If it was Dan that supplied the raffle Rab down jacket last year, you can thank him for me and tell him its in regular use. 8-)

22T ring now back available as a single purchase: £6 posted

Last summer I bought an SLX chainset in order to get the cranks and BB cups for my singlespeed MTB. The first thing I did was remove the chainrings and put them to one side. I've decided I'm never going to go back to a triple, so the rings are up for sale. They are M660 rings, 4-bolt fitting: 104bcd...

Yeah, there was a push up some of that to start with. Then on the way back we hooned down the stoney bridleway that would've been ridable going upwards. Shame.

gairym wrote:just to clarify - that's not 'my' video but just one i found online.

Yeah, sorry, I knew that. I should have said 'the bikepacking Alaska vid that gairy linked to'.

I watched gairy's bikepacking Alaska vid yesterday morning, then thought I might have a go with my slightly-less-professional set of photos from Wales last month.

Turned out alright for a first attempt (with apologies to I Am Kloot; the first album I found on my HDD).

Chris n and I had a dirty weekend with the bivvy kit in mid-Wales in January. In the end we didn't use the tarp and stayed the Saturday night in Moel Prysgau bothy. Route: Saturday: Llanwrted Wells, NW into Tywi Forest, Dolgoch Hostel, Wales' wettest bridleway ;), bothy. Sunday: East then south alon...

Fits my large Swift frame nicely too

I had a prototype framebag, the one on the Inbred in this picture on the BuggyBags page: http://www.buggybags.co.uk/pages/Bike%20Bag/images/BikeBag.JPG It is heavy material, but that bag is only 330g. The guy making these bags isn't a biker but the bag came out pretty well in the end. The more recen...

Some of my bike have names too: Eddy Merckx, Chas Roberts, Graham Weigh...

I might be interested in the fork if the steerer is long enough and someone else just wants the frame.

Seems this 'Round the world' bit is more about doing the distance than putting your tyres on as much of the earth as possible. Is it just me, or does something seem a bit 'missing' in that case.. not quite the pith helmet adventure that the name conjures up? A thought shared by Mark Beaumont when p...

I've just found some photos of the start on another forum far far away (not my pictures, I wasn't there). https://picasaweb.google.com/zigzag510/WorldCycleRace2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCMqpm4uu_b3B9QE# There's certainly a wide selection of bikes there. Mike Hall's bike make's me think it would be very fast...

No bivvy or overnight kit, but had a nice 3 hours round Wareham Forest with the local club this morning, before the rain got to sunny Dorset.

Why is it the guy that warns you about the hills cos you're on single speed is always the same guy that is walking because he's run out of his (27) gears? :D

I agree the allen keys are all a bit small. I'm weighing up (geddit?) whether I can get away with it or not.

As a test it succeeded with all my M5 bolts (I don't have a rear mech), but failed to loosen my M4 bolts on the Hope brake levers, and started mashing the interface.

5/10 from me.

All this talk of Cuben fibre is affecting my mind; when I think about kit I own that I previous thought was about as lightweight I now know there's a lighter option... ...and last night I'm reading about Kurt Refsnider's TD kit list and he makes this comment "I also carried some homemade, compa...

Just north of the Beacons perhaps, how about a legendary climb called the Devil's staircase? The route you're aiming for starts at Beulah, east of Builth Wells. Follow the mountain road over the Staircase then some other less legendary but equally stiff climbs to Tregaron. Come back on the reservoir...

No need to do a week, you can see the whole of Wales in a weekend on a road bike: http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/12-195/ The good thing about Welsh roads is the A roads aren't too busy to ride, unlike most of England. Snodownia would be good. I have fond memories of descending Pen-y-pass twoard...

No such thing as bad weather, just the wrong kit.

http://www.phdesigns.co.uk/product_info ... cts_id=241

A friend has gone and booked their wedding for the 3rd June, so no fun for me this year. Bloody cheek. ;) Shame it's the weekend before Bikefest as it's probably not the best preparation for a 12hr solo race, but what the hell. I'm teetering on the brink of entering the 12hr instead; having endured ...

Anthony wrote:Dyffers, is that over aggresive rocky trails or smoother singletrack type riding?

A couple of laps of Cannock Chase Dog and Monkey trails was as hardcore as I got on 1x9 before I went back to SS.

If you're going to re-purpose a standard middle ring as a single chainring 1x9 then yes, you'll probably need a chainguide. However, if you're going to buy a SS-specific chainring with longer/chunkier teeth you'll probably get away with it. I've run a Surly stainless 32T ring on a 1x9 setup in the p...

No issues, we didn't see anybody.

You did need to go through their yard, but it was very open. It didn't at all feel like you were going through their property, more like you were on a track that happened to go between the house and barn.

Chris & I had a successful ride this weekend. More writeup / pictures might appear when I've got a bit more time. You were right about the BW dropping down to the Doethie Valley, but the trip along the valley was also pretty good; maybe a little boggy in places (its January so no complaints). Th...