I bet Nick Knowles has an e-bike. I can’t bloody stand him. Or those skinny little handbag dogs.

Seems to me we need to establish dominion over the globe. Then this problem would go away.

Now where’s that Sten gun?

Looks reet

415mm is somewhere between 16 and 17in so plenty of room for a 29in wheel

Fork clearance is just personal preference. I’m completely sold on the benefits of 29×3 on a rigid bike.

Take the coast road from Fishguard to Dale for lots of uppy downy interest. There are also tons of quiet backroads away from the coast and the Preseli Hills are nice.

Interesting but the fork says clearance for 2.2. Not enough for me. Also not convinced by the extra tube. A divider sewn into the bag would be a lighter way of achieving the same effect.

Good work. Really enjoyed that. This one is on my list.

I get the OP’s question. I have two bikes that get used for long distances on a mix of road and off-road. One’s a Swift with a 3in Knard up front and Jones loops; one’s a Pickenflick with 40c Nanos and wide flared drops set pretty high.

I don’t think I’d put drops on the Swift because it’s what I use for off-road focused rides and they‘d compromise its off-road potential.

I might lower the drops on the Pickenflick if I knew I was doing a long ride mainly on road and super-tame gravel.

Yes, the high drops are a compromise but I find it a good one. I use the drops way more than I do on my road bike and the higher position on the tops is fine for spinning along.

More!

About 170 miles for me. But it was a long weekend for me.

Rode from Dorking down to Eastbourne and back on a mix of road and off-road, taking in a tasty slice or two of the South Downs.

I know what you mean about the colour but Fleegles are actually really nice bars. I’d give them a go.

I’ve ridden a chunk of the SDW today (between Shoreham and Eastbourne on a gravel bike) and it’s in lovely nick. Enjoy!

I still have 3×9 on my Swift. I use it almost solely for bikepacking and I like the wider range of gears for the variety of terrain I cover (including road miles). I do like the simplicity of 1×11 though, especially when I’m trying to coax the Swift into granny with a tap of the foot 🙄.

I like swept bars on rigid bikes and find they improve handling for techy riding because they help take the sting out of front-end hits. Obviously riding a rigid bike forces a different approach to some techy stuff where you might plough through with some suspension. I’ve never tried loops or similar on a suspended bike – I’ve just never felt the need.

Not a Tempest but I bought a Pickenflick about 6 months ago and I’m very pleased with it. No issues with QC or customer service and it rides beautifully.

On-One OG bars are another option – slightly wider and slightly more sweep. Then there’s the On-One Geoff bar mentioned above – it’s a Jones copy at a fraction of the price.

I’ve had a Krampus cork and 29+ wheel/tyre on my Swift for two or three years now. It gets used almost exclusively for bikepacking and I love it.

Did this earlier in the year at Lee Valley. My first track and fixed experience and it was great fun. Really hard work but I loved it.

I imagine they’re likely soaked to the skin anyway, to be honest. Which isn’t to say that wading a freezing cold, waist-deep loch won’t add another layer of discomfort. How do they handle it? Probably by gritting their teeth and keeping going at a fast enough pace to light the inner fires. If you carry enough clothing for a change every time you get wet, your kit will be too heavy and bulky to move at speed.

@thisisnotaspoon @epicyclo I rode the southern two loops in seven days in good weather last year (bivying). I was riding for fun, not racing, but those were long days and I reckon most would need at least another day to make the whole thing a tough tour rather than an endurance test, whether you’re staying in accommodation or not. YMMV.

Just had this on a Stans Arch. Fixed it by emptying a tube of superglue into the nearest spoke hole.

I rode the Loch Shiel track yesterday. A tad bumpy in places on gravel tyres but perfectly rideable.

The track along Loch Shiel from Glenfinnan to Polloch is a peach and would make a nice long loop with minor roads.

Lots of great tracks from Corrour down to Loch Laggan.

The minor road along Loch Archaig is worth riding as a detour on the Great Glen Way.

North Korean scientists have trained a termite colony to pedal a specially adapted bicycle around an 20-metre obstacle course. And the little bastards can manual too.

In November 2007 in – you guessed it – Scotland, 51-year-old Robert Stewart was placed on the sex offenders register after outraging hostel cleaners by performing a perverted act with his gnarpoon.

Well I’d definitely be doing an extended version of the HT550, or similar, taking in Cape Wrath and some islands.

No one obeys all the rules all the time.

I actually find myself agreeing with much of what geex is saying, although I do consider how others may perceive my actions and then, inevitably, form prejudices against cyclists (whether or not I consider myself one).

And being a cyclist is entirely in your head. I could be one without any bikes -but who wants to be pigeonholed?

I’m in the rigid 29er camp. Choose something Stoogey and with a change of tyres and possibly bars you have a surprisingly capable mountain bike and a close approximation of a road/gravel bike.

That looks a lot like it might kill you

Finally, a double chainset with asensible number of teeth

So you pedal backwards and go forwards, or is it a bike designed for going backwards?

Whatever the answer … why?

Agree with all the above. Don’t drive. Try to do some walking in the hills above the Amalfi. Naples is bonkers. Sorento is lovely. Oh, and do a boat trip around Capri. It’s more interesting than being there.

Only properly tough road climb I’ve done is the Muro di Sornamonear Lake Como. Anyone know how it compares to that?

Titanium Stooge

That’s not right. Either a defect or wrongly assembled, I reckon.

I have a 2002 GF Hookooekoo (also Trek, also a lovely paint job) with Hayes disk mount.

The obvious answer is: fatbike.

No longer fashionable but still a hoot and, in my experience, capable of all the riding you do.

You clearly need a rigid 29er, ideally with a 29+ front. I have both a Stooge and a Swift in that format (Stooge set up as a woodsy hooligan and Swift as a mile-eating bikepacker). Either could be perfect for you but the Stooge would edge it for me if I had to choose because it’s just so amazingly capable and fun.