Complete Surly Karate Monkey for less than £1000 is a good one. You can turn it into a Fat Bike when it snows again too 🙂

See Karate Monkey!

Ooh, ooh, I’ve got a pair of 2011 Recon 29er forks in black, 9mm QR, used a bit, but pretty much perfect. I loaned them to a customer who was waiting for some Fox’s to arrive, but the Fox’s turned up a lot quicker than expected.

£250 if anyone wants them – mail me.

Tyre/mud clearance is the main thing, let’s face it most of us stared our off road excursions on ‘Trackers’ which were road bikes with cowhorns and the knobbiest tyres you could get in there.

Yep get one made. It’s stress rather than the grinding itself that causes the migraines, but a guard will stop you wearing your teeth away and stop the jaw pain. Been there and done that.

How about a Salsa La Cruz? Disc only, Platinum OX, frame is 4.5lb.

None about for a while. The Id is available though.

I’d say a vertical dropout with either sliders or an EBB is the neatest solution.

I lost my 21st birthday present while walking the dogs.

Blimey – all your Christmas drinks are just regular stuff. I’ve been drinking sherry all day and just about to make some eggnog.

Proper Christmas!

Al, a man of your skills really shouldn’t:
a, Have a workshop.
b, Be fiddling with oil of any kind.
c, Be having anything to do with any kind of moving bicycle parts.
d, Or static ones.

Both are good entertainment. Have you noticed that ITV have got the word Phoenix wrong (Pheonix) at the moment?

Not recently, but my youngest carved her name into her headboard with a pair of scissors. I found it and expressed my anger and sorrow at her behaviour.
I went to bed that night to find she’d carved my name into my headboard too. Made me smile.

I’d disagree with comment about kids – I reckon they do better at skiing as it’s much easier to stop in a controlled manner on ski’s (snowplough) than it is on a board. My three can all ski, only one can board and he much prefers it, but is a lot less in control than he is with ski’s.

I’m crap at both 🙂

You think so?

I would have thought that if a complete novice went for 1 weeks holiday they would be doing more by the end of the week if they boarded…… but the learning curve is fairly steep.
Snow conditions make big difference to learning to snowboard. If it’s icy then you could spend quite some time wondering why you bothered.

If you’ve ever skateboarded, wakeboarded, surfed or windsurfed (short board) before, then snowboarding will come easily.

Deffo. after a couple of ski lessons you will be able to get down just about anything, even ice. Not so with a snowboard imho.
Best idea would be to have a crack at both and see what works for you.

Snowboard just feels a lot more natural, but ski’s best for a total novice.

Bells? Try it with Dr Pepper – like an alcopop for men.

I’ve got some Graphites on my PK Ripper that I’ll build into a complete bike once the recession goes away 🙂

Scarey isn’t it? Makes you wonder just how incredibly toss the rest of the stuff they recommend must be.

I’ve got some polished Salsa Disc rims of some description – bought them a few years ago for a project I never got round to. I’ll dig ’em out and take a pic so you can see if they’re any use if you like?

Chipps is riding one at the minute. I concur – they look awesome. Nicer finished than the Cotic, no idea about the Sanderson. As far as the ride goes I couldn’t tell you, but the dropouts work a treat and Salsa’s always ride nicely.

Muckboots – I’ve had a pair for about three years, they’re warm, comfy, dry and grip – except on ice, so I put 20 screws in the sole of each an they’re fine.

I walked 26 miles in them one day too.

http://www.muckbootcompany.com/men/outdoor-sporting/Pages/WoodyElite.aspx

You’re not getting stung, you’re simply paying what is due. You’re liable to pay 4.7% duty and 17.5% VAT, plus a deferment charge from UPS for having them pay it in advance for you.

On £880 plus shipping you’ll be in the region of £240

I usually take my chopper in this weather, as it has special winter tyres. My head’s not usually cold either…

Lots of colours go with orange. Black is the obvious choice, but blue, green and even red can work.

Only black goes with red.

Well it’s not for the correct answer, is it 🙂

I reckon if you offer the pole erectors a cup of tea, they’ll be happy to leave the old ones behind.

Even better 😉

I’ll pay just for a look at them 🙂

We’ve got about 3/4 of an inch. That’ll cause chaos!

Nice aren’t they? I’ve got a demo Cross bike here if anyone wants a better look/ride 🙂

I just weighed a 55cm frame and it’s 4.8lb

I’m currently enjoying this, before popping out to get my youngest one from school.

And in the workshop sits old faithfull – not pretty, but warms the place up nicely.

Put some pics up Tim.. it was Dark last night, so couldn’t really appreciate the bike..

There’s a few here[/url]

I will if I don’t forget 🙂

They can be super nice too 🙂

Cheers guys, definite food for thought.
Glad to hear Sideways is going strong – if I remember rightly I bought one of my first ‘proper’ mountain bikes from you in 2000/2001. It was a red/blue Gary Fisher Big Sur, you threw in a pair of Specialised shoes as I didn’t have a pair of SPD shoes. FWIW it was the only bike I have ever bought that was actually set up correctly from the outset :-)(I hope I am remembering rightly and Sideways is based in Alsager….)
Cheers
Matt

Hullo. Small world eh? We’re still here, but as for going strong, that would be pushing the boundaries of descriptive writing a bit.

I’m planning to build a Vaya up in the next week or so – I’ll let you know when it’s done if you like and you can come and have a look/ride/whatever.

SamB,
I’d jump at the X if the disc caliper was on the chainstay and the frame had rack mounts. I haven’t been able to find anything out there that ticks all the boxes yet, if you’re after the same have you got any suggestions?
I like the look of the Genesis Equilibrium but again no rack mounts (mudguard only) and no discs. The Croix de Fer is close but apparently is really heavy and while I’d like to do some touring the main use would be winter fitness road riding.
Cheers
Matt

This might be up your street…

http://www.sidewayscycles.co.uk/products/index.php?id=101&clid=10

IMHO it sounds like the kind of thing that happens when a rear wheel QR hasn’t been tightned sufficiently. Mechs are under virtually no load at all, they don’t just snap.

They are, we just had one bloke who didn’t like it and decided it was built wrong. Customer is always right and all that…

They’re great – not had any problems with them (apart from one curious case of a man who thought the angles were wrong, but the guy who had the frame after him loved it!).