The problem in these matters is all about who could be arsed. Firstly tesco can trace the full number but without the transaction number (do you still have your receipt? It should be the next sequential number) it will require lots of time and they aren’t out of pocket. Then a Data Protection Act form needs to be signed off and sent to the respective bank, who generally if they aren’t out of pocket take an eternity to process the request. If the account holder is identified then hopefully a polite word but after all that investigation, about 3-4 months, paperwork, exhibits, cctv, witness statements and you start to understand why the police might roll their eyes at the suggestion of an easy Nick, especially if the account holder is wise to the law and refuses to play nice. Chances of positive ID and a lacklustre CPS means you’ve lost your £50. Soz.

We’ve had one since the end of Feb. Came from an 11yr old Berlingo which was a superb bike van, but that made it handle funny being tall. The Tourney is so nice to drive but I can’t stand my bikes up in the back anymore, I probably could if I removed the rearmost seats. The rear cargo area is carpeted so after a few experiences of all your shopping falling out when you got home and opened the boot we got a rubber grippy mat. Other than that it was tested on a 600 mile round trip to Scotland last week, very comfy, loads of room front and back and it handles so well. In all were very pleased with it.

I route my the cable to the other side, put a small zip tie around the mech clamp bolt and catch it in there. Solaris owner too.

Does your bike need exercising in your absence…

Ton, you could buy my soon to be for sale 2015 Longitude 20.5″ frame for £150. That includes a rigid fork and clearance for 29×3″ tyres. It has done one and half winters of commuting though and has some expected scuffs.

Dave, the inner tyre gluing to the outer tyre, was that using Schwalbe blue doc? I know they say any sealant can be used, but interesting observation.

Are schwalbe still insisting that your lbs fit them? That to me seems to project the idea that it’s difficult to fit (although it looks simple enough) and adds labour costs.

At last! Neil! A procore user. You sound like a similar rider to me. I trashed my rear wheel a week ago hitting a rock. This was due to still running a mud tyre that wasn’t really up to rocks. My usual tough tyre isn’t great in mud…

Has anyone ever used procore or even met someone who has? Or even met someone who met someone that used procore? I have heard of that there dry spell in Scotland, I was surprised to visit Edinburgh a few days ago and I got sunburnt! In Scotland! It was crap weather in Sheffield when I left so expected worse weather.

So procore should be the better answer for a regular 29er?

So the idea of fitting 650b+ straight into regular 29ers doesn’t work at the front, needing a boost Reba fork?

My riding partner several years ago would slowly drop me on long draggy fire road climbs. I’d catch him on the descents and always out climbed him on short steep technical climbs. It didn’t surprise me that some years later he became a full on roadie, ditching his mtb all together.

Solaris. Had a Niner MCR and didn’t think the Solaris could better it. I was amazed that it was better. Now on the Solaris MK2 and again I’m amazed at the difference the slight tweaks in geo have made to the ride.

I have become, over the years sweaty baldy. I have had rides ruined by sweat in my eyes and have tried headbands and buff. Headbands gave me a headache. Buff was good but there’s just too much of it and creates hotspots under the helmet. For me the winner is the sweathawg, from America so you have to pay for shipping and tax, but it’s simply solved the problem. I have the XL version and have had to adjust the pads in my helmet but it just works. One hour of work before you start to notice drips and you can stop, remove, wring it out and continue. I know it sounds like a bad advert but I never leave home without it.

It’s the baby thing. She wants a third and either feels guilt at being unable to get pregnant or blames you.

I had always lusted for a spesh M4 framed bike. After riding a 653 ATB tubed rourkie into the ground due to a succession of poorly paid jobs, when I got flush again I decided to treat myself and bought a complete M4 bike back in 2002. What a heap. The hubs died in less than 3 months. It was a truly uninspiring ride. Sold it and got a Rourke 853, which then led onto a Cotic…

I saw the ad and was wondering if it was a motorbike shop. Good luck to them, hope they proof it against ram raiding, the local cop shop has been shut down for nearly a year now. It’s a long way to come from Sheffield city centre!

When I worked in a bike shop folk like these were called “clever thick c**ts”

This took me a while to figure out on my bikes. Remove the alloy caps from the axles and grease underneath. I put some grease on the outside edge facing the frame as well. This stops my creaking. It tends to be worse in extended dry periods (remember them?) but can get washed out with wet and slop.

Milkman. Support the farmers, drink locally produced milk, better for you and tastes so much better than supermarket stuff. Oh and my recycling bin is no longer full of plastic.

Interesting, although I remember my 3 SPD SA from my Raleigh Bomber had 1 & 2 quite close but 3rd was seemingly another planet away in difference. Couldn’t wait to use derailleur gears after slipping and grinding SA gears. Have they made them better in terms of gearing and better shifting? Is the crappy toggle chain no more?

I had some trail kings, went up tubeless fine on Arch rims, took 3 weeks to stop losing air and seal properly then I got a rear puncture that wouldn’t seal and ended up with the biggest and hardest tyre wrestle I have ever experienced in over 20 years of biking to put a tube in. Sold them and got something else.

http://www.victoire-cycles.com/en/our-bikes/our-creations/victoire-mtb-formula.html

I don’t know how to post the image, but here’s a link. I’m sure somebody with good IT on here could do it.

Yeah, I remember when dragging your rear wheel on the trail was frowned upon, seen as a lack of control. I guess it just looks more exciting kicking up roost, not that it’s ever dry enough for that in the UK.

That’s the quandry I find. Road riding is best in summer. Mtbing is the very best in summer. MTB is way more fun. No road riding in summer.

There’s an increasingly large school of thought that says train slow to race fast. I stumbled across this by accident after nearly 18 months of debilitating respiratory illnesses. I would just go and spin the gears, if it got hard, change gear and don’t hammer yourself. When I stopped getting so ill I actually found myself fitter with a better riding style than before. I still have a blast now and then but always remember spin to win.

They’re not wide, a true 2.1 I suppose, but they are tall. My 2.3 Bonty xr2 tyres are the same height. If they are the race version you need to keep the pressures up,especially if you’re a Clydesdale like me, other than that they are awesomely fast.

It’s called flow. It’s a word used to describe a trail centre bermy trail but the masters of kung fu describe the point when everything you think is to do with the action, in this case mountain biking, you achieve flow. It’s extremely meditative and calming. It’s what brings people back time and time again to achieve flow.

Interesting, as an owner myself I await your opinion of the ride, the BB is low to start off with probably due to its intended use as an off road tourer.

I’ve ridden in for the last two days and will be riding in again later today. Routes that are usually sheltered but also climbs have become headwind battles. 30mph road descents have seen several downshifts just to keep moving forward. I have now began to swear and shout at the wind, like Rab C Nesbitt, and yes it doesn’t stop the wind but makes you feel better. I am bloody knackered though. I consider these challenges to be more mental training than physical. Don’t get that in a gym.

This, “justice only works when someone is doing the other side of the equation at least as diligently as I do my side.”
That in a nutshell sums it all up. CPS receive most jobs when they turn up at court while the defence has had it for 6 months.

People have to remember that criminal offences have to be proved beyond all reasonable doubt. There is a mantra within the British justice system that states better to release than find an innocent guilty. Civil law however has a lower threshold of evidence. The fact they have been found guilty of something in a criminal court will make any subsequent civil case so much easier. There is a certain hypocrisy online in general over matters of driver identity when reported for speeding or parking offences. The advice is of denial or memory loss, except when that same advice works against the greater good like this. As to the suggestion of phone cell sitings? Really? Two people in the same car, both with phones. Do you watch too much CSI?

I remember daft as a brush, never knew why the brush was considered daft and not other household cleaning items. Shot at dawn was another. My grandad would always say he couldn’t join us for another game of football or cricket due to having a bone in his leg.

I’ll tan your hide ’til it bleeds buttermilk if you don’t stop that.

There’s a lot of discussion about training slow to race fast. For me it was 18 months of varying illnesses a few years ago such as tonsillitis, sinusitis and pneumonia that had me changing gears and spinning on my rides, too scared to thrash myself. Strange thing was at the end of that horrible period I had lost weight and found myself fitter than before.

Excellent stuff, I would never have found that thread otherwise and my wife moans at me for being on stw too much! It should have been on the front page!

I started with a Raleigh Bomber, snapped the frame twice. Rejoined the off road worship some years later and have done so for the last 25 years. What I like about mtb is that it’s f*****g hard. Not as in 100’s of miles of riding until your arse melts climbing Welsh mountains in sportives I mean as in a two hour ride has you fighting the bike, dabbing your feet and scaring yourself when you nearly fall off (or fall off). When you ride back through a city centre after a muddy ride and when at traffic lights “youths” make comment about your obvious awesomeness. When you get home you breath a sigh of relief that you made it in one piece and think to yourself how great that 2 hour ride was. Road ride for 2 hours? Stay clean? Different market altogether, different people and I for one am happy to see it that way, keeps the trails empty for my perverse fun. People who buy into mtbing with 6k bikes rarely last long and gravitate to road for the reasons above I reckon.

Stocksbridge is very villagey, in that everybody knows everybody,which can be nice if you like that sort of thing. There can be some trust issues of newcomers as some beleive you must be a paedophile for moving there voluntarily, wanting to “disappear” as it were. Commuting is fine as long as the only two roads to Sheffield aren’t blocked or delayed by an rtc or roadworks. Riding off road options are good. Looked at it myself when I moved to the area but settled in South Sheffield S8 instead.

What size do you take? I have a pair used for a week in the Alps, no damage, size large I am looking to sell if you’re interested…