As said, it’s very subjective and down to personal preferance.

For me, I’ve been on 1x for the last 10 years. It just suits my ridding and location. I hated the cluter & weight.
1×11 was the first time I feelt like I didn’t needed anything else. The range was plenty.
Alas, new bike was 1×12 and the range is too wide for my riding. It’s been more reliable than 1×11 though!

You’ll deinitley get a spot, but who knows how good it’ll be.
You might end up near the bogs or bins if uou go for Yellow, Orange, Green or Purple.
As you say, head to the back of Brown and you should be fine.

Whyte 529/629 from ’18 onwards.
It’s the best hardtail I’ve had.
Great geometry and finish.

It took Honda over a month to get me a split AC hose under warranty.

Op, what are the dimensions of your shed?! Looks like a lovely big space.

I’ve got a 7×7′ shed that has to be shared with DIY, gardening & wedding stuff, so space is at a premium. I dream of the day I get a garage or a large shed.

What’s reasonably priced for you?
I only know of a few, such as Stooge but these are £1500+

My Steps are;
– Wikipedia the specific car
– Copy the engine code
– Google engine code followed by problem, in this case; ‘EA888 problems’, ‘EA888 common problems’
– Read the various results to get a flavour for it

Most manufactureres use the same engine accross models and different brands, so using the engine code gives you a wider range of results.

And of course a set of knockoff Shimano XT cranks

Well, we’ve got a 1×12 drive train avaialble too…

OR Mboys S150 if you can get it within budget.
I’ve got the Carbon one and it’s one hell of a bike.

My money would go on-
Marin Drift Zone 1
Norco Fluid Fs1

They are both great value at (around) £1500.

You’ll never get everything you want, even if you expand the budget.

Thanks all! Places to see and places to avoid too. All good to know.
We didn’t want an all out cycling holiday, more of a rounded outdoors one with a bit of everything.
I’m just pinning all the locations above on a map to check distances and research them a bit.

That sounds awful. Maybe we’ll stick to the littke Honda Jazz and bricks ‘n mortor accomidation.

More great stuff to look at, thanks!

Is it worth considering a camper? It’ll work out the same price as dodgy hotels and cottages.
I just rememebr some of the roads being very narrow with difficult access. Is a T5 type van alright?
I guess it might be a bit miserable/cold in October to be in a van.

For those who enjoy a laugh, check out THIS THREAD
For those who enjoy a nice private place, have a LOOK HERE

Shame the plate wasn’t spaced correctly as it could be quite subtle. Mis-spaced it’s pretty vulgar though. The worst are those ‘BO55 XXX’ number plates.

More excellent suggestions! Thanks all
We’ve started having a look. It’s been a couple years since we’ve been up to Scotland so really looking forward to it.

Any other accomodation suggestions?

Lunchtime rides.
Able to fit in a 12.06 mile road/gravel ride and a quick shower within the hour.
Go out 4 times a week at the moment.
(Downside is I now want a proper gravel bike… Whyte Glencoe?).

Fantastic stuff! Thanks guys, really liking the sounds of all of the ideas above.
Will do some research.

My oft repeated caveat on these type threads, don’t try and see too much, you’ll end up seeing a lot of dashboard.

That’s what I’m trying to avoid. Scotland is massive and when I start putting some locations in, it can easily end up being a 3+hrs drive a day, so I’d like to avoid that.

TBH, if you could narrow down your requirements/location a little it would be easier to give you some advice.

Annoyingly, we don’t really have any. Just a rounded tour of different sights would be nice; dramatic mountain landscape, waterfalls, lochs & maybe a beach. Not too much travel daily but happy to slog between big features.

I think maybe 1-3 nights per location. Happy to Cook but maybe a pub now and again would be good.

We’re just open to ideas really!

Thanks again for responses.

Office cake!

Thanks all!
Lots to research there.
I’m hoping it’ll be quieter in October anyway given the weather.
We’re sticking to October for a number of reasons, but it’s also our favourite season.

f any e-bikes are coming to http://www.southlakesbikefest.com its an extra £10 for you dudes, to pay for the diesel for the generator 🙂 not all routes will be ebike friendly though

Hadn’t even thought of that! The added noise, polution and cost associated with having an e-bike catergory at events is going to be increasing over the years as they become more popular and affordable.

My Whyte 529 was a fantastic frame!
I upgraded everything elese but it was brilliant.
Light, good quality and modern geomtry.

Blimey! That is cheap.
Nice spec and 853 Reynolds.

Sure, it’s some old school geomtry but that could be just the ticket for a local XC bike.

That is lovely!
I’d love a bike like this.
I see they clear 50mm tyres.

That colour is lovely too.
Agreed that you should go tanwall.

I’m a massive fan of Whyte.
My budget 529 frame had a better quality finish than my Cotic SolarisMax LS.
Geomtry is great and the prices are keen.
Hope they add a 29er equvilant of this to the range at somepoint.

@bikesandboats that looks great! Nice job.

I think I’ve narrowed it down to;
– Xiaomi Mi 9
– Huawei P30 Lite
– Pixel 3 used
– Iphone X used

Just worried some of the bigger phones will turn into a brick once you hadd a tough cover.

Thanks for all the advice all.

Drac, I can’t name a newer phone on the market with a smaller battery or less screen than the 6. I guess I’m looking to buy something that will last another 5 years but with incremental improvements, as above.

I’ve bought maybe two apps that I’m not precious of. All my music is via spotify premium, so not tied to Apple at all. I guess the other choice could be a used/refrubed iPhone X, but then I’m looking at £600.

Not bothererd about OS. I use Android at work and it’s been good. Providing I have a good sized app stores, I’m not bothered what the phone is really.

Am I not missing out on:
– Larger screen ratio
– Wireless charging
– Better camera
– Water resistant
– Bigger battery

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Rideable, but not finished.
Waititng for my Junker bars before cutting down the steerer.
I’ve also ordered a dropper post.

It’s an absolute riot! Carries speed easily and you can throw it into stuff without worrying.
Can’t wait to finish it and get some more milage in.

I’ve only ever had good experiences with them.
Bought all sorts over the years and they’ve warrantied a few bits without issue.
They even fought on my behalf with RockShox until they’d fix it.
They seem to be run by a good bunch based on their social media feeds.

That looks like it was a dare and they’ve potatoe recorded filmed it as evidence. Probably some palpitating little hormonal kid doing it for his uncle William Storey waititng in the car outside.

What are we supposed to infer from the little Union Jack on the top tube?

‘Designed in the UK, built in XXXX’- just like Whyte, Charge, On-one, Bird & more that add this as a sticker to the frames, some with the Union Jack.

You guys do it too, but just don’t add the Union Jack on the frames.

Our frames are designed and developed entirely by us here in the UK. We basically do everything but the welding and painting.

Mines arrived! Not been able to look yet as I’m at work, but build starts tonight.

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I really commend Stanton for doing UK built stuff!
Impressive that they do UK made hardtails, let sone Ti frame & FS bikes.
Sadly their stuff is otu of my budget at the moment, but they are high up the want list.

@supersessions9-2 where you a pre-orderer?
I think Andy just has a shed load to do (literally).

That fork makes it, IMHO.