I’ve got one of the older scandium ones, geared with reba forks, absolutely love it, very rarely ride the full did these days, it just seems to cover quickly and comfortably, great all day ride bikes and can be built up pretty light bearing mind the price

Cheers messiah (or just a very naught boy!)

Anyone know how they size up, from what I have read the medium is quite large, i’m 5’11”, medium or large?

It is purely insurance reasons, only BOB are covered by insurance do so, it is the reason I joined the club to get more involved and give something back to somewhere I enjoy riding, you don’t have to fork out, it cost £40 for the year and includes the £20 yearly pass, the other £20 I have more than made back in discounts at local shops.

It does get tiring though, Swinley is not a custom trail centre, it would be lovely to build big berms, rock gardens etc but it simply can’t be done there. Swinley is shared communal land and I am not sure where people think the money would come from for pro trail builders, and if the money was there the crown estate at swinley and the FC for crowthorne would not allow it.

What we were trying to do is protect those trails that are there, having had a very wet and icy winter and with the large increase in rider numbers (many of who do not appreciate what causes braking bumps and that each time you ride around the wettest areas the trail is widened) something has to give, I for one feel that the trails are worth protecting.

What was interesting was in closing a trail like stickler, was that many riders were stuck, they simply ride the same five trails, maybe explore a bit, try some of the smaller trails, head to crowthorne or onto the MOD land beyond?

When it came to the trail maintenance we are very limited, the problem is that the Crown Estate insist that the material used must come from the forest itself, the orange sand/ gravel mix actually comes from the quarry in crowthorne. We cannot bring in material from elsewhere.
We are also not allowed to build new features at all, we’d love to berm some of the corners and make it more exciting but the Crown Estate insist the trails are only relaid so that overtime they should bed down and be more weather resistant, you’ll see that drainage channels have been cut in as well.
We are also very limited by budget and the fact that it would be lovely to allow the trail surface to settle and as we cannot afford to get machinery in completely “thwack” it down we rely on trying to ask people not ride certain trails, but often this ignored.

I think the problem is I can hear everyone griping, how many of you actually do anything proactive to actually help? Maybe pick up a spade instead of tapping away at a keyboard

You have to remember that many of the trails you are talking about are on parts on swinley that are shared with walkers and horse riders, who we all have no doubt had run ins with. The only place that trails with real features
can have jumps, big berms etc is in the actual mountain bike area, even they we are not allowed to build anything new, just maintain what is there, fill braking bumps etc

Thanks gents

Could you get it in straight or did it have to go diagonal?

It is the van version

Anyone, someone..,is there anybody out there?

I’ll be there can you add me to the list, did reply before but seem to have been missed off

Cheers

I’ve ridden in Peru, Bolivia and chile and could not recommend it enough. There was a Mega race a few years back in Peru and it was the best thing I’ve ever done

Would love to go ride in argentina too

Closer to home, morocco was fantastic too

Try Charlie the Bikemonger or plenty of places on eBay that sell short bolts in many colours

Count me in I’m up for it, make a change to our less than sexy BOB tops!

This is mine, one of the original scandium ones, in good old black.

Ygm

Have a look on ebay, i’ve managed to buy blue ones before, check out a company that trades under Koo Bikes or this link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Middleburn-Outer-Chainring-bolts-7075-T6-Alloy-Bike-/110647844242?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&var=&hash=item5f771330a0

Well I’ll be dermed?

The only ongoing closure is Stickler til mid march, the rest are open, stickler is closed purely because it was so waterlogged.

Their will be further maintenance days in march and may to do those trails that still need work

As someone that was that helping do the trail maintenance and spent the day lugging that special orange Swinley sand (and who is suffering for it today) it was really disheartening to ride their yesterday morning to watch large groups of riders clearly ignoring and riding around the closed Stickler trail. It is clearly marked with tape across it and a sign yet rider after rider just picked up their bike and stepped over the tape.

If ignorance I’d bliss there was a lot of happy people about

Why can people not realise that these things are done to try to protect the trails and reverse the damage done by all the people who ride around the edges of the mud on a trail making them wider and deeply rutted?

Was riding through woods near me recently, when I came across a dog burial place including their leads pinned to the tree and some poetry laminated and stuck to the tree.

Weirdest was probably riding at swinley at night when the siren goes off for someone having escaped frm Broadmoor mental hospital

The Coral – fantastic band
Violent Femmes+ 4
The Cat Empire
Roots Manuva – British hip hop before the current wave of rubbish
DJ Shadow – true innovator

What I meant was that you would tend to use a larger rim and a larger width tyre to get the same grip, I tend to ride with 2.3 or 2.4 width tyres on 26″ bike, but 2.2 or thereabouts on 29er. The extra contact patch with the ground and the way a 29 er wheel rolls over the ground compensates I feel for using a lighter build wheel or tyre.

Riding hard tail 29er feels like riding 100-120mm full sus 26 bike in comfort stakes, but is horses for courses, some places one excels and visa versa.

Ask me to do fifty miles over the south downs tomorrow I’d pick the 29er everytime, rocky alpine descent with quick switchbacks, then the 26er

I am lucky enough to have 3 bikes, Trek EX8, Ragley mmmBop play bike and a Scandal 29er, the 29 er is by the lightest of the three, to say that a 29er is always heavier Is rubbish, you can get away with lighter wheels and tyres due to their size.

I truly believe it is horses for courses, if it comes to long days on the bike on not to technical terrain, than the 29er eveytime, its quicker, lighter and once up to speed flatters a not to fit guy like me.

If it gets steep, very rocky or includes drops and jumps, then 26er everytime

Hi mate, do you want a guidebook?

If you email me, I’ll post it to you

paul.whitlock20@ntlworld.com

Aaaahhhh ’tis a thing of beauty….

I’ve owned two now, best bike I’ve owned by far, much better than either Santa Cruz I owned before, the suspension is so compliant and also the sizing spot on, probably won’t appeal to the Singletrack forum collective not being niche or from Halifax but simply a good priced bike that works extremely well

My highest and longest was the “road of death” in bolivia, starts about 4600m above sea level and is 64km in length, starts up in the snow in the Andes as passes down through humid tropical parts. Absolutely mad.

What about the Ewan mcgregor and charley boorman series “Long way round” or “Long way down”. Real expeditions with someone recognisable to them?

I really like the frame wrap from Biketart, it doesn’t trap dirt behind it like a neoprene protector and i found trying to use an old inner tube is good, but ended up using loads of cable ties, the wrap is self adhesive and looks alright i think

No points for single speed i’m afraid, but any extra for liberal use of gold parts??

http://www.spokeshirts.co.uk, great website, i’ve a few of there t-shirts.

The guy that runs it is quite funny if you sign up to the newsletter

I think that it is the right tool for the right job really, i truly believe that on a not too technical course, that a 29er really does have it’s advantages, I think that they tend to flounder a bit when the course gets technical, but no more than a lightweight race 26inch bike would, and the bigger wheels and a bit of flex, take a lot of the sting out of a rough course, meaning that you don’t tire so quick. Horses for courses I think.

Here’s my Scandal, built solely with bits from the STW classifieds for just under £550.00 and by far the lightest bike I own.

Here’s mine….

Trek EX8.

Scandal 29er with too much gold

Ragley mmmBop (couldn’t help myself when £150 for the frame at CRC)

I’ve had a gold KMC chain on the hardtail for over a year, by far the best chain i’ve used and was only £28. It seems that if you neglect it and put the bike away wet, you don’t come a few days later to surface rust.

I’m not the lightest of blokes, but found it way better than the 2 yumeya chains i’ve had, one of them snapped on multiple occasions and other i managed to twist.

I can help with legal advice mate, if you fancy going after the guy that did a runner and did not paid you, if that’s of any help.

Email in profile. paul

Not bad at all, i’m a couple of miles away in Ash Vale, the side roads have snow, but it is powdery, easy to drive on, not too much ice at present. That could change over night though.

The most capable is the Landcruiser, I worked in Morocco, Libya and all down through west africa, it is bar far the best, in that it will keep going and going and is simlpe to fix on the rare occasion something goes wrong.

If it is for carrying a load then the Hilux, choice of african war lords everywhere.

The Defender is a great 4×4 but there has been a simple flaws which they haven’t fixed in 50 years, but it will get you wherever you need to go.

Soul Cycles Dillinger

I think it’s a lovely looking bike, especially the script the logo’s written in.

The Trek EX8 for a change, fantastic bike that just get slightly better with each incarnation and totally flatters an average rider, for some reason it never gets the attention like the Five but I’ve owned both and love it.

Don’t know if it any good to you, but Biketart, do a t-shirt with Bike Bitch on it?

http://www.biketart.com/collections/t-shirts/products/bike-bitch-tee

Hi mate, it is standard practise if it is going to court for the insurance to have solicitors now acting for the defendant instead. Don’t worry about the “no win no fee” wording that is standard practise these days to fund a claim to court, it is known as a CFA agreement. Just make sure your statement is as good as possible, make sure that any witnesses or police that attended give evidence and that you contact the council responsible, they can state as whether the road markings have been changed. If it goes to court if they are alleging that the markings have changed then they have to prove that is the case.
Difficult for me to comment any further without actually knowing the accident circumstances, but if it goes to court just stand your ground, be polite and don’t get annoyed and stick to your version of events.

If you’ve any questions drop me an email paul.whitlock20@ntlworld.com I’m a lawyer specialising in RTA’s and know how frustrating the process is.