Another fan of fontmoss’s SS superfly here. My Rig is a poor imitation in comparison. If you ever decide to sell it give us a shout .

Looks like it’s held up to the recent rain quite well. Anyone know which bit that is? Doesn’t look like Ben’s berms which are sandier. Somewhere in the ‘4th dimension’ perhaps?

Thanks but Smaller than the cane creeks, I think. Not dissimilar to the tiny bar ends you get on the end of some ergon grips but hollow.

Ah. It’s the HD which has a tapered headtube not a 1.5 all the way so it wouldn’t work. Headsets really are a minefield nowadays.

It’s a reducer headset to allow you to run 1 1/8 steerers in a 1.5 headtube, plus it’s integrated.

I might have a hope reducer headset for sale (1.5 to 1 1/8) if that’s any use Ben?

Edit to add: it’s the integrated one. I need non integrated to make my Hemlock uber slack and run 160 1.5 forks.

As others have mentioned Lemmings with Switchbacks is the hardest trail I’ve tried to ride. I also found the Ranger’s Path off Snowdon really hard, although that was on a new bike at the time and I’d like to go back and try it again some day.

Hardest trail I’ve cleaned is probably Fort William red, not for it’s technicality but for how long and tiring it was for me.

In cross mode. Prefer it in Fixietwat or beardedtourer though.

Yeah tried different amounts of open. Maybe we needed to shut it again before pulling the lever again?

No sign of it in Oxford either. The above suggests there is still a whole bunch missing.

RIP the Bontrager ACX 🙁

Lots of detail changes but personally I couldn't tell any difference in ride between my old (stolen) one and the new replacement.

The biggest change is the ability to run 140mm forks if you want.

@dave_aber: Nice conversion. Do you know who did it?

thanks

Rather unfashionably moved from a 70mm stem to a 90mm which seems to suit me a bit better.

Build pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davejevons/sets/72157623099177713/

US3 – Hand on the torch
Tower of Power – Soul with a capital S

Just built:

Sunset at Nant yr Arian

@geoffj I should have bought that Alfine wheel off you as I'm thinking of doing the same to the Rig you sold me now.

New Soul. 120mm Floats with 15mm hubs. Stans 355 rims with tubeless High rollers. Magura Louise's, Xtr shifters which were a fantastic indulgence and my favourite rapid rise rear mech.

Was great fun on Nant-yr-Arian today.

LED Lights. I probably do more riding in the dark than in the light at this time of year.

I miss my red/white Slayer. Very underrated.

Will it have Chris King hubs? Maybe small wheels and towing will be the next niche?

You could practice on night rides by taking it in turns towing us 😀

I'm gutted Dovey Junction didn't make the list 😉

@Driller. I agree with many of the individual points, but it strikes me as prohibitively costly/timely to do all that relative to the cost of insurance. For example taking the roof bars off our car is a good half hour job (plus the same to get them back on). To get power to our bike storage and change the door would cost thousands. Good insurance looks like a bargain in comaprison. I would also be concerned about making you the individual the weak link rather than the security.

We had 5 (reasonably high end) bikes stolen earlier this year and have had 2 others stolen from the city centre. It is a horrible feeling when it happens and 6 months later I'm still riding a bodged singlespeed waiting for a replacement.

I have been surprised how little advice there is on how to secure a set of bikes though. Ground anchors are good but fitting 5 and two reinforced doors is not cheap or hassle free option.

Very good guys! It cheered me up at least 😆

There does really need to be a better system for identifying stolen goods on ebay and recovering them. As I understand it, it's down to individual forces and it does seem to fall between the cracks.

It was soooo frustrating to see my Slayer on ebay after it had been stolen and for nothing to happen. Surely it could be easy wins for a dedicated police team putting 2+2 together?

There are bikes out there which are marketed on climbing prowess. The Rocky Mountain Altitude seems to excel at climbing but be a pretty average descender (according to reviews) and the best climber I've ridden was my Slayer SXC despite being a heavy 160mm bike.

Riding a borrowed singlespeed Scandal with rigid forks recently, I've been surprised how good it is up hill and I'd have thought I was quicker on it than a suspended bike.

I do think it's a bit of a shame there aren't more good technical climbs at trail centres, rather than fire roads.

edit:: I agree on ETA, by far the best climbing system I've used, leaving 30mm of travel to taker the sting out of climbs. Shame everything else about the forks was terrible.

Out of interest how do the two compare? I'm looking at both to replace a stolen Slayer SXC.

Singulars do look good don't they? Was it not for a rather expensive few months I might have been tempted myself.

I looked at the Haro before buying the rig but it does seems quite heavy considering it's rigid.

The best one I've ridden so far is little bro's (Scandal 29er) which was great round Swinley. Very light and fast.

The KHS looks nice but I reckon second hand is the way to go maybe a 29er unit, inbred or rig? I paid £320 for the rig if it helps.

It's listed here:
Dales Cycles

Quite a jump up in price from last year's bargain. Shame as I quite fancied one but all the 2009s seem to have gone.

More sound deadening, seats which I can drive all day in, carpets and a stereo you can hear. Of course you can change all of these on an S1.

Pics of my S2 ST

One important difference nobody tells you is the heater is rubbish in the S2 making winter blasts with the top down not possible, while it is much stronger in the S1.

Sounds like you really want an S1 to me.

I chose my S2 over an S1 even though it's a weekend toy as it's more useable and I prefer the styling [/vain]. If you prefer the looks of the S1 and can live with it the go for it. They're lots of fun 8)

Mine's going in for a service and new tyres before a 2 week road trip round europe. Can't wait.

Ben,

I've ridden Gorrick Sport and tend to come midpack (50 something) so I reckon you would come very high in Sport and be comfortable in masters.

Let me know which one's you enter.

dave

Thanks guys.

I meant to add they also took my bike stand, 2 Planet X bike bags, a Marzocchi All Mountain 1 fork (160mm QR) and a Magura Phaon (130mm QR).

Grrrr.

I’ve got a 2007 one. It’s taken me a year to get it to feel right though and I nearly gave up and traded it for a Hemlock along the way. My problem, was that it didn’t inspire confidence on rocky or technical descents (being the point of a big bike). I could climb great on it but going down I preferred my Cotic Soul.

It initially came with 160mm Marzocchi QR forks which were a disaster and probably 80% of my problem with it. Once changed to Fox 36s and new wheels it was much more confidence inspiring. Putting 2.4 Kenda tyres and a 70mm stem gave me much more confidence than the light IRCs and 90mm stem that it came with.

RF BB and FSA headset have both died within a year and I had to send the shock back to Fox as the propedal stopped working.

As other have said you need to live near hills (It feels pointless on my local Oxford trails) but with the new setup I had a great time in mid-wales on Climaxx, mach 3 and the Coed-y-brenin trails. For a 6 and 6 bike it climbs incredibly well in my opinion.

Really enjoyed it despite having a disaster of a race. They even managed to take a nice picture of me as well! Trail was very good considering how much snow there had been, enjoyed it much more than the first one which was more a mental battle.

One of the Sport guys was not happy when he clipped my arm going past and cartwheeled off the track – Doh.

2nd the Kona option. Mrs J is 5′ 1″ (just) and rides a 13″ kona. See silly comparisson with a giant Nicolai below.

At last weeks Gorrick Giants seemed popular for shorter women.