Not one like the pic but we had my father in law’s Phantom Sail used as an awning quite a few times for BBQs – worked really well. Wall still standing

<Confused> Surely TGP should be an all female team? </confused>

If you don’t care about the brand then the lidl/aldi/tchibo wireless computer is fine. Never killed one just seem to lose them in the garage. Normally about a tenner

I’m a big Nuun fan after using plain water in bottles and camelbaks for the last 20 years!

Anyone found a cheap source of Nuun? My cheapest source so far is Probikekit and use discount code which is kicking about the net. Get them for less than a fiver a tube delivered.

Got to agree with Sancho (and Jamie!) – the bike is what it is (looks pretty nice spec) – just get out – ride more and get fitter.

I’ve been thinking along the same lines as Schrickvr6 for a while now. CRC used to be my default option with occasional dalliances with Merlin and Wiggle. There’s now a whole raft of sites I end up checking. Probikekit is a current favorite. The CRC misadvertising/one in a strange size grips my sht too!

What age/size were your nippers when you started them on the balance bikes – My son is 17 months but pretty tall. His birthday is January so not ideal riding weather but don’t want to be ‘pushy dad’ and try to get him going too early.

Last chance – just in case it’s the singletrack posse and they were all in Fort William over the weekend

Was a member of a Car Club where you paid cash and got points to use to hire cars.

Best car was probably Maserati 3200GT, though e-type Jag was a real experience too.

Worst Car ever was an FSO Hire Car – diabolical – front wheels were only loosely linked to the steering wheel!

I’ve always thought it was a ‘me thing’ but I keep a grip of the bars with thumb and index finger and brake with middle and sometimes ring fingers

I’ve got a roadrat but do like the look of that Dailybread. Using my roadrat singlespeed and love it but don’t like horizontal drop outs for adjusting chain tension. EBB seems a nicer solution. If you use discs then I don’t think there’s a problem using 26″ wheels though I think you’d lose some speed compared to using skinny 700cs

Completed the run ok and discovered it was 8.5 miles. Thanks for the tips. It was very warm, had a few cups of water on route, had my gel at 5 miles and finished fairly strongly in 1hr 4ish minutes (forgot to look at clock as I went across). Stopping for a P in Sutton Park after 3 miles probably cost me a couple of minutes – mustn’t drink quite so much before the next race – 10k on Saturday. Brother in law was about 4 minutes in front – blaming the toilet break!

Sort out some pics of the front of the bike – headtube and steerer – and some pics of your ‘spare spacers’. Reckon that someone here will be able to work it out from that.

I am doing it for fun but would like to beat my brother in law! – lol

That does look nice – I seem to be developing a soft spot for full-sussers and that looks a nice example! Enjoy it

“At the end of the day I’m a chick and would probably pick the bike on the paint job ………….. “

and those Ibis paint jobs are really nice – what’s the preferred colour option? I quite like that flo-green

No more threads about the Ibis!! I keep seeing the Stif banner and getting tempted. I’ve never been bothered about FS but that Ibis is doing it for me! Does it come with the shock?

I had exactly the same thought as Jond. For people to understand the mechanics of the swerve then you’ve got to teach them countersteering – which wasn’t the case when I did my test. If they are teaching newbies countersteering then I think that’s a really good thing.

how does the old joke go?

50% of men kiss their wife goodbye when they leave the house… 95% of men kiss their house goodbye when they leave their wife

AFAIK all the bike shops in Bath are close to the centre.

My favourite is John’s Bikes in Walcott Steet. To get to that you’ll have walked past another bike shop Total Fitness – which has more of a roadie bent. The other bike shop I know about is Avon Valley Cycles (?) which is through the tunnel on your left as you come out of the railway station.

Go to the 12 Bells in Cirencester. Ask Bob for one of his finest Steak Sandwiches with mushrooms and chips – god I miss those Steak Sarnies!

PePPeR is making me doubt myself now but pretty sure the Makita linked to above is same as mine and it has hammer function. (Though that’s not stated in the advert)

I’ve never had a sensible test ride of any of my bikes – though I did ride my Kona Cindercone around a dark cellar below Nottingham On yer bike in the early 90s!

I got one of the 18V NiCd Makitas with the 3 batteries. Really pleased with it. Makes doing jobs a real pleasure rather than a PITA which they generally are messing about with cordless drills.

Got mine from Screwfix, think they still have the Makita, also got a deal on Hitachi and De Walt at the moment IIRC.

What I never understand is why it seems to be a point of honour for dog honours not to actually grab hold of yapping Fido when I cycle past. Maybe rather than just telling the dog to stay, and it usually not doing, they could grab it by the collar and remove all doubt in everyone’s mind!

Salsa – moto

Google is your friend –

http://www.watches.co.uk/

Had one of these – just a great all round car. Bikes and anything else you could think of fitted nicely in the back too – surprisingly practical. Regret selling it – yep!

44×17 with 700c wheels for me on my Roadrat. 69″ according to Sheldon

You bad man – I used to love Elite

I too need new forks but I need cash – **** me this season’s forks are expensive! Is it me or have they pretty much doubled since last year?

I once met a chap that had ‘split a boll0ck’ on a wire caving ladder…there’s something about stratobiker’s design that just made me remember that for some reason.

Cotic Roadrat does all of that for me. Intended to put gears on it but no longer feel the need.

Cy was doing one built for 600 so within your range.

10.3kg

will weigh it for you and post asap

The answer to “My arm/leg/wrist/todger/head* hurts should I go to A & E” is nearly always yes – take a book & iPod and go. Limited downside if it’s the wrong decision – massive upside, up to and including avoiding death (RIP N. Richardson) if it’s the right one.

(* delete as appropriate)

Have you considered Photoshop or a spot of the old Derrin Brown so she can’t see it?

(loving the term Monster Trucked BTW!)

I bought one of Cotic’s standard builds. Long mdium with flat bars. Run 44:17 for my commute – 12.5 miles each way. changes have been:

A set of London fixie spacers so that I can run a 17t groove armada sprocket.
Recently swapped the front v brake for an Avid BB7
Swapped saddle to a Specialized BG one.
Added mudguards which is more hassle than it should be.

Overall very happy with the bike. Good fun commuter.

£600 for base bike. Probably ~ another £100 or so for additions/changes

First three races this season have all been a bit dull. Don’t think the control gyres are helping – that used to add unpredictability. Last years Laguna Seca was a great race – Rossi schooled Stoner

I got 3 hooks like this from Halfords

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bike-Storage-Rack-Cycle-Hook-Wall-Mount-MTB-Hybrid-Road_W0QQitemZ160331876649QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL?hash=item160331876649&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1688|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50

As far as I know they still sell them for 9-10 quid but can’t find them on the Halfords website. Work very well.