One thing to bear in mind is that for those of us who are ~ 50 and younger, retirement is very unlikely to look how it does currently, not least because there aren’t going to be enough people to do the work if we all retire.

This is another issue and something which always gets said but something I’ve never got my head around. When things like this get banded around my brain says “why would I give up close to 20% of my income now if I will never realistically retire” (right or wrong)

So the next question is, who do you go to to start a pension? Direct to a bigger provider or discuss with an idependant advisor? What is the next step for me?

Easy – work out what you spend now if you’re renting then excluding work costs that’s what you’ll be spending the day you retire. If you’re an owner and the mortgage will be paid off, exclude work costs & mortgage payments.

Assumes no kids or the kids have already left home.

See below :( It is hard to estimate costs of a son who will either never leave home or require significant care in assisted living

Other fun fact is I am the only one in the household with income owing to a son with significant disabilities. So the future planning needs to prop up the entire family. Now there’s a thought.

this really needs to be explained better to young’uns

Completely agree!

I am embarrassed to admit I didn’t realise that state pension retirement age and state pension amount wasn’t the end of the story. I thought that retirement age was fixed and maybe some people just got lucky by making a ton of money and that what “retiring early” meant. It is incredibly stupid in hindsight but no-one explains these things.

It is even more pressing since a great percentage of the population seem to be being pushed in to self employment and I really believe that the self employed (certainly sole traders) are at a massive financial disadvantage compare to other forms of employment in financial terms. More squeeze on cash makes less immediate problems like pensions go down the priority list

How old are you?

35

Other fun fact is I am the only one in the household with income owing to a son with significant disabilities. So the future planning needs to prop up the entire family. Now there’s a thought.

Rule of thumb is halve your age at the point you start the pension, and put that %age of your income into your pension. Obviously, if you start late, that’s a scary number…

Holy … yes it is

Id suggest starting with using one of these calculators to see what you might get at reitrement based on expected lifestyle and ability to save into a private pension scheme between now and then.

How would you estimate the monthly amount you would look to need in retirement?

Or it is simply look to put as much in to the pension as possible (relative the money you need access to now and cash flow now)?

I guess that connects to the first quoted reply above and that % earnings is a minimum to aim for? eek!

I see the appeal but there are many many limitations…

Accuracy of 2D phone video finding joints on variable clothing
Camera position relative to rider likely causes greater error than the margin you are trying to “measure”
Feet? (often an obvious compensator for lots of other things)
No head (neck/ shoulder pain)
Single segment torso
When did we stop having a pelvis?
No hands (wrist pain)
Side view only
Massive ranges of “acceptable” results
Only as accurate as the training data (person clicking points on video- it’s damned boring!)
How have acceptable ranges been determined for an entire population?
I could go on :)

My worry is it is both an inaccurate measurement tool used in a very inaccurate (at best vague) way

I would just point out that this isn’t “AI” and the misuse of the term to sell stuff is quite annoying :)

Aaaannnyway….

You can have the very best and most accurate measurement tools on the planet (that app looks no where near either), but the real skill is in interpreting information combined with what you feel as a rider and how your body is/ how it works. A person who can do that well is worth any money IMO.

The app looks ok for rough ball park stuff that you could get by videoing yourself and having a bit of a guess, or by using some simple body measurements and ancient rules of thumb found online.

It sounds like you need more help than ballpark though. Getting a happy body on a bike is complicated and always changing so I would always have a preference for finding the best person, with a wealth of experience to draw on, and lots of recommendations over anything else.

Returns portal is back and semi functional…. but no option for a UK address that I could see

Oi @bobbyspangles ! You didn’t need to bloody throw it back on the track! I found it again this week :D

This was particularly impressive because the nail managed to go in perpendicular to the rim AAAANNNNNDDDD manage to pierce my nice expensive carbon rims I had just put on, right through the rim bed (like a new spoke hole!). No idea how that is physically possible but it is!

My item is faulty from new so I am going to say no smarty pants ;)

@bentleywood I also see the “Christmas Island” problem. It is the only country I can select in the Returns portal so the return fails as the address isn’t right.

Cynical “admin error” to reduce returns?

I am tempted to enter an address in the Christmas Islands anyway but not sure I want to gamble that on an expensive dropper going missing.

I have emailed Wiggle, lets see what they say.

England (Marler in particular) have gotten away with not pushing straight for years. Cole got away with taking a step back on engaging a few times in the first half too. Stuff happens. On balance the SA scrum was stronger in the SH.

If anything, the refereeing that helped SA was stopping the watch every scrum after a bit of time wasting earlier on. With Farell’s trademark dhead bevhaviour to the referee, he was also luck to not be marched back 10 more often.

England played their only game plan possible. Be absolute dheads to annoy SA, kick all possession and score in 3’s. They just did it better in the first half.

SA got their team selection wrong but rectified it with subs early. They would have struggled with an injury in the backs but did what was needed. England by contrast had 3 unused subs and when Vunipola came on for Curry’s HIA, he didn’t look like who knew where he was.

There seems a lot of optimism around England but I don’t see a lot of depth or hope of change. It was good to see Itoje turn up for once and Lawes is the one bloke a neutral could really wish the very best for. Martin had a good game too, even more so given his age. Mitchell did what was asked of him really well too.

Smith isn’t available on account of getting his head smashed in

I wondered if maybe this was normal, perhaps to have a “factory fresh” looking fork when you take off the top decals or some other cunning plan I was missing. Good to know the consensus seems to be that it is a bit of an odd thing to do.

I might remove both sets of decals after all this to save 1g instead of just 0.5g :D

Removal? 10 minutes max with something warm?

Applying? Similar time with or without old decals. Maybe even quicker without the old ones as the new ones have more leeway in how they can go on and still look tidy.

How much? No idea. I’d estimate half an hour workshop time based on all the bits I bought and other bits fitted.

Photo will just show an ok looking fork with a mm extra black decal outline around a black decal. It is as tidy a job of putting a decal on top of another one that I would imagine is possible… but when I said “put new decals on” I actually meant “replace old decals and put new decals on” but I didn’t think that would have to be explicitly stated :)

I’m very excited now :) Thanks everyone!

Yep, not cheap cheap but “as good as it gets” cheap. The Element frame for a little over £2000 definitely isn’t cheap but there’s nothing similar in that price range and frame only suits me.

Great to hear so many happy people out there on RM!

As a heads up, RM UK have 40% off all bikes at the moment. That is where I bought the frame. Not too much in stock but some frames and some nice looking bikes left.

https://rockymountainuk.com/collections/all-bikes-sale?page=1&filter_pf_st_stock_status=true

Wheels MFG is the answer to press fit BB’s as both sides screw together to make everything a bit more stable. Easy enough to pop in new bearings when they need it too.

Tyres seem to a bit of a defining thing for a bike like the Element. What do you guys normally run?

Bontrager XR4 is my usual all rounder go-to. 800g, fast enough for connecting trails and grippy enough in all but the slickest and steepest trails.

Cool HobNob, thanks for that. I only have a rigid SS at the moment so “Sporty” is exactly what I am after and the idea of having to choose lines or ride a bit more proactively than some bikes is nothing new for me :)

The 30.9 seatpost is fine as I already have an AXS dropper in the right size and length.

BB92 is also OK as I have a Wheels MFG BB which was absolutely solid on a previous Trek frame.

I did wonder about Pikes as the reviews seem to suggest they ride a bit higher and are a bit more “sporty” and “poppy” than Fox 34’s which is what I’d instinctively go for. The frame should have a Fox DPS so I was planning to go with the 34 GRIP2 for a plusher ride (certainly more than my rigid SS :) )

I saw some activity on “Rocky Mountain UK” socials and attendance at MTB events which suggests a decent level of UK support. It seems to Greenover Sports as they both have the same address.

Glad the Slayer has been going well for you Weeksy!

Same incredibly positive experience with some Garmin watch issues. Big thumbs up to Garmin customer support

People seem to quickly forget it is amazing Pog is even competing for Yellow after his crash before Le Tour. Must still be flippin’ painful (or good use of TUE’s)

The other factor is it doesn’t matter how good a climber or TT’er you are, it matters how good you are after all those hard days previously. Gets in to dodgy territory again, but there’s a reason the GC guys excelled on this stage.

Yes the top two are suspicious but if you treat it more like the time difference to the Yates brothers, then it is probably as expected. Van Aert is more surprising not being such a pure climber and absolutely emptying himself most days.

A lot has been made about time differences/ distribution of times between the top two and the rest of the field but that seems to be the expected distribution among almost all stages not ending in a bunch finish. Even DH and Enduro has similar time distributions. One or two relatively way ahead of the field (exceptional talent/ stars align/ good doctor), tight field (they are all pros after all), then outliers at the end that had problems.

I’m 5’9″ and have a hardtail with 445mm chainstays in the middle of the sliding dropouts and 466mm reach.

Chainstay length is like any bike measurement where it doesn’t mean anything in isolation and you have to work out how it fits in as part of the overall package.

With my frame, even with the chainstay at 450mm+ it is very poppy and playful… with slightly higher bars and a 35mm stem. If I run even a slightly longer stem and/ or drop the bars a bit then it becomes incredibly planted. Great for climbing traction and wheels on the ground descending but more cumbersome if you want to pop off stuff.

As I lengthen the chainstay I wish for the front wheel to be a bit further away to be more balanced and vice versa shortening the chainstay length too much.

The message I’m trying to get across is not to focus on one aspect of bike geo as the way a bike rides is the sum of its parts + how you position yourself on the bike.

I would love bike reviewers to review bikes without seeing a geo chart or marketing spiel first and I’d bet a fair amount of the time they would be way off guessing the details of the bike based on the ride :)

Awesome, thanks Mark. I’ve been meaning to come along for ages and have the June date in the diary :)

I have a lot of stuff in the garage I would be looking to clear. Is there an appetite for MTB bits, full bikes, kids Frog bike, decent clothing, higher end stuff like XX1 drivetrain? Or is it more the Retro bike crowd? :)

from experience with my own daughter (just onto a Whyte 303) and from coaching kids at Go-Ride is that 24″ wheel bikes seems to pose a real issue, manly the big differences in bottom bracket height/drop.

That is an interesting point and our daughter does struggle a bit with this even on the Frog 20.

The Trek she has her eye on is 2mm less BB drop than the Cannondale so very close.

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions and extra things to think about.

Thank you too for the SH offers- in this case this would be for a special occasion and her first “new” bike so I’m aiming for good value but new. I think the Trek still looks a good option but I’ll give everything else another look over

Those Vitus look like good value for more off-road than the average kids bike. Good option

The Cannondale seems similar to other big brands kids 24 bikes like the Trek I was looking at. I guess main deciding factors are price, shifter type and if the little one likes the look of it???

As someone looking for a “normal” 485 rigid fork it actually feels harder to find than long ones nowadays. All newer model forks seem to be made longer when they switched to BOOST (eg Whisky 483 > 500).

Trek 1120 at 510mm AC is a good value fork for anyone else looking.

I also always point people to this page for inspiration on rigid forks and brands to look for:

Complete List of Forks with Bottle Cage Mounts (Utility Forks)

Good to hear, thanks all

What I have in mind probably doesn’t exist but that is the next challenge :)

I’m thinking traditional road style design rather than something bastardized by a MTB brand (to be more flexible between fun on and off road and not too specialised either way), 40-45mm 700c tyre clearance, longer and slacker front to try to eliminate toe overlap with my very rearward cleats and I already have GX AXS spare for a big range 1x setup. Some of those things are at odds with each other but it is a work in progress :)

Fork was probably the main concern TBH. My only bike at the moment is a rigid SS with a Whisky fork so the concept of a light carbon fork off road is ok in my mind but I do just wonder what these lighter forks are really designed for?

I was a bit taken in by the gravel marketing of long, comfy adventures anywhere you like off road whereas in reality I found my rigid 29er with wide flat bars to be much faster and more enjoyable for me and my local rides. I just worry about misinterpreting the hype and marketing in a more painful way with a gravel bike :)

Realistically I would be using any new bike as an all road bimbler to give me some gears and a less demanding ride vs rigid SS but it is good to give myself some realistic expectations of gravel bikes.

The various carbon fibre rotors look awful IMO and work even worse!

I use Trickstuff and like their simplicity

I would be incredibly surprised and disappointed if I could not run the wheel in any position allowed by the slider range. Ditto if the shortest position was unusable for tyre rub for example (which I have also seen even with quite small tyres!)

This list is only those with mounts and mixes materials but may give some inspiration

Complete List of Forks with Bottle Cage Mounts (Utility Forks)

I have tried a few of the bigger brands like Surly and Salsa and found them as subtle as a pig. Horrible to ride, but maybe they make more sense when the bike is heavily loaded.

I really like the Whisky forks and stuck with them after trying loads of different brands, models and materials. If you can find some second hand maybe something like that is an option?

I’ve yet to ride a steel fork with that mystical ride quality people go on about so it would be interesting if anyone has experience of steel forks with a nice ride quality unloaded.

Lovely looking bike! Right up my street :)

Boring question… what mudguard are you running bolted on to your SID?

You won’t find a GRIP2 in a Stepcast Fox fork. Apparently there isn’t space in the Stepcast forks.

I am on a similar lookout for a great handling fork in all situations with the added twist of trying to find something with as much high speed and low speed compression adjustment as possible to try and get my SS supportive out of the saddle but not be overly harsh descending.

Fox 34 Grip2 is one option but will always be pricey. Other downside on stepcast versions of the 34 (eg FIT4) is not a huge amount of tyre clearance if you like big tyres and/ or mudguards (yes to both for me)

Pike with a Charger 3 seems like the obvious option and better value.

XFusion Slide HLR could be a left field option but added weight.

Another left field option I’ve been trying to find out more about is the DT Swiss F232. Light, supposedly tested stiff enough and looks highly adjustable. It seems like a great fork in theory

I’ve been struggling to find good information on this fork but this page seems to have a good run down: Bike Rumour Link

Very minimal reviews as well. Only a handful of first ride reviews and this is about the longest one I could find: Review

Has anyone seen or heard anything about the newer DT Swiss forks?

Ta!

Hopefully that is a good few hundred pounds saved an a UK business supported :) I found them very helpful as I had a lot of questions before ordering and always got a quick reply. Happy Trails!