I’d go Transmitter. I had a 905 and while it was great for trail centre downhills and rocky tech, it was a pig to ride all day or on anything flat. Every Transmitter I tried always felt a little more ‘sprightly’ on flatter and less technical terrain.

Everyone is different, and every ride can be different depending on things like effort level, temperature, tiredness levels etc.

I’ve found over the years that I struggle with the big breakfast of porridge pre-ride since I end up having a massive crash about an hour in and struggle to catch up again. It also makes me feel heavy and bloated. I tend to eat  a 60g serving of fruit & fiber for breakfast about an hour-90min before heading out. I then eat for moderate intensity (zone 3) rides something like a Eat natural granola bar or Fruislli every hour-90 min, along with about 500ml of torq natural. I like the Torq because it doesn’t taste sweet, and it’s the sweetness of everything I really struggle with on long rides.

I only resort to gels/shot blocks if the bonk comes since it doesn’t land well on the stomach. If I do bonk and it’s feasible, I’ll stop at a cafe/petrol station for a can of coke and something solid over gels too.  Try and eat as much solid food as you can early in the ride and only switch to the gels later if you’re struggling to get stuff down without feeling sick.

Also, when it’s hot, it’s easy to drink more instead of eating, which ends up with feeling queasy too and makes it hard to stomach the idea of food, especially sweet stuff, which then continues the spiral.

Try something small every hour, but pick where you eat it – eat at the top of hills so you’ve then got a descent/flat to help the digestion rather than just before hills. If eating something like a sandwich, make sure you give it a good 15min before heading off up high intensity efforts again.

Ultimately it’s easy to over science it, but monitoring your effort would be the best way of working it out. It may be that you think you’re riding zone 3, but you’re doing every hill at threshold which will burn the matches way quicker, and so you’re already well in deficit before you consider fueling. If you don’t ride with HR, I’d maybe start there.

Is there a more socially selfish form or pet ownership that cat ownership, specifically those who allow their cats out at night?

I think the problem stems from the selfishness of humans. Domestication of wild animals, mass murder of wildlife and destruction of eco-systems, laying waste to natural resources, breading more of the damn humans until we’re left with a dustbowl of a planet. What other type of mammal would behave so inconsiderately and disgracefully. And their constant ‘me me me me me’ attitude at everyday life and whining about it on the internet. Infuriating.

I thought long and hard about this too. I wanted something for sitting in when it got chilly, storing bikes/wetsuits/surfboards when out for the day from campsites, and cooking in when it was damp but didn’t want to cook in the van.

My folks had both a Fiamme (less faff, but flappy and open sided so needed a windbreak) and an attaching driveaway (faffy and hugely expensive, and also flappy in the wind) for their van which put me off those options.

So with this in mind I bought a…

Quetcha Arpenaz Base Camp M tent. Works brilliantly as an awning, has survived some Cornish storms where other awnings were flattened, tall enough to stand in at 6ft 3 and a huge door that clips to my roofrails to create a canopy. Best of all, it’s only £130.

Seen loads of other people with the same idea on many campsites. Far less faff than a true ‘drive away’.

Little bit of side to side wobble in mine but no back and forth.

On a separate note, I’m not hugely impressed with it. When it’s slammed, if you do the seat post clamp up to 3 nm, then the post doesn’t extend. Having to put travel spacers in to reduce it from 180 to 160 in order to have some post showing. It’s also incredibly sticky and no where near as smooth as my old Brand-X

Beinn a Bhuird is a good route, not an all dayer but a good 5 hours or more and the descent is great. Start at Lynn of Quaich Car Park, head NE towards Invercauld then head NW up Gleann an t-Slugain. Follow the singletrack upwards until the fork (NO 114 993). then either heather bash hike a bike straight up the shoulder onto Cnap a Chleirich, or continue up to the col at the head of Glas Allt Mor (NO 117 010). follow the Plateau to North Top, hug the Corries head wall, then find the descent (NO 087 993). Then its rocky rubbly top and single track with water bars for about 5-6km to test your at speed hopping ability. Join the Landy track and ride out along Glen Quoich before dropping through the woods to the Devils Punchbowl for a swim and back to the car park.

For super tech and a couple of hours in an afternoon, start from the Loch Muick carpark and head along the Loch to the bridge. Head up the steep landy track and keep going to the head of Corrie Chash (or the the top of Broad Cairn – rock steps all the way.) The awesome descent (Trail Forks – Streak of Lightening) is then the single-track (NO 258 809) back to the Loch shore at (NO 274 818). Steep and Rocky – Scotty Loughland describes it as one of the best descent in Scotland. (https://www.trailforks.com/trails/streak-of-lightening/)

Ahem – permit free street parking near the zoo and airport bus stop – ahem

I did wonder if this thread was prompted by this being in the news:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-64964294

A bob trailer with solar and a small wind turbine seems to be the answer :)

Was deflated after seeing the RB sail off into the distance and frankly Max could have driven around one arm out the car and pulled in for a coffee and still won.

However…

Pinning hope on the ‘only 46.6% of winners of the first race go on to win the championship’ stat.

Nothing against Max, but I woud love the see that smug look wiped of Horners face.

Regarding the “stupid bullhorn handlebars” – what was the set up? I have a flat bar Camino and quite fancy some bullhorn bars. Can’t stand drops but a different hand position would be nice sometimes. Bar ends or those funny Ergon grips are other options.

It was the flared drops with Sram Apex, so 42cm at the hoods, 50 on the drops. I didn’t like the way they tilt in as it made 1finer braking impossible as the shifter paddle hit your other knuckles. So only option was all 4 fingers on the lever but that was less secure on rough stuff. Then on the drops, the flare means your wrist is in an odd bent up position to brake.

I’ll concede I’m used to standard road bars but I didn’t feel like it gave me anything beneficial over a standard set up since you couldn’t brake effectively from the widest part of the bar.

If you hate drops, I’d personally go flats and bar ends

Size you after? Selling my Medium ti soon

Cheers, but alas I’ll need a large – boarder line between the L and XL

What’s worrying about an alu frame?

Scuffing the lovely paintjob!

I would just go RS700 both sides for matchy matchy. Think Wiggle have them for £50 a pair.

Cheers, I hadn’t realised there was an RS700 front, found that after posting.

Yes, may need different hose lengths. Can use rear on front and then just buy one new hose for rear (obvs)

Perfect. Presume just a change of olives or fittings, should hoses not need changing.

No difference in power. Did however give me 49.7 MPG on a 500 mile motorway haul, up on 44.3 MPG on the (slower) outward trip using E10. effectively an additional 75 miles before the light went on.

Glad they’ve been reborn. I really felt for them over the past 2 years. I bought a bike in 2021 and it took the best part of 9 months. That was because anything Rockshox was supposed to be delivered by May was delayed until October, and shimano availability was so bad they were buying groupsets from Chain Reaction which I doubt helps the profit margins. When stock delays from the big boys like spesh and trek are into the 6 months waiting times, you can only imagine what it’s likes for the small brands trying to secure the scraps of component stocks. Not like they have the budgets to secure $10million of groupsets/forks. Guess who gets their orders first…

Despite the delay, they couldn’t have been more helpful in trying to get a solution to get my bike to me ASAP.  They also partially refunded me for downgrading the groupset, despite supplying a one-up dropper over a brand-x and Hope BB’s/Headsets over generic.

If one of Specialized’s backers pulled out over night and they went into administration, I doubt you’d see them offering to make good on debts and ensure customers still got their orders…

To put things in context. BP also reported a $20billion pre-tax loss in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, following 6 years of low oil prices and the longest downturn in <span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>history that cost tens of thousands of jobs. Markets work both ways. </span>

Orstead, Europes largest wind power generator reported profits of £3.84billion in 2022. They also received £4billion in subsidies from the government while benefitting from high electricity wholesale prices.

As a society, we’ve gotten drunk on cheap energy for years and squandered the savings. Yes it’s shit, but the reality of energy is it’s demand based. Waste/consume  less as a society and the demand and thus price will fall – see 2020 when oil fell to $10/bbl.

Ironically, BP and Shells bumper profits may help to stabilise the pension funds that were hammered by Truss-bots Kamikwasi budget.

Might be able to pick up some discounted Bose QC35’s for around that price. Excellent all round.

Boots – I use a Salomon Malamute. Stiff as stiff when new, which means that after 5 weeks, they’re still stiff unlike every other boots I’ve had which medium stiff then turn to noodles after 3 weeks. If you’re not in the park, then I’d recommend them for everything it sounds like you do. I believe they do a wide version too if you’re getting cramp width wise. I’ve got really low volume feet and a skinny heal so always ended up with ‘dead’ space above my foot and heal lift. The Malamutes seem to get around this and the internal strap that locks your heal down means I don’t have to do them up so tight. I’m on my second pair after an ill advised stint with 32. The Northwave Domains were excellent and fitted well, but went soft pretty quick. Based on your pain, it also sounds like it could be your bindings aren’t stiff enough either which means you’ve got them cranked down to compensate.

Boards – I do the same sort of riding as you (Piste and then off piste if get good snow), bought a Salomon Dancehaul last year – 153 whereas before I was on a 161. It’s superb in powder, rips around on piste, stiff enough to carve, no so stiff that it’s not playful. Competent and capable through chop too. Used to ride a Ride Bezerka 161, also worth checking out now they’ve made it a touch more forgiving. If you like going fast, then that’d work for you. Likewise Burton Custom X. The Amplid Creamer/Miligram is good – I’ve got the split version for touring, but they’re beautifully made and ride really well. Ride Warpig is fun. Demoed the Jones boards and other than the hovercraft I found them wildly underwhelming. Unfortunately a lot of Jones stuff carries a name premium that isn’t always warranted. Libtech – hated them, I like camber with a rocker nose.

So yeah – check out the Malamutes and try and demo a Dancehaul!

Saw Jack Dee recently. Grumpy, dry, nothing overly controversial but incredibly funny!

Shuurely the ultimate MTB transport is a fully kitted out mobile workshop with professional mechanics making sure said bike is always pristine and waiting for you. Meanwhile you head to the trails via a combination of private jet and luxury Merc?

My wife is striking – it’s nothing to do with pay, it’s terms & conditions and workload.

This. The whole higher education sector is a shit show, and the pressures on staff to deliver REF IMHO is detrimental to standard of teaching. Add the ever increasing admin workload leads to either unreasonable hours or something slipping. All this, for more junior lecturers at least, is mostly laid on them whilst being given short term contracts resulting in zero job security unless you can find time to keep the research grants coming in to fund your position.

If your daughters wants value for money from her £9k, support the strike and join the demand for an overhaul of the way HE is run.

WHY would you do this for £40k a year when, with a degree, PhD and vast research experience, you could get an easier, higher paying job where you’re not treated like crap by both your employers and your students?

Even if it wasn’t higher paying, the other factors still apply. The added bonus is there might actually be jobs to apply for too.

Anything with the word ‘Celebrity’ in the title

Simple

If you’re a. European, b. Pro and/or c. a sponsored ‘content creator’, then socks over tights, preferably in a funky colour/pattern.

Otherwise tights over socks

I’m a bit out of date on this, but do you still get lower premiums for pass plus/advanced driving courses? added the equivalent of 1 years NCB when I passed. I’d avoid black boxes if anyone else in the family will be driving the car – few horror stories at work – wife drives sons car to the shop, accidently does 36 in a 30 limit, insurance through the roof.

Echo the car choices above – Fabias, i10, Dacias etc or something relatively small, tinny and untrendy. My first (mk3) polo rattled like anything above 60mph, it also left you with no misconceptions about what it’d look like after hitting anything hard. As a result, I was much more careful than I am now, even at 18. The ‘you bend it, you pay for it’ motto from my folks helped too.

I see Giant are now advertising for a digital marketing specialist…

My bad, didn’t see the date on the Tweet – back in 2021

Just ordered a set of Agilis cross climates for the van – will be interesting to do a comparison between them, the winter contacts on the car, and the eco summer tyres (which are hopeless in anything but the dry and warm)

The el-chepo van tyres it came with could barely make it up a ramp the other day in the snow, even on tickover.

Thanks all. It’s that head says Grizl and heart says Cotic problem!

It might help to know what you are hoping the new bike could do that Grizl can’t. Or how you are hoping that new bike will be better

Nothing, I only have a road bike (supersix evo HM) and a MTB (Stanton Sherpa) so both of them would be used for exactly the same thing. The attraction of the grizl are that with some 32 road tyres is that it’s lighter and thus potentially more winter club run friendly. The attraction of the Escapade is that it’s 853, a UK brand and purple.

I’m actually looking for something a bit more “all road” rather than gravel to add to the garage for touring / audax and tempted by the spa cycles Elan.

Being totally honest, this is what I’m after. I’ve got an XC bike, so I’m really looking fireroads/Estate tracks as the gnarliest end of the spectrum. But I can’t afford/justify a Farelight and I hate alu bikes (irrational I know) so anything kinesis is out. I tried a Nukeproof Digger and a Sonder Camino, and they’re both too long and too offroad. An endurance road bike with 40mm G-ones would be perfect.

I’ve got my Escapade down to 9KG inc pedals.

Interesting, I’ll have to pick your brain – I was looking 105 2x and getting a set of 365s or similar to bring the wheels down to 1500g or less. Less bothered with gravel tyres.

I don’t get all this carbon wheels in the wet drama. Yeah, they’re not great but we survived offroad with canti’s on muddy rims for years without dying. I run carbon rims most of the year, including in the wet and have zero issues. Don’t run them in the winter but thats because I don’t want the salt and grit killing them rather than any braking concerns.

You’ll be fine, brake using braking distances fit for the conditions. If you’re riding in groups that brake suddenly and unexpectedly, I’d find a different group that isn’t full of choppers.

flaperon and intheborders on the previous page are posting as if there is no (sorry, flaperon, 1% 😉) benefit to summers in warm weather compared to winters.

All I’m saying is, on my car, there is a (significant) advantage to summers in warm weather, even compared to all-seasons, so it must be even bigger compared to full winters. You never know when you’ll need to emergency stop so there’s always a benefit to reducing that distance as much as possible.

My bad, didn’t read that bit. As you were

Also, I don’t see the price of CrossClimates and Pzeros being massively relevant, they cost more than the Pzeros anyway (which are oem fitment on this car).

By premium, I meant high quality performance tyres rather than price. The difference in grip level between Pilot sports and el-cheapo kwik-fit specials will be significant.

And isn’t the whole point of ‘all season’ tyres that they make a small compromise on outright summer performance in exchange for greatly enhanced performance in winter conditions.

Get out of here, there’s no place for common sense in STW tyre debates.

ps: At least no-one’s started the thing about mixing winter-tyres on one end with summer ones on the other… yet 🙂

Mixed based on whether you mostly drive around left or right hand bends?

On my own car, I could notice the ABS coming on in warm dry wather when it was running all-seasons (CC and Quadraxers), it would never ever ever do that on summers (Pilot Sport/Pzero).

Not sure that’s quite a fair/representative comparison. A winter tyre in warm dry conditions vs. a high end, performance sports tyre is a bit like saying, “oh, Lewis Hamilton on extreme wets on a dry track is so much slower than on Slicks” without acknowledging that wets on a dry track are faster than slicks on a wet track.

Brake hard on a mid range/low rolling resistance tyre in same conditions, you’d likely find them closer to the CC than the Pilots, otherwise, what’s the point of the pilots! Given my experience of Pzeros, they were really poor in the rain, so repeat the same test in say <15 degrees and damp, I bet I know which’d stop quicker, and I know what the UK weather is generally closer too.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a performance summer tyre and warm dry weather for ‘spirited’ driving. But if I had to pick one for year round, I’d always go Cross climates, or run Summer/Winters. But then I do live in Scotland where we have 6 months of winter followed by 6 months of bad weather.

Also winter tyres feel like blancmange in warm weather, i assume due to the big old tread blocks

And the fact the sidewalls are softer to since they need to remain supple at lower temps. Seem to recall in my handbook it recommends a 1-2 psi pressure increase for running winter tyres.

Ohiro is mega warm, bought it to replace a Rab Neutrino Exped Down jacket. The Filament is a similar weight to my Atom, good all year round, but you’ll need layers in winter.

I currently do the two sets of wheels/tyres thing. Michelin Energy Savers in the summer as were OEM on the car. Efficient, but useless in the wet, more than hopeless in the snow. Then a set of Conti Winter Contacts on another set of wheels for the winter. Like above, bought a trolley jack and down to less than an hour to change all 4. TBH, they normally go on in November and are rarely off before Easter. I’m in NE Scotland, but even at 10 degrees plus in the wet, they are miles better than the summers despite the <7*C recommendation.

Interestingly, if you read the Autoblid or Autoexpress tyre tests, often the ‘reference winter’ usually scores in the top few for wet braking and wet handling in the summer tyre tests. So if you live somewhere wet, you’ll still be better off with winters than summers, even in normal temps.

Now I’ve got the van as well, I’m tempted to just go Cross Climates on both and risk having to use snowsocks occasionally though for simplicity, rather than having 2 sets per vehicle.

Synthetic Every time in the UK. My Arcteryx Atom and Alpkit 0Hiro have been super warm and durable, plus I’m less paranoid about them getting wet so they get a hard life.

Yep. Pretty much narrowed it down to a weakened immune system due to covid/2 years of isolation, and now the usual back in the office autumn/winter sniffle season allied to being tired and run down. Thus constantly fighting bugs but not quite winning.

Had a Gaggia classic for years before I bought my Rocket R58. Take care with the grind and brew ratio and the Gaggia will deliver a fantastic coffee especially given the price difference between it and the Rocket. Works well with a naked portafilter and will handle a much finer grind than many others at that price point. The new classic with the upgraded steam wand looks pretty much the business.

Avoid Bean to Cup in my opinion. They’re a nightmare to clean, taste burnt, and you can’t properly control the grind.

Nespresso – may as well just add water to an ashtray.

Sage are good, but personally I don’t like the intergrated grinder idea or the small sized portafilter.

I’d be shopping for a Gaggia classic or setting up ebay alerts for a Rocket apartmento or similar.

Difficult one. Quite frankly no-one has a clue what’s going to happen going forwards. Trying to forecast prices for next year with changing tax conditions is impossible, let alone beyond 2025 when trying to work out whether projects will fly or not. I’d certainly be pointing some scrutiny at those in Westminster though, worth noting that fuel prices today are higher than in 2013 despite the oil price being and the refining margins that companies are getting are lower too.

‘Some’ energy companies are making a killing, but they usually have a full cycle business that includes refining and wholesale including energy (e.g. Shell). The majority of UK producers are hedged following the downturn, often at <$65 bbl so are actually losing money at the moment. Those who are making a killing is the traders in the city, as usual.

Yet again, the government stitched everyone up with not investing in gas storage despite the industry warning it for the past 10 years and more. Now it’s a day late and a several million $ short, and we have enough for 48hours UK generation Compared to Austria’s several months, that’s just laughable.

Renewables are great, but it takes time, raw materials and energy to make them in the first place. They’re not a quick or easy fix. Contrary to the media’s narrative, oil is needed to make things out of rather than just petrol, and if the price of that is high/supply is short, then goods are going to go up in price too – including renewable tech.

Fundamentally, todays issues are a result of 40 years of society being drunk on cheap energy without a seconds thought on the consequences. The answer needs people, politicians etc to stop demonizing one source of energy or the other and realize a mix of all is required, with changes to planning and the end of NIMBYism. Gas fire power when demand peaks, wind/nuclear for base load, solar at household level, proper insulation, end of the ridiculous ban on double glazing in conservation areas. All of which costs money which we’ve pissed up the wall/given to the mistresses PPE company etc.

Proper green energy storage – Use wind to pump water uphill and then release it down again when the wind stops. But noone wants dams on their rivers, they’d rather let Elon dig up the Atacama and mine cobalt using children in the Congo to make batteries than have the solution visible from their second home.

At risk of adding to the competition for one in stock, I’ve been eyeing up the Canyon Grizl. Under 10kg, carbon frame and most importantly for me, 2X as it’ll likely be on road as much as it is off. Grx400 one is £1999, Grx810 is £2299.

Yes.

Excellent, thank you.

Just the one paddle on my AXS levers – you hot both at the same time for front mech/dropper

Aye – meant one paddle on each lever, as per the 2x etap system. The 1x mechanical only has a shift paddle on the right meaning to switch to 2x you’d have to buy new levers too.

Really sad news. I love my Sherpa, and always found them a really helpful company to deal with. I ordered a bike through the middle of the pandemic. yes it took a while to arrive, but it was getting hold of rockshox/shimano that took the time, hardly their fault. When it did arrive, they decided the frame wasn’t up to their usual standards and sent me another one.

I really hope they can find a solution to keep trading. We need brands like this and I wish them all the best.

Probably a custom sized Sarto Road bike – either a Seta or Asola please, with a custom green/blue/purple flip paint job, and full Campag obviously. Then preferably a house in Tuscany or the South of France and the warm weather to ride it in.

Oh, you mean MTB’s? Probably a Transition Spur or a SC Blurr TR