im thinking of a thompson seat post,ive got a cotic soul, deore but xt shifters throughout,is there any thing you d guys would improve before a seat post…i do love the look and reviews of them thats the problem!

A typing course? 😉

New Bars or new clothes. Sure people will say im wrong but for me a seatpost is a seatpost and unless its really heavy I would just leave it.

For £70 I’d just make sure the drivetrain was in top nick, new cables, cassette, chain etc, or get a used Chris King headset.
Stuff that makes a difference to performance or longevity rather then just a more expensive alloy tube to bolt the saddle to….

🙂

a pair of good tyres

XT rear mech and a new chain [depending when the last one was changed]

A skills course, best upgrade I’ve ever bought

For £70 the biggest single improvement to performance you could make is tyres, especially on a hard tail.

After that I’d change the handlebars and then the stem, depending on what you’re currently running.

Short stem and wide bars will radically change your riding position and likely add a good 20% to your downhill speed, if that’s what you’d like to achieve.

Short stem/wide bars won’t help you out if what you want though is to go uphill and along smooth fire roads faster.

A Thomson seatpost offers no improvement other than aesthetic. And they’re not particularly light. They are strong though and they do keep their looks, but then so do FSA ones which are a fair bit cheaper.

If you want to lose weight go for KCNC scandium.

these are all good ,thanks!

Suspension service 😯

ive got a short stem a wide bars but what tyres would you recommend?

Suspension service

Yeah TFTuned are good for that….. 😉

Forest Freeride, a whole day of coaching

Let be realistic. Even if you were to spend £150 on a seat post the best you’re going to do is save about 100g. say your bike weighs 13kg and you weigh 75 kg then the ammount from the total is about 0.11%. it won’t make the slightest difference to how you’re bike performs or how well you can ride it. Spend the money on a few uplift days and get some practice in and you’ll ride a whole lot better and the excitement from the purchase will last you a lot lot longer.

😆 @ poddy wouldn’t get a service for £70 would you though 😉

ive got a short stem a wide bars but what tyres would you recommend?

Where are you riding and what type of riding are you doing? Also how short is the stem, how wide are the bars, what size Cotic do you have and how tall are you?

Please also confirm your bank details including sort code, account number and passwords etc….

Thomson posts are very stiff too, probably not what you want on a hardtail.

@ poddy wouldn’t get a service for £70 would you though

No, true, I wonder who could do it cheaper? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 🙄

Maybe save up a bit and get a Van Nic Ti post – makes a big difference on a hardtail – as above, Thomson are strong and pretty but not particularly ‘springy’.

Moots Ti posts photograph well too.

Carbon bar cos it reduces trail buzz. Most important with girlie hands. 🙂

Lighter tyres too.

£70 worth of thermal tops and gloves.

Carbon bar cos it reduces trail buzz

Nahh, carbon’s a waste of money. Soot and plastic and marketing, nowt more… 😉

Skills course. Or a copy of Mastering Mountain Bike Skills, v2 and some nice tyres (depending on what you already have).

put it towards a trip somewhere you haven’t ridden before?
petrol money or overnight stop…

OR

if you’re hell-bent on doing something to the bike (which i can totally understand) then rather than looking for things that fit your budget why not decide what aspect of you bike think needs improvement and then see if there is something you can do within budget.

Tyres are always a goodun but if you have good treads already then no need, focus on something you feel is lacking or not working as well as it could.

skills day with Jedi or new tyres

second hand XT chainset and green Hope Seat QR
not sure where you would get them for £70 from though… 😀

Would you rather spend £70 on:

a) Make your bike 40g lighter
b) In just one day being able to jump drop-offs that scare you now.

??

I would agree with going on a skills course, it is definitely something i will be looking to do as i regularly feel that i will crash and die on even the smallest drop off!

Kenda SmallBlock 8’s, & somewhere to put them till April.

second hand dropper seatpost?

i had the same problem and opted for some wider bars, raceface atlas. but then i already have the thomson post.

Maxxis ardent tyres are great alrounders. just change the front for something grippy in this weather.

New Tyres. Then the following………….

1) drivetrain service
2) sort ot bike fit, either making it more/less gnarr
3) singlespeed (good for fitness as you cant wuss out into an easy gear, good for skills as braking for corners means a lot of pedaling out of them and thats if you can pedal, if you want to go quick its a qick way of teaching you how to pump and maintain speed, good for the wallet as drivetrains last and last!)
4) suspension service
5) skills course (can be substituted for an enthusiastic Canadian guy shouting “speed it your friend” “dont go over the bars on this next bit” IME )

+1 for a skills course…assuming you’re not already a riding God, of course.

Other than that, use it to cover costs for a day out riding to somewhere you’ve never been before.

Personally a Thompson seatpost is one of the first things I put on every bike I own. It’s an essential IMO.

Maxxis ADvantage 2.1″ eXception, light, roll quick, grip well and quite tough. You can pick them up about £22 each end. could get a Kenda Small block eight too and put it on the back in the summer. Great tyres for the whole year

Personally a Thompson seatpost is one of the first things I put on every bike I own. It’s an essential IMO

Please tell me what it does better than my Control Tech other than cost more, weigh more and (alledgedly) look better? 🙂

It’s no more essential than any other seatpost.

Hold onto the money until you know what you want to spend it on.

For a start, buy it from Merlin and save yourself £18!

PP I just love them. What else would go with the (other essential) Thomson stem? Might consider a dropper style post on my next bike, but personally I think if you can ride a bike well you don’t really need one.