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You ARE grumpy! Why don't you say 'Hi!' or at least grunt (like I do) at people you encounter? That's what we do in our once-civilised country.

My God, I wish we had smooth roads like that here in Herefordshire. Where are you ?

I must be lucky as my local Halfords have been really helpful, i've recently been twice with a list of questions related to setting up my touring bike and the guy was very knowledgeable, a keen cyclist himself, and very patient with my questions. Credit where credits due.

anyone know what part of the world this is... I think its Wales but never seem to say or spot a sign

It depends on the price difference, if tens of pounds I am buying from Bike Discount de.

Beautiful road. Hello from Illinois USA.

Nice bike 🚲

A up from Lincolnshire had rideround 2day here co-op 10-15miles

Four LBS have closed in recent years near me. The only one left deals with Giant/Liv. I have a Giant myself but I have other brands too. In my local lanes I see a lot of other brands so no idea who they're selling to as hardly see a Giant rider. As they are brand specific it puts me off shopping with them as I don't want to limit my options. And as for parts, I shop where they have the best prices. Long before Brexit I used to buy parts from Rose in Germany, they were at least 33% cheaper than what Id pay in the UK. Unfortunately those days have gone. We pay too much for stuff in the UK.

I remember going into a local bike shop looking for ideas. I wanted to add a second brake to a Dutch Omafiets to make it UK street legal. When i suggested the idea of rebuilding the front wheel with a hub brake the guys eyes lit up, not because of money but because it would have been an interesting project. Try that in Halfords and see what the response is!

So very true.

Nice video ❤ can't wait next 1

I find it incredible that the headset has worn out so quickly. The bottom bracket also surprises me, I'm not so familiar with modern bikes but I thought that modern bottom brackets were sealed so I'm not sure what there is to adjust. The biggest service issue I have is the rate at which I get through chains, I doubt they last more than 1000 miles, and that's with regular cleaning and lubrication. I do my own servicing so probably spend just over £100 per bike per year in parts and consumables. (Chains, cassettes, oil, brake pads and tyres)

If you ever watch the Hambini channel, you’ll know how many manufacturers have badly sized Bottom Bracket shells and headset tubes which in turn chew up the fitted parts. But they never seem to acknowledge this, always ‘the way you ride it’

That’s too bad about your bike and the maintenance regarding the Giant shop. I’ve been very fortunate to have a LBS that has been great to me. I bought a Specialized Allez Sprint Comp in 2022. After a while I got a lot of creaking sound and brought it back to the LBS to fix, they cleaned out the bottom bracket and head tube bracket and rebuilt it from scratch for free. After a few rides the creaking returned. My LBS contacted specialized and after a few weeks they honored my frame warranty and said they’d replace the frame but had no allez frames in stock and asked if I would like a tarmac sl7 frame instead. Obviously I said yes and the new frame was delivered and my shop put it together for free. I know specialized are not loved by all, but after that, I am a loyal fan.

I bought a Focus Paralane from Evans about 7 years ago. After two rides the rear shifting became sticky in certain gears and no amount of re indexing would cure it. I took it back to Evans and the mechanic claimed to have cured it by changing the cable. He hadn't cured it of course so I then tried a local bike shop. The young mechanic there was more concerned with reading the paper and getting his tea and toast, as I dropped the bike off at 8.30 am. I phoned back at 4.00 pm to be told he had just started to work on it. I collected the bike at 6.00 pm and found him "testing" his work by riding it in the car park. He also claimed to have changed the cable. Of course the problem continued, and i put up with poor shifting for another year. I then changed both the cable and housing, using TH-cam guides to guide me. Problem solved and the shifting was perfect. I have since learnt to do my own wrenching and would never trust a bike shop ever again. One exception was needing to have a steerer tube cut down. The bike shop owner and mechanic wasn't happy when I asked him undo the work stand clamp he had just placed around my carbon top tube, citing his vast experience, and that he knew what he was doing. To my horror bike companies are now trying to make bikes difficult to service by the owner, or home mechanic, with fully integrated front ends and electronic gizmos. Their plan is to become more like car companies and force you into their concept stores for expensive poor service. Resist I say!!

I feel quite lucky with my bike shops, both the big name bike store and the local bike shop. They are the same business. I have a Trek store about 5 miles from home. Although they are a big name store pushing their brand, the techies are all "local bike shop" types. If they aren't busy and you drop by they will take a few minutes to adjust things for you, just answer questions, or even just shoot the breeze for a bit. I even had them convince me that I really didn't need a piece of equipment that I was considering buying. Most places would probably have just insisted that, "oh, yes John, you absolutely need that. You should probably even get two." The employees at the Trek store remember who I am (although I think they remember the bike more than me) and are friendly and helpful. As long as they continue with this type of customer service, I will continue to bring them my business.

Where are you riding fancy bike 🚲 UK Yorkshire somewhere

Glad you're on the road to recovery. I haven't wanted to risk the icy roads and I do remember some bad past experiences of trying to cycle commute to work during the Winter.

The latest Revolt now has it's cables / hoses routed through the headset. Not great if those bearings aren't particularly durable! Can you imagine the extra cost and time involved should they need changing! I'm assuming your bike is an older version? Hope so 🙏

I unashamedly managed 1.6 miles yesterday. Still icy roads just wasn't worth risking. Uploaded it to Strava of course 😂

I recognise a few of those roads. I used to do some contract work at Sony pencoed every year, stayed at several places, enjoyed the ride from Ewenny to the Plough and Harrow at Monknash, nice area.

Nice ride hello from Lincolnshire

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Just bought one to myself. It is in producing yet, But Im exiting....

I mixed it up this last year and challenged myself to ride every square mile directly from home for an area of about 300 square miles. Route planning was fun as I used Ride Every Tile to record my progress. I got to places and down lanes i'd never been. Was better than chasing distance goals for me. This year, no goals. A coast to coast planned but that's it.

I didn't set any targets for 2024 but being a data geek I record the details of every ride (road and turbo) on a spreadsheet. I was somewhere short of your mileage but did manage 1,825 miles and 63,310ft of climbing on the road, over 109hrs 18 mins in 119 rides. I also did 17hrs 10 mins on the turbo trainer. If you really want someone to climb Bwlch with you drop me a line 👍

Curious what kind of cycling computer do you use and do you like it? Also does it hold a good battery life?

Last year was a good year, injury and illness free, I cannot ride as much as I'd like due to other commitments. I don't set performance targets, I like to take pleasure from the views, the experience and the company. This year I want to do a few multi day rides, with minimal planning, see where the road takes me type of approach.

Good news regarding the microphone. Sounds fine, as far as I can tell.

Sound is much better 😊 Got a couple of great jackets off Vinted recently for next to nowt. As you say, winter kit gets abused so why pay more.

Blue sky at 10:46! I knew it was still out there somewhere - thanks for sharing! 👍☀

I always look forward to your ramblings and today the sound quality was better than before and I didn't need to wear my headphones to be able to hear you. Look forward to seeing you in the new year, Steve 😁

Sound is good! Mudguards with mud flaps go along way in making winter country back lanes bearable 👍

50-70mph winds up North all weekend - is great aint it 😂 Like you say it seems to be the thing every 2-3 weeks atmo. Still, we've passed the shortest day and are heading back towards 🌞 Merry Xmas 🎁

I was out this afternoon, 50 mph winds coming off the Atlantic, I planned the ride so that I'd be going downhill towards the coast into the wind and coming back with a nice tail wind. Worked out ok, seems strange having to pedal to go downhill, but coming back it felt like someone was pushing my back. The Cornish lanes with high stone walls offer quite good protection from cross winds, but then came the rain followed by the hail, but after five days off the bike I had to get out.

I went out on my bike today - first time since last Sunday - and the wind was still very strong and gusting. It caught me out a couple of times when I came out from behind a hedgerow and blew me into the middle of the road. Fortunately, there were no cars around at the times it happened 😋Have a great Christmas, Steve, and a Happy New Year. See you on the other side 😃

The trick is to buy something you're happy riding. I'm perfectly happy on rim brakes and have stocked up on 105 parts to keep me going for years! In fact I'll wear out first 😅

Getting myself something nice is something I tend to do most the year, Christmas is when I feel pained to buy things for others. I don't enjoy it, because rather selfishly it feels like the balance of what's given and in-turn received often doesn't quite level. Maybe I should stop being so transactional in my thinking, but I find this time of year fairly exhausting - I'm obliged by others to spend vast amounts of cash and time for not much in return.

Great video, thanks for sharing. Presents just for the kids this year, but will probably pick myself up a low-end MTB early next year as I only have a single speed commuter, a cheap-and-cheerful Decathlon road bike and a 20" folder at the moment (ignoring my folding eBike - which 100% got me back into cycling this year). I'm a bit of a sucker for all the tech, but then always get buyers remorse when I realise I really didn't need it as much as I thought I did!

The important thing is that more people ride bikes, whether they be vintage or modern state of the art, manual or electric, road, gravel, hybrid, city, cargo or mountain, it matters not to me. For Christmas, I might get a small tent with the intention of doing more touring next year.

My wife and I have had early Christmas presents this week. My wife got a Liv Devote Advanced Pro. She loves the electronic shifting! I got Revolt Advanced 2 and it is amazing. Watching your videos have got us both in to Gravel Bikes. They are so versatile. The mudguard police would not be happy though as we have fitted full mudguards!😂

I will say it helps to have two bikes. So those times when the bike shops has to keep your bike you still have another one to ride.

I agree keeping the chain clean and lubricated is very important, especially with derailleur gears. It's also important to know your bike and not ignore any changes in the way it responds/handles, brakes etc, changes in these areas could be a sign of a serious problem developing. Any click, squeak, clonk, rattle could be a sign of something becoming loose or need lubricating, and could also be serious and/or costly if ignored.

We use wet wipes to clean our bikes in between the big wash !

Great advice.

If the weather is far too bad to ride would you consider making videos at home with you talking to camera?

Well said. I’m in Mumbles and smile as I cycle past all the traffic on the Mumbles road lol.

Good to see you out and about on the Revolt, in the cold UK weather. Love my new Revolt, ridden it more than my Defy advance sl. Very happy with the Sram electronic shifting on the Revolt. If I lived back in the UK, I would have one bike with mudguards for winter. I prefer 2by groupset ,gives you more gears for not much more weight. A Defy would also be a good choice,as you do quite a lot of road riding. As for your bike computer, I like it central on the handle bars, but everyone has free choice where they prefer them. The main thing is you get out on your bike in all weather's, take my hat off to you. Keep enjoying your cycling, and keep safe on the roads Tim Melbourne Australia.

Me for example envy you have such clean air nature and bicycle lane. Cycling addicted too

So it’s the same story there as it is in the US! Go figure. Hey, this was a beautiful ride to watch thanks for posting ❤