I’ve used an alien 2 for years which is great because it has every tool you can think of but is quite heavy and bulky to carry, I recently bought a crank brothers F15 which so far has been excellent plus the outer cover can be used for extra leverage.

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/crankbrothers-f15-multi-tool-review.html

+1 for the whyte glencoe, I bought myself one a couple of weeks ago and it’s excellent.

The plus tyres are so comfortable on the road that my road bike feels horrible to ride now.

Hi Joe, unfortunately mid week rides are awkward for me and I tend to go out in the early afternoon.

Yeah I’m in Bradley Stoke so could meet locally or at Ashton court/fod.

I’ve currently got pro2 evos on a steel hardtail and pro4s on my full suspension. The pro2’s are way louder with a defined click whereas the pro4 is more of a loud buzz and as mentioned above definitely not as loud as e13!

@joebristol if you want to hear a pro4 in person let me know.

Good to hear it went up tubeless easily. Just had a look at those tyres you mentioned and they look really good, I’ll see how I get on with these for now though.

In morzine a few weeks ago Spotify suggested this track while we were chilling watching the sun go down over the mountains, perfect.

https://youtu.be/N5iMQWXwEHk

I bought myself a transition scout at the beginning of the year, I went down the frame only route as I don’t like sram gears or brakes and wanted some wheels that weren’t e13 and overall I’m really happy with it.

Yeah it’s a bit of a porker but you don’t notice it when you’re riding it. I’m not the tallest either and the short seat tube and low top tube are great.

On my new-ish transition scout I went for silver hubs and changed the rim graphics to silver too, really happy with the way it came out.

Not the best picture because it’s covered in mud.

Yep, it’s the worst I’ve ever had it this year, went to the docs and was prescribed fexofenadine which has helped and I also bought an air purifier for use at home and I’ve slept like a log since.

I always thought it was odd that I’m right handed but ride left foot forward.

If I try right foot forward it feels strange and my whole body position feels off.

Hi Joe,

I’m also in Bristol so if you decide to go for a luftkappe you’re welcome to borrow my 32mm flat socket and the 10mm shaft clamps to do the job. It’s so simple and the difference was incredible on my pikes.

Cheers, Ash.

My partner does gel nails self employed for a living, she was a medical secretary for the local hospital but didn’t like the atmosphere and wanted to do something she enjoyed.

She went to a beauty college and got all of her qualifications and once her customer base built up she quit her full time job.

so now she does nails out of our spare bedroom, she’s much happier for it too. She works from home so there’s no commuting and she can choose her hours plus she’s in all day so I never miss a bike package! Although I will say she has to work in the evenings to offer a service the nail bars don’t.

obviously she’s not as cheap as the nail bars but she’s got a fair few regulars now that she can rely on and she’s earning about the same as she was at the hospital.

That’s great, thanks for the info.

I bought myself an 820 explore about two weeks ago, used it to navigate for a couple of 3 hour rides and so far I’m happy with it.

The touchscreen is a little bit slow to react compared to a smart phone but other than that it’s been fine so far.

battery seems good even when running the map constantly.

I had a play with it in a shop but didn’t like it, not had the chance to ride a bike with it though.

and to be fair I know playing with it in a shop isn’t the same as using it but I just don’t like sram. Shimano has always worked well for me, sram could well be better but I’m happy.

Nah I’m happy with xt.

10 speed XO I think, to be fair I’ve never owned a sram groupset and only used them on other people’s bikes.

On the other hand I recently built a new transition scout from frame only so I could avoid sram, always thought it feels and looks cheap and nasty.

It cost me a little bit more than the off the shelf model but I feel like I’ve got a much better spec for the money.

Recently bought a crank brothers F15 to replace a Topeak alien 2, so far really happy I did, it’s way smaller and lighter than the alien but still has every tool you could need when out on the trail.

F15

I was there Saturday, half of the cafall trail is shut for logging and the bits that are shut are the best parts of that trail.

The twrch trail was running good though, much drier than expected.

It could just be me but I found the orange seal endurance sealant utterly useless at sealing anything, it didn’t dry out in the time I was using it but it also didn’t seal the three tiny punctures that I had either and each time I had to plug the holes using a tubeless repair worm thingy.

I found stans to be much better than Orange seal.

currently using peatys sealant which is way thicker than any sealant I’ve ever used before.

Vast is really good.

Although they’re short I think the videos by Montanus are excellent, especially the call of the mountain.

https://vimeo.com/user23760556

Hi, I’ve got a 2013 hack 2 and I’m using sks bluemels although mine hasn’t got any mudguard mounts on the forks so I had to use p clips to attach mine.

cheers.

Ash.

Thanks 👌

My go to are Levi’s 511, they’ve got a bit of stretch for the thighs and come in loads of different colours.

Heard good things about the 511 commuter so I think I’ll try those next.

Can’t tell you how it rides I’m afraid but I’ve got a 2018 scout frame sat in the garage waiting to be built to replace an Orange alpine 160.

The frame feels comparable in weight to the orange so if the build comes out around the same I’ll be happy.

Sorry if this has already been mentioned but I can’t seem to be able to create a new thread.

I ordered a scout frameset last week and didn’t even consider the weight. If a carbon one was available I might have been swayed that way depending on looks.

Be interesting to see what weight it comes in at with the spec I’m going to build it with.

I’m using peatys sealant and I was really suprised by how thick it was compared to the orange seal I had in there previously.

Fortunately my tyres went up perfectly and have kept their pressure, that could be due to my wheels though, I’m using Mavic crossmax sx’s so there’s no rim tape.

I recently had an electric roller door fitted but before that I was using the Enfield door bolts and they seem really good. But they are now sitting unused on my work bench so if anyone wants them they’re welcome to them, collection preferred or you pay for the postage. If anyone’s interested let me know.

Cheers.
Ash.

I managed to play a few games yesterday morning and in the evening.

You’re right though, battlefield and cod are totally different. I just forgot how cod mp feels and really prefer BF.

Just played zombies mode which is interesting. Looking forward to playing the single player later though.

The character animations are stiff and look odd and the maps just don’t look good.

Not really sure what your point is?

BF1 looks and plays way better than cod ww2 is what I’m saying.

If you’re noticing how it looks in multiplayer you’re probably doing something a bit wrong.

???

Not played cod for a few years but it looks like a bad PS3 game. And it doesn’t feel good but perhaps I’m just not used to it yet after playing so much BF.

Got mine yesterday thanks to simply games, I’ve not played a cod since advanced warfare and I bought this mostly for the single player.

Played some mp yesterday and a bit this morning and holy moly it looks terrible, especially compared to battlefield 1 which is what I normally play.

Personally I would go for the shimano build, upgrade the shock to super deluxe, upgrade the forks to pikes, change the cranks to SLX m7000 to match the groupset and then chuck a reverb on there with the 1x remote, comes to £2918.50. And then with the change get a luftkappe fitted to the pikes, I installed one recently in my rc’s and it made a huge difference to the forks performance.

I’m thinking about getting a 145 to replace my aging alpine 160 and that’s the build I’ll probably go for.

They regularly post on Instagram so there must be something going on.

I’ve got a few items of theirs and I like them but the fit can be a bit odd.

I picked up their soft shell gilet and jacket when they were knocking them out dirt cheap and they’re both excellent.

I just bought a pair of dainese trail skin 2’s to replace my tatty old fox launch pros and so far so good. They’re comfy, stay in place and compared to my old ones feel like I’m not wearing any pads at all.

I’ve used the PlayStation store a few times and it’s been a quick and easy process, not sure how the prices compare to Amazon but they’re usually cheaper than sky.

I’ll be there Saturday too so if you see someone on a grey Stanton switchback sweating his knackers off that’ll be me.

I don’t know if It’s just me but I think cwmcarn rides better in the wet than the dry, I seem to have more grip in the wet.