I did some coaching and was filmed / timed on one section of trail. I was then told to roll my bars forwards a couple of degrees – which I did, despite it feeling odd.

Re did the section and was measured at several seconds faster. That was several seconds over a section probably about two minutes.

That would all add up, cost me nothing, but shows the benefit to be had by simple set up / observation.

I believe you can buy speed, be it better fit, better suspension, better tyres.
But not all riders will notice “better”.

Some people I’ve ridden with don’t know if there tyres are pumped up, let alone what pressure.
Some inexperienced riders wont know how to make the most of a bike.

A lot of us only concentrate on our riding a tiny amount of time, not even the whole trail section, let alone the whole ride.

I’m a bit OCD on stuff and have gone out to session sections to get better, its bloody hard work physically and mentally. On any normal ride that just does not happen, so expecting a 5 second faster bike to be noticed on a normal ride will be an expectation missed.

However, it may make you feel faster – and if your not being measured by a competitor or stopwatch, feel is all you have.

Just ride it faster and harder, stop thinking about it.

Brilliant, now go back in the shed and attach it to your bike – this is a bike forum after all :)

Who cares when the riding is brilliant :)

Before you **** it with a hammer, try soaking it for a few days in coke. That eats rust for breakfast. Try enough coke in a bucket so you can sit the whole offending item in it.

I’ve been on the back of a BMW motorcycle that had the pad separate from the backing plate. Eventually they fail over time.

My mate who’s motorbike it was, glued the pad back on with Araldite and kept riding. I was always “busy” after that whenever he offered me a lift.

Well said ^

I have news for you; you will certainly die.

He wont be bending down to do his laces anymore.

The other good thing about my Bultaco is its road tax price = Zero !
Plus it wont need an MOT :)

Being a 1967 model, its almost as old as me.

OK, thanks for the info.

I bumped into a bore last time I was there, he kept me chatting for ages about tyres for gravel bikes :)

I passed my test back in 1983, it was easy then, the examiner was on foot.

I’ve just started restoring the first bike I bought, a Bultaco 250. Paid £400 in 1981 for it.

First bike

Alarm and cameras !
Anyone who thinks they would be a deterrent and that the police will turn up is living in cloud Cuckoo land.

Camera picks up some blokes with hoodies and masks – Fail
Coppers turn up a few days later to provide a crime number for your insurance – Fail

Well, we have a few ingredients that add up to the Cake of War:

No debate is possible on Social Media
Everyone gets their information from Social Media
Media owned by politics and / or religion
Religion stamps out any form of debate
Commercial interest stamps out any form of debate
Economy under extreme pressure
Climate change will exacerbate economic pressure
Poor job security is normal in the US
No safety net for unemployed, uninsured in the US
Race problems in the US also hinder debate
Pressure from refugees will make things worse
Its a large country with diverse needs

So actually the more you think about it, the harder it is to see a stable outcome.
Things are so fundamentally entrenched in extreme positions a lot has to break before it gets fixed.

The culture is just so different over there its hard for us to comprehend.

Its going to be the best season I can remember then. Two unknown races and that tight on points. I bet Bottas and Perez will be employed as rolling road blocks then.

So, as an aside from all the “expert” comments on how the two (possibly) best racing drivers currently competing should race………..has anyone worked out the points difference permutations yet ?

If Lewis wins the next races and Max comes second – who will win overall ?

No.
Politics is dumbed down to twitter posts and two syllable sound bites as it is.
Voting should be something only those who can think properly and rationally are able to do.

We have idiots in power because idiots voted them in.

What…………..there is no pleasing some people.

We finally have a season where Hamilton may not actually win, we finally have a season where its still too close to call at the end, we finally have a season with races at places not raced at before, we have more races than before.

If you don’t like it, go and watch something else.

So the scrotes don’t care, their parents don’t care, the cops don’t care or cant afford to care, social services don’t care or cant afford to care.

You care and so do some others.

Batman is probably busy, so you do need to sort it yourselves. Perhaps then the coppers will care as they will end up protecting the scrotes and telling the vigilante groups to behave.

Woburn – if you drive fast.

The only water proof one I tried just made my hands wet with sweat. Plus they stank after a few rides, so I binned them.

Basically I just stay warm so getting wet is not uncomfortable.

Despite the marketing, I find you cant have breathable and waterproof in the same material when cycling hard. Sure, in a lab, in perfect conditions when not exerting much effort it may be achievable. But in the real world I don’t believe it.

Wet and warm, that me now.

OK, so all the advice is basically dont do it. Some from those with actual real experience.

So, question is, do you take the advice. Thats probably the first test you need to pass.

I would also echo the muddy mess now its starting to rain. There is a sort of concrete like clay in the Cotswolds that is pretty horrible, plus its horsy central.

But………..if its dry / frozen then, there is some good riding. When exactly are you over, id be up for a ride as Im pretty local.

A 2016 bike on eBay needing its suspension serviced – that’s not a surprise.

I’m actually surprised you didn’t expect that, or gone to see it first.

Influence is dictated by the media you are exposed to. Which of course is time dependent.

When I started in 1987 there were only the magazines – UK and US ones. So they were the influence and of course the Malvern Classic event each year where you got to see stuff for real.

Now the influence is diluted into all the various forms we consume our media, so the one or two influences we had in the past are gone for newbies / younger people now. Its a deluge of marketing that will be personalised into what you follow.

That’s we just went mountain biking, now if you are new into it you are in danger of being channelled, influenced into a type of mounting biking, like Gravel or Enduro etc

Its crap dwelling on the past which you cannot change. However, your thoughts will make the rest of us do something positive about keeping in touch. Real contact, not social media fake contact is what counts.

Ive done a few now, pacing does help, but I also realised its not the power that matters, its my weight. I look at the pros and realise they weigh half what I do. So even if I manage 300 watts, their power to weight ratio makes me useless !

The secret is making sure your riding buddies are less fit than you are :)

Has anyone got a definition of English, or British ?

Just looked up how many people speak Cornish:

Wikipedia:
In 2017 the ONS released data based on the 2011 Census which placed the number of speakers at 557 people in England and Wales declared Cornish to be their main language, 464 of whom lived in Cornwall.

So basically, that’s probably less than the number of STW forum riders on fully ridged singlspeeds its so niche.

I reckon in the US you will find that many speaking Klingon at the Comicon event.

Nationality / identity is all a bit subjective and divisive. Ultimately it segregates and excludes those who are not like you.

In the Venn-diagram of where you belong, its basically just planet Earth.

So basically it will be won by whoever doesn’t prang themselves in practice. I may as well turn up on the day, roll up to the start line and win. Everyone else will have broken themselves.

Forget the past, you cant change it.

Give him a ring and go for a beer. You will probably have a laugh remembering the good things you shared.

One of the 3 top regrets old people have when they are close to the end is losing touch with friends.

Id rather the Council spend what little money they have on important things, like cycle lanes and filling in pot holes.

Signposts are a bit of a luxury when most people will have a Map, or GPS or Phone.

If you go out without one of those and get lost its your own fault.

I’ve been riding motorcycles since the mid 80’s. You could gauge the spring arriving by the fact every ride needed a stop to clean your visor of bugs. Summer you would stop a couple of times a ride.

This summer I think I cleaned one or two bugs off in the whole year.

We are well and truly f***ed. No amount of carbon offsetting and cleaning your yoghurt pots before recycling them will make any bloody difference.

The big issue with sea life is its not really seen or noticed, so its being wiped out without a fuss.

Well you should just go and find out. If it turns out to be a muddy mess you can bail and just do the normal Cwm Carn trails instead.

Property, £40 ! Shed in mid wales then ?

Personally I would look for something with zero hassle. So not property.
One of those funds that sticks it in the top 100 shares, a range of them. Basically it will stay a little ahead of inflation without you needing to concern yourself over it.

Unless you fancy a new hobby in investment / gambling :)

Ha, ha. Lets organise a ride then and test this theory you have :)

One of the reasons I’ve not gone Tubeless is so I can easily / quickly change tyres when I arrive at the carpark.

I keep my tyre collection in the van anyway, so swopping is probably a 10 min job while everyone else is still faffing about looking for gloves, gamins etc. I can have a look and do some faffing myself before they finish. I’m also one of those that turns up a bit early anyway, so I have time for faffing but can claim its not faffing as its within the deadline :)

However, last Sunday in the Chilterns I kept with my summer tyres – just to see. They actually made it more exciting. Just enough slip to liven the ride up, but not to the point you couldn’t ride up hill.

I think they will stay on for a bit longer.

IHN, (sadly) you are correct.