Well feeling quite foolish. That’s the mother of all placebos. I have been experimenting with descend/soft and I could have sworn I felt glued to the trail compared to descend/medium, which very skippy. Likewise the ups in climb/firm felt so taught and efficient compared to the soggy climb/medium. What a muppet!

What frame is it OP? I would have thought that was an important part of the decision making process?

double oof!..

If I’ve been mtb-ing then I’m relaxed about them being caked in good honest mud. I hose down with my bike then a wet cloth and more saddle dressing every so often is fine.

If I’ve been winter road biking then yes cleaning and redressing required immediately after every ride. If the salt gets into the leather then ridges and ripples arise where it’s been damaged, it almost looks like the leather is scarred.

The boots are expensive so justify a bit of TLC.

Just cleaning with a wet cloth was ineffective as I use them for winter roadie-ing. They soon started sweating crusty white salt.

I haven’t had much luck with Graingers beeswax which looks fine when applied, but the slightest movement causes it to craze, which looks bad and tends to attract dirt with which it merges and is then difficult to clean off.

What absolutely works for me is RM Williams Saddle and Leather Dressing. Brings the boots up like new, water beads off no probs and super easy to clean afterwards.

oof… was just about to pull the trigger.

et voila…

Get that stem slammed and inverted.

@letmetalktomark, so how does the Sherpa compare to the Solaris and the Skookum?

I have the Jagwires on that same set-up.

do you judder?!

Oh that’s a beauty. Sure it won’t fit your sister? – be a shame to see that go.

I second the motion, one of my mates has bought two brand new Dave Yates frames in the past two years, with exactly those decals! Still top quality and very special.

What compressionless cables for 105 and Hy/Rds?

Is Yokozuna noticeably better than Jagwire Racer?

EDIT: I do get judder, so looking to upgrade.

Let’s get this thread going properly. My christmas project was a Sea Vixen, which had been gathering dust for about 8 yrs since I last built a model.

Surely the key issue with a spare parts box is when the quantity/value of components goes beyond a certain (subjective) tipping point, beyond which you accelerate into buying more stuff and building a whole new bike?

I have a Renthal Duo stem, a fatbar lite and some assorted inner tubes. It’s a very pressing concern for me to deduce what bike it should be built into!

crimsondynamo – Member
If I got something like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-SDCZ80-064G-X46-Extreme-Flash-Drive/dp/B007YXA5SI

and plugged it into my PS3 would that work nice and smooth do you think?

For anyone who is interested, this didn’t work for a couple of reasons:

1. PS3 requires the FAT32 format, but 64gb sticks can’t be formatted to FAT32
2. FAT32 won’t accept a file size of more than 4GB.

So that was £39 very badly spent I’m afraid. :(

If I got something like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-SDCZ80-064G-X46-Extreme-Flash-Drive/dp/B007YXA5SI

and plugged it into my PS3 would that work nice and smooth do you think?

I’ve looked at getting a laptop but that appears to be massive wedge, c.£750+?

The PC and the TV are at opposite ends of the house unfortunately!

ac282 – Member
Roads dry much faster in summer and they aren’t covered with filth.

Don’t disagree, I’m not trying to say that the weather is never nice. Between March and September (where I am) the roads are indeed usually clear, and as taxi25 says it only rains <50% of days. Nevertheless that’s still approaching 75% of the time when a winter bike is the best tool for the job.

Why ride your rubbish bike 75% of the time and your expensive bike 25%? That’s the central point.

…on average it rains on less than 50% of days and lots of those its only a little sprinkle. S/East perhaps only 100 days a year. Even Here in South Wales my good bike only gets wet a couple of times a year.

It’s not rained here for a couple of days at least but I wouldn’t have been without my winter bike today. The roads were filthy.

I think everyone else has it the wrong way round.

Given the dreadful weather in this country I think it makes sense to have your winter bike as your best bike. I’m talking about big clearances for guards and bigger tyres, and disc brakes for a) improved performance and b) non rim wearage. Because it’s your best, most expensive bike you’ll also clean it more scrupulously.

If you’re feeling all n+1 you can then buy a classic style bike with rim brakes, clean lines and tight clearances for those very rare sunny summer days. But as you won’t get as much use out of it you shouldn’t spend as much as on your winter bike.

I’m 6’2.5″ and have the XL EX9.9. I swapped out the bars for normal Fatbars (not lites) which are wider. It’s a massive bike but fits me well.

It’s beautifully kitted out for the price. The ride reminds me of my old Stumpy FSR and in that respect I think it’s probably a typical 4 bar. Spongy climbing but a plush descender. You’ll find yourself reaching for the pro-pedal/CTD lever very frequently. I have the divey/linear Fox 34 which I’m strugglig a bit to get set up properly.

cinnamon_girl – Member
Looks good TurnerGuy. Is there really a problem with the seat clamp?

Part of the problem with the seatclamp is that the the seat tube is slightly oversized (cf beercan shim posts on this thread), which you only appreciate once you’ve overtightened the clamp like billy-o to try to compensate, resulting in a rounded bolt.

I had a Hope seat clamp from an old stumpy sitting in the spares box which I used after I rounded out my original.

For the first time in my life I don’t have an N+1 bike. I have a full-susser, a summer roady, an in-betweener and a hack bike all of which I’m happy with. I sometimes look at SS or fatbikes but I’m a zillion miles away from getting the credit card out.

To the OP, it sounds like the market has gone through a period of considerable growth while the UK catches up with the rest of western Europe, but has now matured pure and simple.

munrobiker – Member
Didn’t on-one have a big batch of dodgy Schwalbes that did this?

Hmm, that chimes with my experience of On One bought Schwalbe (Schwobbly?)Duranos. The tyres were very cheap but they were also clearly seconds (the external moulding was off too), which I don’t remember in the sales description – not being facetious, I may well not have read it properly.

Still, it’s not been enough to affect handling.

That’s a very good question Turnerguy. I started off with a 440ml can of Becks which worked fine, but on further reflection I decided I wanted a “full sleeve”. i.e I wanted all of the insterted post to be fitting nice and snug with the frame along its full length so that there wasn’t any undue waggling or stresses. I therefore upgraded to a pint can of Stella which had the height for the job.

It’s a wee bit tricky to get the top of the can level with the top of the seat-tube (or a mm above it, which is hidden by the collar), especially when the parts are greased and you’ve had a few tinnies, but once it’s done it’s done.

@TLR:

Thomson post here. I had dreadful slippage as it’s a clear mis-match in size. Rather than torquing up the clamp so that it pinches the post only at one point, I used a beer can shim and it fits like a glove. Minimum torque required on the seatpost clamp to keep it nice and secure (even greased up), with minimum stress on teh seat tube.

How do the Tripster Massive describe their bikes?

I tend to get a bit tongue tied when I’m asked “is that CX bike?” I’ve never ridden CX and don’t want to appear a fraud, so I usually respond that it’s an “adventure bike” which leaves people a bit confused. In addition I suspect very few Tripsters have ever been used for CX purposes.

Just to top and tail this thread for future readers, Glen Artney-Callander is perfectly fine for a cx bike despite recent heavy rain, although a mtb is naturally faster on the purely off-road section.

The Glen Finglas loop from Wild Trails vol.1 is great on a cx bike, the only issue being that one is obliged by the continuous steep ramps to repeatedly beast it to the extent that you don’t get the opportunity to enjoy the scenery. The brief and rare glimpses were stunning, but no opportunity to cruise.

I had planned to go up Glen Ample but teh multitude of highland cows and calfs made me think the better of it so I took a detour up Loch Lubnaig.

the_lecht_rocks – Member
my thomson also slips – what carbon post is recommended folks ?

I too have a Tripster and Thomson post which are woefully mismatched size-wise. There was clear daylight between the two, so I used a diy shim. I had to go for the big pint can so that I got the full sleeve on the seatpost insertion:

Excellent response time, thanks very much!

It’s next weekend so despite recent rain the preceding baked dry spell should see me alright!

CustardCream – Member
5’9″ and ride a Medium Handjob. Perfect, love it.

Incidently, as much as I love the Cove, I have often considered getting a Cotic Soul.

I’d be interested to hear from anyone who has had both.
Are they too similar to bother swapping?

I used to have a large 19″ Soul, now I have a 21″ HandJob. The Soul was lighter but too small for me, I had so much exposed seatpost it was prone to bouncing.

Interestingly/surprisingly, the HandJob has a 1 degree slacker headtube and a 1 degree steeper seattube. I think I can tell a positive difference although maybe, having measured it, it’s just in my head.

I wouldn’t have bothered swapping if it weren’t for the size issue.

Hope this helps.

Be careful out there people…

You know it can happen with tubes, too? Not to mention that they have other exciting failure methods.

I don’t doubt it. I’m just looking for a crumb of comfort after my initial set-up woes. Once my thumbs heal rest assured I’ll give it another go.

Sounds like I should count myslef lucky that I can’t even get my tubeless set-up in the first place.

The cheapest you can get the AS30v is now £150. Is it worth that price?

As well as gearing, another reason I find myself having no choice but to give it full beans on the Tripster is that due to the skinny tyres and no-suss, the only way to get over obstacles is to monster it. An mtb with a triple would offer much more scope to enjoy a relaxed pace, admire the scenery etc.

The average speed comparison depends on what route you’re riding. My effort last night was 11.5mph over 25m, a third on road, two thirds off-road. It was a huge effort. I was obliged to go much harder and thus went much faster than I ever did on my mtb.

For flat off-roading I’d be inclined to stick with the nice tourer and perhaps change tyres if needs be. Of course you could change out to a Tripster, but I suspect (though may be wrong) that as you already have a nice tourer you’d experience more of a marginal gain than most posters on here who are coming from more distant niches.

i am gonna ask you a question, and i want a proper honest answer

In my experience the answer is no. On road it has not really any meaningful advantage over your tourer. I used it as a winter trainer with 25mm slicks and mudguards. But it’s off-road with the 32mm cx tyres where this bike excels, it’s just brillant fun. I find myself constantly beasting it, through neccessity as much as choice. 30-28 is my easiest gear (triple and big cassette) but even at that it’s higher geared and therefore tougher than exactly the same trails on my mtb. The payoff is that it’s much more efficient, so for your extra effort you do absolutely fly.

The vast majority of the trails around me are pretty hilly, but if you live in an area with lots of flat trails then the answer might be different.

Hope this helps!

Here’s mine. 105 triple gruppo to get me up the hills. Slicks and mudguards were on in the winter for road duty. CX tyres for summer off-roading.

This is a 1×10 with a Zee clutch mech and it’s been impeccable. I’ve been down some really bone-shaking trails but no hint of a dropped chain.