I have a 2 year old and an understanding wife.

I ride all day one day of the weekend the other day is family day. The following weekend me and the wife ride together and little one had a day out with grandparents again the other day is a family day.

So works like that week in week out – obviously life takes over so it doesn’t always work but it certainly works a a base for us.

Also, the house is never 100% and there’s always jobs that don’t get done….but we’re ok with that :)

No doubt things will change as our daughter gets older (dance classes etc) but it’s about at least trying to give each of us more of a life  than just work/chores and fitting in fun as an afterthought – wife loves biking but her passion is yoga, so I don’t pull my face when she goes on a crystal retreat and she doesn’t pull hers when I have an overnight doing antur stiniog etc

Does anyone know if these tilt enough for a VW T6 with barn doors?

Thanks

^^That is helpful thanks as I couldn’t find any good pics showing the inside, plus those side pockets look like they take some dry kit too – and £22

I’ll be honest, I’ve already had way more replies to this thread than expected:)

I was expecting to be told just to use an ikea bag (as I always have done)

We’ve just got another camper and doing the fun part of deciding where everything lives – previous camper taught me less is more…I found continually unpacking and packing things a pain, a neatly packed up van became a car boot sale within 2 mins of parking up.

So with regard to hiking/biking kit I’ve decided that a waterproof bag each that live in the main camper area when driving and in passenger footwell (seat slides to give me some usable room) would be better than trying to do something clever with drawers and sliders etc – finish the ride, dump shoes, pads, camelback, wet clothes in there (separate from spare dry riding clothes), stick in footwell out of the way, job jobbed!

I really like the Montrose ones but could almost do with a 75/25 split rather than 50/50

The C Monsta is a very close to what I had in mind but again the compartment split isn’t optimal

I like that Thule bag but again not quite right.

The Evoc Gear Backpack 60/90 look promising but maybe too bulky

The whole beach bag idea got me looking at wetsuit buckets with roll top, like a bucket-drybag

Again, thanks all

Bags eh!?

Thanks all – the sailing style bags are a good idea…just that whole general watersports side – should have been obvious to look at really

Beach bag is another good shout

All seem reasonaly priced too

Going to delve into sizes and see what I can come up with – cheers again, put me in the right direction now

Correct ruling reached – IMO of course

What evidence do you have to support this idea?

Really!? You want me to provide you some hard evidence of how my opinions are formed – Bore off and find someone else to have an argument with

Starmer’s spineless u-turn on a ceasefire is disgusting, because it’s now clearly obvious that he’s only doing it for political reasons, and not because he actually cares about human lives lost in this insane genocide.

I can’t help but feel that SKS probably does care about the lives lost – but the reality is, as seen yesterday, this is all politics and IMO he has to do what ever it takes to get the Tories out.

And you will be for quite a few years. Tired and stressed, it’s like having a hangover for a decade or two.

:)

Yep, it’s terryfying how long this will go on for…one day at a time:)

I remain mystified by the ‘contractor’/’trades’ that need a 4×4 pickup in the UK. Where are you working that isn’t accessible by road?

I work for a civils firm mainly doing the infrastructure works for housing developers.

We have quite a few of the pick-ups here at work – vehicle of choice for our contract managers and site engineers. Probably 90% of the time spend on normal roads but for the other 10%, if you’ve ever driven about on sites in the north of England during winter you’d understand what a great tool they are.

As someone that spent most of my time 18-45 going out boozing, going to gigs, having big holidays, generally ‘living my best life’ – at 46 I had my first hard fought for child – can’t help but think I’ve done things the opposite way round to most people I know.

Not sure where I fit into the ‘life begins at 40′ – ’50s are the new 20s’ etc

Now the little one is 2 years old…at this point I’m basically just tired all the time

Thanks for the ideas – will have a look at the cut down wellies but wonder how comfy they are

Claife in July – I’m not a photographer but really like how all the colours worked togther, accident obv

Managed to snap my 76projects mount – fair enough, heavy crash

Thing that annoys me was knocking it with my knees whilst riding, often found it dangling by the lanyard at the bottom of a DH

2year old getting

KRS balance bike (new and stupid expensive)
FB marketplace kiddy kitchen
A selection of lift the flap books which she can’t get enough of

One set of grandparents getting her a toy pram and the other set something called a Tonibox which I’m still not really sure what it is

Nothing unorthodox here – one of the few ‘traditions’ we fully embrace

I absolutely respect and understand TJs position – I’ve felt (parts of) like that in the past….but

I love Christmas and especially looking forward to it this year.

Wife and I both work in construction so we get a forced full 2 weeks off and (mostly) everyone else in our industry is off so you don’t come back in to a mountain of emails/urgentguff. The one time of year I feel I can completely turn off from reality.

Christmas morning will involve bacon butties and bucks fizz before 9am whilst listening to a classic Christmas playlist, years gone by and whisky would be on the go before noon, I’ll still be drinking all day no doubt but as we now have a 2yo it’ll be reined in whilst we play with her new balance bike.

For lunch we’ve got both sets of parents round, wifes recently single sister and mother-in-laws friend whom I’ve never met but has sadly just lost her husband.

Wife will do all the prep and all the cooking and fortunately she actually loves it, hosting and taking care of the people she cares about. My job is to keep the guests and myself lubricated :) Fortunately I don’t tend to beat my wife when I’ve had a drink.

I’ve never really thought of it as a mid-winter feast, more just one of the few times a year when we all get together for a good laugh over a great meal, wear daft hats, play charades and finish off with an intense game of Rummikub.

On paper that might sound like hell to some people, but to us it’s bliss:)

Well that’s rubbish – assume there must be some other thing in place if you’re using the businesses…enjoing breakfast at Wilfs takes more than 30mins

Thats one hell of a deal on the Oso!

BoardinBob
Full Member
8 Bit Xmas is a very nice family one

This is a very good shout^^^^ enjoyed it a lot

Also, your children may be too young – but Krampus was one of the better Xmas films I’ve watched over the last couple of years

Slight Hijack…

There is a PS4 hooked upto my TV, not mine, and I’ve been wanting a car racing game for a while for occasional fun – I’m not a gamer, but have enjoyed car games in my youth

Is GT7 the one to go for on a PS4?

Thanks

@chives love that!! Impressed a student did this

I’ve recently been lent a 10 year old road bike – reckon it was just over 30years since I rode one and that was a youths:) Since then MTB all the way.

Went out for the first time at weekend on it – my thoughts…

Far more enjoyable than I imagined
You cover a lot of miles in na much shorter space of time
20miles felt the equivalent of a 10mile MTB ride in terms of effort
I didn’t have to clean the bike afterwards
I wasn’t covered in crap
Way less faff than the MTB

However…

Steering and braking at the same time didn’t feel natural
The bars are way too narrow
Going round corners at speed is a much wider arc than I thought – had a few oncoming car issues
Couldn’t get my hands comfy
The much reduced surface are of tyre in contact with the road was an eye-opener
leading to…
The Tiagra rim brakes were terryfying – they didn’t work until they did, then locked up – did not feel in control at all

But – going back to my fist point – really enjoyed it – just need to learn how to ride one

Thanks all

From what you’ve said, I reckon I’d probably be happy with either – lower position of the MacRide worth noting though and I do like the sculpted seat

MacRide £200 and KSR Pro £170

Got my eye on a MacRide on ebay – if that doesn’t work out I’ll flip a coin :)

scruffythefirst
Free Member
£40 Amazon version here works great.

This was my first thought but need one on a brace and thats quick to install/uninstall – Amazon ones look more like the non-pro version of the KRS

Well that was an enjoyable read on a Friday afternoon – thanks

I have to manage the Axis battery power in comparison.

^^^Same

I have a 6Pack on the bars and an Axis. Great combo, floody bar light and pointy helmet light – but I’ve got half an eye open for another Axis as a backup rather than having to conciously manage it

Offroad at night, for the bars, by Exposure – Maxx-D or SixPack

There’s a company near me that do interesting conversions – they’ve been going about 25 years so definitely up there with the best.

My boss actually had a conversion done there last year, was about £18k all in, he supplied the van (a LHD twin slider).

Might not be exactly what you’r after but interesting all the same.

Great walk-through design, quality is spot on, permanent high top, loads of storage. Great being able to accesst he kitchen, toilet and stand up when the bed is made up.

As someone who has owned a standard side kitchen / rocknroll bed pop top…..the Leisure drives are a class above.

Leisure Drive Vivante – walk through

To be fair, as an EE customer, a mobile signal that reached the back of the house would pretty much transform my every day

Yep – our company went to EE, no signal at the office or at home…or anywhere else really

As a sidebar there might be a reason why some people call this place ‘The Same Ten W*****s’.

Big Hitters ruin this forum – can they not have their own area like bike/chat/news/members/women…bighitters etc?

Only did it for the gram…

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFW89kGHARv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Now I’d also have hoped:

– you can leave your sleeping bag and air matress in situ so you have a bit less faff setting up / packing up?

– if you need to dry it out you can just pop it up on your driveway / street and don’t need a garden big enough to erect a whole tent or indoor space suitable for airing it?

Mine had a memory foam mattress and also another vent layer mattress under that which stayed in oplace all the time – we also left the sleeping bags up there.

Yes, just open it out on the drive when you get home and ususally dry within an hour or so – probably helps that they’ve not been sat on wet ground all weekend.

Also, at no point did I ever intend to go to Africa on safari – just liked the idea of a quick set-up and take down – which it was.

The downside is that in reality you want to leave it on the car at all times – they’re big, heavy and definitely a 2 person job – we put ours on at the start of the sumer and left it on until winter.

100% this!

This thread provides a platform for (some of) STW’s regular political posters to attempt to ‘dominate the airwaves’.
None of their comments will make an iota of difference; the huge chunks of verbiage they post do not inform the debate.
It’s a bit like the self-professed know it all kid in school – hand always up; please miss/sir, listen to me.
Israel and Gaza has been a festering political problem for decades which has never been anywhere close to a resolution.

and this!

a particular low point is arguing the toss with one of our members whose just been through some scary shit with rockets flying over head and is trying to get back home…..

That’s the joy of holding luxury beliefs, you can wax lyrical about what others ‘should’ with ideal world solutions dreamed up in the safety of your own home without ever facing risk or actually having to put in any of the hard yards.

This thread is good for bringing out the sock puppets and cranks who’ve never had to face more than a little boo boo from falling off the swings.

Predictable that

…this thread has depressingly gone exactly the way that most moderate forum members would have expected

UPDATE – We bought a Peeler over the weekend, got it from Winstanleys, knocking them out for £130 which forced the decision:)

Looks great in the Back to the Fusia colour

I’ll re-read this thread now to take note of tight wheel bearings etc – thanks all

kelvin
Full Member
Keep seeing lots of bikes ridden with saddles pushed all the way forward which i can only asume means the bike is too long for them.

No, it means they’ve adjusted their seating position for climbing efficiency sat down. The bike could be absolutely bob on for them for bum off the saddle descending.

On my 2018 Hightower LT the seat pushed forward as seattube angle rather slack, also ended up with a not fashionable 70mm stem, perfect fit

On my 2022 Levo saddle pushed back, more so that my legs dropping on the pedals feels natural, agree its slightly short in size S3, at 5ft8 but with long body and short legs I do wonder if I should have gone for an S4…but I’m only short! Also use an Aenomaly saddle angle adjuster thing – it’s amazing on an ebike…drop the nose and pedal up Skiddaw without stopping, gives a great platform to sit on.

My point…yeah agree saddle adjustments are there to be used IMO

Firstly – thank you all for the replies, some really informative stuff there and also giving me pause for thought about new vs 2nd hand….I’m extremely snobby with my own bike, but not with others or in general.

If you haven’t already, get a scuttlebug for the house, teaches the scooting technique, and watching them drift feet up round the island is hilarious.

She’s not massively interested in general toys, but scooting around the house on the Scuttlebug finding things to put in her backpack and then finding new homes for said things, tv remotes, wallets, keys etc pretty much occupies her days – she loves the Scuttlebug and defintely the reason for now being ready to try a balance bike.

the Peeler on sale at £160 doesn’t seem that bad for a premium product

This^

The place to put their feet is brilliant. Mine had an Isla and a Frog which didn’t have the foot rest and they always struggled for somewhere to put their feet.

Good to know ^

If you’re deciding between balance bikes, then assuming build quality is good enough the next consideration is weight

I’d not thought lots about this, assuming they’d all be similar…surprised really in such big differences.

With the kids and stuff like bikes, trailers, buggies etc it’s been nice buying decent used stuff off nice people and passing it on for pretty much the same price in good nick to other nice people.

^We have done this…but the Orange Peeler looks so cute

All these posh balance bikes are designed to appeal to parents who are gear snobs.

^Probably, its currently working on me

Feels like a straight shoot out between the Peeler and the Rothan – probably no bad choice…now if only the Peeler came with a brake or the Rothan had foot pegs.

I’ve been using a Thule Easyfold 3 bike rack for a few months now to carry a full fat Levo and an Orbea Rise. Expensive but very happy with it.

I had no problem with my previous Atera Strada for the normal bikes apart from spacing between boost frames not being great.
But, the Thule just seems a much better unit in nearly all areas.

I say nearly all – Thule feels more substantial and secure with much much better spacing for bikes, but I’m not a massive fan of their clamp arms. THe clamps have torque limiters on them, but on our cabon frames I’ve never had the guts to tighten fully until I hear the click…IMO the tension is set way yoo high. Atera wins here with their wrap around metal core bike strap/clamps.

OTOH you need to have a think about whether or not you want to introduce a brake into things. Likely totally ignored at first, but very useful once they’re capable

I would prefer a brake, can’t help but feel once she gets used to it, speed will increase quickly – Peeler does have the facility to add a rear disk brake which appealed

DaveyBoyWonder
Free Member
No idea of cost but the new little DMR bikes look ace

Agreed – but they use a 14″ front wheel (mullet) and don’t have enpough stand over for her.

Whilst 2nd hand would definitely be the best way to go – it’s our first and only child and really want to do the shiny new bike that she’ll find under the Chritmas tree (I lknow, I know, but the current discount made me think it’s worth buying now and sticking in the loft)

I had one of those types taken off me at an airport once, can’t actually remember where but think UK or US…from what I can remember, they see it as some type of blow totch