I’m going to hijack this thread rather than create a new one.

Is it worth going on the Friday? I’m wanting to demo a few bikes on the demo loop and then maybe go for a bit of a ride on my own bike around the area. I don’t have a ticket for the actual races at the weekend so was thinking of going up on (hopefully) the quieter day.

Is everything set up by then, or will I be there by myself in a field of traders unpacking their vans? And does it cost to enter if you don’t have a ticket? I’m assuming there’s a parking fee, but is there any extras I need to be aware of?

I’d have definitely gone to the staff before confronting the idiots, it’s their business after all. I imagine the staff (and families) were worrief seeing a big bloke confront a group of drunks in their pub as it could have kicked off.

I wish the morons would stick to the shit pubs though, rather than ruin the nice/ family-friendly ones. The owners should be ashamed of how they acted by not dealing with the double makers.

AZ is the nicest Turkish restaurant I’ve been to, glad to see everyone else has recommended it already!

There’s an awful lot of downsides of being dehydrated, so I can’t imagine it’s a good idea, especially in the summer.

How about the Marin Alpine that was recently announced? I’ve no idea how it rides but it looks nice. Possibly a bit too enduro though from what you’ve said.

Seat tube is 385mm on a small so almost right. Is 380mm the absolute max? Or does it depend on how far the seat post goes into the seat tube? Could you fit shorter cranks?

Pretty much everyone suggests either a Bird Aeris, Cotic Flare, Canyon Spectral or a Whyte for this kind of thread. Or they don’t read the part about budget and suggest something daft that costs far more.

I think I would wait to see what the new longshot Cotic Flare is like once that is released, I imagine the current one will have a longer seat tube but their latest frames tend to be getting shorter ones.

The new Stumpy does look nice though, if thatsbyour current favourite then I’d say go for that (unless you hate it after a test ride).

My Stanton Slackline,  which was roughly 2.5k. I’ve never ridden a bike before buying one before though (I’ve bought 6 in total), apart from 2 second hand ones where I went up and down the street for 5 mins.

I’m thinking of getting a new one next year, but finding places that do demo bikes for the ones I’m interested in can be tricky.

If you’re doing the mountain bike ride next gear, why not just keep the hybrid until then? Alternatively, buy a mtb hardtail and sell the hybrid, but have a pair of slick tyres you can use for commuting on it.

@neb you could go for a medium instead. I think the reach is about 455mm, so would be a bit longer than your current one.

I’m considering a rocket but not sure a super long bike would suit me. I’m going to have a test ride of one at some point but have a feeling that it will just feel weird as I won’t have enough time to get used to the geometry.

The problem here is the woman cycling recklessly, not the type of bike. There’s a few blind tunnels on the yowpath on my commute and you could easily be doing 15mph on them on a mtb, nevermind a fast road bike.

I was passed by a big lad on a e bike this morning. Surely that’s better than him driving past me in a car? Why do people care? Is it the perceived embarrassment of being passed by a less fit rider?

A lot of jobs require a decent degree, not necessarily one in a specific subject. History teaches a lot of useful skills, but nothing for a specific career.

I did a history degree and graduated in the recession (2009) and it was pretty hard for a couple of years. I might have ended up with a job quicker if I did a business related degree,  but I probably wouldn’t have finished the course as I would have found it boring.

I think I’d recommend it if she loves history. If it’s just another subject that she’s good at, then I’d possibly suggest a different one. I really enjoyed my 3 years doing it as I found it interesting so doing the work for it wasn’t a chore for me.

You’d probably be fine in either. Do you prefer a longer or shorter bike?

@andybrad – I thought the pinkbike review said that it was good going downhill but not great going uphill?

Reading in order is fine as long as you avoid the first two. They’re ok but not really like the others. But they also work just as well reading them in a random order in my opinion.

I’ve started wearing some rugby socks that I have whilst riding. If you get decent ones then they stay up when riding and stop nettle stings and small cuts from pedal pins. I’m not sure really cheap ones would really work.

It gets a bit warm, but you can always push them down for a bit to cool down. I do look a bit daft with them on, but it’s not really possible to look cool on a bike so that doesn’t bother me.

Canyon Spectral/YT Jeffsy are two obvious choices as well. Or if you want a more XC focussed bike, Canyon do a shorter travel one (can’t remember the name of it).

I’d keep what you have, personally. If you’re doing a ride in somewhere with massive hills, just put a smaller chain ring on if you think you’ll need it.

Going to a 12 speed is a lot of money to spend on a very marginal improvement.

House buying involves a lot of risk and you need to be able to trust the people in your immediate chain. I’d be suspicious of the person who’s offering more after making lower offers so would stick to the original person.

Obviously there’s also the moral consideration. If your other buyer hasn’t paid for a solicitor or other fees yet then it’s not a massive deal, but if they have it’s a scummy move.

I’ve always been in the run a cheapish car camp, but I really hate the idea of running a car into the ground and then replacing it once it’s broken. The last thing I want is for my car to die on me whilst driving, or for it to fail to start when a long way from home.

If you have doubts about your current car and you can afford a better one, I’d be tempted to replace it. If your current car is reliable and never caused you any issues, then I’d probably keep it for a bit longer.

Personally I think you’ll regret selling the full suss after a while if you enjoy rocky descents. Hardtails are great fun, but it seems daft to gave 2 hardtails rather than 1 hardtail and a full suss, in my opinion. I always find having two very different bikes to be preferable to more similar ones.

Obviously it’s your money so do what you like, but if money is tight then I don’t think I’d bother swapping bike frames.

Not everyone has the attachment to certain bikes that they wouldn’t ever sell, in fact I doubt most people do. I imagine a lot of people say that when they first get a bike, but after a year or two then the love has probably gone.

If you’re having issues with suspension set up, then maybe hire a Shockwiz or get the suspension sent off to someone.

There aren’t that many websites that write high quality articles really, most of them talk about news (new stuff coming out or race related) or do reviews. I think that’s why What mountain bike, mbr and mbuk are probably suffering badly, as that’s basically what they all do. Some websites seem to do well out of the super technical articles too, whilst the magazines tend to stay well clear as they can’t dedicate enough space to a topic that many will find dull.

The Cranked approach is a much better one for print, and Singletrack are definitely veering more to this approach too, which I think is a good thing. Cranked especially is a joy to read, the paper is great quality, there’s hardly any adverts and the writing and photography is good. They dont bother with reviews or news at all, their articles could have been written at almodt any point in the last 30 years, where as mbuk and mbr are very fashion focused.

@poopscoop I think the fear of being clipped in is why I haven’t moved to SPDs in the past. I’ve never tried them so don’t know for sure, but I’d be nervous about using them. I don’t want to have an accident whilst still attached to my bike.

Obviously it’s quite an expensive investment for the pedals and shoes to give them a go, especially if I end up hating them.

I thought you’d already done your “final” reply?

I have a job, partner and other hobbies so I can’t spend a whole summer becoming a biking god, unfortunately. Whereas I can work on a few things to improve a little bit. I have no illusion that I’m anything except an office worker who likes to ride mountain bikes 2 or 3 times a week (at most).

I don’t think anything I’ve asked in this thread has been unreasonable, but you seem very keen to tell me how shit at my hobby I am, or how I’m an idiot for wanting to buy more suitable components to make biking safer for me.

It’s not the pedalling I have a problem with in flats, it’s mainly jumps or drops that have gone wrong and I’ve landed awkwardly.

Is it just a case of having you feet further back and dropping your heels? How far do you drop them? I always find it mildly uncomfortable when trying time I that, so I’m guessing I’m doing that wrong.

@poopscoop – out of interest, why did you not get on with SPDs? Not able to get out of them when crashing?

My mate was recently looking for similar bikes in this price range and the Marin Hawkhill looks decent (and well under budget). It seems to be in the sale at quite a few places. It’s possible to get the next model up for your budget at certain shops too.

I’ve never ridden one so can’t give personal experience, but they seem to review well.

@geex – I have no issue with looking trendy on a bike, my outfit is looks ridiculous anyway as I get stuff in the sale. I’ve considered shin pads but worried they’d be far too warm or uncomfortable to ride in, but I haven’t really investigated them so happy to hear differently. I was thinking long socks might take some of the impact out too, but obviously won’t offer too much protection.

And as I said, the advice was appreciated, my first reply was commenting about the tone of a different reply, not the one about the advice.

Your advice was potentially useful and appreciated, I perhaps came across as a bit dismissive of it when I didn’t mean to. Your weirdly passive aggressive follow up posts were less appreciated. It’s not “hard to deal with”, it just makes you appear like you’re trying to start an argument over nothing.

I know technique is the most important factor, but whilst I learn I want to save my shins from as many bad cuts as possible. Pedals/ shoes can do that, even if they aren’t the long term answer, hence why I asked this in the OP.

Yeah, I think my feet were too far forward the times they did slip so I need to work on that.

@geez- get over yourself. I’ve admitted I need to work on my technique but I don’t have unlimited time to do so, so in the meantime I want a ‘cheat’ way to help. I mountain bike to enjoy myself, I have no intention of becoming a pro so I’m not going to spend a whole summer working on specific skills.

There was a really interesting article that compared an aluminium vs carbon Knolly bike. Obviously it’s not a black or white thing, and different brand may be better at using certain materials, but the reviewers didn’t necessarily prefer the carbon one. What I found the most interesting was that a couple of the reviewers seemed to have exact opposite perceptions to one another.

Personally, I find the extra cost of a carbon frame hard to justify. A well made aluminium frame can be so light that I’m not sure I’d be willing to pay an extra grand on a carbon one.

Link is here: https://nsmb.com/articles/knolly-warden-alloy-vs-carbon/

It’s not really regular, I’ve had 2 bad ones in 10 months or so, but I get constant smaller scratches just from getting on and off the bike and repositioning.

The twice I’ve slipped off badly were caused by bad technique and awkward landings. I know I need to work on this, but don’t want to ruin my shins in the meantime.

I’m tempted by the idea of better flat pedals too, perhaps the new XT ones.

@klunk – ah right, I can deal with those as they’re just part of mountain biking. It’s more the kind of incident that astormatt mentioned that scares me.

@Klunk – out of interest, how? Do you still get pedal slips? Or is it just from generally falling off?

@Mike – that would be the style I’d go for if I do get new pedals, but £100 + quid plus new shoes is an expensive investment so want to make sure it’s the right option.

@Geex – no doubt it’s technique, but as I said, I can’t ruin my shins whilst I improve.

I had this issue, it was the gearing that was wrong for me  had to have it in a few gears harder than I normally would for a seated climb.

Great programme, but a pretty sad story. You could see the pain on his face even 20 odd years later when they filmed him kicking the goal for the interview.

It also amazed me how unsympathetic the interviewers were, both at the time and the one in the 90s. “You might have missed the kick, but isn’t it amazing that you won the man of the match?!”

Yep. Basically the same as everyone else regarding mobile coverage. I like the fact data rolls over if you don’t use it.

Be careful about their 24 month contracts though. They’re actually 30 month ones but where you can switch phones after 24 months, which I think is a bit sneaky.

Surely one of the points of the survey is that the concept of a trail centre is a vague one. I’m guessing they wanted to see how different people view them, hence the open ended questions.

A lot of modern tyres are designed for wider rims anyway, so you should be fine. I think the Maxxis WT tyres are designed around 30-35mm rims

As above, just try and talk and listen to her rather than ‘fix'<i> </i>her. Also, make sure that you are doing your fair share of cooking, cleaning and child care.

It might sound daft but it can easily piss people off if you’re seen to be making time for yourself but not doing any of the chores around the house, or spending any time with partner/ kids. If she isn’t able to do her usual hobbies then I imagine she’s feeling more frustrated than normal as well, I know I would be at least.

The Singular Swift is a lovely looking bike, I’d potentially be interested if you have to sell it (although I hope everything is ok and you don’t need to).