I use Cycleworks in Haslemere and Guildford quite a bit. I think they offer great value and have done work for me that I am to much of a wuss to try (fitting a fork, changing a freehub). I also bought a Hope bottom bracket off them at better value than online.

I can’t justify changing my hard tail at the moment, but when I can, will be going to them for a full bouncer. Although I recon Canyon et al are great value, I am going to fork out for the extra cash of either a Whyte/Specialized/Orange which they stock.

Lucky to have a good LBS, so need to support them.

Rode again tonight at a muddy QE2. Mud clearance was annoying again.

Should I just buy an On-One with massive tyre clearance and hopefully better alignment?

What is it like at Swinley Forrest? I am there Saturday.

Have you checked out the mtbr Giant Anthem thread? Lots of examples there.

Bump for evening crowd.

Frame is low end-ish (Rockrider 8 xc used to sell for circa £1500 though, but I am sure mass produced with the rest of the Decathlon stuff).

Had checked dishing of the wheel, but seems ok. Just seems odd it only happens on one part of the frame (i.e. lower down behind bottom bracket at seat stay).

I often drive past Swinley on the way to and from work. I took the bike out of the back of the car (unused from yesterday), only to see lovely sunshine coming out today. :roll:

Probably raining later though…

Thanks for your replies. As I got closer (on my way home from work) I decided to give it a miss (having read some of the above). Went food shopping instead. :cry:

This weather is really pants. Local trails are carved up and QE2 is not really a wet weather venue.

Maybe I will crack out the scrabble.

Have managed to find a pair that seem to fit in Cycle Surgery at lunch time. Will walk around at home in the living room to see if they are a bit tight :oops:

Hopefully will be alright (in the medium). Perhaps a few sit ups and some more running is called for anyway.

Did look at fully waterprood Gore ones, but at £120 they were another £50 and I can’t get over spending that much on shorts, especially when I have just bought Recon forks for the wife’s bike for less!

Thanks for the comments above, very helpful. I do plan to buy them in a shop, just really struggling to find any in stock anywhere to try on/buy!

Will try the old yellow pages advert approach of calling ahead, but if no luck will ask the LBS to order a pair in.

Got off my fat arse today and went out. Cabin fever drove me to it, but as above, once out I was pleased to be riding. I had half considered a run, but went out Thursday pm and gave my knee a good pasting.

Rode around Peaselake area, with the trails almost to myself, except of course for Barry Knows Best. Humid, very muddy in parts, but it was awesome. Riding in crappy weather is not the wife’s cup of tea, so I was able to have a bit of an exploration ride too and have found some new trails.

Feel better about going back to work tomorrow*.

*A feeling that is not guaranteed to last beyond Monday morning…

Thanks all above. I had no idea there were so many aftermarket mounting options, although some of them do look a bit vulnerable for MTB, (but a pretty good option for roadies). I assume you could reverse mount one of the above as suggested, so it would sit above the stem.

I would prefer, if possible, to keep it on top of the stem itself, although if pushed I could stick it on the bars (adding to the clutter, but giving me many more options for cheaper stems – recently got a Hussafelt 40mm for the wife for circa £24).

Although the Hopes etc look smart, I find the whole stem testing process pretty random – my Thompson was a shorter stem than the stock one that came with the bike, but I had no idea how short to go. I guess they just have to go in the parts bin and ebay! Is there a huge difference between 100mm and 70mm? I am a bit worried less than 60mm will be a bit drastic.

Mucky Nutz – best item you can buy for a bike for under £10. Bought one for the wife as well to help her avoid the grit in teeth feeling. I wear presciption glasses too and it helps keep the crud off my specs very well.

Only down side for me is slight lack of tyre clearance – my old 2007 Rebas plus 2.25 Ardent does not leave much room for the mucky nutz guard. However, the chunkyish high volume/low tread Ardents are not really a great mud tyre and with this pants weather I expect the trailrakers will be back on soon…

Combination of a Panaracer 2.35 Rampage and my wife’s new tk silver recons look like they will have more tyre clearance and room for a mucky nutz guard.

A very informative thread, but surely this must have been done by ‘Jedi’? I can’t imagine anyone else being capable, except maybe Chuck Norris.

Am about 12 miles north of the SDW (Haslemere). Very wet roads tonight and rain has dumped it down on and off today. Not sure what tyres grip well, I have not been able to find anything that does well on the chalk in the wet or the dry!

Good luck to all of you doing it – tried 2 years back and got rained off half way through on 2nd day at Lewes (Winchester to Eastbourne direction).

I have just sold an 2003 130bhp Passat TDI. Paid £3,500 for it 2 years ago with 58k on the clock. Has been pretty reliable, but be warned servicing costs have mounted up.

I never changed cam belt (we sold it with 93k on the clock, so it was due). Regardless of this I spent circa £1.5k in servicing costs over the two years and there were some additional work that I would need to have had done if it was still mine in 6 months, which I recon was another £600 + as a minimum.

Still, probably cheapest motoring I will ever have. Have a company car now, so paying £££ tax for a thirsty Nissan Juke turbo petrol. Passats are quite common on ebay and according to the garage people keep TDIs going for 150k + no problem (they were servicing an Audi A4 TDI with 250k on the clock, still fine).

Also had a Mondeo TDI hatch (about 7 years ago, great car, put a large bike in the back with no need for wheel removal). Would happily have another.

If I were buying a newer car, I would be tempted by a number from the Skoda range, including Roomster, Octavia estate or Fabia estate. I have had roof racks on my Passat (and now Juke), so this has knackered fuel economy, but big estates swallow a bike no problem and some of the skodas can be had with clever upright bike mount things, so you can keep the bike upright in the back, fork bolted to a qr skewer.

Dual Control fan here too. Got them on my supermarket special 2007 Decathlon Rockrider 8.2 (2007 lx dual controls).

Lots of people slag them off, but I find them easy to use and never seem to accidently shift when braking, which seems to be the biggest comment/concern from riders who see my sporting them out on the trails.

Agree they are pants. Had one on my hardtail that lasted 3 1/2 years, seemed good so I got another when it ran out of bearing.

Well, my new £20ish gxp from Merlin lasted circa 3 months. Went to the lbs and got a massively expensive Hope as I couldn’t be bothered to try and resurrect it. On the basis it was £60ish and has lasted at least 9 months, the value for money seems ok to me.

Bike: Garmin Edge 200

Non-Bike: Pair of running shoes

Smelling farts. Normal.

Lighting them is my party trick.

I need to do this for my freehub, it sounds like a bag of rocks.

Can you just pour the lube in? I have not got any cone spanners and when it comes to freehubs have never actually taken the plunge in taking anything part.

Thanks for the advice above. I did try searching with limited success and have gone for the advice offered above by andyl re: mineral oil, as I don’t have time to complete srtip the brake at the moment. Will look as a more thorough job if it continues to be a problem.

Replaced pads too and they seem to bit more now, but before I put the pads back in the piston still seemed to be a bit reluctant to ease itself out. Will see how it goes when I go riding in the Lake District next.

Well, purchased a pair of shoes at the local sports store. Seemed relatively faff free and they didn’t pressure me into spending big money, but concerntrated on the fit. Went for a pair of regular running shoes in the end, I thought if I am that keen still in the winter I can then invest in a pair of trail shoes if really required.

Went out for a run in the woods close to home Saturday evening. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would – stuck to the run/walk mix. I was out over half an hour, nice views and the weather was pretty good, so might have added rose tinting to my specs.

Not yet put off, which is a good start, but by the power of greyskull it hurts like hell this morning. Next run probbaly going to be a bit shorter in length, just trying to find the right distance to ease in to.

Thanks to all for your advice – the book(s) mentioned above look worth reading.

Thank you all for the advice. I will book some time out to go and get measured up for trying out some shoes – I have not had a pair of proper running shoes since Slippery When Wet was on rotation on my walkman, so have no idea how they are supposed to feel (apart from comfortable).

I will see what the running shop recommends and feels comfortable.

The Southern Yeti – you say 12 stone should not make me like Jabba the Hut, and at 6 ft 2 you would think not, but for some reason my belly spreads out every meal so much so in fact that I look like that alien character out of American Dad. Helps mountain biking though, keeps my centre of gravity low.

Thanks all for the advice. I will get out the maps and go over them with a cold beer.

I have done part of the downs link and it does appeal making it into part of a larger loop, so that could be an good option. The thought of being able to cut out part/all of the train travel appeals, but completing the total sdw would also feel good, although parts of it are a bit dull.

I should imagine being out on the downs today would be pretty awesome though.

I have a Rockrider 8.2, generally very pleased with it. Used to work for Decathlon Surrey Quays and although I am somewhat biased, I thought the staff on the bikes department were well trained and knowledgeable, (especially in the workshop).

After 4.5+ years I realized (or actually chose to do something about it), that I had been riding round with a slightly off centre frame (rear wheel leaning over slightly). I got Decathlon Reading to have a look and eventually they replaced the frame, for a Rockrider xc (a higher spec bike, frame supposedly identical). Frame still looks slightly wonky to me, but doesn’t really effect it.

All in all good quality peace of kit, not bad after sales back up I recon.

Not sure if it helps but I am 6ft2 (187 cm) and I have an xl 8.2 Rockrider, 100mm stem.

The medium and small sound like the job, or even possibly two mediums (might be a bit big for your smallest rider).

I have Ardent 2.25 and have used them front and back on my hardtail. Excellent in Snowdonia on rocky ground earlier this year, but pretty poor in the mud I have been riding in round in the North and South Downs since.

Seem pretty light and I like the fat profile, makes up for my limited abilities.

I have a 5 year old hard tail Rockrider (which I am pleased with) and have seen the 120 mm full sussers in the shop.

Whereas the Rockriders look like a half decent 1st effort, I would be inclined to go for an Anthem.

Anthems have been very well rated, resale value is better (as everyone above has mentioned), but more than that you are getting a good, upgradeable frame. I would have thought it would be easier to get better second hand frame specific shocks etc in the future for an anthem too, as there will probably be more bits on ebay etc down the road.

My brother has a 6 year old anthem 2, which he rates highly. Just had 100mm forks put on it.

Just make sure you don’t offer your special popcorn to anyone else in the cinema…

Cycleworks – excellent bike store and very helpful staff. Don’t work for them, but would definitely buy a bike from them.

Will maybe give it a miss then, depending upon motivation levels after work. Down not too bad, just couldn’t make any progress climbing.

Really like the new stuff, the trail builders have done a cracking job and glad MBR have it a good write up, it is well deserved.

I like the look of the Rocky Mountain Element 950 29. I think the middle range model comes with a Revelation fork that can adjust up to 120mm. Good review in Bike magazine this month.

OK, will splash out on new pads and bed them in.

I have bedded them in before, so am happy to do so again (seemed to work before I went and contaminated them…). Doh. :x

JW, Thank you for that. I think I have used both white spirit and methelated spirits. I hadn’t realised there was anything in them that would make it worse. Maybe I need to buy some proper disc brake cleaner.

Can I try and sand down the pads to get the contamination rubbed out from the top layer of the pad/surface, or is it a total loss? Pads are pretty new.

I have just got an Edge 200. Very pleased with it, but suspect it does not more than the 205, (probably even slightly less). Couldn’t justify a proper mapping GPS like 80/Satmap, although I see the benefits of having one for xc riding.

200 seems quite simple to use, so far.

Rode the trail today – congrats to the team on the new trail, much improved.

Went for a dusk ride yesterday evening to test out new Garmin Edge 200. Managed to get a completely off the wall top speed 45 odd mph. My Garmin said top speed was 26.5, which is more like it.

Do you. Think this is anything to do with having autopause turned on? Have now turned it off in case I am cheating.

Accidently road a section that was a segment, only just made the 3rd page…

Excellent, but very wet.

Only rode Loop 1, but really enjoyed it. Did it on a warm day end of Feb, feet got soaked. Someone on here posted that it was best ridden at the end of a weekend, but I ignored them and had to get the newspaper out to dry the shoes off :roll:.

Marin is also worth a look.

Got an Endura pair. Took them on a recent trip down Snowdon (first time I have worn pads, a bit nervous about the ride). Very comfy and did not rub, but size up as they are quite small.

Think they are MT500