Isn’t this the bike you are trying to sell…..

Why spend more money on it in that case?

Good to hear your on the way back – I got bad Covid (bit like bad aids) last spring and it’s damaged my lung capacity so I’ve invested in the ebike movement- started with a full fat Levo but just sold that for a Levo sl so slowly weaning my self off the assist – saying that loving the sl – you can defo get a good workout but takes some pressure off when biking with others – keep at it mate !

I’m in the lost 2 family members plus it was touch and go for myself camp and apart from less lung capacity now I have to battle not to want to argue with every cockwomble on FB who talks absolute crap.
On the Tory thing I am still totally baffled as to why they didn’t shut the airports from day 1- we are an island and should have used that fact to our advantage as Aus and NZ etc did

In related news ( (and it may have been mentioned earlier) I’ve just had a 4 way wrap- chicken, hallouni, tomato and bbq sauce – pretty damned good – if wasnt trying to shift timber I would have used meltable cheese and possibly bacon.
In case you aren’t down with the kids you basically cut a wrap from the centre out and put a filling in a quarter by the cut then fold that quarter over add another filling and fold again until you have a layered triangle- few minutes in a frying pan with fry light to crisp up and get stuck in

Try Woods Cyclery- they seem to have the Outback and Swiss Cross

Not Hunter based on Mrs Pop’s experience- I think they have moved production and durability has dropped- hers have cracked on the top of the foot after just a year using 3 times a week max so now leak like a sieve

Cheers ears- mine is a large also

Haha Jam-bo
I think the don’t be a dick rule is fairly well captured in the written form- I think Billy Shakespeare may have actually incorporated it in his early works

There has been videos showing ebikers cutting corners on the made trails at cannock leading to barging in front of other riders following the trail which I would say contravenes the rule above

The well recognised ‘etiquette’ for off piste is not to over traffic said trails in the middle of a a very wet period thus leaving them shagged come the drier months- hopefully not too hard to comprehend or possibly just me and my mates have a little more respect for the hard work the trail pixies put in?- anyway I did say it was probably for a separate subject matter but thanks for the observation….

Hi Chapaking
Ive just picked up a Stage 4 frameset and interested in the angleset idea- can you let me have the detail of which one is needed please as I konw i will order the wrong one if left to my own devices….. TIA

I bought a s/h ebike to aid my covid recuperation and its been brilliant for that and these days I can get to the top of the hills much before my mates even with only 80% lung capacity but it all feels a little too easy so not as satisfying- on that basis I have just started putting together the bits to build up a full susser and take my place at the back again!!

I will probably hang onto the ebike in the immediate future as I do have another mate with an ebike and if we go together its a whole different style of riding as we get to cover much more ground in the same time and techy singletrack uphills are great fun.

However I do find myself concerned at the rising numbers of ebikers who haven’t a clue about trail etiquette as they are new to the sport and certainly at Cannock you can see a group of ten about to do an off piste trail knowing that trail will be destroyed in next to no time – however that’s a different subject matter I suppose

We have had our posh mongrel for a year now and I was a little reluctant having had a pointer and springer before but she is ace- great character, very intelligent like when she hears the toaster pop she knows she can scrounge a bit of crust and will run to the kitchen- only thing is she is very needy partly down to lockdown and us being with her all the time but she suffers from separation anxiety which needs training out of her

I’ve got my name down for an Orbea Rise but delivery dates are still tbc

Looks better value than the Spesh but tbh main reason is that my local lbs stock Orbea and with ebikes that seems to be alot more important

Apologies for the delay but thanks footflaps and bigdugsbaws

If you havent already look at geometry geeks where you can compare bikes and they have a handy guide to key metrics also

After a promising chat with the lbs this morning I may well be getting an Orbea Rise – which hopefully will let me keep up with young Taz on his single speed!!

Sorry guys but can i jump in with a query please? I currently have my employee pension plus another 3 from previous employers- although one is noted as a SIPP and the other 2 are Personal Pensions? I went to see an IFA last week and they were suggesting my money isn’t invested in the best way and also that the recommendation I had from Portafina wasnt much better ( this was indicated on a graph showing last 5 years performance etc against their current recommended funds) whilst they said there were no guarantees they suggested that i should consider consolidating the 3 pots and look at better investment opportunities based on my attitude to risk etc. with their help.

They quoted £5k for the initial advise based on a pot ( excluding current employer) of £260k and then 1% for active management per annum- is this reasonable or should I consider other avenues ?

Hope that makes sense- I consider myself averagely intelligent but the pension world seems designed to confuse…….

I was a sceptic but covid has left my lungs compromised so bought a second hand levo to help me back to fitness- apart from mild paranoia every time I switch it on as to whether it will be broken I can say they are great fun- uphills are enjoyable especially if techy,
Yesterday did just under 30k at cannock in less than 2 hours and could go again today quite happily whereas even pre-covid I would need a few days rest
Other thing I would say is you will probably only get fitter riding with non ebikers if you use only eco mode instead of going turbo

Lung xray results show still have reduced capacity-Im waiting to see the consultant for what that means going forward- ebike allows me to cycle for 2 hours ok at a heart rate of circa 140-160 but I cannot run 150 yards without my lungs feeling like they are exploding??

On another note Ive registered to donate plasma 3 times now and still not heard back off anyone- the radio ads suggest they are desperate for donors……….

I’ve posted on a few gravel bike threads and agree with the others- if you go slow across rough terrain on a gravel bike its more uncomfortable due to smaller rubber and only feels good when going fast( in fact Im just re-building a swift in lightweight guise as the antedote!) but my main point is I got bad Covid in May and as a result my lungs are compromised ( not sure if permanent) so bought an emtb – I still get a good workout by only using eco but you can pick your battles more easily and dial in the assist as you need it which can only be a good thing- still feel a bit of a fraud but Im having much more fun than if I was limited to short rides.

Had several gravel bikes over the last few years inc a whyte gisburn, ritchey swiss cross and planet x tempest and have decided that a rigid hardtail is better for me so an rebuilding my old swift with jones bars for all day comfort- even on 40mm tyres if you are bimbling you feel every rock and root on a gravel bike and I have a mental block on 650b tyres for gravel!- as others have said if you are doing road work they are the best tool but drops terrify me if Im doing techy descents etc

I had a similar experience to solarider with a planet x tempest on 40mm nanos- its felt great for rough country roads and smooth gravel/fire roads but on anything rocky/rooty became a bit attritional. So i sold it and am putting jones bars on my old singular swift and will run something like a vittoria mezcal tyre to try that- my ‘gravel’ rides aren’t about speed so a little slower but more comfortable will be fine with me

We had mice in the roof space courtesy of ivy up the house ( looks nice but bad idea) – our pest control man used a bait that mummified the mice with no smell and basically they turn to dust after a period of time.

solarider- what if the allegro was a vanden plas model?

I hate heights and did CG once-never again- pretty much crawled the whole thing swearing at anybody and everybody which seemed to help- needed a monster omelette and chips at Pete’s eats and a big mug of tea before I would talk to my ‘mates’ who were leading again

Week 13 after leaving hospital and heart rate still elevated- typically 20 bpm up on normal even when resting and potential to spike with very little exertion. Had an echo scan last week but no issues there- consultant stated no use doing a CT scan on lungs until October time to give time for them to recover .Coughing and rubbish production has reduced significantly in the last couple of weeks which is good. Went to look at ebikes yesterday as an aid to turning pedals again and give me some light at the end of a very dark and shitty tunnel.

My saturday evening ritual was a bottle of cinzano and 4 cans of tennents super or if flush a small bottle of whisky- usually did the trick

Thanks for the input- I was a day away from a ventilator they reckoned which is when the odds dwindle in my eyes but wasn’t showing massive breathlessness etc it was only when they tested my blood oxygen they rushed me into hospital and that was thanks to me ace doctor who I have rewarded with a nice bottle

I’ve got a few issues with the biggest pain being waking up throughout the nights with pains in my sides which wakes me up – this pain seems to ease after I have got up and coughed a few times

The rubbish seems to be coming up fairly naturally – at first I was trying to hard to cough stuff up and ended up coughing up blood but that forces me to throttle back as I crapped myself and as I say it seems just to be working it’s way out naturally

Breathlessness is the other I have a crackle when breathing and even having a shower leaves me in bits for a short time straight after

I’m resigned to a long haul – not helped by the fact that the week before I’d sourced a ti Jones frame and fork😡 but it could have been so much worse

On the physio point I asked several times and there is no guidance – possibly because from the limited feedback I have seen very seems a little different

Thanks for the fb link I had applied to joining this morning but then thought I would try the real experts😂

Enough for now I’m going to sit in the sun doing nowt which while big sounds great is staring to really pi55 me off and making my arse sore!!

I’m 2 weeks out of hospital after 11 days in ICU – good way to lose 2 stone in 3 weeks!
Still struggling with much extertion -5000 steps max is best I’ve done- biking seems an age away
I would welcome any feedback on recovery from people who have had a serious dose (not willy waving here but it seems to affect people differently) about recovery etc
Cheers

Singular puffin ;-)

Sorry if already commented on but what are the max tyre widths realisticly for both 650 and 700 options

Hunt wheels are a great example of excellent service- I ordered a wheelset over the weekend as they said in stock, got an email Monday which said there may be a weeks delay so they would happily refund the cash- as it happens I needed the wheels quickly so got the refund but they also gave me a discount code for next time I wanted some wheels

I love that lamp post

Ive recently acquired a carbon tallboy 3 ex demo for £2,6k and its a great bike- Ive had a smuggler, spearfish and horsethief before and the rear feels much plusher without the bob you can experience. Just got to get over the fact that nearly everyone has a Santa Cruz when you go to a trail centre which upsets my inner niche whore

It’s given me the impetus to build up my old one as my singlespeed winter ‘steed’- surely I can use steed as its horse related??

My daughter has just started a part time job at Starbucks so gets a free bag each week – made me buy a £250 bean to cup machine though!!

OK Magnifica esam 3000b ordered- on your collective heads be it!

Debenhams have them at £250 at the moment which looks a good price

Will report back when it lands

The Greyhound in Penkhull is good for beer- they do food but I’ve not eaten there.

The Holy Inadequate in Etruria is a proper real ale pub but only food you will get is a pork pie

As Jekkyl says Hanley is up the road from Etruria where there is plenty of choice ( not many Michelin stars mind!) or you could go to Newcastle under Lyme from Penkhull easily enough

2 year warranty is a big issue for me at that price – looks nice though

Tried a moka pot type thing and wasn’t impressed tbh but then again I haven’t got an aga

the delonghi job looks like a single cup machine I wanted something that would make a jug full ideally

It looks like its 6800 ultegra so I assume I would need to go for a new rear mech to move to a11-34?

Looking at going for a 11-34 r8000 cassette and mid cage rear mech plus new chain, then will see if I need to change the smaller front chainring to a 34t- any obvious flaws ?