If there are such things as ghosts, why should they just be limited to humans? Imagine if there were ghosts of every species that’s ever lived! Insect ghosts 8O

ooh…the Zesty suggestion has reminded me, er..if it’s of any interest to ya?!

I had a Zesty 514, which was a nice bike, but very different in character to the Stumpjumper and Trek Remedy. IMO, the Zesty has a naturally more ‘perky’ XC-ey type character than the others (even in it’s saggier AM setting) – that’s not to say it doesn’t like proper techy terrain, far from it! It absolutely blitzed up technical climbs. It’s just that compared to a lot of other 140mm travel bikes, it has a relatively high bottom bracket, which combined with the suspension action, feels very different to say, the Stumpy or latest Oranges Fives – to me, the Zesty isn’t as confidence inspiring on very fast stony descents as the lower & plusher bikes. Difficult to explain the suspension feel, but it was a bit like speccing ‘sports-type’ suspension on a car, in that in some circumstances, it could feel a bit jittery and lacking in grip – flip side is that on ascents, my Zesty felt very nearly as quick as my Anthem X race bike! The slightly higher BB on the Zesty also means that you’re not tapping the pedals on rocks and ruts as much as ‘low rider’ bikes. The slightly annoying thing I found with the Zesty was that, IMO, the bike was crying out for decent volume tyres to cope with the speeds it was capable of, but the larger volume tyres just exaggerated the high BB.

TBH, if I was limited to one bike, and did longer distance rides, a full carbon Zesty in XC guise would be very tempting. Obvious stuff, but if you can get a test ride on a Zesty, it’s definately worth a try.

HTH, happy hunting :-)

If you want an absolute steal, check out the deals that Spesh are doing on the Stumpy FSR’s. Recently bought a Stumpy FSR Carbon Comp with 20% off, and I’m very pleased with it – particularly for just over £2k! Stuck some old lightish Pro2/Stans 355 wheels on, Tommy stem and a pair of carbon bars I had knocking about, and the wieght is 26lbs dead on, inc. pedals! I’m sure there’s plenty of scope for more weight reduction. (Dunno if there are any deals on the higher specced carbon model – but that comes with Brain shock, if that bothers you)

Also demo’d a carbon Trek Remedy a few months ago – VERY nice indeed, in fact, if I’d have had the dosh at the time, I’d have bought it.

OOPS! Nah, this is the sick Britain episode – from about 1:55 in – the termoralemometer :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7aroa3izuk&feature=related

Sick and broken Britain – it was all predicted on BrassEye (how similar is current media coverage :lol: )

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6146157914651733615#

IME, a gravity dropper would be your best bet. Wife has one on her Orange Five for similar reasons – i.e. reliable, low maintenance and no remote to go wrong. I was surpised by how light the post was when I fitted it – only thing is the ‘industrial’ look of thing if that bothers you.

Ta for the feedback – it’s now listed on here and ‘BR’ site :-)

errr….anyone?

Given the OP, IMO, out of the three, the Zesty would be the best bet. This is based on owning and riding an 2010 Orange Five, a 2011 Zesty and now a 2011 Stumpy FSR (and demoing shed loads of others!). For anyone who hasn’t ridden a Zesty, they really are in a different league uphill – as close as I’ve got on a FS trail bike to the performance of my sub 25lb Anthem X. The set-up I had on my Five meant that it climbed more rapidly than my current Stumpy and previous Five I owned, but the Zesty’s really are good. Having said that, the down side is that IMO, the Zesty felt more XC ‘perky’ downhill than the bulldozer like performance of the Five :-) Personally, I feel that the Zesty is a bike that rewards a little bit of rider finesse, as it’s got quite a ‘sporty’ feel – very nice for popping off little jumps and pumping speed though. As most of my riding is in the Northern half of the Peak District (and I have old creaky knees), I prefer a plusher bike to give the option to just plough through stuff if I’m getting tired.

Oh, and just to chuck a spanner in, given where most of your riding is, have you considered a Spesh Camber or Giant Anthem X? Both are amazingly capable bikes (if the Cambers came in a posher build, I’d have got one).

Clegg’s an opportunist **** who should be removed from power as soon as possible taking that ginger toilet brush with him.

Yup, and if he can take his ***chum Dave with him, all the better!

er…Anyone know?!

I’ve a feeling these are DT manufactured hubs, so p’haps they’re are one of the Cerit/Onyx/OEM derivatives – if so, have a look at the PDF here null

It’s under ‘old documents’ in the product documents and warranty pulldown menu.

If anyone else has relevant/better info., please let us know.
Ta

A Stumpjumper Carbon Comp. – same model that was reviewed in the Feb’11 edition of Singletrack. Spesh are currently knocking 20% off, and I just couldn’t resist the red & carbon loveliness….oh, it also rides really nicely too….which helps :-)

er…I’m not a Physio, but one of my riding buddies is. By coincidence, she mentioned last week that she needs to fit her ergon grips to her new bike. I asked her what they are etc. and she said she uses ’em to reduce hand fatigue & numbness on longer and/or less techy rides.

As previous postees have advised, I guess best thing would be to get checked out by a physio who specializes in sports injuries, just in case there’s something underlying. Anyway, HTH.

(p.s. if you’re in Sheffield I know a good Physio;))

I read that as he analysed one sample (say a 5mm by 5mm piece of metal) by looking at 5 discrete regions, say each 100 Micron by 100 Micron the error MAY not be in the analysis but in the homogeneity of the sample.

Yep, that’s about right – each specimen has a polished surface approx 10mm x 10mm and there were scans of 5 areas 600 micron x 400 micron on each specimen.
To make things a bit more ‘interesting’, from what I’ve seen of the photomicros, the specimens are not particularly homogenous. Think I might be mentioning ‘potential for further research’ on this one.

Anyways, I’d better stop surfing and get back to grinding the report out :x

Total minefield.

Very apt description of the whole project. One of these jobs where the original contractor subbed out various bits of work, then went bust, then some bits were picked up by two other contractors…..it goes on, but I’m sure you get the picture. Trying to do a ‘proper job’ with about 30% budget of the orignal costings – I can appreciate why one of my former colleagues dodged the bullet on this project!

Urggh…where’s the Paracetomol.

Cheers for the replies everyone. R979, that’s very informative & useful ta. I agree that another technique would be useful, frustratingly, there’s no budget left for any further analysis tho (just for a change :roll: )

I know what elements are expected in the specimens, but some of the ‘trace’ type ones were a little bit more unusual. I think I might mention that their presence was detected, but further analysis would be required to allow reliable interpretation.

The reason I was a bit cautious regarding the use of different SEM’s is that I’m not 100% confident that the count times were the same for all specimens – have seen mention of 60s and 100s count times (I wasn’t the SEM driver).

Anyway, ta again for all the replies.

Oh, for those interested, the technique used was SEM-EDX – but, just to add to the iffyness, not all specimens were analysed on the same SEM!

That a specimen is analysed 5 times on average.

Or,

That across 5 seperate specimen analysis they’ve given an average and SD for each?

5 areas of the each specimen have been analysed, then the average (mean) and SD of the results of the 5 have been given. I know that, in addition to the potential ‘iffyness’ of the results that are at, or below, 0.3 weight %, the results have been normalised, so there’s potential for some drift from what was actually detected. (err…I think these results could certainly be described as qualitative :? )

Ah, it’s coming back to me now :-)

See what you’re saying with the range, and the not enough to be stat significant. The latter would suit the nature of the analysis done and target audience of the report – so if it’s OK to go with that, I will.

(the reliability of the analytical technique and equipment used for the analyses means that anything detected in amounts <0.3 weight % are, IME, suspect – but wanted some stat back up as well if that makes sense).

They’ve just confirmed that it was the phone that Brooks gave to her. Strangely enough, the phone number, rather than the ‘targets’ name appeared on Mulcaires list – suggesting he hadn’t had to do much work to obtain the number(?!) I’m guessing Brooks will know nothing about it……yeah, right :?

That’s really nice BK. Where did you get it done and how much if you don’t mind me asking?

Ditto!

I think there might be a queue forming at this fellas workshop :wink:

For me, 1970’s = Hawkwind….amongst a few other things :wink: Good times baby :-)

I’m a home worker with bikes, and insured with Marks & Spencers – might be worth a try. HTH

Thanks for the all the info and suggestions, well, the sensible ones anyway….Orange Five :lol: yeah, got one of them :P

As far as comments about the strength of road bikes go, I’m not too worried about that, it’s more the comfort side of things I’m interested in – oh, and before anyone tells me to MTFU, I don’t feel the need to at all thanks. I’m 50 next year and my body is feeling the effect of years of biking, running, climbing etc., so I think I’m due a bit of comfort :-)

I can appreciate what people have said re: steel vs aluminium. FWIW, a few years ago I made the mistake of buying a cheap & stiff alu framed road bike, after having a demo ride of a very nice (& £400 more) alu Bianchi – the difference was like night & day, and I sold the cheap bike after a few weeks.

Thanks also for the gen on tyre width and bike fit. The importance of the fit of the bike was something that I had forgotten about, as I’m in & out of the saddle like a yo-yo on my mtn bike.

Hmm…lots to think about. A friend has just emailed me with the address of a good ‘roadie shop’ in Sheff, so it looks like I’ll have to bob in there and get some fitting advice. (Not sure if he does Spesh, but the roubaix sounds v.interesting)

Anyway, cheers for the feedback.

Would it be insensitive to see what odds William Hill are offering?

:lol:

Yes, I know what you mean (I’ve got a KS950i). Dunno if you can still get ’em, but I’m sure very similar things used be in Meccano sets (giving away my age!). If not, you could try and find a local model shop, because they might have some RC car/boat/plane parts that might do the job – think I’ve also seen similar sized brass collars/bushes with side grub screws used on model railway loco axles.

HTH.

Apparently witness that knew everything wasn’t very reliable and might not have been prepared to testify in court.

err..I wonder who decided that, the Met?, or one of the NI peeps? Well, in any case it doesn’t look like anyone wanted to take a chance.

You’re right Yoss, it stinks o’shit – no wonder Daveyboy has been hiding!

i’d love to try a camber 29er, but in typical Specialized fashion, you can’t get them in the uk.

Aye, pretty disappointing when some of the more ‘interesting’ stuff from Spesh doesn’t get to the UK. FWIR, they have/had some superb tyres that aren’t available in the UK (not in ‘real’ sizes anyway).

ta for the info singlecrack – er…think I’ll have to turn you down on the nearly new chain :wink:

Anyone read the Wade Simmons article with him riding the North Shore on a Rocky Mountain Altitude ?

Yep, I’ve read it – certainly challenges a few preconceptions….which I quite liked. However, I guess he’s a got the riding skills and experience to make any old anvil come alive.

After cleaning the bike , I spray some Halfords silicone spray onto the stanchions, compress the forks a couple of times, & it’s surprising how much muck is lifted from within the wiper seals.

Wipe off the excess, & repeat once more.

I use the same method after virtually every ride, and have definately noticed that the fork and shock seals are cleaner come service time – also seems to reduce stiction and extend the life of Fox stanchions a fair bit. I’m currently using Fork Juice, or 3 or 4 drops of winter chain oil. Over the years I’ve used GT85 & another brand of dedicated fork stanchion spray (er..that I can’t remember name of). I find the chain oil is good for cleaning the wiper seals, or for keeping the seals moist when not using the bike – but it tends to attract more muck if left of the stanchions when riding. If I remember, I wipe the chain lube off the stanchions and give ’em a light spray of Fork Juice before the ride – this just seems to prevent too much crud sticking. Fork Juice does seem to be one of the better sprays I’ve tried.

HTH!

The Trek Full Sussers are already very sweet bikes that ride far better than many niche brands.

Yup, IME, I’d agree with that. I’m undecided on the DRCV fork, although I was impressed with the DRCV shock on my EX, er…apart from when the damping went wrong – although, over the years, I’ve had same thing happen on 3 other shocks (Fox, DT and Cane Creek). The DRCV-ness wouldn’t put me off demo-ing and potentially buying – esp. one of those luverly stealth black carbon EX/Remedy’s…..drool

I keep looking at a Fuel EX, they look right somehow and reviews are consistently good.

I had an 2010 EX8 in stealth black – sold it fairly recently, and TBH, really wish I’d kept it (don’t tell the OH!!). Didn’t realise how good it was until I started riding other similar bikes….doh!

Really like the look of the 2012 models – looks like I’ll have to try and win some more contracts :-)

Excuse my ignorance, but by overdamped in compression, do you mean that the fork compresses too slowly, or that it doesn’t react to smaller faster bumps?….or both?

Exactly my thoughts when I watched his played-up OTT protest.

Glad it wasn’t just me – if the context wasn’t so serious, I’d have seen more of the comedic side of it. He might as well stuck an orange flashing ‘guilty’ on his head!

p.s.

They seem to like hanging around behind the refuge de la Gliere

Yeah, the ones we saw were lurking around the refuge bins area – like a gang of grumpy teens.

i’ve seen ’em. big buggers. have your arm off up to the shoulder.

You must have seen the same one we saw in Austria – gave us a reet menacing look :lol:

I still cant see how damping would affect sag. Are the FIT forks the same travel as the older ones you had?

Doh, I missed the bl**din’ obvious there – the previous ones were 120mm travel, and these are 140’s. FWIW, the previous were ‘F-series’ RL’s with open bath, and the current ones are Float RL’s.

Did they not increase the air volume in one of the recent model years? I remember that people used to cut the pushrods down to achieve the same thing.

Aye, this does ring a bell. FWIR, I think I read somewhere that the idea was that lower pressures would result in less stiction….or something like(?)

Yep, that’s the case – which is why I was surprised at the pressure difference, unless of course, Fox changed the volume/design of air chamber on the FIT forks (can’t see ’em going to the extra cost of that unless absolutely neccassary..hmm)

Don’t think it was rum at all! and it’s potentially in a different league to expenses. Can you imagine if he’d been in charge of any other criminal investigation, and then went for dinners with the main suspect and their family?