Yes – I recommend some 29er wheels!

I've got some Halo rims on XT hubs that my LBS built up for me – 3 years ago. Straight and true after 3 years of clumsy riding from me.

I asked Hope several months ago and got a 'we do 26" mountain bike Hoops and we're going to do road Hoops' – they seemed a bit baffled at the possibility of mixing some big rims with a mtb hub.

Right you lot. I'll harvest the e-mails and start a bit of a NE Bristol mailing list. Pubs, paths, there must be trails linking them all.

Your weight on a bike, most of the time, is on the pedals. The pedals are the same height off the ground as the BB is a similar height for most bikes. Therefore CoG difference is tiny. You can sit and do the math all you want – riding a bike is the only true proof that it works or not.

an XL Heckler has done me fine for three years now with a Maverick Speedball and 70mm stem. My problem is getting the bar height right so I don't feel that I'm tipping forward.

So you work to compromise for the fact your aerse is too high and you feel you're tipping forward? Sounds like a bike too small.

I dunno – can't see that from work. I'll be home in a bit. POETS day and all that.

I plan more research this weekend. I'll get back to you!

ADH promised me a guide around Bath, not Emersons Green! Don't believe anything he says – a slippery wee customer and no doubt. Nice hips tho.

If only ADH offered to do that for me! I live out in Emersons Green and would LOVE that sort of information. I could string you a few random joined-by-cycle-paths rides around there that are fairly pub-centric.

close the room door overnight – put salt down. Find shrivelled slug in morning.

Not me guv

Orang – if you could make it to Bristol I have 2 x 29ers in different flavours. You are more than welcome to try them and see what you think.

In 2005 I thought I'd found the bike for me. It was an XL Scott RC (30 I think), XC FS – felt brilliant, capable, so comfortable, loved it. Then I got one of the first batch of ScandAL 29ers from On One and built it up. REVELATION! Suddenly I found a bike that felt right. I rode that solid for months and went back to the Scott – it felt awful. Cramped, small, the wheels felt like I was riding on castors and it seemed like it was all tucked up underneath me. It felt like I was riding on something too small – something I'd have argued 6 months earlier.
I knew 29ers would be right for me, but I hadn't realised the difference until I really got to ride one for a while. As tall blokes, we have had a lifetime of making things fit and convincing ourselves it works (bikes, cars, seats, houses, beds etc). It isn't until you really try the right stuff (car that fits properly, decent bed, raised worktops, 29ers) that you realise how much you have compromised in the past.

GaryLake – Agency_Scum covets MY bike and he buys stuff from me – not the other way round! I make my money at the bike jumble from selling to him.

I doubt Orange would 'make a killing' on an XXL bike. The market is small (despite the hugeness of the riders) and a huge 26" wheeled bike has very limited appeal now other manufacturers are getting 29er geometry sorted.

I'm 6'5" and have a 20" 5, wouldn't want it any bigger personally.

Have you ridden much that is bigger, or do you just want the bmx feel for riding?

Just flown with a bike. It had been packed by:

taking the wheels off
tie-wrapping the frame & forks to a piece of cardboard the size of the box
used cardboard & pipe lagging tie-wrapped to bike to protect
bars had been taken out of the stem, padded & tie-wrapped to the frame
spacers in brakes & axle voids
rear mech unbolted and tie-wrapped to inside of rear triangle
discs off the wheels
another piece of cardboard in box between wheels and frame
FRAGILE tape all over it. No worries.

Orang – I've gone pure 29er now and I'm not looking back. It depends what you want, but if you want to stick with 26", then you should look at a Turner 5 Spot in XXL – it is a 23" frame. I personally think 29er is the way forward for big blokes, but if you want kiddy wheels, at least get a big enough frame.

If you are riding 'trialsy' you want a hardtail don't you? :? Full sus would be a compromise for that sort of stuff?

There are almost none for those of us on the Northern edge of the ring road. I am still exploring despite all evidence thus far.

Orang – you are in something like the 95th percentile. Most things in the world are made for, at best, the 80th percentile. There is little profit in the XXL or the XXS, so few make them. Most decent sized bikes are in the American marketplace as they are made over there. British companies have almost no interest in something as niche – Hope won't even do their Hoops in 29er (yet do 26" and road wheels).
Until you ride other bikes (especially those that actually DO fit you), you won't know what actually fits and you may well think it fits when it doesn't. I've been there.

Cute, but is it worth the effort to only be seen when a light is shone on it at night?

Why not look at the commercial high viz stuff and modify / print on it? The local council gives away screen printed high viz vests and high viz rucsack covers with their own logos on them. People then use them all the time and the logo is seem far more often (advertising you?).

There are!!! Thems the secret ones!!!!

thanks for that :?

I just wish there were more trails being developed away from Ashton Court and that area.

If they work as well as these:

ecofan[/url]

then yes – but I like the Ecofan styling more. Looks less complicated too.

Is it still an arrestable offence if im only drunk in charge of a bike offroad?

That WOULD be the end of your mountain biking and no doubt!

CHB – depends where they are using this stuff. I'd suggest you stick with the British Standard gear as a basis and work up from there. I can't see any insurers etc being happy with a random set of bits and pieces that are your 'choice' rather than what has been approved for use on the highways. Depends what these people do of course as you've not said.

Turner Sultan? The 29er version of the 5 Spot, which seems to fit the AM bracket. Although, If I were 5'9" I'd be riding a 26er – and I don't own any 26" bikes any more.

He means cycle clothing for real sized men – not the 'malnourished Italian waif' that most shops carry. Twin 6 in XXL might be a start.

Add value. A bike shop could just be a shop that sells bikes, or it could be everything everyone up there has said. You find your place between those two points and be comfortable with it. What do you two do well? Work on your own strengths – you'll do best at your own strengths. Perhaps work out local rides from the shop and lead them? Give people a reason to come to you. Good parking always helps too.

Good if you live near Ashton Woods area. If not, you'll have to travel a bit more than some places I've lived. Loads within an hours drive. Some local riders are a bit 'seasonal' and some of them promise hugs then don't turn up. Fickle lot :roll:

Please have an inept member of staff who can mess up on a regular basis. It will keep you in free publicity on this forum for years.

"I don't quite love you enough to get you a proper iPod"

:D

You could always buy British and get a great product. I got a pair of these about 12 years ago for post-surfing warmth. They are still going strong:

Celtic Sheepskin[/url]

I'm looking at those Bonty TRS (or whatever) 3 for next purchase. Currently running Hutchinson Pythons but not quite enough for depths of winter slurry I think.

I used a 650 tyre with success on a 29er rim. Bonty Jones ACX are poop for tubeless, so look at the tyre used too.

Pull your sleeve down a bit over your hand?
Wrap the glove you don't want to wear whilst doing tyres around it?

How complicated do you want to make it? Really – how difficult?

Those bounders! Imagine my distain when they refused to sell me a replacement starting handle for my Model T Ford! Harrumph! Call themselves a motorised vehicle equipment supplier?

Orange
On One
Singular
Cove
Cotic
etc etc

Pick your brand, the acolytes will follow. People like stuff. People talk about the stuff they like. People get aersey about other people and disagree. Silly isn't it?

pigface – most don't. Few are, but the manufacturers website usually has that sort of nonsense.

I'm 6'7" and have to get 38" shirt sleeves :(

Get her to fill up on 'consumables' for you. Clif bars etc are sold in Walmart there. I was getting Nuun tablets for $3.89 a tube in a LBS rather than the £5.99 they are over here. Some things like DeFeet merino winter riding socks were $13 a pair as well.

It is one of the lighter frames, but is it short enough for him to reach the bars?

Oh – youngsters NEED heavy bikes, otherwise they will whup your ass quicker!

I can't believe that in this global, messed up world there are not other things to be concerned about.

Regardless of your desire for technology, there is no substitute for actually learning how to navigate. If you have no idea of where you are, could you get yourself home when the batteries die or you break it? Even if I ride with a GPS and no map, I still have a compass on me to aid recovery.

I've nothing against the royal family as people, but I am not in favour of their un-elected, privileged position.

We know – you keep telling us. It is a shame that you can't have your way isn't it? That must be such a burden.

Conty Sport Contact[/url]

Comes with an inner tube and a 1 year anti puncture warranty. Seems good.