I am lanky and would like a 26″ bike with a cromo frame and long reach

I have an NS Metropolis from erm 2013. It’s 4130 steel but it’s not like MTB steel, It’s a blunt instrument and durability takes priority over compliance. It’s not harsh like hi-ten but it doesn’t have a wow factor feeling. It’s significantly heavier than my size L 27.5+ Whyte 901 for example.

In terms of reach I’m 6’2″ 34″ IL and even with the 80 mm rise bars angled slightly backwards it feels long enough. The back of the saddle is 10 mm from the tyre so if there’s any pedalling to do you kind of get used to riding standing up

Discussing the merits of tie-dye spokes on your DJ bike with 12-year olds at the Co-op massive

It’s likely not a result of 35mm or carbon specifically but of the particular bars you have

^^ this

Have got a Burgtec RW Carbon Enduro and it’s fabulous. It still has that 35mm welded-to-the-steerer connection but it’s also supremely compliant unlike the Thomson Elite bar it replaced.

I used to ferry rocket jr to and from school when he was 5. I had a Harley at the time so a backrest didn’t look out of place. From about 8 he used to regularly ride pillion on my R1. I wore a kind of harness with handles (Oxford?) so he was attached to me. He had a textile suit with adjustable arms and legs so he wouldn’t grow out of it too quick. Small Arai was fine, He was probably 11-12 when we called it a day

Naysayers (e.g. the mrs and MIL) will give you all kinds of BS about it being dangerous. You know how good you are and you know the risks. Make the decision.

Always impressed with the young girl who I see most mornings, walking to school on her own through one of Wolverhampton’s roughest suburbs. She does a very good impression of Kristanna Loken in Terminator 3

I have a 2019 901 with 2.8″ Maxxis HRII/Rekon on 35 mm rims. A 3.0″ would fit in the back but I think the front would be a struggle. The 2019 Sektor has a squared-off arch that hugs the profile of the tyre so closely that some fork guards won’t fit. What fork have you got?

I’ve not had any problems with the 2.8s. For me they’ve answered the ‘what tyre’ question. The shallow treaded Rekon digs deep even when provoked and the HRII just gets on with it.

The difference between 99 and 102 doesn’t seem likely to be the cause of your problem

How have you come to the conclusion that the Sensor is at fault?

According to the service manual and the rather wonderful built-in diagnostics…
ECU diagnostics fault code 20: Intake air pressure sensor or atmospheric air pressure sensor: the atmospheric pressure sensor output and intake air pressure sensor output differ greatly
Anyway it could be a faulty connection but I just wondered what was inside the sensor – whether it would respond to heating/freezing/hammering before I shell out £175 on a new one.

Does ebay not have a used one you can pick up for less than OEM?

There are some but still expensive and not from vendors I’d trust tbh.

Thanks everyone

What reliable source are you using to suggest that the motorbike sensor is unreliable (and which one is “wrong”)?

Thanks – the manual says both sensors should read ~100 kPa at sea level, ~90 kPa at 1000m, ~80 kPa at 2000m etc. Last time I checked, one was reading 99 kPa which kindof makes sense (on the day) at home 80 m above sea level whereas the other one was reading 102 kPa which is below sea level.

Might be something you could get from a breakers?

Thank you but the few I’ve contacted that have actually got one only want to sell me the complete harness

Alternatively, can you swap them round to put the good one in the inlet where it’s needed

I understand that The ECU tests them at idle to check that they’re both reading the same (emissions maybe?) I’m guessing when the engine is off-idle the manifold pressure reduces and the ECU ignores the sensor under the seat, which is why the engine seems to run fine (maybe a little rich if it thinks it’s slightly below sea level)

It’s probably a standard component you could get from RS that’s failed, but in a bit of yamaha plastic to make it fit

It is indeed an encapsulated plastic brick with lug and a 3-pin connector. I just wondered what’s inside – electronic or electro-mechanical. Hmm

Hmm it seems to work but reads low. I wondered if the sensors are used in anything else instead of paying Yamaha prices :|

Always remember watching my first professional football match with my dad and older brother, aged about 7. It was a nightmare (Wolves vs Southampton). When the whistle blew I breathed a sigh of relief and started walking towards the exit, only to realise with abject horror that it was only half time and there was still ANOTHER 45 MINUTES TO GO

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

one which will take a 135 x 12 Shimano MT68 rear wheel

My old Commencal Ramones had replaceable dropouts and would accept a 135×12 wheel…

plus the Sektors @ 150mm

…but it would be wildly over-forked at 150mm. Far happier at 120mm

…hills around Dudley and the Black Country

Kingswinford to Sedgley along The Straits & Sandyfields Road. Good luck

long is a longer wheelbase and a longer front triangle (so a shorter stem) – why is that good? Wheelbase adds stability but front triangle???

I was comparing 3 of my bikes the other day. LLS 2019 Whyte vs conventional 2014 Cannondale vs old school 2010 Gary Fisher. The rear triangle on all of them is virtually the same – tight around the wheel but the same steep seatube and stubby chainstays. The Whyte however is so slack that if the front triangle was any smaller the bars would be too close to the rider.

Low gives more leg over clearance, no doubt great if you are shorter in leg, but for taller riders, what is the benefit?

Noticeably lower c-of-g. Great if you are a tall spidery unit like me.

Slack is the geometry – great for descending, but what about climbs?

The steep seat tube makes the most difference – you’re in the middle of the bike pushing backwards with your legs. There’s some fork offset stuff going on so that it even at walking speeds it doesn’t feel like something Orange County Choppers have made.

Why is Long, Low and Slack good?

It’s not all good. My size L Whyte suffers from bus-on-a-humpback bridge syndrome. Any kind of step that’s bigger than a curb – up or down – needs careful crank timing if you’re not going to leave bits of pedal/crank/chainring behind. It’s a PITA at times, especially on uphill steps where you need to power up and over

On a vaguely related note, would swapping lowers on a 26″ fork from QR to 20mm make a noticeable difference?

It’s all in the steerer ime

I also have some elderly Suntours with QR/20mm convertible lowers. They twang backwards and forwards with any wheel, although the 20mm axle reduces twisting. Definitely needs a tapered steerer but it’s not until you get the whole package (thru axle + tapered steerer + stiff crown + stiff uppers) that the forks just go up-and-down and not side-to-side and/or backwards-and-forwards

i have some Argyle RCT3s but they’re not current

Some on eBay for £30 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rock-shox-Argyle-rct-solo-air-26-inch-rockshox-forks-1-1-8-20mm-through-axle-/352626893129

My Dad raves about East Midlands airport. Totally loves it. I’ve never had a reason to go through it, but it sounds wonderful.

It is. Car park->terminal->runway. That’s it

Does anyone have experience of arriving at Birmingham airport on an international flight? I’m travelling onwards by train, wondering whether 1hr 20 will be enough to get out and to the station

No probs ime. Was there earlier this month it’s not as International as you might think. Passport and baggage is same as everywhere else then it’s a short walk from arrivals to the train shuttle which is *always* just arriving then 5 mins to the train station which looks great in its Virgin finery but is basically the same as any English provincial station. There’s a handful of gates and a cheery assistant advising old people which way to insert their ticket and then you wait at the platform which is pure 1960s hell hole.

What the heck is it? Do pros glue their bb in????

My Cannondale is held together with Loctite 638. It’s used for fitting cylindrical things together where some sort of adhesive is required to centre and hold them together e.g. frame bearings

And the heck do I get it out.

It takes 24 hours or more to go off and can be removed by judicious use of the mrs best hairdryer

We always let the golfers play through at Beau Desert. When you’ve had golf balls land in front of you or ricochet off trees you realise not everyone is an ace.

By the same token we’ve been waved through and had many a chat about MTBing and golfing.

Anecdotally, I mentioned to one of our neighbours that I hadn’t seen their elderly tom cat for a while.

The neighbour said she noticed it lying in its favourite spot in the garden in the sun we had a few weeks ago. She’d been out and come back and the cat was still there in the sun. She went up to it & it was lying on its side, legs stretched, eyes closed as they do when they’re asleep.

What a way to go. Lying in the sun in the garden. Perfect.

Our shop floor have some Surface Pro 5s from a couple of years ago. They’re i5s and are wildly underwhelming, a typcial form-over-function exercise.

We also have a Spectre 360 which again is apocalyptically slow at everything compared to a desktop

Disappointing really because I was all set to get one myself but no

op anyone would feel the same. Passing away is no fairy tale but you did the right thing. Tigger had a great life and that’s the most you could do for any animal.

VPD airs here. Too many sleepless nights with skinned elbows/forearms

The underside of my left forearm doesn’t look that great tbh

my engineering brain usually kicks in saying “what if the person who maintains this thing is an idiot and left a bolt loose”

+1

Same with planes, ships, buses, hire cars/bikes, lifts etc & it doesn’t have to be an idiot.

Work has allowed me to see these things made and how they’re maintained

The Proflex is LX/XT 3×8 mainly for authenticity

You have to remove the rear wheel to adjust the front mech. Those were the days when this was all just fields. In fact I remember when yawn zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Only difference I can see is Saint is a bit more pleasing to the eye, metal reservoir cover and have tool free reach adjust

Indeed the calipers are identical apart from cosmetic finish and are noticeably heavier than twin pots. Zee levers are basically Deore with some dimples whereas Saint are more of an XT/XTR hybrid with dimples. In terms of performance the brakes are the same.

£230 sounds rather salty for Zees but if that’s how much they are I would go for the Saints those gold bits look really good.

3 year old ST is an uncompromising go kart that merely tolerates speeds below 50 mph

You’re strapped into a supportive but unyielding seat and the weight of your shoe on the accelerator is enough to send it surging forwards. Everything about it encourages you to go faster.

If this sounds like your kind of car you’ll love it but otherwise have a look at the other Fiestas.

Does anyone know what’s likely to happen if/when they land in the post apocalyptic Brexit Britain? I’m guessing there will be massive delays, but does anyone know what it will do to the cost of imports?

Sweet FA ime. Have bought some items from the USA since last year. The sellers respond to my naive enquiries about import duty and custom declarations as if the UK is still in Victorian times.

Can’t really go wrong with RT66s I’ve used them many times but they’re one of those components that lower the whole tone of the bike

Have a look at RT76s

If you just want it out of the way in exchange for some money, you could try the online buyers. Condition seems irrelevant but expect to be offered 25% less than book price. If you get an extra £100 out of them you’re a Premier league haggler. wewantyourmotorbike turned up in a van, bank transferred on the spot and took my old bike away.

Otherwise have heard some good reports about AutoTrader

How many of you have kept a bike as a project and then actually bothered to do it? How many still have them lying around in lofts?

I have two 90s MTBs and two 90s road bikes in the loft. They’ve been there 15 years or more.

Despite all the banter about giving them to charity and/or scrap I’ve kept them because I knew one day, when I wasn’t controlled by the clock, I would ride them again.

I’m retiring in May and this very week I’ve got one of them down. it needs some work but I’ll ride it again soon.

So yeah keep them.

lol

Google is no help at all with this sort of thing

hmmm, armed raid on a scrappy ? presumably they didn’t come for a couple of fiesta doorskins

I agree it seems unlikely. Sources tell me there was some tension between the scrap yard owner and a rival scrap yard owner.

So is the OP suggesting the person was shot on purpose to make him look like a victim when, in fact, he was in league with the armed gunmen but took the bullet to make him look innocent?

Allegedly the robbers were known to the individual who was shot and he assisted the police in their enquiries as they say. Robbers got sent down, person who was shot seems to have come into some money. Hmm.

The going rate when I used to work at Brinks Mat was £1-2m for taking a minor hit

Hmm interesting. Enough to move from a 3-bed in the suburbs to a place in the countryside and a Bentley

Is this alluding to a news story or something?

Nope genuine just-being-nosey enquiry about someone I know of who has become quite wealthy.

Although serious injuries at work may result in many 10s of thousand GBP I wondered how much you might get if you were actually shot

of course the local glitterati wouldn’t dream of riding the tourist trails

lol

rocket jr has bought into Hue

The biggest problem for me is that the light switch needs to be on to control the lights.

apart from this ^^ he uses HomeKit to turn the lights on automatically when he’s near his home. can also see if they’ve been motion triggered when he’s away. He has some temperature sensors linked in and some of the free standing lights as well. It’s a bit like a nightclub at times but he likes it lol

My wife wants to start mountain biking

Overheard around Cannock:
‘Is it all like this? It’s horrible’
‘How do you expect me to ride up there? It’s too steep and I’m in the wrong gear’
‘Are we halfway yet’
‘Ewww I’m wet’

good luck etc

Rucksack for me. I have many bikes and the rucksack contains everything I need. also surprisingly good as a back protector