interesting that folk seem to see protection as a big reason so far. I’ve never really found the protection to be upto much from a decently thin pair of gloves.

she sat on the rear tyre just as her front wheel left the lip. if you have no understanding of physics or simply can’t understand what would happen in that situation get yourself to your nearest trailcentre and have a go at it, for the best understanding go as fast as you can. 😉

she’d have probably been ok in somethign a bit tighter fitting if she hadn’t been a girl.

are you also worried about the extra strain put on your suspension fork without rear suspension to help with the front to rear loading?

all droppers develop annoying play very quickly no matter what bike you fit them to.

Weeride – rear mounted ones are awful, the kids stuck looking at your back and the bike handling is ruined ( dangerously so)
I use mine with a 14″ frame all the time. They’ll fit TTs as short as 21″. The footwells restrict fork turn slightly but it’s no biggie (esp if you’re familiar with riding DH bikes)

Never understood painted Ti.
Why not get some cool stiickers made like that “Duirdh” bloke off here?

strength/stiffness/durability/reliability/longevity and a secure/reliable crank arm mounting design are far more important than weight to me..

(but Deore bbs are cack, for dry use only!).

Deore BBs are fine, I now use even cheaper Tiagra and get well over a year out of each one.. I still reckon the #1 reason for premature HTII BB failure is muppets pre-loading them too much.

anyone put cranks on a test rig to see how bendy they are

who needs a test rig? Deore/LX/XT = flexy Saint = stiff and it’s instantly noticeable switching between them

and how the hollow ones compare to others?

Think you need to learn German and subscribe to their mtb mags for that level of anality.

are you arguing with yourself? 😕

£30 for the days lift ticket +-£100 to repair your bike afterwards. generally speaking a weekend at Ft Bill will wreck your forks/shock, possibly kill a mech/rear wheel and probably ding your rims.

Two words of advice for you…

Eight Speed

😉

I’ve been on here 12 (maybe not if you take away the free holidays 😉 )

6 – 10 sets of brake pads average per year

😯

if you want to save some money try letting go of your brakes at some point during your rides 😆

mtb can be as cheap or expensive as you want, my cheapest bike cost £50 and could be used for 90% of the riding I do each year, it is nice to have a fleet of much more expensive very specific types of bikes to choose between or each ride instead tho.

What’s the relevance of the Cap d’ail vid, Tom?

Cheers NW. they’re cheap enough that I might get one and see how they fair (currently run my Nukeproof above the limit if climbing.)

since you mention the ovalised bore of Nukeproof/Thomson, the superstar post seems to have the same.. never seen one in the flesh tho.. wonder if it’s something from the same factory as Nukeproof’s posts like SS pedals etc? or something looking similar but much inferior?
anyone got any experience of them?

What was that post around in the 90s that had a sort of internal gusset running right up the middle? Syncros?

🙄 as I say?
Materials, design and manufacturing process is what makes a post strong and light but increasing the wall thickness of the post will make it even stronger (but not quite as light)

Wouldn’t have thought a Thomson would be the strongest post available
simply as they are pretty lightweight

Are Ritchie’s not just Kalloy posts?

My Nukeproof post has proven reasonably strong so far (couple of years also on the limit and 410) But it is a 30.9 another good reason to avvoid steel frames IMO

Anybody tried the 450mm gusset seatpost?

Thanks

Wouldn’t really say I feel old. Memories of past times and experiences are what make us who we are today.
The folk saying they are too old to ride infront of kids in the bmx thread sadden me. It’s not their age stopping them it’s their lack of confidence and overly high levels of self conciousness which should in actual fact be less of a problem with age and life experience IMO

was expecting you to have had your foot run over by a taxi in Magaluf.. socks an all 😉

just look at some world cup DH video’s there’s not one technique, they all do things differently (or copy their mentor cf. Brenden looks like Peaty, Brosnan looks like Hill, etc)

lol
Peaty has shit style (as in steez) on a bike compared to brendan, he has tremendous flow/fitness/skill and gets the job done like no other when he puts it together but Brendan couldn’t make copying a 6’4″ clipped riders style work for him in a million years. also by your logic why doesn’t Brendan look like Minnaar or Hill?

Same with Brosnan and Hill, Brosnan’s a clipped in pedaller with new school style while Hill’s a non -pedalling sniper line wild man (or he was).

Ps. way to teach 100mph to suck eggs 😉

Ha ha… really?

so in your opinion the Aurum’s geometry is unsuitable for WC DH when it’s actually closer in many respects to the geometry of the current Elite mens WC leader’s bike’s geometry than your ‘bang on’ Nukeproof? Wow! (we’re still talking less then half a degree between headangles a few mm between BB height and half an inch in the chainstay length)
That does equate to a noticably longer and slightly more stable wheelbase but lets not forget WCs are won on cornering ability/agility as well as stability through rockgardens., eh?

Out of interest, on your ‘back to back’ test were the two bikes the same size? (the Norco’s do seem to come up smaller/shorter for each size ie. medium – medium) and were both bikes set-up to your preference for control settings (bar height/width/stanchion height/lever position/reach etc.) did the two bikes have the same fork/shocks? as well as front and rear spring rates/damping settings etc? how about tyres and their presures?

I’m sure you’re very happy with your Scalp but to say the Norco is ‘just wrong’ from one ride is a very bold statement indeed.

Cheers MD – your reply makes far more sense than TINAS’ (plenty folk do proper races for the same reasons)

do you get an official finish placing/time for each option or not tho? (would explain the midpack redmist)

Sorry, I honestly don’t understand.

Do you get a finish time/placing at these things? (if you do, I can’t see how it’s non competitive)

Wouldn’t a fast paced non competitive ride be a little easier to do (less stressful if you like) with a small bunch of mates or even on your own than with hundreds of randoms getting in your way?

why do you like a stretched out feel on a 5″ travel full suspension mountainbike?

or simply ride more descents!
reading a huge manual on bikeskills after only 3months of riding may be a bit much to comprehend?

“It’s a race isn’t it?” No

What’s the point of it then? and why do hundreds of people pay to enter this type of “event”? 😕

George is right!
Buy it or don’t! Who cares?

Oh.. and ditch the workstand and turn the bike upside down for maintenance.

Remove decals and drill valve holes for proper tubes

Eh? Where do you get that ideea from? The two bikes in actual fact have fairly similar geometry and certainly both bikes geometry falls within the realms of current WC DH racebikes. The only really noticable difference in geometry between them being the shorter chaiinstays on the med and small Aurum (no doubt welcomed by many shorter riders.)

riding a 40lb+ 8″ travel DH race bike isn’t exactly easy on your back and they’re certainly not what you’d call comfortable to pedal.

It’s fairly obvious the optimum crank length for riders of differing heights (leg lengths) will not be the same (even just from the comfort aspect) so if you really did take this into consideration when “choosing” your 175mm cranks surely you’d have at least searched online and read about the subject yourself?
If not, there’s loads of information online on the subject to keep you busy until you need a new set.

No. I read all your replies ned.
this part…

I’ve always 175s before and didn’t see a reason to change

seems to be saying you simply went with what you’re used to instead of actually trying something new.

May I remind you, YOU asked me the question. sorry if you can’t cope with my answer.

No.

All depends where you live look (clearly not so obviously)

😉

so he was an arsey teenager? is he still an arse or has he grown up now? What is he now? 22?

He acts like a ****t to kids that go to the skate parks. He’s even been warned about it by the owner of one of the parks…

Have you met him? and actually seen this behaviour from him?

You didn’t take it into account, you simply went with what’s spec’d on 99% of adult mtbs (as most do)..

more than likely, yes

Harry Main’s still a kn@b, though.

meh.. I’m not that moved by tough power moves..

there’s little grace or elegance there

WTF?

depends how long your legs are and whether extra pedal clearance on your bike would be of benefit to you.. wouldn’t worry about it now.. but maybe take it into account the next time you buy cranks.