planning to do said ride in oct been training for 4 months on a cove stiffee about 28lb weight. my mate has sugested i borrow his maxlight xc2 he rackons the stiffee is far to heavy/burley for the ride.Any opinions gratfully received thanks in advance…mark w

stick with the cove, riding a differnt bike that you are not used to would be a bad idea on a big ride.

I've done it on a Mount Vision that is around the 28lb mark. Not a problem although you will probably hit sections that are boggy in October.

Have fun!

Are you soloing it or doing a team effort? Because of the gates, you'll not be going that fast anyway unless there's a team of you & you have a well-rehearsed 'gate plan'. Your mate is probably right that you will be marginally faster on a lighter bike, but not that much faster & you're better on a bike you're used to.

Two of us did it in Jul on 100mm travel HTs – injuries picked up in an early crash due to showing off slowed us down more than anything. A better question is what tyres for the 2' long setts paving the section between Hebden & the canal – those will be bloody slippery in the wet as they've been polished smooth by feet/hooves/tyres.

Andy

doing it with my son hopefully,itll be turns about on gate duty.Tyre choice will probably be 2.35 high rollers unless we have an indian summer.Been using larsen tt again in 2.35 for warmer months would hope to stick with em if it keeps dry mw