Does it have to be a Brompton? I have a Decathlon tilt 500 folding bike, which i use both ends of a rail commute. It’s a great bit of kit and can be picked up for less than £200 second hand, but it’s also cheap new. 20 inch wheels are better than the tiny Brompton’s (not G line), and it’s quick with a speedy 7s grip shift . It doesn’t fold as small as a Brompton (not G line) and the v brakes can be sketchy when you’re used to 180/200mm disc brakes!

It climbs ok, and the bigger wheels deal with small potholes.

I’ve a 2010 Mondeo on 170K, it’s a great car for cruising the motorway with all the family kit. I was thinking a Volvo V90 when it finally gets to the point it can’t be fixed economically. You’d be looking at one over 100K for your budget.

What’s wrong with the Mondeo? Are you sure it can’t be fixed? If you can find a local Ford indy garage there are lots of scrap parts on eBay to fix most common problems.

Dig a hole underneath and fill ìt with concrete, then bolt into that (or put in a ground anchor for extra security.

Once coming back from the North with a bike on the last train of the day, they cancelled it at Birmingham. They got me a taxi for the last 60 miles with my bike. The other passengers got a bus which couldn’t take a bike.

You probably didn’t come here for parenting advice, but you do sound like a bit of a newbie in need.

The toddler doesn’t need to go to bed at 7pm on holiday. Adjust the 11-12 hours sleep to fit in with your plans. And take it turns with your partner to wear ear plugs to block out the party noise and you’ll be much more refreshed the next day.

Wife for Wifi is one of my all time favourite threads 😂

@paddy0091 I’ve used my Swim2 for a couple of years doing regular lane sets. It tracks lengths well, though you do have to make sure not to switch stroke mid length. My son has the Instinct and even when I swim behind him it can sometimes miscalculate a length, when the Swim2 gets it right, though this might be down to stroke style.

Open water works surprisingly well considering the GPS is underwater half the time. It also tracks runs, sleep, steps etc.

However, what I’m less pleased with is the feature set. For Garmin’s only dedicated swim watch, it lacks some basic data fields/screens that a pool swimmer would want to see.

Never have covered the discs and never had any problems that I’ve noticed.

But then I only wash my bike when really necessary, and if I do I only use water and a brush, I never use GT85 or any spray products and I lube the chain with Squirt wax based lube.

Most likely hydration, but also check your helmet isn’t too tight.

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/canyon-neuron-sizing/

You’ll want an XL. See my response in this thread

You can change the ECU for about a third of that with a scrapper part. There are hundreds of Mondeo/SMax BCMs (aka ECU) on eBay for around £100-£150 or less. The trick is to find one with exactly the same part number codes (on a white sticker on the BCM) and then find a Ford specialist to code it to your VIN. I’ve had it done twice for my 2.0L diesel Mondeo (due to a washer pump leak). Takes about 2-3h labour. There are also some mobile guys who do it if you search Facebook Mondeo/SMax groups.

The frame is a 2022 Vitus Escarpe.

The headset is zero stack semi-integrated, so this means there is a cup inside the frame, but not part of the frame which the bearing sits in. Whereas a fully integrated frame doesn’t have the cups. It’s these cups I’m trying to get out.

This is what I’m replacing it with

https://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/parts/headsets/cane-creek-headset-40-zs44286zs5640-black__323247

it’s a chain on a new bike from CRC, so warranty is no longer possible with them. It actually snapped on the first ride (when CRC still existed), I wish now I’d made a warranty claim 😒

Anyhow, I’ve ordered a new X01 chain to pickup at my LBS so I’ll take in the old chain and see if they’ll be kind enough to warranty it for me with SRAM.

It’s a genuine chain on a new Vitus Escarpe. I have used quick links to fix it, so it’s now well patched, but it’s not snapping at the link.

I’m not mashing the gears when shifting. I’ve come from 11 speed GX and only snapped a chain once in thousands of Km.

I’m going to have to bite the bullet and splash out on a new X01 chain. They’re quite spendy!

Dairy cows are in barns during the winter and fed on silage rather than green grass which affects changes the taste.

Hygiene has also improved which increases shelf life.

Roundup is pretty harmless

The scientific evidence is quite strong now to suggest otherwise, particularly to children. The affect upon invertebrates  (such as bees) is well documented.

Anyone riding an XL scandal or wrecker?

Lots has been written. TLDR they are big.

I’ve just swapped my (growing) lad’s medium scandal frame to a large and taking it on a test ride today, I was surprised that for me at 183cm the large didn’t feel even remotely too big. How that translates to the XL I’m not sure.

IANAD but it sounds like your adenosine hormone which gets you to sleep is running out too early in the cycle.  Caffeine can have a big impact on adenosine and stays in the system for a long time.

I read Matt Walker’s book “Why we sleep” which is a very good explainer about how sleep works. He also has a load of short podcasts on various sleep topics. I think there’s one on your situation.

Pop the Canyon Neuron on your list (2023 model onwards). Fast and capable on ups and down and sounds just right for the type of riding you are doing. Demo days coming up in May. They do CTW.

A few months back I got an Osprey Raptor 10 to replace my Camelbak Mule which was probably 15 years old. I’m really impressed with the Raptor 10. It carries all I need for 2-3h rides with lots of space to spare. What I’m most pleased with is that it’s really stable and feels like I’m not carrying a pack.

Our democracy is very flawed, but failing to vote, even if it is to spoil the ballot paper, is a duty that every responsible citizen should undertake.

I feel your pain OP!

Tooth pain from an abscess is the worst pain I’ve every felt, worse then any broken bones or dislocations I’ve had from bike crashes. Being stuck in Devon on a bank holiday weekend at the time made it even worse.

I’m in a similar situation,  I’ve a Mondeo Estate MK4 with 4 29ers (one Ebike) and big teens.

I think I’m going to get a Buzzrack. This thread is useful:

Anything better than a Buzz Rack E-Hornet?

A crew cab van (for 4) would swallow all the kit but the costs of a reasonable spec is crazy and they’re a long way from having the comfort of an estate car on a long run.

You may be better off going second hand to get a better deal than with c2w. There’s a glut of hardtails on the market at the moment and plenty of deals about on Marketplace, eBay and Pink bike.

I recommend the Vitus Sentier or On One Scandal. Though any of the bikes mentioned above will give you a good smile around Dartmoor.

I’ll be using it to pay off a tiny fraction of the £2K private dentist bill I now have after my dentist stopped doing NHS work and the nearest NHS dentist taking new patients is a 45 minute drive away.

(I live in a town with a population of around 130,000 people with no NHS dentists for new patients)

If your son isn’t very financially literate then a good site to visit is Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert.

Most importantly they need travel insurance. Don’t rely on the GHIC.

There seems to be some confusion in the replies here about what registration is needed. If you’re flying a sub 250g drone with a camera (like DJI mini 2) you need to pay for an operator licence.

https://register-drones.caa.co.uk/registration-requirements-for-drones

My Sentier 29 VR came with Shimano MT410 brakes, not tried them yet but I was hoping for the Clarks as they are 4 pot and don’t have the resin-only rotors like the Shimano.

Deviations from stated spec are Raceface cranks and Nobby Nic rear like above.

Oops.

Mods please delete 

I’ve been watching this bike for a while and this is a crazily good deal. I’ve gone for the 29er at £399.  You can’t buy the Marzocchi Bomber Z2 fork alone for less than that. It comes which the Clarks brakes rather than the Deore MT410 (I checked previously), which may need to be swapped.

I’ve had these unknown brand SRythm NC75 for a couple of years and the NC on flights is bliss. Sound quality is also good as is battery life. Microphone for voice calls not so good. I got them for under £50.

https://amzn.eu/d/2XWI478

Ionic+ (with antimicrobial silver) pads mean I’ve never washed mine and it still smells fine. 

I direct my non-techy, but capable septuagenarian mother to use https://www.getsafeonline.org/checkawebsite/ before she buys anything online from a new site. It gives an easy to read summary of the various checks outlined in previous responses.

As above, Costa Blanca, particularly Benidorm and nearby resorts such as Calpe for ease of finding seasonal work.
There are some great mountain tracks inland for MTB and road riding.
Check out Ben Moore on FB/YouTube for examples of some of the riding round there. Also Snakeskin MTB adventures.

Don’t be worried about scratches. Just like on a bike frame they tell a story of life lived.

The problems with WiFi (wife) was my favourite

With the wired version being effective and reliable (and cheap to replace if it does go wrong) I can see no reason to move to wireless

I hope you got some silly cheap flights to make up for all this hassle. I live an hour away and I’d never get a 6am flight with the family, that means a 4am arrival at the airport. On my own or with mates yes. There are airports up North you know.

I’ve had Autoaid for 5 years or so. They’ve been called out twice and we had a great, fast service from the independents they use.