summittoppler wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 2:20 pm Freedom in Wales and I now have 2 weeks off work!

Am I right in thinking we can head out for an overnighter now?

Also taking a week off from finishing my PhD thesis, which has been a massive grind the last couple of months. Would dearly love to get out.

They look alright actually. A good write-up on Bikepacking.com too.

The Sparwoods look amazing, although the same price as ETs - it might just be time for me to accept that decent boutique bikepacking tyres are expensive and start saving...

Anybody aware of a half decent alternative to this tyre? Looks like a good blend of low rolling resistance, protection, gravel to moderate off road capability, volume, and reasonable weight - but hugely expensive at least in the UK. Currently running X-Kings in 29x2.4 flavour which are fine, pretty ...

I know this isn't rack country, but posting here anyway in case there's any interest. One of these: https://www.thebikefactory.co.uk/shop/accessories/sub/racks/blackburn-blackburn-ex1-stainless-steel-rear-rack-2017-black-95594/option/ Brand new in original packaging. Stainless steel, includes all mo...

First run today after 4 weeks off with tendonitis. Decided to freestyle it with no music, no app, no phone, just my watch. Set myself an 18 minute timer to see how far I could comfortably make it - apparently, just a shade under 3.5km, which I was extremely chuffed with. That's a pace of about 5:10/...

I didn't personally come across anything too egregious last summer, which I understand was very fortunate. I am sure there'll be a lot of repeat episodes. That said, I think this broad conversation could benefit from some introspection on what fuels attitudes towards the outdoors and the 'commons' i...

For convenience and cleanliness I usually carry a bottle in a stem-cell bag behind the bars. IME stomach bugs are often picked up from a dirty bottle on the downtube as much as a dirty water source. Learned this the hard way last summer after stupidly drinking from my sheep sh1t-covered bottle. Set...

Another vote for the Sawyer filters, work well, take spare bags though as they have a tendency to split if not used properly (or even if used properly tbh) I chug through a lot of water, so I also like to carry more than 1l. I use one of these, under the downtube: https://www.topeak.com/global/en/pr...

Good call, that nature hike taga looks identical to the MSR hubba I was considering, but what’s the quality like, anyone using one? Not me but my good friend uses one. His report is that it's sturdy and solid, he wouldn't use it for anything much more than relatively fair-weather camping but no com...

Rapideye wrote: ↑Fri Mar 19, 2021 10:49 pm Oakhams - Citra. 1 bottle of.

It's good that one. Love a Green Devil.

Had a couple of big boy IPAs for the quiz earlier but now on a Skinny Lager. Dropped about 10kg since Christmas and keen to keep up the good work. Surprisingly nice beer, much better than any 'light' megalager.

Really feel the "I just don't how to behave anymore" line is facetious. The majority of us know how to behave and the majority of us do behave in that way. But, there is a significant minority who either don't, or choose not to. The only thing that has changed is women are increasingly re...

Price drop to a tenner, a bit more reasonable.

Very light use, the usual marks from shifter/brake installation. Only used a few times before more tweaking and fettling got the better of me, and now I have a Geoff bar so don't need it. Standard MTB dimensions with 31.8mm clamp. It's got some cheap On-One lock on grips (Bob?) installed as well, al...

Going to spend some time over the next few days playing with some new Garmin maps and getting some routes on my eTrex 20x. Just bought the nice spangly Talkytoaster maps too. Anybody got any good tools for planning a route on the Garmin? At the moment, I manually plot tracks on Basecamp, cross-refer...

Landslide wrote: ↑Tue Mar 16, 2021 4:43 pm Might be worth asking nicely if they'll refund the difference?
Or, order another, return the full price one.

Have done so. Can't hurt. Returning and buying again just results in more postage costs for me and them so fingers x'd.

In fairness, still a cracking bag at full price.

Paid full price for a down bag a couple of days ago

I'd say line of least resistance and if the primary use is your OH's video editing just buy another mac as mentioned above. If you fancy a spot of gaming then a Google Stadia set up is about £50 at the mo and Macs aren't so bad on that front anymore. I don't pay too much attention to the self-build...

Can't help much as no direct experience of building PCs. however: The current crop of AMD Ryzen chips have been blowing Intel out of the water. Especially for graphical stuff I imagine they will be very good indeed. They are known to work best (especially the onboard GFX, although I suppose you will...

Was pulling nice and steady 10ks and starting a half marathon plan until about 3 weeks ago. Since then been laid low with extensor tendonitis. Biking is fine, but it'll be Monday before I start running again. Wondering how much fitness I'll have lost.

ton wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:11 am i am. joined in the early 90's.
more for routes than companionship.
some of the early routes in the journals would prove far too much for todays mndern mountainbiker.

Uphill both ways, I bet.

One of these: https://www.topeak.com/global/en/products/247-MTB-&-700C-Touring-Racks/415-EXPLORER-29ER-(DISC)-(W-O-SPRING) Bought nearly-new; I've only ridden with it once. VGC with the usual cosmetic dings. Selling for purely aesthetic reasons - I really don't like the look of stainless steel m...

Alpkit Skyehigh 500 arrived today. Last trip out impressed on me the need for a 3 season bag. Wanted down for light weight. Much snooping about online revealed that budget options were Aegismax off AliExpress or questionable offerings from OEX, Trespass etc. I found that the cheapest you could get f...

Yes it’s the original green 29 version that I bought on ebay last June. It was in perfect nick and I pounced on it as it was a 29er. Then I looked at the current longitude geometry and I’m pretty sure the frame is the same!? I run 2.6 tyres on the back to avoid chain rub and 3.0 up front. It’s a de...

So I ‘swapped out’ the stock forks for a pair of Surly ECR forks. It now has a nice high set of Jones Bars on the longer steerer, the forks are a tiny bit longer and there is a few mm less offset. The front wheel sits nice and central in the fork. The net result of this is that the bike rides reall...

Oh yeah absolutely, they're solid levers. They were working perfectly on mine, I just swapped them out because the Avid levers matched better and have an extra adjustment thingy. Pop me a message if you're interested, I can do them for £15 plus p&p. They are these: https://www.wiggle.co.uk/shima...