Me and a friend in for Saturday….we are the chosen few! :lol:

Skoda Yeti with 27.5 enduraaaaa bike in. Dropper seat post down. Two rear seats removed, one still left in.

I had one on my old car which was a saloon. The bikes were high enough not to obscure lights and plate, so yes did work in that sense.

It was horrible though. The bikes effectivly turned into a wind sail they were that high. Fuel economey nosedived on the motorway. The soft foam pads started to rub away the paintwork on the bootlid. And it was a pain in the ass to fit each time.

My advice is not to bother with it. Either put them inside or on the roof.

Praying for good weather, my first time at Ard Rock this year. Got a Saturday ticket. No luxery of a campervan so tenting it up!

If he originally wanted a downhill bike, then whatever he gets he’ll still be wanting to do all the big stuff on it. YT Capra would be ideal. Bird Aeris isn’t burly enough.

Norco Range? Evans have the 7.1 in for just a smidge over budget and its 170mm Fox 36 will take punishment. I have last years model and its fine in bike parks.

MS3 vs MX3 for durability – is there much difference? I do like the look of the black anodising on the MX3….but I dont want to spend the extra and find out its made of cheese.

I dont think Delamere will have enough to keep you occupied. Its not a huge place, and its only fun when you’re riding the off piste stuff. On the weekend its very busy with walkers / families / kids etc.

I have a Yeti. I run it most of the year with only 1 back seat in it. The rest are out and live under the stairs :lol:

Bikes – With the above setup you can fit two 27.5 bikes in upside down with just front wheels off and seatpost/dropper slammed. Take out the third seat and you could probably get 4 in…

For your mileage don’t get the diesel unless its only long trips. I’m sure you’ve heard of DPF filters.

Although its a great car, I’m still hankering for more space and will be getting a van next time round. As you said yourself, its a tool to serve a purpose and a small van would much more versatile, for me anyway!

Make two pieces of French toast using doorstop thickness white bread. Put loads of cheese on one, melt it slightly under the grill. Add fried smoked bacon ontop of cheese. Place other piece of French toast ontop to make the best heart attack sandwich ever.

A shame its discontinued on CRC, but if you can find it elsewhere I can recommend this: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-critical-enduro-vest

I had a rather nasty off in a steep rock garden and only suffered heavy bruising in various places. Would have been a lot worse without it.

Although the pictures dont show, it has spine protection and almost every single pad can be removed if needed.

If you’re confident that you’re reasonably fit and distnace isnt normally an issue, try hitting the gym. And I don’t mean cardio, I mean weights. Squats, deads, and presses. Big compound movements.

I used to get cramp when I went through bouts of not going the gym and doing weights. It really helps me.

On the flipside, make sure you give youself enough rest between the gym and big rides.

We’ve got one. Find it quite useful actually. Other half uses it daily. There’s a gazillion recipies out there, decide what you want achieve (if anything) and go from there.

Tip – you dont really taste spinach in shakes so use that instead of kale. I cant stand kale in them.

Picked up a pair of thise Aldi MTB shorts last year. I wouldn’t bother personally. They didnt last very long at all. They also weren’t very comfortable. Shame really, their jackets and gloves are fine!

Llandegla. I took my other half there as her first jaunt at ‘mtbing’ and I wasnt murdered at the end of it. Just make sure you set the expectation of the slog of a climb at the start. If you want to skip the boardwalks you could do first half red then blue back to the trail head.

Seen loads of couples there over the weekend actually.

Have you tried popping off the adjuster and using a 3mm allen key to see if it moves that way?

160mm Pike RTC3, 11st10, 1 token and 20% sag. Medium/fast rebound. Works great for me.

Other half had one for three years. We actually really liked it. Only had the IQ 1, so basic everything but it did have air-con.

Only issue in 40,000 miles was a leaky door seal which was done under warrenty.

Ours had the 1l engine. Its not quick. Takes a while to get up to speed on the motorway and feel’s very light on there, but it wasnt designed for long distance driving. Its absolutly perfect for around town. Obviously economical.

There is no boot. There is a gap which will hold wine bottles nicely, thats about it. Lowering the rear seats gives you something usable. Forget about having anyone in the back unless you put the passenger seat forward.

Interior is nice. Much better than the Aygo. Infact when we were looking to replace it, we really struggled to find another small car with the same quality interior. Its a nice place to be, and this is why alongside its reliability they are more expensive than its counterparts.

You can get a bike rack for it! :lol: The Saris Bones 1 fits the rear nicely.

If you test drive one, go in a carpark and put full lock on the steering. It literally spins round on the spot. Quite amusing!

Sadly they dont make them new anymore. Looking back we’d probably go for the 1.3l version though and take the slight hit on actually having to pay £30 road tax instead of nothing. The extra power is probably worth it. Stay away from the auto box.

Tried ebay?

This one looks to fit the bill: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SRAM-X5-direct-mount-front-derailleur-/151982492813

I have size 9 feet.

I wear size 9 five tens

They fit

:o

GoPro 4 Silver – if you want to change batteries. It does everything minus 4k. Couldn’t ask for a better camera really. The touchscreen I personally find quite useful but its a killer on the battery. it will auto turn off the screen after xx amount of time (user setable)

It sounds like whatever you do possibly achieve in this porch wont give the right results and the missus will make you move them anyway.

Im quite lucky – we live in a very small house but there is a walk in cupboard upstairs where I store all the bikes and gear. The other half wants them in the shed, I completly refuse this idea.

Anyway, I suggest the loft. Get some boards (B&Q do them cheap) board it out, or even just half of it, get a loft ladder and job done. Everyone is happy then. Bikes are safe and not in everyones way downstairs. Wheels off, carry them up.

Yes it’ll be a bit of a faff dragging them in and out when you want them, but its that or move house :) Or the shed where at some point they will be stolen. If we didnt have our cupboard, I’d be using the loft.

Cheers all – clearly the FR Lite has positive users. Question – can the FR Lite back protector be worn seperatly? I’ve read on a few places this might be possible.

If so that would probably sway it – I can wear it on uplift days such as Antur etc.

Cheers

I don’t quite understand why the method of escalation from your provider to Openreach has any affect on you. You just want your line installed, and as quickly as possible. :) Can’t figure out why they’ve even mentioned DSO to you!

DSO escalation is one of the top levels of escalation within Openreach that providers can utilise, given the issue fulfils a certain set of requirements.

The difficulty you may have is that your issue involves third parties. Have Openreach actually spoken to the HA and LA? Either they haven’t (so escalation should see progress) or they are waiting for HA / LA approval to return. Escalation rarely helps here as its out of their hands. Is it for a road closure?

If your near area’s of flooding this probably isn’t helping your cause, they’ll be treating them issues as top priority. Although 6 months is taking the pee a little. (I have seen longer however!)

In all honesty it feels like a fairly heavy bike. I remember demo’ing a 2015 Mega AM at the start of last year and that was lighter and more agile. My budget couldn’t stretch to that at the time however!

Weight for me wasn’t on my requirements list, and neither was climbing ability. I’ve put dual play maxxis tyres on mine (mainly for Antur!) so quite a lump to shift.

I’ve done 4 hour rides on it and not felt uncomfortable. Mine has a Pike fork, not the new 170mm Fox one.

If your after a good climber, then yes the Norco will do it. But I cant say its an amazing one (just my experience). I still love it though :)

This won’t probably help you at all but I’ll post anyway :) I have the 2015 Range and I really like it. How tall are you? I’m 5’9 and have a medium.

It does have good grip on the climbs – the ART suspension does a great job. I wouldn’t say its an agile climber though.

I’ve taken mine to Antur and it coped just fine. Its a solid bike. I wanted a ‘do it all ‘machine and I’m happy with what I got.

To add – do you do you own maintenance? You can probably tell the Norco has lots of pivots. Something to bear in mind, it needs love.

Yep – i’ve got a Yeti. I absolutely LOVE it. I’ve got mine on a personal lease – there were silly deals on them at the start of year. Mines the 1.6 Outdoor SE Greenline.

The SE has most of the toys anyone would need really. Suppose the only thing missing is the built in sat nav (which I didnt personally want).

Boot space is reasonable – but its not huge with the seats up. Instead of the seats folding flat, you can take them out completely as standalone units. For all of summer I just left one rear seat in and used it as a small van for biking.

The Outdoor variant I personally feel looks better – its raised 20mm higher too. I haven’t got 4×4 but its still very capable without it.

Think I’m sold. Time to rope some mates into doing it.

I really like the look of this – is this just a single massive long down the mountain to the bottom race, or is it an enduro style 3 stages with transition riding inbetween?

Each to their own on this. Yes I could be out next year in July and the FS may get a little muddy. No problems at all. But the odd summer mud puddle is different to riding 30km of winter slop. I hate getting back from a ride and having to clean down a bike when I’m cold/wet and just want to get changed and go the pub.

The hardtail gets no love, and I know won’t be making any horrific noises when I next take it out. A quick hose down and some chain lube now and again is all it needs. Its a great motivator to get me out during the winter. No hassle afterwards!

Mines laid up. Hairdtail now in use, so glad I used it this weekend, delamere slop had me and the bike completly covered in mud. No way I’m cleaning all the horst link suspension pivots after every winter ride.

I’ve got one of these:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/roughneck-round-point-micro-shovel-27/53829

Its plenty strong enough, small, light, and I managed to attach it to my backpack and ride up no problems.

Watching with interest….as I’ll be buying whatever comes out on top here!

Saturday booked – two of us :)

That didnt half sell out quick though.

Perfect, thanks for the advice everyone. Will compare the mudX and the beaver prices and get something ordered! :)

I went there han solo a couple of weeks ago for the first time. As above, its a shock to the system. I took my 160mm enduro bike, FF helmet, elbow and knee pads.

You should be fine, however I’d strongly advise a FF if possible. Its all rock.

Do the blue a couple of times first. Get a feel for the place, then you can start to mix it up a bit. I ran dual ply tyres at 25psi and didn’t have a single puncture all day. Seen loads with single ply get punctures all day. So take tubes :)

Also be prepared for their ‘German efficiency’ uplift. When you finish a run, a bus will probably be there waiting with open arms. I managed 25 runs….I didnt stop except for lunch :lol:

Yes mate, and you missed out on a great day! Hope your ribs fix up soon. I just stuck to the blues and reds. First uplift place, new bike and on my own. Didnt want to risk anything silly. Had great fun. Will definitely be going back :-)

I don’t understand the changes….was looking forward to the wimps 35km :lol:

I guess for us mere mortals new to enduro (eg me) then Sunday’s enduro sport is the one to go for?

Whats the chances of me getting a relatively good camping spot turning up on Friday evening?

DoubleU , I’ll be a trail fairy on a black Jekyll and a red /black 661 full lid. My mate is on an orange Turner Burner with a blue/ black bell lid. Just give us a nudge if you see us and we can gang up.

Great cheers, ill keep an eye out. I’ll be on a blue norco range and camo green/black 661 lid.

I’m going on Saturday. First time. On my own.

Anyone else going on Saturday who I can tag along with? :lol:

My choice of bikes makes it somewhat easier to choose…. Rockrider 8.1 or my Norco Range.