My original copy of ‘learning to ride’ now resides in my Dad’s pocket . . . he passed away 9 years ago.

Thanks for the bike Dad!
Yep, you got me!

Non-plussed or plussed. I’m not sure our ovine philosopher-poet hero will be troubled.

If you’re a dad, I challenge you to read “Thanks for the bike Dad” without an attack of whimsy.

That bike’s the wrong way up Scape!

:twisted: :evil:

This one of my lad on his MMMMbop in Nissan Les Inserune,

And me a few minutes later suffering a bit of snakebite!Note the thick pile of pine needles I took with me to protect the grip collars

If you want to save weight don’t bother with ghetto tubeless.. get lighter tyres and latex/lightweight inner tubes.

32 F and 34R for an 11yr old, are you kidding? Make it 2×9 and leave him a granny ring on unless you want to listen to him pushing it and blaming you on every hill(besides, you can only get 12-34 in 9speed !)

If you can afford a lighter wheelset then that will be appreciable weight loss. Given his weight one of the Superstar Component switch XC builds will save a gram or two. (will “Superstar” make it through the swear filter?)

Check Ribble, Woollyhatshop, Absolute Cycles, Tredz, Cyclestore, and for foreign bargains bike-discount.de, bike-components.de and Rose

Kyle Straits, proper size, comfy enough for all day.

One I heard this week while fixing a puncture by the trail – “Wouldn’t it be easier to fit that wheel if the bike was the other way up?”

:lol:

Scapegoat, take the wheels off, put something through the axles and kind of hang them so they are free standing.

Then kind of pluck the spokes, make sure you do it in the same position on all the spokes, do any sound grossly out of tune compared to others?

Do you have any friends who can build wheels?

Hmmm, some slack as a bag of knackers, others taut. Had them checked by LBS who used a gauge to show me how inconsistent they were, and how some are nowhere near the recommended tension.

Weighed up my options and got a quote from the LBS guy who told me that he would rebuild them for me for 50 quid. He told me the build was so poor he would have to more or less start again. He quoted me £360 for a new build in the same spec, so paying him to true them works out cheaper than sending them back to the original supplier and arguing for a refund via ebay.

Lesson learnt (ouch)

So, my wheels arrived as requested, within the time frame quoted. What will happen next? They look OK, and appear to be straight enough. Should I now start to fret about he quality of the build?

Their not from ‘fastpartsforbikes’ are they?

I just got a pair of Pro2 Evo on ArchEX rims. Do you know something we don’t?

Just received a pair of 2.4 Nobby Nic Snakeskin TLR one Pacestar one Trailstar for £58 delivered. Ordered on Wednesday evening last week and arrived this afternoon.

SLX M666…. all the brake you’ll need.

Just a shade under 6’0″ with a 33″ inside leg, so shortish trunk and arms, the site recommended a medium and my 18.5 AM frame is absolutely spot on.

“a brave beginner would be fine on the red.” (Pook)

^^^^^this…..^^^^

I love the new red happy ending, but it’s the sort of thing an absolute novice will either love to bits, end up pushing or have to have a serious word with themselves over. I rode it a couple of weeks back and came across a lass standing by the side of one of the steeper plunges, with a “I’ll kill him when I get back to the car park” look on her face. I get the feeling she’d run out of “brave” and was likely to push the last km or so….!

Take a novice round the blue first and see how competent they are. There’s nothing on the red that’s unavoidable apart from the ‘shore after the jump section, but it asks a lot from a complete novice IMHO.

Headmaster Ritual or What Difference

Thanks guys….. off to weigh up my options and have a rummage around in the garage.

SO let me get that right. You are saying the XT 10 sp double will run with 9 speed cassette and rear mech, with a 9 speed chain, but if I want to run 10 speed I’ll have change the rear mech and get a 10 spd chain?

Alternatively, is there any reason why an XT 10 speed double chainset wouldn’t happily function with a 9 speed chain?

It’s great. The red is 23 miles long . It’s fast and flowy in places, it’s techy in places. It’s a bit dull in places, but hey, it’s 23 miles long!

Try the world cup course, well signposted from Dixons Hollow.

Two Mexican detectives discussing the murder of Juan Gonzales.

“Accordeeng to ze postmortem ‘ee was shot weez a golf gun”

“Pedro, what eez a golf gun?”

“I donts know, but eet make a hole in Juan”

Valley fog day? Rise abocve it!

More weather?

I’m kinda hooked on the idea of a Ragley 10:4…. are they far off Brant?