Also he doesn’t mention that its got a CCDB shock… odd…

When you have money sitting in your Paypal account from things you have sold

Forewarned is probably still whacked in the nads once anyway…

Yeah the lever did look a bit crap in the pictures but I suppose I’ll find out soon enough! 30.9mm not an option so never mind….

timbur yes he did ride it out, although he did go splat on one of the follwing attempts at riding through that little bombhole. He’s always been good at dusting himself off and giving it another go, he’s very determined to ride / clear sutff 🙂

Matt – yes I have ridden steel HT’s a lot and still have my inbred as a commuter. Its true they feel much better than an Alu frame, but for off-road now I don’t they will ever be as easy on the body as a FS. True tyre pressure makes a huge difference. Its the idea of investing in a Ti hardtail that lead to me giving the HT I had a quick go again and the same old problems returning. So I’ve decided to give my self a break!

Cheers all! He was three then and is now 6. He’s got some skills now, can properly jump small table tops, proper nose down landings and is very good on steep stuff in the Alps as long as its not too rough. He’s better at skinny’s than me…

Here we go, a bit if cable tidying to be done but looking pretty stealth I think. I need to take the hope stickers off the top tube, a job for this rainy weekend.

And strangely since I posted, no punctures… 🙂 cue punture in the rain on the way home tonight!

My lad taking it to the max 🙂

Hmm.. need to find a dealer near me in France… a trip for the weekend.

Done – all the best

So my local shop has the Conti Touring Plus Reflex. Doesn’t have the free tube and replacement thing but apparently “extremetly” puncture resistant, anyone tried them?

Looking at the marathon plus as well, how well do they grip in wet / snowy conditions?

Cheers all, I like the look of the Top Contact Winter II tyres on the Conti site. Will be good when it gets colder too!

Go for it, plenty of people of similar age working in the industry, you never know you may not go back…

Wow – a thing of beauty. Will be a bike to be proud of for life I’m sure. Don’t let it out of your sight!

A bit of a drive but Gawton in Devon has steep / tech DH tracks and an uplift but you’d need to check before you go probably.

Is the standard spring a medium? I weigh about 75kg and I don’t get full travel out of my 170mm travel Lyriks.. should I try a soft spring?

I’ll have to post the pic of my orange 5 up I think, thread is useless without Photo’s! Good choice EGF!

I think the best way to try to make your personal need for bike stuff greener is to buy as much as you can second hand. Reduces waste and the manufacture of new stuff (I suppose). Otherwise all highly engineered and manufactured stuff from the other side of the world is not ecologically sound. Its a compromise at the end of teh day I guess

Ha ha! 😆

Yeah loads of fun riding, cheeky trails in lots of the woods around Amersham, Little Chalfont, Cheynes, Latimer. The Summit MTB track in Lotts Wood is a great all weather track becuase its not got clay soil. So good for a bit of winter training doing a few laps there if its wet. Also not far from Swinley Forest in Bracknell, Aston Hill for DH, plus Chicksands other riding spots a hour away.

Have fun!

Well this will be my second season living in the French Alps in the Portes du Soleil, pretty much learnt the basics of falling over with a snowboard on ice last season so looking to hopefully a bit more snow and a bit more progression this season! My new toy will be a full season pass and being able to do a bit more exploring. Same old second hand board, don’t even know the make but its got a cool Ninja chic on it with a sword looking like she’s about to about to castrate me….

Great thanks. I already have the bike running the 29’er fork with 26″ wheels so I don’t think adding the 700c wheels will change the angles much. Should work well.

Horses for courses, double and bash on my all mountain bike with a stinger. Brilliant set up, more clearance, still got the granny for the long steep stuff, chain NEVER comes off, and by the time I’m going fast enough to start spinning out I’m normally bricking myself. If I didn’t live in the mountains I’d drop the granny too.

I can remember doing some whittling in the back garden with my penknife when I was 7, and my Dad arriving to give me a demonstration of proper technique. He then proceeded to cut the tip of his thumb quite badly, which I found hilarious and my Mum didn’t find hilarious… I carried on whittling as before!

Not sure if it helps but I’ve heard lots of good things about canyon bikes and was able to throw my leg over one for a par park bounce once, it felt very nice (was their FR bike). Not sure how you test one.

Another for the mix, how about one of the new ragley FS bikes? The 100m travel one looks ace and would be great for Surrey Hills if it lives up to the hype.

I wonder why the Orange 5 is such a divider of opinion? I mean loads of people swear by them, and then lots of other people hate them. Strange? I have found that shock tune is very important, makes all the difference. Personnaly the only bike I would buy is a new 5, odd.

You should test ride a 5, among others. If you like it you will really not regret buying one. If you don’t like it you won’t have lost anything. But I think they are ace. Make sure the shock is set up properly.

FWIW I used to have an Orange 5 and found it perfect for a UK allrounder, I’ve since moved to the Alps and have got an 06 Patriot 66 with a newish RP23 shock. Built up fairly burly with Lyrik Coils, it weighs in at around 33lbs I think. It is a fantastic allround for the Alps, can climb well but it gets tiring after a while due to the geo / set up more than the weight. On the downs it is wicked, can do most black DH’s and most importantly it feels fast and efficient on rolling or flattish trails. I love it, but if I was back in the UK I’d get a 5, its all you need unless you are riding DH only.

I think if they are regular roadies they will be used to pushing a bigger gear up hill, they have no option. Hence they are fitter / have to go faster otherwise they would stall in the their bigger “easiest” gear.

I find that biking offroad only leads to an inability to anything other than spin wildly up hills.

Having ridden / owned several verions of the 5 and also other well known full sus bikes (Specialized Enduro, SC Blur 4X, Marin, etc), I agree that the 5 is not the “Best” suspension platform out there, or the best performing bike in some situations.

However, I keep returning to it and the only reason I can give is they are simply the most all round fun bike to ride, in all sorts of conditions and situations. They are a brilliant bit of simple design that works. I would buy another like a shot if I didn’t have a Patriot 66 instead. Maybe I will anyway… 🙂

Treat yourself to a few tasty upgrades to scratch the itch! 🙂

I think that you should stick with what you have, big travel trail bikes are just a compromise on the two bikes you really need and already have, a DH bike and a proper trail bike. You might get one bike without much net outlay, but you sure won’t be able to go back the other way without forking out a shed load….

Chickenhawk and First Light both highly recommended.

Buzz & Tell was brilliant, my 5 year old lad and I randomly shout “Charles Cheese!” or “Mr Biscuits!” at each other and burst out laughing at least once a day.

Yes I know I have never grown up….

I have kids and worry greatly about what kind of world they are going to live in when they are grown up. That scares me.

But then I think there is no point worrying about things you cannot control, and focus on having fun and doing the best I can for them while I can. Nothing else matters at the end of the day.

Thunderstruck by ACDC never fails to bring a smile to my face. 🙂

Good lord, I find myself tending to agree with TJ! Current fundamentals of western society are not sustainable. Broadband will solve commuting issues, what is more worring for me is how we sustain an agricultural system that relies totally on oil to be productive enough to meet our demands. Dig for victory springs to mind. No two ways about it, the western definition of high living standards is going to need to change.

Electric cars are a red herring, the batteries are more unsustainable to make that petrol!

I aim for 10.30 every night, and actually achieve 11.30. Kids then wake me up around 6.30 every morning. As a result I never feel like I have had quite enough sleep as I need 8 hours.