I don’t think there is a safe and reliable way of doing this. Big saddle bag or a rucksack. Buy a hack bike.

I have a couple of Brooks B17. Find them to be very comfortable saddles. I only use them on road bikes not mountain mostly ‘cos they’re wide for descents when I want to get over the back wheel. Other models (swift) I know aren’t as wide. They’re ok in the rain if proofed. When they do get soaked I haven’t had a problem after allowing them to dry out and reproofing. I’ll leave a plastic bag on them if I’m leaving the bike out in rain – pub stop/shopping etc but otherwise don’t cover them

no pics to post but I wanted to say what an excellent thread

there’s that nice German I think semi-recumbant where the rear rider has a view and the front rider doesn’t get a sore neck. Oh and it’s cool looking

I run grip shift on my main two bikes X-0 and X-9. I find they make nice crisp shifts, work better in gloop than my old shimano set up. The only problem I’ve had is that they don’t seem compatible with some brake levers.

you may have blocked tear drops – infection?

aah you must be Mark; I had an address for you but no email address to hand. The lights came v promptly and seem to work well.

Thanks for the advice; nice to know there’s under/over charge protection etc. In the distant past I had old NiCad batteries which were very fussy and I ended up accidently killing through poor charging.

nice article

one more vote for S and S coupling on a nice steel bike.
I had an Airnimal and the harsh ride/twitchy steering didn’t suit me but by all means test one as lots rave about them.

seconded

Thanks GW
I have a stunning ability to lose little bolts, screws and washers so no doubt will struggle with this task 🙂

The Derek Purdy Northumberland Mountain Bike guide is good.
Getting the appropriate 1 : 25000 map and heading to Alwinton or Wooler and having an explore is another good option.

uncomfortable for a couple of hundred miles before becoming v comfortable. I’d suggest doing a series of short rides on it before touring

I liked the welshridething link so ta for that

thanks for that – yup not planning on going as far South as Kielder water but maybe dipping into the Northern part of the forest at the end of the ride. Route is open but maybe up the college valley on the bridle to the border ridge. Either into Scotland or moderate cheek along the pennine way to perhaps Salter’s road area and down for a while from there.
At some point upto Windy Gyle and down “the street” on the Scottish side. I’ve no idea how “the street” rides but it looks like double track on the OS 1:25k.
The bikeandbivi link sounds ideal. I shall give that a peruse at some point

Road bikes last for ages because you don’t get idiots doing drop offs/riding them into trees like those mountain biking crazies. So maybe pick up a second hand deal off ebay?

Having said that why not a Ribble bike, they looks super value allthough I’d probably spend more than a grand to get decent wheels/105 group set

I had mine on a communter and found the frequentshort journeys broke it in in a month or three.
I wouldn’t like to do a 50+ mile ride on a new one.

hmmm that helps a bit. 2 questions.

Who are these headless monk guys, are they new?

And how do I get a scared Sh**less 8 year old back to bed in time for me to watch X men on channel 4. No heads Daddy!!

For that money I’d look at ribble bikes and get one of their winter trainer/audax bikes. All round road bikin’

One more vote for SRAM – solid feeling shifting.

Home made bean burgers over food chain burgers cooked by spotty teenagers.

thanks for that folks – it sounds like it hasn’t been gentrified out of existance.
I’ve never managed to ride it up from Troutbeck without dabbing but put that down to crappy fitness rather than technical difficulty of the climb. I’ve never even tried to ride all the way up from the Kentmere side

No Mr Bond…..I expect you to die….

Something similar the bike shop in Berwick last week – fifty quid including replacing a couple of seized chainring bolts and swapping forks. Nice job and chat with the mechanic as I picked up the bike. Come to Berwick!

Have a look at Ribble sportifs on their website – very nice bikes for a grand

<jealous>

One more vote for SRAM – Light with grip shift, solid feel to shifting and more resistant to mud/poor mechanics.
I’ve X 0 on my bling bike and I prefer it to my old Shimano set up.

Rapha – perfectly spiffing for the gentleman mountaineer bicyclist. Hmm ok p’raps not.

On the basis that everyone on this site will have spent more cash on bike stuff than they need to then Rapha seems to fit the Singletrack ethos quite nicely.
But their marketing campaign seems to try a little bit too hard. I wonder if they don’t tone down the smugness whether they’ll end up killing the brand.

that ‘dale seems very nice for the cash.
Just looking at the last part of the post, if I go with the build up option. What’s worth spending extra cash on?

Uplink is perhaps being a little bit enthusiastic but he is right.
A sharp pair of scissors or knife (small) is dead handy for turning things into dressings or slings or what ever.
Aspirin, brufen, paracetamol, water sterilizing, glucose tablets maybe worth considering

about 12 mph. I must be rubbish

lol @ mrmo me too!

I think it’s similar to the folk who hide in faraday cages
thinking they get head aches from radiowaves and electricity cables

Thumbs up for conti tyres – they’ve been good to me.
Thumbs down for my 7 year old Hope quick releases – tight was never tight enough.
Thumbs down for cheap n nasty no brand tools.

ta for the responses.
I do use the lifa s atm but wanted a change. I’ll try the Endura top and see how that goes.

Slight aside – does carbon fibre rot in UV light the way a lot of plastics become brittle in sunlight?

There’s always going to be stories on a mountainbiking site of “I’d have died but for my lid”
We need to find a site called Fatknackerworld in which posters report “if only I hadn’t been put off cycling by the false perception that it was dangerous, then I wouldn’t have diabetes/heart disease/bottomthesizeofaplanet”

I don’t know Catherine Z-J so can’t comment on her diagnosis.
But I do feel that, particularly in the States, there is an overwillingness to diagnose bipolar disorder amoungst highly functioning people.
It’s unhelpful and stigmatizing in particular for the young who may be going through developmental or situational crisis from which they’d emerge without psychiatric intervention. Often the diagnosis is followed by the prescribing of powerful atypical antipsychotic medication as a mood stabiliser. These have significant sideeffects; often reducing the patient’s lifespan.

Endura have been good for me and excellent in my experience with returns so I’ll be sticking with them

Saddle bags work very well in my opinion. Good balance for luggage.
They are not cool though and are best with a brooks type saddle.

mmm again not sure about the bike fridays as airnimals are too faffy with folding.
I’ll check out the dahons – it would be nice to get a test ride somewhere