Hard to pick one. There’s an amazing sessile oak in Bishop’s Knoll in Bristol. Apparently it’s 5 planted closely together so they are now one. It’s just vast and because of the steep slope you can view it from all sorts of angles.

My kid’s favourite is a monkey puzzle that someone has put in the tiny front garden of their 2 bed terrace. It’s way past the ‘ornate’ stage and definitely into the ‘problematic’ stage as it’s already taller than the house. Glad I’m not their neighbour. I find it fascinating that a tree originating from so far away seems to thrive anywhere.

Their other favourite is the crumpetty tree which is of course fictional 😉

Sounds like a tough situation and I wish you all the best OP. Afraid I can’t offer much practical advice, but I fear I’ll be in a similar position soon with my dad who has (undiagnosed) vascular dementia.

Mine is an XL and I’m 6’2″ ish

I wondered if it might be too long and almost went for L but very glad I didn’t

On the head angle, I splurged and bought a Slack-r headset the other day, out of curiosity mainly. I’m taking it to BPW in a few weeks so thought that might be a good place to try it out!

It’s the RRP ProGuard rear standard size
XL frame
2.6 tyres

Got the bolt-on one on the front which matches nicely. They look the business and are very effective in the wet.

The zipties were off eBay (took a bit of trawling…) and I had to buy loads, DM me your address if you want me to send you some

Snap!

I am loving mine, feels super fast especially going up

Extra points for not having loads of ‘matching’ anodised stuff all over it.

Agreed!
Matching zipties are ok though right?

Just watched the review above 😂

Much as I love ours, I kinda agree with all his points actually

The range and slow charging definitely make it impractical for someone who needs to do a lot of miles. There’s no way I’d attempt a long journey and do a quick charge en route

I’m also a bit shocked that his 70 plate one still does not have fast charging

Perhaps in your case OP this isn’t the van for you unless you are sure the range is ok for you

I have a Kangoo ZE for my business as a delivery vehicle. It never does more than a few miles a day and gets charged where it’s parked.

It’s a 2013 one which I think was the first year they came out, hence the battery tech etc is prehistoric in EV terms which limits the range and also means charging is very slow.

Realistically we get 30-40 miles on a full charge. Quite a bit less than Renault claims. In later years they increased the battery capacity though.

It’s a pleasure to drive, silent, smooth, clean, and quite nippy too.

It’s also the smallest EV van you can get, other than the nissan ones which are newer and so more money.

Paid £7k and I’m fairly sure it’ll hold its value.

Wish I’d seen it! I might look to see if I can stream it.

Had a slight obsession with Alien and Aliens etc when I was a teenager. I used to get the tube to Forbidden Planet every weekend and spend all my pocket money on comics and graphic novels.

Does anyone else here remember Alien War in the Trocadero in London? A live action show running around with marines shooting aliens as they jumped out at you. The props, set and acting were all awesome, totally immersive and pretty scary to a 14 year old me. At one point the lights went out and (you guessed it) an alien jumps out and grabs someone (me). Argh!!

I bought myself a new hardtail this year, first new mountain bike for about 15 years, and can confirm that this…

New bike= excited to ride= more rides=fitter=faster.

…is very true!

It’s not just the motivational part though.

New one is about a kilo lighter which (I think) is noticeable but that’s only a small part of it. Every bit of the bike, geometry and components, is noticeably better performing and better designed. Partly because my reference point is an 15 year old fairly worn out bike (coincidentally a Swift not unlike yours!)

Anyway I have ridden more this summer than the past god-knows-how-long. 6 months in and the new bike feeling hasn’t worn off.

I’ve just ordered one tonight

When you say the bottom cup spun, you mean it became a bit misaligned during your ride, or fully loose?

@bol might take you up on that! Will DM you

That’s going to cost a fortune

My ultegra cranks were bought in 2021 and don’t have those product codes. I have always noticed that the join between the two halves of the cranks is not perfectly aligned, no movement or creaks though.

Arc slackers – how do you find it?

@goldfish24 that looks like a very good option thank you!

@breninbeener thanks it would be useful to know what those guys are using and how they find it, especially if anyone has some like the Shimano system goldfish linked to

Here’s her bike (hope this doesn’t break stw)

Thanks all, those hope brakes certainly would be the best performing option although she will get a shock at the cost I think

Can you explain that because the way it reads contradicts itself.

I could see one of the pistons (on the caliper that doesn’t appear to be braking as much) is stuck way out. I tried to push it back in but they slowly creep back out.

I suspect it’s a combination of the whole system needing a good bleed and being super spongy, and needing to hold the pistons on the other caliper as well (which I wasn’t able to do without some help or removing the whole lot)

I’ve found the whole lot can be bought here

https://rosiir.com/en/brakes/1379-tektro-hd-t525-auriga-twin-cargo-hydraulic-disc-brake-complete-set.html

I did wonder if there was a cable operated equivalent that might offer more adjustment and be easier to maintain in the future

I did see that but it really needs to be a single lever operating the two calipers simultaneous and equally otherwise the bike is very unstable and significantly more deathtrappy!

We had a mini holiday with our two (then 6 and 2.5yrs) in October half term last year.

We hired a cargo bike from this place and had an absolute blast. It was our only transport for the week – depends where are are staying how feasible that is.

You can just see so much more by bike and go at your own pace, and easily fit in a playground or coffee stop as you go round to break the day up.

As said above the big museums are really full on and not necessarily that geared towards young ones.

Let’s hope for some 11speed deals 😀.

Slight tangent – will 11spd GRX STIs work with an 11 speed XTR rear mech?

I just fell into this rabbit hole

The last thing I want is some mass produced plastic shite from China,

Normally I’d be saying this, except I got sucked in by an advert for a bearing press that looked identical to one I was looking at buying elsewhere. The ad said 86% off.

So I clicked through, wandered around the strange world of temu, discovered that if I dither for long enough, the price of things in my basket goes down even more.

Added a few other bits to get it to £10, while the app had a good scrape around the insides of my phone.

The bearing press eventually cost (wait for it)… £1.52

Paid

Uninstalled

Shall report back what turns up

He’s been practicing that face in the mirror hasn’t he

I must confess I use an adaptor chain most of the time that clicks into the side of the wheel lock. Super quick to put on and only one key is nice (need to remove that key anyway otherwise someone will have your battery)

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Abus-Adaptor-Chain-Frame-Lock-Chain_213690.htm

If I’m anywhere risky then I’ve got a beefy abus lock

Insurance covers us for any lock

I have one of these https://www.galibier.cc/product/tourmalet-3-waterproof-cycling-jacket/

Maybe still not “the one” but well worth the money, and packs down small. Quite a slim fit so consider going up a size.

Used to like morvelo stuff but I am not a fan of all the lairy patterns they have now.

Following on from the belt drive / enviolo chat above…

I’ve got the GSD S00. I agree that the twist grip is poor. It’s stiff to turn and gets annoyingly slippery in the rain. I do find that easing off the pedals makes it much easier to shift though.

I also agree that the continuous-ness of the enviolo is kinda pointless and seems to make it more draggy. I like the positive feel of indexed gears. I borrowed a mate’s S10 (with derailleur gears) and I much preferred it once moving along.

Nevertheless the low maintenance of the belt/hub and ability to shift while stationary are great, and I’d still go for the S00 if buying again.

The best of both option is the  Rohloff model which is crazy money.

@politecameraaction

All our bikes are covered under home insurance which is with M&S. I had to increase the maximum bike value to £6k so it covered the Tern.

I also pay for 3rd party accident/liability insurance with Laka, £1.50 a month, bargain. Covers everything else that might happen hopefully.

Cheers for the replies

It is for an Arc actually. I just happen to have the tool for a threaded 30mm BB hence why I asked if that would fit the Wheels Mfg one.

I’d have gone for the Hope one but can’t bring myself to pay £50 for the tool…

The latter I guess. I buy bikes and other gear so infrequently, but when I do I tend to splurge in order to get the most up to date stuff, and then keep it for ages, and repeat. There’s a 15 year age gap between my two mountain bikes, and a 20 year age gap between my 2 road bikes, all owned from new (ish).

God this winds me up. I’m now past the pram phase of my life now thankfully.

All it does is make those who would otherwise be able to walk more likely to get in their car. Any street in Bristol with Victorian terraces is pretty much impossible to walk down unless in the middle of the road.
It also wrecks the tarmac or flagstones of the pavement from the weight of having a car constantly parked on it.
I hope to be car free one day, but I’ll still have to live with everyone else’s.

@molgrips

Yes I think he introduced himself. I remember him being at the bike show, I wouldn’t have known it was him if it wasn’t for the crowd of bearded groupies whispering his name and fawning over him!

I think a few tampers might have been given away as prizes maybe

A few years ago Chris King the man himself attended Bespoked in Bristol. That weekend he wandered into my friend’s coffee shop (Full Court Press), knocked back a coffee and bestowed him with one of these tampers as a gift. It’s still there proudly displayed on a shelf, possibly unused for the reasons above!

TJ what was the route you did in Slovenia? Sounds incredible

We use Cooperative and to be honest I wouldn’t recommend, the only good thing about it is cheaper fsb membership, and minimal fees.

The software is truly shite. Every update somehow it gets worse.

It’s mainly the faff of switching that’s keeping me hanging on (and the dwindling hope that they might fix the online banking).

You’ve got me looking at Starling now…

@sturmeyarcher thanks for that! That’s more or less what I had in mind. It’ll be near-ish high tide so hopefully possible to land without it being a mud fest

Hi all

Thanks for the replies

Yep the camping part seems to be the tricky bit. I called the Sharpham place but they only do exclusive hire of the whole site. Seems a bit overkill for 2 of us!

I’ve found a couple of possible wild spots but it could be risky when we don’t know the area

Will keep researching…

Amy other tips very welcome!

Bought an LG earlier in the year, 42″ 4k from Richer Sounds

The picture quality is fantastic, as is the sound, and the remote is very nice too

The smart features are good, and it all comes preloaded, but there’s an awful lot of guff that I’d rather wasn’t there. Sooner or later my kids are going to discover there’s games etc on there…

One annoying thing is it keeps pestering me for updates, not just the TV but the apps too

@wors

Nope. It needs their full consent. Nobody else can do it for them.

My dad refused to do it, and now almost certainly has dementia.

Thankfully we’re getting by but we fully expect things to get tricky further down the line.

What’s the least faff way to get a test?

Although I’m reasonably fit for a 43y.o. I follow a butter based diet so I’m half expecting my cholesterol to be off the chart.

It’s probably better that I find out now than ignore it for another decade…

Interesting thread as I’m also in the market for a lightweight sleeping bag.

Anyone got any experience of these? Look good for the money

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/SBZAD200/zastrugi-darksky-200-down-sleeping-bag

There’s a few others in the range if more warmth needed

My advice: stay away from hammocks…

On my first day of gardening leave ~9 years ago I fell out of one, it hurt quite a bit, wouldn’t have happened if I was at work!