Just seen a deal on Bonty XR4s. Are these any good?

liked the look of your tyres wrt to my “what cheap tyres” thread. I see that there are deals out there. Do you like them?

Vor – would you recommend the mud x year round? Best deal I can find is £25 JE James – is that where you got yours?

suit, no tie +1.

I’d normally say suit, whatever. But if they specifically said not to, you want to show you can follow instructions.

Excellent customer service from a UK-orientated outfit. Will deffo appear on my shopping list come new bike time.

you can always fold it down / put a cable tie round the bottom….go full size – he’ll fill it in no time!

Avoid Buy a Honda accord tourer. I have a six seven year old one and the rear brakes destroy discs, rear calipers seize,need a bit of careful maintenance from time to time, tailgate stopped opening works perfectly , abs/vsa control unit failed is the same as on many Mazda and VAG cars that also have the same problem that can be fixed for under £300 quid instead of spending £1600 on a new one. Apart from that it’s great. I really expect a far more such a reliable car from Honda.

Just for balance, like…..

many, many instances of conflict in my house related to this. I now get MrsP to hold picture exactly where she wants it. I draw pencil line around top corner, then mount pic to fit. no more arguments….about that anyway

Father of a 4 year old and 18 month old here, 2 bits of advice:

1. you don’t need a baby-specific bag. Anything with a few sections and a large opening will do. Courier bag ideal.

2. If your Mrs is dead set on something that she likes, get your own “dad & baby mission” bag. It will save you from having to trail round with all the shite that overflows Mrs’ handbag into the baby bag. In my case up to and including manky items of fruit that never got eaten, tampons, used tissues, make-up, eyelash curlers, really EFFING sharp nail scissors etc.

Kumho KH13s or KU31s – excellent tyres and within your budget. (OEM on Hyundai / Kias)

it will be a pleasure to replace rotten posts in years to come

Really nice tip, just two questions:

How do you get the old posts out of the expanding foam? It grips like crazy, doesn’t it?

Secondly, did you read the bit about “concrete posts”? Don’t think rot is going to be an issue…..

I was fully prepared for explosive piston action as well – alas no! Had to get the power tools out!

jeez – that rotor actually looks melted!

Wessenden Reservoirs to Marsden is a good long, but not terribly techy one….

it’ll be OK – go and ride

jeez you guys drink a lot – you must spend all day p!ss!ng too.

maybe it’s because I work in cleanrooms but I only drink 6 normal cups of tea / coffee per day and a 750ml water bottle

haha – thought this was going to be the ultimate STW topic..!

Any BB bearing is scrap once shite gets in it for any period of time. It doesn’t matter what the balls are made of.

Ceramic bearings are potentially lower friction, which is relevant if you can pedal at tens of thousands of rpm (ceramic bearings were first used in turbochargers iirc) but in an MTB BB, the design of the seal is more likely to be the friction-deciding factor

The main benefit IMHO is profitability for the manufacturer and retailer!

seen acetone completely cloud perspex if that’s any help

does reasonable force still apply?

course it doesn’t…..but if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it……etc

no high speed compression

– no need to adjust that, then

the rebound is only the beginning stroke rebound

so set it so it feels right at the beginning of the stroke

Seriously though, Rev’s aren’t difficult to set up. No point worrying about what adjustments you don’t have. Set your air pressure to give you correct sag and/or minimum bottoming out. Equalise positive and negative pressures unless you want a really progressive feel. 3 or 4 turns of rebound to stop it coming back at you too hard. Don’t overdo it – if it squelches like a Fox or Marzocchi, you’re running too much rebound.

Then go and ride.

konabunny – you’d be surprised how many people are involved in a pharma factory. In the 2 I’ve worked in there has been a lot more direct labour involved than you would imagine (huge emphasis on equipment and facility cleanliness, also very involved line changovers) and something in the region of 40-60% headcount in support functions such as labs, QA, regulatory, engineering etc.

TJ – sure it is, which is why it would take governments / blocs of governments to make it happen. I guess there’s not a lot of votes is pushing up the price of cheap imported consumer goods….

oh, and I bought mine with “pretend money” (Bike2Work) so don’t need to prove to myself or anyone else that it was money well spent.

bonchance, I ride a Soul back to back with a fairly stiff Orange Evo2 alu hardtail. Yes, the Soul is more flexible, but in a good way. It really suits my “let the bike find its own line” style of riding. Works particularly well with my 2.35″ Blue Groove front tyre. Really confidence inspiring.

Obviously, there are loads of other plus points too. Balance and “flickability” standing out.

The only times I don’t like it are on really fast, really rocky, really steep stuff where I wish it was a bit lower and slacker. But then it probably wouldn’t fly through the woods as fast, or be as good at slow stuff. If I bought any other bike I would keep the Soul.

Maybe because people arent likely to admit they have made a mistake when spending £500 on a frame…

hmmm, but following this train of thought – lots of people would surely have spent another £x00 on the frame they bought to replace a Soul, then posted that it’s much better?

The only people doing this are those who have bought a Solaris, or so it would seem…?!

Ah……were they any good? The Sole was at the bottom end of the market, wasn’t it?

depends who else is around. call me old fashioned but I don’t in front of ladies. also try not to in front of those who don’t return the compliment. however the the gloves are off when the boss is around as he sees it has his way of being all “alpha”…

We’re in a similar position. a few months ago when we were considering a career-based relocation, we considered selling this place for what we owed on it and wiping the slate clean. the advantage in this case was that the new employer would have been paying £8k worth of rent / relocation which would have helped to kick-start us again.

Agree with what others have said about having an overpriced house on market – its bad for reputation of the property.

In your position I’d consider selling to break even and then rent for a bit. The other option would be to make some mortgage overpayments to gain equity that way. Say, the amount of extra cash you would be paying for your new house.

another set of eyes here in Riddlesden.

Forgive if you don’t want to give out details, but whereabouts are you? Is your garage overlooked? Did you have meaty locks?

The pain of replacing an integrated machine will far outweigh any small price saving.

because, if ours was anything to go by, the kitchen had been pretty much built around it. It was attached to both adjoining cupboard carcasses AND the worktop above. Ludicrously sticky self-adhesive heat shielding applied to top surface AFTER it was installed, reventing it from sliding forwards. 4 adjustable-height screw-in feet that were siezed beyond all recognition, water feed and mains cable fed through the back of a neighbouring cupboard with poor access, floor covering laid afterwards, making it impossible to pull forwards…..

shall I go on?! This was a rubbish Hotpoint by the way. others’ experiences may vary.

The pain of replacing an integrated machine will far outweigh any small price saving.

what mjb said. very little space to work around an integrated machine. if ours wasn’t trashed before I decided to take it out, it definitely was by the time I got it out!

but now I’m considering selling the bike

which makes you a low-life, rip-off scumbag, does it not?

I got a Giro Flak pisspot the other year. comfiest fit of any hemlet I’ve ever worn. bit on the warm side though, so just use it 2-3 seasons or when raining!

Middle? It’s usually the inner that’s worn out and the cause, is it not?

depends which you use the most…..

bung a new chain on it, then give it “plenty” in all the gears in a controlled environment to see if it jumps across worn sprockets. If it does, retrieve your man plums from the stem and go and buy a new cassette and (at least) middle chainring

I’ve built up a couple of bikes from components. Only things I’ve never got round to learning are fork stripdown and wheel building. I kind of enjoy it, but it makes time disappear in a way that I can’t justify now with a family. but there the second advantage kicks in – its much cheaper to fix your own bike. also if you understand how it works, you know how long you can leave things for before fixing them!

DT78 – if you’re not joking, tell me more…..front / rear, condition, price etc….!

well worth a trip. a bit more natural feeling that some of the Welsh trail centres. quite varied too. I love the wooded sections

did that idiot remember similar numbers each time?!