Does he not like the taste of meat or is it the look/idea of eating animals?

That Quorn stuff in my opinion doesn’t taste like meant at all but has a decent amount of protein in it and if it seems bland (which it really is!) then you can cover it in sauce.

Most people eat way more protein than they really need anyhow.

Yeah, they’re cheap but I suspect they are dealing with a lot of framesets they might not have all the info on.

I noticed Chainreaction have some Ridley Icarus framesets going for 220 – 250ish if that takes your fancy.

Worth a look if you haven’t seen it. – Guy Martin at Orange bikes.

website has face planted itself at the mo.

I agree, there’s 15 percent off frames today on Planet X but I doubt they are selling many as the website is largely blank.

And yes I’m running an up to date web browser.

Got female friends who swear by the Selle Italia Diva too but seeing as everyones got different arse bone shapes maybe sit of a gel thingy and get measured. Also good shorts make a huge difference.

Gear as in bike stuff that is! 🙂

Have you tried UKcyclocross site? ‘Like’ the nearest Facebook CX race scene to you, people are always trying to flog gear on those pages.

Yeah I’m sure 99 percent of people can ride a 2.5″ tyre on a 17mm rim and have no problems with it rolling off especially if it’s not inflated too hard.

For sure there is far more chance you’ll burst an inner tube if you ride hard rather than roll a tyre off but you don’t want to run a 2.5 on 15mm road rim, the profile would be daft.

All depends on happiness, you might meet people to learn off in a new job and be interested to go for promotions leading to the financial security you are after or think you should aspire to gain – obviously that’s great but many people that chase the rat race and earn more aren’t actually more financially secure because they just spend more and get tied to expensive monthly payments. The more you earn, the easier it is to waste money.

Doing something potentially less stressful and earning less to have more free time doesn’t have to be a cop out, far too many people chase money, get stressed and end up wasting their lives in offices when they could be living a happier life. Loads of people are bored in whatever job they are in. So long as you get to do enough of what makes you happy you’re winning the race.

700c and 29’er wheels are the same size but the rims widths vary a lot. It’s the inside rim measurement that counts – the bit the tyre edges sit in, not the outside overall rim width. So you can put mountain bike 29’er tyres on if your wheel rims are wide enough (if not they may roll off when cornering hard etc).

If your rims are only 15mm wide (like most road bike and many commuter rims) I’d opt for safety and get a cyclocross tyre. If your rims are wider, say 19mm you’ll be fine with the racing ralphs or anything up to around 2.3″ so long as they fit in your frame of course. If you have 17mm wide rims then a thin mountain bike tyre will fit or a cyclocross one.

Something like a continental cylocross or a schwalbe cx pro would be a good CX choice with a decent amount of grip.

7 broken collar bones in the Nationals race so they did take a few sections out but almost as many riders were riding the A lines as the Bs. Tough course compared to the rest of the MSG series.

+1 for finish line ceramic of the wax one whatever it’s called now. Wet lube is only really necessary in absolute gloppy mum conditions in my opinion but I know people with expensive bikes who only use GT85 in the summer.

For cleaning the park tools pricey stuff you get in a tube is great and you only need a tad. Not sure how environmentally friendly it is but better than petrol!

Yep! Emailed Seb at Roots & Rain but he only wants DH and Enduro events on there at the mo, says XC stuff may be coming in a few months. Not sure quite what is to stop me uploading pics from an XC race but best respect the rules.

I remember mountainbiking before it got split into so many disciplines.

Anyone know if Halfords ever flog just the framset?

Cheers all, very helpful 🙂

Nicole Cook in her retirement speech:

“Tyler Hamilton will make more money from his book describing how he cheated than I will make in all my years of honest labour,”

“I have been robbed by drug cheats, but I am fortunate, I am here before you with more in my basket than the 12-year-old dreamed of. But for many genuine people out there who do ride clean, people with morals, many of these people have had to leave the sport with nothing after a lifetime of hard work.”

Obviously effects those right across the sport who didn’t cheat.

You could submit this to the readers bikes section on the Kinesis site.

Stealth! Black bikes are always faster just ask Cav.

Spend half as much (or less) on something decent, loose weight and do hill sprint repeats, the difference will far outweigh 500 grams of vulnerable carbon.

I’ve a Croix de Fer – the Reynolds 725 version, apparently it is a fair bit lighter than the CDF blue one. This review at least says so: http://road.cc/content/review/73063-genesis-croix-de-fer
(It also says that a Tortec Ultralite rack will fit which as I discovered isn’t true!).

I bought the frame and built it up lighter with 105 triple and Mavic wheels. It is incredibly comfortable compared to my road bike but how much that is down to the ‘zingy’ steel frame is hard to tell. It certainly isn’t that light though at 24.5 lbs but I’m using it as a tourer/winter bike and used MTB 29’er wheels on Hopes. If you are bothered about the weight, I’d get something lighter like a Kinesis 5T or the Boardman which looks a bargain but prob not as comfy or reassuringly strong as steel.

Is there annnnnybodyyyyy out there…..

Cheers guys, very helpful. I see Bryton have the 50T with a heart rate monitor or the 50E with OS trail maps for less than the standard Garmin 800… decisions…

Any thoughts on Bryton?

Interesting, in less you have fingers made of steel, I see no way you could pull a rear cable hard enough and clamp it to get decent tension. The Deore ones have a barrel adjuster were cable meets calliper. My shifters are new 105 5700s I think so perfectly compatible. WIll seek out some Jagwires then! 🙂

Midlifecrashes – Did you find it hard at all getting enough tension in the rear cable? I was surprised to find that the Shimano BR R515 callipers (essentially same as your CX75s) have no cable adjusters or any grooves for an adjuster to fit to.

Was wondering if such a thing as inline gear barrels exist to solve this?

The weight you really feel when riding is rolling weight – so the wheels, obviously you don’t want to go too light with them. Changing the bars won’t make any difference when it comes to riding. As above – climbing performance can be bettered via shock set up, double barrel is obviously pretty nice mind!

BB7s or Shimano now make a 105 calliper – BR R515 which is doing me well so far.

Thanks yeah it’s a strange one – I notice old Sachs chains don’t have these little outside edges but both my KMC 10 spd ones do. Both chain tools I have strip the pin edge off.

anyone…? 🙄

I’ve just build up a Croix de fer. Everything I read indicated I’d need a 60 cm but that seemed large compared with my road bike. I tested a 58cm Genesis Day One – very similar but not exactly the same geometry and went for a 58 Croix de Fer.

I’m 6ft 2” with a long upper body and arms. The 58 fits very well. Standover would be an issue on a 60. I’ve since heard Genesis CX frames come up large, I’d agree with that and suggest the 54 would be OK but try and test one of Genesis’ CX bikes if you can.

First thing I noticed was how comfy it is even with hard 32mm tyres but it’s not light even with my custom build.

Vin Cox rode a CDF around the world in the fastest time, then Mike Hall rode an On-One Dirty Disco around the world and beat that time – both would be good choices the DD will obviously be a lot lighter but doesn’t take a standard rack, isn’t as strong and the angles are a little more racey.

Thanks, I can see how it could get pretty addictive.

I was searching for a long time for some 160s and also found no where with them in stock. Earliest delviery I found was May! Settled for some of Shimano’s new 105s instead.

It is just the mount and rotor you’d need, the callipers are exactly the same no matter the size of the rotor.

Last time I looked there were a few of the road callipers on ebay.

Thanks, seems like Mavic’s recommendation of a min of a 1.5″ tyre (38mm) for the TN719 is pretty conservative.

Cannondale Beast of the East!
GT LTS, polished finish.
GT Zaskar also polished.
Giant ATX 900 – Full susser Rob Warner used for a long time.
Marin Mount Vision.

Hmmm, realised Conti Gatorskins don’t actually come in a 35c, smallest is a 32. Maybe I’ll give them a go. Any other recommendations for a tough 35c road tyre?

Thanks, I’d have thought so too, they are only 19mm wide rims but my mate said Gators are notoriously hard to get on and off.

Thanks, the video on Shimano’s site makes out the Dyna-sys cassette has smaller spacing between cogs but I find this hard to believe. Guess I will find out for sure but I’m tempted to switch it for a Sram just incase.

So now I have a 10 speed Shimano Deore cassette – a dyna-sys one. Bit concerned that it may not work with the 9 speed shifter as it’s dyna-sys.

Perhaps I should have got a sram one?! 🙄

Thanks all. Downshep – As I now understand it, the MTB 9 speed rear mech is actually able to cover the spread of cogs on a 10 speed MTB cassette as they are the same size – so long as you’ve a long cage rear mech. Makes sense as a 10 speed chain is thinner so I assume the cogs themselves are too?

The road shifters wont work with a new MTB 10 speed rear mech as the mech has a different ratio of indexing. So it’s the rear mech causing the issue not the shifter or cassette.

All complicated especially as the set up I’m trying to achieve was pretty much standard on touring and tandem bikes and some liked to use 9 speed MTB rear mechs on CX bikes. Maybe the big S just want us to buy their touring XT range.

I called Madison about this as I’ve a CDF and had the same issue. The guy there said go for a set of Pro 2s on Mavic Open Pro 700c (road/cyclocross) rims to be safe. They are 15mm wide so obviously more a road rime than a MTB 29’er.

But… if you look up the Alex rim that comes on a deore hub as the bikes standard build, its a 18mm wide rim. Therefore its actually arguably more of a MTB 29er rim than a roady 700c. So I reckon if you wanna go with a MTB 29er set, so long as it’s not too wide and the rim profile isn’t too high, you’ll be OK.