Sounds like a good build you have in mind there.

I run Magura Durin Marathon 120mm on mine. The X0 kit should make a very light build possible. With X9 + XT on mine it was coming in at about 24.5 lbs (a little more now that it's gone tubeless). IIRC the frame weight is something like 5.2 lbs for the large.

The 2.25" tyres steady things up significantly, imo, and make doing (Welsh) trails centres very doable – just need to pick a line more than just my usual thud and blunder on the VT so, as you say, some finesse needed. And it does climb beautifully, leaving you less knackered and so more able to concentrate on descents.

I have heard great things about the EX. The SL's simplicity is a real plus point, it's required minimal maintenance. When I bought it, it was that and the mud clearance that edged it over the Anthem or the Top Fuel. More travel now on the Anthem would've made my decision even harder!

I'm not bottling it (although given the low mileage done this year compared to last year it might be the smart move!), but one of the guys who was coming up with us / splitting B'n'B costs dropped out – late notice Best Man role!

Plausible? I thought so 😉

'oligarchical yacht-based finance' – love it! 😆

Apparently bookkeeper is the only word in the English language with 3 successive pairs of letters 😉

Nowhere near.

Could need a fair bit of fetlocking to keep it in fine fettle.

I'll go now…

I'm not sure about the getting them back – I'd assumed that they meant the ziploc disposable type. But I may well be wrong.

Also the website says 'large' sandwich bag so that's open to some interpretation 😉

5.10 stealth rubber is (imho) the best. Anasazi's are pretty technical and I never coped with multi-pitch climbs too well in them, too sore.

My 5.10s were laced and so I could adapt them a bit if needed, to give some space. Never had any problem of foot slippage within them either, even on a 4 hour epic in blazing sun on Bosigran 😕

richmars, the required kitlist says 'windproof jacket/gilet' – it's not asking for a fully waterproof jacket, so if you've got something like a Montane windsmock or equivalent they pack down way smaller, apple size. And gilets smaller still.

But if it's pishin' it doon I'll be taking a waterproof anyway!

Like radoggair says – some canny distribution of other stuff / food drop bags should free up some space.

Wow, Rob – none more white! Looks great – best not take it out in the snow though, I suggest 😉

Can we lure you over to the Woild Western laarnds of Zummerzet to give it a spin?

Looks great, especially in the white – not something that can be said about that many bikes, imho.

It's taken me a while to 'get' the Orange thing, but they've grown on me and now I think they look the biz.

Still prefer my (black) SC Superlight though 😉 but then I am just a complete mincer on anything pointing downwards 😳

Excellent stuff.

Feels low, really? Doesn't look overly so but looks can be deceptive. I guess compared to the El Santo (RIP, sniff), perhaps, but would've thought the Hemlock was (even) more planted?

Great if you've got a bike with a very different character from the Hemlock to mix things up a bit.

You just KNOW you need to take it out on the 'Tocks 😉

Is it built up now? Nice one Rob, have a fun pootle this morning.

'wankery' – good one, up there with Thurman's 'rubbage' the other day! 🙂

I'm seeing where DeVs is coming from. Still Jimi for me though.

Mmm, nice. Shame Rob's will be an indoor kind of bike 😉

Hendrix.

"I'd like to dedicate this song to the girl in the the 3rd row with the yellow underwear. Yeah, beautiful."

And too many other coolnesses to mention.

Although JJ Burnel also a good shout, unfair advantage being French perhaps 😉

It's great being colour blind. I have so many excuses for the large amounts of pink on my bikes 😀

@ yesiamtom / matthew_h – are you running non-UST Nics on UST rims, or converted ones?

Please, please, PLEASE don't encourage the man. He'll only go and bodge things at the slightest provocation for the smallest problette if you do 🙄 I'm the one who gets to hear about it at length on our rides too 😉

Fair do's though Chas, that is an ossum bodge, dude. Particularly like the attention to detail with the added araldite to gift it some body, nice touch. This is definitely more my style though:

A great film. Uncomfortable in its message, but leaves me thinking about it and the issues it raises every time I see it. Powerful stuff.

Thanks folks, good to know that the frame material copes with 130mm.

Plenty of scope for pilot error here 😳

Ordered late Monday, processed very early yesterday morning, arrived this morning, all good.

The food last year was great, loads of it – fill yer boots, especially at brekkie, you'll need it.

And yes, take your own means of making proper coffee if you don't like instant or tea.

Thanks poppa. Yeah, good point, hadn't thought that the CEN testing might have changed the formal goalposts (even though in reality nowt had changed in performance).

As you (and I) said, I guess I could keep them to 100mm. Just wondering if anyone does run them longer on a day-to-day basis and what their experience has been.

Seriously impressed! Goodonya to the whole team involved.

Now I've no excuse not to do it next year… 😐

Great stuff, good on you project for chasing on this – better to be cautious. Glad Shaun came up with the goods.

@wwaswas – oh yes, how could I not end up in the water industry with a nickname like this?! 😉

The amount of Floods, Tempests, Winterbournes etc in the industry is spooky. Nominative determinism in action…

Hope you manage to get someone to acknowledge responsibility, project. Although Chester sewage treatment works is definitely Dwr Cymru Welsh Water's asset, there's a chance that this section of sewerage isn't theirs but perhaps some other localised / highways drainage.

Or maybe DC's GIS just isn't up-to-date… 🙄

Either way, the EA need to get on the case.

I wonder if it's a surface water highways drain rather than part of the DC or UU network?

Regardless of who owns the asset – could be Welsh Water's, could be UU's (it's right on the border), could be say a private industrial estate's – it's the Agency's accountability to identify and deal with the polluter. Looks like a big enough treatment works to be Chester's though I suspect it's not an industrial pre-treatment site.

Could be that you've come up against a border between North West EA and Welsh EA, although they should have passed the information between each other if you've given them the location, they're not renowned for great internal communication.

If you're not getting any joy you could try escalating it to their Bristol HQ and see if they can clarify which region it falls into.

It usually takes on the consistency of wattle and daub, particularly since the undergrowth/grass gets cut before the event.

The comment about spare mech hangers / mechs is spot on, a couple of years ago the stalls sold out of them, that many were breaking in the clag. The rest of my team were borrowing my singlespeed, drastic measures!

Funn are doing a limited edition (assuming it's a mountain bike), £40 at KustomBikes.co.uk

Or MojoMagic are doing some for a tenner on fleaBay.

Good point, STATO – I was wondering, as I'd not used this last year, but several people in this thread had mentioned some leaving some tactical kit in their bag drops.

I guess the 'large' may be open to interpretation 😉

@ajf: the dry gloves are a comfort thing, I've got mild arthritis on both index fingers and thumbs which ache like a mofo when cold/wet and eventually seize up, and I quite like being able to brake / change gear easily, so if it starts to pish it doon I'll switch to some wet weather Enduras.

That said, this year I might leave them as a bag drop option rather than carry them.

Bang on about the weight of the water – a 3l bladder is unnecessary with the various feed+water stations, water is dense stuff. 1.5l should see me right, with some to spare.

@jonb: mincing downhill – c'est moi! 😉

The Giro Rivet is great, very lightweight, no padding. I'm getting a second pair I like them so much, so that I don't wear them out as quickly!

I had my Durins done a couple of months ago, the Magura tech support is now at the Sinfin industrial estate at Littleover in Derby – under the Eurobike / Moore Large & Co group.

Mike quoted me £85 + P&P but it came in at less, and he'd uprated a part rather than just a like-for-like replacement. Had to wait a while as he was tied up travelling on the various XC Worlds stages, but good value service.

From the oneblackdot race report link above, it says that 130 finished out of 200 starters.

IIRC the uber fast guys went super light and had no Camelbaks, just the usual stripped down kit of bottle, tube/levers/CO2 taped to the bike and food in pockets. But they go fast enough between stops not to use as much water as less speedy folk.

Personally I used a lightweight (OMM) pack with 10l of storage because, as commented above, "it's all you" and I prefer to have some potentially redundant kit (e.g. mech hanger, gilet, chain links, dry gloves) than not finish. Just like everything else in biking it's a risk/weight/price trade-off (Keith B gets optimisation! 🙂 ).

Yup, good stock control, and have been very prompt both in replying to emails as well as delivering.

Yeah that's the Wansdyke alright, part of a nice loop I used to do out from Barbury Castle skirting Milk Hill, Walkers Hill and Tan Hill out to Cherhill. Great in the dry, character-building when wet.

Milk and Tan Hill both 294m, and Hackpen Hill is pretty close too at 272m. The descent of Cherhill can be fun, as is the drop down from Poulton Downs (c.210m) to Ogbourne Maizey ((135m).

DEET is the word. Evil stuff, it's a case of whether it kills you or the bugs first, but it certainly works.

That said, they didn't give me any grief at last year's Kielder 100 despite not taking any midge repellent, but maybe I was just lucky.

It is, as you say, now scarily close 😯

Another vote here for Ziggys, much time and grant money spent there over the years.

The University's botanic gardens are a lovely place to picnic, some nice big lawns for toddlers to, er, toddle on. It always used to be that we just strolled in with no formal entrance/pay point, but don't know if that's changed.

St Mary's Quad on South Street is also very picturesque, a great place to chill – feel free to sit on the bench dedicated to Kath MacDonald and think good thoughts.

There's a beautiful little walk along Kenley Water up by Boarhills to the south east of St As, the path runs alongside the burn which comes out onto the beach. Backpack need for B Junior though.

Beat me to it! Should be interesting.