Not sure, but I took one off my 08 sx trail after one ride sitting in my shed. Pretty sure it is a sram one, but it's yours pretty cheap if wanted?

Another consideration is I use lyrik u-turn forks and often change the travel. Would this mean they are only beneficial at some travel settings and detrimental the rest of the time?

I have been using flats for a few years now and place my foot in the same position as with spd's. Never thought of moving my foot forward, but will be interested to trying it on my way home today. Hmmn.. interesting!

750mm on my DH and 711mm on my HT.

Hope 50mm stem, strong, light, pretty. Any bars you like, sunline v1 711mm for me.

My alpine looks a bit like that,ie long seat post with low looking bars, but I find it comfortable. I think it is the combination of long legs and presumably matching long arms.

My commuter has a larger frame at 20" (I'm only 5'11"), but it still has a long seatpost.

Use mine for xc, local woods, Woburn messing etc. As above they are nowhere near as grippy as 5.10's, but good enough, plus light and look ok.

Sunline thick or odi rogue for me.

Brilliant! Those pics are really inspiring me to get out and ride something decent. Roll on the June border raid.

Steve Peat may run his post a bit higher than most, but it's a long way off XC pedalling height. Oh and how tall is he…?

Must say that saddle looks pretty low to me!

TooTall – read my post again – "mostly used for jumping and DH". Function over form.

I can only comment on the alpine myself, I love mine and find it very versatile. It has lyrik u-turns on the front and I use it for everything.

The only downer for me is with my long legs the seat post looks a bit silly at full pedalling height, had it been around I would have got the 18" mark 11. The ragley is available in bigger sizes, so better for the taller rider.

I don't have a pic, but my dialled alpine with GD seatpost looks pretty similar. My legs are also pretty long and since I spend more of my time messing around on jumps or downhill's with the post dropped I can put up with it looking silly on the infrequent climbs and flats. My bike looks good with the seat dropped, silly with it raised, but gates look like gates 100% of the time.

I'm only 5'11", but even my 19" commuter has a silly long seatpost.

My wife and I have palladium, her engagement ring is platinum and it matches perfectly and the two rings wont damage each other when worn together (palladium next to platinum.)

I'm 5'11" with long legs,

20" commuter
17" DH bike
17" dialled apline with loooong seat post

There are some good sites, not sure what they are though. Mrs Bagstard had a buyer for her dress before we even got married, that was an extra £500 spending money on our honeymoon.

I will post back when I find out the website.

Really sorry for you elaine, I can't believe what awful luck you pooch seems to have.

I would stick with the coil lyriks myself. I'm a fairly heavy rider and for the sake of a few grammes you get a much stronger and probably better feeling fork. The u-turn is also very useful, mine are on my Dialled Alpine.

Easy to service too.

I would just fit a u-turn spring, doesn't add much weight and leaves you with a great feeling, easily servicable, reliable fork. I much prefer mine to talas. A friend of mine switched to coil u-turn and has been very pleased with the change.

On a smooth climb they are easy to wind down, I haven't tried to increase travel whilst moving though. Depending on your weight I may have a spring I could sell you.

If it's anything like my lyriks or Boxxers there are two tiny allen bolts recessed on the side of the adjuster. Around 1.5mm I think.

AAArgh my eyes!!! There is ugly and there is that!

Love it, love those frames and the white and yellow goes really well. Bastard!

vinnyeh – it really depends on what UK riding you do. In my eyes my DB Alpine is the most versatile bike for my needs. With forks wound down it climbs well and is good fun on the 4x track. Wind them out and they are good for messing around at Woburn sands etc. A change of wheels and a little more travel it is ready for DH.

It may not always be perfect and there will be some compromise, but for my needs it covers all the riding I want to do. What other type of bike could do this? A 5inch susser would be pants on 4x and a 100mm HT you can ride all day on isn't great for anything other than xc.

I currently have a DH bike, but when my baby arrives I doubt I will be able to justify keeping it (the bike that is.)

Firstly decide – can I give this dog a good home for it's whole life? If yes get it out and socialised the minute it has had it's jabs, it is so important and makes a real difference in how it interacts with other dogs and people.

Do find a good trainer, but definitely make sure you sort out the feeding issue immediately. You should be able to take it's food bowl away whenever you feel like it with no reaction from the dog. It is a lovely looking puppy and will grow to be a very big dog, make sure it know's the humans are it's pack leaders.

I love mine, I just don't enjoy having descent's with the seat post stopping me move around the bike. Definitely go for the bar mounted remote, you will regret it otherwise.

The tinkle of cow bells as you anticipate your next alpine descent, it just gives you that summer feeling, good times with friends.

Pine forests for me too.

If you build more muscle your metabolism will increase, meaning you will burn more calories even at rest.

Anyone wishing to lose fat should cut out the junk and do cardio as well as resistance training.

People often delude themselves that they are the same weight as they were in their twenties. This may be so, but most likely their body composition has changed and weight that used to be muscle is now fat. Hence I would recommend resistance training to everyone, it's use it or lose it folks.
That goes for women, the elderly, everyone.

I can't really answer th OP's question as there is no one answer, but.. reducing calories will give you the quickest short term 'weight' loss.

Is your sx to be used for DH or trail riding? I had totem solo air on mine and they worked great for DH/Freeride. Very confidence inspiring and could be reduced to 160mm.

I think it depends on how good you are, Guy from Flowmtb did the Mega on a Blue pig last year and said it was fine. I was considering the same for this year, but using full suss for the quali.

Lyrik for me, they just have so much adjustability. Set them up nice and soft for trail riding, then wack up the compression for big jumps and drops. The u-turn is fantadtic too, especially on a hardtail.

Only done it once and that was on an SX trail with huge sticky tyres and not enough seat post. Most of the ride was spent cursing, I should have brought my hardtail, but the final descent was fun. In hindsight I would have just pushed and sessioned the end.

Super8 is one of my favourites.

getee1972, I would be interested in that firm spring if it's going.

OP, Lyrik coil u-turn all the way.

45mm on the DH bike, 50mm on the XC,DH,AM,hardtail. 90mm on my commuter. There are times I would prefer a few extra mm :-), but I'm now used to the wide bar/short stem thing, plus the ht has a long top tube.

Has anyone used both the new slx and xt's? I'm trying to decide between the two. I'm more interested in stopping power than modulation.

Is it just me who can't stand the crash and rattle of riding without a chain guide? 1×9 with LG1 on all my bikes, but the first reply answered your question.

In my experience most Rockshox arrive dry out of the box, as in they don't have enough oil to lubricate the lowers. My 2010 Boxxers had this issue. If you know someone technically minded it is easy to do and can make a real difference.

Also I have never found the traditional sag setting methods worked with air forks, the inevitable stiction means they don't move much leaning against a wall. Start with something slightly lower than the manual suggests, ride the bike and adjust accordingly in 5psi increments.

That sounds great elaine, I hope it works out well. One of the things that I really enjoy about my dog is seeing her play and interact with all her chums. She has a group of five that she meets on her morning walk, they all meet up and play for half an hour, it is so good for them.

tribalchief, names that used to be square are now common place, but back in 89 it sucked. I have had some horrible conversations with my dad in the past along the lines of 'why did you put me through this f…ing torment?' It really did affect my life and I longed for the anonimity of being a Paul or David.