathematically) is no, but you might get extra drivetrain losses from the friction of the extra chain wrap or various other miniscule variables.

I’m using 661 gloves these days as they do version without the velcro cuff, which I always find gets in the way and falls apart on other gloves anyway.

Sounds like something Shand could knock out for you (for a price)

Kinesis FF29 custom built? I did a fairly decent build with change from £1,500 for racing. Weighs in at 10.4kg with basic Rebas and mid range kit.

Sensible price for the frame (especially for me as I got a mint one from ebay) and although it’s not a silly light frame, you can save the money for lightish bits. I’m running Hope Hoops with Crests which I took from my CX bike. No silly bits but as it’s 1×10 rather than 2×10, it still came in lighter than my old Kinesis XCPro3.

I think the On-One / Planet X 29er race thing was shortlived because of quality issues? Scandal 29er is often silly cheap if you want to dip your toe in the water though.

I had issues trying to send a paypal gift yesterday to another STW user. Worked when I sent it as a normal paypal transfer though.

A rider not wanting the off-piste to be obviously visible to the proletariat?

Just to provide some balance to the 2.0 TDI haters, we have the 140PS 2.0 TDI in our 2010 Scirocco. Hasn’t missed a beat in almost 4 years, and even with my relatively heavy right foot, we get almost 50mpg from the tank. Will do 55mpg+ on long motorway stints. I drive conservatively and efficiently when traffic and conditions dictate, but give it the beans when I can. Would be more like 55mpg if it was only ever driven by Mrs PixelMix.

I’m not sure that all 2.0 TDIs are equal, but I don’t think there are too many complaints about the more recent ones – presumably the early issues were ironed out.

Morning wake up routine of E-mail, Feedly app (RSS feed site where I have about 20-30 RSS feeds saved), Twitter and Facebook.

When there is nothing new there and I am still procrastinating, I come over here for a gander.

If you want a relaxed road ride with pleasant folks, I enjoyed the Porto Velo ride I went on a while back. Fairly relaxed pace, coffee stop half way round and a nice friendly bunch. They have a facebook page somewhere and meet at Portobello Prom on a Sunday morning.

A few comments on the West Lothian Clarion above – I raced one of their events a while back and it was all very friendly and well organised. Can’t comment on their club runs though.

I think they split in two on the busier summer Sundays, with the faster guys doing a longer route.

Also worth checking out Jonsi’s solo album.

Thanks. I’d spotted his video before but wasn’t sure what kind of rear mech he was running. Looks like a regular SRAM mech with no clutch from that blog, so that’s good news that he had success and only one dropped chain.

Maybe I’ll give this a shot with my 105 mech over the summer before next cross season. Hmm…

Any more anecdotal evidence?!

Bumpty bump.

Mud jammed between my 1×10 chainring and the bash guard recently got me thinking about 1×10 with a clutch mech and narrow wide chainring recently – would mean I could ditch the bash guard and n-gear jumpstop.

Anyone running 1×10 cyclocross with a narrow/wide chainring and with or without a clutch rear mech? The lack of cable adjuster on MTB mechs is a pain, as in line barrel adjusters for mechs are a faff and spoil the simplicity.

Any tales of success or woe?

I found the NiteRider Stinger okay, although I think it turned itself off a bit when it got water in (so not brilliantly sealed) and the watch type batteries aren’t great as you can’t get rechargeable ones. Latterly, it seems to have been behaving itself. I lost it recently, so Santa brought me a Topeak Redlite “Aero”. The idea of an aero rear light is hilarious, but it does mean you won’t catch shorts on it.

Comes with two sizes of rubber strap, and seems secure. Takes a AAA battery so I can just use rechargeable AAA batteries for minimal cost.

Not used it probably MTBing yet, but done lots of commuting miles (mostly with mudguards) and some puddly CX miles. No complaints yet.

Like you, I was looking for a rubber design for easy swapping between bikes.

Bookmarked for reading later – thanks.

I’m slowly working on bits of the Scottish National Trail, and that uses the Rob Roy Way in parts, so this could be useful. I’m waiting until a dry weekend in late spring for this section though. :)

Sounds ideal, thanks. Mrs Pixelmix insists that a T5 is too big, so a Caddy Maxi Life sounds like it could be a winner instead. Might be slightly easier to sell to her.

hammyuk – got photos of what the inside of your caddy looks like with the middle seats partly folded with bikes in? Do the middle row just fold forward or are the removable?

Considering a Caddy Maxi Combi for the 5 seats ability (when needed) and room for bikes when only 3 or 4 of the seats are needed. Should give room for 3 or 4 seats usable, with a couple of bikes down the side and strapped in place, yes?

I use Ralph Double Defence tyres on the rear without complaint.

Can you not go back and agree to change it to that even if you give them £1 for the curtains or something? Last time we dis this, you always paid the max you can for curtains, carpets, appliances etc just to lessen the property value

Nothing like a bit of tax evasion. :)

Apportionments have to be fair and justifiable. Would you want to sign a tax return for a house at £250,000 with £20,000 curtains?

I have some sympathy for the solicitor – they will be dealing with SDLT day in day out at 1% and forgot that this one should be 3%. At the end of the day, it is a tax which is due by a purchaser so the OP’s mother needs to cough up and should have been aware of her tax liability before entering into the transaction.

The solicitor has paid the full tax so that the title can be registered, otherwise the purchaser (and the solicitor) would have been stuffed.

The honourable thing to do for the purchaser is to stump up the cash. If there is genuine hardship and the funds aren’t available, then I’d be asking the solicitor if they would mind instalments though. I can’t see them refusing that given their error.

BB7 rear here, HyRd front.

BB7 lever was noticeably going further by the end of the race due to rain and mud as pads wore in a muddy race, but the HyRd was flawless. If starting from scratch, I’d recommend HyRd both ends.

Thanks for the comments all – Hamax is the front runner as it will let me use the BFe. Noted re the comments on the seat tube not being chunky enough, but hopefully the BFe tubes are sufficiently overbuilt comapred to the Soul that they can take the strain. Don’t think I’ll be using it all that often or on anything rough anyway.

Anyone used one with a small hardtail? I’m running 1×10 so no front mech cable issues, but it would be good to know that it will fit a smallish hardtail frame (most photos online seem to be bigger frame hybrids etc).

Running one on my XC hardtail – 1×10 with an XT clutch rear mech. Only used for a few rides so far but no issues yet.

I end up chipping in to these conversations all of the time.

I had Hope Hoops run tubeless with a range of CX tyres with no issues.

I’m now on Stans Iron cross wheelset, only because I put the Hoops on my 29er.

Oh go on then:

The race bike. Photo taken when I built it over 2 years ago, so it’s now looking quite different with a new saddle, crankset, front brake and Stans Iron Cross wheels. Lovely bike.

The commuting bike in CX season pit bike mode (wears skinny tyres and a bigger gear for the rest of the year):

A little bit snowy/icy on the very very top part of Spooky Wood, but otherwise fine. 100% rideable, but a bit slidy in the top few berms. I suspect the black has some more white stuff too, but it will still be good to ride.

I didn’t find my Kinesis XCPro3 particularly short. If you are comparing to On-One, you might find that the length difference is because Inbreds and Scandals tend to be quite long.

Some interesting looking fork options. Any suggestions?

Ideally would be tapered steerer, post mount and bolt thru for a straight swap for the 140mm forks (which would be kept and swapped back in future no doubt) but I guess that those three together are non-essential requirements.

When I say sluggish, I just mean that it doesn’t seem to make me want to put the hammer down and pedal hard on flat sections the way the XC bike does – extra weight over my usual XC bikes. For that reason, I often find the XC bike more fun for the sense of speed on the flat. It is a great laugh on the downs and does indeed encourage you to pop off things and wheelie around like a madman. :)

BB / crank arms aren’t cross compatible generally (although you can get adaptors for some standards).

Basically, if it is GXP, you want SRAM crank arms, and if it has an HTII BB, you want Shimano crank arms. To be honest, BBs are so cheap, you might as well get a new one to match the crank arms you want.

Have you considered whether there is enough clearance for 2 or 3 rings, and there is a suitable mount for a front mech? Some frames are now designed with 1×10 in mind. Might be worth sticking some borrowed cranks in to check there is ample clearance for the inner ring.

Another FF29 here. Recently finished building it, and just waiting for the new fork decals for the Rebas after the lowers were replaced under warranty (before even being ridden!)

Only had a couple of short bedding in and tweaking rides so far. Looking forward to riding it in anger.

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Kinesis FF29[/url] by pixelmix[/url], on Flickr

The Iron Cross on Novatevh hubs look the most appealing at the moment. They seem to be a reasonable weight too.

I plumped for these recently – the pre-update Iron Cross wheels. Come fitted with yellow tape and valves already for easy tubeless setup.

Similar to the mid-range wheel in the new 2014 offerings – just with slightly different bearings and spokes. Fair chunk lighter than my Hope Crest 29ers. Your LBS should be able to get them if they deal with paligap. You might even get a below RRP deal if you ask nicely. :-) Edinburgh Cycle Co down in Granton in Edinburgh got mine in for me.

New chain on worn cog and chainring?

Cog and /or chainring not round, or not positioned well (creating tight and loose spots)?

I’ve run Hope Crest 29ers without issue. Now running Stans Iron Cross wheelset as I moved the Crests to a new 29er. Set up tubeless with yellow tape and regular tyres.

Iron Cross are a bit lighter as they have less spokes, and seem good so far. Slightly pricier than Hope Hoops though.

Kinesis have apparently lightened their CX disc wheels, so they might be worth a look too.

HyRd up front on my Pro6 to replace an aging BB7. Power is grand now they are bedded in. Not noticeably more powerful than the BB7, but I haven’t noticed them which I think is a good compliment for bike parts.

I found that in really muddy CX races the BB7 pads would wear down too quickly and the lever would go to the bars (only happened once or twice). One muddy race this year had the rear lever (still attached to a BB7) going noticeably closer to the bars, and I still had plenty of power up front.

Only a few races on them, but seem good so far.

As above, lever travel is fairly long, but feels fine when braking from the hoods (as I normally do).

Edit:- another advantage of the HyRd is that you don’t need an inline adjuster as I had on the BB7. One continuous cable is a benefit IMHO.

I picked up a great condition Kinesis FF29 frame from eBay for less than £300. Worth keeping an eye out.

Using my Gensis Day One as a pit bike and for “fun” races over winter – it wears slicks and a bigger gear for the commute the rest of the time. 44×20 which was spot on for a race last week.

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original_upload[/url] by pixelmix[/url], on Flickr

Yup. Bought a 2nd hand Genesis Day One at the turn of the year for commuting and didn’t intend to spend much on it.

It has now been properly resprayed and about the only original parts are the handlebars and crank arms. New (used) carbon forks have been fitted, along with a Thomson stem and seatpost from another bike, new brake levers and some Avid Shorty Ultimates. I do have the original wheels set up for commuting, but I also now have a set of Alpha 400 wheels set up for cyclocross so I can use it as a pit bike over winter. Oops.

Bump bump. Looking at a week in February with the road bike, my wife and our 6 month old son, reasonably cheaply but not too nastily!

Would you recommend that place then ebygomm? Did you need a car, or manage without? Any tips for someone who’s never been before?

Cheers!

Direct sunlight for a reasonable period of time? You’ll probably need to wait for another 6 months then…

I’ve got a lightweight bash ring and an n-gear jump stop with no issues here. Can’t recall ever dropping a chain in a race. Worth getting some sort of retention protection for when you are chucking the bike down over hurdles. Raced like this for a couple of years.

If I was starting from scratch now I might look at thick/thin chainrings.

Used Crest, now use Iron Cross rims as crests are on my 29er. Run 25-30psi no problem. I’m not a serial tyre swapper so the initial setup faff isn’t an issue here.

Did puncture recently but only because I ripped a hole in the tyre that wouldn’t seal. Generally happy with this setup for two years now. Various tyres used. Racing Ralphs are a good all rounder.