don’t think they are available till mid/late march

To be honest, most of the trails up there are ruined after all this rain.

Any news from Madison yet?

Raggatip, yeah they do:

Canfield

yep. you should always replace after a crash like that, quite often the damage appears minimal, but your head will have compacted the polystyrene meaning the next time you fall on that part it won’t be able to compress anymore, offering no protection.

for what they cost, it is simply not worth it.

i sense an OP that is using “everything SRAM”… there’s your problem.

agree with somouk, used those for exactly that reason on an old Turner RFX, worked a treat.

Drilling out the original guides not only damages the frame (making resale trickier, structually it’ll be fine) it also allows the cable outers to slip and migrate through them (usually to a big loop by the rear mech all primed and ready to grab a big stick) leading to all sorts of other issues.

Cheers!
I bought all the bits new and built it up, just needs a dropper now.
It’s a really good looking bike, I admit to being a brand snob and going “Urgh, saracen” but it’s probably made in the same factories as all the Santa cruz etc. I got past that snobbery the second I pulled it out the box.
Just need the trails to dry out now!

yep! rode mine at the weekend, it is PROPERLY good. finally got my head past the name saracen. it looks stunning and it rides so nicely. they seem to have sorted the fit over the old ones which felt a bit short to me.
here’s mine!

here’s my Ariel 15x..

utterly amazing thing

Just built mine up and I too have a smidgen of play in the linkage, please let me know what Madison say, I’ll be into them next week! Looks amazing in the flesh and rides really nice.
Also, you haven’t fitted your rear mech properly unless you switched to the alternate mech hanger, the supplied fitted one is a direct mount hanger. Bet you are finding it tough to get the wheel in as the rear mech won’t move out the way enough?

Saracen Ariel 152

Click

i ride mtb, road and commute by car/motorbike/bicycle.

therefore tomorrow i must run myself over with the car whilst on the phone whilst at the same time being a militant lycra lout riding in the middle of the road 3 abreast with myself, swearing and cursing at anyone and everyone in a car.

not everyone has the same views, so stop trying to force opinions onto others.

I find Clarkson hilarious, he does it for “entertainment” thats his job.

Can’t wait for Top Gear

just ordered one of these frame in Large, hope mine doesn’t have any issues with the linkage!
A friends 14x has been utterly amazing so hope this carries on the trend.
fingers crossed and keep us updated!

serves him right for trying to race a road bike offroad :lol:

or was this just a commute, given the recent weather?

get a spider and a narrow wide, its all you’ll need.

DON’T buy a bionicon c guide, they are utterly crap with a clutch mech, the extra tension on the chain saws through them in record time.

Bet there’s still talk of a drought come June/July..

They’ll be fine

i had a ti 456, i am 6’1 and a bit (because tthe “bit” is important!)

i also have a 34″ inside leg and i rode an 18″. it fitted fine, had a decent reach with a 60mm stem, but if i was to buy another, i would go up to the 20″.

correct

thought you could buy them off their website.

i thought the damper (which you’d have to disassemble) in those had a nitrogen charge in them. So if that is the case, its unlikely unless you happen to have that capability..

the rings do wear noticeably quicker in sandy conditions. its not been an issue with chain retention.

and clutch mechs breaking… common problem, not caused by the rings, caused by overtightening the clutch adjustment screw…

been running a N/W ring and clutch mech for several months now, no chain drops and noticeably free pedaling compared to running a guide.

if the only downsides are a bit quicker wear on the chainring, i’ll take that!

Follow him one night, find out what he is up to. then have a word with the local police if he is pushing the bounds of legality and see if they can scare him a little.
If not, kick him out.

Onza Greina on the front and an Ibex on the back. the best wet weather combo i have ever used (and i ride the north downs/surrey hills area, and they are amazing there)

plus they work when its not wet too.. which saves swapping tyres over all the time

first powerdrive XL i had wouldn’t charge, 2nd one takes at least 8 hours. also bought a femto rear light, which worked off the bike and wouldn’t when fitted as the structure flexed rendering the button useless.
utter crap quality and i’ll never buy another

how old is the chain?

loss of concentration, memory, headaches and tiredness.

sh*t thats whats wrong with me! i thought i was just bored reading the post.
quick give me the cure!
:D

awesome aren’t they! and much much much quieter than running any kind of chainguide which is a nice bonus

i’ve used fork juice and it is very very good. makes a noticeable difference.

i have friends who have bought “cheap” silicon spray from maplin etc and it seems to stay wet and attract loads of crap onto the stanchions. Fork juice doesn’t do this.

mine lasted me a VERY VERY VERY long time. just make sure you cover your disc/pad before spraying it on….

A colleague here at work has recently installed one in his S-works stumpy. brilliant bit of kit, you need to use the supplied spacer sleeve and make sure you use some grip paste in the install. Also you need 2 hollowtech style bb spanners to install it…

really well made and there hasn’t been a creak or groan from his bike in the last month or so since installing it.
one thing to take note of is that once installed, you can still rotate the ENTIRE bb assembly in the frame with a spanner, this is normal.

Stop using contacts and get some prescription glasses. changed my riding beyond measure.

i bought mine through http://www.extreme-eyewear.co.uk and they were brilliant.

honestly, i cannot believe how much better it is not having to use contacts.

If you are worried about cost/damage implications, go for some with the RX insert (Rudy project for example) that way only the insert is prescription and less like to break in the event of a fall and you can change lenses for different conditions.

There was a point 5-6 years ago i had over £20k worth of bikes in the shed… its cut back since then, but reckon i’ve spent way over £40k at least (but i have been doing it for 25 years so its not so bad if you spread it out over that time frame!!)

the simplistic way of looking at pivot placements and chains is that if the chain on the chainring is above the lower pivot, it will try to squat under power, if it is below it will try to extend.

obviously that is a very basic look at it and things like DW, VPP aren’t that simple to work out, but single pivots, faux bars etc generally have that trait.

if you can find a chainring that places the chain almost bang inline with the main pivot location, it’ll be fairly neutral when pedalling.

The air can makes a massive difference. I had the same on my Turner RFX (now long gone) it came with an RP23 with the xv can on it. it was awful.

I played around with volume reducing shims inside the XV Sleeve which helped, but it wasn’t until i swapped to a normal aircan that the bike came alive.

if its still doing it, get it custom valved (Push, Mojo etc) but the aircan will make a HUGE difference

get it repaired? not too tricky to weld that one up and then it’ll be good as new with a cool scar on it. And chicks dig scars, so win win

a works components ring will help, as will a clutch mech, but if you are dropping it reguarly each ride, i’d spend some time analysing your riding, especially as you have a top guide in place.

You might find that you are back pedaling to drop your lead foot on the way into sections/corners, which is allowing the chain to derail from the bottom of the chainring.

as someone else mentioned, keep tension on the chain by not backpedaling, keep pedaling forward to get your lead foot in place

hey, if they are the same price, then there is no point in not buying them! they are a whole chunk lighter

not quite honourablegeorge, they were bi-metallic strips, so bent one way or the other depending on the temp. these will stay straight as the aluminium core is sandwiched between two layers of stainless, so it cannot bend under heat.

either way, they are lighter, there is no appreciable difference to a normal rotor in terms of feel and power when riding. big difference in the wallet/pain ratio mind you.

conclusion is, if you are a weight weenie, great, if not, not much point!!

just having the same problems, with SRAM going all BB30 the GXP standard is a little thin on the ground for decent replacements.

ditched my Rival chainset for an FSA setup so i can use plentiful and decent quality hollowtech BB’s.

cost £120 from Planet x and it’ll do me!