CurtisRider

I enjoyed that, didn't realise you were such a good rider

I have an iPad 2, its a pretty cool toy and has now replaced my laptop as I just don't need it anymore due to the iPad being fine for my portable duties (mainly uni work and as a teaching aid at school) and having a beasty desktop to do proper stuff on. Downsides are the home buttons failing (same has happened on my iPhone 4) although i'm fairly confident Apple will sort that quickly going by others experiences. Roughly 80% of the people on my PGCE course have an iPad, the handful that don't are regretting buying their Nexus....

Nicely done dude! Looking forward to seeing it built up

Doing my PGCE to become a Design and Technology teacher specialising in Resistant Materials and System Control, fun times

It was cool seeing them made, I apprecdiate the skills involved (even if they are fairly basic) but thats about it

My splitter has more fibreglass, plastic filler and alu plates inside it than it has the original ABS...road just keeps nomming it! Oh and it is on its 6th respray in 2 years haha

Yeah thats the same as mine George, I am only -35mm but my bumper sits so far forward of the front wheels and pretty damn low that it catches at pretty much any opportunity, it was even bad with the standard -10mm height and splitter! Fortunately I care very little about my splitter, so I can have fun on the Suffolk back roads, which are far more fun than the 'A' roads I find!

Cheers guys Just fitted some Sunline V1 2" bars (£15 new!) and a new RH Deore shifter (£8 new!), just got to get my finger to actually bend enough to hold the bars now... Next jobs are to bleed the brakes (front one is spongey as hell) and then get hunting down some lighter weight wheels I have only been riding Sherwood Pines and Bestwood so far, I want to go further afield and more technical once my fitness improves to make those kinds of trips more worthwhile.

If it makes you feel any better, I understand what you mean about your bracket idea, and yes it'll work but it'll look fugly and surely be pretty stressed due to being pretty small and receving lots of leverage??

Thats not a C2 caliper anyway? It's a mini, look at the IS mountings, C2s had more meat in that area

Kinda tempted seeing as I will be in the centre of Derby, see how school goes

Can't you just buy another caliper half? Surely there will be some that pop up on ebay occasionally?

Cheers dude I have really enjoyed riding it, it rides really nicely Cost wise, I had quite a few of those bits already kicking about, so I dont know what they are really worth? Bike: £280 Stinger £10 Rubber Queens £15 Superstar grips £11 Shimano Bash £10 Exotic pedals £34 Syncros stem £10 Then I sold some of the original bits that were replaced: Forks £40 Pedals £5 and the rest I have left should make £40 ish judging by ebay prices Makes it £285+whatever the value of the parts I already had that are on there (at a guess £150 ish), so about £450? Most of its pretty much brand new, the shifters are the only parts which have done some serious mileage.

Bike has lost 2.5kg now, feels a billion times better! I just need to get my rear shock set up a little better, feels a little wallowy compared to when i had my coil setup. Shame I dislocated/broke/fractured my finger yesterday whilst riding, hands gotten proper swollen too! Spec now: B'twin wheels Basic headset Rubber Queen 2.2s F+R Deore 9spd cassette Superstar lock on grips Exotic flat Pedals Saint 36T Bash '06 Reba Teams 80-115mm with Lockout Manitou Swinger X3 air shock Sram 9spd chain Syncros 80mm 12degree Stem SLX 180mm brakes F+R XT rear mech Altus front mech Deore shifters FSA CF post Selle seat Truvativ Stylo cranks Blackspire Stinger B'twin 1.5" rise bars Ebay cheapy wireless computer Next things are some 2" rise bars, spray the stem black, and find a non broken shifter to replace my RH deore that has all its guts exposed...

Just watched this, freaking awesome! Also really impressive considering he is approaching 40!

Eurgh, rear drivers side footwell is soaking in my Saab door seal looks to be fine (nice and dry after a rain) so I guess next step is to pull off the door card and see if the lining is still there-what can I use to replace it? Not wanting to pay for a genuine one as i'm skint...

Assuming we are talking the older ones? They are freaking heavy old beasts, and have a steel shell as well as internals. I have given one similar abuse to what you seem to be offering, and had no issues. The pickup is awful, and you may want to check how many spoke holes the hub has as most seem to be 28 spoke

Ping pong shows and ladyboys, who could resist?

Decathlon seem to have quite alot of buying power, their bikes are always really well priced and well specced for the money. I took the bike for a spin offroad for the morning, and it was awesome fun! Really got the bug again which is great. The bike felt nice and stable in the air, and easy to pull up onto the back wheel when needed. Swapping the forks has made the bike so much more sprightly and slackened the HA slightly. The bike feels so much easier up the hills than it did before since losing some weight off it (that may also be down to me doing more exercise since getting the bike though). The 2.2 Rubber Queens seemed to grip nicely on the loose gravel and sticky dirt, even at 40psi. I only had a rear brake as my front adaptor hadn't arrived before I left. The mx5s, although far better than I thought, are still a touch weak for my weight and lack modulation so i'm looking forward to having 2x180mm SLXs on there to slow me down I didnt notice any flex issues, although maybe I am still not powerful enough yet to really move it, I certainly tried though. Overall I am chuffed and impressed so far, the frame seems good enough for me for a while yet, and i can't wait to do some decent mileage EDIT: I forgot to mention the best bit, no pain from my back or my leg whilst cycling at all That's the best feeling of all, seeing as I have pain at just about any other time still

Yeah, fingers crossed it doesnt snap at the first sight of a bump haha!

Bike so far, doing it's first off road ride tomorrow hopefully Lost 1.2kg since swapping a few bits Upgrades: Reba Teams w/lockout Exotic pedals (same as nanotechs) Superstar lock on grips Rubber Queen 2.2s Shockworks rebound adjustable shock (dad found it in my box of crap, so chucked it in the parcel when he sent my forks) Saint bash Sram 8spd chain In the post: IS adaptor for front brake Longer bolts for bash 36t ring Shim so I can run my FSA CF post I am currently pondering on an 80mm stem and some 2" rise bars, I will see how it goes tomorrow. Any recomendations?

Being split, can't you just replace the lip section?

I got a wireless cycle computer, and then tried using my girlfriends ebay account (she was on the phone) and missed the 10 deadline had to pay £5 for a bottle cage but meh, I needed one anyway! At least I got something freeeeee

I didnt find it necessary when I did it on my old bike when I ran a short cage mech, long cage I had issues with the chain dropping when backpedalling. Best thing to do is try it, see if it drops, if it does then buy a guide, simple

I had some card where i could pay for several months in advance, and get 'free' prescriptions, worked out as about £5 a month iirc which was great as my tablets and patches were coming to about £30 ish per month otherwise