bet that Boardmans fun cornering on fast descents with the panniers so high 😯

we use a forum – Bad Brains MBC forum[/url]

There are plenty of free forums about

Before that we produced a club ‘fanzine’ with ride details in (amongst other stuff).

Before that we met at the same time and place each ride and advertised it with hand written flyers in chip shops etc

KONA SUTRA

I’ve got the 2009 (green) version – superb bike. Bob a Brooks saddle on it and you’re more than sorted.
Used it almost daily for the past 18 months, commuting, touring and the odd century ride. Love it.
It handled last years snow very well.

I beg to differ on a few points above – a tourer is not just a winter bike with panniers/racks etc. A dedicated touring bike will have a slightly lower bottom bracket for stability, a slightly more upright riding position, rear triangle will be built to accomodate a rack and pannier ( some road bikes rear end are that short that when you fit a pannier you catch your heels as you pedal), the gears will be more than likely be a triple chainset with a wider ratio cassette than most road bikes. It will also be be built for comfort, reliability and strength rather than speed.
Have a look at Kona Sutra, Salsa Fargo and Surly Long Haul Trucker – bit different to ‘just a winter bike with panniers’.

and as for off-road – no I didn’t buy mine for going off-road. But those cross tyres were cheap and , well you can guess the rest.

Have you considered copper ?

make sure frame is clean and free from any oil/grease . Warm it up slightly with a hair dryer. Apply transfer as above and use an old pair of pants to rub the sticker onto the frame

+1 for doing it on a quiet day.
Done it three times on the bike. Just be respectful of the weather and you’ll be fine.

There are better routes but it is Snowdon.

Love – the Northern Industry Thing

Hate – the Southern Stereotype thing (and their sh#t beer and rubbish pies)

I’ve got a minoura one and it will take eiher a road bike or a mtb no probs.
But as its says above get a slick tyre

and have a look at Turbo Training .co.uk for some pretty good workouts

forget punching/elbowing the window through – it hurts and theres only one winner.

He was driving a Meriva which is a 5 door. Simply wait until he is stuck in traffic or at lights, open the rear passenger side door and cycle off. Driver will have to get out of car and walk round to close door before he can set off again.

If he comes after you – hit him with your pump.

My own personal favourite was earlier this year when some moron nearly disected me in anopen top sports car – I shouted at him and waved my fist, as you do.He gave me aload of verbals back – about 200yds later he was sat in traffic , so I rode passed and casually squirted him with blackcurrant juice from my bottle – looked good on his white shirt. I simply rode off laughing.

Have a look at this

i’m researching duck’s

Personally think theres plenty of choice already – Giant, and various other big companies make ’em, then theres Isla bikes and you can even get them in wood – would that count as a niche ?

For what its worth we are getting the grandson one of these – think the approx.£100 price tag is about right – don’t think you’d want/need to spend any more

GET BACK ON THE BIKE OR END UP LIKE THIS …..

I got the Surface Liquistretch trousers. They are a lot better to cycle in than you’d imagine.
Think Evans are doing them cheap at the minute.
Only things I can fault themon are that they’re a bit long, and you will need some way to protect them from the chain.

I just got back from riding to the butchers and back on my Kona Sutra.
Not the local butchers mind,one just over 20 miles away – it’s a long way for a pork pie, dozen rashers of bacon and 8 tomato sausages. 😉

just got in – came home via the canal to avoid traffic. Few sketchy moments with sidewinds, and quite a lot of debris blowing about. With hindsight I’d have probably caught the train to nearer home. 🙄 in a word – grim !

Clockwise is best for the route described above.

OH yes – the weather , its very wet,and very cold and there is little to no shelter on this route

A favourite of mine is to take the bridleway from the back of the outdoor pursuit shop and then head north east to Streets Gate. Take the track to the left through the ford and then head up and over High Cote Moor. At the road go right under Kilnsey Cragg .Leave the road at the handy placed pub and take Mastiles Lane back to Street Gate. Either retrace your route back to the start or take the road and pay a visit to Gordale Scar. Once back in Malham fill your boots on proper beer and grub a either of the two pubs.
– You can extend this route by heading over to Settle via Kirkby Fell at the start of the ride and routing your way back along Langcliffe Scar to pick the route back up at Streets Gate

had two from the local bakers near work – was supposed to be one each, sorry Brian

-1 for headwinds 🙁

4 miles is a bit of a no brainer IMO

Get some lovely wool jersey’s, a decent jacket,gloves etc good lights and full mudguards = jobs a good ‘un.

If you get through the first winter you’ll have cracked it for life.

Have a look at this – the game[/url], and remember ,you’re only riding to work 😉

could be worth having a word with these guys – Bike Rescue[/url]– see if they have been offered anything.

On the other hand I’ll keep my eyes peeled in and around York for you.

@Ton – if you like touring reads , Cycling Back From Siberia is pretty good. I also enjoyed Kings of the Mountains, about Colombian cyclists, intresting how it ties in with the Escobar cartel and the politics of the region

it’ll be finewih drops – they used to do the Drew Drop

not sure if he’s the cheapest – but it’s the best
Garage bikes[/url]

Mavic A319 disc rims laced to Shimano Deore disc hub should do ya !

no real advantage other than what you pointed out in your post
However, running the cables along the top tube(under or over) and down the chainstay gives you a better line for the rear mech,and rear brake. (IMO – :wink:)

there are some amazing pics on this forum everyyear. an online pop up calendar on the site would rock

– jedi

reckon theres enough decent photos out there for a day by day version ,let alone a monthly

Sutra £1000 – good to go with both racks and mudguards straight out of the box – other than swapping saddle for a Brooks I’ve changed nothing on mine since new.

I’ve got a Kona Sutra – yes its heavy,but it doesn’t ride heavy.
It’s great for long distances and more than capable of a bit of off-road riding. It’s a proper touring bike so its built for stability etc, which means the BB is a bit lower, it’s steel so it can be repaired easily, etc.

and loaded up

+1 dirt worker
+1 fortheir customer service too

dead handy for a quick clean straight after a ride – can of GT85 a rag and some chain lube,and your good to go again. Can’t beat putting the bike away ready to go.

If you plan on doing anything like Mountain Mayhem or Sleepless they can be the difference between a good or literally sh@t weekend

forget the package holiday go see the real Cuba – we’ve been a few times. Stayed in Cuban equivalent of B&B’s , casa’s do an internet search heres a good start[/url]– they are all government registered – you’ll be made very welcome

I’ve also done the Cuba Solidarity cycle challenge click here (in fact thats me on the far left of the photo) which is highly recommended if you can raise the funds

The whole island is beautiful. Trinidad is a nice place – good beaches, lovely old town and the nightlife at weekends is good – go to the main square and sit round with a mojito watching the dancing

and you have to have at least one drink in the hotel Nacional in Havanna
There are also some great old art deco type hotels in Havanna. Breakfast on the roof overlooking the whole of Havanna is amazing.

I like Cuba – you can probably guess. Take lots of sweets for the kids and toiletries for the locals and you’ll be looked after like a long lost relative.
Lovely country – lovely people

I’ve been wearing the Endura Strike for the last few winters and they seem to be pretty good – much prefer them to the sealskinz.

But as Realman says you need to do a bit more than just warm gloves. Make sure you flex your fingers and keep your body core and wrists warm too. If your body core is cold it will draw warm blood away from the extremities. Layers are your friend as is a windproof outer.

was about to put mine in washing machine a few weeks ago when Mrs S stopped me “are they wool ?….I’ll hand wash them for you. They’ll shrink in’t machine.” She’s spent 25 years looking after me, she knows best

and while we are it – flashing rear lights off-road are really off putting too.

@ emanuel – eyeball bell

goes everywhere – use a tubus rack and as stated above the double rails are a big plus

+decent merihno = warm,dry and rather dashing too. (IMO – :oops:)

your rear mech should be set up so that when its in the middle ring and the middle of the cassette the chain runs through dead centre of the guide. This is easy to see on a 9 speed set up asyouput chain on middlering and 5th sprocket on rear – adjust front mech so you have equal distance either side of chain.
With a 10 speed its slightly more tricky as middle of cassette is between 5th/6th -so put chain on middle and 6th adjust so its slightly over to the 5th (5th been the smaller of the two) shift to 5th and adjust so gap between is same distance over to 6th as 6th is to 5th.

Don’t worry about the lower and higher gears catching in middle ring – your gears are duplicated – have a look at a gear chart and work out what you have on each ring and then see how they cross over
gear calculator

eg on my 9 speed set up I find that on the big ring gears 1-4 (with 1 been the smallest) middle 3-7 and granny 6-9 gives me thefullspread of gears available to me – on a 10 speed i should imagine big 1-5 , middle 3-8 , granny 7-10

Hope this makes sense