Just for use around the site, I will be with family. I have heard Woburn is great for riding, but never been myself.

Not so much policy as whether the bikes might get nicked.

I have been lucky enough to ski in Park City, although never ridden there, but Moab 7+ times!!? Not at all jealous!

Thanks cloud one, much appreciated

Park City is supposed to be amazing but I think it is borderline weather wise. I would look further south as there are loads of options (mentioned above ).

I would contact some of the guide companies who also organise all the shuttles etc so you can make the out of your ride time. Sounds like a cool trip…

Have an Asgard Access 4 bike shed. Fits three comfortably. Wide bars are an issue.

Feels secure and well made. But unfortunately where there is a will…

Tom, that is what I am going to try.

I think 100mm to 70mm is a good compromise and hopefully a 740mm bar will still fit between some trees.

I don’t need an excuse to buy a frame, as I have got plenty of ‘rational’ floating around in my head to back it up already…

Thanks for the feedback all.

Whilst I know they will always feel different, I am trying to make the hard tail more mellow and enjoyable to ride. Particularly I am not keen in hanging over the front of the bike so much.

Whilst I know geometry is not something you can completely change with just a new bar/stem combo, I rode a Whyte with a wide pair of bars and instantly feel I gelled with the bike.

I can’t hope for that, but I would like less of the puckered bum and more of the relaxed feel of the full susser, although I can never expect them to feel the same.

Dutch, it is a bar (wider than my 690mm) and stem (shorter than my 100mm.

Mammoth have bars, just limited stems (but they have a 70mm only which should be better than the 100mm currently on there).

thanks all, need to visit today.

I have been to Swinnerton before and bough some stuff from them in the past, they have been very helpful.

I will try and see which is closest/recommended above and then go from there.

Thanks all for the input. I can’t stand the thought of another twitchy ride again, so I will try and get some bars and a stem to try.

I am not sure how I out up with it for so long. The original bar and stem were even narrower and longer…

Second above recommendation for Two Wheels on my Wagon. Have seen it sold under another title too, which I currently can not recall. Short but easy reading.

Humphries books and Siberia both also excellent. Makes you want to take a break from the daily grind.

If an alien or deviant probed you with that sucker, I am guessing it would be uncomfortable.

I have some (Revelations). The change from 150 to 120 helps when climbing. But my travel adjust bit has just stopped working, so they have gone back to Fork Hospital.

Not sure if more complicated internals makes them less reliable? My sektor coil travel adjust forks had no issues.

I have a 2013 rev. Going back to Merlin as the travel adjust feature has stopped working.

Did not realise fork could be pimped with bottomless tokens.

If you book well in advance, you can get some reasonable BA flights. These are usually a bit more expensive than Easyjet etc, but you can take a bike free.

I managed to get rtn to Geneva peak season for £120.

I would definitely join a guided holiday, as mentioned above. Good way to meet people, get the best riding and minimize hassle.

Bump

Gravity Slave,

Hi, I had to bring all the equipment back with me, as I live 200 miles from the old man and we could not get everything sorted at his house.

I tried the Sonos 5 at my house – works fine, so I have managed to convince the wife to allow me to keep it! Bonus.

The rest of the stuff I am going to return (I can’t afford to keep it all and if it suits, will buy a Connect at a later stage).

Thanks for the tips and will check the links if I have any problems running it at my house. Will have to spend some time on the Sonos forums to see what will work well for him, given his house has no option to put in Cat 5 cabling.

Went after work yesterday. Paid and parked and just pushed hard to get round before the car park closed.

It was a shame the shop was closed – the place was heaving and I think they would have lost a lot of business during the day.

Thanks Scruff. Internet research seems beyond me!

Thanks. I will try and park there if possible, as I am happy to pay a few quid to ride such good trails. Just don’t want to get the car locked in.

What time does the car park actually close this time of year. It says dawn till dusk, but I have been at first light and it has not been open and similarly I don’t want to get the car locked in.

It says sunset at 7:54, but I can’t see that they are going to stay open that late. Better to park on road just next to the site?

So, bought the old man a Sonos system. One play 5, one boost (as the house has thick walls), a connect and a synoligy hard disk.

Have managed to get the play 5 to connect once. Other than that, bollocks. Think it may be the think walls and I need to hardwire. Also, internet is really slow at his (using mobile signal to post this).

I am thinking of trying a tp link set up, plugged into the router. Any suggestions? Tearing my hair out trying to sort it out and i have just spent £800 on the old man’s behalf, so feel a bit bad.

Thanks both.

In terms of mounting options, there are fewer for the Sony cameras. They do sell a tilt mount, but that adds a lot of height and makes them even more unstable/likely to hit a branch.

I tried mounting it to my Giro ski helmet (on the side) using a go pro mount and adaptor. It made the helmet unstable and stuck out like one of ED 209’s arms:

I will try a temporary mounting rigged with some tape, and see how that sits. Unfortunately the curved adhesive does not fit that far forward on the helmet, (as the curve does not match that of the helmet on the top/frony), so the options where the pad will stick well to the helmet are frustratingly limited.

Bump

Thanks. I had a double post issue going on.

Was going to buy him a connect (has Cambridge audio hifi) and then for the other room either a Sonos 5 or a pair in stereo.

For streaming from laptop without it being turned on, do I need a NAS? Have seen Synology recommended on here.

T5 is what I would have. I do like Defenders, but then again I would also look at a Jeep Wrangler if I really needed that sort of car.

For moving large stuff around, T5 is going to beat a Defender which has a load floor that is not that big and not even completely flat. Discovery 3/4 would be a better compromise, the space with seats folded is huge and they are better built.

But when it comes to it the T5 would hold its value better, will be better made and will be more comfortable to drive on long journeys. The wife will not let me have one, which is why I am encouraging you to! I you really need off road ability, you can pimp one like this A Team thread: 4 Motion Camper

Also changed as it was cheaper. PlusNet seem more customer service focused. BT are terrible and only offered me a discount when I was looking to move.

Our service is still quite slow though, but every time I have spoken to BT about fibre, I get a different answer, which does not inspire confidence.

Sod that. Booked with VBRO for 7 nights in a nice apartment in Ft Lauderdale, Flordida. Deposit was 300 USD, returned promptly. No discussion on insurance. You can tell a lot from the owner’s attitude from their emails etc, so if it smells fishy, leave it.

Plenty of options available – don’t stop looking unless you are happy with Scotland option.

Stumpy01 – have they paved over the car park at Peaslake then?

On the subject of my photographic incompetence, can anyome recommend a DSLR how to use a camera guide?

I saw this one: How to use a camera for those who can’t tie their own shoelaces

I bought a K50. I had a load of lenses from my Dad’s old Super A and K 1000. Ironically, I have not tried the old lenses, but know they work from when using them with 35mm.

I know nothing about SLRs, but am pretty happy with the results so far and think the quality of the camera and results is the mutt’s nutts. Also would say I think splash resistant cameras are a good idea – I mean, just look out the window.

I think they have just released a 9 speed auto box, with a smaller 1.6 Diesel engine, which is more efficient and develops more power than the old 2 litre, but appreciate you might not want to buy new.

I think the more recent models come with DAB, which personally I would want. I would consider one, massive boot and Honda are reliable (in my view).

Some auto boxes now make cars quicker to accelerate then manuals. I have had both and find the auto we have now smooth and relaxing to drive (8 speed auto on a diesel bmw).

Some just arrived in Surrey this morning. I have the pink ticket to go biking near Peaslake, so this means there will be a lot of Qauttro toting ‘chaps’ who are very pleased with the all weather ability of their car.

Anyway, I am like a child and get over excited in the snow. Woo hoooo. :mrgreen:

I think the touring would be my choice. Have driven both the quality series and the 3 series saloon. All drive nicely.

Comments re: snow are fair. My touring came with snow tyres on a spare set of wheels, which has made it useful in winter weather.

Auto box very nice. Ours is a 320d. Good engine, but be aware of N47 engine issues. We have taken out an extended warranty on ours as it is outside BMW 3 year original.

Second the comments about sat navigation. Our came in old man’s SE spec, as it was previously my father in laws. Dull…

Thanks all for the tips. I can honestly say that I have a selfish side to me which would like to get the mortgage done, then keep some cash for something useless and irresponsible like a VW California.

Anyway, luckily or not, I think the wife would like to push for a larger house. So we may look to ‘upgrade’ for more space and just pay off part of the mortgage now. The small chink in the Armour is that there seems to be bugger all for sale in our price range, in the area we want, etc etc. Usual story.

Would be nice to come home and think you actually owned the place you lived in.

Sandal, in that case, definitely a 5 series.

Passat. Dull, but Google N47 engines. Our BMW 320d has one, would not have another.

Thanks all for your input.

The question I have not yet answered is if we can really stay where we are long term. Having a large mortgage scares the nuts out of me, because things change and suddenly what looked affordable is a bit borderline. Having said all that, it probably is a good time to borrow as we are both in a job and interest rates are currently low.

I am not necessarily of the bigger is better variety, but I would like to be in a place that gave the kid some room as she grows up. On the flip side, our current home keeps me from going out and buying any more bikes. I rode a fatty yesterday – tempting, but no good as I have no room!

Another vote for the Tontine. Very friendly staff, really good food, reasonably priced and accomodating towards bikers.

They have storage, but as friends were renting bikes from Alpine bikes at GTwe were luckily able to store both rented and our own bikes at their shop.

You can easily ride up to the trails from there, so great for longer days/warmer weather when the car park might be busier/you don’t feel like loading up a car/van.

We ate at the hotel, but the location is slap bang in town, so great for pubs/food is you have the energy.

Hi,

Thanks for the advice. Been working away, but tried downloading direct to iMovie and it seems to have worked ok. Need to get some decent footage before editing anything, so will have another go at the weekend.