Glamorise cars/driving and this is what you get, don’t ever remember these three doing much about deaths on our roads?

What a poor response that has no bearing on this thread, especially when there is one already existing which you have so kindly referenced? It’s a serious topic that requires serious discussion but if you think the grand tour/top gear is solely responsible for road deaths then you’re deluded.

Would you like love island or strictly come dancing to cover road safety as well? If you seriously look to the grand tour or any other motoring based entertainment show for guidance on road safety, you shouldn’t have a license and definitely shouldn’t be near the roads.

I’ve got the 21 stumpy evo and its a great bike. I went for it because the geo is pretty dialled and I genuinely struggled to find a bike out there that offered better value for money (not often you can say that about specialized!). The swat box with the internal bottle is a game changer, basically eliminated carrying a backpack/bumbag for me. The bike rides brilliant, can take big hits while still feeling light and poppy.

Its also the small details as well, the evo only has 2 different pivot bearing sizes so easy to replace bearings.

I did think about the ripmo but was put off by reviews saying it rode like a long legged trail bike rather than a more enduro orientated bike, plus the fact that its linkage runs on igus bushings which arent as durable as bearings in muddy conditions.

The main issue is trying to find either of these bikes. From what i hear, specialized have oversold the evos for 2021 already so unless you find one in stock in a shop somewhere, you may end up having to wait for the 2022 model year evos.

I use gunk green biodegradable degreaser, put some of it in a small cup and dab over the drivetrain/chain with a brush, leave it a few mins to eat into the grime/oil and then rinse off. Does the trick for me.

I think he was pushing it a bit; used 50% of the brake pads (With no traction control) and destroyed the wheel bearings after his session! Also went through a few sets of tires:

https://jalopnik.com/heres-how-much-damage-an-f1-driver-does-to-your-car-1845227615

There was an article a while back (Can’t remember where unfortunately, think it was on LinkedIn) that suggested that synthetic fuels that is made from CO2 is likely to be the future, beyond electric vehicles. These synthetic hydrocarbons are carbon neutral and would work with existing ICE technologies, and would not be harmful to the environment as harmful compounds such as benzene can be removed completely.

The problem with electric is that a lot of rare earth elements are required for batteries, and with current technology, there is no where near enough resources of these elements on earth to make every vehicle on the road electric, unless battery cell/motor technology dramatically improves in terms of the materials used in their production.

As for hybrids, I don’t see the point. Having two engines is inefficient in terms of embedded CO2 in the production process and means a hybrid is on par with petrol/diesel over the lifetime of the car.

Currently in the same boat looking at something similar for next year. Fancied the Ripmo AF, but bushings rather than bearings in the pivots has put me off it- you would be endlessly changing them out here in Scotland.

Current contender for me is the Giant Reign 29. Fair enough, it’s not a ’boutique brand’, but looks very good value for money and made by one of the best frame manufacturers in the world, with an excellent suspension system.

Cheers for the responses so far. Have been doing a bit of homework on the phones. Current contenders are the new Oneplus 8 or a Galaxy S10.

Currently leaning towards the Oneplus as the S10 doesn’t have 5G, which I thought might be better for futureproofing, as I generally run phones until they break.

Slightly over your budget but leisure lakes are selling the Burgtec Penthouse mk4 alloy pedals for £65 down from £100. Got mines yesterday-look seriously well built.

Thanks for the suggestions. Think I’ll probably just get the ex511 rims built up onto the existing hubs by the lbs, since it seems to be the most cost effective option.

Unfortunately you can’t get a dog in the boot of any of those. Unfortunately family commitments prevent a full on decent car.

Used C63 estate? Although I don’t think the dog would enjoy it much ;)

Seen the new 1 series a few times. One of the worst looking cars in modern times I’ve seen, so badly proportioned. 2 series GC is somehow worse, although I didn’t think that was possible. Irony really as lots of people gave BMW a hard time for the Chris bangle designs at the time, yet they have aged really well.

As for the front/rear wheel drive argument, there are so many contenders that are better than the new 1 series for front wheel drive that are cheaper and more driver focussed (i30N, new focus ST, civic type r, Golf Gti).

As for rear wheel drive, they are indeed a dying breed but there are still a few in the same price bracket (2 series, GT86/BRZ, MX5, Ford mustang or a used Cayman/M3/C63).

the question is wrong. The value of the car is irrelevant – within reason. there are so many different ways you can finance cars these day’s the car you drive doesn’t bear any resemblance to what you earn or your financial status. What mugs actually buy cars these days? They’re depreciating assets…why would you put actual money into a depreciating asset? The overwhelmingly majority of new cars on the road these days are leased or company cars or are under some form of finance arrangement. I read a while back that over 90% of mercs are leased.

Disagree with you here. Yes a car is a depreciating asset, but at the end of the day it’s still an asset. If you lease it, you make monthly payments and at the end of the lease, what happens? You don’t see any of that money back, or the car unless you start a new lease. If you buy the car outright then the car is yours, no question. Yes you lose money, but often less than you’re paying for the lease (Why do you think dealers push you to lease rather than to buy? At the end of the day, they get your money AND the car back).

Besides, most people that Pcp their car are just idiots who want a big fancy German car on their driveway to keep up with the joneses, and would never, ever be able to afford to buy it outright.

Getting back to topic, I would say it doesn’t matter how much you spend as long as you can afford it. Use your car a lot? Spend a bit more and get a decent one, vice versa if you don’t use it much.

Some interesting suggestions here. I can’t really refill anywhere near the trail so need to take all my water with me. Tempted by putting a bottle on the frame and using one of these lightweight hip packs that trail runners use so I have two bottles, and put the tools/tubes on the frame.

Wasn’t laughing at the fact it was a G-170 but at the fact that someone was using it for going down what is effectively a smooth trail with little in the way of bumps. Was just raising the point that it may be unwise for the OP to go for such a large bike on relatively tame trails, its like using a lamborghini to do your daily commute, the car’s potential is wasted, same with bikes. Being overbiked takes the fun out of trails since you always have more fun when you’re closer to the limits of the bike.

Good to know that you’re having a laugh…so am I!

If you actually look at some of the reviews of the megatower a lot of them say that the suspension isn’t that great, and that there are better options out there – Scott Ransom for example. But it does sound like you wouldn’t consider another brand beyond Santa Cruz.

Also you definitely do not need a megatower or a nomad to do any of the 7stanes trails, well overbiked for that sort of thing. Seen someone going down the blue route at Gt on a whyte G-170 the other week and I’m still laughing at it…

Cheers for the suggestions, have ordered some from Stif

Those and any 18 year old lad who can now get hold of a brand new Fiesta ST on PCP for peanuts. Try not to take any innocents out as you inevitably take your own life.

All I would say is I have noticed the quality of driving has reduced dramatically as the popularity of pcp leased cars has increased, as lots of people can afford nice big overpowered cars that they don’t have a clue how to control and have to drive it flat out everywhere so that they feel morally superior.

The current saturation of the second hand car market as a result of all the ex lease cars means that its a matter of when, not if, the uk car market will crash and put an end to that anyway, but thats a topic for another time.

That and the fact that traffic cops are rarer than unicorns here in central scotland means that most drivers just aren’t scared of the police anymore and so will just drive like eejits.

Ordered an eliminator and butcher in 2.6 for my remedy, looking forward to trying them out with eliminator front, butcher rear.

Only thing confusing me is several people on this thread saying that they’re running butcher front and eliminator rear and was wondering why?

I thought the eliminator was a more aggresive tire than the butcher, as specialized themselves say the eliminator is an intermediate between the hillbilly and the butcher so this sounds an illogical set up IMO?

Shimano could have gone with XD, which is an open standard as far as I know, but they insisted on inventing their own freehub so that cassettes can still chew up the splines.

XD is an open standard, but you still need the permission of SRAM in order to use it. And since SRAM and Shimano are arch rivals, SRAM refuse to give it to Shimano to use.

I’m done with SRAM and their poor products and service. My Gx eagle derailleur had a loose bushing with 5-10mm of lateral play (Where the bolt screws to the hangar), sent it back to SRAM for warranty and they said there was nothing wrong with it! They’ll never see another penny from me again, looking forward to fitting the XT or SLX 12 speed to my bike when it starts to get discounted a bit.

Bikes are one of the high end consumer products I feel less fussed about not having a warranty for. There are few products I own that with just a modicum of knowledge it is possible to identify the failed component, source it and replace so easily. Obviously still costs but not insurmountable.

So if your frame has a crack or a manufacturing defect on it, you’re happy just to shell out for a replacement frame?

Isn’t The automotive industry the exception, rather then the rule when it comes to warranties of consumer goods?

Most consumer goods usually have a transferable warranty as long as you have the proof of purchase

It’s your head, only you can decide whether you should go for MIPS or not. My view on it is that you only have one brain and you should aim to protect it as much as possible, which is why I use MIPS helmets (Although the effectiveness of MIPS seems to be questionable depending on who you speak to)

Cheers for all the opinions, I think I will ask him if I can see an invoice just to see if its genuine. Apart from that, seems like there isn’t any issues with buying 2nd hand, as I don’t mind if it needs a service.

2 Dhfs will be quite draggy won’t they – especially in 2.5wt size?

I find the aggressor 2.3 is pretty good until it gets slushy (greasy is fine). I thought the 2.5 is meant to be better in mud than the 2.3 though.

Well I’m currently running a shorty wt front and dhf wt rear, both in 3C maxx terra as my winter set up and I would say that the rolling resistance is surprisingly decent. Certainly a lot better than Magic Marys IMO. But thats a matter of perspective, I normally run aggressive tyre set ups.

The 2.5 aggressor is better in mud to an extent, but because it has the same closely spaced tread pattern as the 2.3, it’ll still quickly clog up with mud in muddy conditions.

If you’re comfortable with the aggressor and it suits the trails you ride, then I would just go for the aggressor.

I would go for a 2.5wt on 30mm rims IMO, the 2.3 will become too squared off and can affect the grip when leaning over, plus the lack of sidewall protection will expose your rims to more damage (Don’t ask me how I know).

Also, aggressor wt available for £37: https://www.highonbikes.com/maxxis-aggressor-wt-exo-tr-mtb-tyre-folding.html

I rode a DHF 2.5wt front/ Aggressor 2.5wt rear on my Reign last summer on 27mm rims. It was a great combo, aggressor was low drag and had decent grip in the dry. As soon as the weather turned wet and muddy it didn’t have the best traction.

I think I’ll probably run two dhfs as my summer set up this year for that reason.

You okay, petal?

Yeah I’m good, at least I’m contributing to the thread instead of making smart-arse comments about other people’s opinions.

I realise that not everyone agrees with my views on spooky wood, but that’s fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Just questioning the OP’s route choice as it is a bit of a strange one considering that there are so many good alternative trails near the black as already discussed.

The graded trail at Ae may not be the best, but at least you use some suspension going around it…

as I usually divert to spooky wood after redemption climb.

Why would you do that? Spooky Wood is the worst trail I’ve ever ridden anywhere. Flat, pedally, no flow, blown out berms, braking bumps… it has it all. Even the blue trail is great in comparison.

It’s a bit of a shame honestly as glentress has some cracking trails (both off piste and waymarked stuff) and people seem to just miss out on it just because they’ve heard of spooky wood and are fixated on riding it and the rest of the red.

Quite curious about these tires too. I’m sure I read a press release on them somewhere where Michelin said that the firmer compound is actually better for more aggressive riding. Does make selecting the right compound even harder.

Working your way through that green eyed haters manual aren’t you….

Love how you got in about disliking trail centres aswell – classic 😂👌🏼

Yep, just got the manual in the mail today, figured I’d make a start on the first chapter. Trail centres, Santa Cruz, E-bikes, 29 wheels, boost hubs…

FTFY

Maybe try some trails away from the blues..? :-p 😉

Haha, should’ve seen that one coming. Well I normally see them around the Blue at the Buzzards nest on my way up to the Mast on the rare occasion I’m at GT (much prefer Inners).

Don’t think I’ve ever seen one up at the Mast mind. Or a dirty one even, they’re always sparkling clean even in the depths of winter, must have some fancy paint on them 😉…

Well, I suppose I know which bike I’m going to see on top of all the leased BMWs, Audi’s and VW T5s in the car park at Glentress in 2019, no doubt it’ll be the top CC build ready to tackle the challenges of the Blue route.

Bit stereotypical, but that’s what I’ve seen about 90% of all the Santa Cruz bikes I’ve ever seen used for.

I probably should update this thread. Had enough and forked out for a set of discobrake floating rotors and guess what? In the same conditions that caused my Sram rotors to rust, the disco rotors have not even came close to rusting, pleasantly surprised at the quality of their rotors considering that they’re a lot cheaper than the Sram rotors.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I’m aware that stainless steel is not rust-proof, but a decent quality stainless steel should not rust going through nothing worse than damp mud.

I did think it may have been the pads, but the pads are the same ones I’ve been using for years (nukeproof semi metallic) without any problems, so that rules the pads out.

I know it’s more of a cosmetic thing than anything else, but mtb rotors are put under a surprising amount of stress and temperature gradients repeatedly (especially at inners and the golfie), and as such, the steel in brakes should have a reasonable quality so that the metallurgical structure is more resistant to these large temperature variations and consequently more resistant to effects such as rusting.

I’m probably reading too much into this but brakes are one of the more important parts of a bike imo, and its not something I wish to cheap out on. Probably should have just stuck to shimano, been using them for years and never seen rust on them.

Just to correct the OP from something he/she wrote on the first page: New York, New York was completely closed after the thinning work done by the Forestry Commission; it was the race organisers who reinstated the trail (with the full approval of the original builder!) otherwise it would still be unridable.

Probably should have made myself clearer. Yes I was aware of the work done to New York New York and I agree it was a huge improvement compared to the previous version, but that is missing the point I was trying to raise.

The trail was riding great at the start of last season, but after heavy traffic from the enduro races (ESPECIALLY the King and Queen), I rode the trail with a few friends 2 weeks after the race and was treated to axle deep ruts on the 1st half, must have went OTB 5 times due to the ruts, and that was that. Not ridden the trail since then, and have heard mixed things from other riders whenever I ask them about the condition of it.

Anyway, my point was that some of the trails may struggle from a sustainability perspective with the additional traffic occurring if there was to be a bike park at golfie.

There’s issues with the existing DH side, as has been said the car park is not FC land and floods every year, but it seems to me that is the more logical side to develop like this.

There are options for this, including flood control measures such as levees or buying and rebuilding the car park and raise the height of it. Both options wouldn’t be cheap, but then neither is a chairlift…

No it hasn’t, you just need to look at the jump park at Gt to understand why the trail marking system doesn’t work.

Having orange markings doesn’t stop people from going down trails well beyond their abilities.

Why do you think there is always an ambulance being called to the buzzards nest nearly every week?

I would assume that the present style of Golfie trails (steep/unarmoured) is known to be unsuitable for heavy use. The hill itself currently makes it self-selecting as to the type and number of riders that can access it. That would definitely have to change under the weight of a bikepark development.

Exactly. The terrain at golfie is naturally steep and would be very difficult to create a blue or red flow trail (flat white is the closest, but still quite steep in spots).

Inners makes more sense, forest is large enough with a varied terrain that means all types of trails can be built there in addition to the current trails, with both flow trails and steep tech being possible.

Trailforks is seeing an upturn is user base at the moment but…
It’s getting that level of attention and the number of riders seems to be jumping up, potentially using the hillside to good effect would help spread the load, build more sustainable trail and leave the steep loose for those who still want it.

True but you just need to look at the large jump in traffic at the dh side when adrenalin uplift started operating to get an idea of the implications. The trails at golfie are much more fragile however and would struggle with sustained traffic, as an example look at what happened to New York New York after being used as a stage for two enduro races last year, trail got completely trashed.

You may also end up with a scenario where newbies end up going down trails which are way beyond their abilities and ending up having an accident (Seems to be a common occurrence at glentress these days).

My two cents on this topic is that the tires are much more important at golfie than head angle, although a slack HA does make things easier.

A lot of the trails at golfie are quite steep, especially if you’ve never been there before it can be a bit of a mental obstacle. I would say just go with the bike you are most confident with and has decent tires such as mud spikes to get the best grip.

As others have said, the secret to mastering golfie trails is momentum; if you stop on a steep section it can be difficult to get back on the bike and can make it more mentally challenging than it should be.

Agree about the Peatys Sealant, so thick and viscous that it doesn’t evenly coat the tire, complete garbage that just relies on the name for sales. I did eventually manage to get mines to seal by mixing a bit of Stans in, which says it all really.