I would like some kind of commuting ebike to enable me to extend my range.

I live in Reading (ish) I used to have a job in didcot but know have a job in London ~36miles.

I’ve done the commute once but would like to do it more regularly.

To be honest all the ebike are pretty useless as they only help up to 15 miles an hour.

I pretty much spend the whole commute above 15 miles an hour as it is flat.

Ebikes need to be able to help up to ~20 miles an hour maybe a bit more say ~25mph.

Some times it is nice to reduce the number of bikes , less maintaince + faffing.

But I would go either

3 Bikes

Road + CX(also commuter / winter) + Full-Suss

Or

2 Bikes

Road + 29er Hardtail (also commuter)

The CX bike is great but when it comes to riding “proper” trails a 29er is so much better.

So if you HADto have 1 off-road bike I would go 29er.

I’ve done it on a 2010/2011 ish Boardman.
I tend to be used to more old skool XC type frames.

For me the change in angles had a large negative effect on the bike going up hill and trying to maintain speed.

The extra travel was nice downhill.

Im not sure I’d recommenced it unless you either plan to change frame soon after, or you feel the front is much too low.

Planet X Tempest I might have been interested in this frame, but planet X said 38mm Max.

Was only planning on going up to 40mm-42mm sounds like would have fitted fine.

this also make some sense to me->

https://www.facebook.com/somafab/posts/1375475092530989

very expensive and difficult to get hold of

Not all riding is racing.

This true but again it suggests the bars are not optimal.

 Well, I’m not going to pretend I speak for everyone riding this style of bike but it strikes me you’ve got it arse about tit. I’m more likely to be on the hoods, cruising along on the road/track and in the drops when the descents get rougher and steeper. In both positions STIs work just fine – even for those of us with smaller hands.

I’ve heard this before. But I still dont understand why you would want to do this. What are the performance advantages ?

I can see that sometimes people would want to be in the drops for a more secure hand hold.
But To me this is more the rider fitting to the bar than the bar fitting to the job.
Also I dont really have this problem I do feel secure in the hoods and since I got hydraulic discs I have plenty of braking power.

Also why would I want to be bumbling along on the road ?

To be fair on my Gravel bike I am doing ok with the current drop bars, but I still feel the design could be improved specifically by having a wider bar position for off road.

Some people have described fixing this by having a high rise stem + flared drop bar. But this fixes one problem to create another ie the lose of an aero road position.

These bars do actually sweep inwards

https://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/these-new-bars-claim-to-make-any-road-bike-faster-50842/

Although for Gravel I’d prefer to see wider maybe 44cm to 50cm at the hoods. Down to ~42cm at the drops.

“With the Jones Loops (or the Titec copies, which I have), the wide-backswept-bits feel pretty much the same as being in the drops of a super-flared drop bar like the Midge, while the forward looped bit feels like being on the hoods of a set of road bars set at the right height ”

I havent used these bars but agree with what your saying.
Personally I would not want the bars set up so the drops are high enough for offroad riding. As I want to be in the drops to lower my position (more aero) for road sections.

What Gravel/Adventure bikes need is a bar/shifter combo which has a high wide position for offroad and a low narrow position for onroad.

The problem with your bar is as you say you cant used the shifters / brakes in the road position.

It would almost be better if the bars were a bit wider at the hoods (say 500mm) for offroad, and the drops flared inwards for road sections. But I dont think current shifters could be set up for this type of bar.

Im not saying Cyclocross bikes arent good for Cyclocross, but as a marketing term it is not good. (at least in English).

“Cyclocross is a specific sport, it’s a Belgian winter sport of riding around short, muddy, parkland tracks in the middle of winter for an hour at a time”

Exactly I dont see how your disagreeing with me.

Unless you know exactly what cyclocross is then it doesnt translate to english.

If you had never heard of that style of racing and someone said I have a cyclocross bike, my guess would be cyclo = bike , cross = cross country. Its a bike for cycling across country.

Not its a bike for “riding around short, muddy, parkland tracks in the middle of winter for an hour at a time”, which as you correctly point out is what it is.

Adventure Road is the best name in my opinion and it correctly described the bikes. Gravel is also good as the bike are indeed good for gravel paths.

I brought a CX in 2013 which I used offroad a bit, it eventually became a road bike.
Basically I agree with everything you say.

A rigid 29er with say 1.9″ narrow flat handlebars is at least 5 times better as soon as you hit narrow singletrack.
However I have recently brought a “Gravel” bike and I am enjoying it alot.

I think there are alot  of factors at play.

1. Marketing : Cyclocross doesnt translate to English (ie Cross makes you think cross country ie singletrack).
Gravel or even Adventure Road bike is a better name as this is what these bikes are best at.

2. Gravel bikes are a little bit superior to CX in my opinion
a. Geometry better on road + off road at speed.
b. Tyres are better ! Wider = Better offroad , less knobs = Better OnRoad too (the only place they are worse is mud which I avoid on the Gravel Bike).

3. Geometry a bit better for road + off road at speed ( less good for tight singletrack but these bikes are rubbish for tight singletrack).

I think the original reason I got a CX is because people had said they were good for joining bits of singletrack with road streches in between. But I would agree with you that the bars on Gravel/CX are so poor that they destroy the enjoyment on the singletrack.

I’ve found I’ve enjoyed it more because Im now trying to do more “Gravel” rides ie longer distances, getting in the drops and enjoying the road sections (here the narrow bars really help), trying to keep a high average speed like on Road bike, etc..

Another thing is I’ve now been riding drop bar road bikes for 4 years where as when I first got the CX bike I’d been riding MTB for 15 years. I would guess I’ve got more comfortable with the drops in that time.

I could kinda see the argument that Bournemouth beach is a good “beach”.
In that its probably the warmest but still very sandy beach in the UK, and it goes on and on so there is plenty of beach there.

The problem is Bournemouth has been built right next to it, which kinda ruins it.
The Concrete supports for the pier jetty are proper ugly.

If you had came at the start of the Victorian era when the area was less developed it would have been really cool.

I have no idea why Brighton beach is on the list, its a terrible beach all round.

It depends what you mean by good or bad.

There seems to be some research that exercising when fasted could have some health benefits.
You should also get more used to it the more you do it.

I believe there is also research (and common sense) thats suggests you will be less fatigue / faster if you consume some carbohydrates before exercise.

I sometimes used to do a 26 mile commute fasted, its definitely doable.
My times were always quicker on the way back though after a large lunch. (although this could of been to do with route profile / time day suited my body).

I think I’ve entered every year after the 1st one ie 2014,2015,2016,2017 and 2018.

i’ve been rejected everytime.

If you want to go faster some light XC tyres + wheels will almost certainly make you go faster as long as conditions are nt too boggy.

I would recommend stans crest + 2.2 schwalbe tyres ie racing ralph, rapid rob or even thunderburts (for very dry conditions).

However that maybe not what you want to do.

book will definitely make it worse

go straight to 11 speed if your thinking of 1x
If 2x then 10 speed is good.

Ok this person

Click here[/url]

Has said £150 inc 10 digital images.

I think this might just be over the winter period which is probably a poor time to do as there are no flowers about.

Are her pictures ok? Or do you lot just think it is a fake website with stock images captured from the web ?

You guys are doing a good job of talking me out of this, I dont really want to get it anyway.

The example pictures always make me feel a bit sick anyhow.

I’ll have another chat and see if I can get her something else.

“50 per image is cheap as chips. Five images plus the initial fee would likely mean the total cost for what will be a day of the photographer’s time will probably come to around £300-£400 I guess depending on the inital fee.

How much do you think it’s reasonable for a working professional photographer to charge?

“

I’ve found this website
bidvine.com

I’ve got some quotes from there + looking at stuff here.
Im thinking about £150 is reasonable.

If it turns out £400 is reasonable my wife will have to think of something else.

There are some deals on Groupon for shoots at a studio with 1 or 2 images for very good value so could go for that instead.

cheers for the ideas guys, will have a look.

Not sure what the last picture means,

I do feel like im turning into Rodney Bewes character from the likely lads though :(

Sounds like a good idea. But if you enjoy london it will drain all your money and you wont be able to save so you need to be thinking of moving up the career ladder while there.

That way when you move back to yorkshire you can move back on a higher wage.

I have no idea how to move up the career ladder as a bus technician, but there are alot of jobs in london at the moment, I would just start applying for anything you think you might be vaguely qualified for.

And then do the same in 2 years times. And then again in another 2 years time.

I dont think you’ve given us the full information, but I would say light rims/tyres/tubeless can make you go alot faster or make the ride easier.

At some point in 2010 I swapped my wheels for stans, got some Schwalbe XC tyres and went tubeless. After making all 3 changes in one go (from DT rims, mid range tyres + tubes) there is no argument I was faster as my Gorrick results immediately improved.

Obviously depends on what sort of riding you do, and there are payoffs in strength/reliability/grip/puncture protection/etc.

Maybe my view of the BMX/DirtJump/DH public is skewed because I come from a road/running background, but it is soooo tragic when you see the typical BMXer/DirtJumper/DHwarrior at the likes of Swinley, siting around do nothing or just letting thing go past because they want to look cool. Riding is nt just about jumps and drops you also need to build a decent level of fitness/strength, not just “look cool” on your bike. Don’t they realise while they are young and healthy they could make massive gains in their fitness which they will never be able to manage again once older. It’s not just me who has this view either, its all my other middle age mates who think it looks pretty tragic too. Push harder you lazy kids.

legoland ?

She’s about to give birth for the first time, and will be raising a new baby as a single parent. Moving closer to her family seems like a very sensible thing to do.

I didnt say it wasn’t, there are always many ways to view of a issue.

But ultimately being 5 hours away makes it pretty difficult for the poster to be a father at any time other than say every other weekend and holidays.

Its alright mentioning Skype and stuff, but my daughter (2 in a month) has only just managed to stop pressing the hangup button on her Gran.

She still quite often runs away from the a phone / tablet because she doesn’t fancy it or starts looking out the door for Granny.

To be honest she just doesn’t really like Skype, she’d rather just see her Gran.

Jeez there’s some real Neanderthals on here. Why are so many of you nasty?

I suppose its because she’s planning on taking the guys child and moving 5 hours drive away.

Its just too far away to be a real “father” as she is asking. Therefore the request makes no sense.

I would imagine that is why alot of guys are becoming very cynical.

rickonwheels did u buy my cx bike ? you picked it up near reading ?

last time this came up (admittedly about CX bikes, but pretty similar in my book). I got shot down for slating my CX bike and saying a rigid 29er with thin tyres was better.

But everyone seems to have come round to my thinking. So my vote is a light weight rigid 29er, narrow bars and as thin as tyres (tubeless) as you are comfortable with off road.

2×9 is the sweetspot.

Its true if you have 2 chain ring you really only need 9 out the back, but I’ve moved to 2×10 as new part arent being produced for 9 speed.

this post is making me feel slightly nauseous

Me too, I don’t consider my self a heavy or a good drinker or even someone who likes drinking more than a couple of pints.

This year I have probably drank about 3-4 pints so far.

But when I hit Uni in 1998 drinking was just so all encompassing. Looking back I drunk soo much even though as lightweight I was clearly drinking a lot LOT less than other students.

For the first 6 weeks I drunk at least 3 pints everyday. I remember being desperate to go home just to have a rest.

I started to get used to it by the second term (10 weeks) and I remembering considering that a quiet night in was going down to the hall bar and playing pool/darts and drinking about 3 pints ish.

Which as I say is about same amount I’ve drunk all year so far.

Farnexit ?
Are you sure they’ve really British Puffins ? Could any Norwegian puffins got in ?

Should the Norwegians be charge to clean up their bird poo ?

Friend is an optician and she says that trying to do without glasses for reading is worse than using the glasses.

Trouble is, 2 years later and I am knackered without my readers for anything within arms length. I think once you start using glasses your eyes just think ‘ah, nice. Bugger trying too hard from now on’ and you become more dependent.

Is there any real information which are these 2 outcomes are correct?

mind I havent seen them 2.35 G-One’s before, they look quite cool.
With the conditions being as dry as they are now they would probably work quite well.

2.25″ Thunderburt

Is this a serious question ?
What do u mean by MTBing are you going to be cycling on the same trails as your cyclocross or bigger stuff ?

If your doing bigger stuff obviously a newer bike will be much much better.
If your doing local bridleways etc then a new mtb will still be better.

Its fun to go back and ride a retro bike, but if you havent ridden a MTB in 15 years I think it would be more fun to get something new and see how that rides first.

If its local bridleways a 29er might be a good call.

cheers

Hi peteC your route is nt public

Heres another one where the footpath just stops due to boundary[/url]