u/ChaosCalmed

We're off to a trail centre with a bike hire. My son's full suspension is out of action, broken derailleur and whilst it came today, I can't for the life of me get the old cable threaded through so with no time left we'll hire. It's a trek fuel ex.

Now what about me and his mum?

My son is only 13yo but he's tall and athletic so he leaves us for dust. Not least because he's technically better and fearless.

I'm a roadie who's getting slowly into mountain biking via hire bikes.. So far the big standard hardtail with 100mm travel. I wonder whether to treat myself to a film suspension or electric MTB, full suspension or hardtail eMTB? I'm still learning the off-road stuff and feel limited with the 100mm travel hardtails as they get pushed around too much by the terrain.. I've read that more travel helps with that somewhere. That only comes with electric and / or full suspension. I just think that the way I ride I'd look daft on a FS bike.

So £25 half day hardtail,£40 FS or £60 for eMTB FS.

I'll probably do a red or blue trail on one of the 7 Stanes. I've done red at Whinlatter and blues are easy there. What bike would you recommend for me to hire? My partner, son's mother, is slow but she's done MTB races in the past and had ridden MTBs but mostly commuting on the roads of late. We both hold our son up but hey we can't help that.

Basically, as per the questions in the title.

Further information was that I bought it as a cover, dividers, discs (swapped for the next size up FOC by the seller), paper and planner sections. All from the same Etsy maker.

The paper was actually pretty good to write on and was something like 100 to 120gsm. It all looked like it would work well for me but it failed on one very basic level. The tabs at the holes folded not bent when removed and replaced a few times. A couple of times of taking them out the tabs would start to snap off. That meant it was useless for me.

How do you people find your paper holds up to the key benefits of the system? Namely the fact you can remove the pages and replace them repeatedly.

I wonder whether it's the paper I had, was it too stiff and heavy? I had an Aroma notebook from years ago but it's thinner paper and while the tabs bent they didn't fold or snap off. The only problem was they aren't easy to get in the UK and the sizes are non standard paper sizes.

So what is a good UK supplier of paper and professional looking planning / diary sections? Should I reconsider using a discbound again with a different source for the infills?

Has anyone from the UK bought online from afth based in Harrogate? My usual, good, online retailers seem to have less range in pens I am looking at these days so considering elsewhere.

I've never heard of them before but they seem to have a good selection of Jetstream pens just as I'm thinking of getting a 4+1. I like the grip diameter of the Jetstream 3 but want a mech pencil too. So the 4+1 seems like a good idea.

Before I go to a new online retailer I admit I like to find out about their reputation. Please feel free to DM me to take it offline if appropriate. To keep this kind of neutral or positive. I don't think it's best for one negative experience to be public unless it's the norm. However I do want to know.

Thank you.

PS what 4+1 Jetstream do you guys rate most?

I'm thinking I prefer something with a functional grip like the Jetstream 3 I have with it's rubber grip area. The malt and wooden grip pens look nice but I'm thinking wood isn't as grippy as rubber. I think a good and grippy surface at the grip area means less grip pressure is needed = longer writing without getting tired hands.

This might be controversial but I've had some Aftershokz Titanium for years and last year started to use them again. They are falling apart so I need to replace.

What's good in truly open ear these days? What do you use?

My 13yo son is trashing his 11yo secondhand giant stance after one year of owning it. He got into cycling after a few years out of cycling a year ago. So after a month of using his mum's old hardtail we got a £400 or so giant stance. He loved it at first but quickly got beyond what it's capable of.

So now there's a 1200 GT force pro carbon that's 21 model secondhand. The same bike in the current 22/23 model new for 2 grand from a far off bike shop delivered to us. Or the trek brand new for £2599 in the new 2026 model.

The first two have a 170mm fork travel, the Trek is 150mm front and 140mm rear. The Trek has rugged wireless derailleur and variable geometry. It's a trail plus bike so do it all. It's an enduro light, not quite fully enduro unlike the GT which is. I read somewhere it's a heavy downhill tank for the shuttle up trail parks. The Trek is faster uphill and perhaps more technical on trails. A morev do it all bike.

It's for my very tall but light 13yo son. He's a large bike frame but the trek XL fits him well enough but with growth room. The large GT he's actually right in the middle of height range I believe. Durability might come from higher travel suspension or the rugged wireless derailleur. All have bolt through 12/15mm diameter vs the 6mm qr skewer of the giant stance he has now.

So what do you think?

I'm thinking of "tarting it up". Perhaps you'll upgrade the drivetrain or brakes. That's a performance upgrade, but I'm thinking of aesthetics and what the IT sector might call peripherals. Fancy bottle cages, valve covers, hubs, bar tape, etc all colour matched to details on your bike?

What have you added? Does bike looks matter to you?

Years ago I needed to replace dodgy QR skewers so I bought Hope ones and chose ones coloured almost exactly to the lettering on my bike. I'm looking at valve covers and thinking do I do the same?

Now my bike is my do everything bike so if I'm road riding for fitness or leisure it's what I use. If I'm commuting to work I use it. If I'm touring I'll possibly use it (or my touring recumbent). So I'm thinking the commuting part means it's possibly not wise trying to make it look nice.

It's silver with light blue details, a PlanetX London Road that's 9 years old and shows it. It's still a nice bike for my needs and I'm comfortable riding it. I am thinking of upgrading from the alloy Oxford bottle cage and colour matched valve covers. I'm thinking I'll buy a few cheap and frivolous details for it. Just wondered what people think about the looks of their bikes. Do you care?