Hehe, I’m in the minority but I think Civic Type R FK8s looks stupidly OTT great, the suggestion was for special cars, CTR FK8 certainly not normal!

If I had £25k then it’d be a Honda Civic Type R FK8 above anything listed above, likely faster than everything listed so far bar the Caterham 7. Bikes easily slide in the huge boot, pussycat in comfort mode, hot hatch in sport mode, track day car in R+ mode.

My 2015 Whyte 29C FSA PF30 lasted about 3-4 months… I replaced that with a Praxis Works PF BB converter for 24mm spindle cranks & that was still going strong after 11000km+ when I sold the bike.

I’d recommend a Praxis Works BB30 convertor in a heartbeat – they’re just like having a threaded BB again and a very high quality BB at that.

Eg: https://www.merlincycles.com/praxis-bb30-bottom-bracket-conversion-93683.html

I was comparing the 2020 Racing Ray Evo Snakeskin / 2020 Ralph Evo Snakeskin 2.25 x 29 vs same 2.35 version according to the Schwalbe website. 2.35 x 29 Evo Snakeskin is 770g according to Schwalbe website stats.

If the Schwalbe website is wrong about their own tyre & infact it’s only 80g difference between 2.25 vs 2.35 then thicker version maybe more appealing.

A Thunder Burt is a sh*t tyre no matter the width, so yeah, no brainer not to fit one of those! :-D

I’m a weight weenie so the fact the 2.25 Racing Ray Evo weighs 625g but the 2.35 version weighs 770g means it’s a no brainer decision. I wouldn’t be adding 300g rolling weight for 0.1 inch increase in width in tyre…

I built up an absolute dream XC race bike build for my 40th last year, don’t regret it for a minute. Had a blast XC racing it during 2019 & am enjoying beasting myself on it locally this Spring even though there’s no xc racing right now.

I own less bikes than most of my friends nowadays but am glad that I do have my top notch, ‘posh’ xc bike to wheel out, a year on it still feels like an absolute treat when I ride it. As a modern 29er 10.5kg 100mm full sus it’s thankfully actually pretty versatile so can still cope pretty well as a general trail bike. Just my perspective.

Based on you already having 4 Seasons I’d say get 50 Aero Discs, nice separation between the two sets then. 50’s are still lightweight for hills you have there.

I’ve had Aero 50 Discs since April, only ridden them 250km so far but like them & they feel good as a nice weather wheelset for me + 32mm GP5000 TL tyres.

I like clicky freehubs but even for me the deep carbon rim & my chunky carbon gravel bike frame make the Hunts incredibly noisy when freewheeling. I also have a set of DT Swiss Dicut 21mm shallow height disc wheels for the bike & these provide a nice contrast to the Hunts – I always turn to the DT Swiss wheels if there’s going to be breezy crosswinds, just makes the bike less grabby.

Link below to Diverse Minds UK latest blog post on maintaining good mental health & wellbeing during Cv19. Sounds like people on here are generally pretty self aware but hope this might be a useful resource.

Five Ways to Wellbeing during Coronavirus restrictions

I’ve had my SC Blur CC frame on order since first week of June and think it’s only just close to arriving in the UK, that’ll be the first customer UK shipment arrival of the CC frames. Be aware that there’s a loooong waiting list on the frames – size S and L are still currently a 5 month waiting list for the frame only CC model I believe!

My own personal perspective – I’ve been a forum user for 10yrs+, predominatly read posts as opposed to create new ones and have consistently looked at the forums at least once every 3 days or so for a mix of gaining useful bike knowledge and the humour that sometimes emerges from posts. That pattern of behaviour has certainly changed for me in the past couple of months. Just viewing the forum is generally an unpleasant experience – slow, pop ups for dodgy adverts on my phone, clunky posting from my phone / sometimes the response is completely ‘lost’ once clicked on submit etc.

The result is that I’m now using MTBR forums more than STW, I can’t imagine that I’m the only one. Not trying for this to be a doom and gloom post but highlighting that the lower quality of functionality here is changing my pattern of behaviour and I’m floating across to other websites / forums.

What mudguards for a 3T Strada? ;-D

Tomhoward – that’ll be Trump staffers being told to burn copies of the new book no doubt!

The 2015 Santa Cruz Tallboy 2 Carbon CC frame I have for sale at £975? I’ve had it listed for a little while now so don’t even care about shameless plugs anymore…! ;-D

Perhaps if Islam Deviant and people like him had been through a reformation or enlightenment like the other two monotheistic religions other rational people we wouldn’t have so many problems….but it didn’t he hasn’t, it’s he’s backwards…

There fixed.

Funnily enough I listened to my New Forms album for the first time in years yesterday.

It’s an original 1997 album and from memory was bought from my local record shop on the day of the release, I was well ahead of the Mercury prize back then! ;-D

Kryton57 – 100mm travel xc 29 FS is perfect if you’re after quick Afan lap times.

I did some hill interval sessions there not so long ago on my Sc Tallboy 2 CC, it was spot on. Even managed to sneak in the Strava top 15 overall out of 12000+ for the full Whytes Level climb (the full 5km segment which I was quite chuffed about, sad I know!).

I’m not sure there is a greatest but Senna is certainly my all time favourite and would be my pick.

Based purely on speculation if Imola ’94 hadn’t happened and he’d won another 2, 3 or even 4 titles and would have finished on 6 or 7. That would trump Schmacher’s 7 as the Ferrari was almost a F1++ car in some seasons and he never had a team mate to challenge him for results in the way Prost did for Senna.

Senna would beat Schmacher in an identical car, he was simply a faster driver. Schmacher also had 0% flair which when you’re talking about the greatest in a sports dicipline should come into the equation, e.g Ali for boxing etc.

For all their hype Capras have pretty old style geometry and are bloody short. I’m 6ft 2 34inch inside leg and recently sat on an XL Capra, surprised that I felt cramped on the TT.

Hopped straight onto my XL Santa Cruz and that was stretched out in comparison (Santa Cruz aren’t exactly renowned for being long either).

As a 17 year old away for the first time at a festival I saw Isaac Hayes perform shaft at the 1997 Phoenix Festival, the band kept the song going for over 20 mins. That experience will never leave me, truely epic!

snownrock – I bought a set of the Prime Pro Disk road wheels a month ago for my CX bike.

Only done about 400km dry riding on them so far so can’t comment on reliability as they’re intended as my ‘budget’ Winter wheelset but am pretty impressed with how they ride. Stiffer than I thought they’d be (I’m about 79-80kg in bike gear), and a doddle to set up tubeless with some Gravel King SK 35mm tyres.

With the current discount + BC 10% they are really good value for money. It’s also nice that they come with the tubeless valves, all the required axle adaptors, 3 spare spokes, and 3 spare nipples.

In terms of the wheel components they’re rebranded Novatec hubs with Alex ATD01 tubeless rims.

I was recently going through this decision for an XC race bike for next year and about to click on a 2018 Spark 900 RC World Cup but then I googled what the bike looks like in XL and the huuuge 21.3′ ST makes it look like fairly gate-like even with 29 wheels…

Am slightly gutted as for me the Spark 900 RC would be the best xc bike out there but I’m not sure I’m willing to spend £5k on a bike I can’t bear to look at! :oops:

The orange light today is Saharan Desert dust in the atmosphere bought up by the winds fron the South. Go and check out your car, mine is now covered in a layer of fine sand! :-O

I’m more of a pure D&B stickler and not quite so interested in his diversion into other genres on this album.

My album purchase today instead was the DJ Patife V Recordings Sun And Bass album, absolute end of sunmertime magic!!

dcl – Apologies, thread highjack as I have my 2015 Tallboy 2 Carbon CC frame for sale at the mo, it’s an XL. Matte black with blue & red stripes. Pretty much immaculate. Let me know if you’d like pics and I’ll send you an email.

Tallboy 2’s are awesome bikes btw, it’s still the best bike I’ve ever ridden. The only reason I’m selling mine is that after 3 years I have a new frame itch, would certainly keep it if I had the space to!

‘jambalaya – Member

Substabtially less killed in Vegas than in Nice with a rented truck’.

WTAF. You’re effing sick…! :-O

Hmmm, it would appear that there are downsides to all this CRC item mis-picking…

I ordered some 6 bolt disk wheels in the past week, instead they sent me the Centrelock version… Maybe they’ll send me Centrelock rotors in the post as a way of saying sorry.

Trimix – yes there is, you were sat watching it at Afan a few weekends ago! ;-D

What about this as a comparison from 2016.

Lady opens taxi door, door floors cyclist, cyclist gets hit by van, cyclist dies, lady gets fined £80 for killing a cyclist…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-39157452

36t x 11-40 XTR on my xc 29er, ride in a hilly area. Got me up and around 80km / 1800m of Afan trails absolutely fine yesterday. :-D

Whyte usually have a 29-C hardtail around the £2200 mark so call it £2k with a LBS 10% off rrp.

I previously had a 2015 29-C XTR, carbon wheels etc and it was a blast, would thoroughly recommend. Haven’t seen what the 2018 versions are like yet, probably about time they replaced the 135mm rear end but the frame doesn’t need anything doing to it really.

Excellent bikes.

Bowie278 – no worries in mentioning your Ripley LS for sale, unfortuntately it’s the wrong size for me, I’d be after an XL.

Harvey – gld to hear that you’re enjoying your new LS, sounds a great ride.

I’m 6ft 2 and both my previous Mojo & Tranny were both XL frames so I’d certainly still be on an XL Ripley LS 3 frame.

I’m quite surprised how rare these seem to be so far though, just don’t seem to be on the trails.

Cannondale CAAD10 105 in the sales if you can find one, perfect for crits.

J273 – Rallon 29 frame only is listed as £2999 I believe.

Who has now had first rides on their 2018 DebonAir Pike? Keen to hear what you think about it. Any discernible improvement to the previous Pike?

I fitted a Praxxis Works BB30 adaptor on my previous Whyte 29-C when the original, crappy FSA BB30 died after about 3500km. I put over 9000km on the Praxxis BB prior to selling the bike, I checked the bearings prior to selling and they were still as smooth as new.

Some might consider Praxxis slightly pricey but I’d highly recommend their BB30 adaptor, bloody great design.

Alan Partridge better watch out, there’s a new radio DJ in town!

Jeezers, if Boris Johnson submitted that R4 interview for his GCSE Media Studies he’d be lucky to scrape a D Grade… Certainly wouldn’t achieve a Pass…

That’s the boating equivalent of a Boeing Dreamliner colliding mid air with a USAF AWACS… Bizarre in the extreme considering the tech capabilities.

Cookeaa – yeah, that’s the one. 5 Strava timed sections along the route, lowest accumulated time wins.