Really.
You do surprise.

In t’husband’s defence, Giant were actually really reasonable with me when I had my Liv Intrigue E die on its arse due water ingress – it was Rutland Cycles that were being an absolute arse in that case (think there’s a thread on here to add to the collection!) – I had to get my bank to do a charge back which thry authorised, at which point Rutland suddenly did a 180 and agreed to a refund. Giant were a bit surprised that Rutland were being so awkward, and when I bought my replacement from an official Giant dealer they waterproofed the internals for free, heh.

Does seem a bit crap though that we’ve had 30 odd bikes between us over the years, and only three have had issues – one was an older second hand Ibis that needed a new rear triangle, my  3 month old Liv (water ingress) and t’husband’s 3 month old Propel.

Bizarrely the Ibis got sorted smoothly, despite being the second owner and having to go over to America.

Still love my (third*) Liv though – this one has managed nearly 900 miles so far so I’m cautiously optimistic! I absolutely love how it rides, but I’m not sure I’d get another one though, but at the time it was the best option for me (I’m a short arse, so options are a little more limited).

* First died due to water ingress, second was stolen, third is so far, so good…

BPW – loads of options covering a wide level of skills. I went there two weeks ago for the first time and it was amazing (unlike my riding skills, heh).

Llandegla might be a good shout if they don’t mind the initial climb? Both the blue and the red are good fun – last part of the red is a bit tougher, but there’s a blue option to avoid Julia’s Trail, etc. Sounds like they might be fine with it though – as red’s go it’s fairly mild (I say as someone who mostly sticks to blues outside of Cannock Chase nowadays).

Sherwood Pine’s red is good fun and EXTREMELY mild in terms of difficulty, and no arduous climbs as far as I can recall, but obviously doesn’t have any major descents either, so might be a bit too easy for them (and also it’s not Wales…)

tobago – sorry to disappoint; there clearly isn’t a God as ree-smug is, apparently, being touted as housing minister.

Workhousing Minister, surely?

That survey is so hilariously obviously biased, it’s quite incredible. If a GCSE student had written that, they’d catch a bollocking for writing leading questions.

As someone who’s both a bit pants at mountain biking, and rides Cannock Chase very regularly, I’d argue that the trails haven’t been dumbed down.

When I started riding there, there wasn’t a single rock garden. Then in 2010 they added the original Steg, which eventually got replaced by the harder and longer current Steg. Then rock features started getting added elsewhere – step ups on Billy Goats Gruff, the rock gardens on Bomb Hole, etc. Some of the red options on the new blue trail are arguably harder than anything on the Dog or the Monkey. And obviously the battering the trails have taken whilst there’s been no volunteer work makes things a more challenging ride than previously. I actually miss what it was like in the early days, even though a bunch of sections would be out of commission every winter due to turning into mudpits – which goes to show, you can’t please everyone.

(That said, I did laugh like a drain at the boardwalk on section 7/Watch Out Trolls! being regraded black (although it’s worth noting that was also made harder a couple of years back, when they added the rock garden roll into it). I avoided it for a couple of weeks, before my husband pointed out it was exactly the same as it was before. I’m guessing that they got sick of people falling in the bog of eternal despair?)

I had mine out last year. Was back to normal rather quickly. I should eat better, but I don’t – I oscillate wildly between healthy eating and excessive consumption of cake and cheese.

Weight-wise I’m constantly engaged in a battle to shift the pounds, but I’m somewhat thwarted by other medical issues (underactive thyroid, PCOS)… and the aforementioned love of cake and cheese.

Husband had his out this year, pretty much a year to the day I had mine out. He also recovered fine and has been eating normally, and drinks many, many cups of coffee. We have matching scars, which is a bit weird.

Main difference is that we both used to suffer from what we thought was excruciating IBS. Neither of us has had a single attack since the gallbladder was booted, so that’s a definite plus.

If the Tories are doing a leadership election in summer, but Boris is insisting on remaining PM until autumn, will that be the first time that the PM is different to the leader of an outright majority party?

Wonder what the next resident of 10 Downing Street will make of the gold wallpaper…

Victory, it was just because they’d got the wrong model. They apologised and I can get a direct replacement!

THIRD TIME LUCKY!

I’m pushing back – they’ve just got back to me and they’ve offered me a replacement that’s two models below my stolen bike, and £1100 less. Seems a bit stingy given that the bike was less than six months old. :(

Wow, sounds surprisingly positive! Still waiting to hear back from insurance, whilst I’m trawling sale sites for my bike. To add insult to injury, my trusty Overvolt has started making terrible noises, so I’m sending that off for an engine overhaul, and my Ribble is running a few months late. Just hoping it gets sorted soon!

I originally bought my ebike to get miles in and encourage me to get out more after having our son, but kept my Stumpjumper for trail riding.

As time went on though, I realised that riding the ebike was a lot more fun. I have crap knees though – riding acoustic bikes normally means I have to take a week to recover whilst the swelling in my knees goes down, and I have to be careful about what routes I pick, whereas an ebike gives me a lot more freedom and I can ride more often without ending up in agony. I’ve gone from doing one 12-18 mile ride a week, to riding 25 – 30 miles several times a week – with no pain. It’s lovely.

If I had fully functional knees though, I’d probably be fine with a regular bike (unless I was doing a bike park and didn’t want the uplift…).

Our dog knows his own name, and his toys by name. We also have to be careful about using the word “walk” in any tone or context, because he goes bonkers.

On the other hand, he walks into wheelie bins on walks because he’s too busy looking at cats, so I’m not convinced he’s that bright.

We’re on holiday, so I had a bit of an adventure. Planned a route on Komoot, but met another rider randomly and ended up going across the Moors. Sadly lost him as he was chasing a KOM on one section, and I took a wrong turn and ended up bimbling on the Moors as Komoot have me increasingly questionable advice! All good fun though.

Just to go against the grain a little – don’t feel that you’ve ‘got to be strong’. It’ll just put an extra level of pressure on you and cause problems further down the line. You and your family are having a crap time, and you’re all entitled to break down and throw a wobbly. Just do what you can, and as joshvegas said, lean on any support groups you can. You don’t have to carry the weight alone.

Sorry for what you’re going through (I lost my dad to a brain tumour when he was 63, and my mom a couple of years ago to oesophagal cancer at the age of 75).

I’m really enjoying it (especially as we’ve just watched the episode that introduces Ein).

Sooo, I ended up ordering another Intrigue, this time from my local Giant dealer (which is literally less than a 5 minute walk from my office, and a 15 minute drive from my house). The local shop felt so bad about what I went through that they’ve given me a decent discount, and they’re also waterproofing it and sticking a longer stem on for me, which I was planning to do on the previous bike. I’ve also still got my unused Invisiframe kit for it, so we’re all set! :P

Apparently Giant have been doing ongoing tweaks even on the same year model, so fingers crossed with that and the waterproofing it’ll survive my soggy adventures (not a euphemism).If anything does go wrong, I’ll be in safe hands (and not having to box up and courier my bike, and be able to talk to an actual human…).

Sorry for your loss, hope you’re coping OK.

My mom died March 2020. It took well over a year to get the Grant of Probate, which meant we finally managed to sell ye olde childhood home in September. We ran into issues because our case should have been straightforward – two executors who were also the equal beneficiaries (myself and my brother), on an estate with no debts or inheritance tax – one house, savings in the bank, and Premium Bonds.

The problem was apparently our ‘straightforward’ case got passed to a junior staff member at the Probate Office, who completely messed up the entire process. All sorted in the end, but it’s a bit of a nightmare if it goes wrong. We might have saved ourselves a lot of stress and hassle if we’d got a solicitor or service to do it for us, but we thought it’d be simple.

I’d advise getting several original copies of the Grant of Probate (with the little hologram on), as so many places demand on having an original physical copy (but are absolutely bloody useless at sending it back).

Mr Toast took me to the Jewellery Quarter to look at rings. He got a good idea of what I liked, then chose one. It’s beautiful – I don’t like big rings (fnar, fnar), so it’s just a single diamond in a gold twist setting. The diamond has a small flaw in the middle of it, but that’s part of its charm and uniqueness.

Obviously not a great plan if you want it to be a surprise!

Couldn’t you just buy another Giant, but from a decent dealer? Or direct? It seems you are happy with the Giant response, just not Rutland?

I was actually tempted to get the same bike from the local dealer – there was a lot I liked about the bike, spec was good, and it was the first bike I’ve ever managed to lift the front wheel or jump on! I was just planning on getting a longer stem and maybe chopping the bars down a little, as I found the front end a bit twitchy. I also still have an unused Invisiframe kit for it – the bike crapped out before I had the chance to apply it! Also, it was a nice glittery purple. /priorities

I’m just worried that if I get another one, I’ll run into the same issues (albeit with it being easier to sort if it’s with the local dealer) – there do seem to be a fair few Intrigues/Trances/Emboldens, etc with similar issues.

t’s a shame there isn’t an alloy Levo yet – I got the base model in the previous version and with a fork swap and brake swap, plus a dropper post (all done by my LBS) it worked out a great eMTB for the money. The new one has even shorter seat tubes and adjustable geometry so should fit and it’s better sealed (Albright mine’s been fine thus far). But it is rather expensive…

Amazingly poor service from Rutland – glad it’s sorted. eMTBs should be able to handle getting pretty wet though – even overseas brands should know that Britain is rather damp and many of us ride all year whatever the weather!

Yeah – both the ‘acoustic’ full sussers I’ve owned have been Stumpjumpers, so I was quite open to another Specialized. That said, I tried an early Levo a fair few years back and wasn’t a fan (it felt very heavy, and a bit on the big size even in small), although I’m sure they’ll have changed since then.

But GOOD GOD THE PRICE! I felt a bit awkward spending nearly £6k of my inheritance on the Intrigue. If I go to Specialized prices, my mother would probably come back to haunt me, with the ghostly sounds of, “You could buy a car for that!”.

As for the weather, I was a bit gobsmacked that the Giants have that much problem with it. My Lapierre Overvolt has now officially clocked over 2000 miles in all weathers with frequent water crossings (both blues at Cannock Chase have water crossings!). It’s been a bit of a champ, so I’ve also been looking at the Lapierre full suss offerings. Not the eZesty (as the frame sizes start at medium), but the Overvolt TRs – they have 650b wheels and lower travel forks compared to the Overvolt AM, which is a mullet with a lot of travel up front (so is more likely to have the top tube coming up fairly sharp to accommodate a bigger fork and wheel).

No idea! It’s a bit hard finding a full suss ebike that a) fits my hobbity body, b) has a decent spec for the price, c) has a decent range, and d) doesn’t look hideous.

Not sure whether to try holding out for demo days.

So, another thanks to @hooli! It turns out that it wasn’t Rutland who directly refunded me – it was Barclays as a result of the charge back (presumably as Rutland have decided not to oppose it, as they mentioned me being refunded).

I did think that it was a bit odd that the refund last week didn’t have Rutland by name, but I got a letter this morning from Barclays saying that they were investigating and had put the money in my account in the meantime, with the reference number of the refund.

So, a proper update!

This morning Rutland decided to refund me. I don’t know what triggered it – whether it was the bank chargeback request, the ranty Twitter thread I posted yesterday (they replied with an apology on Twitter this morning… ), or the dawning realisation that I was going to keep on at them (apparently the part that was supposed to arrive “imminently” hasn’t arrived and they don’t know when it will).

So yay! Refund! Really not impressed with how much I had to fight for it though.

I’ve got a lot fitter with my ebike (the non-broken one ;)). I can pedal harder up hills (previously had to slowly spin up hills in granny because of my knees), explore more and ride longer distances (previously couldn’t because of risking knackering my knees on too many hills), and ride far more frequently (previously a ride would take my knees days or even over a week to reduce swelling).

Heart rate is only slightly higher on the ebike, but I can ride a lot more.

It may be over 120 days now but that’s not what counts, it’s when it developed the fault. Like I say, it is worth a call as I was pleasantly surprised when I had to make a charge back a few years back.

Oh, cheers for that – I’ve submitted a form, so fingers crossed!

I’d still get in touch with the bank and ask the question, from memory there is a 120 day period where you can do a charge back on a debit card.

Unfortunately it’s been over 120 days now.

Rutland replied, saying “currently we expect standard warranties to take between 4 to 6 weeks however this does depend on the supplier and the issues experienced. Sometimes warranties can be quicker than this or take longer” and “Unfortunately 4 weeks for a warranty claim to be processed isn’t unusual or considered as an unreasonable timeframe”.

Which would arguably be fine, if it was outside of six months, but warranties have literally nothing to do with the Consumer Rights Act…

Alas, I paid on my debit card (I used a bit of inheritance from my late mother – I’ll definitely be doing credit card for any big purchases in the future though!).

An update!

…

There is no update. I still have no bike. There is no word of Rutland. They still have the bike. I’ve written today asking for a refund again, this time pointing out that even if I accept that they have a right to (a second) repair, they have to do it in a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience.

They’ve had my bike for over a month – not reasonable, imo (plus they said they’d have parts for it over two weeks ago), and I’m currently on holiday in Dalby, where I’m studiously having to avoid the red route because I don’t have a full-susser (don’t judge me, I need my skills compensator), so I’m inconvenienced.

One last attempt to play nice, then I guess it’s legal action. :/

Not that it helps but a friend also had poor warranty experience with Rutland and a Giant E-Bike, eventually they credited the 2020 bike value against a 2021, so far it seems to be a bit more reliable but he definetly wouldn’t buy mail order from them again.

It does help, actually – makes me feel marginally less persecuted as an individual! :P

IIRC its a “reasonable” time that they have

Why do I have the feeling that their idea of a ‘reasonable’ timeframe is probably six months, or something…

Nay! Basically, Rutland just keep repeating the same thing (first repair didn’t count as it wasn’t done by them, so they still have the right to repair). They’ve had my bike for over two weeks already, apparently there’s some parts coming in next week, so they’ll repair it then. Then I guess I’ll get the bike back, and just have to pray it doesn’t crap out on me again, unless I somehow get a refund.

Tbh I’m too knackered to fight it. My life has been an absolute ****show for the last two years – I had to watch my remaining parent die painfully from cancer, move house, sort her estate (which took over a year, getting the grant of probate took 9 months because they screwed up at the probate office). Also, pandemic.

In the last two weeks we’ve had a new bathroom fitted (which involved a comedy of errors of no sink and broken bath being sent, then two sinks being sent, etc), a maggot infestation on our street, blocked sewers, etc.

The worst was that our dog Benny had a lump tested and it was cancer. He’s had emergency surgery to have the entire mass removed, but he’s been bleeding for the last two weeks (first from his drain site, then literally the day he finally stopped draining, he popped a stitch), and me and t’husband have been taking it in turns sleeping on the living room floor with the dog, because the dog is an idiot with virtually no sense of self-preservation.

On the plus side, his cancer has come back as being the best possible cancer (it doesn’t spread to other body parts, so he doesn’t need chemo, we just need to keep an eye on the region), and with my mom’s estate finally being sorted, we’ve paid off the mortgage. All it took was me losing both parents by the age of 39. Yay.

Having Rutland’s absolute BS on top of all of the above… the camel had its back broken a while back, but people still keep shoving stuff on it.

At least I know to avoid Rutland Cycling in the future – honestly, the prospect of further sewerage overflows and maggot infestations sound positively delightful compared to having to deal with them again.

Actually in law they are liable – your contract is with the retailer.

take the bike back to rutland, tell them you are rejecting it under consumer law as unfit for purpose and leave it with them telling them they have 7 days to get the refund to your or face court action ( all in writing)

Retailers hate consumer law as it gives buyers rights that are expensive for retailers

I did attempt to go full Battle Karen and repeatedly mentioned the Consumer Rights Act (fault happened within 4 months, repair to sort it failed), but they’re insisting that they have the right to repair it.

The issue is that although they told me to go to the local Giant dealer for any warranty issues, the repair wasn’t logged with the warranty system (as it didn’t require parts, so wasn’t ‘Giant certified’ (despite being done at an official Giant dealer, as recommended). So, as far as they’re concerned, they still have the right to attempt a repair as the retailer, as specified in the Consumer Rights Act.

Citizens Advice said that it can be argued that the bike is not fit for purpose if there’s numerous cases of similar issues, and that they used up their repair attempt by telling me I could have any work done at a local Giant dealer.

I’ve got an open case – they recommended asking for ADR (Rutland don’t belong to any ADR scheme though), sending a letter via recorded delivery requesting the refund and highlighting the relevant parts of the Consumer Rights Acts.

Not sure that will do any good though, as I’ve already done a lot of that via email, and they keep reiterating that they have the right to repair, and they’ll send my back when it’s done (they’ve had it for two weeks). , Not sure if they have a time limit to do the repair. :/

Yeah, Rutland are really digging their heels in.

I called the local Giant dealer (who did the original repair), and it wasn’t actually logged as a warranty claim as it didn’t involve warrantable parts:

1) The dropper post just needed the internals rejigging, so didn’t need parts.

2) The diagnostic codes said the switching off issue was a problem with water ingress, so that’s what they fixed with cleaning up the contacts and waterproofing (which wasn’t covered by warranty).

Rutland are insisting that as the repair for the fault didn’t involve parts and go through warranty, it isn’t classed as a repair as it’s ‘not traceable’, and therefore they still have the right to do a second repair, which they class as the first repair, because the first repair wasn’t actually a repair in their eyes, even though:

* They told me to go to the local Giant dealer to get it repaired
* I have the receipt for the repair, which I’ve given them
* Giant’s Warranty and Aftercare team have said that not having it go through warranty shouldn’t affect my rights
* The guy from the local dealer has spoken to them and confirmed the work (and can’t believe they’re not giving the refund)

I’ve submitted a Trading Standards complaint, and I’m currently on hold on the Citizens Advice consumer line. :/

Aaaand it’s… not going well.

I thought it’d be relatively simple, as the fault came up well within six months of purchase and it’s already had one attempted repair at an authorised Giant dealer (which was what Rutland recommended to save posting it back and forth). But Rutland are refusing to refund me, because they say that they can’t find the record of the local dealer’s warranty work (although I’ve given them the receipt), so they still get a chance to repair it.

I called Giant’s customer services, and they said I’m entitled to a refund, but they can’t get involved as the retailer has to process it.

/deskflip

It’s a bit rubbish.

There’s bridleways, but it’s a bit hit and miss how many are passable (never mind fun), especially this time of year (lots are ploughed/churned up from harvesting, or overgrown).

The canal up to Hatton Locks is nice enough, plus you could go for a loop around Newbold Comyn/go on the 4x course. Tbf, you can ride all over Newbold Comyn now as it’s a disused golf course – the council are planning on turning part of it into mountain bikes tracks, but that’s in the future.

There’s a not terrible route that goes around the Ryton Pools/Wappenbury area, not sure how it’s riding atm though. Again, it’s mostly pootling on bridleways on the edge of fields and country roads. Occasionally there’s cows on route, if you like an element of danger.

Generally having fun in woodland in that area of Warwickshire is strongly discouraged. :( If you can find a nice bridleway loop it’s nice enough, depends what you’re after.

So, the warranty work was done for £40 labour cost, including the seat post (which is now super solid, great stuff!) and water proofing.

I got the bike back, took it for a short 6 mile test ride on the local roads (on a warm, dry day), just to check it was working for my weekend jolly to FoD.

Charged it up yesterday morning, then as I was preparing to pop it on the bike rack last night, I switched it on to check how much it had charged, in case I needed to take the charger with me.

Aaaand it kept dying again. Lights come on, then immediately go off. Occasionally one of the leds was red.

Literally had a bit of a cry, I’d been really looking forward to this trip. Got the faithful Overvolt with me instead, but I was hoping to be all gnar and rad on my full susser. I don’t have the skills to be gnar and rad on a hard tail.

*tiny violin*

I’ve done around 2000 miles on my Overvolt with no issues (just come back from a ride!).

My Liv Intrigue is currently getting fixed at the local Giant dealer, as it suffered sensor issues due to water getting in (which is apparently quite common on Giants).

Both have been ridden in the rain and through water crossings, I think the Overvolt copes with it better. I’m wondering if having an integrated battery can cause more issues.

It’s in the shop. Diagnostic codes suggest that water ingress is indeed the issue. The local shop are going to do additional waterproofing for £45 (as that’s not covered by warranty…)

Lost two mates to breast cancer over the last few years, one was 44, other died on her 39th birthday. Awful disease. :(

Might be worth considering Cairn? They had a couple of nice E-gravel bikes at the Malverns Classic.

I was considering Cairn over Ribble, as the Ribble bike I was looking at wouldn’t be available until April next year, but unfortunately looking at their size calculator, I’m too hobbity even for their small. :(

Ooof, mine’s a 2021 model – I bought it back in May. Quite surprised that the sealing is such an issue, and that my usual riding has taken out a latest model in three months, when my 2017 ebike has never had a problem. :/

It’s a fantastic bike when it works though!

Yeah, I should have realised really in retrospect – I was looking for a new bike a few months ago, and a lot of shops/brands that usually do demos said that the manufacturers were so short of stock that they didn’t have a 2021 demo fleet (or in some cases, stuff to sell).

Probably for the best, last time I rode Castle Eastnor it didn’t end well! (*flashbacks to MM 2012*)

I was a bit gutted about the lack of demo bikes – I deliberately didn’t take my bike because I thought I’d be able to demo stuff like previous years. Catering queues were horrendous too, I really felt for the staff (especially when a woman had a massive rant at the pizza stand as she’d queued for over an hour not knowing what size the pizzas were… )

Still a great event though, lovely atmosphere, and brilliant seeing all the kids on bikes! Our five year old also seems to have developed a love of late 80s/early 90s dance tunes as a result of the band on Saturday, the weirdo. I’m also pretty certain that we’re going to end up with some 90s retro bike in the garage – Mr Toast has been waxing lyrical about old Zaskars and GTs for years, I think it might have pushed him over the edge…