Nobody?

I’m not sure i can remember this as i don’t think it was in the vid but make sure you screw in the hose at the seat clamp BEFORE sorting your cable routing as if not you’ll have to do re route. Sounds stupid but that’s what i did.

People – I hate em

I was just walking down the road the other day when another person got in my way and I actually had to change to course slightly and walk around them. I sneered at them and they gave me a confused idiot person look so i spat on the floor by their feet and carried on.

WTF How dare other people dare to exist where i was going to walk…

I have emotional issues and would welcome anyone who would like to give me a big hug.

What JonEdwards said:

I end up tramlining off the line toward the bushes

If you end up in the bushes it’s cos you’re looking at the bushes.

Look through* and you’ll be surprised at how previously scary bits seem like nothing.

* much easier said than done.

I’m laughing at all of your pathetic trans fat laden cravings whilst sipping a kale and spinach smoothie. Stick to your class and put your Gregg’s postings on some bloody soccer forum please.

I’m also thinking about getting one of these as a family car/weekend warrior combi.

Looks like the radio enforcers are ahead of the tv enforcers

Must be, thanks to bigyinn i’ve got the radio working but now i can’t watch bbc. No more gbbo for the missis (i quite like it too).

You may be thinking “freeloading git enjoying the content paid for my my license fee” and you’d be right!

I honestly wouldn’t mind paying it though if i could have access to british broadcast media.

Living in Spain is ace but the beer and telly are both sub par.

Anyone?

I use a service called Unblockus.

It may be the port but I can listen to most stations no problem. It’s only the BBC that doesn’t work.

This is a bump for the morning crowd, I know some of you are IT managers who drive audis. This should be easy for you.

I has this problem too. Has disappeared with a bit if wear in time. I swapped the bb spacer on drive side to non drive side also.

Classic not telling the wife you’ve got a new bike behaviour.

I don’t think that ‘Learning the Craft’ is elitist, putting in hours on the bike is best way to improve full stop. A skills course can make the time you spend on the bike much more productive however.

I guess anyone could learn to ski eventually through trail and error and watching others. If i go to the alps for a week though I’d rather pay someone to get me there much faster.

I went on skills courses as I was sick of getting injured all the time whilst riding fast. That means I fall into the ‘bit shit’ group of riders and I don’t have a problem with that. Since the courses I haven’t learnt a whole lot but my riding has improved to a level where I’m enjoying it more.

I think that a lot of people who invest a lot of money in MTB hardware would maybe benefit from going for SLX over XTR and spending the difference on getting a bit of skills coaching.

Learning anything that involves a skill takes time. Some people will find it easier and some harder. Some will develop to a point far beyond that of others whose rate of improvement will drop off to a point of being negligible.

When you learn something from scratch, you progress quickly as you go from 0 to something, when a certain level of proficiency is alerady there, the learning curve is far flatter.

Anyone who posts on here saying that their riding has improved 100% and that they can’t believe the difference a skills course has made is either a complete beginner (nothing wrong with that) or self delusional given they’ve just parted with a sizable chunk of change.

People who are reasonably proficient should have realistic expectations of how much they are going to learn on such a course.

Does anyone have any experience with Dainese Trail Skin pads and this problem?

Never hired from them but nearly bought a second hand bike. They have year old liteville 301s for hire!

http://www.roxybikes.de/roxybike-home-english.html

What’s the name of those Dainese pads or are they all like that?

I would go for the Beard (Ed Oxley).

Although this may be slightly controversial I’m speaking from having a session with UK Bike Skills (though not with Tony) and going on a skills trip with Ed.

I found that the teaching on natural trails more useful to my riding as the input from the environment was not always the same. That’s not to say that I could ride everything in Hampshire where UK Bike skills are based but I found repeating the same turns, jumps etc. meant you got really good at riding that whereas with Ed I felt the skills were more transferable.

Cotic Soul and Liteville 301. Don’t take the Soul on the gnarley stuff but I think you’d be fine at a bike park (I’ve never been to BPW)

The Thin Red Line, 1998

I switched to flats and have started crashing noticeably less, have had no issues with being bumped off the bike.

The G-Forms do, at the top, but no reaction there, it’s more in the areas with friction/heat and consequently sweat build up.

I teach IB, English as a foreign language and Theory of Knowledge.

Unfortunately I can’t give you any information as to how the course compares to current A Levels as I’m a long term resident in Spain and have only ever taught in the Spanish education system.

I would say that from a teaching and learning perspective the course is very intellectually challenging and encourages students to be more autonomous and critical than the Spanish equivalent (as well as the A levels I sat 18 years ago).

The big issue here is that it is not recognised by Spanish universities although I was under the impression that this wasn’t such a big problem in the UK.

My recommendation would be that your son should evaluate what he would like to study and where in two years time and based on that enquire about the admission requirements for those institutions.

Best of luck to your your son for whatever he chooses to do.

Funnily i find it easier on my full sus but it probably because of the 30mm stem putting my weight further back.

The quality of the writing of that article is awful.

I had the same problem and mounted the reverb remote to the right of the brake clamp at quite an awkward angle and was unable to adjust the return speed of the post due to proximity of the shifter body. I’d send pictures but I have since gone 1×10. This works for me but I understand that may not be a solution for everyone. There is a market for someone who can find a solution to this problem.

Wow, thanks a lot dogdaysunrise, for every troll and facetious idiot on here you occasionally get top notch advice!!

It’s also interesting the point you made about the travel options, I’m running 140 and was toying with the idea of going for the 160 plates. According to what you said i should have gone for a 26″ rear wheel?

Hmmm, I don’t think I can reasonably drop that amount of cash on plates and a rear wheel. If it would be compatible with my QR Soul maybe but no…

As you’ve mentioned the feel of the 140 is up till now bottomless, even in a bike park.

+1 for the Bromley clearout. I’m getting to like the bike more and more and even if they release a new 301 at this years Eurobike you know that it’s not going to be some complete chassis overhaul that makes you feel like you’ve bought the bike 6 months too early.

The gap in the ball insert would suggest that you could just fit it on right?

Hope you don’t have to separate the hose and thread it through the seat clamp….

(see what I did there … )

^This^

Will get one if it means no hose faffing. My Liteville 301 has a channel under the toptube and a hole which ze Germans call an ‘ashtray’ directly in front of seat tube where the cable comes out. Because if the position of the hose insert on the reverb it puts a bit of strain on the hose due to the extreme angle.

Anyway.. I’ll get one if it means i don’t have to install a new cable, If i do then I can just re route not using the ashtray as i’ve seen others do.

Compared to my old bike I felt like I was riding a horse at first on the 301, the whole thing was bigger in every respect and I was initially worried that I’d got a size too big (L – I’m 5’11).

I thought that the bike did have quite a long reach, it certainly had a long wheelbase when comparing it to a couple of bronsons that were on a bike holiday with me, but that was an observation, I haven’t looked at numbers.

I also read that MBUK review and it made it sound quite pants really… I can’t agree with the height bottom bracket thing however, I get quite a few pedal strikes and have never had the sensation that the bike flops in corners. Again, not a scientific measurement.

I don’t ride lots of different bikes every month and so can’t compare or be impartial since I’ve already spent money on it and therefore have a vested interest in saying it’s good so I don’t look like an idiot BUT the frame is extremely solid, has been developed little by little not by model years to its current iteration, has loads of clever features and I think it rides like a dream.

Thanks for all the comments and congratulations. I’m nervous but looking forward to the whole adventure.

dannyh- If i hurt myself to the point of not being very helpful the fall out wouldn’t bear thinking about.

As many of you have reccomended child carrying duties, I have a Salsa Vaya that I have used on one 4 day tour and not much else in the nearly three years I’ve had it. I’m thinking of using it as primary miniplatz carrying pleasure bike. What are the opinions on child carrying? I like the idea of miniplatz being up front so she will be able to see and we can interact more, by far the most common seem to be rear pannier rack jobs and tow along jobs look good too.

What’s the consensus?

Sachets are expensive but my brother didn’t notice when I made him a sandwich from one so they must be good. Don’t give her dried food; it gives cats cystitis and makes them fat.

Haven’t laughed so much at something I read for a long time.

I had an indoor cat who ate dry food for fatties and she was still pretty rotund. It was cheaper for me to go and buy chicken livers from the market than feed her bought wet food and she wolfed them down.

Some people advocate a raw meat diet as that is what they are biologically designed to eat.

Apart from diet, I would also look into how to care for your cat in other aspects. Search for Jackson Galaxy on youtube and you will get loads of vids with advice. He’s a bit of a **** but he knows his cats.

I watched it on the Red Bull app on Apple tv. Free and great quality.

Just written!

Nice write up Poah.

I have a Hans Dampf 2.35 VertStar compound up front. Very tacky and loads of grip. It has an enormous profile due to the 35mm rims. I’m very happy with it but it’s wearing very quickly, as to be expected with such a soft compound.

On the rear I have a Mavic CrossRoc. Fast rolling and long lasting, it has quite a smooth central band with more aggressive side knobs meaning you can drift nicely before you find grip. Seems quite hard wearing.

HansRey: I recently converted to 1×10 so I have an XTR front mech in my parts bin with about 500km use if you’re interested. I wasn’t going to sell it in case I didn’t like a single ring but I’ve been impressed so far. Send me a PM if you want it.

I have only ever owned links and not 510s so I have nothing to compare to, but I like em. Very comfy and plenty of grip. I got them wet and left them in an airing cupboard overnight. They were dry in the morning.

Nice pictures Ecky-Thunp.

I’ve got 650b back and front and I am limited to 2.25 tyres in the back.

Do I like it better? Compared to my Cotic Soul 26″ it’s really hard to say as they ride so differently and I ride them in completely different situations. I cant’ say that the wheels make a massive difference but then I’d have to compare riding the same setup on the 301.

I went 27.5 as i fancied trying it out and it looks like the industry seems to be going that way in terms of new developments.

You actually include things you need to ride like pedals? Too honest?

I think the rake on the 26/27.5″ Pikes differ but if you want to be sure that you can run both then go with the 27.5s