They make a tool to take them out (and to knock them back in). To remove the bushes you screw a threaded section into the bush, clamp the tool in a vice and the knock the pedal body off the tool/bush. I sure you could do a similar job with the right size bolt, but I not sure what size you would need I’m afraid.

The proper tool is about £15, but I’ve had few pairs of Vaults for a few years so it’s been worth it for me. Make fitting new bushes easier too.

Dealers make the most of their money through aftersales (parts and servicing). We (I work for a main dealer) welcome people bringing in the cars for warranty and service work which they bought elsewhere. The only difficulty comes when something isn’t covered by the manufacturers warranty – if the car was bought from us we would normally do this goodwill, if we could.

Manufactures differ in the way they work, some help the dealer help the customer more than others.

If it was something small, we may do the same for someone who didn’t buy from us, if we thought they would bring there car back for servicing.

We do have some customers who just bring their cars in for warranty work (free to them stuff) and take their cars to intendants for servicing, which is fine, but they are less likely to get things done for them “goodwill”. If the work isn’t covered by warranty.

How about a Kona Process 111 – I’m at the other end of the height scale and love my 111. Mine has loads of stand over room and it’s a hooooge one!

Or a 134SE (designed for smaller riders), but that’s 650B again.

I’ve broken myself a few times and I always try and go for long walks as I find any type of exercise helps me through gloomy spells – it’s not as much fun riding, but really quiet enjoyable and is good for finding new trails for when you’re back on your bike! My best buddy broke his collar bone a few months ago and we’ve been going for a decent walks most weekends, often with a stop at a pub for lunch, which has been really nice.

He’s set himself a challenge of doing a 100km walk to keep himself motivated (an to help keep fitness and the weight off). We’ve got a 25 mile one planned for next week as “training”.

Wishing you a full and speedy recovery.

Me neither!

Thank you Sir. I’ve been meaning to buy a spare for a while.

So annoying, isn’t it.

As a former marketing manager for a bike company which had a tiny marketing budget, and therefore didn’t advertise in any of the magazines (not through choice!). I can honestly say I never had any trouble getting bikes/clothing/accessories reviewed. We used to get good reviews, including WMB’s bike of the year one year.

Is it not conceivable that bikes/things which get good reviews are actually good?!

I did it earlier in the year – I’m 45, so you’re still a boy/girl! It was in really horrible conditions and in fairly heavy rain – it ended up taking us 14 and a bit hours, which is by far the longest day I’ve had on a bike. We rode Eastbourne to Winchester and decided to do a training ride a few weeks before (in perfect weather!) from Winchester to QE Park and back. This turned out to be a good idea as once we’d got to QE Park on the day we knew there we no surprises/horrors ahead.

I plan to do it again in the dry over 2 days at some stage as some of the views are amazing.

As the others have said, you’ll be fine. It feels great when you finish!

Good luck.

I’m guessing this is what attracts the manufacturers though…

“The global advertising value of Mercedes’ television appearances during its F1 campaign in 2014 was $2.8bn (£1.8bn).

Experts believe the equivalent value for VAG of their sportscar and touring car programmes was about $30m (£19m).

Mercedes spent a net 130m euros (£103m) on F1, once external sponsorship and prize money is taken into account. VAG spent about 320m euros (£254m) on DTM and sportscars.”

By the sounds of it OP, this is the type of bike you are after. I think you’ve got to buy a bike that’s the best for what you do most – you’ll still be fine on DH tracks. What do you ride at the moment?

I have a Process 111 and have read the review in Singletrack. Although it’s not very in-depth, I think it’s pretty spot on. I think it climbs “pretty well” as apposed to “adequate”, but I’m sure the tester will have much more experience of riding different bikes to me, and will be better able to place it in the spectrum of goodness. All I know is it’s better that my last FS bike (a Mount Vision)!

I mainly ride the Surrey Hills on a Honzo hard tail with a couple of weeks in the Alps each year and the odd trip elsewhere. I love the Honzo and thought the 111 would compliment it well, which it does. As I’m a lanky git, I don’t ever really ever get a chance to test ride bikes before buying them, so haven’t ridden any of the others.

I’m afraid not – the only 650B bike I’ve ridden was a Bronson – very nice but the wrong size.

I love my fun 29er hardtail (a Honzo) – it’s the most fun hardtail I’ve had (and as fun as my most funnest full suspension bike). You have to be quite dynamic on it, but that if anything makes it more rewarding. I was a 29er sceptic, but this bike has converted me!

Saying that, I’m sure all the bikes you mention would be fun.

Thanks chaps, that kinda makes sense – can’t say I’ve ever noticed this effect though!

I’m probably being thick, but I don’t understand the “29ers/bike with BB drop front braking doesn’t work” thing. How’s that exactly?

Unfortunately it happens on lots of bikes – its always worth making sure that the cables/hoses don’t rub, or if its unavoidable, then using a decent frame protection film under them.

A mate managed to almost wear through the seat stay of his Salsa with a Reverb hose. It’s a shame that a some companies don’t put a bit more thought into cable routing, but I’m afraid I don’t think you’ll get anywhere with a warranty claim.

Fair enough. I think it was the correct thing to do (disclosing the earlier emails).

Out of interest OP – did Evans suggest you to disclose the other emails to us?

I think it was a bit unfair of the OP not to disclose all the emails at the beginning, particularly given the thread title. Looks like a case of misunderstanding really.

Watching that video, I wonder why no one thought of long, slack and low bikes back then – it seems obvious now of course. The old klunkers would have probably been more stable than those bikes! I know it looks like they where having pedalling a lot, but it looks like most of them were sat down whilst trying to get around the corners.

OP – Enjoy your new bike – it’ll be loads of fun. One word of warning, when I first got my Honzo it was the first 29er I’d had and first bike with geometry like this. It took a few rides to get used to it – I found I wasn’t weighting the front enough. They are brilliant bikes with really sorted geometry.

nevertoomanybikes – that’s going to be too small – I’m 6’4″ and ride a XL (20L)- it fits perfectly. So I’d have thought you’d need at least a Large to make the most of it (and be more enduro!).

I’ve not ridden a Parkwood, but have a Honzo and would say it’s the geometry which makes the bike. As always it depends what you want from a bike – the Honzo is lots of fun, but fairly heavy and stiff. I’ve used mine for every thing from 50 mile off-road rides (good), tossing about in the woods (brilliant), tail centres (brilliant) and XC racing (not ideal, but fun on the down hills)! I use it a fair bit single speed too. I love my Honzo so much I’ve just bought a Process 111 as it has such similar geometry.

If you want a bike just for long XC rides it may not be the best option, but if you are after something to chuck about and have loads of fun on fast/twisty/steep/tricky trails, then it’s ace.

The ones I had weren’t curved much. I needed a bit more curve, so tried heating them up in the oven and then clamp them round a bolt – it didn’t really work so I trimmed the edges off and bonded them on with Araldite. This worked a treat. I’m sure this would also work on a flat tube too.

I went into my local Evans (Guildford) to get a power-link. They didn’t have any 10 spd Shimano ones in stock but the sales guy led me over to the workshop area and asked one of the mechanics. He gave me one of the workshop ones and when I went to pay for it they said it was free of charge!

I recently sold my Mount Vision – I know it wasn’t the best bike in the world, but was my first proper bike from when I started riding again. We’d had many adventures and although I didn’t ride it any more, I found it difficult saying goodbye. When the guy picked it up to take it away, I sheepishly said, “Oh, his name is Marvin by the way” he looked at me like I was a bit of a ****!

Oooh. Thank you Sir!

I’ve got the Easton carbon ones on my single speed – they are certainly stiffer than my previous bars when yanking on them going up climbs. I’ve got the Race Face carbon ones on my FS bike as I wanted a slightly higher rise. Both still at 800mm, although I thought I’d cut them down, I never bothered.

Both sets are nice and light, look well made and I can’s say I’ve felt that they are harsh as some reviews have noted. The only problem is that my light bracket doesn’t fit!

Malvern Rider – Wow!

Looks like Aggy is not going to start in the finals (poorly knee). Bugger!

I dreamt the other night that my bike was so stable that it was almost impossible to fall off. You could slide sideways down muddy hills, do endless manuals and effortless two wheel drifts – it would even stand up by itself for about 10 seconds before falling over. I want one like that!

In reality, I’d like bikes to still be simple things – I really don’t want yet another thing to beep at me to tell me it needs charging! Modern bikes are great, I’m sure the manufacturers will keep tinkering and making them better.

rhayter –

Sorry, I’ve just realised a lot of my above post doesn’t make any sense. Glad to hear you are going to test ride a few.

It was supposed to say – “it DOESN’T ride like a heavy bike” and “don’t let the weight put you off”.

I wish I could claim it was because I’ve been on the booze, but I can’t!

I have an XL Process 111 – I swapped over a few bits when I got it as I prefer Shimano to Sram and wanted wider bars and a different saddle. Some of these bits are probably a bit lighter than the OE bits, but not much. It weights just over 31lbs which is the same as my Honzo hardtail (which I realise has a big lump of a frame!).

The wheels are fairly heavy and I’m sure there are much lighter frames, but it’s really stiff and has huge bearings.

The main thing for me is the way it rides. If it was lighter it may make it feel quicker still, but it does ride like a heavy bike and it’s really not the bike that’s limiting factor in our relationship! For me it’s the confidence the bike gives me, how fun it is to ride and how well it fits me. Apart from some of the carbon “superbikes” don’t most trail bikes really weigh about 30ibs anyway?

OP – My advise would be if you fancy this type of bike, then test ride a few – don’t let the should put you off. You can always make them lighter if you want.

I actually find it really quite uncomfortable to watch – I was almost relieved last year when they call the second runs off. Having said that, I’m really looking forward to it!

The Panoz was always crazily loud at Lemans.

My dream car would be 4 light Citroen Dyane with an 1100 BMW flat twin in it! Or a Type 35 Bugatti.

Dark Star – it’s one of my favourite films!

Hi, I’m using the same hub with the smallest 7 cogs of an XT cassette (so 7 speed). The biggest 3 come on a separate spider so you just don’t fit that and fit the rest as you would a normal cassette. I’m using a Zee mech and a 10 spd XT shifter and chain. With a 30 tooth Raceface narrow/wide ring it all works a treat!

Roads does the same to me – goose bumps every time! I was an indie grunge kid when this came out and most of my mates where heavy metal fans, but we all owned and loved this album.

Glad you got it back. Well done to those involved.

I got mine out by tapping it round with a centre punch – worked a treat.

The end caps are standard but made of cheese so make sure you use a nice sharp allen key! One of the little nuts is reverse, but my brain can’t work out which one it would be!