“Something to do with poor suspension”

IIRC Singletrack mag reviewed one not so long ago. I think they also commented on the Boost Vavled Fox Shock being a bit trapdoory, letting go part way throgh the stroke/travel as it were. Not that they wrote the bike off or anything

“nothing wider than renthal or nuke proof”
Superstar yard bars must be wider?

Hmm
Personally:
Thomson seatpost on a hardtail? Aren’t they meant to be quite stiff? For Thomson money I’d probably have gone on-offer carbon post and pace carbon grease/paste, (or maaaaaybe a USE shockpost)
XT crankarms, but you’ve ditched all the chainrings? As far as I can work out, almost all the 36?g weight difference between SLX and XT is in the chainrings (alu, carbon/steel, alu vs. steel, composite/steel, basic alu

“another silly billy with wrong frame size and too much seatpost up their back hole”
Eh? Its a 130?mm (more?) forked hardtail with 70?mm stem, HR up front, I don’t get the impression its built up to be a long TT efficient pedaller?

You’ve not given us enough info, what frame size is it, how much seatpost do you run out the frame at ‘proper’/fully up pedalling height?
IIRC Remember you’ll be needing a seatpost shim for a scott as I think the frame is 34.9mm? I can’t remember if seatpost shims are easier to find in 30.9-34.9, or 31.6-34.9

EDIT: Whoops, just noticed the post date of the OP ..

I did it just over a month ago, thick fog didnt help as I got lost in the slate spoil heaps, ended up going across to the old tramway top and down easterly to dubs quarry. not at all bad tbh, then eventually found the rest of the bridleway down by warnscale back. Id guess the sheet ice will be gone by now. I cant say the sight of the climb south up scarth gap is pleasant looking from down at the edge of buttermere ..

“Honister-Fleetwith Pike-Buttermere”
Bridleway or Fleetwith edge fp? Ive done the bridleway but Ive no idea on fleetwith edge? Map looks interesting but doesn’t give anything away?

Sty Head to Stockley Bridge (not the best selection, but what I took on my tod):

“the 4/5 pass route from Rossthwaite.
As a bail-out option, what’s the bridleway down from Styhead Tarn to Stockley Bridge like?”
“unlikely to be able to start riding until after 10:30”

As a bail-out?
I thought the 4pass route (down to stockley bridge) was supposed to be an epic as it was. Adding in the ridiculous Rossett Pike and the slightly dull in parts North descent of Stake Pass into Langstrath would make it really long, hilly/mountainous, tiring and more risk of a big stack etc etc ?
On the other hand, if you don’t normally just ride more ‘flatland’ only hilly stuff

Ive done Up Rossett, Down to Stockley, up Langstrath down Stake Gill, but by ‘only’ the 2nd ‘hill’ I was flagging. Any more tired and I think Id have been over the bars or on my arse trying to walk down. Wasnt ages away from running low on light, around 2/3wks later than now this time last year, late morning start, on my own and not really stopping/resting all that much (for me)
(and down Honister/Buttermere?* – I assume this is in your proposed 4/5 pass loop?, *though up/over newlands by road and up/over cat bells

Do they have to be anodised gold?

Superstar must do something?

“Taking front-wheel out would be an option”
My inital feeling is that this might be a neccessity tbh

I had my 19.5″ bike in the back of a 54 plate BMW 3 series estate (with rear seats folded) the other weekend. It would have gone in with the front wheel removed (and seatpost slammed), but to rule out scratching I just took both wheels out

I know its not a car on your list but similar-ish?

My experience of small-medium hatchbacks generally is that both wheels have to come off sometimes (usually on the way back?) the second frame ends up with me taking the rear mech off at the hanger

Cotic Simple has gone 29″, unless you can find a 26″ one s/h?

Sanderson’s aren’t ridiculously heavy for steel (either the R853 or the other one) + EBB?

“Have CB ever made anything [except their multitool”
Half (the ones I used) the bits on my crank brothers multitool rounded and really quite quickly ..
Didnt damage my park one before or my specialized one after

I thought you are supposed to register the frame number with the manufacturer?
I’ve got them written down in case they get pinched, but thats it.

Don’t know if I’ve regretted buying a bike or frame yet, but definetly have issues with most. (My own fault, shame of shames, haven’t test ridden anything bar one or two car park pedals .. )

Stuff like:
assuming Id never progress to the point 3″ saddle drop would become an issue, brain shock limitations [spesh SJer FSR]
slack HA, long eff.TT [Pinnacle Camino]
too slack head/seat angles for what I had in mind [sanderson life]
long chainstays, too easy to bottom out shock (@ 20% sag) [titus el guapo]

“Pace 405 and it genuinely the worst bike I’ve ever ridden”
really? sort of good to hear, I spent a while thinking what if after buying my SJer FSR not long before the rc405 came out/got rave reviews

I always put the spreader spring between the pads, but I never use the pad retention clip (the thing on the back/top of the brake caliper) as it makes everything difficult

“fitting new brake pads, we couldn’t get them to fit in between the pistons (even after trying to push them apart) together, whereas we could if we put the pads in separately, which of course meant we can’t put the spring in”
Is the retention clip thing on the top/back of the caliper still on the caliper? If you take it off it makes putting pads in easier

If you can’t (I always been able to) get 2 pads + spring in at the same time then, have your brakes been bled without a bleed block or with part used brake pads in?
If so it might need some fluid taking out of the system, and then rebleeding ..

“where you hold it on the front brake and spin the back round, for tight turns?”

Euro-hop?
At least thats what my brother refers to them as
Every germanic mountain top descent video in mid-week-mini-movies seems to have loads of them, not all look strictly neccessary?

” grain orientated billet “
lol, that’ll be ‘forged’ then ..

I’d just say, not hope. The reviews I found when looking for a QR seat clamp seemed to be either hope fan boys or telling that the new ones are still difficult to use

Am also interested in this, any thoughts on the on-one SS chainring vs. Salsa/Surly/Renthal/etc?

the wobble ring looks interesting

“A Giant Trance would be a good bike for you”
Given he has a 150mm fork a giant reign frame would be better? (not reign x)

“it has developed a problem with the bb that is un-fixable and not covered by warrentie so i am forced to buy a new frame”
Not warrantied by spesh? Coz you raced it?

Either way, have they not offered you a new front triangle at a semi-reasonable price? I’d be asking them if they would
(I got offered a stumpy carbon front triangle after I routed a brake hose wrong and effectively sawed a hole into the ‘ladies legs’ for medium price hardtail frame money a few years ago)

“How flexy is a Crest on front really? i’m light btw and don’t DH”
Then itll probably be spot on (going by what Ive read on here trying to work out between crest and archEX. Should be fine on the rear too though?

Are you the original owner or not? If you are, IIRC it should be lifetime warranty

“DT EX500
Mavic 521
ZTR Flow”

Stans Arch EX are as wide as the Mavics, but about 140-150g lighter for a pair of rims?

What forks do you have on the meta?
What tyres (and size) do you typically run?
If you’ve a really ‘burly’ setup then the wider (but heavier) flows might complement it better?

“Mavic 717s”
Eh? No. Really narrow, fairly easy* to ding the rims, 4mm wider Stans Arch EX are the same weight as XC717 discs
*though it depends how much you try riding up steps and stuff
I have one on the back of my XC HT though, and is fine on there though

“What about the mavic 321 has the strength but also light “
OP already suggested the lighter (less heavy) 521
321 isn’t light, claimed is 570g no? And IIRC that isn’t a real world weight either, excludes something, might be the rim eyelets, so will be over 600g? Same width Stans Arch EX will be over 200g lighter

“I think the new EX version is a further 25g ligher or something”
Yep, and 2mm wider internally, plus IIRC the different ‘bead technology’ means the tyre will sit wider for the same rim width

“i have the Ex5.1D .. they are a real PITA get tyres mounted”
My brother tells me this about his. They’re harder than mavics yes, but I wouldn’t say they were that bad on the whole. Maybe if you tried a few year old (but never used) bontrager TLR or something, but then they’re a real PITA even on mavics

“i want strength at back and lightness at front basically”
Yeh but .. Id want stiffness/tracking and width at the front (crests are supposed to be much flexier than arch/archEX/flow’s) and the rear I’d be less concerned about
I’ve think I’ve decided on ArchEX, just need to justify spending the money when my (too narrow) XM719s aren’t at all broken

“I’ve been through five 9 speed ones in the last 2 years”
Either you ride a LOT, or IMO you’re doing something wrong?

“10spd means I should be able to get away with running a single front ring”
an 11-36T 10spd casette offers about half a gear extra range over a 11-34T 9spd casette

“With a 9spd I just used to shift as far as i could go into first gear and up I went over technical climbs. The 10 speed in 1st gear makes it very hard to clear anything as your feet spin around like roadrunners and you tend to stall from no speed”
This is nothing to do with how many gears are on the casette, its the number of teeth that happen to be on the casette/chainrings

“how about 11-36 9 speed cassettes”
11-34T 9spd casettes can feel a little ‘gappy’ sometimes IMO, 11-36T 9spd would feel more so

“2×10 gears are inappropriate for riding up mountains”
IIRC a number of specialized bikes with 2×10 come with 38/24T chainrings and I guess 11-36T casettes. 24/36 is almost as lower a gear as 22/34T

“You should all man up and buy 10speed because-
a- chains last longer
b- it shifts better
c- it’s going to become ubiquitous whether you luddites like it or not”
But it’ll cost me a fortune to do so?
Being forced to buy a 10spd rear mech only adds up
What I don’t like is I’ll inevitably end up with a load of working 9spd stuff thats not worn out. A year ago I needed a new rear shifter, I went with a 9spd one, but I don’t think Ill get to wear it out, tis lovely, so a shame

” the wider range of gears”
Shimano for eg typically has a narrower range of gears in 10spd though?
Shimano 9spd typically 22-32-44T, 11-34T/11-32T casette
Shimano 10spd typically 24-32-42T, 11-36T/11-34T casette

SRAM do offer 22-32-44T cranksets, but then middleburn offer a 20T 9spd granny ring?

“lighter chains “
But heavier casettes, out back on the wheel. I thought less suspended/spinning weight was better?

I was holding back for lack of 10spd powerlinks, but I’ve since leanrnt others do offer 10spd ‘powerlinks’
The cost puts me off so far, as well as I can’t see it really offers any massive benefits

Longer slows steering down.
Steeper head angles (as found on more cross country bikes) will react fast to steering input
Narrower handlebars (as found on more cross country bikes) turn more for an equivalent the amount you move you hands.
A longer stem will calm the steering down a bit for more stable steering behaviour

Shorter speeds steering up.
Slacker head angles (as found on more downhill bikes) will react slow to steering input
Wider handlebars (as found on more downhill bikes) turn less for an equivalent amount you move your hands
A shorter stem will speed up the steering for a bit more active steering behaviour

Longer stems will drag your weight further forward to get more weight over the front wheel, useful for climbing and turning on flatter terrain

Shorter stems will bring your weight back, taking weight off your front wheel, making it easier to get further back on steep stuff when wanted. Also shortening the cockpit, should make it easier to move around, rather than being stuck stretched out

Something like that

“now really rather wide where all the numpties have ridden round all the vaguely technical bits and straightlined all the corners”
+1, boggy, wet, straitlined everywhere. Don’t bother, let it recover, its an eyesore from the bamford road anyway

“you can RIDE the climb up the flagstones up to the farm ????”
I can almost manage it. Always seem to spin out on the last couple of steps before the gate. Its annoying as I’ve seen a friend make it all the way to the gate, and another make it though the gate (though starting about 5metres back)

Never had poploc, never seen the point on revelations (or on a FS bike without a remote shock lockout).

Moco on 2007 and 2008 Revelations used to leak oil out the top after riding lots of rocky stuff I seem to remember. Blackbox MoCo Ive not had leak yet ..

are we really talking wet peat here? rather than wet mud?

“ISIS BB were there any good ones”
The superstar one is meant* to last well, though I can’t help thinking the machined recesses in the shaft must make it as flexy as square taper BB’s
Though I’ve found shimano octalink BBs alright? (about as good as shimano HTII, if not better)
*I have no actual evidence to back this up ..

Some stuff I dont like:

Rockshox forks with ‘powerbulge’ lowers, when the (lower?) bushes wear out, you have to buy new lowers ..
KS/Pure Race remote lever mk1, managed to break one (I’ve had 2) by pushing it ..
KS/Pure Race remote lever mk2, using it as a lock-on grip clamp means taking all of your hand off the grip to use the remote lever? Positioning it inside of the brake/shifter means I can operate with a little ‘hand shuffle’ along the bar
Thomson post, that CNCed surface finish seems to wear quicker than if it were flat/smooth, so it wears out of tolerance quicker?
‘Traditional’ single vertical bolt seatposts. If they don’t have ‘grip indents’ on the clamp parts, they slip (eg ‘PUSH’).
If they do, the saddle angle effectively becomes ‘indexxed’, I always end up with one setting either side of where Id like it. So XC nose down, or FR nose up
(external cam) QR seatclamps with little spacer plates behind the cam. Seem to wear out very quick, slide out from where they should be and generally obstruct the cam operation
external cam QR skewers (ie not shimano) with those rubber bits against the cam. Wear out too quick
DT Swiss RWS skewer. They though plastic was a good lasting material to make one half of the ratchets from? [Newer ones may or may not be better now]
Maxxis tyre sizing. 2.25″ as big as 2.5″. some 2.1″ as big as or very nearly as big as 2.35″. Vastly different 2.1″ sizes
Similar story for continental. Way bigger than most or way smaller. Differing actual tyre sizes in the same tread pattern/quoted size (eg 2.3″ speed king, both in wire)
Bontrager also have differing actual tyre sizes to quoted for the same tread pattern (eg 2.2″ ACX folding vs. 2.2″ ACX TLR folding)
Continental 1.75-2.5″ inner tubes. Probably the smallest/thinnest tubes I’ve ever used, have to be stretched a fair bit even to fit a conti 2.3″, let alone a 2.5″, nor a ‘proper’ 2.5″.
Bontrager upto 2.35″ tubes also similarly way too thin/small.
M760 XT/LX chainrings, light but really soft aluminium. Managed to kill a drivetrain off in approx 4 months one winter. [SLX chainrings have lasted my drivetrain 2years+]
Hope XC steel freehub. A steel freehub and it still has casette guages in it
Shimano freehubs. Lockup almost solid or a loud bang/snap and go free mid ride and generally non-servicable. Quiet though, and SLX/XT are faster pickup than hope nowadays
Crown races without a split in them, when the ball bearings dont directly run on the crown race. Why? Its just a faff to install/remove
Carbon soled SPD shoes where the cleat can’t dig in properly (like it does with nylon), carbon then flakes away, cleat slips around
SPD shoe soles that snap (have had 4 pairs so far)
Transfil outer cable that was really difficult to cut/wouldn’t cut clean (even with shimano cutters)

Some good stuff?
Don’t think I’ve broken any handlebars, stems (had a bontrager stem with bolts that were skew from new), my steel frame is still going, some ‘zocchi MX’s from 2004/5ish are still going

I recognise pics 1&2, but not pic 3? Its not heading from capel curig over to llyn crafnant is it?

“the shin-deep bog-hike before it from the A5”
If its the bog way up I think it is, there is another way ..

“orange 5, it shows to everyone in the trail centre car park that youre not a mincer”

eh? how exactly?

As other ppl have said. Ridiculously vague question, entirely subjective at that.

(most?) bikes are fine. A bit like the whatever helmet you are wearing is better than none at all line.
Whatever bike you are riding is better than not riding one at all ..

bummer, cant get there now, maybe another time

Hope its dried out enough for you all
not so long ago: ..

“most of your braking is done on the front do your rear pads wear out faster ?”
Think that sentence wants rewording

Most people don’t brake to the full potential of the front brake IME. Many people will use the rear brake as the brake to go to first/to ‘comfort brake drag’ with, especially on steeper stuff

Wrong yes, but I’d reckon this kind of thing is partly why people tend to go through rear pads faster than front ones
That and the rear pads have more chance of getting coated in whatever the front and rear wheels throw up (mud/water/etc)

I have:
185/185mm on FS bike.
185mm rear, as a brake dragger (especially) when out of my comfort zone) I found 160mm heated up and becomes harder to brake more quickly. max rotor size on previous frame was 185mm
185mm front because 203 seemed to need more braking to get it to bite properly than I give it (in the UK) tbh 185mm is a bit like that

185/160mm on XC HT. Used to be 160/140mm on old hopes. Wanted more modulation/power when using as stand-in for FS bike, so swapped brakes around. Dont have any smaller rotor/adapter combos, so 185/160mm

203/160mm on 4Xish play-bike HT. Was 160/140mm. Wanted more power on the rear for messing about on local DH spots. 160mm rotor to the rear. 203mm rotor only other rotor going. I had a +20 and a +40mm adapter kicking about which fitted my IS mount (hope) calipers
203mm rotor up front isnt good (though an ’04 XT?), I dont use it very much while riding. Guessing it never gets enough heat into it? Plus wants a bleed ..

“Bike for Trail centre / peaks “
“1×10 2012 XT drive train”
IMO I’d want a 22/24T ring. Though I am more a pedal spinner than a pedal grinder/masher
If you’re going to single ring properly, then you’ll want a proper unramped single chainring. Which then means you’re paying loads of money just for XT crankarms, as far as I can work out, the chainrings are where all/almost all the 36?g weight difference between XT and SLX crankarms are.
If you want stiffness IIRC there was something somewhere I read saying the crankarms from SLX double/bash (steel axle/pedal threads) were twice as stiff (or maybe it was strong?) as XT arms

“Hope Pro2 Evo / Stans Arch Ex”
Arch EX, yes, as wide as 321/521/Havens etc. Id probably only go Flow’s if you were putting a 160mm fork on? After crest/arch EX release’s Flow ‘EX’ must be due though?
Hope Pro2 freehub isn’t the quickest to engage, though is pretty adapatble. Superstar switch evo is supposed to be very similar (weight, pickup speed), but I dont know how reliable they are, I know the customer suppost is hardly equal, not the wheelbuild quality ..

“Hope M4 Brakes”
Ive seen too many things saying they’re not all that powerful. Id probably be looking at lighter-weight codes, maybe marta’s or whatever they’re called now

“Hope headset & BB”
Shimano BBs are fine IME. Id wait kill that off first

“I want to spend mt time riding not fettling “
But you’re opting for fox forks/shocks?
Do orange 5’s go through shock bushings fairly quick?

“Magura Thor?”
I realise s/h has no warranty, but IIRC* Thors and even the 160mm Wotan are not warrantied for any jumping/dropping at all

*Could be I’m remembering the wording wrong

tbh, I’d say pikes. Maybe try finding an aluminium steerer tubed 454 model, (is it flexier?), or dual-air (rare?) or dual-air U-turn (min 110mm as new though)
Perhaps a s/h 36 Float as above, but you’d get lighter with a 454 Dual-air Pike?

Maybe also 2009 RS Revelation 20mm (pike lowers) in dual-air. about 2.05kg, about the same as 454 pike dual-air. Maybe exactly the same fork?

Other than the extra bit of weight, no

” I honestly can’t tell any difference between my Fox 140 RL QR and my Rockshox Lyric wound to 140 (20mm”
Really?
Where/what do you ride?

I think I can notice a difference between an ’08 QR Revelation w.DT RWS skewer and a ’10 20mm Revelation. Before I had the revelation I can’t remember thinking I needed one though

“20mm bolted wheel simply cannot fall off”
Unless the lever/axle come loose. I managed it after clipping the pround maxle lever after falling sideways. Not done it since

Yep, lots of scouring/gouging as you describe.Not sure it made that much difference though

Superstar told me the roller bearing thing is the ‘patented’ no-slop system. Need to be kept clean and greased with a very light grease to work
The 3 long pins that run through the top guide also stop it rotating round too, though as the pins/guides/etc wear you get side-to-side slop

Mine has stopped staying down. (its not a cabling issue). Out of warranty. The side-to-side play detracts from riding stuff thats slow,stop-starty,pedally, plus its got some fore-aft play which creaks a fair bit. Not really sure its worth trying to get fixed tbh

“sticky pistons, which means the rear brake lever pulls to the bars”
Does it?
If either piston was sticking, wouldn’t the lever not travel any more as the fluid would have nowhere to go?
If it were one piston sticking (from a ‘correct’ ‘off’ position, ie just off the rotor) the other piston might be able to move to the rotor and then bend the rotor to the stuck piston/pad. Even so the lever should still only move as far as if both pistons were free?

If the lever is pulling to the bar, I’d have thought there was air in the system somewhere and it needs bleeding. If the problem (or other air problems) persist, then you could have a seal leak somewhere

“they’re meant to be self adjusting but they’ve never done so properly”
(Just to get out the way, I assume you realise they’re only supposed to adjust for pad wear, and will only move inward (ie won’t retract on their own, other than the normal on/off of the brake operation)
Maybe down to sticky pistons? Else too much fluid in the system, perhaps been bled with an incorrect bleed block or part-worn pads?

“i’m sick of the crappy juicys”
What don’t you like about them?

Mine have been alright on the whole

“Don’t you just remove the adapter as the caliper is post mount?”
The problem is that his caliper is IS mount, not post mount

Giant used to do one for 164mm rotors (though giant MPH-3 rotors were also about twice the width of normal rotors, so 160mm should also work)
The giant MPH-3 caliper is also pretty fat, so a chance other calipers might fit
JeJames had them in stock at least in the rotherham workshop, though back in 2007 .. Might be worth a call if th KCNC one doesn’t work for your combo.