I ride 2.35 Nevagals front and rear. Mate has Fat Alberts and they're fine. High Rollers are good, but maybe go for dual ply. I'd ride nothing less than 2.1, and make sure you put a bit more pressure in, or you'll be pinch flatting every 5 mins. Around 40 psi is good.

Only started in the last couple of years, but always make a point now since my sister had major surgery. I would always recommend making an appointment rather than just turning up. The last few sessions I've been to have been hugely oversubscribed, with lots of people who turned up without an appointment being turned away.

The nurses were complaining that the new blood service mangement were useless, and not giving them enough staff to cope with demand.

Need to put myself on Organ Donation register as well, and they want me to give platelets. As long as I've got blood to spare, you can 'ave it :-)

out and about

EDIT : Love those Poland shots btw, looks like there's lots of good riding over there.

2009 EX8 here. First full suss, which took a little getting used to, but figured out riding style now, and I doubt I'll ever look back. Very , very capable bike and very comfy. 30 miles on a hardtail in the Lakes left me feeling like I'd been in a fight, but 30 miles on this is a pleasure, and the next morning I'm tired but not sore. Big difference. Never felt out of my depth on ups or downs, made a few changes to set up on the way. Definitley worth spending time getting forks and shock set up properly, small changes make a big difference. If I had to but another bike tomorrow, I'd probably go for another Fuel Ex (but carbon…if I could afford it)

He's put it up on Vimeo as well, so you can watch it in HD. It looks really good on full screen.

Link HERE

Great film though, really liking the GoPro cameras. There's been lots of people making good films with them, brilliant quaility as well.

For my birthady this year, I did this
followed by this t'was a good day

OP THIS was recommended to me by a sports professional. It's very accessible, not patronising and has lots of sensible, easy to follow advice. It might be a good starting point for you. Good luck.

My 2p anyway.

EDIT : try and ignore the above argument. These things always flare up :roll:

This is very good, but it will hurt. It's also mtb specific.

I hate cats. I hate the one that's taken to carping on my front lawn even more. How do you get rid of cats………….

…get a Lurcher :twisted:

If they closed down the Barrow yard tomorrow, as well as launching an entire town onto the dole, which I witnessed in the 80's, the big problem would be finding all those specialist skills again in a few years time when the economy picked up and the orders came back in. They also do a lot of work in that yard for the other allied forces. They were doing specialist work for the Spanish Navy not so long ago, as they didn't have the people, skills or equipment to do it there, they had to come to us.

I thought they were meant to be quiet?

lol, it was in fact the last of the slipway launches. They launch they boats with much less style these days.

beats eveyone else's shed into submission… IGMC.

My BIL is one of the guys working on that. I went to one of the launches of the Trident when I was a kid, they make one hell of a splash when they reach the water.

Like most Kendas they are not as robust as Maxxis, so will probably not fare well in the presence of lots of sharp rocks.

Complete BS. My Nevegals are still fine after a years riding on the sharp, rocky Lakeland trails.

" I'm completely against animal testing. They get all nervous and give the wrong answers "
Stephen Fry

"Outside of a dog, a book is a mans best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read" Groucho Marx

Ya see, I really love my full suss, but every time someone puts up a picture of a Soul, I just get this urge to go and buy one…. like now. It just looks so sorted.

Nice build Dan, what forks are they btw ?

TheFunkyMonkey, can't find your email address in your profile. You can mail me directly at tsgregory@btinternet.com and I can give you some more details about the job. Cheers dude.

TheFunkyMonkey I've got to go to a (very boring) meeting now, but I'll mail you later on. Price sounds good though. Radiator is in the hall next to front door, fairy easy access to pipework. Whole house was put together poorly, so spent the last year trying to get everything put right. Hey ho.

British Gas are bobbins.

I've had no problems with BG, but their pricing can sometimes seem waaaay off.

Cheers for the replies. We went with British gas as we have a service contract with them, and so far haven't had anything bad to say about them. All the engineers we've had out (including the bloke who did the quote) had been great, so we thought it would keep things simple and we would be assured of a decent standard of work. Just got caught completely off guard by the quote. This was excatly the face I made when I saw how much they quoted 8O

Guess I'll have to keep it local. Thanks for the offer missingfrontallobe, but I think that may be a little too far out the way.

8O That's brought a tear to my eye even thinking about it. Healing vibes dude.

So anyway… to get back on topic (I knew there was a reason I never joined the boggies), if I want to show my support for greater access to trails, and try and improve the current situation, what do I do ? Do I join CTC, IMBA, what ? Getting involved in these sort of issues seems very complex, and it's all a bit new to me.

How do I help ?

Does that mean it's in the shops, or not for another couple of days ?

Nice loop round Coniston on Sunday. Trying to persuade my mate to change to Saturday cos it's going to p*ss down on Sunday. Bah!

*cough* got some SLX shifters which I'll be putting on Classifeds on Monday if you're interested *cough*

Is that shocked in a good way or a bad way ?

Roger Musson or Merlin are both in the area.

I had a short spell of constantly breaking stuff. Wheels, brakes, shocks, foot, it just seemed to go on. I should get paid to trial new products. If you want to know if something will withstand real world conditions, send it to me. I seem to have a knack of destroying stuff. I know it's a naff user name, but very apt.

How to set up a rear shock HERE Getting hold of a shock pump and a sag meter will help. Your LBS should be able to help you out.

BB set up HERE Again proper BB tool will make the job very easy.

HTH

Andy who ?

I love television. I think it is one of the best inventions of the last century. It has defined our lives for the better, and given us access to places and people we would never otherwise encounter. Sure, there's going to be things that are not to your taste, but if you don't like soap operas, don't watch them. It's called self cencorship. Don't go calling for things that don't please you to be taken away, as it will not serve any purpose apart from diluting the range of programming that exists. Just because I don't like Eastenders, doesn't mean I'm against it. Lots of folk probably don't want to watch obscure documentaries about 17C German Scientists on BBC4 (to paraphrase), but both should exist, and I'm more than happy to pay for all of them in my licence fee. No, the system isn't perfect, and you can't please all of the people all of the time, but it's a lot better than most.

I'd rather have this than the alternative, which is commercial television on every channel. Lots of people seem to think that by not watching television, it would make them more intellectual and above those who do. I say, it depends on what you watch and what you learn from it.

So Mike, Nobby Nics ? Maxxis Ardents, Kenda small block 8 ? None of the above ? What do you reckon. (Can't beleive I'm doing this already)

glenncampbell, thanks. That's what I heard from last year. Hmm, thinking about doing lots of big loops round Grizedale to get those off road miles in. I was going to ask about tyre choice actually, but really didn't want to open that can of worms this early.

Well I'm in and I've had a couple of sleepless nights tthinking about it. Never done anything like this before so it's going to be a learning curve. Currently do between 40 – 100 miles on the road commuting in the week, and hopefully a 20 – 30 mtb ride at the weekend. Really trying to keep to a sensible diet and doing lots of core strengh exercises as well. Doing the 100k CRC marathon at Grassington in July, so if I can finish that and stil feel well, I rekon I can (just) make it round.

My sister finished the London marathon with a busted knee, one year after having major heart surgery to have a pace maker fitted. I don't really have an excuse that good, so I have to turn up. :wink:

Two things, what's the terrain like compared to a days riding in the Lakes ? That's what I'm used to you see, so looking for a comparison.

Secondly, there's going to be space in a car going from Preston, so if anyone wants/needs a lift shout now.

Yes you should report it. Mink aren't native, and they like to eat native species such as water voles which are protected. Try you local Enviroment Agency officer. They will probably put down a humane trap to try and catch it if it's in a built up area.

LOL @ Pook. I'm the same.

Got mine cos it was the best fit having tried lots of others, but tried on a Met recently and it was a good fit as well. I guess if you have a Hex head you have a Met head.

6'1"

19.5" full suss
20" hardtail

6'1 and went for a virtual 19.5. Found the virtual 18.5 just a bit too cramped. Swapped the stem over from a 100mm, which was killing my lower back, to an 80mm which is spot on. Have a fair bit of post out for climbing, but if I drop it just a bit for the fun bits it's fine. Thought I'd made a really big mistake on sizing as it didn't feel right for a while, but swapping the stem made a big difference. Good all day bike, very comfy BUT getting the sizing right and moving stuff around is important. Can you find a dealer anywhere near to throw a leg over one ?

12 on Autism test.

ENFJ for personality test. About right on both.

Big time sulk here. At work in front of a computer, looking at the sun out the window. Was supposed to be out last night and couldn't make that, can't do tomorrow either. Oh, and next weekend I've got to go to a bloody wedding. :x

On the positive side, got out last weekend which was ace, and just spent a small fortune at CRC. There goes the overtime.

In a word, no. I'm Preston based and there is naff all round here, unless you want to do lots of cheeky stuff, but that mainly involves spending more time dodging wayward dogs and dog eggs (I'm with you on that one). Not many choices I'm afraid. It's time in a car either heading east to Gisburn, south to Rivi or north to the Lakes if you want something decent. You could get some slicks and head onto the quieter country roads. It's a desperate measure I know, but desperate times n all that. At least you're out and putting mile in, better than nowt.

On a positive note, I'm out most weekends (lakes normally) and I've usually got space in the car. If you need a lift, just shout. I remeber all to well how crap it is being out of work. Best of luck with that btw.

I hope someone else can prove me wrong though, I'm not from Preston, so don't know all the area.