How’s the bike stored? Any chance you had the front wheel off and it fell on something in the shed/garage?
If it was a head on impact whilst riding, I would expect you to know about it.

Either way, I wouldn’t trust it anymore personally.

I usually get 12-13 rides uplifts in in a days session, which isn’t bad. I think it still worth it.

£10 for a days access also seems pretty reasonable for what you get. Swinley is £4 for parking and Gawton is £5 for access, both nowhere near as good as BPW. It would be frustrating being a local though. They ought to offer a locals membership or similar.

Answer Jamesmios Qs and then it’ll be easier to advise.

The hosting is such a small part of what you’re trying to achieve, but as we’re talking about that- DigitalOcean is cheap and reliable. To select the right specs, you need to know some of the following; use this article for a basic view.

– Are you planning on building and managing this yourself or are you looking to outsource the build?

– If it needs public exposure, have you got a marketing plan in place and ideas for SEO?

– Will you be using a coding language to build or a template/wordpress?

– What CSM are you planning on using (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal or …)?

There are so many more questions, but these might help.

Feel free to ping me an email, I do this everyday.

Fat Creations is one of the favourites with pros & teams.
Alistair paints some lovely stuff. His eye for detail is amazing.

Check out his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fatcreations/

Edit: Missed your Fat Creations comment, sorry!

Legend, Yeah! It was free earlier and now seems to apply the £3.33 on top, even when over the threshold.

Stooge Mk1- loved the bike. Not the lightest, but solid build.

PS: Longing for dusty trails, as per photos :(

I’ve done a few 100k offroad rides and the 29er FS wins every time.
Yes, you could probably do the ride on a CX bike, but the 29er FS will be much more comfortable and as a result more fun & enjoyable. Take the weight penalty for added comfort.

I used a 120mm trial bike for my most recent one. Yes, overkill but comfortable. It’s also had 1 set of frame bearings in about 2 1/2yrs of all weather riding of about 3000k/yr on it, so very robust.

Giant Anthem, Spec Epic & RM Element look like the perfect tools.

Is her name Louise?

Hopes are a know quantity which are proven and reliable. The fact that there are queries and question on the DT hubs in this thread alone would put me off.

I’d personally hold on and wait for a Hope XC or even Hope Enduro wheelset to appear to swap with. Either way, I’d try to stick with Hope hubs. Lots of spares, reliable and future proof with the changeable end caps.

Not as retro as the above, but how about a Stooge?
Some of the builds look similar to the above, especially with klunker bars. The geometry is a bit more modern and runs an EBB too.

32lbs is very respectable given the burly build. Would love to have a go on one.

Looks fantastic! I hadn’t heard of Deviate, but that looks exactly like the sort of gearbox bike I’d like. It makes the most of the gearbox and high pivot placement.

Is your rear wheel freehub silent? Must be really nice having a completely silent bike.

Enjoy!

How about the old FlareMax- frames come up now and again. It’s got more conservative geo, but still all the Cotic plus points.

I’d also consider a Whyte T129 frame only (’17 is boost). 120mm rear, but certainly feels like more than that. Great all rounder.

I love riding with croissants.

For best effect, use an ebike in Copenhagen for transportation and have chocolate milk to hand to wash down.

I was pondering about this. I was looking at changing frames and started checking out the Stanton Sherpa & SC Chameleon, but decided the SA was too slack compared to what I ride.
It all goes back to when I had a Charge Blender- HA 68′ (slack for its time) and a 66′ SA !! It pedaled like an absolute pig. I had similar 4x/DJ/Messing about bikes, but the Blender was by far the worst. From then on I have always considered steeper better.

Look at it, looks crazy! This was mine. With the saddle up for XC you pretty much sat over the rear axle (yes, saddle angle would be altered for XC rides).

The new ‘extreme’ geometries like Sick, Geometron and Moxies have 76-77′ SA (alongside really long reach & slack HAs).. These bikes are mainly described as winch and plummet, rather than trail bikes. I have yet to ride a bike with such extreme geomtries, but I think a middle ground is required for trail riding.

I’m not far off with my Whytes ‘progressive geometry’. I think I want a 76′ SA, 435mm reach, 64.5′ HA and medium BB drop 29er with adjustable CS.

I’ve had a few Whytes and fitted fresh outers through the frame.
Also added a stealth dropper. Was easy enough to be honest. The rubber grommets are a pain to feed the cables through and reattach though.

What is it you’re after? Do you just want to add fresh cables or do you want to change the routing entirely?

If fitting new cables to replace existing cable: Tape the new outer to the old outer using tape and pull through

If fitting brand new cables with no existing cables: I use a an old gear cable, chop off the head, then tape to the new outer. I then feed it through the hole from the top and it’s a case of trial and error to get to the exit. Sometimes you need a torch to help feed it, other times small headed pliers or tweezers to pull it through. It’s easy with the first few cables, but the last few are a pig because of the lack of space.

Yeah, I see it’s a fixed spider, not the cinch type, so you’re stuck with non-boost with that crankset.

Might work, but if not then it’s a new crankset.

Edit: Okay, I think i’m going for it so you can always have a go on mine.

Ideally you need a boost crank. It depends what you run- might just be a chainring change to boost.
You could get away with normal cranks if there’s chainring clearance with the chainstay, though you may get a poor chainline. Sadly you won’t know until you try though. So the answer is maybe..

You can have first dibs Weeksy. I can always have it once you decide it’s not for you ;)

Facian, if Weeksy doesn’t want it. I’m interested. PM sent.

I swapped to a T130 because I wanted more maneuverability and playfulness of the smaller wheels for enduros and bike parks. I figured I had the HT for the more mundane riding. In reality, there wasn’t much in it. The geometry on the T129 was as good as the T130, with the added 29er rollover, speed & stability benefits. So it felt like a step down in many ways. I was surprised as I’m only 173cm (5’8”ish). I went back to a T129.. and then bought a house, so it had to go temporarily.

Bars- will have a look this week for you. Think they might be wider, but can be cut down.

T129 SCR Works ’15 is still the best bike I’ve ever owned. It’s a great all rounder; XC rides (I did the 100km Scott Marathon from Wantage), Trail centers (inc. Blacks at BPW), enduros and general trail riding up the ridgeway and messing about in the woods.

With your height and riding, I think it’ll suit you better than the T130. Go for it. They hold their value too, so shifting it won’t be a problem if it doesn’t work out.

What bar width are you after? I might have a set you can have for free.

Petec, yeah- best time of year to go and explore.
If you want a pub- The White Hart is in the village.

Other option is to actually start at the The Bell Inn (proper old pub- I’m sure you’ve been) and walk to/from there.
There’s a few footpaths across the fields that take you almost in a straight line to the woods. No hills and not therefore not the best views.

Petec, I’m local too!

Best access is to park on Water Street (red cross) and then take Scotals Lane- you’ll pop out the end into a field. Straight over the field and up the hill (could be a little steep forFiL?). It’s flat once you’re at the top. From there it’s wooded section pictured. It’s a case of walking up the footpaths and then walking off when you spot something. Not much growth this time of year so should spot the buildings and cars. I’ve never correlated my findings with a map as it can be quite disorientating. Some of the cars are about 20ft into the woods on the West tree line (top pic shows how close the cars are to the field).

This map is also good

Anyway, back to condom trees..

old WW2 airbase

Now that sounds interesting, whereabouts is it????

It was called RAF Hampstead Norris.
Some info on WIKI and some photos from an explorer. There’s more there than those photos. He’s missed all the vehicles and other buildings. If you ride through the woods, you’ll notice that the paths/trails are all muddy but very squishy year rounds, that’s because they are actually all roads. You can scoop about 6+inches of organic rotting matter to reveal the concrete. You could spend days up there.

ohh, Stewart- where abouts?

For me, old WW2 airbase completed with abandoned military, civi cars and other military paraphernalia. Also a few air raid shelters and amo stores with old pots, pans and beds. Don’t want to start digging around in the area though. Completely open with no fences or signs. This is all in the woods and very overgrown.

Other things include an old farm shutdown in the foot-and-mouth crisis. Everything unlocked and open. Office is just abandoned with paperwork everywhere. Still some feed in the silos. Animals where burnt and buried round the back. Really dark place. All overgrown and wel hidden in the woods.

I always change. I’ve got an old rollmat & fluffy dressing gown. Then a flexible bucket for riding kit & clean clothes in an Ikea bag. Car always stays clean that way. It means I can look respectable and stay comfortable, plus stopping at the pub/shop on the way back is easier.

+2, I’ve got tons of Endura kit and it’s my favorite. For me, it’s been good quality and great fit. My shorts are almost 5 years old and everything is still working, despite 3+ rides a week year round, including gritty winter. Can’t believe they’ve not worn out yet.

Sadly can’t make this anymore. Car shopping has been pushed forward :(

Can we do another when the weathers nicer?

Enjoy all!

Jordan sent me some photos of a Grim Ripper in ‘real life’, so he has clearly got a sample/test frame for that. I assume the same applies to all the other frames.

Sick are a brand that outsource everything, bar social media, as far as I can see.
– Clothing art work: outsourced

– UK Build frames: outsourced

– 3D designs/Cad: outsourced

– Ti frames: outsourced

– Steel overseas frames: outsourced

– Components: outsourced

– Decals: outsourced

– Order fulfillment: outsourced (clothing was bigcartel), some by Jordan and Tim

Their USP is radical geometry and social media profiling ‘disrupting the industry’.Their social media accounts have far more followers than more large & longer established bike businesses. A real success story there.

It’s no bad thing. I really like them now. I have no doubt they put in a huge amount of effort pulling all of the above together. Lots of brands do the same as above too. Initially I had my judgments, but after listening to their podcast I was converted. I’ve now bought various bits and considering their frames. I think the geometry is just to radical for me though. With those numbers, I may as well go FS to make the most of the downhills. If they do a 29er with slightly more conservative figures, I’d have it.

Wish them all the best!

Na, Jordan and Tim are too busy designing their new cruiser :P

If we are meeting for 9am, I could come. Depends how much we mince around blue-red-blue, as I’ve got lunch time commitments.

(I can bring the bike bag too, if that’s convenient Weeksy)

Bigjim, pretty much my thoughts.
On paper there’s some extreme figures, but when I think of my current bike some of the changes are what I’m looking for (I think..). As you say, the problem is getting a test ride. I’ve asked before and it seems it’s not possible. The geometry for Grim Ripper is proven though, as it’s the exact same as the Gnarcassist.

Shackleton, Cotic aren’t stocking anymore current SolarisMax. I asked Cy and confirmed was 6 weeks out.

Any news on the Solaris Max?

About 6 weeks.

Also, seems Sick have seen the thread, so to add a bit more info/context to the brand/bike;

I follow Sick as I find their stuff interesting but it appears to me that they design their frames by sitting down in a pub, writing down some numbers over a beer and then getting a few made which are sold in their batch drop or whatever they call it. On the whole there’s no testing done (bar the original gnarcassist from what I can tell) to see if it actually rides well so its a bit of a shot in the dark. I may of course be doing them a massive injustice here and if so I stand corrected.

<li class=”_ezgzd”>sickbicycles<span title=”Edited”>Hello forum user. I know you follow us so I’m going to answer some questions off the STW forum before the same 5 blokes jump on me for answering it. 😂 I can totally understand why people think we throw a few numbers together and see how it goes, especially since the bike scene does stay pretty fixated on certain attributes being desirable ones. They have been used as a strong consumer selling point the marketing and budget of the big companies is pretty fierce . Stepping out of that is risky, it really is. Whilst a few early adopters will jump on. The majority, won’t. This makes it hard for a startup to make a profit. You are actively encouraged to play it safe. First and foremost we are a rider owned brand. We have 6 riders we sponsor, that seems generous but really they are our defacto R&D department. In terms of prototyping, man, that could not be further off, I feel if anything we do far too much, mainly because it’s the best bit of the job (20% of turnover last year went on r&d, not profit!). We love testing prototypes. There is way more than just the Gnarcissist. I have a workshop desk covered in bits and pieces.
And I thought we were pretty good covering it here too, I like to think we all share in the brands journey. In terms of things just getting released. Well they are planned months in advance, we need quite a bit of testing and safety testing, to just make a bike is reckless and not a great long term business strategy. Broken bikes and dead riders hurt sales. So why wouldn’t you hear about them? Press junkets, we can’t afford to build up lots of complete bikes and take a bunch of journos around and buy them some ales to get a bit of press. So we do the r&d we make the bike. You buy it or you don’t buy it. Luckily, a lot of people do! But also we are here we are open ask!</span>

Pop-ups obscure the forum when the menu bar appears (i.e.- scroll up).

Cokes- I can’t find any either..

Might be worth calling Mark, Mboy from the forum, at Missing Link Bikes, Droitwich. He’s a Whyte dealer and great bloke. He ordered in a load of S150 stock, so you might be in luck.

Might be worth reviewing your ad sources. I’m not bothered but I know lots that would be.

This has come on leaps and bounds since last year.
It’s really useful. Good range of bikes. Great tool. Congrats!

I guess the next step would be to design a web crawler that is able to  gather all the data for you.Would require a rather clever algorithm to be built, but would cut down significantly on your time, errors and missing data.

Must be OEM then. Wonder why they used that? Maybe it’s re-branded ‘Chester’ stuff.

I’ve got a similar HT and run Pikes. Fantastic fork. I personally wouldn’t opt for anything with smaller stantions.It just inspires confidence being able to stick it into any corner and follower the line round or work your way through a rocky trail. Especially important on a HT I feel. I can definitely feel the difference over a 32mm stantion. Pikes has got the better dampers, more adjustability and lighter. I picked up new Pike RCT3s for £375 a while back, so you might get lucky.

I think you’re right.. the ‘Ride’ model is mainly XC based so appear to be 31.8 only. What stem is in the spec? ‘Ride’ tends to be longer stems.

Either way, enjoy the bike! I’ve been v. tempted by them. Geometry looks great as an all rounder, the dropouts are a nice touch and the price is pretty reasonable.

I really like that!
What’s your thoughts on the frame? Looks great quality.
How does it ride? Much noticeable drag in the pinion?