Tomm

OK, so in its current state that won't take gears. Apparently the bike would have come with the part of the frame (dropout) for gears ("includes multispeed hardware") but it's not attached in the picture - you'd have to ask him if he still had it. I don't think his upgraded Halo rear wheel will take a cassette (I.e. the wheel is probably limited to single speed also) but again you'd have to ask him as there are several models. Why do you want gears? I suggest that if it's that important that you have gears, you'd be wise to look for something different. With that specialised you'll spend easily £100+ adding gears. http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/ is really good. Gravity slaves + Descent world are OK but 90% of what is on there will be advertised on southernDH or pinkbike Singletrackworld.co.uk (not so good for jump bikes but good for XC / bike parts)

It's probably just where I've been riding - it's all rocky.

In the last 10 years of riding bikes, I've had probably 100 pinch punctures, and approximately zero thorns/glass/whatever else. So a patch that works except on pinches is next to useless to me.

Most mountain bike hubs will have a big enough freehub body for an 8/9/10 speed cassette. Anything Shimano and most Hope will be fine. But you can also get some hubs that are specifically for single speed and may have threads for a screw on sprocket or just a very small freehub body. There's no real hard and fast rule that will tell you. The other thing to be careful of is the frame/dropout. Sometimes these are specifically for single speed and the bike will have horizontal dropouts and no hole for bolting a derailleur onto. Sometimes you can buy new dropouts (extra $$$ of course) and sometimes you're stuck. The easiest thing would be to link us to the bike and we can tell you.

Yeah sure. I guess what I should have said is that there's no reason why it should be impossible to make some proper rubber self-adhesive patches. But you're right they're all foamy and crap.

I haven't used any self-adhesive pads that last more than a few hours, but I haven't used these ones. In theory there's no reason why self-adhesive should be any worse than standard ones, but they just don't seem to work in the real world...

One thing to look out for, Oxford has a strict dress code. Blue blazer, a shirt (no tie), light chinos, deck shoes with no socks. Otherwise you'll get laughed at by toffs.

Cool

Every time you post it just bemuses me completely.

... something to do with the energy crisis? (I just fed the troll, didn't I?)

@JD: Yeah. I clearly don't understand the pros and cons - why can't the police just fill the streets with tear gas?

Prediction: Tonight we'll see the first vigilante white gangs trying to dish out some "justice".

I like Revelations, my girlfriend has a set of the older ones (Dual air 100-130mm - like those ones you posted only hers are grey) on her MTB and they work really well. RockShox changed them in the last 2 years, they're now 140-150mm travel and a bit beefier. I don't know about the coil ones but the air ones feel really nice even when wound down to 100mm (I imagined they wouldn't feel plush, but they feel great). The only problem with RockShox is that to keep them running nicely, you really ought to clean them and change the bath oil pretty regularly. I think RS recommend every 50 hours of riding or something. It's not difficult once you've done it a few times and it definitely helps. When you buy them, check the U-Turn moves smoothly, check the rebound (and compression) adjustment works as it should. If they feel OK and they look OK there's probably not too much wrong with them. As for travel - no idea. How much is it supposed to have up front? The headtube looks reasonably beefy, I doubt you'll break it there. If you put too much travel up front it might feel a bit jazzy / slow steering so I suspect that will be the limiting factor. If I had to guess, I'd say 130mm will be fine.

Yep that tool will be fine

This is clearly a very emotive thread, so here's a warning: There is no excuse for abuse of other members, regardless of context. This probably isn't the best place for sarcasm or flippant comments. Please consider how posts could be misconstrued before hitting 'Add Reply'.

You need a different type of BB tool for hollowtech if you've not had an external BB before. You also need one of these things to tension the bearings which won't come with the cranks (http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=10180) or buy the BB tool with that bit attached (http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=10179). Saint cranks are twice the price of SLX and heavier. I can't see why you would use them except for DH/Freeride. If you want to spend more money, I'd go for XTs. But of course it's your money.

Doesn't everyone do that from time to time in front of the computer?

BMX style cranks probably won't have well-sealed bearings since they're designed mainly for street, not Forest of Dean grit. Saint cranks are nice - they're very stiff and feel really well made (in a way that SLX and even XT don't), but the bottom bracket isn't sealed any better so it won't last any longer. They're also a fair bit heavier, and definitely not the right choice for general 'trail' riding. As Milo says, I'd go for some SLX or XT ones. Having said that, Hollowtech2 BBs aren't actually that amazing compared with the old square taper UN73. I wouldn't recommend going back to square taper, mind.

Have you considered just reading your subject material, instead of reading about how to read fast?

You can't hear as much stuff (sirens?) Your mind may not be on the road if you're concentrating to music. It's a bit of a subjective thing and it'll depend on the tyre of roads you're on. Country lanes with high hedges and in a very busy city with heavy traffic, I probably wouldn't. Some people will advise against it outright. Then again, some people ride in fluoro jackets and million lights... I'd probably suggest if you're over 18, make your own mind up For what it's worth, I listen to music sometimes, I don't think it's unsafe. If I'm not listening to music, I'll probably be racing / going as fast as possible which is unsafe anyway. In fact I probably feel safer going a bit slower and enjoying music/podcasts.

I did it via a courier firm. Can't remember the exact one but it was £18 and they came and picked it up from my house - ideal. Much better than Royal Mail!

Whoa.

Considering they do spins and flips off stuff I wouldn't even jump off, I reckon it takes balls. This guy wins though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uHkyMh9FW4

But a generator can't create power without a force acting on something. You can't just get energy out of perpetual motion by decreasing resistance, not even hypothetically.

Hannah. If you really want to tell that nurse how you felt, go to A+E, speak to receptionists etc and work out who it was and write a card directly to her. Working as an A+E nurse is possibly the most under-appreciated job in the world and no one ever writes thank you letters. Question: Does your mood fluctuate? By that I mean, I know you have had low mood, but the natural progression of someone with depression is of a fluctuating course, periods of predominantly low mood and then a return to normal moods for a time. I've seen your long list of diagnoses, the two that stand out are depression and borderline personality. How much of your self-harming do you think is related to the former, and how much to the latter? Do you still self-harm when your mood is OK? Just curious.