Just bought a 5D MKII at work mainly for video use, they’ve been heavily discounted for a while now and the MKIII was going to well out of our price range anyway so was a no brainer purchase.

For what it’s worth I’ve not noticed any wear rate difference between 9 and 10 speed.

Spares for your current 9 speed bikes is a concern obviously, but I’m not bothered about new bikes coming with 10 speed now. Two 10 speed XT drivetrains here, one from the first batch and one from the new 2012 batch.

Yep

Short person’s 29er in the wild (only couple of inches taller than druidh :P)

Find much better fitness benefits from MTBing than road cycling but this could be a commitment/enjoyment/willingness thing. Griding out the miles is exactly how it feels at times on a road bike…

is it worth spending €400 getting there and back ??

No, but that’s not a reflection on Bristol Bike Fest

Loco: so does that mean a Fox warranty is voided by doing a 24 hour race then?

amt27: sorry to hear that, I’ve done it a ‘few’ times being a local and not had any issues. I rode Oktoberfest (same thing but 8 hours, and you guessed it, in October) in the solo cat which was the first time on the full new course, placed 10th and found the whole thing rather good spirited. Some of the teams have been warned to wind it in a bit in recent years and have been much better behaved.

If I was being overly critical I might suggest there was one of two overtakes that were bordering on cheeky and possibly rude, but nothing dangerous.

I’ve always found them too big on Fox forks. I run a 100mm on 140mm floats and it’s spot on, the 100mm on my 100mm floats is barely taut without sag and a baggy mess as soon as I get on.

Foxy, it should be 15 hrs for seals, especially Talas forks even the older kind

I thought they’d upped this to 25 hours so you could actually do a 24 hour race an not void your warranty?

It’s a funny one Fox, I acknowledge the issues people have, but on the flip side I’ve got 32 Floats (08) and 32 Vanillas (09), I keep the the visible stanchion and seal area clean, use Brunox fork lube just on the external uppers and send them for a service once a year. I expect to be told they’re toast each time and they’re always fine.

Both have been put through 8, 12, 24 hour races in the past and the subsequent training for them in all conditions, so hardly a lack of use.

I’d second something like Small Block 8s for the Verderer’s Trail which is very much a stone built trail-centre trail. The red is probably not worth bothering with basing your tyre choice around, takes barely 15 mins to ride and doesn’t offer much of interest. If you’re going off piste with locals, then you’ll probably want something a bit more soil and roots friendly…

140mm travel isn’t a great deal travel for UK riding.

‘Lots of people riding 140mm travel in the UK’ and ‘140mm of travel not being a great deal for the UK’ are different things 😉

(FWIW I quite often ride 140mm in the UK and own a Five :P)

Yeah, I want a slacker angled 140/150mm bike,

That’s fair enough and clears things up, strike the Trance off your list 🙂

Do you actually know what you want for sure? You’ve got bikes from 120mm up to 150mm bikes on that list in a wide spectrum of intended uses. The Trance is going to be pretty light for the Alps unless you’re going specifically for XC riding there, but probably the best for ‘all round UK riding’.

The YT and the Canyon, while impressive bargains are quite ‘big’ for just general trail riding in the UK, while they’ll be barn stormers when you hit the Alps, assuming you’re going to be riding own more than up…

Why not look at the Canyon Nerve XC and hire a bike for the Alps?

Torq Gels and Drink, has got me through 8hr, 24hr and multi-day stuff.

Rhubarb and Custard gels and Pink Grapefruit drink if you’re after recommendations.

Torq drink is so drinkable it even was the only my wife and I could stomach after a particularly nasty sick bug in the new year and really kept us going.

😆

Just come back from filming solo night riding, now that’ll give you the willies!

I think you met another mate of mine today too Gary, Huw Thomas who is riding for Niner?

Yep, I know Huw, I arranged their photoshoot with Seb Rogers at Cwmcarn yesterday!

Yep, Dave’s an inspiring bloke for sure!

Well I’m doing this in the summer, I’m hoping I make it as far as Cardiff 😉

http://wc2c.cyclistno1.co.uk/

Happy Valentine’s Day! I’ll reply when i’ve wiped the tears from my eyes x
steveoffofdirt

Ah but Guy also said, if you’re going to run 1×10 and chain device you should really have a 160 upfront which is fair enough if that’s his opinion.

Five pivot placement is also optimised for a 32T ring, hence why they spec triples across the range bar the AM.

But over time, they go soft/delaminate, you can get water/salt incursion between layers and/or through the resin.

Coming from a Windsurfing background, carbon masts and booms literally coated in a permanent layer of salt, scraped and dragged along cobbled and sandy beaches. Seems like the least of your worries when it comes to a carbon frame IME

The axle is your problem, plenty of 9mm 29er bargains around…

Come on Jo, that smiley is like proper pulling your counter-punch there… 😉

Isn’t Ed Ox selling Nial’s Trek Session? Is that small enough?

And what the hell is going on with that seattube, seatstay, toptube junction!? 😯

Sorry but that looks hideous value! Wheelset is currently £140 on CRC. Rebas are dirt cheap OEM entry ones currently on Merlin for £250.

First bike I plucked out of the air: Whyte 20-CS £2500 http://www.whytebikes.com/2012/bike_page.php?ModNo=W-1-007-12

And if the 19 Carbon is anything to go by, a universally well-regarded bike offering better kit for significantly less money. You’d need your head checking to buy that Halfords bike IMO.

£100 and reserve still not met. Boy he’s optimistic! But then if he convinced her to actually pose like that for ebay, maybe he’s persuasive enough to sell an old rockhopper frame for way more?

It’s all down to HR. We’re a small company that recently signed up and my boss and colleague managed to turn two Genesis bikes around in a week, from initial inquiry, to picking the bikes up – and the bikes weren’t even in stock when they started the process!

matt, you’d struggle for clearance in a boggy cross race, but should be fine for general riding. It is tight. My front wheel was out of true but been riding round on 35c tyres for ages like that. 40c is enough to foul the fork so can’t ride it until I get it straightened out 😳

Indeed 😛

RE the travel thing, with a more sensible set of tyres and chunkier wheels, I’d happily replace a 120mm ‘trail’ bike with my Superfly 100.

Trek Rumblefish 120mm, and there should be a Roscoe coming next year with 140mm

A tallboy with 120mm up front is pretty bonkers!

Sorry, I was being sarcy!

Putting together a smart, functional utility/general purpose bike is more in line with her Cycletta involvement and fits in well with her intended aim of moving into fahsion/design when she retires from cycling.

Be gone with your nonsense and insightful thinking! Lewd comments or lynching only right?

mattsccm: 40C Smart Sams go in fine.

Got a report up: http://www.cyclistno1.co.uk/features/racing/brechfa-frostbite-40.htm

just filed up the Range Rover Sport

So now you’ve got it home, it’s almost empty again right? 😉

No, I don’t get the reference, and yeah I spotted that one 😡

I was 4th round and 4th into the 1st special stage so yeah, comprehensively missed 🙂

Was a bit over paranoid about traffic but wouldn’t say I was hooning round. 15kph an hour I think Endomondo had me at…