I’ve got a GS on my longitude ,11-42 rear and 36/26 front ,not a problem using gs on 2x set ups

Had it on my cdf ,turned out to be seat rail clamp was slightly loose ,not enough to feel the seat move ,a quarter turn of both bolts ,and it went

Jesus ,Alan I didn’t know she’d passed ,been off here for a while , I am so sorry ,only seems a couple of months back I dropped the scooter down to you and we all had the ride over Cwm rheadr ,hope yourself and kids are getting through it ,it’ll take a lot of time but it will come , easier said than done but stay strong for yourself and the kids . hopefully you’ll find time to get out for a few hours and have a clear head for the time you are out
All the best, Stuart

I done the southern part of the bearbones big bear route ,started in caersws and finished just after strata Florida before hitting the roads back to caersws for the train ,despite being caught in storm Hannah on the Saturday there is a lot of great riding in the 160 miles of the route which I done ,from where I finished it then heads north through devils bridge and up to nant y arian through coed y brenin ,llanfair and penmachano back to caersws , it took 3 &1/2 days to get round the southern loop but the northern end is supposed to run much quicker once past devils bridge ,there’s plenty of train stations on the way round to bail or make it shorter ,varied terrain and with the feel of being isolated in a lot of places,( I am not a strong rider and really enjoyed my time on it) total route is 332 miles if you have the time to do it,it’s worth a look if you fancy a route round mid wales

Agree with Whitestone just had 4 days round there and what’s marked on the maps is definitely not there on the floor ,when on the tops if you don’t find the goat tracks that lead to the proper tracks then you’ll be tussock yomping and bog trotting for hours ,there is a lovely decent from the top of the hill outside llandovery down to the valley ,it runs alongside Cwm rheadr, but is much much better than the man made trails ,bit of a mission to get up there but we’ll worth it

Same as scotroutes , ortlieb hip pack ,great bit of kit

Like Peter I use a stem cell and a soft platypus bottle in my jersey pocket ,it’s true it dosent scrunch up you have to roll it not a hardship but if you want to be able to scrunch it up look at hydrapak soft flasks ,got one on my water filter and they go into any shape you want

Not any problems uploading but sat morning was 35 mile in and my 520 would record speed and alt gain but not mileage, saved the ride (took about 10min to save) then restarted and no issues after that for the other 65 mile ,may have just been the Garmin playing up or it may have been down to the reset ,all my commutes from Sunday on have been ok

Same as muffin man it was 180/120 when found ,put me on 10mg alodmapine( or something like that) 10mg ramapril and 20mg statins even though cholesterol was 4.3 ,doc said I have to have the statins as computer says I’m 90% at risk of heart attack before 55 ,no side effects blood pressure still varies from 125/70 to 155/90 doc reckons it’s just genetics , stopped smoking and it had no change resting heart rate is between 48 and 55 so no problems there I’m 47now and never felt any physical difference to when it was high to now it’s relatively normal

Nitrmors or panel wipe will destroy any paint on there without damaging the metal (they’ve taken all the good stuff out of it now)

Yep you can’t book bikes on local Welsh trains I use Wolverhampton to caersws a lot for bike packing trips and it’s pot luck ,used the train to church stretton once and there is only 2 spaces in there but on either train the conductors have been great help with letting one or 2 extras on as long as you don’t leave them blocking the carriage or door ways ,coming back from last year’s WRT they let 5 of us on

Have a10 mile each way commute ,9 of which is towpath,work 4 on 4 off so only have to do it 4 days a week the main reason I do it is because it saves having a second car ,bike I normally get through c2w ,a new one every other year and it still works out cheaper than average ved and diesel for the same trip ,don’t know how but our company’s c2w there has been no signing of extended rental and no extra payments at the end of the year so it’s a win win (+ we have £1200 to spend )

Madison dte here worn on all through the winter on commutes and bike packing trips can’t fault them

Ton have a post over on bearbones ,big dummy Steve had a pair of the keen ones on at last year’s rtts ,think he was the only one with fresh feet with the summer we had

First seatpack was a podsacs used it for a year 4 days a week commuting and once amonth bivy ,only swapped it out as when I was tensioning the straps I ripped the buckles off ,got a alpkit now and there is no difference in wobble between the 2 ,the podsacs one will be perfect for the use your talking about ,the rest of the podsacs kit I can’t comment on

I think it’s horses for courses ,it’s not for me as I prefer to cycle in small groups or my own company and part of getting out is sleeping in ditches and not washing for a few days ( maybe as it takes me back to being a kid) that could be considered a hardship but for me it’s part of the fun others may prefer to know how far they’ve got to ride each day and where they are sleeping each night , also when I’m out I prefer to put money back into the community that I’m cycling through using the cafes and pubs on route ,everybody is different and wants different things out of this hobby of ours ,one thing I did notice though is the route is very similar to the big bear 530 ,not exactly but similar what can be ridden whenever you like ( obviously without the support what you get with this event)

Rock and run have still got some mountain Hardwear phantom down bags on sale the flame will suit your needs £150 -2 limit around 600 g and 800 fp ,I use a cumulus 250 quilt like Bob mentioned 9-10 months of the year and the wife just bought me the phantom spark limit -9 for the winter they seem like very good bags ,but if you have another extra few quid I’d go for the 350 quilt if you only want it for 3 season ,my 250 packs down to nothing can fit that and a helium Bivi bag into a 5l dry bag

Looks like on one are promoting camp fires with the sale of the gas burners ,unless there’s a few very skilled people that need to braze there kit when out and about

May be better if they were in the tool section instead of the “outdoor shop”

Got it from all outdoor back in march ,I’d paid £140 from trekkinn the month before then that price popped up so got the youngfella one ,have a look on classified on bearbones there’s normally some decent stuff for sale on there or put a advert on there wanting one couple of weeks back there were a few hunkas for sale

O.R helium used one since march 550g does what you ask of it and with some Google Fu they can be got at a reasonable price ,think I paid £95 for my youngfella one

It’s a piedbald horse ,  not that I’m a traveller or anything

Porridge with freeze dried raspberries for breakfast , try and get a second breakfast in a cafe and pub of a night or if I didn’t get as far as I’d like then super noodles in pour and store bags with a bit of chorizo for flavour ,trangias are great cookers but very bulky to try and get packed neatly and secure on the bike , when the youngfella comes with me I take a trangia triangle and a primus litech pot it has a little frying pan for a lid , combine this with a windshield made out of a disposable roasting tray and you get a fast fry without using too much fuel and the triangle packs flat at about 10cm long  and 3mm thick

Take your time enjoy it and remember getting misplaced is part of the fun ,I normally bed down about midnight and up and gone by 6/7 ,try and get packed up before your breakfast then if anyone does come past it’s only a few minutes to finish packing and move on, and don’t forget you don’t need to wash your only out a few days

Grand , I’m sure you may get some of those same looks off him but you read his article and he wants more so I’ll be booking the tickets when I get off shift in the morning

What’s the bikepacking route rich just spoke to the youngfella and he’s up for another jaunt up your way ,or is it like WRT where we make our own route

Mellow riding will be good for the last 20 mate the young fella may not be upto many climbs after the first day and that should be all what’s left ifI can bribe him with cake all the way round to get the first 30 done

As Whitestone says don’t bother with the wash kit ,I too didn’t bother on the WRT and the only time I got a whiff of myself was on the train on the way home and that can be helpful as no one wants to stand near you ,my first aid kit was a small bottle of spray on plaster and some steri strips , sleeping kit was a set of HH lifers bivy bag sleeping bag and mat ,took 1 l of water and kept a empty naglene on the frame to fill up via a katadyn filter ( more bulk than a trail shot but it’s what I have and I like the triple filter system ,I think all in all my bike weighed in at 53lbs which was middle of the pack there were a couple of things I could have left behind but was happy enough with that , if your tubeless don’t forget to put some extra pressures in to account for the extra weight on the front and rear ,I’ll be there late Friday night ,just doing the fifty as my young fella is coming up with me

Ortlieb bar roll attaches straight to the bars and head tube ,I’ve got both a kanga and a ortlieb , I much prefer the ortlieb it just seems there’s much less movement with it ,if you shop around you can get one for about £75 ,plus it’s 100% waterproof even if you drop it in a river

Cheers , mate yep that’s my email address if you want you can put a couple of quid to Buxton mountain rescue and west mids air ambulance ,both were absolutely awesome when I had a bad climbing fall ,thanks for that offer,email me and I’ll send you some pictures ,if it’s what your looking for I can get it in the post next Wednesday (on nights till then ) once posted I’ll let you know the cost can’t see it being anymore than a fiver and you can PayPal gift me

Cheers

Stuart

Hi mate , I’ve got a vaude Taurus 2 UL weighs in at 1.4 (so not really light weight but lighter than the wild country) including lightweight pegs ,had it a good few years now ,still waterproof and fully functional ,last used it in Feb ,but I have moved on to a helium bivy set up now , you can have it for the cost of postage minus the pegs if it’s any use to you to get you started

Had one for 3 yes now ,has done all trail centers I’ve been to and natural riding ,just replaced the wheels last October for some mavics and fitted a dropper when I bought it , other than that it’s been more or less problem free ( only gear cables and other consumables

Ton Offa this parish has got a lomo seat pack for sale  over on bearbones he’s looking for £25 used once ,would have it myself but have one that’ll do for this year

Lunge your a brave man going round coley gate , I go a extra 5 miles out my way so I can use the mainline canal to Smethwick instead of the roads due to a few close misses over the last few years

<p>As whitestone said get a decent mat Gaynor’s have exped down mat 5 lite reduced to 60 ,I used mine the beginning of the month @-5 and was toasty , between whitestone and a few others on bearbones they really helped me out with choosing kit for my first year<br></p>

As whitestone said get a decent mat Gaynor’s have exped down mat 5 lite reduced to 60 ,I used mine the beginning of the month @-5 and was toasty , between whitestone and a few others on bearbones they really helped me out with choosing kit for my first year

Stu Offa bearbones also writes highly of the lomo seat pack.have a look in their classifieds too you’ll probably be able to get a couple of decent bits of kit for good monies ,and also from his shop for stoves and tarp poles

-4 and lovely crunchy tow paths this morning , rather have this than the puddle fest of the last 2 weeks

I’ve got my at the seat tube end and it done the same , I just wrapped some old inner tube along the top tube before I fitted it and it seems to have stopped it slipping

Had the same problem on my longitude cut the bars down to 720mm and fitted some ergon gs2 grips with the little bar ends ,been out 3 times this week since on 40/50 miles and no problems , the grips i think help keep more weight on the saddle than on my hands

There’s a car park more or less on the opposite side of the road to the trail heads