I’ve not been through all the replies but I bet the two of the most common are:

• Toilet seat being left up or down
• Toilet paper being the wrong way round

Chunks out of the butter, like a rabid squirrel has been trying to reach the bottom of tub in the hope of an elusive nut. Drives the wife crazy…..

October in Scotland can often have better weather than June/July IME, but I’d be heading across the channel, but not sure how easy it is to go around Europe with a dog. How about Ireland?

Passat?

Buy a Hope headset. Sounds like there is some wear within the headset which means the bearings aren’t sitting perfectly. The Hope headset will probably out live your bike IME.

Add links and help fund Singletrackworld?

This is good, if a little dark

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0fr5qvc?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

This is fantastic if a little bit long.

https://castbox.fm/vb/47519901

I’ve been recommended these but haven’t bought into them yet but is meant to be incredible.

Hardcore History 50 – Blueprint for Armageddon I

Great video of a couple who ride fat bikes. This is the same route I did on Thursday last week.

So some people are still riding fatties.

Hate the term but I’d recommend a ‘Downcountry’ type bike. Essentially a lightweight xc bike but with more relaxed geometry and longer suspension travel.

Cleaning your chain with GT85 or WD40 is good, but won’t lubricate your chain much in wet weather, it’s just too thin IMO.

Never bought into the chain waxing trend. Too much faff for me.

Peatys has been great this year for me, it leaves the chain very clean even after 100km rides.

LinkLube All Weather Chain Lube

This is also really good but leaves more of a residue, better for wet weather IME.

http://www.joes-no-flats.com/Products/677/Joe%27s-Ceramic-Chain-Wax-%7Cfwsa%7C-Wet

But, the best remedy to expensive drive train wear is riding singlespeed. An £8 chain every 12 is ideal when you’re skint.

After riding a section of the West Highland Way yesterday near Fort William, I have the below:

• Overly chirpy and enthusiastically Americans (applauding me and telling me how great I was for riding up a tame bit of trail)
• Miserable and grumpy English (cheer up FFS, you’re walking amongst some of the finest scenery in the UK in glorious sunshine)
• Me for allowing the above to annoy me (it didn’t really annoy me that much, I was too busy doing something I love doing).

Rode Laggan on my way home today.

Rode it yesterday, no issues. The weather and trail conditions were perfect.

Fantastic news, thanks everyone.

So….. I should risk it?

My Garmin watch shows I have less quality sleep even after one drink. After a few drinks, it often shows I’ve had no sleep. It’s almost like my body is spending it’s time recovering from being poisoned instead of it’s normal repair routine.

Nothing new for me, it’s what I already knew about alcohol. It’s terrible stuff but I actually enjoy the taste, especially in food. Mmmmm brandy in Christmas pud.

Some more in depth details of alcohols effects on your sporting performance and recovery.

https://www2.hse.ie/living-well/alcohol/health/physical-health/sports-performance/

Edit: short version is, alcohol is a poison and there is no safe limit of consumption, so you should not drink any.

Another great stout I’ve tried recently was at the Station pub near the railway station in Dunbar, it’s pretty strong though, didn’t really taste that strong. Worth a road trip? Maybe, it’s at the end of the John Muir Way which is worth riding IMO.

https://www.station-yard.com/

https://untappd.com/b/winton-brewery-by-the-campfire-7-5-edition/5646431

Clocker Stout is good on draught, the only place I’ve seen it though was at the KITTchEN (Pussy & Pints) in Hawkshead. Worth another road trip? Definitely.

https://www.kittchen.co.uk/

Clocker Stout

Black Sheep Milk stout is good.

Brewdog’s Black Heart is good, I might even choose it over Guinness in cans and in draught.

Belhaven Black is also good.

I miss when you could get Beamish on draught. Murphy’s not so much.

Best stout IME is Old Engine Oil by Harviestoun.

Old Engine Oil Craft Stout

It comes in small bottles and is not cheap. It is quite strong at 6% but does not taste it. Fantastic chilled. Don’t see it in the shops very often though.

The Anglers Arm’s own stout in Kielder is very good. It does mean you’d need to go there to sample it, road trip?

These look decent.

Cortex Deore

These seem popular.

https://www.banjocycles.com/bikes/mountain-bikes/specialized-chisel-shimano-xc-mountain-bike-in-gloss-sea-foamdeep-orange__40783

Not the best value though as they’re pretty new.

Fuel EX?

https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/bikes/mountain-bikes/trek-fuel-ex-8-xt-gen-5-29-full-suspension-mountain-bike-2022-in-alpine-blue__28351

“butt hurt” I’d do a laughing emoji if I could.

I’m currently looking at SWAGS, thanks aphex_2k, never heard of them before.

I think I’m in a minority of wanting minimal of faff when bikepacking, I forgot that the faff is part of the fun for some, from: selecting your camping spot, unpacking your kit, setting up your camp for the night, setting a fire and setting out a tarp. I tend to setup camp late and leave early, I just want to pull out a bivvy bag and get in, this is why I often have my sleeping bag, liner and mat already inside my bivvy bag already for a wild night under the stars. I have a lightweight 1 man tent that is great but needs a much larger area to setup compared to the bivvy bag.

I’ll try out putting some silicon sealant on my mat to help it stay put. I just need to buy a winter mat and bivvy bag now. This would be easy if it wasn’t for the huge amount of choice, even more choice if you have deeper pockets than me.

The reason I thought of this, is I’ve been on a few bivvy trips recently and find it a real faff keeping the mattress where it should be. If I use it with the bivvy bag on top then I just slide off in the night. If I put it inside, I still find myself needing to adjust the mat in the night.

So ignore the hoop bit, as this seems contentious. And focus more on a bivvy bag with integral mat.

I’m also in the market for a new winter matt, and thought I’d maybe get a winter bivvy bag whilst I was at it, and just thought it would be easier if I could just buy an integral bivvy and mat one.

Sorry, not sure how I created two threads.

I reckon that a fair bit of issues folks have with gravel type bikes being ‘underbiked’ is mostly tyre pressure. I rode the Dirty Reiver route around Kielder the weekend with bike packing kit on 40mm treaded gravel tyres at 30-35psi and it was great. Didn’t feel beat up after. But when I searched for advice on the best tyre and bike setup for Kielder, there were people recommending 60psi. That would have felt quicker on the smooth bits I’m sure, but would have been brutal over the whole route. Even though most the gravel trails there were in pretty good condition.

So I’d maybe also say, try the following on your Topstone first:

• Fit an oval chainring to help with lower gearing, I have a 38t oval ring on mine and I really can feel it making a difference on the steep climbs.
• Fit thicker bar tape
• Fit the bigger tubeless tyres you can in your frame.
• Run your tyres tubeless
• Reduce the psi in your tyres. I find 5 psi difference can have a decent affect on how much vibration I feel through the bars and how much grip I have.
• Check your fit on the bike, so you’re riding with a slight bend in your elbows, a slightly shorter stem or higher bars could really make a difference. I’ve seen a few folk riding dropbar bikes over the years with locked out straight arms, this will be very uncomfortable after a while.

PSI: Tyre pressure calculator https://silca.cc/en-gb/pages/pro-tire-pressure-calculator

Your Scale frame is probably lighter than your Topstone frame so could end up a lighter build, even with bigger tyres.

I’d have a play with a bike geometry calculator to try and get your Scale geometry closer to a gravel dropbar bike. Lower bottom bracket, shorter reach, lower bars…..

Bike Geometry Calculator

You could fit a rigid fork to reduce the drop at the front and make the bike handle a bit quicker. Or just reduce the travel to something like 80mm.

Chop your bars down, fit bar ends and inboard barends to get more hand positions and make it a bit more aero. I’d avoid changing to drop bars as the reach might not be great (mtbs usually have longer toptubes) and the shifters are pricey.

Fit a pair of Thunder Burts and you’ve got yourself a rapid gravel machine.

As far as I’m aware, 650 wheels were initially used so they could fit bigger tyres into the frames at the time, as newer gravel bike have capacity to fit 45/50mm tyres (or even bigger) on a 700 rim, I don’t see the point of using 650 wheels now unless you’re riding still on an older frame with limited tyre clearance or ride an extra small bike.

Too many to mention but here’s a few off the top of my head that I’ve ridden in the last 12 months.

Gravel:

• John Muir Way
• Pilgrim Way
• Aberfoyle Loch Katrine Loop
• Kielder (125km Dirty Reiver loop is the perfect length IMO).

Mtb

• Cairngorm loop (inner for more hike a bike and outer loop for a bit more easier riding).
• Devil’s Staircase (both ways) and the Ciaran path.
• Gypsy glen loop from Peebles.
• Glentress
• Innerleithen (Golfie and Traquair)
• Dunkeld

As for destinations to use as a base, I’d say:

• Tweed Valley
• Lake district
• Cairngorms
• Ballater/Braemar
• Dunkeld
• Fort William

Noticed these signs en route, might be useful to someone.

The Reiver Trails

Thanks for the recommendations, I decided to do the Dirty Reiver 200km loop over the two days (well 1 and bit days as it was about 6pm by the time I set off). I decided to start and finish in Byrness to cut down on the driving a bit, with a detour to the Fittingford bothy to stay Friday night and then ride the remaining of the loop the next day.

Weather was pretty warm and mostly sunny. Great ride and would like to do it again without the bike packing bags, still don’t think I’d get anywhere near some of the Dirty Reiver faster times.

I’ll definitely check out the routes recommended at some point.

Kielder was blessed with some lovely weather yesterday.

How long is a piece of string?

This……

Ben Cathro has a good piece on tyre pressure but he’s a rapid Enduro rider whose bias will be down hill whilst riding with big grippy tyres with tough sidewalls.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/video-pro-mountain-bike-setup-guide-with-ben-cathro-how-to-bike-episode-2.html

I was initially drawn by the green to black fade, which is a bit different but in a good way.

Then I saw the blue to turquoise fade, very nice! And this would fit in with my other green/turquoise bikes that I seem to have procured. Lush!