Ex Police here. Thought I’d do my full 30, retire at 55 and be fit for riding my bike while others waited for another 10 or so years to retire. Found my limit after 18 years. Figured if I stayed until 55 I’d end up certified insane. I didn’t have a leaving do as I felt ashamed and far too emotional. Slunk off to New Zealand, figured being on the other side of the world would stop me from re-joining after the rose tinted glasses came out. It’s taken just over 5 years to get over the anxiety and depression. And yeah, I kept thinking about rejoining like some messed up abusive relationship. You’ve done your service Drac, and seen more in a year than people will see in their whole life. You deserve a rest kid.

It’s been an interesting experience for me regarding geometry and use. I have a gen2 Flaremax in XL and it feels great. The Solarismax in XL however not so great. Looking back I should have gone for a large Solmax and used a 50mm stem which is what I use on the Britango.

Didn’t know if that would work! Posting pics has always been tricky on here!
This in response to the last post for a Solaris Max in Ti. This is my first non Cotic (mtb) purchase in about 16 years!

Nordest Britango. Took the longer front end of the Solmax with the nimble back end of the q/r version. Allows for longer forks and bigger brakes round these parts (Wellington NZ) I’m keeping my Solmax frame in case the Flaremax dies horrifically and needs a replacement…

@UK_FLATLANDER I feel you man. I call it the Flow & Jumps generation, my 15 yr old is growing up with “catch berms” and doubles etc. He flies on the smoother trails, granted he has full on teenage recklessness and has yet to stack at high speed and break bones. But when he gets to nagdery slow speed tech he let’s his old man lead as he admits I’m better skilled at the old school stuff.

I’m also 6ft 3 and on XL on both Cotics. My old Solaris is large as they only occasionally made XL previously.

Looks like I’m not alone in my thoughts! I guess the geo on the Flaremax is acceptable to me as I often drive it to a bike park and I know I’m there for gnar. Whereas the Solmax I use for commutes, long way home rides checking into some local off road. That involves what Cy recently called “dull riding”. An old friend of mine that used to mtb but crossed over to road asked me about recommending a decent hardtail. Knowing that the last decent mtb ride he did was late 90’s early noughties I nearly suggested a Solaris but when I thought about it… I know that gravel bikes overlap into this area of riding and I have one of those, but it isn’t the same as a nice fast 29er that you can make a spur of the moment decision to take the rough route home. I’m not bashing Cotic, I probably fall into a fanboi category, it’s just interesting for me that this may be the first Cotic upgrade that gets hung up and the previous version reinstated.

I’ll have done 18 years by the time I resign in Jan 2019. I simply can’t face anymore, it’s all well and good dealing with the public and catching bad ‘uns, it’s the constant rearguard battles with incompetent bosses and their ideas of what works that has done me in. Don’t consider joining South Yorkshire Police, it’s truly on its arse, especially after Hillsborough and Rotherham scandals, still got Orgreave in the wings. We are all praying for SYP to be disbanded and merged with West Yorkshire Police, its that bad. But I haven’t done all my time at SYP, I started in the Met and did a stint in West Mids. I have some amazing memories, seen stuff that would turn your hair white and made some close friends. I have cried for some of those close friends lost on duty and for truly innocent people subjected to the absolute worst examples of the human race. My wife summed it up when I told her of my decision to leave “It will be nice to get my husband back after being on loan for 18 years” I would say try it but don’t be financially tied to it so you can leave when it gets bad, because when it’s bad its really bad, but when it’s good…

Thanks for all the info, it’s been very thought provoking to read all your messages. if the interview is successful we would always regret not taking the chance. Life is supposed to be an adventure. Like quite a few posts mentioned, if it goes wrong we can always come back and we will have gained from the experience.

I second the advice for private treatment. I mangled mine in a similar fashion 23yrs ago. I knew it was bad when I could hear the x ray guys calling their work colleagues in to check out my photo. A specialist looked at it a few days later and basically said “it’ll be reet”

I now have ongoing neck and back pain, regular physio appt’s and wish my younger self had pressed for it to be pinned. Ah well, NHS budgets have always existed.

Seosamhh77-troll.

How the **** can you possibly see what you are doing when trimming the back porch? You would need to live in a house of mirrors would you not?

Nearly 4 months into sick leave for stress related problems at work. Didn’t recognise and ignored the signs leading up to it, just kept on MTFUing. When it came the descent was breathtakingly fast and lead into what I can honestly say is the scariest month of my life so far. Family support is critical. Meditation has helped me a lot, 3 months of patchy practicing has resulting in my mind finally shutting up and letting me chill out. I’m now doing meditation daily, so amazing to have a quiet mind!

It seems to be unique to the dog lovers country that is the UK though. Sister in law is Polish and when she took her young son into local parks was amazed at how many dogs were allowed to roam off the leash. In Poland it is illegal to let a dog off the leash in a park.

I think what grates is that you can take a particular breed of dog that exists to herd animals and is known to be motion sensitive i.e. it will chase bikes and cars, into a park, let it off the leash and when it chases bikes and causes accidents act all surprised. Personally I avoid all parks on my bike now as they appear to be purely dog playgrounds with owners screaming to them wthout effect to stop them chasing you while dodging piles of dog faeces.

Interesting comments. The only “road” bike I have seen recently that I thought “I wouldn’t mind some of that” is the Cannondale Slate. But why? It’s just a hardtail with a short travel fork and curly bars. The new cotic escapade looks nice but it’s a basic cro-mo frame, but that’s a new argument over 853 vs gas pipe tubing, both having its supporters and detractors.

Chief, it would help if I could afford a 10-50 cassette! It’s only offered by hope or sram eagle at the moment isn’t it?

Christ there’s more text in the guff around copying and pasting than in my two penneth comment!

<p style=”padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: 1.2em; color: #444444; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 1rem 0px !important;”>”If any existing FlareMax owners are wanting to upgrade to the new one I’m looking for an older generation FlareMax size large.</p>
<p style=”padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; line-height: 1.2em; color: #444444; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin: 1rem 0px !important;”>Love the bike, but 1x transmissions are not for me…”</p>

I have an older(?) last generation (the first design?) large Flare Max. I chose a mid travel 29er as it suits my riding style of long XC mixed in with some mild gnar. For me that meant the choice of running a 2×11 setup because I still like to run 38×11 on long steep roads and get up to speed. Seems like I’m all outa fashion and stuff. Again.

It’s a 2010, I believe mk2 soul with Reba dual air forks (the last best versions) so clearance for 26 x 2.3 tyres easily. I know you could fit 700c in a 26″ but the toe overlap was an issue, but that was a 90’s frame I tried that in. Road plus is 650c?, so smaller diameter. Do 47c tyres make the overall diameter back up to 700c with say 34 mm tyres on?

I had an experience with your no2 scenario on shimano 10spd. It didn’t work. The chain kept climbing up the heavily ramped and sculpted cassette teeth to the bigger cog effectively, slamming the drive train into a no go system. I could only freewheel downhill. Better taking a spare rear hanger and hope the rear mech survived the unwanted interface.

Borderlands 2 and the pre sequel on ps store was £10 not long ago. It supports split screen co op, my boys, 10 & 12 love it. Boys love guns and blood.

I had this after a month. One very very wet muddy gritty peak ride saw sticky pistons, new pads and to stop the problems you describe, both brakes bled. The oil was black and full of air bubbles. The stories of hope brakes not requiring a bleed for years must be fairy tales…

Somebody mentioned body language and got flamed. There’s an element of truth in that, ever wonder how police dogs find the burglar chased by police and then lost as they went to ground? When you are in a state of heightened anxiety you smell different to dogs and this excites them. An excited dog can nip. It seems young children are attractive to dogs as they smell different, especially if that dog is not usually exposed to young children in its household. So the idea of getting children used to dogs is a good one, to prevent the heightened anxiety upon sight of the dog. Now I know this isn’t what you might call ideal, the owners should be responsible etc, but this is not an ideal world and we have to adapt, improvise and overcome. PS I do not own dogs but know many people who do.

I’ve had Times for years, probably 8-9 yrs but have had to replace three pairs in the last 3 yrs as the coiled springs broke. The last pair only lasted a year and stock was low to non existent to replace. Gave up on them now and run XT trail pedals on my bikes.

Is it Murtagh from Lethal Weapon that frequently says “I’m getting too old for this sh@t”? I took a new build FS out two weeks ago, first ride, crashed, onto my shoulder, yeah that one, the one that always gives me grief the one that sees regular physio treatment. When I got up from the crash I did utter that lethal weapon line. It still hurts now. 44.

Definitely smiles, it’s the main reason I mtb instead of road ride, it’s the limited time available to return the most fun. I know road riding “if it’s done right” can be fun but it still requires lots of time and mileage. Maybe when my kids are grown up and I don’t have to work shifts and my house doesn’t need DIY and…. yeah right.

I have used Time for over 15 yrs and have loved them. However the last 18 mths have seen me go through two pairs, all retention bars snapping. Coupled with not finding any stock to replace them with and the perpetual pain in the arse to source replacement cleats I jumped ship to shimano. Initially with cheap pdm 520, which have rubbish bearings, and now xt trail pedals. I really like them and don’t miss the time pedals at all.

Careful with nostalgia. I built up an Explosif with rigid forks a few years ago to use as a commuting bike. Rode it once. The brakes were shite, the bike was unforgiving and twitchy and nowhere near as nice to ride as my mtb. Sold it on retro bike where it came from. That’s what keeps retrobike going, constant buy and sell of the same rose tinted items only held in our memories by the association with youth.

Isn’t brakes not working well in the wet more a pad issue than the whole brake?

Halfords are stocking super strong rolls of Velcro at the moment.

Sweathawg. Direct from the US, I’ve tried all the above and while they worked okay, the sweathawg is the one that is worth stumping up for the shipping and tax when in arrives in the U.K. Today my ride lasted one and a half hours before sweat dripped into my glasses. I’m 6ft 3 with a number 1 cut due to balding, and the sweathawg is one of the best bits of kit I ever bought.

Spesh awol can take ground controls in 1.9 or 2.1 width I think. Is that 50 mm?

What this illustrates is that some people shouldn’t have tasers. Also the universal observation that age does NOT bring wisdom. That fella WANTED a scrap. Well he gets it, there are some men you just can’t reach. I don’t like it anymore than you do…

Yep got go agree on the Audi thing, it’s a known term, Audi t**t. We reckon you must have to undergo a driving assessment at the dealership to see if you are a speeding tailgating aggressive twunt before you’re allowed to buy one.

Pretty sure I read a review of some new redesigned Hutchinson tyres, the Toro? Seemed to tick a few of your boxes as I really don’t think you’ll find any tyres that does all of those things.

Meribel bike park sounds like what you need. Much quieter than the others but with some nice long red routes over ridges with some rock and woods tech. Went in 2015 with family so it was ideal. The trans Savoie used one of the routes as well so it’s pretty good.

Goldtec are also no more. The bike shop attached to the manufacturing side has moved location and is now called Spokes, in Silverdale, Newcastle under Lyme.

I would think your position is a typical utility leisure position in that it’s upright for steady pootling. If your 700 km journey will be at that steady pace it should be fine. However if you have been riding faster or with more aggression it may have caused some tension in your upper back, the reason why bikes for faster riding are longer to give a stretched position. Maybe see a physiotherapist to get the muscles calmed down.

Which political commentator said “….the land of the free, whoever told you that is your enemy…”?