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@ChrisL
I am a big, big lurker. I enjoy reading the forum, but I lack the urge to dive in on threads where I have little to add, and there are plenty of posters who know a lot more about the subjects being discussed than I do. So I lurk. So there.
Notwithstanding my wallfloweryness, over the last few weeks it’s disappointing to see Dancing James (henceforth DJ) doing a hermit crab in the face of a few rebukes. I’d like to put my hand up and ask for the old DJ back, please. Two reasons.
The strongest is the long thread re 50:14, which touches everyone except the emotionally amputated. I felt DJ was on the sharp end of that, and I think grieving people need to be cut a bit of latitude, even when they’re not on the actual subject of their grieving. It’s a hugely upsetting time and I think courtesy demands a bit of understanding in a few directions. If a few noobs suffer and get the hump, I think that’s OK. If one is doled short shrift, the first reasonable reaction ought to be to look at the shriftor’s other posts and ask whether the shriftor is cunt, or whether actually they’re normally OK, but just a touchy at the mo. People who don’t do this ought to head off to Bikeradar and have a good old barny over there. As a reader, it’s not that interesting (well, it is a bit funny) to plough through a lions vs Christians thread, and it’s a shame to see someone who’s obviously a decent guy being flamed over the odd bit of sharptoungueiness.
The second is the constant advertisement to two pieces of fixed doctrine: use foot retention and don’t go brakeless. I’ve been riding SS for 6 years, having bought my bike as a fixed and converted it to SS after a horrible couple of miles being pinged off my flatties every time I wanted to slow down. I’ve recently bought a new bike which came with a fixed gear, so I thought I’d give a go, clipped in this time, and hey presto! I can’t stay off it. Fantastic! For this piece of (oft repeated) wisdom, a big thank you to the forum and particularly DJ.
Nothing more than a late night bit of reflection, so if the old DJ is out there, can we have him back, please? If we can have less, “When I say that, I get heat, and when I say this I get heat,” and a bit more, “You ought to do that,” I’d be grateful. If the old DJ’s been set running in the woods and shot, then IMO, that’s a shame.
Anyway, nuff said: I have lurking to be gotten on with.