Superstar also do a 29er F&R set for about £140.00. I have a new stans flow 32H 29er rim (rim only) for sale if yor looking to build something fairly decent?

plus 1 ton…I was aiming for a 456 before getting caught up in the 29er thing and spent a lot more cash building one up. I don’t hate the 29er but after picking up a slightly battered red 456 frame for peanuts on these forums and building up a bombproof bike with bargain bits and spares it leaves me wondering why I spent so much on the new build in the first place. The 456/Pike combo is awesome! Seems like a lot of bike for not much money. :wink:

always thought mine would benefit from dropping the front a little, although rated to 120mm (what my rebas are set to)it doesn’t always feel right.

I totally agree…dropped my Minutes from 120mm to 100mm and it felt much better on climbs but gave a less desirable feeling on descents…I’ve settled for forks at 120mm and flat bars for now.

Nice one…welcome to the HX2 owners club! :D

I’d raise it asap..I always used to wait a bit first but then when you eventually start the process ebay then give the seller X amount of time to respond so you end up waiting even longer…

Thanks for the replies…I just removed the washer and tried it again and it will jump down if I pull the mech right to the end of its travel limit with the H screw all the way out. Maybe it’s the mech then? I had a 2009 X9 replaced under warranty due to a sticky action..this is a 2010 X7, I was hoping they would have sorted it. The mech seems to move quite freely but musn’t be moving all the way to the end. This is a medium cage mech BTW. I have a spare short cage I could try…

Is the hanger meant to be dead straight on these frames or does it benefit from being slightly angled?

BWD or Oscillate, any chance I can get a copy of that gpx? I’m new to the peaks and am trying to get my head around the decent routes… email is guando21 AT gmail DOT com thanks in advance

sss, is there a 29er version or does the 26″ one fit the 29er rims as well? Do the rim strips make the tyre a tighter fit?

FieldMarshall, according to the post from ‘FuzzyWuzzy’ over here: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/g-form-knee-pads-fit
it might even be 3XL for me :| doesn’t look like the L/XL MT500s will fit…sorry about the slight hijack

I smashed my knee against the coffee table while reading this thread…I wish I was wearing some knee pads around the house 8O

This thread was good timing as I’ve been thinking about some pads for wet, winter peaks riding. My knee measures in the 2XL range of the G-Form sizing guide, does anyone know if there’s any chance of the L/XL Endura MT500s would fit?

Yes, its an 18inch version in Blue – one of the ones labelled Inbred but in fact a 456. £110 posted.

I’m after a 20″…I’ll have to keep hunting…thanks anyway

sv, I’m looking for a 456 frame for a side project, are you selling yours? what size is it?

thanks for the ride…enjoyed it…(although feeling it in the joints today :-))

cheers sambob, that would probably put a pretty big dent in the days energy reserves…

BWD, you mentioned a few days ago you may ride from glossop, how far are we talking roughly from glossop to edale? It might save the hassle of loading the car…but then again I’m not exactly in peak physical condition (I’m sure sambob can second that)…

no probs nbt…so long as it comes back in a usable state :-) it’s a 21″ hardtail. I’ve spread the word to a few weekend warriors living in my street so there may even be a few more for the list.

Will I get laughed off the mountain if I turn up on a 29er? :-) If not I might tag along…

Excellent thanks…I was hoping for positive feedback…now to copy this thread link and send it to the wife…. :D

Slightly silly question but how do they actually attach to the bike? One photo looks like there’s a bracket attached to the chain stay while others look like they connect to pannier mounts? Some look like they bolt to the rear axle. Info is a bit scant on the budget models..

anyone?

flats on my hx2 to compensate for tallish front end and to help with climbing. Big improvement over the low-risers I was using previosuly…

Bad experience here…phoned before ordering to confirm the item was in stock…placed order…waited about a week and chased it, was told it was still in transit…tried to cancel, was told I could cancel but not get a refund until the goods arrived back at their shop. Chased again two weeks later and asked if the parcel was lost, they said it was STILL in transit…phoned daily after that chasing it until they admitted it was lost and finally gave a refund….it was infuriating at the time as I was about to move house and wanted to finish a new build so I could pack the gear away…will never deal with them again….good pricing is pointless if the item never arrives…

I’ve found caffeine to be a trigger and most energy drinks and gels are loaded with it. Sometimes eating bananas followed by too much water can cause bloating. The most effective prevention I’ve found so far is smaller meals/less food in general…

Here’s mine at xmas shortly after it was built up…

It’s since grown some Manintou Minutes, flat bars, formula ones and a thudbuster…

I’m a bit late to the party here but I’m running 2010 manitou minute 29er 120mm on my chumba HX2. According to manitou they’re identical to the tower pro internally. I also had to go straight for the x-firm ride kit/spring and it was a PITA getting one at first. I contacted manitou USA directly and they gave me the part number and told me they had plenty in stock but I had to go through hotlines. Hotlines kept me waiting 3 months! I found a stiffer compatible spring from a local supplier to start with and then after 2 months complained to manitou USA they agreed to supply me one directly, that took less than a week to arrive and cost $12USD plus $10USD shipping. I bought a firm and an x-firm just in case and both springs including postage almost cost less than what one retails for here. After checkng recently I think most of the ride kit options are now in stock in the UK.

Anyway, moaning aside…the x-firm spring really transforms this fork for the hefty rider (I’m about 250lbs…. of pure muscle :-) ). They are super plush…I run mine at about 90psi and at around 3-4 clicks on the absolute+ damper. Changing the spring is quite simple, if you’re careful you can do it without losing any oil and the red grease that the stock spring is smeared with can be wiped off and transferred to the new one if you keep everything clean. I did mine on the kitchen counter (the wife was very impressed). If you remove the lowers with the forks laying horizontal and put some tape over the holes on the bottom you can stand them upright once they’ve been removed and not lose any of the bath oil.

I was also looking at the TST2s but after extensive reading up on the 2010 models the manitous seemed like a better option for me. The 2010 TST2 seemed to be more suntour than marzocchi from what I read. The 2011s might be better though.

big_scot, do you still have your HX2? I was hoping to buy ton’s el cap but a recent house purchase has left me flat broke…

She’s no beauty but maybe the uh…undesireable looks will keep the bike thieves away?…

Thanks for all the replies…I emailed surly directly and got this very helpful answer:

The Instigator fork is compatible with normal mountain front
quick-release hubs. It also does have lawyer lips – as every fork sold
in the US must, given our proclivity to sue the crap out of each other.
They are just small extra bits of metal that require a couple of turns
of the QR nut before the wheel will drop out once opened. No big deal
really.

I wouldn’t have given it a thought and was just about to order some when I saw a questions posted on the Wiggle Q&A..some asked: “Do the fork dropouts have “lawyer’s lips” for QR hubs on the dropouts like most suspension forks?” The answer was “No these forks do not have the cowled dropouts featured on most suspension forks.”

I wasn’t sure if this meant they’re not compatible?

If you want something built sturdy with a 31.6 post the Chumba HX2 is a good option. I have the now ‘classic’ frame with the standard 1 1/8 headtube. I’m 6’4, 17st and I feel very comfortable/confident on this frame…built like a tank but not too heavy. Also has EBB for single speed options…also note that the size ‘Large’ has a 21″ seat tube which is more of an XL size in other brands.

Had the same problem…had a 2009 X9 on a new bike purchase..after about 6 months of moderate use with regular cleaning/oiling the movement became sticky and it wouldn’t change down off the large cog. I had to quickly learn a technique of reaching my foot back and giving it a kick get it to change down. It started acting up just after I changed my cassette from 11-32 to 11-34 so I thought the larger ring caused it but the 2010 model warranty replacement is still going fine.

After a google search I found it to be a well documented issue and they replaced it no questions asked. Someone mentioned something about the pivot pins wearing and the pins/holes become oblonged causing sticky movement.

Slightly OT but I’m anal when it comes to smooth shifting and like to keep everything tuned perfectly…once H & L screws are set, cable tension is right and shifter/indexing problems are ruled out I’ve always found hanger alignment to be the cause of rough shifting. I spent hours on the wife’s bike trying to get it just right, all shifts were smooth except 2-3 and/or 7-8 depending on cable adjustments, the hanger looked straight but after getting one of these:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cyclus-gear-hanger-alignment-tool
I was able to get the hanger perfectly straight and shifting went silky smooth. A few work colleagues bought new bikes recently and I used the alignment tool when they were fresh out of the box…all were bent inwards about 0.5 – 1 inch.

Also, as a precaution I always store my bike with the chain on the smallest cog to relax the spring…not sure if it helps but doesn’t hurt…hope this helps anyway… :-)

forgot to mention (after all that!)…I have the 20mm axle version and the lowers are nice and stiff (that’s what she said :D ). big_scot-nanny from around here had the QR version and said they were quite noodly so would definitly stick with the 20mm version…

ratadog summed it up pretty well…I’m about 17st and can give some input regarding the Minute fork. As you probably know the 2010 minute is the same fork as the ‘Tower Pro’, the ‘Tower Expert’ is the old Drake. The Minute/Tower Pro is an air fork with coil assist and the Drake/Tower Expert is a coil fork with air assist. The minute being lighter and higher up the pecking order.

I have a set of 2010 Minute 29er 120mm forks, the small negative spring or ‘ride kit’ as manitou call it shipped with the fork was ‘medium’. I bought them between xmas and new year and on the 4th of Jan contacted hotlines chasing the x-firm ride kit who had no record of it. At the end of 2010 the manitou website and hotlines still only had parts listings for the 2009 models and at first gave me the incorrect part numbers from the 2009 fork. After several emails I phoned manitou USA and one of their techs gave me the correct part number and told me they had plenty in stock (141-26744-k003 for 120mm) but being distributors would not sell directly so I had to order it through the UK dist hotlines. After several call to hotlines who still said they had no record of the part number finally told me they would order one for me but also being a dist I had to then order it from my LBS.

I did that and after waiting patiently chased hotlines a few times to be told each time, ‘it’s on order’. A few weeks ago I got sick of waiting (3 months!!) and emailed manuitou USA and moaned about waiting so long and the guy agreed to do a ‘one-time sale’ and shipped them to me directly…they arrived less than a week later and 2 ride kits (I got the firm and x-firm just in case) plus international shipping only cost me £10 more than the UK RRP for one kit. Low and behold, a week after they arrived from the USA, hotlines called to say the one they ordered had arrived…

After all the waiting and being messed around the forks are awesome! The correct ride kit makes a huge difference to the performace/feel. I’ve ridden 26″ Fox Talas.. way too harsh due to lack of negative spring tunability and 26″ Rebas which are OK but the QR lowers are quite flexy with a hefty rider and you have ramp the pressures up well above the weight/pressure chart specs. The guys at TF Tuned were also a bit iffy about a guy my size on Rebas when I quizzed them about it. 29er Rebas with maxle are probably fine if you can find/afford them.

The minutes received a few negative reviews, people saying they ‘blow through’ the travel..I’m guessing many of these guys didn’t bother to swap the ‘ride kit’ to the one specified for their weight (maybe because they weren’t available :| ) or tune the air pressure/damping properly. With the x-firm ride kit and a perfectly in-range 100psi of air pressure these forks are superb! Nice, super-plush ride… the Absolute Plus damper works beautifully with every click adding a bit more damping. I’m very impressed with these forks and so long as I don’t have any catastrophic failures in the near future I don’t see any need to spend more on Rebas or Fox. At the offer price you can pretty much get 2 sets of Minutes for the price of one set of Rebas or 3 sets for the price of a set of Fox F29s. It’s a shame the UK customer service was so poor on this occasion, hopefully it’s just me having bad luck…fair do’s to manitou USA for shipping one direct though, I just wish they would have agreed to it sooner…

Sorry about the long post but I hope this helps.. :D

Adelaide enjoys the title of murder capital of Australia (and the world apparently) :|

Though everyone’s a bit loopy up in FNQ.

Thanks R979, I’m from FNQ originally… :-) If anyone’s a bit loopy from up there it’s usually from the never-ending heat and humidity…and seemingly non-stop floods and cyclones…

Being an ex-pat from Brisbane I can backup what several have already mentioned which is that most of the major citys are very accomodating of cyclists. I used to cycle to work along the Brisbane river where they have dedicated bike paths everywhere…and I’m not referring to a bit of paint on the main road that everyone ignores…most are completely separate. Where there’s an overpass they even build a separate one just for bikes in some places. As for off-road trails, I didn’t do much trail riding while I lived there but there’s plenty of state forest within an hours drive so there should be some decent trails if you can tap into some local knowlege. IMO Brisbane isn’t a very exciting place for visitors, it’s a good city to live in as it’s not as expensive as Sydney/Melbourne but it doesn’t have the same appeal and can feel a bit ho-hum…then again, the gold coast is only 45mins away if you’re into that sort of thing…

Something to always bear in mind when you’re out on the trails in OZ is the wildlife. Unlike the UK where pretty much everything is harmless, in Oz there are snakes and spiders and crocodiles and everything else you’ve seen molested by Steve Irwin(rip) :( . If you end up in Cairns you can come across even more exotic creatures that can make a mess of you if you sneak up on them, Cassowaries are native to that area and can be a bit mental and dangerous. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary

It’s unlikely you’ll have any problems but that’s my 2 cents :D

Rusty Spanner I’m glad you mentioned the Globe, the wife and I are veggie and when we read that the top rated place to eat in town is a veggie pub that was a big plus when making the decision to move there…looking forward to it :D

over winter, cheap, sintered brake pads are your friends

So true, organic pad life can be measured in minutes in the winter…

I’m also a big fan of disco sintered pads so no probs there :-)..to add insult to injury I run formula brakes and weigh a tad more than the average rider so I already eat brake pads in the wet… :|

BadlyWiredDog, thanks for the detailed reply…I’d read the horror stories about the traffic but the missus (and I) really like the place (and she commutes via train) so we decided to go for it anyway…I’m not sure how my commute will go as I’ll be working in Warrington at least to start with. My hours are flexible so I was going to try driving at off-peak times (leave at 6:30ish return at 15:30ish) or take a folding bike on the train (a full sized one, not a clown bike :-)) We should be up there sometime in June-July so I’ll give you a shout if the offer still stands.

I probably will wait until we get there before changing any kit (unless a decent offer comes along of course :wink: ) I’m pretty happy with my 29er hardtail but the wife’s bike is a heavily upgraded Carrera that started as a cycle scheme purchase, it’s basically had everything upgraded except the frame so this will be a good excuse to make her spend some money :D

sambob, I’m pretty well setup with mapping software so GPXs would be nice if you’re happy to share..email is guando21 AT gmail DOT com

thanks for the link adscatt, looks like another good option

Some route advice would be good thanks sambob…I spend enough time servicing two bikes at the moment (the wife refuses to pickup an allen key and get her hands dirty :|) so tending to a full suss might be a bit much… steel hardtail sounds like the best option judging by the comments so far?…singular swift for me maybe?… Cotic Soul or similar for the missus?…