I’ve used them more than any other online shop, probably an order every other month. Not anymore, ordered stuff on Tuesday first thing and paid for next day delivery. Still no sign of it, order says “processing”. No contact number on the website, only email which gets replied to after a few days. I also had a very underwhelming warranty response from them on a wheel last month. I had to chase them every week to get it resolved (5 weeks in the end). So after my last two experiences I’ll look elsewhere.

I went from overshoes to the Shinano winter boots last winter. I found the boots much better, a real revelation for enjoying cold wet rides. The neoprene cuff keeps most water out, but even if they do get wet inside they stay warm.

You can’t beat a good “oyster”, especially if you get recoil.

Anyone been hit by one? I guy snot rocketed on my leg on a road ride. He’s going to get it back with interest once I’ve got a good cold going.

My hardtail has M595 deores, and my newer bike has the latest SLX which seem to be a different pad. I believe they used to be same but not any more.

I’m also fairly sweaty. I bought an Endura venturi last winter and it’s been good. It has vents on the arm and underarm so it works with a rucksack. I’ve used it on lots of rides this summer and the ventilation options combined with very breathable fabric mean I’ve been wearing it much more than I thought I would.

I’m an experienced kayaker / canoeist. There is still a body missing and the facts are unknown. I hope this thread is closed as there are any number of factors that could have been involved and it is wrong to speculate at this time. There will be a full investigation and we can learn the lessons in due course.

My XLII out lived the bike it was on. Also should have removed it when I sold the frame.

From the notubes website FAQ:

What do I need to run a Stan’s rim tubeless i.e rim tape, rim strip?
All our rims need are our yellow tape (21mm for Olympic, Alpine & Alpha 25mm for all others) a Universal Valve Stem (35mm for MTN and 44mm for road) and of course Stan’s Sealant.

Some tyres are more porous than others, all it means it will take longer to seal up and you might need a bit more sealant. It should be possible though. If you’re new to tubeless, watch the videos on the notubes website to save lots of frustration.

Yeah I have those and I’m no DH champ but I can’t get them to fade on the longest downhills. Maybe the Scottish weather helps keep them cool..

The greasy-spoon-by-day-chippy-by-night on the high street in Bala serves the worst coffee in the world.

Out of a push button machine, but heated to the max so the milk forms burnt layer of scum on top of the grey coffee.

Thanks guys, lots of good info there. I will look at the Dolan, Tifosi and Ribble Audax options. Like the sounds of the Charge also, wieght isn’t such an issue and I think he would like the skinny tubed look, as a nod to yesteryear.

My home insurance says my bike is covered if it’s in the house or vehicle. So I guess it would be OK, but clearly once ballache + excess are factored in best to avoid leaving it on display.

I’ve had tubeless for the last 18 months or so, really like it. Improved ride quality and lack of flats.

I used a Stans kit the first time. It took a bit of work but was OK. the best bit of advice I can offer is carefully watch the instructional vids on the notubes website and give yourself plenty time to get it to work (i.e. not on the morning of the ride!). If you need to use old tyres & rims make sure everything is nice and clean to start with at least.

I’ve also used stans rims with just yellow tape, and bonty rims with their own sealing strip and got on fine with all of them. I can change tyres quickly now but that’s just having the practice.

I sent back a shimano wheel with dodgy freehub to CRC a couple of months ago. It took a fair amount of chasing, and about 4 weeks as they sent it to Shimano but got it back in the end repaired FOC under warranty. It wasn’t a huge deal as it was on a second bike but would have been a PITA if it was off my only bike.

Yep good little vid, enjoyed it.

So if you just run lots, drink spunk juice you’ll be ache free?

+1 for good stretching. Not a couple of half arsed efforts when you get in, I mean a proper range of stretches done well. Sports massage (or DIY on worst affected muscles) can help too.

I think supplements have their place, but I think I’d be wary of going for something that requires no effort (drinking a shake) over doing some proper stretching (effort + time). The stretching is free and might help.

The Scottish islands can be some of the most stunning places on earth. They can be a bit wind swept, but the remoteness is part of the appeal. If you want that, suck it up and pay.

I enjoy the odd foreign holiday, but for me you can’t compare going to the islands with a Ryanair special to Greece. The Calmac ferry will still be smashing its way to Tiree come February, I’m sure Ryanair don’t bother in the winter.

I tubelessed some Bonty XR4s last month with Stans. It took 4 good long rides for the sidewalls to fully seal on one of them. If you want to save time just brush some soapy water on the rim and you can see exactly where it’s leaking from foamy bits form. I’d never had another tyre take so long, I topped the Stans up after 2 rides as well.

If you want to take it with you how about a simple cable + a small padlock?

Abus cable

I keep one in my van for this sort of thing. It’s not going to stop anyone half way determined but will need tools to bust so they’ll likely look for easier pickings in a busy place.

Only 5 hours to go. No bids yet.

Very funny. The thought of hitting 40mph on that thing* (more if you pedal) is quite something.

*there’s no way this thing exists?!

Yep can also recommend that one. Found the pub down the road to be a real let down for food but OK for a drink, but very quiet. This was on two visits last year.

I had a look at the white Arch MTB rims, but the weight was listed as 40g more per rim than the black. I guess the difference in anodized vs paint, either way I thought sod it I’m not sticking a needless 80g on for vanity sake (assuming the list weights were correct).

Given that it rains 200+ days a year in Fort William, avoiding it in the rain if you have to travel a way to get there is going to be difficult. Just get on with it, there’s varying degrees of wet and the wind / fog / low cloud will be the real problems.

Out and back from Bridge of Orchy (or Victoria Bridge) to Loch Etive via Glen Kinglass. Or for a slightly shorter ride, only go so far as the hunting lodge and back in Glen Kinglass as the best riding is between Victoria Bridge and the lodge.

Thanks for the replies, I can see this turning into a support group for people who’ve survived this route.

I’m just reading the book and laughing at the offending description:

Turn R onto the trail that traverses the lower slopes of Meall a’ Choire Glais before climbing steeply to the summit of the Cam Beallach.

I propose:

Turn R and get repeatedly lost before stumbling onto a poorly defined trail that traverses the lower tussocky boggy slopes of Meall a’ Choire Glais for what feel like an eternity before climbing steeply to the summit of the Cam Beallach.

Did you manage to find a discernible path? After we left the fire road, there was a manky boggy path that you could follow by the Scottish RoW Society posts. Then these ended and we meandered around the bottom of the steep bit of the hill. We would find a path, then it would disappear. Only as the Glen narrowed up towards Cam Beallach did we find a decent (relatively speaking, we could push rather than carry) path higher up the hill but I’m not sure where it came from. It’s possible there was a better path that we missed, but if there was it was very tricky to find on a 1:25 map. Not a red route anyway!

1) There is no legislation in place defining the roads as any kind of monument and therefore there is no statutory protection

I can believe this, I was just going by a very old sign post at the start saying that it was a scheduled ancient monument. It was an old sign, a good 30 years I’d say.

Yes there was a new access road that had been built that ran along a similar route for the construction traffic.

There were definitely cat tracks on the “Wade” road, so I assumed it had been used for construction traffic. It looked very new in places, so might have been work on the road itself.

I’m not necessarily complaining, merely stating that the nature of the route has changed compared to any recent guides or descriptions. Clearly the route has been reinstated where before it would have been largely impassable which should be welcomed. However, it looks like a forestry fire road and I would be very surprised if the reconstruction was in anyway faithful to the original construction.

I bought some off ebay few weeks ago, there were loads of people selling the 3M stuff (or pretend 3M stuff) by the meter.

£5/m seemed to be the going rate for the 50mm stuff delivered per m. The 25mm stuff was less. I don’t know how much you’d save buying a roll but I only wanted a m.

The midges were pretty bad a couple of weeks ago, but only if you hung around in the car park or on the trail. If your going with a group and expect to be hanging around take some spray. Smidge spray is very good, but slightly more expensive than some alternatives.

I used to have one in a house I rented. It did work, but used a shed load of salt. There was a small drinking water tap as well that bypassed the filter. I always thought that if everyone got one the amount of salt would be enough to upset the water treatment works. If you have a septic tank I guess it would be even worse.

I had to keep using it as the landlord had clearly been sucked in to buying one and thought the kettle & washing machine would explode if it wasn’t kept stocked with salt. The salts not cheap either, unless you buy it massive quantities!

Barclays definitely do £2000+ bikes. I spoke to them last week, they guy was surprised and said they must have just changed their policy as used to be sub £2k. Their cover was very reasonable home and away.

Tues 7 Ben Lomond…i can’t find a route map for this is it straight up and down and anyone know the best place to park up

The car park is large and at the end of the road at a week place called Rowerdenan so you can’t go wrong. Follow the main track up and down, it’s signed from the carpark and there will be loads of walkers.

Edit: fixed quote

I would say £300 gets you a usable bike, but expect to have to repair / upgrade fairly quickly. I would go second hand, or stretch to £500 and try and get a good deal.

My friend bought a £300/400 Halfords road bike recently as he had signed up for an event. He’s really enjoyed it and it has got him into cycling. I serviced it for him recently and I would have some doubts over the durability. It also wasn’t very well set up, with bizarre cable routing that really hindered the brakes and a few other niggles. The things I thought were good about it:

– Gets you out for a low cost
– Reasonable (usable) weight
– Set up like a proper road bike

Downs:

– Double chainset. What on earth the majority of people buying a £300 road bike want with a double chainset is beyond me.
– Some strange low rent shimano parts. You will need a spanner and socket set to assemble, put it that way.
– Poor quality tyres
– Wheels significantly out of true after 6 weeks use

I wanted a similar thing to you, a good all rounder that’s light & fast enough for XC but has some down hill ability (as I’m lacking in it). Went for an EX8, really enjoying it. There are loads of good bikes for that sort of cash but it’s a decent bike. Has a 68deg head angle these days too so fairly slack.

They’ve been annoying me a bit, but I’m clearly less annoyed than some other people as I don’t wish him any harm. I think it’s the repetitiveness of the clips that’s grating as much as anything, more variety would help.

I have one of the Endura PTFE jackets, a paramo jacket, various BrandX (ScuzzTex)breathable fabric efforts and have had various gore-tex jackets in the past.

In my opinion and from experience, Paramo are the best for waterproofness and comfort but for me are too hot for use on the bike outside the coldest weather. Gore-tex and eVent do a great job restricting supply – this means £££ but also a very consistent standard of product regardless of who makes it. If you stray from Gore-text and eVent you might get a great jacket at a good price, but you might not.

I’m happy with my Endura Venturi PTFE jacket. Does all it claims and very breathable. DWR isn’t up to gore/ eVent standard though.

Sounds really odd. Have you compared it to another bike with SLX set up to make sure the chain line is reasonable? Other than is the chain a bit too long so not enough tension in small ring or even the wrong chain (8/9/10)? SLX is good stuff and runs faultlessly for me.

Sounds a real treat. I was lucky enough to do MM in 2011 and it was pretty dry so two in a row is asking a bit much.