I’ve not been to Cambodia but here are my Vietnam tips:

I’d recommend going to Cat Ba Island (instead of Ha Long)and spending a few days on a junk with these guys:

http://www.asiaoutdoors.com.vn

The scenery is very similar to Ha Long but much quieter. We climbed and kayaked during the day and spent the night of the junk with them and it was bloody brilliant. Bonus if your into climbing at all as you can do some DWS. The crew on the ship were locals and came swimming with us in the phosphorescent plancton after a few too many rice wines haha.

War based stuff: Doing the tunnels from HCMC was pretty cool, I really enjoyed that; our guide really opened my eyes to the Vietnamese perspective on the war (something that was confirmed by the recent BBC documentary). Also the War Museum in HCMC was excellent. The Hanoi Hilton was less good.

I really enjoyed the madness of Saigon but it’s a bit of a culture shock coming into it straight from the Uk due to the 40C heat, 100% humidity and 8 million people. Certain streets are very “gap yeaaaar” and others are very much not so.

We started there for 4 days so everywhere else felt pretty “quiet” in comparison. The jet lag was pretty wild and we slept for 24 hours on arrival.

Hoi An was lovely, very peacful and an excellent place to properly relax for a few days after Saigon (and buy a hilarious tailored suit).

I’d also add that Danang is pretty grim and I wouldn’t bother. It’s basically an artificial city which the government has forced as the third city of the country and thus it has very little history / interesting sites.

Out itinary was London > Saigon > Da Nang, taxi to Hoi An > Fly to Hannoi > London. Never got to visit the north which was my one regret from the trip, Sapa looks like a cracking bit of the country and i’m a mountain man at heart.

Sounds like you won’t go far wrong with any of them. I’d be on the Stanton or Cotic over the Ragley but that’s purely down to looks.

If you have the money for a Stanton, also check out Chromag. They do some lovely 29er hardtails. (I got a Wideangle posted out direct form them in Canada and it was no hassle at all.)

Check out Chromag too. I’ve got a Wideangle with a 160mm forks and a -2 headset in it. Brilliant thing! It’s currently sitting at 64 degrees HA.

I think if you stuck in a -2 headset and ran a 120 forks you’d be sitting around 66 degrees?

Cheers guys.

I’ve got a super gravity Mary lying in the cupboard. Might stick that up front, put the trail star Mary on the back and embrace the drag!

Just had the same issue. Turns out you need to lube the freehub body / inside of cassette with chain lube to get it to slide fully onto the freehub.

If you dont do this and torque it up, you get a faslse torque as it’s not seated properly and therefore the play you are describing.

Check out this link:

https://www.pinkbike.com/u/Nate-at-BikeCo-com/blog/xx1-cassette-install–creak-check.html

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/02/spain-drops-plan-to-impose-veto-if-scotland-tries-to-join-eu

What sort of riding do you do? Whats your normal range of distances, amount of climbing and average speed?

I used to ride 50/34 with 11-25 and found it suitable for everything I ride in the UK (including 30% climbs like the Talla Wall near Moffat).

Now on 52/36 with 11-28 and i’ve actually got an easier climbing gear, obviously, a faster top end.

Brakes rubbing? Goosed hub, bb bearings? Chain too short? Flat tyres? Saddle position? Different crank length? Too many pies? Illness? Mates keep adding ballast to your frame?

(Seat position shouldn’t change based on the frame length, just all about your position above the BB. Easy one to transfer from your old bike to the mm; height, angle and fore aft.)

I’ve got one of these:
https://www.aiguillealpine.co.uk/product/rucksacks-bags/t011/

Made in the Lakes, cheap and does the job perfect. Tools, jacket, food, soft water bottle etc all go in there if I need more than a bottle on the frame.

How are you finding the geomtry Rich? Been eyeing them up recently but the short reach is putting me off.

Nice bike. Did you pick up the frame / shock / fork second hand?

Rocket looks good but I don’t think they are boost?

Also have a look at the following for good hardtail frames:

Chromag
Last
Production Privee
Dartmoor
Bird
Orange
Stiff

Having ridden on the hills around Slamannan on my TCA pro 2; I bloody love it.

They’re quite long bikes though, make sure you fit it / like the position before buying.

I’d also add that Danang is pretty grim and I wouldn’t bother. It’s basically an artificial city which the government has forced as the third city of the country and thus it has very little history / interesting sites.

I really enjoyed the madness of Saigon but it’s a bit of a culture shock coming into it straight from the Uk due to the 40C heat, 100% humidity and 8 million people.

We started there for 4 days so everywhere else felt pretty “quiet” in comparison. The jet lag was pretty wild and we slept for 24 hours on arrival.

Some of your timings seem very tight. The Vietnamese roads, trains etc are a bit chaotic at best and a 4 hour journey can easily turn into 8!

I’ve not been to all the places mentioned but I’d recommend going to Cat Ba Island (instead of Ha Long)and spending a few days on a junk with these guys:

http://www.asiaoutdoors.com.vn

The scenery is very similar to Ha Long but much quieter.We climbed and kayaked during the day and spent the night of the junk with them and it was bloody brilliant. Bonus if your into climbing at all as you can do some DWS. The crew on the ship were locals and came swimming with us in the phosphorescent plancton after a few too many rice wines haha.

Doing the tunnels from HCMC was pretty cool, I really enjoyed that too.

I’m running E4’s with Shimano RT86 discs with no problems.

Chromag Wideangle

Chromag Wideangle. I love mine and it got a great review on here too!

Get some ESI grips, some lighter rubber and some Rsp carbon bars. Not much money and nice and light.

I recently went back to my mtb roots with a steel hardtail. I bloody love it!

https://m.pinkbike.com/photo/14477497/

Not quite as fast of very rocky stuff but otherwise it’s pretty rapid.

I was really struggling to get Magic Mary onto Hope Tech Enduro wheels. Tried all sorts but I built one of these last night;

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/how-to-make-a-tubeless-inflator-44290/

2 wraps of stans, core out the valve, 80psi into the bottle. First time on both wheels!

beagle – I got it direct from Chromag. Great company to deal with and they answers all my questions. Cost me just under £600 for the frame, rear axle and postage via FedEx within 4 days. I expected to get hit with an import tax bill but it never arrived…

Apparently FedEx have reduced their rates recently which helped.

Is one of these and a bottle cage cool for #enduroing?

http://www.alpinethreadworks.com/products/performance-satchel.html

I got a Hope 30mm BB for my Cinch cranks. You needed to add an extra 2.5mm spacer than the one Hope recomend in the instructions because the Hope BB is slightly narrower than the Raceface one.

I just finished off my new Chromag Wide Angle. Highly recomended and cheaper than I thought it was would be:

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/14477497/

It is also possible to use sheets of laminate bonded onto a subframe but you are limited by the sheet size and getting seemless edges like the photo above is very time consuming.

Looks like a Corian or some other type of solid surface desk; very expensive material and hard to work with. Corian is Duponts version of a polymer sheet material.

Genrally you build a ply or MDF subframe and clad it in the thinnest Corian you can get away with. It comes in various sheet thicknesses. Corners can be rounded off etc.

These are then bonded together with a special filler and the joints sanded so they are no longer visable.

I’m a furniture designer but my place outsources any Corian work as it’s quite a specalist thing.

If your wanting a cheap / easy desk, get some MFC sheets from Egger or Kronospan and use 2mm ABS edging tape to finish the edges. You can double up the 18mm sheets and use a thicker edging tape to create worktop thickness panels. You wont get the seemless finish that Corian gives but it’ll be around 25% of the cost.

You’ll not be disappointed Matt, they’re so good I have both sizes of Warthog!

Dispense with the faff of an Osprey and get a real rucksack:

http://www.blueice.com/product/warthog-28l-pack/

I’ve got the older green one and it’s bloody brilliant.

Could be onto a winner here….. Fork bushings?

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/463933/

Helps if you have sound on.

Anyone care to comment? I assume that’s not normal? Can’t say i’ve ever tried this technique on a bike before now though.

No solution as yet….

Tested my friends brand new back wheel. No difference.

Fitted the original 50mm stem back on. No difference.

Now back to thinking the headset must the issue. I sent Hope and email to make sure I’m putting it together in the right order but I’m pretty sure I have done. Tempted to order another headset even tho it looks mint.

Failing that it must be the forks or frame that are bent but I can’t see any signs of it.

blairc70 – Did you get any steering problems due to the bearings? What were the symptoms?

Further things have been checked / ruled out:

Alternative front tyre fitted – No affect on steering problem.

Checked the frame/forks for cracks – None visable.

Pulled the rear shock off, checked over the pivots and nipped up anything loose. One of the bolts was a tad loose. – No affect on steering problem.

With the shock out, I had a feel of the pivot movement; one feels a bit notchy / rough but it’s not that bad. Everything else felt smooth. Can’t see this being the problem as it happens even on a smooth tarmac road.

Pulled both axles. Visually, can’t see anything wrong with them.

Next steps:

Borrowing a rear wheel from a friend tomorrow to try that out….

“Maybe swap out the rider too just to be sure?”

Already tried that in case I had too much to drink over Christmas and affected my balance…. :-)

I’ll swap out the tyre tonight and give it a whirl!

Thanks for the replies so far:

“Swapped to a shorter stem at any point?”

I did about 2 months ago but i’ve ridden it since with no issues. It’s currently got a 35mm stem and previously had a 50mm.

“I reckon it could be the bearings at the rear. Perhaps they increased friction pulls at the front end causing it to drift? Though you might have thought the suspension would have soaked that up. Fascinating things bike eh”

Fingers crossed it’s the bearings and i’ve not bent my fork / frame.

“Does it happen when you’re pedalling or coasting, or both?”

Happens during both.

“Did you use the same tyre on the spare front wheel or different?”

Same tyre. I’ve got another few lying about I could throw on to try it.

Get a Patagonia Houdini. Seems to fit your requirements .

Maybe try a smaller front ring if your struggling on the climbs? Being a 29er id expect a 30 or 28 front ring are most common.