u/Fest_mkiv

Last year the whole family got into mountain biking. It's been great and in my hyperfixated undiagnosed ADHD fashion I've bought, and then upgraded bikes for the whole family. We started with entry level hardtails, now everyone has been upgraded to good quality HTs (and me to a Dual Suspension which I love)

The oldest child has a bit of a frankensteins monster of a bike - Norco Fluid frame with aftermarket parts of unknown provenance - it works ok, but is currently out of action with freehub issues.

I have an opportunity to buy the same model of Dual Sus as me 2nd hand for $1600. It's the right size (rare), the right bike (rare) and a good price (also rare - RRP is about $3200, on sale for $2600).

I COULD fix the existing bike and it'll be fine, but the way I see it the Dual suspension could be used for the younger child when he outgrows his.

The counter argument is that the kids are, for wont of a better word, lazy. They like MTBing but aren't as obsessed as I and while they enjoy it when they go, they take some convincing. Could he just progress a while on his frankenbike?

We have a week long MTB trip booked for the end of the year, as well as numerous day rides between now and then.

Just received my Suunto Race 2 and it's glorious. Amazing screen, I can SEE the notifications which is great!

I can't work out how to expand them though - anything that's more than a few lines of text is cut off with a "...", and even though I can like, reply, dismiss, snooze - I can't seem to expand the notification and read it in full. I read in some places you're supposed to be able to swipe up, or use the crown wheel, but this doesn't work.
Another location simply said if there's a "..." you CAN'T expand the notification which seems... weird.

There was one post on the community forums noting this as an issue a few years ago, and indicated that it would be fixed in a firmware update.

So - is this a bug, or by design? Is it ever likely to be changed? Being able to expand a message without pulling out my phone seems logical for a watch with such a large screen.

I've just received a Trimui Smart Pro S - it's my first emulator handhelds since using MAME back in the late 90's early 2000s. I was expecting a learning curve but I'm stuck!

I followed the Joey's Retro Handhelds setup guide, updated firmware and set up the SD card - I downloaded the Tiny Best set and the games launched ok - but they are not scaling correctly, and appear in the bottom left hand side of the display. Even Retroarch only shows in the same window as the game, and no options seem to affect the positioning. The Base UI displays on the whole screen and is centered.

Looking at Joey's video, games seem to be scaled and centred by default - what setting am I missing to make this happen?

In the Video Section of Retroarch I've tried all the suggested options I could find on reddit, but nothing even changes the appearance - not aspect ratio, not integer scaling - nothing.

Is there a setting that I'm missing that unlocks what I presumed to be a basic function?

https://preview.redd.it/0hc4inw2wplh1.jpg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbfc8b2eb1167e2b19442e145e5b642cba5e879b

UPDATE - Decided to go with the Race 2.
Couple of factors - Sapphire glass vs the Race S, Heart Rate monitor issues vs the Race as well as battery life

Last week I hadn't even heard of Suunto having been a longtime Garmin user. Unfortunately for them, they've fucked me over twice in the last six months and I am looking at alternatives, and Suunto is high on the list.

Is a Race or Race 2 right for me? I have an Instinct Solar 2 which I can't use (can't read the screen, Garmin doesn't have an option to change font sizes like on the Instinct 3), so need to upgrade to something with an AMOLED screen. I'd been grinding my teeth ready to buy an Instinct 3 AMOLED - but I've found 3 Suunto options that I like

Peak 9 Pro - $277 - Absolute bargain, similar in features to a Forerunner 935 which I used for many years
Race - $500 - Has Maps which I MAY use, and a bigger brighter screen
Race 2 - $750 - Worth the $250 upgrade from the Race?

The use case in order of frequency
Running - Linked to Strava
Mountain Biking - Downhill/Trail - I'd love to be able to use maps to navigate trails, not sure how feasible this is
Hiking - Multiple day
Snowboarding - Rarely

Keen to hear opinions on these choices. I do like value, because I'm already $400 in the hole from the Instinct 2.

Long story short - I thought I'd be OK moving from a AMOLED Forerunner 935 to an Instinct 2 Solar - the long battery life was appealing and I didn't really care about colours etc.
Unfortunately, I can't read the notifications in low light situations and I ESPECIALLY can't read them whole running at night. You can't change the size or configuration of notifications (showing just the sender for example), so I need a new watch.

My question - How do the notifications look on the Instinct 3 AMOLED? Big enough to read? I hear they're customizable in terms of size? I don't want to spend another $600 on a watch just to find the same problem.

I'm new to MTB, coming from other active sports, but have been REALLY enjoying it over the last six months.

I ride a Trek Roscoe 8 which I love, and have been enjoying a range of singletrack from flowy to technical. To give you an idea I'm pretty confident on blues - drops, rock gardens etc and I think it's this sort of terrain that I enjoy most.
My area is not shuttle or lift serviced, so I'm riding up hills.

I was going to ride the Roscoe for a few years, but I've just found a deal on a Trek Slash 9.8 XT from 2023. AUD $3200, excellent condition, which is a AUD 10k bike - reviews I've read give it a 10/10
It's in my size, and it's in my suburb. In contrast the Fuel EX 5s from the same era are around $2500-3000.

Considering how new I am - should I just be content on my Roscoe for a few more years? Or should I take advantage of a great deal because I'm probably going to want to upgrade anyway?

• Two additional points - I'm pretty old - 45 - so there's probably a limit to how much I'm going to progress
• I cannot keep both bikes. As much as I'd love to, I don't have the space to store two.
• If it's a 50/50, please convince me NOT to buy it because it'll save me an argument with my partner.

EDIT - CONCLUSIONS

OK - the consensus seems to be that a full suspension would be good for progression and I'd enjoy it, but the Trek Slash might be too much travel for my use case. I will say that my back is killing me after riding both days of the weekend so having a bit more travel might be nice!

I'm going to aim at something like the Trek Fuel gen 6, and try to rent a dually for a day. If I love it that'll basically be the decision made, and just a matter of finding the right bike (I do love frame storage on the Fuel).

Thanks very much for your advice.

So - long story short, I've just installed Laminex benchtops and due to my own poor design choices, I hate them.

To that end I'm considering replacing them with Bamboo, with some sort of polyurethane coating. Does anyone have personal experience with bamboo bench tops who can provide feedback? How have they held up over the years?

Please note any sort of stone, engineered stone, stone adjacent, stone like, or "I can't believe it's not stone" won't work - it just doesn't fit the kitchen.

I'm a new rider in the "This is so cool I'd better buy all the gear" phase of the hobby. I've been riding for about 6 months, predominantly MTB trails in my local city.

I want to progress to confident jumping within a year or so, but I'm mid 40's so if I injure myself it's a LONG recovery, and a serious injury might take me out of the sport entirely. Currently I'm working on jumps at pump tracks and trails when I can - I can get air but it's DEFINITELY novice level. I've got some lessons coming up too.

What protective gear is suitable for someone looking to progress, but not overkill? I've got myself a good open face helmet, level 1 knee and elbow pads - should I invest in back protection? Or one of those shirts that has chest/shoulder/back/hip protection? Or do I save this until I'm hitting gaps etc

I want to be safe - but not be "all gear and no idea". I don't want to look like an idiot fully armoured and getting 20cm off the ground!

OK - so I want to get a decent oven with steam function for my new kitchen, and we're getting a canopy style rangehood as well.

The issue is all of the decent 60cm ovens come in black or black stainless (Westinghouse WVEP6717DD, Electrolux EVE615DSE), but all of the canopy rangehoods come in bright stainless - (Westinghouse WRC614SD, Bosch DWP66BC50A).

I have a lot of trouble visualising things so I don't know if these two finishes will look weird (cabinets are sort of sage green). What do people think?

It seems this must be as intended... Westinghouse was my first choice of oven and they just don't make a matching finish in 60cm? Surely this wouldn't be the case if the finishes didn't match.

I recently upgraded from an old Forerunner 935, thinking that a MIPS display Instinct 2 Solar would fit my use case better (Long days, hiking, MTBing, Snowboarding).

Unfortunately I'm finding the MIPS display problematic, especially in regards to notifications - I can only read them in good light, and CERTAINLY not at a glance while running etc. I didn't have this problem with the AMOLED display on the Forerunner.

Is there any way to change the font size on notifications? I did some searching but some of the info is incorrect or referring to other versions of Garmin watches.

Happy to hear any other tips for better readability!