climbs teach you balance, correct weighting of the bike, traction control, brake control, planning ahead and line choice. all these skills transfer over to DH.

oh.. you can still buy good quality cassettes for a tenner if you bother looking. the last two cassettes I bought a few months back were both less than a fiver on offer from Rosebikes
old LX, 105 or Tiagra mechs do the job nicely for around 20 quid (again always bought discounted)

but going by your snidey remark about Acera I think you need to go full Yumeya XTR, you’re clearly worth it

IMO it’s not worth spending more than £20 on a mech or a tenner for a cassette, you seem to care more about having the latest thing so you might as well go XTR/XO

well.. that’s what you get for being trendy and switching to 9 speed johnners

8speed FTW, Cassettes cost less than a tenner too, weigh around the same as a 9/10spd XT, shift better and are more durable

£19.30 is considered cheap for a chain? 😯

I wouldn’t pay more than a tenner for one.

you having a laugh?

a 410mm post will drop 11″ from full extension to slammed

I’m 5’11” and ride a 14″ frame, why have 3″ more seat tube and less stand-over when you don’t need it?

😆

she didn’t make a fair point at all

or pay another 2p for kevlar corners and less ugly branding on the same saddle ie. madison Flux

by 1yo do you mean 12mths(ish)?
my youngest was in a proper weber baby seat (google it) when in the trailer until maybe 16mths as it was more secure, (the harness/strapping in most isn’t really designed with really small children in mind) an old car child seat strapped in might work well too.

no they don’t.

steel ones generally do weigh a bit more, just like bikes really 😉

but considering you’ll be pulling 2 children inside them does it actually matter? No!

they all pretty much fold flat for transportation/storage and you’d have to be extremely weak to notice the difference between lifting a “light” one and a “heavy” one in and out your car/shed/wherever/

no it wouldn’t, simply route it properly through guides..

switch to a headmount light

How do you the cameraman was on two wheels and not one

I reckon he was nose manualing, the guy’s sick! 8)

Thank **** you saw sense Pepsi? FFS! 😉

FFS give it a **** rest 😉

respec’ Bruce 🙂

loved Carter!!

so did this bloke

Orbital live at Glastonbury

I was there, Great gig.
never listened to it since tho, listening to live recorings doesn’t massively work for me. 😕

but so as not to be a party pooper.. Fuelled by tonights Red Stripe intake (so clearly not the best) here’s some lovely gay disco for ya

**** knows how I didn’t wake up with a sore arse most mornings in the ’90s

I use 20mm axle rebas on a dirtjump bike I use for everything from local XC to dirtjumpng and Downhill, and I’m no lightweight rider (am pretty smooth tho).

Obviously not as strong as a Pike or Argyle but as long as you’re not nose casing big gaps all day they’re upto plenty punishment

😆 @ Stu

and you’re right, I don’t hate fatbikes, haven’t ever said I do

using a 140mm pike (a-c 517mm) for all.

T.am with unsagged 140mm fork = 69*
Bank with unsagged 140mm fork = 67*
BFe with unsagged 140mm fork = 66.5*

*deg(ish)

smoke bigger fags 😉

ok, fair enough.

when you’ve done the trig you’ll realise the TA is actually pretty steep compared to the other two (with same length forks)

I’m genuinely interested in why you are wasting your time blindly defending a certain type of bike’s shortcomings.

I’m guessing you at least have one?

I’m not fussed about the steel quality

sorry, I thought you meant you’re not bothered about steels qualities ie. alu’d be fine.

although having ridden a Bfe back to back with my own Alu DJ bike I didn’t feel any extra “relief” from the frame

“(have you ever ridden on dartmoor granite strewn trails with no relief..)” Not Dartmoor but I’ve ridden plenty mental rock strewn trails on a 100mm Alu DJ bike.

added an edit to the above ^^

Toys – check out the geometry of the XS Bfe and compare it to that of the S Bank carefully.
(Cotic uses a silly “sagged” fork measurement for their geometry charts, take that into account and you’ll see the Bank’s figures are actually based on a slightly longer Axle to crown fork)
This is one reason why (for me) Bfe’s ride far better with a short fork.

The Bank has shorter chainstays which is a bonus imo.

<EDIT> No I haven’t ridden a transam, looking at the geometry tho, it’s quite a bit steeper H/A than the Bank and Bfe which is bizarre considering it’s in part down to the (not overly slack H/A that makes them jump so nicely when fitted with a short fork).

A common misconception is that a Dirt jump bike has wildly different geometry from an XC bike, in reality they don’t DJ bikes are just built stronger and to have minimal standover and not overly stretched out top tubes.

sorry, you’re well south of the border aren’t you?
translation = “taking it personally”?

Why not? I’d choose a bank over a Bfe every time.

Spose it depends ‘how’ you brake 😉 V brake pads last me a year per set easy and I’ve never ever worn out a rims braking surface, I have bent amd cracked discs beyond repair tho

From riding both back to back RD, any decent fatbike rider who has seen how I ride my hardtail would concede that too. Why are you taking it to heart?

My hardtail would be slower and more tiring on the beach or over snow.

picture a race from the bottom GT car park, up to the Peel centre one, then back again – but without the elevation

Lopes would have a pretty unfair advantage 😉

Ps. OMG, WTF? really? 😯

you need a better imagination then

certainly do 🙄
WTF are you? the fun police? does going slower but ending up more tired for it give a better “sense” of fun?

a small section of tube trapped under the tyre bead then pumped up hard acts like a timebomb.

here you go nj

http://uk.extreme.com/mountainbike/1021195/uci-xc-eliminator-news-houffalize-mtb-wc-2012

Just watching it now.
lol @ the last corner move in the womens, eliminated her opponent alright!! 😀

<EDIT> oops, that’s last months race, from your comments above can this months track possibly be less challenging?

680mm is too narrow for an adult’s mountain bike. Wider is better in 99.99% of applications.

are X-ups or barspins really still that uncommon?

You’d surely admit a Fatbike is far from ideal if sprinting (but freewheeling once upto speed), braking late, drifting, popping off everything you can, pumping/manualling at every opportunity is the kinda thing you enjoy.
I can’t imagine having anywhere near as much fun as Druidh suggests at the likes of GT on a fatbike to a regular hardtail.

each to their own now Stu 😉

spank do polished silver bars

nice to see the all the haters still in the house

Mission accomplished then, eh? there was no other reason for your OP was there? 😉

Ah.. ok, sorry 😳 I get what you were saying now 8) (asked one of my kids to explain. ;))

“Just like any other style of bike, there are variations in geometry of different models which affect handling”
sure there are, but that’s not really where the main quirk/trait of every Fatbike’s handling comes from.. by their very nature you physically couldn’t make a fatbike handle well for the style of riding I enjoy whichever geometry was used.

They’re def not for everyone but as I said, each to their own.