• This topic has 46 replies, 24 voices, and was last updated 14 years ago by GW.
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  • Build the ideal UK bike……………….go on…
  • vondally
    Free Member

    I realise this is an oxymoron as there can be no such thing given the terrain and niches of the MTB world but go on fopr sake of arguement build an ideal UK bike that will be able to
    ride in the lakes or Peaks or dartmoor
    ride trail centres wales or scotland
    Do the odd enduro marathon
    but would not be out of place on the South downs way
    My starter would be
    Pikes 454 air 140mm u turns
    Santa Cruz Blur LT with grease points
    Hope hubs on Stans Flows
    Magura louise brakes 180 f and 160 r vented rotors
    SLX crankset triple
    SLX front mech
    Sram x0 shifters
    Sram X9 rear mech
    Thompson stem
    Easton Monkeylites 31.8
    King headset
    Joplin seatpost remote dropper.

    Light strong and cheap choose 2

    ton
    Full Member

    orange 5 for a susser……….designed for british conditions
    (and you do not know how much it hurt me to say that)

    and a hardtail by brant………for the same reasons…

    DrDolittle
    Free Member

    a)Spinning blades on the hubs to kneecap bike theft attempts in "vibrant" East London.

    b)A valve on brake levers to squirt dot fluid directly into the eyes of murderous car drivers

    and

    c)Some sort of hydraulic bolt system in the handlebars to facilitate a)

    …and something to sort out teenage single mothers in the saddle.

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    trailmoggy
    Free Member

    i'd say a turner 5 spot apart from greasing mine which takes a minute, you never need touch it

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    ohhhhhhhhhhh good question

    custom built full susser 🙂 one of these days i'll inherit a small fortune from some long forgtten uncle and get curtis to build it.

    HA: 67
    SA: 71
    TT: 23
    CS: 17
    BB: 14 (static)
    Travel : 140mm

    Perfect UK bike. And I'd get two, one built to arround 6.5lb for the UK and a 8.5lb moster for taking abroad with bigger forks and wheels.

    backhander
    Free Member

    TIANS, which rear suspension configuration would you choose?
    Single pivot for simplicity, VPP or DW for low pedal feedback and performance under braking? FSR for whatever?

    brakes
    Free Member

    this is it
    maybe with some 140mm air forks
    which it will have fairly soon!

    backhander
    Free Member

    I'm not sure one exists but the Intense spider 2 is currently looking facorite for me with TALAS 32s, XT drivetrain (with bash), Tech M4s and pro11 w/355s. Light but sturdy.

    vondally
    Free Member

    Brakes surely too heavy for uk??????
    Suspension HL or VPP or maverick

    Coyote
    Free Member

    My current hardtail, and indeed one that I can't fault, is as follows.

    Specialized P. All Mountain
    Marzocchi Z1 Sport 150mm
    Shimano LX cranks with 36/22/e13 bash
    Shimano XT Shifters and Rear Deraileur, LX front
    Crank Bros 50/50XX
    Hayes HFX9 203 / 160
    Titec Ringleader Bars and Blockhead stem
    ODI Grips
    NC-19 post with SDG Bel Air
    Singletrack rims on Formula hubs with Maxxis High Roller

    Not the most niche but I really do love this bike.

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    Suited to that grey area between XC and DH that we like to ride. Must be a decent climber.
    Probably a HT with a comfy ride feel
    Can take a 5-6" adjustable fork with bolt-thru – an RS
    2 ring + bash
    Really well sealed hubs and BB
    hard-as-nails frame finish
    around 27lb

    phildowling
    Free Member

    Sorted….Ragley Blue Pig

    Steel or Ti frame, massive mud clearance, cheap, strong, pedals well, built for UK trails, takes a big fork….mmmm comes in ninja black…:-)

    Ben_Haworth
    Full Member

    I'd go for a Cannondale Rush with 140mm QR15 fork (and an internal headset).

    ton
    Full Member

    phildowling
    raise you two

    blue pig……for distance

    mm bop………..for laking about

    oxnop
    Free Member

    I know everybody likes what they have. And I really like what I have:
    2009 orange 5 am (maxle/36's etc & saint groupset) so 30lbs and it will handle pretty much anything I throw at it.
    &
    2008 chameleon built with pike uturn airs, oro's and trusty xt groupset.

    I have been through 6 bikes since Xmas and feel I've now (finally) got the two bikes I'll be keeping for a few years.

    Plus my gf has a ibis mojo which is full x0,xtr and float 140's and only weighs 26lbs (on a recent mtbt trip a friend commented " can't we fill her frame with sand as she makes us all look so slow on the hills!") so she is currently in love again and prob would say she has the perfect bike. Horses for courses eh!

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    I have been through 6 bikes since Xmas

    😯

    Ben: why the "internal headset"? I confess don't really understand what the fuss about them is. I just ended up up with a load of extra spacers to get the bar height OK.

    oxnop
    Free Member

    Buzz- I'm going red saying this. But Sarah has just reminded me that the chameleon I built is my seventh this year! 😳

    vondally
    Free Member

    funnny enough i do not own a blur………………..just think it is up there as a great UK bike. right travel and weight

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    oxnop: it's good to have a hobby and bike building is satisfying. So I kind of understand.

    stAn-BadBrainsMBC
    Free Member

    british designed hardtail – preferably made from british steel tubing
    brookes saddle
    decent set of forks
    decent wheels
    decent brakes
    utilising as many uk companies as possible

    alternatively – pashley guv'nor – reet proper blokes bike

    upgrade the pedals tho'

    GaryLake
    Free Member

    Five pro with 15qr vanillas

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    probably a high single pivot/idler as I'd like to keep the chainstay super short (wo would need the rear wheel to folow the line of the seatube as a result) The oange 5 has a 17" chainstay and just about squeezes 140mm in before you reach a point where the wheel gets pretty dam close to the seatube.

    To get any more travel out of a single pivot you need longer chainstays (trek, kona etc) or a longer swingarm (the 224) or move the pivot somewhere different (trek session 10/diesle, blafa BB7 and Empire DH)

    Would quite like to build a bike that pedaled like a DW/maestro but with the braking performance of a horst link. I havent tried the new VPP bikes but am lead to believe that they've come some way to getting rid of the whole trapdoor sensation and sorted out the braking problems of the original bikes.

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    Cant say I've noticed "brake jack" with my maestro. But all those links are a swine to clean.

    I'm sticking with a HT.

    Ben_Haworth
    Full Member

    Buzz Lightyear – it's a (not perfect) way of running a fork that has more travel than the frame was designed for (the Rush was designed for a 100mm fork).

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Already built that, my Soul. 130mm u-turn revs, roval traversee wheels, X9 and SLX drivetrain, gravity dropper… Pretty simple build but it's done endless local XC miles, and it's done bits of the Fort William world cup DH track, and everything inbetween. If I could actually ride, it'd do a lot more.

    ooOOoo
    Free Member

    I suppose if UK riders had not built bikes to suit the UK, this thread wouyld be pretty quiet

    speaker2animals
    Full Member

    oh how I laughed!

    Raleigh Chopper!

    GW
    Free Member

    thisisnotaspoon – you talk some Bollox!! 😕

    plumber
    Free Member

    Inbred 853 with revs in pink

    I loves it I do

    I_Ache
    Free Member

    So this is a one bike to rule all UK riding I think a good amount of suspension is needed for doing proper DH runs.

    As a budget build I would say my Pitch isnt far from spot on I can lockout my forks and turn up the propedal when I need to go up big hills or I can run it fully open so I can hammer the DHs. I could do with some Stans Flow on Pro2s but other than that its pretty spot on.

    For a more expensive build I think a carbon 09 Enduro with a Fox Shock and some 2010 Rev 150s double and bash with the above wheels a 680mm bar with a lot of sweep and a command post.

    I would be tempted by a bottlerocket but they are just to heavy.

    tinsy
    Free Member

    It kinda depends on what your slant on riding is really, if your preference is DH, and more aggressive stuff like Andy m for example then your ideal build would heavier duty.

    I just sold a 5 inch travel XC bike (stumpy) and with very small changes to it, it was comfy at anything from an XC race to a day doing the Plenny run until my hands fell off. So recon that was the ideal bike for me at the time, now I have less time to get away to bigger hills I have built up my Scandal, which with the build I have will do all the riding I want, local loop, commuting, the odd XC race, or still be pretty happy at a trail centre.

    I call it a colonial build, as appart from the drivetrain thats all Shimano, every other part on it is either UK designed, or US designed and made. On One. Hope,USE, Thompson, Maverick. (and a random Scott saddle until charge spoons are back in stock)

    http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fed-up-waiting-for-a-suitable-thread-to-show-off-my-new-graphics

    vondally
    Free Member

    sorry I think a UK bike has to have a triple crankset for all round riding, bash rings gosh anyone would think we are Canadians!

    TBH I thought there would be more single pivots mentioned and Cotics

    I_Ache
    Free Member

    I never used to use my big ring and a 36 tooth chainring is more than big enough for me I think 34 would probably be best. And I use my granny ring so little that I'm starting to wonder if I should go 1×9 with a 32 at the front. Yes I do ride up most of the hills I come across.

    Oh and the whole multi pivot v single pivot doesn't even come into consideration for me when buying a bike I simply don't care.

    GaryLake
    Free Member

    Yeah I've said my Five, and I understand the original poster's brief, but I reckon my Genesis iO is probably more perfect UK bike due to the weather alone!

    jackal
    Free Member

    cannondale prophet. simples.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    GW – Member
    thisisnotaspoon – you talk some Bollox!!

    Which bit?

    Oranges are usualy limited in tire clearance by the seatube – yup

    Older VPP's were rubbish (IMO) I test rode the original blur and felt like it were bottoming out at random and finding huge bumps in the trail that just weren't there. And braking was woefull, felt all over the place. Haven't ridden the new ones but apparently the axel path and swingarm rotation have been calmed down so maybe they've solved it.

    I just prefer maestro/DW bikes and specialized bikes, if you like VPP or longer swingarm bikes, good for you, horses for courses and all that.

    vondally
    Free Member

    do not get me wrong I see the need for certain times when you need a bash ring but given that most UK rides involve some road work or flatter bits then the larger ring is needed imho for a true all round UK mountain bike.

    vondally
    Free Member

    oh no mention of carbon fibre bikes like the Mojo………………. 😕

    the00
    Free Member

    If it is one bike for everything, has to be a hardtail. It might not be the downright quickest or comfiest, but definitely the most versatile.

    retro83
    Free Member

    How is a hardtail more versatile than a full sus?

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