Here’s mine from a year or so ago now. Swapped out the tyres and got a side load bottle cage now

Oh well, English sources need updating then! Point still stands though that he does ride mountain bikes!

Thank you for Edukating me!

Loeb broke his leg on a motocrosser.

Nope, when he missed 4 rallies in 2006 it was definitely mountain bike.

Seb Loeb (broke a leg and missed about 5 rallies one year after a DH crash (still won the title though!))
Kris Meeke
Dani Sordo
Ken Block

Seems like guys who like driving cars fast off road like riding bikes off road too!

Also, George North has taken the Wales rugby team off road in the Alps on a training camp at least once (doubt it was much more than paths though, so not sure that counts!) (He’s got a Geometron though)

Pretty sure Lewis Hamilton bought one of Greg Minnaar’s V10s at a charity auction once. He’s definitely dabbled in off road riding, but I think the v10 would be a bit much for him!
Also, Danny Ricciardo and Brendon Hartley as well as Mark Webber for the Antipodean MTB/F1 stars

Oh, and Top Gear presenter Chris Harris, he used to have an orange 5 which fitted snugly into the back of his Ferrari FF!

I went to the DH WC in Lošinj last year, it’s a beautiful island, and the towns of Mali and Veli Lošinj are both great. You can go and have a look at the WC track too (it literally finishes in the town), it’s super gnarly! It was April when I went and it was nice and warm. The sea was freezing though, if you were fancying a swim!

Alonso was lapping 2-4 seconds quicker than the field in his stints, taking the car waaay up the order each time. Very unlikely the team would have been in the right place to win without him.

Yeah for sure he was the best driver in the car, but that doesn’t make up for the shoddy journalism that’s been going around surrounding this story (BBC and Autosport, I’m looking at you!).

Yes, he’s the most noteworthy driver in the car (and even the whole field) but, that doesn’t mean that he won the race single-handedly. Same can be said about the Le Mans coverage last year, this is endurance racing, it’s a team sport. You win as a team and lose as a team. To say Alonso wins without even mentioning the fact that he was in a team is downright offensive to the series as a whole! And I’d be gobsmacked if good ol’ Rodney Sandstorm actually seriously said he was out of his depth in those conditions. He’s one of the greatest DPi drivers in the world and he’s won races for his teams in comparable conditions in the past. The bits that I tuned into with Jordan in the car he was absolutely smashing it in the rain, maybe not as fast as Fernando Lemanso, but definitely faster than the rest of the field!

Good win for Alonso in Daytona.

Good win for Wayne Taylor Racing, for which Alonso makes up only 25% of the car’s driver lineup!

Our old Mazda Bongo

Exactly what I came here to say! Always thought it might be a good project to convert my Bongo one day.

Trip to watch a world cup:

New bike day:

Another world cup:

Trip in the new camper van to Ard Moors (actually me this time!):

My brother making it to the big time and winning the Kinlochleven enduro before being on the front of this month’s MBUK (still in shops folks!):

Does this race replace the usual end of season Kinlochleven race then? Been up the last three years to finish off the season so would be a shame to miss out on that!

Gotta be Adam Brayton for me. Absolutely top bloke, happy to chat in the WC pits, and I love the fact that he’s shunned massive factory teams to stay loyal to Hope.

Surprised no one’s mentioned the Trinity car park. £4 all night after 5pm and 15 mins walk to the arena right through the city centre past all the aforementioned food places.

I’ve got a Whyte Glencoe, same frame as the Friston/Gisburn, but with 650b wheels. I got a set of 700c’s as well, which gives the best of both worlds all round. I’ve ridden it on roads, blues and reds at trail centres, a bit of gravel and a couple of CX races. It’s coped fantastically with everything I’ve thrown at it!

I’ve done the last two and will be heading up again. I’m staying in the camper at Invercoe at Glencoe village, which has the added benefits of riding the trails at Glencoe Lochan on the Friday. Great way to finish the race season, and scare yourself silly!

It’s on their website, you’re correct, 0630 on the 31st.

Here’s my Murmur :)

Can’t see him going to Focus, bearing in mind they’re owned by the same company as Santa Cruz!

He/the team would have to implode pretty spectacularly not to and up until now it has been (mainly, apart from the occasional exception) being Vettel and Ferrari doing the Black Hole impersonations.

30 point lead, potentially dropping to as low as 15 at the end of this coming weekend due to Merc potentially being the third best car in Singapore. I’d say that holding of the much improved, and best car on the grid, Ferrari back will be a massive task, it has to be said. Having said that, based on Singapore last year, this weekend could go completely the other was and we could be looking at Lewis on the brink of his 5th title.

Not sure I’d say Lewis was on the brink of another world title just yet!

I went to the WC this year. Wasn’t on my bike, but there were definitely a few paths heading off down the hill from the track at the top of the WC track, so probably worth an explore. Saw a lot of the WC guys on trail bikes for an evening spin on the practice days, so they must have found something. The terrain is absolutely brutal though, lots of very sharp rocks and the like.

Metro bank have no fees at all for European transactions, have used in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Croatia, at ATMs and in shops with no issues whatsoever. I’ve used their debit card, but I believe their credit card is also non-sterling fee free.

Had my first bad experience with Yodel a couple of weeks ago.

It all started when my brother had a set of forks due for delivery, and as no one was due to be in, my grandmother walked down to our house to make sure they would be delivered. She sat in all day waiting for them, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, no one came to the door. Online tracking was updated as delivered to a neighbour at number 8 (signature was simply a letter N). So, my brother goes round to number 8 to look for his parcel when he gets in from work. We’re at number 20 so no idea why the driver went to 8. Or did he? Turns out no, the parcel wasn’t at 8, nor was it at 18 (next door), we thought it might have been a simple typo. So, he rang Yodel who said, it might have gone to number 12? So, off he went the next morning before work to number 12, and you’ve guessed it, not there!

Unfortunately, the following day I was due to have a set of wheels delivered by Yodel as well, and as I’m sure it will come of no surprise to you, they didn’t turn up! This time my grandmother sat by the front door waiting for the deliver driver to knock, but there was nothing. So, that evening, off my brother went on the hunt for two parcels. After having another conversation with Yodel they said maybe at number 39 (?!?!). Rather surprisingly, there sat outside the front door of 39 were our two parcels. Turns out the people at 39 were on holiday so they’d not been signed by anyone, and had in fact just been dumped outside a completely random house.

So, to sum up, Yodel didn’t attempt delivery of two separate signed for items, they instead randomly selected a house and just left them outside, no note through our door, no logic to which house, and no attempt to make sure the parcels were actually safe.

I spoke to Yodel’s customer services, and the lady on the other end of the phone agreed with me that it was completely unacceptable, I do, however, doubt that my complaint got beyond their South African call centre, and I’m sure that if I ever have the misfortune of having something delivered by them again, it will definitely go to the wrong house!

When are you planning on going, as Antur is only open Thursday-Monday, and it seems like they’re not fully booked on any day according to their website?

Maybe look at the Focus Vice? 130mm fork, I think it has 120ish rear travel with the metric 190*45 shock. Think it’s 130 with a classic 190*51 shock though. I’m not sure they’re doing multiple spec levels on this model year and the base one may be a bit more basic than you’re looking for. Only £1400 though, so potential is there for upgrades.

Sorry to muddy the waters further, but have you considered the Focus Vice? Good spec and low maintenance, being single pivot. Touch cheaper as well at £1400.

This is a 2 year Honda deal

My brother fits his extra longest Geometron onto a Thule 9503, it’s a bit of a squeeze though, I think he has to put longer straps on for the wheels.

Went to the DH WC last month, absolutely stunning part of the world, would 100% recommend a trip to the islands.

@nickc – Williams have their own wind tunnel – in fact they have 2, a full scale and a 60%! (and other people rent space off them)

Force India, on the other hand, don’t. They use Toyota’s in Cologne.

Chromag? I’ve had 3 sets now, (2 * 31.8 and 1 * 35mm) all been great.

Focus Vice

https://www.jejamescycles.com/focus-vice-mountain-bike-2018.html

Depending on what size he’d want, stock is a bit lacking at the moment, though…

Hols, with regard to The Bend:

– It is currently graded as grade 2, but this is due to the cost of getting the circuit graded rather than the quality of the circuit. It could receive grade 1 if it wanted it.

– Some more hotels would need to be built, but bear in mind that the full circuit is not yet complete, so it’s not like the race would be tomorrow! Also, being just over an hour from the centre of Adelaide means people would probably just stay there.

– It is situated on the main road connection between Adelaide and Melbourne, so very easy road access, also the nearest station is less than 10km, so a shuttle bus would easily get people to the circuit.

– The city of Adelaide has been interested in F1 ever since they lost the race in the 90’s. Their circuit isn’t up to hosting F1 these days, but with The Bend being so close it could be an alternative for them to fund.

– You wouldn’t be visiting some hick town, you’d be going to a race circuit to watch a race. Similarly, if you make the (125km!!!!) journey from London to Silverstone, you don’t spend the day in Towcester! From a major city, it’s a lot easier to get to than say the French GP or Japanese GP!

Now I’m not saying that the race will or should move away from Melbourne, the point of the suggestion was for a better race, i.e. more overtaking, more enjoyable for the TV audience, and The Bend would definitely provide this. But also, it’s not as infeasible as you seem to think it is!

Absolutely loving my Starling Murmur, best bike I’ve owned!

Back to alternative venues for the Oz GP, how about The Bend Motorsport Park? Brand new circuit, only 100km from Adelaide, the GT configuration will be the second longest racetrack in the world when it’s finished!

I’m in

Having just received my UK made Starling a few weeks ago, I can definitely say that one of the key factors to me getting one was the UK made custom geometry. Whilst doing this will maybe remove some of the exclusivity of the brand, I think it’s definitely the right idea from a business perspective. I’m very happy that mine is custom, and at least there are subtle frame differences so that I’ll always be able to differentiate the UK bikes from the Taiwanese ones! Good luck to Joe, I hope it’s a huge success for him!

Alonso fastest and most laps completed on day 3 of the testing with a blistering 2m18.545s! ;)

Can’t really compare to last year’s times due to the fact that the track has been resurfaced. Interesting to see that it does seem that Renault are a bit closer to the top – not that we can read too much into pre-season though!

Nah, they’re one of RoGro’s personal sponsors and have been on the Haas for a while

Yeah, I know what you mean with the raffle system, I guess I was one of the lucky ones to actually get on the wait list. Been a long time coming as well, the entire process started about 9 months ago, when I bought a t shirt as a raffle ticket!