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Can’t believe that period are still moaning about dropper posts and 1x drive trains! Two of the best things ever as far as I’m concerned.
Like Ben_H and his coffee I can take it or leave it.
1x12 I have because my new bike has it, but it's worse in almost every way compared to 2x10. the chainline in lowest gear is just bonkers, 2x gave a narrower cassette and a variable chainline up front! Even 1x10 worked well enough.
I have a dropper post because it was a £50 bargain. There is no way my reverb was worth £200. I've survived the intervening 3 years without one. I just don't seem to ride in a way that needs it, either I'm off the back of the saddle, or I'm off the front of it, or with the cranks level there's a good 7" clearance anyway.
Endura, I really want to like them but pretty much everything I've had from them has been unfit for purpose. I'd disagree about droppers, I didn't get them before I had one but now I'd be a bit lost without one. Not necessarily for really steep stuff where you drop the saddle at the start and keep it there til the end, like at the Golfie, bit for trails like Drumlanrig at the weekend it was great to start with saddle up and just drop it when needed.
Alexa and other similar devices and all the internet of things. I do not want my fridge to tell alexa that I am out of butter and to order some more for me!
Innerleithen red. For ages it was cool to knock Glentress and hype up inners, but it's short, dull, lacking in variety... We should dig up the handful of good bits and move them down the road. It is a very convenient set of climbs though.
whitestone
Member
For me, and I realise this is going to wind some folk up, it’s trail centres. I. Just. Don’t. Like. Them.
OK, it's your opinion but there's so much variety between centres, how do you end up disliking them all? I mean, you can go for a lap of the red at glentress or you can go for a circuit of the official offpiste as possible and the only things really similar are where you park, you could even avoid sharing the climbs. Or you can go bouldering at Laggan, or climbing at Golspie... BMCC has a load of the finest of squiggly singletrack anywhere AND tractors. Even inners has 4 distinctive, characterful and good bits.
It's like when people say "I don't drink alcohol, I just don't like the taste", as if creme de menthe tastes like tennants. I don't get what one thing can apply to them all?
Margaret Thatcher.
Christmas(bloody awful
Charity.
Hardtails.
NHS.
The English.
Universities.
The good old days.
British Policing.
Heavy Metal music
Foreign foods.
Most pubs and their clientel.
Guinness.
New years eve celebrations.
Capitalism.
etc etc etc.
@northwind - surprisingly you are the first to bite!
I certainly haven't been to all trail centres nor ridden every trail at those I have been to - I think the first one I went to was the original Coed y Brenin nearly 25 years ago. I have no desire to visit any trail centre, Gisburn is the closest to me (about 30mins away) and it's probably three years since I've been, I'd sooner continue the extra hour to get to the Lakes.
@monkeycmonkeydo - crikey, you're a bundle of fun aren't you?
Fixies are great for a commuter bike. Wouldn't bother otherwise. Rode one for 7 years until my back got busted by a driver - bike was fine. Fixie with two brakes. Wasn't a cheap bike as it cost north of a grand specced up - probably more like £1,500 with panniers.
Great intellectual challenge of my ideas there whitestone.Oh and Geoffrey Archer and Margaret Atwood could and should have been shot at birth.Vodka-Russian bilge water.
To be fair if I lived an hour away from the lakes I wouldn't ride many trail centres but when you're away somewhere and there's a trail centre nearby then it would be rude not too.
Dracs iPad ?
monkey - I suppose Piers Morgan was too obvious.
Oh, hang on, someone has to say they are great, Piers Morgan grate, hmm. Of course the definition of "countryside" is the killing of PM. 😉
Long low and slack.
Otherwise gravel bikes wouldn’t have been a thing...
I just love riding my bikes.
One of the great things about riding is that every ride is different, even the same trails change according to conditions and where my heart, mind and body are at on the day.
I remember a few years back I did a couple of rides around the Dark Peak, then called into Sherwood Pines on the way pass.
Enjoyed The Peaks but welcomed the variation of Sherwood Pines.
One better than the other.... maybe but I enjoyed both.
As for changes in mountain bikes and kit over the years, I try lots and keep what works for me.... no drama.
Be happy people.
My problem with walking is that it’s frowned upon to bring a bike for the fun bits.
And the problem with mountain-biking is that it’s frowned upon to bring walking boots for the steeper uphill bits
This must be why I walk and ride solo 99% of the time
#foreveralone
People who say"Be happy people".Have we become Americans?Have a nice day,Neil.
1x gearing instantly springs to mind!
Sports personality of the year,the Brits,Oscars etc, all total overhyped empty shit.
Have we become Americans?Have a nice day,Neil.
It’s an ongoing cultural assimilation which began in the 1950s and is now deafening.
‘Can I get more relish on that, buddy?’
(Overheard in W Mids Subway shop, I mean store)
‘Con I get moower relish on thah, budday?’
I'm still rocking 3x9! Twas an upgrade from 3x8 hahah..
I like the thought of riddence of the front mech, but I'm not really feeling the need. And chain line lol.
You hate the NHS?
Interesting.
Dracs iPad ?
....and Molgrips' car....😀
Football
Religion
Eggs
Waterproofs
Cyclocross.
When it takes longer to de-mud your bike than it does to race it, you know you’ve been had.
I have FIVE fixed wheel bikes (road, TT, two track and a folder). I ride more fixed wheel than geared. It’s a purer form of riding, but you have to have the right gear. Too low and you are just ambling along or spinning silly. Too high and you never get on top of it. Just right and it’s wonderful. And ride 81 inches in medium group rides that average 20 mph. Always the smoothest in the group and normally keeping it together preventing surging.
You hate the NHS?
Interesting.
And capitalism. Interestinger.
Is there anything you do like, monkey? Complaining, perchance?
Eggs?!
Eggs?!
Eggs are great! What could anyone possibly have against eggs? There are very few foods that cannot be improved by putting a fried egg on top. The reason for this is obvious - you now have the same food, but you also have a fried egg!
This has upset me so much I'm going to have an egg and chip butty to calm myself.
Cyclocross.
When it takes longer to de-mud your bike than it does to race it, you know you’ve been had.
Came on here to post just that.
Also I have sour grapes because I'm really terrible at CX. But it's mostly because it's a cursed discipline.
It’s a purer form of riding
Dry boak.
Most pubs and their clientel.
you must go in some proper **** pubs mate.
Gin. Tastes like a bunch of flowers.
1x gravel groupsets – in what world is this actually a useful combination of gears?
40t chainring and 11 speed sram cassette on my gravel bike. Gets me up everything and never spins out on road. What more do we need?
Beer. It gives you tits and a preggy belly.
Ok, but you did list both of them in a thread of things you don’t think are great. You might not ‘hate’ them, but you do dislike them, no? Given that they are fairly opposite ends of the same spectrum, it’s interesting that you dislike them both.
Why don’t you like the NHS? Would you prefer a more capitalist, private healthcare model? Obviously not... or do you just like arguing with both sides?
Taxi,incredibly I don't look like either of them because I'm to thin!Never thought I would be able to say that.
Where did I say I dislike the NHS Tom?Dont put words in to my mouth.Its obvious Tom that it is you who likes arguing and cant even read the title of a thread correctly.I happen to think the NHS is a cornerstone of our civilsation(what's left of it).I felt ten or fifteen years ago it was pretty good.Now it's on its Knees.Thats fick all to do with hatred.
As for late Capitalism, if you cant see the disastrous state it is in I would recommend a trip to Specsavers.
I happen to think the NHS is a cornerstone of our civilsation(what’s left of it)
But you lump it in the same boat as things you think are...
utterly destructive,unsustainable and has no future
Like I said. Interesting.
I didn't lump it in with anything.You did in your own mind.I made a specific comment about Capitalism which was totally unrelated to any other suggestion.Inthink your making a real fool of yourself mate and should go to bed.
The only thing interesting tom is your attitude to this thread and inability to read or reason.
Just arguing then. Gotcha.
Eggs are great! What could anyone possibly have against eggs?
they are a chicken’s period.
That we can buy passports, not real ones... but fake ones.
I think that’s great.
Actually, it isn’t is it.
It’s a purer form of riding
Dry boak.
Thing is. It's kind of true. Not it any hippy dippy way.
Take a single speed bike and a fixed wheel bike make everything identical cycle along a flat road as fast as you can. The freewheel feels daft as you end up frantically spinning then coasting repeatedly as the wheel outrevs you. The fixed gear though you just keep pedalling even though you might not be adding anything. I just feels right.
That we can buy passports, not real ones… but fake ones.
I think you will find they are offering real AND fake passports.
Did any one say the new classifieds yet ?
Starbucks
Opinions.
I mean, people argue that they're informative and can lead to new experiences but more often they seem to be biased toward the preferences of the specific person expressing that opinion rather than being universally true.
Take a single speed bike and a fixed wheel bike make everything identical cycle along a flat road as fast as you can. The freewheel feels daft as you end up frantically spinning then coasting repeatedly as the wheel outrevs you. The fixed gear though you just keep pedalling even though you might not be adding anything. I just feels right.
Or, a classic case of 2 wrongs not making a right. 😁
Ha. Possibly.
But it also looks baller with some skinny jeans and a pair of crochet track mitts.
NHS seems like a perfectly valid contribution.
Everyone says its great, the reality is your as likely to sit in a corridor with a leaking roof for 6 hours as actually see a doctor thanks to the cuts.
Did any one say the new classifieds yet ?
No, the thread is about things everyone says is great appart from you. Not things everyone agrees are worse apart from the mods.
Take a single speed bike and a fixed wheel bike........
Yea, but a geared bike does that too! And better because you actually go faster rather than soft pedaling. Being under geared still feels under geared.
And at the same gear at the same speed youd be pedaling on both. The difference is on the SS you can sprint over the top of hills without dying in a whirling mess of 180rpm legs down the other side.
Angry sheep at Innerleithen. Just don't get it. Loads of much better and very different stuff nearby why is this mediocre trail the mutts?
My two favourite bikes, one is made in Yorkshire but isn't a fruit and the other has a little door to store stuff in the downtube.
MTB magazines and internet forums 😕
Britain
This thread.
Swinley trails.
Swinley trails.
People say they're great?
Tubeless: it’s a a faff to set up, it’s not a weight saver, and if (when) you do get a puncture you’ve got all that jizz to deal with.
Natural riding: mud and pedalling , more pedalling, more mud, no corners. Just endless climbing through mud. All for a few seconds of descending, with no corners, just mud. Followed by another endless muddy climb along a field boundary. Give me a good old fashioned trail centre any day.
Long reach bikes: great if you’re smashing down steep rocky trails, crap for everything else. You don’t need 500+ mm of reach, you’re 5’7”.
Natural riding: mud and pedalling , more pedalling, more mud, no corners. Just endless climbing through mud. All for a few seconds of descending, with no corners, just mud. Followed by another endless muddy climb along a field boundary. Give me a good old fashioned trail centre any day.
sounds like an english thing with your brilliant land access laws.
Swinley trails.
People say they’re great?
Yes. Not the greatest. But great.
As long as you aren't caught in a traffic jam on a busy weekend, they are fun at whatever speed you personally find hard; incredibly weather proof (red2 being the exception); the layout and lack of height means you can chop and change your route in almost infinite combinations; and crucially, its within an hour's drive of a huge chunk of the UK's population.
For every smug bloke on here that rides out their back door to a day in the Lakes or the highlands, there's a hundred guys driving to Swinley, having an enjoyable 2 hours ride and going home to their family for lunch.
To answer the OP - low end 12 speed groupsets. I'm sure X01 is lovely, but 700g cassettes and clunky finicky shifting on the lower tiers, just to give people a 50 tooth stump puller to ride up a hill at sub-walking pace; and and/or the useless theoretical ability to ride at 25mph on flat tarmac roads. All the downsides of 1x and 3x rolled into one.
thisisnotaspoon
NHS seems like a perfectly valid contribution.
Everyone says its great, the reality is your as likely to sit in a corridor with a leaking roof for 6 hours as actually see a doctor thanks to the cuts.
It's not the NHS that's wrong. What's wrong is what the recent governments have done to it.
That it operates at all is a miracle.
sounds like an english thing with your brilliant land access laws.
Not to mention the miles and *miles* of tarmac linking the ‘good’ bits.
Great Bear. Just a bunch stars, miles away, can’t visit them and all they do is twinkle, doesn’t even look like a bear. Total rip off.
Dogs (runs and hides.....)
Having ridden fixed gear for around 17 of the last 20 years, to me it is great.
Any other sort of bike just doesn't feel right to me and the 3 years where I have tried singlespeed, and even geared for a very short time, were just temporary breaks which didn't work out as couldn't wait to build up a fixed gear again after a few months.
Clearly after riding one at least twice a week for 17 years means that I am pretty good at riding one and don't need brakes, can bunny hop, get myself down technical singletrack etc,. so my view of them being great is coming from that angle but I realise that some people are going to try it and instantly hate it.
Still worth trying though as you may love it immediately just as I did.
Dogs (runs and hides…..)
Agreed - In fact, pets in general. Pet owners as well.
(Awaits inevitable backlash...)
Online / live chat on consumer websites, might as well just send an email and await the response instead of having a browser window open to achieve the same thing.
failedengineer
Dogs (runs and hides…..)
No point in hiding. The dogs will find you...
Tubeless.
Crap all over the floor. Ballache getting tyres inflated and staying inflated. Dried crap inside the tyre adding weight. Can't then change tyres easily for conditions. Tyre anxiety...will they or won't they go on then go up. Gopping toxic mess in there if you have to put a tube in to get home on day all over your hands. Syringes, valves. Get it right and it's good for just 3 months.
I recently went back to inner tubes on my Swift and it felt like an upgrade to my cycling life. No mess. Immediate inflation. No difference in ride quality as I swapped back to a tyre with a lighter more suppple compliant carcass. Weight was the same. Zero ballache, mess and crap. I didn't puncture before or since.
Yorkshire
Tubeless.
Let me then nominate your mechanic skills 🙂
I didn’t puncture before or since
If you don't puncture with tubes and run your tyres at as low a pressure as you want then there is little point to tubeless.
Where I live a puncture happens about every other ride if using tubes. When I switched to tubeless I never got a puncture in 1,000s of miles of riding.
Single track, it's always a bit of a disappointment.
Tubeless: it’s a a faff to set up, it’s not a weight saver, and if (when) you do get a puncture you’ve got all that jizz to deal with.
OK I get that you might not like it, I can appreciate the downsides, but in what world is 75ml of sealant as heavy as a 400g+ inner tube? The tyres are within about 50g tops these days, like for like (only the early no sealant tyres were.) - and certainly to give something of comparable puncture resistance it's far far lighter.
Sex
Sex
You ain't doing it right.
The web in 2019.
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...but in what world is 75ml of sealant as heavy as a 400g+ inner tube?
A tube weighs 200g
(I've just weighed one)
And you've got more favour with the gods, than I, if 75ml of sealant leaves you with some still sloshing around a week after set-up. I've found I need closer to 200...
(Take out 200, put in 200)
And you’ve got more favour with the gods, than I, if 75ml of sealant leaves you with some still sloshing around a week after set-up. I’ve found I need closer to 200…
I don't think it is other peoples favour with the gods, more like some evil you have done in a previous life may be going against you as using 200ml of sealant is outrageous.
200ml per tyre? Ye gods. Nearly half a litre of sealant sloshing around!
I normally put 3-4oz (about 100ml) and 1 year later still had enough sealent in there to be able to seal a large thorn pucture. The sealant will coat the inside of the tyre, if there's half a gallon sloshing around, there's too much!
Tyres don't drink the sealant! 😀