Having seen your post yesterday I went out and gave it a whirl today. Rude not to as it practically passes my front door. I truncated the Exeter part so ended up doing 150km more or less. The route is cracking - well chosen off road sections mean the route rolls pretty well with the exception of a c...

slarge wrote: ↑Sat May 21, 2022 9:45 pm I'd worry less about the bike and more about the legs.....

Very true, but as I only have the one set of legs there’s no decisions to be made about which ones to take
Is the steep stuff around Bath on the Kemble side or the Wotton side or both.

Thanks. It’s on my list of possibles for later in the year, most likely starting from home in Exeter. From what you say I’d be thinking of using my Fargo with chubby tyres as opposed to a gravel bike.

What’s the off road stuff like on the Tour of the Cotswolds route? As it’s 50/50 road/off road (or there abouts) I’m wondering whether to ‘over bike’ the tarmac or ‘under bike’ rough bits - if you get my meaning?

As time passes I am becoming less and less averse to riding on FP’s and uncategorised tracks where they are suitable. On Dartmoor some are way more suitable than BW’s. I’m not hooning around, skidding or causes any nuisance. Ironically the only conflict about my right to be on a given track is where...

I’m clumsy AF and haven’t managed to break my Igaro. The pins mean the input cable is easy to replace and that is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. Charging performance is great. I saw a tip, that I follow, which is to use a USB C to USB adapter and plug that into the unit. Seal with silicone se...

Thanks for that, not a bad idea at all except it amounts to around 255km which, even considering the ease of riding is a bit too much for the folk I’ll be ring with.

Get yourself a rack and panniers Shaf. You’ll have plenty of room for your shoes, uniform and multi-coloured pens in the bags and you’ll be able to strap a great big D lock on to the top of the rack

Squirrelking wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 4:34 pm Cheers, that's almost there, now just combine that with a "what's the most inappropriate bike to go bikepacking on" challenge

Nothing to stop anyone doing this as with the Bromptons.

Will that be suitable for a gravel bike

Something along the idea of the Gambler 500 events in the US but with bikes. One central area to congregate then go out and do your own routes during the day. Follow folk and get lost, get out your depth (or at least beyond the reasonable capabilities of whatever you're riding) and just have fun wh...

I find Strava Flybys not so helpful anymore.
A privacy update a while back means that you have to opt in to Flyby and that’s not well publicised. As a result a lot fewer folk are available to view than in the past.

Does anyone have an interesting route for a two day/one night trip in the Wessex area. I’m thinking Somerset, Dorset, Wilts, Berks - maybe up into the Cotswolds (but not too far north). Maybe south Chilterns or Oxfordshire. More off road than road. Maybe incorporating the KAW between Salisbury and t...

Any bag (within reason) will go on top, then just strap it down

I get Ortleib front rollers on mine. It isn’t the best rack for panniers though. The overhang makes it a bit of a PITA.
Big bag on top is what it’s about.

Richpips wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 12:36 pm I'd say get the bike that fits him now.

Decent kids bikes arent cheap, but you usually get your money back on them.

Absolutely. We got an Islabike for my youngest in 2020. This year, due to price rises and a supply shortage, we sold it for exactly the same as we paid for it

It’s mostly dependent on the cranks - they are/were designed to fit a particular bb axle length. As Bearlegged points to there are also two (at least two?) taper standards JIS and ISO. Shimano stuff and most other more modern being JIS. Your frame and to a certain extent preference are going to have...

Here (if you use Strava)

https://www.strava.com/routes/2870787877778068342

Depends how close to Minehead you want to be. The top of Dunkery Beacon has great views or you kip in the woodlands past Wootton Courtney. For the day 2 night I’d just decide where you want to eat or stock up and find somewhere suitable nearby. Mid Devon has loads of great options - it’s got an abun...

Utterly reprehensible behaviour by the people driving the cars.
Glad you only suffered bike damage and nothing worse.
There’s a lot of pretty shitty trailer driving around here and I’ve come pretty close to being whacked more than a few times.

Looking like Wetleg 470 rather than 400. Turns out The Island is just a wee bit further away than I thought. Think it’ll still be a goer. Sean you’re right, the last ferry is pretty damn early - not even 9pm, which at my speed (sic) means setting off from Exeter at 4am to be relatively sure of makin...

EBay is awash with nearly new used stuff. I got a barely used Garmin something or other for 1/3 of the retail cost a couple of months ago and you wouldn’t know it was ‘used’

I’m out. It’s a case of ‘what am I trying to achieve here?’ I’ve actually slept out 4 days this month. Two in a tent- wild camping with my kids on Dartmoor for some fieldwork. One night in a tarp camp and one night in full bushcraft mode - again with my kids. My point? I’m getting out and enjoying i...

Why can’t people admit when they’ve f**ked up?
W**kers.

Cascade are very good on customer services. They also deal with MSR, many years ago they sent me a replacement Dragonfly stove because the legs had broken mid tour. They did that on trust because I couldn’t send photos (1998 or something and I didn’t have a digital camera) and they sent it to Kathma...

Boab wrote: ↑Wed Apr 27, 2022 9:48 pm
[*] Which of the multitudes of chip outlets in Aberystwyth, that cooks in veg oil, is best...?

I’m hoping that with sunflower oil being in short supply that some chip shops get back to frying in lard or dripping.