How can anyone say that the south west/east has "arguably the best mtb riding"? Okay it may be nice, it may be different, but little beats the likes of northern off road biking such as the peaks. Its the only place where you can truly justify FS. Thats why I chose Sheffield, I can be in the Peaks within a 30-40min bike ride which is pretty much traffic free. I lived in London once for several years. I recall driving out to the South Downs for a ride, the journey took about one and a half hours drive, which was reasonable. The ride was good, especially meeting loads of Kiwi and Oz girls mtbing (what is it with UK girls?). But the drive back turned into an absolute nightmare, a 3 hr drive back into East London. You can keep yer South mate, if that makes me a Northern monkey. so be it, at least I'm not a "narna".

There are a few reasons why bike theft is currently on the up, the "sudden" realisation by the majority of light fingered scum that bikes can be expensive, how easy they are to get rid of due to them not being very identifiable (not at least to people who aren't involved in the sport)and the acceptance within the industry and of people who partake in it. It seems to me that insurance claims for stolen bikes are welcomed by the bike shops (more trade) and by the losers (new shiny toy).
Police forces are hammered on strict narrow targets by the government so nobody is going to stick their neck out out set up a "task force" of seasoned detectives to investigate bike theft. The community at large, which now has to be consulted on policing matters, usually moan about hoodies, mini motos and dog crap, so that gets policed. Government policy, our own apathy and magpie approach to our sport has lead to this. The people get what the people want, seems to be the mantra for the last ten years or so, the only problem is the people don't realise that they don't want it until it is too late to stop it.

Skip, I have a large Soul and live in S8. Mail me, I'm off work for the next couple of days.

Not my story, two roadies cut up by a ****t in a white van, the roadies are only minutes from home, they sprint back, jump off their bikes and into one of the roadies car. An old land rover 90. They catch up with said white van at a red traffic light and rear end him, sending all his crap in the back onto his dash then yank him out of his van and give him a kicking. Both roadies were mental by the way…

Breakneckspeed wrote
"I find this kind of thing indicative of the uncaring, individualist, desensitised society we live in. However, the real tragedy was somebody (farther?) thought it would be good to post it in the interweb"

WTF? What would you do? Offer the kid a lifetime of counselling services so he could be labelled with some bizarre behavioural made up disorder that meant he could never work in his life and sponge off the state? Or would you like his father, laugh it off slapping his son on the back and telling him to MTFU?

Apart from all the usual "precautions" to take when cycling in traffic i.e. defensive cycling and hi vis clothing, CTC membership is in my opinion well worth it. I know it may seem useless if you are fatally injured on your bike, but the best thing about being involved in an accident that wasn't your fault and the driver letting his bullying insurance firm loose on you only to have them squarely smacked down by a CTC QC is very satisfying. Case in point, I took a report from a dickhead motorist complaining about two cyclists, one apparently knocked his wing mirror off when he was setting off from lights, the driver slammed his brakes on and his mate went into the back of him. The driver gets out and chases the poor fella who went into the back and kicks the crap out of his bike, knackering the back wheel (as well as the front being bent). When I get there the driver points out a witness at the nearby Charlie Browns garage who tells me that the driver is a dickhead also and gives a statement to that fact. I managed to trace the affected cyclist who was looking at a £300-£500 bill and persuaded him to join CTC, and see if they would take his case on, they did. So motorist gets told by rob dogging main dealers that his V reg Vauxhall is a write off, and thinks he can get the cyclists to pay for it as his insurance firm have told him that as they went into the rear of him it is their fault. I never told him that I had traced the other cyclist and that he had joined the CTC and would now be getting far better legal services than his poxy insurance firm. Thought he could find that out himself. Brilliant advert for CTC is you ask me.

Bananaworld – I sometimes find myself thinking back to when I worked in a bike shop as a mechanic and comparing it to my now more stressful (but more rewarding) job. The only thing I can say about stress is that you have to disconnect yourself and just do the job. Don't allow yourself to get personally involved or it will be a constant problem for you no matter what job you do.

Is it really that surprising that there is so much anti gay feeling in Africa when so many of the population is being ripped apart by AIDS? You could say that its down to promiscuity among hetro's but when a people believe having sex with a 9mth old baby can cure you of AIDS how can you expect them not to blame gays for the AIDS epidemic? After all, where did it come from in the first place? Thats the question they ask, the politicians are supposed to represent the people…

Someone on here said this of the EDL:

Theya re also violently homophobic and anti-semitic and advocate violence towards anyone who isn't "pure English"

Which is odd as these are views held by Islamist extremists, except you would replace "pure English" with "pure Islam" I wonder if anybody has pointed this out to them, maybe they could meet for a lively chat about the world and how to solve it over a pint or two followed by a curry?

Also of interest is that many Arabs and Muslims collaborated with the Germans as they made their way through Africa in WW2 and fought the British and the Allies as they agreed with German ideology, that being anti semitism and the belief of "pure races". Now when any right wing marches happen they get called Nazis by a lot of people who have a lot more in common with their forefathers who supported the Nazis than the people being called Nazis.

This whole topic is saddening to read, especially when you read of scrotes taking bikes to pieces and passing them through iron bars. Its an unfortunate evolution though with some bikes costing several thousand pounds and still being incredibly difficult to identify if they are found by police. It seems like the committed scrote has in the past moved from cars (now very diffult to steal due to immobilisers), motorbikes (similar technology) and now onto bikes. All I can say is that if this happened to me then my bikes would be in my lounge! I know this isn't easy for everyone to do though, maybe a website with chipped traceable bikes with descriptions of parts is what is needed, readily accesible by the police, such as immobilise (for mobile phones). Clearly this is now growing at a rapid pace and it could be that the bikes stolen are heading out of this country along with cars & motorbikes? Maybe the Trek mentioned in this thread will find itself in some bent corrupt African country, I dunno.

During my experience with steel bikes (I did try Cannondale HT's once) I found Reynolds 653ATB to be incredibly light but not very strong, loads of top tube dinks and folded two top & down tubes doing stupid drop offs. So when 853 arrived with its much higher strength it was good news all round. I also owned an on-one 29er and found the ride to be superb, but noted a harsh ride from the rear end, could be down to the straight stays or the tubing? I recently acquired a Niner MCR, and the most noticeable thing coming from the on-one was how supple the rear end is, it almost feels like a softail in comparison. Its worth noting that 853 is more difficult to work with than "normal" cro-mo. When the shop I used to work at started building with 853, they had to replace all of their cutting tools as the steel was that hard. So basically if the frame is well designed with good materials then you will see a difference, but that could also be applied to cro-mo. In short you gets what you pay.

When the private sector was making obscene profits (from a large proportion of people who rely on public sector services) nobody was interested in the public sector. There is a reason there is a public sector, there is NO profit to be made in it so the private sector don't give a damn about it. There is NO profit in caring for mentally ill people, NO profit in trying to house dysfunctional children who often go onto lead lives of drug abuse and prostitution, NO profit in nursing, policing, fire service, the list goes on. People are now quick to point fingers at the public sector as they feel some kind of jealousy, but they certainly wouldnt want to do the work the public sector does. Cheap journalism for blinkered people.

My soul is 5 years old, easy to remember as I feverishly got it and rode many miles on it before the arrival of my first born. I would post a piccy but I have no idea how to do it directly onto the forum (only via an image hosting site) But I'd agree with you tang, it still makes me smile and every other ride I have is always compared to my Soul.

Your drivetrain may well be worn out, the rings are hooking your chain as it is too long and the teeth are worn into shark fins and the same goes for the rear, the spaces between links have worn too long and they occasionally gather up and skip forward. Time to lay out some cash.

I have a Mk 2 (slight modification to the frame in its second year) Soul, and I found width issues when running 2.3" tyres rubbing on the front mech when in granny ring. I used to run an extra BB spacer to clear it on an external BB, but with a square taper can you still do that? I eventually resolved it by using an e-type front mech, despite it not being bolted to the frame it has been fine and I don't need any spacers.
Also I don't think an extra 5 mm will affect your shifting, it didn't for me, but then I don't use rapidfire shifters… old school thumbshifter for front mech duties for trim as I think RF is w**k for that.

Not a story of catching a thief in the act, but when I last worked at a bike shop we had a clear out of crap, all really old worthless bike parts, broken, worn out or just plain unwanted. We were scratching our heads what to do with it all, and thought that a cardboard bike box left outside with the crap in would be an interesting experiment… It was there for less than an hour, would have loved to see the thiefs face when he opened the box up!
Easygirl, ace story, the only thing I would say when faced with these kind of heroin users is that they thieve for their lives, the saying "Ham and eggs, a days work for the chicken, a lifetime commitment for the pig" comes to mind.

I watched this program and initially drew the same conclusion that Brits are lazy, but as said on here, its a poor comparison. People who are prepared to travel to another country to work are bound to more focused. There are likely to be lazy 26 yr old work shy people in Eastern Europe, we never see them because they could never gather themselves together to travel. I'm all for this Eastern Europe workforce anyway, my sister in law is Polish and has made me an Uncle!

6'3" here, riding a 19" soul, and just built up a 29er using parts from my old roadrat on an On-one frame to try it out (fully rigid). I really like the ride of the 29er, will be upgrading the frame to a Niner MCR, bought secondhand off here for £500, probably the first time I've seen a frame I want in my size!. I would say that a 29er is just like a road bike on steroids, the advantages of rolling speed etc translated into a bike capable of going off road. My 26er soul is still the bike of choice for peak district rides though so its definitely not the end of 26ers as we know it, just a road bike for mountain bikers …

We bought large bags of dried chilli flakes from a local Asian spice shop and sprinkled it in the favourite areas. It was fun watching my nextdoor neighbours cat licking his paws after visiting us!

You have also got to make them realise that they are most unwelcome in your garden by chaisng them out with lots of noise when you see them, regardless of what they are doing so they get the message, so you don't get their little messages …

Dried lion poo is available on line and a friend has used it with success.

But our ultimate success was moving 80 miles north to a predominantly dog owners area, so the only problem now is dog s$$t on your tyres after a ride and being chased through the park …

Last time I used a turbo trainer I ended up knackering my tendons at my elbows, seems I kind of just "locked" my arms and sat there bored out of my brain while pedalling away. What I may have gained in my legs I lost for several months being off the bike wearing stupid velcro support things on my arms. Never again.

As posted by ZE : "The recording on the definitive map of a route as a footpath is without prejudice to any higher rights which may exist – Section 56 wildlife and countryside act 1981, now, if you'll excuse me!"
That sounds fantastic – what does it mean? or is it purely to cause confusion? Confused me.

Grahamb, was Cy referring to the A-C length or the fork rake? I have found some forks that would give clearance for a bigger tyre and a guard with A-C lengths of 413 and 420mm. The Rats original one is 400mm. The question is will this slight length increase have a detrimental effect on the ride?

I never knew what MTFU or HTH meant on other threads, it is only when it applies to you that you are bothered to check. I just did. I shall use the only "urban" word I know, LOL.

Hmmm I hear you, the carbon forks I saw on ones test and saw that the crown failed after so many thousand whatevers so figured it wouldn't be as sudden and catastrophic as a bar going. I occasionally go to work on my Soul and notice the comfort and on the flip the side I notice how much slower it is. I saw the picture on cotics site of the monster rat upgrade, there appeared to be next to no clearance on the fork crown for any kind of guard. Yes I run 700x 42 tyres, 50 psi in the front and 60 in the rear. The position set up on the rat is pretty identical to my soul, sometimes I forget which bike I am one (my soul has a thumbshifter for the front mech – old skool I know).

SC, I'm afraid to admit it but carbon bars scare me, I'm 101kg and 6'3" tall, been into this game since before spd's and rockshox forks and I've seen some horrendous accidents with carbon bars shearing apart. I was also sceptical about how much they could actually reduce the road bumps, I still recall the early Girvin Flexstems and how distracting they were. I know you will probably say that there are DH carbon bars now, but have you seen how much they cost?. I was thinking a different fork to allow a bigger tyre on front to reduce the road and open the rat up to more bridleway use on my more smoother routes would kill two birds with one outlay of cash.

I think sending them back is the best option. I naively thought as it was 29er it would be the same as a 700c fork or thereabouts with a wider crown for a larger volume tyre. Looking at crown to axle lengths, it seems a Surly 1×1 with a length of 413mm would give clearance for a larger tyre.I would be also be able to run some sort of mudguard for its commuting duties. As for making the RR into something it isnt… I look at it as a modification to extend its usage, I can't afford or justify purchasing a specific 29er frame with all the other bits it would need.

Rocketdog, the secret 8th click for XT thumbies was rendered useless by the big S themselves. Why would they spend millions of yen developing a brand new 8 speed group and let folk use retro compatible stuff?. I tried to set up my XT thumbies with 8spd, all I got was a lot of frustration, it seems the spacing of the 8spd cassettes is just *slightly* out. Shame really as it was a nice idea.

Some of the PCSO's round my way (Sheffield) have MTB's which are generic white with black police writing on. However if you look closely you will see a Santa Cruz HT frame, Manitou Minute forks, Rohloff hubs, Hope brakes with lumicyle lights! To be paid about 20 grand to ride about and generally not do anything other than be visible isn't too bad a job really. Obviously if you are rotund it might be difficult living in Sheffield and all. No wonder the government has spent a billion pounds on them since they were introduced with bikes like that, I bet the bike shop who quoted them were laughing all the way to the bank!

That kind of litter is unfortunately to be expected with the location of Wharncliffe Woods. It is right next to a very large housing estate which attracts groups of youths only interested in getting drunk in the woods. The other litter does look like loggers work, that is out of order and rightly needs to be raised with them. As for riding up there more? I went once, rode around a few trails, found them to be waterlogged, muddy and therefore difficult to ride and enjoy. The other trails were clearly for 16 year old kids on bikes with crazy amounts of front and rear travel. As I left these said kids arrived all clad in full face helmets and shin/arm guards etc, not my cup of tea I'm afraid. My conclusion was that it wasn't worth the hassle and I haven't been back since.

There is a difference in "furious pedalling" – I have done this in a strong headwind, being furious but not going fast. Its not to make sure everybody is cycling in a good mood.

As for people who can stop you, again my experience is grumpy old codgers waving sticks in your face with uncontrollable dogs. They have no power whatsoever except to try and kill you by sticking their stick in your front wheel and then the rabid dogs eat the evidence. Or something.

My last post refers to riding on pavements. Footpaths off road are a different matter, it is a case of trespass which is usually civil unless you cause damage or commit other offences (entering land with a firearm etc).In my experience police will only deal with this if you are on a motorbike as it is covered by Road Traffic Act.

You can receive a £30 fixed penalty notice for this offence. You would only be arrested if you were unable to satisfy the constable about your identity or address. At the moment only a police officer can issue these tickets, but if government "reform" continues, anybody will be able to dish them out like confetti after a 3 week training course. In central London the police have "operations" to target this as it is such a problem on crowded pavements. You could also be charged with furious pedalling which places other road users at risk or alarm, rarely used though.

Hmmm, seems to be something in this theory then, my wife just dismissed this by saying "your'e always farting, whats the difference". But I'm not sure if I got all bloated one time and found it difficult to breathe effectively on my bike. Or maybe it was something else totally unrelated. I dunno.

Yesterday as I rode home I noticed a guy on a nice looking bike join the road behind me. Some minutes later I was grinding into a strong headwind, cussing loudly when I suddenly thought "hey wheres that guy gone?" and lo and behold he was tucked in right behind me. I pulled out and told him that it was his turn on the front and he duly obliged and took the front for the rest of the road. Now theres a tour de france moment for you. Luckily I was able to keep up with him…