God rid of my Pike’s after being fed up of leaking Charger dampers, top out knocking, air leaks etc etc & upgraded to Fox 36’s.
The difference is incredible, OK it’s a faff having to get the 5mm out every time I want to remove or fit the front wheel, but it’s a small price to pay for the sheer performance improvement, simply incredible fork.
Cant comment on the 34’s as I haven’t tried them. 32’s were great on my xc bike with 100mm travel, but above 120 they’re just too flexy.

Sounds like either your shoes don’t fit properly or you’ve been walking around in them without shoes on (abrasion-the main cause for holes in SS socks)
Either way, drop them a line & see what they can do to help.

I’ve got a Topeak Joe Blow sport that’s about 8 years old now & still going strong (even did a stint in the shop)
road to 120 isn’t a problem & haven’t had a tyre I can’t seat at home with it-but there will always be the odd exception.

NW & a clutch, I wouldn’t bother. We’ve got several enduro racers running that very set up & didn’t drop a chain all last season.

A friend of mine runs crests tubeless with 32mm Vittoria’s, so not a problem.

^^What Coatesy sad ^^i

Link isn’t working for me, but should be possible without too much trouble.
We usually use Hope pick & mix headsets, buy the top & bottom cups to suit & job done.

120mm forks are fine, we’ve built a few with 130mm (Travel reduced Pikes & Fox 34’s) without any problems & had great reports back from customers, but I guess it depends what you’re after & how/where you ride.

Hes a friend & I know him through the trade so..
I THINK it’s £90 fitted if he’s already got the design for it or £60 supply only.
Worth more than £30 to me to make sure it’s on neatly

2004, they had to be fitted but only if it was a complete bike.
Also as far as I understand, only applies to bikes being ridden on the public highway.
So if bike is purely for off-road use, it doesn’t need one..

,Yes, Invisiframe do fit the kits as well.
I’ve just had my new bike done as there’s no way I’d do it myself!
He designs, cuts & fits them all himself & he’s a perfectionist.
Very local to me & a really nice bloke too.

http://www.thetrailhead.co.uk/2015-cube-cross-race-disc-pro-5076-p.asp

I moved to the area ( just west of Shrewsbury) about 2 years ago, so still learning my way around.
There’s some brilliant riding, but it’s in small areas, so putting in big miles off road isn’t easy if that’s your thing.
Some areas are a touch sensitive, but I wouldn’t have said the Long Mynd is one of them, there’s only a couple of tracks you shouldn’t really use that you might want to..
There isn’t much on the borders that’s easily accessible, but there is riding there if you know where to look & meet the right people if that makes sense.

Wasn’t bad at all on Sunday.
Not sure where you went for a bog fest though, a bit slick in places & plenty of puddles at it’s worst, but bog fest?
If it was, it’s the first I’ve ever known of in 18 years of riding there!

Possible loose bearings
Possible loose spokes
Possible broken axel

Check for condition
deflate, check how well glued on they still are & decide if they need re glueing.
If they do, do it,
If they don’t, re inflate & ride.

I putchased one of these new in 2012 and it rates as the worst road frame I’ve ever ridden. They’re harsh, really harsh.
I sold it after five or six rides.

They’re a race bike, what did you honestly expect?!

Mountain Cycles is a good shout, haven’t seen one for years!
Suntour are still going strong & making some pretty good suspension forks to be fair to them (Torq XC race team are using them for one)

You can get shimano hyro’s with mechanical shift, I’ve built a few up.
Having said that, DI2 is awesome if you can afford it & want to risk the mechs in the mud (I personally wouldn’t unless someone else was paying!)

Cube Litening C68?
The 2015 C68’s are made using a different mould & are a much longer top tube & racey than they’ve been before, I’m swapping from my TCR Advanced to one this year.

Could also be a flat spot/high spot by the join, as the vary loads from rim to rim & it isn’t always possible to get them as true as you’d like & keep the spoke tension even

The headset on my ‘best bike’ lasted four years & even then it was ok, just not perfect. That includes around 10,000 miles, four trips to french mountains & nasty weather on the odd occasion.
My winter bike isn’t quite a year old yet, but the headset it tired & BB clicks, probably only 2000 miles & I’m happy it’s lasted that long.
UK winters are very harsh on road bikes

Making the effort to ride for 3hrs+ when it was -4 & freezing fog to start with..

http://www.santacruzbicycles.com/en/us/about-our-carbon

Different grade of carbon used, slightly heavier etc.
I haven’t looked into the details for SC, but I’m guessing along the lines of Toray’s T800/900/1000 grades etc. different prices as some are harder to work with, heavier etc. all affecting the price

Yes, both versions of any Santa Cruz frames say C on them.
Remove the rear wheel & look in the brace between the chainstays, as it’ll have number followed by either C or CC-it’s the only way you can tell.

Great for walking, not good for riding at the moment anything above the valley floor.
I know a couple who tried the last few days & gave up. All the locals (which I am now luckily!) are riding elsewhere until it warms up.
Problem isn’t the snow as such, but it started to thaw, then froze again making it unrideable.

It was the SL25’s I built with last week, have to be one of, if not the best road rim I’ve ever built.
The size was the same as claimed & they were road to begin with! Sounds simple, but so many aren’t.

Why would you want tubs for commuting?!?
Surely the last thing you need, something like a Gatorskin or the Vee Apache (love mine) as a commuter tyre is a much more sensible choice & run tubs for racing

Do Pacenti do a 24h?
I’ve only built one set so far, but impressed with the quality.
Surprised at your Alpha issue, I’ve done around 4000 miles on mine, built to 1270g for the pair with rev spokes, alloy nipples etc, including 2 Alp & 1 Pyrenees trips & not had any problems, other than the rear is now getting a bit thin!

Also some Canyon use some crazy rose joint type bearing as the main pivot-brilliant idea in principal, but less so when you need it replacing in a hurry & can’t get hold of them (had a customer on a Friday who wanted to race at the weekend, but the bearings were unobtainable until the following week)

1. Do some road racing for the first time & get to Cat 3
2. Do my first TT (I’ve been threatening for years!)
3. Top 10’s in next season’s ‘cross now I think I know where I got my training wrong this season (only managed two top 10’s all season)
4. Midland XC if it fits in, but not sure on cat yet-won sport last year so masters if it runs & has a big enough entry.
5. Compete in some sort of enduro race, most likely a mini enduro now I’ve finally got a suitable bike

Check the geometry-depending on the model you’re looking at, the top tube lengths have got a fair bit longer for 2015, as some were a bit on the short side for the size.

Cube’s customer service & warranty are amazing, I don’t know where you get that from OP?
Maybe it was the dealer you’ve been going through gavstorie?
We sold over 230 Cube’s last year so had the odd warranty claim & never had an issue other than having to wait a few weeks for the odd claim.

Did the obvious thing & went out on the road bike…

64kg & 18psi in my Dugast Rhino-as low as I’ve tried so far.
*measured using digital pressure guage

No problem at all. (FWIW I work at The Trailhead that someone else mentioned above-if you need any work doing, you know where to find us..)
Just take the mech off, flick off the retaining clip (back of the B link bolt), undo the bolt, remove the link & bolt it back on & index. Takes about 5 minutes.

Yes that is wrong, your mech needs the B link removing, as they’re designed to be a direct fit.
There won’t be any issues with any screws if it’s bolted on properly!
Hopefully the pic below should make sense?

Rocket Rons or Limus if you’re staying Clincher.
Rhinos or Supermuds if you’re going to do it properly & swap to tubs.
Don’t forget all the pro’s are running tubs, so much more supple & lower pressures. I know at Milton Keynes the fast lads were down as low as 12psi. I wasn’t as brave & only went to 18 (32mm tubs)

I had a set that looked very similar, around 1993.
They were given to me & no good for anything I had, so I gave them to a retro bike bloke I know who has around 10 sets to help keep another set going.
Worth very little, but no doubt useful to someone

Does it fit you properly?
Don’t worry about using the drops, I didn’t for a loonnnggg time & only started using them more when I adjusted my position (self done bike fit, dropped both saddle & bar height)
Roads in the winter descending are scary anyway, so don’t worry about that, especially at this time of year