All the best – I had a few items off you and both the kit and service has been top notch so many thanks and hope the new owners are as good as you have been ( might stock up on some cogs and spacers though )

Seems a bit excessive got over a 1000 miles on my KMC Z1 and the 0.5 part of the chain gauge won’t go in

Seems high my KMC Z1 has done over 1000 miles and the 0.5 part of the chainguage won’t go in

Big fan of Sams bikes here – have a Gryphon that I bought new in 2012 and it’s still my fave bike , also have a peragrine that’s also great – after being distracted by a certain USA brand with truss forks I have now ordered a Ti Gryphon – really looking forward to it – excellent all round bikes with top notch service by Sam who’s a top bloke

I had the same thing 3-4 months ago , a number of packages opened and various amounts of contents removed ( normally the more expensive items) , even had my bank statement opened – that really worried me , Royal mail did not want to know at first but eventually put a watch on our mail for a month and that sorted the problem – a very neat slice on each occasion – give Royal Mail a call and be insistent

I had the same issue about 5 years ago ( from running) and I had an ultrasound guided cortisone injection and this sorted it out – it took about 2-3 months for it to completely put its self right though , I now wear shoes with a wide toe box and thin soles and that seems to have prevented a reoccurrence. If I ride my bike with neoprene overshoes ( in the winter) for any length of time the same foot gets a bit niggly – so for me tight shoes could be a contributory factor – don’t know if that helps at all

Brant

so ( in a somewhat cheeky manner) any chance of a set in Titanium ?

I think they look OK , but then I have a Jones so have no taste :-)

I got my one from ALPKIT – made to measure from a template that you send them – start at £65 and really well made

Sorry to hear that – I am just up the road from you so will keep eyes peeled ( another dockyardy !)

I was a tree surgeon for about 10 years – it was easier/ a step up from the Forestry work I did before ( really hard work) ,I gave it up in the end ( in my mid 30’s) as its a young mans job -to get qualified I did a number of chainsaw and climbing courses and wet to Merrist wood for 10 weeks to do an Arb course and then did the Cert Arb via a correspondence course.

I enjoyed it for a few years but it was very hard work for not a lot of money – the power line clearance work for the electricity companies was not to bad ( although I had some horrendous days at that as well)

On a good day it was an enjoyable but hard job and the robust humour of my tree gang was good entertainment but a lot of the time it was cold/wet/hard ( wet winters in Cornwall with all of your kit wet for days on end) – I remember one winter my hands were sticking to my carabiners – gave it up in the end and retrained as an engineer – now have an office job that I don’t like ( to put it mildly) but the pay is a lot better and I can do sports ( cycling/martial arts etc) in the evening as I don’t fee that I have been half been to death in the day

Apart from that it did get you outdoors :-)

You did the right thing – I had a similar incident about a month ago , had some moron in my face threatening allsorts including poking me in the chest with his finger , I just kept calm and eventually he got back in his car then threatened to kill me and drove off

Its never worth getting into a brawl – I have been practicing Jujitsu for over 15 years and thats taught me how fragile the human body is, don’t think its like the films, getting hit by someone who has his/her blood up could/will cause a lot of damage – fighting in the street really is the last resort dont get involved unless you get attacked and your life is at risk

Hmmm – more to think about ! – might try my alfine again and see how it works after a winter of neglect :-)

rosscopeco

In the spirit of learning from others – whats the Rolholf hub like ? as its something that on paper looks interesting ( would completely winter proof my jones 29 ) but I have used an alfine before on another bike and eventually took it off that bike and went SS

Fulton

Tyres are presently 2.2 Gearex AKA ( as this is my ride to work bike) but regarding the tricky bit in the woods I have had 26×3.8 Knard front/29×2.4 ardent rear, 29+ chronicle/29×2.4 ardent rear, 650×3″ front/650×2.8 rear and couldn’t get round this particular turn , on the Plus 29×3 Chrnoical both ends and straight round ( with a pause at the top) also cleared the next wet/slippy uphill as well no wheelspin on the 29+ vs spin on the 29 – came away wondering how the plus works as its counter intuitive i.e. it does not behave how it looks

Might be i prefer my 29 as I have ridden it more , might try riding the plus only for a couple of weeks to see if I gel with it better, on a positive note if I decide I don’t like it all the parts will swap over to a SWB plus frame :-)

Interesting thread

Martin H is right about the momentum of the plus vs the 29 – there is a woodland ride that I do quite a lot and there is a particular section thats single track all rooty and up and down, on my 29 space frame there are 2 sections that I have not managed to clear on my 29 in 4 years of trying , one is a slight uphill and then sharp left and down hill round a small oak tree – never done it on my 29 but first time out on my 29+ it went round first time much to my surprise , went back and did it agin with the same result and I think its the momentum of the big wheels and traction due to the long chain stays – it was quite a surprise

The SWB plus is on my radar as well

yogrant

i had my space frame as a 650B+ really liked it that way , probably why Jeff has gone that way with the new ‘ SWB plus ‘ – perhaps the new surly ECR 27.5 pushed him that way

Stu

serious question as you have had both ( steel and Ti) space frames knowing what you know now would you bother with a Ti jones space frame over a steel one ? ( I like the riding position/fork/the way it is) of my 29 steel space frame but am always wondering what if……. is the answer just ride what you have and keep the £££ in the wallet ?

Having spent the week riding both my 29+ Jones and 29 Jones to work and back and out and about I would definatly say the 29 is the better bike – I am now having sell everything and get a Ti space frame thoughts much to my wife despair

Has anyone had any ‘Ti cracking’ issues with a Jones Ti of any sort?

I have a 29 space frame and a space frame plus ( both steel) , on balance I think I prefer the 29 over the plus so in no order:
29 space frame plus :

the 29 plus spacefrmae is surprisingly good off road its very confidence inspiring and the momentum of the big wheels can be used to good effect and the ETT is about an inch shorter than the 29 space frame so for me its a lot more comfortable – quite like the slack head angle, but I find it quite hard to lift the front wheel so you just have to smash through everything – weird thing is apart from not being able to easily pop the front up it does not ride like a ‘ long bike’ off road feels really agile not had any back wheel not following the front episodes

I find it very sensitive to front tyre pressure ( maxis chronicle) a psi either way makes a real difference ( might be the tyre)

The chain to tyre clearance is a bit marginal ( with a boost crankset) had to go 1 x in the end and in bottom gear the chain is almost touching the tyre – to get any decent clearance with a 2x set up I had to loose a cog ( so 9 gears on a 10 speed cassette) and put a 2.5mm spacer behind the cassette , was ok then

Very comfortable and confidence inspiring – funny thing it does not feel fast even though it probably is

I can’t notice any improvement due to the through axels over the QR dropouts on my 29 ( but I don’t do big drops/big air as I am an old duffer)

29 space frame

I have a few wheel sets for this so it may colour my judgement but as a 29×2.2 its a good road bike

With a 27.5 x 3 on the front and a 27.5 x 2.8 in the back ( it works but not a lot of clearance between the tyre and chain stay although I have not had any problems in winter) both on a 49mm internal rim ( hugos ) its very smooth but not a sensitive regarding tyre pressure feels like it accelerates better and very good on rocky and rooty routes – in the winter I put 29×2.4s on it to cut through the slop – its easy to pop the front end up

I find the 29 more versatile ( but that may be because I have 3 wheel sets) and it feels faster than the plus , i use the 29 space frame a lot more than the plus ( i.e the 29 is used for work and weekend rides and I only get the plus out at weekends for a ‘ big ride’)

TBH the new SWB plus space frame would suit me in small – i.e if I could have the ETT of the plus spaceframe, a head angle between the plus and the 29 with enough clearance for a 27.5×3 in the back – only I am not to keen on the split EBB shell on the new SWB plus

Dont know if that answers your question – Knowing what I know now the new SWB plus with 27.5 and 29 wheels would suit me but to answer your question if I had to chose between the 2 I would vote for the 29 ( I am 5’8″ might be different for you)

You can’t go wrong with a Jones though cheap to run and very versatile

Granularity – ahhhhh!!! they use that at work when talking about computer systems – theres nothing granular about it its digital 0 or 1 FFS!!!!! ( however i am a mechanical so perhaps I am missing something)

Well I have a jones 29 and a jones 29+ – the plus is a lot slacker and has 50mm anger chain stays and TBH I thought it would handle like an old bus based on the numbers but its the complete opposite – rides really well as is probably better off road than my jones 29 so no idea how that works

moral the story is that the longer chain stays don’t seem to make a negative difference , perhaps longer chain stays on a jones 29 might be different but maybe the slacker head angle, fork off set and longer chain stays of the plus all balance out? – might just be me though

Yes to be fair one of the tyres was a WTB werwolf from some time ago and it was really tight – the only thing that i didn’t like about them was that there a couple of holes near where the bead seats ( for manufacture I suppose) I ended putting rim tape over them

I would advise using soapy water when first putting the tyre on

I have some built up and for a while they were the rims from hell – couldn’t get them to go up tubeless ( with an airshot) , put a tube in and then had a 1hr struggle to get the tyre off , tried tubeless again and it then worked – funny thing is the tyres come off very easy now ( guess the tyre selant acts as a lubricant)

So if you dont have the capacity for ‘ operator error’ that I have then they are probably ok – I would go for the scrapers if I was doing it again – I think chain reaction have I45 scrapers in stock

I have a rear wheel laced to one of these rims – its been indestructible over 4 years of abuse – when i bought it it was the only alternative to a rabbit hole ( a lot cheaper to ) buy wth confidence

Charlie the bike monger is selling salsa el march frames for around £350 at the moment

Singular gryphon and
2 Jones here – all really good bikes – you can’t go wrong with a singular for the price TBH

Intersting – could be ideal for a 1x system for a winter filth bike (just like my one) even better if you are used to a single speed :-)

SRAM X7 – not as light as a hope but they were £35 from one of the online shops in Germany

Joshvegas

Thats how I run my Singular Gryphon – 32 & 34 rings on the front and 18 and 16 on the back ( 32/18 offroad and 34/16 on the commute to work )

Simon 80

Not on my bike is wasn’t – was 4 links short !

Yes I have one – been ok so far quite good range ( got me up a hill tat was hard work with 2×9 – still hard work but I got up !) – running mine with a 34T front ring on plus wheels

There is a pair of Jones loops on eBay at the moment ( there not mine just spotted them when looking for something else)

Well I can confirm that a sunrise 11-50 works with a med cage SLX 7000 mech – works quite well but I have not had to use the 50T in anger yet! – a couple of revolutions back peddling will derail the chain to a smaller cog – guess they all do that I suppose

Skips through the gears nicely compared to my 2x9bike 9 aim using a tumbshifter in friction with a Jtech adaptor )

Good question – when I get a new chain I will let you know as I am trying a 11-50 with a m7000 SLX rear mech – got it to work up to 42 T but the current chain 116 links is to short to all the 50 T to engage ( B screw wound in looks like it will clear ) – have had to order another chain so I can add a few links ( mind you this is on a jones plus so the chain stays are quite long )

The thing I like about my jones (29) is that may not be as fast as a full suss ( and I have tried to chase a few so I know its/I am not up to it) but it will give you warning when its getting near the point of crashing i.e it tells you when to back off , saved me a few times , when I had a go on a friends full suss bike I initially thought it was amazing and then I found my self on my ass with not warning ! – mightiest be me though :-)

We have one who visits but we haven’t seen him/her for a while ( hope he/she’s ok)

That wooden box next to the mystery object – is it the type of place a vampire would live?
– just saying like

Dexa – yes sorry to have missed you, will have to try again next year – May well have rode together at some point and not known it – will have a look at the photos to see – I got about 1/4 way up sims hill , there was some guy on a santacruse of some sort who got 3/4 of the way up ! ( and then he left me for dead on the big road hill before the finish , the one that went on for ever ! )

My knees are throbbing away to day so its reassuring to know that its not just me (getting old ! ) – dread to think how the 2 single speeders that I saw ( a Kona Unit and a Jones Plus) are suffering today

Oh well threes always next year – what bike were you on the Peregrine or the Swift ?
( Singular owner here :-) )

Did you ride the course in reverse ? ( better that way it was murder the wrong way round!)