Thanks for the advice – the Magnifica seems to have some sort of auto clean (when it starts up / shuts down) as well as cleaning programs, and the joy of the Peak District is we have pretty soft water here.

On the subject of running costs, forge197; thanks for the calculations. Was that 20-30 cups each or between you?

Ah – the legendary Swinley – looks fun; I can see the attraction.

You're right, there are some really quite sweet bikes on this thread (but I am very fond of my little Inbred). The hub's just a regular Hope Trials / SS one – and it works better than a bell too with dog walkers!

It now has a collar to match the cuffs with a new Spank one in 29.8mm in the same blue as the Hope – which was nice. The Middleburn Ti self extracting bolts on the cranks aren't quite as good a match, but not far off. Like I said – just a hackabout singlespeed… hmmm.

Are your forks white or silver?

"Cinnamon_girl in common as muck shocker." :-)

(said from one Inbred owner to another!)

PS: Where's that pic taken? Looks a really nice bit of riding.

What a choice – new bike / new sprog. Best of luck with both / either! :-)

The absolute dogs b's – I'm running mine with 100 – 130mm Revs (prefer that to the 100mm Rebas I had on it originally). It's a great all day bike, it's fast, light, handles so well and the suspension works superbly. I don't know that you could go wrong – and it does seem to be well regarded all round. Sure, it's not super sexy, pimpy or a particularly original choice, but it's serious fun to ride.

I just bought the '09 X3, stripped it and built it up from bare frame with my own kit.

I got a set of 4 reflective arm / leg band things with the flashing red LEDs on for £3.99. I wore 2 of them last night (couldn't face the prospect of 4…) and combined with my DX light must have looked like a christmas tree.

I didn't get knocked off the bike, but I did get shouted at much more by chavs than I normally do when I'm in daytime chav-radar avoidance dark colours. Not sure what's worse…

:-)

Nothing unusual about it, but I really, really like it. A lot.

Now featuring 2009 Reba SL's and a blue Spanky spanky tweety tweety seatclamp – because it's just a singlespeed, hack about bike… ahem.

Don't even start me. My Rebas spent 3 months – that's THREE MONTHS – at my LBS while they dicked about with Fishers and RockShox waiting to get a part in. The whole thing was a mix of poor communication and chronic stock holding – hugely unimpressed. They did fix it in the end, but it was such a hassle, but then what's the alternative? Pay silly money for Fox – that will still fail at some point, and still cost the earth, Marzocchi (ahem), Manitou…? You tell me.

Funny that RestlessNative – I was only on eBay looking for a replacement for my 2.1 Cinders that appear to have almost worn out (they seem to be a new 'semi slick' version at the moment). I just don't have the guts to post a thread on here entitled: "What tyres…" :oops:

ColnagoKid – you may just have won the lottery…!

I've gone 100% Shimano on all the mountain bikes – XT and SLX on the best bikes, LX on the missus's and Deore on the hack winter frankenbike thing. As far as I can see they all take the same pads, they're a doddle to bleed, fit, fettle and change pads. Just do it.

If you can make it as far south as Congleton, Cycle Centre[/url] had SLX's in stock when I got some from them recently.

I've just been out with my new DX light. It only took 11 days to arrive here (incl the Aug bank holiday). Very impressed – not too floody; the beam looks quite vertically oval, and there's a bit of peripheral light too. It seems to mount quite stably, though I find changing the mode does move the light on the bars, and it's a pain going via flash and off, to get from low to high. The flash mode is very bright, and probably too bright for road use.

I might put my Tesco torch back on my helmet and have that as well, but I was more than impressed with the DX one.

Wide bars on my SS for something to crank on. After a winter's worth of riding them, I couldn't get on with the narrower ones on my FS, so put the same width on there. Feels great.

Unfortunately, the SS gets used for a fair bit of around-town-sneaking so I do have a few squeaky moments getting through narrow gaps. One of these days the bars'll be wider than the gap… 8O

I don't have creaky problems (that I can hear over my creaky knees). I have one each on my three MTBs, one Ti, one CroMo and one OEM CroMo. The build on the latter doesn't seem so good. I also tried an I-Beam and didn't get on with it. That was silly light though – very impressive – it just didn't like my arse.

I do really like the regular Bel Air RL – it's my favourite saddle. You'll just have to try it though to see if it suits you. Ditto Merlin for the deals.

How weird is that? Just found an old post of yours, russjp and bumped it back up, and lo and behold – there's a pic! Here's mine anyway – just for the heck of it. Looks superb – and thanks for the inspiration!

'09 med X3 frame, 100 – 130mm '07 Revs, wide bars, 80mm stem, 321 wheels on Hope XC hubs. SRAM / SLX / XT mix.

cheers.

Have you got any pics yet Russ? Would be interested to see yours, as it was your comments (above) that prompted me to put my 100 – 130mm Revs on mine. It's great at about 115 / 120mm on the steeper stuff, compared to the 100mm Rebas I had on it before.

Not the most inspiring pic, but this is how it looks now. I think they're wound in to 100mm in that shot. It's a 2009 medium X3 that I stripped completely and put my kit on, including an 80 or 90mm stem and 685mm bars. Love it.

You'll try to use your thumbs to shift gear – I still do it (as I have both geared and a singlespeed) and it always makes me laugh; there's nothing there. Or maybe it's just me. :oops:

Enjoy the silence. Well – the silence that's only broken by your rasping breath and pounding heart!

But like DaveF2 says – it's like riding a bike. I totally agree. It's like riding a bike; therefore it's fun.

Yes – good effort. I thought 'wtf?' at the start and nearly turned it off, but it's quite cool showing how you've done it to set the scene. Given me an idea to try it out too… :-) Thanks for sharing it. I did watch it with the sound of so can't comment on your commentary / music tastes!

ditto – cheers for that one!

And maybe have a look at the forks too? My full susser was all over the shop at the front as there wasn't enough pressure in the forks and they were diving under braking / on the steep stuff (so at the worst possible time) and effectively steepening the head angle by god knows how much. With the correct pressure, it's improved immensely. Best of luck with it.

lol Bez. I'll report back tomorrow after I've had a play. With regards to me "cornering agressively" – following a couple of ice-related offs last winter, whether my mojo lets me do that again remains to be seen!

fair points, well made :-)

It was just that the other thread made me think – had Mr Richards designed it to take an inline or a layback – bearing in mind what people were saying about certain other bikes.

You're right though, I'll just put the inline on – if it fits, fine, if not, I'll go shopping!

cheers for the suggestions – much appreciated.

Fair point, well made! :D

Mine was charged from out of the box which I thought was a nice touch.

Aha; thanks 2unfit2ride – that makes sense.

<heads off to the garage for another look at it>

What have you done about charging times?

Mine's here too – 11 days from order including the bank holiday (maybe they don't have one over there in HK?) I can't give any technical comments as I'm nowhere near qualified to do so, but it looks quite nice… for what that's worth.

No instructions though and I don't know what the suggested charging time is either. I have a US > UK adaptor, but the battery did come charged. How is the battery supposed to attach? Is it with the fabric looped around the top tube then velcroed back on or do the little black buckles play some part?

I'll try it out later or tomorrow night and report back.

well done – you've captured that nice feeling of proper old fashioned riding bikes in the woods. I enjoyed it.

If you don't need DAB, Joisa, get the non DAB version (I got mine off eBay and saved a small fortune – think it was from Cosmic Electricals – free delivery). If you do need DAB, site it under your telly and use one of the phono inputs to take the DAB off your digital TV feed. I jest not – I think mine came in at about £200 less than the DAB version, and I still have DAB if I want it.

I changed a rather nice separates set up for the Marantz (keeping the superb B&W speakers) and it does the job very well, plus we have the best part of a square metre of lounge regained as a result of there being no massive hifi in there, and that equalled major brownie points with my good lady too.

Marantz M-CR502. Available with and without DAB and going for a steal, new, with warranty on eBay. I can recommend.

I've got one of '900 lumens' ones on order too – should be here in a week as it shipped yesterday, and that's going to be used as an alternative to my 1st gen, Hope 2x LED one. I just thought for £51 it was worth a punt, given some of the stuff I've read on here and elsewhere. I'll let you know how it goes (once I've found an adaptor for the US plug…)

it's back up again… :|

kaput here too

bassspine – Member
more bikes than people in the house.

That's a very accurate one. :-)

The fact that my wife seems to have grown to like the smell of GT85 around the utility room more than Chanel.

Constant gloves / buffs / cycle socks drying on top of radiators.

cool – ok. I've emailed Mr Doddy, as per his suggestion on BR, but I'll now investigate the manual that I've downloaded that tells all about lowers removing. Thanks for your help / inspiration!

Oh – my old Hope XC Pro silver hubs – now promoted back to best bike duty, and never touched in about 6 years – fab. They're not as sexy or noisy as the blue Hope Pro II singlespeed ones on the, erm, singlespeed, though.

I love the fact that it took me about 17 years of mountain biking to discover lock-on grips, and every flat barred bike has them on as a matter of course. When I say 'love' I mean, 'am annoyed at'… :?

Bel Air RL saddles, too – I fear the day they stop making them, or 'improve' them or something.

Finally – my el cheapo Decathlon own brand black gilet. Brilliant bit of kit and cost me buttons, because I didn't want to spend loads on one as I didn't know if I'd use it. I do.

Thanks BoardinBob. Very interesting indeed. I've not dared even start on it – my ham fisted mechanic's skills are not quite up to it – it was just an idea I had whilst riding this morning. I'll drop TFT a line, I think – especially after reading the bikeradar piece.

So have you successfully taken yours to 120mm?

I don't even recall if mine came in a box and what was on it if they did… maybe they did and I've moved an old pair of forks on in it. I've found the manual in the bag with the two black spacers (that look about 20mm each) and a zip tie but the section in there on 'Changing Travel (non U-Turn models)' says to look at the website, and I can't find anything on there.

It was bought fairly recently from On One – it's the Reba SL 100 from this page. They do say they're All Travel, but that it's 80 / 100mm. It's not a gripe whatsoever – I bought them wanting 100mm, but am thinking if they could run at 120mm it would be great.

Forgive my (complete and utter) ignorance, but if there are 120mm ones – the Maxle version, by the looks of it – what's going to be different other than more / less spacers inside? Like I say, I'm ignorant to this! :-)

I'm in the same boat – looking at seeing if I can take my 2009 Reba SL to 120mm from 100mm. I have 2x spacers in the box, but am guessing they're for reducing to 80mm?

Is what we're saying that it's therefore not possible to take the regular (QR) Rebas up to 120mm?

Thanks in advance for your help .

Whenever I want – never been a problem. It should be easy to spot when the time is right not to ride…

2x very nice bikes there – thanks for posting. I'm feeling Kawasaki green or pearl white for my Inbred's tart-up…

How do you think the Bob Jackson finish will hold up on yours, toxicsoks? Did they do any work on it other than strip and enamel it?

mrcamel – I'd be really interested in knowing a bit more how an Anthem X rides with 120mm forks on it. if you see this post, could you email me please (addy in profile). Cheers mate.

Top Cashback works well for me with Wiggle and Evans.

My other advice would be to avoid the DT rims on the Hoops packages – the hubs are awesome, the rims dent so easily. I have no experience of the Stans. Have you looked at Lifecycles[/url] for an AM / XC build? They may be a touch dearer but the build quality will be superb – and that is said from experience!