Dez… I'll let you know how I get on. Your advice the other week was rather useful.
Had great fun inflating the things, think i'm becoming a bit of an inflation master! haha

Decided on the orange 5 in the end, that alpine was a little chunky!

Sod it…. Ordered a pair of Rubber Queens in 2.2
Toss up between that and the hutchinson barracuda.

Arrghhh… trying to chose an all round tyre is a nightmare!!!
Hutchinson Barracuda looks good, as does the rubber queens…
Not looking good on the LUST review front tho!

Interesting! How do they fair up in the UST stakes?

They dont actually mention panaracers at all….
I dont mind ordering up some UST Tyres, my issue is finding a good one.

I like the rampage tread and it rode well with tubes.

What UST tyres would be suggested for all day riding on an orange 5 with a fat old Fox 36 up front?
Rubber queens seem a little large in 2.4, maxxis LUST gets poor reviews.
Any other thoughts… oh they'll also be doing the kielder so cant be toooo draggy!
thinking something between 2.2 and 2.35 ish?

Interesting, the Panaracers are very baggy but now have seated fine. Ill give them a test ride tomorrow and see if they burp loads.
If that the case I'll look at a rim strip or maybe a rubber queen as they look quite nice for a 5inch all day type bike.
Have about 29psi in them at them moment so will see how they feel later!

Slightly scared me to say the least! Was a biiiig noise!
Will take them for a bit of a spin later to see how they hold up. Then off on the hills tomo evening!

100mm on most, 90 on the single speed i think.
Feels fine with 100mm on the Orange 5

Thats Tax Fraud…. can be deemed kinda serious by some!
Cant have a kids bike as the point is Cycle to work, not get your family out for the weekend. You also cant buy components.

Have to buy a bike for it to work…

Im 6ft 1ish! It comes up a little short with the 70mm stem, I do need a bit of post showing (Seat was down as it had just come out the car)
But there is still double the min insert in the frame!
Yep its and 18…. makes it useable for some chucking about, 20 would have been a little bit too big.

135 rear hub on maxle i Believe!

Lydeard Hill Car park, 10am Saturday.
about 10.30-10.45 at Crowcombe park gate.
Sharki, these times suit?

Must be time for another quantocks route soon…..

Bash ring? I'd rather have big ring!
50mm Stem? Yikes… that'd be well short! it came with a 70mm and was like an old school sit up and beg! Had to put a 100mm on to make it fit properly. Would be interested in having one for play days tho, not sure it needs it after Sundays ride tho!

V2's don't seem that heavy, when specing it the options were X2's at 160mm or V2's at 203mm. I quite fancy a bit of Alps riding and Passport next year so decided on the larger, at 14+ stone + kit the 160's would have been working very hard. Feel very nice to ride with tho, shame the matchmaker for XTR isnt out yet!

Mines the same as above but with a 100mm reba. Paid £590 + £250 for the fork i think, I was happy at that and love it to bits!
Now have a Hope SS on the rear with 719, put the SLX on it from the Whyte so its got HT11 bb. Put some Hayes Stroker trails on there as the shimano ones were a bit pants.
Raced Bristol Bike fest on it this year and loved it.

V2's seem rather nice, loads of modulation to them.
The tyres are on the correct way as per the instructions on the sidewall!
The 36's have Talas and are 160/130/100 so i too can drop the front if i want! Tho it does look a little silly on 100!
I want to ride it all day and the 70mm stem it came with was a bit too upright. 100mm lets it climb as well as it goes down. Doesnt seem to be too much of a compromise really.

Seemed like a very good tyre on the mendips and the Q's on sunday, million times better than the Conti Mountain Kings that were on it!

Will see you sunday then Jambo! any times/places ?

let me think about that…. How about Noooo hehe!
When are you next back for a Q's bashing?

Orange Five…. Just picked up mine and its amazing. It picks up speed like nothing I've ever ridden. Got an SE with V2's and 36's up front.
Absolute dream, you wont be disappointed!

Krag…. drop us a mail when your next in the area and im sure we can show you a few of the better areas!
Its not mega tough, or big like cwmcarn, but has some very good techy sections.

Coombe sydenham is better for the larger drops etc… only 15 mins up the road from town.

Smiths is great…. but there is so much more!
You need to borrow a local for the day, they'll show you the best climbs and the best descents!

Powerball spins… so cant be replaced by a squash ball!
I gather its all to do with the muscles constricting blood flow and making your arms hurt. getting stronger arms isnt the only fix as this would give bigger muscles and more constricting

Two words tho…. Keilder 100!!!!! (more like one word, one BIG number tho…)

Ahhh… it was only another another 2300ft of climbing with concrete block, dog pound, picnic bench, another puncture and climb out from weacombe back to lyd hill.
Add that onto the 3200ft for this ride and it was a good day out.
3 flats is a record tho i think!

Cracking day out, first proper ride on the new five.
Cant believe quite how quick it goes with such little effort. Still scaring myself tho, which is fun!
I managed to get back to taunton for 4.45 and go for a 20mile quantock spin too which was nice!

I'll be there on my shiney new toy…. with inner tubes not Tubeless!

Catlike Sakana? Best fit I've had, and its keeps my head lovely and cool. Something a Giro has never done!

REx… you left yet? When you going up?

I only have a hardtail…. well only have a few hardtails.
To be honest you'll have a blast on full sus or hardtail.

Everyone seems to ride a mix, I think Saladdodger may be on a SS.

Would you rather climb or descend? I can suit both… and bring the bike that ties up with that.

Good good andy! Will be good to see you!
Sheppie, ill be in a big gunmetal grey VW T5 and on a Whyte 905

So so tempting!

Im free…. will be at lydeard Hill Car park (Taunton side of the quantocks) at 10 am on Saturday morning. Should be 7 of us at the moment so your all welcome to join us.
Otherwise about 10.30/10.45 at Crowcombe Park Gate.

I will be there too…. sporting a shiney new catlike!

Orange 5 Mr Bev! But its UST and I need tyre Ideas!

Rex… that last flat and downhill were awesome! Kinda got the legs back for that and had a blast. Got to the point where I couldnt even cover the brakes! Took quite a bit of work avoiding the drainage channels.

Cheers for the company to you both!

Any other thoughts for actual tyres?

nearly 6000ft Climbing i think.

Happy birthday! Should have a new bike when you come back

Was a damn good day! Shame i only found you at the finish line Dibbs, at least you didnt get me lost tho.

Best bit was the last off road section joining up the road climb with the road home.
Steve and I had a total blast down there and I seemed to gain some legs and really push the slight climb. Cheers to the fella on his bike who shouted go on lads as we passed him!
Oh… and next year I dont need so much time at the tea stops! Or the flat on the first bit of off road.

Sharki… Should be good to give you a lift, are you paid up?
Have you thought about where to stay? Im looking to head up on the Thursday to break down the driving. Getting back monday.