I’ve got one and love it and concur with all said above, it’s probably the best trail centre bike I’ve ever had, climbs really well and flies dh.
Mine weighs in at 32lb with 150 36 talas, flows on hope pros, schwalbe tubeless, sram 2×10 X9, KS Lev seatpost.

If it was a Fr Mech it makes no difference if it was an 8sp or 9sp Mech!!

Also check out http://www.ticket2ridebc.com, 2014 will be their 12 season providing XC, AM and DH guided holidays.

As far as bikes, it’s so cheap to take them on the plane, (cost is less than 1 days hire), it’s really down to how much you intend to ride a particular type of bike for. Last year I took 2 bikes, DH and 6″ AM, this year I’m going to take a DH and 5″ AM bike for the Valley trails et al.

32.4lb but certainly feels lighter than that going up the hills.

You Def want to go for the TR in your circumstances.

I got a frame last year when they reduced them and it’s a mint bike, climbs really well and flies down the hills, the rear end is so plush. Probably best trail centre bike I’ve ever had!

Got 36 talas on mine, Flows on pro 2’s, KS integra dropper post, sram X9 2×10, doesn’t feel too heavy.

Not actually weighed mine, will put it on the scales tonight and report back.

Had a few over the years and most have fallen apart with the exception of one made by ‘Bioskin’ which I bought in 2006 after I broke my wrist and is still like brand new after being used 100’s of times since. Thinner and cooler than neoprene so they fit under your normal gloves.

I used to swear by TLD D3’s but have recently discovered Airoh Aviator helmets which are higher protection being ACU approved for street use, lighter and lots more designs / colours to choose.
If they’re good enough for Cedric :wink:

Also check out http://www.ticket2ridebc.com for full accom and riding packages.

The cost of flights have gone up in the past 2 years but if you’re flexible with dates check out the deals on canadian affair, http://www.canadianaffair.com/jan-sale/
They are generally the cheapest, (or Air Transat, they are the same company).

As well as the park, if you’re going for a couple of weeks, get on a shuttle trip to Pemberton, Squamish or North Shore and experience real BC cycling.

You can hire bikes out there, but the cost to take your own on the plane is less than 2 days hire out there, so worth it for the bit of hassle getting your bikes to the air port.

If you’re going before mid July, only the lower trails in the bike park will be open. If you go in May and early June what it actually open will depend on how much snow fall they have managed to clear. I have usually done a lot of riding in Pemberton early season as it’s more arid up there.

Food and beer is expensive in Whistler, however a few places have specials on throughout the week, so we go around them to eat ‘cheaper’.
If you’re going to ride the park more than 2 days then the best deal is to buy the ‘Triple Play’ card, which give you 3 days in the park at a cheaper rate and any further days are just knocked off your CC at a cheaper rate than a day pass. Another trick is to go over to Pinkbike and buy one of their memberships which gives you 1 free days pass, so you will get 4 days on your triple play card.

I bought this book a few years ago that has been my bible ever since and I try and ride something new every visit, (Only missed 3 years since 2005). There’s a couple of ace trails on Blackcomb for example that are only a 30min ride / push from the valley.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Whistler-Mountain-Biking-Guide-Valley/dp/0973259345

spectabilis – The complex under Brum, (baring MOD installations under London that we were not allowed to go in), was the biggest we saw in the UK.

There was litterally a village down there sealed from the world above, living spaces, sports halls, power stations, cinema, hospital, stores… etc..etc. Main entrances around the bullring and was on numerous levels and extended for miles in all directions. Further accesses along and at the extremeties of the tunnels.

We refurbished the upper levels for BT to use as storage and cable routing.

We refurbished some tunnels in London and in one particular installation, one of our boys found a door along the tunnel and on opening to investigate was confronted by an armed soldier and a whole pile of doodoo hitting a fan when he came back to the surface :lol:

I did a lot of work Btw 2000 – 2006 refurbishing most of the cold war bunker ‘cities’ below every major city in UK. They are massive in some cases.

Also been down a few of those lost stations, some are mini museums, last used as air raid bunkers in the war.

Get mine from Sport tape http://mbsy.co/SPORTTAPEuk/200533

Works a treat on my knees, they have application Instr sheets too :wink:

Disposable toe warmers and planet X neoprene overshoes keep my feet warm.

Can confirm that not being run in 2014.

Check out the Nukeproof Mega TR, great bike.

The ‘Wasabi’ aftermarket higher powered batteries & charger get good reviews, I just received these off ebay today for just under £30;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171174738961?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Ordered last Wed and turned up today, all import charges et al are dealt with by shipper, so excellent service.

I got a ceramic gxp BB from uberbike last month, excellent value for £60 and various colours.

I get sent an email every year asking me to fill in a questionnaire and in return get a 15% off voucher! I received the same code as above which expired on 15th Dec.

There was a 50% off sale before Christmas last year as I got some merino base layers half price.

Check out http://www.hobbymounts.co.uk I’ve bought various mounts from there and all good quality. Use the discount code: gpuser10 at the shopping cart before you checkout for 10% off before 31st Dec.

Just got the Delkin Fat Gecko Kaboom for Christmas 8).

Where was the ‘offence’ committed, since Scotland has different laws to England & Wales.

Has he found the original NIP, which is where the driver has to declare it was him driving and thus admitting guilt?
If the offence was in Scotland you can ignore that as there is precedence in law that you do not have to admit guilt unless under caution and the case will automatically cancel after 6mths of the NIP.
If in England, ignore that and you have commited another offence, so they are then chasing you for 2 offences!!

I did a bit of hunting on that simply electronics and it’s a HK company so will be a grey import sent from China.

There’s a couple of sellers on ebay selling 3+ for £302 ish. They are uk companies and the GoPro is sent to you from UK, but stock is grey obtained from Taiwan. I messaged one of them and they indicated that you have a warranty with the UK company if any problems, so less risky option.

There’s a chance they’ll be offers around in new year when the Christmas ‘rush’ is over.

I’m smaller at 5′ 7″ and have a M and the TR sizes up exactly as my other mediums, so all I can comment is whatever size you currently run get the same size TR.

£299.99 classed as a deal: voila

http://www.aquanauts.co.uk/gopro-hero3-black-edition?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=CLuA74zNrbsCFWEOwwodeiQANw

Went to buy that today and it’s gone back up to £359 :cry:

Been using it myself for 6mths, it is fantastic stuff.
Spray on, leave for a couple of mins, pedal backwards with a stiff brush placed on the cassette, hose off – sparkling 8)

Yep, Hope ‘2E’ pick and mix + adaptor if you have 1 1/8″ steerer.

I don’t suppose she has anything to do with Simon Barnes?

Nope, but she’s sister to Joe Barnes, elite Dh/Enduro rider.

One thing I would say is try and wait until after Christmas to buy.
I scanned the market a 6 weeks ago as mine is slowly expiring and the majority of prices have gone up by 10% – 15% in the past month leading up to Christmas!!!

To future proof and at that budget you could look for i3 or i5 processors and most laptops come with at least 4gb RAM and 500gb HDD these days which is ample for general home use.

You also need to seriously look at the Windows 8 software, I’m already decided that I Def don’t want it as I use W7 at home and work and it’s being maintained by MS for business use. W8 seems to work great for touchscreen but appears to be a pain for keyboard use. But certainly check it out for yourself and decide.

Check out http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk they usually have the cheapest prices and a good filtering system to highlight specific machines with platform, processor, RAM and hard drive requirements.

Check out the 2014 cycle passion calendar for the MTB Hannah Barnes 8O

There’s enough Engineers of various occupations not just Mechanical, on here who have all probably calculated forces in trusses in the past, so if you load the picture we will then know if we can help you!!

The pulley is exactly the same size, BUT the hole dia in the bearing is larger ID than the E13 bolt!

I managed to find a bit of tube in my box of ‘come in handy’ bits to shim it.

5′ 7″ and ride a 26″ medium with 70mm stem and 150 Talas forks. Size spot on for me, best trail centre bike I’ve ever had.
Can stay with my XC mates on their hardtails / 100mm rigs on the climbs and wave bye to them on the descents.

Pulled the front-flip first time at Earl’s Court.

Ha you actually believe the shite the commentator says??
He’s been doing it for over 1 year and did it at Manchester ‘for the first time’ on the Tues before! Which was technically true as he tried it last year in M/C and fell and concussed himself, so it was the ‘first time he landed it in Manchester’ :lol:

Napier Deltic, one of the best sounds in the world on full chat :D

I’ve got one, (26″), with 150/120 Talas forks and it’s the best trail centre / play bike I’ve ever had.

Wind the forks down on the climbs and I keep up with the guys on HT’s and 100/120 travel XC bikes, pop the lever to 150 for the DH’s and I wave byebye to them :D

Rear shock and linkage is super plush and haven’t felt wanting on any rocky descents so far.

Just found these for under £300??
http://www.valuebasket.com/en_GB/GoPro-HERO3+-Black-Edition-Camera/mainproduct/view/14161-AA-NA?AF=GOOGB&gclid=CJD484KOirsCFUmWtAodTVQAzg
http://www.simplyelectronics.net/mainproduct.php?pid=23191&sd=cont

Edit…Both from HK, so will be giving that a miss!

Looking at getting a 3+ myself, not many deals about atm in run up to Christmas, found a few shops giving 10% off the £359.99 price, also couple on ebay at the £315 mark if you want to chance it. I’m going to hang fire and see what the new year sales bring.

The first Aug and Sept batches of the 3+ had focus issues – anything beyond 8ft was in soft focus!!
People were correcting it themselves by turning the lens clockwise 2mm, but this involved taking the thing apart and ‘cracking’ the glue holding the lens in. GoPro aren’t ‘officially’ recalling the two batches with the problem, but are repairing / changing those that are sent back under warranty and replacing shop stock with the 0813 and 0913 batch numbers.
One big UK supplier has said all stock arriving from mid Nov is ok.

The 3 and 3+ cameras are the same size so you can use the 3+ batteries in the 3 to get a bit extra life, but not as much as the 3+ which has better electonics too.

The 3 will also fit in the new 3+ smaller housing.

Mega, I’ve seen back to back tests of the 3 and 3+ in an open field for the App and the 3 only gets 70′ wifi range and the 3+ got ~150′, so both way down from quoted!!

Currently have the following pencilled into the calendar;-
Scottish Downhill Series
British Downhill Series
Some UK Gravity Enduro Series
National DH Champs
DH World Masters, Hafjel
Mega Avalanche
Crankworx
Etape Caledonia
Manchester Cycle
Polocini Sportives

The 3 is fine apart from the poor battery life, circa 40 mins, so buy some extra batteries. The new 3+ batteries will fit the old 3 and give slightly better performance, but still not as good as the 3+ which now gets over 1hr with ‘eco’ electrics too.

Spacemonkey’s comments also relate to the new 3+ which has had poor focus issues. I have been informed by GoPro that all new stock of 3+ from mid Nov has been sorted, but I’m holding out until after Christmas when the prices should come down as no deals at all on them atm.

I have a few knackered joints from years of various abuse, (knees, shoulder, elbow, wrist), and since I started taking Glucosamine / MSM / Chondrontin on a daily basis things don’t ‘grind’ as much.

I agree with you that winter does kill me sometimes, but kinesiology tape a bit of a pre-warm up and good warm / wind proof clothing generally gets me through it.

I’ve been told I can have various Ops to sort things out but I couldn’t stand to be off my bike for the 6+ months :lol:

You’ll need more than hope for Madison :lol:

I’m still waiting for a reply to the enquiry I sent 2 weeks ago!