We have done 3 houses in the last few years. My tip would be to go to a local independent carpet shop, talk to the owner/manager (not an underling) and ask their advice. Good advice, decent pricing and quality laying is what keeps them in business

I have been using Absolute Black oval rings on both my Fatbike and the full bouncer for a few years. Four things to throw in:
1) IMO they only really make a difference on techy climbs, but they really help me on those
2) Absolute Black make separate Shimano direct mount rings for both Shimano hyperglide and the rest. I actually find the standard ring works with both but is slightly noisy with the hyperglide
3) The number of teeth is the number of teeth. 32 oval does not equal 30 round. Absolute Black goes down to 30T Shimano direct mount
4) No I don’t work for Absolute Black – just used them for a long time

I have a lot of Makita stuff including an old 18v drill/driver, a 10.8v drill driver and a 10.8v impact driver. Firstly, definitely go brushless (LXT) as it has better control of speed/torque. The impact driver is great, but that’s all it does, so unless you really need it get a drill/driver which is far more useful. The 10.8v stuff is just great to use because it is so small and light and I love it – wouldn’t go back to 18v for drills as I am not a professional using them all day long. FWIW I put in 2500 screws in a big decking project with just the two 10.8v tools

Slightly off topic, but I have what sounds like an indexing issue on on the second largest cog on my SRAM GX cassette. It’s done it since new and I can’t see a problem. Shifting is spot on and it’s fine in all the other gears

When it takes you forever to scroll down to your year of birth filling in an online form

When one of your mates says he didn’t realise Monty Python was originally a TV series

Do you really need to mount it onto the brake lever? I have Tech 3 levers and a Wolftooth remote separately on the bars and it all sits just where you need it

A Vorsprung Luftkappe has transformed my Pikes. They now don’t blow through the mid travel so they hold up nicely on long steep descents

As for kit, my new Norrøna shorts are mega comfortable and just stay where they are meant to be rather than me ending up with builders crack

Life is good despite age

62 here and only been proper biking for a bit over 10 years. Bad back and osteoarthritis in one knee, both thanks to old rugby injuries. Riding this year has included about 15 Munro ascents on the bike as I love steep and technical stuff, and have done two very full on Alps trips. Gradually getting more and more broken but loving it

The sleeper is terrible. I would definitely fly and rent a car. Easyjet flights from Gatwick or Luton are usually much cheaper than BA from LHR.

Love my Wednesday. Perfect tool for winter riding

Despite my reservations because of the replacement costs I’ve had an Eagle X01 drivetrain on my Bronson from new in March 2017. Absolutely love it and it’s been totally reliable except for the screw axle on one of the jockey wheels coming undone and losing the jockey wheel. I’ve done 3 Alps trips and innumerable Rocky Scottish descents so the mech has taken a serious rock beating with no complaints. I did not even need to replace the chain until July so double my normal chain life. I am happy enough to have just replaced the drivetrain on my fatbike with a complete Eagle GX setup

Ah sorry forgot to mention can’t afford the scene tax of a VW! Also my friends with them do seem to have a lot go wrong??

”Scene tax”? I don’t understand that. Both the VW and Merc are premium vans and have similar costs. There is a vast array of aftermarket options for VW that people spend a fortune on that arent available for other makes, but you don’t have to buy into that

@trail_rat Being a dual purpose vehicle may impact some people’s BIK if it’s a company vehicle, but it doesn’t alter its tax class as a van

For peoples information, a response team has been formed with representatives from all the interested parties to try to mitigate the impact of the closure of the train. No real output yet but should be seeing some results over the next couple of weeks. It’s not going to be brilliant but it’s a case of making the best of the situation. As I understand it, the Ptarmigan will be open to provide at least toilet facilities etc. There will be a ski school operating and the Snow Factory is being put in place which will help with lower slopes

i think the disappearance of the website should have been temporary

The uplift review which was linked to is really positive in that it sets out a vision for the future which HIE fully supports, but two things to note:

1) It is a vision not a plan, and clearly some of the proposals would not work, like the MTB track positioning. It should be treated as a start point for detailed investigation and proposals

2) There is currently zero funding in place for this, although with HIE supporting it, some funds would hopefully be made available over time

The VW Transporter T6 Kombi fits the bill. It’s probably about the nearest you will get to a van driving like a car. It has a second row of 3 seats and windows. The seats split 1 and 2 and either can be taken out individually by tugging on a couple of straps. It is literally a 30 second job although the dual seat weighs a ton. Most Kombis come with individual front ‘captains chair’ seats, and most have lifting tailgates with glass and rear wiper.

Most of the vans fitted with rear seats in the factory are built to suit Dual Purpose Vehicle spec for tax purposes – that requires a permanent division between the passenger space and the load space which is why the seats don’t just pop out

Sorry but not true. Being a Dual Purpose Vehicle does not put it in a different tax class, and there is nothing in the specification about any division between the load space and passenger space

Since when does the Liverpool/Manchester area count as NW UK? It’s not even NW Englandshire. I was hoping it would be something like Arisaig/Mallaig area

Looks like the Navigli is worth a try then. I reckon Milan is one of those cities where there’s not much for tourists to do which is why you need some inside information. Milan is probably the richest city in Italy so there must be literally thousands of good bars and restaurants

Thanks for the suggestions so far. As per my original post, I’ve only got from about 4:00pm to about 9:00pm so I’m not going to Turin or visiting any historic sites, and being in Italy I am not going to head for an English bar.

Any more suggestions on nice areas with some local bars and eateries, preferably the kind frequented by locals?

My Wednesday has been faultless for 3 years but the only Surly component on it is the crankset. It’s OK but the Surly chainrings are made of cheese. I agree with the comments above that weight on a fatbike frame is not a big factor as everything weighs more. Hard to accelerate but good momentum once you are up to speed

Thanks redmist, will have a look at Navigli. Milan is the richest city in Italy so there must be great places to go. Losing my faith in the STW massive – cmon guys some of you must have been there on business or holiday

The Easyjet regs don’t matter as much as the airport regs overrule them. On EasyJet from EDI to GVA a couple of months back I was told it was 2 cartridges per person but I reckon you could argue/get away with two per hold bag.

According to Strava I have done over 2000km on the XO1 drivetrain that was on my bike from day one. I replaced the chain 2 weeks ago as it’s almost reached the 0.7% wear point. I would normally be well into my 2nd or even 3rd chain by now

Another one agreeing with TJ. Pick 3 places for 2 weeks –

Skye if you must (although I reckon its overrated). I think all the easier Munros are just out and back and are OK

Assynt or Torridon for spectacular scenery. Ben Alligin in Torridon is a relatively easy Munro (although a little scrambling if you do the whole loop) with stunning views

Cairngorms – Aviemore or Braemar/Ballater. Tons of biking and loads of easy Munros

Lots to do in all of these but you won’t spend hours driving frustrating narrow roads. You don’t say what kind of riding you like, but there are a couple of classics in Torridon, and more than you can shake a track pump at around the Cairngorms

April or May are usually the best months for weather. You would be very unlucky to get snow/ice although there is an outside chance, and its going to be quieter on the roads than June to September. Its also before the midges get too bad, especially as we have had a very full on winter. Smidge is deffo the stuff for keeping the midges at bay

The NC500 is becoming very popular so book places to stay in advance if you need to otherwise you can end up staying in some real rubbish

Hmm. Not a lot of love on here for Hope. Firstly, I don’t get the comments about being a pain to bleed – not sure how they could be much simpler. I have generally found that the factory bleed is not always that good, so doing them when they go on the bike (yeah I know its a bit of a pain for new brakes), then once a year works fine.

Hope can feel lacking in power if you are used to the grabby nature of Shimanos because they are more progressive, but they do have plenty of stopping power once you get used to how they feel. I run Tech 3 E4’s with 203/183 on my Bronson and have just come back from a week in the Alps. Even on the biggest day with 4000m vertical descent, not a hint of fade, one finger braking and no arm pump

I have bought a reasonable number of decals from Slik but am on the point of giving up on them. Truly appalling communication and I am now about 10 weeks overdue on an order I have already paid for through the custom order route.

Owen is destroying a business he has worked hard to build up

I can only ride around 50% of that climb, but I have seen some riding gods do probably 80%+. The path does sanitise it, but to be fair the old one was a 5m wide scar and getting wider. Personally I prefer going up the new path compared to the grind up the LR track

I have been using a Merkur 34C with an Edwin Jagger badger brush.

Agree with the comments about getting a trial pack of blades. IIRC I didn’t get on with Derby and found I cut myself more with the Feathers. I have settled on Gillette 7:00 o’clock sharp edge in the yellow packet as the best compromise.

The soap also makes a difference. Of the ones I have tried, I keep going back to the Geo Trumper

Its also worth getting one of the little stands for the razor and brush

It’s been my desktop wallpaper for ever as I have never found anything better to replace it with. To give credit where its due, it was taken by Sanny of this parish

An Stuc, Ben Lawers, Beinn Ghlass from Meall Garbh by CaptainMainwaring1[/url], on Flickr

A couple of bits to add that may help:
The Smoo Cave Hotel in Durness does very decent food and beer
The Old School at Kinlochbervie was great for an evening meal and I assume it would be great as a daytime stop as well
The Kylesku Hotel does great food and beer, but not cheap and definitely needs booking for the evening
The Lochinver Larder does the most brilliant pies and is also a great place to eat and drink

Scotroutes and BBSB have it. Fly to Inverness and you are not far from the most spectacular Scottish scenery. Cheapest options are Easyjet from Gatwick or Luton, or Flybe from Manchester if you have to. IMO the sleeper is utter pish as its very expensive and the chances of getting any sleep is close to zero for most people

Torridon and then north up the west coast is a good shout for some of the best mountain and coastal scenery. The Torridon Inn is very upmarket but the last time we ate there they had a new chef who had gone way too poncy. Try the hotel in Shiedaig for that area or Scotroutes’ suggestion for a bit further north.

Assynt is amazing if you have time to get up there, and book yourself into the Kylesku Hotel if you can.

Like any bike, pressures need to be high enough… It’s the reason I stopped using 4 inch tyres, if I wanted to keep the air in them I had to run 9psi which at 10 stone, is too high for the thing to really work. But more volume means you can go lower, just like with normal bikes. Minion 4.8s with 6psi have been spot on for me- racing innerleithen dh trails today, not at full speed mind but never missed a beat.

Mud though? Depends on the mud but with sloppy mud, the bigger the tyre the more float you have, and that’s generally pretty terrible. Several times today I just lost a wheel from under me almost like I was on ice. Also, today was a masterclass in how unpleasant it can be to pedal a wide tyre through porridge mud- you’re basically pushing your way through it all the time so wider tyre = more pushing.

Still, it was all pretty entertaining so it was more not-good than bad, I never wanted to get off and shout at it.
Northwind, I’m surprised you need to go that high with 4.0″ pressures. I’m a bit over 11st and run 7/8.5 psi F/R on my Surly Wednesday using 4.0″ 45 Nrth Van Helgas. Having said that, I am running tubeless on wide rims so perhaps that’s the difference?

Agreed that hitting mud at any speed on fat tyres can be a bit heart stopping as they just tend to float across the surface without digging in and finding grip. I find that a few rocks and small drop offs are fine, but repeated continuous hits on rocky descents and it all starts going pear shaped.

FS bikes are great, but we go riding to have fun and I reckon most of us like some little challenges along the way where we have to use some skills. If you are doing simple terrain, a good FS will remove the need for skills so the ride becomes less challenging and therefore less fun

<cough> Was about to re-post with a lower price Bronson

For visual impact, for me its probably Beinn Alligin in Torridon because of its complexity and the way it changes so dramatically depending on the direction of the sun. The views from the top of Tom na Gruagaich are just stunning

Ben Macdui from Glenmore via the Lairig an Laoigh would be a very long a tough day. Up to Cairngorm then descent via either Windy Ridge or round the corries (taking in Macdui if you want) and back down the corries path are much easier options. Carn Ban Mor has been sanitised but is still OK. Out and back up the Lairig Ghru for a quicker ride is nice. Also as a shorter loop. Meall a Bhuachaille via Ryvoan is great – if you want to make it longer you can do the whole ridge starting at Craiggowrie but only to be attempted if its been dry for a bit

Beinn A’ Ghlo has a few good options to try. I am not a fan of the descent from Carn Liath. IMO the best option for a decent loop with a pretty relaxed descent is to start off going up Carn Liath then round to Braigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain and descend the ridge to to Luib Mhor and the bridge that Matt started at

I agree that Beinn Ghlas and Ben Lawers is a good shout and can be done as partly as a loop. Even just Beinn Ghlas is good on its own for a shorter ride. Its not quite so much of a detour if you come off the A9 at Dalnacardoch and go via Trinafour and Tummel Bridge

Another vote for Jonathan Palmer. Very expensive but so well run, and having someone in the passanger seat pushing you to go faster than your brain tells you is sensible is just awesome

I was on Spotify for a few years then moved to Deezer because the UI was better, and it had better integration to the car system.

Having then gone back to Spotify about a year ago I reckon that the two are now pretty much inseparable for nearly all features. The UI’s are now pretty similar, integration with Sonos is equal, both offer download and play offline, streaming rate is the same and good enough for me, etc.

The list of compilation albums on Spotify is different to Deezer and definitely inferior. I really like the radio and Discover Daily and Discover Weekly playlists on Spotify which more than make up for the lack of the Deezer Flow feature. One thing I noticed about Flow is that it is not based on what you play, its based on favourites.

A key thing for me now is I have a new car with Apple Car Play which has direct support for Spotify but not Deezer

Like the other comments above, can squeak initially when cold and wet, but fine after that. Second the point about taking time to get them properly aligned

FWIW, I have had a DB inline on my Bronson for 2 years and it’s been faultless. Difficult to believe how much better it made the bike compared to original Fox

I have the B+W AWS 608. Like you I don’t like huge base, but enough for good sound quality for music and films. Have been very impressed although I don’t have anything to compare it with. Gets good reviews and fits your budget