Okay… well reinstalled the Sram one to make sure that I was not going totally crazy and it all works fine albeit with slightly worn bearings.

No idea whats up with the NP version but thought I would post this in case anyone else experiences this too.

Bluetooth any good? My JBL flip was sub 100, is good for what it is and has the portability / waterproof bonus too.

Thanks – good question. I did wind it in before I put it back in the bike but it didn’t seem to reach a stopping point. Is that usual?

I’ve replaced plenty of shimano style BB’s and cranks etc but this is my first Sram DUB attempt so questions like that are likely to be where I messed up.

One down side is that your phone doesn’t know that you are wearing sunglasses so you have to take them off if you want to look at your phone. This is probably more annoying when they are prescription glasses too.

Thanks ads678 – I’ll give it a go 👍

Hiya – it’s not too far from Les Gets.

I do like my prizm trails… I can’t use them in some of the denser woods though.

Personally I go with contact lenses and the glasses for the day… plus reading glasses to compensate for the lenses coz I’m getting old now.

Yes – plenty of rental places in Arc 1800.

There was a great bike shop near Huttopia too, before Covid times… hopefully it’s still there.

We picked up tons of punctures there so invest in solid tyres.

By the power of google….

https://www.fiammastore.com/Fiamma-Cycle-Carrier-Accessories/Fiamma-Quick-Safe-Cycle-Strap

Yeah, it’s pretty easy.

1) Buy a bottle of Peaty’s sealant
2) Empty it and turn it upside down
3) Shine a bright bike light through the empty bottle up in to the sky over Sheff
4) Wait for him to track you down and answer the Peaty-Call.

Yerwelcs!

Okay great – thanks. Mine is one of the earlier models so fingers crossed.

Really helpful that they gave you the wrong measurements!

I heard of someone picking up a full specialised camber 2nd hand for around that

…seems like I might be a few days within the 3 year warranty (fingers crossed).

Hi Diplomatt – Ouch. Did you sort the seat tube issue? Anything I need to watch out for or was it a one-off?

Thanks for the Wiggle tip Riklegge!

Yeah okay thanks riklegge. That sounds like the same situation.

I guess I’ll contact Vitus again and just wait for that day and not head anywhere that they can’t walk home from!

You have to wonder if a standard warranty should apply. It seems like a blatant design flaw to me. Isn’t this the whole reason that we have mech hangers?

You could sell your new tent and buy my massive family trailer tent with roof rack attachments so you can carry as many bikes as you like :-)

We moved on to a caravan.

It’s great that you have a variety of options and areas that excite you. It seems as if there is an element to the intrinsic motivation that drives you too, along with the cultural aspect of the company along with decent money.

If you imagine yourself happy, inspired and engaged by your work in 5 years time:

– what sort environment are you in?
– what sort of people are you working with?
– what do the people around you say about you?

Can you afford what you want to do?
What impact does your choice have on other people?

Yeah – the fat bike place is called emotion fat bikes and it’s near where you will be.

We used them as a family a couple of years ago and had a great time. Thoroughly recommended.

The bikes were great, only a few came with droppers tho, I think you need to take or buy water bottles. They had helmets etc but you might want to reserve your bikes at this time of year.

Temperature will be warm but should be okay. It’s usually pretty consistent year round.

Just watch out for the nudey beaches if you’re on a family bike tour.

Looks good! Thanks for the info. Yeah ours is the 150 so pretty similar.

Thanks – we looked at a few today. We’re sold on the triple bunk now and like the idea of the convertible seats down the bunk end too that can be shut off to create a room for the kids (or whoever).

Before we looked, we also liked the look of the wraparound lounge area but it seems that when they do this they shorten the side sofas so the 2 bench seats seem to give more room.

We didn’t get to see an Ancona so still need to check the detail measurements for the seating but we saw:

Pegasus 546 6 berth triple bunk
Pegasus Palermo which was more expensive and only had double bunks but other than that was a good fit.

Car? The forum standard T6 of course! Got to put the bikes somewhere. It should have enough grunt according to the internet.

Thanks – I’ll take a look around!

Nice! Thanks for the tips.

I met someone last week with lots of experience in this area as well and she suggested the independent test too. Sounds like a no-brainer.

Re: van set up, we’re most likely to go with fixed triple bunk at one end and U shaped sofa at the other. Fixed double looking less likely.

We have 3 kids 12, 12, 10 and a medium sized dog (at the moment, that might change if she doesn’t stop barking 😉)
and use would be UK over Autumn / Summer and Euro-tours, presuming we don’t have to build a wall between us and France in November.

Budget… started off small but somehow seems to have risen to about 10k. Given that it’s usually nearly 3 just to rent somewhere in the alps for a couple of weeks this isn’t too bad.

Re layouts, We’re looking at things like this at the moment: Bailey Pegasus Ancona 6 Berth.

Any more ideas welcome, great find on that rental. Thanks

Looked in to Ridgeline ?

Tignes sounds fun. Can you recommend any camping or caravan spots suitable for families with a mutt & biking kids near there?

We usually head to PDS so I’d be up for a change.

Cheers people. I don’t think we’d go for the cheapest option out there. It would have to be 1/2 decent to replace the cavernous trailer tent we have. It’s more about the convenience to take short trips and make shorter stop overs with dog in van and the weather proofing that are useful in alpine climes.

I must admit that I don’t see a massive difference in some of the £4K to £8K caravans though… maybe £2K of this is the dealer markup.

Yes, that’s what I was thinking too.

I have no idea of the relative merits of the brands are though so the pricing could be almost completely arbitrary as far as I know!

Thanks… Dorset not really on the way but maybe we could take a different crossing.

Yeah – TheDT’s… That’s kind of what I’m thinking, it’s not exactly dead money if you don’t like it, is it. Worst case – resell and it’s probably still one of the cheapest holidays you’ll have.

Tried ‘Camplify’ too and people only wanted to rent out caravans if they could deliver and collect it from the site, which seems to defeat the point.

Thanks – yes, tried that. They were all miles in the opposite direction :(

I think the trails at BPW are fab. Loving the new red+ stuff. I think it is helping to advance the riding skills of regular visitors. I don’t think that the grading is off I just think that some people who have been riding for ages aren’t that bothered about learning new skills. Some of us and the kids who are bringing on the next generation certainly are.

Lots of my mates just like to ride which is great. Good luck to them, they are super fit and can ride all day. My kids like to session jumps and practice technique down the skate park. Guess who has better skills?

I did visit over the summer though and over-crowding was certainly an issue. they are planning to upgrade their facilities and it can’t come too soon. The parking is over-full, the cafe was running out of lots of things including seating but this is just because they were too good.

On the health and safety thing, I did see quite a few people learning the benefit of body armour and elbow pads the hard way on the last couple of visits too.

It’s probably not their fault TBF.    “A bad system will beat a good man every time.”

Oh and BTW… had a wicked guided holiday this year with Ridgelline in Italy. Check them out too. Epic trails. Stunning scenery. Every day was totally different. Great hosts.

Do you know if there are ‘uplifts’ around the Basque coastal style route that can be done independently? We’re thinking of heading over there for a family holiday in August and I think that BasqueMTB is closed at that time of year and we just want the odd day.

Of course in the alps you have the option of just take one of 2 lifts in a day or getting in a day’s riding when the weather is good.

I have 3 kids that love riding. They don’t have adult stamina for same amount of ups but give them a lift up they’ll ride down till the vans go home of the chair lifts stop working :-)

Check out the 2nd hand Hoy Bonaly’s on ebay. My twins had them and they were great. We tried the Hotrock but it should have been called the hotlead. It weighed a ton and the suspension was a joke.

The Bonaly is rigid but we added an RST 24″ fork which was lighter and actually responded under their weight. The kids appreciated in BPW and the alps but for easy going tracks the weight saving of rigid was fine.

Decent kids bikes really do keep their value too. I recently sold 2 well used, 61/2 year old Isla bikes for the same as I paid for them.

Good luck.

One of the reasons that bike mags* have had their day. You can read more detailed, specific and honest reviews online. Same goes for route guides and riding tales.

Yeah, I thought that too with all the user generated content about these days but apparently their demands have got even worse.

“well, we’ve told you how it drives on an all-expenses paid trip to the Pyrenees where they’ve just relaid the road and they got his drunk in a lovely hotel, here’s what it’s like in Lewisham on a rainy Tuesday afternoon”.

lol, yes exactly!

I know what you mean about taking things with a pinch of salt but constant, subtle, product placement works or the movies would have packed it in years ago. I guess that this exactly the point of ‘looking at the pictures’ too. You don’t even have to read the articles.

I know what you mean about the reviewers being honest and the bikes all being good. I agree but I think the bikes have been good for a few years now. However, I don’t think I’ve never seen anyone say: “actually if you just sessioned some tech, practiced a bit more or got £200’s worth of training you’d improve loads more than spending another £5K on this new bike.”.

As for the e-bikes, I’m glad (kinda) that you’re enjoying them. I hope you don’t have the mechanical nightmares that my mates have had. Personally, they couldn’t make me smile anymore than a regular bike… it’s just not possible!

Fox, Kenny, Alpine Stars, TLD, Sombrio, Polaris, Scott, Denim shorts… not all at the same time. They’ve been happy in nearly all of them but the recent Fox liners are apparently too wide. Having said that, that one is pretty slimline.

Happy with the Trailskins v2. They do collect a bit of mud in the wet but if you remember to take them off outside the house you’ll be ok.

Liking my fairly new Smith Forefront bought the earlier non-mips version reduced from 150 to 50 quid

– v.light

– small peak

– good fit

– works well with goggs if you’re enduro enough for it ;o)

not sure if good venting as only used on v. warm weather so far

I would be surprised by this thread if I didn’t remember the one from a few years ago about people (families) p-ing in the shower.

i wonder if these are the same people who don’t wash their legs?