Anyone?

Disclaimer: “Haven’t read Ed’s piece yet (still struggling to get past the beard).”

My son isn’t really interested in bikes much, doesn’t stop me spending time with him doing other things though, <heresy> believe it or not there is more to life than bikes </heresy>. So don’t be too hard on yourself if your offspring don’t share your obsession, it doesn’t stop you having a great relationship with them.

Agree entirely about the long-termers section. The cannondale one is fine but the other two are a complete waste of space, who cares what expensive bits the journos have blagged to adorn their free bikes….. tell us how they ride or at the very least what difference to the ride swapping the bits around makes. It would also be nice to know how the bikes are aging, what’s wearing out, what’s needed adjusting etc… etc.

Ragley Ti discounted already?
15% off at CRC

Wow, it’s the “Jesus Bike”

Will it bring an end to world hunger and a cure for cancer as well? 😉

See this is the thing, I can well believe that slacker is better for steep, Calderdale down hills and doesn’t make much difference to the slow slog back up, but what I can’t quite fathom is how it is going to work slicing through woodland singletrack? Most of my local riding is gently undulating forest trails, all twisty and narrow but fundamentally lacking in elevation changes, which I would imagine is the complete antithesis of the riding in Calderdale. I guess the shorter stem helps speed up the steering a bit, but still, I quite like having fast, responsive steering so that I can weave my way between the tree trunks a fast as possible.

To shops, and then to punters.

Wow impressive, I guess that’s on word of mouth alone…

When you say “sold out” do you mean sold to shops or sold to punters? Just curious…

<sigh>

Yes, I’ve had one apart, yes I removed the snap ring, yes the bearings were contaminated with crap.

You obviously haven’t taken a CK headset apar ChrisS, how about the stainless snap ring and seal system – have you removed that, and have you had a CK headset fail?

No I OBVIOUSLY haven’t…. 🙄

I’ve have had CK bearings fill up with crap though.

Its just i believe king know more about headsets than a manufacturer that specialises in brakes.

Are headsets really that complicated? If King really know so much them how come their design doesn’t seem to fair well with long travel forks?

I’ve used CK ones in the past and the bearings haven’t been any better sealed than the cheaper FSA ones I now use instead….

Adjustable dropouts?

Try the mtbr manufacturers forum, loads of info in there:
http://forums.mtbr.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35

LOL – yeah, heatstroke doesn’t really exist, it’s just an excuse for being WEAK! bit like altitude sickness and mental illness 😉

I have been out riding in the mid-day sun before and overheated, ended up having to lie down in the shade for a while pouring water over my head and feeling rotten…. I actually prefer being too cold to too hot 😯

Just went for the day with my son, thought it was great. Obviously the fantastic weather and the fact that he got in for free helped, but there was plenty to see…. the Animal demos with Danny Macaskill were amazing and the dirt jump finals were immense! Oh and the free bouncy castle was a big hit…. as were the dodgems :roll:. Seemed to be lots of people having a good time, nice vibe, really mellow.

I’m astonished that this thread has lasted so long over a completely subjective question.

Really?

It’s only a front hub, hardly the most technically complex bit of kit, other (cheaper) makes are available.

I can’t quite get my head around cross bikes. I bought one last year and have hardly used it at all, I’m not interested in racing but I thought I’d use it in the winter when the trails are a mess, however in practice I use my single speed as there is less maintenance/cleaning. So then I thought I’d use it on the fast, dry trails in summer, but I take my full suspension bike because it somehow seems more fun having not ridden it much in the winter. So then I thought I’d use it to commute, but the road bike is faster in the dry, the old hack mountain bike is better in the wet (big tough tyres, full mudguards) and the cx bike is a real pain to bodge a rear guard on to.

Hmmmm, is it really possible to have one bike to many? Maybe I should just flog it….

I’d go for the mojo, ‘cept they’ve sold out of large…. so I won’t. 🙁

Or alternatively, have we nearly reached the point in the LED arms race where most lights will have sufficient power and what you are paying for is build quality, reliability and backup? Dunno, anyone who understands economics like to comment, in a way this sounds like an interesting case study.

So you need something that can be upgraded each year to the latest and greatest LEDs…. the housing, charger and batteries aren’t going to change much.

I’d pay a heck of a lot more than £50 for something of troutie’s quality.

I’d also be interested in a kit for DIY, but it would need to come with good instructions! I’ve no problem soldering but I wouldn’t know one end of a maxflex from another

I don’t suppose anyone is doing deals on these frames at the moment are they (a bit like CRC are doing offers on intense frames including the new tracer vp)?

Gorgeous…. don’t suppose they are any cheaper for not being painted? Thought not 🙁

Wish I could afford one.

I’ve got the same voucher…. if anyones still interested in going halves?

There seems to be quite a price difference as well, the rush carbon 3 is £2098 for RP23 and a Float 32 RLC. Whereas for £100 more, the carbon rize 4 only comes with an RP2 and a revelation 409. The drivetrain and wheels are broadly similar on both.

built for proper riding not fairy prancing fireroads and racing in circles round a grassy field.

Quote of the day!

I’ve never had a clear answer from any of these raised/braced seat tube bikes as to how far the post has to go in?

The new intense tracer has a very low slung top tube with a bracing section that rises up to meet the top of the seat tube, in the pics it looks like there is a little hole in the seat tube so that the rider can check seatpost insertion, the hole is below the brace junction but above the “top tube” junction:

IME the people who constantly buy bikes and bits are the people who ride the least (not saying that about anyone on this thread – before anyone titty lips).

Of course the other way to look at this is some people can’t ride as much as they like so they make do with buying bits, it’s a kind of displacement behaviour.

I used the avid kit… worked fine, I think it was cheaper too.

None in “large” though….

I emailed them about the tracer frames and they replied explaining that the price of the frames was dependent upon the price they paid for them, hence the slightly random assortment of reductions on different sizes and colours. Thus when they sold out of cheap ones the price went up.

(Never actually bought a tracer, would be overkill for most of my local rides, if only they had reductions on the spider 2 frameset….. ho hum).

I really like the idea of the bottlerocket, but the frame weighs over 8lbs without a shock… which is far to heavy for me and I would have thought noticeably heavier than your tazer?

Doesn’t the bottle rocket weigh as much as a small house though? A new tracer would be in keeping with the intense theme.

I wonder how longer forks would be okay on the original spider xvp frame? they are much cheaper.

Maybe you should go for a full on harlequin effect and stick on some nice brightly coloured diamond shaped stickers.

recently replaced the Pikes with 36 Floats (160mm front & rear)and it is now totally composed

Yeah, that’s the impression I got from mtbr.com, the majority of Tracers seem to built up with 160mm rather than 140mm forks.

160mm forks would be overkill for most of my local riding which is why I fancy a spider 2 instead, haven’t got £1600 to spare though so it’s pretty academic 🙁

Hi Daffy, still a poor, broke, student then? 😉

The green mojo looks great, not sure about the hubs though, mind you I don’t like chris king stuff much anyway….

Personally I think I’d rather have an intense spider2, 4.5-5″ travel, 70-69 deg headangle, less than 6lbs for the frame, standard 1 1/8 head tube. But nobody is selling them off cheap. 🙁

The impression I get is that most people build up their tracer with fox 36’s or similar for a slacker, more dh biased ride, whereas the mojos seem to get built up with a more xc bias.

The recent STW review of the tracer stated that they’d tried both longer and shorter forks with both rear travel options, but didn’t actually say anything about the results!