I’ve done about half a year on my redneck dropper. It’s clunky, the lever is a bit rubbish but it requires zero maintenance and feels bomb proof. I’d buy another

I was thinking drops and 26×2.0 xc tyres

I’ve also got a 26 inbred. Once I get round to getting a new hardtail I’m planning to give it a go. I think the geometry works but there’s only one way to really find out!

I find myself going in and out of ‘weeknight drinking’, although only 2-3 on a weeknight (come on who can really stop at 1?). I try not to drink on a weeknight because I notice that I don’t lose any weight on a week I drink, I always weigh myself on a Friday.

I find the easiest way to stop it is not to put it in the fridge, if it’s not in the fridge when I get home then I figure it’ll take to long to get cold so I don’t bother. This does mean finishing up the ‘weekend’ beers on a Sunday night though!

Has anyone tried putting 27.5+ on the 29er?

Pedal cover for me, and would be even if I didn’t have bikes from now on. One high level of cover covering all valuables in the house without having to try to guess how much all our possessions may be worth. One point of contact, who knew my details etc and didn’t have to ask me a million questions every time I called (we were going through buying a house at the time so had a couple of false starts).

Never had to claim but with the level of customer service I’ve received so far I am hopeful!

I am similar to you in that I found it very difficult to say no to anything being offered, whether that was sugary snacks or second helpings.

I’ve been following the Keto diet for a year now, lost a load of weight which was the reason for starting the diet but the reason I’ve stuck with it is how easy I find it to ignore all the foods I used to crave. Because you just have a straight ‘no’ response to any carby/sugary food offered, you don’t even think about whether you want the food or not. I find this much easier than before when the question ‘would you like one of these (insert sugary food here)’ would start a mental dialogue of ‘yes i do, but I shouldn’t, but it looks tasty, oh go on then it’s only this one!’

The other great side affect is that I find I naturally don’t over eat as much, and if I do I don’t get that horrible bloated feeling. My energy levels are also up and I find I can ride for 3-4 hours without taking on anything other than water where I used to be a gel/snack an hour kind of rider.

Loads more information than I can give you available at reddit.com/r/keto. Read the FAQ and maybe give it a go. Happy to talk via email if you want any more info.

I’m not a doctor, start a new diet at your own risk etc, all I can say is I am yet to find any negative side effects.

https://www.mantel.com/uk/magura-mt5-set-incl-disc-disc-brake?spec%5B%5D=15617&utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQjwg7HPBRDUARIsAMeR_0jhkPxt3oiJk-8EMTdjGavYn3CdPVvOl9WyGotkxOGuP8xSQMCa9VIaAoXlEALw_wcB

This with rotors or 2 single brakes without rotors is cheaper. I love mine, bags and bags of power and modulation and no dot fluid to deal with! Some people complain about the 2 finger levers, I just moved the body inboard little so that the lever is in the same place as a 1 finger lever, works for me.

Also, I use the cheap 27.2 dropper from eBay, think it’s called a redneck sport, and it’s been faultless for over 6 months with no maintenance. Lever is pants but if you’re going 1×10 you can probably find an under bar lever of some sort.

Love my inbred, mines a 26er with sliding dropouts and a 120mm dual air Reba. I’ve used it for everything from 100 mile xc rides to downhill tracks at triscombe. It’s slower on the rocky stuff than newer bikes but it always gets down them.

Couldn’t get race sports to stop weeping with Stans after weeks. With Stans race stuff (more expensive) sealed first time, barely weeped and were fine on a 100 miler till I ripped a side wall!

is it the rear? I found my mt5 rear had lots of bubbles in rear. Multiple bubble bleeds while tapping along hose with fingers seems to have finally got rid of them and now working very well! Took maybe 4 rides of ride then bleed to get ride of them all!

I’m using a lifeline front rotor and clarkes rear rotor. I assume they are both 1.8mm but I’ve had no issue with either. Will replace both with Magura when necessary as their discs don’t seem too badly priced.

Magura MT5 get my vote, love mine! Get the Split pads once the 1 piece ones wear out to get most of the features of the MT7 at a cheaper price (apart from MT7 being tool less i believe.)

Biggest Pros for me are cost (look around £65 and end on sale) and Mineral Brake fluid, none of that nasty corrosive DOT and it doesn’t absorb water!

Orchard Portman near Staple Fitzpaine is good in the dry. Horrible in the wet seems to turn any tire i’ve tried into a great big slick! It’s just jump tracks really so depends if that’s your thing or not.

Magura mt5, love mine, 64 quid an end at the moment so you can buy 3 and take a whole spare one with you for the less than the price of most suggestions above.

Use mineral oil as well so open bottles don’t ‘go off’ and spillages don’t ruin frames!

Looks like the deal I got from mantel last week is now out of stock but you can still buy the set at a good price

https://www.mantel.com/uk/magura-mt5-set-incl-disc-disc-brake

I think camino Al will be my next bike. £999 for hydro brake version, bargain!

If it was me I’d be looking at structured flexibility training for the next four weeks. I find no matter how fit I am I don’t enjoy all day in the saddle unless I’m flexible enough not to feel tight halfway through the day.

I use a yoga app, and turn the volume right down so I can hear the TV rather than the constant reminders to breathe.

I also have the mt5s, anyone have experience of both compounds from uberbike?

Stans race for me. Sealed non tubeless contis that had been weeping heavily and losing air for weeks. More expensive but I won’t be going back

For what it’s worth I demoed a 2017 XL and it fit like a glove. I’m 6ft and wear 32inch leg jeans.

I’ve got a mk2 vrs in petrol hatchback flavour and it’s fantastic. I test drove the new one and was very impressed, dsg was smooth and responsive and latest engine was very nice. Both the estate and the hatchback are cavernous so choose whichever comes up in the best condition at the best price!!

I’d say go for it.

I’ve had the ‘redneck sports’ from ebay for a couple of weeks. Cheap and cheerful is how i’d describe it but it is rock solid so far! Lever is horrible though will be cutting it down or replacing.

Mine has little half guides for zip ties down the left seat stay, but my cable guides are under the top tube. (Sorry, not a very helpful post)

Unfortunately I believe they made the clearance better for 2012

Don’t even attempt the Blackdowns, I’ve had some of my muddiest rides on the Blackdowns in July in high 20s temperatures. Most bridleways seem to have been diverted or blocked for agriculture and the ones you can find have long road sections to get to/from them with no obvious route through.

Detouring across quantocks – exmoor – dartmoor would be an amazing route but a huge detour and you would want a lot more time to do it in and a good set of legs I’d imagine.

I use the Clarks m2 at the moment until I can afford an upgrade. Been using a few months now and they are fine. Not had to bleed them even though I shortened the rear hose and the pads are regular shimano square type with the central split pin eyelet. Upgraded front rotor to 180 and they now have much better modulation up front and a little more power.

I also guzzle water but I find that a combination of carrying less water and it being on the frame not next to my face stops me from drinking quite as much, also means I don’t need to pee mid ride! I have everything on the bike now in a very unfashionable under seat bag which I swore blind i wouldn’t do but I much prefer my riding for it!

Did the 100 with a work colleague but took the A351 back from Wareham so ended up being about 93 which is still a good days riding!

My casualty list:
Snapped chain
Torn sidewall front tyre
Punctured sidewall rear tyre that took four inflations with mini pump before sealing!

His casualty list:
One arse, lost somewhere around puddle town forest, he still doesn’t appear to have found it.

Really enjoyed ourselves and planning to try the Devon 50 50 because the camping sounds like a good laugh!

Quick update, both Chambers have held air overnight and after riding up and down the road bouncing the bike through the full range of travel so fingers crossed for the weekend!

I called Sam at Amped, all he did was lecture me on not taking my suspension apart and tell me that it would all be buggered now I’d opened them and to give it to him along with my wallet after he’s had a week to get parts in because my fork is so old and outdated and should just be replaced really.

All I’d asked was if he had the correct o rings in stock.

Not exactly what I’d call helpful or living up to the following he has among the guys I ride with. Reminded me why I teach myself to service as much as possible on the bike.

Definitely not a case of more rim tape, this was the whole of the sidewall leaking not the bead. Also it was ghetto with a split inner tube.

No idea, but if it actually seals the tyre vs not sealing the tyre then longevity is definitely second on the list.

Thanks guys, cleaned everything, oiled and greased with correct stuff from tf. All o rings look fine but were totally dry however the positive spring was absolutely packed with bright red grease! Took a whole rags worth of wiping to get it clean. Anyway, it’s pumped up to pressure now positive and negative and if it’s still holding air in the morning I’ll take it to be fixed until I can order some new o rings.

As a bonus I’ve extended them out to 120mm which is something I’ve wanted to try on my inbred for a while.

For ref they are 2009 reba RL model.

Amedias – I hear what you’re saying, the wheels were actually from a bike that was knackered when I bought it, no chance of saving them unfortunately but I knew that at the time. I’ll be looking after these ones!

Jairaj – sounds like they should suit me then as a fairly new mtber who is definitely not always landing perfectly but trying hard and not going to fast yet!

Think I’m going to go for Stans Arch mk3 on XT hubs from merlin as they seem to be relatively lightweight but hopefully strong enough for my purposes.

Jekkyl, that first link looks like a good shout but unfortunately he doesn’t offer postage! Not sure about the XM319 Rims in the second one holding up.

Kayla, I’ll have a look now! I’d give building them myself a go if my first ride on them wasn’t going to be a 100 mile event!

Just another recommendation for the clarks, I bought mine in September and have tried to get out twice a week all winter in all sorts of filthy weather. They’ve been faultless even the rotors are still straight!

I purchased a whole selection from CRC and then sent back all the ones I didn’t want. Make sure you get a selection of sizes too as that’s as important.

I ended up with Race Face elbow pads, were only about £20 and are so comfortable. Preferred them to the Dainese Trail Skins 2 as they are a lot lower volume. Ended up with Dainese Trail skins 2 knee pads as the race face ones slipped around as they were not very well shaped for me.

Going the other way to most, I found the pre 2005 VAG group 1.9tdi PD engines as found in the golfs, passats, A3s, A4s, A6s, Ibizas, Leons, Octavias, Fabias to be very reliable and very economic. That gives you the whole range to choose from from sporty (Ibiza, Fabia) to load lugging (A6, Passat). The only thing you’ll want to do is blank the EGR which will cost a couple of quid from eBay. Best I got out of my Fabia VRS was 68mpg indicated from Loughborough to Leeds when they had the 50mph speed check the whole journey a few years ago. I struggled to get it to do less than 45mpg (and I did try a few times, out of curiosity of course).

As has been said above, whatever you buy, get it on the condition of the car and if possible the condition of the person you’re buying it from. I try to buy privately now as I’ve found that the condition of a car is often reflected in how the owner presents themselves and there knowledge of the car and dealers don’t really care whether they are selling a dud.