I usually wear and 8/42 and have wide but slim feet (flippers!?), but have Shimano MP66s in size 43 with thin socks and MW81s in size 44 with thick socks.

Most LBSs will strip and post them off to TF etc for a small fee..

Bump

I have this combo on my epic and they’ve been fantastic – only issue I’ve ever had was when I came up short on a double and smacked the rear wheel – a spoke snapped but it stayed completely true.

My 6 year old has never had issues with the Sram mech and gripshift on her Islabike, even when wet and cold. Maybe it is just stiff cables?

I think the transition is the key – I’ve done smaller ones than that before which felt massive as the landing was much flatter. This one just seemed to smoothly rocket you down the slope which was great fun! Looking at the fly over clip I’d reckon we were probably flying 12feet or so and it felt like nothing.

theroadwarrior – Member

The thing I found with the big drop was that unless you made the step up jump before it (which is hard at the moment due to the soft course) I was going too slow and was not confident of making the landing of the drop- so I’ve always taken the slalom alternative with the smaller drop.

I don’t think anyone was doing the step up on Sunday as it was too slow – genuinely the drop can be taken at about 7 or 8 mph (as seen on my video of our first attempts) but is more fun with a smoother landing if you do a couple of pedal strokes beforehand so are probably at 12-13mph. Unless you braked before launch I think you’d be fine almost just freewheeling from the top of the berm.

I guess the definition of BIG is always relative but it was the biggest there and the biggest I have ever done! Was remarkably smooth and easy to do and I was going much faster and further after half a dozen runs.

There’s a bigger one at Chicksands I’ve has my eye on – people always seem to land much heavier on that though so maybe its a flatter transition.

I was on a 165mm ML8 and my mates were both on 160mm Ransoms. Some guys were doing the same stuff on 200mm DH rigs and a couple of guys were on hardtails!

I’d say a 150mm ish AM/Trail bike is perfect for everything there – am unsure any of it would be faster on a proper DH rig (unless you are a racer)

Zerocool – I don’t think you can sadly but I could’ve just omitted when editing or had YouTube overlay so rights free music.

I have done that before but found it then felt very lifeless and un-atmospheric although I agree that mumbling and gasping for breath is probably not the best soundtrack! Will see what music YouTube have to offer..

Theroadwarrior – I honestly think the big drop is easier than the steps, but pyschologically it feels worse. It is so smooth and unless you grab the brakes, the speed from rolling in from the berm is almost enough. Feels much nicer with a bit more speed through as the landing feels smoother. I wouldn’t usually have thought I’d do it but once my mate did I just had to!!

Is it worth watching if I haven’t watched the first two series or should I just record and save?

Life on Mars was about £15 for all episodes on iTunes.

Dexter is my fave of recent years.

How does the geometry compare?

Looks like SRAM have bought up all the old Gore stock and will be selling it as their RED Road cable for the ‘foreseeable future’.

What’s the head angle? Geo chart still shows 69 degrees of the 2010 model.

I’ve always liked big Citroens but would dare buy one! I think the C6 looks fantastic, particularly the convex rear screen.

Also like Bristols (of all types!).

I hope so as I’ve just ordered some! Had overshoes on over my MP66s last week and they were toasty and keep your shoes very clean, but crap for grip and walking in mud so am hoping the MW81s live up to expectation.

Am half tempted by an SL to replace my 2010 Epic which I love but fancy a little more travel – could swap all my XTR bits over but would probably end up with a bike that needs the forks servicing and an Epic with a load of shagged bits that I’d never sell for a decent amount.

Have generally found that if something seems too cheap, there’s a reason why!

Gore on both my bikes. If they’re stopping making them I might stock up on a couple of sets.

I just found this after watching the buttery bass video! Had me crying!

Just booked Tignes for a week on the 10th of March. Can’t bloody wait!

Wifey has used it during 3 pregnancies and has zero stretch marks so swears by it.

I’ve always been an XTR man but am running these on my Epic and love them – crazy price and the included Ceramic BB is holding up well so far (certainly better than the XTR one).

FSA K Force Light 386

I think they look great too with the 386 chainrings.

Pretty sure you can – my mate runs a bash on a new XT double. For XTR they make a race and trail version of the chainset and the bash will onky fit on the trail version.

If you’re on Facebook you can join the Swinley Forest MTB group who regularly organise rides. It is a great way of finding some of the harder to find trails.

Awesome bikes. I wasn’t convinced at first so bought a Ridgeback for my daughter – £120 bike that sold for £40 at 2 years old. She now has an Isla Beinn 20 and my son has a CNOC16 – both will serve at least 2 kids before being sold for almost what I paid for them so they make a lot of sense I think.

CaptainFlashheart – Member

…..than spaff money on another shiny thing.

I thought that was the whole point of gadgets? No one needs them!

Only the price!

Our kids all have stuff from Polarn o Pyret – it’s Swedish and obviously made for their winters!

It’s not cheap (Jacket maybe £65 or so) but ours have done 2 kids so far and are still like new so will serve the third well too I am sure (we always buy unisex colours!). The fleeces clip inside etc and they have taped seams and all the rest of it.

Polarn o Pyret website[/url]

Really looking forward to riding it – have seen it evolve over the last 6 months or so and have to say that the volunteers have done an amazing job as it must have been a very awkward place to work.

A few bits look a bit too gnarr for me but that said, I did find the black run there a little intimidating first time I went and now fly down it and love the drop off at the end.

By the pool in portugal a couple of years ago, my 3 year old son said ‘I hope I don’t get stung by an eskimo’. I assume he was talking about a mozzy as opposed to the business scruples of the Inuits!

I was explaining to my 6 year old daughter why I say ‘bath’ when she and the wife say ‘barth’ and she said ‘It must be much easier to learn northern than english daddy, as you just say it like it’s written’ !!!

My wife was very proud of her!

Working here (O2 – South Bucks)

Would’ve been handy for my planned MW81 purchase if they’d had my size in stock!

As an aside, my company’s exhibiting at Grand Designs Live this weekend at the NEC so if anyone wants some freebie tickets, drop me a mail!

I have a 2010 epic and the brain sort of stopped working. As I hadn’t spent £150 per year on a service, the warranty was invalid so I had to pay £150 to get it serviced.

Has been working like a dream ever since so apart from the high service costs, I don’t see any reasom why you’d want to change it for anything else. If you don’t like the feel of the brain, just run it fully open.

Great bikes – I have 120mm Reba’s on mine and it handles most things I throw at it with aplomb.

I went on Sunday and it was slippery but far from unrideable. Was far busier that I’ve ever seen it before which was nice to see, and a new first timers seemed rather taken aback by the lack of traction!

I really enjoyed it and found there to be a lot more grip than you expected – a couple of rooty sections demanded a careful line, no braking and a bit of luck, but I managed seven runs with no offs and only 2 dabs (both times when a mate dabbed in front of me) and looking back at the Go Pro footage, my times weren’t massively slower than my dry times from last year.

I’m planning to head over there on Sunday as it’s stopped raining over this way now and the sky’s nice and blue so hoping it will dry out a little!

Would be interested to hear how it was today if you made it in the end.

I run a high end home automation company and will be at Grand Designs Live at NEC in a couple of weeks – if you fancy popping over for a quick chat drop me a line and I’ll get you some tickets.

Will look forward to the update – Thanks.

Bregante – Member

As we turned off where the A590 becomes the A591 at Brettargh Lodge, we pulled up being a red Micra with a Jesus fish on the back being driven by a guy with what looked like his son in the passenger seat wearing a Man U top.

Was this the same weekend as the annual lads and dads camping meet for the Stretford Christian Nissan micra owners club?

Now you come to mention it……

deadlydarcy – Member

I was on the highlighted A road route so the only shortcut would be by air!

Oho me boyo…you think all short cuts are shown on google do ya?

LOL!