ross brown

Marc Hi. More photos please when you can. Hi

I use Acerbis Impact range of Enduro pants. Why? Well I doubt any males over 35 shouldn't wear lycra - or any skintight stretch one piece suit. But more important than how your 'bits' look, I like the knee proetction and the longer-lasting fabric strength that Enduro pants bring. Anyone else agree?

"its gonna end badly I just know it..." Just don't start riding OVER a line of parked cars. Have you see the Feebie and the Bean video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85eH6uSjbYQ

Dear Man O' Steele' I hope Nov 15th and the hour or two under the knife went smoothly for you. Haven't met but am thinking of you. One word of advice. Watch the OTHER knee. My ACl was to my left knee. And during a month or three of physio I so favoured it that the right knee (which had been taking all the strain with hardly a complaint) then began to hurt. So spread the load. And feet up when ever you can!!

Marc How's the 'significant work over the winter' going? You've had it two months. How' she run? Is it a she? Any surprises in how you find it to run and maintain? I've wondered how hard abike form the lat '80s is too maintain and whether it is too precious for regular use/work? Ross

Check this in door footage out Toni Bou vs. Adam Raga at the Toulouse indoor. At 4.32 minutes in there is a stack of empty wooden cable drums of various sizes they are traversing. It must be 12 feet of the ground. Doesn't sound like much but there's not much room to put you foot down. Let alone make a mistake. I don't know how you would regularly go out and train for something like that. The tackle it in stop start motion. Clutch life must be quite short! http://www.dailymotion.com/related/4103441...u-adam-ra_sport

"Any of you lot of banged up geezers considered proper knee braces? " Well this 48 year old banged up geezer has just had his third op on the 'good' knee. So in addition to knee braces I have found that and I like wide grippy footpegs that you don't slip off. I find wide pegs distribute my weight better. I can almost see the day when I'll have big Harley running board/footboards on my Montesa. Then all you young guys had better watch out. I had an ACL (ligaments are now fixed in placed with titanium screws) repair and then fell over four weeks after the op and broke my knee cap. I was watering the plants and some water linked from the stupid designer zinc watering can ( you know the sort of trendy watering can you buy at garden centres) onto the floor. Bang I went down. Leg shot out in front and bent up. Which they are not supposed to do as a good strong knee cap should act as an end-stop. The first op had weakened the musculature and my knee cap broke cleanly in two. Of course the wife was out drinking with some girlfriends that night. Man, did she get as surprise when she came home. So now I always ride with knee braces and have bought a longer garden hose. I used to use a foam padded sports brace with carbon fibre panels at the sides that stopped the knee twisting. But it tended to get quite hot. The next problem I found was that a good brace should also have some sort of knee-cap cup protection in addition to anti-twisting side structures. This is so that if you fall forward onto a rock which you will at some point (or if you clip the side of the garage while squeezing between the car and the wall while riding in to the garage standing up on the pegs so that your knee is now at the same height as the bolt on the garage door) the knee cap itself is protected. The best brace I have found is by a US company called Asterisk. USD599 a pair so they are not cheap but they do stop the knocks. And there is precious little extra foam padding to add heat and make them sweat. Anyway, as the surgeon said to my wife before I went under for the op, "pay for it with his credit card Mrs Brown and just think of the airmiles".

I've shipped three bikes from the UK to New Zealand. The easiest way I have found is to ask a dealer to keep a crate from a new bike to use to hold my bike. This last time Appleyards actaully bottled toegther an angle ireon fram aroudn the bike. Never had any problems or damage to the bikes. Handle bars cam off the Montesa for shipping otherwie the only legal regs are drain the fuel, coolant, engine oil and remove any battery. Cost me about GBP150 for pick up and delivery to docks and storage until ship arrived. Shipping and insurance cost double that (to NZ).