fyi just got a Fabric gel saddle from Evans for £35. Only one ride in so too early for a recommendation.

road.cc has lots of well-written reviews – like this one for the terreno.

Personally, being tight & having used the no-longer-available & slick Voyager Hypers for years, I’m going to give those Jack Browns from Planet X a go at £15 each.

I had an 8 Power Lite and dropped into the road out my cycle jersey pocket 2 weeks in – properly caput!

Now on G9 Play which has NFC, similar battery etc. No complaints so far.

Yes, sorry I wasn’t clear, the bar clamp held well (perfect size for my 35mm bar) but the GoPro-style clamp couldn’t hold the light horizontal, at least not after I’d flopped over a few drops.

Thanks for the advice @huckersneck and @molgrips – I’ll have a fiddle trying to rough up the plastic and/or a different bolt. I guess the long and heavy object is a scale above the centrally-positioned lightweight camera they were designed for.

Yes, @joebristol, still impressed with the light. It’s served me well this far and I actually got on OK with the original rubber strap until it weakened 2 years down the line. 330 replies since the original post!

I finally tried out the supplied front mount after making do with the rubber strap for a while.

The mount fitted snugly on my 35mm bars and didn’t move. However I couldn’t tighten the GoPro mount enough to stop the torch flopping. I suppose it’s pretty heavy to sit on a pivot mount like that.

Next step a Hope mount or similar like everyone else!

I’ll wait for it to appear on channel 4 (hopefully). Something to look forward to!

Thanks, that’s useful. I guess that area could do with some time to recover from a summers worth of heavy usage anyway, just hope it’s not an end to the more interesting trails longer term.

I’m a sucker for endings with a bit of mawkish brass – Elvis Costello’s Shipbuilding, Billy Bragg’s Levi Stubbs’ Tears. (Surely I must be able to think of something from this century, I thought, but no…)

I got a G8 Power Lite to replace my G4. Not as flash as the others but, with big battery, 4Gb RAM & 64Gb “disk” does everything I want for £135.

Part of the reason for going cheap is that it will tide me over for a couple of years while 5G drops to a reasonable price/gains coverage. Well, that and I’m tight.

Just a shame I smashed the screen in the first week! And my wife warned me not to trust my bike jersey pocket…

Thanks chaps. Missed the Whippet frame – the headtube certainly didn’t look tapered.

C456 sounds like an option – but do you think Reba 120s would be too small?

I’m basing the whole exercise on having these tapered Reba’s, wheels (26 too) and most of a drivetrain. Goal is a backup MTB for me & a decent MTB for my ever growing sons.

Just been looking at exactly that @flatpat. It’s exactly what he’s after but they won’t have any stock in until August either.

I bet ebay will be full of them in 6 months 😀

Sorry, got the wrong end of the stick, @binners!

Must be fustrating at the mo if you can’t get hold of a bike.

I have a 2017 Neon 4. Has done everything from the daily commute to 100 mile road rides & currently in “gravel” mode (only a change of tyres, right). Tiagra gears 1:1 ratio for the hills & basic Shimano hydraulics cover most things. Would recommend it. Appreciate there are many similar bikes and it doesn’t look flash but then… it is a hybrid.

We have an Amazon Echo, and a couple of Dots elsewhere.

While they’re good for some stuff, the radio will randomly cut out and it’s driving me mad. Signal seems OK and a phone on Tune-In or BBC Sounds will carry on without issues.

– so I’d advise caution with them. Maybe the Google things are better?

Have an old Evoke Flow but the screen dimmed over the years, I replaced it & it’s dimmed again. Software updates were also annoying – it would stop working until you attached it to the PC, downloaded & installed the update.

Wondering now about just having a speaker and driving content off the phone. Either that or a super-simple radio.

Official List

Thanks!

If you’ve had a chance to try them on (obs not ridden yet!) how do they look & fit?

Whether I’m running or riding I just love musing over a local map & then randomly exploring. it does mean you never quite know how long you’re going to be out and, particularly running, I’ve quite often ended up having to walk back because my fitness ran out. You can then enjoy reading up on local history afterwards – there’s loads of Napoleonic war prisons, deer leaps, nuclear-proof microwave radio towers and random stuff you’d never realised was out there. Which might well feed your next trip. Old man pottering, I guess. Conversely, I unexpectedly found I like the community/everyone in it together feel of a Park Run, even when I have a slow one.

I’ve got a 2017 Neon, which I think is pretty similar to the Arkose of that year.

Do 40mm tyres fit OK for you guys? Planning a long gravel ride next year & need the extra cush/grip.

You mean them carefully noting how she wasn’t tired as she crossed the line & showed no sign of fatigue despite also running the mixed relay.

Also enjoyed it. Makes me think I should take the kids to a UK meet sometime – must be really impressive being able to really appreciate how fast /high/long in the flesh.

Thanks, you’re right, it’s all still there. Sorry if I came over all dramatic!

According to alltracks help:

Can I still access GPSies and all of my account information?
Yes! You can still use GPSies.com and access your GPSies account information by logging in here. The GPSies Android and iOS apps will also continue to be available for the time being.

I’m going to download everything just for peace of mind, carry on using it while trying some of your suggestions until I find something I like.

Bought one last spring. Put it up in garden & looked good. Put it up in France on summer hols & one of the pole sleeves tore. Survived the week by suspending that part of tent from tree.

Pretty sure we didn’t put too much pressure in as used pump with gauge & valve.

Aldi referred me to an Australian manufacture as it was over 6 months old & they wouldn’t respond to my emails.

Would avoid…

But isn’t it great when you have an “on day” out of the blue! Swings & roundabouts…

We got Pure Evoke Flow did about 10 years back. The LED panel faded about 3 years back, got a new one (not from Pure) off eBay for £25 which lasted a couple of years before fading too. Otherwise it still (annoyingly) works fine.

Considering letting the devil into our kitchen and getting an Alexa this time.

There’ll be much wailing and gnashing off teeth in the Welsh side of my household!

Time for Bernal to step up?

Is the TdS on the telly? (freeview/virgin)

This isn’t going to decrease the price of bikes, is it?

Still could take a while for it to filter through: a previous employer of mine had their own cap of £500 until 2 years ago. The HR Director was one of those Audi owners with a “you could buy a car for that” attitude!

Sounds perfect – ordered – thanks Submarined.

I’ve just got a Trance 29er to replace my old Anthem 26. New Anthem 29er looks really nice, but a little too racy, not quite the all-rounder compromise I was after.

If I had bought in a previous year, I would have got an Anthem 27.5, maybe the SX.

Trance 29er is nice, but it’s no lightweight. On the plus side, the dropper & bigger suspension/skills compensation will improve my riding on trickier stuff, or at least remove the excuses!

On DHR2 now but frankly overkill for non downhill trails.

Thinking Aggressor as recommended above. How quick are they?

Previously on (26er) Saguaro which was a bit extreme in winter? Is Aggressor the ideal middle ground? Cos now tubeless, want an all-year option.

Mine is still going too, will keep happily grinding away until a major breakage makes it uneconomical to repair. Or it gets nicked like the last one!

Part of the reason for low prices has to be cycle to work: why would I risk more than, say, £600 on used bling when you can get a grand’s worth of half-decent if utilitarian Bossnut/Boardman/Marin on an interest and tax-free loan?

A shame to think about all those unused bikes hiding in sheds…

Hmm, I suffered from numb toes on a 75 mile road ride in 5 10 freeriders. Was wondering whether it was the over-bendy sole that put all the pressure through the ball of the foot – perhaps a stiffer sole distributing the pressure might improve that?

(temporarily going back to SPDs for next long road ride – not that that helps you, sorry OP!)

Those Terrex flat shoes look decent for wet/winter MTBing!

Got one & pretty pleased with it on the bars. Generally don’t need it running full blast, so it will cover the usual 2 hour night ride, provided I have a backup for the commute home.

Too heavy on helmet for me – pushed the boat out and got an older Joystick for that.

Was musing on runtimes & extra batterys & have come to the conclusion that at £35 might as well have two! No cables, no velcro cases dangling from the frame, no big difference in weight or price (buying from a semi-reputable source) and a spare for mates in an emergency.

120 Rebas from Winstanleys on my 2011 X3.

Fitted fine, work way better than the knackered F100s that preceded them.

Can’t tell you about damping or tuning as I’m a fit, vaguely tune and forget merchant. At least until something is noticeably wrong!

Ouch.

We were there today too. Tried the Freeminer’s extension which was new to us and fun, in a rooty slippery kind of way. A perfect trail for non downhillers who want to get away from the manicured stuff. Still enjoy the Verderers though.

In the past have started at Viney Hill and randomly trekked across the forest which was surprisingly enjoyable. Not something I’d do in the muddy seasons though.

What about this bright yellow one then?

I though about bottles for ages but then bought one of those “triathlon feed bag” kind of things – this one.

It works well, I can slip in some sweets too and still use my bottle cage for water.

About once a year I find a usable light on the side of the trail.
To counteract this I also lose one on a yearly basis.
That’s karma man.

I switch my rear lights off on the trail. The inevitable “is my back light on” group Q&A session happens every time we do a road section…

A a general point, for front and back lights, I really wish they had a simple on-off switch rather than cycling through modes.

Thanks Normal

Looks nice.

Out of interest, do you think there’s any point in having the extra heft of a steel frame? I’m sold on steel for other uses (my Kona Sutra on 28mm tyres is noticeably comfortable). Maybe the weight difference isn’t such an issue when your wheelsets already hefty?

As a Venture Scount in the mid-eighties, we bumped into Lord Montagu while trespassing near there. Kind of interesting, considering his notoriety, not that we knew any of that then. He was quite annoyed but softened up when he saw my mate in a wheelchair. Was near what looked like a summer house – not sure if that’s Cadland.

We were definately trespassing though.

This fat bike thing sounds like a laugh – hope you enjoy your ride.

I can see the advantages but think I’ll wait until 11 speed Deore/SLX level stuff is out, i.e. you can get a standard rear mech & 11-42 cassette. Then it’ll be cheap enough to break & replace. I hope…

In the meantime, I’ll be using about 8 of my 30 available gears…

On a slight tangent, will the Leyzyne mount take a DX-style torch?

I’ve got a velcro block thing that works but it would be nice to have a setup where the torch fell off instead of my head being jerked back when I hit some low branches!