Guy Martin makes a Mountain Bike

[tiermat]

"Not available in your region" Grrrr

It's on 4seven at 8.00pm tonight

I spotted thast set a series link for it.

[bumper]

Excellent, really enjoyed it

[TimC]

Absolutely bloody awesome! What a brilliant effort all round; Guy goes up in my estimation with everything he does.

[Jakob]

I'm just wondering how the BBC got him to talk slower for his canal boat series!

Just watched the Mountain Bike video and I really struggled to understand him. And either he's wearing a 20 year old coverall or Scania hasn't bothered to update their design since I worked with trucks

[David Martin]

It will be a 20 year old coverall. Guy Martin is the mechanics mechanic.

[LEE]

It will be a 20 year old coverall. Guy Martin is the mechanics mechanic.

Nothing Guy Martin has done since my original post has stopped me hero-worshipping him even more.

I watched the speed record attempt and, like every sensible cyclist, said "he'll never do it ...not on sand anyway".

Then, the next day, I watched the highlights of him winning the Irish GP. 

Please Oh please let him win the IoM TT before he kills hissself.


PS.  What could Chris Hoy manage if he rode a similar machine on a closed road?  Maybe a road sprinter is more suited but, as good as Guy Martin is, I reckon he'll be at least 25% down on power compared to a Pro Sprinter.

[Biggsy]

What a shame it was sand.  I reckon he could have done 125 mph on tarmac.  They should have closed the M1 for him!

[mattc]

Being a science/motorsport/cycling nerd there were a million technical details I wanted to know (I shall try to resist listing them all here) but you can't have everything on prime-time TV I guess!

One of those was the effect of the sand. It's unusually hard-packed there, not your standard beach. Pendine has been used for many land-speed records, so it can't be a big problem - and I don't recall them mentioning it, apart from the lateral stability issues. Someone must have an idea how much drag was added. Shirley?

[TimC]

I was interested that he had stability issues too, and I'd like to have known more about why, and why a wider tyre apparently solved the problem. I think the choice of Pendine was (and always has been) that it's a clear 3 miles of hard-packed sand. It may not be as good as the best road surfaces, but it's a lot easier to arrange to use for this sort of thing (it belongs to the MoD, I think).

[Exit Stage Left]

I wasn't very interested in the record attempt bit. It made a handy peg to hang a programme on, and it provided a bit of jeopardy, but the interest came from the study of character. It reminded of the film 'The World's Fastest Indian'. A series of encounters between an ecccentric and sympathetic central character and those who can help him achieve his goal.
I also know people like Guy, my local plant hire owner used to ride the Manx GP, so it's nice to have someone articulating the motivations of recognisable people.

[rob]

Useful fact I discovered is that he's from Kirmington, near Grimsby.   Those of you who did LEL rode through there just by Humberside Airport on the way North and South.

[LEE]

Useful fact I discovered is that he's from Kirmington, near Grimsby.   Those of you who did LEL rode through there just by Humberside Airport on the way North and South.

If you think that fact is useful I'd strongly advise that you stay away from my Swiss Army Knife...your brain will explode.

[rob]

Useful fact I discovered is that he's from Kirmington, near Grimsby.   Those of you who did LEL rode through there just by Humberside Airport on the way North and South.

If you think that fact is useful I'd strongly advise that you stay away from my Swiss Army Knife...your brain will explode.

I'm remarkably simplistic.   The other reason it's of interest to me is that I grew up a couple of miles from there.

[matthew]

Yesterday he was riding a motorbike across water. 

mount foil, get the prof who did the recent program on the bouncing bomb in etc.etc. and get to >60m.

Looking forward to next weeks human powered flight speed record attempt.

[bobb]

I had only ever sort of heard of Guy before this series. Now I have watched everything I can find on Youtube 

Top bloke. Enthusiastic people always seem even more enthusiastic with a strong regional accent for some reason!

[bumper]

Space hoppers are cheaper than buoys
&
Pre ride poo

[gene hunt]

Really enjoying the series at the moment.

[LEE]

Last night's episode, Motorbike on Lake, was OK I think.  If it had been anyone else buy Guy then I'd have been bored, but Guy's enthusiasm and lack of fear kept it watchable.

I think there was about 15 minutes of relevant material padded out with stuff about the terrors of "the Bends", underwater survival, and F1 powerboat racing.

I did enjoy the look on his face as he drove the powerboat though. "JESUS....WEPT!", from a man who rides through country villages at 160mph.

I also noticed a Reynolds 853 Fixie in the back of his van (Training for his powered flight record?)

[bumper]

Tonight's episode is great so far, hope he does it.

It's nice to see someone on the telly with chipped and oily fingernails

[BrianI]

Tonight's episode is great so far, hope he does it.

It's nice to see someone on the telly with chipped and oily fingernails

And massive sideboards!   

[bumper]

Tonight's episode is great so far, hope he does it.

It's nice to see someone on the telly with chipped and oily fingernails

And massive sideboards!   

Don't knock 'em, mine are catching his up

He's also got lots of bikes too by the look of it. Either that or he's borrowed them for the series!

[bobb]

Just watched episode 3. Most enjoyable yet 

(click to show/hide)

In the first 2 episodes, I never doubted he'd be successful, but with this one I didn't think he'd do it right from the start. Not that I'm an expert or anything! Anyway, it didn't really matter in the end.

[bobb]

What a shame it was sand.  I reckon he could have done 125 mph on tarmac.  They should have closed the M1 for him!

In this (telephone) inteview Guy says the truck was pretty much flat out on the sand and that was his limiting factor. He says the truck could do 130 on tarmac which he reckons he could've done.

He goes on to say (possibly somewhat optimistically!) that he could do 200mph behind a vehicle that could go that fast on a piece of tarmac long enough - namely VW's test track in Germany.

The current world record (set at Bonneville back in '95) is just shy of 167mph....

[bumper]

Brilliant! It was excellent tonight.

Hope there's another series planned.

[Bledlow]

43 minutes! It's the revelation at around 33 minutes that got me. Dog poo. Rubbed in to cow hide to help in the manufacture of leather making belts for machinery.

Not just the leather belts for machinery. It used to be very widely used in tanning. Collected by 'pure finders' (yes, they called it 'pure'), who sold it to tanners. You could make a living that way. A shit living in more ways than one, but a living.

Pigeon & chicken shit have also been used, & urine was used for an earlier stage in the process.

You really, really don't want to live near a tannery using ancient methods, or get your  water supply from downstream of one.

PS. Urine was also used for washing cloth.