Had a pretty good trip along the France/Italy border then another tour to Lake Constance, nothing remote or exotic but very enjoyable. We're lucky here, the terrain on our doorstep is amazing and Europe is so close and so varied. UK winters are crap, nothing makes them genuinely enjoyable anywhere i...

XACD will build whatever you want. They make frame for other people, Sabbath cycles comes to mind, but at a fraction of the cost. Do they? Last time I saw Sabbath ti frames was here in Taiwan at a really good factory a few years ago. No offence / not intending to 'rubbish' your input at all but for...

Novatec, Bitex .. or KT, Chosen .. etc. A fair few hub makers in Taiwan. Novatec make some good hubs, I spec them on some of our bikes. Also KTs. As always some particular specs are better than others and it's not the brand itself that is 'better'. Generally yes, the higher end sealed hubs are good,...

I should add that that experience with a custom frame a long time ago (pre Genesis days) was a learning experience so I wasn't too bothered about the review when I read it, the one bit that did bug me then was the subjectiveness element wasn't discussed. In hindsight I should have take that 'reviews...

I've had a couple of custom builds. Should've only been one but the first one from a US Ti builder who will remain nameless was rubbish due inappropriate tube selection. I was happy / committed with the fit and geometry but wasn't too sure about tube spec and they interpreted what I wanted wrongly, ...

Please stop being so ambiguous, just call the outside the outside and a fanny a fanny FFS. :wink: ? USA Fanny or UK Fanny? 2 different things I think. One can have a pack worn on it. Could get confusing. A rider answering a call of nature could prick their fanny on a bush in the USA, male or female...

Bare your teeth and growl in their face, freaks out the dog as well as the owner : )

(been bitten properly a couple of times locally .. farmyard Collies are the ones to watch!)

DrMekon, I had the same issue with a set of forks in the Peak Dist years ago. Forks flex at the seal/bush area and if the dust seal opens up a tiny gap and lets a bit of grit in, that then scores the fork really fast. I think one ride with grit in the seal like this can cause some damage. It's a rar...

Odd, my Garmin 800 has recorded 150-300 mile or so activities over a day or 3 a number of times and never locked in the way described. It just loses some tracking data if I plug a dynamo-charge cable in mid-track when static which I've not managed to get to the bottom of yet. Plug in the same cable ...

Interesting, will look them up. Ta.

Great bars and fork .. there's nothing new out there. I guess that pre-dates the old motorbikes that used girder or truss forks also?

A friend of mine has an Ogre, he's ridden it across Asia as a dirt road / tarmac bike-packer set up and we also rode for 8 days in the Alps foothills this summer where he took the Ogre. I tried it out, it reminded me more of my 29er rigid than my dirt road bike. Comfy and solid. Not my pick for road...

So, how much longer stem do you need? Depends on the bike and also how you use the loops as much as the bar /stem you hae now, I'd say. There's 100mm or so of fore-aft range on a loop bar so I found the place I like to hold onto for cruising with climbing and descending in mind (ie the mid, fore an...

However, I don't think it follows that an experienced rider will necessarily find enough benefit to warrant buying anything, it's just as likely that an experienced rider might find the marketing so cheesy that they'll be put off? Fair point that people get put off, it does go both ways. however br...

The video's not too bad, a bit agency-formulaic yes, brand tag lines are almost always rubbish but most brands seem to use them. I think the real 'brand' in all this is QBPs product people, by not hiding the parent company they instantly have an image/rep. They make good stuff that an experienced ri...

Isn't this multiple branding thing QBP trying to retain a hipster niche in order to hide the corporate that they really are? I just think there's something very dishonest about it :roll: Dunno about that, I see QBP as a company in a good position to do what they do, like Madison. QBP do it very wel...

I ride bikes because I enjoy how it feels to hurt. I think most of us on here will get that side of it but when I was 7 or 8, up till late teens, I rode a bike simply because it was fun, that's how our relationship with bikes start out I think. The fitness, 'testing' or ego side of it comes in late...

I can remember when mobile phones were the size of a brick and only yuppies could afford them. Is there any reason why ebikes won't go the same way? Apparently battery and motor technology isn't likely to shrink much or gain efficiency in the near future. They may get cheaper though. But not as che...

Nano Races aren't TLR but they will seal on T-R rims ime. The TCS tyres are just much easier to set up - they'll seat dry on Shimano UST rims whereas the Races needed sealant, the bead edges have those tiny mold lines. The Races aren't paper thin, a lot of local Chilterns use on a set over the last ...

Not a tool for bikepacing, or at least until there are charging points at all bivvy spots eh. :)

More excuses for pub/cafe stops .. : ) one every 40 miles or so, no bad thing ime.

Oh I've already tried to sign my OH up to Strava now she has an E-bike : )

It will be difficult to back-track once the equestrian & ramblers lobby get all bikes banned from our trails. It won't happen. It may mean revisions to the details of access regulations to specifically cover that type of 250W+ E-bike but since they're already classed as a road-licensed motorbik...

if e-bikes are categorised as push bikes rather than the motorcycles that they are. Not 'if' - they already are categorised as bikes if they're 250W pedelecs. An E-bike with a road/bike-legal power assist is still a bike, no need for the helmet, reg and licensing that a motorbike needs. That means ...

Bearbonesnorm wrote:Where's Ian with his story of supernatural goings on in north Wales? ... certainly sounded unwanted.

Could be worse, Texan-style experiences of UFOs and probes ..

Tend to just use an Exposure Spark with a spare set of batteries, only get 2hrs per set of rechargeables but have had a lot more life from good (li-on?) single-use cells. It's very light and has enough output for most stuff, just not great for techy singletrack. I have a L+M Secca 1300 which is bril...