haha, indeed it is, bizarrely so!

I was just going to say that!

Another recommendation for Marbury, loads of riding on nice smooth pathways, no real hills to speak of and nice scenery!

rangers path hardly qualifies as gnarl

Yet on the last page you state it is what you are looking for!

Without trawling through tons of searches while not knowing exactly what to search for, can someone explain the dynamics of stem lengths and how they affect the bikes feel?
Also what is considered a long tt and old school geometry etc.

I have 50mm stems and just accept a way a bike feels but don’t know if a change in stem would ruin the bike or make it amazing!

That is indeed what creates the waiting every 20 minutes aspect Steve! :D

aah, didn’t know that Tony! I too thought they were a big DH tyre. :lol:

Exactly right Steve, get the front over them and sod where the back goes. It will most likely follow you in the right direction, unless your wheel has fallen off.

Don’t you find Swamp things a bit draggy Tony? Mud X maybe but Swamps i thought were a bit of a chore!
I have an £8.99 CRC Michelin country mud on the back but it has been on all year to be fair.

I ride every week in there and to be honest, no-ones tyres grip on wet roots.
Don’t worry about it and just ride, better than spending £40 on a set of rubber that is just as useless.

Without trying to teach you to suck eggs, just ride the roots better! :wink:

Were you in the fast or slow group? I rode with Tracs last thursday.

No problem, should be ok with the spring loaded superstar one.

You will cock around a whole lot more and probably spend more while adjusting chains etc.
Even when you do find that magic ration the chain will stretch and you will need another.

Just buy a tensioner or use and old rear mech to do it.

I presume you mean it has a cutout that the hanger sits in.
No, you wont be able to get a part that sits in there that doesn’t have the hanger part and no, don’t cut it off either.
You need to get a tensioner so you might need it to bolt one to!

Yes I had noticed, not a bad profit!

What about the week after?

Why on earth would it be a recipe for disaster?

My DMR trailstar. Felt good straight away and is getting even better!

Did have a 96 Stumpjumper for a long while and rode it in various guises. It was just about to be put back together but I noticed a crack in the chainstay, gutted.

Still running a pretty old DMR trailstar though.

£750ish i would have thought.

Not for ages until last night, a damaged chain forced it to jump off when I was pedaling hard, next came kneeing the bars then over the top.

Don’t get too hung up on weights, I would prefer my rigid ss to be built strong rather than weight weenie. Just how I am really, not telling you what to do!

I run a DMR trailstar with alloy kinesis forks.

Don’t think so without going up to the ship canal maybe.
You going from home or Frodsham?

As luck would have it (for you not for me). I have found a crack in the frame I was building up and as I was building it up on the cheap, I have no money nor inclination for another so it can go whistle.
This means that I have a 32t front ring, chain and splitlink, tensioner and a 16t singlespeed kit (widebase cog, spacers and lockring.

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=58&products_id=268&osCsid=ndjhvv7ii048b8g59bmi4gfgp0

That is the tensioner, the jockeywheel type, trial fitted but not used.

Let me know if you are interested in the lot. £17 posted should do it

Yep, go for the widebased cogs from superstar, I got one of the 16t kits from them last week and that came with the wide based one, not used one before and it is much nicer.

I have a new superstar tensioner going begging if it is of use to you.
£7 posted.

Go for 32-16 gearing using an old 9 speed chain and old front ring (amazing what you can get away with).

Flats or SPDs will work fine, I run flats and never ever have a problem no matter what anyone says. I can have the thing virtually stopped on a hill and still grunt the power round (never had a pedal slap on the shins either) but each to there own.

Just keep plugging away, even trying different techniques within your riding style to get that bike up there!

Anything and whatever pressure is in them really. Most of all, like others have said is to take line choice carefully and get weight off the bike, manuals etc

I actually tell people not to ride to close to me as i may suddenly shoot across the trail to avoid something.

Only ever had one puncture in the 18 months I have ridden with rigid forks and that was a thorn in the back.

Oh yeah, get the lightweight thing out of your head, it really doesn`t matter that much.

Cracking day out and I echo peoples sentiments on that climb, fiendishly hot too!

Amazing trail conditions, battered about on the rigid forks at times but found the singlespeed not to be too bad, we only did the 25k though as we had a young-un with us who was not particularly happy at any point but he got round in the end.

I echo what Steve said, you are more than welcome to tag long on any of the rides as mentioned, drop me an email if you are interested.
Steve knows the place well, the guy who leads on a monday knows it frighteningly well.
I lead rides and grew up in the next village to delamere so have been in there since I was a kid so know my way round pretty well.
Loads of singletrack and loads of fun to be had, fantastic place to hve on your doorstep.

Definitely just give them both a go, you will never know what they are truly like until you ride them for yourself.

Both have there good parts and bad parts to be fair but both are worth the trip and if you don`t like them just tick them off the list but never feel like it was a wasted trip, enjoy them for what they are.

Did you manage to lose them Steve?

Yep, on my only bike, a SS DMR trailstar, I only run a rear brake too as my front lever fell apart. Gets interesting at times.

Went out last and rode the geared bike, the rear mech shafted itself so could only get enough chain tension to carry on in my lowest gear (34f and 34r).

Still carried on albeit slowly for the duration and had a laugh. :D

Beautiful evening yesterday.

You then go on to recommend a DMR (very heavy – a pound more than the 456))!

The talk is of a summer season frame which weighs in at 2.44kg and the trailstar wieghs in at 2.62 or 2.76kgs depending on LT or not so hardly a full pound. 300gs is bog all in the grand scheme of things.

I have owned both and the trailstar is much more fun jumping, off drops and for chucking around.

A mk1 mini-burner.

Drop to a 16t on the back, you will be fine.

Didn’t know you had a dog Steve!

Just a quick question. Did you buy it complete? if you did and you intend to treat it like dirt then why bother upgrading?

28 is weird on the back!

Are you sure your lbs isn`t confused and is trying to put a 44 and 28 on the crank arms for you as a double set up?

I think you need to be getting those gears back on, sounds like you aren`t enjoying it.

Each to there own really, like every little thing that someone does.

I have some brand new rhythms still in the bag if you are interested? Sound exactly like what you are after.

I can vouch for what steve_b77 says.

He can hustle that thing along somewhat! This is through tight very twisty singletrack so the handling like a barge myth gets broken.

It is a beautiful looking bike I think, seems to be very nicely made and yes, it is very light, lighter and better than the 29er on-one in carbon that rides with us.