Dangerous and risky to go out there looking on spec for riding. I only ever saw other mountain bikers on Vesuvius and even then it wasn't great. The Amalfi / Sorrento coast is heavily developed and very steep and I doubt you'd find much there at all. Given the propensity for extreme views on privacy, feral dogs and other antisocial tendencies, I really wouldn't be expecting to get any decent riding down there. I lived in Naples for a couple of years and worked hard to get the crappy XC riding I did get in that whole area. Yes – some of the national parks look good, but if you don't speak the language you'll get nowhere. Sorry.

F_C – bottle of cheap gin, empty out about half of it, half-fill bottle with sloes (you need to break the skin – see below) then about 150g of sugar, top up with gin, put the top on and shake. Put it in a dark cupboard and give it a good shake about once a week. Start tasting at about the 3 month mark once sugar is all dissolved. Leave no longer than 6 months. Decant, let it settle and syphon off and leave the sediment. Enjoy.

Take the gin-soaked sloes and bung in some scrumpy cider, leave for a week. Enjoy slider!

Breaking the skin – some use pins, some a fork. Too much effort. I freeze the sloes until I need them, then run a batch under the hot tap – that defrosts them and breaks the skin.

If you want to make a lot, use demijohns or something bigger – same proportions. I made 4 gal last year in a home brew barrel! Damson gin is very similar if you have them local too.

elfin – irony is just another metal to you isn't it?

I for one took the OP's post in the light hearted manner that I had assumed it was meant.. There's been a bit of banter on here the last couple of days on the subject and I took the post to be the latest reposte..

you talk about "exclusive" and "inclusive" but your attitude is full of hate towards others.

No hate there at all. Just a thread with a different view to others expressed recently. You appear to have quite a serious view of my preferences expressed – are you hating yourself for not burning calories right now?

showerman – why would you not go to a bike jumble that happens to be outside a shop you didn't like once?

The jumble is run by the Cheesy Riders, or Agency Scum in particular. Find another parade to rain on – the bike jumble happens every month and draws in every sort of rider, seller and buyer.

In Bristol for those that don't know. 🙄

I don't believe I said anything about fitness or fatness. I mentioned the skinny beer-haters who took themselves too seriously – nobody else. I didn't even mention riding ability, resting heart rate, height, wheel size, pace or cake. Just the people who get the hump when someone else has a less-than-pure attitude to riding a bicycle.

Whaddya do with the crab apples guys?

Have crabapple fights! No – crabapple jelly is lovely – quite delicate and a lovely home made Christmas gift for the friends. I did hedgerow jelly too – sloes, damsons, crabapples and blackberries together – that was nice.

Abus Granite and Kryptonite New York didn't fair too well in this vid

Which is why I recommended a D Lock.

People are aware that some bike thieves have been hacksawing through frames to steal bikes aren't they? If they are breaking them anyway, the frame is just a part and the other components still make it worth their while. Don't scrimp on your building security just to buy a big chain.

I did bramble whisky last year as an experiment. It is pretty good, but it isn't sloe gin!

BTW – looks like Asda and Sainsburys have the cheapest gin atm.

Kryptonite M18

A very good lock indeed.

You may want to try the Aeropress with the inverted method

Can't see a good reason to. Not stirring means grounds not properly wet means poor cuppa.

I have 29ers and an Aeropress – glad you like the Aeropress – couldn't care less if you don't like my 29ers!

I have a Gaggia too – but that is rubbish for taking to work.

Ox – either you are more experienced at handling vast quantities of fuel than I am, which is possible, or you are a bit of a keyboard warrior yourself. A jar of petrol in a well-ventilated place is no problem for most upright-walking humans with a modicum of common sense.

Given you use woolen clothing and Ecover, there isn't much hope for you. As a lentil-weaving neu-age type, we expect you to smell.

You should be fine with a track pump.

Are you SURE they aren't TORX head bolts on there?

I doubt you'd get them if they were OEM – like not getting a shock pump with a bike that has shocks but you do when you buy shocks.

Bonti tyres are a bitch to inflate

Erm, no they are not.

Millhouse – not explicit on the Bonty site but if you buy a set of those wheels, it

Includes TLR rim strips and valve cores

so I surmised that you would need rim strips and valves.

rim strips and valves – according to the BONTRAGER WEBSITE!

Have you tried 'set up self employed' in that Google thing? It gives the businesslink and HMRC gospel as the 1st & 2nd links.

FWIW I drive an Audi, I ride a Marin, I've got a carbon Fibre full sus and a road bike

I ………don't support Nazi ideals.

I think the Audi, Marin, carbon and road bike prove you are the sort of person most people here would shun!

By that reasoning

None seen. Carry on.

Your LBS should have a reel of outer and plenty inner cable – just buy a few metres to suit your needs.

That's a reasonable price. Embroidery costs and you're paying for the setup.

TooTall, I think you mean the "English language", rather than the "english language".

I did mean that and I even typed it – but I thought 'random' capitals in the middle of a sentence might startle the horses, given there were none where there might be some.

It's OK RD – there will be something else along that is niche before the mainstream adopt it. You'll always be able to have that 'look-at-me' aspect in the future. Fret not.

forget the tattoo, shall I go bald instead then…..have I spelled that right it don't look right to me

I have corrected the spelling – the rest is too much of a crime against the english language for me right now.

Don't you like 'old' bikes? OR are you an annual bike-changer like half of this lot?

Not so much vain as attention seeking

We've got a whole great big bargain bucket-load of them around here!

I can imagine EuroClive racing:

"ELITE RIDER COMING THROUGH – try keeping your weight over the bars a bit more – that should help with the corners"

As Al said…..

PSA: those holes that you punch out of paper are called chads

as opposed to the hole strengthener stickers you can get – which are called 'teddy-bear's aerseholes'.

Every day is a school day on STW.

Give your fixie to someone more cool. If you have to ask advice on what to wear / use with your fixie, you are not hip enough for it. I've seen them in Bristol – it's true!

Pfft – XL and short is easy! XXL and tall isn't. 😡

(or XXXXXL in Italian sizes)

I couldn't disagree more (in a commercial sense)

Not really. It depends what you are doing in business and who you are working to / for. If someone owns a business, then they decide their own image.

Not acceptable at and especially at work and possibly illegal to turn someone down for a job because they have tatoos.

Depends where they have them. A couple of major UK employers won't take people with tattoos visible above the neck and below the wrist. They are open about that and it is quite legal for them to do so.

I think it is ADH on his commute. He has been shy of late.

ton – Member

my md always wears a long sleeved shirt, even in the hotest weather.
never seen him in a short sleeved polo shirt like the rest of us wear.

i think tatoos are very acceptable nowadays, in any walk of life.

WHOOOOOOSHHHHHHHHH

You just need the barbed wire, some Chinese caligraphy and a few stars and you'll have ticked every box! A walking history of passing tattoo fads!

I was going to risk guessing the year he had them! There would have to be something down the inside of his arm to really hit all the cliches.

Some people with tattoos think there is something to 'get'. There isn't.

Surely employing people with visible tattoo's would suggest that the company is a bit more relaxed and open minded to various elements of society? As long as it's nothing offensive, I don't see why there should be a problem.

Wake up and smell the coffee, princess. Some business is still carried out by people wearing suits with fairly conservative attitudes – especially the older generations. Relaxed and open minded? Stick with the media darlings. Whether you like social norms or not, they exist.

Shibboleth – have you thought about getting a large fishing rod tattoo somewhere? You are very good.