Haha yup I try not to be too negative about other folks choices, cest la vie and all that, but they really seem to be the worst of both worlds. Vans are great because they’re more comfortable than a tent, tents are great because you can take them places you couldn’t take a van 

The only positives I can see is they’re (a little bit) cheaper than a pop top and there’s a bit of novelty factor that families with kids must love 

Everyone excited for tomorrow?

I definitely need this kick up the arse. I was enjoying the weather and doing a lot of exercise at the start of summer which led to a biiiiig appetite

I then broke my scaphoid bone which put a halt to any exercise yet I kept eating like I was some sort of athlete, except maybe more crisps and beer than chicken and rice – piled the pounds on since then!
Still struggling with weight bearing on my wrist so bike and yoga (my go to “easy day” in previous years) are on hold just now but hopefully a combination of running and walking will see me through a month or so until my scaphoids fully healed…

But by not acting you are influencing the result of the election. It’s a potential criminal act by a politician, therefore it is always going to have an effect on politics. I take the view the police should ignore the political consequences & go through the process as they normally would.

No idea if there’s official rules involved with either scenario but I guess it’s similair to the partygate investigations last year where the met police didn’t announce any updates until after the local elections: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/21/met-police-delay-updates-on-partygate-fines-until-after-may-local-elections

Not defending it though – definitely seems some fishy timing!

Nothing planned yet but looking forward to the better weather and being able to cycle in to work more often

Also got my eye on the rumours of the Rosyth to Zebrugge ferry reopening – love the idea of a European bike tour starting from my front door

Maybe have a look at the Hebridean way if you’re still keen on Scotland in August. Its an amazing set of islands – it’ll still be busy enough that you should definitely book accommodation in advance but its not quite the same levels of madness that you hear about in the NC500 (although I’ve only done the heb way, never done NC500)

The only solution is an election. It’s pretty much inevitable now.

Is there any sort of mechanism to drive an election? Or are we relying on the good will, morality and lost interest of the Tory party to call one?

I’ve got the 11 speed on my general commuting/zooming about bike and it’s great for what I need

My only problem is the technical side scares me – it’s such a black box of magic, I’ve no idea what’s going inside or how it works!

With a regular derailleur set up I’m happy enough tinkering with limit screws and cable tension to get it shifting well but I just don’t have a clue with the hub gear. It’s currently skipping in only gear 2 but perfect in all the others so now I just avoid gear 2, rather than playing about with it and risking messing up the rest of the gears 🤣 I don’t even know if it is a problem I could fix or if it’s a bigger issue with worn/damaged gears in the hub

Worth noting though that I bought mine second hand and I don’t think it was really looked after (even though the oil change is the most infrequent and easy job ever), I guess a brand new one, especially with Di2 shifting, would be able to sort those problems

I’ve never been biking in any other resort but I’d recommend Morzine to anyone

It’s an amazing place and the Portes du Soleil lift pass covers a huge area. Honestly think you could go for a week long holiday and not ride the same trail twice, especially if you start exploring some of the unofficial/more natural trails (which can make golfie look pretty flat!)

Also a pretty great spread of bike friendly accommodation, pubs and restaurants

I’m sure there’s cheaper resorts but Morzine ticks all the boxes in my eyes

They do, unless the thief has an iPhone, then the anti-stalker mechanism will kick in and let them know an air tag is following them…

How sensitive is it though? And how long do they have to be together for?
I’ve not looked in to them at all but there must be a bit of a lag otherwise you’d constantly be getting falsely pung cause somebodies sitting next to you on the train with an AirTag on their house keys etc?

I wouldn’t put anything in it that’s at all breakable, though. Helmet is a carry-on for me now frinstance.

~thread revival~
Has anyone flown with their helmet as hand luggage recently? I’ve done it before but now seeing that easyjet are charging extra if your hand luggage is greater than 45 x 36 x 20 cm – are they strict about this?
Would rather not put it in my bike bag or the hold but dont fancy spending an extra £15 each way for larger cabin bag either..

Very nice, loving the way the blue and red go together

Is there any reason you went for 150mm forks over the stock 160mm? Suppose it would steepen the head and seat tube angle slightly which would help with the poppy/pedalable feel

To bring a bit of hope to the thread!

7 of us were out for dinner on Friday just there. The table was pre booked but we were shown the bill and turfed out pretty soon after we finished our meal as they needed the table back which was fair enough

We walked up to Rose Street and got turned away from a couple pubs but eventually got in to the third pub we tried. Standing space only at first but managed to pounce on a table that cleared up and spent the rest of the night parked up there

Enjoy!

Sorry to join in on this with a thread hijack but looks like there’s a lot of knowledgeable people here and it got me thinking!

Are dehumidifiers preferred over using trickle vents in the windows?

Our previous flat didn’t have trickle vents and leaving the windows on the catch let in way too much cold air so we used a dehumidifier a lot, especially in winter. However got a bit of a shock when the electricity bill came through!

We’re now in a house with trickle vents which are constantly open and we don’t seem to have any issue with humidity or dampness however definitely conscious of the constant stream of cold air trickling in through the vents. It’s a relatively new house and having the stringently controlled wall and ceiling insulation seems a bit pointless with such constant drafts coming through…

The house gets noticeably stuffy if you close the trickle vents so I guess it comes down to the cost of running a dehumidifier for a couple hours a day vs the cost of the extra gas required to compensate for the trickle vents being open all the time?

Also saw automatic humidity controlled trickle vents online; any one any experience of these sort of things?
https://toma24.com/productcart/humidity-sensitive-trickle-vent-higroster

Cool write up, cheers for that!
Is that £850 all in including the bike? I’ve been idly thinking about an ebike conversion recently but that’s way cheaper than I ever expected – benefits of somewhere like aliexpress I guess?

Is the top speed still limited to 15mph like an off the shelf UK offering?

Very nice!

I’ve got a V1 Sentinel and totally love it – suits my wants/needs/compromises perfectly and couldn’t see myself wanting a new bike for a good few years… and then the V2 came out! I thought the V1 was a nice looking bike but the colour and the sharper lines of the V2 are drool worthy, enjoy!

I used to get pretty bad shins as well but the biggest change for me was to tie my shoes less tight – there’s a big tendon/muscle/body thing running all the way down your shin and along the top of your foot and I found that tying my laces even tight enough to stop my feet moving around would compress that enough and lead to sore shins

So started using this lacing method which allows you to loosely tie your shoes whilst still feeling quite snug around your heel :

Can relate to this as well. Generally there’s nothing wrong with my life and I’m so grateful for all my friends and family, a relatively comfortable job and fit enough to have a lot of fun at the weekend.
But recently everything’s just been feeling a bit “meh” and “what next?”

I’m not quite ready to make the move yet (from both a financial and skills/experience perspective) but I think my solution is to try and get a more rewarding job, either in charity or some sort of teaching/tutoring role.

I’m not sure where I’ll end up but just somewhere that’s a bit more “giving back” than the current office job for a megacorp that I’m in just now

If they have good mitigation measures in place ( and I don’t mean stuff that is there to look good I mean proper measures) then its hard to argue going back into the office really is more dangerous.

I agree that with proper mitigations in place the office is significantly safer than it would be if we were left to run riot. But I would still argue that sitting at home by myself is infinitely safer than going in to the office – and I don’t even have to wear a mask or leave a window open!

I definitely appreciate that working from home’s not for everyone and I also appreciate that there’s more risky work environments than the office (schools etc) but, for me, it’s all about lowering the exposure to risk surely? Why expose a full work force to a (relatively low) risk when you could instead just keep doing what we’ve done for the last 17 months without issue.

@tjagain yeh they do have all of that kind of stuff in place. Again, up until now they’ve been brilliant clearly laying out that stuff and following all the rules. But an office holding almost 100 people, even if well ventilated and with a one way system, is still more risky than my desk in the spare room

That definitely seems the sensible approach @mashr , just can’t understand their reasoning behind this

As far as I’m concerned I’m at far greater risk going shopping at the super market.

One of our managers said this as well which I can definitely understand and agree with. But I’m not in the habit of spending 40 hours a week in a supermarket so kinda a moot point…

I notice that too but the other way around. I always feel running in the morning I’ve not quite woken up and my joints feel a bit tender and totally incapable of anything explosive like sprints. Whereas if I run later on and I’ve had the day to “warm up”, my legs feel looser and I’m much more comfortable running at a quicker pace..
Maybe it’s just good old placebo doing its thing!

Is anyone heading back in to the office yet?
My company, to be fair to them, have been great up with it all up until now: working from from home as default, felt pretty safe any time I have had to come to the office etc

But they’re now bringing us all back in next week and I just can’t understand why. Even the Scottish government website suggests that while a gradual return to the office is fine, working from home should still be encouraged

I could understand them acting like this if we’d been wfh for only a couple weeks and we hadn’t yet settled in to it but we’ve managed just fine for 18 months now and case numbers have literally never been higher! What’s the point in rushing back in?

Not sure i want to stick my neck out and cause a fuss but if I had the choice I’d be going nowhere near the office right now

I do have a suspicion though that the only benefit will be when lifting it on and off the uplift trailer.

Haha I think so yeah, just checked and the YT Decoy Shred has a quoted weight of 24.2kg – remove the battery and you’re down to a mere 20kg!

Yup definitely agree that I’d be better off with a normal bike for the times I don’t need an ebike

But just that eternal struggle to justify and afford extra bikes, especially a very un-cheap ebike!

Interesting that the bikes aren’t designed for batteries to be structural. Maybe it makes battery design more difficult but I thought it would’ve presented an opportunity to save some weight and bulk from the frame… although again perhaps marginal gains when you’ve still got a big motor on the bottom of it!

I’m keen to get back in to running again. I’ve been really lazy with it recently, preferring to either go on my bike or use the heat as an excuse to not exercise 😅

Was at my peak during the first lockdown and was chasing a sub 20 minute 5k – got it down to 20 minutes and 11 seconds and then got covid and never really picked up again from there. No long covid symptoms thankfully but just lost all interest and motivation… currently feeling the same way about bikes after a busy few months so I’ll maybe be able to focus on running again. I’d be absolutely buzzing if I can get back to similar 5k times again! Even better if I could finally break the 20 minute mark!

OR…

Over and out

Peat and Diesel in North Berwick in two weeks

Jealous! Always loved the atmosphere at Fringe by the Sea and was gutted that it was sold out by the time I saw they were playing. Managed to get tickets for their Fort William gig in October though so it’s not all bad – fingers crossed the new blue track will be open by then and I can make a weekend of it!

Dual crown forks make total sense to me, especially as formula have shown they can make one relatively light weight. Although I suppose all that extra machining is bound to cost a chunk more than the usual cast/forged(?) single crown

I think the fact that World Cup downhillers are still racing on RockShox forks with 35mm stanchions shows that endlessly increasing stanchion diameter isn’t the only way to achieve a desired stiffness

Make your stanchions as thick as you like, the assembly’s only as stiff as the weakest link which is surely the press fit interface between the steerer and the crown? Which also happens to be the area with the largest bending moment acting on it

Looking at geometry as well, you’ll usually get an extra ~10mm of travel from a dual crown fork than a single crown with equivalent axle to crown measurement. More travel is more GOODNESS surely?!

@matt_outandabout
I might be interested in the first aid course you mentioned, it’s something I’ve always been meaning to do. Could you PM me some more details please? 👍

Pull up, not out

Foot out, flat out

Less yappin, more brappin

F****n rev it!

Yeet yeet

Allez allez

I’ve preordered a Tailfin S3 alloy rack with the intention of strapping a drybag to the top of it. Then on Instagram last night up popped the presale for the Tumbleweed T rack so preordered that. So will try both and keep one.

Just received my my Tumbleweed rack the other day that I got in the last preorder. Went for the Pannier over the T-rack, seems really nicely made and fits great on my Longitude. Good to have a rack that actually clears plus size tyres!

I don’t want to be one of those “WHAT??? HOPW MUCH???” type people but what’s the advantages of racks like that over one of the less fancy looking racks like alpkit and topeak? Is it mainly weight and strength? I’m not too bothered about weight (quite new to all this and the equipment required so there’s definitely other places I’d rather spend the money to save weight) but I definitely wouldn’t like to have a rack fail out in the middle of nowhere!
The T-Rack looks a pretty sturdy beast and I like the idea of mounting water bottles on the rack so I could use a full frame bag

Sorry, bit of a hijack – any recommendations for a rack please?
Quite like the idea of strapping a dry bag to the top of a rack so I can still use my dropper post but not make the bike too much wider
I kinda thought a rack was a rack but then had a bit of a look and there’s all sorts from £15 to well over a hundred!

Cheers StirlingCrispin, badger divide looks pretty good!
HT 550 and the Hebridean way look pretty interesting as well. Hebridean way is mostly on road I think but sounds amazing as I’ve never been over to any of the islands

The more I read about the Scottish national trail the more I think it’s probably not a good idea but the itch is definitely there now… “how hard can it be?” 😀

Yeh I get what you mean, poly, about focusing on the best bits but i quite enjoy doing planned routes like this as it takes some of the route planning responsibility away from me! Another part of the appeal is the “completed it mate” aspect and seeing the changing landscape as duckman mentions. Maybe eventually I’ll get in to planning my own long distance routes. Good point about linking the pre-exisitng routes as well, will probably be easier to find some ride reports from the individual sections

I’m really not sure how long I’d take @duckman , my planning’s not yet gone much further than watching a few youtube videos over breakfast! I watched a video of a guy that “fast packed” it on foot in 14 days, averaging around 60km a day which I think would be more than doable on the southern paths up to the WHW but potentially much more difficult further north… I’d be pretty pleased if I managed the full route in 14 days

Still a lot more research and planning to go but it sounds like it could be a pretty interesting replacement for the usual trip out to the Alps during the summer

The West Highland Way passes through Kinlochleven – from what I can remember heading north along that to Fort William is mostly all mellow footpaths and fire roads (tech wise, still some steep climbs!)
And heading south, the WHW section between Glencoe/Kingshouse and Kinlochleven would be pretty good for something techier I think. I’ve only ever cycled south to north but the descent from top of Devils Staircase in to Kinlochleven was my favourite section of the full route. I’ve thought a couple times of parking in Kinlochleven, climbing up the WHW path and descending the Devils staircase and then turning around and doing it in reverse back to Kinlochleven – think it’s about 19 miles and around 2500ft of climbing.

Is it possible to use the full length of the pump as a storage compartment? I’ve already got the EDC tools in my steerer

Wondering if I could maybe roll up and store a foil blanket in the pump… bit of a half arsed first aid kit but better than nothing I guess

It’s worth phoning up for insurance. I was in the same position with no “official” ncb and was getting some crazy quotes on price comparison sites which more than halved after I phoned up and explained the situation – they just asked to see a claims history letter from the company car insurance
But £416 per month sounds a decent budget for something nice, might even get lucky with one of those promotional “on the road for £XXX” where everything’s covered by the dealer in one monthly payment

Yeh that sounds about right @jonba, I’ve not focused on my core in years since I stopped going to the gym – I’ll add a few of them to my upper back exercises when I get the motivation!

@cynic-al now you mention it, made me realise the feeling is similar to what I get in my knees every so often when I get back in to running and over cook the distance to quickly, hopefully we get some more dry weekends and I can keep working on these long rides, cheers!

Thanks for the replies everyone

However, as a starting point is the bike (and or stem) too long?

I guess I’m technically not using the right tool for the job, it was almost all well surfaced cycle paths and forest trails… very gravel bike-esque, and I was on my fairly long trail/enduro bike with a 40mm stem. The bike fits well for shorter rides and especially on descents – not sure how the overall reach compares with an equivalently sized road/gravel bike but I’ve not really got much scope to change it without spending a lot of money!

Do you wear glasses on a ride?

No glasses but I can definitely see what you mean about straining your neck to see out of them, the peak of my helmet probably doesn’t help either

If I go for a road ride after a few weeks away I find my neck hurts too, until the muscles get back used to it.

Yeah, maybe I just need to put up with it for a while and get fitter again – been a while since I’ve done a long distance like that but I’m hoping to do more as the weather keeps getting better

Cheers @Kryton57, I’ll have a watch tonight

Thanks @tonyd, no drop bars unfortunately but I definitely do move my hands around quite a bit already – maybe I need to cop a pair of old school bar ends or something! Appreciate the rolling of neck and shoulders as well, always feel like a show off tit doing it but I was cycling along no handed at points so I could stretch my shoulders out a bit as I was riding

Can recommend goodnews_movement on Instagram as an alternative

Good news only so it’ll never be the most up to date with politics and current affairs but it’s full of funny and nice posts that will hopefully make you smile

Have a look at a company called Madlug
They’ve got a pretty good selection of styles and colours at what seems a decent price

And for a really great cause as well – for every bag sold, Madlug will donate another to a child in care. there’s a huge number of children who turn up with barely any possessions and what they do have is packed in to black bin bags