I’m about to push the button on a FM015 frame and fork from DengFu FM015 direct from the factory which I organised via alibaba then email. They’ve been very good to deal with so far and the prices are lower than eBay if you go direct to the factory usually. Check out the HUGE threads on roadbikereview for lots of great information:

Sticky threads: http://forums.roadbikereview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=77

I was about to spend my christmas money on one but ended up spunking it on a carbon race frame for the road season. I still plan to get one (Skywatcher 150p on an EQ5 mount probably) later in the year. I’m blessed with living in a dark sky location which also happens to contain awesome roads and trails.

I can highly recommend the folks over at http://stargazerslounge.com/ for the STW of scopes and the sky at night.

Quite a surprise to get a Slipknot interview, Anthrax v Public Enemy and some RATM on the way to work this morning.

I’m in at 1022!

I think it’s an impressionist called Ralph something. Same thing crossed my mind so I googles Morethan Freeman

Can’t praise the stealth enough. Picked one up this autumn and it’s been great in torrential downpours and sub -10 snow rides as well as balmier days. Not a summer jacket I presume but you probably only need a gillet or featherlight rain shell over a ss jersey in the summer rain anyway.

Yeh I was waiting for a halflink in the Christmas slow-snow post at the time of the photo :)

Just built one and got out for the first time today. It’s bloody brilliant. I ditched an Orange ST4 and it’s XT drivetrain for a few choice parts from Charlie the Bike Monger and a second hand scandal frame. I think I prefer hardtails and after doing a lot more road work, I’ve become a lightweight MTBer rather than a heavy bouncy bike rider and it fits the bill perfectly. Silent operation, cheap and easy to maintain. Light up the hills and surprisingly plush down the rocks too. I’m running Rubber Quens which might add a bit of comfort but it works for me.

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On-One Scandal Singlespeed[/url] by Surfrdan[/url], on Flickr

Cross bikes are hugely versatile. Ibought one last January to commute on. I ended up doing a season of TTs, several centuary sportives, 2 cat 3/4 circuit races and a town centre crit, 3 league cyclocross races and a number of XC rides and trail centres. I’m now building a race bike for the new season but only to compliment the crosser. I’d make the same decision if I was doing it all again. 2 wheelsets makes life easier.

How long is a piece of string?

Really depends on environment and circumstance.

I lead a software development team within a national institution in the public sector. Although there is no written code, we tend to wear shirts, smart jeans and jumpers in colder weather with suitable smart footwear. Generally it would be considered smart-casual. We don’t meet the public and we don’t even deal with suppliers often. We do meet regularly with project stakeholders within the institution though which is why we don’t turn up in World of Warcraft t-shirts and trainers. It shouldn’t really matter, as I believe my staffs strengths are their abilities rather than their wardrobes, but other people put more emphasis on facades.

Out for xmas dinner with the roadie club today and everyone traded in their usual carbon road bikes for the dusty hardtails in the back of the shed while I tottered around on the cross bike. about 20 miles with a 3 course meal and a couple of pints in the middle. Lovely. We also had a guest along for the ride.

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Special guest on today’s Ystwyth CC Xmas dinner club run[/url] by Surfrdan[/url], on Flickr

8 miles on the local roads on the way up to Nant-yr-Arian

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Untitled[/url] by Surfrdan[/url], on Flickr

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Untitled[/url] by Surfrdan[/url], on Flickr

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Untitled[/url] by Surfrdan[/url], on Flickr

It’s only about 3 km of quiet back road to Nant-yr-Arian or to the Nant-y-Moch climb on the trans-cambrian sportive in the other direction out of the village so it seems a little rude to drive.

Road.cc seems to attract about a post per month on average. Bike Radar moves a little faster but it seems like Radies don’t seem to flog kit on anywhere near as much as MTBers. I think old bikes eventually get turned into winter trainers, then turbo trainer bikes and then they disintegrate, rather than get traded every time theres a new fad.

I got to the point where I started avoiding a number of our local trails as they were MX trails and severely rutted. the ST4 with a decent sag and a low BB was a nightmare. Looking forward to trying them again on the SS scandal to see if there’s a difference but they were certainly easier to ride on my old Malt 2 HT.

Don’t get me wrong. When out on rocky descents and man made trails it’s awesome to have a low BB and slack head tube but for this variety of riding, which our local group seems to like, it was a REAL pain.

pistonbroke. Yeh I’m sure I helped Shelley at the sign-on in the cafe at Nant a few years back. I just wasn’t aware of any events currently running. dreednya of these shores and Ystwyth MTB has mentioned possible interest in getting something going again soon. Joe H and I are supposed to be organising a cyclocross race in the area for 2011 season under the Ystwyth banner so may struggle to find time to organise 2 events but it’s definitely worth looking into if there’s local interest.

Are there any in my country? (Wales)

Just about to put the finshing touches on this build tonight. By bye gears and rear bounce.

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Untitled[/url] by Surfrdan[/url], on Flickr

Tanks for the replies guys. Attacked them one more time with a larger array of tools at my parents house and we got the pin free :) I’ll be replacing both the front and rears with split pins from now on incase that happens again.

Had the 3.2 V6 in 2005 for 6 months.

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IMG_2969.sized[/url] by Surfrdan[/url], on Flickr

Lovely interior. Plenty of power and torque from the V6. Suited my engine preferences at the time. Got me into trouble with plod though so I chopped it in early for a Focus in an attempt to temper my right foot. Having since owned 2 MX5s and and RX8 I’d say that it drives well but not as well as the Mazdas. The R8 has a whole pile of other issues though and NONE of the above are practical, although I did squeeze a bike into the RX8 on many an occasion.

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How to fit a bike in an RX8[/url] by Surfrdan[/url], on Flickr

Buy a rack if you want to cart bikes around.

Now knocking around in a high milage 1.6 TDCi Focus with the seats down and a huge tarp in the back for throwing bikes inside. It’s awesome and I love it to bits. No longer feel the need for speed and handling. Guess those 11 points on the license worked eventually (clean now).

The problem is removing the mashed remains of the existing pin first. I tried sawing a notch with a hacksaw blade but putting pressure on it with a screwdriver bent it some more, so then I reied drilling it but my drill bit was lame. I’ll get there in the end and then indeed I’m off to Halfords for a pack of split pins :) Otherwise it’ll be a Deore caliper for the meantime

Anyone?

Could go either way but I’d put a quid on Matt

80 mins on the turbo today but not been on tarmac or trail in weeks. It’s mostly thawed out there but when it freezes every bloody night and leaves a frost covering, I’m not going to chance it. Feel like I’m seriously missing the base miles though and looking forward to a good Sunday club run soon.

http://www.fieldandtrek.com/ ?

Bought a Hope 2nd hand off the classifieds this afternoon. Will see how it goes and if that fails in a year maybe I’ll look at the Royce/Middleburn combo. I’ve always wanted to anyway.

I guess they aren’t that expensive anymore in the grand scheme of things. I know a few guys around here have gone the CK route and invested in the grease port tools too.

JHW, most countries require that you operate within a licence but yes, this variety of radio is no more complex to operate than CB or PMR. Put a call out on the calling frequency and await a response. Or browse around and interupt another conversation if it’s an emergency.

After putting my mech into my rear wheel resulting in a couple extra hours to get home in dying light this summer, I sat the RSGB Foundation exam for amateur radio and now carry a small 2M/70cm rugged handheld if I’m going to remote locations. It’s small enough to fit in a jersey pocket and will work when mobile signal is not available. Still not perfect as those frequencies require line of sight really but it’s another option to have. Not much bigger than a pack of cards and it’s also a multiband scanner which I use to listen to the RAF entering low level around Wales.

What’s so bad about 215 for entry? I’m sure its been around the 50 quid each mark for most 4 man teams for a while now for Mayhem and Sleepless at least.

nothing is impossible. It might take a while and a lot of resources, but any key is breakable eventually.

I think that’s exactly where it was Ambrose:

In sunnier times:

Prof. Brian Cox

James May

Sophie Dahl

Greg Wallace

Yeh I’m not going to sacrifice comfort or handling. Keeping my Rebas, XT brakes and probably Rubber Queens or the new Mountain King 2s on the ground.

Can this be avoided by an inline filter or somesuch?

I think it’s just as has been mentioned above, the gut is the last bit to go and can seem as though it’s not budging even when the rest of you is getting thinner. I’m in the same boat having dropped from 15.4 stone to 11.12 which is where I am now. I feel like I’ve hit a plateau but I think it’s just perception. You ride and race plenty but it’s always worth mixing up your training to keep your body on it’s toes.

Do you eat a good breakfast? I’ve started forcing myself to have a bowl of porridge in the morning to wake up the metabolic system. This has resulted in me now feeling hungry at 10AM whereas before I could hapily fast until 12 without a problem, but I take this as my metabolic system is awake earlier and is converting that porridge energy along with converting fats when before my system was just asleep for the first half of the day. Could be worth kick starting yourself nice and early and ensure you don’t heat within the last 3 hours of the evening before bed when your system is shutting down again.

Currently thinking that a scandal+tensioner may be the best bet. I may get in touch if the one I’m looking at doesn’t materialise. I can transfer my forks and wheels and everything else across from the ST4 and use my existing tensioner and spacer kit to see how I like it.

Really sad. But it did make me run along to play.com and order up a boxxed set of naked gun, aeroplane and police squad this morning. Also includes something called Top Secret which I’ve never seen.

Nice to be greeted by scratch at the finish at Pembrey today. Great race and fast and hard like everywhere else by the sounds of things.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/58202393

Not raced Pembrey before. What can I expect? I’ve heard it’s fast but includes a 3 foot drop into sand. Is there anything technical?