DT Swiss EXC’s reduced from >£800 to about £400

I was very happy as I had just concluded £400 was the top budget for my new forks and took it as fate!

:D

Don’t rush it, but don’t beat yourself up about it.

As long as you use it and can justify it to yourwself, who cares what anyone else thinks!

I assume you don’t have kids, a mortgage, etc etc. Before long you will have responsibilities that could very well stop you doing this…

But first be sure you’ll be able to survive the rest of uni having bought it!!!!!!

This

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/1384573773053946810vQKpLA

:(

Thhey do look nice, I wonder how they compare to the Nicolai’s.

I am not a metallurgist, but the fatigue limit or endurance limit apeears to be there for composites, which may be why some manufacturers offer lifetime warranty on composite bits but not alu bits.

bristolbiker – would be interested in your experiences if you’re allowed to talk about it in detail!!!!

this video is an extreme case of what I mean (btw I don’t think the A380 has undergone such testing – no proof only hearsay though, happy to be proven wrong.)

http://www.boeing.com/Features/2010/09/bca_fatigue_testing_09_13_10.html

IME Nothing is designed with a fatigue lif ein mind.

Most things are designed to withstand a “design” load, and then a series of tests are carried out to show that the structure will last a significant period of time at general loads which are significantly less than the design loads.

Dom

Woohoo, just got my first sub copy!!!

Not bad considering the missus kindly bought it for my birthday in October!

:D

Your kids share a beard?

Phil – That airborne camera link has just shown me the perfect accessory to go with my GoPro Xmas present. How cool would it be to have it flying down the trail in front of you!!!!!!!

I wonder how fast it is.

Luckily I have 3 dogs at my disposal so will be taking them for more walks than normal now! Will also look out for future trails during the walks.

Dom

Just found this thread, new bike thread, will have a good old read.

It is rubbish!

Ulna

Still, get to spend other peoples money in the meantime (see my other topic)

Also got plenty to do for work to keep me occupied, was a bit controversial taking the time off when I was!

I’m gutted….

Oh well, it could have been a lot worse. Get to spend time helping my mates fix their bikes now :)

Pistola – That’s interesting, I have a 180mm disk about to become redundant so I may see about putting on the cdf.

I hope that bloke reads the reply and has the balls to say to her when/if she moans – “couldn’t have put it better myself!”

Maxray – it has been everywhere my mountain bike has been,sometimes faster, sometimes slower. But so far everything is working fine.

I wouldn’t say I am a heavy rider,but I could definitely do with a skill injection!!

Nice!

I wonder if they have done some more cunning butting to the frame then, or whether it is just finishing kit improvements.

It’s amazingly adictive to ride, made my Kona (Now replaced with a carbon 456 :D ) feel a bit like a slow slack sofa, until I go down any decent gradient, then I am weeping for my wishing I had chicken leavers…. Such a steep head angle (Expected really, but the initial shock was something else!)

PS Sorry for the thread hijack cynic-al!

Mine is the one without the extended carrier lugs, so could easily be an earlier frame.

It was £850 for that one or £1099 for the 2010/11 model… I figured I’d cope without the extra wide lugs and save myself the best part of £300!!!!

The ride is absolutely fantastic, I think the longest I have been off it since I bought it was when I was doing crazy travelling for work, adn they wouldn’t let me take it on the boat :(

I love my Croix de Fer. It’s not the lightest, I think mine comes in at just over 26lb.

The finishing kit is not the best, but it all seems to work beautifully, although I would like the brakes to bite a bit better.

Dom

I was there today too, with me mutt and a couople of mates. Been there a couple of times over the Xmas break.

I think it is going to be a regular loop for me, quick too, about an hour and a half door to door for me :D

Hi Guys,

Cheers for all your help, we ended up going for the Carrera Vengeance. I’m quite impressed with the bike and his skillz so far, one ride in. Although we did manage to rip the valve out of the inner tube whilst topping the tires up! I’ll put that down to teething pains, and suggest he pursuades Halfords to give him a new one.

Dom

I’m watching Zen.

I have no idea what it is, but it is already better than FF.

I bought my missus a frame off of here a while ago after she decided she wanted to get into mountain biking, and then proudly paid some one £100 for a Full Susser with disks!!!!!!! She was well chuffed with the deal. I was less than amused.

Anyhow, the biggest problem I have is helping her get the best out of the bike. for instance on one ride we did she looked very stretched out on the bike, so I moved the saddle from it’s furthest back position to it’s furthest forward position, probably a change of about 50mm. She said she didn’t notice the difference, although I could see the difference it was making on the climbs!!!! It can be quite frustrating at times.

Chakaping and PeterPody, they both look awesome…

I’m taking th ebuild kit off my current rediculous Kona Shred, Awesome for jumping about on, pretty rubbish at most other things, so it’s gonna have:

DT EXC 150 fork
DT 5.1 rims on XT hubs (I like DT kit but couldn’t afford the 240 hubs :( )
Full XT finishing kit
Probably the same stem, so a 50mm gravity thing I think.

I’m not going to lie I am quite looking forward to building it up. Any advice for a mechanically minded first time builder? My biggest worry is going to be sticking the headset and BB bracket in.

Do I need to get carbon seat post now? And carbon bars… What about x0 cranks. Not to mention wheels! Why do I think this is going to get expensive I fear!

So…. Do I go for an easton post,or are there other better options?

I’m near Ferndown, regularly ride Moors Valley, New Forest or to work on my CX bike.

Where is everyone else from Bournemouth way?

I live near Bournemouth too.

But don’t go anywhere near the North regularly so doesn’t really help!

Here is a small snippet of my efforts from today.

’twas raining, the route is very fat adn pedaly but keeps me fit :D

I do need to invest in something to wipe off the lens without smudging.

Hi-Jack alert: Driudh is that a blue pig you be riding?

Anyone use the Giordana ones? They are the only ones on crc without padding in my size.

I currently have about 5 pairs of shorts, v. cheap at the time, actually very comfy but over time they tend to work their way down so there is no padding on the saddle, as I mentioned earlier.

Now if I bought non padded bib’s, do you think I could get away with wearing these shorts.

Moose hoof haha

Worth the extra £69 though?

I am in no doubt we’ll be getting more cold spells, and the warmth will obviously be nice, but is it worth three times as much. But then it is anice beig discount on them as well!

I got one too :D

Ace aren’t they, awesome on the mountain bike but on the cyclocross bike I found the angle was too low to keep something stationary in shot to stop everyone watching getting seasick and get a decent view of the route ahead.

They get some top quality shots though.

Spooky – Love it :D

I think the sacrifice comes from the people who do the training and only just make it to the top of their sport.

A friend of mines brother is a top triathlete, he has a rediculous training schedule from what I understand (he’s in this list as one of the national starters) and is currently at Loughborough uni, he must be in his third year now.

I haven’t seen or spoken to him for a year or so, so things may have changed. But he was there doing his degree work whilst training 7+ times a week. He rarely goes out to socialise, the one time he did choose to attend a social function (May have been a booze up but he doesn’t drink, at least he didn’t) rather than one of his many races (I think it was a national race) he got heavily chastised by his coach and his parents. He has basically lost a huge part of his life to concentrate on his chosen sport.

It doesn’t pay well (He does get a lot of kit for free, but it’s not the same as recienving a wage you can choose to spend how you wish). So he is supported very happily by his parents, I am sure he would get a part time job if he had the time.

Despite all of his training and the dedication he has put into this sport since well before I knew him, he is unfortunately always just outside the top 3 in the country. What this means is he doesn’t get enough funding to really make it his lifes work, ie replace a job, but he quite rightly feels that if he just keeps at it he’ll get there in the end.

If he does and becomes a pro athlete I am sure he will be seen right. But in the meantime he is plugging away self funded, self motivated – giving up other opportunities, not living a normal lfe at uni and in the end it may (I do hope not) all be for nothing.

He doesn’t see it as a sacrifice, he is motivated and knows what he wants.

I see all the things he is not giving himself the opportunity to do and I call that a sacrifice.

I think my point is that the individual will never see anything they does as a sacrifice merely a choice, it is those who follow and assess their achievements who consider the choices they have made as sacrifices.

ron – good stuff, as the guys before me have said, get out and run. Just be aware that it means less time doing something else… I hope it’s not riding a bike!!! (Unless the sex is really that good!)

nickc – Fair enough. Before I changed to B/F running after about a half hour run I was in agony with my shins – to the point where I couldn’t run for a few days and was dubious about going out when I felt better. Not any more :D

I guess like a lot of things the way you learn to run as a child will stick with you throughout your life. My kids will never be bought shoes. I will paint their feet the appropriate colour for their requirements.