Here's mine….

Weighs just over 29lbs with 2.2" Rubber Queen UST's, Saint rear mech, and Nukeproof Ti pedals.

To my mind, it's not about Turner vs Nicolai but rather DW vs 4-Bar. Personnally I find the DW design better than the 4-Bar; if Nicolai made a DW-Link bike, I'd probably have one over the Turner for some of the reasons TLR mentions; they don't, so I ride a Turner.

I've just built an Intense Slopestyle to 32lbs. I'd intended just using it for "larking around and all that", but have been so impressed as to how well it rides on 20 mile rides that it's getting used more than the 5-Spot at the moment. OK so it doesn't climb as well, but when you get anything pointing downhill or with some airtime involved, it's a riot.

Get the bike-fax guide – some good stuff in there.

PS I was the guy on the Titus Exogrid on the Surrey Hills ride!
PSS When are you headed down there? Am there myself at the end of the month.

It's a shame to go to Wales just to go to trail centres imho. Central Wales has some awesome natural stuff that as well as good trails give you much greater exposure to the stunning landscape and a feel of the heritage as well. Stuff like Pont Scethin are a case in point – less than 20 miles away from CyB as the crow flies but chalk and cheese.
Don't get me wrong – I like trail centres, but lets face it one pine tree looks pretty much the same as the next!

PS Is this Karve as in Nicolai Karve??

Rare as hen's teeth in the UK. Singletrack mag did a review a year or so ago – didn't really rate it iirc. Not seen any other reviews by UK mags, and the importers (whoever they are) have kept a low profile.
There was a used frame for sale a while back – not sure if it ever got sold.
Loads of stuff over on MTBR but then you probably knew that anyway!

heihei – you running a 160 fork – that'll be slacker that 69 degrees?

Indeed – Float 36's at full travel. Not measured the head angle but suspect now at around 68 deg which is where I prefer.

Forgot to add….most LBS will give you 10% discount when you spend that amount of money.

They're good, although the looks are bit of an aquired taste. IMHO the DW link is one of the best suspension designs out there, being both plush whilst at the same time being taught under pedaling, so it sprints well. It also climbs well, as the DW supports the rear of the bike, meaning you don't need to run travel-adjust forks.
Downsides? Well the 69deg head angle is quite steep compared to some other AM bikes with similar travel so it's not a bike that encourages loony behaviour, although the bike is beefy enough to take it. It's also not as light as things like the Ibis Mojo, so unlikely to satisfy weight weenies.
Here's mine….

Light, strong, bling – what more do you want? The latest SX's are the nuts! OK – so would be nice if they were a little cheaper, but CRC had them below £500 recently and one or two pairs have been turning up on fleebay.

Older ones work. Only diff with the zirks is they are now thread fit rather than interference fit.

Try here….

http://www.lhhscotland.com/

We stayed at The Mill House in Kailzie last year and was awesome, as was Chapelhope Farmhouse on St Mary's Loch the year before. The Neidpath Castle looks good too – not stayed there but walked past it last year! They used to have a stunning place in Innerleithen but seems to hae disappeared off the site.

2.4's are massive. Profile-wise they are not a huge amount wider, but substantially more in volume terms. I'm run both 2.4's and 2.2's tubeless on my Intense Slopestyle, and found the 2.4's too draggy with the bike losing noticably more speed between jumps.
The 2.2's are awesome tyres. Not tried them in full-on mud, but grip well in the wet. Currently my favourite tyre.

Was one of the first painted frames (an 07 I think) and both times developed cracks in the vertical members of the rear triangle. I'm around 180lbs and was doing 4-5' drops on it – something it should have been strong enough for imho.

Ibis were top-notch in replacing them so wouldn't put me off owning another one.

They ride great. Mine was too small and I broke it – twice. Got a DW 5-Spot instead.

Service guide here too please….ajryan@btinternet.com

I'd agree with the comment about cropping to achieve the required image. For biking photos I want to share, I spend quite a bit of time cropping and manipulating the image to get the effect I'm after. The critical points then become making sure it's in focus (easier said than done) and the shutter speed is fast enough to avoid unwanted blurring.
I've a Nikon D90 which I use an 18-200mm lens, and add a 10.5mm fisheye when I want that effect. I've also started taking the big flashgun out with me too. Whilst that lot is quite heavy, I can ditch my tool kit on group rides so it's not too bad!

2.4" MK's rubbish in the wet imho. 2.2" Rubber Queens come up the same size and are far better tyres – again imho!

Looks like a lardy bloke has sat on the top tube!!

Only joking….awesome bikes…..

140 Pikes here (Pushed). They are U-turn but can never be @rsed and climbs v well.

Go down a rotor size! Went from Hope M4's which were 200/180 to The Ones with 180/160. They are still more powerful than the Hopes and save some weight in the process.

Have a Joplin on my DW Spot (30.9mm is correct which rules out a gravity dropper). Is very useful down south when climbs and descents are short and sweet. Yes it has some side to side slop but I don't notice it when I ride.

any idea what spring they come shipped with (i.e. in the leg not the box)??

Funnilly enough have found the opposite. Bought a set of 36 Floats at the start of the summer which are on my 5-Spot and found them plush from the start, and love them. Have just got a set of 36 Vans for my Slopestyle and don't find them anywhere near as plush out of the box. Will clearly wait till the Vans are run-in before proper evaluation, but out of the box, the Floats felt plusher!

It's eroded ever since the tree root disappeared a few years ago. The line we take now, as shown in the photos, is to the right of the main drop-in. This gives a pretty big drop as you can see in the second photo, allowing you to take air for approx 50% of the drop!

Mikey74 – it's the drop off to the left just before you descend the steep/rooty hill from the tower. Dunno it's "trail name".

There is a trail where you said. I wouldn't call it esp technical – it has a couple of v small jumps.

No videos but a couple of photos….

Ha ha – saw you videoing the section just off the top of the tower. We were the two standing at the bottom of the drop having just finished our own photo session – I can just about make myself out in the top right corner! Shame no-one took the better line on that drop – you can launch it from where you were standingn to video!!

deluded – I would say that in my experience the best design to avoid squatting whilst climbing is the DW. The pedalling pressure when climbing makes the rear of the bike "sit up" more than the 4-bar design. As a result, I'm running 160mm Fox 36 Floats on the 5-Spot as it doesn't need travel-adjust forks, even at that length. This isn't the case on 4-bar designs imho.

As Si says, they are 3 different designs. The Chumba is a 4-bar, Intense a VPP, and the latest 5-Spot is a DW. I have ridden a number of 4-bar bikes (old HL Turner 5-Spot, Ellsworth Truth, and Titus Motolite), a couple of VPP designs albeit the 1st version rather than VPP2 (SC Blur, Blur LT, 4x, VP Free, and Intense Slopestyle), and a couple of DW designs (Ibis Mojo and DW 5-Spot).
4-Bar – nice and plush, no influence of braking forces, but needs pro-pedal to insulate any pedal-induced bob.
VPP – no bob, but hits when pedalling in granny ring can lead to some kick back through the cranks. From reviews, this seems to be much improved with VPP2.
DW-Link – no bob, no kickback, nice and plush, sprints well

I personally think the DW design is best but clearly I've only ridden one of the bikes you mention. I currently own and love the DW 5-Spot – it's not especially light, but rides beautifully and feels pretty bombproof. I would note that the Spider probably compares more closely to a Flux – the Tracer would be a more direct comparison to the 5-Spot.

Have experience of running the following…

CK + Mavic 819's – rims nice and strong, tubeless works first time, but too narrow to give a good profile to bigger tyres (2.2" +). Also rims are quite heavy for the width.
CK + Stans Flows – rims a nice width, and seem pretty strong, give very good profile to tyres. Requires a rim strip to run tubeless, and are quite expensive. Built up nice and light with DT Super Comp spokes.
Roval Traversees – very light but pretty strong. Require a rim strip to run tubeless. Low spoke count means not as stiff as some, but a cracking wheelset.
Mavic Crossmax SX – great wheels. The '09 versions are very stiff, light, and strong. For me, the pick of the bunch, but expensive. The '08's can be had for quite a bit cheaper, and are also good wheels, but around 1/2lb heavier, and freehub design not as srong (so I've heard).

As Onzadog says – surprised you didn't trust me!!!

pm me on ajryan@btinternet.com and I'll drop you the route. Don't have gps stuff but will describe.

Yep – Ranmore Common for me tomorrow given it's so dry. That final section is the best bit of trail in the whole area imho.

Tim / Radioman – cheers for the big-up!! Let me know when you're up for another jaunt!

straitlines here, but they are big.

nc17's quite a bit smaller but also good, as are easton flatboys.

shimano dx's need longer pins.

Got my old 5-Spot resprayed in RAL 1023 from memory.

Exogrids are a work of art! I have a Motolite one, and although I suspect the real-world advantages of carbon / ti blend over a regular alu frame are probably small at best, it certainly gets top marks in the bike-porn stakes.

jova54 – sounds like you have it sorted, but yes was windridge and worked out at about £100 from memory.

Didn't find one when I was looking in the same area 6 months ago. Ended up sending mine down to a place in Kent who did a pretty good job. Some in the yellow pages etc but none with websites I could find.

SX Trail or Intense Slopestyle. Both awesome over the fun stuff, and can be built light enough for 3hr rides.