You’ve just described the Maxxis Ardent to a T. I’ve been using them for years and find they’re a great compromise between drag, grip and durability.

Sign is on the wrong side of the fence ?

Spacing wouldn’t be right with a 9 speed cassette unless it was shimmed out as stated above, 1mm sounds a bit thick to me though.
Narrow-Wide chainrings work with 1*9, I’m running a superstar one on my Soul at the moment. Currently running a standard XT rear mech without a chainguide and haven’t dropped the chain yet (been running it for about a month and done some pretty rough stuff).

Superstar ?
I had one of their rotors that didn’t feel right, measured it and it was 0.05mm different thickness from one side of the disc to the other.
Filled in the returns form and sent it back, received a refund with no questions asked.

On the back of watching that video I decided to take a punt on one of their I/O chainrings and I must say the quality is rather good !

I have done the same as suggsey with the same result.

I fitted an FSA headset to a mate’s frame that felt like that, turned out that I’d put the bottom seal on upside down.

Five ten shoes are great, the sole sticks really well to the pedals. Go for freerider elements if you’re looking for wet weather performance.
As for pedals I use superstar nanos and dmr vaults. The nanos are great for £38, the vaults are a bit better (bigger platform) but more than double the price. I’d recommend whichever suits your budget.

The beads don’t always ping into place depending on how good a fit the tyre is on the rim. There should be a line in the carcass of the tyre about 1/8″ from the rim when inflated, if the distance between the rim & line is the same all the way round on both sides of the tyre you’re good to go.

^^ what he said ^^. A 15-16mph average is doable on a slicked-up mtb but not with a 36t ring as you will be short of top-end gears. Do you have a 44t that you could put on for the ride?

Not sure if you can get a matching pair but I run a 34t Blackspire super pro (from CRC) with a standard granny on an SLX double. Shifting is fine and I’ve done 300 miles on it now and it seems hardly worn.

Mk3 Soul, 34t Superstar NW ring, SLX triple. No clearance issues and chainline is perfect.

I’d say get a triple unless you have clearance issues with your frame, which is highly unlikely unless you’re running 36t or bigger.

+1 for the hope adaptor. I have them on both my bikes, they just work !

Ardent 2.25 EXO. Much sturdier, a bit heavier but faster rolling.

In the STW tradition of recommending your own bike, Cotic Soul !
A cheaper but no less fun option would be a Ragley Piglet.

I’d say the bagger frame is a bit overkill for Revs, I ran a Blue Pig with 150mm revs for a couple of years and really enjoyed riding it, the revs are a great match for the blue pig frame.

Butcher on the front, ardent on the rear.

+1 for the Ragley Stubbing. I have one on my Soul and the bars haven’t fell off yet ;)
Mine is one of the 1st batch, 30mm stack height.

And the rim is ?

The 2.3 minion has been designed using a new ruler rather than the ‘out of calibration’ one they had when designing the original minion. It comes up somewhere between a 2.35 and 2.5 so not much smaller than what you have on the front.

Jeez, didn’t realise the STW wheel size obsession extended to kids bikes as well !

My daughters started out on balance bikes. By the time they were ready to move on I bought Cnoc 14’s because they were the right size for them at the time. geoffj, nothing to do with me being indulgent or the bike industry squeezing cash from me. As for going from 14″ to 20″ suggesting they were on 14’s for too long, I’d probably agree for the last 2 months they have been a bit on the small side but they could still ride them perfectly well. What would have been indulgent (or the bike industry conspiracy theory) would have been going 14-16-20.

Personally I think the isla’s have been great and if I had to do it again I’d do exactly the same.

smurfly, at the risk of offending the islabikes fashion police, here’s a pic of the bike decked out with tazzles and doll carrier that I’ll throw in the sale as well if you’re still interested.

* Queen Elsa and Princess Anna of Arendelle not included :)

I can make the one in the classifieds a little more girly if you like by throwing in a teddy carrier and some tassles !
Also anyone who says that 14″ is a redundant size is talking rubbish, my twins have just gone straight to Beinn 20 smalls without issue.
BTW, I sold her sister’s bike on the auction site yesterday for £175 so no problems with resale values.

Freehub seal on back-to-front ?

That looks like a standard internal / zero stack headset to me.

If I were you I’d remove the little tab from the mech, drill the holes out a bit bigger then re-assemble using the extra clearance to get the tab closer to the frame. Should provide enough extra contact to do the job.

Why not run your normal tyres but buy a dual ply from CRC before you go and stick it in your case. That way if you find after a day or two that your tyre isn’t up to it, stick the dual ply on, however if you don’t need it then send it back to CRC on your return and you haven’t lost out !

Let me clarify my post above, Yes it’s possible, however you may need to change the chain if it’s been sized to suit a 36t cassette. (Is that a sensible enough answer?) However it makes no financial sense whatsoever! The cost of a range extender is double the cost of a smaller chainring, plus the cost of a chain, plus the doobry above. Then when the cassette & extender are worn out you have to replace both parts, again increasing the cost of ownership.

It’s possible, as is lighting a fire with 3 £20 notes….

beaten 3 times :(

I think you’re missing the point of a wider range cassette, as 13-40 would give you a very similar range to a standard 11-36 if used with a smaller chainring.

Never tried the purgatory personally but I have 3 mates who use them on the rear and really rate them, don’t know anyone who has run one on the front. I think the butcher is a better sloppy tyre than the CM personally, a true ‘fit and forget’ tyre. Since I fitted mine the CM has been gathering dust in the garage.

Racing Ralph is a cracking rear tyre, if you’re having problems with x-kings splitting then go for the snakeskin or double defence sidewall. Maxxis Ardent is also a very good rear tyre.
Shame the same can’t be said for the Nobby Nic, which is a horrible tyre IMO, I found the grip to be all or nothing, and was prone to letting go and depositing me in the nearest ditch with little or no warning and the tread started to delaminate after about 6 months. I have also tried the CM and found the grip very good and the weight acceptable, however I’m currently running a Spesh Butcher and I find this almost as grippy as the CM but significantly lighter with decent volume.

I run 2×10 with an slx chainset fitted with a blackspire super pro 34t ring, available from crc. The shifting is not as good as the shimano ring but is perfectly adequate.

Not much between them in 2.1’s TBH, the maxxis is slightly bigger. If you want to size up then go for the 2.25’s.

What’s the point of running a bash with single front ring? Surely a hardened steel chain in going to cope with being bashed better than any aluminium or plastic bash guard ?

63cm noggin here, have a Giro Xar and Remedy, both large, both fit very well :)

Stans rim strips work perfectly fine in Schrader rims, I’ve run one in a mavic 719 for years. If you’re just taping up the rim, a quick google found these: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/no-flats-tubeless-schrader-valve-kit/rp-prod94761

Raleigh Chinook. 2007 – 2008 (lasted 8 weeks before falling to bits)
Gary Fisher Wahoo. 2008 (nicked after 6 months)
Commencal Combi Deluxe. 2008 – 2011 (stripped & sold frame)
Inbred (vert dropouts). 2010 – 2012 (stripped & sold frame)
Inbred (sliding drops). 2011 – 2012 (stripped & sold frame)
Ragley Blue Pig. 2012 – 2013 (stripped & sold frame)
Cotic Soul. 2012 – present
Banshee Spitfire. 2014 – present

Seal fitting is at 5:10. ?I don’t have the special tool but found a 40mm plumbing fitting that is exactly the right size. Only the seal holds the freehub in place until the skewer is tightened.

Rotors will be fine, it’s the 160-180 post mount adaptor that’s a problem as it relies on the CPS washers to take out the variation in the height of the posts, therefore if you have the above adaptor then swap it for another make. A 185 disk on a post mount fork / frame is an even bigger problem as no-one else does 185 PM-PM adaptors. If you have a 185 disk then swap it for a 180 and get a new mount.