Tried both and went for 650b. The 2 x 29ers I tried felt a bit more dead than the 650b. Mind you – the comparison was on fairly cheap (maybe £500) Scott hardtails I think.it was at a sporting event.

I still think my current 650b steers slower than my previous 26er. Although I suspect that’s more down to geometry than wheel size.

Sram Guide RS have been great for me so far. Ridden through all sorts of muck and rain and kept coming back for more. Had a year and a half and on 3rd set of pads. Did a bleed on last pad change and all perfect. Original pads were organic – pads since then have been sintered.

On my fs it’s Conti Mountain Kings 2.4 width 650b with black chilli compound.

On the hardtail it’s the cheapest Schwalbe Black Jacks they make. Fine on the road, awful if you show them a root or rock that is damp.

Italy is nice – what sort of holiday though – relaxing or interesting? Wife and I loved Florence – very romantic I thought. Rome ok, but much preferred Florence. Lake Garda meant to be really nice but I’ve not made it there yet.

Always had good service from Evans store in Bristol. Have used them more recently as I didn’t realise before that they’ll price match. A few times they’ve automatically checked CRC without me even needing to ask. When I wanted some 5-10’s they were really helpful with trying them on / talking about their experience with them- and also offering up a viable alternative (specialised) to try on to compare.

Also had sensible conversations about 1×10 and handlebar widths. Happy to use them more and more.

It depends what he’s after / perhaps whether he has a mobile phone or not. I’ve just got a GoPro hero session. It’s a great shape and nice and small. Picture and sound are good. No screen though – you link it via wifi to a phone to check what you are looking at. For me that’s fine – I set it up before biking. If you don’t have a decent mobile then perhaps not so good.

Also with the session it isn’t in a full case – it just has a skeleton protecting the corners. Perhaps if he’s using it whilst climbing there’s a chance he could hit it against rocks which may miss the skeleton and hit the actual camera. In which case he might be best avoiding the session and going for a model that’s in a full case.

I’m liking what I’m hearing about the lights / batteries.

I’ve asked my parents for one for xmas. No idea what it’ll be like. I emailed Torchy to ask which is more appropriate for off road out of that light and the bk thr33. He suggested the 6ix as it’s less spotlighty and more flood. I’ve got a cheapy Chinese thing to put on my helmet to go with it.

Sounds ideal. Wouldn’t fancy having a disagreement on sleeping space with a large dog like that lol. If Molly comes Camping she can sleep in her crate otherwise god knows what she’d get up to. Sneaky dog would be eating something she shouldn’t no doubt.

Jolmes – what car are you getting?

That’s a fair size dog to move / share a tent with! Is it a lab or something like that? Ours only weighs about 7kgs / 15lbs. She’d probably grumble, but not too much trouble to shift! Certainly easier than the pregnabeast in my bed at home.

Jolmes – you need a 2nd tent to escape to I reckon. I hadn’t considered how we’d arrange camping with a dog (ours is small and fluffy too – the dog, not the wife).

Rage machine is s good description.

When I say normal service, I’m just hoping for a bit less mental. I’m also hoping our daughter decides she likes camping at a fairly early age as the wife refuses to go in a tent and I love camping…

Also hoping said daughter takes to biking and hockey. Knowing my luck it’ll be something more expensive like horses.

Just going back to the start of this thread, has anyone got the Clarks disc brakes that they are still using? I notice one comment mentioned no bleed kit was available which seems a bit of a flaw from the manufacturers perspective.

Not that I need new brakes at the moment, but I did consider buying some before going down the magura hs33 route. So more out of curiosity than anything else.

That’s what everyone is saying. The dog we got in February changed a lot of things as it is. I figure it’s just a further extension of that

Glad it’s not just me getting the s***y end of the stick!

My wife is binging on marmite – can’t believe the volume of it she’s gone through. Guess there are worse things – unless it’s known to make people angry.

My wife thinks I should have given up alcohol with her – ur no. That said I haven’t actually got drunk even once whilst she’s been about during the 9 months so I think I’ve been fairly thoughtful.

Deviant – like your thinking!

In fairness on the Jag front she actually said she liked the car until just after I’d ordered it. Given the dog is a small fluffy one and the baby is going to be small then I don’t see a huge issue. It’s a decent size 4 door saloon with a good size boot.

The wife was often irritable and snappy with me before pregnancy – now it’s just on steroids no matter what I do.

I’m not actually the kind of person who is off mountain biking all the time anyway. Maybe once a month at. Eat at this time of year and maybe once a fortnight in the summer, so I don’t foresee a problem with that. I’ve knocked hockey on the head for the current season too, so I can e around for the wife / the baby a lot.

Equally it’s not going to be healthy for either of us to be in top of each other / spend every waking hour with the baby so we do. We’d done time to do personal things. I’ve already said im happy to take the dog and the baby out on my own once they can be bottle fed so she can do her own thing sometimes. I don’t think I’m being too unreasonable.

I have thought that about biking etc. I’m getting told off anyway so may as well have some fun!

Already getting grief for the car I’ve ordered as a company car. I was looking at estates as I actually quite like them aside from the practicality for family stuff. Wifey said estates are ugly – don’t get one. So I’ve ordered a Jag XE saloon – so excited about getting it. Now being told off for buying an impractical car!! I figure I’ll just get a roof box- maybe I can put the wife in it to keep her quiet on long journeys lol.

But really, I’m looking forward to the baby coming now. Been so much build up to it with antenatal classes etc.

Yes it’s the first….always thought we’d have two children but I’m not so sure right now! The wife hasn’t spoken to me since about 8pm last night.

Despite telling me I’m getting fat (I had a shoulder op in September which made any kind of exercise hard for a while), I then get grief if I do any exercise because I’m not spending enough time with her. She also wanted a dog at the start of the year so I conceded and bought one. Apparently I spend too much time with the dog. Can’t win at the moment!

My wife hasn’t even had any sickness at any point so I think she’s had a reasonable pregnancy. I get that it’s hard work and all that, but she does seem to have milked it! Maybe I’m not as patient / sympathetic as I thought…

Looking forward to the baby arriving now and just getting on with being a dad.

Thanks for all the quick replies. When I say normal service I was thinking about being less moody and obstructive.

Obviously the baby is going to change everything in a big way.

At the moment I wish she was asleep more!

He wasn’t evil, he just needed educating…

That slam face first onto the floor lol. Ouch.

I’m not hugely into my sound system stuff but like music / films to sound good at home. Got a 5.1 surround sound setup in the lounge – but it was a pita routing all the wires under the carpet. To is in a corner so not convinced the surround sound element of it is worth having and the speakers look a bit ugly.

Recently put a new 32″ tv in the gym (partially converted garage) and wanted better sound. Went for a sound bar with a sub in the RBS as much easier to mount / sort out wires. Sounds ok to me – the sub fills out the sound a fair bit. Not in anyway an expensive sound bar – think it was about £70 from Phillips.

I tried connecting it with hdmi arc so the to remote would control volume, but as soon as it was connected it muted the sound bar on and off. Annoying and couldn’t figure out how to make it work. Gave up and connected with a coaxial digital lead. My new jvc TVs doesn’t have optical out for some reason. In fact it’s not well designed for going on the wall either – all the connections come straight out the back rather than out the bottom so the leads hit the wall.

Interested to see replies to this as my wife is due next week with our 1st child!

Think I’m likely to have to grab odd days on a weekend when I can. Luckily there is no hockey in a weekend in the summer so will try to do my mtb then. Already said to the wife that if she wants some time to herself some weekends then I’ll have the baby all day whilst she goes out. Hoping that’ll buy me my bike time on other weekends!

In terms of household chores most of that is covered as we’ve now got a cleaner. Saves bickering on weekends about who is going to do the hoovering etc.

I like what a lot of people think are crap action films.

Transporter 1,2 and 3.
Kick boxer
Never back down
Fast and furious (other than the 3rd one which was crap)
Drive angry
Welcome to the jungle
Universal soldier the return

Also most things with Jason Statham, the Rock, Jean Claude van Damme, Steven Seagal etc….

I’ve had the lenses changed on some old oakleys by Ciliary Blue. Vision is pretty good out of them – I went for polycarbonate for impact protection. Meant to be worse for optics but they’re great. Maybe they’re just an ok shaped frame? I’ve got quite a narrow head where glasses sit so always have to pick narrow sunglasses – in this case Oakley minutes that I bought in about 2004. No tint on the new lenses – just clear.

Think I’ve got minus 1.75 in the left eye and minus 1.5 in the right. Slight stigmatism in the right eye. But probably a fairly mild prescription overall.

Also just found a magicshine 900 for £42 – thoughts on this vs Torchy bk thr33 race vs Torchy bk 6ix race?

It seemed fun – going to be my commuter and play bike for a while I think. Might not see proper trails – although might try it at Ashton Court next year as it’s pretty flat / tame there. I feel a bit over biked there normally with 150mm/130mm travel on the full suss.

Would quite like to re-learn to wheely, back hop and a bit of hopping on benches etc with this bike. Rear magura needs some work though to get the lever firm enough.
The
Also going to swap out the 32t oval chainring for a 34t round one I’ve just put on the full suss (also now 1×10) as I’d like a bit more commute top end speed. Figure the 32t will give me more help at Cwmcarn next time I can take the fs there.

I’ve currently got a couple of lights. Both cheapy Chinese things – 1 is like a torch with 1 led and an 18650 li-ion battery built in. Not good for off-road it would appear – not enough light and can flicker a bit. Got another light which is bar mounted (or head harness thing) with a seperate battery pack. Commuted with it last year but mostly in cycle track and it was pretty powerful.

Thinking about trying some night riding in Jan or Feb off road so think I’ll use the headlight thing and get a n other light to join it. Mount one on the bar and one on a helmet. Don’t want to spend more than £50 on a light which limits my choices – away from the expensive brands.

Looking at Torchy on eBay – 2 lights stand out – the bk thr33 race and the bk 6ix race. Has anyone got either of these lights / got any thoughts on how good they are? Won’t be hardcore off-road stuff – just Ashton court / Leigh woods in Bristol. Max 2 hours so run times shouldn’t be a drama. Photos below show my current light and the 2 lights on eBay I’m referring to.

Got given a gopro session for my birthday on Monday from the wife. Lovely little camera, but apart from a sticky mount for the top of a helmet it comes with nothing else. Had a play in the week with some of the (multiple) mounts I got with my cheap sjcam and they all work fine. Had one that goes on the handlebars and that stayed firm enough to go round the local pump track (very gingerly as dark and first time I’ve been on the bike since shoulder op in September).

Might be worth people buying the cheap Chinese mounts that are designed to go with all these cheap cameras. They are all interchangeable, and massively cheaper than genuine ones. Also in the kit that came with the sjcam I can make up a mount to go on the seatpost to face the camera backwards to see chasing riders (think that’ll be the sjcam as don’t want stones hitting my session). I bought a cheap chest harness for about a fiver from eBay that works well too. Don’t think I’ll be paying out for genuine GoPro stuff.

For me it was buying a longer air shaft to take my Revelations from 130mm travel to 150mm travel. Or swapping my spds for flats (wellgo mg1)

I’ve just gone from 2×10 to 1×10 although I haven’t ridden the bike yet since to see how it is.

I had an 11-36 cassette with 28/42 chainrings. I’ve popped on a sun race 11-42 cassette and a 34t chainring for now. I found an online tool to calculate the ratios to compare to my old ones. I found a 32t would match the old ones, but am going to try the 34t as it shouldn’t be much less ‘spinny’, and gives me a bit more top end. Your lowest 22/36 must be very low – are you in a massively hilly area to need that? Admittedly I mostly just ride trail centres but there are some big hills at Afan and Cwmcarn and I just about survive those and I’m not massively bike fit.

Mines not for sale – still going strong after well over a years use. If it’s getting stuck it may just need a strip and regrease – and I think there’s adjustable spring tension on the bottom of the post. That said I’ve literally done no maintenance on mine – not even had to change or lube the remote cable.

Connected my session to the phone this evening – amazing! So clever how that works…..

I did consider leaving space to open the lid. I did see a front opening narrow box and wondered what that’d be like. Can’t remember what make that box was now.

http://www.jaguar.co.uk/jaguar-range/xe/accessories/index.html

This shows the bars as wingbars like the wider ones.

6 bikes on one vehicle – I’m impressed! Must be a pain to load – looks like a ladder job…..

I think it’s the 2nd of the 2 options you posted up. At least that’s my understanding of what Jaguar are providing.

On quick look that appears to be a lot of extra stuff. Might check it out when home on the home pc. Thanks! Genuine go pro stuff seems ludicrously expensive for what it is.