Just take a look at any Mint Sauce cartoon from Mr Burt to get a feel of what the riding is like in Brighton.

Schwalbe always come up a bit narrower for any given size than other tire manufactures. For example I have a set of NNs in 2.1 and they seem about a 2.0 by other tires.

I have used a pair of Pearl Issumi for the last eight years and only now are they beginning to show their age. They come if different sizes too!

ADAC (the German equivalent to the AA) do the definitive camping guide for Europe IMO and list every conceivable thing about each camp-site. IME Swiss camp-sites were always very clean and the friendly but some closer to the railway stations were always oversubscribed with inter-railers in the holiday season.

I’m going here. Not sure if I’ll e ale to get right to the top of the mountains as there is still over a metre of snow up there!

One word

Total rubbish

Somebody isn’t very good at counting!

I have got one of these Chrome messenger bags. Can’t rate it highly enough and completely waterproof.

Simon Bates went to my school though quite a few years before me. Michael Basset was also a school friend of mine….if you don’t know who he is he’s now a film director and before that he was Scally the dog on children’s TV as well as being a presenter. Shane Embury from Napalm Death is also an old friend though we didn’t go to the same school.

VW T5 Multivan does it for me.

I have been using the older Shimano winter boots for the past three years and have found them to be darn good. They are water proof and only once has the water gone inside the shoe over the neoprene ankle guards (during a very wet ride a Llandegla last year). They are not super warm though when it gets proper cold (I have to ride in -20 degs sometimes) but I find using thick winter socks and overshoes keep my feet toasty in those conditions. If the temperature is below 10 degs then you can keep using them over that you’ll have very hot and sweaty feet.

At 5’10 I would also say a medium would be your size. I am 6’2 and the large is about right for me.

If the brake feels spongy…ie when you pull the lever you can’t ‘feel’ the point where the pads make contact with the rotor then you probably have air in the system. Sometimes the brakes can feel OK one minute the next spongy depending where the trapped air is in the sysetm.

I’m sat in Taiwan at the moment, whilst everyone else who came in our group is having ill-advised naps cos they is tired.

Is Napoli still going in Taichung Brant? Used to have some fun there back in the day I did!

Gorrick? May 3 Surrey Hills.

I know they have quite a few in Germany as I have ordered a Pitch Pro in L. They also have quite a few Pros from 2008 going cheap(might be worth asking Freeborn if they can buy one from the German distributors as if you try direct you’ll get stung with the weak pound)

if you budget really is fixed then a pair of michelin krylion carbons are worth trying.

I used to use the Conti 4000s and the last two seasons I have been using the Michelin Krylions and have only had one puncture in two years with them plus I think they give a better ride (but I am using latex inner tubes).

Don’t forget to take a rest week every four or over training will raise its ugly head. In fact are you already doing 12 hours a week or is this something you want to start doing? As the general advice is to only increase your training time around 10-15% each year IIRC. I would also agree that 4 hours a week purely pushing weights is a bit excessive plus you want to be an endurance athlete not a sprinter like Chris Hoy so having huge heavy muscles can actually be a hindrance on the climbs. If you do want to spend time indoors dong off the bike training how about circuit training? I used to do it when I was in the UK and found it firstly a great all body work out as well as improving aerobic capacity and it was good fun in a kind of masochistic way!

The SS.

The cyclo cross.

Rema are a German company and a large number of ‘city bikes’ come with those Wood’s valves (I didn’t know that was what they were called in English actually so you learn something new everyday!).

But we did personally send a chap around to collect it from the adult store, and get it to you.

A few hours/minutes later I presume depending on who it was! :wink:

I asked a policeman friend and he said if there’s no car in the drive then it’s not illegal but if there is a car in the drive then it is illegal.

I’m not sure your policeman friend is correct in that samuri. If you park in front of an exit this is obstruction.

I can also vouch that parking on the pavement in any situation unless stated is illegal. One evening I parked my car slightly on the curb in front of my old flat in London like everyone was doing at the time as there was a diversion from the main street down our residential road while they were doing roadworks which meant that if everyone didn’t park half off the road there wasn’t enough room for the increased volume of traffic. Common sense you would think but then the next day I got up to find my car was not there and had been taken and impounded. No amount of sensible and in the end not so sensible arguing could change the fact that I had parked illegally and I would have pay 250 quid to get my car back! :(

They always get everything sorted in the end. :D

I once managed to get from Kings X to Brixton on the tube a few years ago one evening after someone had kindly nicked my lights. The ticket officer told me that if I took the District and circle line to Victoria there was no one checking if I went onto the deeper Victoria line at Victoria. So you could theoretically take the over-lander to Kings X and the District line to Victoria but it would take well over an hour.

Mine.

Second the Silkin Way as being a non event. It’s a glorified cycle path and you end up at the Telford Centre :? If you like real ales then the Coalbrookdale Inn always used to win loads of awards. Personally I would give Shifnal a miss as there are more than enough bars and pus in Ironbridge itself and Shifnal is a bit small-town-England. If you want some real adventure then head over the river to Broseley….the late shop there is like walking into the bar in Star Wars! :-)

Why not just go to a garage and use the air compressor for free rather than buying CO2 cartridges? Once the beads are seated you can let the air out again if you want to put sealant in though the valve core and re-inflate using a track pump.

I used to live in Ironbridge so I know what there is to do……NOT A LOT! :D

But you could try Ludlow and Stokesay castle not far from Ludlow. In Coalport there is the tar tunnel and Coalport museum and across the river there is the old tile factory that is now small business outlets (lots of handicraft type businesses). The Ironbridge Gorge Museum (Blist Hill) is good for a day out but not sure if it’s open at this time of year. Like already mentioned the Long Mynd is about 40 mins away as are the Clee Hills if you are the walking in the hills type. Wroxeter (an old Roman town ruin) is also 15 mins up the road and there is also Shrewsbury. As for eating out Ironbridge has more than a fair share of pubs all doing quite reasonable pub meals.

It’s a pity you aren’t taking your MTB as there is some really very good riding to be had in the area (the Wrekin/Ludlow/Long Mynd). There is one semi-legal route that starts at the Ironbridge itself and then heads up the side of the Gorge near the power station and then weaves its way back down to where you started.

Here in Germany 3rd party insurance is compulsory for dogs as well as an extra dog tax which gets progressively more expensive per dog the more dogs you have. :?

Oops didn’t read the post above properly. But just to clarify the T5 is made in Poland and they fit it out in Hanover.

T5 and Vito are, I believe made in the same plant.
I very much doubt it. The Vito is made in Spain IIRC and the T5 in Poland (I know because I own a T5 and that’s where the order went to).

Even German friends of mine advised me not to buy a Merc Vito. The T4 or T5 from VW beats it hands down in just about everything.

“Does this affect Vanillas?”

It was the Vans that it happened to. My Floats have been trouble free so far *looks for some wood to touch*.

You can try sending it to Mojo and seeing if you’ll get it done under warranty but I doubt it. They will probably say you didn’t service it regularly enough.This is indeed a common problem with Fox forks (I have had it happen to me twice) and you will need an entire crown upper stanchion assembly.

I’ve managed to break mine after less than a year’s use. The flange on the drive side has cracked in several places around the spoke holes. :(. Waiting to see what Hope (Deutschland)have to say. Hope(sorry)fuly they’ll build up the wheel as I don’t really want to fork out for a new wheel build.

They are mainly a race tire, so light (this is why the side walls are so thin)and fast rolling. They are not the best at cornering (loose loamy conditions they can break away unexpectedly) but are adequate if you are careful. When it’s proper muddy as in a wet XC race course I find they bite really well when the tire finds the harder earth/rock under the mud; much more so than other race tires I a have used. I also find them pretty good over roots wet or dry but they are at their best when it is a little damp under tire but not slippery.For general use they are OK but if you want absolute confidence while looning around then you should look for some grippier-but-slower tires.

This was a few weeks ago but it’s been like this since November over here for all you kids who like playing in the white stuff!

As richc has said most of the problems with worn stanchions occur at the bottom of the stanchion so you can’t actually see it. I had a pair of Vans on my SS and had to replace the crown assembly after the stanchions wore out. The new ones lasted just over a year and the same happened again. Fox said (or at least the distributor in Germany)that having them fully serviced every six months was not enough to cover them under warranty which is why I now have RS but I have to say as far as pure performance (not including reliability) goes the Fox’s are better.

You ride are hardtail on the welsh trail centres? Thats so totally hardcore dude!

You better believe it! :wink: I’m quicker than all the riders on their heavy full suspension monsters on the ups and can beat them on the downs too as most of them have bought their skills!

And is it ‘Snowboarder X’ or ‘Boarder X’ then snowpaul?