There are plenty of slow guides out there, generally they are with the slow groups however. ;)

Trust me, there was no “controlling speed” or “looking back to see where everyone is” or anything else like that on this occasion!.

IIRC you put some how to videos up on here trying to learn how to jump a baby tabletop? I mean it in the nicest possible way, but that sort of riding level doesn’t reflect someone hounding a decent guide.

But hey, it’s all about the bike, right? :)

Having read/deciphered some more of the Kickstarter page, jus prior to getting an aneurysm from all the bro talk, it also implies the frames are, after the initial runs, the frames at £900 are discounted?

Sounds like +/- £1000 for a frame then?

Yep. Good luck with that.

As previously mentioned by others, looks like a GCSE project. It’s amazing what people will stump up for on these Kickstarter style sites.

I could almost make some stereotypical assumptions on the owners of said bike brand/school project, based on that alone. A quick scoot to Instagram pretty much confirms the stereotype.

Who buys this sh1t?

Be prepared for the time wasters though; despite having lots of pics of me on top of mountains, in rivers, riding my bike etc I still got loads of sofa surfers whose idea of a big weekend was Primark, PizzaExpress, PinotGrigio and Pretty Woman

This, x1000000.

As a freshly single mid 30’s guy who has come out the back of a 9 year relationship, it’s a very different world now.

I’ve got some hot female friends so asked for some genuine advice, which mostly frightened me.

If they hot, they are literally inundated by (up to) 100’s of messages a day from guys. 75% of these are nutters, people looking to get laid, guys sending nob pics (what the actual f*ck?) or general morons, so are deleted. Then there are more normal people, who then umm & arr over sending messages to or not & slowly it gets whittled down to the one or two who are actually worth communicating with.

Therefore the odds are massively stacked against you from the word go, unless you happen to be Tom Hardy or Brad Pitt.

So I waded in, feet first. Went with POF & Tinder.

Set the boundaries of 29-42, and went in for what I wanted, someone slim or athletic with minimal baggage. There is a reasonable pool of people to work with, so off I went. My findings were really:

Snapchat. WTAF? Why are there ladies in their mid 30’s with profile pictures which involve snapchat filters? You look like a moron, so you probably are a moron. Binned.

Family photo’s. Wow. I get there will be single mums in the age range I am in now, but i’m not sure we need to see that from the word go. Binned.

Pets. Not just crazy cat ladies these days.

About Average. If average is a size 18 heffer, then yes, you are about average. There is a huge amount of body dysmorphia – i’m sure this is the same for ladies looking for men.

A few extra pounds. I don’t need to say any more on this.

Bad tats. So. Many. Bad. Tattoos.

Once you sort the wheat from the chaff, the talent pool (so to speak) is small – and that’s living in a big city. it’s not easy, and that’s before you even get to start talking to these people.

Thankfully I met someone early on & things have been great.

Give it a rest. Can you not comprehend that someone might know what bike suits them better than you do?
I have had enough bikes(!) to know what I want, what I prefer and what I’m faster on. You don’t, because you aren’t me.

This isnt about whether a bike suits you or not, it’s about whether a more expensive bike is discernibly faster, or not.

But congratulations on getting uptight anyway.

I’m very lucky with work to currently have an S-Works Enduro 29 in my garage. At 7.5 grand, it’s right up there for spec, desirability & it’s a great bike to ride. If I swapped it for an Enduro 29 Comp am I going to go slower? After all, it’s a third of the cost.

Besides being patently untrue (for me at least), it’s none of anybody’s business what anyone rides. If someone can afford a nice bike – good for them. Their level of riding is utterly and completely irrelevant.
Vanity project? What a bunch of bollocks.

Then you are either an absolute ripper on a bike who should probably be in the Southern Hemisphere at the moment racing the EWS & Crankworx, or slightly delusional that for your average rider, the final 5% makes the difference, when you arn’t even close to the limits of the bike.

Very few people need, use or even understand that level of performance. However that’s not to say they shouldn’t be able to want it or have it. That however, in reality is the driving force. Want. Nothing wrong with that at all.

If you honestly believe a good second hand £2k purchase is slower in reality for your average rider than a £7k enduro wonderbike, then good for you. If riding a £7k bike gives you pleasure from the spec’ing it to buying it, to looking at it in the shed & riding it, then also, good for you too – that is what it’s all about.

Having a quick look of sub £2k bikes in this category used on Pinkbike includes; Reigns, Patrols, Capra’s, Strives, Slashes, Remedys, Sights, Airdrops, Dune’s, Process’s, Mega’s, Enduro’s, etc. The list is endless.

None of which will have electric gears, but all of which will go around the jumps just as fast ;)

er, no, no you couldn’t!

i’ve got a 6.5k bike, i built it from new parts, and it has the best of everything on it. The parts cost 3.5k, the frame the other 3k.

You might be able, we some lucky ebaying etc, be able to find the same parts second hand and hence build the same spec bike for a bit less (second hand XTR di2 anyone?? but you ain’t going to build it for £2k to anything like the same spec!

You have totally missed the point.

It wasn’t that you could build a used bike for +/- £2k to the same spec as a £5-7k bike, it was the point that a well spec’d, used £2k bike is just as fast as your £7k vanity project, that probably gets used to about 40% of its potential…

Aye, and an ape is 95% the same as a human, but it’s the extra 5% that makes all the difference.

You’re just kidding yourself if you believe that. The extra 5% must make all the difference when you’re wobbling around the outside of a 10ft double as you are too scared to hit it, along with 99% of the other riders on here.

Classic case of it being the wizard, not the wand. But hey, if people want to buy £7,8,9k bikes to do that, fine, crack on.

I enjoy it.

I’m selling a car on there at the moment. £12k OBO. £12k is about a grand more than WBAC will offer, the cheapest on there is a solid grand more, with a lower spec & yet people off £8k & get indignant & shouty when you just decline :)

Mother of god, that last silver one.

Someone please pass the eye bleach & a scrubbing brush.

Yep. It was on a demo Spesh I rode.

All round good fork.

Is there import/export compatibility of stuff I have liked/built into playlists between platforms?

I’m not one for repeatedly going over the same things, just for the sake of trying something.

Fast damper is a nice bit of kit, essentially a RC2 damper for a RS chassis. Its very nice.

Essentially my opinion too – the problem is the RS chassis is junk.

My old fork & everyone I ride with ahs warrantied them for creaking crowns repeatedly.

The Fox chassis is much better.

There was something on their FB page today – just a tight image of a what looks like a new damper on the top of a fork leg…

There’s some top class ranting here.

Who on earth checks their air pressures every ride? I’m lucky if I check mine once a month & because air loss is on such a small scale it’s a couple of pumps, & it’s good to go.

Given that no one here who owns one has broken one, just blowing a lot of hot air about mates of mates or no specific known failures, I think they are a much safer bet than they used to be.

Sounds like some purchase justification to me. The 2 friends I spoke of both cracked one each on group rides I was attending.

If we’re talking mates of mates I can add a couple more in there from the Surrey HIlls Shredders brigade, all of whom are fans of the short travel 29″ thing. My polite hat might suggest if you are not the fastest rider, biggest jumper, or hardest cornerer, you will probably be fine. The quick boys I ride with seem to manage to crack them in impressively fast times.

As to what else to buy, the list is huge. Stumpy, Smuggler, Fuel EX, Prime, Canfield, Process, Whyte 129, Optic, Primer, Tallboy 3/Hightower, etc.

The list of bikes in this category is huge now, most of which don’t have a reputation of falling apart, terrible service & poor support.

Some of these bikes are way more progressive with the geometry too.

Why give yourself a massive potential headache?

2 hard riding friends both bought one, both cracked them, then both cracked the replacements.

They sold the third ones & bought Stumpies.

There is plenty of choice out there of bikes that do the same without the issues.

Rumours of one of the biggest US dealers floating around of piles of broken frames waiting for warranty replacements.

No smoke without out fire, same old Evil.

Honestly, I can’t see myself on a Fuel. I think if I decide against the Slash I’ll be trying a Stumpjumper 29.

Strange, everything you have said suggests the Slash is probably totally the wrong bike for what you want. You might as well be looking at other stuff along the same lines too (Mega 29, Enduro 29, etc).

Yet you seem wary of the new Fuel, which actually sits somewhere between the bigger bike you are interested in, and the smaller one. It’s longer, lower and slacker than the Stumpjumper.

Don’t get me wrong though, the Stumpy is a really, really good bike – bikes in that sort of genre (and I include the Fuel in that too, along with the Jeffsy & some others) are pretty much the ideal solution for nearly all.

Having ridden the Slash, the new Enduro 29 and some other long travel 29″ options, I can safely say for me, as I guess as an above average rider, but by no means a hardcore racer, they are way too much bike for the UK. If I lived in the Alps, i’d have one in a heartbeat, but i’m at peace with my riding and can say these light weight mid travel 29″ trail bikes are spot on for Mr Average.

You need to be absolutely pinned on these bigger bikes to make stuff fun.

People who buy completely the wrong size/unsuitable bike and then bodge it to fit/work.
Then complain that it’s shit and isn’t comfortable or isn’t very good at what they bought it for

Hora/Renton/Weeksy?

TLD Raid are awesome & not made of old sponge & covered in ladies tight material (as in they appear to be lasting very well).

No lower strap, because they don’t need one IMO.

Trance, Remedy, Scout, Process 134, Stumpjumper, Stereo 140, 5010, Meta TR, etc.

Plenty of good 130/140mm 650b travel bikes.

If it were a 29″, i’s be looking at the newer breed of shorted travel, more trails geometry based stuff rather than the older style of bike.

Both sound excessively wide to me, for anything, let alone trail riding.

I don’t think Brendog has ever been quickest on any of the splits at a WC DH race, and surely if he was quite as naturally fast as you think then he would have been?

He has been in the past. He nearly won Schladming (I think it was ’09) when he was winning and had an off, still podium’d the result in 5th though.

He has his niche, when he & Sam joined Specialized, UK demo sales went through the roof, and subsequently remain buoyant. He sells a lot of bikes and kits for his sponsors. Some do that by winning races, others do that by taking his approach.

It’s always interesting to compare him to the absolutely professional approach to racing the Atherton’s take. I’d be fairly confident of the number of Gamblers sold over the number of Fury’s.

He’s very good & very savvy at what he does. It works well for everyone involved.

If you like flow the LG trails are terrible. For what looks like a blue flow trail they ride like anything but.

If it’s just a few days there is probably enough to keep you entertained. Probably the best flow stuff is on Super Morzine at the top, although you need to slap the berms fairly hard to carry enough speed to clear the jumps.

There are some trails in the Chatel Bike Park that would be ok too.

Be careful to pick your time though, they will be riddled with braking bumps, it’s just a question of how bad they will be.

That’s a big difference there – plus he’s not so caught up in the world of ‘edits’ like Bryceland and Brendog are. They’re both very talented riders, but are they willing to go the extra mile to get the race results? Hart appears to.

There is no right or wrong answer to that.

As has been repeatedly stated, sponsoring riders is not just about the winning. with the huge proliferation of social media, the sponsorship model has evolved accordingly.

Mainstream marketing is boring, like F1 drivers they’re not allowed to say anything remotely off-script, but it pays – I imagine Gee who hasn’t won a WC in 3 years and an International Race in 2 gets paid more than anyone else in WC DH

You imagine wrong. Gwin almost takes as much as the entire Atherton ‘package deal’ collectively.

Can we talk about Sam Hill? It pains me greatly to see where he’s finishing in each race. He has the (joint) most wins ever at MSA yet could only manage 65th on Saturday. He hasn’t even cracked the top 20 this year.

Maybe he’s just losing interest – same tracks every year. People seemingly prepared to lay it on the line more than him (he’s a bit of a baby factory at present) means self preservation is kicking in?

He’s openly been struggling with the bike setup again, which won’t help his confidence. With a lot of these guys it’s a massive mental game to get your sh*t in a pile on race day. Stevie Smith was very open about this a couple of years ago, coming back from a couple of injuries after winning the overall the year before, he felt like he was riding well, yet couldn’t put race runs together. He knew it was mental and just had to figure out how he was going to fix things. It took quite a while.

Arguably there is no expectation for him to perform at an EWS, so he may be more relaxed and just get on with riding his bike.

He’s coming to Whistler this week & is down on the start list for the EWS again – be interesting to see how he gets on again. The wild, loose nature of the valley trails have to be right up his street.

There are 22,000 photo’s on R&R from the event. I imagine they are mostly on there!

Why do some think Bryceland is marketing Gold ?

He hasn’t got much in the way of results this year, all his social media exposure shows him messing about as if he’s out for a ride with his mates. Sure, he’s probably a great laugh to go for a ride with. But as an aspirational pro athlete he seems the wrong person.

Whereas a lot of his competitors – Danny / Atherton for example, look like they are professional athletes.

Same reason why Brendan Fairclough is.

Gambler has never won a WC, yet there are absolutely truck loads of them at the races and at bike parks all over the world, because everyone wants to ride like Brendan.

And Danny looks like a professional athlete? Really? What have you been smoking? He looks like an extra from Pans Labyrinth compared to someone way more polished Like Gwin/Gee/etc.

I don’t see Danny being the next big thing, and certainly not a young gun – he’s 25 in a matter of weeks. Bruni for sure – he has the potential to be come the next Vouilloz. I’d be keeping more of an eye on Vergier & Iles for that title.

Every X2 i’ve ridden if you are somewhere quiet makes some noise after the initial movement of travel. It’s the oil moving through the valves.

THat’s from brand new shocks on brand new bikes to absolutely hammered Demo 8’s.

Only had one cavitated on a Demo 8 & it sounded awful, and literally felt like a pogo stock.

I wouldn’t worry, assuming you haven’t mentioned about how it feels, it’s fine?

I may be biased, but the Ohlins kit is lovely.

36 has a fair few publicised reliability and performance issues, which goes against a lot of the glowing press reviews.

I would look at the Lyrik or the RFX.

Ha! I don’t work for Silverfish. It’d be quite a commute; they’re 170 miles away.

I wernt talking about you :wink:

Get ready for the “you call that muddy!?!?!” comments, Pinetree…

Silverfish staff in “pro Yeti comment shocka”!

If it’s meant to be a Silverfish showcase, that’s an odd looking set of Formula brakes on it. ;)

It doesn’t ming as much as the other one, but it still mings, those forks would look vile even to Stevie Wonder.

Speaking of the godfather of soul, have DVO still got him painting their forks? Runs & finishes so bad it could only be because the painter is blind :)

The RF Half nelsons appealed to me with no lockring on the outside, but they were crap, the outer edge tore off in a couple of weeks.

The Santa Cruz Palmdale are a much better grip, only reason I didn’t get on with them is they are a bit thin for my hands.

DMR Deathgrip.

Bit like a ruffian, with some extra grip round the finger area, and a waffle bit for the thumbs. They feel really nice.

I’m a big fan of the newer style grips without a lockring on the outside, as I run my hands off the end of the bars, means no more bruised palms :)

Knee pads outside trousers says different

Oh my days!

That’s possibly worse than an Unduro thigh gap.

i’ve wondered why folks take a 3 litre hydration pack to Bike Park Wales. Is it in case they have to do the climb during the drivers lunch break?

It’s a squid ‘identifier’.

Good for highlighting which trails to avoid being held up on, pick the one they don’t go down ;)

Yeah, but is that actually his bike, or one made to look like it…

The e13 cassette only has alu cogs in the upper section, the ones least susceptible to wear.

For most people, the upper half of the cassette is the part that’s most susceptible to wear. Making it out of aluminium is just going to accelerate that. Also judging people’s opinions of the wear rate of e13 expander rings, well, you better get used to changing bits, a lot.

The amount of SRAM 11 speed cassettes I’ve seen that look fine other than a doggy 42t seems to tally with that.

Shifting performance doesn’t seem to vary much on all the cassettes, but the one huge benefit to the XX1 example is it doesn’t look like crap after a handful of muddy rides. Why people think black cassettes is a good idea is beyond me.