Deals for the Dirt from Mondraker, Thompson, Oakley, Shimano and loads more

@wtjs Even more interesting! Frames built by Five Land Bikes near Livingston. Impressive website, tempted to have them modify my Merlin titanium for disc brakes, but it's 25 years old. Maybe the over-locknuts wheel widths are too small. Not the sort of business I was expecting to find in the UK! Good luck to them - we need UK manufacturing.

@Rendel Harris so it can happen! Maybe I’ll start using it after all…

In the case of the particular nutter in question, I'm afraid long experience of him under his many different aliases (I think he's been banned under fourteen different names thus far, and those are just the ones I can remember) has demonstrated that he doesn't go away if ignored, indeed if anything he tends to increase his postings, starts to behave as if he is some sort of respected figure on the site and, most tiresomely, draws in other nutters of the same kidney (Martin 73, thisismyusername et al). The only thing that gets rid of him is a ban; site admin are aware of his presence and will ban him when he inevitably steps over the line once again. Until then, I'm afraid it's my personal opinion that his racist, xenophobic alt-far-right filth and lies should not be allowed to go unchallenged. I know others subscribe to the "ignore him and he'll go away" school of thought, and I respect your opinion, but I don't agree.

@jaymack "what’s AI going to do to people’s ability to think when it ‘relieves’ us of the need to exert some brain power to solve a problem or make a decision?" I feel that this is already underway. Ironically, in an era where most people have a device in their pocket that gives them access to previously unavailable levels of information, the levels of disinformation are truly shocking. At the core of this, is an apparent lack of critical thinking skills - just as having a calculator doesn't provide basic mathematics skills, having information at your disposal doesn't provide the skills necessary to distill that information. AI is just an acceleration of that process

Well! Here's cause for thought. I have been on here less recently because of various technical factors on the site and because of the nutters and people holding them here by responding to them. However, I have to look occasionally to find out about cyclist killers and the largely joke suspended penalties. I don't spend much time on the latest 36" wheel or new BB and shoe cleat type trends, or the £12,000 carbon bikes with £4000 wavy profile carbon wheels. I had decided on a Fairlight Secan for next year, but this admirable bike requires much study. This is why we need the site.

@cy.cotic great thanks for letting me know

@jackcycles Gosh. Sadiq Khan occupies so much room in your head there's little room for anything else. How sad.

This is what happens when you import large numbers of unknowns from overseas and export home-grown millionaires due to reckless ideology. Sadiq Khan has wrought more misery on the streets of London than anyone in the history of UK politics, but the issue is that he has enough of a captive market voting for him that he will be difficult to defeat at the ballot box. Don't forget, Khan will be ok as he drives around London in a cavalcade of bullet proof Range Rovers. You? Maybe not so much.

@open_roads don't forget - throwing a plastic bottle: fast tracked through the court system and 2 years in prison Great comment by the way