Nice one MrGrim, cheers.

Hotly debated subject, but IMO:

KT
Inners
GT (but not at the weekend)
Ae
Mabie
DBT

All depend on diversions…check before you ride
The Dark Side @ Mabie is excellent but should really be saved for a nice DRY summers day…not recommended in cold/wet Scottish winters

Better delivery times than wistanleys!

Disgruntled Cotic owner maybe?
Sits back, brew in hand, awaiting arrival of spanking new Hummer (the one with the strong stays :wink:)

sounds like a used Orange P7 is the bike for you. Fun on the downs and a nice all day xc bike. Funnily enough i'll be selling one next week :-)

Seriously though, a P7 or similar long travel HT sounds like it fits your criteria, great at trail centres, short blast thro local woods and easy to maintain.

I wouldn't say that flats are necessary, but it's worth learning how to do it right before you hit the spd's and cheat!

Can I also suggest to buy a copy of a mag like whatmtb to get impartial reviews on budget mtbs. Boardman get good write ups and great for the price.

Give free flow bikes[/url] a call, neil up there sells both and v knowledgeable

Hope so, I just ordered one mwahaha

Saltcoats is indeed a total hole. However, the above is correct. Arran is close by and good riding, also nearby Lochwinnoch – good sustrans route for the kids or there's always Misty Law if you want a challenge. Must add that getting to Arran by car is expensive.

Well maybe 3/4 of the way up Cairngorm there will be (and rain and 50mph winds) …don't expect any snow in Aviemore town. If you want to stay where there will be snow outside your door head overseas. Cheap flights to stockholm is great, but getting around + food + accom = megabucks.

Hmm…how expenive is not too dear….and I take it you mean abroad?
I would suggest for guaranteed snow the cheapest option would be hop on Easyjet/ryanair to Geneva from Edinburgh when flights are cheap and hire a car for 2 days – then take your pick of hundreds of ski resorts. Porte du soleil ski area does have v cheap accom and the kids can go sledging etc
BTW,Lapland is ridiculously expenive for a short break

There was a woman on the news yesterday in Cumbria blaming climate change for her house being underwater. Asked how long she lived next to the river she said "5 years, and I've never seen anything like this". I'm sorry but these people deserve little sympathy from me. I feel for them that there belongings etc have been ruined, but she was coming across like she was blaming someone for it. The environment agency/met ofice to a great job in these situations, and it was CLEAR to even me that the pattern of weather systems meant the rivers would flood.

Now, living on a mountain…I used to be a land surveyor and one of our jobs was to check for v small movements in slopes, particularly after heavy rains. Not sure what soil you're on but I hope you're aware that landslides could be the next danger in really saturated soils.

Jeez I wish I still lived in bolton (5mins from Bob Smithy) – all this talk of Winter Hill / San Marino descents makes me jealous. It used to be so easy to pop out after work for a couple of hours on them moors.

Ashley,
Hadn't really started looking at any second hand ones just yet. Although the 18" seems to be the right size.
What kind of condition is it in? How much you looking for it?

2 already mentioned- Carn Ban Mor and descent into Torridon are without a doubt the best and longest ST descents anywhere in the UK.

My cheeky fave is always gonna be the Winter Hill descent to Belmont.

Outside UK, Alpe D'huez has a hidden gem in the trees down to Bourg d'Oissans, not far from the megavalanche trail

Same up here (Glasgow). Loads of trick or treaters/Halloween parties than I can ever remember though. The news yesterday was suggesting Halloween is becoming much more profitable for supermarkets than Bonfire night.

S_O, Did Ae and DBT in the same day in Aprilish this year. All that I found at DBT was the optional tree/slabby type sections in the final 1/3 of the ride. The 'tree' bits were sooo slippy in the wet, all rideable yes, but if that's the kinda thing your after, Mabies Dark side is just 10 mins away.

It's quite interesting reading this thread…one mans meat is another mans poison and all that. Personally I can't understand how anyone would rate DBT as their fave Stane, to me it's dull dull dull. The techy optional sections are few and far between and if it's pissin' down (Dumfrieshire in nov = 100%) they will be your last visit before Dumfries A&E.

OP, i'll try and sum it up for you. If you like mtbing on hills, with actual real life downhill sections (you'll have to work a bit to get there – which is why people complain about it) go to Ae. If you're into less work but small techy sections go to DBT, but take a pillow :wink:

Yeah, and they'll only pay out if you're days from dying anyway. Pointless IMO, you take out life cover anyway!

Another vote for Ae.
DBT is IMO the worst Stane (don't count Newcastleton in that) Dull, flat and no facilities. The only highlight is the Slab, but after that it becomes slow singletrack boredom. Ae has jumps,hills, steep descents, wooden shore, optional Shredder/DH section and the last section Omega man (I think) is FAR better than anything DBT has to offer.

Wasn't for a minute suggesting she was a bike thief! I'm sure however it would make some thieving scumbags day if we were all to post pics of where our bikes are kept overnight and how they're locked up.

Dammit…there's cctv in my room now :wink:

I'd love to show you my shed, 3 lovely shiny bikes worth over 6k, I'll even tell you how they're secured shall I? :roll:

Wasn't there a thread on here not so long back asking how many bike thieves used this forum?

Coolhandluke earlier today…

Ahh….Fred bait eh druidh?

Something about ferries :?

Looks like someone has ridden through a puddle of tip-ex

you changed the rear cassette, if not how many miles has it covered?

yoohoo999, I noticed you didn't post on the earlier "Anyone in a job they actually enjoy" thread :lol:

Spray areas with a silicone spray or any lube and wipe with a dry towel. Jobs a gud un'

Coffeeking, am I right in saying you live up past Milngavie somewhere? And you want to live in Killie???? You must be mad. Once a week I cycle from Shawlands to work in Prestwick and I deliberately choose a route to avoid Killie, even though it adds 3-4miles to my route.
Have a look at Stewarton/Kilmaurs area. You can easily then take the 'back' roads to join the m77 near Mearns on your way into town and the areas are MUCH more pleasant then Killie. I'm not saying there aren't nice places to live in Killie, but you pay a premium for them as the 'nice' areas are few and far between.

Bob, you wouldn't be refering to Pollock Park would you? Have been there the last couple of evenings and was having fun trying to avoid the kamikazee little b@stards. Actually it was a tad scary…they can be vicious…certainly wouldn't like a bite from a Glasga sqirrel!

Sony Bravia W series. 100Hz, motionflow blah blah blah. Best picture quality of any tele and you can trade in your old tele at loads of places for a new Sony bravia.

+1 Air traffic controller here. Loads of time off for biking, but shift work generally means less weekends riding with 9-5 mates
Pomona, where you based?

dobo, think you may have a stalker there :-)

Covent Garden tube station (spiral steps)…now that would be impressive

Sat-map

I've got a P7 – 08 slidey drop outs. It's a good all round trail bike, bit on the heavy side. In hindsight though I wish I bought the Cotic :roll:

My first cx race completed too (SCX Round 1 – Plean). Thoroughly enjoyed it, even managed to pass more peolpe than passed me! Did get lapped by 3/4 of the top boys though…damn they're fast! Maybe next year I'll give them a run for their money :wink:
Thanks for the advice posted earlier, had 1 gel before the gun and energy drink the hour before, and no water during the race at all….and surprisingly I didn't even need any.
Thanks to Stirling Bike Club for organising a top event.

Are water bottles a no no at cx races? Do guys use camelbacks, or just go without for an hour or so?

World cup winner and all round nice guy Tinker Juarez

Pocahontas