What do you wanna learn Kes? 😯

will trade virtual skills for overpacked bearings 😉

Ok. pass on my comment, we def need more proper DH geometry shorter travel bikes around even if they are gonna be Cotics 😉

Druidh – You don’t need Cy to make one, simply buy one, fit a shorter shock and fork and you’d have a super low/slack lil pinner!! in all honesty I can’t really see you getting on with a bike like that tho.

they certainly made quite a difference to “trail feel” when my mates snapped during a DH run 😉

After seeing the diameter of the snapped axle on a mates Spanks I’d have to say out of the two go DMR.
The Spanks also have a silly bulge right at the axle/crank interface which isn’t so great for spackers like me who like to jam their foot in there in certain situations. TBH I’d just get HT/exotic/nanos (buy a spare set if you’ve got money to burn)

😀

wow, what a response! How busy everyyone must be.

patience 😉

holy shit, you’re inviting me over now?

*imagines Skywalker tucking his junk away and doing a weird butterfly dance*

I have been and ridden in the SE of England already, believe me it’s very flat here too..

SE Scotland Skywalker, I’d be more precise but weren’t you asking my height the other day too? 😯

stop apologising..

if you read the whole sentence (that you were happy enough to quote in full earlier) my point was that no flat singletrack need to be boring, there are always interesting/fun lines to ride if you simply look around, even on the simplest of sections.

Where did I make that “admission”? 😕 I actually live in one of the flattest areas in the country.

it isn’t black and white, you can for instance also stand and sprint choosing faster lines, pump, manual and jump to gain speed.. but let’s not turn this into an FS V HT thread 😉

I happen to like sprinting and freewheeling and know (from timing both) it is faster for me than sitting down an pedalling whatever bike I’m on unless it’s uphill.

STATO – I know…

I would always compromise comfort for handling
FS for me is predominantly for grip not sat down comfort.
just as well we’re not all the same, eh?

BTW if you read the OP he actually asked about OUR bar/saddle heights and OUR set-up’s. I’m not particularly interested in how YOU set-up your FS bike for towpaths or what width bars YOU run on your DH bike but maybe he wanted more than one opinion. ;P

😀

Worn Ruffians 24.5 – 26.5mm Kes (brand new they’re about 30mm).

they wear much faster form sweaty hands using them gloveless BTW (mingin but true 😉 )

then IMHO shep, you’re missing out big time. 🙁

no need to appologise STATO (other than the li’l dig 😉 ), how you ride can have nothing at all to do with where you live.

Hugor – Chief touched on why fairly well, you also need to be able to pre-load the bike through the pedals in anticipation of what’s coming up with flats more than wihen clipped in. I actually ride with a slightly lower saddle now even if (on the rare occasion) I’m clipped in as I’ll still ride like I’m not (if that makes sense to you)

Oh, look… “Bigyinn” still bearing his long term grudge over being proven wrong in another discussion on the inrerwebz, how pre…. 😉

FWIW I’m not taking an opposing view, I’m simply being realistic. Heralding any seatpost as “un-bendable” is “overrating” it! and in this respect Thomson seatposts are one of the most overrated products on the market, doesn’t mean they are not a good product, they are indeed both strong and fairly light but most (even cheap) seatposts of around the same weight will also bend before they snap.

Bars higher when my saddles slammed, lower when it’s fully extended. 😉

set-up your bar height to be best for when when it matters – ie. when you are not seated
set-up your saddle height* for the job in hand – ie. slammed for jumping, ‘lil higher for DH, fully extended for climbing.

* slightly lower if you’re using flats than clipped in

your COG and weight bias should be changing all the time as you ride, too stretched a position (and too cramped to some extent) can be detrimental to this.

Slam your saddle completely for a while, never sit on it and you’ll get a feel for where your bars feel best

Ps. “normal” off road riding is not dull boring flat singletrack – unless you are in a hurry to get to a destination look around for more interesting lines

seeing as everyone’s just suggesting what they use (for a change 🙄 )

Worn (understatement) Ruffian lock ons and no gloves

what you meant to say is

+4

HTH

Went to see Killing Joke recently and have to say I kinda agree with Deek.

Ironically Jaz Coleman looked a complete Joke, pretty much now a parody of himself, physically looking like a cross between David Dickinson and Simon Cowell it’s not something you really want to see still busting out gothic angst poses.. don’t think they should stop playing, just thought Jaz could take heed of the balding”Youth’s” performance ie. playing the music well and not **** about with piss poor amature dramatics.

nice cranks, but they should be on a kids BMX where they belong.. as is any skillful bike riding kid.

Vid above is pretty lame until the kid gets on the right bike and ramps

+1 mboy talking bollox

The playpark at the east end of the measows is excellent
Mollys at ocean terminal is a pretty good soft play
Leith waterworld or commie poll for swimming
Botanics/inverleith park.
Leith links.
Think M&Ds funfair is at Ocean terminal over Easter hols
Calton hill for a picnic (less of a mission to the top than Arthurs Seat with a toddler and closer to shops etc. if you need to bail).

The latter.

Personally I’d ignore every recommendation above until you know your preferred sweep angles and rise then narrow down your choice taking into account preferred material, weight, stiffness/strength and budget. Far too logical for a website frequented by bandwaggon magpies I know but hey ho..

I have 2 Giants aswell, don:t understand blinkered brand snobbery/loyalty.

Rotational play has been evident on every GD I’ve ever tried. And 2012 reverbs for that matter.

Piss poor for what they cost IMO

Got both, which would you prefer I have sv?

I’m peckish, I’d like a biscuit, there are biscuits in my cupboard. But is there any point?

I know, I’ll ask on STW 🙄

No it isn’t podge

What a stupid question

I’d say yourself

HTH
8)

Was it nightrider’s van? Thought he’d have gone for black.. anyway, you might have better luck posting on pistonheads or similar forums 😉

Unless Kore havr changed their IBeam clamp plate design avoid, their saddles are stupidly weak too.

My 02 SX Supercross

an old pic and a couple of things have changed, most noticably a telescopic post to allow me to actually pedal it uphill too without murdering myself. it also now has a Push tuned Vanilla shock with Eibach spring (finding a stiff enough but short enough spring to use this as a DH bike wasn’t easy), different tyres and pedals.

it’s my mini DH bike but being short travel means it’s ok to actually ride XC on for a few hours too.
as a DH bike it absolutely rips, being super low and DH slack it corners amazingly but unlike a DH bike it pings out of corners and sprints like the short travel bike it is. it’s actually faster than my DH bike for sectioning many DH tracks, the only thing letting it down is for the speed it’s happy at shortness of travel combined with a high leverage tiny shock leaves it lacking in damping over full 3min+ runs on rougher tracks and after a few race pace runs it can really beat you up compared to my proper DH bike

Geometry is 65deg HA, 12.6″ BB height and 43.75 WB.. IMO/E nothing comes close in shorter travel to this day.

Use sintered, brake properly and you won’t need any spare pads over a fortnights riding.
Don’t waste your money on multiple sets of tyres, 2 DHFs will do but don’t waste yoir pennies on a supertacky for the back unless you’re planning on racing.
A well set-up bike is worth way more than bigger forks

Matt -possibly much more developed grip/ wrist action in the one arm? Quite commpn in these days of mobile internet 😉

Makes perfect sense to do both, it’s quicker/easier to drop the front foot on faster corners where you are not braking.
DONK – you haven’t gone against anything I said (wee bit of a freak with my footwork here aswell 😉 )
Chris – you simply lack the confidence to assess your own riding, no biggie and fairly common TBF. You could do worse than listen/agree with me from time to time. 😉

Chip supper anyone?

Fair enough. I’m the opposite and turn my cranks backwards as much as forwards on some descents. It’s nice we’re not all the same 8)

Here’s something to think about tho.
If you want to late brake into say a tight steep turn where the entrance is rough and you need your feet level, you actually won’t be able to get your front foot down while braking.

I hate gloves. Luckily my hands are waterproof