No

I too liked my 110's, well until about 6 weeks in and the sole snapped

The problem with the Shimano AM31's (and older 30's and 50's) is that shimano's come up about a size smaller than specialized and as my 48 specialized are about tight enough (with sealskinz) I can't really go smaller

Currently on my second* warranty pair of spesh experts (evans had no more 110s in)
*cleat mounting plate fell out of the snapped sole after just over a year, the cleats can't dig into the carbon sole, so it gradually chips/flakes away until eventual failure

I had some sports before all those, and guess what, the (plastic, like 110s) sole also snapped (but out of warranty)

a couple of miles away, I don't know it that well, I haven't sussed every path out (yet)

well there are no bridleways, byways, BOATs, RUPPs or 'other routes with public access', just footpaths and unmarked paths

"not overly bike friendly huh"
No, no problems (even past the roche abbey people), just technically cheeky, plus they're nice and quiet as they are ..

"surely everyone around The Old Fire Station doesn't go out of the town every time they go out on their bike?"
I've never got the impression there might be a particularly high proportion of those 'around the old fire station' who go mountain biking tbh

"i have experience of the woods around the Roche Abbey/Craggs area out towards Maltby, infact noticed a few nice little trails on some recent walks but don't know if this would be a "cheeky" ride? Anyone?"

Nah, its all rubbish, you wouldn't want to ride round there at all. Stay away I reckon ..

It'd be 'cheeky' yes, though as pointed out before, theres not many about, let alone anyone that seems to have a clue, certainly not those with MX bikes or those letting there 5 year old shoot across the footpath ..

The biggest problem with rides from Rotherham shop would seem to be decent riding doable with a mixed ability group, especially legitimately

"I have no idea why anyone would want a Mud X for year round riding"
If you stick new ones on in October/November, then they'll gradually become lower profile over the course of the next year ..

With a 62a centre profile (55a sides) and part worn tread they're not that bad in summer, they're can be quite good in some of the more iffy 'summer' conditions we've had the past few years

All rounder? Maybe a Bontrager ACX, available in harder compounds or the same 55/62a, oh wait, they just ditched them with no direct* replacement ..

*the XR4 is ~200g heavier for the 2.2" tubeless and not available in 'GumBi' dual compound 55/62a

Are you the first owner? If so, I'd think the lifetime frame warranty might cover it, though its caused by a crash, the mech hanger that is supposed to break away presumably hasn't done so all too easily

Its worth taking it into the shop you bought it from (if you did buy it new)

Which 3 seasons? Spring-Summer-Autumn, Autumn-Winter-Spring or given the weather the past few years 'Summer'-Autumn-Winter?

"Maxxis ignitor, Minion and the bonty XR4"
Ignitors and Minions (XR4's kind of sitting in the middle) are very different tyres
A minion upfront, with an ignitor rear might make for a reasonable setup (if lacking a bit in pedalling traction) in damper conditions

"Nevegals are completely pointless on Mendip in the winter – may as well have a slick .. not so great on the SS I use due to the torque – they seem to spin"
Are you running them both 'ramps first', ie the 'normal' way round
If so then you're relying on the ramps for pedalling traction, hence the slipping under pedalling, try running them the other way round, they seem to brake alright IME but the pedalling traction is better

"I get on better with tyres with fewer, but larger knobs, things like high roller .. "
High Rollers are similar to nevegals with ramped tread (if anything a greater proportion of the tread is ramped?)

High Roller 2.35" 60a fold. front, then maybe Michelin Dry2 2.15" (fold.) on the rear is my current thinking for an 'all round' summerish combo atm.

Though partly because I haven't tried them, and Bontrager ACX's have been discontinued (and the XR4s are very heavy) I'm tempted to try a Specialized Purgatory instead of high rollers for damper riding with some 'proper' ups

"There was one advertised up there ^ recently which had a plate on each side of the ring to keep the chain on, looked good"
They were really really pricey and they bolt onto the inner chainring mounts (so chainline can't be good?), they seemed to think that a 32T front ring was to hard to try out* 1×9 so a 28T or 30T is where you should spend your money, you'd be dropping loads of gears of the top end, but barely any at the bottom, which seems to defeat much of the point of 1×9
*if you are trying it out you wouldn't be shelling out £50+ or whatever it was

"n-stop and bash on a budget"
CRC have FSA bashguards (inc. long chainring bolts**) for £16 (or they did)
**the £20 truvativ one on CRC doesn't have any

"you guys do know that forks are supposed to compress when you hit a bump right!?"
He's not hit a bump though has he, and even if they are set at 85mm (though I suspect that they may be set at 100mm as rebas of that age came supplied) thats about half way through the travel?

I never really got why a pretty full on XC hardtail (with a massive drop between saddle and (narrow flat) bars has panaracer rampages on it, its not like its really going to getting the best of them, mostly just slowing it down surely?

"Reign X's aren't good looking bikes…"
The complete bikes really do seem to look gopping (though the saddle does seem to have a lot to do with it)

Its wierd because the frame only looks quite good on its own:

The skipping/locking up sounds a bit odd for a 4-bar bike? They're supposed to be active by design

It couldn't be that the brake is on a bit much on more XC tyres with an more XC higher, steeper angled seattube and longer toptube and stem and its just locking up more on those steeper descents where weight is further forward?

I like the look of the comp in the flesh. It looks like shiny carbon. I'd really like one, but I can't see it being that good at climbing what with a 66.5deg head angle, fixed 160mm travel forks and a boost valve less, pushless shock on a 160mm 4-bar

If you're thinking of a very well prices new nikes (from pauls) the XT spec mongoose tocali for £1k looks far better than that £1k budget kona linked above

" I'd definitely say a Flux would be too steep, being designed around 100mm forks and stuff. A fantastic bike, but different type of bike to a Mojo..

A 5 Spot on the other hand… "

With the DW link bikes at least the flux is will be slacker than the 5spot with the same forks and/or bottomed out* by about 0.5degrees. Its bonkers, though I suppose thats what happens when you make a relatively slack (70deg) 100mm bike and a relatively steep (69deg) 140mm bike

*the fork bottomed out where the rear isn't obviously, though this seems to be where it matters more, ie in steep/front endo/over the front type situations

Crossmarks (along with advantages and ardents) fall into Maxxis' newer* tyre sizes which are on the big size for a stated size, as are Kenda

So a 2.1" Crossmark is pretty close to a 2.1" Nevegal. I reckon the actual volume on a crossmark is a touch bigger, but a nevegal has taller tread making it slightly bigger overall I reckon

If you were thinking about Larsen TTs as an alternative to crossmarks then you'd be needing the 2.35" size (which I think because of the low(ish) tread would come up smaller than the 2.1" Nevegal – I've 2.35" HRs and they're ever so slightly bigger than 2.1" Nevs) because Larsen TTs (along with high rollers, minions, ignitors, etc) are old** tyre sizes

*The give away being they come in the newer 2.1", 2.25", 2.4" or 2.6" sizes and being newer designs
**The give away being they come in 2.1", 2.35", 2.5" or 2.7" sizes and being older designs

"bit of muck off"
No, avoid muck off or any bike cleaner like it

If there was one thing that came out of that 'fox failures' thread from a while back it was that the stantion wear problem (on RS as well) was down to using muck off

Cleaning and relubing* the drivetrain will help it last longer
*Relubing mid ride if the drivetrain becomes dry, especially on wetter/muddier rides helps a lot too (not just for longevity, but for efficiency too)
Checking the chain wear with a chain wear checker tool, you should be able to change your chain 'early' a couple of times and save a lot of wear on the chainrings/casette (ie before the whole lot is worn out and the chain is snapping every ride). Look up an old thread for more info on that

Clean the stantions/seals of the suspension will help (Specialized for one don't want you to use one of those neoprene/rubber shock covers btw)
Check the manuals for the forks/shock for the various* service intervals, even if you don't intend to do any of them, at least you'll have an idea as to wether its still within the service interval if it goes wrong under warranty
(*checking and setting the sag and rebound every ride is a bit OTT imo)

If the wheels have cup and cone (mostly shimano hubs) bearings (not cartridge bearings) then its worth adding more grease in from new to make them last longer as they don't come with loads and the seals tend to be alright at keeping dirt out

I think aggressive XC was used for long travel 'beefier' bikes (that wouldn't really ride up any mountain like an all mountain bike would), or at least thats what What Mountain Bike used it for, so trail/freeride bikes

685mm *3 + 600mm *1

I ought to cut the ones on the XC HT down to about 660mm, 640 or less would be better uphill for me I reckon, but I know is a bit too narrow when things get more challenging. I'm not I'd want (much) less than 685mm if I SS it again though

The FS wants to go wider I reckon, to about 710/711mm. It'd benefit when things get really challenging, though as I already find myself putting my hands inboard a bit on smoother climbs, I reckon more techincal climbs that bit harder with my arms forcably splayed* out further over the wide bars

600mm on the commuter (With stubby bar ends) often feels too wide, I very often ride with my hands over the shifters/brake levers)

On the 'play' bike (a sort of 4X/DJ bike) 685mm feels fine I think because the bars are so much lower (and the saddle is right out of the way

I know that when I played with a higher rise stem on the FS (which made my drops/jumps more consitent(ly right)) the bars felt too narrow, I just didn't feel I had the leverage side-to-side with the extra height. I think the height of the bars makes a big difference as to how wide feels right. The higher the bars, the wider the bars seem to need to be to retain the same control/leverage over the bike

*thats not a real word is it?

It depends on how many riding definitions you are 'recognising'

If the only riding sub genres are Cross Country and Downhill/Freeride (plus BMX, road, CX, DJ etc etc) then Cross Country would seem* to be anything that involves riding up hills on an 'MTB'

If you 'recognice' many other marketing sub genres and it breaks down something like: XC, Trail, All mountain, Freeride, Downhill (+ others mentioned previously) then in that order it seems to correalate to how well the bike will go up and downhill

then XC would seem* to include XC racing, XC endurance racing, trail centre/'natural' trails that don't include any/many (bigger) 'technical trail features'/jumps/drops/'northshore'/etc ..

All mountain I thought was supposed to be bikes that will ride up pretty much any mountain uphill and down pretty much any mountain downhill. In practice it seems to used on bikes that will just about winch up a fireroad and handle the downhills much much better than the ups

Trail would seem* to be some kind of middle ground between XC and all mountain and freeride and downhill, basically XC trails with (some/more) 'technical trail features' and (some/more) bigger jumps/drops/'northshore'/etc ..

*this is just my interpretation of many different 'definitions' and sub genres

try vimeo?

Personally I'd be looking at most things apart from a 456. If I remember rightly they were designed with quite long chainstays (not good for chuckability) to be decent climbing bikes. I've no idea if/how much they've been redesigned since Brant left (some time ago now)

that'd be the XM719 disc then?
Sort of sits between the XC717 disc and EN521 in weight, width and abuse it can take

Edale cross? Isn't that the one above jacobs ladder (at the top of the oaken clough bw)?

(Hollins X -> Mam Farm/Broken Rd is in the background though)

Trek 69er SS? Gary Fisher Rig?
Neither is still current though?

You've got the ridgeline

Rocketdog and Shorty are the closest ..

"the XTR cable set really, at £16 or whatever it is, is about the best upgrade you can get"
Unless your frame requires full length cable outers that is ..
(I realise the OP's frame doesn't)

"shimano are pretty well silent"
Not quite

'standard' shimano 16 point engagement ones are (deore, 6-bolt xt, many older models etc)

I know for one SLX* (32 point) is much more clickety. Not as bad as Hope Pro II's (24 point), more like Hope XC's (21 point) but a little quieter. Other people don't seem to hear it so much (so I'm told), but you the rider still do most of the time when freewheeling, though not so much if its a bit rough

Current Shimano XT is 36 point engagement, I can only assume it'll be as noisy as SLX rather than the quieter 16 point shimano hubs

*SLX is centrelock only (the M529 'SLX' on CRC is only 16point, despite what the speil on the CRC page btw) though so either you'll need centrelock rotors (avid do a 185mm if you need one (+ other sizes)), a centrelock > 6-bolt adaptor or an SLX (not XT) freehub will retrofit onto older 6-bolt hubs like XT (2004-current), it just requires a little bodging to recentre things ..

Using the drill chuck by hand (as in just the drill chuck in between your fingers) may be a bit quicker than a needle file and a bit less fiddly

You're not running the risk of drilling into the frame tubes as you would with using a dremel, etc ..

Leaving them be or drilling them out I reckon Middleburn cable oilers are better (and typically much much cheaper) than sealed cable kits btw
(CRC do them, 4mm is for gear cable, 5mm for brake cable)

If you're bothered about weight, the only RS forks (that you mentioned) to really stick out as suprisingly heavy are 2009 20mm thru-axle Revelations. They use Pike 20mm lowers and push the fork over 2kg (the dual-air U-turn being around 100g+ more than the dual-air 'fixed'* travel model). They appear to be very similar to '08 and earlier Dual-air and Dual-air U-turn Pikes and appear to have replaced them in the UK at least

Coil U-turn Pikes are heavier again at around 2.3kg for the 454 aluminium steerer model and 2.45kg for 426 and 409 steel steerer tubed models

*'fixed' as in internally adjustable only

Make sure you set the positive air pressure up first, then the negative. I find equal pressures in each is about the best compromise

Cotic Simple?

"The Decade Virsa claims to be a bit under 5lbs"
The small and medium are claimed at 4.6 and 4.85lbs, the large is 5.5lbs

"try getting your 5" travel super-forks and disc equipped piece of carbon crap sorted when some component fails half way up a pass into cambodia. no-one here rides that techno-nonsense because most of the asian riders actually ride mtb's in mountains"

You could ride a road or touring bike 'in mountains' but it wouldn't make it a mountain bike. The design brief for (most*) 'MTB's would seem to be for better performance (and enjoyment) as a means to sell bikes, rather than ultimate reliability (that would 'seem' to where long distance touring bikes fit more?)

*apart from say rigid SS's/fixies

As you pointed out:
"it's very difficult to get bike bits out here"
Perhaps thats why they don't have 5" carbon FSers in the first place?

"Going to a short cage derailleur means you can shorten your chain"
You can still do that with a long (or medium) cage mech, using the round the 2 biggest rings + one pair of links. You end up the the mech using the 'most sprung half of its 'travel', where a short cage would be using the full range from 'most sprung' to 'least sprung'. Quite how this affects chain slap and chain retention I don't know

Shimano Shadow rear mechs don't really casue chainslap either

"Spec list: Renthal 34t chainring. MRP 1.x chain guide. SRAM PG990 11-34t cassette. Saint 810 short cage derailleur"
Alternatively, if you don't want to spend ~£210+ as above:
CRC do FSA 3mm alloy chainrings for £14+ (34T+ though), on-one do a stainless 32T for £25
CRC do FSA bashguards for £16, an N-gear jump stop is what £10?
You can probably* use your current 11-32 or 11-34T casette
You can probably* use your current long, medium or short rear mech

*for XC/trail riding. I realise DH riding is a different matter

I use a 34T/11-32T setup on my XC hardtail (Shadow R.mech, FSA bash .. ) on local short(er) rides. It makes the (short) steeper climbs a challenge. It does mean it doesn't get used for rides with big(ger) hills, but thats what the FS is for
Mud doesn't build up next to the front mech in winter too

In the mean time, you can use a 2.5mm* allen key to alter your rebound

*I think its a 2.5mm?

"From starting pumping a flat tube air seems to route out thru the schraeder hole "

It needs a little air in the tube so it 'knows' which hole to shut off. A quick blow (yes with your mouth, its a new tube isn't it?) is more than enough air for it

"Maxxis Advantage 60a Kevlar 2.1"
AFAIK they don't exist. 2.1" 62a do, 2.1" 70a do and 2.25"* 60a do

*(as big as some 2.5")

2.1" Kenda Nevegal DTC** folding are a pretty good alrounder front and rear. I like them

**Dual Tread Compound is 60a on the middle, 50a on the sides for cornering grip (StickE is 50a all over)

Are you suggesting they are one and the same (except for the headset)?

On a quick inspection they a couple of vague similarities (they both have a seat tube brace, and the dropouts look a bit similar) but thats about it. Apart from that, all the tubes look different to me

Not 'officially' but its been asked on here before and yes with a bearing change (to 'lower profile' ones (ie with a 15mm internal diameter)) it should fit

I don't think they do a dust cover like newer SLX come with.
I've took them off mine and covered them with electrical tape. They've held so far (since Xmas) despite the shifters semi-regularly being filled with WD40 from the middleburn cable oilers along the outer cabling