Also just bought one of those volts, thanks – the recent crap weather made me realise how much I’m not looking forward to riding this winter! Other than a mat what are the other odds and sods that are needed?

What trails? Hard to say without knowing what / where they are. I like both FWIW, love a bit of tech but well built flow trails are also awesome and are great for newbies if everything is rollable. The issue is maintaining them, as once they get a bit blown out they’re a bit pointless. From that POV trails which only get better as they weather may be a better investment, but aren’t great for getting newbies into the sport.

Pretty much everything worth saying has been said, but if you can avoid using Chambery as your airport i would do that. It’s a tiny little thing that isnt designed for the volume of traffic it gets so it can be pretty miserable at the end of the holiday when you’re tired, you’ve been up since 5, and you just want something to eat and somewhere to sit down!

@ebennett I’ve always used Startline. They are along the main road beyond Super M. Once they’ve sorted their daily rentals they tend to be accommodating for walk ins

Thanks Mark, managed to get one off a bloke servicing their bike outside the apartment!

Anyone know the best place in morzine to get a valve core removal tool? Managed to loosen my fork valve by overtightening the shock pump, think I’ve managed to fix it by sticking a tubeless prong in and twisting but would like to give it a nip up with a proper tool to be sure!

Great, thank you!

bump

One of my favourite albums of all time and one of the few from my late teens that I still listen to now!

Think I saw them on the tour for the next album (which was a bit pish) but had the same experience of feeling like my body was vibrating from the bass.

Awesome, exactly the kind of suggestions I was after 😃. Bohinj seems much more our speed, and the Emerald river trip and kayaking are definitely things we’d want to do!

Thanks all, think we’ll tweak our itinerary to Rovinj instead of Pula in that case and see if there’s anywhere near Plitvice to stay on the way back to Zagreb. Definitely planning on doing some walking in the Julian alps, will need to take a look online and see what the best options are depending on where we stay.

We’ll primarily be sight seeing, not taking a bike so would need to be somewhere I can hire one if I end up doing that. Wife doesn’t ride but she enjoys a day without me to read her book and drink coffee in peace!

I have the 2014 model Mazda 6, think it’s the 2.2 SE? Has leather seats and electric seats anyway so might be the model up from that one. I like it and am planning on keeping for a few more years given current 2nd hand costs! Got it at ~40k and it’s now on ~70k. In terms of your points below:

Reliability – only real issue has been an O2 sensor which broke and took ages to get diagnosed and fixed, cost ~£1k. Might have been related to some body-work that was done following a very minor bump as it was fine when it went into the garage and lurching like a sick dog when it came out – no way of proving that but seemed suspect to me! May not be an issue for the petrol version, don’t know enough about cars to say.

Seat comfort – very comfy for long drives, I’m 5’7 and fairly small so YMMV

Space for rear passengers – good, lots of leg space, can easily get 2 adults plus a child in the back.

Boot Space – great, lots of space and swallows bikes pretty easily with the front wheel off

Bike loading ability – as above, my medium 29er goes in easily with front wheel off – it’s height rather than width that necessitates it due to handlebar size. I’ve had 2 bikes in the back before, easy enough to get them in it’s just sorting out a way where delicate bits aren’t scraping on each other. Not tried any more than that!

Handling – it’s a big long car but handles pretty well, it’s not something I pay a lot of attention to but I enjoy driving it.

MPG and other ongoing costs e.g. servicing etc – mine is diesel, gets about 45 mpg across mixed use, I think advertised was ~55. Main costs have been annual servicing for the past 5 years at my local indy, they’ve quoted ~£130 for an interim service for this year. Other costs have been consumables, i.e. tyres (all 4 replaced) and a battery which started to go last year.

The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with an MRI

When it worked it was great on my old S8, but I lost count of the number of times I went to check an offline map I’d downloaded and it either wasn’t accessible or it had deleted it and wanted me to download it again. Haven’t used it since getting a new phone and tend to just plan routes and navigate with my Garmin these days.

Depends on what ‘good walks’ means – big hills, or just good walks?

Good walks is fine, hills are good but we tend not to do big big hills as we walk on the days I’m not on the bike.

I’d seen Betws-y-coed mentioned as somewhere good to stay, will check out accommodation there as well!

Mine’s a Mazda, managed to find a video showing how to remove the spoiler for the hatchback model and it looks pretty similar inside to mine (estate), so will give that a go and then seal up the fixing points – thanks all!

I’m assuming that it’s no longer in warranty? I’d be off to a body shop to see if the holes can be sealed.

Nope, 9 year old car that’s very much functional so aesthetics aren’t hugely important (as long as it doesn’t look awful).

Have you had any body shop work done on the rear end?

I did get lightly tapped by a lorry a few years back (at ~1 mph or something) and it went in for some work on that, possible it’s related but tbh it’s nearly 4 years since that now.

Remove the spoiler via the fixings.

Probably the best option and if I can find some diagrams that show how it fits then I’ll give it a go, but the workshop manual online wasn’t much help – don’t want to just yank it off!

Bear in mind ambient temperature. I think needs to be warmish to cure the Sikaflex. It should say on tube. Could be your issue this time of year.

Yeah, I also have a leaking porch window that’s patched up with gaffer tape just now while I wait for spring and temps where there’s a chance of getting a good seal!

Is it leaking in because drain holes are blocked (somewhere)?

Entirely possible, it sits under a tree most of the time and the crap just builds up everywhere.

The caulk looks a good option as well, avoids the need to fanny about with silicon. I have got better at using it over time, but I generally end up with at least as much on me as I’ve used to do the gaps!

Sikaflex

Perfect, thanks – is it reasonably easy to clean up any overfill before it dries? From past experience redoing bathroom sealant I tend to be slightly cack-handed in applying it!

Is the plastic just a bit of trim though ?

It’s fully integrated, it’s the part on the left of the tape on the pic. I don’t think there’s any tracking going on as I can see its coming through to the interior via 2 plastic fixers that seem to attach the plastic exterior bit to the metal part of the tailgate.

How did you go about working out where your water was getting in?

Took the interior trim off where it looked like it was coming from – was pretty obvious as it was wet – and then sprayed water on the exterior while I sat inside with a torch and looked for where it was getting through. Looks like there are 2 plastic fixers that attach the plastic exterior part to the metal part of the roof and that’s where it’s leaking, problem is it’s impossible to reach them to just apply silicon round them.

I started getting like that over the last few years, so I stopped consuming it. Don’t read any news sites and turn it off if it comes on the radio. It’s helped me a lot, I’m prone to worrying anyway and there’s no sense worrying about things I have zero control over!

We got married at Holbeck Ghyll overlooking windermere with just us and our parents attending, it was perfect for our needs. My wife’s not into cycling otherwise it would have been great to do 3 passes in the morning and then get married in the avo!

I mis-read the article it seems – yeah, I’d be happy to contribute to a national fund, it’s probably better that way as I imagine you’d need a decent chunk of change to do anything meaningful in some places

Ditto, as a regular (when I’m fit) Peak rider I’d happily chuck a couple of quid a month in if there was an easy way of doing it (and reminding me to do it).

I actually get to contribute for once after a year of crap health, nice crisp Friday jaunt around Edale and Mam Tor!

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I have to say that these articles undermine my faith in the whole review process

I own 2 sets of DMR vaults. The pins are easily pulled out. Eventually this process will destroy the thread. Inside a soft nylon bushing isn’t sealed from outside dirt. The pedal doesn’t spin smoothly until suddenly the bushings are loose. Yes they can be rebuilt but I’d like to think a pedal that cost £80 won’ wouldn’t need rebuilding quite so often

These shot coming after mentioned in many user reviews but no professional reviews

+1

I’ve had 2 pairs of Vaults and both went loose and rattly within a year or two. Switched to Nukeproof Horizons 2 years ago and haven’t had any issues.

Holiday or work?

Only ever work – never check on holiday! It’s a small company (~100 people) and I think they’ve just had an “oh shit” moment around security and have communicated it poorly. I trust them not to be dicks about it, but it just doesn’t sit right with me.

Thanks all, good to know I’m not just being paranoid! Day-to-day I don’t really need work email on my phone and I’m strict about out of hours checking, but historically it’s been useful for trips abroad with work. Haven’t had to do those for a few years (obv.) but there are a few planned for the next 6 months. I’ll just delete the account from my phone and tell them they need to give me a phone if they want me checking emails while I’m away!

In your position I’d just cancel it and find something in stock at a LBS or decent national chain. I recently placed an order with Leisure Lakes on a Thursday and they dropped the bike off on the Saturday. The bike was a replacement for a Canyon which had the same part fail 4 times over 4 years…

It depends on the job market for your role really, if you could easily find a new role it only really benefits the employer, while you would benefit if there’s a risk of redundancy and a period of unemployment before starting anything new. I had 3 months notice when I left my last place which they made me work, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world as I stopped stressing about projects as soon as my notice went in. I’d have preferred to be out earlier though, but it wasn’t like I could just do nothing during my notice as it’s quite a small client-based industry so would have looked bad if I did that!

Some route suggestions are listed in this thread. If you’re not familiar with the Peak just be aware that the climbs can be tough depending on what you’re used to!

Probably just a set of allen keys and a BB removal tool that works for Shimano and SRAM. Park Tool Bottom Bracket Tool (BBT-9) should do the job. You’ll need a Torx screwdriver as well if you need to attach the chainring to the cranks.

If we’re excluding uplift, I’d say if you go to Scotland and pick 3 of the available options you pretty much can’t go wrong. I’d definitely make Glentress one of the choices and Laggan if it’s not too far. None of the English ones are worth a road trip and the Welsh ones I’ve been to (Llandegla, CyB, Afan) are just “fine I guess”.

Yeah, I did think about just selling on at the time they replaced the full frame – kind of wish I had now, but with availability the way it was it seemed like I’d be without a bike for a while! Might do that this time if they replace the frame again. Canyon have been good with me though, and I’m happy to kick in a bit of cash if they’re willing to upgrade to the newest model so I’ll ask and see where that gets me!

It’s fine, but seems a bit pointless to go round the east side of the reservoir without doing any of the good stuff round there. Easy enough to add it in though, see this ride for an example. On the SW part of the loop I’m not a fan of slogging along the road between Hope and Edale to link things up after doing the Roman road (step 7 in your link), I prefer to just turn around at the gate after you meet the road and do the descent as a climb (as per this ride).

Edit – don’t know why the sharing links aren’t working :/

Ah, should have checked the link, hopefully this is better! The ride was great and the UB descents were good fun, the little climby bits were just a bit too much for my knackered legs. Which was annoying, as they mostly looked doable if I was at full fitness (apart from some of the steps)!

Thanks again for the advice, I did this ride yesterday and it was great – the last bit where there’s a lot of up and down and some tech climbing nearly defeated me though as I was pretty knackered by that point! It was busy with walkers anyway though, so would have been tough to get up some bits regardless.

Thanks both, the Ullswater route sounds perfect – easy is good at the moment, my fitness/skill is rubbish after a winter/spring of constant colds, plus I’ve never done it before so that’s another big tick! If fitness becomes an issue it looks like it’s easy enough to bail out along one of the earlier paths rather than going all the way to the NE of the lake, is that the case? And would I be missing out on some good trails if I do?

A bit of a drive is also good as we’re changing over between accommodations in Ambleside and Hawkshead and have 6 hours to be out for.

Not sure if it is too close to Ambleside for you but maybe dotting around Claife?

I do like Claife but I’ll probably be over there next week as we’re staying in Hawkshead.

Thanks, Garburn might work, can maybe send the missus to Troutbeck and back with the dug!

heart rate monitor is on my watch

YMMV, but HR as measured by my watch (Fenix 5x) is pretty inaccurate compared with when I use a chest strap. If you’re planning on using HR data as anything other than a curiosity I’d recommend getting one, the Garmin one is fairly comfy – I no longer really notice I’m wearing it on the bike, although it can be a little annoying when running.

You could do cut gate from Langsett, easily extendable around the Ladybower end if you’re feeling energetic.