As a dumfries and galloway resident I can recommend it for a get away chill type holiday, kippford, loch ken, galloway outdoor centre has lodges and yurts, galloway forest park, isle of whithorn, luce bay, glen trool, etc  Would give you biking options with inactive group peace and quiet for chilling.

Thanks for the replies – went for the Ghost XL – the longer battery life and more functionality sold it to me – plus I ride mbikes as well

I have had for a couple of years and find it works well and wear it 24/7. Training condition is more of a guide as it likes high intensity over base load – e.g full on weeks skiing and it dropped dramtically. One think it doesnt seem to work with is VO2 max – dont know how it calculates but it doesnt seem to correlate with much. Otherwise I think its excellent

I need wide shoes and Shimano do pretty decent wide fitting options and have wider budget range than most others

update – 4 months now on continental GP5000 S TR, no problems at all, much better- even managed to withstand a massive pothole that broke the rim!

Hi all – have received full payment from council insurance to cover full cost of repair.  Hunt also opened up a decent dialogue and discount for the repair and also full serviced the hub with new bearings and a new freehub!  Cant say fairer than that!  Adds weight to the saying “shy boys get nowt”… :)

As above definitley stick – you know the car, its been looked after, and its reliable.  its not high milage – i have often taken my cars to 200k+ albiet being used for a lot of motorway miles.   Just a footnote re all wheel drive for the winter – i run rear wheel drive BMW in scotland, BUT, I am evangelical about proper winter tyres which will overcome any reasonable winter snow until it gets silly depth.  They will out perform awd cars with summer tyres easily.

I bought a 530d SE G 31 and have to say its great and has ample power previously owned several three series inc tourers and the 5 series is my preference by quite a long way now.

Depends what you want to do with it – general purpose, dog walking robust, breathable and practical i use a Fjall Raven jacket made with G1000 material, not fully waterproof and you need to wax it now and again – im a big chap and really only comfy enough outdoor jacket I found that can put up with abuse, mud, thorns, plenty pockets etc – not cheap mind you

for a van powder coat – no brainer

round here the biggest issue on country and hill roads is when they are timber harvesting – the wagons literally demolish the small single track roads and they then remain so until taxpayer foots the repair bill- and the timber harvesting industry doesnt pay any tax into the general coffers as its exempt from corporate and income tax!

I have just started using a small restrap one on the road bike and well impressed, looks retro/ tourer but the extra space is great.  i have titanium frame so rubbing not an issue

living in Scotland and working in Wales I do have some sympathy with the OP in certain areas, around Sandycroft area there is a real mixture of 50,40, 30,20 limits going up and down often on the same road so you do have to concentrate on what limit actually is and not always “obvious” or intuitive.  Thats my opinion anyway.

oops forgotten how to post pics

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPYigbAAfzcHesB7Nybz-Nu4HTZ6ynrlZIbPqf2

over budget and maybe little heavy for your needs but Enigma Etape?  I bought ultegra spec from Epic this year and intended to not use in winter, but ability to run wide TL and even be “light gravel” with disc brakes and full mudguards make it an excellent winter bike so I am running it through the winter.  Its handling capabilities make it feel very comfortable and confident on the pretty crap conditions we have at the moment.

ps still waiting on the council insurers decision – they have had report for a few weeks now – cant see there can be any argument for paying for what is a potentially lethal pothole

Just to report Hunt have done a decent job on discount, quick turnaround and rim replacement after a bit of discussion, so kudos to them.

I do 95% of road riding from door as have huge selection of rides in Dumfries – mtb from door for quick fun one to two hours riding but mainly drive to trails which arent far but cuts out a load of what would be dull riding on the road with a MTB

So post Christmas, time to revisit this thread discussion and get back on track…

Interesting discussion, Hunt have now agreed to do assessment first so will see how discussion goes…..

Before anyone says how did you not see it, was nearly dark and heavy rain at the time so it was awash

About six inches deep

I’ve put a claim into the council but who knows where that will go

Inc fitment just shy of £290

Very interesting set of replies, I was assuming the watch measured against GPS vs barometer but see that I am wrong.  It is eye opening on the variance of various platforms

I have owned a few older three series and tbh i would go for M sport every time now for the spec you get from the M sport – I have always had 6 cyl diesels and wouldnt have anything else but friends have the 4 cyl and get on fine with them.  I recently switched to a 2011 five series tourer and I have to say for biking and other activities is a great car – much more room inside, comfier drive and they are cheaper than the three series – worth considering.

update, was fixed on 30mm which reduces options so have plonked for the continental GP5000 S TR, and will see how we get on with them.  have to say though if still problematic that will be the end of tubless road tyres for me.  Fingers crossed.

Thanks all – very useful to have ideas and pointers as to what the alternatives and opinions are.  Pair of Rapha classics ordered which are on sale at moment on their website, still a chunk of change but price for comfort I hope will be worth it.

Cheers

S

Very interesting discussion and glad its not just me that its sub optimising.  I had a look at the settings and it had my max HR at 172 which it must have adjusted because I am sure I set it at 162 which is the standard 220-age setting as a baseline and tbh 162 is my flat out HR.  So will see what effect – comments also chime with what my HR is doing – having been active more than usual for last 3-4 months my average HR has dropped for same effort so potentially confusing the algorithm.  That said I am a fan of the watch and app in general for tracking activity and recovery via effort, speed, routes, rest and HVR.

Thanks Both thats very helpful – interestingly I went for a swim last night first time in a while and that eased off the stiffness and pain.

Considering the length of service and from what you have said I would say contractually there is nothing that can be done imo.  As others have said I would speak to landlord to see if he can get someone in earlier to offer some recompense.

plunked for the enigma etape ultegra…..

I have done some serious drooling over the options listed here. short list is Enigma Etape, Dolan ADX, Sonder Colibri – all integra build, Dolan and sonder around £3K, Enigma etape £4.5k -(spa dont do C2W vouchers) hmmmm….

Looked up the Enigma Etape and Epic cycles doing an “ultegra” build with Hunt wheels – talk about bike Po**!  Hey Ton hows it going – good shout for spa cycles – that Sabbath looks the part.

Sorry really daft question – the Apple TV proposition – this is a device that you plug into your tV – then this can connect to your android phone to play whatever is on your phone?  I am not daft, just rather ignorant of what it is.  Thanks

V interesting replies – i have just got into Zwift and currently just using my motorola phone – main issue is reading the information – so pinging it to a bigger screen sounds like cheap solution – I am not bothered about the graphics either – will look up that facebook page as well, thanks

we have Vitality which is a good package – with not only medical covered but expenses in denistry and opticians – also a rewards and discount scheme for various items – pretty decent and def appreciated by those who have used it.

Also cycle to work scheme used by some but not widespread uptake