Shorty – try upgrading Flash.

Would the fact that the system screams like a banshee when the button is pressed not alert other riders to the possibility that someone had a motor in their bike?

I would but where do you stop? I wouldn't want to shave the legs up to where the shorts start and leave a bizarre pair of hair pants. Nor would I want to shave further up and have a sort of hair T-shirt. You could start off down this route and end up looking like Matt Lucas eventually.

The parts manual says not, although they look very similar.

How about getting rid of that stupid bushing on the upper jockey wheel by using BBB ones instead?

Keep an eye on the weather as the wind is very unpredictable lately. We've had a lot of Northerlies and Easterlies and Wed 19th is forecast for Northerlies again. It'd be far better riding to the South West with a tailwind than training it out there only to find you're slogging into the breeze all the way home.

I rode from Godalming to Colchester (was aiming for Ipswich but ran out of energy and time) last August. That was 120 miles and I learned some valuable lessons:

Chamois cream would've been very welcome!
I didn't eat enough and wasn't getting enough energy from the drinks I carried.
My Forerunner GPS lasted 10 hours then wanted to die on me. If you're using a GPS (for nav or just to record your ride), take spare batteries or something that'll charge it en route (like a Freeloader)
I should've gone a longer route on a single, easy to follow road than trying to cut across country and having to stop every 15 minutes to look at a map.
I should've carried everything on my bike and nothing on my back, except perhaps a Camelbak. I was carrying a change of clothes and trainers in a rucksack that were painful to carry towards the end while the frame mounted bottles got empty and light.
Take a small, lightweight lock to secure the bike while you're buying more drinks and energy bars.

Also, some train companies (SW Trains in particular) are charging rush-hour rates for trains quite late into the evening. Price your ticket online as it might be worth getting dinner wherever you end up and getting the train back later.

Enjoy your ride!

Ian

There are four reasons a heavy wheel (particularly the rim) is bad. Everybody's discussed three:

Linear acceleration/deceleration – the weight of the wheel contributing to the weight of the bike when you accelerate (flat or climbing) or brake.

Rotational acceleration – the flywheel effect that you can test yourself by pushing a spoke and seeing how much energy it takes to get the wheel rotating at a certain speed

Gyroscopic effect – making the wheel difficult to deflect with the steering.

The one I don't think anyone has mentioned is this:

Unsprung mass. Suspension works best when the ratio of sprung to unsprung mass is higher. A fat bloke on a heavy bike with light wheels will find it easier to set up suspension to track accurately accross the ground and keep the tyre in contact with the trail than a thin bloke will on a light bike with heavy wheels. Unsprung mass on a mountain bike is made up of tyres, rims, spokes, fork lowers, brake rotors and calipers and, on full-sussers, the rear triangle, cassette and rear derailleur.

So, lighten the wheels and gain in four ways.

Just did a bit of Googling and online mappery. I'm definitely going to do Bordeaux to the med one day – 240 miles over 5 or 6 days, finding hotels along the way and eating and drinking the restaurants dry sounds like my sort of holiday.

Thanks, Plumber, for posting this.

I'm using High5 Protein Recovery in the chocolate flavour. It's worth getting something that can be mixed with either water or milk. Milk is a good source of protein but doesn't contain many carbs and some find it difficult to digest, particularly after strenuous exercise. The High5 has its own carbs and protein but the protein count is boosted even more by adding milk.

It's worth keeping a couple of bottles of ForGoodnessShakes in the cupboard for those times when you won't be able to mix something.

It makes no difference whether he said freewheel or freehub. There's only one bit on a wheel that's free anything so how could any confusion have arisen?

If an LBS services is asked to service something that isn't even present on a wheel but sounds suspiciously like another bit that is there and is clearly inoperative, I'd expect them to ask, if the customer is still there or call and confirm if he's not. Returning it still broken isn't right and replacing bearings that didn't need replacing in the meantime is criminal.

Up early, lots of porridge and hydraulics do the rest.

+1 for the MechanixWear gloves. They give a surprising amount of dexterity and feel when handling even small bolts, wash easily and, if you find yourself short of riding gloves, are actually damn good on the bike, too. I used to ride motorcycle enduros in the summer in them.

The Mechanix Original is all you need – the posher ones are just overkill.

Blimey! They're available through Amazon!

Ian

The only bike on your list that I'd consider for that journey is the VFR800. DON'T get the VTEC one (although I doubt you will for the price) but get as late a model of the older one as you can. They had gear driven cams so needed very little maintenance (the standard phrase of old VFR owners is that they're barely run in by 100,000 miles) and are fast and fun without being silly. They have about equivalent power to a CBR600 so not too much for a new rider.

Also, consider the SV650S – properly fun bikes and there are quite a few SH ones with full fairing conversions. The CBR600 is a good, reliable bike or how about a Fazer 600?

Ignore all the comments about danger, weather, time spent putting on kit, etc. Commuting by bike is great fun, whatever the weather, shaves lots of time off your journey and you arrive at work ready for the day not half asleep from sitting in a crap tin box listening to junk on the radio.

But please, please ride defensively, think for everyone else as well as yourself and treat everyone as a complete idiot who isn't paying any attention and probably hasn't seen you. After your direct access, book in for a few days with an instructor learning to ride properly. The course you'll do just gets you a licence but advanced training teaches you good road positioning, reading the road and how to preempt what others will do. And buy this book and read it from cover to cover.

Have fun!

Ian

I think you'll probably find that the arrest is due to a suspicion of either the rider riding without due care or the bicycle being unroadworthy. The involuntary manslaughter charge is probably used here because the charge of causing death by dangerous driving doesn't apply to cyclists.

A few months back, I was caning my road bike along a road with a 30mph limit. I was under the limit but approaching a pelecan crossing when a bloke walked up to the crossing, punched the button, looked both ways and started crossing. He couldn't see me for the traffic light pole on which the button was mounted. I'd been reading his body language and hasn't made eye contact with him so I was already hauling up hard and swerving to miss him and a bit of a surprise for him and a lot of speed scrubbed for me was all that happened. But I can imagine that, if I'd hit and killed him, there would've been a similar charge as he was on a pedestrian crossing. What I do know is that, if I'd hit him, it would've injured me too. I imagine the cyclist in question probably didn't stop of his or her own volition – you don't clobber somebody hard enough to knock them down and kill them without coming off yourself.

It's sad for all concerned.

Roads, you say? Where we're going, we don't need roads.

Local vet or PDSA would be best. RSPCA don't treat injured animals as a result of accident. I'm surprised they don't show if a dog is reported as mistreated and emaciated, though.

I use Torq and High5. I'm preferring Torq as of late because:
1. They're cyclists, sponsor and turn up at cycling events
2. Their stuff seems to be really soluble and doesn't upset my stomach
3. They sell refill bags so you can refill their tubs instead of binning them.

I won't touch SiS or Lucozade because they use artificial sweeteners (Acesulfame K and Aspartame). I mean, why? It's a bloody energy drink, FFS. It's supposed to be full of carbs!

Did you hook the GPS up to the PC after you loaded MM? If so, unload and reload MM. Check thet the GPS setup is correct – MM should auto locate and configure the GPS but settings could have shifted.

Also, is the GPS connecting properly? My Forerunner can say it's charging but not accept a data connection if it's not seated in the cradle properly.

Lastly, if your route has too many waypoints, it might not upload but it will drop out with an error on the GPS display. I convert the route to a track and back to a route again and it seems to work then.

There's lots on MM's website for troubleshooting, too.

Cheers,

Ian

Her finest hour(s) was when she was the BBC's World Superbikes presenter during the Foggy years and a little after. She seemed to be part of the superbikes roadshow of Foggy, Edwards, Bayliss and Frankie Chili. I think it lost its sparkle at the end of the 2001 season when Bayliss and Edwards came to a last-round battle at Imola and cleared off to MotoGP soon after. She never seemed to be having much fun after that, her move to MotoGP made her one of a thousand people all trying to get a soundbite from Rossi and only the brief, but sorry appearance of a Brit (Toseland) on the MotoGP grid brought a little of the old days back.

I've never seen her other stuff – Gadget Show, etc – but she's probably sick of the inside of an aeroplane and happier doing other stuff. I say good luck, and thanks, to her for making Superbikes fun, flirting with the riders and having such infectious enthusiasm for all things bike.

1. Yes
2. No idea

Here's a thread I started with a near identical question. It still sticks in 1st but has freed up a bit with lots of GT85 and a bit of wear and tear so drops into 9th with no problem now.

+1 for running and it'll build heart and lungs and burn off fat to make you're riding better when the trails improve.

This sketch by Mitchell and Webb says everything about the way I feel when the "We did well at the weekend" conversations start up at work on a Monday morning.

I hate the "We" and "You" conversations, the websites that have nothing to report in between games so resort to trivia, the inflated salaries, the press that are stopping me from getting to work because they're camped outside Ashley Cole's bloody house just up the road from me (and he hasn't apparently kicked a ball in months), the insertion of "the game" into every advert from margarine to thrush cream and the way it's assumed that your life can't possibly be complete and that your sexuality might actually have to come into question because you don't love football.

I'd recommend the Garmin Forerunner 305 as I'm using mine with HRM strap and bar mounts for all my bikes. I'm on my second year of running marathons and using the Garmin for riding and running. I dump all the rides/runs into Sporttracks (free) on the PC. The Forerunners convert easily between riding and running but the Edge series seem to be fairly fixed on riding.

I'd say you don't need to worry about your fitness but you do need to work on your endurance a bit and maybe extend your weekend rides by a couple of hours at least over the next couple of weeks so you're riding for 6 or 7 hours.

In the weekend and week before, do no more than you're doing now.

Get a Memory Map Adventurer 2800 and you'll be able to download whatever maps you need from their digital map shop and install them on the GPS.

How about a couple of these mounted on the bars with a cage and 1.5l bottle in each?

Alternatively, Topeak do some seatpost mounted racks and bags that would keep you gear and fluids off your back.

I likey!

I built an orange 456 SS in November. Every time I ride it I get the "I made this!" buzz.

Enjoy your 1st ride.

Ian

Ouch! Go and see a doctor, ASAP. Sounds like you could have damaged your hip bursa – a fluid filled sac over the joint.

Go easy on the ibuprofen – it can do nasty things if you have heavy bruising. Stick to recommended doses.

A year ago, I'd not long moved from a 10 year old V-braked Marin with a crap fork to a Rockhopper. This last year has been a rollercoaster of new things to try including night and snow riding, big disk brakes, a carbon framed full susser, the brain shock, mountain bike racing, building my own 456 and the fun that comes with riding a steel-framed, long-throw hardtail.

But the one thing that's really opened my eyes is the difference a top-drawer rear mech and cassette makes.

Not ridden it yet but I don't believe there are any technical or difficult bits – just an awful lot of climbs!

This might help (although it covers the route from Eastbourne to Winchester, oddly)

If you have two vehicles, you could go to Eastbourne, leave a vehicle and drive yourselves and the bikes to Winchester in the other. Or do the course in stages, leaving the vehicle at the start of the stage, riding to a station and getting the train back to your vehicle.

Ian

And the car to carry it around in:

You could probably get a whole full-sus mountain bike from Halfords for that.

Use the tap test. After all, it's used to tell Airbus whether the composite tail of your holiday aeroplane is about to drop off: New Scientist

The 305's excellent and cheaper. I run/road ride/MTB with one and have bar mount kits, the HR strap and a wheel speed/cadence sensor for it. I dump all the data into Sporttracks – much better than Garmin's own software.

Thanks for the responses. I thought I was fairly well fuelled up as I'd guzzled a couple of litres of High 5 by that point. I'm fascinated by the symmetrical cramp because it started in both legs simultaneously when I slowed off a bit for the other rider. I was sorely battered by the end of the 12k run (it was steep and sandy) and felt more like I did in the last lap of an MTB race than the first when I hopped on the bike.

Previous occasions when I've had the same thing have been at the top of a steepish climb and I've hammered up it in a highish gear using torque rather than cadence to get me to the top. It's always right at the top of the calf, just below the back of the knee.

Halfords Professional are very good. I have their 3/8" drive 10 to 110NM one and I'm very happy with it. I believe they do a 1/4" drive wrench that does something like 0 to 50NM and I'll be buying that one next.

I'm not sure where you are or where you're going but have you looked at trains?

Eurostar are running services further afield than Paris or Lille, now. We went to Nimes in southern France from St Pancras and I think it was just over 6 hours journey time. You could easily rack that time up either side of a 1 hour flight with security, getting to/from the airport, etc.

They don't charge for bikes taken as luggage in cases.

Malta is quite possibly the most miserable place I've been to in the Med. It's utterly barren because it's been over farmed and deforested, the roads are dreadful, there's a captive, caged bird every 10 yards on the hills so the locals can attract and slaughter every songbird that comes their way. Valletta would be very beautiful if the locals could be arsed to tidy up a bit and paint the odd window frame or door.

Avoid the diving outfit based near the Gozo/Malta ferry terminal on the main island. They actually bugger off in the boat after dropping divers at a Gozo site and go to collect more divers. So ten or so divers have no surface cover if they get into difficulties.

Sorry to rain on your parade but I spent a week there and my highlights were Gozo and the aviation museum.

So, my advice would be to stay a couple of nights at most on the manland while you see the capital and the few bits and pieces that has to offer then go to Gozo. Gozo is green, is a lot more relaxed and has some really nice beaches.

Not sparkly, so far. I rode the bike part of the Merrell Duathlon I'm doing on Saturday, got bad chain suck in the sand and did something horrible to the front mech of my 456 (no idea what – I threw it in the shed in disgust).

So I had to ride the Stumpy (the bike I'm riding on Saturday) to work today, got a stick in the rear mech while bunnyhopping a log and chewed the mech cage of an X-0. My LBS is quoting £90 for the whole cage as SRAM don't sell the inner metal cage half, so I have to buy the alloy inner, carbon outer, ceramic bearinged jockey wheels and a Ti spring.

I'm getting scared to go out!

Could your problem be related to mine? I have a sticky X-9 that stays in 1st (a bit of a knock – bunny hop for example – gets it moving) then shifts fine from 2 to 8 but refuses to go into 9th. See here.

My mech is a lot better now I've hosed it with GT85 repeatedly but still sticks from time to time.

Ian