I see there’s a Bike Park in Belgium on that web site. Belgium?????

Dyffers – you don’t see many Serotta’s in the UK. I had a Legend CSL many years ago, beautiful.

Having moved to 4 different countries in my time I’d strongly recommend you take whatever bike you’ve got now (so you can at least ride around on something when you get there for a month or two) and wait and see what the locals ride…

Unless you know what the trails are like already, who you’re gonna ride with, what type of terrain there is, you may waste your money buying something that you soon find inappropriate.

I’ve changed my bikes with every new place/country I lived in… California, Switzerland, Scotland, Germany…

No email address in profile?

Ready to be built up – Italian, handmade, Columbus Genius.. I fell in love with the curvacious seat stays!

I just read Fotheringham’s one (hardback)… really enjoyed it, very detailed but not so much it becomes like reading a boring table of results. Some really good insights into Merkcx.

I don’t tend to hang onto books after I’ve read them.. it’s in perfect condition and yours for £8 posted if you want it.

Never understood the CB fan base – everything of theirs I’ve owned has disintegrated.

I usually drive but Easyjetted last year.

God, it was awful… mahooosive queues at airport Football crowd sized queues!) lugging heavy bikes from pillar to post – I told an Easyjet rep they really needed to work on their process as you literally had to drag your bike back and forth. Then a 4hr delay on outbound flight… sigh.

The return was worse.. big argument with nazi Easyjet check in woman who wanted to charge me over £50 excess baggage despite me having printed out Easyjet’s baggage policy beforehand and underlined the relevant clauses.. made it really unpleasant.
Then someone took my son’s bag so we had the polava of all that, only getting it back 2 days later.

NEVER AGAIN!

I’m back to driving.

Although the costs stated above seem cheap compared to what it costs us…

Petrol
It’s 1,300 miles round trip from me (I’m near Gatwick actually) / 30mpg = 43 Gals/195 litres x £1.60 (petrol was euro 1.71 a litre last week when I drove skiing) = £312

Tunnel
Anything from £120 – £200

Tolls
£120

So a total of approx £500 – £600. Not bad when 2-3 of you sharing costs.

Signed

n +2 as Aracer says…..

I disagree with Schweiz about not having bikes that overlap, as I have at least 2 that do. Sometimes you just fancy a change. Having an alternate bike is good for the mind, body & soul! :D

Impressive core stability! :D

I like it and I’m going to bid on it! :D

As many have said – it’s important to ride the bike that inspires you, makes you excited to ride, and is a reflection of yourself. So go with that choice.

My two-pennorth’ … having ridden SH on everything ove rthe year from fully rigid, to 120mm, 130mm, 140mm, 160mm and yes, even a couple of rides on 180mm bikes (oh, plus CX bikes and single speeds), I get the very best out of the trails on a 140mm Turner 5 Spot. It has that perfect blend of singletrack thrash-ability and gnar capability.

I swap my forks around a bit from time to time depending upon where my head is at: 150mm air Revelations for zipping around, 160m coil Lyriks for chunk.

I think bikes like Blur LT, 5 Spot, Mojo are ideal for up there.

I keep dreaming about riding l’Eroica… And musing over classic curly Hetchins’, ancient Bianchis, etc…

Post up a pic of your bike and kit!

Bummer – missed it and its halfway through now.

Bonkers, just bonkers!

I’m obviously a bit late to all this Sufferfest stuff… have been hearing about the vids but not looked into them until now.

What are they like? Are they actually any good?

The cynical side of me just tells me to buy some normal Tour de France (or similar) DVDs and watch those on the rollers/turbo… is Sufferfest really worth it?

It’s Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight…

I’ve owned both: Inbred and a Soul.

The Inbred was like riding a concrete slab compared to the Soul. Now, this is a relative thing mind, neither is exactly plush, they’re steel hardtails.. but there is night & day between the 2 frames.

This will sound like I’m belittling the On One but it’s meant as an informed owner’s opinion….

– The Inbred is made from low end, cheap tubing and has a massively stiff rear end giving it a harsh ride.

– The Soul is made from very expensive high end tubing and has a more forgiving ride quality.

There’s a reason Inreds are cheap, and, there’s a reason Souls are expensive.

7 years old!!!

Absolutely fantastic. I’m astonished. Good job that lad! :-)

8 weeks to go none of the training plans in books will help.

The Time Crunched Cyclist has some short-duration program’s I.e. last a few weeks.

But tbh, best thing you can do is ride LOTS in the next 7 weeks and take it easy the week before your race.

Other obvious advice is lose weight. :-)

Why would it ever be your “last road bike”?

I’ve had several thinking they were each the very last I’d ever need.. perfection. Nothing is forever.

The reason I ask is that I can get a bare Equilibrium frame and would buy some carbon forks for it. But I don’t want the Genesis forks, I want some Eastons. . So I don’t want to have to mix n match a brake set: deep drop at the rear / normal drop on the front.

Also, I cant see any rack mounts?!?!?!
WTF!!! are you for real!!!!!

It is a race frame!!!!

Quite!

Looking at many of the posts from the “new-to-road-biking-and/or-Cyclocross” members on STW sometimes I get the impression they believe every road or CX bike should have rack mounts. WTF for????

JCL – Member
Putting aside the debate about boutique brands, Vauxhall Corsa’s etc… I’m sick to death of having to replace squeaky, creaky stupid bearings every 6 months on my SX Trail, wife’s FSR Myka and son’s FSR.
Are you power washing the pivots? Do you keep the bikes in a pond?

Seriously, that sounds ridiculously excessive. Your family must ride a lot.

A figurative 6 months maybe… but certainly FAR too often.

If Specialized and others didn’t cheap out and use such crappy skateboard bearings then we’d all have a lot less maintenance, less cost to deal with.

As someone else said: my Horst Link Turner rode very differently to my Specialized FSR. It’s about what makes you motivated and what makes you smile. Turner’s do that for me – AND there’s a lot less bearing maintenance required.

Putting aside the debate about boutique brands, Vauxhall Corsa’s etc… I’m sick to death of having to replace squeaky, creaky stupid bearings every 6 months on my SX Trail, wife’s FSR Myka and son’s FSR.

I’ve been riding 5 Spots for 6 years now.. how many times have I changed the bearings? Er…. not once!

Why would anything he has to say at this point be anything than more lies?

He lied to us all for 15 years.

Whatever he says on Oprah or anywhere else… who would believe him?

That was good that was… pretty big gaps across the top 4 there.

Agree – the commentary was ballistic. Americans – Yawn. :?

Gotta say I’m not a fan of those huge headtubes on CX or road bikes but Man, that thing does looks sweet! :D

You’re going to have a lot of fun on that!

Another vote for Fox Sergeant shorts – so flimsy they tore in the changing room when trying them on! 8O

Lycra inner felt awful compared to my other shorts… left in a hurry!

Never, ever pay by Bank Transfer as you get no protection – insist on Paypal.

I also learned the hard way being ripped off by that idiot Peter Gratwick aka Freeform5Spot on STW. Now banned I believe.

Digger why the abuse?
People say the c456 is ugly…and??
Specialized may dull handling (neutral) bikes ..and?
Who is offended? Are you in the Turner-hand gang?

Apologies… Having re-read my reply I can see how it can come across as critical/abusive. Certainly not intended.

Stating the head tube is too high as if that we’re an accepted fact rather than a personal opinion may be misleading the OP.

The HT lengths on 2010 and 2012 Spots are exactly the same, so the only difference is the HA. With a slackset in a 2009 or 2010 Spot therefore there a rider has exactly the same bike. It will steer exactly the same. All else considered, stating that theres a night & day difference between them is purely down to the HA, nothing else, which as we’ve seen, is easily fixed with a slackset.

As Superstock’s videos and photos prove, along with many others, the 2010 Spot is an incredibly capable bike.

Ridden on a 2010 5 Spot with the ‘really high awkward front end’ and all-too-steep head angle….

It’s only got a ‘really high awkward front end’ if you’re a) completely incompetent or, b) a total numpty or c) both! 8O

Take one for a lengthy ride.. then you’ll know what they’re actually like. There are plenty of very, very good riders out there on 2009/2010 5 Spots who are far better than you or I.

If you want to see for real what they can do, check out any of Superstock’s posts/videos over on MTBR.

I ride my 2010 with and without a slackset in.

Yes, there’s a noticeable difference. Which do I like?…. Both! :D

With stock HA it’s the funnest singletrack ripper you could imagine – fast, nimble steering, precise, goes-where-you-think-it-should…

With a slackset in, it’s a little more stable at faster speeds on steeper, gnarlier stuff and is noticeably slower in the steering.. all good for jumpier, rougher stuff.

That’s the beauty of the Turner 5 Spot – the MOST versatlie mountain bike bike on Earth.

It all just shows how different we are, as I loved both LifeCycles and Vast. I didn’t see them as either/or.

LifeCycles pretentious? I wouldn’t label it that.. I thought it was an excellent film – beautifully filmed, thought-provoking, yes. Pretentious, no.

That is indeed good news. Flyup’s service at FoD is excellent… so here’s hoping they do a similar job at Gawton.

Prediction for 2013:

650b will take over in another bike-industry-carpet-bombing-best-thing-we’ve-ever-invented-everything-before-was-rubbish kinda way.

Prediction for 2016:

26″ wheels are back in fashion ya know, after all, you didn’t really get suckered into that whole “we know better than Thou because we wanna sell you more bikes” crap did you?

Amasa Back… >sigh<

If you like that, how about…

Poison Spider

Porcupine Rim

Portal Trail

Sovereign

Slickrock Trail

The Whole Enchilada

And you’ve got to have a Buffalo Burger at Eddie McStiffs in town!