“Bobbing out of the saddle”

And….I’m out

Made the decision last week at Llandegla to ditch the crappy Superstar chainguide. It’s …. well… it’s OK…. but it’s £20 ok at best. Which funnily enough is what it cost me 🙂

So, when at Llandegla i noticed that whilst i can get up all the hills, i can grind and power my way up them (unlike half the people there hahaha) it’s actually easier to just drop into the small ring and pootle up easily.

So i went for a 2×10 Shimano SLX setup.

This also meant fitting a new front mech, which is a bottom pull, first time i’ve done one of them. Along with fitting a shifter….

Took about 10 mins getting the mech adjusted for height, but yeah it’s all sweet now… sweet and happy 🙂

Slightly different too in the fact it’s a 36T middle, instead of a 32T.

Looks brilliant with the integrated bash and is ridiculously light even compared to the Deore without a bash ring.

Awsome day out there, fast trails, fast fun, plenty of climbs and coffee and muffins to finish off.

The Spearfish really does do everything i need from a bike.. .Trailcentres, XC, even the road stuff it cracks along.

Just need a few tweaks on the 2nd set of wheels as the hubs/spacings seem to be slightly offset so i’vve ordered a 2mm single speed spacer for the Giant wheels to offset the cassette so it lines up with the Hope Pro evo’s.

The new gearing/cranks worked well, smooth changes and happy 🙂

I also noticed just how HUGE a difference the lighter wheels/tyres make to the bike. This is the first day i’ve ridden on the Hopes really in anger, only a bit on the road over winter. They’re in total about 1.3kg lighter due to the light rubber and lighter wheels overall. The turning is just epic, flips round the corners much nicer. Very impressed with them.

That’s it, last straw. I can’t hold out any longer.

I have the last uk 2012 frames in the shop (at half the price of a 2013 frame) and i am going to liberate one of the XLs for myself now.

That’s it, last straw. I can’t hold out any longer.

I have the last uk 2012 frames in the shop (at half the price of a 2013 frame) and i am going to liberate one of the XLs for myself now.

LOL 😆 … I don’t blame you, lovely looking bikes IMO.

Must admit i still love the Spearfish as a ride… although it has let me down.

Removed some of the Heli-tape the other day and with it came a massive chunk of paint !!!!! Bit disappointed in that in all honesty. Happily i do have some Orange Ford Focus touch up paint i bought for chips etc… but wasn’t planning on using it for such a big piece !!!! It’s on the underside of BB area so can’t be noticed… but taken a little bit of the shine off things for me.

However, it still rides like a dream.

Need to invest in some ‘road’ tyres now really for the spare wheels.

I have to admit I’ve not used mine in a few months , I got fed up with the lack of mud cleance
But now things are drying up time to dust it off and a quick tune up

I could be tempted with turning to the dark side of 29ers. 500 GBP for a solaris sort of puts me off …
Being negatively nutritionally challenged – how flexi is the back end. It looks really spindlely …?
Is it?

i don’t think a bit of paint coming off it will affect the ride, I think you’re being a bit precious

Mud clearance only became an issue on the Ridgeway one morning after frost.. but in all honesty i’ve yet to find a bike that can cope when the clay turns to that horrible wet claggy stuff up there.

I can honestly say i’m still yet to notice the flex in the back end when running anything over 30psi (tubed). Only when it’s been below that do you feel the back end moving and wandering… However with a reasonable pressure in there i’m yet to notice it either climbing or descening.

I am a little precious, but it has other marks that haven’t irritated me, they’re riding marks and scuffs, so par for the course of having a MTB… i just wasn’t expecting the paint to fall apart when removing the tape.

On mine the chain seems rather close to the rear tyre so even when the wheel was not clogged the gears / mech jammed up from mud.

Going to have a proper fiddle this week , when it arrived I just build it in a hurry and went out on it
Thinking maybe 1-10

I can honestly say i’m still yet to notice the flex in the back end when running anything over 30psi (tubed). Only when it’s been below that do you feel the back end moving and wandering… However with a reasonable pressure in there i’m yet to notice it either climbing or descening.

This ^^^ sounds more like your tyre rolling off the rim at lower pressures than the frame flexing. If the frame is inherently flexy you’ll feel it whatever your tyre pressure.

Re. mud clearance. I’ve found Maxxis Beavers a good choice as a rear winter tyre when clearance is an issue.

Quick q:

I’m 6’1″ and ride a medium Scandal and a medium Ragley Ti 29ers. Is a large one of these going to be too big?

[edit] been looking at the numbers and it seems the large spearfish is longer and taller than I would like.

I am six foot 2 and found a large right on the border of being too small. Trust the size guide, if you are 6 foot 1 you will be fine on a large.

They also don’t look big, even in XL, the swoopy top tube stops it looking big. If you see what I mean.

The size guide is here…. http://salsacycles.com/bikes/2012_spearfish_3

i’m 6’0 and the large is perfect for me.