What a gift! That’s brilliant that!

My 50th landed in the middle of Covid. I can’t recall any particular gift, but I celebrated it sat on a wall with Mrs Rock eating a bacon butty with a miserable coffee from a polystyrene cup.

55th next year and I’m already working on the options.

That’s my point, I’ve just watched that ZF video and now think that it looks like a brilliant motor and system…..so I’ll wait for a bike with that to come out. TBH, I have heard of ZF so they probably do know their engineering, and hardly an upstart in the motor world.

It does also make you wonder if there was a ZF board meeting, say four years ago, where it was agreee that cycling was going to be on a never ending boom and they need a piece of that action. Fast forward to the current day, and the market has flopped and I’d be curious what sort of numbers they now expect to sell in such a crowded market.  I can’t imagine one system ever having a monopoly, but some point maybe manufacturers just think R&D isn’t worth it and development stagnates.  I see a larger market in electric leisure/city bikes where just a bit of natural assistance is needed, so less demand for motors with so much grunt that you can wheelie up rock gardens for the enduro bro. Albeit that would be fun.

All my mates now have e-bikes (Orbea Rise) so riding with them now is hard going.  I’m probably 70% towards plumping for one, and had sort of set my heart on the Fuel exe.  It just strikes me at the moment that we are still very much in the infancy of this market, and I also don’t know how long the good deals are going to go on for, once perhaps oversupply/production matches actual demand.  There also seems to be something on the horizon worth waiting for, and the lack of interchangeable and upgradable motors and batteries makes me worry of obsolete technology problems with ownership/servicing. They are undoubtedly quite an investment, so taking a punt is a costly choice.

I did see one of these top spec whtye bikes in a shop, looks great but £10k!

It’s a single speed, so gears aren’t a problem. I have in mind creating a rocket ship of a bike!

I’ve got the “long” TruTune in my 140mm Pike and it’s definitely made it more supple and active. Far less chatter through the bars.

As Paul Daniels would say, “it’s magic”.

My problem must be a family trait. Many years ago, I lent my brother a pair of sunglasses to ride in.  We were in Morzine at the time and he had no goggles or glasses with him, I had a spare.
On the first morning, he lost a stem faceplate bolt while building the bike up ready to ride. So we rode into town and went to a bike shop to try and get a spare. While waiting around, he wanted to post the postcard he’d got and written the night before.  I gave him my spare glasses outside the shop and he then went into the shop to pick up the spare bolt they had found for him.  He then came back out of the shop and posted the postcard but then said he had lost the glasses. Checked the shop, road and pavement outside, nothing. But he still had the postcard in his hand.  It appeared to be not beyond the realms of his intelligence that he posted the glasses.

55 next year but an unexpected and deeply saddening inheritance has changed things for us, with a possibility of winding down at 55.

I did post a while ago about the “value” of an IFA, and can now attest that ours has helped us hugely.  They are not unsympathetic, but purely from a numbers game, ours is all over our options and provides excellent modelling and scenario comparisons to help us make decisions.

I know that it’s possible to deal with all this yourself, and plenty of good videos out there (James Shack being a good one) but for all their life lesson and money sense, they can’t help your individual set of circumstances.

I do think engaging a good Financial Planner is a good investment.

Heading from the North,

I did mull this over for this year but my buddies couldn’t stretch to five days off work.  But it’s in my radar for 2025, when I’ll be 55!

I’m just a bit worried that it’s going to be out of my depth, and it’ll be potentially exhausting.  I’m sure a day off mid week, or an early bail might be useful, but is it very very full on?  I’ve done three days at Solden a few weeks ago and with it being bike parky, I was pretty spent*, but perhaps there would be a bit more intense than trails with white room….or am I way off the mark?

*Also fell off on the black enduro trail** the middle of the second day and hurt everything.  Third day was uncomfortable.

**at walking speed, got knocked off trail by a rogue rock and found the ground where you would normally plant you feet down, wasn’t there.

My current 2017 bike came with a 130mm Pike. Since then I’ve added the first version debonair at 140mm travel and also got a 2.1 damper upgrade at a good price.
The most recent tweak has been a Tru-Tune through TF (on sale at the mo) and the fork is now very plush.
Good forks.

Had a look at these, didn’t even know they existed until this thread!

Looks pretty handy and not too unwieldy compared to my standard barrel BBQ.

Just a head sup also, Very have these at £199 for the unit only, but with a promo to get a stand and cover, and they do 10% cashback on BNPL. And I think you can get TCB too.

My kids when younger had the D3O style sleeve pads.  They seemed a little more comfortable than a hard, bulky shell.  We had TLD speed sleeve and G-Form.

How would this scam work? Surely no-one would hand over any money before seeing it in the flesh? Does the seller ask for a deposit or something and just rinses potential punters, £50 a time or whatever?

I sort of suffer this, and this season I’m looking at mineral sun screens for our hols in Lanzarote in four weeks time, rather than a chemical sunscreen.

There is a suggestion that mineral types may allow the skin pores to breathe easier, and sweat can escape easier.  Ask me in six weeks if it works….

It does have hope hubs.  Evo2 I think.

Agree, too much recapping and as it neared 9:45 I was thinking they going to have to get a wiggle on to be done by 10, not realising it was 90 minutes.  Defo no more than an hour of content on that one.  Nonetheless, I found it incredibly moving when they were piecing together the fate of that particular plane and crew, makes it very human, and then multiplied by hundreds. It did get dusty watching it.

The difference on this occasion is it really wasn’t Guy’s project, he was there mainly observing and a little bit of hands on.  Bearing in mind they were dealing with the likelihood of finding human remains, this is understandable.

Continuity department must have a nightmare with his ever changing hair though!

The bike is likely to stay as, size wise, it’s OK. He’s 18, 6’ and it’s a Large frame.

I did look at servicing myself but the damper aspect looks like it’s fraught with me dropping a washer/nut and as it’s been clearly a long time since done, a professional service seemed preferable.

As touched on, if you go down the sorting outside insurance route, then in a month or so it all goes pear shaped and you report it to Insurers, they are going to take a dim view of why you didn’t tell them at the time.  Which would be (probably) a breach of policy conditions.  So they could be looking to decline cover. See the various travel insurance\non disclosure threads!

And the declaration about no accidents on future renewals. Are you comfortable lying?/not disclosing*?  See above.

*melodramatic, for effect.

I’m about to head into this as Sainsbury’s have contacted me to say they aren’t offering me renewal terms at all, but no reason given.  Usual house cover needed and a fleet of five bikes, the most expensive probably £2k, down to £200.

Suddenly very dusty where I am, Mrs Rock and I went through this last spring when both our mothers passed away in a matter of days. We didn’t have the distance to contend with as you do, and I feel your pain about this.

All I can offer is to say everything you have ever wanted to say, and maybe you have, then remind her.  MIL asked me to promise to look after her daughter, and I promised her I would.

I sincerely and genuinely wish you the best, as it must be very difficult.

Changed mine, just put all French riders in.

Apologies, not helpful for your direct query, but I think I’d just buy a cheap one for my own use.  The thought of a second hand helmet that had been, at best, sweated in by multiple users, at worse, crashed in, would put me off.

Had the same deliberation with my first ski trip this year, of all the kit, I bought a cheapo ski helmet of my own.

Maybe ping an email to Freeride Morzine, or ask Jo at Rideability (helpful chap).

We are looking at the moment too, similar needs for temperature as I’m half Irish so pale, freckly and a tad ginger every now and again. 😄

I’m surprised to hear that the Canaries are possibly cooler, I assumed they would be much hotter than the Balearics in the summer, where we are currently looking.  Also, beaches in canaries can be rough as it’s mainly volcanic.

I don’t think Madeira is family friendly, as in kids clubs and mini discos etc, as the more traditional beach resorts.

Greece and Greek Islands though, I think will be sweltering. Trouble is now, there seems to be more heatwaves.  We caught the back end of the Europe heatwave last year when we went to Portugal. Honestly, it was absolutely roasting and we didn’t venture out poolside until around 3pm. Just far too hot for us.

Croatia might do, but not sure of summer temps?

We are erring on Menorca, been twice when the kids were small and we were lucky enough to get a villa with a pool. It was a godsend tbh. We filled it with daft inflatables and the kids were put into those sunscreen rash shirts and they spent all day in the pool.  Multiple trips to the loo weren’t a big upheaval and being able to just jump in your own pool when it got too hot, or go inside, was so convenient.  Catering was easy, they have cakes for breakfast!  Some salad and olives for lunch and then a stroll to a restaurant for evening. Nice and quiet island, probably going back this year.

It’s a bit of a pickle as our kids are now old, out of school but we still have to go in term holidays times as Mrs Rock works in a School (not teaching).

You can get lock rings in fancy anodised colours. That seems a big plus.

How were your hand/wrists/rotors after that descent? 😂😄😂

+1 for the rejuvenation of Halifax. Grace Jones is playing in town tonight,  Blondie did two nights last week.  Limp Biskit only did Wembley and Halifax last year.
Great riding, probably the best natural trails in England, IMO.

Having said that, the Colne Valley does provide some decent stuff.

@DaveyBoyWonder, Sowerby Bridge resident here… To the non-local, I’m sure your route sounds a load of gibberish 😂 but I think you have described one of my local favourite routes.  Albeit, I’m lost at your route through Exley, are you heading up above Elland Woods there? We normally go up the yellow brick road from Elland wood bottom. Steep and brutal everywhere in the Calder Valley…

Edit, Mills N Moors is a decent loop. 

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45756568

Karoq SEL owner here too. As above, it’s the only model (I think) with the tumbling/removable rear seats. So it’s dead easy to fold up any of the individual rear three seats and either remove or stow vertically to free length.
Great car too, if not a little vanilla*.

*which is fine for me

Solden is another Austria option.  Quite a lot of flow trails, lift accessed.  We go out of school season, so I’m not sure how much there would be to do.  But Área 51 looks a laugh, just down the road from the bike park.

I blagged a Hero 8 black from the GoPro eBay outlet.  Prior to that had a session which was an official GoPro refurbished.

The Hero 8 is quite a lot better and the image stabilisation is nuts!

Mrs Rock and I did Michael Moseley’s 5:2 diet when we started to get a little heavier than we’d prefer.  We did lose quite a bit of weight (83kg to 74kg) but also gained an awareness of JUST HOW MUCH FOOD we were eating in our normal diet.  When you have to weigh out 30g of cereal and that is a fifth or whatever, of your daily calorie allowance, the you start to get an understanding of portion distortion.  We changed our eating habits generally as a result, with a bit more awareness of calories in/calories out.

TLDR: Yes, we lost weight on it,

Looks a great bike, and seems to be picking up some good reviews.  Full power and range without being a heavy old lump.

As a self confessed Cannondale fan (still have a 2004 Jekyll with Lefty and currently have a 2017 Carbon Habit), I reckon that Cannondale have made this bike with a “Cannondale uniqueness” ie, the flex stay, sufficient to put people off, so if it doesn’t sell as planned, and when it gets to a more sensible price. I may be tempted.

Went in 2019 and going back in three weeks for three days riding.

I’m very much a wheels on the ground type rider and found the flow trails great fun.  If you schralp and get phat air I suspect it won’t be for you.

I’ve had myriam since the start and she bagged some points today and hopefully it’ll continue until her stock rises. Amaury Pieron also in there as a “cheap” buy but aside from some self back patting for those two, I’m doing terrible.

Im thinking of getting Bruni and then five random £100K riders….

Check on “cheapest_electrical” on eBay. It’s the Tesco mobile outlet with returns/open box etc.

I just bought a grade “B” iPhone Mini 12 (from a V1 SE) for around £200. It came and it was ablsoultely mint, 100% battery life. I think it is pretty much brand new but grade B is supposed to have marks and signs of use.  Easy enough to return too if they send you a lemon.

Great phone, love the full screen and Face ID and the camera is brilliant (IMO). Portrait mode looks great (IMO AGAIN).

A bit of a curve ball, but the Sram Guide RE can be bought for less than £100 a set.  Same rotors for you too?   I upgraded from Guide Trail and the RE are a very strong brake.  Got some Galfer pads in mine which are very good and it’s entirely possible to do a front wheel skid with very little input.

Hate to say it, but almost disposable at that price…

Thanks all.
So far, Cougar’s Rotary Skelton is the most approved. I think it’s a decent looking watch and I’m not 18yo!
It feels like the budget is middle ground, I sort of wish we could go more for a proper statement piece but he’s had two daughters before home turn 18 and we try to strictly treat all the kids the same.

The outlook appears to be that the pre-existing condition has to be material to the loss. So, undeclared finger infection shouldn’t affect a broken leg while skiing.  Same with house insurance, if you don’t have the minimum door lock standard but burglars break in through a window (that are as declared) then it “shouldn’t” void the policy.

Im assuming the lady in the liver story had a medical episode directly related to the undeclared pre-existing condition.  If that is so, then Insurers are entitled to void it.

Philips Fatique?
Richard Mile?

So far, he’s erring on that Seiko presage cocktail model.

Skeleton apparently, with a steel bracelet.