Riding a Brompton is nothing like riding a normal bike, but you adjust very quickly. Don’t compare one with a normal bike, compare it with not having a bike…

And if you think the touring in the north is good, try the mountain biking in the more lumpy bits…!

I use spirawrap for semi-permanent wiring attachment to the forks and rear rack on my commuter.

The SP or more expensive Shimano dynamos are probably your best price/weight/performance point, especially if you buy them from Germany. Spa Cycles and Practical Cycles are good UK stockists.

@Russel96 – do you mean the Shimano ones are now cheaper, more durable, or both?

It beats me WTF we can’t have bottom brackets designed to be injected with fresh grease in situ like we had back in 1990…

How fast was the delivery?

The only MTB film I’ve ever really enjoyed was Pulp Traction, no other trailer ever really made me want to watch another, with the possible exception of Ride the Divide.

That said, Vast looked good when I caught some of it at Mud Dock the other week, anyone know where the trail above the glacier is? That’s on my Bucket List.

Might be an idea if someone who knows the place put together some sort of map on the web showing what’s open and how to get between the various sections to make a loop?

If it’s sub zero, it’s gotta be Buffalo Mitts:

http://www.buffalosystems.co.uk/products/mitts/
http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/forum/gear/buffalo-mitts-how-warm/48368.html

Not waterproof but it doesn’t matter, they will still keep you warm as toast.

For Android, have a look at Oruxmaps.

Oruxmaps seconded.

@Muke – Back in the days of halogens, I used to run nothing but bar lights for off-road riding. I still use my halogens for the time being – rather turbocharged – but now run helmet-only off-road as it means I’ve pretty much always got light where I’m looking.

The slight downside is that you get less / virtually nothing in the way of shadows as depth cues as the light is closer to your eyes. Also, as the light is above your eyes the shadows fall differently from those you might be used to with bar lights or car lights.

You can of course run bar lights as well as a helmet light, but if only running one, my personal preference is for a helmet light. Also remember that a helmet light is dangerous (illegal?) to use on the road so you’ll need a small bar light for any road sections anyway.

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/ lets you upload GPX and shows you the route on OS/Google/OSM mapping. Altitude profile too if your file includes it.

Don’t touch the sides…

I remember coming down off Ben Nevis on a rigid Rockhopper the same weekend that JMC died…

Seconded about France – Tons of amazing trails, very few people and no access bullshit.

Why not visit part of the UK which never gets a mention, no mag ever writes about or publishes routes for

Calderdale was like that before I moved there…

Mmmm… proper Enduro nom.

Sounds like the new Bristol all-weather trails would be right up your street, as well as the non-DH trails at the Forest of Dean.

I’d not be using GPS for altitude measurement, at least not as a navigation aid. Altitude accuracy is around 1.5x worse than horizontal accuracy, so you’ll be luck to get much better accuracy than 25m even with a clear view of the sky. And of course, 25m vertically is rather different to 25m laterally.

If you want accurate climb data from your GPX files, upload them to bikehike.co.uk or GPSVisualizer.com, either of which will resample the altitude data using a publicly available digital elevation model.

I believe folks got a dynamo version of this old thing running very well: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/diy-700-lumen-batteries-inside-light

Also, has anyone yet cracked the matter of running a helmet light from a dynamo? It’s either got to involve charging from the dynamo during daylight hours, or some horrible cabling…

@jameso – Fantastic stuff. I think I would need to takes some spare clothes as I sweat like a b@stard at the best of times. What was the heat like in the high mountains?

@daveevs – a quick check on bikehike tells me that there’s significant amounts of flat and up in those 7km, but it still looks like A Grand Day Out.

After nearly a quarter-century of mountain biking, I’d recommend Ed’s teaching in a heartbeat. Top bloke, excellent teacher.

Fantastic French trail and map resource: http://www.vttrack.fr/

…but what does that mean in practice?

It’s a honeypot route and best avoided…

Do you mean ‘Other route with public access’?

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/key/50K_English_Legend_March08.pdf

You’d have to look at the definitive map to determine whether bikes were allowed, but in general, if it leads to/from other types of right of way on which bikes are allowed, you’re likely to be okay. If it has only a footpath at one end, you’re probably not okay.

Royce. Bombproof.

IAUI, the side plates are thinner on a 10sp chain, but the gaps where the cog teeth go are the same size. This makes 10sp chains marginally more likely to fail under load or shifting.

However, since chain ‘wear’ as MTBers understand it is caused by micro-grit getting into the spaces in the chain links and grinding away at the metal, it’s unlikely that the thickness of the side plates would make a huge amount of difference.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=TUBE+BRUSH plus regular sterilisation. Tablets are probably cheaper than Milton fluid.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/with-pics-the-best-adventure-best-ride-ever-gr5-transalp

Sat: out around Leigh Woods for 90mins with the six-year-old on a tag-a-long, quite a workout.

Sun: Took ten-year-old stepson out to do Forest of Dean blue, then red, then lunch. Popped over to Cwmcarn and did the Twrch loop in fantastic sunshine, finished just before 7pm. Yes, he struggled, but largely only where I did, and he managed all the downhill sections absolutely fine on his rigid Orange. Epic.

Lots of legitimate and cheeky, plus Ashton Court and Leigh Woods within three miles of home, so quite a lot of scope. Not as much vertical as when I lived in Calderdale, mind :(

I don’t, just not interested at the moment. Will build up the ‘cross bike as an on-off-road fast trail type hybrid with Jones J-bars before the winter. Probably.

I do have a ’91 Saracen built up as a commuter with fat slicks, rack, dynohub and mudguards. But it’s not a ‘road’ bike per se.

I’ve had one of the Tesco down sleeping bags for a year or so and only got around to using it on a family camping trip last week. Unfortunately, I found the zip was more than a little crap and very stiff indeed. Can anyone recommend an effective zip lubricant for plastic zips?

On said trip, was in Tesco in Bangor, and spotted that they currently have a small synthetic bag for £20. It packs down about as small as the old lightweight down bags but is obviously not rated to be quite as warm. They also have 2.6kg 2-man tents for £20 and a 3-man for £25. Probably a bit cosy for 2/3, but disposable at those prices.

Gotta be washing bike parts properly in the dishwasher and tyres in the washing machine, surely?

What are your current cranks?

Might not be the best ‘first real mountain biking’ experience for a keen ten-year-old then… might just stick to Cwmcarn…!

Any more for any more?

Islabikes are relatively expensive, but they are the best out there, and you’ll get 70-80% of the purchase price back on eBay if you look after them.