I would love to grow a moustache but I sadly can’t.

Alan looks AMAZING in that suit and finely tended moustache.

Good effort following him to work but Im not sure I would have been able to show as much constraint !!

Knowing my brother well I also don’t know how he managed to keep his cool! It’s always easier when you can plan what to say in advance and know that losing your cool will only set your case back anyway. I wasn’t very nice to the guy who hit me last year when it happened.

There are some things that you can’t do as well online as you can with a bit of paper (OS Map).
I have followed some online routes other people have posted and been left wondering why as I go up hills that should be down and vice versa, or long stretches of supremely dull tracks.
The best thing to happen with GPS things is that everyone is getting rid of OS maps so I have collected loads for future use.
It’s maybe a good idea to ask on a forum of like minded people the best bits of a particular area then use an OS map to link bits you think you’ll like based on others opinions and knowing your fitness or skill limits you can achieve. That’s my choice of how to do things

He probably wasn’t eating cake as he was riding though.

Or was he? 😉

With my accident last year I didn’t have any witnesses but it didn’t matter in the end. They did stop after the crash though (well i did go over his bonnet and scratched up all his precious Audi bodywork with my road cleats so I could see why….)

Firstly try rubbing fresh blu-tak on the “stains”. They may not be a stain, more like a tiny bit of dried blu-tak left on there. Works quite well most of the time.

What did police say?

Lovely robdob – mine sort of resembled similar 16 years ago. Totally unrideable on anything remotely technical though

You need a skills course then….. 😉

That Kilauea was recently restored, and ridden quite effectively (included passing many modern bikes) all around West Yorkshire. An area not known for its smooth easy trails…..

They really do handle amazingly, a joy to ride.

No, this is a proper Kona. 🙂

Good idea. You could tell when it happened that all the mechanics knew of the potential dangers as they were watching the car and reacted immediately as soon as the tyre broke free. Several got out of the way sharpish then it hit the cameraman who maybe wasn’t as aware of the dangers or was concentrating on his equipment/next shot etc.

I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault as such. In fact its great that lessons can be learnt from this and things changed BEFORE someone is seriously injured. With overhead cameras, headcams, boom cameras available theres no need for them to be in the pit lane now we can see the problem clearly and can do something about it.

Take a look at Woodrup frames, same city but I think they are a bit nicer and more forward looking.
I’d love a Feather cycles frame but they aren’t cheap!

Every keen cyclist should have a custom made frame done at some point.

Neutral service – they can give out bikes too. Probably have a range of sizes but I wonder about pedals…

Me first and the gimme gimmes – Rocket Man, Nothing Compares 2 U
Alien Ant Farm – Smooth Criminal (perfect!)
China Drum – Wuthering Heights
The Who – Summertime Blues
Voodoo Glow Skulls – Charlie Brown
Eric Clapton – Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out

Blooming brilliant program – I went from not being able to run for more than 30seconds (first time out I genuinely thought I needed to make a 999 call I thought I was dying) to running 6km. Get fitted for some proper trainers first – that’s all you need. I wear a cycling top to put my phone in the zip section.
Need to get back to running as the joy of getting to the point of running and it actually feeling easy was amazing.
Use MyFitnesspal at the same time and enter everything you eat honestly – food intake is more important than exercise – when you realise running for 30mins only burns 400 cals you think twice about that Mars bar!!!

I lose 3 stone – 2lbs a week using the above. Very very hard work but worth every minute.

In the end I heated it up and it slipped on with a couple of taps. Job done!

When I started running last year I went to a recommended running shop (Up and Running in Hudds – brilliant!) nearby. I was videoed for my running gait/style (whatever they call it) and again with each shoe I tried on. Ended up with some shoes I was really happy with. When they said they were £95 I explained I didn’t want to pay quite that much, was there anything cheaper that would work as well – they gave me 10% off “to make sure I got the right ones”.

I have been back since for a bit of advice on my running which they were really happy to give. They have been very helpful and not tried to sell stuff to me at all (I worked in retail for 12 years so always know when that’s happening). I have since recommended them to 2 other people who have had the same great service and advice.

Great example of the LBS (should be LRS – local running shop!) I reckon. They did say if I wasn’t buying shoes from them they would charge £10 for the videoing and show advice as they get loads of people coming in for it they buying off the internet.

Considering the huge amount of problems you can get if youdon’t wear the right footwear I reckon a visit to a proper shop is a must. Just not worth saving a few quid and risk injury IMHO.

B r – 🙄

So instead of using the brand new headset I have you are suggested I go out and buy a completely different one? Awesome advice there.

That’s the one (mine is gold!) but mine isn’t a split race. Weird.

I got mine second hand, never been taken out of packet. Was waiting for the OEm one to wear out which is has now done. Mine might be an earlier one with no split race? I suppose it shows its ok to do it though. 🙂

Although it scares me to death thinking about doing it I think splitting the race may be the way forward. It’s a Token Tiramic headset with lovely sealed bearings so should be fine. Getting the old crown race off my pikes wasn’t much fun so avoiding havig to do that ever again would be a bonus.

Thanks all!

I really feel sorry for you mate, having to move. I lived in a flat for a bit and hated it, way too noisy. Never felt like home either. There’s something about having noise above and below you that is especially depressing. Sounds like you handled it well.

Are all flats like this? Can you hear people walking around, doing “normal” stuff? Surely some must be better made?

Sweet bike for £50!!

And you had fun!!

That’s perfection in my book.

Thanks for all the help.

Any ideas on accommodation in NY? Decent for tourists but not comedy prices?

I don’t think we are really interested in the history side of things to be honest. Also the weather end of Sep/beginning of Oct sounds a little sketchy round there. While I am certainly not one for lying on a beach or desperate for a tan, I don’t want to go somewhere where the weather is the same as here when I am spending all the money I have in one go.

Looking at flights, they seem to be the same price as the west coast!!

Any ideas on accomodation in NY? It all seems crazy expensive. I don’t want to stay in a hostel, probably a B+B type affair. Self catering would be good too, but nothing bare-bones. It seems there is so much info out there its difficult to find what you actually want.

Virgin – basic service is 30mb. I have a super hub, hasn’t missed a beat in a year now. Always get a constant 33mb, even at peak times. Always good to deal with on the phone IMO.

Mossimus – very helpful thanks – I like the idea of the train to Boston. Is there a choice of trains/prices etc?

I need to look into flying into NY and out of Boston. Sounds like a great idea. In SF it was fun going back to SF airport as we had to drive over the Golden Gate during our last few hours there which was a great finish to the trip but I don’t think going back to JFK would be as picturesque!

Looks like Boston is a must see then.

It was very easy to pop back to SF airport to get a car to use after we had stayed in the city for a few days. Would this be the same in NY?

Do you think I’d need to book somewhere to stay in Boston in advance?

There is no way on earth I would mail order a bike if I was your height. Proper fit is EVERYTHING on a road bike. I’d rather ride a Sora equipped Carrera that fitted than a Dura Ace equipped Colnago that didn’t. It’s miserable riding a road bike that doesn’t feel quite right and with specific issues I would be going for a proper fitting with someone who knows what they are doing.

I have a T2. I wish I’d got a TK2, its much lighter. I’d get the better frame, use the wheels for a but then sell them and upgrade while they were still in good condition.

I think it’s more the fault of the people who made the banner?

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=260928

OK, so it is not particularly comfortable and it’s hard to move the front wheel around, but that’s a small price to pay for the efficiency.

If I ever started riding a MTB with so many downsides just because it was “more efficient” I think I’d give up altogether…

I would say to her not use any water anywhere else in the house at the moment. If it has gone down the waste pipes you don’t want anything helping it to be flushed through to the sewers. In fact if she’s brave enough she could open up the inspection pit outside (if there is one) and block it up with some rags just in case it makes it down that far.

There should be a trap somewhere!! It might be a slimline trap? They are very compact and hardly any wider than the pipe itself. I would find it very unusual for it to be under the floor..??

I love to see the old cars driven properly, it’s what they were designed for. I do understand why some people don’t drive them, sometimes there is a lot of money invested in them and it only reduces if you drive it a lot!

A year or two ago there was a delivery mileage McLaren F1 sold fo millions. I would have loved to have won that at the auction, hand over a case full of money, grabbed the keys and drawn 2 long black lines of rubber out of the auction room, showing everyone what you should be doing with it!!! 😆

Round my way unless you’re very fit a compact drivetrain has neither low enough or high enough gears for me. When I’m grinding up yet another mile long 20% climb my triple chainset 30/27 feels too high and downhill soon spin out my 52/12. I need a 10sp 11-27 cassette but the upgrade cost from 9sp on a road bike is huge!!

I did a 16 mile quick loop from my house last night and there was 1400ft of climbing. :sigh:

LSN coatings in Castleford. WELL WORTH the trip.. £40 to do frame forks and 2 stems in a metallic fleck silver. Astounding job, needed a little emery cloth to remove a bit of overspray(powder – they masked everything off properly without instruction as they do a lot of bikes) but I’d expect to have to do this anyway. I entrusted them with my precious 1994 Kona Kilauea and they did an astounding job. They have a very good reputation on Retrobike as a lot of the locals in West Yorks use them.
They do LOADS of finishes – fancy a Matt black? Fades? flouro? Loads to choose from. Great guy who runs it too.

My Kona:

They also did my Mk1 DMR trailstar:

A part of me almost wants to have kids so I can get an Xtracycle to carry them on! Looks great fun for the kids.

I read no end of threads like this about VAG diesels. Why does anyone buy them? It’s a mystery to me! Seems like most of them need one of these £800-2000 bills eventually, surely that’s enough to wipe out the savings you made buying the diesel in the first place (if you did save anything, most average mileages won’t!)

Hear me out on this, and have a think….

Do we really want a show which does reviews of kit, technical stuff etc?? Think about the old Top Gear, yes it had worthwhle reviews on it but it was a bit “dry”. I like the new Top Gear as its entertainment with cars.

Soooooo transfer that to bikes. Have 2/3 presenters, maybe a downhiller/trick rider, one roadie, one beardy touring/singlespeed person. Programme could mix a bit of banter with some Top gear ish features – challenges, races, visits to special events, larking around on bikes. That’d make a great show and I think would entertain people and get them interested in cycling if they weren’t already but were curious.

If you make a sports programme geared towards the people who already cycle, you’r never going to please a decent amount of people as they’ll always say “why isn’t there more x, less y”, or “its too technical/not technical enough” or “too much/little mtb/road/bmx/track blah blah”.

An entertaining programme would interest the cyclists (Im already thinking some challenges – coast to coast on £100 bikes maybe??) and show the non-cyclists that cycling can actually be fun. Might shake the kinda non-mainstream image that cycling has (I know this is changing steadily though).

I’m not a fan of the minimalist feel either! Another option I’ve tried which works for me is thicker grips instead. I have Specilaized Enduro lock ons – they are wonderful – nice thick grip but not ridiculously so. Nice cushioning without feeling squishy.
Specilaized gloves are also normally really nice to wear so the suggestion above to try some might be worth a shot.