An open question regarding remounting different bindings on skis.

I’m looking to get into light single day touring while hopefully doing the mountain safety course this year, so at the moment I like the idea of getting a pair of Marker Barons and mounting them on to my Line Prophets (98mm waist) which are already mounted with Salomon STH 12’s. So long as this doesn’t damage the performance of the ski, and take away from the aesthetics too much, I don’t mind.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Is it a bad idea to remount skis or is it ok to do once or twice?

Cheers!!

As a level 2 BASI British snowsports ski  instructor and currently training to be a level 3, I feel I can have an input in this under the ESF or ‘alternative’.

I can’t stress enough that there is in fact a huge difference between the two, that’s the main thing.

We were actually talking about it at the dinner table last night, a few of us. One of the guys I’m currently living with has trained through the French and British system and is now converting to the Swiss system for his next job. But anyway, we all came to the agreement that the ESF instructors are extremely good skiers, perhaps superior to the top end British instructors as they have to do lot more race training and generally start racing through gates (slalom and giant slalom) from a young age, BUT that the British system has a better approach and possibly more emphasis on the learning and teaching side. Now for me, I want my instructor / trainer to be able to teach properly, I don’t care if he was an ex world cup racer or whatever. The main thing you are paying for is the instructing. But with ESF, they seem to care more that you are a ninja on skis in order for you to be qualified, and that the instructing is (almost) slightly secondary.

My advice would be to find a ski school with BASI ski instructors.

Private versus group – with the right instructor, you’ll learn so much in three hours with a good instructor in a private lesson that you shouldn’t need much more than that. Down to cost really.

I find windstopper isn’t that breathable

I couldn’t disagree more. I have a LS Gore Bike Wear (back when thats what they were called) windstopper softhsell jacket which I wear most of the year from Autumn through Spring, its shower proof but heavy rain eventually gets through. On warmer days Id wear a short sleeve jersey or base layer under it, colder days I wear a long sleeve base layer under it, but never really need to wear more than that under it really. Rarely overheat in it.

Just catching up with all these now. Interesting to hear that very bad experience with Wild Country. They do look like a step up in price from my Vango, so I presumed that they would also be a step up in quality (The one I was looking at by them looks to be about 300 pounds on sale). Maybe you just got unlucky with that particular tent but bad customer service just puts me off going with a brand, so think I might be avoiding WC now!

Yes Hilleberg tents are very nice, but not sure I can justify that price! Would have to start doing an awful lot more wild camping than I do to justify that kind of expense.

I think I really want / need a porch… but doesn’t have to be a huge one. Enough room to take off wet boots or trousers, at a pinch.

Wrong colour for sneaky wild camping though

But the right colour for epic photographs at dusk!

Cheers chilled and others for the other suggestions, I’ll definitely look at the Berghaus one. It appears Vango is more popular than I had thought!

Mountain Hardware

Very reliable brand for kit, although some of their tents look very small. Haven’t seen many in the flesh apart from the Trango which I was very close to buying last year, only because I was able to get it for a silly price .

Alpkit

They do do great bits of kit.

Mitsubishi Warrior warriors. What can you do, it’s not even safe to beep at them.

😀  🙂  LOL!!

Pedestrians! What can you do?

Certainly are some dumb ones, as I always heard though, It’s better to be right than dead right (referring to the pedestrian in this case, I think) .

ooh if we’re doing stereotypes, can i post this pic i just took round the corner?

Audi and BMW stereotypes welcome.

Seriously though, and I am being serious here. Does having a white van make you feel like you have a speed exemption? Would van drivers drive safer if their vans were black…

I don’t think Mercedes calling their van the ‘Sprinter’ helps in any way either, drivers already sprint over speed ramps and through red lights enough as it is.

Cost differences aren’t about safety really, are they. It’s wee features (like a goggle strap or a GoPro mount) a bit more thought into aero performance, venting etc. How much you’re prepared to pay for those is very much an individual thing. Fit remains the #1 factor and paying more doesn’t guarantee you a better fit.

Good point to end the thread on, but still don’t agree with having a helmet past about 5 or 6 years.

6 year old helmet, £45, been dropped 30 odd times and had a few minor crashes on it. Doesn’t look damaged so I’m keeping it

Have you ever properly inspected it.

Look… I’ll show you all mine if you show me yours.

Good mix of responses there!! Ha

It’s been funny but can we get over this now please.

Filth, the lot of you!! 😉

Haha

Why can’t you edit after 15 minutes of whatever it is 🙁  . I want to crawl into hole.

Close this please!!! Predictive text.

I’ll add that personally – I think you can’t really put a price on safety. Not very reassuring to hear how long some of you keep your helmets for, especially when new ones can be bought for 50 quid or less. I only do a handful of DH days a year, but I still invested in a decent full face.

I posted about this about a week ago, and I’m sure there was another thread about it only yesterday 🙂 .

I hope you didn’t pay much more than SiXT quid.

Get a smith optics then you don’t need to worry about polystyrene.

Although you’ll look like you have a bunch of plastic clumped to your head 🙂 . Aren’t plastic straws in the process of being banned in a lot of places now too. That helmet is probably bad for the environment.

And Nant yr Arian is rubbish. Don’t bother going there. Please.

Sorry not sorry, too late. Did you even read my original post.

Yeah I guess it’s easier to maintain the rockyness. But I guess part of it is that it didn’t seem to have enough gradient in some of the rock sections to carry enough speed, without having to pedal like crazy. I wouldn’t be complaining if the gradient and terrain were well matched. Don’t get me wrong, I love the tech rocky natural stuff when it flows well, I’m not a berm worshipper or anything. I’ve done Iron Bike and the Megavalanche!

Trail centre riding is only a small percentage of the mountain biking I do. Kind of a last resort, but usually a safe bet 0 almost an insurance policy if you don’t know the natural riding in an area. I’ve been to Llandegla two years ago and really liked it there. It just makes me sad that CYB has changed so much. But I did enjoy sections like Pink Heifer and so on.

I also have to say a big thanks to the lads who lent me a chainbreaker! Proper ace. My gf snapped her chain and I stupidly had taken mine out of the camelbak.

Interesting article regarding CYB Owen, hadn’t seen that before.

 By the mid ’00s, it seemed that Coed y Brenin was lagging behind in terms of excitement and contemporary trail design. And while there had been money to initially build Coed y Brenin’s trails, little was put aside for their ongoing maintenance. Slowly, parts of the Karrimor, Red Bull and mbr trails eroded from red grade riding to flowless blacks.

Glentress had berms and jumps and drops. It had a remarkably fun blue trail, some very natural-feeling rides and some expert-only trails. This corner of North Wales only had its reputation.

It’s a shame really. I wouldn’t be in a rush to go back , or recommend it to others to make the trip there. There was definitely parts I enjoyed, the Adams family sections being the main ones. But I just found it a bit dead pan and dull overall. Do the people that built the new trails even mountain bike? I was just about to ask if anyone actually enjoys that rocky for rocky’s sake stuff but clearly some people do. Maybe it’s partly because bikes these days have more travel – so they just added in more rocks to try keep up with this trend. I don’t know, that’s another way I looked at it. I don’t really agree that the trails are now “custom-made for trail bikes and riders with a few more skills than we used to have back then.”

The guy in the bike shop in Dolgellau seems to prefer the old trails and says they are still very rideable.

these shelters are great and very compact.  I have the 6-8 person one plus a 1-2.  Take up much less space than the heavy ones and are just as effective for emergency use.  A few mates have them too and they have stood up pretty well to use.

Interesting. The one I got is by Rab. Not massive but not very compact either, although I hope to never have a need for it! Apart from maybe to sit out a hailstorm or something like that.

To put a spanner in the works – Is Penmachno worth the extra 30 minute or so diversion from the ferry?

The USWE one doesn’t look that stable around the waist and hips? It does look like the main straps are quite wide though, maybe that makes up for it. Hadn’t heard of that or the Wingnut before!

Also bear in mind that a larger group shelter is quite a bulky thing to pack. 2 man is quite small, 8 man is quite big

Yep, I have a 4-6 man one. Probably won’t be carrying it much, apart from the exam 🙂 . Or if guiding or coaching a fair distance away from any help.

Interesting mix of opinions there!

Cheers I’ll add that to the list.

With that ride – I’d think of it more XC than enduro . Depends what your aspirations are.

Any other campsites close to Machynlleth or Nant Y Arian for one nights stay there? Cheers.

Booked into Graig for one night.

Thanks 🙂 . Graig looks ideal. Still keen on others a bit more in mid Wales for a night too though.

Definitely head to BC or the west of Alberta if you want ‘real’ Canada. Places like Toronto and Ottawa are nice but aren’t really proper Canada imo. I’ve spent a year in Whistler, four months living in North Vancouver, and my last holiday was based out of Banff with a road trip over to Western BC.

means hills are a struggle so far

That’s the key bit for me. They do get easier, or she’ll get fitter, whichever way you want to look at it. 😉

Other more realistic advice in previous replies though.

For me its one of those marginal gains things. I take about 5 grams a day in powder form mixed into my recovery drink while I’m in hard training periods. I definitely notice myself feeling stronger – especially on the shorter climbs. It used to be a bit of a taboo before everyone realised it’s in red meat and stuff anyway. It certainly doesn’t seem to be making me slower, and the weight gain is minimal to nothing if only taking 5 grams a day (well within safe limits). So if it only makes me 10 to 15 minutes faster over a 24 hour race then I’m happy with that.

So currently, all the vehicles that would fit my needs are Diesel? I just can’t imagine Diesel vehicles having much resale value in another few years?

Good points.

Important point – I will want to go for a petrol vehicle and not diesel if possible. I’m pretty sure diesel vehicles are getting phased out over the next number of years.

Thanks Steve, helpful answer. So an LWB or XLWB could fit me and possibly 5 other adults and 5-6 bikes, by the sounds of it. So six people total (me included) or five. One of the Vitos I saw in the brochure has three seats front and back. How cramped is the middle front seat though I wonder.

Good point Mike!!!

Is this load up, drive for a few hours, unload, ride for the day, load up drive home?  Multi-day trips with luggage?

True. Plan is to pick up my clients from the city centre or a tram stop not far from the city, and bring them to the start location of the tour. This would be about a 30 – 60 minute drive, depending on traffic and what length tour the clients want to do (I plan on offering three different options). The tours would go from about 10 km in length and upwards from there, trying to have mass appeal for people wanting to get outdoors but with not much fitness. Enjoy the views, etc. Thinking of getting a couple of E-bikes as well as standard bicycle hybrids. So I’d expect total time including transport to roughly be a half day.

I’m in Dublin Ireland and hope to expand to different parts of Ireland. So can expect all kinds of weather!

Cheers Colp. I’ve been looking at the Vito brochure online now. Guessing the XL and XLT are still both the same length, hopefully!

Best check a couple of roadie threads in here about how precious they get about their bikes, no way most roadies would pay to have their bike strapped to the back of a pickup and think of the danger of prancing in and out in those shoes!!

It will be largely rental bikes, and most likely hybrids – not drop bar road bikes. Too hard for beginners to reach the brakes with drop bars.

The vehicle will mostly be used for road touring and guiding to start with, I should probably mention if I haven’t.

Also I’d like to avoid having to take the front wheels off – if possible.

*******How about time saving?? Quicker to get 5 bikes over the tailget of a pickup or get 5 bikes with the front wheels off in a van?******

Personally, I’d probably go with the crew-cab van/minibus/trailer option – do you want to limit yourself to 4 clients?

No not necessarily. But I want to start out small, and possibly grow over the coming year or two. I’m new to guiding so don’t want to bite off more than I can chew to start with. I’m trying to avoid having a trailer – mainly because of the turning circle, it might not fit in and out of our front gates to the house. A new house isn’t an option right now 🙂 .

the correct vehicle is T5 LWB kombi or lwb vito combi. or even xl wheelbase vito if you don’t care about selling it,

Can you say that without the jargon please? The only word I recognise there is Vito 🙂 .

Looks like very helpful reply Matt, but again – all that jargon lol!!

What brand is the T4 Carravelle? What’s SWB?