29+ unless you want to race/break ITT records. You can go on a rigid simple bike and still not be bashed about by the terrain. I love the roll over anything feeling and find DH on my fully loaded Krampus an absolute hoot. I've settled on Chronicles for most riding and Dirt Wizards for the gloop. Dir...

I'll take the pillow please.
I'll PM you, cheers.

I run a large size Ortleib bar roll on mine, attached in the standard position on the main bar. Lamp and GPS on the loop. I like the Ortleib a lot. Totally waterproof and strong/well made. I set the whole thing up as a job lot so cables were sized and routed to work just fine. The bag has generous s...

It's not usually very hot but Iceland has a ring road of about 1000km that is pretty flat over about 3/4 of it's length.
The flight is 2 hours.
Camping is unrestricted.
It's exotic (in the same way that Mordor is exotic) and has trolls ...

I have a Royce square taper BB coupled with a 5 arm ATB pattern (110bsd) Middleburn crankset that is approaching its 15th birthday. >30,000km ridden and fitted to its 3rd bike.
Don't make 'em like they used to anymore...

The Gatewood is great. I use mine with a sleeping bag cover style minimal bivi in winter or when it's really wet as the size of the Gatewood means it's hard to avoid touching the sides in your sleep. It's got no bug protection per se but you can buy a net inner... costs start ramping up at this point.

^^^^^ That one sounds good

Does anyone have a suggestion for a bivi spot on or near the west end of the Ridgeway between Chiseldon and Avebury. Could also be around West Kennet, Overton Hill, Milk Hill,Tan Hill or West Woods.
Cheers

My only complaint with the etrex 30x is the screen is pretty small. I bought an Oregon 650 a couple of years ago but battery life- or lack of it put me off. The touch screen did not like the rain either.

Scarth gap rides pretty well down hill on either side IMO and Floutern from Ennerdale to Buttermere is good too though probably quite claggy just now. Makes a nice shortish ride that. Enjoy

Gebla Rohbox and some Rival 22 shifters to get my second Rohloff working on a drop bar bike. Can't wait

Midges currently flying back to Planet X HQ. Couldn't bring myself to fit them. Have some Ritchey Venture Max on the way.

I like to use a full frame bag for kit and have bottles under the downtube (1L with screw top) and mounted on the stem (500ml for drinking from) If you have a horizontal divider in the frame bag heavy stuff can go low, tools, tubes, fuels etc and the top section can be used for lighter things you wa...

Can't do that anymore... no more Lerwick to Torshavn ferry. Shame

Straight up to Scotland and ferry to Iceland via Shetland and Faroes.
Quick loop around the ring road back on the ferry to Denmark-Germany-Belgium-home.
That's probably more than a few weeks though

True. I'm plenty used to ugly bikes. I have Krampus with Love Mud Confusious bars. Also a Thorn tourer that looks like an anorexic giraffe and not to mention clip on aerobars on a road bike. When I said 'look awful' I was thinking form=function. Reading plenty is leading me towards sending the Midge...

Positive again. Think I'll give them a whirl.
Cheers

Thanks Si
That's quite encouraging. One of the things I'm concerned about is getting a balance between the hand positions on the hoods and the drops as I tend to use both equally on standard compact drops.
How do you find that?
Can you hold the hooks directly under the levers?

Not tried them. They Look awful as in the drop is tiny and the hook is very tight. More like an upside down ski bend bar end than a drop.
I've seen the bars on a Fargo and they are very different.
I don't want to go waste time and money fitting the Midges if they work like they look is all

I'm thinking £30 or thereabouts so Salsa out, thanks though.

I want to stick some flares drops on my CX bike with some max width tyres in order to increase its off road capabilities. I ordered some OnOne Midge bars which arrived the other day and they look awful. I use the bike for commuting mainly and also some audax. The Midges don't look good for that at a...

I use them on a Krampus. Lots of room for kit and plenty left for different hand positions. I use Ergon grips on mine and mostly use the bar ends or position my hands where the loop meets the main bar. I can also lean forward and grap the sides of the loop aero bar style. I have my light and GPS on ...

Yep. The chalk is the problem.
I've spotted Schwalbe Smart Sam TL Ready in 700x35 for less than £20.
Not ideal for the road but would give some grip of it's gloopy.
I've paired one as a front tyre with a Marathon XR on a 26er for the Carretera Austral in the past and it worked fine.

Recommend me a tyre for a trip:
April in the UK
Two 200km road days
One 100km chalk bridleway day
One 100km road/tow path
Light bikepacking load.
Frame/fork clearance for maybe 700x38c max.
Tubeless preferred.
Thanks.

If money is no object go for SON 28. I've had one for 10years and it still works fine and runs smooth (for a dyno hub) I also have a Love Mud Juice and it's Ok. Make sure it is tight in the QR as mine wants to rotate in the dropout and strains the connecting wires. Also I had a bit of a brake compat...