Ah, Frome.   That explains it all…

…and apologies if this is stating the obvious, but I assume you have some sort of chain tensioner to deal with the differing chain length?

I know from the past how quite small movements of the dropouts changed the chain tension by quite a lot, so imagine trying to get something that works for an oval chainring would be a nightmare.

If you want offload capability my daughter has loved her Cannondale Cujo 20.  The big volume tyres make up for the lack of suspension and weigh next to nothing.  Rolling on the road they are still pretty quick as it’s a relatively light tread.

Because the tyre has so much grip she’s gained loads of confidence on the local blue MTB trails, certainly much better than bouncing around on a Isla/Hoy/Frog with small tyres requiring higher pressure.  I’ll be looking to move her up to a 24 next summer.  She also loves that she has the fattest tyres in the household!

Specialized do something very similar, but with a suspension fork from memory.

Okay, I’ve had the opposite experience to many.  It’s been a right pain for months, having to log in every time I visited the site but, ta-dah, it now seems to have sorted itself out with the switch to Safari 13.0 on my Mac.

Hopefully it’ll now stay this way…

Just go and get it.  You need to scratch that itch.

I’ve ridden trail/enduro for a few years and really enjoy it.  I’ve not come close to a proper injury yet.  MTB skills sort of translate, but be prepared to be learning fast (which is really exciting as an experienced MTBer).

Bikes do need a bit of looking after, but an oil change is a 45 min job and easy to do.  I can ride green lanes from home but there is a bit more faff around trailering to races etc.  I don’t have so much time now but it’s a fun day out when I get chance.  You’ll probably even meet some new people!

If you smash yourself then you can decide whether to carry on, but don’t use it as an excuse not to give it a go.

We took the family to Lanzarote for October half-term a few years ago and were not at all lucky with the weather.

It was windy, cloudy/misty and none of us had enough clothes to stay warm in the unheated villa.  The pool didn’t ever get warm enough to swim.  We did get one day on the beach before flying home, but felt a bit cheated.

You’ll probably have fine weather, but take a jumper just in case!

What’s with the oil thing?  A friend’s family run an oil supply business and are planning on the business closing in as little as 10 years due to carbon taxes.  It’s old and outdated technology and soon to be very expensive.

Fork out for groundsource if you have land, or air source if you don’t, to run your underfloor heating, and then electric/PV boost for hot water when you need it.  As said above, if you get the insulation and airtightness right in the new house you’ll barely need heating.

I’ve worked on a few properties recently where they’ve put in big woodburners for aesthetics and then had to open all the windows as soon as the thing is lit.

I sounded out a few trusted contacts before setting up on my own.  Their positive response made the decision easy in the end, but continuing to work in the same field, and for many of the same clients, made life easier.

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>For </span>the<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”> first year I worked hard, but at times that suited me and family life.  It was great.  I’ve just taken on my first employee which makes work hours a little more rigid, but it’s great to </span>have<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”> someone to help with workload and to compare notes with</span><span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>.  Most of all it’s fantastic to be in a position to choose the clients I work with and the projects I’m interested in.</span>

I was lucky to find a space in a shared office to work at a few days a week, I would have gone stir crazy working from home all the time.

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>If you’re by yourself how little do you need to earn each month?  If it’s a relatively small number then why not give it a go? </span>

Blimey, it worked!  First time in a couple of weeks…

It’s been going on for weeks here, Safari not happy with my STW site time…  I’ve kind of given up.  That and it deleting all of my posts when I try to submit (fingers crossed).

The <30k lot must be the happily pensioned members who have already paid off their mortgages and have a pile of cash sat under the mattress?

30k would go quite a long way without any debt…

So I share a birthday with P-Jay, and there’s far less than 70 people posting on this thread. Didn’t know the Seagrave/Peat thing, but clearly they sucked up all the riding-god genes…

Endura MTR are good, I’m into my second pair…

Camelbak (Zyro Fisher) suggested I take it back to the original retailer with a receipt and they would look at it under warranty.  I may have a receipt somewhere, but the shop has subsequently closed down (RIP John’s Bikes Bath).

I may well follow up with them, but like the pack and hoped that spending a small amount of money on a new bladder would keep it going.  It owes me nothing as has done a lot of miles over the years, just seems silly to throw away a perfectly good bag for the sake of the rubber seal having gone.

Thanks for the prompt though…

26″ wheels will do the trick… there are loads of them going cheap/free.

I had a 1996 Cinder Cone, bought right at the end of the year (with the last bit of my student loan).  In fact I ordered a Lava Dome but they didn’t have my size, so Kona upgraded me for free.

The final batch that year came in coral pink rather than the gold, it was bloody lovely.

Sadly nicked from my garage about 8 years later.  Quite a few of the original parts had been replaced and stored away before it disappeared, so I recently donated them to a friends retro build – though this thread has got me thinking I should ask for them back and find a frame.

The sooner cars are self-driving the better (now that they seem determined to take the fun away).

<ducks>

@CaptainFlasheart was that Australian or UK thongs?

I’m not going to claim to have a beautiful pedal stroke, but an oval ring felt bloody weird to start with as it actually felt as though it made my pedalling more lumpy.  Am pretty much used to it now and don’t particularly notice the difference on long climbs (but completely changed the gear ratios at the same time so didn’t have a direct comparison).

One thing I definitely did notice was that it felt easier to put the power down for those half-pedal-stroke bursts to get over a root or step.  I’m not wholly convinced but will likely get another when this one dies.

I would normally be looking out at the outdoor spa pool in downtown Bath. It’s amazing how fast people can get out of the water and into the building when the air temp is below freezing.

Today they seem to have covered it in scaffolding, which is a lot less fun.

For a bunch of hippy types, I can’t believe that anyone is suggesting either option. A friend in the oil supply business thinks their industry may well be over in 10-15 years, environmental taxes will do for domestic oil.

If you are mid-renovation then get the house airtight and highly insulated, then use an air source heat pump (or ground source if you have the budget/space). Add electric immersion for hot water top-up, assuming you’re on a green energy tariff.

I’ll second that, I found a 125 really tricky to ride slowly, the extra weight of the bigger bike made it easier to handle.

Also not having to change gear every 15s gave me more time to think.

Good luck with DAS, it sounds like the right choice for you.

Okay, I’ve thought about this some more.  My initial view was that having the same content so easily available online in some way devalued my print subscription, but having read all of the above I’m happy that it’s horses for courses.  I like the print version as hate reading a tablet whilst eating my breakfast!

Thanks Team STW for the explanations, I can see having a searchable database of everything is of value, and will keep the pennies rolling in.

I can appreciate that this is a strategy to draw website viewers into taking out a subscription (you need to have at least a digital sub to see the full articles), but it does make me wonder what I’m gaining by having a print subscription.

As someone who has every issue from 001 in print form, I’m starting to doubt whether it’s worth paying for the hard copy magazine if all of the content is available here.  Don’t get me started on the click-bait headline style…

I’m happy for some of the content to be on the front page, but to have many of the main articles online only a few days after receiving the magazine in the post cheapens the experience.  Somehow it feels different to people downloading a digital version of the magazine, even if the end result is no different.

I did like the tyke packing article though, having a small daughter there was a lot that seemed familiar.

Silver.  Bike wheels should be silver because they are lighter and faster.

I may have a skewed view of these things though, as I view black shoes as heavy and slow and are therefore banned (bike or non-bike).

With road (race) motorcycles the argument for telescopic forks is that the increased steering angle under braking is a big advantage at getting the things turned into corners.

I’ve no idea how important this is off-road, but my memory from a brief spin on at Whyte PRST1 many years ago suggested that the front end felt a bit vague.  It definitely helped on steep downhills, but took a bit of adapting to.

There were so many cool things about that bike!

Another vote for the D7000 here, I thought about it for a while when my D80 just packed up working on day, but the quality of the sensor and firmware (colour and low light) is so much better that the earlier cameras.

I’ve often bought second hand from London Camera Exchange, the D7000 came with only a few hundred shots and most of the leads still in the packaging.

Hi OP

I’ve no idea if off-road touring is on the agenda, but a group of enthusiasts have put together the Trans-Euro-Trail, a back lane/offroad tour of Europe (38,000km I think if you wanted to go right round!).  Might be a nice relaxed option for camping trip as I think that the majority of the riding is pretty easy.

Lots more information at  https://www.transeurotrail.org and https://adventure-spec.com/tracks/

I’m hatching a plan to do some of it next year…

I’ve 37mm G-Ones and run them at around 50psi tubeless for mixed surface (google tells me this is 3.5bar).

On wet clay they are a bit slidey (in a fun way) but on anything else vaguely gravelly or dryish they’re excellent.  Amazingly smooth and fast on the road too, in fact I’m thinking about ditching the road bike.

It was all open on Saturday, though there were odd patches where there was snow on the track, but no more than 10m at a time.  Led to some exciting moments on the fast downhills.

Given it’s rained since then and had another 72 hours to melt I would have thought it would be fine.

I reckon a used bike would be the way to go. I built up a nice bike for the other half (1×9 XT, rigid Kona fork, XC wheels) for buttons built around a nice Giant XTC frame from here that cost me £40. It’s very light and the only complaint so far has been the wide bars which were quick to cut down.

All of the bikes you mention above are way OTT for pootling around with the family.

If you are happy to build something up, have a look for a Kona Private Jake frame, it has sliding dropouts so easy to SS.

We have a Vango Airbeam, it’s quick to put up sure, but the main thing that sold it to us was how bloody rigid it was. I hate flappy tents and so wasn’t looking forward to joining the family camping revolution – but it’s ace.

The lining is already pre-hung, so as soon as the the tubes are up you can get on with unloading sleeping gear whilst someone goes around pegging out the guys.

Taking down is easy, there is a valve that you push to get the majority of the air out (like a big schraeder) and then 10s with the pump set to ‘suck’ makes it easier to fold.

I’m sure poled tents have come on loads since I was a kid, but the airbeams feel like a big improvement. It convinced my other half that camping with a child could be fun, so we’ll use it more. Winner.

I think mine run slightly on the disk spokes, with original pads and rotors straight from the Kona factory.

Thankfully I’m not bothered about achieving maximum braking force on the CX. I do have some old M525 rotors somewhere that I might try, but they’re awful heavy dinner plates!

SSS, if you mean the one down past the waterfall – it’s so, so. A bit fun at the start and then a bit steep and tricky at the end. Over a bit too quickly and, in our case, involved coming face to face with the biggest bl**dy bull I’ve seen on the run out.

Which was fun.

If anyone comes across my stolen 95 Cinder Cone, with the special last-batch-of-the-year pink frame (20″), I’d like to reunite it with the forks, bars, stem and headset I still have in my garage…

Sad face…

It may well not be true, but I heard that at Hansard they refer to him as The Honourable Member for the 1930’s…

He’s my MP too, as far as I can make out his views don’t represent the area at all well, or at least anyone I know!

Saw him at the weekend, despite being at a large public event he didn’t seem to be interacting with any of his subjects, though have heard he tells a good tale down the pub…

Unfortunately as cashback says, I don’t see him being kicked out any time soon, last election Labour had an American standing for them (Todd someone), and the Lib Dem candidate didn’t even live in the constituency. Pre-Mogg we had a Labour MP, so have no idea where all of his support has gone.

I was thinking on similar lines but ended up going for a Kona Private Jake with cable disks, thinking I’d upgrade later.

The TRP Spyres have won me over though, double sided ‘pistons’ means no rub and they are a simple allen key twiddle to adjust clearances (takes literally 15s to adjust out on the trail).

With a light frame and nice Novatec wheelset as standard, plus some tubeless G-One’s it’s perfect for the type of riding you’re suggesting, and a lot of fun!

The top section might be fun, but from walking it I wouldn’t have thought that amazing as there is a long traverse along the ridge. From Marchlyn Mawr it’s just grass with a steady gradient, so probably not that thrilling and Penrhyn Quarry is still worked so best avoided unless you want to get squashed/blown up.

On a rigid, cantilevered braked MTB the run down through the top of the Dinorwig quarries from the reservoir used to be a laugh, but suspect a bit tame on a modern bike.