the apprentice on TV is the best motivation for getting out on rainy night rides.

Yeah. Much better when you go for standard delivery.

When I contacted them, they refunded my 4.99 postage but I ordered express because it was urgent at the time.

Wiggle were better on express.

cheapest would be one of the top tube bags from ebay for <tenner.

Not ace but waterproof-ish

yeah – just ease in to it.

Shorter runs, slower runs, build it up. Different muscles to a bike.

Stretching afterwards also important.

I run mine with a 32T 1*10. It’s rare that I wish for extra gears but if I did, I’d opt for the 40T rear expander ring so that I could still get a decent lick on the fire roads and not lose the top end.

28T front and you’ll run out of gears at the other end too quickly IMO.

Thanks guys.

Found them on ebay. not quite what I’m looking for but good luck with your sale.

is there a particular reason it has to be ‘off the peg’? Lots of LBSs will sell you one as off-the-peg if it’s for cyclescheme.

probably a silly question but is your RP23 recently serviced? Just checking so that you are comparing a decent CCDB with a decent RP23. It makes a big difference.

No experience with the CCDB but my 2011 5 has a lovely back end with the RP23.

Thanks. There was a thread on this and I don’t think there was a definitive outcome. I think people thought it was the lowers but that if you switched you would change the dual position travel from 130-160 to 120-150 or something like that.

yeah, they are a bit spendy 🙂

couple here for you: http://www.ninerbikes.com/one9

Hey George – I think they gap is that much if you look for 650b forks. 26ers the gap is much less.

… if you find a bargain on the 650b Pikes Dual position – do let me know 🙂

Thanks for the useful info Northwind and Stoney.

deadkenny – yes similar thoughts to that. I also have an Orange 5 26er which the forks would go on first but long term I’m thinking 456 or it’s replacement…

I already have the 15mm axle wheels on the 5 so not so much of an issue there.

Decisions, decisions, options, options…

oh… and other reason is that I think the x-fusion forks do have simple adapters to change them over so ideally I’d like the pikes but for 2 – 300 for a future proof fork I would probably opt for the the wider options presented by the x-fusions.

Thanks Mr Egg.

Valid question George. Simple reason is the couple of hundred quid price difference.

One of my buddies is running fox 34’s from a 26er with 650b’s but not heard of anyone doing it with the pikes…

+1 for 1*10 with clutch mech. Depends on how big your hills and how long your rides are though

haha. thanks Spicer. I think…

Nice one guys. thanks for the tips. Will check them out.

of course the X-fusion has the benefit of taking the 650b wheels too for forward compatibility. Will check out the Pikes for that.

Any of you guys tried?

Was looking in this space recently. Trek superfly 7 from rutland or evans is about 1 K for last years model if they still have one. Looks like a good option.

Parkwood not really a race bike is it? I did find the geo more natural that the 69/70 degree angle bikes like the lurcher etc. Lurcher is super light though. I had a little play on these 2 in the last week or so.

FF29’s not a bad option. I did the SDW on that earlier this year, still quite steep HA but I’d spec the build myself the standard one was poor in many places. The video makes it look awesome but don’t they all 🙂

Good luck.

here you go.

http://www.hammernutrition.co.uk/sports-nutrition-articles-30-c.asp

We have a variety of tents.

A pop-up one that’s quite convenient but not up to much weather. A very compact 3 man-er that I plan on chucking in the old kiddy bike trailer for over-nighters with the older boys (now 8).

For the summer holiday behemoth which is a 70’s looking trailer tent that we bought from e-bay a Sunncamp 400SE I think it is. It has 4 sleeping compartments and a 4 m squared awning with kitchen that you can stand-up or sit round a table in etc.

When we thought about everything we would need to take on our holidays we knew we would be looking at a van or a trailer so we opted for the trailer tent because the tent was better and it can also be loaded with more things too.

It’s great for summer holidays but too much faff for a weekend. We are a family of 5 so in the summer we have 6 bikes, body-boards, roller-skates and a kitchen sink all loaded up.

I do sometimes hanker after a caravan though for ease of use in all weathers but I’m 40 now so maybe I am allowed to say that in public.

Good luck!

think I saw the stans with hope hubs at BPW on Monday for 250 the pair.

IMO I think it depends on the kind of riding you want to do. My 8yr olds have just moved to 24’s. They ‘can’ ride their Mum’s 26er but if they want a bike they can chuck about on the trails and play with then the lighter 24 is fab.

They moved to 20″ at 5 and 24″ at 8.

Depends what you want to ride of course but the Hoy Bikes from Evans are great too.

Similar to Isla nicer colours, v similar spec and cheaper.

We have a couple of 24″s, they are great and light. The kids are ripping down the singletrack on them.

I bought a second hand Scott and Spesh as a test.

The suss on the spesh never moved and it was crazy heavy.
The scott was okay but I would 1*’d it and put in regular shifters if we’d kept it but I gave them the choice and they both chose the lighter Hoys.
We also demo’s a Cannondale – I think it was made of lead.

The one thing I will change on the Hoy’s is some proper off road tyres for winter and disc brake mounts would be good for the splodge season.

Good luck.

5 is the age that my 3 moved on to 20″ wheels just in case useful. Also regular sized kids.

Islabikes – which were great for the XC stuff round the surrey hills.

We used the sizing charts and bought the 20″ small for one and large for the other (twins).

Not used the 800 but I use the BT on the 810 all the time.

1) Commuting – Set a new course on the laptop, it’s already on the phone, connect to device, click send to device and boom your gone. Sure I could use a cable but the less I have to carry to work the better.

2) MTB – Sync with phone after I ride and let garminsync zap the ride over to strava ready for when I drive home from the trails.

I tried it once or twice for livetrack but didn’t work out so haven’t bothered with it since. It would zap all batteries so I just use BT when I need it.

Their jackets are great quality too. Good discount

forecast is looking up:

http://www.meteoblue.com/en/france/weather-le-bourg-d%E2%80%99oisans/14-days

so that’s where the bl**dy hut group got my email address from. Spammers!

We are heading down to camp in Bourg D’Oisans mid August.

Any ideas how it’s been lower down (bottom of Alpes d’Huez 21 bends or near the mega depending on your slant 🙂 )

Not too keen on 2 weeks of wet camping with the kiddos.

lack of hills?

Fair play. Good thinking. Yes the weight’s a biggie for the nippers isn’t it.

3rd vote for phoning them. on-line support is pants from them.

Look good. Do you know where you can get veggie style kids knee pads too for the same age kids (7 / 8 ) ?

Cheers both.

Poah – yes I run lower than that for mine already so probably won’t bother with tubeless for now (unless we start picking up punctures).

Thanks again all. Tyres ordered now.

I’m down for it too.

My number was 77,000 + something so there might be a few 😉

orange 5 and 456C same sizes. yes fine.

cheers guys. good tips. RocketRons it is.

bikediscount.de have the best prices I can find, in case anyone else is looking.

Poah – tubeless for the kids sound interesting. What pressures do you run those at?

AlexSimon – thank – I’ve not seen those in the flesh but upphillcursing was saying those are better for dry conditions, just FYI

found some rocket ron’s at bikediscount.de

Thanks.

Hi Stoffel – The tyres are pretty thick so I’ve never needed them but personally I prefer them because I find the schraeder valves a bit c**p, easily damaged by the rims etc.

And as the Hoy’s have presta valves – Evans will be stocking them from now on.

Thanks ajc – the tyres they came with are okay, they are the small block style so they will serve a purpose and yes you’re dead right about the tyre pressures. We generally run them round 15 to <20.

I’ll check winstanleys.