Nice little stone sheep pen above rookhope I kipped in the other week. A few nettles, no real facilities and nearly got caught by the farmer in the morning but somehow he didn’t notice me despite riding round it on his quad.

Overall a nice place to stay and I left a good review and no trace 👍

Tarmac but a lovely road – B709 from Langholm to Innerleithen. Stop for lunch at the Samye Ling. Thence to Peebles, Romanno Bridge, West Linton and over the Pentland Hills. That’ll get you down to the Union and Forth & Clyde canals.

If you’ve got the time, from Peebles you could follow the Capital Trail North up to pentlands and Edinburgh. I did that section not long ago, it’s mainly off-road and wasn’t anything a gravel bike couldn’t handle.

Some custom weirdness.
My forks are considerably more ofsetty than yours.

That looks like three different bikes stuck together 😂

How’s it ride?

I’ve been on Magic Mary front, Hans Dampf rear both in super gravity soft, for about a year now.

Magic Mary is still going strong but I’m on my third Hans Dampf.

Been really impressed with them. Grip has been fantastic across all conditions. My only gripe is no harder compound available when using super gravity casings, hence the three rears to one front.

Did lose a side knob off one of the rears straight away but hasn’t happened on the others.

Psssssttt…. Here’s a secret I shouldn’t really be telling you all but I bet the expensive washers are no different to the cheap ones and probably come from the same factory😉

Good find on the security bits. I’ve swapped out the stem and seat post bolt but couldn’t shift the saddle rail bolt. I’ll get those bits tomorrow though.

I’m a tall one so had to raise the saddle which unfortunately then clamps on the dropper in the wrong place and binds it a bit. No bother though as it’s not needed if just I ride it.

Haha…. Love your description of the ride…. That’s exactly what I ended up doing as well, felt quite empowering 😂

I’m wanting a ” They see me rolling, they hating sticker” to go over the front plaque thing now…

Picked a couple of them up today 😂

Agreed the gearing is too high and those odd fasteners on the stem and seat post are a faff but I’ll swap them out for normal ones.

I also failed to appreciate what a massive **** I look like when riding the thing

Cheers for the heads up on fasteners and wheels. I’m sure that can be sorted.

I’ve found a few half the price of the eBay ones so worth it just to see how long it lasts…

£17 per bike. That’s quite a surprising figure but I guess these were built in ridiculous quantities going off the China bike mountain pictures

From the quick look I had today they are definitely not the same bikes. Nexus 3 speed and Nexus dynamo hubs on the ofo and it all seems well put together. It’s even got a dropper post😂

To be clear they are afailed bike sharing company. These are the bikes

I’d actually buy one of those

I just run my regular koala with one strap round the post. The strap and plastic buckle are yet to mark the stantion and still let me drop the saddle enough to have fun.

This is on a £55 quid ks eten post though which I couldn’t care less about. 😂

It wouldn’t surprise me if they are quicker than my experience via Madison here in the UK…. 5 weeks it took them!

Good luck but remember your in the hands of the warranty gods. Don’t go asking for the CEO’s email if they haven’t been returned by the end of the week 😂

Replacing even a few year old parts can sometimes be frustrating at work. Ideally I want to get a bike in, assess what it needs, get it ordered if need be then crack on.

What I’m finding, especially with chainrings, is they can be a ball ache to track down. It’s alright saying go online and sort it if your at home but in the shop searching for stuff takes time, which is money…

I do my best to match stuff were possible as our place is pretty chill but other shops, I imagine, would rather just put on what they can get you from their trade accounts instead of taking time to track down a specific part to then have to pay retail for it.

Your not far from hamsterley forest if your still taking bikes. It’s missed the rain that hit the dales further south

The two I remember the most where:

Daft Punk 30 December 1997

And

Tasha Killer Pussies 8 June 1997

Both sounded amazing blasting out of the 6×9’s on the parcel shelf of my Nova GSI 🤘

Any other techno related one’s from that era will also of been played to death, Carl Cox, Dave Clarke etc….

Is there a place where they are available from now or do you have to randomly search for them?

My eyes hurt now but I also didn’t know that. Never had the problem though.

Also your far too old to be going to the Alps. Get to the bowling green instead and accept your piss stained arthritic future. 👍

I’m not sure if this applies to burgetcs as I haven’t needed to do mine yet but you can use an appropriately sized tap(the thread cutting kind!) to bite into the bushing. It then gives you something to hit to remove them. I’ve done this on other pedals after seeing a service kit and instructions for another brand.

North Yorkshire Moors? Moors OneHundred route?

I thourghly enjoyed that earlier in the year.

I’ve only done it once but was led to believe this is the classic route

Howgill Fells, Cumbria route

I also noticed this one while looking

Howgills MTB

Read title.

Only opened to type one of my favourite two word combinations…..

Thunder thighs 😀

Only one way to fix this.

Load up the parts cannon and get blasting.

Change every potential culprit until you fix it or run out of money 👍

Not sure about accommodation or suitability as I haven’t done it yet but this is on the cards for me soon.

Bikepacking Scotland: The Capital Trail

Sarawak beat me to the budget option…. I use a toe strap I had lying around and I haven’t died yet.

Massive faff. I’m out.

Leaking pistons is a common problem. Easy way to check is remove your pads and see if there is a circular patch of oil on the back from the piston.

If so replace the caliper.

Discs can be saved with a good clean using disc brake cleaner ( I get mine from Wilko’s) then a little heating with a blow torch to burn of the remaining contamination.

Forgot about this. Have joined up and order the book. Thanks for the reminder

I posted this a few months back. Not a sound has been hard since and they’ve had some proper stick on the descents. 😀

Finally,rattle free full mudguards. Pletscher Aluminium Fenders R80

I know a locksmith of many years in the trade. Tried to get some amazing stories of finding forgotten millions out of him but sadly the reality is that it’ll be empty and someone just lost the key and left it.

But……

Your safe could be the one? 🤔

If your sag settings are ballpark, but you’re always getting full travel then chuck in a spacer (Fox/Rockshox/Cane Creek forks and rear shocks) or deflate the fork/shock, remove the valve core and fill with a cc or so of fork oil via a syringe, replace valve cores and set sag accordingly. Sometimes it’s about the progression of the shock and how to adjust accordingly to sit at the desired sag point.

Don’t do this on modern forks. The oil will just drain into the negative chamber.
This was a thing on older single chamber air forks though.

Double ahhhaaaa drop in headset……

Still. A smear certainly won’t hurt

A very experienced Cytec instructor told us:

If it moves, grease it. If it doesn’t anti-seize

Also worth noting, he said don’t use too much, especially in a headset. It can act like a hydraulic fluid with nowhere to go and flare the headtube. A very slight smear is enough.

Just engage smug(walk) mode as you stroll past your non ebike friends heaving theirs up the hill.
A friend did this and only needed to man handle it a couple of times on the four passes loop from honister slate mine, a notorious hike a bike route.
We were convinced beforehand he’d be cursing his choice of bike that day. We were wrong 😂

Oh and before any of you snitches get the law on me, the crack pipe is an ecig😀

Also I do not subscribe to the hardcore bike packers rule of “if your warm and comfy you’ve brought too much kit”. Very much the opposite infact as I’m soft.

I usually get the bigger bits out but then soon get bored so leave the rest and I’m still alive to pass on this useful knowledge!

Here my list to get you going. I’ve only done two trips so far so am no expert.

Utility Belt: ( cooler name than a bum bag 😂)
Water xx
Food xx
Keys

Frame bag:
Tools: xx
Tube xx
Pump xx
Bottle xx
Rain jacket xx
First aid + tick removers xx
Food xx

Bar bag:
Sleeping bag xx
Thermals xx
Hat
Duds xx
Socks xx
Midge net xx
Cord xx

Roo pouch:
Light xx
Bin bags xx
Wipes xx
Foil blanket xx
Tooth brush xx

Top tube bag:
Phone
Power bank xx
Crack pipe + juice

Right fork bag:
Mat xx

Left fork bag:
Tarp xx

😂

A thorough review there. Feel like I’ve experienced Malaysia by just reading that and will now take it off the list!

I’m not really having problems with issues above.

A 2.35 Hans Dampf fits in fine with room to spare and I run a 30t chainring so no issues for me. I was aware of the cable entry behind chainring thing but again not a problem with a chain guide.

Cracking bike as far as I’m concerned.

34t chainring? Where do you folk ride to need such tall gearing? Your either power houses or your hills aren’t big enough 😀

This seems like a classic case of over thinking. It’s obvious you want a new ebike and are looking for external permission.

Crack on. Go and order it now we all just want you to be happy 😀

Nice one. Been after one a key for awhile. Silly cheap on eBay and delivered straight away. 😀