Scandals been ace on my local trails. Running SS with a set of 130mm Rebas and it’s been great fun. Light, simple and quiet. The Bontrager XR1 tyres on 30mm rims are incredibly fast rolling in the dry weather we’ve had, but are hopeless when they get a wif of rain. One of the best bikes I’ve had and far better than the Cotic SolarisMax LS.

Glad you got it sorted. I wonder what what witchery he uses.. Youtube has some brilliant clips of people removing stuck seatposts, which I hope isn’t the method he uses.

But..

As a guide a MTB dropper seatpost removal is £99.99 plus any handling/courier charges

Wow! Reason if ever to do routine maintenance.. £99 plus the loss of the posts. Ouch.

This is so tragic. I feel sorry for all involved and impacted by this. So needless.

So let’s have a look at the road: A40 Wycombe Road, High Wycombe near to the junction of Old Dashwood Hill.

Google maps: streetview suggests it’s a nice straight piece of road with good visibility.
Speed limit: 40mph
Conditions: Perfect- dry and sunny
So why is..

The driver of the car is assisting the police with their enquiries.

I suppose the sun could have been in his eyes if he was travelling West, but I think the trees would have blocked most of it out although it is going uphill. If travelling East, it would have been behind him.

I never sell a bike from home. Lots of us riders have N+1 in the shed of value and often riders sell to upgrade, so that means a newer shinier bike incoming. I don’t know the buyer and I’d rather they don’t case the house and my belongings.

Instead I meet at a public car park with people around and CCTV. Makes it safer for everyone involved. I just ask for the car key, cash or something if they came by themselves and want a test ride.

This is a tough one.. I hate Brewdog (mainly just James Watt) but not as much as I hate Cummings.. but the branding is genius.

I recently sold a bike and it was advertised on PB, Ebay & STW. I got zero interest on STW, 400 views & 80 watchers on Ebay but only a couple offers.
Pinkbike came up trumps. Lots of serious interest and offers (with no messing). Sold at full asking price after 2 days.
Exact same experience at the end of last year too. STW classifieds is just dead since the update, Ebay tends to be tentative interest and PB has been more serious.

Just waiting for a part so I can fit my dropper. It’s a superb bike!

I rode my SolarisMax LS (the new one) at various bike parks; blues, reds and a couple blacks.
I had it setup with a 130mm Pike and I honestly can’t see how 140+ travel would make a huge amount of difference. The back-end was the limiting factor as it has to follow whatever mess the front end is riding through with zero compliance. The bike was stiff enough that the back would get pretty brutal on fast lose/rutted trails. I was running 2.35 & 2.6 tyres with low-ish PSI too.
I don’t get it to be honest..

I really enjoyed that… now subscribed.

Great stuff, thanks all!
Amazing that that’s somehow a £5 part..

What cranks are people fitting? In the above posts seems like some are getting away with non-boost cranks.

Has anyone worked out the magic gear for single speed?

I miss my T129 and still hanker after the one I bought from you and sold. That said, it’s looking ‘old school’ now next to some of the other stuff.

There was a Giant Trance 2 2019 frame set in medium for sale on eBay. Not sure if it’s still for sale. The Trance looks spot on. Reviews reckon it punches above its weight, which is always good.

What did you go for in the end Mark?
I’m looking for the exact same thing. The RocketMAX is overkill for me.

Not much help, but I’ve had this happen twice to me.
1. Kona Explosif 2013- they got the BB drop wrong by 20mm (IIRC) in the chart. I could feel it was odd. You can see a few complained about this on MTBR. I contacted the LBS I bought it from who spoke to Kona. Kona shrugged shoulders and said ‘spec may very from description’. MY14 onwards had the corrected geometry.
2. Ordered a custom frame from a framebuilder (will remain nameless)- waited 6 months and then got it built up when it arrived. It was tiny! Did some basic measurements and instead of my spec (medium/long-ish), it was more like an XS size. No apology and stopped replying to my emails. I re-measured everything and sold it for what it actually was.

Opposite end of the spectrum, but proves that everyone can get it (badly) wrong.
Sadly no resolution for either issue.

£20 postage?!

How are people getting on with their Scandals?
Thinking of getting one for general trail duties- bit of XC, bit of singletrack, the odd road section & odd trail center.
I’ve got a 150mm FS 29er for big days, so this would be the winter/general bike..

Looks great. Nice build! New build seems like the perfect distraction during lockdown.
Is the frame clear coated?
Do you know what the frame weighs?

Yes, should have added- I meant for this model.

Just hoping they do an ali version.
Dream list:
– 120-130 rear
– 130-140 front
– has space for water bottles
– available in aluminium
– 435 or shorter CS
– 66.5′ HA & 74+’ SA

I think it could be pretty close to that, and if it is I’ll have one.
I hope the don’t jump on the LLS bandwagen for an all-rounder. Make it more playful.

Have found a 2019 Trance 29 2 @ £1699 in a shop, which seems a steal to me. Yeah I only really want the frame and fork, but I reckon I’d probably get £4-500 back for the wheels/tyres/brakes/groupset/dropper etc if I needed to, so not all bad. 🤔

Looks pretty good value! I might even consider one to replace the RocketMax with, but then spotted this..

SRAM GXP Dub Press Fit

Damn!

Others I can think of..
Marin Rift Zone 3
Cannondale Habit
Cotic FlareMax (alu rear, steel front & compromised water bottle cage)
Giant Trance 29
Trek Top Fuel
Norco Fluid 1
Sonder Cortex

Looks like you’re looking at 29ers, so:
Bird AM9
Stumpjumper Comp Alloy 29

I really like the look of these.
Currently have a Cotic RocketMax, but hate the lack of proper water bottle mounts and the awful cable routing, plus it’s on the heavy side. This could well be a good replacement.

This could well replace that. The geometry looks good, I like the colours and like the fact it’s a UK company. I think I’d prefer something like the Aether- 120-130 rear with 130-140 front, but there’s probably not much of a comprise for the extra travel here.

What I don’t like is that the headline price for each build kit excludes brakes or stem or bars (or all three), so you then add another £200+ onto the build price, even when picking the cheapest option. Ben, please fix this!

Edit: Nope

I’m 173cm and riding a medium Cotic RocketMax.
Fits nicely with a 40mm stem and one 5mm spacer under the stem.

big_n_daft
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/pace-405-407/

What relevance is a 7 year old thread?
My understanding is that they’ve moved a long way away from what they were in terms of QC, manufacturer and CS. I’ve not heard of issues with them for years now.

I had the Cotic SolarisMax LS and can’t say that I was particularly impressed with the quality.
My lovely new dropper got a huge score down the side because the ST wasn’t reamed and had a bur.
The paint quality was also weak. If you touched it on anything it would chip. Maybe down to the mercury finish?

I ride plenty of progressive slack bikes (Whyte S150, G170 & Cotic RocketMax, etc.), but something just didn’t work with the SolarisMax LS for me. I couldn’t work it out as the geometry looks good, but I think it’s the seatangle and CS length. If you pointed it downhill it was great and the fastest HT I’ve ridden, but for anything else (trail riding) it was difficult.

Not to slam Cotic- I’ve currently got a RocketMax that I quite like.

I’ve just run our figures.
2 cars from ’16 (big SUV & small runabout)
Total costs/month:
Depreciation: £178
Fuel: £275
Insurance: £68
Parking: £46
Servicing (@Main Dealer): £50
Parts (rainy day car fund): £70
MOT: £10
Tax: £14.50
Total cost/month: £711
Total cost/yr: £8532
Total cost/mile (25,000 miles/yr): £0.34

The small car is going soon to be replaced by a banger as my mileage is so low now, which should reduce costs a fair bit; no main dealer service, home service, do my own spannering, little/no depreciation. I have played with the idea of an EV, but I don’t think the costs work out.

I’ve got a Medium S150 frame, Reverb, headset & brakes for sale if you’re interested?
I can drop it round if you want. PM/email me if you’re interested and I’ll knock some money off :)

I would recommend picking a WordPress Forum theme with Calendar functionality.
Hosting the site can be free or low cost on Google Cloud, or similar.
Get yourself a URL for £12 for 2 years and a free SSL and you’re away.

WordPress gives those with limited IT knowledge a chance to manage and customise a site through the WP built in CMS (Content Management System). There’s better solutions out there, but it’s an easy way of getting things started and see if your idea is even viable.

If you need a hand or pointers, just drop me a message.

Has the LBS given you an invoice/breakdown of costs?
If you post up whats required me may be able to advise further.
£150 labour is hefty and suggests maybe wheels need rebuilding or frame needs a bit of welding.

Lovely, cheers DezB!

Looks alright!
It does remind me of the Skoda yeti & Kia Soul though.
Some impressive tech on these, but it worries me about long term durability.

I accidently ordered a size 41 so far too small for me.
If anyone wants them for what I paid, let me know :)

Just about to pre-order the Scandal 29, but O-O have lumped £20(!!!) on for postage.
£20 seems pretty excessive. I’m sure this wasn’t there last time, Brant?

Kvass- a traditional fermented Slavic beverage commonly made from rye bread, which is known in many Central and Eastern European and Asian countries as “black bread”. It really is like drinking fizzy bread.

I know someone that flew to Belfast and drove back to Southampton for a shed of a £800 car.

My friend sold a spares/repairs motorbike to a chap that came from Poland. Turns out he comes with a big van and collects about 10 bikes and heads to Poland weekly.

People do all sorts for what they want. There’s no risk if they are comming to him and he can quickly check the money. Just make sure he’s got someone with him.

Good post, cheers OP!