Some of these tyre posts are like some of the suspension posts that come up on here, clearly made by people who do more reading than driving/riding. 🤣
I drive most of the day in cars and vans with budget mismatched tyres and unless you are driving like a dick or too fast for the conditions you’ll be fine with tyres that are round and have legal amounts of tread on them.
Some of the previous posters must be racing drivers or something.

As much as I obviously want my parents to enjoy the money they’ve invested in their house, I still would like to know there would be something left for me and my sister’s when my parents are gone.
I can’t help but think that if my mum somehow lived into her 90s then there would be no capital left in the house. However, if my parents we to snuff it in the next 5 years or so, then there’s still money left.

I don’t think my sisters are in a financial position to contribute anything really.
What would be the implications of buying my parents house at £65k, (remortgaging my house to do so) then when my parents are gone getting my 65k out plus whatever interest it’s cost me then splitting the rest between my sister’s and I?

Thank you for the replies, they are really helpful and insightful. Also thank you for the offers of support i appreciate that.
I went to go and see him and my mum earlier and it’s all a bit emotional right now. But I guess we need to keep some calm until we have more information from a specialist.

I’ll keep this thread updated when I know more. Just for somewhere to talk it out more than anything I suppose.

@dcwhite1984, I hope you are ok, today must be a tough day for you.

I used to really enjoy watching his stuff as he came across as just a normal guy learning to ride. However, when he posted the video of him riding GBU at FOD to get redemption on top drop when the trail was closed for resurfacing that was pretty poor. Then he was posting group rides during lockdown when we were only supposed to be doing a one hour walk a day or what ever, I lost interest.
I watched about 4 minutes of his latest moon landing video and read some of his comments and think he’s maybe not well. There’s a real possibility he’s got a mental illness and if that’s the case then I hope he gets some help for it. He seemed a nice guy but maybe he is going through something.

I have a JBL flip 6 and I’m pretty pleased with it, although battery life could be better. I think I can get around 7 or 8 hours from it. £100 at John Lewis right now.

Ultimate ears wonderboom 3 sounds decent and is a touch cheaper at £90 quid or so.

*EDIT – sorry don’t think they have WiFi. Apologies.

Just coming here to say that I quite like Keynsham. Nice little high street with some cafes, swimming pool, park with river access and Riverside walks, a few good pubs (lock keeper), close to Saltford and Bitton, country walks, good access to chew. Yeah it’s got a few shit parts to it. But that’s the same as anywhere really.
Maybe it’s because I live in a crap part of Brislington and Keynsham seems a bit of a nicer place.

Not an issue right now. It will be an issue if most groups are majority ebikers. The way they are currently being pushed it looks like the big players in the industry would be quite happy if that were the case.

I would have been mid-twenties before I could have afforded my first mountain bike instead of my mid-teens if ebikes were the norm. Most likely I would never have started if an entry level bike cost £3K and I suspect many others would be in the same situation.

Why do you think that the invention of ebikes is going to mean the extinction of normal bikes? This is just choice, not some form of competition. Why would a bike manufacturer only now sell expensive ebikes and not entry and mid range normal bikes? There are loads of bikes now that cost between 6-12k but that hasnt stopped people from joining the hobby on subb 2k bikes. It’s a choice. Lots of ebikes cost less than normal bikes.
MTB for adults is basically a middle class hobby. Most people are on expensive bikes with expensive kit. It’s doesn’t mean only expensive stuff is available. It’s all a choice. You make what you want from it depending on budget.

Your argument about having this entry way into MTB by doing it as a kid on a BSO and earning your way up doesn’t fit for everyone. I started at 30 on a second hand specialized pitch. Does that mean I’m not allowed to be a MTBer? Everyone is different.

I started this thread a few weeks ago with a reasonably simply question – ‘….left me wondering if it’s just that my group is toxic, or is this anti ebike thing just in all mixed biking groups’.
I think I’ve had some pretty decent answers, most saying to find new mates and some saying riding in mixed groups is difficult due to the imbalance created by having people on ebikes powering ahead and non ebikes struggling to keep up. Fair point and I’ll take that into real consideration. A group ride is planned and all seems amicable on the group chat for now. I’ve not brought it up since. I’ll probably take my normal bike and just keep the ebike for when I’m not riding with that group.

Some of the real crazy comments from a select few people here tho is mind blowing! I’ve never been a person to judge how someone else spends their money or free time enjoying their hobby, (unless it is seriously detrimental to other people’s safety) I really can’t get over how opinionated some people have been.
Ebikes aren’t some cyber species that are about to take over the world and rid you of your ability to ride your own bike. They’re a choice. And yes, some ebikers will be dicks, just like some normal bikers.
I personally bought one because I can ride 5 or 6 descents in South Wales in a couple of hours rather than pay for an uplift somewhere or only do 2 on a normal bike. I get more riding in a shorter time and I’m only really interested in DH. I’m sure people have their own reasons why they have got one.
If someone is new to the hobby and gets an ebike first and that person would have otherwise been sat on their ass at home then all the best for them. Why are some people so against that?
The environmental impact is a worry, yes, battery production and lithium mining is nasty. Unless we are all riding bamboo bikes and living a carbon neutral existence how some people can point a finger at ebiking to say this is the devil is pretty mental too. Christ alive, how many people have multiple cars, wood burners or eat steaks every week? Perhaps we all need to state our current carbon emissions per annum before we judge others on their environmental impacts because I’m fairly certain mine will rank quite low compared to many others.
The rail erosion thing is a bit mental too. No doubt ebikes allow more riding and in muddier conditions, so trails will be eroded due to more use. Where I ride there is a real issue with MX riders smashing the trails. This is 100x more of an erosion issue than ebikes. They ride up the descents and literally ruin trails in one pass. What about heavy riders. On the descents where’s the issue tho? Assistance cuts out at 15mph, so it’s just me and the bike. My mate weights 115 kg and his bike might be 12kg. I weigh 80kg and my bike 25kg so I’m on an ebike but a lighter overall weight. Do we moan at big people now for ruining trails?
To me it seems like some people have this gatekeeping mentality where MTB somewhere has to be earned by a right of passage of griding up 1000s of m of hills, you have to ride a specific type of bike and you have to ride a specific way, if you don’t then you’re a dick! (Literally said by a poster above about someone in their own riding group)
Having an emtb will always be a choice and surely
that’s just like the thousands of different MTB variations on offer today (entry, mid, high, full suspension, hard tail, carbon, mullet, AXS…) Having an emtb will always be just another option. It’s not compulsory for a kid to have one from the word go, surely that’s driven by budget and availability.

I’m not a monster podcast on BBC sounds has been really interesting

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p08yblkf?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Series 1 about an American family who went to Syria with Isis and series 2 is the Shamima Begum story. Series 1 is the better of the two so far.

Other ones I listen to include
No such thing as a fish – facts and trivia
Diary of a CEO – good interviews (Jimmy Carr and Masie Williams have been good)
Wild Ride with Steve O – silly stuff
The rest is politics – polictics
Parenting Hell – dad chat
The ride companion – silly stuff and bike chat
Downtime – more serious bike/race stuff

I have/had one on my neck. Originally cut out around 15 years ago by my GP who made a bit of a mess if it. It came back a year later and got infected maybe 3 times with antibiotics each time. Eventually I went to walk in centre last year where they advised me to go back to GP to arrange getting it removed but GP was not interested.
Had to go private and paid a fair chunk of money. This was may last year and it’s just started coming back again despite the surgeon telling me it was all removed and shouldnt come back. Pretty annoying and disgusting.

Thanks for all the replies. Still radio silence on the WhatsApp group.
Had a ride with my ebike friend the other day and he has now removed himself from the group. I don’t think I he’s too bothered any way and hardly ride with the group really.

I think the thing for me is that I’ve not really voiced my opinion on the matter and remained largely quiet on it until this weekend.
Personally I have struggled with lack of riding friends anyway, so really wanted to keep the peace as much as possible to increase riding opportunities. I don’t really enjoy riding on my own as much and generally fund myself keeping well inside my comfort zone and never push myself to try new things like I would when I’m in a group.

Anyway, I’ll probably test the water with an offer of a group ride at Triscombe in a few weeks and see what they say. I might take my neeb to keep things amicable.

Why don’t you want to have this app? Also, what is it used for?

I used to be like this in my last job whenever there was anything compulsory. It was because I didn’t really like my job. I lett and now I’m happier. Just install the app or maybe just find a company that doesn’t want you to install an app.

Vans MTE ultrarange high tops. Quite a few on sale and on sportpursuit. Very comfy, moderately weatherproof in the MTE2 range and can be worn all day.

Appreciate the rehoming posts too. It’s something we have looked into and enquired about. Particularly lab rescue as some friends recently adopted from them. Having small kids seems to be a real problem when trying to adopt.
Also, having a puppy is much easier for integrating into a family where our kids haven’t had much exposure to dogs.
My son had a bad experience recently and having a grown dog in the house right away could be counter productive.

All generally positive and similar to what I have already heard/read about.

It’s a big decision and not one I expect will be taken for a couple of months yet as I have to dog proof the garden and get a family trip out the way first.

Obviously I’m no expert here, but a couple of comments about not being suitable for first time owners and cocker spaniels being difficult is something that is playing a lot on my mind. To be honest I’ve read this about lab and border terrier etc too and feel like potentially this could happen to anyone with a tricky dog who is underprepared or not willing to stick with training. Am I wrong here?

It seems with dogs/puppies there are always a lot of people quick to tell you not to get one or that certain breeds are unattainable to you. But then there’s been 20 or more posts above saying how great they are.

As posted previously tho, you can send samples by the post or drop in to a local lab as long as it is double bagged. But really you probably want to know whether you’ve contaminated the garage first before you go back in getting samples. Two small holes in low risk asbestos products like asbestos cement aren’t a problem. Two holes in AIB, however, can produce a lot of fibres.

Can you get a picture up on here? I can probably give you a good idea if you need to worry or not.
Garage ceilings, if integrated into the house, are commonly asbestos on properties built up until mid to late 80s.

I am definitely not a send it person. (I can clear the jumps on the top section of GBU, but not the bottom ones)
However, I absolutely loved Dyfi. Racetrack is rollable apart from maybe two or three drops. It’s techy as hell at the bottom tho. 50 hits is rollable and if you keep some speed you can clear some jumps without trying. Superswooper is incredible and probably one of the best tracks I’ve ridden.
I can’t wait to go back.

The uplift is chaotic tho!

I personally ride 3c max grip front and rear on my ebike because I’m rarely gonna hit 15mph and sustain it on a climb and on the flat I’ll happily sit on the limiter. Descending you’ll want the best grip you can get and I don’t notice the limit at all. The drag is negligible if you have the motor assistance. But I do ride full fat 180mm primarily for DH riding. If it was half fat then I’d probably want less drag

On my normal bike I still run 3c both ends but max terra. Tyres last decent length.

People who drive are lazy, it’s the basic point of cars, they enable laziness, I own a car that’s what car ownership is all ‘about’… I’d find a better analogy.

Yeah, if you are only ever gonna use it for driving to the shops. But cars enable people to drive further and faster than that, hence the comparison to a short ride around the car park. That’s the analogy. Sorry if it was hard to understand what I was meaning when I typed it.

Cars aren’t for lazy people. No way I could do my job without one.

Threads like this always attract non ebikes who basically have no idea of what an ebike is really about and can only compare it to their style of riding.
Yes fat lazy people are going to use them to do less work. Yes you will lose fitness if you go from analogue to ebike and ride the same.

Ebikes are about riding further and doing more descending/laps than you would normally do on a normal bike.
An hour on my normal bike and I’d do a lap of verderers at fod and maybe a DH run. An hour on an ebike and I’ll do 8-10 runs of the off piste DH runs and have covered probably 4 times the climbing. This is much more fun.

Also DH the bike is way better handling than my lightweight trail bike. It tracks so much better and has much more grip.

All the non ebikes just want to moan about it because they don’t understand what ebike riding is about. Just going round a field or a car park and saying it’s too easy is like driving a car to the shops and saying people who drive are lazy.

I want to add tho, eco mode is still easier than a normal bike. There is still assistance. My ebike is a full fat 25kg enduro monster with DH tyres and I can still climb faster on eco then on a analogue trail bike.
Turning off the motor is an eye opener!

I’ve owned an ebike for a couple of years now and have definitely lost some of my stamina from not riding my normal bike as much.
For the first year no one I rode with had an ebike, so I was always holding back and wasn’t pushing myself to keep with the group. When my mate got an ebike I thought we’d do some big miles and start getting some fitness up, but to be honest he is pretty useless and just uses his ebike as an easy way to do the same riding he’d do on his normal bike.

When I’m on my own I push myself quite hard and definitely feel the benefit, doing bigger miles and many more descents. My technical skills have increased a lot due to being more alert for the descents and attempting bigger features.

My take from this is if your mates have ebikes and do big rides you’ll stay fit. If it’s a mixed group and all stop start then you’ll lose fitness.

Just to add here I bought a stem from unite that was anodised gold. Really lovely stem. My friend brought one expecting similar but got one of the newer cerakote ones. The colour is much more of a Matt finish and looks nowhere near as good,much more dull. Also feels rough to the touch. Personally I would have sent it back but he kept it.

Unfitgeezer coming across as the STW Jeremy Clarkson. 🫣

The problem with having a platform is there are plenty of genuinely horrible people who will write things that are purposefully open to interpretation, then claim its been misinterpreted.

Thanks. That’s helpful. Won’t be able to try unfortunately, so I’ll take a punt online. They can always go back for a different size if needed.

I seem to be a 34 in everything but fox’s 34 seems huge!

Completed Facebook about 3 years ago. I was spending way too much time looking at other people’s lives and comparing it to my own. not healthy. It’s the whole going to bed and still scrolling through Facebook for an hour. It’s depressing
I deleted my account so no going back. Felt very refreshing.
Then I started upping my Instagram usage, watching videos for an hour or more at a time. So I deleted that a year ago now. Feels good.

Top tip is to make sure you don’t have apps that are linked with Facebook for login as that can reactivate your account when you log in.

I do spend a lot of time on here now tho 😫

He seems like a pretty decent guy. His interview with Steven Bartletts diary of a CEO podcast is worth a listen. Not my sort of music but he’s got a hell of a voice.

As someone who spends around 4 hours a day on the roads it’s pretty tricky to find public toilets. Having to then rely on finding a supermarket in an area you don’t know, whilst driving, is also tricky. I tent to keep an empty bottle in the back of my van and for real emergencies a large plastic bag. There has been numerous times when Ive driven to a supermarket and even a services (small ones on A Roads) to find the toilets closed or none at all).

Just wondering wether I could take a goat down. That would be an interesting match up. A lot of dodging, then wrestling. I think that would be a really tough fight.

I would reckon I could take on a guinea pig if the fight was a fair one. I’d struggle against a russian dwarf hamster. They are vicious.

Monkey wise, maybe I could take a tamarin, few kicks to the face. Smother it when it’s knocked out.

I do a salad every day (unless the lettuce goes out if date then I take a sandwich).
Lettuce (pre bagged stuff from Tesco does two days of lunch)
Tomatoes
Olives
Cheese
Either tuna mayo or chicken cooked the night before.
Maybe avocado

I eat this every lunch time with a bag of crisps afterward. I really enjoy it.

Part of the reason for this is because I stay away from gluten as it makes me feel shit and gluten free bread is too expensive every day.

Great match, some really excellent performances and just because it’s against Iran makes no difference. It’s a world cup game, anything can happen.
Stcolin showing they no little about football and probably just on the anti-england bandwagon that should have disappeared years ago.
Bigger tests to come, but momentum is key.

I’ve just retired my 4a as the battery wasn’t holding decent charge. Really good phone. Replaced with the 6a. This is my 4th pixel I think. (Previously working in the mobile phone industry.)
I would have loved to gone 6 pro, but couldn’t justify the cost when I was offered the 6a for £199 on a friend’s and family staff deal.

Does anyone use the pixel buds, just the basic one, not the pro, any good?

I had one about 10 years ago and used it until it fell apart.
Didn’t replace it for a while then recently got a fjern breen for £50 on offer from sportpursuit (normally £60 I think. It’s not as good as the Montane at all. Good fit and nice feel but not as warm.

I use it every day and this has been a problem for a few weeks now. 40 minute delay on my journey last Friday but time to destination was 18 minutes.
Also doesn’t seem to want to divert around traffic anymore if there is a quicker route.

None. Caffeine doesn’t really sit well with me (gives me the sakes and a dodgy tummy) and to be honest I think coffee is not great tasting. I have a decaf tea in the morning.
I think if you’re doing more than a few cups per day then it will probably not be good for you.
My friend used to complain of bad headaches at weekends and from just asking him a few questions about his coffee intake during the week it was clear he was having caffeine withdrawal on the weekends.

Which braces are people using? My 34 inch waist fox trousers are more like a 36.

Sad news ☹️

No she probably doesn’t know the difference. But the bike isn’t for her.