Studded bike tyres are sold in Sweden. Can’t remember if there are mountainbike tyres but I would suspect there are.

But maybe this thread is about building your own.

Chain tool if you haven’t got it and what PeterPoddy said, chain links! I as of recently always carry a spoke tool with me too (which may be included in your tool anyway).

Also always carry a first aid kit (and you need to know how to use it of course).

Waterproof jacket too. Very important.

Shawshank. Pretty much everyone’s top 5 best movies always contain this. I think someone started seeing it in someone’s top five and had such crap imagination that they also started copying it. Wtf? it was decent, not a top 5!

Front brake in Sweden is on the left side (in the whole of Europe I suspect!).

In hairy situations my brain goes back to the child state and I struggle to know which brake is for which. Really annoying. I think I’ll switch them over, cant stand having to bleed the brakes again though!

There are not enough bike lanes in this country. It’s bloody shameful to be honest. Visit other European countries and there will more often than not be some proper cycle paths. That doesn’t exist here to the same extent, if at all. This would be the number one way to reduce casualties.

Then there is definitely NOT enough police presence/checks on the roads. Christ, in the two years in drove a car in Sweden I got stopped 3 times for breathalyzing tests, never happened here.

I still say the biggest reason for casualties is that cyclists have to mix with cars on the roads. And when I say cycle paths i don’t mean a green painted strip on the road, but proper separated bits.

You want to use a multipronged approach. Head office, faxes, letters. Head office demanding to speak to a boss in charge works. Refusing to put phone down etc. Need balls and perseverance. I can’t do it myself but I used to be on the receiving end quite a lot!

I swear at sheep when on really long bike trips. Proper swearing. I normally really quite like sheep in a non sexual way.

In Sweden you typically use them outdoors actually, on the “altan” – which is typically a semi enclosed area with a roof covering either half of the floor surface or more (typically) so you out the infra heaters on to keep warm basically. They work fine, tend to attract mozzies in Sweden but this country isn’t blessed with them. They work fine.

Just looked at the link, they seem to be the next generation as the ones we used in Sweden typically have the tube visible. Ahum.

So ignore my advice, I can only answer for the lower tech version.

They’re great. Massively popular in Sweden. Does the same thing as gas heater really.

Grass tyre wins haha dang

A bit off topic:, you can get electric clothes horses now (the pipes heat up).

100 quid a month 26 miles per day. Just realised what’s been causing my horrendous mpg – the front wheels spin 0.5 revolutions when hoisted up. Some serious brake issues!

I stopped wearing pads as it just makes me sweaty like hell. Just wear under armour undies and baggies. Works a treat.

Google mail documents might work for you?

Im waiting for some of the neoshell stuff which is supposed to be stretchy, water proof and super breathy. Who knows, could be good.

Death drop :( maybe in a couple of years. Fark!

Stoner shouldn’t that be a 2 instead of the first 4?

That’s Stupid cheap. Can’t be legit.

Gf got them on her cheap apollo. Brilliant for quick shifting! Just drag the whole thing almost a whole rev and voila! Didn’t realise there were high spec ones!

Have we time warped 10 years? Corrado and puma? Im not a new car snob, just saying :)

Wouldnt normal old school rubber brakes work better, albeit with poorer braking power?

Ouch. Glad you’re ok mate! Where do you actually put your camera? On your belt?

Camera bag, external flash, second hand 1.8 50mm lense, wifi enabled sd-card, photo course.

If she has no ext flash that’s what I’d get her first.

Kielder trails, and fire roads are mainly sandstone and when its wet your bike gets covered in a grinding paste. Its a bike killer…

That would explain why I’ve got fine dust all over my bike from my last kielder visit. Aha!

That ST looked ace! Never ending.

4 pads? Crikey! Why do the pads get eaten so quickly? Worse in rain?

I bought the Mavic Creek jacket, which is just awesome for when it’s just pouring down. I wouldn’t consider it a jacket to wear always.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=32334

Pros:
1. Light
2. Breathable
3. Under arm zips
4. Front mesh zip (so basically you zip up two zips when putting it up. The first zip is basically a 2 inch wide mesh which you can keep open when going up hill.
5. Front full zip – when going down hill – zip the full zip up which then covers the mesh.
6. The back of the jacket can expand with two zips up the whole length of the back almost, which means in theory you should be able to fit a thinner camelback type backpack underneath (instead of on top).
7. It covers most of my bumbag which I typically use for riding too.

It’s just an awesome jacket but it typically only comes out when it’s raining properly.

FMCG big company. Hit by increase in raw material costs. Pay increases are at least still happening, albeit low. No redundancies but quite a few “early retirements”. No new hiring really, some temps. Western Europe sales flat, all focus on new and developing markets. So nowt bad really but you’re expected to do a whole lot more. Could be a LOT worse comparing to what other people are writing here.

oh ffs I gave what I thought. Sue me.

It also means you tend to straighten your leg sooner in the pedal stroke, rather than putting maximum force through a bent knee. Still try and keep the cadence up though.

By the way, do you ever walk up stairs? I really hope you don’t, if you think stepping up with your weight on each leg alternately is more than your knees can cope with…
Look mate, some people have weaker knees than others. Funnily enough, if I run up stairs my knee gives out. Perhaps you’re blessed with youth or light weight or good knees, but if you don’t, overdoing cycling up hill can seriously knack your knee up.

The leg is designed for running, which creates a lot of impact on the knees, so shirley the damage/stress of cycling standing up is insignificant when you consider what the knee is ment to do?

Imagine running and landing on your foot while your knee is bent. Perhaps not the best comparisson but the issue is that you’re loading your knee joint with a lot of force at timings it is not necessarily used to unless you’re gradually increased the force you put onto your knee, ligaments, muscles and whatnot.

I’m just speaking from experience of having shoddy knees and doing things very wrong in the beginning.

Standing up means you put even more strain on your knees as you shift your whole weight to that leg. Sitting down you don’t do that even if you peddle with the same cadence. When standing up you also tend to pull on your handle bar much more, creating even more stress on your knees.

Sit down and work (make sure you’ve got your seat post at the right height).

The phantom is bloody hot though, even in winter

And ANY gel or liquid detergent will never contain bleach so if you got a honking set of clothes good old powder is usually your best bet

Oh, and most people dose too much when washing with powder so get a dosing device (from manufacturers website or careline).

I work in the industry of detergents. Service wash is what I would recommend with powder that contains bleach (powders that are for White and bright clothes and it says in ingredients if it contains bleach) and you want to use a biological one as it has enzymes that clean better than a non bio (England is the only country I know of where non bio is a selling point!). Do a couple of empty runs with powder (one scoop or so) if one is not enough. 60 degrees should do the trick but try higher if required. Leave the door open afterward as that helps dry the drum out quicker (you should always do that really).

Learnt to true a wheel from YouTube. Took 2 days and plenty wine.

Mikedoublebleu: the hills were horrible :)

I did it the wrong way around. Edinburghh to Newcastle and pretty much constant headwind :) avoid that. Secondly the pubs around the mid bit often stop serving food after 2-3 on the Sunday which meant we didn’t have proper food that day (late arrival). So check where you can lunch at the planning stage.