The Titus Silk Road frame is only £450

You dont need to clean the chain.

You do before first waxing.

I’m selling prepped chains too

You are not the only OCD person here 🙂 I like to do my own prepping. I started with two used chains and two new ones. The used ones were easier, I use ProGold ProLink as lube and it cleaned up pretty well. The factory grease on the other hand… I’m seriously thinking of buying pre-waxed chains from now on.

I recently started waxing my chains, after reading about it here and listening to a couple of the ZeroFriction guy’s interviews.
For me, the faff is not the waxing part, but the initial cleaning of chains: it’s messy, takes time and there are a lot of residual chemicals that need to be disposed of sensibly.
The waxing itself is easy; a 1.5l slow cooker is less than half the price of a new XT chain. As for the wax, I’d go with one of the newer, specialised products, either Daz’ GLF wax or the Enigma Ultimate.

I took my finished build for a first spin this morning. It has been more than a decade since I’ve been on a mountain bike. I recently put together my old Titus Eleven, but just sitting on it felt very awkward and couldn’t get any confidence. On the other hand, the Whippet felt just right.

I couldn’t stand the HUGE decals so I wrapped the frame in vinyl and re-applied some more understated decals.

A few thoughts: grease on the headset cups? I’ve read that grease and carbon don’t mix, but I can’t imagine instaling the headset bearings without any. The Park PPL-1 I use claims no carbon damage, so I just went with that.
Suspension? After some playing around, I am now convinced a rigid fork would be enough for my riding. In fact, I had ordered one from Aliexpress, but am now a couple of weeks post ETA and no idea of its whereabouts. Plan B was to snipe a fork on eBay, but the few I found went close enough to the price of a new Reba RL 100mm.
Handlebar width? My previous MTB had something like 500mm handlebars, the ones I put on the Whippet are 780mm! The circus show feel is somehow diminished after experiencing them on some mild bridle paths, but I am certain I will cut them down some.

something that shoots … front and back in a single unit

I’d be interested as well, although I can only think of 360 cameras that do this.

victim blamers

Are there any here? I thought this was a cycling forum.

The new Whippet line is up, new colour schemes and double the price for the frame alone. As Planet X did not bother to update their description (still says T700), I assume that only the paint job (and the price) is new.

On the fork, the Whippet is offered with the RockShox 35 Gold RL DebonAir 100mm, but many here have run it with 120mm forks. I was just hoping some could chip in with their impressions.

So with my carbon fork stuck somewhere with no ETA, I am desperate enough to consider some suspension forks (no way I will pay £300 for a locally sourced rigid boost fork) to complete my build.

Website says both 100mm and 120mm are fine for the frame, but what is the user experience here? Any benefit of +20mm on the Whippet being what it is?

I have the matt black frame and I got a couple matt vinyl wrap sheets as a base layer, cut and moulded them around the frame with a hair dryer. This had the added bonus of hiding the horribly oversized branding. I then added some pre-cut bits on the downtube, seattube and chainstays.
The advantage of the unbuilt frame is you can take your time with routing the cables as needed, having both the bb shell and head tube open.
Also, now is the best time to consider possibly repainting; I saw some interesting attempts.

DT Swiss is what i use, reduce the noise by making sure the star ratchet is packed with the right grease, it quietens it down

Yes, just load the ratchet with Special red grease (Molykote TP 42), it is audibly quieter.

I have been using Paceline Chamois Butt’r for more than a decade. I don’t go on day-long rides anymore, but I have yet to find reasons to change.

The frame-only deal (£299) is back, I find it really tempting, as it pretty much matches Far East imports prices with far better chances of after sales support.
Now, if only I could’ve said the same for carbon boost forks…

I lusted after the Ti Indy Fab for a looong time.

Yeah, this (Independent Fabrication).

Since the early 2000’s, I had about 13. Currently, I own only three, which is less than half of all bikes in our garage.

An older photo, Enigma Ecroix

I was going to post how some idiots ride bikes and some idiots walk dogs and some idiots are walked by their owners, some of which are idiots, but it seems that STW is largely in agreement over this.
Keep in mind that when having a crash or even a near miss, there is a surge of adrenaline that adds some unpredictability to the behaviour of even the most civil person. I am not the most civil person and I usually see red and become incapable of understanding the consequences when it happens to me. I avoid putting myself in these situations as much as I can, but it is a numbers game. The next human or animal I collide with will hear the full repertoire of my swear words.

Adobe Lightroom CC ?
IIRC the photo manager part is free

use your fork axle (15mm) and insert it into the end cap only…

This or even better, a 15mm to QR adapter. I did this on two occasions, seemed quite straightforward.

FWIW, John Lewis is currently having a sale of the 128GB model. Considerably more expensive than a new XZ1 Compact (even when adding a 128GB micro SD card), but AFAIK it’s the best price ever; combined with John Lewis 2 year warranty, this is probably one of the last great deals on the SE.

I like how these topics on decent sized mobiles keep coming back. Of course, it’s all down to personal preferences and usage, but I don’t understand why there are so few choices out there.
The iPhone SE and Xperia X(Z1) Compact are about the only options IMO. No more headphone jack in the XZ2+ models, and a SE2 is unlikely at the moment.
Regarding OP’s question, an SE can be worth it right now, depending on how it is used. With occasional use, I could stretch the battery up to 3-3.5 days (iOS 12, new battery). Just don’t get the 16GB version, it’s barely enough space for the operating system. Unfortunately, the battery replacement fee goes up to £45 starting 1st January, so right now, the SE has lost at least £20 of its value compared to last week.

FB page now to flame them

I thought Twitter is the place for airline customer flames?

Compact android = Sony XZ1 Compact.

This, or even the X Compact for the most relevant sub-5″ Android phones. The X Compact is much less powerful on paper (also cheaper), but I couldn’t tell the difference in regular, non-intensive use.

But for someone coming from a 5s, I would also look at the SE. It’s like a way better 5s; still an iPhone, though. Ideally, a 32+GB variant on iOS 10.3.3.

It should work fine, unless you have the R785 levers. Here are a few other options.

I examined my old helmet as soon as I Iearnt about the discount. I was lucky enough to find some age-related damage, so I wouldn’t feel guilty about splashing out on a new Giro Cinder.

Ideally, 28mm tyres and over should be used with 19mm rims.

Those Arkoses seem to be randomly on sale; depending on timing and luck, you could get a 3 for well under RRP.

no ANT+ […] though can still add the inline ANT+ adapter

Not only does MT800 junction have ANT+ connectivity (well, “ANT private”, like all Shimano bits), but it won’t work with another wireless adapter (as per Shimano specs).

Next year’s Dirty Kanza 200?

…my X-Trail – it has what looks to be a post-mount fork, with flat-mount caliper mounted on an adapter

That’s not post mount, it is very much a front flat mount. Here is a photo comparison of post-mount and flat-mount.

There are no flat caliper to post mount adapters on the market, but this doesn’t stop anyone from making one.

(source)

post mount and 10speed

On the full-hydro option, why not ST-RS405 shifters with BR-RS785 calipers (BH59 hose)? You would also need new mechs; either 4700, 5800 or 6800 series will work for 10 speed with the RS405s. As for cost, eBay is your friend.

Broke mine 10 years ago; it was a clean, textbook break (middle third region) with no fragments. Surgery was not offered as an option, but had to wear a figure-of-eight bandage for three weeks. It took about 2.5 more months to recover full mobility in the shoulder.

I used to run a Shimano 11 speed double chainset with a 10 speed SRAM drivetrain, no issues.

Actually, Scylence is Shimano’s own patent.

Works fine (here with 785 levers)

Apologies if this is obvious, but are location services active on the phone?

I don’t think the 810 firmware has changed at all recently

Actually, there is a firmware update from January (6.30) according to the Garmin website. And there’s a time zone map update for all GPS devices AFAIK.

For reinstallation, I would recommend the desktop version (Garmin Express) with a good old USB cable.

What model would that be?

A way off OP’s £500 target, but the Lynskey Cooper CX is down to £900 @CRC.

Shimano XT M8000 11-42T £66

£57 at Merlin and Tweeks.

That’s more than 300g over the Arkose…

Sorry to be pedantic here, but the devil is in the details. Was the Tripster AT 1950g with axles, seat clamp, accesories, headset? You mentioned several times a weight range for the Arkoses around ~1650g (“from memory”), but again, was this with seat clamp, headset? Evans quote “2.68kg for a size medium and just under 3kg for a size large” for a 4 2017 frameset (ie. “450g [fork]”), and the math just doesn’t seem to add up.

A more precise weight comparison could well put the two frames within less than 150g of each other, making this a moot point.

I’m not trying to start an argument; I completely agree that riders’ needs (and preferences) vary and may trump objective features like price and weight.

This being said, the perfect Arkose for me would have a rear TA option and interchangeable cable guide plates (for 1x, mechanical and di2 options). And still in black. Yeah, I’d pay more for that.

I’m also interested in the “Arkose vs Tripster AT”  frame dilemma, although I wonder how is the Tripster an upgrade except for the rear thru axle (and price) – it is (marginally) heavier, fork is not internally routed and has only one set of eyelets on the seatstay. Clearance seems to be the same on the recent Arkoses and the Tripster.