Only slightly related but I had an Avy MTN8 fork and a rear shock on my Brooklyn
Racelink and they were sublime, I also had a rear shock for another DH frame that I ordered direct from Craig @ AVY and that was equally brilliant.

And a team of neuroscientists and linguistic experts to decipher what Steves getting at – I like the interviews he does with companies – and he is great fun to listen to – but Dirts reviews are just off.

Enduro mag are the best at the moment for trying to add a little bit of rigour to their review process, German magazines in general actually.

Yeah, but… No disrespect, but I KNOW for a fact Steve and his guys ride anything they get given to review HARD…

Enduro Mag? Well when I questioned them about the “15 Reverbs on their demo fleet that not one had developed a problem with” (I’ve killed 9 myself, with my 10th on its way out!), I concluded that not only do they barely ride anything they’re given to test, but that when they do, it’s ridden with kid gloves to put it mildly… This was further backed up by their trail bike review a few months later, where they marked the Evil Following down a number of points against the Spesh Camber because of it being slacker and not being as focussed for climbing as some of the other bikes being tested, and that it didn’t reward at the pace they were riding it at and they felt it needed to be ridden harder to fully appreciate it! 😆

Oh… And been riding Steve’s local trails at Staunton a fair bit recently… Never met the guy, but I’d love to shake his hand, those trails really are as good as it’s possible to get in the UK! I don’t care what kind of “rigour” you thing Enduro Mag seem to add to the review process, there’s no substitute for getting some shit hot fast riders out on the kit on some of the gnarliest trails that the UK has to offer, for some real world quality testing…

So excuse me for sounding dismissive, but if he or his team don’t come across as the most insightful, I’ll take that with a pinch of salt cos I know how hard they ride and the trails they use to test the stuff they’re reviewing… 8)

Don’t get me wrong Mboy, Porter knows his stuff – it’s just the affable bugger explains what Dirt think of a product in videos – much better than the magazine does in the written reviews.

I like how some of the other mags are starting to do lab testing (eg on brakes) and telemetry testing on suspension – and there are other magazines that are better at explaining in writing, why one product feels better than the next one. With Dirt, it’s usually the suspension reviews that irk me though.

The G19 “review” is a great one

Nicolai G19

it’s not so much of a review – more like an advert masquerading as a Unilad/lad bible article for the all the downhill “bro’s”.

I really like the avy upgrades to my 2006 Fox 36 and my 2005 fix5.0c. But they were ,£250 ish per end dealing direct. On that experience, I’d happily buy again.

I was happy with the fork, but upgraded the shock. That was so good, it made the forks seem weak so I had to upgrade them as well.

Not sure I’d do it again at £400 per end via someone who doesn’t respond to questions and queries.

My Aeris 145 that went to Enduro mag came back with some decent battle scars. I reckon Jim (who’s pretty damn quick) rode that bike pretty hard.

He doesn’t write for them any more though, so I guess thats not really helpful 🙂

Enduro mag’s reviews seem to vary a lot with the reviewer – Jim & Trev’s are usually more insightful than some of the Germans’ writing.

One strange detail they overlook is leaving BB height or drop off their geometry diagrams – I contacted them about that omission and they said: “You’re absolutely right, the bottom bracket height is indeed quite important. However, most readers don’t know how to interpret it and we try to keep things as simple as possible by focusing on the most relevant figures.”

I can do battle scars, if you’ll loan me the 145 if thats what you’re looking for bagged 2 KOM yesterday so I’m on fire.

I don’t write for the mag either.

hope that helps

😉

Don’t get me wrong Mboy, Porter Jones knows his stuff

Porter runs Mojo…

Jones is Dirt Mag!

Though indeed both know their stuff, albeit Porter doesn’t come across all that well on camera at times. Good rider mind, does also ride/build @ Staunton too.

Enduro mag’s reviews seem to vary a lot with the reviewer – Jim & Trev’s are usually more insightful than some of the Germans’ writing.

I couldn’t agree more. I get the impression that the Germans tag the bikes up fireroads then tickle them down a mediocre descent, from the way their reviews come across. I may of course be wrong, but I’d trust a review by a good British rider, on trails I know, far more than I would most European reviews given I know how different the riding preferences typically are in Europe.

Yeah I meant Jones….late at night etc

Not sure I’d do it again at £400 per end

When i could randomly get in touch via an alternate number, they said the £400 was it fitted and fork serviced, but when I asked how much it would be just for me to fit they said somewhere around £300 – which makes it a much more reasonable option – especially when Avalanche themselves say they’re designed to be user-fit. Pretty much just drop it, do up the bolts, fill ’em with the good oil.

Do you still have to drill out the hole for the rebound adjuster?

??

you just drop the cartridge straight in for the pike one i was looking at

Swapped the original Fox 34 CTD for the avalanche and it fixed the issues I had.
That being the point when you are going for a custom tune you need to know whats the problem and address that (and then understand what the compromise will be)

Do you still have to drill out the hole for the rebound adjuster?

As far as I can see it’s just dropping them in on the new ones, there’s no way I’m drilling out a new pair of forks!

So…. after all of that, it looks like Sprung can’t actually get the dampers in for sale, so maybe just get a lyrik and be done with it! Unfortunately had to find this out through a third party though, still frustrated by the lack of contact

Any updates on this? Was it a delay or is it still the case? It would be a shame if there wasn’t an Avalanche UK option. Either way, comms from Jake are still poor/non existent.

Jakes been busy opening his new bike park so I guess the avalanche thing is on the back burner?

Shouldn’t really be advertising something he can’t actually do or at least update his website. Pretty shit customer service that doesn’t really install confidence

That ^^^

Guess they are busy enough to worry about not responding.

Back to tft for me.

You could just phone Avalanche and deal directly? They’re effortless to buy stuff off in my experience (obviously makes sure that the US price still makes sense when it’s landed in the UK)

Currently £310 before delivery and import costs.

How much is the (not quite obtainable) UK price?

Lets just say, I was hoping it would start with nothing more than a 2!

was £400 not mentioned somewhere in this post

3rd post – £400 fitted

That was fitted, so I assume, includes the cost of a service.

Fast damper is £224 including service from tftuned

Is that the open bath cartridge or the damper upgrade? Also, aren’t they currently in short supply?

So I FINALLY got a reply back from Avalanche – although this may have been spurred on by the fact I commented on one of their instagram posts after someone had asked the same thing I had nearly 6 times (basically saying something along the lines of “good luck! I’ve been trying to find this out for weeks now and they refuse to reply to me”).

Yes it was a little petty… but I was a little annoyed. Exactly what poah said, they shouldn’t be advertising something they don’t currently sell, and as it stands have no immediate plans to.

Unfortunately given exchange rates etc, buying them from the US really out-prices them in the UK market now, especially with guys like FAST available for almost half the price! When I managed to get a very quick call through to Sprung ages ago, they had said the damper would be £300 to drop in, or £400 fitted (inc service). Although £300 seems like a lot, it still puts it in the same ball park as a Lyrik so isn’t a crazy price – although seems like Rockshox were being a bit sneaky about the bigger negative spring in the Lyrik.

For the time being – I’m now sat in between the 2017 stuff, or hold out for the new gear, but will have to see what the prices on the new Lyriks are like – if they’re getting on towards the £900 mark, then I’d rather either pony up for some 36’s, or just get the 2017 stuff and maybe at some point put that extra money towards tuning… although, I’m still not that fast so probably makes bugger all difference!