PS I keep meaning to ask about the ‘Do we know if all MTBers have ticked the MTB box?’ issue

mtb_nick

I couldnt attend the meeting but a guy has been in touch about resurrecting the trail build volunteers. After seeing a few posts on here and a moan I had at Muddy Moles (sorry Moles 🙂 )

This was a few weeks ago – at the time I asked if MTBers needed more representation on the committee etc but he said it wasnt needed these days.

It would be interesting to hear a bit more about it if you’ve got the time to share. i guess minutes will go out at some point.

(There seem to be a number of different groups whose views we need to accomodate rather than a homogenous mass of non-MTB Hurtwoodists.

Daytoday hurtwood peeps eg the Ranger – pretty cool, things would be a lot better for us if it was just down to the Ranger so be nice to him
Hurtwood management – seem pretty reasonable but have to balance our needs against the rest of the users
Hurtwood member moaners
Non-MTB Hurtwood members who are cool with MTB
Resident moaners who arent members, who are pissed off with the MTB invasion and moan at Hurtwood as they are an official looking thing that can be moaned at.

Of these groups the latter seem to be the ones who cause the most aggro about us and therefore headaches for Ranger and Hurtwood Mgt.

Since I did this post I have found out only 5% of local residents are members – I bet more than 5% of them use the woods.)

Cynic-al’s suggestion is good option – but looks are important and if your bike is modern looking then old school wheels can look a bit wrong whereas some aeroness looks good on old and new frames

Aksiums are better than khamsins. I’ve had khamsins and ventos and prefer the aksiums. I use them as winter and commuting wheels and 15 months have not to reach for the spoke key once

Of the original choice it would depend how much you can get the R5s for but they don’t look that much better on paper to me and I think are more expensive?

I have R3s on my best road bike and they are very nice but lots of difference to R5s (which are an option I considered but couldn’t see much benefit over r7s ( and by implication aksiums)

Not sure that helps much – how much you can get them for should decide it really

Good grief. Looking at the junk on some of these lists I am not surprised you see so many lardy MTBers.

They could be doing 200+ miles a week and not shifting the fat that comes with eating all that crap.

I particularly like ‘avoid anything healthy’ cos you just know the Tour is won by eating Haribo’s and only drinking one bottle of water in a four hour ride.

If you can ride for four hours without eating much, then you are rambling on a bike, not riding. If you can ride for four hours without drinking then… I recommend aquaban.

The Endura padded jersey boxers plus any shorts you like works for me.

The abuse I get when I wear Aussie Ranger style hotpants with is such a big plus

Tip on roady etiquette – dont express climbing in feet and distance in km as people will see through you quicker than they can ask ‘what do you use to shave your legs?’

it looks like you are trying to big yourself up – and noone would want to do that would they? 😉

hilldodger – upsetting self-appointed interweb prefects like that is quite on brand for some of his gear – he’ll probably book the time spent on the forum to marketing and then go and show off about it on dirt or pinkbike. It generally works quite well for him on the windsurfing forums – the people he winds up you would not want to be seen using the same sails as etc (or pedals 😉 )

hilldodger – is there a pattern to this kind of thing then?

pastcaring – I very much doubt that the people contributing to this thread were on the verge of buying a BottleRocket and hucking it off cliffs. Apart from jedi of course, but I dont expect he’ll be giving his back.

The only remarkable thing about the wikipedia page is that there are one or two small truths in it. He’s definitely not the Contributor in Chief – that’s his boyfriend

I don’t get why Prince Alberts are called that?

To me he was a royal squire and a gold statue on the commute.

Then I worked at telly centre and was informed that Evan ‘Tinsel Tits’Davis had a Prince Albert. Since getting into MTB I dont get why a hardcore hardtail would be called that?

Maybe I am naive?

franksinatra

What I find strange is how groups of similar and like-minded mostly nice people can find so many ways to disagree once they have access to Interwebs. If they meet eachother on the trail all is well and good. But on the Interwebs slight disagreements about eg 9or10speed become philosophical and divisional.

Ok I will admit that the evidence suggests a certain nob I have defended has on balance surpassed his own standards of cockdom but there is a certain kind of vibe on here and as a noob I suggest it is not entirely positive. Until Jedi posts then peeps realise they be pi55ing in each others chips in many ways.

He hasn’t let me down

TandemJeremy – he thinks MTB started when he bummed Lester Noble at a windsurfist race then Lester ran back to Yorkshire to do something ‘less popular’ – it’s not when riders first went offroad – it’s when it started to smell of cash

At this point one normally says ‘No he isn’t a nob…’ but in this case oh look the golfs on

Hi OP

you asked about Endura originally?

I have the ones that are fake jawbones. They are top! lenses work really well – to the point of still working when dark and once you are 3 ft away they look like Jawbones, but they cost £40 😀

Brilliant!!

EDIT Haha they are called ‘Mullet’ there had to be a negative.

Thanks for your concern guys. But, as Junkyard has sussed, I am absolutely certain that what I said about GRF would not ‘damage his reputation in the eyes of his peers’ or however McNae puts it. In fact I could word it a billion times stronger and it would still not be a libel 🙂

If I said he didnt honour warranty on his products, or was not to be trusted in a deal, or his handshake was worth **** all – that would be different.

But… in most cases there is a gap between what peeps are like online and what they are like for real. It’s just very large in this case.

Enough. I’m going riding. 😀

Hi Mark I’m 110% sure the post-banning emails would not look great. Like I said he can be a complete nob at times. But is that where the story starts?

A good mate of mine was test editor then edited a UK windsurfing mag for over a decade and was not afraid of giving GRF’s kit a bad test so I dare say I have seen worse – but they always got over it.

Magazines need distributors to advertise, distributors need magazine readers to know about their products, especially if they are niche and expensive (so more Singletrack than MBR). Editors need to assert their impartiality and independence. Closeted dwarves from Kent need to vent their Napolean complex. You are luckier than my mate in that GRF is not a big player in MTB where he was the Trek of windsurfing, so you have more freedom to tell him to sling his hook. But ad revenue is ad revenue…

I respectfully and politely suggest that is in both your long-term interests to find a way of putting this behind you without either of you losing face so you can do some trade in the future.

cheers

(PS sorry to any mods or posters if I’ve been rude or a PITA in this thread)
(PPS good tactical move unbanning him, should be good for a laugh, or nothing will happen)

Yes jey innuendo – so that’s ok then – so if we think Are You Being Served good were probably alright

Junkyard sorry – how about “it’s like a snug bar in the pub with only your mates or your local where everyone talks shit and noone cares”

Anyway it was Marks metaphor so if it’s a shit one I was onlytrying to carry it through

Mark – I’ve just got GRF’s side of the story. It’s quite different to your’s , unsurprisingly. I wonder where the truth lies…

And the picture caption?

Thanks for that pedantry there Junkyard it is good to know standards are monitored in every corner of the Interwebz

I know I said I was going to leave it, but couldn’t resist highlighting this as an example of the acceptable side of homophobia, er, gay, sorry, jey innuendo

http://www.singletrackworld.com/blogs/2009/09/el-scorchio-notio/

Drac – thank you for the clarification – so if I tell you to “MTFU you mincing jeyer” then it would be OK if eg the context was “I poo my pants on 2 foot drops” but not if it was “Anyone fancy a ride up Fairmile Bottom on Saturday?”

I’m glad that’s clear.

I’ll leave it now.

Happy Riding!

Some might say that one of the joys of the Internet is that you can behave as though you are in a pub with your mates but it is in public.

Pity the poor old publisher who has to deal with it.

mark – got an answer on when MTFU, mincing, jeycore etc stops being banter and starts being homophobic? I want to be very careful that my insults are on the acceptable side of the homophobic/not homophobic line (Singletrack version).

TooTall – gay didnt mean gay then either. We all know what people are implying when they type it (mincing).

It’s interesting to read Mark’s tweets – I already knew GRF could be a nob – but it would seem he’s alone.

R.lepecha – I think he took that one hook line and sinker. nicely done.

pastcaring – I agree – there are some great double standards in evidence.

If people don’t like his posts, then don’t buy his handbags. Simples.

wwaswas – if you want to judge people by their online persona – by and large a fiction – then that’s your bag. Based on forums I would expect most people to be cocks – but meeting people in the real world suggests (mostly) they are not. I think it’s always worth having that at the back of your mind.

The various ‘extreme’ sportists Interwebs and their fat middle-aged inhabitants giving themselves the big ‘I am’ are by and large ridiculous and need more GRFs poking fun at their online presence, not fewer.

Just out of curiosity – lots of threads go on about ‘mincing’ and stuff like ‘jeycore niche’ – is that kind of homophobia-lite OK? It seems to be perfectly Ok to be really rude to people on here.

If you think you know GRF based on what he posts on forums, then…

… you don’t know GRF.

homophobic – it’s the last thing he is. He does like to wind-up prissy straights though.

for this forum – has to be Grifter surely? (well said duntstick)

My younger bro went from Stryker to Bomber (both also worthy of dewey-eyed nostalgia) while I kept the Grifter for ages.

Magnum then Record Sprint after that, but the Grifter is the one I remember most fondly.

No doubt I could burn off roadies up Barhatch Lane, style Mutha Hucka and bomb down BKB in 2 minutes dead if I had still had it, such was its allround niche brilliance

Ive been jedi’d and know they are doable but I just dont have the experience to judge the entry speed without someone who does around. And I mostly ride on my tod as I am free midweek.

Trying to judge the entry speed by trial and error was what led to the stack that led to Hertfordshire so being old freelance with dependants I am reluctant to trial and error again.

So it will be back to Herts at some point for sure.

I now also have the mental skills to say ‘that transition is too sketchy/not maintained/GFY’ when people suggest I MTFU 🙂

I just wish I had some speed/distance judgement skills. Although I think/was surprised that its not as fast as you think.

Now… which is worse – coming up short or going too far? A shoulder separation suggests the former to me!

it matters not, well done for taking the true path towards track gearing, you might be able to keep up with riders who love their derailleurs now 🙂

OP – are you more or less confused for reading this?

Without being critical of any individual respondent, the answers seem a) subjective b) not much consensus on what a hardcore hardtail is

(although I am pretty sure a BFe with big forks would be)

Where does trail hardtail end and hardcore hardtail start – or is that down to the rider?

How hardcore can you get on a hardtail? Is there a limit or is it just the skill of the rider?

That said I am pretty certain my Whyte 905 would break before a BFe, and I would break before either.

Did anyone mention Saracen? My knee jerk reaction from yonks ago would be urgh – but they have gone upmarket £££ and are advertising in a way that makes me think not for old farts like me.

How fast you have to be riding to make a particular gap.

Oh sorry I mistook this for a useful thread.

In that case… biking dogma and online collectivism.

you have to admire the cheek of some people 😉

Bream – yes I was generalising too much no problems when I’ve been to Malmo/Skane and that lovely S Coast with beautiful White beaches

But Stockholm archipelago or forest N of Uppsala – they make UK mozzies look like butterflies

LOL banned already – for something he so isn’t as well

There is only one GRF/Grumpf 🙂

a few years – but dont worry I wont use standard time

I love Sweden – but if you go there in mid-late Summer find the biggest tub of the strongest mosquitto repellant you can find – and then buy another, maybe two

Pastcaring – my post was in the singular but that does not negate your comment

As a newcomer I really like the freedom to insult anyone and ‘it’s the interweb anything goes’ understanding that goes with it on this forum. But it can only be a matter of time before GRF realises and stops pretending to be nice.

On the other hand, as UK importer of DaKine and Transition he might behave like he wants some new customers

I am a former beeboid of some seniority but also a mancophile. Even if the Surrey Hills is better than heaven.

Overall this is a good thing to do.

The idea they won’t get the guests cos they are based Iin Manc is a joke. Interviewees and contribs will go to a London studio and communicate with the planet Manchester by the various miracles of modern broadcast technology.

Don’t feel sorry for former beeboids – peeps don’t leave there and find they are selling the big issue generally it does them good to have to work and do some selling.

Transapp I am none the wiser but you obviously know our favourite freeridebusinessexploitation dwarf well so hello to you.

Long-standing stw forumites – apologies – due to the absence of wind in the UK for much of the last 3 years there could be an influx of windsurfers seeking freeride thrills elsewhere. As windsurfers are mostly 35+ IT fatties this should not be a problem in and of itself.

Except…

Whereever there are middle-aged ‘extremesportists’ there is GRF either pimping gear or looking for some cock.

So far he has been nice but he can go bad, although it is generally funny when he does…

I like this nice one – but there are rich pickings on this forum for sure. Now I am finding my feet a bit the veneer of politeness may slip.

That said, skins seem to be pretty thick…