As a slight OT, I had a load of horse flies fly through my lid last night and go to town on my bonce, am I going to have to shave my head in the affected region as rubbing anti-histamines into my hair hasn’t helped a jot?!

Hamax refer to it as a “step-up” bracket. Any shop with a Fisher’s account will be able to get you one. Don’t whatever you do, ride it attached to your seatpost with your kid in.

+1 For Scalextric. Asked for one every christmas, never got one, dad pulled a really old one out of the loft one year, transformer blew and nearly set fire to the house, think that put paid to that.

On the flip side, wish they would bring back Subbuteo, my mrs’ younger siblings don’t know what they’re missing!

I must be the exception, I left mountain king/race king combo on the mojo all winter. Wasn’t a good winter, mostly spent sideways. Enjoying things now though! in fact been enjoying things since March.

as regarding sealing cross tyres, I have found the cafe latex sealant much better for running at higher pressures.

Buy a Blackburn Air-stick 2-stage instead. you’ll need the patience of a saint and the arms of a gorilla to inflate an MTB tyre with the Topeak, I’ve tried and I have neither.

short list, was a late developer driving wise (was 24 before I started learning:

2007 BMW 116i M-Sport. – Don’t know any different, seems nice enough.

What sort of thing are you after? head down racey, or relaxed-comfy cruiser?. If it’s the latter, test ride a Bianchi Infinito it’s unbelievably comfortable and you can really put the miles in!, think my LBS (Hertfordshire) even has a deal on them with free Garmin GPS’s

As above, the Cube Agrees seem to receive good right ups too and the specs are fantastic for the cash

I’ve got yeti ones on the yeti (……) and some bonty ones on the Mojo. Jagwire do some but imo they tend to get lost as they’re open sided whereas the the Bonty version have to be mounted when cabling but stay in place.

XTR? Halo Supadrive?

(* – technical term – kinda similar to what you do with the basket when frying chips)

or tossing a summer salad for those of us that live south of Watford Gap 😉

Look at the mid-range Pro cockpit kit (PLT I think), really smart and well priced, though I think FSA do the biggest range of compact wing bars.

As far as forks go, Easton EC70 would be a good mid-range bet, get something with a bit of sweep for absorption.

you aren’t really selling north Wales resisted!

It’s a beautiful part of the world, but the timing isn’t great; first year we were flooded, last year the cottage was at the end of a 2 mile lane that had essentially become a glacier due to heavy snow and -18 temperatures. BMW power doesn’t get you down that road, so like an arctic explorer it’s kit on a sledge and drag.

BUT you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be packing up the car to go again come first week of december!

agree with Al, I was 16 stone when I bought the CX bike and the RS30 wheels which have been on it for 2 years have only required 1 tweek since.

they do weigh over 2kg tho, but tough as old boots!

I’ve got a set of TRP Euro-X and they do actually work, munch through pads mind, but as I get more and more confident on the bike, the brakes are becoming more of an issue, as a lover of CX bikes, I can see the appeal of discs

Canfield crampons and ludicrously thin, but mixed reviews regarding bushing life and grip.

I was asked to attend National League basketball trials when I was 15 but dislocated my thumb and index finger the day before!

I’ve also sold bikes to Ian Wright and Les Ferdinand.

wow, this thread warms the cockles of my heart. That shed, the bodging, all ace.

I literally cannot wait to own a house where I can build a “man cave”, as long as it doesn’t take up too much room in the mrs’ projected kitchen garden and chicken run.

My Mrs and I have got into the routine of spending the end of November/beginning of December in North Wales (not the best of ideas tbh, but it’s her b’day and I dont want to argue), most of the cottages we’ve stayed in are animal friendly. We book through Sykes Cottages, you can specify animal friendliness on their search if required. They’re the largest agent for holiday cottages and have a huge amount of choice, you can even haggle with the owners over prices if it takes your fancy!

I worked in the trade for the best part of 10 years, never been so impressed with a company’s service to both trade and end users. Many have come close, but I don’t think any will surpass. Will always go the extra mile to keep people happy.

Cotic Roadrat? could convert it into some sort of weird flat-bar 29er if the drop bar CX thing isn’t for you? could build it up nice an cheap with a tiagra/apex groupo, cheaper shimano wheelset (R500/RS10), Truvativ finishing kit etc.

But as qwerty says, part of the CX bike initiation is browning one’s pants as the trees come flying towards you, knowing you haven’t got a hope in hell of stopping. The only thinkg that would make me give up my Arc-X is if they come out with one with a disc tab.

My main point however is perseverance: first time I rode my cross bike I bloody hated it, took me ages to overcome my fear of riding it offroad (properly offroad as opposed to groomed trails), but now I will never be without a cross bike, ever.

personally, I run Sram chain /shimano cassette as I find the shifting performance better on the shimano cassettes but I used to snap their chains regularly. I’ll tend to get 3 chains out of a cassette if I catch them at about 60-70% wear.

As regards wear rates, I ride my CX bike a lot more (well, mileage wise) but I go through chains and cassettes quicker on my MTB. I think this is down to riding style more than anything, I tend to pedal a lot smoother on my CX bike as it’s a commuter and more rythmic, whereas I put a huge amount more torque through the MTB (35″ inside leg) and I tend to ride in too high a gear and with too low a cadence (I try and correct this, but the more I think about it, the more ditches I end up in).

As regards quality (price) vs longevity: I have an old 11-34 XTR M950 cassette (when they were mostly ti) and that is still going strong on a winter hack. But usually I buy around XT level for that sort of thing as I wear them out quickly and being 14 stone I’m not bothered about the grammage.

/2p

Endura Humvee? Great bit of kit. £35 rrp iirc.

haha, I used to do that at my first flat, had a communal bin area for all the houses and flats in the area that backed onto a main road. Used to leave so much stuff out there, usually because I didnt want it in the house and I thought to myself “I’ll just put it by the bins, take it to the tip at the weekend”, never had to! old fridge, tower fan, even a shitty old desk that I removed from the flat by literally destroying, all gone!

80mm x 0 degree Thomson on Large Mojo SL with 740mm low rise bars. My issue is my arms are disproportionately short compared to my legs :6’1″, 35″ inside leg, arms like a T-rex.

I ran it with a 60mm to start with, absolutely hated it, far, far too twitchy. One of the reasons I didnt got for an XL (well, that and I couldn’t reach the bars…)

I couldn’t live without a CX bike, without a doubt the best decision I ever made. Previous to my recent move my commute was 15 mile round trip and I could do half of it through the woods, the remainder however was road/dodgy lanes. My new commute is 23 miles round, again, half on lanes, rest on bridleway. The CX bike flys, and without a shadow of a doubt the best bit about owning a CX bike is the flexibility of thinking “that looks fun, I’ll scoot off down there”, likewise, if I’m bloody knackered I’ll hop onto the lanes, drop the gears and get home quicker. I wouldn’t describe a Cx bike as a “jack of all trades”, morelike “best of both worlds”.

I just fitted a pair of 700 x 35C Sammy Slick tyres to my CX and they’re the best of both worlds, much more rapid than the 700×34 bulldogs they replaced but with more than adequate grip in the slop.

ah right, makes sense. I’ve used Tony before to have a new cart and he was most helpful indeed, took a while, but that’s understandable with the workload he must have. Rather have a good job done and wait for it than the crap one done quickly, slow and steady wins the race after all.

I had occassional issues with my Lefty losing travel slowly, this was down to the needle bearings slowly slipping down the damper, a quick removal of top cap and re-adjustment kept it working fine. Mine was a more basic Speed DLR (so no RS or Fox damper) and a bit more easy to work on at home apparently.

I believe TFtuned is now the place for lefty if it needs more major work.

I would consider killing for one of those tbh, always wanted one! they’re both lovely.

Literally bought a new one last week. Picked one up from John Lewis. It’s a JL own brand, but it’s made by Bosch (like their own brand microwaves are made by Panasonic) but they have a deal running at the moment, paid £400 for a £529.00 machine, they also delivered and removed the old one at the cost of a tenner. Plus, when it comes to electricals, you’ll always get good back up and extended warranties with JL.

I think with their current deal their cheapest machine is now £299

Edit: it’s a 7kg load (but there are only 2 of us), but has pre-programmable cycles and a high speed quick wash at 30 degrees which is very handy.

the Alex rims are good, however, a Hope Hoops pre-built wheelset will probably cost you about the same as the cost of a set of Pro2’s and a good builder to do it, especially if you need new spokes (and probably will).

then at least that way you’ll have an excellent choice of rim and a spare set of wheels/ebay fodder.

If you want good value, consider a Bontrager Rhythm? they’re proportioned very similarly to the DT EX500 and built to a similar quality.

Saracen Ariel? Got a mate that runs his with 150mm 36’s and he loves it to bits.

I find my mrs is as good a “switch off” deterrent as any. Once I step through the front door, if I even so much as glance at my Blackberry I’ll be in line for a slap!

It might cost £100 but I pretty much guarantee you will sell it for 60 notes to one of the mums at the school gates. Not a bad investment to get your kid riding properly sooner.

I do occasional saturdays in my LBS and every spring/summer weekend you’ll see these things flying out of the door, also loads coming back in for p/ex on a 12 or 14″ wheel bike once the kids have got their year or so’s use out of them; no stabs, just pedal and go.

I didn’t learn to ride until I was nearly six, my mate’s boy (4) has just got a 16″ wheel bike and has never seen a pair of stabilisers in his life, all down to his Ridgeback Scoot.

I’ve got an iphone 4 for personal use, love it, it just feels solid, robust and quality. I’ve had iphones since the very first model so I’m also used to the OS and the “quirks”.

However for work usage I have a blackberry bold; hate it with a passion, as specified, it’s a brilliant communication device but crap for everything else. The browser and “apps” are all terrible to use on the fly and for anything that isn’t reading an e-mail or answering the phone I will always reach for the iphone. The BB is also plasticy and feels naff. A colleague has a desire and it seems great, if I couldnt have an iphone for w/e reason, the HTC would top the list

its a well documented fact that putting a tapered steerer’d fork on your bike improves skill level and therefore steering accuracy….. 🙄

I think I need a sleep.

Make sure your contract is watertight and ask if the landlord has an inventory, if they have (often they dont as the the agency will charge for this), find out exactly what is on it and how detailed it is, just to cover you if anything breaks and needs to be replaced.

Secondly, check the flat for structural work too. I just moved out of a rented house and found a big patch of damp behind a cupboard when I moved it, went to check the exterior of the property and there’s a crumbling patch of brickwork. Now obviously, this is the responsibility of the landlord to fix, but, if any major work needs to be done to it (which I reckon it will), the new tenant will have to be relocated almost certainly. This has happened to friends of mine too.

lastly, I know he/she may be a good friend, but make sure that if they do a runner then you’re not going to be solely liable for any issues that may arise. I had another friend lose a sizeable deposit after a “mate” of his ruined carpets, fixtures/fittings and pee’d off whilst he was on holiday.

Stiffness and steering accuracy will be noticeably better. Also gives the downtube/top tube a larger weld contact area to mate too.

Give it a few years and you wont be able to buy a frameset without a tapered headtube, best get on the bandwagon early imo.

Another really common complaint of clicking based on cadence I used to get when I worked in the trade was front mech cabling that was too long catching the crank arm each revolution. Always worth a check and trim/bend as necessary. So often something so simple goes overlooked