Nearly all manufacturer (don’t know for certain with Ford) will issue parts along with a warranty claim, regardless of whether you already have the part in stock or have already sourced it from somewhere else.

Parts managers don’t want parts in stock that aren’t really fast moving because most PLCs will write down parts over 12 months old to a penny at the end of the year, and the cost of the write down sits on the parts department profit which he/she’ll most likely be paid bonus on.

Warranty claims could be faster and better for the customer, but the manufacturer sets the rules.

I think it’s pretty normal tbh.

I commute pretty much every day on a deeply unfashionable Toughroad, about an hour each way – maybe more if I’m dropping off the kids on their bikes at school on the way in/home.

I try to get a ride in every Saturday with my son, normally at a trail centre – Kielder red, Hamsterley, Glentress or local. I’ll also try to do one night a week at Hamsterley or Chopwell woods with a mate and then a road ride or longer mountain bike ride on Sunday morning.

I’m 44, two youngish kids and was generally feeling knackered all the time – half jokingly told my wife I thought I had Chronic Fatigue. The answer for me was (whisper it) an ebike. I bought a Decoy and now (a bit like geex, above) when I can’t be bothered, or if I’m feeling knackered, I take that on the commute (off road mostly) or on one of the rides through the week or weekend. Sometimes I push pretty hard on it, sometimes I just enjoy the ride, sometimes I don’t use it at all for a couple of weeks.

I look forward to the days I’m knackered and get the take the Decoy… 😉

They are just bikes. All this talk of increased liability and issues is baffling, really:

I’m probably faster downhill on my regular bike
I’m almost certainly faster on the flat riding my regular bike, where it’s easy to be over 16mph
I’m definitely faster uphill on my ebike, but normally that means about 10-12mph.

Pretty much every person I know with an ebike rides their normal bike at least as much. To a non-mountain biker, we’re pretty much all **** whatever we’re riding – and we were long before ebikes came along…

If I’d realised what options they open up (more miles, faster climbing, exploring new lines that you couldn’t get up – only down – on a normal bike), then I’d have bought one sooner. Love mine, to complement, not replace.

I can’t wait for the pedestrian tunnel to reopen. 🙂

I’m really looking forward to doing old regular loops I haven’t been able to for 6 years. 6 years! It’s an unbelievably long time for the work (whatever the much documented reasons).

My eldest was doing about 25 miles when he was 7.5 to 8. He’s ridden a lot with me since he was about 6 and can comfortably hold an average of 10mph or so but he would be knackered after 25 miles which we did a couple of times, I think that was about his max distance.

I’m not sure if a big lunch and a rest for an hour or so would have made any difference to be honest, his legs would be spent.

I thought maybe it was too far/fast for his age despite his enthusiasm and I keep rides under two hours or so now.

For a time in the 90s, every bike I built had:
Answer ATAC stem
Hyperlite bars
Mavic M231CD rims

Other stuff came and went. I suppose I’d say they were iconic.

Worst ever purchase was some Grafton Speed Sticks. Lusted after them, but the spacing between rings was out by miles, and they creaked like a gate.

The big advantage in commuting on one for me is in strong headwinds and/or tired brain. So many times on a commute home previously, after a crappy day, I’ve wanted to give my bike away.

Now if it’s windy I take my ebike, knowing if it’s blowing a hoolie at home time I can just whack the assistance up and just potter home at leisure. Generally I leave it in Eco, but it’s nice knowing I can just turn a pedal if I’m not feeling it with more assist.

The cut off at 16mph really bothered me at first, but in reality on the flat it’s not much different to my Smuggler now I’m used to it: it sits happily at 18-19mph without assistance. It’s only on an incline where I really feel it, but then up a hill at 16mph is more than I’d be doing on a normal bike most of the time.

I’ve ridden in to work every day apart from two since 1st June (50/50 normal/ebike). I wasn’t more than three times a week previously.

I’d go for a quick blast around the local woods with him. By 12, he’ll either leave you fighting to keep up going up/down Spooky, or he’ll struggle with a lap of the Blue.

It’s awesome that you’re doing it, but I’d want to see him riding his local woods first before heading out elsewhere.

With regards to the “skill compensator” FS argument, did anybody ever say that in a non-ironic way?

Are you kidding? It was a daily topic, pretty relentless. Here’s a random thread I plucked off a search. https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/do-i-need-a-skill-compensator/

Here are two comments, it took about 30 seconds to find them.

Seriously have you thought about a skills day first, it’s made a vast difference to my jey mincing, it’s an awful lot less money, I’m pretty confident that a day with Ed O of Great Rock has probably gained me another year at least of finding the limits of a fully rigid bike. I’m planning to keep going back as it seems a far cheaper way of upping my game long term than splurging on new kit almost continously.

you don’t need a skills compensator, you need some skills.

also you seem right on the extreme of bikes (very jey),something with a 120mm fork some widish bars and some proper sized tyres would set you right up. I’m thinking 456, soul, PA sorta bike.

what are the locals riding?

In any of these threads from about 10 years ago, substitute skills compensator for ebike, the rhetoric is similar.

I remember when full suspension was really starting to become more
mainstream and the naysayers called them skill compensators…

Now it’s ebikes. I have no idea why people have such strong feelings about them.

I’ve just finished three days in the lakes on a Decoy with another also on a Decoy: a couple of laps of Patterdale on Friday, Borrowdale Bash and Skiddaw yesterday and a longer loop around Skiddaw today and back to Grange, about 55 miles.

We’re at different levels of fitness, I rode in the lowest configuration within Eco, he was on Trail and we were able to ride together the whole time for three days. He was taking it easy on the downhills, still getting used to the weight of popping the front up but at the age of 79 I guess he’s earned the right to let me get the gates 🙂

He is fit (super fit for his age) but regardless he was climbing like he did 20 years ago, and he loved it. I loved that we were able to ride together on some great trails (although the last push up the top of the last Patterdale climb was miserable work).

About a quarter of the riders I met made some little comment about cheating. They are missing the point completely. Not better, not worse, just different.

Probably the book I’d pick from my teens as my favourite.

I was really looking forward to it and started watching last night, but I’m really struggling with pretty much every aspect of it. It feels very low rent to me and totally misses the atmosphere and tone of the book.

@sofaking

“1. It’s much easier to ride uphill in all modes apart from eco (which makes it feel similar to my Smuggler, surprisingly)” can you not adjust the eco mode parameters.mine is in eco 95% of the time and just use trail for a bit of a blast

I’d take a bit more in Eco given a choice and use that mostly, and leave trail about where it is for when I need it. Not sure I’ll really use Boost, seems a bit much.

That said, we did two laps yesterday of red/black Hamsterley with a mate, and I stuck it in Boost for the last climb up past Descent (if you know it). It’s usually a 1st/2nd gear slog up, but on the Decoy it was a 10mph climb whilst holding a chat the whole way up. Mental, really. I didn’t miss the suffering…

Average heart for the whole ride was 152. It wouldn’t have been much higher on the Smuggler but it wouldn’t have been the same distance in the same time.

@geex

1. if this is true you either have incredibly draggy tyres on the Decoy and nowhere near as draggy tyres on the Smuggler or your motor is broken. give it longer than 4 hours and you’ll realise Eco only feels subtle because Trail/boost are so obviously powerful.
This might be it to be fair

2. fit faster rolling tyres and it’s nowhere near as bad. but I agree limiting the assistance to 15.5mph is stupid
Yes, the rear tyre is 2.8, heavy AF and super soft. I’ll stick a smaller DHR on most likely soon.

3. although stability is huge they can still be ridden very playfully (see the point #4). I can’t stand just plowing through stuff and if at all possible avoid it.
Bit of both, for me. Depends on the trail… There’s no doubt the bike is still playful

4. Hopefully you’re not a wee guy and bought a large or Xl… long Emtbs are way more work to initiate a manny on or ride playfully.
I sized down from the Smuggler (at least in reach, -20mm) for that reason. I’m 5’11”, could have taken the XL but went for the L as the chain stays are longer and the BB is low (esp in low geometry, which is where I prefer it)

Wheelying them gives a bit of an unconnected feeling due to the motor assistance.
Didn’t find wheelies much of a problem, except in Boost

Ps. Nu Bike pics please? 😉
I haven’t taken any…

Loved it mostly so far. Went out for an hour or so close to home after I’d stuck the sealant in and found myself riding up stuff I’ve only ever really wanted to ride down. It’s going to be a lot of fun 🙂

Just got my Decoy this week.

Quite a few ebikes thoughts confirmed in the first four hours:

1. It’s much easier to ride uphill in all modes apart from eco (which makes it feel similar to my Smuggler, surprisingly)
2. It’s a lot slower on most singletrack where above 16mph it’s a big, heavy beast to pedal
3. It’s more planted on technical downhills and just ploughs through.
4. Much harder to manual and bunny hop, suspect this will take a while.

16mph is too low for a performance bike. I wouldn’t want it much faster, but at the least I’d like it to revert to Eco above 16mph where it just about feels the same as a regular bike. I might think about putting the US map on to raise it to 20mph…

EDIT: to actually answer the OP, there’s no way I’d only have an ebike, I love my Smuggler too. Different bike for different experiences, both fun.

Another Smuggler owner, it’s taken me down from three bikes to one (or at least it will once I sell my Stache). It just does everything, a nice light set of carbon wheels would probably transform it. In 30 years of riding, it’s easily the happiest I’ve ever been on bike.

2.4 tire clearance is a bit limiting, but as an all rounder it’s enough.

If I was replacing it tomorrow, it would be a carbon Smuggler but I’d be tempted with the new Jeffsy 29…

^^ BMW for one. I was charged for excess mileage on my VT. They were incredibly fair on wear and tear though.

The presenter is Neil Hodgson, pretty handy on a bike, and I don’t think he’s as green as you might think… I imagine he thought the whole thing was funny and he just played along.

I really like him as a race commentator.

^^ too slow. What weeksy said.

^ beaten to it 😉

It’s why my kids beat me on Fortnite. Just too slow a trigger finger.

The quickest way is to configure the DNS to something like opendns, preconfigured for this use: https://www.opendns.com/setupguide/#familyshield

They’ll learn how to change this in time, but you can also stop them doing it by device management too.

Looking forward to finding out. 🙂

There are a couple of potentially good trails on the way home (it’s not the way in, reversed) that look interesting but after a long day I can’t be arsed to see where they go, just to turn around if it’s a waste of effort. Plus a couple
of really steep, technical climbs that I couldn’t do even when I was decent (a l.o.n.g time ago).

The ebike could be awesome for this sort of stuff. I can’t figure out why people aren’t intrigued by what they could potentially open up. I can think of loads of local riding which I’ve always been able to ride down, but never up. It’ll reinvent my local trails. All good 🙂

It’s disturbing/eye-opening how many people don’t care about being inconsiderate online.

In the early days of the internet I thought it was just trolling. Now I realise that more people than I ever realised were just utter twunts.

There’s a couple of cheeky trails on the way in/home. Hardly warranting 160mm but I’m definitely not buying two ebikes. 😉

It’s a weekend bike really.

A friend has just bought one a week or so ago. He’s using it to commute to work, taking in a few nadgery bits along with some road/bridlepaths linking them up.

So far, while just cruising home every day at least one cyclist has either chased him down and sat behind to make a point or made a comment about being unassisted. It’s clearly
bothered them enough. I don’t get why, although some on this thread clearly do.

I don’t think they’ll ever replace, but for those riders more interested in crashing through the woods I can see them becoming pretty dominant over the next few years. There are plenty people who don’t enjoy the slow slog back up (I do, FWIW).

That said, I’ve just ordered a Decoy to go alongside my Smuggler. I can’t see the latter getting much use for a while. I’m looking forward to those rides home after work in the battering wind when you just can’t raise any energy. 🙂

I get them on an off, have done for about 20 years. Just come off 2 weeks of up to 5,000 ectopic beats a day. Started after a ‘quiet’ couple of years and stopped about three days ago just as suddenly as they started. Unpleasant, but symptomless. Had echo, MRI countless ECG, all normal.

Interesting that you mention ibuprofen. There is some evidence of increase risk of AF any other rhythm disturbances for some people with use of it: https://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d3450

In my late teens, early twenties, I use to take a lot of ibuprofen for a bad back. No idea if that is anything to do with my ticker but I don’t take ibuprofen anymore.

Inspiring is absolutely right.

What a bloke, and fighter he was.

Has he ever actually delivered (other than cheap shots)?

How many Tory remainer resignations tonight?

So, they’re hypocrites then? The more I’ve thought about this, the more pointless a message it seems given the above.

For everybody who thinks it’s a good move by Volvo, I wonder what their opinion is of their hybrid T8 engines which produce about 400bhp.

I can’t see how the two sit together? You don’t need to be able to do more than 100mph, as long as you can get there in about 10 seconds? Am I missing something?

If we’re going to limit speed or acceleration, can we also build in cars leaving enough of a gap so that cars that want to overtake can do so safely, one car at a time if necessary.

I’ve got a reasonably powerful car. The time I use that power most frequently is on a NSL road where there are four or five cars in a line sitting very close to each other at 30 or 40mph admiring the view. If they left a gap, I wouldn’t need the power.

Likewise automatically stop ******** drivers from accelerating when other cars start to overtake on the same roads. It’s not an everyday occurrence, but I can’t believe how often that it does happen (generally they are over 60, with a dash cam).

Cars are too fast. I like them, but I agree. The worst drivers I see are rarely speeding in fast cars though.

I think I prefer watching his videos over any others. One minute it’s a fixie, a hardtail, a full sus, motorbike, a road bike or winning the hill climb up the cobbles on a single speed. He can just ride anything seemingly.

The lack of pro-edits and multi camera angles means some people aren’t seeing just how difficult the stuff he’s doing is, or maybe he’s just making it look easy. Either way, I think he’s a very powerful, very skilful rider.

I think the Norco Sight looks good; between than and a Levo for me.

Steps motor, good geometry and 600+ whr battery. About £1,500 less than a similar Levo.

Here’s part of the problem. Folks are not outraged on someone else’s behalf.

That’s out of context, Charlie. I was saying in a response to considering a more heavily moderated forum, be it by forum function or mod.

I’m absolutely not suggesting that people call out bigotry only if they are affected.

I’ve considered before whether a forum should have a down-vote function, and whether users could set in their own options the ability to auto-hide comments down-voted by the community, setting x as a personal threshold. Generally, the most negative, bigoted views and trolls could disappear.

I think the average forum user wouldn’t turn it on because the truth is people want to read those views and comment on them, and a minority of people want to be outraged on other people’s behalf.

Similarly an ignore button. I wonder if the forum had one how many people would actually press it, and how many would feel they were missing out on the controversial posts? I’m not sure that’s unhealthy. I’ve probably had more introspect from reading opposing views on this forum than any time spend with friends.

It’s not good that Rachel is hurting, she never put herself forward as a torch-bearer. However, whether she should be proud that her openness (and comments around it on this forum) has undoubtedly positively affected the attitude towards trans of a great many users of the forum (me included).

I recently bought a Golf R Estate, similar to a lot above.

Definitely a decent size (boots about 20% bigger than a 3 series), hugely capable but thirsty getting around 23mpg normal daily driving, 32 on a motorway.

I like it, but it’s dull. Not an exciting thing to drive whatsoever.

Posts like this make STW what it is. I don’t know you, but I’m really chuffed for you nonetheless 🙂

notmyrealname
I never really wanted to race on Zwift, been on there a long time but only really used it when the weather was too bad to go out. My kids are finally at an age where I can get on the turbo at 7ish most nights without feeling like there are still 100 jobs to do, and entered a few races now since Jan.

I’m sure there are lots of tactics, I haven’t a clue what they are. I just keep trying to keep a wheel of the person in front.

No question I’m working harder now on the turbo than I have ever done before, and enjoying it a lot. I wish I had entered races a long time ago…

Started the Norseman Winter Race on Saturday afternoon, cat E (whatever that is) and went off reasonably quickly top 60 or so out of 300.

As we hit the start of the Alpe du Zwift I realised that I was amongst MUCH stronger riders than me and by the third turn about 60 riders had come past me at about 4.5w/kg and I had passed nobody. Really, really demoralising, which meant soon I was struggling to hold 2.5 feeling sorry for myself. Wished I started the hill at the back of the group and picked the odd rider off.

My turbo was chucking out some odd readings too, so that was all I needed to bail after about 40 minutes. I wanted to throw my turbo out the window…

Managed to crack 13 minutes for the Jungle loop on Sunday, but two poor rides really. Snow has melted now so I’m going to get out for a ride in the woods tonight. Need a proper ride 🙂

I like that, Yak.

I think the Africa Twin is about perfect, lovely thing to spend time on.

Agree with nearly everything above. The SATs results are a measurement of how well the school are teaching across all subjects, and for all pupils.

All kinds of results come out including how well the school are teaching disadvantaged children, those with English as an additional language and so on.

There’s a lot of pressure on the results for the school, but there should be none on the kids. I realise it’s not always portrayed like that in every school, but I’ll be telling my kids to do their best but not to worry about them whatsoever.