I’m off on my 6th trip with Basque very soon – they are the company I’ve been with most and I’ll almost certainly go back again in future. Never done White Room so can’t comment on them.

With Basque they do easier trips and harder ones – the coastal one is the most relaxed and stays in one place, Ainsa enduro is a step up from that (I think it’s Ainsa vs Tremp now – was one location when I did it but might be two now), then Back Country and finally High Country as the hardest – both of those are point to point

Vitus e-Mythique in the CRC fire sale last year
Bought in the knowledge that I probably wouldn’t have a warranty, but there’s a point where things get so cheap you’re happy to take a punt
When it worked I was very happy with it, but it’s currently broken (won’t turn on – 350 miles ridden in mixed conditions before this happened)
I’ve taken the motor (Bafang) apart and identified one of the boards had been subjected to some water ingress, so hopefully a new one (£25) will fix it
The Vitus FB owners group has been useful for diagnosing the problem
Money no object I’d be after a Bosch motor
The Bafang has better power delivery/battery life/modes than the Shimano but not Bosch IMHO (I’ve only ridden these three)

Stroll is a dreadful driver, he needs to take far more responsibility for his numerous mistakes and correct them or he needs to be dropped

Glad to have this re-stuck – it’s much better than individual PSAs

I think it’s just a crafty ploy on SRAMs part

So the majority of new bikes come with SRAM drivetrains – most people will just buy and ride whatever the bike comes with – as SRAM have invented a few standards of their own it is more effort to switch to something else, so you are locked in to paying the prices set when parts wear out. I suspect they offer discounts to bike manufacturers to ensure they are on most new bikes

Personally whenever I buy a new bike I always take the SRAM drivetrain off and sell it, putting Shimano on instead

For anyone wanting a quieter camping area there is actually a campsite in Reeth which is separate from the event one
A friend used it this year as she had children with her and wanted a quieter night time experience – no idea how much it costs
She still walked/rode to the event

Mr buying has slowed noticeably since the Chiggle fire sale – this thread is great – I prefer all PSAs in one place

BA have been very difficult to deal with after my flight was cancelled last September – I’m still waiting on them to properly resolve my claim for compensation – personally I’d find another airline

When I was growing up on the street I lived on there was one couple who were a double income no kids household – this was unusual compared to most who were either elderly or had between 2 and 3 children

I know a bunch of 20-32 year olds who I regularly go climbing with (13 or 14 of them in total) – of those one has a child – not sure if he has plans for more – the rest have all said they’re not interested – jobs/careers, personal aspirations for travel etc. and the cost are all cited as reasons not to

At my own age group I don’t have any (nor do I want any), same for one of my brothers, the other has three

Two results in and a strong reform result in both – tory revolt or are we a closed border country in waiting? (For the record I am very left leaning – it’s a genuine question not inflammatory)

Having read the earlier posts I thought I would take a wander to the polling station to see how busy it was – pretty quiet – most of the people there were those running it

I’ve voted Green for the first time ever – it’s an issue which needs to be bumped right up the agenda

Managed to persuade a few (younger) friends to go vote – several didn’t have much of an idea what the parties stood for so I put together a quick bullet point summary (well ChatGPT did) for them and pointed them towards the website where you’re asked questions about policies and it suggests who your views align with most

From what I can tell seems like Lib Dem was the consensus – Ed Davey’s campaign has been great – seems to have raised the profile of the party and been fun at the same time

If it’s still available @edge85 then yes please

My Mum did one for us a couple of years ago in the garden – myself, my brother and his girlfriend, everyone was older than 25 – we thoroughly enjoyed it

Works on Wiggle but not CRC

I’ve put through 5 orders so far, two Monday, three yesterday only one despatched so far

The code EXTRA10 just worked for me on CRC for one of the TLD helmets

So far I’ve managed a TLD long sleeve jersey, TLD short sleeve jersey, TLD trousers, Fox elbow pads and Leat flat pedal shoes for a total of about £110

It’s time consuming to find the deals though much harder than pre Christmas – had one order cancelled for an reverb dropper remote

No issues for me last autumn when I rented a car at Geneva airport (swiss side) to drive to Morzine for a last minute trip

Rentals include the vignette usually too

I was there last year with friends – my tips…

Get a vignette if you are going on the motorway – the markings on the roads which you need one for aren’t especially obvious – we didn’t see any anywhere but got pulled over and fined on the spot – the cops have card machines to take your payment. They also wanted to see the registration document.

Personally I don’t think there’s more than about 2 days riding in Soelden bike park – the passes are cheaper for the day if you start riding after a certain time (11:30 onwards is classed as half day). I’d echo the comment about Serfaus Fiss Laden – this is definitely worth a trip for a days biking (this is when we got caught by the rozzers)

The local area does a Summer Card (Sommerkarten) which was included with our accomodation (we didn’t actually stay in Soelden – we booked an Airbnb in Huben). This entitles you to free bus travel between Soelden and Otztal Bahnhof (which is about an hour and 15 journey). Most of the busses have bike trailers which can carry 20ish bikes on each one. You have to be able to load your own bikes, the drivers will only intervene if you load up incorrectly. They were also funny about us getting on the bus when we were slightly muddy. We also observed them being very impatient with people unloading their bikes blaring their horn loadly – the couple weren’t dawdling at all.

The Sommerkarten gives you discounts and on some occasions free entry to things. We went to the (outdoor) water park at Area 51 and got free entry with the card. I think you can do one free thing per day at Area 51 (and you could easily fill a couple of days there).

I’d also echo the comment about doing a via ferrata while there – I rented kit for the day & it was pretty reasonable – loads of intersports to choose from – we did the one up and over a waterfall at Stuben

Yep – I’d say buy now – any bike manufacturer will be drastically reducing the amount they’re ordering and this oversupply can’t go on forever

There have been some full suss ebikes on TriSportResort which have been selling for as little as £1250 where the normal retail is £3.2k+

There’s an Urban Food Market which has recently opened in the newly built Unity Place (in the front door down the stairs turn right) for lunch

For dinner in the centre try the Olive Tree or alternatively the Cross Keys at Woolstone if you have transport/want something slightly outside the centre

For anyone thinking about going to the MK Rutland Cycles after my post yesterday I’ve now been and unless you want a bike there isn’t much point in making the trip – most of the stock except bikes is full price

The MK Rutland Cycles only opened in 2019, the retail premises are massive, probably the largest bike shop by square footage in MK

According to Instagram the Milton Keynes Rutland Cycles branch is closing down
Discounts of up to 55% (note I am aware that there isn’t much love for Rutland on STW but this might be of interest to someone, so am flagging it up)

The feel of Nanos is great, but I found they needed new bearings every 9-12 months, so you have to budget £15 to replace them

I got tired of having to do this, so replaced the bearings sold up and moved on to something needing less regular maintenance

The re-platforming of the ecommerce solution which was part of the website redesign was outsourced

Probably not, but my historical average says otherwise
I bought a new one in 2020, 2022 and 2023 and a second hand one in 2021

I’m just about a year into my first ever PF BB equipped bike and it’s been fine so far – I think things have moved on from the days where they used to creak badly etc.

I had a BSA BB cross thread during removal on my last Enduro bike resulting in the thread needing to be re-tapped – that couldn’t happen with PF

I’m currently with Vodafone and will be leaving when my contract is up in May next year – it’s the first time I’ve had fibre and I haven’t been particularly impressed. The connection keeps dropping out, can be up to a few times a day and it completely died about two months ago for 2 full days, not great when I WFH most of the time. I did report the fault, which they did fix, no explanation of what the fault was.

Not sure about rentals on the French side but we rented this summer on the Swiss side and a Vignette was included – I’m pretty sure all rental companies include one at no extra cost

Definitely the wheels for me – I won a Lezyne Tubeless Track Pump a few years ago – I was very pleased to get it as it was something I’d suggested as a Christmas present I’d like, but didn’t get given in the end – I still have it and used it this week

YT size up small for a given size – if you normally ride a medium you’re a large in YT land

Probably Black Friday orders – I’m sure it will be processed
I placed one on Saturday and didn’t get a despatch notification until late Monday

Yes – you do pay import duties on Bike Discount stuff
I bought some Zeb’s recently for £260, import duty was ~£65, so £325 total

I have previously been with Basque in March, just checked their calendar and they start mid April, so if you can wait a week or two. I can thoroughly recommend them having been five times on different trips they offer

Hopefully the Spanish Processionary Caterpillar doesn’t bother you at all as they’re active at that time of year

I use the RM collect from home service pretty much every week – it is super useful – I live in a city any one of about 8 different post people can turn up to collect – aside from last year when the strikes were on they always turn up – some are agency staff, but one who’s a full timer is on first name terms with me – he’s great.

Delivery wise I haven’t had any major issues, last week they did tell me a parcel was out for delivery two days in a row and finally delivered it on the third

I pretty much dropped using Evri after they lost a parcel (they did pay out but took ages to do so and made the claim really difficult even though I had paid extra for full value cover) and sent a parcel all round the houses when the recipient asked for a change of address – took something like 2 weeks to arrive – the Evri delivery person by me is decent – always turns up, but never on time, so at least I know when to expect him

I mulleted my 650b Canyon Sender in the Summer and the result has been excellent – now has a a 61.5 degree head angle according to a mates calculations – didn’t do any maths, just tried it out

Conversion was done on the existing fork (just a change of the lowers)

Seemed quieter round by me this year and I didn’t see any used fireworks littering the floor while out walking today

Order 28th October – delivered 1st November – no issues to report

I think the own brands are excellent – Brand X, Nukeproof, Vitus, Lifeline, DHB would be a shame if those disappear

Price will always be the driving factor for the majority of consumers and that’s no different for me with CRC, though at the moment several things are crazy cheap – NP Horizon Pedals for £35 at the moment – next cheapest retailer Tredz at £80, so they could easily put the price up and still be the cheapest

Slow delivery was also a factor for me – there was definitely a time when you had to order by Monday at the latest if you wanted it for the weekend – back in the golden days of CRC everything just turned up next day – most things take 2-3 days for me now

I’ve actually spent noticeably more with them this year than last