You'll get away with it for sure – depends if its your top half or your bottom half that's longer – you don't want to ride it with a long stem…

6ft – got the 18 incher.. felt a little big at first standover wise, it's certainly the right length though.

short travel and slack head angles.

and for trail riding usually longer forks (e.g. my old (Higgo's current) 4x was best when I had some Fox 36's on the front at 160mm – with 115mm at the back…)

mini DH bikes

in the style of long travel hard tails – but with a bit of suspension if you get what I'm saying!

because they're great 🙂 my old Blur 4X was ace.

perhaps SC will start building something similar again – they were definitely ahead of the game and then pulled out just as this trend was getting going…

Whilst "guiding" in Morzine in years gone by:

"If we were in afan/glentress I would have ridden that"

or (after struggling/walking up a short climb)

"must be the altitude….how high are we here?"

or after riding badly

"these forks/tyres/handlebars feel a bit odd…"

yep – this is france.

the odd shaped plug is a high power one. the oven needs 25amps.

I'm off to the DIY store 🙂

Cheers!

Prince Albert as the PA isn't really designed for a fork with that much travel. The Alpine would be a closer comparator.

I know -but you didn't have any to sell 🙁

The PA was great with a Pike on the front.. but I needed something that could take a bigger fork – like the Alpine or the Blue Pig…

And the pig has regular 26inch wheels front and rear. none of that 29inch weirdness (although to be fair I've not tried a big wheeler…)

What do you think?

I don't rightly know as I've not tried the Mmmmbop…

it's a fair bit lighter I suppose – but just carry 2 litres of water instead of 3 in your camelbak and you've made the savings instantly…

in comparison to the PA… ride wise this is definately more confidence inspiring and feels a bit less harsh. I loved the PA, but it certainly couldn't take to the 160 forks..

I did prefer the PA's compactness – but then it was a 17inch rather than this 18inch frame.

I have a mate out here with a PA, so we're planning on going for a ride and swapping for a run or two – just to see exactly what's going on.

I have to say that the PA was transformed with the short stem and wide bars though – and 140mm forks.

Weightwise – no idea – I guess they must be the same(ish) not light – but my tyres probably out-weigh the frame, so it's a non-issue for me.

TT length is 23.5inches on mine – nice and long so you can fit a short stem without being squashed.

I've never bottomed out 130mm

I suspect you've got too much air or a too hard spring in there – always good to bottom out your shocks once or twice a ride – there's no point in having all that travel if it's not all used…

Long forks work well on a hard tail – you mustn't forget that whatever it is that's causing the fork to compress is a big lump in the ground – thus the angles don't change all that much the forks take the hit so the bars stay level (ish)…

what size frame is it?

that, sir, is an 18 incher. And I've just been informed that the frame weight is 5.6lbs..

Is that the right size frame for you?

yep – think so. I'm just over 6ft. feels like a good size for me..

and yes, the top tube is a little on the high side – but so far it's only an aesthetic thing – NBT's 16 incher is a bit nicer looking IMO.

Ti456 could be a scream out there

for sure – bring 'em both!

Hmmmmmm, 's alright. Not doing a great deal for me, though

Each to their own – I agree it does look a little odd though!

Sounds ace

It certainly was. We rode out of Morzine and over to a refuge way above Gryon in Switzerland – then back the next day – 17k and 1500m of descent from the Refuge followed by the 'short' way back to Morzine from Champery…

There'll be some photos and a ride report up on ride morzine soon enough.

i tried van 36's on my Ti456 – just too much fork…

Not so on the Ragley. In fact I think a bit slacker would be better still – although the BB is a touch high with that fork on…

I always prefer to see the front of my forks when riding rather than the back 🙂

Blue pig the steel frame? what does it way in at? sub 30lb still?

yep to Steel

no idea on the weight – I spec my bikes for longevity and live with the weight penalty. Handled two days of proper mountain biking (1000m plus of alpine climbing and hike a biking) plus all the descent that's involved with no problems. Although I doubt any of the bikes on that trip were sub 30lbs – that's the penalty you pay for having the most fun on the way down.

You could definitely get it down to sub 30 if you used air forks, single ply tyres etc. The frame is somewhere around 6lbs? I think!

75 quid you say…

or even 50 with no dimming..

how much for an all in with battery + charger + cables and built?

I am liking the look of that DX one though!

http://www.troutie.com/mainpage.html

looks quite industrial 🙂 nice though!

it feels great I have to say. although with the lifts around here I've not had much chance to test it's tech climbing ability. The climbs I have done on it it's been me that's failed before the bike… got a big ride on Weds and Thurs that should test it out properly

BUT, the hire shop were negligent, they should NOT have hired her the bike AND should have warned her against her obvious plans.

Sounds like a disastrous idea. You'd probably be annoyed if some shop worker didn't think you were up to the task and refused to hire bikes to you – you'd probably think that it's your life and you'll do what you want with it.

Does this mean On Ones are rubbish now Brant has a new fanboy bike to follow?

can't say I was ever a fan of the on-one – but I never rode one, so can't really say why!

I can say that the blue pig is pretty damned fun to ride – which is what it's all about, no?

a mish mash build – Juicy 7's / X9 2×9 drive train / Pro2 hubs with Syncros 28FR rims. 50mm stem, 745mm bars. 2.5 dual ply minion super tacky front / larson TT 2.35 dual ply rear. Coil pikes up front.

already been riding mine for a week. top bike so far 🙂 handles the alps pretty damned well I have to say.

got those cheap wiggle shoes – they're great. them and some cheap look stuff – couldn't believe the difference over XC mtb shoes and pedals. almost like an extra gear!

try lying on your entry form about your past race results if you want a front 2 row start on the qualifyers. very useful 😉

– and no, I didn't! Third row qualifyer this year – best start yet. got in 31st place – row K in the Mega proper in the end.

but have to say I had a much better race day last year because I qualified on the front row of the Promo – came in 13th in the end and had a clear run all the way – non of that singletrack queing for me!

Places to stay… we run a couple of chalets there – have no idea on what we're doing next summer (prices etc) – but will most likely be there in some capacity!

http://www.flowmtb.com/%5B/url%5D

pikes on the front. juicy 7's x9 2×9 kit. bosh. good bike and all.

got formula 'the one' on mine – 200 / 180

bike only ever gets ridden in the alps*. never had any fade or any cause to bleed them. changed brake pads once since last july. ridden 3-4 days a week during the summer.

*because I live here!

Danny heart does a pretty good drift in this… looks kinda useful as well 🙂
danny mega qual

always like a good skid about on some loose fire roads – it's great. regular singletrack skidding = bad.

one of those stove top espresso makers. does the biz for us.

20mm difference isn’t going to be the er.. difference… between making a switchback and not.

It will make it feel a bit better on the way down.

diddy stem – super wide bars = fun

I’ll be taking my new nomad – coil front and rear. dual ply tyres as per usual. with a fast rolling Larsen TT on the rear – should be ‘fun’ on the snow 🙂

Plus i’ll be taking the Prince albert – want to try the course on a hard tail – I have a silly idea to try and qualify for the main event on a hardtail we’ll see if I actually ride it though!

Having raced it on a VP-Free, Blur 4X and a Bullit in the past – I suspect the Nomad will be just about perfect…

And then there’s a couple of Bullit hire bikes we’re taking over for our guests there. Can’t wait – not been doing enough riding recently – next week it’s all going to change.

been riding a larsen 2.35 dual ply 60a on the rear of my bike. Super fast – locks up a bit easily though – be gentle on the brakes! gonna have it on my Megavalanche bike this year as long as it’s not raining.

well – after getting the calipers out and the DT calculator – it’s 260 left, and 264 right. so there you go!

Me and Sara started this and the 200 situp thing a while back. We made it through week 2 pretty well, then week three started and we kind of lost interest (i.e. things started getting hard!) – must resurrect it!

nope – they’re not here anymore I’m afraid…

If you’re looking for bike hire, we can help though – flowmtb.com

Inside the boxes:

grungy graphics
– Mr Sophisticated black vs grungy white.

And some blingy forks to go with them. nice 🙂

I am quite tempted with the orange raceface atlas cranks.. but can’t bring myself to part with 150 quid for colours sake alone…

I just changed my oil and cleaned the seals on my 36 Vans – oil was nice and black inside there – stanchions were OK though… would have been a 20minute job had there not been a slight defect on the LH nut meaning it was twisting the pushrod instead of tightening against it – got it in the end though. forks feel lovely now.

posh

Well we live in a flat – the gardens are communal – but they’re mostly ours!