i once had PNE.

Went to Nantes. Got better.

oops 16.. just caught up

Love my Ragley.

What size is the Ragley Ti?

If you get a lot of pinch flats perhaps you run pressures too low or the tyre is too flimsy for you and your riding? The Nobby Nic’s are only 550g-600g plus tyres right? Like a lot of the Continental tyres e.g. Mountain King?

I love my Prowler SS 2.3 (rear) and Stout 2.3 (front) combo and wish I had bought more of them when CRC had them for silly money. They are heavy at +800g but they rarely ever puncture with my 100 miles (50 of which is commuting) per week and 15 stone bodyweight. I also like my Spesh Eskars, which are light at 700g ish, but the Stout outperforms the Eskar on the front and the Prowler SS wears MUCH slower than an Eskar. Can’t believe the Prowler SS never caught on, it’s very much like a Kenda Small Block or Larsen TT, but much more mountain bikey….

I prefer a bit of pressure in the rear to be honest. 50-55 psi. When I went too soft, like 35, the bike got slower and I ended up putting the 5.1’s a little bit wibbly. Plus I got more pinch punctures. In front I stick in 35 psi.

A carpet mousse foam spray from pound shop always does it for me.

Much harder to remove coffee or red wine.

You can buy a very decent refurbished VAX cleaner vac for less than 100 notes on fleabay.

I ride singlespeed purely for reduced maintenance/cost reasons. No point in wasting hundreds of pounds per year that I dont have on maintaining geared bits.

After 2000 miles on the mmmbop all that has needed changing is the chain. Gears have never needed a twiddle at all. On this bike I run 3 x 9 SRAM X9, Connex 900 chain, jagwire full outers with middleburn cable oilers. So, maintaining geared bits so far since June on this bike has cost £15 (I buy 3 x Connex 900’s from Ribble for about £45 after discount). 990 cassettes last an age if the chains are swapped out between 0.075mm and 0.1mm per link stretch and I am heavy.

Geared. Single speed is for BMX and track and children.

@kevevs I totally agree, but there are two things to consider.
1) People who reply to threads like this will have a lot of bikes
2) This forum is besieged with a whole load of boring middle aged, middle class blokes who have been riding since the late ’80s. Their outlet from their dull soulless lives is bikes. They are bound to have a lot of bikes.

I’d say that anyone who loves bikes cannot be totally devoid of a soul.. it goes with the territory no? Particularly if the bike(s) was mostly built by the rider.

I don’t run a car. I’m just a 40 year old teacher who’s been into bikes since the late 70’s.. My rent, council tax, bike parts, and food etc consume most of my money.

I have never had any water ingress issues with my Raleigh RSP 2 x 1/2 watt which I think might be similar.. you could always apply vaseline round the rubber seal to make it even more water resistant.

A year 2000 Gary Fisher 19in Big Sur with circa 2000 custom bits
A Ragley mmmbop 18in in lime, black, and gold/brown, lots of Hope etc..
A Specialized Pitch Pro 19in with no original parts, lots of Hope, etc.

mmmbop gets ridden the most.

Currently wanting a fourth steed to build but probably shouldn’t.

Oh so it was nothing to do with the awful corrupt crunts at Goldman Sachs et al eh?

If you believe the propaganda spitting out of mainstream newspapers and television channels then you deserve that great fat cock rammed up your jacksie that is surely coming your way sometime soon as more of the real wealth creating jobs are lost to China……

Our only industry of the last 15 years or so was house prices.

Banks lend money they do not have.

God bless the Greeks. Viva la revolution.

I have 1 x 4400 mah magicshine (I think, light and box is exactly the same but no magicshine logo) and 4 x 6400 mah chinese made li-ion magicshine/bikeray/etc batterypacks, 2 of which came with lights (sold as a Subb 66 and an Indian seller and torchythebatteryboy, all ebay.

The original 2 year old 4400 mah pack, which has been left charging for over a day on more than one occassion and all the other packs have been great. The original pack gets 3 hours on max and loads on medium and flashing despite the abuse.

You get about 10-30 minutes depending on what mode it is in and the health of the battery.

All my magicshine or other Chinese made li-ions (2s2p and 2s3p) have been very good.

I’ve recently been tempted to just buy a double and bash to allow swaps between triple and double on my Pitch. Each crank could have its own chain, and with relative ease I could switch between double and bash and triple…

About 600g aren’t they?

Which I imagine is bombproof even for fat boys. I happily use 900g tyres on a 5.1 so it’s swings and roundabouts to a degree.. since you could put a 600-700 trail tyre on such a rim.. though you would likely always get punctures.

As for mountain biking.. it a dream for most of us isn’t it? Unless you live in Wales, Cumbria, parts of Scotland, or Yorkshire.. mountain biking in da UK is **** shit for most…

Like when you have your high power light on, and suddenly pedestrians think they should stare into your oncoming light, in a way they obviously wouldn’t with a car light, and then have the audacity to complain your light is too bright…

Or the **** in front who automatically assume you want to pass them, when you are quite happy to pootle and trundle at 3 or 4mph…

The mums and das that scoop up their shit looking children when a bicyle appear for fear that you might end their shit sperm ande egg creations..

The fact that all pedestrians hate you and think that you are about to rape them… the fact that drivers use their cars to bully you by revving and trying to overtake you when totally inappropriate.. the fact that the whole world is concreted and geared toward the machine (the car) that changed (ruined) the world….

There’s a twin XML light set on Ebay for about 50 notes I was interested in.. comes with a little switcharoo thingy which I like the look of….

Sunline half waffle THICK.. I bought four pairs to have two sets spare for my 2 bikes… great for bigger hands (I am only an XL glove size though which isn’t that huge)… they last ages and they are super soft but firm enough to give good handling..

There is a thin and thick version.

Nothing will answer your question better than climbing aboard one.

I bought a large pitch and it is a large bike, but it fits for what I bought it for, but I could have got away with a medium if I was young enough for tricks and jumps. I have an 18in Ragley and it rides perfect. I have a 19in Gary Fisher which feels very similar to the 18in Ragley. I love all three. How tall are you? Can’t just go by standover. Have you got short legs or something?

Once you’ve put in sealing globby stuff and stuff though.. how much weight are you really saving?

Also perhaps an oxymoron to ride with little shed operation ‘green oil’ when depositing said globby stuff on the trails?

I fear change. I ride tubes. Thank goodness Conti tubes seem consistant in quality again, or was that bad batch I had just me?

Does no one just go for pootles around the park? I do. Hardtail is perfect for that, WTB SS Prowler close block (sort of) tyre on rear.. nice and zippy..

Longer more sedate rides are better on a hardtail. Going downhill or across real countryside, roots, ruts, etc, is the job of a full suss.

A fairly fat tyre and 50-80% max stated tyre air pressure and comfy saddle choice can help with a hardtail.

I like both.

I have Shimano SLX cranks on both bikes with 44/32/22 and 11-32 SRAM 990 cassettes (I really rate them). I use Shimano XT front mechs on both bikes (never tried SRAM), but after a long run with Shimano shifters and rear mechs, I have been happy with SRAM X9 shifters and X9 rear on both bikes also. I use Middleburn cable oilers on both bikes also because I have used them in the past and think they are great.

Would 44/36/22 be wierd with a 11-32?

Having the 44 outer ring means you are duty bound to try and find a stretch of concrete/grassland or clean trail to crank it out to 30 or more on the flat and maybe 40 down a hill. The fact that this might only be every now and then is a bonus and a bogus. In the ideal world I can see value in having two or three bikes with various combos i.e. 1 x 9, 2 x 9, and 3 x 9…

**** 10 speed.

Rubbish, is my 25lb C456 too heavy? The only time I’ve ever thought I could use it has been descending on fireroads and tarmac, and in those situations who cares whether you could spin it 1mph faster?

An On-One? 456 at 25lb sounds nice. I’m not saying a double is a bad thing. I’d like one bike with 2 x 9, but I live in Berkshire, and on the abundance of grassy and mostly flat parkland trails, the 44/11 gets enough use on every other ride to make it worth it.

Sticking with 3*10 – not found the weight/clearance issues a problem, but accept it might not be for everyone. It doesn’t look cool either.

You mean we can forget 11 x 2 or 3?

Thank **** for that! Enough with the different milk and breads already!

Still liking triples. If you never see the need for 44/11 then your bike is either too heavy or you really are riding in Calderdale or similar all the time. If only for a few seconds I appreciate being able to sprint 44/11 on canal paths and well used forest path…

The car has wrecked our local environment, roads everywhere, drivers driving too fast.. swearing at each other, flipping each other the bird, …no room for cyclists…

The car is king. All hail the car.

Your unitelligable ramblings confuse me, I assume you’re either 10, or have an IQ of 10, but I think that was aimed at me, as you quoted my post, although you actually quoted Junkyard quoting my quote. Very odd. You ought to learn to punctuate things too, makes your drivel even harder to read.

Anyway… yes, I do own several bikes, and they get used a lot, year round, as I said previously on the road a fair bit as well. More than 500 road miles in the last month, a good proportion of those in Central London, and I’ve managed not to shout anything at any of the many car drivers (or cyclists) who’ve nearly had me off.

I’m not quite sure how this makes me a coward, I’ve not said anything I won’t ‘back up in real life’, I don’t even know what you mean. You sound like a particular species of moron, I will happily say this to you face to face, I’m not saying you are one, but your online persona certainly indicates that. I imagine you’ll now say you want to fight me. Which really confirms what I thought.

Much love xx

LOL Passive aggression!

Best to avoid situations like that. It isn’t good for you. There will never be a shortage of beligerant drivers who have no concept of the great metal mass they are driving around and no consideration for your safety. Especially true at rush hour. My route now is road and pavement. I am not meant to ride on large swathes of pavement on which I ride, but I consider it too dangerous to obey the highway code on a bicycle at peak times (and at night) on many roads in Reading.

The cyclist picks up scraps from the table. All hail the car.

Edited toi add: assertive but defensive riding? Hilarious. I used to advocate this, but not anymore. Riding assertively and defensively is a dangerous game, since some motirists will take this as a challenge to duel. A duel you have the risk of losing painfully…

My recharg’ AA’s also last ages, hundreds of cycles.. never had issue with vapex.

Don’t assume its gone out of the area or been stripped down. Slough is huge as you know. The probability of getting a stolen bike back is low but I have got back one of two of mine that were stolen. Police got back a friend’s bike recently after a raid on a man for other reasons.

Though it is best to perhaps say goodbye to the On-One in your mind… and I hope you were insured. But you never know… you might be lucky getting it back.

Never had one I didn’t like. Even the first, a Peugeot Tim Gould hardtail, with steel stanchioned coil suspension forks you could lock out.. back in 92 or 93…

Can’t afford a car.. cycle 10 miles all in to work and back each day.. nightmare roads..

I used to live in Slough, now live in Reading… I go between the two regularly.. I’ll keep an eye out.

Man I am riding on the huge (at times) pavements.. the roads in Reading seriously freak me out. I’m a loooooooong time cyclist. I am not crap at it. A lot of avoidance now in my cycling..

I buy what is on offer.. and I buy a lot of it when on special offer..

I have about 4 full sets of WTB 2.3 Stout and 2.3 Prowler SS folding, 4 full sets of Specialized Eskar 2.3 folding, and maybe 6 full sets of folding Tioga XC 1.95.

I know not. But I like my tyres. I think Specialized, Tioga, and WTB are good tyres.

I had my first ever meeting with a car yesterday.. bloody hell..