hatter
A nice steel rigid 29er such as Genesis Fortitide or Singular Swift would be perfect but they may push the budget a bit.

+1

Yeah, reasonably natural

It does get pretty boggy when wet, in places, there’s one section through the trees about 1/2 way through where it’s constant up & downs, pedal scraping, hard going at the best of times, but torture in the wet to be fair.

A chemically injected DPC won’t work very well at all in stone, there are just too many voids & irregularities for it to go to form a continuous layer at any level. Besides which, the problem is more likely damp coming in horizontally than up from below, so a DPC is unlikely to do much good, even if it did work.

A french drain type arrangement would be your best bet in my opinion, providing you have somewhere to discharge the collected water & access/permission to the front to carry out the work.

You could also include a polythene damp proof membrane against the outer wall (not bonded or glued) before you lay the pipe and backfill, as this should help stop any moisture getting against the wall, and not reduce the ability of the wall to breathe as much as a paint on/fully sealed tanking system or bituminous coating.

I’m a building inspector by the way……….

I’ve just got some cheap airwalks (£20) for use with flat pedals, but wandering how good they’ll be when I need to get off/push, what does the ‘dotty rubber’ grip like off bike?

On one do 18″ frames, but…………….

Accepting that some farmers and land owners will put unreasonable obstacles in the way to be awkward, give them a break guys, the majority aren’t doing anything purposefully restrictive and are just trying to work the ground, to make a living.

Having to walk (or cycle) around the edge of a field instead of taking the direct route is no great hardship, and the planting of a crop is not a permanent or deliberate attempt to block a right of way, it just depends on crop rotation, not every field can be left in grass all the time. Having to cut a path through a valuable crop to save ‘outdoorsy types’ having to walk a couple of hundred yards extra really seems a pointless task when they’re out for the exercise anyway, and, as said a crop is not a permanent barrier.

You must like stickers!

I’ve just had a new set of hope hoops and purposely left the stickers off!

rOcKeTdOg
so, can you buy a high end 26″ wheeled HT in 2014? or is there a limited choice?

Very limited choice from mainstream brands, and even some smaller ones, but more niche brands & steel frame builders still churning them out.

http://www.thebikelist.co.uk/imagecache/file/fit/620×300/images/models/Genesis/2010/Abyss-Frame_10/Main.jpg

grey

Mark 1 facelift, 1.6 zetec.

I have one of the above, does high 30’s – 40mpg driven averagely, mine has done 80,000 miles in last 4 years, now up to 125,000, has only had brake master cylinder & rear wiper motor, other than that all routine servicing/wear & tear.

Great cars for the money, I’d say £2k should get you a low mileage 2004/late registered 2005.

I wouldn’t hesitate to get one.

Edit: Would also add that they are pretty roomy and back seats fold flat pretty easily, can fit a fair amount of kit in (including bike with front wheel out).

I’ve only got 2 (26″ hardtail & flat bar road bike), maybe 3 later in the year, but I reckon I could justify:

1) 26″ or 650b full suss
2) 26″ hardtail
3) 29″ rigid (maybe SS)
4) Cyclocross
5) Road Bike

I think 2, 3 & 5 will be my actual line up, at some point.

Bought my 2011 Genesis Core 30 from Winstanleys about a year ago, since then have changed:

Grips (Clarks lock on)
Pedals (Wellgo MG1)
Seatpost clamp (Hope QR)
Rear QR (Hope)
Forks (120mm Reba’s)
Tyres (Spec. storm control)
Front Wheel (Mavic EN521 on Pro 2 Evo)
Bars (Fatbar Lite)
Seatpost (Thompson Elite)
New front rotor (180mm)

and……..

Replacing Octalink BB/Cranks with Deore next week.

By the time I’ve got a new back wheel & cassette there won’t be great deal left, but the bike was cheap as old stock and I should have some good kit to transfer onto another frame in the future.

Still really fancy a rigid steel 29er on fast rolling tyres for road/smooth trail use though….

Toss up between selling wheels & fork from this bike, along with flat bar road bike to fund one, or sticking left over kit from these upgrades on a cheap inbred frame……. 3 bikes may be pushing it.

Pimpmaster Jazz
…only bad points are exposed cable routing on down tube…
I’d argue that’s a good point! Better cable routing and no friction inside cable outers. Or am I missing something obvious?

Only bad because they’re exposed to the elements.

My bars are 660mm at present, I’m pretty broad shouldered & get aching hands, on the fleshy part below little finger, as I tend to hang over the ends of the bars on the lock on collars, I’m hoping my new bars (Renthals) will solve this, but might tight stuff trickier…….

I’m so tempted by a fortitude race, but think I’d get my knackers chopped off if I bought one, so may have to try and fine a 2nd hand one in year or 2

If you can’t face Lycra on it’s own then just wear normal sports shorts over top, I use light rugby training shorts, ideal for me…..

Bugger the rules btw

I’ve got a core 30, the 26″ ally hardtail, rides lovely, doesn’t feel to heavy, really good finish, only bad points are exposed cable routing on down tube & soft notches on saddle angle adjustment. Got a thompson elite on the way, plus upgrading cranks, bars & forks….. I think she should be pretty good then, slowly losing the functional, but not the best genesis finishing kit, seatpost clamp was crap too

Renthal Fatbar Lite have 7 degrees of backsweep, 740mm wide & 4 rise options available

The fire road climb back up from the gate is a bitch, so boring, but worth it for the last section, as said it’s just a case of granny ring & winch up. The standard loop, 8k? you’d want to lap for a full day out, but what we did was ride it complete once, then drove back up to the lake & lapped the top sections for a bit of fun/skill building. Is a good centre, and less than an hour for me :-)

Was out the other night & had a buzzards watch us very closely from a telegraph pole, never contemplated it might attack though.

Was out shooting last night & had a bat follow us around for best part of an hour, bit creepy!

Also had to release a buzzard from a Larsen trap (legal, for forbids) once, got it in a bag, then Mrs dropped it, thing went ape shit but luckily just flew off!

Hoping to fit in Hopton XC at some point, but mowing/strimming/decorating dependent, may have to be one night next week :-(

Must be a great feeling, I haven’t been injured lately thankfully, but haven’t ridden much the last 12 months, now I’ve moved house I ride one of my bikes a little bit every night, seems odd that I had them in the shed before but rarely took them out.

I bought some forks the other week, they got delivered to parents (as account automatically goes there), thought I’d swap them at workshop, job done, she’d never know, but, invoice dropped on the floor and she wasn’t impressed with the £24o, cheap I thought!

I’m definitely not telling her about new front wheel & bars…..

Sometimes ignorance is easier, we’re not married & don’t have a joint account, so it’s still ‘my’ money, for now………

I picked up a 2nd hand (almost new) Land Rover branded aluminium flat bar road bike for £200 the other week, would probably be ideal for what you want, although not that light, way better than an mtb on the road.

May be worth looking online or lbs…….

Same at my work (Council), just gone over to 7.

Reason I asked is girlfriend uses accounting software (Sage), and is having problems with updates, the line they’re taking is that most people are now on Windows 8 and updates are geared towards that, but my thoughts are that there are very few corporate users yet.

I’ve tried Windows 8 on a friend’s laptop, I set it all up for them, personally I hated it, without touchscreen it is not very intuitive of user friendly at all, quite the opposite, you don’t need huge tiles and swipe features when you’re using a mouse and cursor…..

You can download a program to give you a start button however (classic shell), and change the settings to skip the start up and ‘metro’ screens so it boots straight to a traditional looking desktop. Programs/apps still load in new way though, and are difficult to close.

Windows have now done an update to give you some of the above features anyway I think.

Any business users on Windows 8 yet? Corporate IT seem slow on take up of new OS’ normally?

Out of curiosity, what sort of weight are you & what do you ride (bike & area)?

Tell me about it, I’ve ridden my old Giant Yukon very entry level bike on red routes and some (for me) fairly hairy stuff and never had a problem with wheels, and my genesis currently has the bog standard Alex rims on it, being ridden harder and in increasingly worse places, and no problems there either – yet.

So, I don’t know if the cheaper wheels don’t cause many problems because they are made with more metal, thus heavier and stronger, or whether this top end kit and all the ‘issues’ you hear of with certain rims are people trying to ride their bikes like a pro???

I just need a new front wheel because I’ve changed forks, and thought it a waste of time to have the wheel re-laced with a new hub, and with the future in mind would like to have a good matching set worth carrying over to another frame.

I’m sure if I kept on riding the alex rims they’d stand up to my riding for quite some time to come, so all this talk of which is best may be elementary for your average, or below average (me) rider.

Proper minefiled, you don’t know who’s riding what bike, what trails, how hard, how fast,(ooeer) are they racing, etc etc

My gut tells me a Stans Arch ex has to be miles better than my current rims and would last me years, but bike shops say they’re (stans in general) cheap lightweight crap………

I’m having a similar dilemma only in the 26″ variety:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/which-rims-merlin-build

Everyone on here says Stans, all the bike shops say Mavic, I don’t know why the difference in opinion, it’s really perplexing me to be honest, still haven’t made a final decision, every time I’m leaning towards one or the other (719 or Arch ex) something stops me………..

Nant yr Arian has family trails

as does forest of Dean

I’ve got Mt Zoom on my flat bar road bike, but have used them on mtb – I really rate them, good for climbing and to alternate hand position to prevent arm pump/aching hands.

Another reference to motorists as the elite peloton went through richmond park – “very popular area for groups of cyclists, not great for motorists though, speed limit is 20mph which is the sweet spot for road cyclists”.

So 20mph limit, bikes doing 20mph, what problem………….

From personal experience, wouldn’t recommend a cube, I had a £500 ish hybrid. was heavy, slow, tiring, wise than my old basic giant hardtail mtb!

I know Merlin are keen to sell the Mavic’s, but their guy reckoned he’d go Mavic over Stans any day, better, more reliable rims he said, my lbs agree too…..

I think maybe people talking down Stans is just them being a bit newer/cheaper & a fear of the unknown thing???

Think it’s going to be 719’s – but front one this month, and rear again (no better off buying together) to sneak them by her indoors, got busted on the forks already!

She didn’t think £240 delivered for reba’s was cheap, stupid woman!

Wozza, presume you’re running tubes?

2.2 – 2.25 tops probably as not doing anything very extreme.

Think I’ll ring a couple of places tomorrow

Hmmm, so much conflicting advice everywhere, I’ve found so many old threads & reviews my head’s fried now!

Arch EX sounds like a reasonable compromise, but possibly limits tyre width?

Flow might be good, slightly heavier & stronger, but cheaper, and wider?

Also depends if I go tubeless – I don’t particularly want to, (got new forks with maxle, that’s why I want new wheels), but running a stans rim with tube may negate weight benefits?

Hmmmmm…..

Too many options