Seem to recall that some years ago the cops radar trapped a lad on the Berridale braes in Caithness at 70mph. Made the local papers – “lucky to escape a ban – blah,blah”
Just did 40 mph on me full suss cannondale (slicks) into a headwind down the Brae from Daviot to Inverness. Reckon 50+ would be possible in still conditions – in fact may go back and let you all know what the crack is, see if anyone could crack 70 on a road bike!!!!

Dont forget Golspie on the east coast – longest downhill in the UK (for now). As for when to come – April/May is usually settled and the dreaded midge won’t have put in an appearance yet. June/August – it can give spectacular days, but some places get busy, so book ahead. Sept onwards can be “interesting” weather wise (see how pre-occupied we are with the weather!),but you can get some of the best days of the year at this time. Winter time in the Highlands though offers great days out, a beer in a warm pub somewhere, and a chance to see a hundred miles in any direction – and its trail centre heaven if you live in the Highlands.

See you out there!!!

Neil at the bikehub in Durness can sort you out if you need it. However, north of Ullapool, you’ll have to be pretty inventive to go offroad,(which should help reliability) and it’ll mean big detours.Square wheels in Strathpeffer or any LBS in Inverness is only a bus ride away on the bus route from Inverness to Durness, so you shouldn’t loose too much time to disasters

Oh aye! forgot to add, after checking you have correct tyre pressure, soft underdamped suspension will promote massive tyre wear. Next time you see some hero with bits of rubber hanging off his tyre, its got little to do with his “exciting” riding style, and more to do with his clueless fiddling with rebound/compression damping.

Follow him and see what I mean – bet he can’t hold a line and weaves all over the shop.

‘bounced’ the front forks / checked the headset and said all’s good???

Time to get the spanners out methinks. Grease your head bearings and change the fork oil for starters, don’t rely on some “chap” bouncin them up n down!. Have you looked at the rear suss links an greased those. Do it yourself and you will have a better understanding of what makes your bike tick – same can be said of your Bicycle bits as well.

Tyres – Maxxis supersports 6-8000 miles on a GSXF 750 (an only a wee chicken strip!) Best tyres alongside Avon storms I ever put on the bike, an in 10 years I have had most types on the bike- Metzlers (3 something) were by far and a way the worst, especially in the wet – v/scary.

Loved my full suss till it broke. So while new full suss is being prepared, I’m back to my old Cube aim frame with bits from here and there thrown on. I love it!!! – its fast,direct and its short arse dimensions mean that on Sunday past in the Cairngorms the run down Meall a Bhuachaille was a total hoot.However on a long run, I’ll take full suss any day. Horses for courses.

Labs! – I hate them. I’d rather face a pack of sneaky collies than a Lab with an attitude. As for getting bitten, remember you are the bigger dog – bite the b*^^r back

Firstly the Highway code says – and I quote –

211
It is often difficult to see motorcyclists and cyclists, especially when they are coming up from behind, coming out of junctions, at roundabouts, overtaking you or filtering through traffic. Always look out for them before you emerge from a junction; they could be approaching faster than you think. When turning right across a line of slow-moving or stationary traffic, look out for cyclists or motorcyclists on the inside of the traffic you are crossing. Be especially careful when turning, and when changing direction or lane. Be sure to check mirrors and blind spots carefully.
212
When passing motorcyclists and cyclists, give them plenty of room (see Rules 162-167). If they look over their shoulder it could mean that they intend to pull out, turn right or change direction. Give them time and space to do so.
213
Motorcyclists and cyclists may suddenly need to avoid uneven road surfaces and obstacles such as drain covers or oily, wet or icy patches on the road. Give them plenty of room and pay particular attention to any sudden change of direction they may have to make.

There are obviously “unknowns to joe public in terms of info available to the coroner, but that does not excuse the drivers decision to complete his overtake. Morally, of course it smacks of injustice, and you can bet your bottom dollar if some loved up actor or MP was run over then there WOULD be hell to pay.

Broke my wrist a few years ago – snapped the large bone on the right of your pic. Hurt like hell for the first week, upshot is however, my bone structure is much improved in that area. Subsequent crashes have shown an improved resistance to injury (I think)

Yep I’ve google earthed it, and pushing/wet feet would seem to be on the cards – only for about 3 miles or so too.

Futura looks nice on paper, but with panniers on looks just plain odd – like a VFR in all the wrong proportions. ZX9 will give the 955 a run for its money any day, but road tests of the day show that taking one over the other would be splitting hairs. At that ages, it simply comes down to condition and cost -take your pick. A Blade from 2000 – 2002 or a Gixer 750, would both be on the list as well. SP1 even!!!!

It definitely is, also meaning that you will need a Cannondale stem, and the bearings are non standard too. I just bought one!

Rode it on a hardtail with 100mm fork, got about halfway down without too much drama – thankfully I got a flat before I could progress into the scary woods bit. Red run is far better, and Laggan, Golspie are better still.

Getting run over by a bus/car/lorry etc won’t be mitigated by a bit of polystyrene on your bonce. But having smashed up my fair share of lids,I can vouch for their usefulness. Having said that anything that happens depends on luck too – just check out my neighbors car from a 120 foot cliff dive a couple of years ago – he more or less walked away from Hospital the next day!
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Cliff Diver[/url] by sangobegger[/url], on Flickr

About five miles from the top of the Goulin to “big bridge” near Durness. Can’t think of anywhere else I would want to try it TBH.

can you remove the link? It only envcourages people and the site at the end of that url may contain malware etc…

Note from wwaswas – don’t click on the link folks – just in case. Too late to knock it off the forum now I’m afraid!

Well feathers at least!
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Sambafestival Coburg 2005 – P1050329[/url] by Andreas Helke[/url], on Flickr

Had a bashring on for years now. When do you actually use the big ring anyway?

Sgurr Mhaoraich to Am Bathaich in Glencoich forest. Bit of a pull up, but there is a nifty zig – zag singletrack down the face of Am Bathaich to the environs of Altbeithe house. As for Ben Wyvis, its a classic in these here parts, just avoid weekends as everyman an his dog goes up it.

Just remembered that I once overtook me mate on his TS 50 Suzuki coming downhill from Kincorth in Aberdeen to the big roundabout at the bottom. Thank F@#k there was no cars on it cos my crappy 80’s brakes were never going to stop me – fair cacked my pants that day.

Highlanders of the world unite – invade Edinburgh and ask(tell) them to come to their senses. TWO WORDS! – Trams and Parliment (building). Ladies and Gentlemen, if they canna get that right then we are doomed.

(Supersize me)
Looks like a massive turd to me.

Go to Maplin, and ask for the aircraft 2 jack converter. Airline headphones are crappy, and you cant use yours in their place unless you have the “special” jack. Noise cancelling headphones are a deffo, as is the desire to enjoy the view. Greenland is fab – look at it this way, most folk i’ll never get to go there so might as well take in the view an brag that you’ve seen it!!

Cr2O7-2 + 14H+ + 6e- <=> 2Cr3+ + 7H2O

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Beinn dearg [/url] by sangobegger[/url], on Flickr
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Beinn Achaladair[/url] by sangobegger[/url], on Flickr

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Ben MacDui[/url] by sangobegger[/url], on Flickr

Ohhh! – how abouts a girls covered in Nutella forum. Hands up all who’d like to see that one.

I use the Sustrans track between Inverness and Dingwall. 70% is fantastic, the rest is only fit for a mega travel freeride bike. As for punctures I average 1 a month due to the amount of debris chucked of the road about 6″ away. Does it piss me off, the neglect? – absolutely.
But the alternative is to take your life in your hands on the A9, and even in the sunny Highlands, we have had numerous deaths from careless drivers.
I have to ask though, why do they spend so much money building these links, then completely forget to budget for maintenence. Another example of piss poor planning and a lack of accountability (rant, rant)

Musselburgh boys have it right. The track from Ardvourlie to Voshmid and then to the main road is tremendous. Lots of ups and downs. The down bit to Voshmid is unrelenting though and a full suss makes all the difference. There are miles of tracks in North Harris, but you will struggle to find much else other than a wee bit down at Northton machair.
The other worthy note is and my Brother is right now bashing his 360 through the grounds of Lews castle college, building a bike track for the chap who designed Golspie, not much elevation in it, but my bruv says there is plenty “interesting” bits in it.Not sure when it is due for opening though, but will give updates as and when I hear more (or when the lads from Stornaway shout about it)

To MUNROBIKER! – that specialised race bike for £12 grand is what you would pay for a full blooded motorbike, utter nonsense. Saw a £10 grand Stork a couple of years back and it weighed so little you couldn’t race it under UCI rules – totally pointless. Give you/me half the cash and we can spend it on something “proper” – or as Mr B Sheene once said, “I spent it all on girls, booze and having a good time, the rest I wasted!”

No tats, but I have been riding a Motorbike since I was a kid. I quit my job at 44 and went back to Uni. So is all that a midlife crisis? – not any more its not.
Society no longer accepts the idea of a job for life, and the working week is 24/7. I now get to enjoy the company of like minded folk, and love the challenge of life long learning. I have also gotten to sit down and have dinner with my family almost every evening, something my previous role virtually ended. We may be poorer in the short(even long term), but I don’t care – I get to sit and eat dinner with my family, chat about the day and am a hell of a lot more relaxed – mid life crisis!, Nah! just a wake up call to take hold of the day and be better for it.

There is of course an upside. Chance to clear the shed of all the bits left over to fund the new love of my life ,AND, I’m not getting “another” bike, just replacing a busted one – so her indoors will have less to moan abouts.

2004 edition, and I don’t think Mountaincycle even have a UK importer any more, so time for an upgrade to something a bit more modern methinks.

I’m already warming to the idea!

Clancy will probobly send me to the top station (again) to marshall, so I’ll keep spare hankies for all the geezers weeping about the buggered shifters etc, and for all you hardcore single speeders – good luck ya nutters, just glad its no me doing it.

Monkey with a woodie ya donut!

Looser! – about time he got a real job like the rest of the world. Wasting time on bicycle tricks, how on earth is he gonna make a livin from that?

So the days of freebie tickets are done it seems- the internet/big guys and STW forums have sorted oot the numpties of this world. Not to say the vid has gone viral as well, so if any o youse scrotes out there are gettin ideas – BEWARE!

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Ben MacDui[/url] by sangobegger[/url], on Flickr

Ben MacDui last wed

Year and a half into a science degree, and I am now beginning to understand the peer review process. I love the especially love the foot stamping and “its true, its true” bit. Adds real credibility gents. On a lighter note I havn’t seen such an entertaining thread for a while.