simon – did you run round the school playground pretending to be a car as a small child?

i can’t belive i’m going to say this – but i don’t know why more of us don’t get bells.
I have a small ‘ping’ type one and my mrs has a ‘barbie’ one and its amazing how well they work at warning walkers/ other trail users. Every time I use it walkers move out of the way asap and almost all of them say hello/ thankyou.
I really don’t care what they look like because their benefits far out weigh this. So thats my tuppence.

Did you stalk me? I did a 1h51.47 in the sheffield half yesterday (number 1069) Bizarre.

I’d had enough after 9 miles, as it was far too hot for me. Well done.

Something like this http://www.theomm.com/products/packs/classicMarathon32L.html or the smaller one
I have an old prototype one (from a chap i work with/ he designs them) and its the best rucksac i’ve ever had – very comfy

just buy a chain checker and replace your chain before it wears out – if you do this a cassette will last much much longer – you can basic chain checkers from about 6quid.

i shall be doing an easy run (sheffield half on sunday) and then fitting a blind. Enjoy acdc

i’m just under 6ft and am riding a large duster (due to a long upper body/ i need a longish top tube). I have 32 inside leg and it fits me fine. I run it with a 100mm stem and layback post. Hope this helps.

ps i only got mine two weeks ago and its just been on a mini easter road trip round the 7stanes – it rides much better than i had expected it too.

We camped at Barnsoul, but the bothies looked good. Twas a bit cold last week – may need a warmer sleeping bag for future spring trips!
Facilities incl toilets/ v.good showers, washroom + driers and a kitchen. Oh and a basic tv room too.

Make sure you go to Kirroughtree – we went last week and it is fantastic. We did the blue in the morning as a warm up and the red/ black in the afternoon – quite tiring but well worth it. You may think the blue may be a bit easy, but it has some great flowing singletrack and finishes on the same trail as the red, so you get to ride the final descent twice.

We used Barnsoul farm as a base (very good facilities incl some cool wooden bothies/ huts) – just outside Dumfries -and we did whinlatter, dalbeattie, kirroughtree, mabie and drumlanrig castle in 4 days.
You won’t struggle on a hardtail either, i did it on my new charge with 100mm forks. I’d recommend them all, although Whinlatter was a bit of a slog, but the descents are good

I’ve got a streching book by Bob Anderson and i’d throughly recommend it -I think this is the new version of the book i have http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stretching-Bob-Anderson/dp/0936070226

Its got everything from all sorts of exercises to everyday bad backs etc. Its all split up in short routines and is very easy to follow.

i’ll second the dust pan and brush set brush

Also about 38% margin on bikes ( or a little bit less) is what a good sized shop should achieve, i doubt many big shops will stock a brand with a margin of less than 30%

Because Madison reckon they can still sell XT chainsets at £200.

its not that they think they can sell them at £200, its that they need to sell them at £200 to maintain their business – our currency is knackered and this has affected all of the importing costs – do you not realise this?
its nothing to do whether they sell 1 or a million -if you need to put prices up due to a cost increase that is outside of your control then that is what you need to do.

i’d go – you can always come back if it doen’t work out.
Both my brother and sister went to Canada (Ontario), my brother + family is coming back due to his jobing ending and his visa being tied to it, but my sister + family has been there over 2 and a half years and loving it.
If your family mean alot to you they’ll visit – also webcamming is great – we try to do it every week if possible.
ps my mum worked in madrid for two years in the 70’s as a nurse, and loved that too.

Many people will say your giving up a lot, but you need to take a risk once in while/ do what you’d like to do.

The reason that bike companies have been able to put the their prices up so quickly is because demand has not been affected. We are still buying bikes and bits and bobs at the same rate as we were last year.

When/if demand drops for high end bikes and bits and bobs then rest assured we’ll see price decreases.

Prices were put up to maintain margins, to keep businesses viable. It has nothing to do with demand. I doubt you will see many price decreases due to raw materials being cheaper, they may go down a little over time, but nothing like the increase we have seen.

I think my mate (Ed) was just expecting it to last a little longer than two years that was all. I know he rode it a lot (i used to live with him in Bristol) I wouldn’t have said he thrashed it though, just used it regularly.
Sorry if i came across in an annoying manner, i didn’t mean to cause any offence.

He did a bit of jumping but nothing more than cross country stuff (say foot and a half max). Other than that i’m not sure exactly – he owned it just over a year before it happened.

My mates headtube pulled off his and they wouldn’t warranty it, so he just got his brother to weld it back together and he’s still riding it now. Other than that they look nice.

i enjoy them too, but i was just saying that £54 was expensive – you can do the spud riley for £20 and its a longer route.
I don’t think the leg breaker cost me more than £20 either – fantastic if you haven’t done it – unfortunately its not on this year.

£54 for the etape caledonia – that seems to be taking the piss somewhat.
I like sportives, but this seems a little extortionate. Its only 81 miles as well.

lots of glass cleaner and a brand new single sided razor blade. I learnt this whilst as a student working for autoglass – used it to remove the labels from windows that i fitted.

Will work fine on glass -not sure about what to do on the bodywork though

i’m doing sheffield half too (my first one). Am currently running 6 or 7 miles once a week (+ walking at weekends/ biking) and am going to run around derwent (about 10 miles – derwent dambuster event) the saturday before. Other than that i’m not doing any other training. I just want to finish rather than being obsessed with a pb time. Hope you manage to finish ok – i’m number 1069 btw

Did they inform you of the price rise, per unit, at the time eg in December?

Reading this suggests that they don’t need to be on a lead at all times -just in sensitive areas http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-6EQJJU

Three things to try –
Squirt water at their faces – they hate it (works with annoying cats too)
Or if you are in serious trouble hit their noses or kick them in the side.

I am not advocating you do the second two of these unless attacked/feel in serious danger etc.

could you chuck off chappers and scott mills whilst your at it

i found some weather forecasts if anyone really wants to know – looks like it could have possibly -20 with wind chill, but 75mph winds are unlikely.
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Kilimanjaro/6day/top
wind chill chart
http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/arb/durc/windchill.html

i think anyone who raises money for a half decent charity (nothing that involves cats counts!) deserves some credit.

i sadly hadn’t tasted port until a couple of years ago, so didn’t bother going to try some whilst there 😥
Good excuse for going back though…

Triglav park in Slovenia is nice – we went walking there – not sure if you can bike there though. We also went canyoning there in a thunderstorm which was quite scary, but fun.
Santiago is worth a look, but its very religious! You’ll see lots of hikers who have done the route with their sticks and lots of day trippers & some impressive building work/ churchey stuff.
Northern Portugal is not far away – we passed through it on the train (via vigo – i think) going south to Oporto -it was very cheap, had some amazing scenery and worth more of an explore.

if you want to try a memory foam topper (i think its 3inches thick) and are near/ in sheffield then i have a spare one available – they are very comfy. If you would like to try it (or buy it for not much) email me at willcarrjnr3 at hotmail dot com

Brian rourke is the best so far imo – i have to say the steel ones look far nicer than those plastic ones

Gary_M

if you can find me them for £40 less than the above price (£78 if my maths is correct) then i’ll buy all of that shops stock.
Please point me in the right direction 😉

Why don’t you do the yorkshire 3 peaks challenge instead (pen y gent/ whernside + ingleborough). Saves dodging tourists and driving stupid distances.
Still quite hard at just over 24.5 miles and the scenery is great up there.

Barca – email me at willcarrjnr3 at hotmail dot com. I may have a contact who might be able to help you out (large hire centre), I cannot guarantee anything though, so don’t get your hopes up too much.

i’m with vodafone -quick tip tell them what you want (price/minutes) don’t ask them. I just quoted what i could get with another provider.

I got my bill down from £25 per month to just over a tenner.

The first person i spoke to wouldn’t do anything, so i just rung back a couple of days later and another person was very good and sorted me out.

Regarding bank interest rates – if any of you are with hsbc you can still get 8% if you only invest up to £250 per month using the regular saver account (or 10% with a premier account – you need to pay for this account – not worth worth it in my opinion)

http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/personal/savings/regular-saver;jsessionid=0000XZ8tZOEZsHt2zQf7_eN4a1Q:11j71ffl3

If you’ve tried narrower wheels and different brakes i’d assume it is the cables/ cable run. Also what levers are you using?

What about if you buy of the crc flood sale and then sell on for a profit? Does that count?

Clean the rims well + try some new pads (or sand down the surface a bit on the current set). You shouldn’t really need to toe in a v brake to stop them squealing.

New tyres, cables and give all the bearings a service. Don’t spoil it!

It will probably outlast you if you look after it. I’m in the south pennine road club (Derby) and one of our members – Jeff – was the shop manager at mercians for about 20 years. Not sure if he’s still there or not though (very nice chap if you meet him).

It should have a stamp on the bb telling you what year it is. I don’t think it’s that old tbh. It’s worth probably £150-200 in its current state and £300+ in good working order (going on recent ebay prices).