Both my Litespeed built Hummer and Lynskey built hummer cracked, both around the 1 year old mark.

To balance that, a friend’s Litespeed built Hummer purchased at the same time is still going strong.

I preferred the ride of the Lynskey model.

Looks familiar.

Had the same happen with my Hummer.

Just can’t see a connection between your Ridgeline and my Hummer that wasn’t built by Litespeed though…. 😛

5’8″ 32″ inside leg. On the cusp and could go either way, settled on a medium and love it. 70mm stem.

Molgrips – PCI bus on the motherboard has failed.

richmars – I suppose budger up to £1k. And yes I would be happy assembling myself.

2 Hummers 🙁

MidlandTrailquestsGraham – My Lynskey built Hummer went in exactly the same way

Hummer – was the best riding bike I’d owned, til it broke, as did it’s replacement. And I wasn’t the only one that happened to, and we don’t ride hard as a group.

Take that as you want, but it’s there for your info.

Ride a Cotic Soul now which is even better!

I’d kill myself for you,
I’d kill you for myself.

Pantera – This Love

agree with Kimbers – broke my hand on Mother’s day, hopefully back on the bike in another couple of weeks 🙁

I used to have an 8500 a few years back, very good bike, you won’t be disappointed if you get one.

However:

Can anyone recommend a good alu hardtail for £2K?

I would seriously recommend that you take a look at a Whyte 19 Trail if you can stretch your budget a little or get one knocked down. I was genuinely blown away by the one I rode, plenty light enough, climbs like a climby thing on steroids and was plenty nimble enough in the singletrack.

Buy a Soul (Insert other steel frame options here) frame.

Since you don’t have time, pay shop to swap bits over and replace anything that needs to be.

Any money left either upgrade some bits or pocket for later.

Replace parts as they wear out.

Sorted.

I ran out of degreaser and used white spirit today, chain came up a treat.

tomhplanetx – do you have a non forum point of contact I could use? my e-mail is in my profile.

If I had an Oedipus complex and a time machine, I could be a self made man.

HR 2.35

I was gutted to miss out on a 4.something rate a few years back, and ended up taking the tracker at BOE + 0.19. So I was rather happy when rates started to fall. Got a way to go before we hit the 4.69% it was when I took that out so happy at the mo.

Looking good

Depends if it’s an original one, or a (windowed) gusseted that one that failed and has had the replacement downtube ‘fix’.

I exclusively used XT on mine, eventually that gouged too, just took longer.

chakaping
crikey.
I look at it and think ‘I do like thin steel tubes with a nice paintjob’ but I wouldn’t want to go into a hotel room with it.

I owned the old “deep purple” Kili which I believe must have inspired this.

It’s like seeing an old flame again, and she’s even hotter than you remembered.

chakaping – The beer may of helped but that just made me genuinely laugh out loud.

I’m liking the look of the new Saracens

SPD

Except I tried flats today for developing technique… and kinda liked it. And that was with some crappy old vans and borrowed flats.

So I’m now flats curious.

I just put the bits I wanted on my Soul, it weights 28lbs and I’m perfectly happy with it at that. I have LUST HRs on Flows which I know add weight, but I like em.

CK Hubs
Rebas
XT
SLX brakes
Thomson

5’8.5″ here, so right on the cusp of a small/medium.

Coming from a bike with a smaller TT I used to get lower back ache on some rides and playing with stems/layback hadn’t quite got it dialed. Like you I have short legs, 32″ crotch to floor, so opted for the medium in the end. It’s perfect fit wise and an absolute hoot on the trails, it’s got me up a climb I normally struggle on, whilst I’ve got off 2 drops I was really struggling with mentally, it’s just confidence inspiring. Oh, and it absolutely loves singletrack, a real singletrack serpent.

Whilst I was debating getting one, I tried a friends, 1 ride was enough.

IMO – The Soul is better than a Hummer (The bike that is)

organic355 – Yep, got the 12 year old. Had a couple of large measures last night over ice as suggested. I like the initial sensation and taste in the mouth, but feels a little harsh when swallowed (Oi, no smutty comments at the back 😆 ) Seemed to get better as the ice melted a bit and the water eased it. Certainly a change from Whisky. Not sure having it after Porter was wise, so be interesting to try it pure next time.

Tried Penderyn – wasn’t for me.

So Cognac – might give that a go sometime – what would be good to start with?

scaredypants – check my update – I did 😉

Your pressures sound high all round.

FWIW I love riding that area and run 25-28 psi in Stans set-up, would prob run 32-35 with tubes. Forks sagged around 25%.

John Bush

Found both the Cockspur 12yo and Springbank 10yo in Waitrose, looking forward to experimenting.

Also found Bruichladdich Rocks – any good? Might try that next.

allthepies
<Insert obligitory OXO Tower gag here>

Damn it, I was going for that.

Night/weekend at a nice hotel without the kids and take her shopping – she chooses, you pay. Did similar with surprise of friends showing up on the Friday evening and all going out. Personal massage each in the room on the Saturday after shopping, before a fancy meal.

+4 for black box Rebas with Maxle

Alex

As the Boardman has an integrated headset that defo has to change, I would say you’ll be fine with a Hope, but as per Mike I’d spend a bit more and go for a CK if you can afford it. Mine’s on it’s fifth or sixth year now still running fine, shop around and they don’t cost a lot more.

Next, seatpost, looks like the Boardman is 27.2mm so you’ll be fine swapping that over (Double check diameter though), and the Soul comes with collar so you’re fine there.

As others have mentioned, front mech. I run Shimano so have had no problems with changing diameters as it’s one fits all now with a couple of shims, not so sure on the SRAM stuff.

Other than that you might as well go for new inner and outer gear cables anyway, and if you are really unlucky you won’t get away with the existing lengths of disc brakes hose – unlikely though.

With regards to the wheels, if it was me I’d be looking at a set of new Hope Hoops, Pro II hubs with Stans Flow rims. The Hope front hub can be set-up for 9mm QR, 15mm or 20mm. I had the Pro II hubs before on Mavic 719 rims, really good, in fact they were about 5 years old and have moved on to another home now, still going strong. I was going to replace with Hope Hoops with Flows, up until the point I decided to treat myself to CK hubs laced to Flow rims instead 😈 Only criticism I have of the Hopes is the front bearings didn’t seem to last too well, but the hubs are very easy to service yourself.

Forks are a little more tricky. Personally I am a Rockshox fan, but still had a good chat with a few people. Very nearly went Fox, but in the end went with Maxle Rebas at 120mm. Having had the Maxle on my Pikes, I love them and defo wanted to go down that route. From experience I’m happy with the servicing intervals on Rockshox, but then I’ve heard plenty of good stories about Fox. Dobby went with the Floats on his Soul and having ridden both, there’s not a lot in it. Did like the Terralogic he had on them though 😉

Personally I found adjustable forks a waste, the only advantage was being able to initially run the Pikes on a frame designed for shorter travel. Once they were on a 140mm adjusted bike, that’s where they stayed. If you’ve paid for it use it. I think there were 2 times I recall winding them down for really steep climbs. Bit like lock out, I don’t use it, I’ve paid for the suspension so I’ll use it. My Rebas came with a poploc and I haven’t fitted it. Anyway, veering off a bit there. I tried a Genesis a while back with 120mm Maxle Rebas and loved them, very stiff and not hugely different to the Pikes, it made me question if I really needed 140mm. So when I went with the Soul I decided to go with 120mm and haven’t missed the extra 20mm so far, seems fine for everything I normally ride. I think 120mm suits the Soul perfectly, oh and have no clearance issues either.

Alex – I’m running a Reba at 120mm with a Maxle, I loved the fork when I tried it on a Genesis, really don’t notice the loss of 20mm much over the Pike, but notice the loss of weight on the front. Nearly went Fox, and Dobby (The other ex Hummer rider) has Floats on his, the FIT model, they are very nice. But Rockshox require a little less careful maintenance so went for them. My absence was bike failure related, and then I think I got a bit depressed about it all and chose the wrong bike to start with. Sorted now and very happy.

Hopefully I’ll be out on a Thursday again in a few weeks so should catch you then Pete and Mike.

Pete – That looks gorgeous, can’t wait to see it in the flesh – now I’m sorted and should start getting back out soon.

Chief – I’ve sorted myself on a Soul so you are more than welcome to sling your leg over some time. Runs lovely at 120mm and still coped with the drops up Leith Hill no problem.

LoCo

Actually, thinking about it I can see a potential money spinner here

Want to go into business? 😈

I missed the joke in question, and after the controversy won’t be searching it out.

However, have seen Boyle live and enjoyed it, although some did make me squirm.

I can’t remember who said it, but along the lines of ‘hearing people laugh, then stop as the PC kicks in and ask if they should be laughing’. I agree with that level of pushing it in comedy, where your natural instinct is to laugh. Too far past that line is where I struggle.

I missed the joke in question, and after the controversy won’t be searching it out.

However, have seen Boyle live and enjoyed it, although some did make me squirm.

I can’t remember who said it, but along the lines of ‘hearing people laugh, then stop as the PC kicks in and ask if they should be laughing’. I agree with that level of pushing it in comedy, where your natural instinct is to laugh. Too far past that line is where I struggle.

What is that?

Yummy

Come to think of it – anyone in the know as to how far ahead bike companies are actually planning?

Are the 2012 bikes already designed?

Re Electronics in suspension.

When you look at gyros and inclinometers in mobiles now, just linking front and rear is a little short sighted.

What about the sus detecting that you are now travelling downhill and therefore opening it out full throttle (So to speak)?

Perhaps pre-sets that you can select for the conditions or type of trail?

Don’t know that it’s something I’d want myself, but there you go. Hell, why not for brakes too, modulation adjusted by a preset? Front/rear bias etc.