I got a pair of the OGs referenced above.
I suffer from dodgy wrists which ached after a few miles on straight bars. The sweep on the OGs really helps especially on the bike I use for longer distances

I bought a Barzo for the front but soon took it off, it seemed to slide too easily.
Replaced it with a Wolfpack which is excellent but now seem hard to get hold of.

Internal cables will be interesting unless you go full bamboo.

I have both Freeride and Giro Jackets.
The Fivetens are much stickier but the Giros feel stiffer. I tend to wear Giros for longer distance gravelly/traily rides and the Freeriders for trail centres. Giros definitely less clunky and slightly more comfortable

I use a multitool but have a teeny pipe plier in my bag. This is after I was caught in the middle of nowhere with a puncture but my valve had gummed up with sealant to the extent I couldn’t undo it with my feeble aging fingers. The pliers have come in handy for various other jobs too

Definitely the cafe at Abriachan! It( or its proprietor)is beyond eccentric.

Polaris was taken over by OMM and was run parallel with the Mountain Marathons.
However they don’t seem to have run one recently.
Anybody know why?

PS countryside.co.uk have them for £55 at the moment, I might even buy another pair .

Landfarer X2. I too got them in a sale and are now the only shorts I wear. Even in the winter the pairs of Humvees and other heavier shorts remain in the draw.

This has been very inspiring! I shall keep an eye on your progress. Like you whenever I have done a bit of the SUW , I have thought I should have a go at the lot but being time limited, your way of doing it seems the most likely.

We bought a yepp mini for our granddaughter but it won’t work on my daughter in law’s bike. She would need arms like an orang utan to ride it.
Any suggestions for child seat for a smallish MTB?

I’ve just had weird one with some spare wheels. I was putting them on for the summer but the rear wheel has somehow popped it’s bead and won’t seal. So, same tyre, same wheel, same tape, same valve, same sealant . They were hung up in the garage over the winter and were fine back in the autumn so why won’t one seal now? I have had the offending bead completely off and cleaned extra sealant but it won’t seal. Why?

I have Rival which I find equally unimpressive. I have tried various brands of pad but they are at best adequate. The 105 hydros on a mate’s bike seem much better.

Bizarrely, just after posting this moan, one of my missing items turned up after being overdue three weeks.
I now feel guilty because I was sent a refund after good old Yodel said my tracking number didn’t match my delivery details. Presumably they did as I received the delivery!

Impressive, what else did you do to get it down to that weight?
Mine seems to weigh a ton.

I have GA2 fat on all my bikes which have helped hand and wrist pain but the biggest improvement came from switching to 16° sweep back bars

When my non boost hub is out of the boost forks, I just attach the spacers to the wheel with a reusable tie wrap. Hasn’t failed yet.

I have two ancient Reverbs (7-8 years old) and one BrandX (3 years old) and although I have had no real problem with the Reverbs the Brand X is nicer to use and easier to look after.

I bought a set from JRA which sound like your wish spec. I needed standard front and boost rear but they have adaptors for most options. So far , very pleased with the wheels. In fact I am going to order some for the road bike to replace the rotting Hunts.( Not a euphemism)

Had a look at the ‘Bikes of’ on backpacking.com. Very few FS, lots of rigid. I thought that with the rise of ‘downcountry’ there might be a few more short travel FS.
I suppose it is ultimately about where you can stash your stuff

The some cyclists are dicks argument is one that has no relevance in road safety. Nobody (I hope) in this day and age would suggest a woman was’asking for it’ if she was assaulted. Equally the SCAD argument is not an excuse for not driving carefully.

The guy who plans our club road rides is real old school. He has a tiny home made roller with 15mm wide roll of paper wrapped round it with minimal route instructions.
However most rides he has to ask me exactly where we are as I am the only person in the Luddite CC to have any form of GPS.
Mind you , we are the youth section, 66-75, the rest are even older.

Most contents cover have a value limit on bikes, usually £1000 , hence you have to pay more to cover more expensive bikes.

Oh dear, I think this is going to scupper a lot of people’s insurance . My cover is through my house insurance but I had to pay extra to cover the more expensive bikes only one of which was bought as a bike. The rest like most people on here, were built from bits from the spares box or second hand. I might have receipts for some frames but nothing for the rest. I must take extra care not to get stuff nicked

I have guide REs on one bike and Deore 4 pots on amother. The REs are way more powerful and this is from a serial SRAM hater.

My wife is a Northumbrian , NOT a Geordie , she insists, so I have visited often. There are some pleasant bridleways on the other side of the A1 not far from Belford. They are not very technical but pretty with some good views towards the coast. However there aren’t that many so if time is limited, roadbike might be better.

I’m really pleased with mine, also being the possessor of a fat head. I used to think my Smith Forefront fitted well but the Trailblazer is definitely better.

After failing to deliver when they said they would, and I was waiting in, I got a message the day after saying they would deliver after 13.30. Unfortunately the message wasn’t sent until 13.53 so I wasn’t able to get back in time. Perhaps I might get it tomorrow, maybe.

Hermes was always pretty rubbish for us and evri is keeping up the reputation. I get the usual storm of emails telling me my parcel is about to arrive …. and then nothing.

Mine has some old carbon forks, a set of 700c road wheels left over from an upgrade ,gravel tyres and narrower bars with Crane Creek bar ends. It makes a great all rounder for taking grandkids out or not too serious gravel riding

I think what shocks me most about Rapha pricing is the fact that there seem to be an increasing number of brands charging as much and more. Where are all these cyclists who are happy to shell out hundreds on bib shorts? You know who you are.

Anybody tried the PNW suspension dropper? I was thinking of one of those for my HT to take the edge off the harshness while keeping the ability to lower the saddle. Only go to 120mm though

I live a fair distance from any trail centre but used to visit Seven Stanes regularly and stay over 3-4 days. Combination of COVID and cost of everything hikes has meant I haven’t done this for a couple of years and I imagine plenty of others feel the same

I bought a pair of the cheapest Patagonia shorts in a sale, mainly because I’m a Patagonia fanboi. They have turned out to be brilliant and have relegated my Endura and others to the back of the cupboard. Can’t speak for longevity as they’re only 2 years old but they are very comfortable and just the right length for me.

Lots of different options here. Some people seem to find any bumbag uncomfortable.
I normally use an Aiguille alpine Contour bag which is very comfortable to the extent I find myself patting my back to see if it’s still there but has no hydration option so perhaps go for the cheapest, Decathlon, and see how that goes.

I have bought various cheapo sets off eBay and they have all been fine apart from a set that resembled fancy anodised ones. They rumbled so loudly I was constantly convinced I was being overtaken by a steam roller.

2Reverbs and 1 Brand X in my garage, and,yes, the BrandX is the best and least trouble.

Thanks for that andy5390. My hands are longer and wider but from your pictures I think they should work for me.

What are the SQ Labs like for size? I read several reviews that said they were too small to be comfortable if you have large hands. I do, and find TOGS too small to hang my thumbs round comfortably so thought SQs might be the same.

P.s. I meant new, old style ones. The newer design version don’t seem anywhere near as good