You missed the most important thing about that stem, it’s got 10mm of rise built in.

I’ve had the non ti versions and they creak as well. A bit of spray grease every now and again up the side of the rails into the shell helps for a bit.

Most saddles do eventually if they have standard metal rails

Ben, how tall are you if you dont mind me asking? test ridden a L whyte e160 recently and felt great, but its slightly shorter than my other bikes, whereas the XL is quite a bit longer. no XL to be able to test

Had the mt7s, levers are crap and prone to leaking and being impossible to get bled right. One of mine was ok, the other let air in every ride.
Binned the levers and fitted XTR levers to the mt7 calipers.
All the power (way way more powerful than with the mt7 lever), way more modulation than Shimano and so far after many months of riding, utterly faultless.

So you tested a size too small and then said they are too snug, right….

Watch for the needle bearing cages cracking on those Boomslangs. 3 sets and they all cracked and Specialized don’t carry spares… Grippy nice feeling pedals but ultimately expensive garbage

The clasps on those hip packs are rubbish, used them on other things and once they were even a little bit, the are so easy to accidentally release.

Get one of these and then you can offset it to the non driveside and run a bigger bottle
B-RAD Double Bottle Adapter

Riding a bike doesn’t solve debt. if the sale helps clear that and put you in a better more stable place then sell it. Get square, your head will thank you.
It can be all consuming having that over your head.
If you were riding it all the time, then maybe I’d say keep it, but you obviously aren’t, so don’t let the heart blind you this time. Bikes will still be there when you are in a better place.

If it helps, I carry a victorinox version of the same type of tool. 2 locking blades on it.
I recently got stopped in London Victoria train station for an “anti terror” check (god knows what vibe I was giving off)
Had my rucksack with that in it, explained I was commuting to work by bike. They checked it over, gave it back, gave me a receipt incase I wanted to complain about them (I didn’t) and I carried on with my day.
Not saying all situations will be like that, but if you ride with it, it’s a legitimate tool. If it was in your pocket with no bike or reason, then it could be seen as something else.
I’d say don’t worry about it.

Yari needs a couple of hundred on a decent damper. Wish this was around when I was looking, now stuck with Yaris and needing to spend on said damper.

“at-least-we-made-it-this-far-edition” shoulda been called the “how-f-ing-much-edition”

Have had the same twice when adjusting the axles. Either ends up tightening itself or loosening. And I do know what I’m doing with them, so equally flummoxed. I did the only sensible thing and bought new pedals as that was cheaper than buying the replacement axles.

Or Storrington.

Have you tried the remote on other bars to see if it’s actually the bars?

i had a Fox DPX2 in 200×51 in my Hightower when i had it. transformed the bike. don’t longshock it, a world of tyre rub and disappointment awaits for virtually no benefit.

basically anything but the monarch it came with will be better. might as well put a metal bar in for all that did.

I remember my dad doing the same to me 33 years ago, bet me £15 he could beat me to the top of ditching beacon. Didn’t tell me it was starting 15 miles out. I was 11. Still beat him to the top by nearly 10 mins. He paid up.

Don’t pedals have always been rubbish for the money. I remember a set of V12s lasting 1 day before the bearing had so much play they were not useable.

The comment above about burgtecs isn’t a fix all either. Got a lovely looking set here. No play, but the sealing is dire and I’ve had to replace all the bearings, bushes and axles within 12 months.

I despise bushes in pedals and will do anything to avoid them if I can

Hopefully a better job can be done when the kit arrives at an approved invisiframe fryer tomorrow

Just read this whole thread and now i’m worried for the guy again, look forward to the pics of the kit being melted on… lol

Seriously though, that is a shocking cock up by the store. It is not hard to fit if you are even mildly competent. Makes me wonder what the rest of their work is like.
Good outcome in the end though, but what a palaver

they are hopefully carrying over the entries from 2019 first as that got washed away, then Covid.
not sure when i’ll get time to train to be honest. expecting to die.

Just buy the Moxie, as above, in Pink.

Not to mention it looks incredible

The Moxie for me is the ideal do it all bike. mines set up as a full 29er with 160mm forks and its quite comfy and capable of smashing out a 30 mile ride just as much as its capable of smashing out some gnarly lines in the woods with mates.
It is hands down my favourite bike i’ve ever owned.

The Inno i mentioned fits a Pipedream Moxie Longer model with almost a 1300mm wheelbase easily.

Had a V1 Hightower, bought one of these: Inno

Still using it 4 years later. Brilliant and doesn’t damage frames unlike the Thule ones that clamp the downtube.

To follow up on the original part of this thread, not whatever ^ is…

One Catflap Grey AM9 in Large ordered after a great chat with Ben from Bird, thanks @Benpinnick, much appreciated

I wouldn’t write off buying that particular frame myself. There is a parts shortage at the moment shock could be an old one they had lying around, the yoke could be prototype or for a different size frame (happens occasionally with Commencal which causes rub on smaller frames – fixed under warranty pretty quick)

I’m not for one second saying anyone should and as i’ve said and you mention here it could just be that. but… its enough to put me off personally (once bitten twice shy), which is a shame as its a wonderful looking thing that ticks all the boxes for me. I even had it in the basket and was an hour away from buying it.

@timber @HoratioHufnagel now you have posted it I feel justified in opening up on why I made this post.

Its an odd choice of words don’t you think? broken spoke and then says “so long as you didn’t zoom in on the shock or the wear on the yoke” its enough to make shy away from buying one. When someone specifically states not to focus on something that has wear, it says its not accident damage and they don’t want it pointed out.

Real shame as I have a Moxie MX3 and it is bloody amazing, hands down my favourite bike in 35 years of riding, and that from someone who has been steadfastly on the side of full sus since the early 90s.

As I said, it could be totally innocent and not actually be a problem with the bike, hence I did not want to tar them with any bad press, but its on Instagram and in the public domain, so hey ho. Its enough for me to move along and find an alternative, been there and done that with bikes eating shocks (Empire Mx6 Evo) and do not want to go down that path again if there is even a hint of that potentially expensive problem down the line.

@benpinnick

They do indeed come from the same factory.

Interesting. Clearly your bikes are excellent value, I have two friends who I’ve recommended them to over the years and they have been nothing short of awesome.
Working in the trade over the last decade I’ve had access to all sorts of exotica at knock down rates. So it’s a weird situation to be in paying full retail price 🤣
I do tend to like quirky left field choices but usually regret it.
Are you available for a chat later this afternoon Ben?

@benpinnick I’ll give you a call tomorrow to discuss the AM9

At the moment a Large Raw AM9 is looking like the option i will go for, just got this nagging feeling i’ve forgotten about something i really wanted. just can’t think what!

Oh and Commencal are September/October for the most part, so that rules them out

The Cotic is perhaps a little bit more special to people who like skinny tubed steel.

If they did it in Orange, this post wouldn’t exist, ha! current colours are just dull and uninspiring (to me at least)

Geometry on the Bird i’d adjust by putting a -1deg headset in, other than that, both are roughly what I am looking for geo wise, but am happy to look at alternatives that are a little either side of the brief!

Interesting point about potentially not warrantying Cotics without the shock. seems odd to me if its the right size and stroke.

thanks so far for the replies.

I’m not naming the brand as I could have misinterpreted it.

Essentially they went live and the feed i logged into heard them mention not to focus on the wear on the shock or where the linkage has worn the frame. then it cut off.

So, on that basis i’ve read into it that the frame is either very flexible and causing wear were it shouldn’t or it is entirely possible they have absolutely hammered their bikes and wanted to show them off in the best light by not focussing too closely on said worn areas.

Either way, i’m out.

I think Privateer is out on the weight basis.

so that does just leave the AM9 and the Cotic.
My shock is a 230 x 57.5 and only 2 rides old. i’d need to get the stroke adjusted to fit either frame, but it will fit both of them. Just the small matter of £1k difference in price, which makes the AM9 really appealing, even though its not the prettiest.
Do cotic do without the shock does anyone know?

There has to be more out there than those 2 though.

As other say, they don’t feel long when riding due to the steep seat angle. I’m on a longer Moxie and I’m 6’2″. Use a 40mm stem and it feels completely normal to ride around on, despite the nearly 1300mm wheelbase and 510mm reach.
If you want stable, get the longer.

Is it the bolt or the threads in the frame?

I must be an oddity then, I’ve had Rudy Project Zyons for 9 years with inserts. Found them to be nothing short of superb.
They steam up on really wet days, but name me a set of glasses that doesn’t to some degree.
Another benefit, aside from ability to change lenses is that the prescription lense never gets scratched. 8 years of abuse on mine and not a blemish on them. That includes leaving them out the case in the boot of my car for weeks on end.
If you do go for inserts, make sure you go for full frame glasses as the defined edge of the frame helps minimise the perceived change in focal area mentioned above by one of the other guys.

Years ago I did a Kona Kileauea frame in Chrome. Nitromors wouldn’t touch the paint, so had the chromers chemically strip it. Wasn’t much more that the chroming as they have to prep it anyway.

You won’t like the wild am if you like the cases on the enduros. They are made of paper and fold under even moderate cornering so need a shed load of pressure to be stable, or ride slower.
The force enduro is good though, same casing as the enduro, but much faster. Grips well for such a low profile tread.

We’ve done this before, just buy one ;)

with a super steep seat angle and slack head, the long reach doesn’t come with a stretched seated riding position.

you won’t regret it