I used to love that venue … crap ‘lines of sight’ with the ‘L-Shaped’ room if it was busy, but there was something pretty special about that place!

The number of bands I saw play that place, I lived 50 miles away but saw more bands than I can remember, something new every night ~ It was ace

Saw them play the Duchess in Leeds, place was only half full and it was only a basic bar, this was with Bleach…

Then Nevermind hit the world and I saw them in Bradford Uni I think, might have been Leeds, that was chaos, as you’d expect, everyone waiting for Teen Spirit, vocals were crap but atmosphere was amazing 🙂

They were good, but only and American Therapy? good 😉

Got two sets of the bars, lovely shape and take the “buzz” out of the trail when running a rigid fork as a Ti bar should ~ Love them 🙂

For those who are interested the #bemoreMike stickers are available from myself with a charitable donation to Mike’s Justgiving page ~ He was a good friend and it’s the least I felt I could do ~ Lovely piece Hannah

…yes

…but there’s a cracking pub around a mile from High Rigg, can’t get much closer 😉

YHA in Lockton, various B&B’s in Thornton and Pickering or if you want moorland riding on your doorstep, The Horseshoe Inn in Levisham is a nice option

Talking to Jeff, the gauge of the steel tubes were chosen to replicate the ride characteristics of the Ti version and in my eye’s they do this very well.
I also have a Ti Diamond frame and again beyond the physical weight, I can feel only tiny differences in the ride, maybe I’ve just become numb to it all…
The time I nice the biggest difference is when descending at slow speed, under heavy braking, the truss tracks so well, the unicrown, not so..

Having both a Ti Truss and Steel Truss, I hate to say it but beyond physical weight, to me, there is very little difference in the ride quality…am I allowed to say that 😳

Having run Jones…s for a good number of years now the real difference is down to the truss fork..
I had to try a Stooge when they appeared, just as a comparison and to re-convince myself and the big difference in both comfort and “steerability” is down to the truss.
At the end of the day a steel diamond frame is a steel diamond frame, however a unicrown fork against a truss is the decider for me every time
Currently run a steel Diamond with Steel truss, 3″ front tire, between 650b+ and 29″+ and after 30 years of MTB riding all over the world I’ve never found anything close

Guess I’ll chase them up on Facebook, seems to be the only way to get a reaction from them…

Just following this up, having been told I’ll have my order on Tuesday, I’ve yet to see anything….
Anybody else awaiting pre-Christmas orders or was I the only daft one to take the risk?

In fairness I have been impressed with the clothing, hence the second order, magically I have just got a response from my FB posting

Looks like my order will be with me next week 🙂

The “thru road” is closed at Staindale Lake at 8.30pm every evening and re-opened in the early morning, this is to stop people using it as an access road
Low Dalby, Visitor Centre and Main Car park can always be accessed from the Thornton Dale entrance
Adderstone field and Dixons hollow can always be accessed from the Scarboro’ end of the forest

personally, I much prefer the fat bike version…

the cutting edge of technology

Fatty…

…good reason for using a light bag

Only ever used a soft sided bag, all over the world, fine as you use pile insulation on the frame and remove brake discs and chainset

Touch wood, I’ve never had an issue…

I think Tom Rowntree deserves some serious credit, the guys been flying since the start, hovering between 10-13 place overall and currently 5th place Rookie

To think last time I saw him I had to help him into his tent, due to “overindulgence” 😉

Go Tom!

Going Like a Train…

Bombproof Boxes, had one for 10 years with no issues 🙂

Standing on Tarmac, you do realise it has a base too?

Went to SSWC last year that was based in Hakuba, basically a Ex-Olympic ski resort, would guess this might be on your radar

Far from a trail centre but to be honest your going to be hard pushed to find anything close in Japan, bikes are a means of transport rather than a weekend leisure pursuit…

Race climbed to the highest gondola station and then descended, excellent and under used DH course, just what your looking for too I would imagine

Hakuba is a great town, good feel and some nice little bars, probably the best riding we found while we were out there, very quiet though out of ski season

I’ve tried on four occasions to match the ride of a Jones and each time admitted defeat and sold them…

Weapon of choice is a 29+ fronted Diamond with a Ti Truss fork, I’m lucky enough to have a 24″ plus and steel Diamond but always compare the ride to the Diamond

4″ tires are overkill on the front and if you blindfold me I can’t tell the ride between the Spaceframe and Diamond, it’s just easier to clean and less attention seeking than it’s swoopy brother

Plus is a fun all day plugger, but not as playful as the other two

The truss fork really is the key, so much more compliant than the Unicrown and so nice to ride with a 3″ tyre

🙂

Used Maps.me ap all round Japan, works a treat, no Wi-Fi needed and good road maps, just download the country map when you have free Wi-Fi 😉

the alpkit/jones diamond frame bags must be the best part of 5 years old…

Just in case your budget is flexible 🙂

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/king-king-king-king-king-king-kingyou-get-the-idea

I’ve been running original Shimano XT thumbies with an 11 speed cassette for well over 6 months
It works a treat, even running a 10 spd SLX rear mech and 10spd chain
Basically the shifter is set on friction mode, you then need to nip off the little Friction/SIS lever to allow for the extra “throw” that the mech needs to cover the range
Certainly the cheapest way to upgrade to 11spd and so easy to flick across the whole block, all you have to do is find an old XT thumbie 🙂

Is a Bike manufacturer going to have an issue with some chap remaking their logo from their file to put on his bike to advertise their company, and would they ever know?

In a lot of cases the manufactures/distributors have no interest or the time to supply individuals with out of date decal sets, they want to focus on selling and developing new products

If you are selling on a one-to-one basis to private individuals who wish to promote the manufactures “brand” this is rarely an issue, but still a grey area

On the other hand selling numerous “logos” to anybody to rebrand whatever they want is a bit more of an issue and one even I frown on…

Drop me a photo or link to what your trying to match and I’ll let you know what’s possible ~ email in profile 😉

custom work depends a lot on what you have in mind

one of the biggest issues for me is sizing, especially if you want a design that wraps around tubes or complex shaped tubes, fine with the frame in front of you but a nightmare working from photos

most designs can be drawn in a vector format or “sourced” but getting it to look right without the frame to hand is a different matter…

Used it all over the world for the last 3 years, all been great experiences

Works very well in the States, used all round Japan, Europe and UK

Approach with an open mind and always read the reviews, all good otherwise, if a little weird at times

Okay, second set turn up

This time the seams inside the left boot seem raised but the right boot is perfect

Looks like I’m making one perfect set out of 2…

Might be worth checking the seams inside the outer boot if you get chance, maybe it’s just because it the biggest (47) size but still not good on a high end boot

Just following up on this

The boots arrived and on closer inspection the right one seemed to have heavy material folds in the outer boot, the right boot was totally smooth on the inside, the ridges created pressure points on your foot even though the insulated boot

I contacted Mantel and eventually accepted it was a “faulty delivery” rather than a warranty issue, bit or a language barrier there I think

I have had to buy a second set and they will refund me when I return the first set including return carriage, or so I have been told

Currently waiting for second set to arrive in the next hour, once they are checked I’ll return the first set

Having to pay twice seemed strange but guess I can check the replacements and send them all back if there is the same issue…

Literally just taken delivery of a pair from the Black Friday sales at Mantel, paid just over 100 GBP

On first trying them them they seem a little small I have UK13 feet so couldn’t “up size” having said that the liner boot is very comfortable and I can see it bedding in a little

Same reason, suffer from cold feet and doing the ‘puffer last year I swore I would get better boots for this year

Love the fact you can take the liner out, means you can dry them out far more easily, I only intend using a thin “summer” sock, think the liner will be more than enough

They will get and outing at the weekend

Damn, that’s cheap…

Bargain

Being a Jones lover I had to try a Stooge, never judge anything without giving it a chance.

I think your budget will push the decision for you but if one thing stands out from the two bikes it’s the truss fork

The Stooge did a good job, I rode it for over 6 months on all sorts of trails but always found myself going back to the Jones. Mainly down to a comfort and handling point of view, I found the Stooge unicrown fork harsh and clearances a little tight on the back end, filled with Yorkshire mud too easily, it was a Mk1 frame, somehow never really jelled with it

The Stooge was sold and the Jones lives on 🙂

Looking at the photos it’s a Spaceframe with + clearances

Geo and ride is very similar between the two frames, but visually very different, just means you can run a big tyre in the back now 🙂

yeah, pretty straight forward, but so much easier with the frame in front of you

if you try and do it off photos you would have to make everything more oversized to stand a chance of covering the original graphics

you got a photo or link, bit hard to discuss blind…

to get jobs like this right it’s a lot easier with the frame in front of you, I’m not totally familiar with the graphics layout but if they wrap around tubes it’s almost impossible to get the profiles right working only from photos

depending where you live you might be better trying a local sign company and leaving it with them, expect it to take a couple of hours to get right so you might end up paying over 100 GBP for a set of decals

STATO…I wasn’t offering you a test ride, mealy suggesting you might not need a Large frame

I guess your user name is quite appropriate 😆

I’m 6′ 4″ with a 35″ inseam, run a lay back Ti seat post and 80mm stem with Jones Bend bars…

I would go with a test ride rather than looking at figures on a piece of paper, that would give you a far better idea 😉

Sorry I didn’t meet your expectations Kenny

Bespoke design work can always be delayed I’m afraid, much as I wish I could do everything in a systematic manner if a regular customer shouts I need to jump and that has been the case for the last few months

I hope the damaged decals haven’t stopped you from riding the bike

Hi,

Firstly sorry for the huge delay with these, I have been far busier than I expected over the last couple of months with repeat business from my main customers and also several race events who have all required T-shirts

I’m afraid the more unique jobs suffer during these times and especially re-draw/design work that all take time, which I can’t seem to find at the moment

I’m now pretty much on top of things for the moment and I’m just checking if you wish to take this project any further or if you have now moved on

Thanks

Gil