I’ve only ever personally had experience of the short sealskinz and worn with shorts, so yes, unsurprisingly I’ve found them less warm and less comfortable than a good merino sock. In this mode they simply don’t work.
One of my riding buddies has the knee length sealskinz and finds them OK with shorts so long as the tops remain covered by the bottom of his kneepads.

We used this kind of learner only insurance for both our kids. Worked out cheaper than adding them to our policies. Can’t remember who we used and never had to claim but it was certainly the cheapest option for us.

Yes, you can carry up Carlside from either Millbeck or from Dodd Wood.
I’ve done both.
Personally, I thought Carlside direct from Millbeck was an absolute pig (but then it was the second big carry of the day, having just done Blencathra)
If you are insistent on avoiding the scree slope off the top of Skiddaw, then Dodd Wood is probably the better of the two remaining options.

We were lucky I think….
With Crystal in AdH over Christmas, flying out of Chambery to Manchester. Flight left 4 hours late and only half full. Fortunately we were on it!

Cae Du +1
Went there with family last year on the back of a recommendation on here.
It’s a great spot. Was lucky enough to see a couple of dolphins passing-by from the campsite.

I love these:

Syntace Megaforce 2

Schwalbe Procore

+1

As APF said, Bogtrotters would be the recommendation for the MTB group covering that area.
Members all over NW. A lot in Lancaster area specifically.

Riding from the door ain’t great in Lancaster area but you can be in South lakes within 30 mins.
I’m Preston-ish area. Riding from door is again not that great but close enough to Lakes & Calderdale to be riding either within the hour.

Only a week to go

Same here, ADH on Saturday :D

I also went the other way.
Had Shimano (XT rather than saint) on three bikes. Loved them whilst they were new-ish but they all started to fail as they approached the 2 year old mark. Mucky fluid at the lever end when bleeding and inconsistent feel. Came to a head when a lever pulled to the bar on a steep set of Hebden steps!
I now have E4 on three bikes.

tech 3 e4 which are 2 years old

is not something I was ever able to say about the Shimanos.

The critical factor with carbon appears to be consistency, or lack of.

I’ve been running two bikes with X01 cranks for a couple of years without a problem but my mate’s Eagle have failed within months. De-bonded where the carbon’s moulded around the axle/chainring mount.

I’d rather run alloy cranks given the choice but there weren’t many options around at the time that would accommodate a 28t chainring and weren’t black-ano finished, which just looks battered to ….. within days.
That said, I’ve snapped Shimano alloy cranks in the past.

Rag and a bit of wooden dowel

Same here

What’s Rhyd Dhu like?

It’s quite mixed. A bit of everything. Not better or worse than Rangers, just different to it.
Top section has a few short bits that will have you off and carrying over a small obstacle or two. Some might ride it all but I can’t and wouldn’t risk trying as there are major consequences in the form of the drop to the left.
Lower stuff is a all ridable, some loose rocky stuff, some flagged, some (not much)boggy, some track.

We usually take this route:
Park at Ranger Station car park
Up Rangers to summit
Down Rhyd Dhu
back on road to Ranger Station
Up Telegraph then Llanberis to top of Rangers
Down Rangers

and yes, 44 would make you but a youngster.

Last week was… dunk bike in canal outside pub.
More usual routine is… hose down whole bike and lube drivetrain.

I have claimed off one of these policies in the past. I think it was with insurance4carhire but not 100% sure, as I’ve used a few.

Paid out without question. Just asked for copy of the damage report from the hirecar drop off to substantiate.
I’d been careful to point out every scratch on the bodywork at collection but missed the scratches on the alloys (schoolboy error). Glad I had the policy.

Re the Pedalcover excess policy, yes I think these cover an excess against any policy taken out in your name, up to £500. I also suspect most hire car damage reports exceed that figure.

I’m glad I didn’t go to the pub

MN_R ?

Procore is the answer

I claimed on my Pedalcover insurance earlier this year.
Renewal price was only about £20 up on previous year.
Painless claim experience too. Really easy to deal with. Recommended.

About the only place that stocks Galfer pads, so I’ve bought from there a couple of times in the past.
No problems considering international delivery. Less than a week if I remember correctly

Reverb warranty is two years, not one.

…but what you describe almost certainly only requires adjustment, it’s unlikely to be a failure.

Start with speed adjustment at the barrel adjuster on the remote.
Check air pressure is correct in the post.
Bleed the system if full fast at the adjuster and 200psi hasn’t sorted it.

Garda
https://bikemagic.com/mountain-bike-trails/mtb-travel-guide-lake-garda-italy.html

Helvellyn is a bit short of an “all-dayer” if you do a single ascent but quite a tough “all-dayer” if you do it twice.

If your group is up to a double, then I’d recommend starting on the Thirlmere side (near #2 on the viewranger map) then go up Great Tongue but don’t take the bridleway as per the map, take the footpath to the right of the gill instead. It’s less boggy and you’re carrying anyway!
At Grisedale Tarn, head up Dollywaggon and over the summit ridge to Raise. Descent Sticks and then Seldon Seen. Back up via Kepple Cove. Back over summit ridge opposite way. Descend Birkside as per Viewranger map.

If they’re only up to a single, then from Glenridding side, go up Grisedale valley (reverse of the viewranger route) to Grisedale Tarn. Up Dollywaggon. Over summit ridge and down Sticks/Seldom Seen.

My arse manages to wear through all the waterproof shorts I’ve ever used.

Mine too, apart from the goretex ones (so far).

Just disposed of a pair of army camo cut-offs last night after >2 years of Winter use finally wore the &rse through.
Replaced with same again, for £10 on theebay, can’t go far wrong.

To those cutting down MVP trousers; Do you use the elasticated or fitted waist type?

Elasticated drawstring waist version, but that elastic invariably snaps, so I find it best to thread a long shoelace through instead.

Depends how fast you were reversing. :P

A “carry” mostly :lol:

It’s no so much the thickness of the tube with Ti that’s the issue, but the quality of the weld and difficulty of doing it properly and uncontaminated. A bad weld in a thicker tube is still a bad weld. ‘Thinness’ isn’t the issue so to speak.

Fair enough amedias, maybe the ability to weld Ti consistently well is the issue then. Welds were clearly the weak point but I’m far from clear why.

No experience of that particular frame but my 456Ti (Van Nic) was a beautiful thing, whilst it lasted…
Loved it, right up to the point when all the front triangle welds failed, on a drop-off!!!
Seeing the thin section of the tubes at the failed welds put me right off Ti as a frame material. Just too thin to weld reliably without compromising the strength. And if Van Nic can’t get it right, then I’d not be inclined personally to risk offerings from any less well known manufacturers.
To be fair to on-one, they warrantied without question.
If it’s for pure XC though, and you’re not subjecting it to the rigours of big mountain abuse, then it’s probably better suited.

You need to buy goggles that fit your helmet, so get thee to a shop with your helmet to try some on.

That would be my advice too, and if you haven’t got a helmet, probably worth you buying both together.
Even more so if like me you need to ware them over glasses.

+ another 1 for Pedalcover
I have claimed, in the last year. Paid out very quickly, no quibbling and renewal premium only increased by about £20.

Cazzo!

shooterman,
If it’s a 30.9 stealth reverb with a RH remote, then I’d be interested in taking it if you sell.
New one will cost you £171 at the moment on CRC (with BC discount).
email is in profile if that option appeals.

Approaching zero % of MTB rides are from the door for me.
Nightrides typically a half hour drive.
Out for the day usually involves an hour’s drive to South/mid Lakes or Calderdale, or an hour and a half-ish to North Lakes.

Only ever ride from home if it’s for the exercise, rather than the enjoyment as there’s little ‘tech’ on the doorstep but the big hills are close enough in the car.

Spesh enduro?

One of my riding buddies is selling a medium one, couple of years old and really good nic. It’ll come up if you look through the usual FB buy/sell groups. Preston area.

Just ordered a couple of pairs of VXi. Will give them a try.
Riding buddy had VXi sole fall off last year too. CRC warrantied it without question.
I’ve been using Freeriders over same period and found that whilst the soles stay on better (stitched), the insoles collapsed completely within a year. They are also a bit quick to wet and a bit slow to dry.

Just for balance, I found last month that there just weren’t many cars for sale privately that I would be interested in buying and of those that were, the prices that folk were asking were approaching the trade equivalents.
I don’t think “book” price counts for much at the moment.
To be attractive as a private sale, I’d suggest the pricing needs to be about £1k less than cheapest comparable at any dealer within say a 50 miles radius.

With our lot the convention is:
Hardtail for local nightrides – year round.
Local slop-proof build, light bracket permanently fitted
and
Full sus for all day rides with proper hills and hike-a-bike – year round.

Lowey,
When our youngest passed last year, we found that getting the right car and year to bring the insurance down was critical.
eg, a C1 on ’11 plate cost significantly more to insure than a C1 on ’62 plate, which is what we eventually bought. Same spec, same engine but a couple of hundred quid more for the older one!
The best insurance deal for us was to move all three cars in the household onto a multicar policy with Admiral.
As above, 6000 miles was cheapest point.
If she’s at uni’ then you might find that her uni’ address brings the cost down too if that’d be the address at which it normally resides overnight.
If done over the phone, then I found them quite helpful in terms of adding extra discounts if you just asked what might apply.

Can’t see taxes on current diesels being hiked any time soon, either at the pump or via RFL.
At the pump; too much additional cost to industry would feed into inflation and undermine competitiveness.
At RFL; traditionally, major changes have been applied only to new registrations. I’d gamble on this approach persisting.

So, we’ve bucked the emerging trend a bit and recently replaced the car that did the fewer miles (previously a petrol) with a diesel.
This second car previously only did about 10k a year, Mrs to work and back, but we’ll probably end up using it a bit more now instead of just taking my bigger diesel as default when both out together.
Probably try to move the balance away from the current 20k+10k mileage figures to more like 15k+15k.

Little Golf DSG diesel – It’s brilliant. £20 RFL, 75mpg on a run according to trip comp and because they’ve apparently fallen out of favour, we paid round-about the “private-average cond” price for a main dealer maintained car in A1 condition.
Hope they’re still out of favour when I come to replace mine next ;)