Merida Big Trail might be worth a look, more trail than XC. Loads of stand over and Guy Kesteven raved about them in his review. A few bargains left on leisure lakes too.

https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/merida-big-trail-400-review/

It’s worth signing up to https://www.france-passion.com/en/ it’s a directory of wine producers, farmers, cheese makers etc. that let you stay on their land, we found some great spots through them.

The camper contact  app is also good for finding sites, and I’d recommend looking at the municipal sites, some of the smaller towns take great pride in them, they’re normally a reasonable price and close to the town centre

I thought Planet X’s “Compo” was spot on –

“Why is it called Compo?”
“As a tribute to Last of The Summer Wine actor, Bill Owen. His character, Compo, rode around the moors of Yorkshire on a bike. That’s what this bike does too.”

https://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/old/news/compo.shtml

We had a MacPac Vamoose, one of the previous models without the fold out stand. I found it really comfortable for half day / day hikes, enough space for lunch, coats etc. MacPac stuff is well made and thought out. There’s one on EBay (not mine) for £45

Of the ones you have listed only the VeloSpace and Strada DL will tilt enough to allow you to open the tailgate on a camper if that’s a key thing for you

Summerleaze beach is great for the kids when the tide is out, rock pools to explore and clamber over.

Our kids really enjoyed The Hidden Valley

There are some nice cliff top walks to the north of Bude, between Sandymouth, Northcut etc. but they are a bit hilly.

Food wise the Olive Tree by the canal is nice.

Outlet and Sale frames include Elite paint which is normally an extra £100 over standard

We had one of these when the kids were small (up to about 5 / 6 years old)

FollowMe Tandem

They’re not cheap, but way more stable than a tag-along. Pretty easy to attach/unattach the kids bike.

Now they’re older we’ve just got a TowWhee tow rope, really lightweight, super quick to attach/unattach.

I’ve always wanted one of these, with a stove for winter trips. Single pole means it should go up quickly

Tent Tipi

How about Park Tools Internal Cable Routing kit? Yes you can make do with cotton, coat hangers, old gear cables etc. but the Park Tools one made things a easier, and it comes in a nice little box ;-)

Yep, you’ll need SRAM shifter, Shimano shifters have a different throw, and will not work with SRAM rear mech.

I recently discovered this when changing one of my kids bikes, ended up with Shimano Altius shifter and mech.

FYI – I did have a X4 shifter in the spares bin which I tried, but the trigger position didn’t really work with the brakes and small hands (7 YO).

There’s a useful size guide here BMX Groms

I’ve got a UK Hammocks underquilt, makes for a super cozy set up. Before getting that I used a thermarest neo-air sleeping mat, it’s got a rubbery base and stayed in place well, the horizontal air chambers mean it conforms to the shape of the hammock better than others. When using a mat you need to make sure you have some insulation under your shoulda, I use one of those cheap, super thin foil backed roll mats from highlander, set out perpendicular to the neo-air to form a t shape.

Both solutions are bulkier/heavier than my bivi bag set up, but it’s just nicer to sleep in a hammock

I don’t know the answer, but I’ve just discovered the same thing myself. Riding on the road with guys I regularly ride off-road with, and I’m struggling to keep up on the flats, but uphill I’ll start to pull away.

Off-road no issues keeping up wherever the trail points.

I think it’s a power to weight thing, off-road is rarely flat, so ability to maintain momentum and flow compensates for lack of power, but on the road there’s nowhere to hide.

That’s my theory anyway, just need to figure out how to increase power.

I’ve never been, but a few friends have recommend this place to us – http://www.sustainability-centre.org/camping.html

We’ve stayed at twin trails just outside Merthyr before – Twin Trails

5 minutes from BPW, a couple of pubs around the corner, and a decent breakfast.

They have a quad room and two doubles, but have said to us in the past they can put extra beds in if needed

I’ve just put mine up for sale over on the classifieds if you can stretch to £125.

21.25TT, which I think should suit your height from what I’ve read online.

Yes, you need the quick release adapter set.

Re. Rotating around the axel, there is a u shaped bar which attaches to the bracket you fit on the down tube of the childs bike

Only disadvantage I can think of is that you can’t just take a bike and go off on your own – you have to go at least as pairs

We went last year, and whilst the official rules are that you have to go out in pairs the guides did let me go out on my own. We had a bit of a chat, and they asked me to come along to the first guided ride of the week, basically to see how my riding/fitness was and check I was reasonably sensible, after that they were happy for me to go out on my own.

Going on the first group ride is a good idea as you are likely to meet someone else who is on their own who you could buddy up with, but working it around other family stuff meant grabbing a bike on my own in a spare hour or two worked best for me.

I don’t think you do need a Microsoft account, if you go to settings/email and accounts you can add one or many different types of account – Microsoft, Google, iCloud etc.

In the people hub/app you can then add some or all of those accounts. You will only see updates from the accounts you have selected.

It’s a new Bing Maps thing, if you want to go back to the old Bing maps then click on ‘feedback’ in the bottom right hand corner and click on ‘exit’, this will take you back to the old Bing Maps with OS mapping.

I’d heard that crowd went to another pub in town, perhaps they’ve been moved on. I wouldn’t worry too much, this is Haslemere after all, I was in the cookery shop the other day and a another customer was horrified to hear that someone hadn’t returned the cake tin they borrowed, and that was why they were now asking for deposits, she genuinely said “What, in Haslemere? surely not”.

A group of us ride every Tuesday evening and Saturday morning, your welcome to join us.

Similar view to tor5, I’ve been here about 4 years and only been in once, despite our rides often starting from Lion Green.

If they are saying it shares the same geometry as the entourage you might want to have a look on CRC, they have 43% off the deluxe which did well in the dirt 100 a year or so ago.

I had a clicking noise when pedalling, I thought it was the new BB I had fitted, but actually turned out to be a dry thread on one of the pedals, a bit of grease and the noise has gone away.

100mm X-Fusions on mine, coming from a soul with 115mm. Feels pretty good but I might adjust them up to 120mm following this thread.

Normal Man – I still not 100% convinced by the x-fusions (they’ve been back twice to lock-out and rebound not working), but they feel better running at 30% sag.

Green not on mine it is one of the lower end Nokia though

That’s strange, it should work on all Windows Phone 8 devices, I’ve just got it to work on a Nokia 520.

Junkyard – You should be able to change the text size through ‘Settings > Ease Of Access’.

To add your bt email account there are two options, the Mail App on the Home Screen, or Outlook on the desktop

Mail App

Open the mail app
swipe in from the right of the screen to open the list of charms
Click on settings
Click on Accounts
Click on Add Account
Click on Other Account
Select IMAP
Enter your email address and password and you should be good to go

Outlook
Open outlook for the first time, you’ll be prompted for email address and password, enter your bt account details

Ardent LUST, Crossmark LUST, and Nobby Nic Tubeless Ready all work good for me.

Great event, well organised, friendly crowd an great trails. Good job QECP collective.

Thanks pugster & kudos100, order placed.

Quick question, do they come with flow or flow ex rims?

Just found an image of the 2013 model, you’re right, it’s so much better looking in that blue.

It’s the 2012 model, but is this what you are after at Mountain Trax –
Cannondale Trail SL 29 3 SS ?

I’m using one of these – ethirteen TRS Dual Guide. I’m happy with it so far.

Keep the Soul and get one of these –
http://www.freeload.co.nz/pages/13/The-System

(Sorry cant get links to work on my phone)

“They are actually two different styles of use, MS should perhaps recognise this. They COULD produce two OSes in fact, work and lifestyle say, or they could make it easy to switch between modes. Or.. they could sell a work version without the metro stuff.”

This is the whole point, they want one OS that provides the experience you want when sat at home on the sofa, and the experience you want when in the office, so you only need one device.

I’ve got a single touch enabled device for work and home, at home I spend most of my time on the metro interface, at work I spend most of my time on the desktop interface.

Switching between the two is easy as you just click on the Windows key. Starting things is easy because you just click on the Windows key and start typing what you want to start, I really don’t miss the start menu now, but I did to begin with.

I’ve been impressed with these Odyssey plastic pedals that came on my BMX, they’re £15.99, you might be able to find a cheaper unbranded pair.

I’m the same height, also riding a medium soul. I’ve got a 70mm stem, seems perfect to me.