It is, though, fantastic for proper trails. with verdict up front too. Caveat, bloody awful on anything trail centre (hard pack), and though i love the grip of Tough/HighGrip on the rear, man it wears out fast!

Will Mars just end up as some kind of MAGA colony??

I love that idea! Pack the rockets with MAGAs, Flerfs, anti-vaxxers, covid deniers etc and just punt them up to Mars. Or better, Venus. Cheers guys, good luck! Don’t let the door smack you on the arse… etc etc

Fabulous photo though, innit! Brilliant.

in fact, the design of the whole cover is gorgeous, nice work STW folks

Came in to say ‘Ass Hat’, glad I’m not the first! Turbo Flard too :-)

Edit, ooh, also Mrs Jmke or something like that?

Edit 2: yes, also Alex Facepalm!

Our house with big conservatory, bought 4 years a go, is about the same age as yours OP. Polycarb roof.

We really like the space, use it as family dining room, and the principle of the thing, but suffered same issues of truly horrific rain noise, heat and cold.

We were going to turn it into an extension, had the architect plans and building regs etc, but escalating costs knocked that on the head.

Got conservatory roof insulation (on the inside only) from these guys https://conservatoryroofinsulation.com/, along with ‘perfect fit’ thermal blinds, and had the floor redone and insulated as part of the kitchen getting redone.

The insulated roof removes the rain noise by about 90% (so totally usable even in a deluge), and weirdly makes the room and kitchen brighter as white roof reflects more usable light. It also has a massive impact in summer in removing most of the heat (though we do use the blinds on really hot days too), and in winter it’s now usable all year round.

Fab, not perfect, and extension would have been lovely, but 1/10th the cost and it’s working well for us. before/after attached

Quick note of thanks for the PSA on Banana Industries merino socks https://www.bananaindustries.co.uk/collections/socks-1/products/sock-4-active-light-breeze?variant=46464755761437

they were at 3 quid, bought 4 pairs as my 4 yr old favourites were all trashed. The new ones are very good – lovely ‘foot feel’, generous size (I’m a 13 and the larger size fits great), and a nice length (i.e. not too short). Like very much. Even at £6 they seem very good value.

Also did conkers with cubs the last 2 weeks. 1st week out collecting them, second week playing – i feel like some ancient goon passing on the rights of our ancestors these days, no kid knows how to play conkers (until now!), and also i have had to teach them, and even young leaders, how to make paper aero planes – WTF?

As per breadcrumb, in Stirlingshire, lots and lots of very unproductive conker trees this year. The usual ones that are weighted with bazillions of beautiful spiky husks were utterly devoid of any at all – why the heck was that? We managed to find other productive trees, but nothing like the crops of the last few years.

Agree that knee length waterproof socks under waterproof trousers are the answer for cold wet winter riding. Untouchable.

As for Exposure, after, what, 20yrs years of pissing about with increasingly expensive alternatives that invariably had multiple compromises or failure points and very poor after care, finally bought a Six Pack earlier this year (outlet + members discount made it A LOT more reasonable). it is brilliant in every respect. Job jobbed.

However, IMHO wide beam spread on a helmet light is a waste, i sold my Diablo because of that. I don’t need a dim wide beam on my head, I need a tight spot for looking round corners etc. Four4th scorch is not as great in many ways, but the beam is more useful.

Free keyring  ?

I was afraid to mention that :-)

Yep, I’m in!

I guess now it’s heading into ‘must buy lights’ season, less need for discount incentive.

if it helps, I took advantage of it, as well as a 6 Pack in their outlet, earlier this year. Much value, very happy.

On the flip side, now my jawbreaker photochromic lens is finally ‘done’ after 7years, of course the Oakley discount is also gone. Balls!

I’ve had good experiences with back market and music magpie – both buying and selling, and, importantly, returning and refunds if something was not up to snuff.

I use Panzers coz a big Pinkbike review said they were pretty good, light, cheap, and easier to install than most. Found that to be true, and I prefer the feel of less stiff sidewall tires at lower pressures with the insert. It stopped rim pinch snakebites on the tubeless set ups so yes, it will resolve your issues.

Hate: getting them into tires & onto rims, and even worse getting tires off again, has taken a lot of screaming frustration and thumbs like Geoff Capes. If I ever have a huge tire slashing issue on a trail I’m not sure I’d be able to resolve.  The way they turn any sealant into rolling stanimals inside the tire a bit of a pain.

Love: the traction they give, esp on the rear, at lower than normal pressures, the support they give to both tires at lower than normal pressures when leaning over in hard turns, that it removes snakebite risk.

EDIT: additional note – have thus far failed to be able to install in a kryptotal enduro casing on the rear of my eeb. after an hour of trying I sat on the floor of garage, sobbing, covered in sealant and trying to figure out how I would pull myself up with forearms and hands as useless as a t-rex.

Option 4 is good. We rented a place on North Uist in the summer, and it had a Vend Electric 7kw charger. As per molgrips, was a fantastic addition and made for a faff free break in quite a remote place. I think it was about 45p/kw, quite happy with that as very convenient.

hi madhouse – this was driving me nuts as well, until I realised that as I am a non-tesla owner (which I guess I must have told the app during set up) the app automatically only shows me Tesla chargers that I can access. There is a ton that simply do not show on my Tesla app, which I cross referenced by using the finder on the Tesla website.

does that make sense?

Haven’t actually used one yet right enough, so the access is only theoretical, not confirmed with experience, although I am all set up to do so. Must try at some point!

Oh, and yeah, I do most journey charging planning with Electroverse. it’s good.

To answer OP question (sorry, late to thread) – regret getting a Mullet bike. Even with my shit skills, yes, it is deffo more manoeuvrable, dips into turns quicker etc, but the smaller wheel gives up traction on dodgy surfaces to larger 29er contact patch, and gets caught up on roots/rocks/steps etc much more easily when going up, down or along.

yes, have Apple Arcade.

Outlanders I played for a bit, very cool, but it does just become increasingly complex resource management which is affy like wurk, so chucked it.

GTA I have also tried, but it is not really a 5 min dip in and out kinda thing – seems you need to spend a lot longer on a session getting involved in the world, story line etc. (never played it on other platforms)

World of warships might be fun, FTL maybe too. Monument Valley 2 would be worth a whirl – played and loved the original.

keep em coming!

although on an eeb, due to power overrun, if not set up absolutely perfectly and cleanly with no detritus or clag on the chain and cogs, it is quite easy to mangle shit just changing gear. On a bike, you would ease of the pedals when you feel resistance, but on the eeb… POWEEERRRR! CRUUNNCCHHH!

Add into this my eeb is mullet so mech closer to the ground and sticks.

I think for this, and general longevity, the fewer shifting ramps in link glide, and easier ability to shift under power of both link glide and AXS T would probably be a good thing.

Maybe even AXS T will reduce stick related damages.

I should have mentioned I got way too deep into World of Tanks a in the late 2010s. Jeez that shit was addictive!

I used local physiotherapist to ‘cure’ mine. 3 yrs ago was my right elbow, this year my left.

Pain started in early May, early June first physio, then kept going with bi weekly ish through June and July. Was caused by carrying too many heavy things repeatedly at cub camp.

Early on the strap definitely helped to reduce the pain (esp the ‘ache’ at weird times of the day)

Really intensive physio massage (i.e. bloody agony!) and ultrasound at my appts, and several different targeted exercises at home. Noticed by end of August it had mostly gone. Now 99% fine and not doing any thing specific for it.

acupuncture did not make any difference for me, but N=2 elbows of above mentioned intense physio massage, ultrasound + exercises eventually worked.

So 5 months roughly from onset to gone. It’s a tough bugger to shift, but being consistent rally helped.

I do seem to be defaulting to Merlin and Bikeparts as well.

Merlin are crazy fast, good prices, and reasonable stock. Thumbs up. They have been doing good value 12spd XT chains recently (126 link), that arrive loose in a wee jiffy bag with quick links, so must be a dump of OEM stuff (maybe chiggle) they are selling off but all good.

SJS are always a long way from the cheapest, but by ‘eck they always have the bits and doohickeys that cannot be found anywhere else.

“I’m not familiar with Lewis Brakes…” ha ha! Hannah, you must have seen the thread on here, it’s a classic.

All the best to Lou, her hardline stuff was superb, look forward to seeing how she does at MSA.

@mattrockwell – with a few more rides under your belt, can you discuss a little bit how you feel the ride is now? What size frame are you on?

I’m very tempted, my son is riding my Evolink now so my only full sus is my ebike. That’s fine, but I do find the hardtail really tiring when I don’t want to go out all hair on fire eeb riding, so looking at a cheap option to get back into a meat bike full sus.

I’m a big fella (195cm, 120kg kitted), Ben @ Bird has assured me that the XL frame is good for me (the reach is great, as are the angles) and the bomber air would be a great shock. I’m a little concerned about the short Chainstays however. Can you tell me more about the uphill ride characteristics? Esp really steep ups.

It looks like it has been designed for electrification, I’d love a go, but not sure I’d want to pedal it up too many hills! (and I’m a fully signed up fatty lover, riding 100mm clown shoes with 4.8s).

See, now, I have had recourse to use a chain breaker quite frequently, either for myself or for riding buddies. I find the ones on multi-tools do work most of the time, but man they are not easy and 2 have failed on me. Quite possibly due to user error (how hard can it be!), but both were crank bros and both somehow managed to chew up their own threads.

You can still find each of them somewhere in the forests of the Alsace area, prob a long way from the trails from where they were chucked with great anger.

The one-up breaker works, but man, it is not easy. I had a chain snap last week and it was so humid and wet, my hands were just too sweaty and greasy from the chain to get enough purchase on the stupid tiny chain tool/tire lever that I failed and bodged instread. Have used it successfully when not quite so slippy however.

Thus, FWIW, if you are going to carry one, I recommend to carry a decent one. The mini park tool one is small but it actually works in all conditions.

Battery would be my guess too based on similar experiences in recent ish VW vans and Skoda cars.

Canyon specifically have specialist service centres dotted all over the UK, so actually I think they might be one of the least risky online purchase as in person support can be had.

FWIW, seems there have been a few issues with battery latches on Canyon bikes causing power to cut out, but this has now been sorted.

I agree that i am surprised across cycling media in general that there isn’t more on Heather Wilson, what a star!

But, jeez it’s hard to get into it this year as it’s so hard to find where to watch it. Currently watching teh women’s WChamps, and the coverage on this is awful. You get about 20 seconds of each run – 5 secs of the top and 15 secs of the end of the run. Utter shite.

That sounds fantastic! Confirm ours also have no issues with ramps. Or of leaping off things all over the shop whilst ‘popcorning’

Can I also just mention that as a small pet for kids to ‘learn’, we absolutely love the GPs, as does our dog. Weirdly, the GPs love the dog back too.

They are such communicative, interesting, and tame animals, an absolute hoot. Their pavlovian response of screaming the whole neighbourhood down when they hear the rustle of a salad bag is hilarious.

Battle of the Planets – awesome

Just read this in the magazine, love your writing and the expeditions you do Amanda. Hope you may continue as contributor.

In the opening paragraphs, so funny and terrifying, I just knew you had gone over the saddle! I did this in 1992 on my DofE gold, and getting down it with full, heavy, 4 day packs on was a bloody nightmare – let alone doing it with bikes! You eejits! :-)

Love Arran, amazing place, so nice that it is never really that busy as the ferry capacity delivers effective crowd limitation. Arran distillery is great, their Machrie Moor peated malt is off the charts good (and blows your head off, careful, it’s 57%).

I do like your calm way of describing something as not really ridable. A bit like your Ben Macdui/cairngorms article. I shall avoid Goat Fell!

There’s actually quite a lot of riding on the island nowadays, can’t wait to go back!

@roverpig , just to flag something that may be relevant. I have an Ohme pro, but it is set up completely ‘dumb’, I’ve signed out of it and deleted my account (on instruction from both Ohme and Octopus), charging is completely managed by Octopus and car. So really, as long as charger is reliable, in our case it really doesn’t matter.

One positive note for Ohme, it was only giving us 3.5kw after installation, our fitter said to call them direct as loads of his installs had a firmware update requirement. Called Ohme, talked to someone quickly, and within an hour they’d done an over the air update to the unit and we were back up to 7kw.

So, maybe it does matter a wee bit which model/company you go with, and I’d give a thumbs up to Ohme.

Are the smart meters and supporting tech different between different suppliers?

Given that Scottish/British Gas seemed incapable of walking and chewing gum at the same, I did not hold out much hope that their ‘Smart’ meters would work in my favour. Fearing a situation like yours OP, I avoided at all costs.

However having recently moved to Octopus on their Intelligent Go EV tariff, it required a smart meter. Knock on wood, fingers crossed etc but since it was fitted in April it just sits there quietly doing it’s thing, and we can marvel at how the needle hammers into the red whenever the oven, hob or EV charger turns on.

So to answer your question: IMHE – No. But then, Octopus generally seem to have their shit together overall.

I’ll add, perhaps helpfully, that I’ve had real issues with top end SRAM 12spd chains and hot wax (in my case I am a 6yr now user of putoline) – it just never really got into the chain, would suffer frequent multiple stiff/seized links as a result. Works well with XT chains though.

But to answer the OP – waterproof socks! (e.g. sealskin)

I was staying in a hotel room that had a wee kitchenette thing, and after a very snowy and slushy ride I needed to dry out the socks. This will be a great idea I thought, slam them in the micro. But what happened was the liquid heated up, the material bit of the sock obviously got hot too with lots of lovely steam, but the waterproof membrane melted and made an unholy mess.

So, yeah, don’t put wet waterproof socks in!

A fork. The tines cause an arc of, I don;t know, microwaves (?) between them that is apparently problematic.

However, spoons are fine. In fact, the instructions on our new Me-Kro-Wah-veh specifically state that you should put a spoon in things like cups of liquid you are heating up as it better facilitates more even distribution of heat in said liquid.

Who Knew?

blah blah trails blah blah

Forget all that, the sausage rolls at Livvi’s Little Lunchbox. OMG. :-)

Another comments about ads – I get it when I first come to the site from another page. If I click on ‘my account’ icon it takes me there, reassuring me that I have logged in, and coming back to main page all ads are gone.

Been like this for a few days now.

F’ing amazing from Tom, to pull off the move yes, but also to come back from the deficit due to puncture. Amazing.

Didn’t he have a similar move to win at the World Champs in Glasgow last year?

Quick addition referencing @poly – to add to highly variable petrol filling experiences across Europe, in the US, it’s even worse! First of all you have to go in and pay first (WTF, yes it is as confusing as it sounds for lots of reasons!), and then to really get the squeaky bum going – diesel pumps are **** green.