If she wants to ride then she should take the effort to get a bike or work with you to build one up. If she still wants to ride it then she should research what and where she wants to ride and ask if you’d like to come along. If its you doing all the work here then she’s really not that interested is she.

If that happens then she’ll be serious and you’ll have a future riding together. If not, resign yourself to the occaisional ride along a towpath to a tearoom and she can get a gym membership.

Edit – cuts both ways and applies to He’s and She’s.

Skin cleans easier than cloth.

On one pink tyred fatty owner of 4weeks after taking advantage of the 20% off code.

Has been ragged all round my local trails and done the Brecon Beacons gap including riding/pushing up to the summit.

Have very much enjoyed it and the smile from everybody seeing it is worth the effort alone. Grip across loose rocks is Dougie Lampkin joy.

But, it’s slow.

You can ride anything but expect to add 20% plus to your riding times.

And you will definitely get fitter riding it.

Give it a service, GXPs can be part stripped and cleaned up.

http://www.stickboybike.com/2013/04/getting-most-out-of-your-sram-gxp.html#!/2013/04/getting-most-out-of-your-sram-gxp.html

Andy

Absence of infuriating creak after finally getting the pressfit bottom bracket cups to shut the hell up in the carbon 29er.

I love chemical metal!

Discounted pink tyred Fatty arrived yesterday. Now lined up in particularly non-niche mancave next to Giant, Trek, Spesh and Cannondale.

Mate and fellow STW’er ‘singlecrack’ sells his fatty in disgust as great unwashed masses commonality reigns.

Edit: fast service from on-one here, programmed for build on the 10th it was actually built on the 8th and with me being ridden on the 11th.

Full carbon on-one forks on my lurcher. Light, fast, and maintenence minimised.

Hope head doctor bung didn’t fit as carbon steerer internally too small (thick walls), so got an M-Components bung off ebay, does the job and never slipped yet.

I’ve a Trance x29er that is brilliant at everything……..

…….Except at being a rigid singlespeed.

andy

A few Voodoo Bokors on ebay with sliding dropouts. A mate got one a couple of weeks ago. Looked very nice and felt very light. Unfortunatly he wanted a 29er and it was 26 (though not stated in the advert) He sold it on, but there are a few old stock out there for buttons.

Shame as it looked good.

Andy

Jizer from the local farmers merchants (Mole Valley down ere in the SW) About a £15 for the 5L that lasts me about 10 years. reusable too if you’re inclined to filter it out.

I’ve used crossrides in 29″ flavour. I like them.
Look great, never had problems with bearings or freewheel.
Spingy, but always seem to spring back straight.
Lateral stiffness also springy so if hitting berms at speed then you can feel the back end moving about a bit.

IMHO reliable well priced wheels though not stiff or particularly hard hitting.

Don’t fully discount the Lurcher you mention in your original post. Really like mine, easy to switch between SS and 1×10 (I just keep the mech bolted to the vertical swapout dropout), and great price on frames at the moment.

Andy

Was on the Ae line yesterday in 7stanes and jumping one of the tabletops probably to a massive 12″ off the ground and the bike wasn’t under me when i came in to land. Damn that hurricane Gonzalo.

I’ve been using NovaTecs on a chinese carbon wheelset (from CN Carbon on ebay) for few months now. on my go-any-weather singlespeed lurcher. The are holding out very well and still have their ‘hope-like’ clickyness.

I like them.

Andy

Using exotic carbon bars on my Lurcher rigid, which gets a beating. No issues with instant death whatsoever.

Also took a punt on some fully built whells from chinese ebay seller CN Carbon. They’re really rather good too.

AndyV

There’s plenty of trails in the nearby Longleat estate and also a local club:

Frontpage

or Endomondo if you don’t fancy the strava competative side. I like the voice telling me how long/far/fast/slow i’ve been going each mile (or km)

“Keeping or selling a bike where’s the tipping point?”

About 3 seconds after your mate gets a new bike and starts kicking your arse!

Andy

Im 5’9″ and love my 16″ lurcher. Should have a medium by the book really, but checking geometries the top tube length difference is tiny and main difference seems to be in seat tube length. Just means i have lots of stand-over and less material weight

Currently set up as a rigid SS with on-one’s own forks but that often switches to being a 1×10 and/or front suss depending what fiddling mood I’m in. A very versatile frame that you can chop and change to use how you like. In SS mode with Chinese carbon stem, bars and wheels its a lightweight charger.

Keep considering a spare medium 18″ frame as a n+1 spare before they sell out.

No BB problems whatsoever, there’s an uberbike BB in mine and I can just swap out the cartridge bearings when they get crunchy from the amount of wet/muddy/sandy/gritty rides this bike sucks up.

Andy

Agree with Northwind, Witches trails are fun with the red World Champs trail having descents that can be attacked with gusto. The preceeding climb is (imho) a bit of a grind. The Uplift wasn’t working when I was there over Easter but i did find a few of the blue sections that were fun too.

I also Echo that 10 under Ben is grim and sucks the life out of whatever size wheels you have.

People are awesome.

Go singlespeed.
I can shift between sat down, stood up, and walking in total silence.

Andy
(tbh I’m lying, I normally utter a quiet “arse!” before shifting to walking)

As said above they take a little fettleing even after lining up the marks.

Are you using new a cable and outer, they are extremly sensitive to any cable drag so this has to be silky smooth.

Andy

That was Spesh FSR not XC, had to do a google picture search to bolster my frazzled memory. Anyhow one of these:

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=204937

Another vote for the Spesh Rockhopper here.
(The only bike I’ve literally ridden to death cracking both chainstays. I salvaged the main tubes and welded them into my race car so it lives on in another form)

Along the same lines as most early steel Konas, GT Zaskars etc in mid 80s simple MTBs. The formula that today’s boutique bikes exploit so well.

Or a “rite of Passage” bike could be a bad one, everyone should try a bike so bad it feels like it wants to kill you! I tried a mates early Full Suss Spesh XC (early 90s?) that really did’nt want a rider onboard and took every oppoutunity to throw me off.

The heart says – It’s new bike bling, buy them, your life will be better, undoubtedly.

The head says – the levers/calipers are only parts of the system, the DH bike you tried them on will sit solidly on the ground and have better braking traction than your hardtail, the tyres may have been grippier, the pressures lower, better brake pads, bigger discs, air density pressure on the day more beneficial. All in all many variables that may (or may not) reduce the awesomeness of Saints on your particular setup.

That said, it’s new bike bling, buy them, your life will be better, undoubtedly.

I Went over the bars in the 80’s and hit the road on my head. Split my skull and lost 6months. Have also had a snapped fork on a newly gravelled road that resulted in my ear having to be sewn back on. The wearing off a helmet may or may not have reduced injuries in both cases.

I bike pretty often and now always wear a helmet getting through 1 to 2 a year and have a standard crash replacement letter to Madison ready printed for the next one.

All of which is circumstantial evidence, however head scaring is factually much reduced since wearing helmets.

12hr Singlespeed for me, my first event on SS. Did the 6 hour last year with gears going for the full 12 this year.

Well I say full 12, actual plan is to ride for 6ish hours, then have a BBQ with masses of meat, followed by acres of cake, and perhaps a splash of cider before putting in a night lap or two.

Hexus

Clips for me all the way, Alps, DH, XC, Laggan Wolftrax black, local woods, bike packing and road. All on candys (I know road bike on mtb pedals is a rule breakage but I can only have so many shoes before overtaking Imelda Marcos).

I use flats occasionly on family rides and hire bikes when I’m away working, but don’t like the unattached feeling. I don’t think I particulaly pull up on clips, but they allow a full spin on the crank rather than the push-push stomping of flats.

My 10yr old daughter is on candys now too (her choice), she doesn’t understand the “too scared of not getting unclipped” comments ;)

Andy

Mendips is fun but can be a mission in the wet. Some awesome downhill runs in the forest, off Burrington Ham and down either side of the gorge down into cheddar.

God local knowledge from LBS Badass bikes with a trailmap advertised.

http://Www.badassbikes.co.uk

Andy

On reflection ^ wot he said ^

and I Loctite the chaintug tensioning bolts too.

If you’ve not got them already try a QR skewer with a metal (brass?) insert under the cam not the more common plastic type. The metal insert is less ‘springy’ than the plastic one so gives a better clamping force.

I use hope skewers on my Lurcher with only a drive side on-one tug with no issuse or slipping.

Edit. or of course use a proper internal cam Shimano type QR, which we all know are the best but not quite bling enough ;)

Andy

I have five.

Full suss Giant Trance X for proper biking fun.
Hub geared Gary Fisher Sawyer for winter/trekking/kids/do anything (either rigid or with rebas depending on mood swings)
Rigid On-One Lurcher Single speed
Ridley Boreas Road bike, means to an end for fixed length clean training rides.
A ebay supplied pink Raleigh Shopper bike that I did the SPAM winter challenge on, kept for the next event that I can slipstream lycra clad XC weanies on ;D (if only for the hilarious 30yds until I get dropped)

Tbh I have no need for the Lurcher beyond that it feels good to have and I built it, worth keeping for that alone. The pink shopper really should go!

Last week I needed a fat/no-fat bike. But now decided I don’t, or maybe I’ll see something at the Frome Bike Jumble that takes my fancy.

So all that blather probably indicates that I have no idea how to know when I have too many bikes.

Andy

I’ll be there. A couple of biking mates brought this to my attention so they’ll be enough coming for a macho bullpoo chinwag.

Email on its way to book a pitch, not a huge amount to sell but have a few kids bikes looking for homes and random components from the “really you’re never gonna use that again” drawer.

Andy

Rode it on Sunday morning.

Was sticky for a small 500yd section in the trees at the top(?) Otherwise all good. Great trail that I felt was a lot of fun, climb was pretty tough. Did the Twrch trail afterwards which is rolling great.

Cheers
Andy

Great fun, got a few laughs out me.

Lighten up.

Andy

Agree with you there, my dogs come with me everywhere but there are times and places where they can’t/don’t want to do stuff Im doing, so stay in the campervan.

To elaborate on my earlier suggestion, I don’t know what type of camper you’re looking for but I’ve found having one with a pop top that has zip-out windows in the sides of the canvas roof bellows(?)makes for a light airy space. Perfect for the dogs to be left in while we go for a ride/lunch/pee/asda, or for them to curl up and sleep/dry after a run/swim/fox dung roll.

Security is OK as long as nobody wants to conspicuously climb onto the roof and through the sides and dark van windows allows the dogs to stay hidden yet still see out.

Andy

Fit a pop top and open all the poptop side windows/vents.

Even then never on a hot day.

My dogs see the van as a second home/bed so very happy inside. Old one would rather be there than dragging her 15year old butt round after me and the youngster on the trails.

Great answer from Perth MTB there, respect for your knowledge.

I got to this thread from a search for another question – will a 7\8speed front mech work for 9speed? I suspect yes but a little confirmation would be ace, any thoughts?

Andy