Onzadog, my take on he sizing chart was that I fell between a Large and XL (I’m 6ft1in). Advice was split over what size should go for. As I say, I find it small on the basis that a 420mm seat post was at full extension and barely reached the seat stay/top tube junction.

Think it’s a 70mm stem (-10deg for racing!). Cant remember if I ended up with a 32t or 34t – either way i’m always at the bottom of the cassette! Transition state 34t max and I doubt there is clearance for anything bigger.

Sorry for lack of update. Bike has been great. Still hasn’t been pushed on technical trails but it’s been great on the local trails. Would love to add a stiffer fork and a decent set of brakes (Formulas at mo) to really get the most from it.

I’ve also raced it at BotB and Gritfest (G-One tyres and a dropper post make for an odd combo!). I was left bemoaning the limited chainring clearance – could’ve done with a 40t with that tailwind at BotB. For this reason it’s a bit limited for XC. Despite my concerns at having gone for too small a size I suspect that it climbs better than a larger frame with teeny stem.

Here it is in it’s previous guise (brown suede Flite out of shot). Cuurently running 2.35 Vittoria Barzos.

They’re setting off from Menai Bridge for XDUROWales tomorrow 8am. Time to book a one way ticket to Bangor…!

I’ve only just seen this – cheers Martin 🙂

PS. thanks Tangwyn, James, Ben et al for a great day out. My non-riding sister commented on how impressive the setup was. Don’t be put off by the shouty have-a-go-pros…for everyone who vows never to return you can be sure that many more of us will be back!

Pah, who cares about gridding? Evie Richards doesn’t let it bother her!

PS. beyond the Honzo what about the SC Chameleon? A reasonable weight and slack without geo that’s too radical. You never know, they might realise a carbon version as they do for the Highball…

chilled76, that was partly my reasoning – for my needs (xc racing and British trails) it’s as close as I could get to a do-it-all bike without spending >£5k on a full suss. Obvs it would be out of its depth in the Alps but I’ve yet to see something that covers every base!

Dekerf853, don’t take my feedback as a downer – I’m not one to gush. Also, it’s a hardtail, I really wouldn’t expect a revolutionary experience. Yeh it’s $$$ but as mentioned above, it serves a niche that very few others cater for.

It’s cool but as I say, a few wet rides at BPW on Ikons to the sound of chain slap means it’s a bit premature to go singing it’s praises. I’ve been impressed in that I generally forget it’s a hardtail until the odd square hit abruptly reminds me!

It’s all about context I guess. I’m coming from an XC perspective. The Lapierre XR was always super capable but there’s no getting away from the fact that it was XC through and through. In buying a Large as opposed to XL Vanquish there’s a big drop from saddle to bar. Of course this is remedied with the dropper but I guess an XL might have felt more composed. However this would prob be outweighed by crappy climbing characteristics.

Got one built up a few months back. Spent more than I ever ever envisaged on a hardtail so I’d rather not know what Merlin are flogging them for!

After my Lapierre XR started getting tired I decided I wanted a slack/fun bike which was also light enough to race xc. Figured 120mm full suss was going to be way too spendy so started looking in to hardtails. The only other obvious option was the Kona Honzo. Maybe I’m wrong but the frame appears a little more refined. The paint job also looks better than the cheapy Transition design IMO. Plus it’s a lifetime warranty. Anyway, I couldn’t get hold of a frame only Honzo and the full builds were a little portly so I went down the route of the Vanquish.

It’s built light but not weight weenie light. Got some DT rims on 240 hubs and the rest was taken from my old bike – 120mm Rebas, Thomson, Maxxis Ikons (tanwall FTW) etc. Soon realised I wasn’t going to get the most from it so after all these years I finally got a dropper. Had to match collar n cuffs so got a Thomson dropper. The spending never ends as I’m now looking at a Wolftooth lever to replace the crap designed-on-a-Friday Thomson one.

Ride wise hmmm, hard to say. I’ve still not had the chance to rag it on dry trails with which I’m familiar. A couple of wet rides at BPW left me a bolt sulky knowing the damage I was doing to a frame not yet protected in copter tape! In a good way I was kind of underwhelmed – a bit like jumping in a VW and finding that it is reassuringly neutral – I didn’t want a quirky beast! I went with a size large. I spent weeks trying to decide on size because as is often the when you are crippled by indecision and spending too much money, I fell between sizes (I’m 6ft and a bit). Everybody had a different opinion on size. Before getting the dropper (450mm total length) by previous post (420mm) barely reached the top tube/seatstay junction. That made me scared.

Let me know if you have any more Q’s…

Great result. Was that you on the Donhou?

Therein lies the issue with being cycling fit. Unless you’re super strong and able to go solo (which I guess is the case for the top few lads) you’ll either find yourself in a group where no one work together or out of frustration you ride off the front and in to a headwind which makes the effort worthless!

I do wonder about how rigidly the rules are enforced. I was surprised to hear that a jacket was mandatory this year given the weather forecast. Unsurprisingly most guys didn’t seem to be carrying one – guess there’s always the excuse that ‘it fell out of my pocket’. Likewise wide tyres and the shear number of people who fancy their chances in the sub-4hr pen (guess there’s no easy way of policing that!).

I should say that my time was only disappointing when compared to last year since when the bike was heavier and I did less hike-a-bike practice.

Still not sure if improvements are to be made with more hill walking or simply holding off the brakes on the descents! I’m not convinced cycling fitness makes as big a difference.

What an event! Just about came in under 3.30 – disappointed at first compared to last year but interested (relieved) to hear that people felt it was slower this year.

As ever, thoughts turn to improving next year…make a note of this year’s tyre pressure and learn from it rather than panic pumping rock hard just before the start; don’t leave it to Friday afternoon for a courier not to deliver the PF30 to BSA adaptor; have a pooh in Settle etc etc

Good to catch up before the start Martin 🙂

What Dibbs said^^. And that’s why I got rid of them. Initially I thought that by pulling extra cable through it would overcome the problem but all that did was make the arm come in to contact with the body of the brake. Not sure if I had a dodgy set but most shops weren’t able to help cure the issues.

Thanks Tangwyn, Rickie and Martin, it was a lovely day for a great cause.

I would’ve been 1x if my Snapierre hadn’t lived up to it’s name! As it was I ended up riding with 46/36 up front and and a hastily added 11-32 out back. Really missed the 42 and 11/40 of my 1x. Also the chain slap was pretty disconcerting!

Agreed, it definitely felt safer. Marshals brilliant as ever.

I’m trying to work out if the weather was a hindrance compared to the last ywo years. Despite constantly trying to blow the bike off my shoulder on numerous occasions during the hike-a-bike it only felt like we were riding in to a headwind on the dash to the finish. Thankfully it was a tail wind for the final climb.

Yeh, I noticed some decidedly ‘plus’ sized tyres. TBH my 35mm Cross Boss’s would have probably measured a little over. What bike were you on Twinklydave?

Also, did they relax the rules for riding over the white line during the neutralised start? Couldn’t hear the briefing but it seemed way worse than last year.

Scrapped in to the top 25. Half way up the final climb i was telling myself never again but i’m already thinking about where time can be saved!

Nice Nik. As an update just been reading about the Kona Honza Ti – would be perfect were it not so spendy and rare.

Cheers chaps. Am veering towards size L with a 120mm fork – seems to be a good middle ground between fun and xc!

Great weather, great event – thanks Matt and team. Was running 40:16 on my ss. Overall fine except a bit spinny on the flat and a bit meaty for some of those short climbs – had to dismount about 3 times per lap which made for lots of chasing in order to avoid a lonely ride along the beach!

Awesome, just seen the link, thanks jonba

Thanks for all the comments. The variety of responses is exactly why I’m asking – I’ve heard lots of contradictory advice over whether or not the XT cassettes work with 10sp Ultegra mechs. Some say you need mtb mechs…

I figured it may be a compromise but without delving in to gear inches and all the formulae I hoped, considering the many gear combinations that are possible, there might be an ideal middle ground between CX and roadie gearing. Maybe that one extra gear with 11sp is the secret!

I guess I’m just looking to tweak what I’ve got rather than buy a new set of cranks/shifters. Plus there’s the whole snobbery thing which is to be obeyed!

Crickey, no triple! But thanks.

Anybody know if a 10sp XT casette (11/32) works with Ultegra shifters and rear mech?

I was thinking bingo dabbers (but probably solvent free for the sake of all the old dears)

Ha, should have refined my search words! Cheers. Dont know what worse tbh, the purple look or the naked alloy 🙂

Totally agree with PeterPoddy, there’s so little depth to a lot of mtb journalism. After twenty-odd years of coverage its a shame the industry doesnt have more things of intserest to write about. It so often lacks character or humour or a rounded knowledge of all mtb disciplines…where are all the James Huangs and Mike Davis??

Also it’s so frustrating that so many mags seemingly struggle to fill their pages all the while ignoring the domestic race scene (even Cycling Weekly is bad for this). Sure, racing isn’t for everyone but if xc for example was covered in an engaging, informed manner then who knows, entries may increase, the scene becomes more vibrant, and maybe BC better funds XC!

After years of receiving an MBR sub as a Christmas present from my Auntie I still go through the same ritual…tear off cellophane, curse the stupid flyers/scratch cards that fall from inside, have a flick through, have a poop and never return to the mag again 🙁

Stans Ironcross – light, reasonable value, but I think they’re only rated up to about 45psi. Otherwise look at their 340 rim. Or for versatility with a bit of a weight penalty, the Grail.

For the pro, deep(ish) section look, there’s the Aileron by Velocity.

Loads of people rave about the H+Sons which manage to make a rim look trendy 🙂

ah two minutes to late!

I’m rather pleased with my Yeti. I have never understood when people say ‘why don’t you get an Octavia’, ‘why don’t you use a bike rack’. We’ve all got our reasons…looks, security, and after two years of laying my bike flat in the back of my Golf I wanted to be able to stand it up without taking up all the luggage space.

FWIW I’m just over 6ft and I can stand my 29er and CX in the back with the front wheel removed (i’m not sure this would be possible with a spacesaver, let alone a spare wheel). With the middle rear seat removed I used to shove the bikes down the middle (with a bit of swearing) but recently I discovered that with the middle seat removed you can slide the neighbouring seats towards each other, thereby creating space down the sides for the bikes to sit in a V-formation! Much better. With the saddle up there’s still a lot of hamfisted shoving of the bikes – yet to figure the perfect technique.

Cheers. I figured it must be p!ss easy since I couldn’t find any ‘how to’s online!

For some reason I thought it was magically done without a whip 🙄

RG, where did you source the XGs? For the life of me I can’t find the TNT versions.

Interested to her about the super swans. Wonder if anywhere sells them as OEM??

It’s the darkest of black arts. If everybody says a particular combo works…doesn’t mean it does!

See HERE from the other day.

What tyres do you have in mind out of interest?

And here

Quite a useful rundown here

Do not get me started…after what felt like a month of Internet research I plumped for Mud 2’s to go on my Stans 340’s. They seemed a bit baggy when first mounted. Added a couple of layers of tape and still no luck. I tried seating them with an innertube but they fell from the rim as soon as the tube was removed. Also there was no satisfying ping when pumping which means I would have little faith at lower pressures.

Good luck tracking down some XG TNTs – it seems like the entire output was bought up by the US!

Hey we finished it on Sunday too. I enjoyed the ending.

KoB, beware of flitting between BB and The Wire, it’s a bit of a mind fudge to go from the vast dustiness of Albuquerque to the durge of Baltimore!

See my Dad.

The Felin Fach Griffin is darling of the scene in Brecon