Are external BBs worse than square taper? For me yes. I’ve a 10 year old un72 bb that’s still spinning smoothly in one bike, whereas I’ve managed to kill an external BB in less time than it took a flask of hot water to go cold! (Seriously – I made up a flask before riding the Kielder 100 one year on a new BB, by the time I finished the BB was shot but the flask was still piping hot!)

I can get a year or so out of a Hope BB
About 3 months from a Shimano (longer if we’re talking about road bikes)- same with FSA
I can count the lifespan of GXPs in hours

Tempted to go ‘back to the old school’ 🙂

Can’t say I’ve ever ridden a square tapered BB and thought “damn, this just isn’t enjoyable because of all that darned BB flex” either…

I believe that, in a relationship, the ‘sexual return’ from a £2.99 bunch of flowers is a ‘disdainful glance at your genitals from across the bedroom’

Not worth it IMO.

Got the 1.6 petrol at the moment. It is a remarkably uninspiring car, and the engine in mine is woefully underpowered when the car’s packed to the rafters with heavy things (ie. people) but…

…it’s been very reliable (until last week when the emissions warning light came on, damn it!).

…it’s quite comfy – happily driven 400 miles in it without any aches and pains.

…you can put a lot of stuff in it – me, Jase and Phil went to France in it, with 3 bikes, all our riding kit and camping kit for a long weekend without any problems. It still gave us 40mpg on that trip too, which was pretty good AND once up to speed it seemed to sit ahppily enough at 80 on the French motorways.

I’m still getting a Berlingo once the Zaffy dies though.

Dry and sunny? Yes. Above your head it will be.

The ground’s still saturated though, with one of the organisers tweeting that he’s never seen the “Field of Despair” as boggy as it is right now.

If you’re riding you’ll be getting caked in lots of lovely, lovely mud 🙂

Been using the Arsis stuff on my 2nd road bike for a couple of years. No faults or complaints in all that time. It’s coped perfectly with racing crits & on the road, plenty of loooong rides and lots of really crappy weather.

Nice and light, still rattle free, still smooth shifting (if slightly ‘clunkier’ than some Shimano groupsets) and less eye wateringly expensive to replace if it does break.

I likes it 🙂

Dave who?

How very dare you! You are talking to the man voted “most likely to be on heroin by age 21” by his high school teachers in 1995, not some common lickspittle!

He’s promised me a part in his movie

Fluffer.

Lance Armstrong wants to do it?

Well I’m sorry but I don’t think I could race next to such a big cheating fibber.

It’s him or me. Make your choice. 😀

As devs says, it used to be really bad for both drivechain and brake pads, however over the years the trails have been rebuilt and improved and new trails have been built to avoid some of the old ‘nasty’ sections so it’s not quite as bad now.

It’s still very abrasive, gritstone mud (that has a bizarre ‘sparkly’ quality to it!), so it’ll still take it’s toll, but you might get more than a single lap out of a pair of brake pads now 🙂

A big saddle would be good, then kids could have funny pictures taken sitting on it. Kids like that sort of thing. Big kids. Like me. 😀

Get the shimano wheels and these to run your hope discs 🙂

<polite cough>

Lakeland Lugger[/url]

</cough>

Something like this? 🙂

Would it be wrong to kiss the person in registry when I hand it in?

Judging by the people employed around here? Yes.

Anyway, nice one! Crack open a beer. Or go for a ride in the sunshine. Or both. 🙂

Save it all up, then dump it all on and around one corner of the HtN course, to make the race a multi-sensory experience

I don’t, unless I ‘have’ to (ie. I”m picking up some huge box or suchlike).

My commute is about 7 miles in the car through the town centre, or 4.5 miles straight along a load of well surfaced, quiet cyclepaths like this. Why on earth so many of the people that work here and live near to me insist on driving in every day I just don’t know. The fuel costs, the stress, the cost of parking once they get here (provided they can find somewhere to park at all!). It’s just mental.

Been running the Arsis shifters & White mechs on my 2nd road bike for just over a year now. Brilliant performance. Some would say the shifts are ‘clunkier’ than Shimano STI’s give, but it’s a nice, positive clikc into each gear and so far I’ve not missed a single gear change while riding or racing crits/on the road.

The lever for upshifts is a little more awkward to reach when right down on the drops compared Shimano levers, but I’ve managed fine so far. In fact it’s almost worth it to have a brake lever that doesn’t move around when you’ve got your fingers wrapped around it!

They’re also lighter than the Shimano equivalent. Oh and the jockey wheels in the rear mech have lasted far better than the standard Shimano cheese ones too

Well recommended.

Yes, I’ve got some (the ‘merino’ ones). They’re alright, not brilliant, but alright.

They do (and will) fill with water. Once they’re full of water your feet get cold, but they are better than just wearing a bog standard pair of socks.

For ‘proper’ winteriness I use a nice long pair of wool socks

• 

  Bad Decisions Mug

  £10.99
  

Teko[/cough], with a long (i.e nearly up to my knees) pair of cheapo goretex ones off ebay.

This combo keeps my whole lower leg warm (and doesn’t fill with water as easily cos they end just below my knee)while looking utterly, awesomely attractive too 🙂

How fast does it go?

Depends how fast you pedal it 😉 😀

The Planet X ones are decent thickness neoprene (3mm I think), with nicely reflective bits and – most importantly – a big huge velcro closing so getting them on/off with gloves/numb hands isn’t an issue and they won’t clog with muck

I guess they’re still in business because some people want the reassurance that comes with knowing that there’s likely to have been a lot more testing of the more expensive products.

As has been mentioned above, if you’re ‘trying out’ nightriding or only plan to do it occasionally, spending megabucks probably isn’t worth it (but feel free to do so!). If it’s something you’ll be doing several times a week, often alone, in the middle of nowhere, maybe the extra expense – rather than buying you more ‘firepower’ – will give you the ability to focus on the ride more.

Used them on the Uncle John for years for commuting/cx/messing about (now using Model B’s as they’re a bit lighter). Original bearings don’t last for ages, but they are fantastically simple to replace with some decent ones when they do give up.

No issues with the 5mm difference in the spacing – just tighten the QR up a bit more 🙂

Pie barm (it’s the off season, right?) 😀

A question for the disc users, did you find the disc helped?

Yes. Frankly. I was a bit skeptical at first, what with surviving 4 previous editions on canti’s (and even managing to slow myself successfully with one finger on each lever while doing so), but they really were better. More predictable (ie. less time waiting for the pads to clear dirt off the rims before really biting), less tiring (less arm pump down Whernside) and the pads are still 90% there now.

My 6.9ssl is around the 14lbs mark with ‘just’ Ultegra and Bontrager RXL wheels.
It could, quite easily, be stupidly light.

piccie

Seeing as “If it’s not on Strava, it didn’t happen” here it is:

on Strava

🙂

You might find that Mark Goldie holds that title with a time of 11 hours 44 minutes.

He does, out time was a good 20mins longer that that. He holds the record. (We just recorded both the ‘riding’ and ‘elapsed’ time cos that’s how the original record was noted down)

Think people need to relax a little about what 5teve is trying to put across in terms of a level playing field for all utilising mostly rules adopted from the US scene … 5teve himself has an enviable list of completed rides and is just trying to create a database of records.

Steve is a legend and an inspiration, no-one could deny that – I certainly wouldn’t, I think what he’s achieved is ace. I’m just not sure clutching a list of rules in one hand, a list of rider in the other while telling people off for being ‘elitist’ is helpful!

Anyway, quibbling aside and back on track HE SMASHED IT.
28hrs 59min
Grinning from ear to ear for the guy 😀

Or is it just a case of phils face doesnt fit the picture to smash this record ?

I’ll have you know Phil is one of the least ugly JMC riders… 😉 😀

Right – what “support” has anyone given the person doing the riding? If it’s merely being in a van somewhere in the highlands incase everything goes horribly wrong then it can be considered support in any meaningful sense. <snip>

If the guy in the van are preparing meals, fixing and swapping out bikes, towing the guy along – then it’s a supported ride.

I don’t think Phil would argue about whether it was a supported attempt or not (or care, frankly!). He’s got a mate in a van who meets him every now and again to check he’s OK. The van has water/energy food in it and (horror of horrors) he had some porridge in Fort William that he didn’t make himself.

Thus his ride is meaningless, futile and puny in comparison to anyone who has ridden it using only water they’ve dredged from the ground themselves, eating only the heather and thistles they pass on the way and not making eye contact with anyone they see en route in case they get a mental boost from it 😆

(In all seriousness though, it must be classed as a “supported” attempt and I don’t think anyone worth listening to gives a flying f…)

Why don’t you gents just step up and give self-supported riding a go instead of just being elitist and belittling about it.

OR we could all just stop being finicky about giving ‘riding a bike for a long period of time’ so many rules, regulations and excuses to behave in a ‘elitist’ way.

Jeez, it reminds of of the whole ‘solo vs “super” solo’ 24hr racing silliness that nearly started a while back.

You don’t own these big (by UK standards) rides

Eh?

23c Schwalbe Ultremos at 100psi

Oh right, you literally are right round the corner then!

Yes, we’ll sort out a ride, I’ll dig me diary out 🙂

Taa daa!

[/url]
rapha2[/url] by twinklydave[/url], on Flickr

(Obviously it’s about the riding, not the mini tea coasters…)

Hey dave, fancy going for a ride sometime as i’m pretty sure i live just round the corner from you?

Oop, just saw this! Soz! Whereabouts are you based?

DT240s

Lovely, light, long lasting (well, mine were).

Did anyone see the smart 4 x 4 in the ditch on the way in to the finish? opps!

Ha ha, yeah, I saw that on the ride home. There were several local farmers gathered round having a right laugh at/about it 🙂

Spent 2hrs riding round biting my tongue to stop me shouting “Get off MY hills you bunch of ingrates”, then saw how many people were gawping/stopping to take pictures of the scenery and spent the following 4hrs feeling smug that I get to ride round there all the time 😀

Didn’t see Brad, sadly, but being cheered on by whole villages right the way round the route made up for it. Ace.

Only downside to the day (other than not seeing Mr Wiggins!) was that the catering tent had run out of bacon when I got back 😥

I seem to remember a blog post from twinklydave a couple of years ago jacking it in at SITS when it was dry.

Yup, I was just over tired and in no fit state to race. I gave it a go though; if you’ve not tried you’ve no real reason to complain I reckon.

I can’t actually remember the last race he actually finished. He’s a bit of a quitter really.

😛
(It’s true though, I do seem to be battling my innards a lot ATM, but not enjoying the riding doesn’t help ). Oh and I finished the Worlds, in 8th. Ha.

Rock based race courses rather than wonderfully fertile farmers fields, please!

I remember walking onto the podium of the solo class there back in 2008 when, surprisingly for England, it rained. The course became unrideable in parts very quickly and, with a lack of speed, the singletrack in the trees became dull shortly afterwards, but I carried on walking just so I could say I’d done it.

This year I turned up, raced in a pair with Terrahawk while it was fun, then it rained – as it does in England – the course became unrideable in parts very quickly and, with a lack of speed, the singletrack in the trees became dull shortly afterwards.

We packed up, went home and got a decent ride in on the Sunday. Riding time is precious and I’m not spending it truding round feeling like I’m wasting an opportunity any more.

Sorry. I love the laid back atmosphere, the organisation is, as we’re all well aware after many years, brilliant, but I’m not going back there.

Did anybody hear owt from Rapha? I’ve been away and I have got zip so far.

Did you pop your details in on their website[/url]?

(Not that I’ve heard owt yet)

😀

Looking forward to it

I wanted to defend it, saying “they’re there to win, not look good on the club run” and such clever things…

…but yeah. WTF! 😕

We had this from the other side – made offer on house, which was accepted, the valuation & HBR said the house wasn’t worth what we’d offered (around 5% less due to some work needing to be done on it).

We pointed out to the vendor that the bank would only lend us what it was worth and sent them the relevant parts of the HBR so they could see what needed doing to the house and that we weren’t taking the piss – offered them what the valuation said the house was worth in it’s present state or a couple of grand more if they sorted the problems.

(and yes, Scotland’s system is much better!)