“Apart from wiggling your way up trail centre switchbacks, the slacker head angle doesn’t affect climbing.”

Well, it does, and climbing entails a bit more than just ‘wiggling up trail centre switchbacks’. Try Alpine or Pyrenean mountain trails, where you can ascend many thousands of feet over a ride.

“You really should just go ride some bikes and find out.”

That would be nice, wouldn’t it? Not gonna happen for a while yet at least. I have ridden a few friends/hired bikes over the years, but I can’t remember what I liked/disliked. I’d happily pay good money to have some test rides, but I think I’ll be waiting until next Autumn at least, for such a thing to become possible.

“From your comments and descriptions, I’d say you’d actually want to steer clear of anything with more than 120mm travel tbh. Compared to your old bike you’ll think it’s heavy, slack, ponderous and slow. Something along the lines of the Specialized Epic Evo, as suggested, will be much more your thing.”

Yes; that really does seem like the kind of thing I’d like, more than say the current Stumpjumper model. A bit of a Google suggests an Epic Evo Comp is around 27lb, so a little heavier than I’d like, but nothing that can’t be solved with a few ‘upgrades’ ;) And there’s always the frame only option, although the current colour scheme is a bit nasty.

Anything else in that kind of area? So; 120mm travel, closer to 25lbs than 30, not too slack and long?

That skinny place still has more square footage than many new build flats in many ‘redevelopment’ areas, London or not. A place like that is ideal for an AirBnB, or for an ‘investment’ on land that is only rising in value. You’ll be paying 3x that for a flat with similar area in say, Mayfair, Knightsbridge or Westminster, as it’s a bit further out.

What people forget/ignore with London property prices, is that even if you are lucky enough to own a property in London, it’s ‘value’ is only as much as a similar type property in a similarly desirable area of London. Yes, you could buy half of Barnsley if you sold a house in London, but until quite recently, not many people wanted to, obviously. If your work, family and social life is here, you’re not going to uproot and move to the sticks. I’m not talking about the middle class incomers, I’m talking about ordinary Londoners, who, through no fault of their own, are often ‘trapped’ and unable to move, because doing so would cost more than they can afford. So if you live in a 3/4 bed family house in say Edmonton, you’re not going to be able to move to a similar type property in Islington, or Clapham, or Shepherds Bush. And such people, who make up a far larger proportion of London’s residents than the über rich, can’t or don’t want to move, because that’s their home, their life, their community. No point selling up and buying a big pile in Cornwall, if you’ve got no job to go to. It’s only really the rich and very lucky, that have such mobility.

Maybe Coronavirus has kickstarted the middle class exodus. It’s now obvious there isn’t the need for so much work to be centred in London, with WFH, Zoom etc. London really, really won’t miss people like this. Self entitled **** coming to a village near you:

https://www.standard.co.uk/escapist/i-left-london-for-the-countryside-and-it-was-nothing-like-i-dreamed-b923836.html

“Quality isn’t just about sound quality though.”

What is it about, then?

“What we have ATM. As well as a pure one for dab trying to consolidate and integrate and generally tidy things up in kitchen/utility”

I just use the Homepods in other rooms, and play music etc via a device. Takes a couple of minutes to set up each Homepod, then it’s as easy as simply selecting the sound output in exactly the same way you would if connecting to a BT speaker. Only with much better sound quality. And far less faff than installing ceiling speakers. But that’s not what you want to hear, I accept that; you’ve already invested time, money and effort into installing those ceiling speakers. Have fun.

“I don’t need super high quality. I went for the speakers I did as again it’s hard to find roof mounts that ain’t Xmas cracker quality”

Confusing. You’ve gone to the trouble of sourcing and installing reasonable quality speakers, yet aren’t too bothered about sound quality? I get you; ‘Hi-Fi’ sound isn’t your priority, but then why not just get a cheap $50 or so BT speaker? Or look on Ebay; plenty of old Denon M40s etc on there, for your £100-£160 price range.

Why does it need to be BT; I’m assuming the speakers will be wired to the unit/an amplifier anyway? Or are you wanting to play music via a computer/phone/other source?

If that’s the case, then I’d consider something with Wi-Fi connectivity, as I’ve generally found BT-only systems to be compromised in terms of audio quality apart from the very expensive higher end ones. The Denon you mention seems to not have Wi-Fi connectivity, whereas this Yamaha unit does:

https://www.richersounds.com/hi-fi/wireless-streaming-separates/yamaha-crxn470d-blk.html

Not helpful to you, maybe, but I have a couple of Apple Homepods around the house, including one in the kitchen, and for the money, they blow pretty much everything else away. Especially Sonos stuff, which in my opinion and experience, is vastly overhyped and disappointing. Not to mention grossly overpriced.

Unless it’s the really old 28″ ‘Imperial’ tyre size, which I very much doubt (unless the bike is ancient!), then I think it’s safe to assume that ’28×1.5″‘ is the same as the more commonly used ‘700c’size. The ETRTO/ISO sizing would be something like 38/622 for a 1/5″ tyre, I think. I run Schwalbe Marathon tyres on my hybrid, and they are excellent; a little heavy maybe, but very very puncture resistant, and very very tough and hard wearing. I get several years out of a set, commuting on roads, towpaths etc. And if you look around, they’re often around £17-20 a tyre, which is very good value. I’d avoid the Marathon Plus versions though, because although they are even more puncture resistant, they are a good bit heavier, and the harder outer compound is dreadful if it’s wet, as it has poor grip. You can get lighter and faster tyres, but then you risk more punctures. Continental do a ‘Gatorskin’ version of many of their popular road tyres, but again, the harder compound means poor grip in the wet, in my experience.

“All the decent bikes will make your old bike seem like a complete pile of crap.”

Really? In what way? Are they faster/lighter/stronger/easier to maintain? These are the criteria I’d be most interested in examining. What I have noticed, is that designers have shifted towards the more ‘MX’ style riding position; steeper seat angle, slacker head angle, longer wheelbase. I’m sure such changes can offer advantages on particular types of trail, although I think lengthening a bike would compromise its agility in more ‘technical’ scenarios. And bike companies are still as reticent to display bike weights, it seems, but research suggests that bikes seem to have got heavier, if anything. A thread on here about the Bird Aether reveals weights ‘start’ at over 28lbs, and go up over 30! My FSR was a little under 26, and that felt ‘heavy’ in comparison to the Trek hardtail I had, which was about 22lbs. I accept this isn’t really a fair comparison as they are very different bike types, but I’m not seeing any real significant weight loss across bikes. I’m 10.5st, so I don’t need anything super tough.

“Therefore riding position has changed.”

Yes, seems to be the fashion for a more ‘central’ position between the wheels, wider bars necessitating shorter stems, fork rake is longer, which would be good for fast descents, but not so good for climbing. Swings and roundabouts. I wouldn’t want something that is great on descents, but a pig on climbs. Hoping to be able to do long day rides in mountainous European places, Spain, Italy,German, Switzerland etc. So a 30+lb ‘freeride’ type bike isn’t what I want.

“If you like specialised, the Epic Evo seems to fit the bill.”

Yes; this seems to be very much in line with what I’d be looking for. The Epics of 12+ years ago were very light, ‘XC race’ oriented machines with about 80mm travel; I went for the Stumpjumper because it was a little less ‘racy’ and had a bit more travel, 100mm I think. I bought it off someone who hadn’t got on with it, for a really good price, and it was definitely an improvement over the Marin. The current Stumpjumpers seem to be a bit more ‘Freeride, and even the top end one is over 30lbs!

“Your biggest issue will be finding stock.”

Yes, this is clear. Not only that; what on earth happened to bike prices?? The S-Works Stumpjumper was about £3500 I think; even allowing for inflation, that’s still only around £5500, which is still a lot of money, yet the current S-Works Epic is £11,500! That’s insane! What are bikes made of now, Platinum??

When they start to walk around by themselves…

“Bridges – the chemical smelling bunch are not the same as the shower every day bunch! ( or not always). I don’t use any antiperspirant / deodorant and I don’t smell – because I am clean having had a shower or bath at least once per day!”

I have no idea if people wash and use deodorant, or don’t wash and use deodorant. I’m not party to their hygiene routines. All I know is that the Tube stinks of a mixture of BO, horrible chemicals of various kinds, and that electrical burning smell. As for you not smelling; it’s more down to your diet and lifestyle, than washing, as pointed out; some people can stink even straight after washing. And you probably do smell; everyone does. You just don’t notice it.

Thanks. Re wheels size; 29ers just look huge, to my eyes, but that’s coming from 26″ of course. And I don’t really want a bike just for ‘XC type riding’; I’d like it to be able to handle tougher terrain that you generally find in the UK, so yes, the longer ‘Alpine’ style trails with much greater elevation gain/loss. An all-rounder, much like the FSR was. I appreciate things like dropper posts can be a game-changer, but I’ve never tried one. Tbh I never dropped my saddle much anyway, so such a thing would be a radical change from what I was used to.

“95%+ of riders probably cannot tell what suspension design they are on by feel alone – and about 50% probably counldnt identify it by looking at it.”

Yes; waffle about the various merits of all the different systems bores me rigid (!), quite frankly. I just want it to work, and to not bob about too much (the FSR was very good on the rough bits, but did bob a bit on climbs etc, and I’d always forget to switch th

e shock to the ‘doesn’t bob as much’ setting.

“If you had a 2008 hatred of single pivots or something, disregard it.”

Had a Marin Mount Vision prior to the FSR; it was ok, but the FSR was a lot more sensitive, I felt. That could simply be subjectivity though. It felt ‘clumsier’, somehow.

“Alternatively, seeing as your terrain is going to be mud and roots rather than big rocks, have you considered a hardtail?”

No; I have said it’ll be a mixture of different types of terrain. Plus I’m getting a bit old now, and prefer a bit of shock absorption!

“What is this western obsession with having a nice cup of tea in the morning too? How benighted and lost we are, please do show us the path to enlightenment, oh wise guru.”

Sorry? Most westerners drink coffee. Tea is only really popular in the UK. The UK is only a tiny part of the ‘west’. So drinking tea is hardly a ‘western obsession’…

What is this western obsession with being ‘clean’? Never understood it. Too regular washing is bad for your skin anyway. And whilst bad BO isn’t nice, neither is the overwhelming chemical stench I encounter whenever I make one of my rare trips by Tube. Deodorant is truly nasty stuff, I can’t understand why anyone would want to put such noxious chemicals on their bodies. Showering daily, unless it’s high summer and you sweat a lot, is unnecessary. Being bothered by other people’s natural smell, is just weird, in my opinion. Shows how much we’ve become conditioned to being repulsed by that, and how much people are influenced by the marketing of ‘personal hygiene’ products.

“Where might you ride?”

Epping Forest, nearest place. But I can travel to anywhere really, plus abroad of course. So anything from forests, to actual mountains.

“What riding do you enjoy – distance, gnar, steep, flow, trail centre, natural, Alps?”

As above; all round, more on the ‘XC’ side as they used to call it. But not full on XC race.

“What is your riding style – keeping up with Aaron Gwinn, lecking about in the woods, or keeping it real and he who has most fun wins?”

I don’t know who or what Aaron Gwin is, so I’m not sure if they’re local to me. Mostly just having fun, riding along, enjoying the view, not about to break any speed records!

Price isn’t something that’s much of an issue, I’d rather get a decent bike that will last, and have decent components that won’t let me down. Had Hope/Shimano XT on the FSR, so that kind of level.