Currently liking the Gamut ones.

Straitline one in titanium colour looks the nuts on my Ti 456, red Gamut one looks great on my white Slopestyle. Gamut one required a bit of filing to fit.
Main issue for me is I want to run 24/36 with a bash rather than 22/32 which means running non-XTR rings = heavier.

i'll back the fact the UST's are not black chilli

2.4" are BC

Forgot to add – if you are anywhere near Guildford, you are welcome to come and see / try both back to back.

Had the same dilema back in April this year when our daughter turned 4. She'd been riding a balance bike successfully for 3 months beforehand. Isla advised to go with the 14 which we did, and she took to very quickly.
However, we've now bought the 16 for her primarily because it was impossible to find knobbly tyres for the 14, and most of her crashes were as a result of no grip off-road with the tyres the bike came with. The 16 can be specced with Conti Explorers (just like Daddy's) and are a real improvement. It also has f & r brakes whereas the 14 has just rear. Pedals are bigger too on the 16, otherwise little else different spec-wise. Sizewise, it's not much bigger, but I guess things are relative when you're that small!
Sizewise the 14 still fits her, and back in April we were glad we'd gone with the smaller one, but it was amazing the regularity I was raising the saddle. Now, the 16 is definately the better fit.

I guess the final decision comes down to cost – from our perspective, her brother is only 18 months behind her, so the bikes should both be well used, and they keep good 2nd hand value. If cost was an issue though, I'd probably go with the 16 as I suspect you'd end up getting more use out of it.
Final thought – can he ride a balance bike? If so, then the 16 shouldn' be too much of a problem, but if not then it might be a bit of a handful. The bikes are not esp light (again relative to a 3-4 year old) and picking one up after the inevitable crash can be hard work.

Hope this helps!

PS They are brilliant bikes – my 4yr old rode about 6 miles last week along a disused railway line on the Welsh coast – a very proud Dad moment!

One of my night-ride loops takes in the Chantries before heading over St Martha's and then dropping down the bridelway S then over to Blackheath. I therefore climb up through the Chantries and often "cut in" to the woods on the singletrack to make things more interesting. A month back I had the same idea as you that it should be good to ride down the Chantries so we reversed the ride and was very disappointed. Maybe it was just the trails we took, but failed to get any decent flow so think I'll stick to climbing the Chantries and enjoy hammering down the other side of St Marthas!!

Got the Nukeproof Neutron Mag/Ti pedals – yes expensive but light, low profile and good amounts of grip. I've run them on my Intense Slopestyle for 5' drops with no probs so far.

If he does sell it, I want first dibs!

Nearly bought one a year or so ago after having a blast out in the Alps. Got myself an Intense Slopestyle instead though!

If you think it's dull, you ain't riding it fast enough!

You sure?? I was in there at 1pm today, and I reckon it's been there for over a year. I can't believe it's disappeared in the 8hrs since I was in there!

Hora – Cycle Surgery in Spitalfields (E London) has a silver ano medium frame hanging up. Brand new and they want £707 for it.

Same here – no issues. Run a SRAM X9 as slightly shorter cage which helps.

"Pushing" an RP23 doesn't produce anywhere near the benefits of pushing an RP3 imho. The RP3 I had done on my HL Spot was a great improvement, whilst the 2 I've had done on RP23's have offered little. Given the new boost valve on the RP23 there might be a few around going cheap, either being sold by dealers or 2nd hand from upgraders.

"All day epic bike" and Stiffee don't really belong in the same sentance – clue's in the name! 2hr riot most definately, but I wouldn't want to be out on one all day!!

Yep – store a rockshox equipped bike hanging by it's rear wheel to avoid the leaking.

True enough twas a coach road, but was also used as a drover's road – check out Fay Godwin's book on the drovers roads in the area (if still in print).

Never riden Cader, although walked and climbed it a number of times. Would be tempted though – have no aversion to pushing!

Struggle to get much lighter for that width. No-one does carbon out there, and stuff like Sunline, Burgtech etc weigh just over 300g for 750mm widths.

Didn't you ship that back to Turner for a silly amount of money for a respray?

No – Windridge powdercoating.

Decals from any Turner dealer – haven't bothered laquering over them tbh.

Yes could well be the same one – cracking place (in good weather!).

Not ridden a Chameleon but swapped a Cove Stiffee for a Ti 456 which is probably a good comparison. They are 2 very different bikes – the Stiffee is a hooligan which just encourages you to throw it off any little lip or jump, but does beat you up after a few hours, and can be a bit of a pig on climbs with longish forks. In contrast, the 456 is sublime on singletrack, and with your weight over the front really carves fantastic turns. It needs to be coaxed over jumps however, and feels a bit nervous on the steep stuff.
Much as I love the 456 I find myself missing the Stiffee every once in a while – an argument for having both??

Yellow powdercoating rocks (although agree on the masking!!)….

Have seen Eric Clapton a couple of times by the Judge's Seat on Pitch Hill. He has the place by the windmill so not too surpising. A mate of mine was up there a few years' back when he was strumming a guitar and singing to his daughter – mate said he sounded pants!

Pont Scethin is an ancient bridge (pont is Welsh for bridge) which carries a trackway used several centuries ago to get livestock from the coast to market towns in England. As such, the trails are manmade but of a different type! They cross some wild, remote and stunning landscape, and although not the designer type of trails in CyB, are quite technical in places. The bridge looks like this…..

Saddly it's supposed to end on Tuesday! Last time I rode Scethin the track both sides of thr bridge was bone-dry!!!

Mate drop me an email at ajryan@btinternet and we'll see what we can sort out! A night ride around CyB could be fun. Also know some good natural stuff around there.

Got to be in with a chance when the frame currently retails at close to £3k…..

Frame – Titus Motolite Exogrid (Ti / carbon blend)
Forks – Magura Thors
Shifters – XTX 970
Rear Mech – XTR 970
Front Mech – XTR 970
Crankset – XTR 970
Casette – XTX 970
Chain – SRAM 991
Grips – Pedros
Bars – Oval carbon
Stem – Thomson X4
Headset – Chris King Gunmetal
Saddle – WTB Devo Ti
Seatpost – Thomson Inline
Brakes – Formula R1 180/160
Wheels – Roval Traversee
Skewers – DT
Pedals – XTR SPDs
Tyres – Schwalbe Nobby Nic / Racing Ralph UST

What time you planning to ride, and how many of you?

We're also in the area for a week's holiday starting on Friday. We're the other side of Coed-y-brenin. Only problem is will have 2 kids in tow so scope for riding is somewhat limited, but could potentially meet up. Any interest in night riding??

Liz Frazer – best female vocalist ever! IMHO of course!!

2.2 ust's v good tyre. cant wait to try the black chilli version.

Windridge's handiwork….

Pretty good finish, but spend an age cutting back the paint on bearing surfaces so should probably have spent more time beforehand.

Would be interested to know what you make of it….

"Pushing" an RP3 is a much more cost-effective upgrade than RP23 unless you can source a 2nd hand one cheap. The Push tune makes a big difference to the RP3 but much less so to an RP23 imho.

Float 140's will be fine….to begin with! One of the great things about the DW version is how well it rides with longer travel forks. I've put a set of 36 Floats on mine, and had originally intended to reduce them to 150mm. It rides so well set at 160mm however, I've just not bothered! The DW design loads the rear when climbing, meaning the bike doesn't sag backwards. As a result, even with longer forks, it's still pretty sharp up front.
The only thing I would say vs the 575 is it will likely weigh a bit more with the same components on it. You probably won't notice when riding though, as the cliche goes – it rides light!
Would be happy to go out on the Spot with the 575 so you could ride them back to back if you wanted.

Think you'll struggle to find an offer, although most LBS will do a 10% discount when you spend that amount. There may be one or two 09 frames around which may get sold off a bit cheaper. Whilst there is no change to the frames, the RP23 shock has changed with the new boost valve added (worth getting I reckon on the DW). I guess you may see one or two surface 2nd hand too.

Re: sizing, for some reason the medium DW feels a bit smaller than previous mediums, even though the effective top-tube is the same on all 3 @ 23". My HL and my mate's TNT are both mediums, but I went for the large DW, as will my mate when he likely upgrades next year. Turner closed the gap size-wise between med and large, with the large @ 23.6" rather than 24" on previous models.

We need pics!! How was the new Spot?

timpol – Member
Do any of you chaps know anywhere near Hampshire that i can trial either the Spot DW or the Nicolai AC???

Mountain Trax nr Bracknel and Nirvana nr Dorking both have medium demo 5-Spots. I'm nr Guildford and have a large you are welcome to try….

Speak to Head for the Hills in Dorking re: Helius – I know they are about to build up a Helius demo but not sure which one.

freeform5spot – Member
Took my spot out for its first jaunt since being built up.

Have ridden all 5spot incarnations and a huge number of different bikes over the last 5 years and this is the best by a mile.

And here they are….

I still have the orange HL 5-Spot (although now resprayed yellow), and the TNT belongs to my mate. Would agree with Freeform – the DW is the better bike by a decent margin.

Wingnut themselves will ship. Work out pretty expensive though.

For UK stockists, Propel the importer lists their dealer network.

Timpol – do a search on here on the DW Spot – I and others have posted a fair bit in terms of comparison to other suspension designs. Imho the DW is the best design out there in terms of plushness but still being snappy under acceleration, not wallowy in any way, and supporting the rear of the bike under power when climbing (negates the need for travel adjust forks). I've ridden 4-bar bikes extensively, as well as the odd VPP (albeit not the 2nd generation), and the occaisional single-pivot, and think the DW is the best all-round design.

Amos – Member
Heihei, wish you'd stop posting that! everytime I see it I convince myself i need one! IN white…

From another angle…..