I’ll take a £50 if still available (and will make some kind of donation in return). :o)

Promise this wasn’t a stealth ad!

Yeah – tell us what car it is!

Only used a few times a year means it could be something fun! 🙂

Honestly, don’t get your hopes up. :oD

I’ve posted about it before – when I first bought it about year ago (https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/can-you-fit-an-mtb-in-a-qubo-bipper-nemo/).

I’d just given away my big van to my brother because I wanted something a bit smaller, but I think I went waaaay too far in the opposite direction. While I can get my bike in upright, wheels on, I can’t get much else in. And for some trips, we actually end up needing to take two cars (long story). Which is ridiculous. And hence why it’s not getting used much at all. Gah.

Are they going for that, or are they just up at that?

There’s a few up for that. And there’s there’s a couple of sold/completed prices on Ebay that suggest it’s not a million miles off. There seems to be a steady turnover for them on Autotrader – and they have a price-comparison-ometer thing too which is in the same ballpark.

Think I might try my chances on Motorway.com first, tbh. Seems to be the most hassle-free option.

How have you got this far in life not knowing how to sell a car !

Ha! Last time I sold a car, it was actually a bit of a niche interest van and I *think* that went on Ebay, probably to one of about 15 people in the UK who were interested in it. But that was about 10 years ago. All the cars I’ve had have just been driven until they’ve hit my max budget for getting them through a test. Or given away.

I’m just not relishing the idea of a stream of people knocking on the door, Facebook Marketplace style.

Yeah, I’d looked at WeBuyAnyCar and they seem to be offering about £1k less than I see the cars going for on Autotrader. Maybe I’ll just take the hit.

When I had a 12 or so mile commute a couple of years ago, I used to challenge myself to figure out routes to work that used as little road as possible. I found that there was always going to be some road riding to link up the off road stuff, but I was always able to do that with fairly quiet roads.

I got most value out of plotting routes from scratch using OS Maps with Google Maps aerial and street views to confirm any ambiguous bits. To be honest, I used to enjoy creating the routes almost as much as riding them afterwards – so sites like Komoot and cycle.travel which automatically create routes for you take that bit of the fun away IMO.

About 178cm (ish) here – I was dithering between the L and M/L before I bought the bike. However, I’ve always tended to size down when I’m between MTB sizes, so I went for the M/L.

It still feels like a big bike, but the sizing is spot on for me.

Alpkit ExoRail?

It’s a faff to attach but rock solid and zero sway when riding. I use one with just a dry bag rather than a full on seat pack.

@p7eaven

What tent, mat, sleeping bag are you using?

Similar to the other replies, I guess.

The tent is an old Gelert Solo which I’ve used on and off for years now. If you replace the steel pegs with some light alloy ones and get rid of the outer bag, it’s probably not much over 1kg, but that’s just a guess as I’ve never actually weighed it. Sleeping bag is a Robens down 3-season thing. Again, comes in at under 1kg I think. Sleeping mat is an Alpkit Numo… few hundred grams?

It’s not the lightest kit and it’s all way down at the bottom end of the price scale – especially the tent which cost me £25 15 years ago! – but it means I don’t have to be super gentle with it for the sake of half a kg.

Having said all that, if it’s raining (like it was a couple weekends ago) that tent is a pretty grim place to spend any amount of time awake. I’m likely going to replace it soon – at least with something I can sit up in.

Funnily enough, I’m out again for a night this weekend – but on a different bike which I’ll most likely be sticking a rack and panniers on, and possibly even taking a camping chair.

So… bikepacking bags vs panniers? There’s no right or wrong answer really, but it’s definitely easy to get caught up in overthinking it.

What do you pack for a night in the wilds out of interest?

Not OP, but here’s what I take for a single overnighter. This pic was the weekend before last.

Barbag – tent, sleeping bag, inflatable mattress.
Seatpack – down jacket, spare (non-sweaty) t-shirt, few toiletries.
Top tube bag – battery for bar-mounted headlight, snacks.
Frame bag – more food, some tools.

The bike doesn’t really have much space for water, so I also use a small backpack which fits a 3l bladder, a couple of beers, and not much else.

(Incidentally, the seat pack is just a tapered dry bag supported by an Alpkit Exo-Rail and a couple of Voile type straps, and it’s lightweight and rock solid, with zero sway if you cinch it tight enough. The Exo-Rail itself is a proper faff to get on and off though.)

To be fair, the box was unmarked with no damage, despite having no seal. All the accessories were unused, and were still in sealed bags. The screen protector looked new (I think).

I’d definitely have kept it if the buttons had been ok. The crunching/grinding as you pressed the ‘down’ button, and the amount of force you had to use to register a press on it, made it feel like that button especially wouldn’t have lasted long at all.

There was definitely something up with this particular device.

Well mine’s back in the box and about to head back to Amazon. It was sold as a new unit but still arrived in an unsealed box, and I’m not sure I want to risk getting another in that state. To be honest, I think I’m just about done with Amazon altogether now.

The 530 seemed like a nice little device, but on reflection it was just another thing to remember to charge. I’m just going to carry on using WorkOutdoors on my Apple Watch for shorter rides, and my phone (plus a battery pack) for longer rides that need a map.

Oh well.

I got one as mentioned up the thread. First one turned up with left ‘up and down’ buttons slightly crunchy feeling and not quite right.

I also ordered a 530 which arrived Thursday, and I knew something wasn’t quite right with it. I was suspicious from the off – because even though the unit looked brand new, the retail box wasn’t sealed. Anyway, this one has crunchy up/down buttons too, and they also don’t register every press – sometimes it takes two or more presses for those buttons to register.

Now in a chat with Amazon to try to resolve, as I needed it for a 3 day ride next week.

I’m not gonna claim I’m an expert, but I use these from Decathlon…

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/frame-for-corrective-swimming-goggles-selfit-size-l-white-black/_/R-p-123945?mc=8547654

Along with these interchangeable lenses…

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/lens-for-corrective-swimming-goggles-selfit-smoked-size-s-2-00/_/R-p-172520?mc=8383017&c=WHITE

There’s a limited range of available prescriptions, but they work for me.

And even cheaper than your £28, too.

I’m the PM of a inner city GP surgery, try to guess how many type 2 diabetics we see on a boring Thursday morning.

Fair enough.

Restaurants are not going to drastically change their menus any time soon, so why not start doing everything we can to educate people on calories in general, and everything we can to make those conversations about food and health part of everyday life?

We could begin with a relatively easy win like printing calorie info on restaurant menus, and then take it from there. By itself, it’s not going to solve the problem, but even the process of doing it, and the PR it has generated, has sparked lots of conversation and awareness about it – including on this forum.

We’ve got to start somewhere, right?

Across all these studies, there is a trend toward calorie labeling having no effect on calories purchased at fast food restaurants.

I don’t know how many times this needs saying really. Every study that’s been done on this says the same thing.

That’s not even what I was arguing. But whatever. You seem to have some (loaded) chips on your shoulder about this.

All I’m saying is that I think, as part of a wider piece of education, it will likely have a net positive effect. It might not necessarily persuade someone to buy a ‘healthier’ meal in a particular restaurant, especially if they’ve gone in already knowing what they want to order, but that info might prompt them to subsequently adjust what they eat for the rest of the day, or even week.

Show me the studies that disprove that.

You’ve also just said this yourself:

I’ll make a bet with you that even on here where more than average are clued up about the relationship between their food intake and their waist size, cannot accurately gauge the amount of exercise needed to offset their food intake. (see for instance Chubb club)

So, surely you can agree that something that educates people (us?!) about our relationship with food in general (not *just* food from the restaurant we’re in right now) can potentially be a good thing?

Every study that’s ever been done on this sort of thing shows that it has zero effect on people’s choices, and can in fact perversely have the opposite effect. If you’ve already made the decision to have the 750Kcal burger, why not have the more tasty 900Kcal one? It’s the same price and who cares about the extra 150Kcals…etc etc.

I guess one thing that’s hard to measure is what people do outside of the restaurant. For example, someone might order that 900Kcal burger for lunch, see the calorie count, and then decide to go easy on whatever they have for dinner later based on the info they now have about what they’ve just eaten. Or they might have a salad the following day to balance their calorie intake. Or that same info might convince them that it’s a good idea to only buy that burger once a month instead of once a week.

In each these cases, there is an effect on choice – it’s just harder to quantify.

This is also probably exactly how I would use this info. If I want to smash a massive burger, it’s not going to stop me from doing it… but I would likely make an adjustment elsewhere.

Of course, there’s all kinds of ways to address the problem of obesity, but surely having this info in front of you can only be a positive step.

I use an InReach Explorer+ which I bought used on Ebay and pay a £12 or so monthly subscription for. I’ve never had to press the SOS button, but it is incredibly useful for staying in touch with home when I’m away for a day or more somewhere I know there’s likely to be zero mobile signal – usually Kielder/borders/Scotland.

Not sure I’d get sign-off on these rides without it, to be honest. :o)

It also doubles as my navigation device too, so I can leave my phone switched off and in my bag. It lasts days (even with limited tracking turned on), and I normally carry a battery pack so there are no worries about running out of juice.

You also don’t need to leave tracking switched on: if someone has your Garmin URL they can ping the device to see its location, as long as the device is powered up. Any messages you send also include a URL so the recipient can see the device’s location that way. Unless there’s a real need for you to leave tracking switched on (this needs a more expensive subscription), people can locate you via these methods.

There are a couple of caveats though…

If you’re away from home, it’s a real pain in the asre to get any kind of maps or routes onto the device – you can only do it via a combination of the explore.garmin.com website and local device sync so you always need an internet connection to make this happen. It’s easy enough to do at home, so I make sure any routes I want to follow are on the device before I leave.

The screen is small and it’s also not a touchscreen – you operate it using actual buttons like an old school mobile phone… including sending messages. It is waterproof though, and you can use it with gloves on and while the screen’s covered in rain.

And while it’s absolutely usable as a simple handheld GPS device, it’s nowhere near as fully featured as most of Garmin’s other handheld devices or dedicated bike devices. So there’s no integration with trailforks, no turn by turn routing, no performance monitoring or ability to link HRMs or power meters, or anything like that.

Works for me though – as a way to make sure I know where I am, and to stay in touch with home.

Does the front passenger seat fold flat?

Mine doesn’t – it just slides forward and tilts like most other front car seats.

I think there was a fold flat factory option on the van versions of all these cars though.

If I wanted to, I could sleep in it.

One thing I’m going to do before the summer is try to build some kind of sleeping platform in the back. Or maybe put a roof tent on it. I used my big van for sleeping in a lot, and that’s maybe the only thing I miss about having it.

secretly wanted a Bipper as it’s a funny name.

Ha – me too. There were none for sale within 150 miles or so though!

it’s like a go-kart to drive

Yep, compared to the Ducato, it’s like driving and parking a dodgem.

What’s the best engine to go for?

Pretty sure all three have the same engine choices – 1.4l petrol or 1.3l diesel, I think. I bought the petrol because it was the only one for sale within any kind of reasonable distance, and the diesels were also coming in at around £3k more for the same age car.

It’s definitely not the fastest car on the road, and fuel efficiency is mediocre at best, but it’s amazing as secure bike transport that you can park virtually anywhere.

The tent police have arrived!!

I think the Highlander Blackthorn is a rebrand of the old Gelert Solo tent, which I’ve got. Or at least it looks exactly like it.

It weighs about 1.2kg, packs fairly small, and was faultless for four or five 3-4 night bikepacking trips in Scotland a few years ago. I’ve got another 3 night trip in the calendar this coming April, and I’ll probably use it for that too.

It cost me £35 new, because I’d rather spend the £300 a ‘better’ tent would have cost me on Guinness.

*&%# the police. Get the Highlander.

(You won’t get your bike in it though.)

I’ve seen lots of trashed bikes, racks and cars by very sensible people “who forgot”

With that full length glass roof, I reckon I stand a better chance than most of remembering there’s a bike up there!

MOT the van and sell it rather than giving it away

I’ve roughly priced up the work it’ll need and, when you factor in the hassle and time, I’m not sure I’ll be that far ahead tbh.

So check the outside of the roof to see what is there.

Yeah, I did that first – zero sign of anything that looks like a fixing point for rails. It’s mostly glass with just a small section of metal in front and behind – no plastic covers, no mounting points, etc.

Your bro will be able to fit it with his eyes closed, more likely he is sick of doing favours fixing family and friends cars lol

Ha, yeah, maybe! I am giving him the van though, so maybe he owes me a favour?

Seasucker rack – they are totally safe.

I’ve read good reviews, just don’t fancy sticking one to a full length glass roof.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, cheers! I’m now leaning back towards the roof bars though, if I get confirmation they’re compatible, mainly because it gives me a few more options for carrying stuff.

Sooo, if you are in the 1 car and your wife has the kids at home, what does she do if they need to go somewhere? Is she also willing to use the cargo? Otherwise, you need to keep your van, as for the environmental impact, you have kids, the van is a drop in that ocean!

Yep, she’s probs more excited about the cargo bike than I am! We live in a town where most things we do are literally just a quick walk away including beach, park, shops, cinema, eating, school, brownies, clubs, etc, etc. There’s just a handful of things like swimming lessons and childminder pickups that are just a little bit too far for the kids to walk, which is where the cargo will come in.

Plan is to see how it all works out for a year or two, or until we decide we need two cars again – although with me mostly working from home now and my wife only in her office for 2x days a week, that will be tough to justify (no matter how much I’d like to spring for a new van).

Just get ebay’s cheapest tow bar and fit it yourself, they are literally nuts and bolts and a few hours, maybe a jigsaw for the bumper cut if needed.

Probably not a good idea for a car that’s still under warranty? 😬

Also, my bro is a mechanic although hasn’t worked in that field for a few years but is still close to it, and he says that towbar fitters need a licence or certification (I’m maybe not using the right term there?) these days, which he says is why it’s so expensive. I’m just the messenger here though.

@Mackem – £636.80 for me on that site, just checked again now.

Local (recommended) places have also quoted between £650 and £700 for the same bar.

Can you not just plan your ride a week in advance, hire a van for the day for your bike and leave your other half and kids with the ability to go out and about in her (clean and unmolested) cactus while you go galluvanting on your bike?

Yeah, maybe. I thought about that too. Sounded expensive over the long term though, and also a bit of a hassle picking up and dropping off a hire van.

Also anticipate those days out will become way more frequent over the next year or two as the kids get a bit older, which means hiring gets a bit less sustainable.

@breadcumb @b230ftw

If you find the exact car model on the cruzber.com website, it includes this pic for compatibility purposes:

Pretty sure this is the roof we have, so it actually seems like these bars and these fittings should work for us.

I’m going to double check with Roofbox.co.uk before I order from them as compatibility wasn’t 100% clear on their site, which is why I originally discounted aftermarket fittings like these. (I also discounted them because Thule don’t seem to make any at all for this car and I thought that if Thule don’t make them then there must be a good reason.)

So, if they are compatible I’m gonna save myself about £800. Which I guess means I owe someone a virtual pint at least!

I am 99% certain they do not drill different holes into the bodyshell during production dependent on whether there will be roof rails fitted or not.

To be honest, I actually went down that rabbit hole the other day, and it sounded like the roof panels might be different depending on what was specified at factory: https://www.cactusforums.co.uk/threads/retro-fitting-roof-rails.3034/

But this is all way above my pay grade (and another reason I’d be in the sh!t with my wife if I started talking about drilling holes in her car).

However even if the rails are not fitted from factory, jsut get some from a breaker and retrofit.

Yeah, but that means taking out all the headlining and drilling the roof, surely?

That’s definitely a peak STW solution though, I’ll give you that. :o)

You aren’t looking hard enough:

Ah, nice one. Cheers! I’d actually seen them before but they were listed as only for cars with a ‘plain roof’ which I took to mean NOT a massive glass panel!

They look like they might do the job.

It’s the newer model of C4 Cactus – roof bars needed to be specified at factory and there are zero aftermarket bars or fittings.

There’s a plastic bit at the top of the rear window that prevents any boot mounted rack from working.

Those seasucker racks also look proper risky in this case as the car has a full glass roof, front to back.

My bike’s usually double its weight with mud at the end of a ride too, at least over winter. I don’t want the faff of taking both wheels off or the possibility that I’m gonna wreck the car’s interior. My Mrs has owned it for less than a year – I’d be in the sh!t.

Nope – can’t fit a boot mounted rack at all because of that plastic bit at the top of the rear window. It’s pretty flimsy.

The car is this model: https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/citroen-c4-cactus-2018-suv/

And looking at it sideways (for the first time! 🤣) it looks like the bars shouldn’t touch the glass.

I’d thought about one of those seasucker type racks for the roof, but it’s a full glass roof from front to back and that’s not something I’d want to risk.

The £1k tow bar/rack combo will hurt though!

Ha! Fair point – that’s the one thing I hadn’t actually tried doing: looking at the car sideways. Gah!

(But yeah, I do have that problem on the van.)

I live at the coast where these things are everywhere at the minute.

And, funnily enough, my mate sent me this text last night:

Make of that what you will.

In the early days, you could game search engine results by stuffing your content full of keywords (or hiding them in your code), even if they weren’t relevant to your site.

These days, that kind of thing doesn’t work.

Plus, there are a lot of snake oil sellers out there, and it’s also hard to keep up with Google’s ranking algorithms.

So, until you start digging into the detail of what makes good, search engine optimised content, here are three general rules of thumb that will at least get you started – and which will have longevity in the face of Google’s ever-changing algo.

1) Create useful, good quality, relevant and original content that’s written for people to read (rather than for search engines to index). Give those people a reason to link back to it or share it across social media – the more this happens, the better it will rank.

2) Create lots of that kind of content. Regularly, and often.

3) Make sure that content is accessible – eg, html should be semantically correct, images should have alt/title tags, text should have sufficient contrast against its background, content should work on mobile as well as desktop, etc.

That lot should give you a decent leg up.

You could also just not overengineer it, and do something like this: https://imgur.com/tSRYgGh

You’d only need a couple of pieces of timber drilled slightly larger than the diameter of the tube and screwed to the beam to act as braces. And you could control the angle of the tube with the position of the hole drilled in one of the braces.

Ok, it’s eating into headroom… but you could keep this pretty minimal.

But then without the scaffold poles, beam clamps, brake cables and solderless nipples, it wouldn’t be an STW solution. :oD

I got proper annoyed with all those mental ‘wanted’ posts on Freecycle a while back, so I submitted my own… just to see:

Wanted: £500 cash. Can collect promptly.

They banned me.

I don’t fall off my bike doing the riding I do

Said everyone, ever, just before they fell off their bike doing the riding they do.

Quick google suggests that as long as she’s not currently on a mortgage then she’s eligible.

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/mortgages/first-time-buyers/shared-ownership-schemes/

I need to up my humblebragging game.

Not enough information to really judge just going off the “ahems” which implies it is a bit dodgy but will give the benefit of the doubt based on the additional information.

Yeah, maybe I hammed it up a bit there.

I was more thinking about typical situations where a business might buy a pool bike and make it available for staff to also use *outside* of work purposes, and where those staff might only use it to pop along to the shop, rather than bounce it down a black trail.