Cycle to work scheme again and been looking at one of these. Seem to have all the kit but are they any good? What are they like off road? I have heard about the drop-outs coming loose but surely that can be sorted with a bit of Loctite. Cheers

Bump! Nobody??

What are they like off road? All the frames are still designed by Joe Murray, aren’t they? In which case, I’d reckon they’d be pretty damn good! He knows a thing or two about building decent frames!

I had the original steel one, and absolutely loved it! A fantastic bikes. The specs on the Voodoos look brilliant for the money!

I mate I ride with has one and rates it very highly. I’ve tried it for a section and liked it too..

Cheers binners. I have a Cube LTD and it seems dreadful offroad-dead skittish so use it more on the road. Didnt want to get something that was just the same.

I’m sure Bikeradar have done a review of it at least once – go and have a search on their site.

Why buy another basic MTB, better to spend a few quid/hours sorting the one you’ve already got.

Starter – tyres and/or pressures plus bar/stem position and size.

what length stem is on your cube?
its almost certainly too long ime (wife and i both have cubes)
i took the one off mine and replaced it with one that was 30mm shorter and the bike felt much more lively.

Believe the issue with the dropouts was on the steel version. Friend has had his new Alu Wanga about 6 months and really enjoys it. No problems with dropouts what so ever. I’ve not had a play as yet.

Had one for a couple of years great do it all bike used 120 rebas to drop the weight and sharpen up the handling a bit. Never had a problem with the drop outs. Always wondered if you could slide them back far enough to get a 29″ wheel in.

Ive got a wanga frame, new alu one, was given to me by Halfords as googdwill as i snapped my Bokor frame. Decently slack and ok weight, rides really well. For the money with all the XT kit and Revs its a quality buy in my opinion.

Had one for a couple of years great do it all bike used 120 rebas to drop the weight and sharpen up the handling a bit. Never had a problem with the drop outs. Always wondered if you could slide them back far enough to get a 29″ wheel in.

Why on earth would you want to do that?

I has a steel one (XL) and absolutely hated it. The head angle was so steep it was a pig to ride, even with a long stem, longer travel forks etc etc. Couldn’t wait to get rid of it.

OTOH a mate has one in a much smaller size and he loves it. He goes like a rocket on it so it can’t be all bad!

Had one for a couple of years great do it all bike used 120 rebas to drop the weight and sharpen up the handling a bit. Never had a problem with the drop outs. Always wondered if you could slide them back far enough to get a 29″ wheel in.

I suspect 27.5 would go in and not mess Geometry too much!

Or maybe just stick to the 26″ it was designed for?

Great bike but I found it benefited from a few upgrades. Nothing serious but the supertacky tyres were overkill.

Halfords have now updated the 2011/12 range and as far as I can tell looking at their site the wanga isn’t included, also the old one may have sold out. Worth getting in touch with their c2w department and asking them.

Cheers all. b r, tried different tyre pressures and fork pressures but will have another play. martymac, it doesnt need to be any more lively! Locally we have a common called Birkrigg which is not at all technical but it is even scary on that. My son who has ridden several hardtails (I havent ridden many) thought it was terrifying, so its not just me. Seem to have no control over where the front wheel goes. Like I siad I will have another fiddle this weekend.

Seem to have no control over where the front wheel goes.

Fork pressures and/or rebound?

Yeah probably. I am a comlete buffoon when it comes to setting suspension. When I was riding motorcycles people used to talk about one click here and there making a difference but I must have a leather arse or something-I coulsnt tell what was going on!