Mind bendingly twice in fourteen posts! A little more detail please.

I’m crossing my fingers for a 29er tr hardtail, that would be perfect.

If you are travelling any distance I would bite the bullet and get a DH tyre for the rear, ideally tubeless, getting punctures sucks and it can ruin your day.

Plastic pedals are great, you can bash them off rocks and not care a damn, but it pains me every time my expensive metal pedals hit a rock.

I did have, but would always want to use my nicest wheels and my nicest rotors, so it just ended up being a waste of space and money. Just had a massive parts clearout and it feels great, extra cash and no clutter.
Having an airshot makes tyre changes easy, but I mostly think sod it, I will run with what’s on.

Poopscoop, saints really aren’t very good, not very grippy, heavy, thick…

I used nukeproof electrons for years with no issue, took a beating and no bearing or bush issues.

My specialized boomslang are very grippy indeed, not cheap though.

footflaps, how bad a tear? Just a bit of bruising or serious tissue damage? Mine was torn back in 2002 bench pressing and it’s never been the same since, I only use dumbells now.

Commencal meta sl, stupid internal cables! My Alpine 160 and patriot were actually pretty quiet.

I don’t mind the SCOOSH of suspension, it is the cable rattling, chain slapping I can’t stand.

Married eight years ago, still see my best man and one of the ushers every Thursday for boys night.

Happy Asgard owner here.

I prefer my shimano AM45 to my five tens, really comfy, better in the wet, laces never come undone and grippy enough, but not too grippy.

5’11” average shoulders, running 785mm bars with ergon grips which add around 5mm each side. Just feels normal, I wouldn’t want them to be narrower.

Thanks all.

Thanks all, sounds good!

They tend not to take the bait in my experience, but turning over rocks and looking for them is still fun.

It’s usually ok, as long as you say hello first!

Kirkudbright is a good shout, nice fish and chips as I remember. No fishing yet, an hour of crabbing is enough to keep them happy.

Probably, at six and two my boys are a little young for that, maybe next year.

Sandyhills is lovely, but crabbing is more a pier or pontoon activity.

Just to clarify, I am looking for crabbing spots on the Solway coast, rather than Dumfries town centre.

I wouldn’t want to annoy Peter Andre!

tj, I agree with you in principal reagrding rewarding bad behaviour, but if you are making the first move you cancel that out.

Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

Just for clarity, the most recent issue was a very large German shepherd, two incidents with the same dog. I was riding a local wood and going quite fast, at the last moment I realised there were dogs on a parallel trail, I realised I had spooked the dogs, so slowed to a halt, put my bike in frnt of me and waited for the owner to take control. I put this one down to me as I startled the dog, I wasn’t attacked, but I was glad to have my bike to jump behind.

The second incident was with the same dog, i was riding slowly and aware of it fifty yards ahead and decided to stop and let them get ahead. The dog charged at me barking and growling and was clearly trying to get to me through my bike. It is the biggest GSD I have seen in my life and I will admit I was scared( for context I am used to large breeds like Rotties and mastiffs, currently have an eight stone mastiff cross). Eventually the owner took of her headphones, mumbled an apology and scuttled of dragging her dog.

The very next day I was out running, stopped as I passed a collie, spoke to the owner, walked on a bit to give a gap, three hundred yards later the dog jumps up at my back. I wasn’t attacked as such, but I’m quite a big guy, a child would have been knocked on their face.

As I said, some dogs and owners are crap.

Thanks all, will give them a go.

Thanks strangey, how do they size up?

As cyclists we will inevitably come into contact with dogs, some good, some bad, that is life. Even if you don;t like them realistically you will need to interact with them, slowing down and saying hello pretty much always works, however this year alone I have had to use my bike as a defensive shield three times and had a dog jump up at my back whilst running.

Some dogs and dog owners are a bit rubbish!

The aldi 70% salted is really nice and individual bars are great.

Why the hell would you buy it? For the same reason people buy old sports cars. As a child in that era the boutique brands were so far out of reach they weren’t worth thinking about, whereas the pro Burner was something I could drool at in my local shop, still love that colour scheme.

Exactly, genuine enthusiasts getting ripped off by touts.

Swinley isn’t without it’s charms, but I don’t think it gives a fair test to a six inch travel enduro bike. The same bike on a rough rooty climb makes much more sense, the constant up and down nature of Swinley is taxing on a big bike, better on a singlespeed hardtail.

Get some TRX straps, great for hamstring curls and a hundred other exercises.

Seems quite sad to me, greedy twunts!

That hardtail looks damn good though!

Oh I forgot about the on one 45650b before the bird.

Here goes

specialized demo 8
kona coiler
azonic steelhead
kona hoss
specialized pitch pro
.243 racing
dialled alpine
orange alpine 160
santa cruz heckler
ragley mmbop
voodoo hoodoo
orange patriot
on one inbred 29er
orange blood
voodoo bizango
on one fatty
nukeproof mega am275
commencal meta sl
commencal meta am v4
bird zero tr
airdrop edit

jeez, there were a fair few before that too. Now I only have the edit, but it is ticking all the boxes for me. Just been having a massive bike part clearout and it is really theraputic, getting money for things that are in the way and wont be used!

Lego Batman every day, but I still laugh in places, same with despicable me 1-3.

Fair point Jim, extra weight does make a difference. Currently considering some Hopes myself, but some reviews say they lack power and they have a habit of being a bit squealy.

Great day doing the steep and natural course at forest of Dean, great weather and didn’t sit in endless traffic on the long drive home.

Clearly hops over the tape, best thing to do is publicly come forward, hold his hands up and say sorry. Nobody died, it will all blow over and he will learn from it.