It’s clearly a generational thing. The youngest member of our ad hoc cycling group always wears calf high socks while the rest wear shorter, just over the ankle bone type.

He’s 65 , we are 75. Like I say, generational.

I have some Trace forks which did suffer from a cheese foot nut. I managed to get a replacement but you have to have the original because the thread size does not match the across the flats size. I also managed to chovel the bolt thread and had to run a die down it to attach the new nut. Needless to say I have been reluctant to service them again so  I would definitely bin them and go for the Fox (which is probably what I am going to do)

Surprised at that, I have jersey that’s 20 years old and although it’s getting a bit shabby it’s still wearable.

The sale seems to have been going on for ages and there’s very little left. Does anybody know when the new lines promised by the new owners are actually due?

I took have been a long time Polaris buyer and like Scotroutes above hope the new stuff will hit the spot.

You have to ask why? But you also have to ask why would anybody want to watch? If you want to share a route there are loads of ways of doing this.

All will be well. A bloke in our riding group had his hip done a few years ago and still beats me to the top of the hill. Mind you   another bloke had a triple bypass and he still…etc

The external cable routing is one of the minor things that made me buy a SolarisMax. The thing that will probably make me sell it is more that it’s a big quite heavy tank.

I have a Vitus gravel bike with the Fazua motor that I mainly ride in the Peak. I can rarely get more than 30 miles out of a charge only doing about 7+800 metres of climbing. I weigh 80-85 kg while a mate who weighs 5-6 Kg less with a lighter bike gets more miles to the charge but still not as much as some of the figures above. Must be tyres, pressure etc.

I think cyclists do spend money on clothing, you just have to look at the proliferation of high end brands. Rapha are no longer an outlier of expense, there are some way more expensive. However this is mainly the roady market which is fairly international and also fair weather focused. Northern European MTBers are probably too much of a niche for a lot of brands.

This still leaves the question why local brands aren’t tuned in to the needs of their local markets? Just to expensive to get Chinese factories to produce low run lines?

Why is Goretex sizing so weird? I normally hover between L and XL in most jackets but I had to buy XXL Goretex to fit my not very manly chest. And yes, the arms are very long.

Yep, that looks like it, snotrag. Would have done that if I had seen it in time. One of the blokes I was riding with lives in the next village to Eyam and he didn’t know anything about it.

I recently brought some Galfers in an attempt to quieten a noisy brake which was running eBay cheapos. There was no improvement in either noise or braking. To be fair my other bike has Galfers and they work well so it may be a disc problem but Galfers are not necessarily a magic bullet.

Yes that’s the one. Lost Lad and Back Tor look the most obvious on the map but just checking this doesn’t involve heavy duty hike a bike

Met seemed to have dropped out of popularity but theit Roam helmet is excellent and suits my head very well. Can be found for £60-70 and even less on eBay.

You don’t really need shin guards unless you are particularly clumsy or daring. The only time I whack my shins is wheeling bikes around in the garage!

Have now done this job using the eBay stickies mentioned above and all came together very well. After three rides the cable guides have not moved and  of course didn’t have to disturb the motor. It also took a fraction of the time to thread internal routing.

Three times in the last 40 years and only once on my own bike. The other two were the same bloke. One Sunday his chain broke and I sorted with a quick link. The following Sunday it happened again.  You can guess what he had done, nothing and he was surprised it had broken again! Some people believe maintenance is optional.

Fairly normal. I have big feet and normally take 48s in most shoes and this works fine with Giro. I have the earlier version which are my most worn shoes. Not as sticky as five tens but for my feet., much more comfortable.

What do you do about them though? The police don’t have enough resources to catch criminals let alone scrotes, who are often apprentice criminals, on illegal Mixers or electric motor bikes. They can’t chase them in case they kill themselves and they will never get any witnesses to incriminate them.

Has anybody done the B/W from the 503 spot height on the Horsehouses road to Scar House? I did it a good few years ago and it was a trackless boggy push for most of the way. Just wondered if it had been improved recently as it could be a good link .

I found that with the inserts glasses steamed up much more than without. Not sure how you get round that as the inserts will always be closer to your face than normal glasses.

I have done Torridon several times in February and had decent weather e.g. no snow, named storms etc. Might just have been lucky though…..

I wish I could clear my garage out! It is full of grown up kids junk. Every time they move they assume my garage is the place to leave stuff. We’ve actually got one couple living here until they can move into their new house . I have bought bike stuff twice because I couldn’t find the originals!

My wife consistently offers to take son+partner and grandchildren (3+5) on holiday but then remembers what hell it is until the next time even though I remind her that last time we needed a holiday on our own to recover. The children can be cute and charming or malevolent trolls but that’s kids. I find their parents more consistently annoying.

Sorry RD, that’s me just having an age related moment of word blindness!

Can’t seem to get them in without extreme violence

Thanks for the info. Further internet research found a very useful chart on the Epic Bleed Solutions website which lists which Shimano brakes use which insert. Turns out mine are BH90 and the inserts I have are silver which hopefully means that I am good to go.

Has anybody managed to simply plug the existing hoses and olives into the new brakes when stopping left to right?

I have run XT on my ebike for about five years and it has been fine. I don’t find it wears that much more than a normal bike but I am not a boost masher. The stuck cassette thing is often down to the freehub. I had this problem on my DT Swiss wheels but it disappeared when I switched to a steel freehub.

Weirdly this is exactly my current project for the same reason as dyna-ti. I have had the motor out before to replace dropper cable but managed to damage contacts costing a new speed sensor. There really isn’t much clearance between motor and frame so taking the brake hose out of the equation is a real plus

If you believe what we read in the bike press that’s the wrong way to pedal an ebike. Apparently you should keep a cadence of around 75-85 rpm to maximise battery life and motor efficiency. I have an ebike and have tried this and it does seem to work.

I bought mine as a result of all the love on here but really don’t get on with it. I have all the above mentioned button annoyances plus it turns itself off mid ride. Oh   its gone flat you think but it then resists any attempt to charge it up. Maybe I just have a duff one.

I have a Vitus eSentier which I bought because at the time it was way cheaper than an  eFS. It is actually an excellent bike which is well capable of most Peak stuff and has had excursions around all the Seven Stanes. You won’t win any down hill cups but you will have a good time. Having said all that bike spec is as important as any other bike. Mine came with Revs, Guide REs , DT Swiss wheels and XT gears. The On one looks very low rent.

As far as I can see everything is aligned properly and tightened. I might just have to give up and buy some Shimanos. Pity because the REs actually stop very well, it’s just the teeth rattling vibrations

I have Hunt, DT swiss 1900s and jra bitex wheels. The Hunt are the only wheels to give problems which consisted if multiple cracks round spoke holes. The other two have been absolutely reliable but the JRA are much lighter

I find equal ignorance amongst roadies and mtbers. My most blatant snub came on a very remote unpopulated trail where I saw an MTB approaching from a considerable distance. When he finally got level he ignored my greeting and rode past without a glance . It’s just people

My Sunday roadie group has done less miles this year than ever before. They don’t mind cold but the endless rain has depressed everybody. I am now looking for that moon on a stick, the lightweight waterproof so I can ride through the summer!

Any suggestions?

No, no and thrice no. I just don’t get retro, especially from my own past. I am glad that people can be bothered to maintain and restore old machinery for me to look at but I just want the best technology I can afford in car/MTB/ l motor cycle

X2 for neoprene. I bought a couple of cheap neoprene knee protectors from eBay which are even shaped to fit round the down tube/motor interface. They are not actually waterproof but they absorb a lot of the moisture and keep most of the trail generated crap out of vulnerable spots

Every time this comes up I question the business model which accepts such a failure rate. Emtbs would be a lot cheaper if buyers weren’t supporting warranty programmes

When my E8000 expired after 3 years, I took it to a local shop who claimed to have all the Diagnostic kit. Like b33k34s experience, they didn’t have a clue and charged me money for effectively rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. I next took it to my local Shimano Service Centre who were great. Even though well our of warranty they fixed a deal with Shimano to buy a new motor for a third of the price. Not ideal but a considerable improvement on the alternative