Post images of beauty (quote pics sparingly) - see Mod warnings in OP

@peterk19- yes, it is the 2008 Focus Raven Expert, carbon frame, full XT groupset, Rock Shox Reba SL fork. FWIW though, I think the 2009 has a nicer paint job.

@uberwolf- they are "Zertz" elastomer inserts that are meant to absorb road vibration. This is a common thing throughout Specialized's range, they do it on seat stays and seatposts as well as forks, the more expensive geared Tricrosses have it in those places as well.

To be honest I would not 100% sure on the benefit myself either, the comfort could more likely be more to do with frame geometry and tyre width. Apart from the Tricross fork which is new to me I have used a Specialized seatpost with a Zertz insert for a few years now on a few different bikes.

peterk19 wrote: »

Cheers for that looks like an option for using my cycle to work

what size do u think would suit me im 5'11?

I'm 6ft and got the L/52, looks like 5'11" would put you between M/48 and L/52. You are welcome to give mine a go for size.

Here's an update on my bikes. I collected the MTB today.

MTB, Commuter and Fixie.

I'll get the Road Bike up soon.


http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/declan.goggin/Bikes#5294124086009626882

Ha, well done on that Explosive Cornflake, it won't disappoint. What are you planning on building it up with?

Very nice MTB there Aquinas, have you been doing that for a while? How is the Focus Merluza to ride?

blorg wrote: »

Ha, well done on that Explosive Cornflake, it won't disappoint. What are you planning on building it up with?

Very nice MTB there Aquinas, have you been doing that for a while? How is the Focus Merluza to ride?

I've been geting all the parts for the MTB from e-bay over the last year or so. Well all except the groupset which I got dne in cyclesuperstore. I'm looking forward to going out on it soon.

When I took the Merluza out of the box I thought it was really heavy but once I got it out on the road I was pleasantly surprised. It was a great cycling home in the rain on Monday evening, the wind and rain was that bad it was coming at me from the side but I was bone dry when I got home. The mudguards make all the difference:cool:. It was nice and comfy with the thicker tyres also.

Aquinas73 wrote: »

It was a great cycling home in the rain on Monday evening, the wind and rain was that bad it was coming at me from the side but I was bone dry when I got home. The mudguards make all the difference:cool:.

What? How? That defies the laws of physics! Were you cycling inside the back of a van or something?

Mudguards unquestionably make a big difference, a lot of the really bad soaking is water coming up from the road (particularly onto your arse) and mudguards prevent that.

Although I've never done any road cyling bar cycling to forests, I believe off-road cycling has given me a distinct advantage as a commuter - MTB demands constant attention to the terrain and conditions, quick reactions, lots of hard (frantic!) braking and nonstop repositioning of the body in order to stay 'rubber-down'. I can think of several times while I've been commuting where I would have had nasty collisions if I didn't have supreme control of my bike.

As I've said, I've done no road cycling and I don't mean to say that it's not taxing or requires little reflexes and control (I would proably freak out if I had to cycle in the middle of a group, making constant adjustments to stay on someones wheel. Equally, how the hell do you manage to avoid someone who goes down in front of you??!!) but MTB involves a lot of 'crash stops' and evasive actions in order to avoid stuff and I reckon that's hugely beneficial for cycling in traffic.

Raam wrote: »

You hope that they get the hell out of the way. I nearly ran over rflynnr's arm when he went down in front of me. He moved it out of the way just in time.

Lucky that, could have done some nasty damage to the Cervelo.

My steed. BeOne Nirvana 3.0








Good to be back in the saddle.

kincsem wrote: »

How do you show the picture so that you can see it on the screen (without clicking the attachment).?

• If its your own picture, host it on image shack, flickr or similar. They will give you a specific url for posting the image in forums.
• If it is an image on the internet, click on the yellow box with the mountains in it when creating the post and enter in the url/web address of the image. This can be found by ctrl-cicking on a Mac & I think it would be right-clicking on a PC (on the image displayed). It come up as "copy image location"

alternatively, upload the image as an attachement, then preview your post - copy the link in the post to the image (e.g. the link to W200_IMG_8988.jpg in kinksems post is "http://boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=71618&d=1233397745".)
Then edit the post and write it like this (without the spaces around "img" and "/img")
[ img ] http://boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=71618&d=1233397745 [ /img ]

not 100% - haven't been all week really. been luassing to work even...
and i just used the link supplied... didnt even look at what it was!