If you like a bit of a bargain a set of XFusion Trace unicrown @ £358 takes some beating. I and 2 mates are now sporting a set ea. :twisted:

6ft1 on an XL with 80mm stem with no spacers under it, though this is on a 2 with the longer TRP hoods. I think a L with 110mm stem and 20/30mm of spacers underneath would also have worked fine.

The longer the fix on offer the more likely that prices will not increase/will decrease.

Been tubeless on a 5.1 for 2 years now. Used the ghetto method, no issues whatsoever. In fact, I’ve just popped a new tyre on there and reused the original tube, saved doing all the trimming again!

Edit: Oh, and its good and secure, 25psi, me 15-16 stone, Hans Dampf missing many side knobs. :D

There’s another thread about excess bush wear that mentions potential wonkyness. The signs aren’t good.

What do you do about your riding buddies though? Strava collects you all together and they’re unlikely to have privacy zones centred around your house. All you can do I suppose it’s to ask them not to start their GPS straight away but chances are I won’t remember in the preride prep chaos.

What you need is a DMR Bolt, tough as old boots and the pivot is concentric with the bottom bracket.

Must get up there asap and find my £20 worth of trail. I reckon it’ll be on the backside of a berm somewhere, only ridden on the way to the scene of an accident! :D

For touring I would go with scwhalbe marathon supreme 28 x 2.0, they roll a lot better than those suggestions, and can be run tubeless.

+1

Got them on my commuter, good tyres!

Wouldn’t surprise me at all, I’m sure loads of users cheat at Strava.

I did suspect that the chap who ‘stole’ my KOM may not have been playing entirely fair, what with putting out 1900W at 90rpm to achieve 67mph…

Well, as they say, you can’t keep a good man down. I know I said I was finished but now with a nice set of XFusion Trace:

(apologies for the poor pic)

You do understand the English alternative connotation of beaver, yes? 8O :lol: I think you’d be roundly welcomed to BPW!

I’ve had Slants on my FS for nearly 2 years now, great forks though they do take ages to bed in! I like them so much I’ve just bought a set of Trace for the HT.

As a gnarmac bike it’s only fitting that the bars are double wrapped, just over wrap with tape of your choice. Simples.

Wrong colour…

Buy that insurance Steve Peat advertises.

Edit: this one[/url]

We’ve got one of these. It’s a good seat and I’d say better than the other we have, which is also isofix. The USP the x2 has is the reclining headrest, it keeps them protected when they fall asleep as they don’t slump forward.

Man up and use a freeze kit, what could possibly go wrong…..

A big plus for me is that it comes in orange so hopefully will be mistaken by the Home Office for the existing Soul.

:lol:

I don’t know about feeling as such but I do love new bike quiet. No clicks, creaks, groans or other annoying noises, especially so in these days of 1x, just the noise of the tyres loading and unloading… Whoosh!

Baby wipes for me.

It’s another PR disaster anyway.

Fixed that for you.

I opted to go bigger with shorter rather than smaller with longer. I’m on an XL with 80mm stem as opposed to a L with probably a 110mm stem, still don’t know whether I’ve done the right thing! What i do know however is that it rides fine, not in the slightest bit twitchy, i guess the head angle and wheelbase see to that.

If anyone is considering an Arkose 2 its also worth noting that the TRP hoods are 20mm or so longer than normal (Shimano/SRAM) which makes sizing even trickier, there’s a compromise to find for the reach to ‘tops & drops’ position vs reach to hood position.

Its about feel
I don’t want a bike that smooths out everything. Wheres the fun? I also don’t want a bike that makes me go faster. I’m not racing.
I want feel and fun. Not pace and flatten the trail.
If a matey goes balls out and bangs it down a trail to feel like hes KOM/a frustrated world cup racer- all the power to him.
For me though I want to feel/enjoy/have more involvement.

Tried a Bandit 26 Hora?

Originally from Sunderland, now live half way between Barnsley and Sheffield, presently contemplating a move to Warwick. Very informative thread. :lol:

In case it matters the Arkose 2 isn’t square taper, it has external bottom bracket bearings which look an awful lot like a hollowtech II, i.e. with opposed pinch bolts on the nds crank. Haven’t had it apart or weighed it or anything but seems a reasonable piece of kit so far.

Anyone know anything of a slight geometry change for the Scout next year?

50C? They must be small 50s but I like your style.

Marathon Supremes, 28×2.0, more like 45mm in reality I think. Reasonably shoehorned in though :D . Front mudguard (55mm width) was cut into two and additional mount fashioned for the front part, there was no way it was going through the fork legs with that tyre in there!

This frame/bike seems to attract more criticism and negative comments than the STW norm, why is that?

£20 for some offset bushes, lovely job.

Heres my 2, complete with 50c Marathons at 40 psi! Commuter, winter, gnarmac bike :twisted: :

It makes me happy to see the 06 Rocky Ridge mentioned… ruddy awesome bike. I still have the frame and its getting rebuilt when I move back home again.

Mines hung up in the garage, one day…
As a connoisseur of bikes may I recommend the Bandit 26 to you, everything you love about the RR but with a bit of squish and even more playful!

Nice to see the Bandit 26 getting some love. It’s the only bike I’ve ridden which I preferred to my beloved 06 Marin Rocky Ridge. Just dropped a couple of offset bushes into it for some extra gnar :lol:

Forget your can I squeeze 650B into my 26″ frame niche, this IS the new niche, Hora in good and early, buying 650B frames to put 26″ wheels in! Accelerate like lightning and carve like demons. :D Anyone tried 650B wheels in a 29er frame? Oh wait, that’s next’s years niche, it’s just they’re also using slightly bigger tyres!

Jedi – what frame have you bought? Were you still running the Bottlerocket?

My Garmin says not every ride does you good – it scores the training effect of each ride on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 does you no good, 2 maintains your fitness, 3 & 4 add fitness, 5 should be treated carefully, not too often and with plenty of rest. Having said that even very steady rides score me near 2, 5 is where you’ve turned yourself inside out all ride eg racing.

:D

Theoretically more accurate though this may mean you stop getting Strava achievements that you shouldn’t have been getting! Battery lasts way longer and you still have a full phone charge for emergencies. But, if its for mountain biking the 200 isn’t very good, you can’t have 1 second logging, only smart logging. In my experience the trace you get as a result is pretty poor, distances incorrect and it causes missed segments.

I’ve happily had 3 Pinnacle bikes/frames since swearing off PX/OnOne bikes/frames.

+1 on the Marathon Supremes. 100s of miles commuting with no punctures (actually rode ~45 miles with a piece of glass in the tyre!), light compared to similar tyres and good prices from the Germans. I run 2.0s, originally on a Ramin but now on an Arkose.

You must be reet tall.