I had an 8 speed one for a while but didn’t get on with it. For all its undoubted benefits it felt like pedalling in treacle and the weight at the back made the bike feel dead on the flat and uphill (i quite liked it downhill). if they were as good as some people would have you believe mechs would already be extinct….

Fair enough thanks for setting my expectations. Makes me wonder what the point of a triple is then?

Thanks for your replies. I appreciate your help.

I worked my way through the Park guide and it’s the best guide I’ve ever seen. However, even after a few small tweeks I still have exactly the same problem where the rear indexing seems to be different for the largest and smallest front chain rings.

As mentioned above, there are no spacers so no option to adjust the chainline.

I’ve thought about changing to a compact/double but I wouldn’t want to go any smaller on the big ring and want to keep a small ring for cycling around the highlands.

Anybody else got any bright ideas? Might it just be that my frame (planet x nanolight) is only suitable for a double?

I used to use split inner tubes but I just use stans yellow tape on all rims now with a tubeless valve (including 5.1ds). Seems to work fine with UST or tubeless ready tyres. Weighs nothing and much easier to inflate than my XM819s. I think tubeless feels much better so would change the front too.

I’m fine with a bigger fork too – it’s just that it makes the d-jab really tall. I’ve ridden mine once in the peaks and thought it was spot on there.

I have a d-jab and I would echo the good comments above – the ride quality/feel is amazing. I find the bottom bracket very high with a 140mm fork though. I think I would get used to it if it was my only bike but it feels a bit awkward to me if I haven’t ridden it if for a while, especially on slow technical stuff.

The weight isn’t that light for a titanium frame. Also, I’ve had problems getting dropouts to stay put but that could just be me. The adjustable dropouts are handy for single speed (until you discover half-links anyway). I changed a lot of the bits but would agree that the only things that really need to be changed are the wheels

I have a wanga too and it also has amazing ride quality (similar feel to cotic soul maybe). Not as adaptable as d-jab though as I don’t think it would take kindly to a 140mm fork.

On the difference in feel between d-jab and wanga (and in my experience titanium verses steel in general) – I would say titanium has the ‘comfort’ of steel but is much more responsive when you pedal. On ‘comfort’ though I think carbon seat posts and tubeless tyres are cheaper solutions…

On emailing voodoo – I’ve tried it a few times and am yet to get a reply…..

I also had a disappointing warranty experience with Merlin. Following a prompt automated reply on receipt, I waited for over a month only to receive my faulty item (Altura shorts) back in the post with no supporting information whatsoever. I chased it up a few times during the month but got no reply and couldn't be bothered after getting the shorts back.

For most bike parts I now find establised sellers on ebay to be the fastest, cheapest and most dependable (maybe as they are protecting 100% feedback).