Yep @the-muffin-man

Here’s an easy one….

@burntembers Songs for the Deaf

@Yak – Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life

@blackflag – correct

@kelvin Yep, The Wall

@tommyhine – Blur – Modern Life is Rubbish

I have the police approved version.  As a unit it is built completely from the inside, so there are no externally facing fixings bar the handle and keyhole for the lock, it would take a fair amount of noise to make any sort of damage to it.

The main negative I’d say is the size (depending on what you want from it in terms of storage), it’s a tight squeeze for 3 bikes if large mtbs.  In mine I keep a large FS 29er with both wheels off and bars turned so it is flat against the back (I put it in and out of the car this way so no big deal to do this) and 2 x road bikes.  I also have the shelf and hooks so do have 3x spare wheels and a load of helmets and shoes in there too.

I have mine sat on a base of plastic shed base grids filled with gravel which is on top of my paving, I haven’t anchored it.

Whilst size charts are a good starter don’t take them as a given to be right for you.  I’m 5’10, with Specialized that put me right in the middle of a 56 frame (bought secondhand), I was never 100% comfortable on it despite changing stem, saddle position etc.  A proper sizing for the replacement out me on a 54 (another brand, but I also sized up on a 54 Specialized) as I have short legs, I also moved down a bar width. My new bike is a lot more comfortable.

Define what value means to you? The highest spec for the lowest money (which doesn’t necessarily have you ending up with the ‘best’ bike for you)?

Do the hire shops swap the brakes to uk spec?

Place I hired from had bikes set up for both and advised what models were UK set up. Definitely worth checking.

I did a week hire last year in August, it was part of a family holiday so I only got out for 3 hours at most, out by 8am and back by 11am.  It was hot, first time I have ever suffered heat rash (all over my back) due to the sweating.

We were in Port Pollensa, personally I’d stay there rather than Pollensa as much nicer place to be when off the bike and it’s only a few KM down the road so not a big deal in terms of lots more time to get into the hills.

In terms of the routes recommended I did Cap de Formentor, roads were quiet for me at 8am all the way out and only started seeing more traffic on the final descent into Port Pollensa.  I also did a loop which took in going up Coll de Femenia to Respol cafe (Coll de Sabataia) and down the other side, if I’d have had time doing this the other way would also have been good.  Also out of the hills there were some fantastic quiet country roads around the Campanet area.

As it’s out of peak cycling season the roads weren’t rammed with cyclists. Car traffic was not bad for me and those that were around generally gave plenty of room, plus the roads were generally pretty good.  A sharp contrast to my usual loops in SW London / Surrey with busy roads, close passes and pot holes.

Having hired, if possible I’d take my own bike next time.  I found out I’m a bit of a delicate flower when it comes to my road bike set up, normally I’m a confident descender, but the bike I hired (a perfectly decent one) just didn’t feel right (I’m used to fast steering and sharp brakes, the bike I had felt vague and the brakes were not as sharp as my own despite being the same spec) which had a big effect on how fast I felt confident going which took a lot of fun out of the downhills for me (to be fair when I took the bike back the chap at the hire place said he’d have given me a different bike if I’d have asked as they were less busy as out of peak season). I’m sure on another bike more to my liking I’d be fine, but it’s a lottery unless you are going like for like with your current set up.

I had a KeeWee Chromo8.  They were imported into the UK by some chap that went by the name of Topshelf on Southern Downhill.  Looking at the pics the Chromo8 design has aged a lot better than the Chromozone. It was actually a pretty good bike, long wheelbase for the time and the linkage was low so it sucked the ground.

Where’s that ‘Holy Thread Resurrection’ Meme when you need it?!

Took my youngest to Swinley on Saturday to do a loop of the red route, we stopped so she could session the ‘drops’ which she’d not done before, about 10 runs later she was flying down!

There’s a really good / nostalgic series on Netflix called ‘The Toys That Made Us’, there is an episode on He-Man and it goes into detail around the cartoon and the fact it was developed as a marketing tool for the toys.

Not sure if The Raccoons has been mentioned yet (I was informed the other day that one on my mates used to refer to his ‘ahem’ little chap as Cyril Sneer, make of that as you will!).

For me most of the time wearing goggles I tend to use a clear lens so wouldn’t be buying goggles based on fancy lenses alone.  It’s either too dark (general UK conditions) or too much bright sunlight to dark shadows (Alps) which dark lenses struggle with.  I’ve a few pairs of 100% goggles (not the mega posh ones) which fit fine with Troy Lee D3 & Stage, and Fox Proframe.

Sainsburys Low Salt and Sugar.  Our family is so conditioned to these that Heinz taste horrendously sweet and sickly.  I like mine slightly overdone (doesn’t make the toast soggy) with plenty of white pepper.

Loads of deals about for the 7, John Lewis was the cheapest for the 7 pro I just picked up. Plus they will price match if something cheaper comes up in the next couple of weeks

Popped into JL Oxford Street today, the small Garmin display was empty as I assume they’re going to redo for the Fenix 8.  I found a cabinet with a load of various marked down Garmin’s with random prices.  I was told they were returns or reconditioned units.  They had a Fenix 7 Pro Solar Sapphire in A condition (it’s unmarked, slightly battered box, brand new unopened cable).  Chap informed me A grade is 25% off current sale price of £599, so £450 including 2 year warranty, bargain!  ‘New’ clearance stock was something like 15% off, Grade B something more than 25%, so worth a look if in the area, Make sure you check the current price as the one I bought had an old sticker with a higher price which they corrected.

e-trail bike and a DH bike

KSL is a 170/170 ‘lightweight’ ebike.  Probably the nearest thing to a motor assisted DH on the market rather than being a trail bike.

If you can’t have “fun” on a normal bike, any normal bike, the issue is probably you, not the bike.

‘Fun’ is subjective, as are the levels of ‘fun’ an individual may obtain from any of the many types of bikes that are available.

Riding e-bikes, whilst fun, just isn’t as challenging in the same way. Technical climbs are now just point and shoot, monster truck through and arrive at the top, in order to ride down.

Whist a full power ebike may be like this the Kenevo SL is a different beast and somewhat niche, whilst the assistance is there, if the expectation is that you’ll be blatting up cliff faces you’ll be in for a shock.

Having owned one for around 8 months now I’d say it’s more like having a super enduro bike with enough of a motor to take the edge off the flats (eco mode) and take the sting out of the ups (trail and turbo if required), whilst still providing a near regular bike experience on the downs.  For me it works really well.  My riding group is non ebike and favours gravity riding, I usually keep it in eco or off and we happily co-exist.  I also ride a fair bit on my own and the motor helps me get in more laps (I’m time poor, mtb is my weekend fun so this is a real plus).

If I was riding just trails, I’d buy a regular trail bike, if I was riding just uplifts I’d have a park bike, I don’t ride my mtb for fitness (I have a couple of drop bar bikes for that).  I came from a Mk2 Megatower and the KSL was a heart purchase of a 1.1 with a big discount, the Megatower has gone as too big an investment to not ride most of the year, I now have half a MK1 Megatower as an uplift bike which shares wheels and forks with the KSL (as I’m in the fortunate position of being able to do this, and whilst hugely capable, the KSL isn’t ideal to be chucking on and off an uplift trailer or chairlift).

If anyone spots any mega deals on Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar models now the F8 is out, I have a regular spec Fenix 5 which I’d be tempted to upgrade…..

Your requirements are pretty niche but surely your main income should be going into a USD bank account and no doubt one which lets you get at the money as easily/cheaply as revolut exists?  You can pay the taverna with a broken machine without putting all your salary in revolut!

If this is aimed at me I’m not sure what you’re getting at, my main income / salary is in GBP which goes into my normal UK account with a high st bank, I use Revolut on an ad hoc basis as it suits me well for travel whereby I just load up what I need to my Revolut card and can then spend in the local currency (personal travel, I use a corporate card for work expenses) and the odd transaction in USD if I need to draw money from my US based stock account (US based as I work for a US company who dictates the account provider) in USD and then convert to GBP for transfer into my UK based accounts.  For this it works great.

Another Revolut for travel user here due to the multi currency functionality and ease of use.  My wife has one too and we then have a child account for our 2 teens.   I also have a US stock account (for work) and it is a good way of reducing the fees for USD to GBP conversion (as the account pays out in USD).

Was really useful in Corfu this summer to pay a taverna owner for our meal when his card machine was not working due to wifi issues (they also had a Revolut account so was a 2 min job to pay direct to another Revolut user).

It would have been less obvious if they’d fallen out of windows of course.

From Russia With Love (in keeping with the Bond theme)

Pretty sure I bought an iPad from them, no issues, had a uk plug included separately as was a non uk iPad but was the cheapest I could find at the time.

We used Ermones Boats on the west side, it was convenient as near our villa (most of the hire places on the west run from the Palaiokastritsa area).  Was a bit more expensive for the hire but we used less fuel as there is less distance to cover so the total cost worked our similar for the day, hire period was an hour shorter though and whilst fine was definitely a bit more slapdash in approach (35 Boats do a proper briefing and seem a lot more organised (in a Greek way).

East and West are different experiences on the boat.  East is more built up, water is calmer and warmer.  West is more rocky, isolated beaches and better snorkelling.

This area in Corfu town is worth going to for a couple of sundowners and you can swim there too (not eaten there).  We also ate here a couple of times, it has a great view and the food was pretty good and reasonably priced.  Definitely look to book somewhere if it looks nice in Corfu town as it gets very busy.

Happy to attempt to answer any other questions if you have them.

We’ve come back from Corfu this week.  Nothing seems that cheap to hire there.  We’ve been there 3 times in the last 7 years and used a different company each time based on what deals were available, I used Discover Cars as a broker website and ended up booking via them with Dirent (which seemed to also be Thrifty Car Rentals).  5 minute minibus from the airport and all sorted fine, handover etc was no problem, it’s also opposite Lidl so ideal for picking up the car and going to the beer/water shop.  Car was an Fiat Tipo which was a few years old and a bit tatty but the state of the roads and the horrendous narrow steep roads to beaches I’d not want to be driving anything too nice.

Also if you want to hire a boat for the day (well worth it, we did it twice, once on each side of the island) look up 35 Boats for Hire, it’s run by a lovely family and situated on the East side, not too far north of Corfu town.

Finally I can also recommend Ermones Villas fro accommodation a bit off the beaten track.  We’ve stayed there 3 times and it’s run by a nice couple, the accommodation is clean with fantastic views and is pretty central so a good base to explore.

I quite fancy one of these frames simply because the colour is “Blue Unlimited”

Seems like there are (no-no, no-no-no) no limits to which their marketing department will go to!

There was definitely hundreds of red V10 demo bikes being ridden around all over the place. I might try one of those but at over £100 a day I’d need a good excuse.

Yeah, they looked great, although I was dismayed to see one muppet ghost one down 10% after he decided he couldn’t ride it down!

Why is this even a thing? Why would anyone be surprised that people recommend what they ride, or to turn it around causally, ride what they recommend.

I don’t have an issue with recommend what you ride as such, but it does get tedious when you just get the response ‘I ride bike x, it’s great’, it’s good to understand the justifications, what actually makes it so good?  Also it’s not uncommon to hear that what was once fantastic was never quite that good once it has gone and been replaced by the new bike.

Forget nostalgia (who cares what you rode in 2006, bikes have changed for the better),
Yeah no shit.

Sorry, wasn’t a direct dig at you, more the general notion that just because we rode 26ers, and perhaps hardtails at one point in time that it’s still a ‘good’ option now.  I’ve got no desire to get back on either, and especially to be shaken apart riding down Les Gets mainline!

I’d love to try a full on DH bike there though.
Awesome on ‘some’ trails. Slower and less fun than an enduro/trail bike in most places and a pig to get around town on. For years I went there and never pedalled up a single hill, it’s like a different place now on a more versatile bike.

Agreed, but there’s always that itch, I’ve not ridden a DH bike since my M1 back in the noughties.  I felt there were more DH bikes this year than the previous couple of years (when enduro bikes were definitely getting more common).

Not surprised to see that the majority of answers to the thread have settled down into the standard STW response of recommend what you ride.

Forget nostalgia (who cares what you rode in 2006, bikes have changed for the better), hardtails, 26 inch wheels, dated geometry etc.  Assuming you’re riding the bike park trails i’d want:

1. Good suspension front and rear with a decent amount if travel that has been set up well – fast and rough tracks / braking bumps take their toll very quickly.

2. Something that can take a beating – fast and rough tracks / braking bumps take their toll very quickly.

3. Something you’re not too precious about – fast and rough tracks / braking bumps / flying rocks take their toll very quickly.

4. Decent brakes

5. Decent tyres

6. Modern geometry – slack H/A, longer wheelbase etc is much better for fast and potentially steep tracks

7. Dropper – to get around there are a few traverses, having the seat up is nice.

8. Water bottle mounts – riding with a big bouncy pack is eurgh!

Previous 2 visits I was on a Megatower V2.  With the arrival of my ebike I downgraded that to a Megatower V1 (with cash my way) which I now keep as an uplift bike.  It ticks all my boxes above and can also be had relatively cheap these days.  One of the great things about modern Santa Cruz is that they are easy to maintain.  I’d love to try a full on DH bike there though.

On the bus there are three people with drenched down jackets someone wearin a pair of soggy uggs.

Were they kids?  I have 2 teenage daughters, there’s no amount of telling them how inappropriate their clothing is for the current weather / activity, let alone the weather which may come along later in the day!

I must admit that I have noticed people wearing North Face puffa style jacket in the pissing rain. I can only assume that because it’s an outdoor brand they assume it will be waterproof.

North Face is an outdoor brand, it is now also a fashion brand.  The puffa wearers have usually bought it solely as a fashion brand, all they have seen / are interested in is the label, function / association with the outdoors often has zero bearing on the purchase decision.

Define ‘cheap’.

Is soft and poppy shockwhizz terminology, soft and poppy seem to counter each other in my mind?

At that price search the sales for Carhartt.

Google Prof Stephen Reicher if you want to know more :)

Is it just me that reads this in a voice from a Starship Troopers infomercial?

Just rewatched the move a few times pausing at the points before and after contact.  Pidcock hits the inside line accelerates and holds it, Koretzky shifts his line left to close the door as the lines converge far too late, Pidcock has nowhere else to go and just held his line, absolutely no issue with that overtake.