Odi Rogues are great

“Would thin grips contribute to hand numbness?

The grips on my full susser are wafer thin and my hands go number after a short time”

Not numbness, but ‘cramping up’. I found fat grips helped no end

“Travel is adjusted by interchanging the rocker plates, though you’d need suitable forks for each version as it’s designed to run forks spanning 130-160mm travel”

Where did they work that one out from? Have they missed the entire point of the hemlock?

“It was then discovered that a crucial washer had been omitted on medium frames during factory assembly. Cotic addressed the problem immediately and the chainstays on all faulty bikes have been recalled and replaced”

I remember Cy saying somethign about this on here a while back. He said he was onto sorting that batch of medium frames

“Sell your post and buy a new one”

You have a 27.2 Thomson seatpost, which is narrow enough to flex a bit. If you go upto a 30.9mm it’ll not flex a lot, being so wide and stiff. Thomsons aren’t exaclty known for being forgiving. For some reason I’m assuming its going into a hardtail frame (if not ignore me), then it might be worth shimming it and keeping a narrow post for comforts sake

I’ve a USE shim on a bontrager carbon post and it slips down without a problem, and to pull up just touch the shim [its not tight on the post/in the frame, despite being the right size so doesn’t get stuck) to stop it pulling up as I pull the seatpost back upto pedalling hieght. No problems with one here

“panaracer cinders?”
They come up small, like fire XCs do

2.35″ High Rollers are more like a real 2.2″/2.25″

New tread maxxis come up perhaps slightly too big for their sizes?
(that includes: advantage, crossmark, ardent etc ..)
2.1″ Advantage in 62a Exception series is 595g I think, and is supposed to be their grippy but rolling compound
Same goes for the 2.1″ Crossmark in 62a Exception (5-600g, I can’t remember)

Kenda Nevegal 2.1″ DTC = 610g? come up about right (maybe slightly oversize)
DTC means dual tread compound so you get hard, more durable, better rolling compound in the middle, softer, grippier on the side

Bontrager ACX 2.1″ or 2.2″ are about right I would reckon for the size. The compound is a tad hard (but ok), but the 2.2″ folding is 565g, and despite the blockiness roll pretty well

It’ll be fine

The only things (so long as they’re the same, e.g number of gears) that don’t mix between SRAM and Shimano drivetrain are rear trigger shifters and mechs

(And external BBs – I think?)

Just so long as the second number of the 1xn bit isn’t 1, then I’m sure its fine

They’re mostly 120mm (older ones being less), so on that basis less hammer than a 5, but its a four bar so ought to be a bit more effective (overall) than oranges single pivot? I’m guessing now

Where are all the 08/09 Stumpjumper FSRs? The ones with the vertically mounted shock?

Bump

I’m assuming that is the lift toward Morzine from Les Gets? (It looks similar), so I’m just as guilty

At the bottom:

Its latest incarnation:

I thought all mountain was where you rode up the mountain as well as down ? ..

If you actually wanted to save weight, you could ditch the chain guide (and run a deeper toothed unramped chainring?), take the plastic bit off the crank bolt, loose the chainstay protector ..

Of course when it work hardens/fatigues over (a short period) of time and it snaps off when you try another drop (maybe you’ll mess it up slightly?) and you land on the top tube you’ll know if it was worth it?

“They may be the Ford Mondeo of the MTB world”
Is the S-works version(frameset) the Jaguar X-type of the bike world then?



The Revs had gone back for warranty in the last one

“Folding ones don’t seem too heavy”

Maybe when you assume they are same volume as other manufacturers stated volumes. Panaracers come up quite small compared to others though. Maybe even smaller than ‘old tread’ maxxis

760g for a 2.25″ Cinder which is around the same sort of size as my 610g Kenda Nevegal 2.1″ or 520g/565g Bontrager ACX 2.2″s puts me off buying them. My 2.25″ Advantages are about 2.5″ High Roller size but wiegh 100g less than 2.25″ Cinders. I’ve often thought about buying them, but their weight for the volume you get has always ruled them out for me

“Having come from an experience of ‘black’ graded routes at Stainburn”

I thought the warren boulder trail was a double black? (Like laggans ‘black route’ is)

The grading of the red at hamsterley is a bit of a joke though. Glentrool (next to Kirroughtree) is full of fireroad too, but about twice the length in a more remote area? I think its a purple?

The black I can almost see why its not a red as the toughest bits of root climb/descent are quite uncommon at most trail centres and they can send you over the bars a bit quick if you’re not paying full attention

The problem I think is a lack of enough definable grades (or the use of them in accordance to their descriptions)

“is 22:16 or 22:18 any good and what sort of riding would it be for?

Not a lot

If you must use a 22T ring, an 11T (smallest on a typical ring 8/9spd casette) will give you 2:1, the typical MTB singlespeed ratio

“Er, no it isn’t”

Am I being stupid again?

34:17 = 2:1
32:16 = 2:1

no?

(= should be equivalent)

Assume it will be wet, then when it is, you can’t be (as) dissapointed, if its sunny its a bonus

Doesn’t really help planning your meetup though

“34T is not too good, it’s fairly flat where I ride so 32×16 suites fine”

34:17T is the same ratio as 32:16T

No bashring, jumpstop, chain device, front mech etc..

Just an unramped (thorn 34T from SJS cycles) chainring. Its fat enough not to need narrow chainring bolts or spacers too. I tried it on the outside position intially because it looked nice, but the chain fell off quite easily. In the middle position its not dropped the chain once

I’m not sure why the fork looks bent in this picture though

Absolutely terrible from start to finish, not just because everything they said seemed to be wrong

According to the opening footage, cross country riding consists of jumping DH bikes through the air, and a slightly bigger than normal BMX is the perfect blend to ride BMX and cross country

I thought their rigid bike vs. a Trek Session 88 DH was bad ..

“Still under 500mm with sag”

But then so is everything else thats too long
Anything around the 500mm mark unsagged will be well below when sagged

“OK spec for price”

Easton tubed frame
’09 RS Reba Race (upgrade in the drop down box)
SLX drivetrain/brakes
Mavic Crossride wheelset
Raceface finishing gear

For £990? (online)

So what more are you after?

EDIT: Ok, so the merida above has XT .. SLX is mostly very similar anyway

Magura Menja 130mm = 500mm? (though less features)

I thought fox 32s @ 140mm = 511mm?
If they’re nearer 500mm thats very low?

RS (Apart from QR ’09 Rev) @ 140mm = 518mm
Thors are 520mm @ 140mm

Reba 120mm = 493mm

Maybe spacer a ’09 Reveltion down to 125mm? Would be 503/506mm (depending on model)

Potentially hands free

Open front triangle (no bottle cages either) design only though

Do excuse the driveside trouser protector though ..

Hamsterley black just doesn’t have any ‘flow’ thats all (maybe a bit near the end and the skills loop(worth doing))
Theres a fair few roots though:

What rims are you using? (is your rim strip intact?)
What pressure have you been using?
On a hardtail or FS?

“if the hill is too steep then get off and walk and if the down is too fast – coast”

I’d really rather not
For my liking, that would consitute too much of my bike riding
When I try leaving my bike in a roughly SS gear to see what its like, I start to get bad knee and backpain

Surely SS makes slow speed techy stuff a lot harder too?

“ss ring up front then or is it just a ring with no shifting ramps”

Is it not the same thing? Make sure its not so wide a 9 spd chain won’t fit onto it (how wide is a SS specific chainring or chain?)

9spd compatible, unramped chainrings. the 34T and 36T are cheaper than the 32T though

Fair enough

“I don’t see the advantage? I have a single speed”

See it as an intermediate step (of possibly many) to SSing the bike. It stops you from being so lazy to drop into granny on climbs, and stops you from burning out in the big ring saving it for the middle ring climb. Once it becomes a too easy range of gears for the riding you ride the bike on you could get a smaller range casette, bigger chainring, or/before loosing everything and going SS.
Thats my idea anyway. Whether I’ll ever get fit enought to be able to SS for my local riding is another matter, especially on gloopy winter muddy climbs
The FS is staying 27spd for all round versatility though

“run a short chain and a short rear mech and you should be fine”
I’m running a long cage mech. With a chain shortened by the ‘proper’ method, it uses its most in-tension range of tension anyway. If anything because the cage is further forward and in more tension more of the time than a short cage one it would be better?
I run it so when I sometimes put it back to 27 speed I don’t have to faff with the rear mech at all

“tried running 1×9 on my heckler when I first built it up, the chain came off all the time”

Were you using a ‘normal’ chainring though? Ie from a double or triple chainset. They’re designed to derail the chain with ease to aid gear changing.

An unramped chainring has much longer teeth and no side ramps for shifting and since swapping to one on my 1×9 setup it doesn’t fall off (unlike when I ran it with a ramped chainring)

Yes, with no front mech, bash ring, jumpstop, chain device or anything else

Using a Thorn unramped (from SJS cycles) chainring, with the chain shortened (by the usual biggest rings + pair of links) and it hasn’t dropped the chain once. The chainring is fat enough that you can use triple chainring bolts/nuts and not have to bother with narrow ones or spacers

“I have ridden two full suss bikes enough to draw a considered conclusion on”
Two single pivot bikes. One where the shock is linkage driven. How exactly do you have enough to go on to draw a considered conclusion on all suspension designs?

“sustained braking over rough ground is rare”
What about sustained braking bumps into a corner?

Surely anything? Theres not many bikes to avoid are there? Just pick on how well you want to it up and/or downhill? and narrow down from there

A lot of frame only frames (575, mojo etc.. especially) would be a massive compromise for under £2-2.5k though

“Bottle+ cage= closet roadie”

Not if its only a short ride? or its a long one and the bladder isn’t enough on its own

Second the nice bike comment too

“small spelling mistake”

Its not really though is it
two ‘d’s
an e instead of an ‘a’, and in the wrong order

Its closer to a flat ‘paddle’

Though the axle threads went on mine, I found the £20(ish) Kona ones (Jacksh*t?) massively more grippy than DMR V8’s. I’ve moved onto SPDs now though, and I’ve managed to ‘forget’ how to use them in the meantime

Okay thanks

High Rollers aren’t exactly big by any means (well maybe by continental) and nevegals are bigger than average so I’ve got an idea how they should size up

Some stuff here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_suspension#Rear_suspension

Rockshox says 30mm in the manual I think

I imagine its to do with the steerer tube not supposed to take loads of torque from the stem – top headset bearing race

I know people running about 50 and 60mm without any problems though

You should be able to preload the headset properly no matter how many (practically) you have