I’m another lurker. This is the most amazingly excellent news I have ever read on a forum. Go bullheart!

If they do a biopic, Jens Voigt should be your cycling stunt double.

I’ve ridden the Ramaz as well thinking about it.

Wot boris said – UK climbs are very different, shorter and steeper. Alps more even and to a large extent you just try to keep a rythym going for a long time.

Ridden a few, hope to do more this summer.

Done the Col de la Joux Plan from Samoens several times – never gets easier. Last time combined it with Morzine – Avoriaz and the Encrinaz. That was a big day by my standards.

Also ridden Cormet de Roselend from Bourg St Maurice, and been up Mont Ventoux in 2009 (Bedoin side). All hard, but not as hard as some offroad climbs I’ve done, but then I am not racing on them. All on a road bike with a triple.

Joux Plan is probably the worst – steep but uneven so hard to get any rhythm going, and the end is steep and straight so you can see where you’re heading for a long time. Pretty brutal really.

Glad it’s going ahead and just wish they would get the bloody thing built now. Edinburgh city centre is rubbish for traffic and always has been (been living here 10 years now, long before tram works and traffic calming). I say get Edinburgh Airport – St Andrews Square done, see how it works out (reckon it will be pretty good myself) and then crack on with turning Edinburgh Park into a viable interchange station for trains from west and airport trams and get building a wider network over 10-20 years.

Rail link would have been a problem on may levels. First off, which line do you link it up to? The Edinburgh – Forth Bridge line goes by the end of the runway (but still about a km from the terminal); the Edinburgh – Glasgow line is on the other side of the A8 and about 20m higher than airport level so again would take a bit of moving. There’s a lot of volcanic rock around there (see Ratho quarries, Craigie Hill etc) which is expensive to tunnel through as it’s so hard, you’re not dealing with chalk etc. And if you can solve that there are still severe capacity problems between Waverley and Haymarket. Only 4 tracks service about 15 platforms and no way of widening without encroaching on Princes Street Gardens, or tunnelling through the Castle Rock. Stopping trains at the airport would add a few mins to every journey too (the logic for not stopping Ed-Gla at Edinburgh Park apparently). Have a look at what the Heathrow Express to set up and a “few miles of track and a station” soon adds up.

Infrastructure programs are always long term gain for short term pain – that’s sort of the point.

Holiday Autos – but Geneva seems fiercely expensive this summer. Have you checked out both the Swiss and French sides? Can make a bit of a difference.

Update

– 29er on Salsa Delgado X rims still working out just fine with Maxxis Ardent 2.25s. Tried some pretty viscous side loads (bermy bits on GT Blue and a couple of mini roundabouts on way into work) without incident. Seems to work OK.

– Got some DT Swiss Rims set up with Stan’s rims strips and Maxxis LUST tyres (Crossmark 2.25 LUST and High Roller 2.35 LUST) with no incident and a track pump.

– Resemblance to bukkake set – minimal.

Stiffer, yes, very definitely.

Bearing life barely adequete. Better than ISIS and Octalink but not a patch on the old square taper.

On the plus side, not yet had an “external” BB seize into the BB shell…

What do you hope to achieve from it?

Nowt much really. Just trying to establish the self-assessment of the average singletracker.

Mine – “surpisingly effective climber, if lacking in grace. Doesn’t fulfil “on paper” potential on descents”.

Anyway this Port Charlotte expression is quite something. WHAT!

the only way you feel better after a ride than you do at the start

Old Pultney….big and clever in a bottle?

I am a victim of those terribly clever New Zealand chaps who can turn Pinot Noir into a delightfully quaffable 14.5% libation. Which led us onto finishing the Corbieres left over from last night, and maybe a dram for digestion/ morale.

Ahem.

B

maybe I’m a saddo, but why mess with someone’s feelings?

Thanks all.

I did go and speak to neighbour last night, who basically seems incredulous that it is even an issue, and never thought to ask us if it was OK.

thomtumb – indeed. Came home last night to find a scaffholding tower in front of the house. Still there today.

thisisnotaspoon – 12 hours is a gross exaggeration. Ciclo normally head off at 10, back late afternoon, with a morning coffee and menu of the day for lunch. Most days have a van somewhere in them (we’ve only had a downlift once, despite the threats…!).

Sounds like Ciclo they do climb more than Switchbacks, but you can’t drive to the top of all the best descents so plenty of quality payback for your effort.

“It’s all XC really….”

Marco was going to get that put on stickers.

As others have said, tubeless for the thorns, strong carcass for the rocks.

I had a bit of a ‘mare two years ago and went through three tyres (all different, one Bonty lasted about an hour!) – all slits to carcass. Ended up on single ply DH tyres set up tubeless last year but that was total overkill.

This time I used High Roller front (2.35 LUST) and Crossmark rear (2.25 LUST) – that seemed to work well.

Marco does loves his Larsens though (but if you have same tyres as him, that’s one excuse gone!). Enjoy anyway.

EDIT: Ardents would be good as well. If you have them, might as well use them. That’s what I say.

Maybe the OP should get his child adopted now, then it will stand some sort of chance in later life.

How old is your child?

I’m nearly sure it doesn’t work, but maybe I’m just not getting the mix right? Trying isotonic sports Burgundy tonight.

Coracle manufacturer?

3G still borked. If you want a reminder of how crap mobile internet used to be, Orange are your guys.

If you can, bin it and Orange now. Had more issues with Orange in the last few months than I had with Vodafone in 10 years. Shabby doesn’t come close.

Popped into the Orange phone shop at lunchtime and they haven’t had much 3G action since yesterday either. Definitely something up with network.

Anyone know where I can get a fast carrier pigeon???

So not just me then – makes me feel a bit better.

If I turn 3G off then GPRS or EDGE data still works so that’s something I suppose.

Wish I’d stuck with Vodafone, whose network just worked without any cocking around.

My take on it after two weeks and 200 miles on a rigid Scandal. Ridden all sorts of terrain – local woods, long rides on easy trails (railway paths and towpaths), Rothiemurchus and Glen Feshie, Glentress, Pentlands, bit of commuting.

Very impressed with it – it’s far more useable than a rigid 26er would be, and in swoopy open stuff it’s a hoot, but certainly wouldn’t want it as an only bike.

Pros

Roll smoother and faster over holes and bumps – yes, definitely. Less upset by braking bumps, smallish holes and square edges. Seriously impressed with how much a rigid bike can handle

More traction from more tyre on the ground – maybe, but I think the bigger wheels rolling over stuff has more to do with it than contact patch. Have ridden up some loose steep stuff and steps I normally wouldn’t make on a 26er, and it can take smooth, sweeping corners well quick

More rolling momentum at speed think so – seems to carry speed a bit better (or rather feels like it looses speed a bit less easily than a 26er if that is different)

More stability due to longer wheelbase and lower CoG – certainly feels stable and much more “in” the bike than 26ers which IMO is good thing as long as you keep pedal clearance

Proportionate wheel size to body height helps taller riders get better bike fit – I’m 5′ 11″ and riding an 18 frame so not sure I can comment here cos they don’t make 29ers much smaller than that

Cons

Larger wheels create more drag and less lively ride – not hugely noticable – suspect rigid ride “involvement” is offset by any negatives here

Harder to accelerate – Yes – first couple of pedal strokes seem a bit more laboured getting up to speed, but once you’re going you’re in business, and carrying speed means less acceleration anyway

Harder to manual wheelie because of higher axles – Very noticeable, but possibly doesn’t matter as much as rolls over things better and more “in” the bike so less teetering over normal sized drops etc

Slightly slower turning ability – Sweeping turns and berms are ace , but slow speed stuff is a more of a challenge – need to “flick” the bike into turns a lot more. The turning circle is a bit larger too; there’s one trail junction I ride that I basically have to do almost a complete turn back on myself to get into and i can do that on 26er but have to hop the back wheel round a bit on 29er – it just don’t fit.

Heavier than comparable 26er – Can’t really say. 29er is lightest MTB – probably because it’s fully rigid – don’t think much in it

Charlie – I read the Salsa thing as a total US-litigous-society-arse-covering manoeuvre as they say this for all their rims – and so I self-evidently ignored it :-)

It worked OK (Maxxis Ardent 2.25 tyres on Salsa Delgado Cross rims), only done one short ride but tried some pretty vigorous cornering to check the tyres were on OK and unlikely to roll off and they seemed to be fine. Used 2 layers of yellow tape and 2 layers of electrical tape to build the rim bed up plus Stan’s 29er rim strips in there. It took a compressor to get them up – the tyres were quite slack even with all that stuff in the rim – much more and the rim strip wouldn’t sit in I don’t think. They sealed well enough even without latex and don’t seem to be losing air.

We’ll see…

Edit: THIS THREAD has more info (I don’t know what Gorilla Tape is – and am intrigued).

Whole thing was political interference in tragic series of events, whipped up into a media frenzy for short-term political gains.

In my view Shoesmith was right to do what she needed to do and has had the right verdict returned (obviously based on media coverage not actual true facts, but what else do I have to go on?).

Nothing will bring baby P back – key thing is to learn from the whole thing to minimise risks of a repeat, not decapitate a scapegoat and get back to business as usual.

There’s a bushing inside the freehub that wears slightly over time and eventually starts making the noise. You can either live with it, give it some lube (presumably shown by the video above) or replace the freehub.

Live with it is free, lube buys you a bit of quiet time (a few hundred miles on my experience), replace is about £40 for the freehub plus either DIY time or LBS labour.

I got it serviced once and then replaced.

Given the amounts involved it might be worth spending a couple of hundred quid on some advice from an IFA rather than asking us.

In very general terms, if it’s a “with-profits” policy you might be better staying put at this stage in the game as they tend to give you a fairly hefty hit if you surrender early. Unit-linked (sometimes also called non-profits) policies tend not to carry such high exit penalties so you might be better getting out, or at least stopping putting more money in and saving elsewhere (stocks and shares ISA, for example).

Really, only thing I can say is get some proper advice.

No different from home really. Doubt your average tea leaf cares which nationality he’s robbing.

Given how easily Thule locks can be opened without the key, I wouldn’t leave mine out of sight for more than a few minutes without reinforcement, let alone overnight.

Anything much to stop you taking a clean bike into the Formule 1 or whatever? If you’re that bothered get some Ground Effect bike pyjamas and then it’s just a big bag.

Ideas:

Hire a Velib on a Sunday. They close the Quais along the Seine from 9-5 or so, so you have a traffic-free route (most) of the way through the city. Costs €1 or €2 for a day pass then first 30 mins of each hire is free, then €1 for the next half hour.

Picasso museum is very good (in the Marais) – small so entirely managable (unlike the Louvre which is too vast to see in one visit) but really focused on one artist and his story of Picasso and explains the development of his art and style over time.

Go up l’Arc du Triomphe and watch the city from there, and the madness that is the traffic on l’Etoile.

Go to the Brassiere D’Ile St Denis for a Mutzig (if you’ve been to Morzine you’ll know Mutzig).

The Catacombs are also good (down near Montparnasse) – they moved all the bones out of Paris’s cemetaries in the 1800s and transferred them to disused limestone quarry tunnels under the city. Fascinating, if a little creepy.

Cemetiere Pere Lachaise is also good for a wander, but a bit of a mission on the metro.

Otherwise it’s a great city for a wander. You could probably do that for a weekend without any plan if it’s decent weather. For a wet day Musee D’Orsay is great, more modern work (impressionism onwards) and again quite manageable in an afternoon.

Are you sure you need a 200mm disc? 180 is a lot more stopping power than a 160 anyway.

Either way, check the gaiter carefully to make sure it clears the rotor when the fork is fully compressed. The gaiter on my GF’s hardtail looked like it would be ok with a 185mm rotor (110mm Lefty) but wasn’t. Cue slit open gaiter and no front brake to speak of as the fork sprayed the rotor with enough of a mist of grease/ oil to contaminate the brake.

It’s gaffer taped up until she gets it to Thumbprint for some lovin’ – seems to be OK like that.

200mm disc works fine on a 140mm Lefty Max though.

Very hard to generalise I’d imagine – I suspect people’s perceptions are going to be more skewed by what people and their friends/ family are seeing and doing, rather than real local or regional trends which are quite subtle in the great scheme of things.

Where does the money go?

Fraser and Spook live life like Fort William Jay-zees on the back of our race entries. Have you seen the lowered No-Fuss Hummer with the swimming pool in the back?

98% of Edinburgh taxi drivers are uncts. Actual true SCIENCE fact.

But polis won’t be interested as no collision.

And the licensing authority say dangerous driving isn’t their purview.

I am waiting for the plug for a similar event in the near future that is “just as good but half the price”.

nouseevents – bye bye.

Don’t let the door clap your arse on your way out.

goat?

I refer you to boxelder’s post and the video he’s embedded.

Great event and IMO good value for a very full day of MTB racing.

If that’s not your bag then fine, spend your money on something else.

It was very dry yesterday apart from a few sumps and springs.

Did some “summer only” trails (Bavelaw – Hare Hill – Green Cleuch – Black Hill – White Cleuch – Glencorse) and was still really, really dry even after the wee bit of rain we’ve had this past week. Has only really drizzled today as well so it’ll be grand.

No mud tyres required until we get a lot of heavy rain I’d wager.