Try and find an AirB&B near the A5 to put you equidistant between a few of these places.  Marin trail is OK but felt burnt out as there is loads of dull climbing on that one. Penmachno is hit and miss depending on how well its been managed this year, best check their facebook feed to see if its all running well. Coed-y-Brenin gets my vote, really enjoys that place in the past but the furthest away.

There’s a good YT video showing how to change the bushings.

Good to see some positive notes on here about SRAM AXS. My new ride is coming soon and will have this setup and i’m a wifi gear virgin so looking forward to it. Will be happy to say goodbye to those days of ghost changes due to a sticky gear cable during the colder months.

My heart did miss a beat however when I learned (whilst monitoring a Facebook group) that these mech appear to have a common complaint that the bushings wear out leading to slack gear changes. Apparently SRAM are aware and are often replacing them under warranty.

Car touchup works very well.

What type?

Hmm, reading with interest. Also on an apex bike, bit underwhelmed with the braking power, 

I have a friend who has the same bike and has the same concerns about the brakes too.

For me i’m finding if i yank on the brakes all I’m getting it that the lever is getting closer to the bar – especially for the rear. My rear does feel more spungy than the front so a bleed is definitely required.

160mm should be fine unless you are big?

5ft 11 and 14 stone – i don’t see it making a massive difference as my last bike as I said with the same setup albeit running Shimano kit was fine.

The brakes do feel a tad spongy and yes I was going to attempt to bleed them as a starter for 10.

ok great thanks

Update… after escalating to Merlin they agreed to send me some new forks.

Oh well, Merlin have bascially said it’s out of warranty and based on the LBS conclusion yes new forks are required, provided a link.

I subsequently kick myself as I found some pictures I took within 12 months of owning this bike which showed these cracks starting to occur so technically the issues was there within the warranty period… but due to other things that were going on in my life I didn’t have the time to deal with it. Hey ho.

At this stage I don’t think i’d be buying another Merlin.

The bike is a 2020 model… so the warranty is no more apparently (2years).

Thanks for the replies, I took it into a local bike shop and they pretty much concluded what was said on here… plus to be 100% sure that it would need to be x-rayed to identify if there is any structural failure(s).  I wouldn’t be surprised if the cost of analysis outwieghs the cost of a fork 🙂

I’ll got back to Merlin and see if they are interested in helping out a long term customer….

Nice one, I think i’ll give them a go. So frustrating that my forks seem to fall between years when the seals changed over to a different model.

Ok, thanks for the replies. What about fork seals – As those SKF seals ok to use?

cheers for the reply.

Will be giving it a go this weekend anyhow, see how it goes. Fingers crossed it’ll be right.

I tried to get that FOX app but i can’t find it in the apple store – what is it actually called?

top stuff, cheers for the comments

top stuff – cheers