My Fazua (Kinesis Rise) hasn’t had any issues over a couple of years of riding -I think the OP has been unlucky, sorry to hear about it.

I have two batteries for mine, as the spare is about the size and weight of a full water bottle – got mine from Halfords for about £350 I think.

You could buy a spare OP, get riding and then either sell the new one when it turns up (there’s a FB group for Fazua Riders) or use it as a range extender for the future? FB group is also a good place to keep an eye on any common faults, but I still have the impression that although Fazua isn’t faultless, failures seem much lower than the stories you hear about some other brands and constant replacements.

I’ve done something similar OP. With my small kids at the skatepark, the choice is either join in, or stand there scrolling your phone (going by the other parents – I’m still new to this).

Learning to ollie sounds like a good objective, but I quite like riding around the ramps and pool generally. I ended up adding a surfskate to my small collection a little while ago – as long as you aren’t looking for lots of tricks, surfskates seem a very accessible way of enjoying that stuff for less experienced skaters. And yeah, pads!

Outside the ‘life choices’ debate, this fuel cost thing could really see people looking for things they could do to reduce personal car cost/use/whatever, while still travelling when needed.

I used to car pool with colleagues, but the whole part-home-working thing means stuff like this is a bit more disorganised. Has anyone used anything like the LiftShare app? Does it work if you aren’t always going to the same place at the same time etc? I don’t really need my car time to be ‘me time’ 😀

I have had it since the weekend and am far from being a virtual driving deity, probably the last GT game I really played was back in 2004, and it’s still pretty familiar!

I quite like the slow progression and having to ‘earn’ things. It’s why I always enjoyed the early games and with my (lower) skill level it makes for a better learning curve. If you’ve jumped in straight from the last game I guess that’s less valuable. But for someone who might not play many driving games and likes the idea of getting stuck into something for a while, I think it is a really good effort – that accessibility might be the compromise for the more experienced players. The number of cars to buy does seem fewer than I was expecting though.

If it helps you OP, no one reads those things. The recipients are just as disinterested as you the author.

No one will remember or mock you if you are honest. No one will admire your wit if you go with the sarcastic response. That’s the true nature of the modern workplace where these things are requested. Do what you need to do for an easier life.

It is a big decision, in a “know yourself” kind of way I reckon. It seems fine to have a good think about it.

As far as I can tell, for people who choose to have kids, the ONLY thing you acquire at the end, for all the well documented effort and cost, is your relationship with those kids. Great or terrible. There seems to be no other badge, award or material gain in it.

So I guess having faith in yourself to make a good go of it seems pretty important in the decision making. I can understand why people hesitate and it isn’t selfishness in lots of cases.

We have two great kids. I was never sure if I wanted children, I was never very kid-focussed even on children in the immediate family, so I wasn’t sure I ‘got it’.

I did have a hard think about why though. A lot of it came down to how we were living at that time. Once I thought about the future and how things would change anyway, whether we had kids or not, and how that would look, I started to better understand that it was what I wanted.

Yep it can be tough sometimes but I wouldn’t be without them. Just been re-discovering skateboarding with them 😀

Love ghost stories and thanks to everyone above for sharing theirs. Really good fun reading them and they are sometimes proper puzzles.

RE Uncanny on BBC Sounds – I like it, but it jars with my “inner cynic”; Danny is such a sycophant, letting the most glaring “WTF” moments from the storytellers go unchallenged. I don’t actually think you can aggressively challenge people if you want them to share their stories, and I do want to hear them (and Danny wants another series)! But, Louis Theroux would be great at this, not the Yyvette Fielding types, it would make the stories better.

My story is, I’m an ecologist. I go out at night to woodlands, castles abandoned buildings and so on, to (mostly) find bats, but other nocturnal species too. I take IR night vision scopes and cameras, thermal kit, high frequency detectors and so on. I’ve never seen or felt anything, ever, but I have sort of hallucinated a few times just before dawn. I do think some people are more prone to these encounters though; I think both the sceptics and believers probably agree on that, but for different reasons.

Still love ghost stories though. Right or wrong, I hope people keep telling them and it would be a massive shame if we all agreed they were wrong & should stop.

UFO sightings can get in the sea though.

I’ve scanned this thread for reference to a Diet Plan…so far, nothing!

Mini Cooper S from one of the many what small car for spirited driving…..it’s now sat dead as a dodo waiting for a mobile mechanic to come and look at it….

now then, we all know what we are getting into with those…says the guy who’s plastic thermostat just exploded all over his transmission 😄

I wasn’t really questioning the practicality of arriving late, or that it would be a navigation challenge, or rail time tables and leaving after work. But that really, if your SOLE reason for the entire trip was to further investigate a place where you tried to stay overnight, had literally shit your pants, had to climb out of a window and flee from the last time you were there…would you honestly plan it as a night hike?!

I listened to the first and then second part of the Luibeilt Lodge episodes of Uncanny.

The bit of the climber’s story I thought needed more pedant assessment was his re-visit. Having been terrified on his first winter visit, he goes back in the summer with a mate. They plan their trip of what, 3-4 hours walk and ‘arrive at Luibeilt Lodge at midnight’. I mean, really?? That was the plan? Why would you do that?!😆

Best thing I did for mine (R54 N18) was nice tyres! Corners and roundabouts are where it shines.

Thought about asking on Arbtalk?

arbtalk forums

Clearly lots of knowledge on here, but if you are thinking about a line of work, that might be a helpful extra source of advice / FAQs.

I climb, I know very little about saws – I have a GTA 26 😀

when we just want a quiet life

Hey, I can relate to this. So let’s say you shouldn’t have to put up with this persons dog-related failings at all, but quiet life desires mean compromise, so…

grandchild

Hey, everyone has their own setup and for all I know you all live together, which would be totally cool. But if you are doing occasional childcare duties, how often does the scenario arise? I’d put up with avoiding a drunk dog owner a lot more if it was once a week, rather than several times a day. Seems like a factor in the response.

When the dog comes running at us, whether that’s if we’re just with our dogs or if the grandchild is out, do I massively escalate things and give it a good kicking

There’s a great deal of speculation in this thread, but I’ve missed the bit where you mentioned what breed or big/small dog it is. German shepherd, maybe a different approach might be sensible. But equivalently, public sympathy is limited for the chap that punts a Dachshund into space. Although they can be proper jerks.

So I’d suggest deciding how difficult it is to avoid the dog in reality (yeah you shouldn’t have to) and also if you have a genuinely held fear that you couldn’t prevent an attack, even with an adult present. That should decide how cat-in-the-wheelie-bin you go in your future actions.

Stiffest, you say?

Trust Message or Shout. Super stiff.

Other considerations may apply 😀

Well done OP, from the people I’ve supported through the process a few of them have said how it has made them more confident, or deal with some kind of (completely unjustified) ‘imposter syndrome’. A decent workplace recognition step in any event.

What my institute does for £300 a year I can’t fathom, but as work pay for it I’ll keep writing the cheque every December. I wouldn’t bother otherwise, but if you are practising it’s almost mandatory in my sector in terms of ‘proving’ competency to clients.

Two good points in here. Once you hold memberships at a certain grade, you accept that you are subject to a code of conduct and can face investigation if you get something wrong. I think that’s a good thing in many areas of work.

On the ‘what you get’ thing, I have two professional bodies I belong to, at chartered/full member. One is really good, fights for professional recognition, releases really good technical guidance and does loads of engagement. The other seems to do very little indeed, but guess which one costs more and has the nice HQ..? 😀

Depends by brand, OP.

Mondraker, already mentioned.

Kona ‘process’ geometry from 2015 ish, but their whole thing was to go longer and lower, but not too slack.

Geometron etc at the more niche end.

Other brands largely taking note of the above and some models moving more LLS since then, with a stampede of previously more conservative brands in the last 2-3 years.

If you were buying a bike from 2016/17 for example, you could get modern /LLS geometry from one major brand, or a bike designed for t-rex arms from another (looking at you, “Giant” 😉)

Hey OP, I’m in Winchester and also a bit low on riding buddies for more exciting stuff these days. Normally I try for semi-local trips to Surrey Hills, Wind Hill and obviously QECP, but I also miss Wales, FOD and so on – happy to be involved in some kind of STW local effort to Get Social! 😀

For adult skateboarding a cruiser board is a better buy than the standard street boards most kids skate. Bigger and more stable – more fun to just ride.

I’ve gone with this approach. I’m following my kids around on their scooters, so I’ve bought a Lush Dagyr to cruise on but still (maybe!) do some other stuff too as it has more of a street shape to it. Excited to get back to this, hopefully I won’t knacker myself on the second outing because I’d quite like to graduate to the bowl at the local skatepark before that point 😀

As it has got to anecdotes of embarrassment…

I used to commute in and out of London with my Brompton (living the dream I know). The Paddington trains were always packed and often by the time the train left there were no seats left and a quite a few people standing.

One evening I was sat with a few other commuters on a fold down seat on a full train. A woman walks in and to be fair, had a bit of a tummy on her. I did a quick double-take and thought “nah she’s not actually pregnant” – she joined the ranks of the standing and we all waited for the train to get going. A second woman walks into the carriage area and looks around, spots this woman and looks her up and down, looks at all of us and launches into a tirade at everyone sat down about how we were making this poor woman stand, we were selfish and should give up our seats etc. Everything goes dead quiet, silence. Then the first woman says “oh – I’m not pregnant”.

Everyone kept silent and we all went home, which seemed best. Goes without saying I and almost all other commuters would offer a seat to someone in need of a sit down but it’s tricky to assume!

The Defra response to the criticism is an interesting read:

Defra river poop

Pressure on this issue is a good thing. Actually fixing decades/century of aging infrastructure is less straightforward though.

 I have zero emotional attachment to it and if it changed tomorrow to another one, I wouldn’t give it a second thought.

I was getting the vibe you were backing the dressing-up-for-charity dudes in the story, but that is savage 😂

But if a charity you’d supported for 18 years said something like “could you just be, like, Transformers or something for us” would you really feel the need to die on that hill and ditch the charity? Time moves on, surely it’s about the fundraising, yes?

I clicked on the link. I’ll probably survive.

Odd story. Is the event they take part in – the “Leo Sayer All Dayer” what it appears to be, an all-day pub session?

I’m also reading that the charity thanked these rugby club guys on social media etc, but didn’t include their photo. This has caused the outrage.

In response, despite supporting this specific charity for 18 years, the rugby club members involved have chosen to continue the drag, but support a different charity as they think this is – quoted – PC gone mad.

This apparently started because when they first went to the charity shop many years ago, no men’s clothing fitted them. Believable.

Hmmm. I’m with the charity on this one.

Hard to make a suggestion for you to be honest. Some people would say they just go to work for the pay and minimal hassle, don’t want to be social. Some other people really value having work and their colleagues as a significant part of their daily life.

It feels from your post that you aren’t going in as e.g. the new team manager, so if the new team does suck you won’t be in a position to change it. It also sounds like you value having good colleagues. So it’s a question of whether the extra time and money is enough to lose that, not easy.

So there isn’t a roof rack for the ID3?

I think there might be two separate questions here. One – do VW sell a manufacturer set of roof bars for the ID3? It seems not yet, although there’s plenty of conjecture on EV forums that they are coming. Theories on this delay vary about whether they have worries about ‘total payload’ with passengers and luggage being exceeded (for which the ID seems pretty good anyway) or just the impact on range, pushing people towards the rear transport carrier (NOT a tow hitch) that they offer.

Two – will the roof cave in if you put aftermarket roofbars on it? It seems it won’t and people seem to do this fine. But will it knacker the range of the car? Very possibly.

If you were thinking about getting it OP…

I’ve ordered that exact model. Delivery estimate is “early April”, no fancy extras. So factor that in if you are in a rush!

Thanks – that’s what I was concerned about. Rear rack life continues for me then!

Anyone know the actual wheelbase that can fit on these?

Thule seem to say 1230 something mm, which is a bit short for an xl bike in these days of LLS! Are they being conservative or is that genuine max?

I used to do this – really felt better on the days I left the laptop at work!

I used a snowboard backpack which had a full-sized back protector and it was brilliant. No sharp corners poking me in the shoulders, waterproof, no sweat soaking through the back and really supportive of the laptop in a sleeve up against the inside of the back protector. Maybe overkill, but no laptop problems over 4 years.

Emtb HTs can be great. But I think the change from full sus to hardtail is a big shock for anyone not used to it. That’s potentially a bigger change than e or non-e in my experience of it and some people have done this full sus to HT change to save money, resulting in at least some of the negative comments.

If you like hardtails, you’ll like a good e-hardtail. It’s not like most hardcore hardtails are light anyway. I do think that if you are a very light rider, there is a weight at which it’s hard to ride a heavy e-hardtail properly, as they are still hardtails and need a lot of body english.

My Kinesis Rise is good fun and is still running just fine, no motor blowups. I like the Orbea too.

I’m now HT-only (put a Trust linkage fork on it to even out the front-end dive effect too).

As others have said, they are more tiring. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that’s just a bit more tired at the end. Once your legs get tired, they stop absorbing as much, but keep on pedalling. So you feel every jolt. Less fit riders will find them harsher than fitter riders.

If you ride steep, rocky terrain it’s going to be more of a shock than if your local rides are dirt and a few roots.

I have a Macride and also tow a Weehoo kids trailer. I’m not sure the HT is actually any more practical as it still has “modern” mtb axle spacing, lacks lots of rack bolts and has a small rear triangle (short seat tube, LLS style) so I don’t think there’s automatically a benefit – will depend on what you choose though.

What? This is a perfect opportunity for

Wall Bastard

(It’s a Spaced reference BTW)

Alexa: Does adrenaline break EBike motors? 😉

As much as my initial reaction to the OP was “Whaaaaaat?!” I think it’s an interesting one to think about and probably is different for a bunch of people.

Without knowing your background OP and what else you enjoy, it’s harder to draw parallels.

You know that feeling when you are surfing and just catch a wave right, the rush of the speed and precise timing, riding that as long as you can? Or, I dunno, riding a really fun roller coaster that doesn’t terrify you?

But anyway, for me riding a bike fast downhill has a same feeling for me. You can’t do it when you are pedalling constantly, your weight goes wrong and the bike stops feeling lively underneath you. This isn’t to do with risk, adrenaline or being scared.

Adding difficulty is the fun challenge. Can you still get that feeling while riding harder trails, without the rough bits making you stall and ruining the feeling? Will it feel even better if you go even faster? What about the floaty feeling of jumps and being in the air? Happy to agree everyone finds their own level though.

my ingrained thought that if I don’t ride every obstacle well, and finish the trail dab free, then I’ve “failed”.

That’s interesting – it has never even occurred to me to judge my riding that way. Just do a Google image search for Sam Hill – most of his most iconic riding images are probably of him “dabbing”, albeit also while drifting. Just shows how different people’s attitudes can be to how they ride and judge themselves, but focusing on what you find fun definitely sounds like a good step.

OP, I read your post in two ways.

Firstly there’s the very sensible view that you are no longer seeking out more dangerous riding, either size of specific features or timing / measuring your speed to be ever faster. Fair enough – many people with you on that!

Secondly though, you seem to have a bit of uncertainty and you are noticing you are no longer doing things that you know you can do / have easily done before. And that sounds different to your choice above. Sounds like a bit of a mental block, combined with being a bit uncertain of what is now in your skill level or not. For that, I’d reckon the good ol’ recommendation of a skills course, probably somewhere with easily repeatable features like a bike park, might help. Just to help you draw that line of “yep” or “nope” when you are judging what you want to ride. Take control of it, basically.

Today I raked up the “hay” and found half a slow worm. (edit to say yes it was properly sliced 

One of the things you can do is a “two stage cut” where you cut the upper part of the grass cover but not down to ground, leave 150mm ish if unsure. Leave it overnight and it gives the animals which like more cover some time to move away by themselves. Also good to leave some of the arisings a short while before collecting, if you want some seed drop, so win-win. More time consuming though and hard to achieve with a normal lawnmower alone.

That’s pretty much the the average house price in Bristol (£360k). It’s one of the most expensive places to live.

I believe it’s now over £600k average here (Winchester). So plenty more headroom to go in Bristol….

Which does lead to the question

Move?

I bought more than twice that for less than half that last year.

Well, obviously it occurs to most people, doesn’t it? I mean, it isn’t hard to put your house value into Rightmove to see if you could buy a farm estate 200 miles away. So why not? If you want my honest answer personally, it’s this: I’m from here.

We sold our cute rural cottage a few years ago. We had around 50 viewings and most were in no way versed in where they were or what to expect. Many seemed to be having a nice day out.

Our estate agent spent a lot of their fee showing around time wasters.

My point is, if you are doing viewings of a place that attracts dreamers, you probably want to put a fair number of people off. Surely there’s a Singletrack type thing for people who want to live on islands?