Yes.

One group of riders, i’m quickest up the ups and the downs, the other group i’m the slowest!

If i ride on my own i tend to push myself until my legs give in! Luckily it only happened to me 1 mile away from home.

I find it doesn’t have that much of an affect on me, apart from it makes me pee every 5 minutes, and that it slightly makes me more awake if i’m flagging.

Don’t find it makes a difference with energy levels.

There was a chap with a demo8 with boxxers at the marin trail today.

Here’s my tuppence:

Go for long term keepers, race winners and frames which are well backed up by the company’s warranty. I always ask what people on here think as it throws up things I didn’t consider. A bit of future proofing (well as much as can realistically be built in) is always good.

Oh and make sure it fits your purpose/terrain as bikes are often more specific than they appear to be.

Stick with the big makes then. trek give lifetime warranty, giant 5 year, specialized 5 year etc.

tbh, i was super lucky last weekend. I had snapped my giant Reign X, so that was in the shop on warranty, and my mate had to work last weekend, so i managed to borrow his 2010 giant glory (Fully pimped, imcluding every bolt had been replaced with Ti). Rode that all day and it was suuuuch a sweet ride.

I highly recommend you borrow a bike or get a demo before purchasing.

BTW, what’s your riding style? If it’s more of a ‘plough’ style, then get something with a linkage, i.e. giant glory, demo, v10 etc. If it’s more of a smooth riding style, then start to think about single pivots, i.e. 224, commencal supreme, TR450, nukeproof scalp etc.

Troy lee skylines come to about the knee, but you can cut off about 2 – 3″ off the bottom of them (And still keep the warranty!) to make them shorter.

Go to uplift day, get friendly with a few riders, borrow a bike for a run.

That’s what i do!

Try bunnyhopping over something like a stood up coke can. You’ll soon know whether you’re actually hopping.

I learned to bunnyhop by hopping up a kerb, then i moved on to a set of 5 steps, hopping about 2ft high.

Everything i’ve enquired about, they’ve been out of stock, even though they’re in stock on their website.

I’ve since stayed clear.

Get some Asian fit Oakleys.

Delamere if you’re taking the kids.

Evans was spot on when i ordered a saddle from them a few months back.

And i got Quidco cashback too.

I ride a 170mm/160mm Reign X.

I use it for Downhill AND cross country. Sure, it’s not as good on the climbs as it’s 32lbs, but it’s a whole load of fun on the descents. I dare you 80mm carbon forked 30 speed 600mm wide bar lycra wearing boys to keep up with me on the descents. I guarantee i’ll also be having more fun doing it too.

BTW, who cares what bike you ride, and what travel you have. As long as you’re having fun, who honestly gives a toss?

Just chuck a split pin through the caliper.

That’s what i did!

Don’t camelbaks have lifetime guarantees? :P

Hope also looks more pimp, therefore worth the difference!

But ignoring my stupid comment above, i can’t answer the question, but i bought a hope BB a few months back, but since i’ve been hearing the same issues with them! Not good for a £55 Bottom Bracket!

Thank goodness i don’t have the next 3 days off.. Had to take my bike in for warranty work on Thursday evening.. :/

For me, it’s when i’m in the granny ring, it won’t shift down the cassette.

making the bike bob when under the pedals and shifting makes it shift though! Oh, and as for the small ring, i’ve had to set the limit past the ring so it’ll actually go onto the small ring. Not the best way to do it, but it works.

I have the same problem. Same has happened to three x-9 mechs, so i’m upgrading to XTR soon.

I don’t know why you want to drift the bike. It’s slower, and easssy to get wrong. Especially when clipped in!

As for technique, just try to go faster into the turns, and make sure the ground is loose. Also a flick of the hips helps too.

I’ve just put a set of ardents in 60a on my enduro wheels on my reign X, SPOT ON! they’re noticably less grippy when g-ing the bike round turns than the minions i had on there previous and the bike prefers to drift a bit more, but they roll well and are plenty grippy enough!

Hang on, it’s a DOWNHILL BIKE, not an uphill bike. even the pros on the world cup circuit are running 40/42lb bikes.. (Sure, there are some around at about 33/32lbs, but they’re going to be stupidly expensive) so the comment about a 2009 glory being a tank isn’t valid. There are still loooooots of them on uplift days.

As for a new bike, how about, as stated, a saracen myst, even a Commenfailcal is available for spot on £2500 http://www.singletrackbikes.co.uk/product/6589/Commencal_Supreme_DH_2011

As for others, look at the lesser known brands (Canyon make a spot on DH bike for just over £2k, but no C2W scheme).

I put in Jess Stone in as my womens girl.. She only went and crashed in practice injuring her shoulder.. :/

Oh well, i’ve got a few top guns in my male team, with Gee as champ.

I was going to ride some trails tomorrow and sat, with a downhill uplift day on sunday.

But went the bike shop today to do some work to the bike, and i found that my frame fell to pieces as i started unbolting components, so no riding for me this weekend, until i get a warranty replacement set of linkages for my bike.. :/

Renthal make a SPOT ON chainring for 40 notes.

Highly recommend! (Super stiff, and super lightweight) and being made by Renthal, you know it’ll last. I’d go Renthal over e13 as its stronger.

I used one for my DH bike for a year, and it’s still straight.

i went into my local GIANT dealer and bought a mech hanger for my mountain bike. 3 days later it arrived.

Perhaps GOING to a local bike shop is worth it? Giant is a massive make, and there are LOTS of dealers around.

BTW, bike went in fine.

Bike upside down with seatpost and front wheel off. Plenty of space! Strapped to the side of the van and bungied to the seperator cage between the loading space and front seats.

Heels up, and push forwards with the bars slightly.

Or, whip it slightly over every jump. That’s what i also do to make sure my feet stay where they are (If i’m not running clips that is. Clips have made me lazy over jumps)

IMO, Minions are better over rocks and dry conditions than high rollers. HRs are more intermediate tyres, whereas the minions are more of a dry weather tyre. (Or even wet weather tyre if it’s hardpack) DHF on the front, 42a dual play (Heavy) with a tubeless ardent on the rear.

My 2010 reign X has a 30.9 seatpost and i’ve just bought a 34.9mm seat clamp which fits just fine.

All Giants have the same sized seatpost and tube through the range.

pg990. I’ve always found sram cassettes to last slightly longer than shimano ones. And the sram ones look pimp.

and it’s not french!

To be honest, i went my LBS, and bought some BBB sunglasses. £25 got me some sunnies, with 1x clear lens set, 1x yellow lenses, and 1x mirror lenses. Spot on.

I’ve got some flak jacket XLJ Polarized jobbies for the road bike though.

MTB pedals and shoes will work just fine.

One point i’d like to make first though, i bought some SPDs for the road bike when i started out, and they were fine. A few months in when my power started to increase, and the distances had started to increase, then i found that i started to get hotspots on the balls of my feet where the spds were. That’s when i decided to make the change to SPD-SLs.

It’s my 24th today, but i’m going riding tomorrow morning so drinking tonight is on a minimal basis only.

But tonight i’ve drank 1x 680ml of

nearly a bottle of pinot Grigiot (When out in the restaurant)

and when i got in i’ve had another 2 double whiskeys (Jamesons triple distilled)

and i feel strangely sober.

There was also a lot less noticable flex in the wheel when holding it.

150mm? no.

You will need a 135mm wide hub. 150mm wide rear hubs are for the big downhill bikes.

Full suspension bikes are better, as they look cool

Onza dog,

I was at an uplift last weekend, and i had two sets of wheels with me.

First up was my hope pro2 on mavix EX729 wheels (32x J-bend spokes). Ran these for 5 runs of the course, then at lunch time, i switched to my Mavic crossmax SX wheels (24x straight pull spokes), swapped the tyres over and had the same pressures. You could feel the difference in turning – the bike turned much more positively. You can also feel the difference when cranking out of corners.

So yes, the stiffness was ‘percieved’ but also slightly measured.

Now, i have to say that straight pulls are better. The wheels can be built stiffer which means better turning, and better power transfer.