Cycling through Tees Barrage many years ago & could see that the canoe course was flowing & kids swimming in the pool at the end of the course. One disappeared under the water & the other was clearly struggling. Rode down to the waters edge & went in after them. Kid that had gone under had re-appeared & disappeared below water. As I swam out I could see a green top under the water & just dived down & grabbed the top. I pulled for the surface (strong downward current) & managed to get us both up to the surface, by which time a bloke in a canoe had seen me rush into the water & come to investigate. He helped the 2nd kid to the waters edge & then came back to give me a hand pull the 1st kid to safety. Turns out the green top was a Darlington footie shirt & certainly helped me spot him under water. Kid was totally exhausted & had become too tired to fight the current.

My sons C456 has a 140 rear rotor – couldn’t fit a 160 & he really doesn’t need a 180 on the rear.

Agree with trail rat – far too many people using foglights when it rains, thought the name would have been a clue for when to use them.

Butcher – why don’t you add those that do 40mph on motorways (usually in the middle lane) & rural roads that are perfectly safe to do 60mph they do 30mph – dangerous to those around them & tend to cause normally safe drivers to consider rash overtakes.
Even worse are the people who accelerate as you overtake!
Glad to have plenty of bhp & torque so that if I’m going to overtake, I can do so quickly & safely rather than need half a mile of road trundling along the wrong side of the road.
Can we also add motorbikers who lean across the white libe when taking corners – know of a head on (off) collision as a result of this & had a few near misses with bikers getting rather close.

Installed IOS 6 in my iPad 3 – all works OK, except the maps – most the places I go to don’t exist anymore according to Apple. Good job I know my way!

Find all this lean it well over argument interesting – not always that easy on singletrack & if the trails are slippy, it means knocking back speed to allow the side to side flicks required. Sometimes it can be faster on a tyre that allows a more moderate lean – particularly applicable over rolling terrain where saddle height remains high & leaning requires more co-ordination & offers less weight distribution options than a low saddle.
That said, I like Maxxis Advantages & use them in any condition – like the Maxxis Aspens if/when the trails dry out, although find them quite manageable until it does get properly slippery.
I recall a Hutchinson tyre – Scorpion? – marketed as a capable mud tyre – nothing from dead centre until you’ve almost hit the deck, meaning fast but flowing turns we’re taken with no feel for grip – have hit corners & bike totally slid out, only to grip & carve at a ridiculously steep angle, end result was either a big high side if caught unaware & unable to recover, or a monster carve that usually meant veering straight off the trail into the nearest tree.
Crossmarks on leafy, loamy trails can be great fun or a complete nightmare, it depends on rider & mood. I have had a stonking ride with massive sideways action & lots of close calls / friendly nudges with the trees, but another day, same tyre & conditions & had a nightmare, fighting the bike rather than flowing & really struggling to stay upright.

Blonde chicks – Transvision Vamp? Still like the music to this day.
Liked Louise Wener from Sleeper – although she was brunette.

Certainly takes me back – liked The La’s too, Wonderstuff (I know Miles Hunt was named above), what else – Ride, Mock Turtles, Inspiral Carpets – there were loads of bands around. Railway Children too…the names just keep coming back.
Ok, enough reminiscing, where were we?

Done Snowdon a couple of times & prefer to set off early, so that I have set off back down before there are too many people about. Wouldn’t want to be descending when you’ve got walkers with their back to you.
Descended Llanberis track – pretty rough the last time I rode it, although I’ve not been for a good few years.

Used carrier that fits to towbar bracket – carrier bracket fits onto towbar without need for a tow ball.

Thule bike carrier – Towbar mount – plate bolts onto towbar bracket & carrier fastens to plate. Carrier can be tilted back while fitted, to allow access to boot. Holds up to 4 bikes. One of the rubber fastening straps is missing, but otherwise carrier in good working order. £30
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001[/url] by pmcw-pics[/url], on Flickr

Add the H&S requirement for safety glasses & ear defenders which adds to your overheads (in the event of a tyre blowing off the rim), which, if you’ve done your risk assessment properly, you’ll have noted & trained your staff for (more costs & also training time to pay).

I bought a large compressor as my LBS wouldn’t touch tubeless with a bargepole & I’d grown fed up of failed inflation attempts with CO2 cartridges. Power up compressor & wait for it to reach 8 bar, mount tyre, with very soapy water all round bead. Hold wheel with valve (with core removed) at top of wheel & press tyre hard down above valve (hand round tyre & rim as best you can). Inflate & tyre should hold air.

Conti’s not too great (especially lightweight models), had issues with a few other brands too, but I now I run just Maxxis & have fitted various tyre models & widths with no issues.

Quotes – be honest & tell people up front. If the job may be a PITA, then if the customer is aware the job may not be straightforward, then it is their choice whether to continue. The reality is that if you say it could time x time & cost x amount & still not be completed, most buyers will accept this. I accept that there is no pleasing some people no matter what you do.

Had a steel in 18″ & ran straight post & 70mm stem, bought a Ti & dropped to 16″. 5″10, 32 inside leg & run a layback post (the Van Nicholas Ti post). 70mm stem currently, although I’ve found that while the bike feels great in 140mm travel, when I drop forks to 100 or 120mm, I do feel a little too over the front. Tempted to try a shorter stem when running less travel, but in reality, I’n happy running 140mm over most terrain & bike still climbs better than my legs will keep up with currently.

Took the kids round a couple of Blue routes recently, squeezing in odd bits of Red. Hamsterley Blue – why?????????? Nothing in the way of singletrack, very bland & boring & kids agreed, Gisburn slightly better (red is good), Glentress & Forest of Dean much better (all Blue routes). Routes at Machynlleth (except Cli-mach) all very dull. Big descent back into town on tarmac? Short route at Nant-y-Arian – offers nothing the Conti trail hasn’t already covered. Brechfa was a mudfest when I went & in places “singletrack” sections had so many lines it made fireroads seem narrow. Brechfa red wasn’t that great, black better, but not enough. Skyline – some great singletrack but too much fireroads, use one of the shortcuts and it is much better.
Personal whine – why have they detoured the Wall at Afan around the rocks in the Graaveyard section? Had to walk back up trail to ride when I realised we were passing it.
Actually really like Llandegla, very fast if you commit to corners & are prepared to get some air. If you’re not that sort I’m guessing it’d be dull. Love CYB too, but then I’m a fan of rocky trails & bemoan the sanitising of some of the trails, brand new super smooth bits rather than repair the technical sections on the Beast. Flow is about how you ride a trail, not just the trail itself. Love Glentress Black & Blue routes, very different, both enjoyable.

Re-mapping for diesels is the way to go! VW130PD diesel producing 187bhp & 290lb/ft torque. Smoothed out “lumpy” power delivery & brings turbo in sooner. Holds good power/torque curve throughout rev range, so no need to be up & down gearbox.
Did have to learn to be more gentle with throttle/clutch when wanting to make fast pull-aways, even from trundling on tickover in 2nd, as can quite happily spin up the tyres.

Maxxis Aspens are fast rolling & surprisingly grippy – done Afan on 2.1’s and went with the 2.25’s for a Llandegla / Coed-y-Brenin trip & running on local trails. Much prefer the 2.25’s although both struggle with the mud. Fit something else when it gets muddy.

Are they rounded allen key heads?

If so, take a torx fitting & drive into the bolt head, should then enable removal – allen key head knackered anyway.

Additional to screwdrive technique above – did this once & still couldn’t undo…so I used a set of molegrips on top of the screwdriver to enable greater leverage – worked a treat.

I’ve always ridden everything with saddle up…can’t be arsed faffing about with saddle height. Having said that, splashed out on a reverb for the full sus and love it – great for twisty descents where I can position my body lower & also have more room to move the bike beneath me – don’t tend to drop on straighter stuff though.

Use hardtail for winter (local conditions eat bikes!) & that has a Van Nicholas post & whilst frame is dropper compatible (31.6) I doubt I’d fit one as the likelihood is it would need very frequent maintenance.

Bridgetown worth a wander round, visit Carlisle Bay & have a swim if you do. Cricket ground at Hastings. Friday night fish fry in Oistins. Visit Speightstown & experience life in slow motion. Another place well worth a swim. Wildlife place just up the road, green monkeys amongst other things. NE of island there’s a tropical gardens, worth a look around just for the unusual stuff (I’m not into plants etc) & experience humidity under tree canopy. There’s a road on may to Bathsheba with huge teak trees lining the way. Bathsheba has big atlantic breakers & is a surfer spot. Try fresh coconut juice (if you like coconuts), apple banana’s, dorado (also called dolphin on menu’s), rum punch & Mount Gay rum. Take a cataraman ride to snorkel over the reefs. Beware of taxi’s, beach sellers offering drugs and high food prices! West coast offers pick of beaches, east side of island highly, quiet & worth a look around – old colonial mansions & sugar & banana plantations.
Later into the autumn the better for the weather – summer is same temp – pretty much 88degrees every day, but more humid & more rain…and when it rains you certainly know about it!

Ahhh…I don’t have a good record with carbon seatposts!

I’d seen the Ti frame offer online last night, which only further muddied the waters.
Interesting to note ti456neal comments. Carbon weight is appealling, but even the ti will shed a couple of pounds, although frame for winter use mostly, so having added lots of Cotswold clay, it won’t make too much difference.
Still not decided!!

16 is too small I’m afraid – I have an 18″ steel.

Twang as in smooth over the ground or flex/twist in frame through corners. Want stiffness for cornering, but smooth over the ground.

Fast & flowing = Llandegla & Afan trails, especially Penhydd. Mix the White & Wall routes for a great circuit. Skyline final descent stonking, just a bit much fireroad along the way.
Brechfa ok, depends when going as it does get rather muddy in places.
Penmachno nice trail, no facilities on site though. Marin is ok, nice final descent, but a bit dull in places.
Machynlleth – bored the hell out of me – one good piece of rocky descent, otherwise unexciting – why drop all the back into town on the road? What a waste of height gain.
Climax trail just down the road is another story, stonking little trail with fast & flowing & technical sections.
Coed-y-Brenin – really like The Beast, although the old Karrimor was longer & tougher! Shame you have to ride the old Red Bull route to do Snap Crackle & Pop. MBR is a good circuit too – not too long & plenty going on. Miss the gully drop on the Beast, but new smooth section is fun.
Cwm Carn is another worthy of mention.

I think M&S have a £4000 limit – something to check if applicable. Santander cover mine, got a replacement cost quote from LBS and with that they cover whatever the value. Covered home & away.

Already run a L/H gripshift which is non indexed (micro index / incremental shifting) for front mech duties and have done for many years. Have found there is never a perfect set-up with triggers and that a certain amount of compromise is necessary. I’ve been building up my own bikes for the last 20yrs so know how to set up my gears.
The Ultegra shifter sounds interesting & is definitely something I’ll take a look at. If I can’t find a suitable trigger system it’ll be another gripshift unit.
What set me thinking was my old Campy road shifters which shift in increments for front mech duties. Although clearly there is no way to utilise that shifter it set me thinking about the possibilty of a trigger type shifter.

Cable pull on front mech's is the same for Sram & Shimano so shouldn't pose a problem for indexing.
A Triple shifter will work with a double ring set-up, just use the stop adjusters on the front mech to adjust to a double only set-up. Set the positions for the rings, undo the cable and ensure lower position is fine without any cable tension. If that's fine, fasten in cable, take up slack in cable with adjuster at trigger and it should index between the 2 rings no problem.

Ratadog…only once the question has been definitively answered.

Someone remind me what the question was.

It is a 29.8…although a 30.0 will work. Not the easiest of things to find, most places just list 31.8 & 34.9. I bought the On One QR model as they were sold out of the clamps. Works fine, although I ride everything with saddle up, so don't really need a QR.
Love my 456.

Very wet here. Trails were muddy yesterday, lots of sideways action. Going to be even worse today.
I've looked, I've thought about it, surely that counts for something?

About time for a proper standard on this one. I know we have the ERTRO thing, but really, what we want is to know that one manufacturers 2.1 or 2.3 is the same as any other manufacturers.
For what it's worth, Panaracer are generally about right with sizes, Conti come up small for a given size and Maxxis depends what you buy. The Advantage, Ardent etc in the new 2.25 are bigger than the Minion, high Roller etc 2.35. A 2.1 Aspen is bigger than a 2.1 high roller. New range sizes come up bigger than old range sizes. Hutchinson seem about right on sizes too.

I have a dislike of towbars – numerous whacked shins! I bought a flange type towbar to fit my Thule rack to, but had electrics route via side pocket in boot rather than permanently fastened to bracket, plus the bracket itself can be unbolted easily(2 bolts just below rear bumper). This means towbar is only fitted when I need it, as I can fit 3 people & bikes & a long weekends worth of kit inside anyway.
Towbar comes in useful for those reaaly muddy trips, or when I have need for more seat space / more bikes (4 on rack).

Many years ago I had a mate called Nicholas Hooker. The joke was all the more funny as his parents were strict Catholics.
Post Office I used to visit was run by a Theresa Green.
Went to school with a girl called Yolanda Thircle.
Had to deal with an idiot in a previous job, his name was Darren Arron.

Why is it those in rear wheel drive cars don't try reversing when conditions are bad? Pulling works better than pushing in these conditions and is far less likely to send you spearing into the nearest hedge or ditch?
The other matter is add some weight to the axle – I used to buy a few bags of sand when conditions were bad. Add weight, more grip, easy! The last one is look for the fresh snow, not the compacted snow, far more grip.
Interesting watching lots of people who think that the way to travel is to engage 1st, bury the throttle and wait to move – it doesn't work on a dry road FFS – I'd just be left with a cloud of tyre smoke surrounding me. Engage gear, feel for bite of clutch and leave there until moving, ease into the next gear, little or no rev's and repeat. It isn't hard people!
Personal pet hate with snow – 4wd drivers who think that because they can accelerate faster with their 4wd grip, that they can drive faster…you've got the same stopping performance as everyone else – not a lot. Only proper snow tyres or chains will improve braking distances.

No bonus and no job as soon as employer decides to let me go home – nothing to do as all finished by 9.15 this morning…and I was finding stuff to do! No redundancy as under 2 years service.
Have been busy selling stuff though, which has paid for some new bits and a new HT frame to hang it on, plus some Float R's for the FS, which has given up it's Talas RLC's for the HT project. I'm sure I can find some more to sell post xmas too…my old pushed Talas 32 forks for one.

I've had a few incidents over the years and many a long walk. Top of the list would be:
Many years ago having a set of rigid mtb forks collapse – on a road & fortunately only a mile from home.
Old style Sram rear mechs – snapped several of them at the composite knuckle.
Had a QR snap & fortunately got a lift home.
Snapped a brand new USE alien post on 1st ride out, had a 10 mile stand up pedal home. (The replacement USE post decided to let the head rotate freely on its 1st ride & I went straight to LBS to swap for an Easton post.
Snapped said Easton post at Nant-y-arian. Crashed as a result. Completed Continental route from Hippity Hop with saddle at least 6inches too low. Legburner certainly was that day!Last carbon post for me
Put XTR rear mech through spokes. Trashed 8 spokes, resulting in rim so tacco'd it too was rubbish. Gear hanger, rear mech, new UST wheel build & a new chain, plus taxi ride home as couldn't even push bike.

Won't freeze – but then it doesn't plug punctures either – quickly switched to JRA's latex stuff!

Just a helmet for me wherever I ride, be that local, trail centre or out in the wilds and whether it's steady mile eating or mega technical.
Just don't feel comfortable with pads & think more about them than the trail = more crashing than just getting it on with it.

They don't fit in Formula Oro's – unless you take a file to the caliper!!

Surely this depends on local conditions? What works in one area may not in another – although having said that, have run Advantage 2.25's at nearly all the Welsh trail centres, Coast to Coast (St Bees to Robin Hoods Bay), the Cotswolds, Forest of Dean and Bristol in a variety of conditions and been very happy with them.
Have run a range of tyres, from summer tyres on the rear in winter to mud tyres in summer. All a matter of where your limits are, where the tyres limits are & striking a balance. Whilst it may not always be the fastest means of A to B, it can inject a bit of excitement to your rides and also aid improving your skills. Tyres that are not the "optimum" choice for a particular condition can teach you to work with your weight distribution to find grip – great when you slam the grippy tyres on again.

Had a set of Spinergy's some years ago, with the PBO spokes. Strong & light, never broke a spoke, but they do feel a bit flexy when cornering hard. Not that much different to a lightweight rim on Rev spokes though. Not noticeable for steady XC though, although the PBO spokes do seem to soften the ride on a hardtail.

I run a 355 up front and an Arch on the rear and no trouble so far, although I do have 140mm travel & run 2.25 Maxxis tyres, which offer a lot of "float". Opted for the Arch on the rear as the rear seems to be one that takes the damage.
Plan to use on hardtail too, so will see how they fare up on there.