I’m 6′ and went for the 17″. I have a fairly short leg at 31″ and the lower stand over heigh makes the bike feel more chuck-able exactly as jimw says. I tried both the 17″ and 18″ and couldn’t tell them appart on an XC ride. I initially had a problem with the bike feeling a little wrong but changing the stem from 50mm to 70mm solved it. It’s perfect now, wouldn’t change a thing.

I just bought a Christopher Ward[/url] to compliment an Omega Seamaster. I went for the C11 Automatic and I have to say the build quality is amazing and the watch looks great. I did heaps of reading and had a long look at Stowa (who I will be looking at for the next one in a few years) as well.

Looking at CW and Stowa it’s clear the big names add heaps to cover their marketing and endorsement budgets. Great watches yes, but looking at my latest purchase I’ll not be (indirectly) feeding any celebrity pockets for a long time. Have a good look at CW, they have a watch to meet most aesthetic needs.

Thanks Derek.

Barnsleymitch, I wear my Omega a lot but there are times when I would like to wear something else. something leather and less sporty.

I’m going to go slightly against the grain here. I agree with every comment above although I should note I’ve never ridden an Anthem. From my experiance what you’re ridding will effect you’re confidence and speed of progress in the sport. I had an old Specialixed FSR with 80mm travel which was/is a brilliant bike. More XC than trail though. Recently bought a new trail bike with slack angles and 140mm travel and I’m riding faster and better than ever. The confidence it gives me is making me push my personal limits almost every ride.

Don’t get me wrong, most bikes are not the barrier to progress and I guess the Anthem will be more than enough for the time being as others here will testify, but if you have the financial flexibility, time to test a few bikes and really want to push your limits then IMO a bike selected for a specific role is likely to help a lot as well. Certainly did for me. 😀

Now you’ve gone and got me thinking about CCDB’s 😯

Here’s mine. Honestly can’t say that I really need a new shock though, right now I can’t see how this bike could be any better/more fun to ride… Off to Afan in April and starting to worry that it’ll break me.

Pretty in Chrome with nice shiny XTR bits…

Crispy Bacon those are some great shots, I’ll take a look at the SX220. When I refer to full manual I’m looking for P,S,A,M or (P,Av,Tv,M as Canon do it), does the SX220 have this facility?

Benslow, the XZ-1 came to my attention this morning, gets great reviews but users reviews knock it for poor dust protection and a slow user interface, other than that it looks like I need to take a look.

I would really like an optical viewfinder, but I guess that means a bigger heavier camera? hmmmm… The S95 looks pretty good. Any other suggestions / recommendations?

Can’t comment on the Mega but I bought a 2012 Five back in October. Quite simply blown away buy this bike… I’m 6′ with a 31″ leg so went for the 17″ frame. At first it felt slightly wrong but changing the 50mm stem for a 70mm sorted it. From then on it’s been a revelation. Regular 40km rides on it, comfortable and fast but when you point it down hill… I’m carving gully’s and searching for jumps – brilliant 😛 😯 😛

Huge recommendation from me. Also, I get your comment re LBS as I did the same. But I did get a very good deal 😉

4 years. I’m younger.

I’m in. Will miss two weekend rides due to a week away but worth the challenge all the same… Better mile up big time tomorrow 😯

Did the Shalford southern trail break ride last Saturday, lots of 29ers in evidence. I was overtaken by a pod of 29ers on one of the climbs (I’m not exactly great at climbing) but on the subseqent descent they held me up all the way down… I have a Five, take what you like from that but I bought the Five specifically because it decends so well.

Having tried a Specialized Epic 29er when scouting for my new bike last October I can see the attraction; comfortable, fast and great at climbing. But then it was the only XC bike I tried, I was after a trail bike so I didn’t try a 26 XC bike for comparrison. Still, it was very good.

Back to the OPs question, it’s the big brands that will decide. If they wholly commit to 29ers then there’s not much anyone can do about it. Look at Betamax, Laser Disc, HD DVD etc… It’s nothing to do with what is actually better, but what the big boys believe they can market more successfully. If there was a clear cut difference you’d expect racing to introduce a ruling against one or the other as it would be seen as an unfair advantage. Until that happens it’s just all hot air!

Ahhhh Jambalaya… Might have to take a few diversions..no good heading into the Surrey hills and missing the good stuff. Including the pub! 😉

Mines still only a few months old and I”m not exactly the last word in servicing skills, I make sure it’s cleaned along with the bike after a wet ride. If it breaks I’ll be sad and fix it, it’s transformed the way I ride.

40km organised trail ride in the Surrey Hills. Haven’t done an organised ride what… ever! Quite excited 🙂

Hmmmm.. Options as always. Without stirring up a storm in a tea cup, I have been warned that during summer the scots land suffers from small, flying, biting creatures on a fairly large scale. Are there areas one would be advised to avoid? Or better yet particular areas we should be looking at.

Ah TJ your are a wealth of information. I had been considering driving up through the night to spare the kids the journey, also I could pack my bike 😉 In reality i don’t suppose I’d get that many cycle miles in with the family so… I hadn’t considered the train / fly option and now you mention it it makes sense. I’ll take a look at the links you provided when I get to the office. Thanks.

Thanks guys.

Genuine 1400 lumens from 2 x XM-L U2 emitters, light head 80g and very compact.

What’s all this then? Sounds interesting and I’m in the market for some lights…

Neninja?

TJ, the shorter the better and to my knowledge there is no max other than thenfurther you go the more loss induced by the cable. I’ve run up to 70m with 2.5mm cable with perfectly decent results.

Stumpy01, the Stealth speakers are full range. The Amina’s aren’t. I’ve done quite big Cinema’s with Stealth and they’re great. They do an in wall sub as well.

If it was me, I’d go for Artcoustic and try to get the wife to agree. Less painfully installation and good sound. OK a fat pair of speakers is better but not an option in this setup.

Blobonastick, reflected sound is nasty, it carries an echo which is quite off putting. Take a look at these…

Stealth Acoustics

Completely invisible and can be installed in the optimum position. By far and away a better solution than attempting to bounce sound of walls.

NXT is not dead, you just need to know where to look;

Amina speakers[/url]

Of the two Stealth offer the better solution but need a little more depth. Finally, there are quite a few brands who make speakers that look like speakers; Artcoustic being the best, but Vibe and Monitor Audio have products worth looking at.

Email in profile if you want some more info.

Bigger the better I say…

He he he… 😈

Same here. iPad 1 as well.

Thank you wwaswas it probably was, the memory has been slipping recently!

Flow, in retrospect I was a bit harsh and I’m sure your a nice guy and all that. I’m all for accepting apologies, but why behave like that in the first place? Very weird really.

ITVs ‘Tonight’ recently looked at Internet Trolls highlighting the damage these d**k heads cause, especially to sensitive kids. OK so some are worse than others but they all fit the same profile. Not sure if you can actually reach much lower in the sewer of human kind really….

WET – Ride it, wash it, oil it…
DRY – Ride it, check it, maybe oil it…

Repeat over and over again.

Two very good points above. I have a 2012 Five and love it, but I wouldn’t want to add more travel. I weigh 16st and whilst I’ve not taken it to a trail Center (yet) I’ve not found anything to challenge 140mm. Constantly amazed at how competent the Five is and it rides fast… The geometry is so well balanced I’d not change it. Climbing is just OK but the front does get light on really steep stuff. Haven’t tried the Alpine but seems the obvious choice if you want more travel.

One of the biggest improvements to my riding has been flicking through the pages of…

Mountain bike skills 2nd issue

Especially the section on pedalling. A few rides concentrating on this and I’m able to ride much faster, for longer and my fitness and strength is up as well. It’s amazing how lazily I was peddling before and how inefficient it was. I suspect lots of people would benefit from this simple change.

So, buy a five and get some skill (Jedi or book), you’ll be flying past your mates in no time. 😀

28km loop around the local hills…. By god it was cold when we left 😯 It took at least the ride to the top to get blood moving. Amazing trails, so much grip and very, very fast. Brilliant.

😛

Did you pay the “English” price?

^^^ Popped to the continent on business this week and the magazine shop at Amsterdam airport wanted 15€ for an English MTB mag, that’s around £14 😳

Now that’s an English price. And profiteering… From my perspective it was pretty urgunt as the flight was delayed and I was bored sh**less.

Another daft question. Are Peanuts OK? Nuts and Seeds stated as OK but I thought Peanuts were the anti-Christ of nuts!

I thought it was a good episode, but only because of the cars. The ingrediants are a bit tired now and whilst the dynamic between the three presenters is entertaining at times it’s not enough to tune into. Live pause, make a cup of tea then return with a few minutes buffer to fast forward through the ‘star in a car’ bit… 9/10 guests are of no interest at all.

Nice bike. I’m still in the process of adjusting to mine (purchased last November). Just gets better and better… 😀

You have lots of fun ahead. Buy the way, did I spot a sheath for your Reverb? Interesting idea. Where did you get that?

Yeh, had a look at eBay and some 06 models with >£1k asking prices but you never know what the final price is. Considering the age maybe £650 is OK. Thanks for your comments.

Velcro

Thread about Velcro

Cool, thanks guys.

Thanks Defydude, thought as much.

Nickname those are outstanding sounding ideas. Will give the chicken a go tomorrow me thinks.

Hey guys probably a very stupid question but I’m food illiterate!

Is porridge ok?

Bagstard that sounds great and has got me thinking. I’m going to cook a bloody great big stew in the slow cooker and feed of it next week…

Excellent!

Take the middle road probably. I’ve spent the best part of 20 years not really thinking about what I eat, all of a sudden I can see how food impacts my physioligy, my strength and how I feel. Once I hit target I’ll start to balance my diet with a little more thought. Blimey but it feels good… Not going back to feeling flumpy after each meal.

Clever cloggs… So grammer is not my strong point.