Great idea. I haven’t used red miso paste before but will try and find some and give it a go.

We were staggered at the lack of mask wearing. At the Snow 2 film screenings I think my wife and I plus about five other people were the only ones wearing masks!

Anyway, not bike related, but if you get the chance to watch Traverse about two women becoming the first to ski tour the Haut Route from Chamonix to Zermatt in one push then grab it. It’s a great film and I could easily relate their mental and physical suffering to what I experience on big rides in the Lakes on my MTB. Valerie, Hilary and filmmaker Ben were at the screening and couldn’t have been more down-to-earth. Brilliant.

Something to look out for is the Gorilla tape breaking down over time. I have a pair of i29s and didn’t take the tyres off the rims for about 18 months. When I tried to remove them I discovered that the Gorilla glue from the tape had reacted with the tyre beads on the Forekasters and they were impossible to remove in the normal way. I ended up having to slit the sidewalls and then use loads of glue removing solvent to get the beads off. Having eventually managed to clean all the Gorilla goo off the rims, I used Stan’s tape as a replacement. It’s nowhere near as easy or reliable to fit as Gorilla tape and I had various leaks at the first attempt, but I’ve never had the kind of bonding issues with Stan’s that afflicted the Gorilla taped rims. Probably be OK if you remove the tyres every few months and maybe replace the Gorilla tape fairly regularly.

I love climbing and am pretty fast (60-odd climbing KoMs if that counts for anything) and I’ve been pondering similar anomalies to yours.

I currently ride a Bronson 2 which climbs OK. Previously I had a Yeti SB75 which climbed well. I still can’t match some of the times I set on the Yeti despite gaining fitness this year and losing 6Kg from my already light frame (6’2” tall and 67kg). On the other hand, some climbs I’m relatively effortlessly faster on the Bronson. I think those are the ones where traction is king. The Yeti’s Switch rear suspension may be doing something similar to that on your Five, i.e. becoming less active under power and so providing a better pedal platform on smoother climbs. The VPP on the Bronson should do something similar but it feels noticeably more active which provides great traction but reduces all-out speed.

I’ve recently been experimenting with chunkier tyres on the Bronson and I’ve fitted heavier wheels having destroyed two sets of lighter wheels up here in the Lakes. Although the wheel/tyre combination adds only 800g, apparently a small amount in the overall system weight, my climbing times have bombed and it feels like hard work! On the mile long climb up to Tarn Crag from Miller Bridge on the outskirts of Ambleside, I can’t get within 30 seconds of my time on lighter wheels and tyres and I’m generally over a minute slower. Amazing and difficult to explain from a pure physics perspective!

They’re definitely the 2021 version. I bought a pair from bike24 earlier this month. Came to £751 after exchange rate conversion, which was way cheaper than anyone else and delivery was pretty quick.

There are lots of contradictory comments about gravel bikes because they’re a broad church and if you get the wrong one, it will be a compromise too far. I’ve been riding a Cannondale Topstone Carbon for about six months and love it. It has internal routing for a dropper and the kingpin rear flex really works to make bumpy trails more bearable.

It’s fast on the road (tyre and wheel choice mean it’s a bit slower than my S-Works Tarmac, but put racier wheels and tyres on and the differences would be marginal).

Off road it‘s a lot of fun on woodland singletrack, gravel tracks and I’ve even used it on some challenging Lakeland trails. This is the only time a dropper might have helped, but it would have to be a short travel dropper and, to be honest, if I tried to ride the descents that required the dropper, I’d probably have ended up injured. I’d rather get off and make use of the bike’s 9kg weight to shoulder it and make quick progress on foot.

Rather than the dropper, I’d recommend fitting the Redshift Shockstop stem, which really helps take out trail buzz.

The best thing about the gravel bike is that it makes XC trails fun again. You have to concentrate all the time, hone your skills and the bonus is that I nab KoMs on pretty much every ride! Go for it.

Thanks for all the thoughts. I don’t have Dupuytren’s but feel for those who do. Hopefully at least some of these ideas will be useful to others who find they’re struggling with hand problems of one kind or another.

It’s an interesting question and I’ve attempted to reduce the intensity of my grip to help the situation. I would say that when riding XC, I’m very relaxed, but on Lakeland rock, I hold on quite a bit harder and I think it’s a combination of sub-consciously trying to exert more control on the bike and modern bike geometry. My XC bike places me in a more stretched position and so my arms are more horizontal. My all mountain bike has my arms more vertical which in turn places more pressure on my palms. It’s certainly something I need to make more effort to resist doing, but my grips tend to last three to five years, so I’m certainly not in the same league as your son.

I’ve used Anquet Maps for years for this very reason. http://www.anquet.com

tjagain, I have. Not sure you’re reading my posts. This isn’t trail maintenance, it’s repurposing. The decision was made to change the accessibility of certain trails.

Ha ha, yes Kelley, I probably am being totally NIMBY.

Tjagain, I’m in total agreement with trail maintenance but the sanitisation isn’t trail maintenance, it’s repurposing. This isn’t the fix the fells stuff, which has its own problems but is understandable, this is replacing trails that weren’t even badly worn with hard pack, smooth surfaces to enable access by more user groups. Highly laudable and done with the best intentions, but it depends how far you go. I admit I’m a dinosaur who’s been walking and riding in the Lakes for 25 years and doesn’t want to see them change too much and maybe I’m in the wrong, but it would be a shame to completely tame somewhere so precious.

Andylc I agree that e-bikes ridden by capable riders open up trails that are very difficult or impossible on normal bikes. That wasn’t my point. I said that for riders on this forum, e-bikes are just a different way to explore trails. The ‘problem’ occurs when the majority of e-bike riders aren’t capable riders but still want access to the fells. I don’t believe there are many places that can’t be sanitised to meet the potential demand of these riders and, in fact, I suspect Helvellyn and possibly Skiddaw would be the earliest to be sanitised. But, hey, I may well be wrong or this may be the greatest democratisation of the fells ever.

I think that if there is a potential (and it remains potential at the moment) problem with e-bikes, it’s not with the members of this forum. Clearly everyone here is a keen mountain biker and an e-bike to them is just another way of enjoying our hobby, which is often about riding something fairly challenging. The problem that’s beginning to affect the Lakes, where I ride a lot, is that trails are being sanitised and I see many more e-bikers than normal mountain bikers out now and many, though by no means all, are less capable and less dedicated than the majority of riders on this forum and they will, I suspect, become the majority and when they do they will demand more access to more fells and that will lead to more trail sanitisation. It’s already beginning to happen with long debates about how accessible the fells should be. It’s a really hard debate because on the one hand it would be great to give access to as many people as possible but on the other, not everywhere can be accessible to everyone and the value of the experience is diluted the more the fells become overcrowded and sanitised. So where do you draw the line? The problem for me and, I think, many on this forum is that the line is moving further towards sanitisation and accessibility, which will necessarily reduce our enjoyment. It’s a very nuanced discussion with no right or wrong answers but for keen mountain bikers, the rise of e-bikes and, later, other forms of e-mobility is likely to result in a significant change in the environment we ride in. My concern is that we’ll end up being forced to ride in specialist parks to get our kicks and that would be very sad for me as I love to ride natural trails.

One thing to consider is suspension travel. I’m 6ft 2 like you and when I moved up from a 130mm travel bike to a 150mm travel bike (both 27.5s) it took a while to get used to the perched feeling of being atop 20mm more suspension travel. I can only assume that for us taller riders, it’s even more noticeable on a 170mm travel bike.

I tried the inserts and gave up with them as they steam up badly when climbing and didn’t offer great peripheral vision. Been using transitions for years now and wouldn’t go back. Oakley lenses, annoyingly, really do offer better peripheral sharpness too, which, for me, makes them worth paying for even though we all know the price is a con.

Yeah, forget the 5 mile bit! The Garburn Pass from Troutbeck should do you. There’s a gate near the bottom and a gate near the top but it’ll probably take you 20 mins to get between the two. I’m in the top 20 on the Strava segment below out of 596 and that’s how long it takes me! https://www.strava.com/segments/1207084

Great ride. Aren’t mudguards liberating! I’m a tart so couldn’t face putting big mudguards on my MTB so bought a cheap gravel bike and fitted full mudguards. It’s wonderful in current conditions. I was out yesterday and the trails were slurry, the wind was howling but I came back mostly clean as did the bike. It removes the biggest mental blocker to going out in the clart. Enjoy your rides.

Looks very well designed by a proper specialist in the materials being used and fantastic to see it being made in the Lakes. If I can get over my stubborn XC racer mindset and add 230g to my rear wheel, I’ll be keen to support them. Having smashed a carbon rim and wrecked two or three tyres whilst riding from my place in the Lakes, I know I should, but old habits die hard and I love climbing at speed as much as descending at speed and even an extra 100g in the tyres and rims makes the bike feel sluggish to this old school racer. I might have to close my eyes, hit the buy button and give it a try regardless!

Get whichever is cheaper. The differences between these forks will be more down to the amount of effort you make setting them up and how well they match your bike and riding style than anything in the fork itself. If you don’t ride the other fork you’ll never have to worry about whether it’s 5% better (which is all it will be). Unfortunately the magazines and internet create league tables that are simplistic and of limited value. For what it’s worth, I have a Pike RC 2017 on one bike and a Fox 34 Rhythm 2018 on another and I had a Fox Factory 34 2014 previously. The basic 34 is much plusher for me, the Factory was always quite harsh and the Pike is generally harsh but does well on repeated mid-sized hits, particularly leading into a fast berm. But on your bike and with how you set it up and how you ride and with fork-to-fork variability (something rarely discussed but something I’ve found to be true) the order may be reversed.

Works fine. I got an amazing deal on a Super Record 11 speed chain set and used it with my 10 speed groupset until I could afford to upgrade the rest of it.

I was looking to spend a similar amount to you but then I saw that CRC have most of the remaining 2018 Kona Rove NRBs for £899. The spec is a bit compromised with Tiagra and mechanical discs but what swayed it for me was the excellent geometry and massive mudguard clearance with 650b x 47c tyres fitted. I’ve put about 100 miles on it and it’s a lot of fun. The WTB Horizon tyres are good off road so long as there’s some texture to the trail and they’re smooth on the road. The geometry is surprisingly capable off road and much better than the twitchy CX bike I had in the past. It feels like a ‘90s MTB on slicks! It’s 3 mph slower than my S-Works Tarmac on the road but that’s fine. In size 58cm it weighs 10.9KG with pedals and mudguard fitted and fits me very well – I’m 6’ 2” tall and my Tarmac is a 61cm frame which shows the difference in geometry.

Haven’t tried the four pot Deores but gave up with the two pot ones.  Had them replaced under warranty twice as they start leaking after just 4 or 500 miles.  Replaced them with SRAM Level T after enjoying a set that came on my Bronson.  They’re much less wooden feeling than Deore and have plenty of power for riding aggressive trails in the Lakes.  Need more of a pull than the Guides I have on another bike when really hammering but I reckon the ultimate stopping power is the same.  There are deals from various suppliers at the moment.

I have the latest Rhythm on one bike and a 2017 Pike RC on another.  The Rhythm is plusher than the Pike and seems to be just as laterally stiff.  The Pike becomes marginally better with big hits but there’s little in it.  The differences are less than those you’d get from spending time getting the forks set up for your terrain, weight and riding position.  Interestingly, the Rhythm is significantly better than my 2014 Fox 34 Factory CTD, which shows how far forks have come in a relatively short time.

Cannondale Bad Habit…

https://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index.php?product_id=4874&category_id=358

I’ve had an SB75 for three years and a 575 before that which was stolen.  Never really got on with the 575 as it didn’t seem to do anything very well.  The SB75 offered a huge improvement in capability for me and was quite advanced for when it was launched in 2013 with super low BB, chunky, flex-free rear triangle and, for the time, a relaxed head angle.  I got it from Merlin for £3K with top end factory Fox Kashima kit, X01, etc which I think makes it a bargain.  In three years I haven’t had to service any of the suspension bushes/bearings including the Switch cam.  And it’s been ridden hard and regularly in the Lakes for that time resulting in a smashed rim and the destruction of several tyres.  As with all brands, there are horror stories on the web, but when I see how some people treat their bikes, it’s hardly surprising that some break.  The 575 definitely had a poorly designed rear flex triangle that did often break but the SB75 is massively over-engineered.  It’s too short to use less than a 65mm stem and the head angle is steep compared with the latest bikes but that latter point works for me.

On some more general points, this race to deliver ever slacker, longer, lower bikes makes massive compromises for those of us who still ride long on natural trails.  I need a bike that climbs well, is comfortable for long days in the saddle and which descends well over rock, but it also needs to cover ground and not smash the pedals every time I try and climb up a rocky slope (to be fair the SB75’s BB is still one of the lowest out there and it’s really too low for a lot of the riding I do).  99% of the reviews these days are about downhill performance, which is a limited (though fun) part of my riding.

Regarding price, I think all the current top-end and even mid-range bikes are crazily priced and I don’t buy anything at list price anymore.  Look for end of season bargains and you can pick up some great bikes from most brands at a more sensible price.  They may not be the very pinnacle of what’s out there but you have to ask yourself, the pinnacle for whom?  Will the bike suit my needs and without several weeks back-to-back testing, will I notice that I’m not on the very ‘best’ bike out there?  Almost definitely not.  And don’t follow the herd, as Keith Bontrager recently pointed out, longer, lower, slacker won’t help me on my rides.

Try Assos Skin Repair Gel. As far as I can tell it’s magic! A friend recommended it to me and I didn’t bother trying it for ages as I didn’t think anything would work much better than Germolene and the like, but this stuff is a revelation. It’s expensive but you only need a tiny amount for each application and the nice thing is that it’s thin and non-sticky so you don’t feel like you’ve shat yourself.

Totally agree BadlyWiredDog. A lighter bike often feels more alive. My hardtail boosts off the smallest of trail features when hairing through woodland singletrack whereas the Yeti just ploughs through it all. Boring. You have to take the Yeti to the Lakes for it to come alive and there the hardtail is just a waste of space. So don’t listen to others unless they ride like you, ride where you ride and have similar levels of fitness.

Rockhopper70 and I have exchanged some more details about the Habit Carbon SE but I thought i’d respond to this. Firstly, for Kimbers’, the 27lb weight is accurate with lighter tyres set up tubeless. The standard tyres and tubes are unnecessarily heavy and slow for the type of bike that the Habit is.

Now, about weight. I have an alloy Yeti, the Habit and a super light Cannondale Carbon 29er hardtail XC racer. The Yeti and Habit have the same head angle and wheel size and the Yeti weighs only 1lb more than the Habit despite having a heavier frame, thanks to some swanky components and carbon wheels. Travel isn’t massively different at 140/127 vs 130/120. The hardtail weighs 21lb.

I used to think that weight was everything, back in the days when I was an XC racer and bikes were all about going up hill fast. Weight is still important. I’m 6’2 and 71kg so can’t lose much more weight so it has to come from the bike. But, here’s the thing, i’m no longer sure it’s purely weight that makes the hardtail the fastest of my three bikes on a woodland trail. So much of its performance is about the much more aggressive geometry. On the same 1.7 miles climb that I’ve used to compare the three bikes(I have the KoM) the hardtail is 4 minutes faster than the Yeti and about a minute faster than the Habit. On the 0.9 mile descent I used to compare them – fast in part and technical for the last 0.2 mile – the Habit is the fastest by 15 seconds over the hardtail and 30 seconds over the Yeti. Move the bikes to somewhere seriously rocky, up or down, and I wouldn’t even take the hardtail due to its 71 degree head angle and 90mm of fork travel, flexy frame and narrow bars. In this terrain, the Habit climbs much faster than the Yeti and feels like an XC bike in comparison but is noticeably slower and more sketchy on the descents. The Habit rails berms much faster than the Yeti. Why so many differences when they have the same head angle and wheel size and weigh about the same? The Yeti feels utterly solid. The frame is nearly 3lb heavier and a lot of that is in the rear triangle, which is laterally stiff. The Yeti has much longer chain stays so is super stable, the Habit has a steeper seat tube angle which helps when climbing. The Yeti has a lower BB which helps on downhills. The Habit has 3mm wider rims which seem to help in berms.

So, is weight the biggest issue? Probably not. But a lot depends on where and how you ride. The differences due to frame design and components seem to be more important, but, again, you need to be honest about where and how you ride before choosing the right bike for you.

I’ve had my Habit Carbon SE for a few weeks now and it is very purple! It comes in at 27lb with tyres swapped out for a pair of Maxxis Forekasters run tubeless and it’s definitely trail/XC rather than trail/all mountain, which is exactly what I wanted. I’ve already claimed a couple of KoMs. It’s hardly slower than my 21lb Cannondale Flash 29er Carbon hardtail up the hills and faster on the bumpy stuff and down hill. It’s remarkably plush and doesn’t beat me up like the hardtail. I have a Yeti that I use in the Lakes and the Habit feels much lighter and more agile than that but more flexy and much less able to just ride through rocky stuff, mainly because of lateral flex in the rear triangle plus the higher bottom bracket, but it’s still capable on a wide range of terrain.

At £2K it’s an amazing bargain. I rode an earlier version of the Whyte a couple of years ago and it felt noticeably heavier and less responsive than the Habit but possibly more stable on rockier downhills. Horses for courses.

I’ve just enjoyed my first couple of rides on my new Habit Carbon SE that I bought from Triton Cycles, reduced from £3,500 to £2,300. The kit is excellent and it rides superbly if you want a do-it-all XC/trail bike. I was surprised at how plush the rear suspension is and the relatively slack head angle and Pike mean that it can be thrown down some reasonably rowdy terrain. I just took a KOM on a hard climb which gives an idea of its prowess up hill. I swapped out the too aggressive and heavy Magic Mary and the Nobby Nic cos I don’t like them and fitted a pair of Maxxis Forekasters that save a load of weight and work pretty well in the current mud and slop. Set up tubeless it weighs about 27lb with XTR pedals. Fit some Racing Ralph’s when the trails dry out and I don’t think it will be much slower than my 21lb Flash 29er Carbon. Don’t be put off by the fact it’s not a 29er, it feels different but plenty fast enough and it won’t beat you up like a hard tail.

Nice. Brown is such a practical colour. I suggest leather knee patches to help reduce wear.

I had the same problem with my BB30 equipped carbon Cannondale. I have fixed the problem now. I was hitting the BB removal tool as hard as I could and the bearings didn’t budge. What was happening was the frame was flexing and absorbing the hit. I wedged a piece of 2×2 wood between the BB/chainstay intersection and a wall so the frame couldn’t flex at all and a firm but far less frenetic tap knocked the bearing out first go.

My SDG Circuit MTN saddle was about 5mm shallower than the previous WTB that came with the bike. It’s a pretty flat saddle. The Fizik Tundra 2 I use on my commuter is also very flat although I think the rails may be a little taller.

A 2.4 Ardent seems like overkill for Swinley and Surrey. A 2.25 Racing Ralph will be much faster and works year round for me. I use Purgatory/Ground Control or High Roller/Ardent in the Lakes, Dales and Wales but they’re unncessarily slow down South.

In case you hadn’t seen, they’re £1299 at Tredz at the moment. Tempting!

I’m 6’2″ too and 70-71kg with skinny climber’s arms and legs. POC VPD Air in the small or the Bliss Minimalist in small work for me.

Did it a few years ago and put a pair of UST Racing Ralphs on. Fast rolling and strong, seemed an ideal tyre.

Yes, I use tubeless Racing Ralphs on the SDW and, other than a shard of glass wrecking one on a half-SDW a couple of years ago, they’ve been great. Fast and reliable.

The trouble with a plus bike on the SDW is that it’s murder for tyre sidewalls with so many flints. I hope your tyres survive. You’re also dragging a lot of rotational weight up the numerous climbs. A lightweight XC bike with narrow but strong tubeless tyres is about as efficient as it gets on the SDW.

Sweet Protection Hunter Enduro. Super comfy and great with pads.

I rode the Garburn Pass in the Lakes the other day. Up from Troutbeck and down to Kentmere. The climb is 1.9 miles long and has a relatively rocky bit at the start and short technical, rocky section near the top but is mostly quite smooth. The descent is rocky and would be very challenging on an XC bike.

I rode it on my Yeti SB75 with 2.3″ tyres, 27.5″ wheels, 140/127mm suspension, which I’ve got down to 27.5lb weight. Last time I rode this route was back in 2013 on my Trek Fuel EX 9.8. A carbon fibre XC/light trail bike weighing 24.5lb with 26″ wheels and 2.1″ tyres.

The conditions were very similar. Cool, sunny day with ice at the top of the pass. Needless to say, I was unsurprised that the Yeti was 5m30s faster on the technical, rocky descent. But I was amazed that it was 2m faster on the climb! Now, I may be slightly fitter than I was in 2013 but since I’m 50 years old now and ride about the same amount, I doubt it. My climbing time put me in the top 8% on Strava and on the descent I was in the top 16%.

First time I rode the Garburn Pass was in 1997 on my Cannondale Super V with 26″ wheels, 71 degree head angle and 50mm front/70mm rear suspension. I remember carrying it most of the way down!

You’ll definitely notice a difference if you get the wheels down to about 1500g. But the significance of the difference will depend where you ride. If you ride mostly flattish routes then a heavier, more aero wheelset will offer greater benefits. If you like climbing then lighter is definitely better. I ride quite a bit in the Alps, Dolomites, Pyrenees, etc and saving 100g a wheel on those long climbs makes a very noticeable difference as to how much I enjoy the climb (and I love climbing!). The other thing to consider is that not all 1500g wheels are equal. Lateral flex is the bane of lighter wheels and some are much worse than others. Long climbs out of the saddle with the rear rim constantly rubbing your brake pads will drive you mental.

Over the years I’ve had several wheels in the 1400-1500g weight area and they all felt very different. DT Swiss – very smooth ride but too flexy and unnerving in fast corners. Easton – much firmer with great handling but terrible design and constant freehub failures. Mavic – best compromise of ride and handling and although the freehubs fail after 2-3000 miles, they’re easy to replace. They do flex enough to rub against brake blocks but not so much that it’s too annoying. You can usually find a pair on offer somewhere.