As a kid in sixth form, our school wouldn’t allow a junior cycling champ to do bike training on the wednesday sports afternoons even though he was sponsored by the sports council at the time & was good enough to go on to train chris boardman.
Money & facilities ain’t much cop if the schools ethos isn’t there in the first place.

I’m so glad I went to an FE college as opposed to a 6th form. They wouldn’t even bat and eye lid if we didn’t turn up, or walked out of lessons early, or came in stoned or stinking of booze from an afternoon underage pub session.

Ahhhhh good times.

Go for the carbon Zesty at that price.

If a sport is in the Olympics it should be about going as fast as humanly possible, irrespective of what you look like. They should be allowed to indulge in some lycra every four years.

Guess they should legalize EPO then, or use gears, bigger wheels and suspension. **** maybe a motor as well? I mean, your going as fast as humanely possible if a human designed the engine right?

How I feel most of the time

I have a Facebook profile under a pseudonym with a picture of a very obvious transsexual. What does that make me ?

Hard to pick between multiple personality disorder, gender dysphoria and persecution complex.

Better call the men in the white coats. (Who said that ??)

This made me snort bogeys out in laughter.

I have a suspicion you’re affiliated with the medical world.

Also I LOL”d at Jamies FMJ reference.

Oh yeah and DT Swiss forks (and shocks to an extent) are big time SHITE. For the same price you could buy a discounted Nukeproof Mega Comp (which comes with a nice reliable Lyrik fork that you could upgrade to MC DH later) or a Saracen (very good specs), or a Kona. You’d get all of these a few days after you ordered them and if there was a problem with the bike it would be sorted in days not months.

Enjoy waiting for half a year for your bike to actually turn up, then if it breaks, enjoy waiting for a month for them to email or call you back and then enjoy waiting for another 6 months for a warranty replacement.

Its obviously nice to win, and I am not against competition, but if we are to teach kids to enjoy sports it also needs to be about making personal improvements and achievements.

+1, all sports when I was at school in the 90’s and early 2000’s were just competitions against each other. No training or setting personal goals at all. Your end of term report was based on how well you stacked up against the others in a narrow range of sports, not your own improvement/effort over time. PE was setup for all the thick skulled monkeys.

I think in terms of risk, competition and difficulty it’s as much more of an Olympic sports than beach ball It’s about time some olympic sports carried a greater degree of risk.

Just pointing out the apparent change in mindset of teachers from when I was a child.

Who’s going to pay for the insurance to cover out of school sports? The conservatives? **** no. How many teachers know how to carry out proper risk assessments? How many teachers are also wary of after school activities in case someone accuses them of being a paedo?

Also being a teacher is a 9-5, have you not thought they might have their own families to look after when they finish?

Typically, the Daily Mail reading public wolf down the drivel spouted by the Daily Mail when it comes to public sector workers such as doctors, teachers, the police etc. The public and politicians get the services they deserve. Joe Public = “Wah wah wahhhh it’s all the fault of lefty union supporting teachers, that my childs a badly behaved obese retarded monkey” – or “Wah wah wahhhh it’s all the doctors fault that I got an incurable disease no one could have predicted”.

Would you be going to Avy from MC or MC-DH?

Modded Mission Control.

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Avalanche-Racing-Fork-Replacement-Cartridge-Kit-2012.html

Pinkbike review (compares it to the MC DH damper on the boxxer)

What will it take for the average watcher to see it as a serious race?

26 inch wheels.

Aka Four Cross

I just went out for a night out in….Melton Mowbray on a Monday night.

Coming back home to the midlands after four years of living in Oxford…..my thoughts are…. all the girls look like hookers, the towns a shithole and everyone wants to start a fight.

What so the OP’s got a 2011 frame, with a 2012 chainstay and sticker set? Hope MIG welding is not to weak as I have a 2011 frame with the new chainstay!

Bwarp – how much machining is needed for an avy cartridge?

The hole for the rebound adjuster supposedly needs to be drilled out to 10 mm. Not a big job tbh, it may not even be true. Gonna email avy for further details, a Fox 36 cartridge is in the pipeline as well for those of you who like the Fox chassis but can’t stand the damper.

Only downside for me is they’ve inceased the 2012 coil forks to 170 (10mm more) but the C2A is 20mm more than Fox Van 36’s (160mm versions)

That’s why I’m going with a Lyrik + Avy at the front and an X-fusion at the rear, although I think X-fusion are bringing out some new forks for 2013? Think they might have a lower axle to crown.

I’ve always loved tinkering though, so my rather eclectic combination of parts might not be for everyone. I’m prepared to spend a long time tuning as I really loved the Vector Air rear shock and as for the fork side…. the idea of having a user-serviceable and user-tunable bombproof open bath motorcross style fork damper cartridge makes me foam at the mouth.

Just got to get the balls to do a little machining work to my lyriks to fit the cartridge though.

Havn’t bought one, I tried one out on another friends Spicy – again we swapped bikes for a few hours on the same day – he was running a 55 up front and they seemed great together – altough the 55 was a little divier but plusher than the Deville. He had no/litle air in the 55 though – just the spring rate from the coil – so it was undersprung – they’re a little notchy when you bump the sprng rate up with air.

They’re doing push style custom tunes (shim stacks etc) straight from the factory for 50 quid extra. The new forks have a midvalve stack as well – the Vector Air is simply brilliant – I’m waiting for the 2013 Kashima (in al but name) one and then I’m going to purchase a custom tuned one for my preferences from the factory and then get on to Craig over at Avalanche to set me up with an two Avy cartridges one with an aggressive tune for racing and one with a plush tune for long alpine descents for my Lyrik.

A Deville coupled with a Vip’R on the back – the bike was a Spicy and the correct size for me.

They were good, the bike had a balanced neutral feel to it and I did feel the fork resisted dive more than my Lyrik when the Lyrik is setup to 30 percent sag. The problem is I run my coil Lyrik harder than most and when set up to 20 percent sag I felt there was little difference. I felt the Vip’r was superior to the Monarch for aggressive riding but didn’t feel as if it was any more sensitive on small bumps – perhaps a bit worse. I also felt the Deville was less precise in rock gardens.

Instead I’ve decided to keep the Lyrik and go with an Avy cartridge as it’s meant to massively reduce stiction and offer more mid stroke – I might then try a softer spring rate for long alpine descents instead of my current setup which is for UK style riding and short gravity enduros.

My rear Monarch is going to be replaced by a custom tuned X-fusion Vector Air HLR, which is simply the best and most tunable rear air shock I’ve tried.

Then I’ll balance the front and rear shock out myself by tweaking the adjustor’s.

Three hours sessioning a downhill trail, so yes. Not worth the 2-3% improvement in damper performance with the bollocks that comes with them, going to try out an Avy damper instead for shits and giggles to see if it’s as good as everyone says. At least it’s user serviceable and craig get’s back to you within a few hours.

What I’ve said all along, BOS are **** with poor customer service, expensive services and poor parts availability.

Still, lots of gullible idiots on here bought the hype!

Yeah, Rock Shox will probably make 95 percent of their money from large bulk purchases. I bet they make sod all from single crown coil forks.

At a guess it’s probably because all the OEM forks purchased are of the air variety as the bike manufacturers are more concerned about paper specs such as weight than actual performance or reliability. Note, very few companies spec their bikes with a ‘heavy’ set of 55 RC3’s.

I’m going to go on a shopping spree for Lyrik coil parts so I don’t have to go air for the next decade. Not downgrading, figure the Lyrik U-turn chassis with the Avalanche damper is just about the most perfect and most adjustable setup you can have.

Shame about the u-turn as DPA is meant to blow through it’s travel far to easily. The OP should buy a Marz 55 RC3 Ti in that case.

Was thinking of going up to the Large Nukeproof Mega you see, as according to the sizing charts I’m suitable for the Medium or Large. I’d fit a 35mm stem on it instead of my current 50mm stem.

Do you think a 35mm stem would mess up the handling?

The forward concept uses the relationship between the ultra short stem and the really slack headangle to work I believe, so the bigger frame with short stem idea isn’t really a goer (ignoring the other issues re. fit e.t.c)

reducer headset?

They don’t make the 170mm RC2DH coil anymore, just the 160mm u-turn with the non-dh damper.

If you get the u-turn remove the floodgate and roughly double the amount of compression clicks your using for a better performing fork.

Its OK, chalky and rooty, so dont bother if its raining*

*unless you’re good at riding a bike / have wetscreams.

I don’t know, my brother who used to place at least in the Top 10 in his NPS category (so I imagine he’s a fair bit better than you) really hated riding Aston Hill in the wet. You can’t always predict the level of grip you have on the front even with wetscreams on that chalk – and if you do **** up you stand a good chance of face planting a tree at high speed.

Transition Bandit with a 160mm fork to give it a slacker head angle.

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-transition-bandit-2-12-46429

Don’t go for a Mojo SL, it’s got horrible geometry and they’re flexy as hell. Other bikes in the 130-140mm range would be – Orange Five, Zesty, Blur LT or a Mondraker Dune with the new forward geometry (should make them ride great).

However if I was riding big mountains I’d want more of a 150-160mm gravity enduro bike, so a Nukeproof Mega, Spicy, Nomad, Reign X etc.

If you’re considering a Zesty, make sure it’s a 2012 one you test ride. The earlier model was deffinately a “long feeling” bike, even in the medium frame sizes. The 2012, imo, has just about nailed the trade off between stability Vs adjustabilit

The new one will feel even longer in the cockpit (which they lengthened), they slackened the head angle as well but shortened the chainstay. So it will probably be more boat like but easier to manual.

Do not buy any carbon bars other than Easton or Syntace.

Generally don’t take risks with components that stop your craniofacial region from planting the floor.

I hope you know you ruined the dual track by changing it…..

The beginners table tops sound great though as a few of my friends are going to be getting in to it – put in a nice progression in size.

Also could you put a bit of kick on the smaller gap jump at the bottom of one of the downhill runs (that’s next to a much larger one). It’s actually harder to clear than the large jump.

Maybe this guy used flash when taking this shot and that’s lessening the differences between the weld and the tubing? As the welds look considerably different to the OP’s. Maybe Nukeproof have gone for more of a ‘factory’ look with the 2012 model?

http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/showthread.php?t=521318&page=95

Some of the bikes have dark welds and some of them do not, quality control issue with the silvers? Or maybe some variation in the grade of tubing employed by the factories? Ring Nukeproof.

Take a look, none of the Megas I’ve seen have been as bad as the OP’s.

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=12841920

There’s a HUGE Nukeproof Mega thread with loads of pictures over at mtb-news.de, maybe post there!

Go for the yellow 😛 I’ve got one in yellow. I wouldn’t have any other stock colour.

Here’s why the OP should swap for the yellow

1) It’s New York Taxi Yellow
2) You could always strip the paint and polish the frame
3) You can repaint powdercoated frames when they get scratched, in a colour you like. I’m doing mine in metallic kawasaki green once the warranty runs out.

Success is the reward for hard work and sacrifice.

No it isn’t, you can work as hard as the man next to you but if your genes are not as good you may end up losing out on a medal.

And that’s the point. They are not ‘most’ people. They are the best of the best in their discipline. Winning should be all that matters to them. It’s what sets them apart.

Horsecrap, suicide rates would be unbelievably high in atheletes if they were hell bent on being the best and couldn’t deal with not being world number 1. What about domestiques? How do you explain their existence with your crap logic? There are hundreds of excellent tennis players and golfers who make money out of the sport but know that they will never be quite the same standard as Federer or Woods etc.

Black guy with morgan freeman voice + Mystical kind of language + Thin red line soundtrack + Slow motion shots = cliched yawn

Yes the olympics are still shit, the IOC are still corrupt scumbags as seen in the recent Azerbaijan match fixing (boxing), continuing sponsorship by corporations with appalling human rights records, co-operation with nation states that have appalling human rights records, continual doping by sportsmen, the fact that the games are turning out to be a vain ornamental fish pond for the political elite as opposed to something that actually helped our economy, the fact that most of the Olympic sports are just another form of nationalistic war/competition that don’t really contribute to human advancement except in the ability of certain individuals to jump 1 cm further (oooh **** yay, someones proved that their boring enough to spend hours a day jumping in sand to gain a cm length instead of doing something useful).

So yep they are self masturbatory shit and If I wanted to hear about that I’d listen to avant-garde jazz.

Darth Vader looks like its covering a scar ?

(I’d rather have a scar though )

Yeah, facial scars make you like a warry ‘ard nutter – especially the slash wound variety.

Facial tattoos just make you look like a chav

Has the OP’s bike even been anodized? I know Nukeproof did some custom polished frames for some teams that ride Nukeproof. Maybe a mixup, the bike looks almost just like a brushed alu finish to me?

Get a painted or black ano one, the welds on the silver ano frames are slightly darker in all the ones I’ve seen in the shops. Not THAT much darker like in the OP’s post though.