Why are you set on triple crown forks? Granted they look cool but the bike isn’t designed for them.

I’ve got 160mm Fox Talas 36’s on my Five and they’re perfect for big stuff. Stiff as hell and vaguely light.

What are you riding? I only really use the 160mm setting for big mountains and DH. The 120mm setting is much more appropriate and fun for trail centers and XC.

drookitmunter – is that Plasma Blue or Powder Blue? Looks great!

Cheers, it’s plasma blue. I had a choice of that red or black as the standard colours when I bought it. I know a guy who bought a black one but the paint faded really badly

Fresh out the box!

I’m buying a new helmet ’cause it stinks. I’ve tried washing the liners and cleaning it but it still smells 😯

1 yard

I bought a set of pads from SS and they caused my frame to snap, my wife to leave me and my dog to get run over.

I’ve had loads of accidents on my bike resulting in broken bones, surgery, metal plates and wires.

I’m 100% certain that if I was not wearing a helmet when I had most of these accidents my head would have been damaged.

Why do I think this? ‘Cause I’ve destroyed 2 helmets.

I’d rather destroy a helmet than my head. Granted if a massive dumper truck splats me a helmet won’t help much, but in most of the less mental accidents I have had it’s stopped me opening up my skull.

I don’t think people should be forced to wear them though – do what you want!

My commute is a 50 minute round trip. About 25% on road. I do it on XT kit. If I could afford XTR I’d probably buy it! Whatever makes you happy mate, don’t worry about what folk think.

I couldn’t find a bell that would fit on my oversized bar so attached it to my bottle cage. It got a bit smashed in winter though. I have a Hope hub on my commuting MTB which is usually enough to alert people!

Besides, I like to slow down to pass folk on the cycleways

I once ordered a load of stuff from Superstar and it didn’t turn up. Emailed SS, they got back to me in minutes and asked me to wait 3 days. Waited. No package. Contacted SS and they resent it without fuss.

Excellent customer service in my opinion.

Hope R4. Got it in a very cheap deal with 2 batteries. Bought it because it comes with a head strap so I can use it for climbing too.

No complaints. Have yet to use the second battery.

Drookit – I’ll be on the Pompino, is there a path at the top of the beach? Is that the one that goes all the way from Dalmeny and comes out at the RNLI station at South Queensferry?

I don’t know what a Pompino is so I did a Google image search… had to close that window very quickly! I’ll assume that’s a road/CX bike?

There are loads of marked and unmarked routes through Dalmeny – rough, muddy and rooty or boring old roads. You just leave NC1 at Crammond Brig for the NC76 heading north. This’ll take you through the estate on good roads to the house, then there’s a load of rougher track that will pop you out at the bottom of the rail bridge. I don’t think it would be suitable for a road bike but my pal is fine on his CX.

It’s pretty hard to get lost in there as you’ve got the sea to the north and the road to the south – it’s a good place to explore in the summer as part of an extended commute. I live near Crammond so come through it on my extended way home from my office in EH1.

These are helpful for coming up with routes:

http://www.sustrans.org.uk/map

http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/maps/

NC1 is rapid and quite a nice cycle. If you’re feeling keen you could divert into Dalmeny estate on the way home and cycle along the beach.

Recently sold my 2011 Stumpjumper FST Elite. It was a small and was prefect for me – I’m 5’6

the organisers often mark the maps with ‘trail unsuitable’ or similar, and are local so will distribute the checkpoints intelligently.

Hmm maybe we’re being too quick to judge. I’d like to see the people who’re organising these events organise path repair days – there’s certainly no lack of willing volunteers.

Agreed. It’s a bit irresponsible considering the conditions of the paths up there. The Bike Chain posted some photies recently.. it’s a bit of a mess:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150681973918223.449809.198816828222&type=1

A couple of my pals have been on his course and they said it improved their confidence immensely.

I guess it depends where you’re at just now. If you’re already ballsy and just need skillz you’d be better of making pals with some better riders to feed off.

This thread demonstrates why people are hesitant to discuss things on STW. Well done guys and girls!

drookit, I’m not sure what will kill you first, your encouragement of dodgy overtaking, or the wrath of the STW IAM clan.

When did I encourage “dodgy overtaking”?! Bikes are slow and need to be passed. If they’re riding double file it’s a pain.

Cyclists (and motorists) need to drop this “us and them” attitude and be more considerate.

Also, what’s the “STW IAM” clan? Sorry I don’t talk STW…

Single file is much safer and crucially more considerate to other road users as it makes overtaking you easier.

Unless it’s a quiet road – ride single file. If it’s a busy road and you’re not riding single file then you’re not really being considerate to other road users.

My pal regularly beats our “fancy noisy, bouncy bikes” to the top and the bottom of GT on his rigid SS.

Watch out for braking bumps though, they might snap your frame or something 😛

can you move the wheel tray forwatd a bit in relation to the clamp pivot ? That’s what I did on my 591’s and my 18′ five sits fine on it

Nah you can’t move the front tray on mine – only the rear tray. I just try not to think about it, it’s probably fine 🙂

It doesn’t flap about or owt so it’s no real problem though.

Aye mine seems fine too but there have been times where I’ve seen the shadow of my bike while driving along and the wheel is going mental!

I have a 16″ Orange Five and Thule 532 racks.

The length of the bike and the position of the swingarm is an issue as you have to clamp it quite high meaning it’s too far forward which in turn means the front wheel sticks out quite a bit and is very flappy. Also, the cam/locky bit ends up at a crazy angle. It’s not so bad if I wind down my 160 talas fork to 120 but it’s hardly ideal!

Maybe I’m just being an idiot though…

*Edit – the width of the downtube isn’t an issue at all.

tbh A helmet is best bought in a shop, having tried on a selection/sizes…

And tighter than a tight thing is how I like mine.

Agreed but all the shops in Edinburgh have very limited stock – IE 2 full facers each. And those with stock only had medium/large.

All the mediums I tried were a bit flappy, but I couldn’t find a medium Specialized to try on.

just seen that, will give it a go…

Interested to hear how you get on with that. Sounds like a faff. I’ve had to use CO2 on some tyre/rim combinations but they’re a bit expensive

Thanks for the feedback! Sounds like I should just wear it and see how it goes. I’ll wear it in the office for the rest of the day 😀 I got it new for £90 from Ae7 so I’m sure I could easily sell it on if I change my mind down the line.

Cheers!

For general riding I’ve been using a Met Parachute for years

I seriously considered the Met Parachute as I don’t really want/need a full on DH helmet. I just want to protect my expensive teeth and preserve my face. Loads of folk on here and on other forums said the Met would be useless in many situations. A friend of mine said he was out with a guy who crashed wearing one and it lodged in the roof of his mouth. Nasty!

I don’t personally have an opinion on the Met as I haven’t seen one in the flesh but there was enough doubt floating around to put me off buying one.

I’ll still be using my XC helmet for most of my riding.

What the hell are braking bumps?

I’m up in Aberfeldy for a few days but I’m normally available weekdays after 6 or weekends so let me know if there’s anything I can help with.

Drookit means soaked. Where I’m from (Elgin) Munter doesn’t necessarily mean a woman – just a person who is a bit of a fanny and particularly ugly.

I’m keen to help out with any repair work that needs done. I haven’t up there in a couple months as it’s in a pretty poor state, but normally up at least once a week.

This thread is great!

Ptarmigan is a bit steep, well done! Did the conventional route last year in foul weather but it was still jam packed with tourists.

Only managed 7 munros last year as I was late to the Munro biking party. A few of the Corbetts are good too and shouldn’t be overlooked. The Cobbler is decent. Not a Munro but if you must tick boxes there’s Narnain and Ime next to it. We gave Ime a go while we were up there but it was crap – far too boggy. The top section from the Cobbler down to the gravel path is great fun though. Nice and rocky.

Actually I think I’m confusing you with another “yin”. Are you the same Bigyin that’s coming on the SummitDown trip?

Cheers Bigyin. Looks like it’s going to be more cost effective to just punt the Stumpy at a loss and pick up a more suitable alternative off eBay.

I was browsing the Canyon outlet. Some crazy bargains on the Torque.

My missus probably doesn’t agree that I *need* a new bike, so we have to just fill her head with ideas about how dangerous our Alps trip in July would be on my Stumpy!! (which is nonsense of course)

Haven’t tried Mojo. I’ll give them a call. I’ve spoken to TF Tuned, Specialized and Betd.

Cheers!

Bust 50 coming down the road from the quirang in skye. Couldve done faster but I was losing the light. Paced in a car.

Actually I was doing 50mph.. My bike didn’t have the gears (or the engine) to catch up with you. So you were probably doing 55mph or so.

That was on MTBs

Did Ben Vorlich (Loch Earn) on Sunday. Cracking descent!

That would only make sense if the Rangers were actually employed to collect the bags.

What I meant was, I now understand why there are wee bags of shit hanging from trees around Edinburgh. Previously it was a bit of a mystery to me. Of course I don’t agree with it and definitely don’t think Rangers time should be wasted by other people’s laziness.

I once found a load of leaflets for some weirdo church stuck in bags and left underneath various rocks on the route up a Munro. Can’t remember where. Arrochar I think. Annoyed the hell out of me. I collected them all as I went, binned them and emailed a load of abuse to their church but they never replied. Sorry I’ve driven this a fair amount off topic… litter really pisses me off

Saw someone bagging their dog poo in the pentlands and hanging it from a tree (about 200 metres from a bin, at this point). Asked her why, she said “To make it easier for the rangers to collect”, as if I was the moron.

That makes sense! I keep seeing wee bags hanging in trees or on fences in the Pentlands, CH and around the cycle network. I just assumed that neds had found the bags and thrown them about.

Last week I cycled past two young boys trying to set fire to a boot on the cycle path, so it seemed logical that they’d also revel in shite bag throwing games.

I’m only this bitter ‘cos later that day I had to carry my bike for a bit and got shite on my gloves, then subsequently scratched my face 👿