How about this?

If you want to see a bike with it on there should be a 0.nine Merida shod with XX at Bikefest if it arrives in time.

Saw 2 carbonfibre frames with completely snapped rear triangles at the recent NPS, Dolby. I won’t buy a CF MTB! And they were pretty unrepairable I can tell you.
Road is a different matter

Yes but I have seen plenty of broken Aluminium ones too. What’s your point?

Bristol. You have the local trails over in Ashton court, Leigh woods etc.. then the Mendips, Cotswolds, Qunatocks, Exmoor, South Wales, Mid Wales all within a two hour drive.

Loads going on music wise and lots of brilliant restaurants. If you need to visit mates in the SE it isn’t that far away.

I have been using this one

this any good?

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-kingdom/quantocks/994123955938794483

Got to ride Dunkery as the view and descent from the top are wicked. Going to be working when you take the ride which is a shame as I’d love to come.

Hopster.
you remember our exmoor bimble from porlock weir? does that description in the thread linked below sound about right?…it seems ages ago..

up to ley hill

Crikey I have no idea where we went that day except Dunkery and Horner tea rooms.

Nope this man is legit and a friend Sharki.

How about one of these? Available in limited numbers for £995. Merida Juliet 904

There may well be branch’s that these issues have happened, but i honestly think, if you have a problem, with the staff, being rude, or unhelpful, you should highlight it with whoever is in charge ( instead of posting on here ), be it on the day or by correspondence, it is the only way to rectify these situations, i would welcome it in the branch i work at, even if i’m sure we don’t need it.

please can we draw i line under this, it is getting boring.

That’s fine but if you don’t like it on an open forum then that really is tough. If you want to speak to your branch in Bristol regarding my experience then that’s also fine but TBH I thought that its crap IMO and I am free to voice it.

I popped into an Evans store to look at some Specialized Pro road shoes. A very helpful assistant asked if I need some help and I asked her if she could tell me something about the different type of footbeds available and how to select the correct one. She said she didn’t and proceeded to ask all the other Evans employees. Up until this point I thought what a great service but then she came back and told me no one new anything about the footbeds and that I needed to take a look at the internet then come back. Is this the service you expect when you are looking at road shoes around £150? Stunned I walked out and certainly never to darken their door again.

I know that its not possible to know everything but to tell a customer to check the internet then come back, what is that telling me about how important they feel I am as a customer. There were 5 if not more staff and none new anything about there own stock or were prepared to help find the information I wanted.

No shop is perfect and good staff are bloody difficult to recruit and retain but come on where is the staff training or customer service? How hard would it have been to call Specialized or another shop etc.. for some help.

I ride a carbon frame and can only comment on my experience. I have owned it for roughly a year and it has proven to be a brilliant ride and not unlike a Merlin extralight I owned in the mid 90’s but stiffer and lighter. For a hardtail its really comfortable and has shrugged off rocks without any problems.

Modern quality CF frames are carefully designed to give strength and impact resistance and I’d have no hesitation in buying another.

review here

now £699

Cycle to Work rules mean the bike should mainly be used for riding back and forth to work. However, there is no requirement to keep records or logs of mileage and, in fact, HMRC guidelines state that:

* The employees must use the bicycle or equipment mainly for qualifying journeys. ‘Qualifying journeys’ means the same as for the works bus exemption (see EIM21850). Other use of the bicycle, for instance pleasure use or use by members of the employee’s family, will not disqualify the exemption, provided that the other use is not the main use of the bicycle.
* Employees are not expected to keep detailed records of time spent cycling or miles travelled for the purpose of this ‘main use’ test. Accept that the test is satisfied unless there is clear evidence to suggest that less than half of the use of the bicycle or equipment is on qualifying journeys.
* If it is clear that there is substantial use of the bicycle for qualifying journeys, do not make special enquiries about the extent of any other use.

Hopster

Thats impressive I done Maesteg to Penydd to Whites and back again. Came in at 60km and took me 4.5 hrs. So to ride them all is an epic!

I hooked up with an old and pretty unfit friend and he slowed us down a fair bit today so it took us ages to do the first 2 trails. Then a few mechanicals and a puncture slowed us down even more and my last remaining riding partner packed it in so the 4 trails will have to wait for another time. Still made it round 3 though and had plenty to spare so 4 shouldn’t be a problem in the future.

Afan on Sunday to ride Whites, Wall, July then Penhydd is the plan.

I have to say my experience of the on one I owned was that it wasn’t very lively and was heavy. I’d never buy another but for some people I am sure its a great bike. I also have reservations regarding the construction of some of the frames with some riding friends who I know well experiencing some problems with them.

That’s not to say no brand has problems with some frames/bikes. On-one are cheap and they do seem to have a loyal base of fans, I am not one of them.

I had 2 bikes pinched about 6 years ago. The thief left his own heap of cr@p behind and the police never even bothered to come round to check it for prints and asked me to place in the back of my car and drive it to the police station. No police ever came round and when I protested that I might smudge the prints on the frame etc.. he said that it wouldn’t matter.

The next evening the thief came back and took his heap of junk away.

My experience is they do bugger all even when they have possible evidence to identify criminals as they have more important things to do.

Halfords have a licence from GT to build bikes, they are not the same as supplied by an LBS.

They are built by Merida.

As far as I can see, the Qs makes people poorly. Sharki, maybe they’re saying Gerrrr orrrfffff meeeeeeee.
Climbing Weacombe is not silly, it’s an interesting challenge. Try it!

No thanks. Definitely more interesting climbs in the area.

Is that someone using Weacombe as a climb ?

Nope that’s ladys edge in the pic. Climbing up Weacombe is just plain silly.

watch the video

brake jack

People buying bikes from a box does nothing for the reputation of a brand if the thing is assembled incorrectly which could the performance of the bike at and could kill someone as a worse case scenario.#

How many time shave you heard a person moan about a bike that doesn’t work properly only to discover its a mail order job they built themselves then slag off the brand. At the end of the day the brand is responsible only for the frame as Shimano, Rock shox etc.. warranty is the responsibility of the distributor for that product once its checked by a dealer.

Amazing.

My uncle had an 88 version with Black 531 frame and forks. Just discussing the other day how inspiring the photo of Nick Crane with his conquest above his head on Kilimanjaro was.

A gem. Look after her.

Seeing as the current enormous price hikes for bikes and equipment was justified by last years rise in raw materials, are we going to see big drops in 2010 stuff now that raw materials can hardly be given away?

Price rises are mainly due to the drop in the pound against the dollar. Some brands have not passed on the full exchange rate changes so they will for the next year. Yes there have been some raw materials that have increased in cost but bikes will be going up as far as I know not down for 2010.

Sorry!!

Bugger can’t make it tonight now. I will be down at the w/e anyway but it would have been nice to get a ride tonight.

Cool I’ll see you later.

Hopster, you seen Hwe recently? [:wink:]

My take on the “ideal HONC bike” is that there isn’t one. A flat barred MTB with fat tyres isn’t going to be as fast on the road, which what most of the route is. A CX bike is sketchy and fragile on the lumpy stuff. Those drop bar Singular things look like they could be really good, but then they go and muck them up by forgetting to fit gears. [:wink:]

I know blokes who have done really fast times on everything from 6″ travel “all mountain” bikes to road bikes. For most people it’s just a fun sociable day out with hundreds of other cyclists.

Yep just a great reason to get out riding and have a social. Do you want me to drop the trailer round tonight?

HA HA!!! He didn’t look like he was enjoying the last 2 descents with only a front brake. I blame it on being a ‘dale.

I knew it. Where is MikeT to defend himself. Has he bled his rear brake and replaced that pad yet I wonder.

@ mr agreeable are you targeting MikeT with those comments!!

Get the 900d its only £50 more with XT and a reba fork.

I might come out for a blast.

I am violating your ban and heading down for a 30 miler on the 12th.

I am sticking with clubber as he has a GPS. Will be riding my Merida carbon with Barro race tyres and all my gears if I can convert it in time. Skiving Friday might be necessary.

Entered under LVIS as clubber will be holding my hand all the way round.

Nope. Not even a glimmer of interest here.

Actually very excited because its all change on the grid and well done to Jenson.

Are you saying I am stoopid Sharki? Insulted now.

SS is great for most riding but for big all dayers I’d go gears. I have ridden the SS in the Quantocks, Exmoor, Afan etc.. and its bloody great to use the SS but it does knacker you out more quickly.

Hey Sharki get better soon!!