Absolutely loved doing pretty much annual mtb club stays at Afan Lodge from 2010 – 2019, haven’t been since Covid pandemic though. There used to be a solid group of 6 – 10 of us that would stay there each visit.

Just been on the Afan Lodge Companies House records and it made a a net loss of -£193k for 2023 so if that trajectory is forecast to continue then presume current owners are getting out while they can. Sad times.

E – nothing

D – glass of water

L – just asked Don Letts a question at a post event Q&A

Back in 2017 I picked up a brand new, bright green CAADX Disc cross bike – was only £695 in the sales, Tiagra 10 speed, put some Prime alloy wheels, but a pretty basic spec.

I absolutely loved it, had it for 2 years as my only bike and it just used to put a smile on my face. Felt like it nicely carried through on its Cannondale alloy frame lineage.

Is that £1129 RRP inclusive of the lever, and also a battery?

If not that’s an extra £329 or so on top of the seatpost price??!

The optics of that vid are fairly terrible with him being piled upon by a near lynch mob, escaping and then ending up with a copper on his back. BUT, he threw a flare into the Far Right ‘Enough Is Enough’ crowd just before this clip starts so think that’s why he ends up with police interest.

Time ATAC user for past 12+ years, absolutely faultless and brilliant for my wonky knees.

Yawn. Obvious doper wins yet another stage. Next.

Yeah I watched / despised plenty of Lance, this is worse.

Pogacar in this TdF is the biggest bag of shite I’ve ever seen.

Turned today’s stage off when he made his move, it’s truely and absolutely unbelievable, the guys juiced up to the max. Even more fake considering his Giro efforts earlier in the year.

I can only check back and forth between page 1 and page 2 of Topics in Bike or Chat forum. I do not have access to the 78 pages worth of Topics, where have they gone?

Non member, logged in to profile.

Not mtb but my gravel bike has flip chip in front forks to adjust offset by 5mm.

I have longer, open gravel routes near me as opposed to tight, twisty stuff so run the fork in longer Offset mode. It’s barely perceptible but the bike does feel slightly more stable at high speeds compared to the reduced Offset setting. There really isn’t much in it though.

Another asking, does it have to be Greek?

We had our wedding meal hosted at the private dining room at Al-Shami in Jericho. Lebanese cuisine and it used to be up there as our favourite Oxford restaurant when we lived there.

Interesting to see if the newly elected Independent Leicester South MP will be the first MP forced to resign following the General Election.

https://www.thejc.com/news/politics/campaigner-for-new-pro-gaza-independent-mp-charged-with-terrorism-offences-n23wg6b9

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/leicester-man-terrorism-offences-charged-ttp72pcx5

https://news.sky.com/story/jonathan-ashworth-calls-on-new-leicester-south-mp-to-explain-dealings-with-man-charged-with-terror-offences-13176088

‘Hard earned economic stability’.

Eff off and goodbye.

This has started more like a resignation speech.

£122m.

No, not total value, just the year on year increase in wealth. Rishi, a true man of the people.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-69027955

Had our first visit to Anglesey last year and visited in mid-August, couldn’t believe how manageable it was at that time of the year to be honest. Didn’t have to face any queues or anything (I grew up in West Cornwall so compared to there it was pretty quiet! by August standards!).

We really enjoyed our visit, did a few nice waterside walks from Menai Bridge. As a geology graduate Newborough Forest and beach was ace!

I know that Llangefni has been down voted above but I’d thoroughly recommend visiting the town purely for the art on display at Orial Mon. Its a really well set up gallery and for me was the most impressive building space on the entire island. We also revisited there one evening to order wood fired pizza at Popti Pizza next door – well worth a visit.

Also worth a visit is Halen Mon, the cooking salt compony who have their HQ / visitor centre on the island. You can pay to soak yourself in warm salt water with seaweed whilst your submerged in an oak barrel, its a bit different! Its nicely pictureque there with the shore lapping away close to the country road, some lovely views on a sunny day.

We’re currently planning our next visit for 2025, really keen to go back and explore more.

Matte black carbon frame here and I had iNvisiframe fit my matte frame protection. I then put gloss manufactuter decals on top that matched my gloss orange Fox forks.

Been very happy with it and the gloss frame decals work nicely with the gloss forks.

Gloss frame decals on top of matte iNvisiframe frame kit looks absolutely fine imo, if anything it gives the frame decals extra ‘pop’ which is what I was after on my bike build. If you want logos to look more stealthy then matte on matte would be better though.

Lee Anderson not able to contain his inner 8 year old in that R4 interview.

OP – not being rude but it sounds like a fairly terrible idea all round due to a very high risk built into your affordibiluty / lack of contingency.

Only things I’ll add are have you evdn looked at insursnce quotes yet? Depending on your circumstances din’t be surprised if insurance quotes come back at minimum £2k / year for a £35k value SUV. Just Google the current stories with Range Rover insurance as an example! Build that mammoth cost into your wquation also.

Also worst case scenario, think what happens if the car gets stolen / written off and then you’re potrntially offered an evdn lower market valuation in return. Could you financially shoulder that? Again, its a worst case type scenario but ‘luxury SUV’ are highly sought after vehicles for beung targeted for theft.

MoreCashThanDash & littlerob – thanks for that, TT sounds perfectly doable on a road bike then. Hoping to visit in the Spring.

Halfords car service you say… no thanks. :-O

https://amp.theguardian.com/money/2024/apr/13/halfords-service-car-owner-alfa-romeo-insurance

Not to derail from the OP (see what I did there…!) but an extra Tissington Trail question if I may. What would the TT from Ashbourne to Buxton ride like on a road bike fitted with 32mm tyres?

I’ve walked little sections of the TT, those bits looked fine for a road bike with fat tyres but I’ve only seen a teeny bit in comparison to the entite route.

Its a Yeti. Its their lightest full sus frame ever. I therefore give the frame a lifespan of 6 months before snapping. Complete crock of shite bike brand.

Seeing as this thread very quickly turned into what was your favourite 26 inch HT personally owned then mine was my metallic granny smith apple green Ibis Tranny. Really enjoyed that bike and had a nice uniqueness with the removable slot box rear triangle.

As mentioned above though, once decent 29er HTs started arriving they really did up the game over the 26ers. After the Ibis Tranny my next HT was a Whyte 29-c, it was better in every single respect, infact I wish i’d never sold the 29-c, an awesome bike.

F1 – the pinnacle of unwatchable motorsport.

Total Boomer meltdowns on this thread.

F1 2024 season over by the first corner, thats a new record. Snooze.

The season being held afloat by the Horner scandal and intrigue of Hamilton’s 2025 Ferrari move says it all. More drama off the circuit than on.

I happened to drive the Calderdale Valley for the first time last weekend, Rochdale to Halifax direction. Would have the potential to be a lovely route but I dare not look at the scenary – chuffing hell the road surface was truely appalling!

One section half way between Hebden to Halifax where there’s just an unmarked 2ft drop in the road!! I was only doing 30mph it was just getting dark so didn’t see it propetly, hit it and thought I’d written off the front suspension! Absolutely shocking state of condition.

OP, have you considered a Cervelo Caledonia? I love mine, built up a frameset with a GRX 810 1x groupset with 44t chainring, Hunt Carbon 50 wheels Summer / DT Swiss Dicut alu PR1600 wheels for Winter duties. Mines around 7.7kg with weightweenie 140g carbon post, 130g carbon saddle etc, its an ace bike.

34mm tyre clearance, integrated mudguard mounts. It does have the BBright BB sizing not threaded BB but I fit a Wheels Mfg screw together BB to mine and its been good.

Cervelo aren’t the best VFM but plenty of big reductions on them at the moment, i.e. 2023 Caledonia Ultegra 12sp Di2 reduced by 33% from £5500 to £3700.

Rear conservatory for me and turbo set up 7-8 months of the year so I can just hop on.

The conservatory pvc doors have pull out fly nets (previous Australian owners, seems standard there) so I have doors open, fly nets pulled across even when its been -5c outside. Cold to start but I very quickly warm up and the open doors limit the condensation.

Its also a nice bonus to turbo whilst looking across the garden. Fortunate that it’s a rather lovely space so theres an inkling of being out amongst the trees.

Saw him perform live and also speak as part of panel Q&As for a few events that I attended. I always benefitted from hearing him, one of those great speakers who broadened perspectives and opened my eyes to thinking about things in a different way. RIP.

My 12sp Dura Ace chainset arrived after 3 days from ordering with Chiggle this week, paid £270 for it (rrp is £550) so plenty pleased to pick it up at that discounted price.

After 35 years of avidly following F1 I’ve not watched f1 since the end of season 2021 debacle.

Currently harbouring exactly 0% interest in wasting my time watching the 2024 season. I wonder if I’ll ever watch it again to be honest, it just feels like a total con these days.

A Jewish work colleague has just come back from Autumn holiday in Egypt, I’ve not had full opportunity to speak to her yet but I think all was fine for her. I also think she has historic stamps in her passport from previous Israel trips.

Has to be said though she almost didn’t go due to security concerns – the week before an Egyptian police officer had killed two Israeli tourists.

I’ve been hankering after a 2016 / 17 Merc AMG GLA 45 recently. Been comparing a few on Autotrader with a view to arranging test drives.

Before that though I thought I’d best do an insurance comparison quote last week. 42 yrs old, off street driveway parking, 12 yrs NCB, never had license points, 6000 miles / yr etc.

Best quote came out as £1800+, worst was £5250…

Yeah, don’t think that car purchase is happening now!

Thank goodness, finally some Tory MPs asking for the brakes to be applied and warning of the legal consequences for Sunak and his warmonger cabinet.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gaza-war-crimes-uk-rishi-sunak-b2429728.html

@benos – I’m sorry to read that a family member of yours was taken as part of the hostage crisis. Wishing them the best recovery from what I can’t begin to imagine.

Just heard from a local British – Israeli local builder my MIL has. He was conscripted into the IDF at 18 and was required to be involved in various ground operations during his service.

He was absolutely seething earlier this morning with Netanyahu in the conversation, completely seething. He said the entire situation leading up to and being undertaken now is Netanyahu’s complete and utter failure to descalate over 15 years.

His son, still in Israel has just been called up to IDF reservists. The dad we know said that should anything happen in Gaza to his son he will hold Netanyuhu entirely culpable.

Its just one voice and perspective but its important to hear a range of Israeli views on this.

Tomd – you’ve literally just compared the the Israeli experience last Saturday to that experienced during WW2.