I think it’s what’s known as “barse friendly”. 😮

Yep, worn cassette. Wear manifests itself worse as the sprockets get smaller – less margin for error when the chain is curved tightly.

I never put a new chain on a worn cassette. Change both at the same time.

Ugly but looks a bit of a weapon!

This. The Graal wasn’t exactly pretty, but Christ, it didn’t half look intimidating!

interesting that it has a round chainring.

There’s a gallery on Pinarello’s Facebook page of Wiggo testing the bike in Sky’s colours… It has the oval chainrings on a 5-arm 7900 SRM spider.

Interestingly, the only size that has UCI approval is the size that Wiggo rides…

Not sure on the villain but our dog can tell the difference between the kids and the postman

It can tell the difference between YOUR kids (members of its pack) and YOUR postman, a familiar face that might be welcomed within the perimeter of your ‘territory’ on a daily basis, but the dog has no clue why the postman or child should be treated any differently!

Jesus, some of the people on here should clearly not be allowed to keep dogs! I’m astounded at the level of ignorance and lack of basic understanding of what motivates a dog to behave the way it does!!!

Why was the Staffy never put on the Dangerous dogs act? I had a quick look on there and the only one i recognise is the pitbull.

I suspect it was a populist decision – it was certainly against advice from the Police.

I had a Staffie from about the age of 6 or 7. He would never intentional bite anyone. You could even put your arm in his mouth and he would never bite to hurt it.

Sam, you are a complete and utter tool with no knowledge or understanding of dogs or their behaviour! Of course you can put your arm in its mouth! You were the ‘pack leader’! But if the dog ever felt that it – or you – was in some way threatened, whether it was directly, or a perceived threat to its rank in the pack hierarchy, it would undoubtedly have the potential to attack – just like ANY OTHER DOG.

The difference is that your dog would more than likely have inflicted horrific, potentially fatal injuries, whereas a non-fighting breed like a collie, Lab or shepherd would most likely inflict a single snap.

And let’s not forget, dogs have NO understanding of the society values that we possess, so whilst knobs and chavs like to keep Staffies to protect them from gangsters, dealers and thieves, no dog in the history of dogs can tell the difference between a villain and a child or a postman.

Never heard so much crap on this forum, The Wiki is pretty much lifted from the Kennel Club site who know about dogs unlike the media were some of you do your research maybe try reading a book?

My knowledge of fighting dogs comes from my father. In the late 80’s, he was a Police Officer who spent several years under cover infiltrating dog fighting gangs, buying and selling pit bulls, staffies etc.

He advised the government at the time and was instrumental in the drafting of the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991.

During that time, he had some of the most dangerous dogs in the UK kept in a stable block at our house, and had a large collection of videos of dog fights – both Pits and Staffies.

I’d post a link to a video of what these animals are capable, but I don’t think it would please the moderators of this forum.

So no, I don’t do my research in the mainstream media.

Pitbulls top the list for human deaths I think, but then again humans have breed them for their aggression, so it’s their own fault…

What a dumb thing to say. So this 16 month old baby brought this on himself???

Hora, if the last dog on your list had been a Bull Terrier, you might very well not be typing today!

Can anyone point me in the direction of an article where a child has been mauled to death by a Labrador?

As I said, I’m fully aware that all dogs can snap at people, but it’s one thing having a dog that nips someone’s fingers and a completely different one where the dog clamps on to their throat and rags it until they’re dead.

And let’s take a moment to think about what a ‘mauling’ might look like, what it must feel like to be savaged by an animal like this! It’s horrific, I can assure you.

Yes, Staffies are considered “loyal”. Unfortunately, this trait tends to be a grossly over-simplified anthropomorphisation of its inherent pack mentality, which whilst making your average “Rockport waterskiing” chav feel like king dick, is also the reason they will turn so violently when the mood – or instinct – takes them.

Yep.

I can’t fault the Ultegras… Lovely wheel, stiff when climbing but not overly crashy over bumps…

I’d be very happy to receive a Rapha Essentials Case.

The Rapha arm warmers, knee warmers and socks are nice kit and not ridiculously expensive – I’ve bought them as gifts for a few friends…

I live and ride in the FoB, never have any shortage of rides, on and off road. South Lakes is great, little gems like Farleton Knott are brilliant, but the quality of riding I have on my doorstep is fantastic.

A pair of these to match my new bike which I’m taking to Majorca tomorrow. Don’t know what it is about water bottles – they’re the cycling equivalent of teenagers getting a brand spanking new pair of trainers before going on holiday.

😀

You made me well up! Lovely thread, good luck!

I hope he never forgets that every moment was hard won. We have a friend in our cycling group that came back from cancer, he lives every day like it was a prize and makes sure everyone else does. It’s infectious.

If every group of friends had someone like this, the world would be a better place.

On the road, people who can’t get out of the saddle without their bike coming to a complete standstill… Very annoying if you’re on their wheel.

And constant snotters that just seem to snort an invisible mist every other breath. DROP BACK! I DON’T WANT TO TASTE YOUR MUCUS!

Good point about scanners, I think I’ll lock it…

There are a lot more quick people on the road segments btw than MTB ones.

This. There’s no chance of a KOM on most roads in my area – they’re blocked out by Ian Bibby, Jack Pullar and Tejvan Pettinger.

I’m always happy with a top 10.

Yep. I was well chuffed until I looked at the stats… No.1 of 1. 🙁

Mine seemed abnormally high, but then I realised that it was defaulting to my 30lb mountain bike when I was riding a 6.8kg road bike!

I wouldn’t use it as anything more than a rough guideline and to compare against other rides that you’ve strava’d.

You really haven’t proved bugger all – go on, tell us what you think you’ve proved?

That there’s always some hand-wringing PC whinger ready to pounce on anything and accuse someone of racism – either directly or inferred – when they’re clearly not.

It also proves how difficult it is for someone like me to seek redress when accused of racism by someone like you. If I was a different race, and I was a victim of racism, I would have the full weight of the law, and probably the support of the moderators behind me.

As it is, whingers like you can accuse me of a quite serious offense without any fear of reprisal.

Grum, if you were any more intelligent, you might be able to see when you’re being used to prove a point. 🙄

Not exactly accusing you of racism, it does make me wonder though.

I find that offensive and you’ve overstepped the mark.

Where have I accused you of racism?

Erm… How about…

I’m not ‘afraid to have opinions for fear of being labelled racist’. Interesting that you are.

I’m not even going to waste my time Grum. Read my earlier post. It’s quite clear that I’m not racist and don’t condone racism.

My point is that there’s always some PC whinger (in this case it’s you) ready to jump on every sentence said on the subject, edit it until it could possibly, in poor light and a prevailing wind, be considered racist by another over-sensitive PC whinger.

Yeah it was much better in the 70s when you could be racist openly without fear of disapproval.

Point proven. 🙄

That’s not bad, makes me want to go out and ride! The only bit I didn’t like was where the edit was timed with the music at the beginning… Not sure why but it didn’t seem as slick as the rest of the film.

Boy done good… 😀

I often don’t agree with things Shibby posts, but, dammit, he’s spot-on with this!

I knew people would come round to my way of thinking eventually!

On a serious note, there’s a sense of sticking ones head above the parapet when you voice an opinion like that, it shouldn’t be the case at all.

The lefty PC brigade have made far too much ground and now we’re afraid to have opinions for fear of being labelled racist. The problem is that real racism is now festering beneath the surface because people are afraid to discuss problems with certain cultures and sectors of society.

You define racism as prejudice based on skin colour but then tell me if it was based on his skin colour its just name calling

Calling names is not the same as discriminating. That’s the salient point that society seems to have lost sight of. I’m certainly not saying it’s right, but calling names and even making monkey chants or throwing bananas isn’t “discriminatory”. It’s unacceptable, crass and ignorant, but that’s not the type of action that prevents people from achieving things and enjoying equal privilege to other.

Nowadays we see footballers storming off the pitch in tears because someone has made a ‘racist’ remark. Well I’m sorry, but man the **** up! Every other person on the pitch has to tolerate every possible insult, having their wives’ integrity questioned, their parentage, hair colour… But as soon as someone mentions skin colour, they burst into tears?? It’s ridiculous. This isn’t some sort of repression, it’s sticks and stones!

Sadly, the only real ‘racism’ that’s at play in these sort of situations is that people with a different skin colour have an unvanquishable weapon in that they can accuse people of racism, whereas if say a ginger-haired person, for example, suffers abuse about their appearance, they have no recourse whatsoever.

joolsburger – Member

Whereas using a medical condition that many children suffer with (enuresis) as an insult is completely acceptable, classy.

That’s got to be one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen on this forum! 🙄

Apart from this being completely ridiculous, people seem to have forgotten the meaning of the word “racism”.

Racism is deliberate prejudice based on race or skin colour. Even if there had been any sort of intent based on the lad’s skin colour, it’s merely petty name-calling, sticks and stones.

No wonder we’re breeding a nation of namby-pamby bedwetters.

Looks like a Rule 8 failure to me… Nice and functional-looking build, how does it ride?

I am leaning towards broadleaf but I have had recommendations for and against birch, oak, etc, which gets confusing.

You’re not going to see any significant growth with Oak in your lifetime, and whilst birch is a good option, it gives a fairly sparse coverage.

I’d go for a mixture of fast growing “standards” like Ash with hazel, birch, willow and maybe larch to form thickets. With an area that size it would be fairly easy to have pockets of different planting combinations to give variety and diversity.

3.5 tonne digger would be my first choice, and a power barrow. I have an acre of mature woodland which is a steep valley. The biggest difficulty is getting materials down to where they’re required.

If I was starting from scratch I’d probably hire a good contractor/digger to sculpt the land before planting.

You’re going to have to go for fast growing species if you want to see results in your lifetime, I have a lot of ash and alder – which grow like the clappers – interspersed with hazel which I coppice.

I’ve recently planted a load of Flanders Red Willow (Salix Alba Fragilis) for 2 reasons. Firstly, it’ll form natural terracing on a steep embankment to make it safer and more accessible, and I plan to harvest it for ‘spiling’ to reinforce the banks of my brook.

Spiling is really good for building long-term features as it ties together soil and also guaranteed a ready supply of willow for more spiling/planting…

I love riding The Knot, you don’t need any GPX or anything to have fun up there – it’s very compact and you can easily cover the whole thing in 3hrs.

Half the fun of somewhere like Farleton is finding little paths through the gorse. We tend to do 3 or 4 climbs and descents. Cracking little hill! 😀

Chairs. I’m a chair geek. I think they appeal to my inner sitter-down.

Tilt your seat forward by 1° or so. if your saddle is perfectly level or tipped back slightly, it will cause your pelvis to rotate exacerbating lower back pain.

It doesn’t take much to make a massive difference – I find it best to find the point where I’m sliding forward slightly and tip it back a fraction from there.

I’m not reading all of this crap ^

Me neither. Anything interesting happened? Did someone mention porn?

TTFN
rachel@shibboleth.com

Always judge a book by it’s cover. I fly in the woodpile is worth a bird with a bush.

Sent of a woman.

A Blur Classic is my other bike. Love it to bits but ride the Soul far more often. Had an Ellsworth Moment but found it soggy and cumbersome… Great downhill, but didn’t climb like the Santa Cruz.

I think that if you like hardtails, VPP is the only suspension system worth considering. Sure, you can have a lock-out, but then you might as well be riding your hard tail.

The Blur climbs like a hardtail with rear suspension, if that makes sense. Which it clearly doesn’t. 🙂

Probably some poor misguided vestige of a bygone era when people used to attach their real name to communications to show sincerity and that they were willing to stand by what they said.

I think it’s more a case of people wanting their forum persona to become a brand. Although perhaps not in the case of Rachel…

TTFN®
Shibboleth.com ®

You can’t beat the real thang®