Haven’t got room for another bike right now otherwise grabbing a bargain HT would be an option.

Just been looking into attaching to a carbon frame and the answers appear to be “don’t”. Arse.

Can’t say I ‘like’ seeing photos of dead people, no matter if they were evil bastards.

Must admit I did check out the video of Saddam’s trapdoor exit shortly after though. Never felt compelled to see it before. Was pretty weird. And not sure it should be available on t’ interspace.

Earlier this summer I was tootling along on an early evening ride when I noticed two cars catching up with me; a middle-aged woman in a hatchback followed by an A4.

The woman was being proper patient and refrained from any stupid overtaking attempts. This only angered A4 Man who started beeping. Needless to say this eventually pressured the woman into nipping past but she at least did it fairly. A4 Man then tried a couple of times when on blind corners before backing off each time. So I looked back at him, made eye contact and shook my head as if to say “Why are you being a ****?” To which he took great offence, flicked some signs, waited for an opportunity to overtake and then purposely cut into my path in an attempt to take me out. I remember it vividly. So I gave him some signals of my own and half wanted him to stop so I could give him a slap.

Our roads are lethal enough without pricks like him going about their vendettas. ****.

Hmm, food for thought if seat-tube is the only option, but not necessarily best on carbon. Will have a chat with Fisher.

Nope, not in a hurry. My bike is a FS though (Stumpy), so will your CoPilot be unsuitable because of the HT-only rack?

Tis a carbon frame too, so not sure if that could cause a risk with seat-tube only fittings …

Loddrik, is that attached only via the seat tube? No invisible rack-type mountings?

Rewski, are you including the rack? Can you mail me pics and price etc? Had any issues with height or lack of it? I think I read somewhere that someone moaned about that particular CoPilot now working well with his FS.

Xtracycle – looks weird but I’ll check it out.

Can’t remember which XT shifters/mech I have but they’re smooth and accurate. Have never seen the need to go XTR.

I don’t find it easy to articulate my thoughts in these types of thread, so all I’ll say is keep your spirit and energy and beat this shit. You know you can.

And take note of Bullheart’s experience.

Yeah, must admit I’m not so keen on the rack idea either. Don’t want to be faffing about with fitting/removal blah blah.

Think I’ll have a chat with Fisher Outdoor (or Hamax direct) so I can at least figure out what will/won’t fit.

Cheers

Hamax could be the favoured option, especially with suspension. Some of the negative reviews do make you wonder if people know what they’re doing with these things or if the kit really does have its flaws.

Any issues with fitting kits for FS with discs? Quite like the look of this Hamax[/url] even though some reviews mention different kits being needed.

Interesting comments guys.

I think you’re right about him being bounced about, hence smoother trails are the ones to look for. That includes ‘softer’ singletrack too.

Yep, I can see him getting cold due to just being sat there. So rain and really bad conditions are probably out. Snow/ski suits – definitely going to look into them. Snow boots and (spare) mitts too.

With him being only 14 months old, I think we’ll have to start slow/short and test the water. He loves the outdoors but I can see him wanting to get out of the seat and walk because that’s his favourite thing right now.

Cheers

Used to practice jumpy stuff a few years back at Swinley, but didn’t really keep it up (no pun intended 🙂 ).

Don’t tend to see myself as the sort to practice per se – more a case of just riding. Having said that, I did just buy the DirtSchool DVD and can see myself practicing loads of stuff from that.

Just bought a car.

What are the best places to drive to?

Cheers

My job? Trying to make miserable people happy with a failing service. It doesn’t sound that great when I put it like that!

Rent boy?

Yep, I’d aim for 18-19 deg (e.g in the nursery) and see how it goes. To me, that’s baking. To the missus, that’s cold (usually). To monkey junior, probably about right.

I could be wrong, but IMO getting them accustomed to being outside, i.e all that fresh air regardless of temp (within reason), is a good way to hardy them up.

So I have joined the site, have a few followers but the question is how is good to follow, open to anything.

That’s like saying “I’ve bought a can of petrol, now tell me what car I need.”

FFS.

Looks like VR doesn’t offer standard 1:25 maps of the south-east. Am downloading the map chooser thingy, so maybe that’ll shed some light on how much the custom tiles will cost.

TurnerGuy, which app are you using? I’ve not had any issues with seeing other trails.

Yeah, I had a look at VR but something put me off. Plus I’m sure a bunch of iPhone users said they didn’t like it somewhere? Will check it out again, especially if the VFM of buying maps (especially at 1:25) and functionality is better than Outdoors.

1:50 fine so long as you know bits of the area. Can go off-piste if there are loads of criss-crossing trails due to scale inaccuracies.

Yep. Used to like FF until about a year ago. Total hogger plus 3.5x really botched things up. Stuck with Chrome since then.

Ah, Everytrail was the one I tried after Sportypal. Didn’t get on with it for some reason so dumped it. Just re-installed it and it looks pretty good.

But why oh why do they only have Googlemaps as the track editor? Just as bad as Outdoors’ version. How are you supposed to plan an off-road route when you can’t see the off-road trails? Doh. Gonna stick with Hug Maps editing for now, and hope ET allows fully downloadable map to work underneath.

Yesterday I switched the phone between bars and pocket. And sometimes had it fully on, other times off. When switching back on it literally took 1 sec max to find position. Whereas Memory Map was just not playing ball.

Same as Clubber, I’ve found different apps track better than others. Used to use Sportypal on Android and Windows and it was pretty much perfect for tracking, then used it on iP4 and it was crap. Immediately switched to a couple of others and tracking was once again spot on.

Will defo check out apps that work with OpenStreet. Do they download tiles or work off data? And do any of them import GPX routes? I’m not looking for just a tracker – it must also worked as a ‘route follower’. CHeers

Am also going to keep trialing Outdoors in deeper parts of dingley dell to see if it maintains accuracy.

Went out yesterday with a GPX route loaded into Outdoors GB. Worked a treat. 1:50 is okay if you know at least some of the area, but 1:25 obviously makes it much more easier and reliable.

Certainly encouraged me to check out some stuff I’ve never thought of before, not least because I’d always be able to find my way to the next section without faffing over a map.

Device (in recording mode) used 50% battery in 2 hrs 30 mins. Not great, but not bad.

But it’s intuitive, route can be switched on/off, panning and zooming is allowed, plus it’s accurate.

So I’ll probably download a couple of 1:25 county maps (£50-60) and crack on.

Outdoors GB > Memory Map > Viewranger. IMO.

There’s a website where you can check wind direction in advance. Google it.

Yeah man. It’s a full-face jobby with chest wig and big hairy paws.

I wore it to a Halloween party 2 yrs ago and decided to eat and drink through the mouth piece to maintain authenticity! Also wore gorilla feet instead of shoes because the conditions were just about dry enough.

Needless to say I got very pished and came home with chilli all down my front 🙂

Also remember that one section can vary dramatically to another, i.e Amberley is freezing and dry, Brighton is pissing with rain and sodden.

Want to wear my werewolf suit this year and go on an evening ride 🙂

Hmm, cack as usual. Was hoping it was some part of Cannock Chase, not the bloomin raceway.

Mine’s up for renewal this month too. Currently with More Than who’ve decided to up my renewal from £400 to £600! WTF? And I’ve been with them for about 6-7 years now.

Have looked at loads of reviews of MT and other providers and can’t find any that shine. Alright, most review sites might be made up of people complaining as opposed to singing praises, but even so, it makes you wonder who you can trust should you need to make a claim.

A-Plan had the best rating but like someone said earlier, they’re proper pricey.

Are you lot choosing renewals on price alone?

Tried a decent pair of overshoes? Transformed my winter commuting. Can’t comment on the sizing though as I have midget feet (compared to you) but I thought my MT500 overshoes were great

Don’t they just fall apart at the back though?

EDIT: how much bigger was the size you went for? E.g. size 8 shoe = size 10 overshoe.

Jaws don’t look the same though?

Bargain.

Does it fold away easily? What size when compacted?

Co-Pilot on iP4 for the last year or so. Cost about £25. No monthly fees.

Happily impressed overall. Makes the odd quirky decision but TBH I think I trust it in places I know nothing about.

Had a similar experience to user-removed about 15yrs ago. Ate a dodgy chicken curry one Friday evening, went to a mate’s house, left about midnight to stay at another mate’s house, crashed out, remember waking up about 3am with the shakes/sweats etc, proceeded to give the toilet some serious pebble-dashing, then drove home (bad move considering the state I was in but ‘I needed to be in my own bed’ if you know what I mean). Ended up with 3 days off work with seriously overactive projectile activities.

Bin the pesto. End of.

+10 for AWIL

Was also about 10-11 when I first saw it and that’s what is partly responsible for my werewolf ‘thing’. Proper scary back then. Still think of it every time I’m wandering a tube station alone at night (normally pretty pissed).

Apparently Mr Shoesmith queued for 10 days so he could be the first in line.

How **** sad.

That’s daylight though

Actually it’s dusk … and you’ve got a slow puncture and chain suck … 🙂

I did Stanmer the week after the Big Dog race and all the markings were still visible, great loop, but narrow in places for 710 bars.

It was around that time that I last tried to head down there. Figured enough markings might still be there. Oh well, hopefully sometime soon …

I’d argue this is a pretty bad night-riding scenario to be in …

… he’s probably quicker than you on the fast stuff too!

BTW, we’ve had to call Ocado customer service 2-3 times ref ‘bad’ items, e.g something gone off or crushed or whatever. They’ve been perfectly polite and provided a refund straight away.