I reckon this is a good option, but the frameset and complete build is a bit spendy for me: https://www.thelightblue.co.uk/Sport/5LB5DVM2K/Darwin-One-By-MT Great bike though, taking proper 29" tyres. Or get a camino or vagabond and get the fork only. I'm thinking of doing the same on my arkose:...

I'll put my hand up to being a paper map 'believer', and still use them almost exclusively on bike rides. I just think there is a different spacial orientation in my brain that understands maps, and I learnt a great deal from years of being a scout. Still use them for car navigation sometimes; easil...

Aside from getting out as much as work and a baby will allow, definitely doing Trans-Cambrian when the weather is a bit better and it's lighter. May also do some Audax, but probably just some long rides I make up myself. Been considering BAM as a way of getting myself out each month too, will see. J...

I've just bought myself an early xmas present from R*pha (only likely purchase i'll ever make from them), "Longer Rides" written and illustrated by Jo Burt. £12 plus extortionate postage, but I like his drawings and it sounds good to me. No training plans and nutrition guff, and he talks t...

I've just started following it and absolutely love the pictures. It sums up everything i like about riding, which i've managed to dilute in recent years by caring too much about the wrong things (strava, shiny stuff, etc...). Those pictures remind me of some of my favourite rides when I only had one...

Luckily (for arachnophobes like me) it is only about 10-16mm long...so not quite the hand sized monster it looks like in the picture.

Thanks kazafaza, interesting the bars might be available separately too! Do keep us posted.

Interesting, those numbers make more sense! Wonder what the pricing will be on the framesets? Any word on the bars too? Also, is the hub spacing boost?

Thanks for posting the correct geo table!

That satori bar is more like the alpkit Confucius bar, a loop put on a lightly swept bar. The ribble picture is clearly a loop with a smaller cross piece, see the welds are different. The grip area looks longer too. Whatever they are let's hope they retail for a sensible amount £££ (less than 50 wou...

Entirely tongue in cheek, after commending the LNT campaign, and not suggested instead of. Although that kind of imagery very much fits into selling the idea of adventures....

I know what you mean, i bought a pair for half the price i sold them for!

It would seem strange that they might make some unlicensed versions, but who knows?

Great idea, and i really hope it gains traction. Marketing is too good at selling misleading ideas about 'the outdoors'.

Next campaign really needs to be LND = Leave No Dangle, banishing silly notions of hanging tin mugs on the outside of bags/bikes!

I saw this the other day and thought it looked pretty interesting and seems to be going a bit under the radar because everyone is looking at the gastly green Mason In Search Of. They're doing a Ti version too with drop bars, but I prefer the look of the steel one. Seems an ideal do it all kind of bi...

Not my construction, sadly...

Tidy bivouac by Matthew Walker, on Flickr

I've got a Terra Nova Jupiter that i've had for years but not used enough. I've loved it when i have used it though. Downsides have been mentioned above, i've not had to get in it when it's been peeing it down. It does depend on the uniqueness of your body shape and the level of your yoga suppleness...

Just a phone pic:

Sunset on south Devon coast by Matthew Walker, on Flickr

Thanks for that. I am definitely over thinking it, it is one of my traits alongside procrastination! Useful tips on thermos and snacks though, would save faffing with a stove and coffee/porridge..not thought of that! There are probably tons of subtle spots like that near me, plus abandoned barns if ...

New on here, but been on STW a long time. I do plenty of general mtbing from my front door in Newbury, and since moving there permanently a few years ago I've got to know the area and surrounding 15-20miles pretty well (Ridgeway, Wayfarer's Way and most between those two). However I don't do enough ...