As someone who always spends far too much on doodads I like the concept. Spend more on trips away, actual riding rather than drooling over whatever must-have fork, wheelset, brakes, frame etc…

I'll join you that 2010 challenge!

Oh – and get good insurance.

Springers are notorious for injuring themselves – cuts, scrapes, barbed wire fences etc.

Ours ate a small foam ball when he was 4 months old – requiring surgery, then was hit by a car when he was 9 months old – requiring surgery, then sliced his chest open at 18 months old…. by the time he was 2yrs old he had racked up over £5.5k in vets bills.

I kid you not.

I have the receipts to prove!

Cosmo, our 4yr old Springer was pretty typical: bonkers/stark raving nuts and MEGA hard work for his first 2 years.

Then, he 'matured' i.e calmed down a little, and is now a fantastic, obedient dog.

We gave up on ALL the dog training classes we attended – even those specially suited to gun dogs. We could get no sense from him whatsoever until we went to a super expensive (£60 per hour) local trainer. Boy, was it worth it.

Our springer was our first dog.

Would I get another Springer: Yes.

Would I recommend one as a first dog: Absolutely not.
(Unless you are a super-chilled out couple, prepared to put in a lot of hard work and can afford the very best training regimen – and STICK to it!)

So you're saying that expert trailbuilders from Aston Hill along with Sustainable Development Fund money and an experienced digger team from Wales is all required to alter an exit onto a road???

Yeah, right….

Such major trail construction is beyond the scope of the Hurtwood Control Trust, but with the expert help of former Aston Hill trail builder Ian Warby of the Cyclists Touring Club (CTC), a bid for Sustainable Development Fund money was successful and an experienced digger team from Wales should be on site soon to sculpt the new section of the trail. The volunteers should finish surfacing the trail by the end of the year.

Me and my mates have all gone the same way…

Over the past 3 years we all got into bigger hitting bikes (Kona Coilair's, Turner 5.5 Spots, even Spesh SX Trails) and used them for general trail duties, night rides etc.

Riding a 30lb+ bike with 5.5 – 6.75 inches of travel on general trails is nonsense. Most of us mtb'ers are far too influenced by marketing hype and what mags say is required. Bolx!

I've just bought a 4 " Turner Flux and couldn't be happier. My group are mostly all going back to 4 inch bikes for that zippier feeling and lighter weight.

One of them has even gone back to a hardtail God forbid! (On One 456) :-)

Why drag 3-5lbs of unnecessary weight around with you on every ride? It just gets old after a while.

Mind you, every single one of us now has full-on DH rigs for our 'big days out' and annual Morzine pilgrimage!

If it's dead i have a brand new, unused X0 medium cage I'm shortly to be selling.. lemme know via email in profile if you have no luck with yours.

Good to get some trail improvements, but I really liked the end section that "proved too steep and dangerous" for some.

"Steep and dangerous" huh? – come on, this is Surrey, not Whistler.

My wife and 12 yr old rode down that regularly without problem.

To improve BKB make the whole of it like that last section please!

It's just Windoze…. what do you expect?

Contact me if you change your mind re local rehoming.

Our Springer Spaniel (4yrs old) is seeking a playmate for mtb rides, country walks etc.

We live in a rural area, lots of fields, forests, horses etc and Cosmo our Springer loves the local singletrack.

Shame – as past few years I've combined our annual DH week in Morzine with seeing the TdF.

But with the Alps coming before the Pyrenees, I'd have to take the kids out of school a whole week.

Any good lift-assisted DH riding pots in the Pyrenees?

???

Mine got thrashed in Whistler without issues.. I'm running 180/160..

I've ridden my road bike around that circuit!

That hill is **** steeeeeep!

Cwmcarn.

I've ridden both. Gawton is a LOT harder than Cwmcarn. If you're not a DHer you will struggle at Gawton, with the exception of the HSD track there.

Cwmcarn however gives you lots of options, and the trail was designed to be rideable by non-DH types. Plus you have the XC/trail loop plus variations on it. …Plus the uplift at Cwmcarn is the most professional in the UK.

I've got the Spot about as light as it'll go without blowing serious dosh… Stans ZTR355 on Hope Pro II's, Thomson stem/post, Light seat, etc.. Revelation Dual Airs/QR forks (3.84lbs on digi scales, Noby Nics etc. It's 27.8lbs as is.

I'd love a Flux, but can't find a decent used one for sale.

Anthem's get rave reviews and I'm tempted to try one. Sizing seems a bit funny on them though – I guess I'd be between a Medium and a Large.

Intense – mates who have them have all had too many issues with bearings being chewed up quickly.

When I was 4 years old, my Dad sat me down on a wall and told me he and my Mum were splitting up, and asked me who I wanted to live with. I cried and cried,.. as did my brother.

In time, my parents decided "to stay together for the kids". We had a horrible upbringing: a violent, chaotic, maelstrom of psychological and emotional warfare that left us both 'damaged'. Took 7 years of Psychotherapy to help me out of that little issue….

The answer to your dilemma depends so much on how you and your wife are going to treat eachother and your kids.

Can you both be kind, supportive parents and maintain a healthy, non-argumentative family environment despite your troubles? if so, for ****'s sake don't split up.

If you can't, it may be better to go your separate ways than for your kids to suffer a toxic family environment.

I do that on my bike – it's called "Mountain Biking". You go up and down hills…

You should try it! :-)

Oh FFS… there's nothing secret about Donnie Darko. It's been there **** ages and crosses a bridleway. Everyone who's ridden Leith Hill for more than 5 minutes knows that trail.

What planet have you been on?

I have a brand new, unused, take off 2009 Hope headset in Black I'll sell for £10 less than CRC if you are after one…

It came off a brand new Orange but I already had a headset for it and was replacing a lot of other parts off it anyway…

Because I live in Sussex… doh!

I have also sent a copy of his original 'Stolen' post to the Sussex Police.

Since rsvktm is in Tadcaster and the person I bought it from is in Leeds, he might like to go visit them(!) ;-)

Does anyone know 'rsvktm'?

I have posted a 'Paging rsvktm' post and replied to his original thread about the Turner being stolen. There is no email addy in his Profile though.

rsvktm – Pls contact me soonest.

I bought your bike on eBay. It has been recovered by the Police. I have the name, tel no and other details of the person who sold it on eBay.

My email is simonpearson AT yahoo DOT com

thisisnotaspoon – thank you. I had not seen that and will contact the owner.

Wish I'd checked here before buying it… but I thought a seller who's sold quite a few items on eBay, has lots of positive feedback, is registered (and verified) by Paypal.. and these companies claim to be hot on 'buyer protection', well, how much checking should one do these days?

I will call the Police tomorrow and will contact the original owner.

Yes, I removed all of my parts from the bike before the Police took it away – and yes, I'm 100% sure it was a genuine Police officer.

It certainly has soured me on eBay and Paypal.

.

It's a lesson in just how unhelpful eBay and Paypal can be…

All this crap they spout about Buyer Protection this, Buyer Protection that… fuggin crap!

I paid £200 for the frame. It was an older Turner 5 Spot and was 'naked' – no shock, no bushes, no hardware, no seat clamp etc. Having bought all that stuff for £250 it cost me a total of £450… which is pretty much the going market rate for a well used 2005 HL Turner 5 Spot frame.

UPDATE:

I requested seller contact details from eBay yesterday, they sent me the seller's email address and phone number, so I called them this evening.

I spoke to the seller's spouse. He denied the bike was stolen, saying they'd owned the bike for 18 months. They had not been contacted by the Police, eBay, Paypal or anyone other than me about the matter.

Obviously, he was not going to accept what I was saying at this point, and would not refund my money.

So, I'm going to contact the Police tomorrow and ask what the hell they're doing about it. It was Monday they visited me, today is Weds. Fer Chrissakes, you'd think Plod would've gone round to the seller's house and asked a few questions wouldn't you? They have the name, address and tel no of the seller, and the same for the original owner who reported it stolen.

I sense this saga may run and run….

Sure the Police were interested and I gave them printouts of the eBay auction listing, the seller's details and the Paypal transaction with the seller's email address, Paypal ID. I also got the seller's phone number and gave that to the Police.

They are unresponsive…

I have a brand new Push'd Fox Float R which I bought for my 5 Spot and used twice if you are after that sort of thing. Tbh, it was much, much better than my previous Fox RP23, which surprised me. Much plusher and with zero bob, which seems counterintuitive, but that's the way it performed. Push obviously know how to get the best out of stuff.

Anyway, it's new, comes with 2 sets of reducers, £170

simonpearson AT yahoo DOT com

PS – only reason for selling it is that I've sold the frame.

Orange 224 Evo built lightish (not stoopid light) – mine weighs 37.8lbs on digi scales.

My Turner 5 Spot, which gets 95% of the riding done, weighs 27.6lbs

People say the 5 Spot is a very capable bike that'll take some pretty big hits. Why bother though? I rode mine in Whistler and rode absolutely everything there – but I woulda had a HECK of a lot more fun on a DH rig.

Also had an SX Trail but didn't get on with it – so it's 224 for the 'big stuff' and 5 Spot for all else.

Would anyone recommend NOT using aluminium bolts in certain applications? I'm thinking as rear shock mounting hardware, or for mounting brake calipers?

I'm assuming aluminium is not as strong as stainless or Ti and therefore not recommended for these kinds of applications?

Ooops!

Wrong section… sorry.

Oh – and the QR15 is not as nice as Maxle anyway… Maxle is zero hassle to initially set up and you can put it where you want, every time.

I currently have Fox 32 Van R 140mm on my Turner 5.5 Spot, which replaced the Pikes I was previously running.

I bought into the whole "Fox is better" thing my riding buddies spewed – utter rubbish. The differences between a Fox 140mm coil fork and a Pike 140mm coil fork are virtually indistinguishable on the trail.

Partt of the erason I swapped to Fox was the weight savings (I know, I know)… but disappointingly Fox's claimed weights are fantasy. My forks weighed exactly 1/2lb more out of the box than as listed on Fox's web site – they were almost the same weight as the Pikes I took off!

So….. now I'm selling (have already sold) the Fox's and am probably going to buy a pair of Revelations, dual air, lighter, 140mm travel and 20mm bolt thru. The best of all worlds…

Would I buy Fox again… NO!

I'm seeking a Large Flux if anyone has one for sale – either TNT or HL.

email me at simonpearson AT yahoo DOT com

I thought it was dull. At times seemed like an exercise in pushing your bike up steep, goopy, unrideable trails.

Organisation was great but whoever chose the route needs to think again – preferably making more of it rideable.

Props to the SX Trail. If you want something that can take ALL the hits and more, but still pedals well when you need it to. I went that route last year and got this:

I loved it so much I've now gone the whole hog and blown £4.6k on an Orange 224 World Cup. Waay over my abilities, but it's nice to have the right equipment :-)

By the way, SX is now for sale if interested, size Medium, £1,000. Slightly different config than in pics.

having tried several, we bought a Thule Eurocalssic 903
http://www.thule.com/Thule/ProductPage____83176.aspx

This takes 3 heavy bikes (up to 60kgs total), and is rock solid. Several Alps trips with DH rigs have proven its ruggedness.

My only quibble (and this is something you should check whichever rack you buy) is that the bikes are placed very close to eachother and rub/scratch. The 'separation' between the bikes is not wide enough and needs to be about another 2ins between them.

This can be solved with copious amounts of pipe lagging, but it's an annoyance.