If you ran 26″ wheels you’d have to run disks on the standard setup.

You can get adaptors or adjustable calipers to run 26″ wheels on 700C studs…eg:

http://www.paulcomp.com/motobmx.html

..but to be honest it would probably work out cheaper to get a cheap set of disks or second hand 29er wheelset.

The BB would be really low with 26″ wheels so my money would be on some wheels.

Corrected. I did indeed misread the original post – I had it in my head he was running a 39T ring for some reason.

He should therefore MTFU or get some gears

Yours dyscalculically (?)…

Register on the Guardian Home Exchange website. £35 for the year. You can then post details of your place, search potential swaps and make offers. It covers everywhere – a lot of ex-pats use it to arrange cheap trips back home to visit family etc.

http://www.guardianhomeexchange.co.uk/

Not done an overseas swap yet but we exchanged our 3 bed semi on Dartmoor with a family in London for their huge Edwardian town house in leafy North London over half term. Saved us £££s on accommodation and worked out really well for both parties.

We’ve already had several offers from families in Spain and France for the summer hols. If you’re in the Lakes you’ll have no problem finding someone to exchange with.

Basically you draw up a simple agreement so each party is clear on what is expected of them in terms of bedding, cleaning, key arrangements etc. Some exchanges also allow use of vehicles but that’s entirely up to you. Obviously you need to inform insurers but they’re generally happy as they’d prefer the house to be occupied whilst you’re away.

Example here: http://www.guardianhomeexchange.co.uk/ihea/houseinfo.cfm?id=28537

I love how some people have no concept of how gear ratios work. 36:19 isn’t really a tough gear is it? Bigger numbers not always harder! Ratio innit?

Well thanks for clearing that up :D

1 or 2 teeth difference in either chainring or sprocket size can make a big difference to rideability on a singlespeed in my experience. 2:1 is just a starting point for general riding. The OP is already running a slightly higher ratio than that in quite a hilly area.

36:19 sounds quite brutal for the Peaks. I was happy twiddling along on 32:16 until I moved to Dartmoor and now use 32:18 which seems about right for most of the riding I do locally. I do now also have a geared bike which I used for longer and tougher rides but it probably still works out 60/40 in favour of the singlespeed.

For the sake of a cost of new rear sprocket you could try gearing down a bit – try a 19 or 20 on the back, and if it doesn’t work out then just go back to your gears.

Not worth beating yourself up about either way – the whole point of singlespeeding is that it should be fun, so if it’s no longer so then don’t do it.

If you go back to gears you can always build up a cheap singlespeed from the parts bin / classifieds should you want to give it a go again.

Here’s one of the original parabikes:

I’ve got visions of building it up as a single speed multi-terrain crosser type bike, but not for a while.

That was pretty much what I used mine for – see pic above.

Mine was the large, short version. And I do regret selling it so totally understand where you’re coming from.

the frame is just hung up in my shed with no foreseeable use for it.

Can I ask what size? Not that I’m interested or anything, you understand…

I really miss mine, I thought it was great fun, but I was running it as a singlespeed so not so much of a faff to change tyres.

Hi not sure whether it helps but it’s not really a gear hanger as such. It’s integrated into the chain tug. I’d expect it to be in the bag if anything as there is no way to attach it to the frame without the wheel being fitted.

+1 for holiday lettings.

I work for an agency in the South West and our target is to let 30 of the 52 weeks for our homeowners. I’d guess the IoW would be similar to here in that you probably have service companies locally who would manage changeover and basic maintenance so it needn’t be that much more hassle than a standard shorthold tenancy. You’d need to factor cleaning and changeover into the cost but returns can be higher than BTL if you’re in the right location with the right property.

There are a few which pop a little burly man dust in the corner of my eye in the right circumstances.

God Only Knows – Beach Boys. Brian Wilson’s solo live version in particular.

Hurt – Johnny Cash

Into my Arms – Nick Cave

Desperados Under the Eaves – Warren Zevon

Fruit Tree – Nick Drake

About half of Lee Hazelwood’s Cake or Death album not because of the songs but the circumstances in which it was recorded.

Coldplay also make me want to cry. But for entirely different reasons.

Sorry. Was a stupid throwaway remark based on the fact the OP wanted kids to go to school in Minehead.. No disrespect intended to Bridgewater which I know gets an unfair rap.

Wiveliscombe which is in the Brendon Hills
Really??? someone must have moved it then

Eh? What’s your point caller?

Would “at the foot of the Brendon Hills” meet your pedantry requirements sir?

Stayed at Wateredge several times – it’s a great location with a lovely garden, but the food at the Duck is a lot better I reckon.

Not lakeside but the Drunken Duck near Ambleside is nice and has great views from the beer garden. Also has onsite microbrewery!

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186319-d191551-Reviews-The_Drunken_Duck_Inn-Ambleside_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html

Home

My wife is from around that way. We actually got married at Curdon Mill which is just the other side of Williton towards Stogumber.

Riding and countryside is lovely obviously. West Somerset as a whole is pretty underrated.

Watchet is nice in summer and good if you have a boat. but can be a tad grim in the winter. Dunster is nice to visit but personally I always find it a bit twee, chocolate boxy and soulless. Suffers badly from secondhomeitis.

People locally seem to get a bit snobby about Minehead but I reckon it’s quite nice and as above has all the day to day shops and facilities you’d need. If the budget will stretch there are some lovely properties on North Hill with great riding straight from the door.

I’d also consider Porlock. Quite a thriving little village in a lovely location with pretty good facilities and a couple of decent pubs.

Also worth looking a bit further inland. Monksilver is lovely and used to have a cracking pub called the Notley. Sadly closed a few years back but has recently re-opened and seems to be getting pretty good reviews. Some nice spots out towards the Quantocks as well but careful you don’t end up in the catchment area for Bridgey!

Wife’s family live in Wiveliscombe which is in the Brendon Hills a bit closer in to Taunton. Probably a bit outside your search area but really nice community, handy for both Exmoor and the Quantocks.

I’d be wary of spending a load on the calipers and levers.

Avid SD7s are fine, as are the Deore ones if you can get hold of them still. I generally think choice of pads, correct setup and decent cables is more important than the brakes themselves with V brakes.

The Aztec cartridge pads with the metal carrier are really effective and worth an upgrade from the standard pads whichever brake you get.

Also be prepared for a high level of rim wear if using over the winter!

<sigh>

cranberry – Member
From Amnesty International’s 2012 report on Venuzuela:

“Human rights defenders were threatened and politically motivated charges continued to be used against government critics. Accountability mechanisms to ensure justice or to act as an effective deterrent against police abuses remained weak. There were serious episodes of violence in the grossly overcrowded prison system leading to a number of deaths. “

http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/venezuela/report-2012

Shame on the usual mix of useful idiots and fellow travellers on here who have lauded Chavez.

From the same organisation’s report on the USA:

Forty-three men were executed during the year, and concerns about cruel prison conditions continued. Scores of detainees remained in indefinite military detention at Guantánamo. The administration announced its intention to pursue the death penalty against six of these detainees in trials by military commission. Some 3,000 people were held in the US detention facility on the Bagram air base in Afghanistan by the end of the year. Use of lethal force in the counter-terrorism context raised serious concerns, as did continuing reports of the use of excessive force in the domestic law enforcement context.

Thousands of prisoners in California went on hunger strike in July and October to protest about cruel conditions of isolation in the state’s Security Housing Units (SHUs). In the SHU at Pelican Bay State Prison more than 1,000 prisoners were confined to windowless cells for 22.5 hours a day, in conditions a court stated in 1995 “may press the outer bounds of what most humans can psychologically tolerate”. At the time of the hunger strike, more than 500 prisoners in Pelican Bay had spent at least 10 years in these conditions, and 78 had spent 20 years or more in the SHU. A number of reforms, including modifying procedures for assigning alleged gang members to indefinite SHU confinement, were under review at the end of the year. Amnesty International joined others in condemning disciplinary action taken against hunger strikers and urging an end to inhumane conditions. Thousands of prisoners remained in isolation in similar conditions in other states, including Arizona and Texas.

It’s South America. It’s not about White Hats and Black Hats. I don’t think anyone for a moment is suggesting that Chazez is any sort of angel, and yes there is little doubt that he was culpable of mismanagement of the economy and a number of repressive measures but the fact is that he did also do a lot of good for the poor of his country…. hence his election success. The people who swallow whole the mainly US-led propaganda about Chavez are just as naive and misguided as the people who build him up as some sort of cross between Che Guevara and Jesus Christ. As supposedly “tin pot dictators” go, he was far from the worst.

Personally I’d me more concerned about what fills the vacuum now he’s gone.

I remember the Myka Sport getting good reviews on Bike Radar a while back. This is the disc version which seems pretty reasonable:

http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p56076/Specialized-Myka-Disc-26-Womens-2013-Mountain-Bike.aspx

For a bit more, Halfords do a female specific Boardman MTB which looks to be pretty good VFM.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_777777_langId_-1_categoryId_165499

Edinburgh Bicycles also so a womens specific bike in their Revolution range which may be worth a look as a budget option. Frame looks pretty good but not sure on the brakes and fork.

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/revolution-spur-xc-disc-13?bct=browse%2fbicycles%2fwomens-bikes

EDIT – just realised that the EBC and Myka have cable disks. If you could stretch to it then my money would be on the Boardman. If she didn’t get on with it, you could probably recoup the money by splitting the bike and selling the bits.

Great pics guys. Some really nice bikes. Particularly like the Singulars and metal_leg’s Salsa which may just have reassured me that brown grip tape and saddle is so wrong it may just be right for my punkin’ orange 1×1!

Rogerthecat – do you have a habit of losing bikes in the dark by any chance?

Thanks for that folks. Reassured.

<hovering over buy now button>

Thanks for that. Delivery times look pretty good too…one seller was quoting up to 4 weeks.

Crucially the thread title should give no clues to the content, so minimising the chance that anyone who can actually answer your question being likely to do so.

Unless suffixed with ‘trackworld’ obviously….

it seems we’ve have lost the ability to make even the most simple decisions…

Was thinking that myself earlier… No offence to the guy who locked himself out of his house, but he could have called a local locksmith and had it sorted in the time he took to post on here.

There are also some threads which make me think that STW is becoming the Jeremy Kyle show for middle class MTBers.

I do always enjoy a good sudocremed cat thread though…

Sure there are some cheeky routes but when I scoured the map a while back that area seems to be pretty poorly served by rideable RoWs apart from the Camel Trail etc and the woods around Cardinham.

If you don’t mind a bit of a drive Dartmoor is not too far though. You could get to Princetown in about an hour and do the Burrator / widowmaker loop.

Not ridden it but there is also Gawton if you’re into DH:

http://www.gawtongravityhub.co.uk/hsd.php

EDIT: Link to info on Cardinham woods – apparently Blue will be open by Easter. http://www.1sw.org.uk/experience/trail-hubs/north-cornwall/

Locksmith. Don’t even know why you’re considering anything else.

You may even be able to claim the cost back on your insurance – ours covers lock outs.

Fleegles? if 16 deg sweep is enough. Comfiest bars I’ve used.

Got a set of Bontrager Crivitz you could try. 25 deg sweep I think but probably not quite wide enough.

Pomp looks great!

I thought MSE wasn’t licensed for commercial use?

Use MSE and Malwarebytes on home windows machine. We’re tied into McAfee for another 6 months at work but won’t be renewing. It’s pants but MBAM does pick up what it misses.

Just a further thought but if you were committed to singlespeed then that opens up a few other options. A Pompino for one…. or (if you could find a UK dealer), one of these babies would be in budget:

http://windwave.co.uk/traitorsite/traitor-cutlass-pub.html

My money would still be on a Surly though. Their bikes are just so versatile and fun to ride.

I inadvertently ate a bear rissole at a Swedish / Canadian wedding.

And no that’s not a euphemism.

…or a typo.

Surly 1×1.Dartmoor and plenty other places. No longer my only bike but still gets ridden the most.

Surly Cross Check surely a contender?

http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/m4b0s212p3636/SURLY_Cross_Check_Frameset

….although I had a drop bar RoadRat for a while and deeply regret selling it. Great bike.

As above. I’d check the cable tension and indexing on your front mech. You can adjust it so that it only indexes to middle and inner ring positions if you have a play. Have same setup on my Karate Monkey and it works fine.

You know I never noticed that… Seems to work though. Still true after bouncing off Dartmoor granite for 12 months :-)

Another happy T4 pop top owner here. Bought it the year before our little un came along and he’s grown up with it. He sleeps in the pop up roof. We’re downstairs. Like others we’ve got a big driveaway awning but only really use that for when we’re sticking in one place for more than a couple of nights.

Did consider a bigger van for more comfort but it serves as my daily driver too so is ideal really.

Did the very same last week. Absolutely the best time of day to be out and about this time of year. Hope you have a good one.

Unfortunately on in-law duty in the morning so can’t go out and play :cry:

Some frosty pics to inspire:

Partial to the Full Welsh we used to get down at Swansea Market when I was a student there. Bacon, pork and leek sausage, eggs, fried potatoes, laver bread (ie seaweed) and some fried cockles (seriously). Awesome after a big night out.

For fried bread, my dad’s technique was to grill the bacon, wiipe the bread in the resulting fat in the botton of the grill pan and then grill it. Thereby negating any possible health benefits of grilling the bacon in the first place. Darn tasty though.