£500-£800

As a former Whyte 46 owner I wouldn’t pay that much for a 2004 model no matter how good the condition was. I’d be thinking south of £500 for that vintage.

Is it better now?

I think this is an interesting idea and wish you all the best, but if I can offer some constructive criticism: the fact I know – via STW – that this is a Brant Richards project gives it some credibility because I know what you’ve done in the past and you have some pedigree. Without that knowledge the site looks a bit off-putting.

Lose the Futurama GIF. Add in a contact telephone number. Put some biography in there to gain credibility to those who weren’t directed there from STW. Lose the drop shadow 😉

Good luck

…or maybe not everyone is as thick as I am.

I am 😳

I might have another look now I know it’s more than just a splash screen

Ditto 🙁

Used Specialized Pitch

Not a bad call if you’re set on an all-mountain/enduro bike. I had a day in Spain on one and was very impressed with how capable and stable it was. It was a plodder uphill though so I’m not sure I’d be happy with one as my one and only bike.

I’d be looking in the sales for a new 2013/2014 models from one of the big brands to get the best value for money. Spesh Camber? Giant Trance? Trek Fuel?

I’m not convinced that the riding you describe warrants an all-mountain/enduro machine. I personally think you’ll have more fun on a shorter travel, lighter and more nimble machine and – unless you’re a lot better rider than I’m guessing you are – you won’t feel under-biked when you have your “fun days”.

I ride a Transition Bandit and love how well it copes with everything from a quick evening blast through the woods to big day-long epics to playing on the downhill tracks.

That might be a little optimistic 😉

It’s a Unit. I promise 🙂

Spring shadows by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

If you got it at a good price and can afford the repairs it *may* be worth doing. The Boxster S is a cracking car and I’d have one again in a heartbeat (when the kids have left home of course). I say *may* because of the half dozen or so that I test drove only one gave me the confidence it had been looked after and wouldn’t cause me issues. The others just felt…unloved.

Ask yourself this: if you knew you could get your money back with no quibbles, would you?

It’s mostly been said above, but I can relate my experience which may help.

What kick-started my enthusiasm was a switch from focusing on “just going for a ride” to practising some new skills. Rather than thinking/worrying about doing a route, the riding bit became incidental to the development of skills like jumping and cornering. I had an absolute blast last Saturday just messing around on table tops, berms, drops etc and plan to go again this weekend. I can’t remember the last time I was this enthusiastic to ride my mountain bike.

Interestingly a similar thing happened with skiing, wherein going up and down the pistes just didn’t give me the buzz anymore. Once I started messing around on the kickers the grin came back on my face 😀

awful warbling by Lesley Garrett

I’m no hater of opera, but God Only Knows why people insist on opera singers singing on pop records. It’s worked once and once only

he is king of marketing spin

I have this view too (see my post way up there^). He seems to be very good at spinning what one would normally think of as a compromise into a non-issue or even an advantage. That said, a good mate of mine took a Mav bike out for a test spin and was impressed. This was some years ago though, and things have moved on.

A mate regularly produces photo books so tried a few before settling on YoPhoto. Personally I found it a bit buggy and it crashed a lot, but that was a few years ago on Windows XP. I was delighted with the results though.

do you think it’s better than the original?

No, not even near. It’s a rare cover version that is better than the original

And that girl just continues to sit there and watch!

In her shoes I’m not sure I would have known which way to go that would get my out of mischief in the short time I had to react.

It’s my favourite song ever and the fact that – two listens in to this BBC extravaganza – I’m not disgusted by this cover, suggests I must quite like it.

The drumming and the soprano are lame tho’

What’s farmer John’s like?

First visit. It was so ace I joined for a year. Plenty of stuff for me to work up to and I can’t wait to go again.

why don’t NWMTB do a demo day there?

It’s a downhill venue rather than a trail centre, so a bit limited in it’s scope for demoing anything that doesn’t have gravity on your side.

3 bike lengths. Done by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

Farmer John’s tabletop by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

+1 for the Acer. It seemed to have the best balance of weight/size and battery life.

I had one with a slightly dodgy keyboard. I reset it (easy), swapped it at the shop (easy), logged into a new one (easy) and was back where I left off with incredible ease (so so easy). OK, so they might not be Apple levels of quality but they’re not Apple prices either. Recommended.

One of my issues with Paul Turner and the Maverick approach is that some of the justifications he came out with for his designs were quite hard to swallow. I had some DUC 32s which were no doubt incredibly plush and – if fettling is your thing – easy to open up and get your hands dirty. The thing is they were twisty. Turner argued that it shouldn’t matter due to the small contact patch of the wheel and I – being hugely inexperienced in these things – believed him.

However the reality of my riding – mud, rocks, ruts – meant that often there was much more than a “small contact patch” between wheel and terrain. It made no logical sense to me that a fork that flexy was a good idea.

Even after many many hours in the saddle with Paul Turner’s designs it can still be hard to believe.

Memories of 1st year at university watching Underworld supported by The Dust Brothers.

Ditto. Megadog tour perchance? I remember watching it with a 4 pack of IPA!

Akrigg is – and always will be – one of my favourite riders to watch, but I must admit this is the first of his that doesn’t really excite me. The dune riding looked fun but the rest of it was a little dull; not helped by the music which really dragged the footage down.

I didn’t want to ride over football-sized rocks on a beach before and I still don’t want to now 🙂

The important one is that, with the strap undone, you can’t remove it by levering from the back of the helmet.

Checked and this is fine. Interestingly the other helmet that felt like it fitted well (Bluegrass Brave) could be taken off by pulling over the front of my head WITH THE STRAP DONE UP!

Not hugely, but yes. Enough such that it doesn’t worry me. It’s the rotating up and back that concerns me.

I have a long head front to back so getting any helmet to fit is a pain – quite literally in some instances.

Interesting update.

I asked one of the callers to tell me where they got my info from and they told me. I then emailed said marketing database company and this is the response:

We do not supply a company called Legal Help. We have not sold road traffic
accident leads for years. We hardly ever sell mobile numbers either. You
have the wrong Elite. Or this company Legal Help are not giving you the
correct company they purchased the data from.

If we had sold your information we would just remove it from the database.

My incident was genuine. I’m just fed up of all the calls asking if I want to claim compensation.

Just had another one.

The database from which this particular company is getting my details is sourced from Elite Marketing Data. Apparently it is an opt-in compliant data broker so it sounds like I ticked something I shouldn’t somewhere along the line. I’ll be in contact with them and will let you know how I get on…

the White Peak sweet spot

Had a mint ride on the 5 Dales circuit 3 or 4 weeks ago. There were still one or two slippy spots but mostly it was ace with some cracking swoopy bits. Here’s one of the gentler sections…

Big skies near Youlgreave by stilltortoise[/url], on Flickr

5-Dales loop

Highly recommended. Get in there now before the Autumn/Winter rains arrives and turns the trails to mud-fests. There are no bad routes in that guide book but some of them can get a bit sloppy after lots of rain, especially those around Bakewell/Rowsley.

The Great Longstone route used to be one of my favourites near Buxton but there’s been a lot of trail maintenance over that way that has arguably spoilt the route. If you want a BIG day out you can connect up the Buxton route with the Wildboarclough route. Still a bit too much road for my liking but you will cover some brilliant terrain.

“Winter’s a good time to stay in and cuddle,
But put me in summer and I’ll be a….. happy snowman!

Rrr Raht da daht dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah doo

When I finally do what frozen things do in (big finish) SUMMMER “

Hearing my 6 year old boy sing this with hilarious gusto and verve is the most delightful and heart-warming thing that brightens up any car journey. For that alone I am thankful for Frozen.

I was tempted last week but persevered. It’s since warmed up again so it’s looking likely that we’ll manage without for a bit longer yet 🙂

Interesting how for some tubeless is a game changer. I only went tubeless when I got a new bike, so I suppose I didn’t have a very fair before/after comparison. Maybe it is a game changer and I’ve always assumed it was the new bike that was ace 😆

StreetWolf

I think you’re mixing up your 80s American vehicular TV shows. I’ll give you a clue: Jan Michael Vincent wasn’t flying AirHawk.

“I knew fly-by-wire wouldn’t work”

tubeless is a game changer…

Of all the technological improvements I’ve adopted since I began mountain biking – indexed gears, geometry, (decent) suspension, disc brakes, dropper posts – tubeless tyres is the one that has left me the most underwhelmed. Granted where I ride I never really suffer badly from punctures with tubes.

Like any route in the Peaks you will end up doing lots of road miles.

if you’re riding away from the Sheffiield side of things and riding lots of road on the mtb, then you’re choosing your routes badly.

Remember that for those brought up on a diet of trail centres, even 10% on the road is “a lot of road” 😉

My very first MTB guide book for the Peak District actually stated how many miles were on road for each and every ride.

The pro DHers use tubes. Read into that what you will.

I run Spesh Purgatory on Flow EX rims and I burp air from time to time. I’m no mincer but I’m nearer the mince end of the spectrum than the gnar.

Maybe just the threat would get them to drop you like a hot coal?

Threaten who? It’s not the same firm calling me over and over. They’re different firms calling me. I want to avoid getting the calls in the first place and I don’t want to have to take all the calls and threaten them all.

Who owns this database ?

I don’t know. I was hoping someone on here might have had some experience to guide me

I just don’t answer and witheld numbers or 08 numbers.

Some of my customers ring from Unknown numbers, so this is risky. Also, some of them are ringing from “genuine” numbers