I don’t know if youtube allows it, but on spotify my algorithm is improving having done a fair few discord listening partied with my work colleagues. Opens my ears to new music and when I start liking them the algorithm wakes up and throws more stuff at me.

@chakaping I’m interested in why you would say Deore are potentially more reliable?

Don’t normally over indulge to the extent of some, but this year I seem to have moderated my moderation somewhat.

Traditional xmas lunch was nice. Although now I look forward to boxing day where my main meal is all leftovers (except for pigs in blankets, cook those fresh).

Hot Turkey, stuffing & pigs in blankets loaded up into a big bread roll with gravy and some roasties and cauliflower cheese on the side. Boxing day lunch of kings right there.

Currently building a second bike up and using the exact same bits that are fitted to bike #1 for drivetrain and brakes.

After the hassle of getting a 12 speed shimano chain in the summer I’m keeping some spares in…

Go-to. As in ‘but my go-to would be a 4% ish American style Pale Ale’. What’s wrong with FAVOURITE ffs?

“My favorite session beer is Heart & Soul but in the absence of that specific brew my go to would be a 4% ish American style Pale Ale”

I’ve always seen it used (and used it) to describe a broader category of a things wheras favorite is a specific thing within the category.

What’s the deal with rear mudhugger guards eating up the seatstays ? Is this still a thing or have they updated the fastenings?

@iainc They supply a reasonably chunky sheet of helitape now. If you don’t use it expect well chobbled seatstays.

Made the mistake of whacking one on my ti hardtail without taping first for a quick wet ride and even a few miles saw some scoring (or patina, as I now call it).

I now use a Crud XL seatpost mounted thing.

I generally park in the manner the situation calls for.

Local supermarket? Well there are a few bays which are more than 23 paces from the door that allow me to drive in but still have perfect visibility to reverse out. Great, easy boot access then. Nearest Tesco? Reversing in because the spaces have room behind.

Honestly though, I’m still waiting for fork lift man to come back and qualify his statement. Genuinely want to know what point was being made there.

I can weigh in on Brewdog – their beer was once good but things change. They got big but tried to retain their ethos and it failed big time. Instead to being rule breakers they pretty much stand shoulder to shoulder with every other big brewer.

They have definitely brought a lot of people into the glorious world of real and craft ale but it doesn’t take much experimentation outside of their brand to realise there is plenty of tastier alternatives.

I know the early punk ipa was what took me from drinking OK beers (Doombar, Hen etc) to enjoying more pale hoppy things and IPA. I’ve dived deep into strong double ipa or neipa territory and still enjoy those but honestly gone full (ish] circle and now like a good 4-5 percent hoppy pale on hand pull.

Brewdog appeals because beers like Punk IPA and Hazy Jane are and cheap, nicer than lager and available everywhere. Craft beer for the people is what they say – in my opinion everything they are doing is exactly what they planned from the start. Just a shame they decided to make their best beers weaker and shitter then produce a bunch more shitty beers to go with them.

(Also a Brewdog shareholder from an early round)

Never noticed it before, but the membership benefit lists 130+ rides but the komoot collection shows only 39 rides.

Where are the rest?

Great price there, cheers.

Selected all the components then realised they don’t do Shimano 12 speed.

An individual is only over biked if they themselves think they are over biked.

If an individual is happy with their (current) bike and enjoys riding it then they are right-biked. If anyone else thinks said individual is overbiked their opinion has precisely zero relevance.

Right now I would say just ride it, even if only for a few months. Chances are the bike is more capable than you are right now (it was the case for me when I started out at least)
I am saying this from the position of someone who started MTB in autumn 2020 and has not followed the above advice (and probably should have).

It would be very easy to go and buy a modern version of what you have, and the temptation to spend ‘a little bit more’ will continue to nag away the longer you let it. The result could very easily be owning a bike that is just not suited to where you ride most. Instead get a few hundred miles under your belt and a feel for where you will realistically ride the most. Then come back and get some recommendations for the most suitable bike (like I should have done…).

Also, get an externally routed dropper. £125 ish (unless you buy used), easy to fit and will make a big difference regardless of where you ride. You can also upgrade to a 1x drivetrain fairly easily if you wanted and get a wider range cassette on the back (I did this before buying and it got me used to 1x life)

Lawnmower Deth & Kim Wilde, match made in heaven

Or a touch of Wierd Al
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t039p6xqutU

Having used gear from all the major DSLR & Mirrorless manufacturers over the years – and having owned an eye watering amount of lens combinations – I can now honestly say that it is incredibly rare that gear is holding anyone back*

You specifically mention not having VR – so I’ll ask a question. When do you think not having VR has resulted in you missing a shot that VR would have saved? Certainly most aircraft in flight won’t need it although there are benefits when you are shooting helicopters and prop planes.

I don’t think you will find a mirrorless system for your budget that would give you equal performance. I had to go to a fairly modern sony full frame to beat the focus performance of my old Nikon D750 and that is quite a wedge of cash.

If you swap lenses a lot, it’s hard to fault your logic on the 18-300mm. If you don’t, maybe look at either a higher spec 70-300mm or a newer body with some of the improvement that brings.

*usual caveats apply.

My dad lives in Berwick so I’m up there on a regular basis.

Foxtons is a good place for an evening meal.
Northern Edge Coffee is nice too
The Curfew – winner. As is bear claw in spittal if you are there while they are open.
Marshall’s cafe next to go outdoors is a hidden gem, one of the best breakfasts about
Venture inland a bit and the Blue Bell Inn at crookham do cracking food.

Don’t worry too much about cycling there, it isn’t the best anyway.

I really enjoyed it.

Watched it over the course of a few days which is quite abnormal to me – usually try and space stuff out. Thought the fight scenes were a done well, almost watched like a comic strip etc.

Plus, the melding of space and vintage is always a winner

I tried Forza last year with an old logitech force feedback wheel, it was fun enough but very arcade level. GT is better as a driving sim – not close to the likes of assetto corsa but still very good.

Cheers.

I’ll probably pop the 140mm on while I’m looking out for a 100mm. Although PX have sent me a frame that bears only passing resemblance to the one pictured so I’ll probably be waiting weeks to get the right one now…

First gig was in September, but it was so poorly promoted that other than the bands only about eight folks turned up.

Did my first crowded gigs last week as I was out as a photographer with my mates in upcoming band Skarlett Riot for their short tour. Started with a sell out show to start and another a few days later. Felt bloody odd initially but soon forgot about that… the music… that atmosphere… and the photos :D

Now I’ve got post tour blues and I’m pretty much housebound with the (not covid) lurgy. Expected really.

Yep, if it is Shimano direct mount then it will fit them all.

Personally I would just buy a Shimano one – and indeed after having problems with a Burgtec that is exactly what I did. The Burgtec was noisy and suffered chain suck because it appeared one half of the narrow/wide tooth pair was just slightly too wide for my shimano 12s chain

Drove an import Subaru turbo for a while as well as having an mx5.
Have a dog – specifically a greyhound – so double duty there due to extra methane production
Computer is on pretty much all day. Used for about an hour at most.
But I still reckon choosing not to reproduce offsets all that and some.

Late to the party as always! So hard to pick..

The Rocinante is right up there. Already seen pictures of that one.

Klingon Bird of Prey
https://www.deviantart.com/disneyfan-01/art/Star-Trek-Klingon-Bird-of-Prey-664955597

Imperial Clipper anyone? I know the Cutter is bigger, but the lines are timeless on the clipper.

So many others I could mention.
Love me a Nyx supercarrier (Eve Online)

And the Naglfar – because vertical.

Same goes for old favourite the B Wing

Looks like a great frame, I’m hovering over the ‘buy’ button on one at the moment to transfer some of my 26″ GT aggressor bits to.

Would a 140mm fork be too much?

I built up one as a parts bin special earlier in the year, it’s an absolute hoot to ride. Ended up putting some decent components on it and before I knew it my ‘lockdown special’ was starting to get expensive but really damn quick up and down things.

Only stripped it again when I picked up a 29er Signal frame but even now I keep seeing that transmitter frame in the corner and think it needs another go… very good / fun bike.

Currently running 1×12 SLX cassette, XT rear mech, XTR chain and XTR 34t chainring.

I don’t get these issues. It’s not quite as smooth when mucky but certainly not grinding like you describe. Now when I had a Burgtech chainring (supposedly shimano 12s compatible) it was a different story, that thing caused all sorts of horrible issues that you wouldn’t normally put down to chainring.

Managed to find a ‘flock'(?) of pheasants in a copse, so with pup on lead we just loitered, hung around and gently strolled through. Maybe 30 mins. She was absolutely focused on them, but loose lead, would sit on command, very steady. But v focused!

Is this activity worth repeating daily in the hope that familiarity will reduce the desire to chase them?

Sorry, this post appeared while I was typing.

I’m sure this would be worth repeating, especially if you can use what I mentioned above about rewarding her when she breaks focus. This is the exact technique I used on our overly enthusiastic greyhound.

I will start this with I am not a dog trainer.

I have, however, spend enough time with a dog trainer for a totally different breed but addressing a not entirely dissimilar issue.

Unfortunately the solution probably won’t work well with your level of urgency as any solution to a behaviour issue such as this takes time. You are going to need to take action which will prevent her from giving chase – and I’m sure you can see the only way to do that is with a leash. This helps twofold… first up she doesn’t get the hit of adrenaline the chase will give and secondly you can reward her when she focuses on you and not the pheasant. The repeated rewarding from breaking focus on the pheasant is what you want to be working towards.

Now how you work that into your walks, which I expect require lots of off lead time, I don’t know. Maybe that is where a specific behaviourist with working dog experience can help.

Question: When she does return, what do you do?

Right now Reddit is the place to go really.

Ultimately just a big discussion community but with some seriously offbeat subs and plenty of links buried in links.

In principal I love the idea of AF or LA beers.

I *really* like the current crop of hoppy pale ales & IPAs, especially NEIPAs and if I could have the delicious taste that comes with a double or even triple IPA with less of the alcohol I would probably drink a lot more.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the relaxed warmth that comes with a couple of nice beers but it would be a path I don’t want to take to have that on a very regular basis. More AF beer that tastes good means I get to enjoy more beer full stop. Win/Win.

Sadly they are not quite there yet, but the progress in the past couple of years has been remarkable so I live in hope.

£17.49 on Bikeinn website, a big however …….. postage is £7.49!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pretty sure the post from Italy don’t they?

My (simplistic) view is Ti frames give you the supple ride feel of steel with the weight of aluminium.

The super light Ti bikes of days past are not common because the weight reduction came at the cost of strength. I don’t think many Ti frames weigh much less than Al frames – certainly not close to the carbon weights.

10mm sockets.

It is true you can never have too many.

A true n+1 tool if you will.

But that won’t help you locate one when you need it.

I’ve got an Octavia estate with the 1.5 turbo petrol.
It’s a good engine, smooth as you need but with enough grunt to boot it onto the motorway.

I get average 38-40mpg on runs around the city and 50+ on the motorway at legal speeds. Naturally drops if I weight the right foot a bit more.

Can’t help thinking the less aerodynamic shape and increased weight of the Tiguan means it would be less than the above, but considering the Octavia is not small I was surprised at how good that engine is.

What age/year Octavia are you getting?
I’ve got a 2019 on the drive and have been meaning to see if the bike would fit like this… maybe now is the time to go try it.

Fixing the bike.
Maybe.
May just watch a film or something.

Not at all.

Although I can’t help but think the seller would just leave it as it is and see what happenes.

Did some 27.5 wire bead 2.6 Barzos earlier in the year – sealed with Stans and still hold air.

I have a set, don’t use them that often, but super useful when I do.

But when I have just rinsed all the crud off my bike and am short on time, they are great to whack over my rear disk and give the cassette & chain a squirt of something to deal with the moisture. Lazy? Yes. Better than doing nothing? Also yes.

Are there cheaper/more free options? Yes.
Are those cheaper/free options as free from faffage? No.
Are there better options? It depends….

For my use case, I initially bodged up some plastic that just protected the disc from cassette overspray. Turns out that THIS THINGY is a commercial product that does the same (although arguably slicker). Muc Off things were a grumpy purchase after the third time on a windy afternoon where my bodge got whipped away by the wind while spraying. They have a couple of flaws (like the fact I expect them to crack at some point) but they sure don’t blow away.

Do I begrudge a company finding a solution to a problem that some would say does not exist? No. The problem clearly does exist but we’ve all been bodging our way around it for years.

I’d ride it but I wouldn’t send it.

In theory with the axle clamped against the hub there is still quite a lot of metal there to take the load of normal riding – but probably risky if you plan to hammer the crap out of it. If I couldn’t get the part and the options were don’t ride at all or ride it like that, then I would be stripping all the paint off and riding it – but checking it after every single ride without fail.

Sorry to add extra worry, but I would be more concerned about them looking at a piece of recehtly removed invisiframe film with a circle of bike paint still attached.