*shakes fist*

I hate smug people who want LESS in a sleeping bag!

phd designs will make one to your spec – fjallraven used to do them and I think Mountain Hardwear do if you can get hold of them.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY?!?!? I WANT 24 hr WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITIES!

Oh dry your eyes wet pants – try using the internet for research rather than complaining! I'll bet you a shiny pound that your local council has a website with that sort of information.

We go by 17th Edition trained as a qualification for competent – but our installations are not exactly domestic – safe, but not quite as safe as houses!

FleaBay seems to be a good place for people who only used them a few times. Some places are knocking out the Mont Blanc ones at good prices at the moment. They seem pretty sleek too.

Nice to help out the men. The unspoken code of sharing the good stuff when XXL appears at a good price!

Super Scale 20 – Member
Damn I am a medium – gutted

*points*

Ha ha

Panniers for sure.
Can you get any locker space at work? Anything that would negate carrying everything every day would make life easier. A weeks worth of shirts hung up is better than a folded one every day.
If you are that worried about helmet hair, your bouffant is foppish and you really need to have a word with yourself.
Look at the Kryptonite New York M18 – E Bay or Amazon.co.uk for the cheapest prices. It is the big brother of Kryptonite locks and really for the motorbike world – under £70 if you shop around.
Try to find showers – there must be something somewhere – sports centre? You could always get some maritime soap and wash in the sea!

At least you said something to him while he was alive. That means 1000000000 times more than anything after he has gone.

Ferrari – passion and performance

Audi – engineering accuracy and performance.

Are you driving with your brains or your balls?

hotsauceemporium[/url]

They have a shop in Bristol – they'll burn you bad, brother!

You'll not find cheaper. It might be worth trying the ex-pat websites and see whether anyone is moving a house-load from USA to UK from the area your bike is in. I have wrangled this one many times.

If you've got to ask what to collect, you're a bit of a lost cause really. Most people seem to collect things because they like them and/or have n interest in them. Asking what to collect seems to negate that basic interest.

I'd second Mesh. I've had several, recommended many and all have been great – except one and their warranty support was rapid.

Come to the Bike Jumble at Mud Dock at 12 today and LOADS of people there will know! :D

I should have said '26ers I used to own'. Now only got the Sultan, the Scandal and a hybrid commute bike.

Ti – having a FS with the big wheels makes you feel far more comfortable off the HT bike. I'll not go back to 26 unless I want something that feels too small!

Bushwacked – not true. I am far more confident and stable on either of my 29er bikes than any of my 26 bikes. The Turner Sultan is so capable it instills the confidence that it'll be my failing and not the bike every time.

You need to MTFU, get rid of the kiddy bike and have a pure, manly 29er range of 'steeds' in your 'stable'. You're a man now – ditch your youth bike.

Shameless whoring bump back up for 'tis TODAY!

Bristolians – come on down and exchange your 'tat' for someone else's 'tat' and make each other happy. Who knows – someone might really need that single XT shifter you've got in your spares box!

Starts at high noon – but coffee drinking and cakeage available to purchase from Mud Dock cafe if you arive early.

I've worn contacts for 18 years. I've worn them for rugby, surfing, mountain biking and even extended periods in the desert under less-than-hotel conditions. I've never needed to put them in my mouth. I guess some people are just nasty in different ways.

Wearing eye protection whilst mountain biking is just common sense. Anything less and you're inviting that small branch to whip across your eyeball. Unless you don't even wear a helmet. They you're a karma-tempting hippy.

a lot of fuss, with people coming along telling everyone what a great guy he is.

…and him pointing out that anyone who isn't in his gang is a 'pathetic little fish' because they don't share his insecurities and are willing to state their point of view? The wheel turns once more, another bout, another fix for the insecure attention-seeker. I hope it lasts a day or two and costs less than a new bike.

Left handed grown up in a right handed world. I use all cutlery 'normally' but use a spoon in my left hand. I can't use LH scissors or other stuff as that wasn't an option as a kid. Probably best to not over-compensate with the LH gadgets as the rest of the world isn't fitted out the same way.

**** off. Really – please – I had a certain sympathy for your attention seeking and saw it as a symptom of something else that you have unresolved. I'm not qualified to say anything like that, but there are reasons for things.
Your constant desire to draw attention to yourself and push the edges (then sit there with an innocent look saying 'what do you mean?' when you get called on it) has now gone beyond 'that bloke has issues' to 'sort it out because whoring yourself on a cycling forum is not the answer'. You're not being whacky and cute and entertaining – you're just putting on a show that either masks or distracts from something else.

Bump it up for tomorrow.

Forecast is for great bargains, rare kit, classic frames and perhaps some precipitation.

I suppose it depends whether you are a regular willy-waving attention whore who thinks a mountain biking forum is the best place to discuss a medical problem.

If you are near Bristol, can you persuade them to come down to the Bike Jumble on Saturday? We could all gawp at them and offer loud judgement for you.

There are 'coaster brake' rear hubs out there. That sounds like what you are after.

Local DIY store. Most have a range – even B&Q carry it.

Soob – please tell me you're not at work – today of all days.

I did this today already. Big dumbass.

Some might call it 'growing up'.

can you not read english??

Yeah – cos the bloke is skint and could do with some charity.

[ironic wink]

cheap ****

I know what you mean – but only as far as 29er bikes feel to me after 26" bikes.

Secure door and barred windows? How did they get in?

Kryptonite New York M18 – E-Bay seller has a couple for a good price. You know you've bought a solid lock – highly recommended over a chain as well.

I think the point is instead of being so critical why not offer some useful advice

In the words of Lao Tzu – Give a man a fish and you feed him for just one day, Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime!

far more poetic than 'teach people to find their way around'.

over 250lbs on the saddle and a bike should 'king well go where it is pointed.

Dr R Swank

Despite your small-man angriness and tedious little jibes, I'll keep you on track:

The OP said the given map wasn't much use. Fair enough, it doesn't tell you each trail, but it does narrow down the countryside to what is probably less than a couple of square miles for most of the trails.

The OP go lost and had to ask how to get back to the car park. If the OP had used the map (and / or compass) he would have known that heading South with a few corrections would have got them back to the car park.

The OP wondered "why a couple of routes haven't been waymarked out like you get at the welsh trail centres". Well – it isn't a trail centre. Mountain biking evolved there along with other activities. They have chosen to keep it au naturelle. Scary isn't it?

Maps alone are not much use if you can't orientate them. If the OP had the map and a compass, they could have got to the centre of the trails area in minutes – then back again.

The OP couldn't find specific trails and get back to the car park. Being told there are dozens of miles of great singletrack in a couple of square miles is a gift – but not if you want to turn up and follow signposts.

Soob – we can't help you beyond The Look Out – take care out there fella.

Amos – Member

I think what OP was getting at is that he went to Swinley, known mountain biking trail centre, and was disappointed that there was no way marking, can't attack him for that! If I went to Glentress, Afan or even Cwmcarn knowing there are some good trails and didn't find any I'd be disappointed.

I'm not attacking him, but it isn't a mountain biking trail centre. It is a forest area that has been partially developed for cycling. I'd be disappointed to go to Afan and find a Go Ape, kids playground and something like The Look Out Centre – but thats me not expecting the moon on a stick.

As for this "you must be an expert map reader to be a mountain biker" attitude, Righto Too Tall! must be easy finding your way up on that soap box It's got nothing to do with radness or sickness or indeed gnralyness it's about being overworked having a family and barely finding oppotunity to get out on your bike as much as one would like let alone finding time to hone navigation skills hence the creation of trail centres and fat mountain bikers Dude!!

Not really – its about people not being able to find their own arses with both hands and a torch. If you are going out into an unknown area (outside a trail centre – scary – wooooo), then you should accept some small responsibility for yourself – water, food, spares and, dare I say it, some way of navigating. Anything less than that and you should have a homing beacon and training wheels fitted as well as a long bit of string to find your way home.

You don't need to ride a bike to hone the skills to know where you are. I'm a parent, I'm busy, I don't get out on my bike as much as I want to – but I can go beyond the end of my street and find my own way home without a satnav. Anything less and you should stick to waymarked trails.

Kryptonite M18

D locks are safer than chains – and that one at that price is pretty damned fine. I have one but not exactly the lock to drag on a commute – if you can leave it somewhere.