The TransAM is pretty harsh and heavy duty…

I’d genuinely consider getting the float spacered down to 120mm – 140mm will only be good during the odd moment of lunacy but 120mm would be better for most of the riding you’re going to encounter (inc trail centres IMO)

Then look at the Genesis Latitude and Cotic Soul. You say you’re in love with steel but a lot of 140mm hardcore hardtails are a bit well-built and don’t actually feel all that springy and steely at all.

Champagne coloured cobalts and whitegrips/saddle would have done it for me.

The world cup SID clashes so badly.

Yeah, A37/A38 are horrible roads. Avoid!

molgrips: I totally disagree, everyone has off/lame days. And when you’re starting out it’s sometimes hard to get going. When training for a 24-solo last year I found the fitter I got the easier training became so it was easier to be disciplined.

Grinding round 3 out Afan’s 4 trails stuck on my singlespeed, knowing I had to get back to the car, did the job nicely at the start of things.

Having done the 24-solo and succeeded, I find discipline a lot easier now that I’ve been through all that.

The impact of having a baby is another thing 😉

Did a full week holiday in N.Wales a few years back. Marin trail had some of the most memorable sections, but over all, one of the more underwhelming trails due to being a bit fireroady.

SS is good, more so because it takes away the need to be disciplined when it comes to snatching away at gears which inevitably leads to being seated in the granny.

Judging by comments on here, 29ers are for men who feel the need to prove that they’re real men, tounge-in-cheek or not…

I’ve noticed this a lot, I’m 29er aware or curious but I have to chuckle at some people’s comments.

Wtf are you supposed to do as someone rides towards you?

Turn the focus ring… :-p But personally work to the strength of the camera, let riders come into or out of focus. More sense of speed, depth and interest. Panning a rider coming down a trail, always in focus, zoom out as they get closer is what makes them look slow.

but you could do with using the gears more

Trying to re-get going with some flow mid trail, after getting clipped back in, having just ran back up the trail in carbon soled shoes, with the camera running wasting precious memory filming nothing at all… nightmare! And you expect me to make better gear choices too!

And before anyone starts ripping it to pieces, it was self shot on a 4 inch high plastic tripod after work in about 20 mins 😛

Shot on a DSLR (550D): http://vimeo.com/22262120

Far superior to a dedicated video camera IMO until you start spending mega bucks just because of the lens choice. With the nice shallow depth of field you get on an SLR you don’t want an auto focus anyway…

fourcrossjohn: unless you’ve got a true fluid tripod or a steady cam, stick to static shots. Use more shots, and as mentioned with riders entering and leaving the shot. Not a fan of long sequences with zoom changes as it does ‘slow’ the riders down.

But otherwise nice work! Can’t wait to see the next one!

Correct answer is both right?

Ride HT for a bit, think wow this is great, so pure, I’m free, shall I clean it, shall I f…

Then I get on the FS, think wow this is great, so comfy, so fast, this is literally the fastets I’ve ever ridden, screw you luddities, shall I clean it, best do I spose.

Repeat.

Orange Five wide open unless fireroad climbing and even then only if I’m tired and fancy getting out of the saddle a bit. Never been a fan, makes bikes feel a bit wrong tbh.

SP with a bit chain growth means you get a much more natural feeling pro-pedal effect when you’re going for it anyway.

boys are idiots, they switch their brains off

Love it!

Pregnant Wife you say? You’ll be lucky if you even get out on the Rockhopper once the little one drops 😉

Whyte T-120 could be worth a look. Lifetime warranty on bearings.

Tbh, 100mm xc race bikes are rather quite rideable these days. Stick some chunkier tyres, shorter stem, wider bar on them and they’re really quite the rippers!

That said, depending on your budget Trek EXs are hardly “big” trail bikes and probably quite ideal for your needs.

100mm

Yeah, it was ace!

Don’t know why I sold it tbh.

molgrips: so what’s your view on the bit in that video that says “a labour force in debt with a mortgage is less likely to strike”?

Molgrips: http://www.talkford.com/topic/150061-dpf-additive-eolys/

And worst of all, once the light comes on, apparently you can’t do it at home.

Didn’t realise it could come off, does it count as an engine mod under insurance?

Have any of you guys seen the joke that is the reset procedure for manually topping up the additive on the Ford DPF?

The click wheel is nice to have but the older Athlons are still a great helmet. Unless you can find a newer one at close to that price, I’d not worry!

I’m sure it’s all a con to support the car industry. Car’s are getting depressingly unsustainable at an alarming rate – cars being written off in minor bumps and so much stuff to go wrong on modern engines.

My C-Max is bad enough, 55-plate and we’re already talking about how many more years before it becomes uneconomical to keep running it. Can’t imagine owning a second hand Prius and having something go wrong on that!

Birth certificate.

Fairly eventful first 24-solo

Yeah to be fair, the 10 speed XT chain isn’t too badly priced but it when it comes to replacing it would be nice to be able to shop around and also use SRAM.

Sorry I was talking about mating chains, cassettes and rings.

Official line from Shimano at IceBike was that 10 spd road and MTB were not compatible because you don’t get the absolute shifting precision that Shimano would like you to have (this was more about putting 10 spd road onto Dyna sys)

What we took from that was it works fine and you probably won’t notice the difference. Not tried it yet but we’re planning on putting a road chain on some XTR and XT 10 spd later in the year.

Get SLX and sell/upgrade the shifters to XT.

My commute is 10,000 miles (when I take the shortcut), I leave before I wake, birch myself then put on my horse hair jersey, shorts and helmet (which includes a crown of thorns) and I chew wasps and nettles all the way. And I never get out of 56×11. And I listen to the cheeky girls on repeat the whole way.

<3

foxyrider: aren’t you doing a guide soon? 😉

100mm on mine, was rubbish at 140mm.

I don’t see how it’s ruined a BFe… it’s only a 5.5lb frame and the geo is the same as the Soul, if he’d built that on a Soul no one would complain. And I doubt the weight saving of the Soul would be that noticeable…

Much nicer build than some of the other “good” BFes being posted 😛

😯

(Edit, not aimed at the most recent poster btw)

slack = confident. you can have too much of both and some need more than others.

😉

Kinda, did W2 + Penhydd + July in a day a lot early last year when training for 24 solo. Nice day out.

What were the 3 places you liked that have gone?

Tbh, you’ll probably want to get off an lay down before you actually break a CX bike.