Christ, XC racing is so dull to watch.

Black everytime all the time. Hate coloured parts. Looks totally gash.

I simply asked if I should keep my bike?!

That’s fine, it’s all the other pish that then follows about 26″ wheels and everyone typing the same pish every time. Copy, paste, copy, paste…

I’ve got an incredibly good eye for design/style/aesthetics.

That Santa Cruz Bronson, it looks like it was designed around a colour scheme!

Great eye for style and aesthetics indeed. It’s a Nomad.

How many more threads do we have to have about this?

My old 5 Spot. Great bike that. Won’t be a patch on what I have now, but be good for shits and giggles.

Rode there on Sunday, nice trails. Was bloody muddy mind you! Know idea if what I rode will be in the race, will find out next week. Some big climbs involved though.

I was looking at one of these:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-essential-torque-wrench-set/

Other options here good info too.

Had it for a 8-9mmonths now. Love it. It’s quiet, works superbly, brilliantly designed and bloody expensive. But hey ho, I’m looking after it all as best I can. Run a 30T on the front, works a treat.

They are great. Been running them since last year. Bounced over the alps for a week with no problems and came very close to winning King and Queen of the Hill on them last year. Was only 254 places behind first…

Looks pretty awful to my eye looks wise.

Snowcard.

The ‘what brakes/argument’ thread started early this week.

PDFs of the map here if any use:

http://tweedlove.com/onthehillside/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/TweedLove14_EWS2_CourseInfo.pdf

A month or so back I went down it in the fresh deep snow. Was a right larf! Think I went quicker than normal.

I ran the gen 1 Saints on my old Turner 5 Spot at Whislter for a week. No probs at all. They were powerful enough and the SLX brakes I have now are more so. Will be fine.

Ah. That’s what it’s called. It’s a great bit of trail.

Which bit? There is loads.

Oh yeah, know where you mean. Can never get myself round and up and over that root now as you get kinda dragged to the right.

Where about on Falla Brae?

They’ll be as usual. Just wetter.

No properly set up brake should be ‘to the bars’. If that happened, I think the problem is with the person or people that set up the brakes, especially if it is multiple sets set up by the same person that failed. People are fallible. You are describing a fault condition, not normal service / design condition.

Valid point… mind you, all the same people moved over and set up Shimano’s and none of this happened. At all. Only with Hopes. You can say what you want about it, they do great gear. I use Hope hubs on all my bikes, but I have zero trust in the brakes they make.

That sounds like air in the system – which is user error, not design. The boiling point of Dot is much higher than mineral.

So all three sets of Hopes had ‘air’ in the system and the old Shimano’s didn’t. Three out of five sets of brakes failed. All Hopes. And two sets were owned by a bike shop owner and manager, very good bike mechanics at that. The following year they had Shimano’s. Make your own mind up.

You know, these threads are utterly pointless. It’s the same old guff that gets typed every time. Mine included. Shouldn’t even have bothered posting up originally. Just buy what you want, and if rubbish, buy something else.

Big problem is people compare new shimano to old Hope.

My old M4’s were rubbish, gave up the ghost in the Alps. Replaced with first gen Saints, the difference was massive. Old against old I’d say. Move forward 4 years and the ‘old’ Saints were still better than the three sets of mates new Hopes I was in the Alps with. Two sets of old Saints got to the bottom of a long rocky decent working fine, the Hopes all had levers against the bars.

I’ll be sticking with Shimano.

Failing Hopes in the Alps a few years back blew any trust I had in their brakes. Shimano every time. They just work. Had three sets, no issues over many years. And a damn sight cheaper than Hopes. Yes, yes, yes, ‘plenty’ spares. But never needed spares with Shimano’s. Hope hubs I’ll always use, awesome. Brakes, nah, don’t trust them and not willing to spend all that money to be proven right/wrong. And I may be alone in this point, but they look gash. Too many graphics and ‘over designed’ in how they look for my taste. Way too, and hate saying it, ‘blingy’.

Hope + Flow working for me. Been running them for about 8 months, zero issues.

Use V brakes. No bleeding nonsense needed there.

Ah. Speshpaul agrees.

And how could I forget!

Two reasons:

1. ‘Oh he’s got an arm off!’
and
2. Nick Frost’s angry face at the end. Makes me laugh everytime.

Awesome film and ‘I’ve killed women and children’ speech.

And at 7 years old, the size of that spaceship blew my mind!

Are they for real?!

I don’t think so, had a Pivot Mach 6 for about 8 months now and it feels far from sluggish. Certainly if I base it on Strava results it’s way quicker than my last bike. That aside, climbs superbly and rattles back down much quicker. Some of that could be down to being lighter/stiffer than my old 5 Spot, but that bike shifts. I’ve never really had a problem with 650 wheel sizes, or maybe cos it’s just an awesome bike.

I’m hoping/fingers crossed for the weather I got last Aug/Sep again. Was superb.

Whiteroom in August for the 5th time. Will be awesome as always.

Jesus. This thread. Again.

Jesus. And I thought Oranges were ugly.

Also, either bike will do, just depends if you want bike park DH or loads of natural trails with a bit of climbing.

Whiteroom always awesome. The thing with the Alps is it’s just bigger and longer descents. Rocks and roots and some seriously amazing single track and views. It’s a no brainer! Do it, you will not regret it it.