We did the same route last summer from Barra to Stornoway. A week was nowhere near enough!

Vatersay is worth a visit when you arrive on Barra and watching a plane land on the beach is a must really.

On Uist, Balranald is a great site to stay at and nearby pub was decent. Traigh Iar beach on North Uist was the best beach we visited across all of the islands and the best beach I’ve seen anywhere. Truly stunning. Better than Luskentyre on Harris IMO but that was also beautiful. Huisnis beach on Harris was great too but the drive is a bit sketchy!

On Lewis the beach at Uig was great. Callanish stones also great. The lighthouse at the butt of Lewis was good. Saw dolphins and a whale from there. Wobbly dog cafe there is great. Nice guy running it.

Probably loads more I’m not remembering but those are some of the highlights off the top of my head.

Also got the £40 amazon tower job a few weeks ago. Our oven is an Esse range (also our heating and hot water) and takes ages to heat up. Its been handy to just whack it on cook things really quickly and in most cases doing a better job. Only need the oven for big jobs now like a roast.

How has nobody wanted to ask more about this!?

We were at a pub on Mull, 6pm ish on a Friday evening. Sat down at a table outside ready to order food. My daughter wants something out of the car. I give her the keys which she subsequently manages to lock in the car. We were due to camp and all of our gear is in the boot. My wifes handbag with the spare car key is also in the car. Oh dear.

So I ring the breakdown company. Not covered for this so will have to pay. But wait, there’s no agent available on Mull at 6pm on a Friday apparently anyway so you’re on your own. Go to the bar and ask if they know anyone who can help before I resort to smashing the window. Got given a number. Can’t help but given another number. Now on to a very helpful person who can help, but is on the opposite side of the island 2 hours away. They kindly drove over and with some wizardry, managed to get into the car. Now almost 10pm and we’re on the road to pitch our tents in the dark, turning a cheap night’s camping into an expensive one! We can laugh now!

Congratulations. Amazing garden.

I gave my 9 year old the car keys a few weeks ago to retrieve something she’d left. 3 hours and £250 later, I got them back.

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Understeer and struggle to unweight the front

I built mine up from frame only with a 130mm reba, 11 speed SLX with Sunrace 11-50 cassette, sunringle duroc 35 wheels and a brand x dropper. So not a really light build. It does feel heavy to pick up but I find it rides light depending on tyre choice. It flies along on a pair of 2.6 mezcals.

So Wheels/tyres first, then fork maybe if you’re still struggling.

All the greens and most of the blues in Morzine and Les Gets are flowy. Download the portes du soleil app and have a look on there. The trail maps and trail gradings are all listed.

I would. I don’t post lots but I visit most days and have had loads of amazing advice and help here. I try to reciprocate when I can.

When the mag was struggling at the start of covid and there was a similar rally cry I took out a subscription. I enjoy the mag but the forum makes it for me. It is well worth the fee for me.

We try if possible to have two famaily holidays a year with our two kids. In recent years the summer holiday has been two weeks around Morzine. Road and MTB for me and the wife, mixed with riding with the kids, trips to the pool and lake etc. Pretty active. On the go all day.

Then a second trip for one week in October or Feb. This has generally been all inc chilled one in Fuertaventura or similar. Mostly just chilling by the beach or pool with kids flitting between joining us or at kids club making friends. This will have the odd bit of activity like a cultural trip, the odd run/ride, but mostly relaxing.

I like both but the second one is a week max. I could do a month in Morzine.

We were in Morzine last week and bought my mates lad a 5 hour lift pass from the super morzine so he could join us and were offered insurance as an add on with the pass. Never had it offered before as far as I can remember?
We declined as already had yellow jersey family cover but may be worth looking into? Not sure what exactly it covers.

We moved up to the area last year from England. We really like it. We work at Ninewells, lived in Perth for 6 months and now live over in Fife.

Everything has been said above really so not much to add other than there’s a lot to like and if you want any specific advice from a recent incomer then shout.

@SSS Johnsons

PM’d you a spot near Kenmore

Just ordered 800L to fill our tank in Fife at 89p/L. Can’t see it getting much lower for now.

Whats the deal with Col de Cou these days?

Any other good xc alternatives? We’ve done the one that drops through the woods back into essert romand but soemthing similar would be good?

Bell helmet shaped and quite small at 55cm ish. Can often get good deals though!

Defo not giro or 661 which I’ve tried as punts and passed on to my wife as she’s liked them (but doesnt like bell).

I’ve got a Phoxx 2 and an earlier version of the decathlon ultralight 2 man tent. I marginally prefer the decathlon as it pitches all in one and has a slightly bigger side porch, but they’re both good. I’d buy either again

The cheapest ajax on the outlet site is £140 and not the same material.

The Fleet version they have is pertex shield not goretex active

Yep, I was on and off looking for a while. Randomly found one from Heales cycles which looked to just be an independent shop with an online presence. They just had the one as was out of stock after I ordered it.

Not yet but will be. Currently run a pair of Mezcals in 2.6 on my hardtail. Love them so managed to find a 2.6 Aggaro and planned to try that as a front with one of the mezcals on the rear on my full sus to see how it works as summer/autumn/spring combo. My hardtail has 35mm rims, my full sus has 30mm.

However I’m off to Morzine in few weeks and CBA putting them on now only to take them off again for that, so going to wait until I get back.

@blitz where did you find the aggaro? I’ve been looking at one of those for the front…

Heales cycles. Just an independent shop I think with an online presence. I think they only had the one. Couldn’t find one anywhere else.

Mezcals are the bomb in 2.6. I’ve got a pair of them currently on my hardtail for blasting about in the dry.

I like them so much i’ve just bought an Aggaro in 2.6 to try as an autumn/spring front, after managing to find one. Had to pay full RRP which i’ve never done before for any tyre! Not fitted it yet but looks like a cross between a dissector and an assegai with lower profile tread. Not sure what it weighs.

Thanks all. Looks like Cala D’or is out and a toss up between Pollenca and Kotor Bay with not much between them. I’m angling towards Montengro and good to hear so many positive opinions. Will put it to the crew and see what they say!

We moved up from Kent last year. Rented in Perth for 6 months but then bought our current place in the Howe of Fife, just over the Perth & Kinross border.

I think its a great location. Around 30 mins to the outskirts of Edinburgh and less than an hour to the centre. 30 mins to Perth and St Andrews. 45 mins to Dundee and Dunkeld. 2 hours gets you to Glasgow, Oban (access to the islands), Aviemore or Braemar.

Great riding on the doorstep, both MTB and Road. Close to good beaches and lochs.

The weather is fine over this side. Its one of the sunniest and driest parts of Scotland. I think when we were looking to move i checked the stats and this area has on average about 10% less sunshine hours and 10% more rain than Kent and it feels about right. Its cooler but still generally very pleasant. The mid winter darkness was probably the worst thing. I love visiting the west but personally would struggle with the rain and midge but its pretty accessible as mentioned.

I think a good case can be made for lots of areas though. We’d certainly consider tweed valley, east lothian, tayside/angus, Perthshire, Dunblane, Aviemore area, Inverness/Moray coast.

I know there’s mixed opinions on fittings for running shoes but my experience is that it can be worth getting a good gait analysis but ask around to make sure you get it done somewhere reputable.

I was fitted in ‘sweatshop’ for some running shoes. They assessed me as having issues with over pronation from watching me jog for a few minutes on a treadmill. They put me into some stability shoes (Sauconcy Guide) and despite persevering with them because I’d been ‘fitted’ for them, I could never get on with them and kept having problems with my right calf and outside of the right foot.

I almost gave up running as I thought my leg was just goosed but my wife booked me a fitting at an independent place (Bay Running in Herne Bay). This was a completely different and much more thorough video analysis and fitting. Turns out I do slightly overpronate but only on my left leg. My right leg is neutral. The fitter explained that the stability shoes were correcting my left leg but actually making my right leg supinate which was very likely the cause of the injury issues I was having. He recommended trying some neutral shoes but with good cushioning to still provide some support to my left leg and after a bit of experimentation and checking on the video we ended up settling on Brooks Ghost. Since getting them I’ve been able to run again without injury for over a year now which I had begun to think would never happen.

So definitely worth asking around for recommendations of a good fitter IMO.

Cheers

Fontainebleau and Versailles look like what I was after. Will have a closer look at those.

Happened to me several years ago. Very similar to your situation. I was insured with Tesco at the time fully comp. They pretty quickly paid me out for the write off but they held on to my excess until the recovered anything from the bulgarian’s insurance.

It went through an intermediary (MIB I think it was called). Took ages. He denied fault and said I was on my phone. I said, if he had seen me well enough to know I was on my phone (I wasn’t of course), why did he pull out and spin me into the central reservation? Eventually it got found in my favour and I got my excess back but was about a year all in from memory.

2.6 Vittoria Mezcal is a great fast large volume tyre as long as it’s dry. It’s pretty sketchy in the wet. I want to try a Barzo but can’t find any stock in 2.6

Used to work at a Spar on Lewes Road in Brighton when I was at uni. About 11 am in the morning I was the only person on the shop floor (couple of others out back or in the office). Bloke comes in and asks for some cigarettes which are behind the counter. I turn round to look for them and in the meantime he picks up a 24 slab of beers that were stacked up on promo, and walks out. I went to the door and could see him cross over and go up a side street. I shout the manager down and we take a walk over where he’d gone only to find the beers just dumped in the side street. They were a Spar own brand and can only assume he had maybe meant to grab something a bit more upmarket?! We picked them up and took them back.

Vitus Escarpe. Had a 2021 CRX 29 for just over a year now and love it. Had been like hens teeth to find in stock but someone I know recently got a CRS and seems that CRC have some stock of that and the top spec £4.5k AMP model now.

Hard to pick 3 but Comrie Croft would be in there.

Maybe CYB, Laggan and Comrie…

I’ve just seen Peter Bone, defending Johnson as always, referred to as ‘Zombie Sven’ on twitter which has made my night. 😂

Forgot to add. I had no comms that it was being sent. First i knew was a knock on the door about 5pm and it was hand delivered. Then about 9pm that night got a text saying it was out for delivery today, when we’d already had it!

Thanks, just had a look. They look a bit like many I’ve used before, are they stronger than others? Whilst googling those, I noticed Parktool also do a plastic coated steel set, TL-6.2. Any good?

I’ve had mine for years and they havent snapped whilst other cheap one’s have bent or snapped. They’re really hard plastic. I’m personally not a fan of steel, even coated.

My daughters arrived yesterday, so 1 day shy of 4 weeks since i did the application online. Very pleased with that.

Parktool TL-4.2

Just on the pedal stripping, were you aware that the left pedal is reverse threaded so needs to be turned in the opposite direction to normal?

Apologies if so, and may have been nothing to do with the crank thread getting stripped, but can be a rookie mistake if you dont know about it and something to be aware of.

My daughters renewal application was approved last night. So 3 weeks so far.