@crossed I’m 5’8″ on a Medium ARC and it’s just right (I normally ride Small on longer bikes like my Cotic, Medium on less ‘Modern’ geo bikes).

I’d think a Medium would be too small for you.

The problem is I will repeat the process, several times. And then I’ll do the tape and look at it again and convince myself it’s not straight anymore..!

I’ll try the ruler trick and if not I might have to buy one of the tools just so that I know they’re done.

That Trans-Am looks awesome!

Not sure about racing but I like the 2.25 Barzo as a fast XC tyre that works surprisingly well in the mud. Tried the 2.6″ and it was a floaty mess though so just switched back.

If anyone is looking for a Halloween costume…

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305728155690?chn=ps&_ul=GB&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=305728155690&targetid=2361039923645&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9189618&poi=&campaignid=21697381820&mkgroupid=170109506289&rlsatarget=pla-2361039923645&abcId=10027101&merchantid=5299821437&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2siAisDRiAMVYp9aBR012h7uEAQYAiABEgLkvPD_BwE

Sounds like quite an adventure!

A friend did it last year and came away with a similar assessment, that it would be much more fun and easier going with less weight especially given you’re not often very far from civilisation on the route in case you did need to divert off for supplies or help.

Fired one on the FDM printer at work as we had a build finishing anyway, hope you don’t mind! Will have a play this evening to mount some tools etc. to my bikepacking frame. Printed in black ABS, I’ve just broken it off the support but not done any tidying for reference:

I’ve just received a pair of Rutlands in 29×2.2 for the Flat Bar Gravelly ATB Hardtail Frankenbike (insert marketing niche here) to replace my Rekon Races which are a bit big and floaty at 2.4″ and low pressures. Fingers crossed for an easy setup, certainly look like a nice quick tyre for bridleways and Hampshire “Gravel”.

I’ve done it the other way round (10 speed Ultegra shifter with 9 speed MTB rear mech) before GRX was a thing so I’d think it should!

I was going to recommend the Ranger 3L’s before I read your post, but curious to see what other options may be good!

@sturdylad having worked in/around F1 for a good number of years now it wouldn’t surprise me at all.

It would also go some way towards explaining Red Bulls lack of development compared to others through the season if he’s actually been sidelined for longer than RB have admitted. It would have had quite a knock-on in attracting sponsorship, staff etc. if it had been widely known from pre-season that he was confirmed to be going to a specific team.

@Anna-B that was taken on the Longmoor Ranges, down near Bordon, Hampshire. Stumbled across a stockpile of training vehicles and had to get a few photos!

I love the look of it with the steel forks, but even with 29×2.4″ at lowish pressures I also found it a bit fatiguing on the arms/shoulder over about the 30 mile mark if I’m riding trails and bridleways rather than fire roads whereas 70 miles at the weekend was a breeze (other than tired legs!).

@sturdylad where do you find that info? Genuine question for my own interest being a bit tech-dumb, not disputing it :)

I’ve just put a 120mm SID on mine out of curiosity, I’ve been running it as a gravel/xc crossover sort of bike for a while and had a big ride out on Saturday so wanted to see if it noticeably improved my comfort/fatigue over the rigid fork without changing the way it rides too much from the bike I know and love.

I really enjoyed it, and it hasn’t ruined it for me. I’m undecided if I’ll go back to fully rigid but I think it’s unlikely for the short term:

Down in Faversham for the Brother Cycles Big’Un ride this weekend. Fantastic day for it in between the horrible rain we had earlier in the week and what was forecast for the Sunday. I look incredibly pained in this photo, but it’s actually because I’d just had a stream of suncream/sweat drop into my eye rather than because of the climb!

What clearance are you dealing with, and what frame size/overlap does it have at the moment if any?

I’ve gone with 27.5 x 2.25 in mine (Brother Cycles Mehteh) rather than 700×50 as I’m on a small frame and the overlap was too great on wider/taller 700C’s. If it wasn’t for that limitation I’d probably have gone for 700C’s as I find the larger diameter and rollover angle etc. of the bigger wheels does a lot of the work that a higher volume tyre does in terms of comfort and hitting roots/rocks etc.

Personally I’ve found that if you can run at least a 700×45 with no issue in terms of clearance to fork/frame/toes then going any wider than that on 27.5 instead doesn’t give you as big an advantage. If the choice was <40mm 700C tyres or a decent size 27.5 then I’d pick the smaller wheel.

With the exception of a steep road climb I’d be surprised if there’s much you could use a 28/50 lowest gear on without it being so steep you just won’t have traction anyway especially on a hardtail.

No harm in trying, especially if you’re expecting to be covering some long draggy non-technical climbs on your trip but I think you’d have so little momentum at that speed that what you gain in ease of pedalling you’ll lose in actually being able to clear any trail features and end up off the bike anyway. I borrowed a full-suspension with a 28T chainring and 50T cassette and you could ease yourself up and over some really chunky climbs due to the traction but the slightest slip of the rear wheel under power and you were off the bike and not getting going again due to your speed being so low.

I really like the idea of the Sirius S5/S6 (I currently have a Cotic BFeMAX and recently had the previous generation SolarisMAX and feel like it straddles what I like about both). My only slight hesitation is whether it’s “too modern” in terms of geometry and therefore the way it needs to be ridden to get the best from it.

That’s obviously very personal and a lot of articles/reviews seem to rate it for everything from bikepacking to trail riding but it’s just something that stuck out from Steve’s review on Hardtail Party. I know sometimes reviewers do just churn out generalisations but I’ve found his detail/opinions to match mine quite closely in the past on bikes he has reviewed and I’ve physically ridden so it did make me take note:

Review:

A video he also did on how riding techniques have changed/bikes have forced them to change:

Woods Cyclery in Lyndhurst also stocks these (and presumably therefore has an account with the distributor if you want something they don’t have currently).

There was a big sale on them on Biketart in the last couple of weeks, some of them were half price or better which is quite unusual normally but given the general bike industry status at the moment perhaps not. I don’t have any information on whether there are any deeper issues though, so can’t speculate on that one!

Brother Mehteh comes in a nice blue/black fade called Moonstone, I love mine (I run it with 27.5 x 2.25″ but plenty of room for 700 x 50 too).

Doesn’t have a bazillion frame mounts, but a sensible number in the triangle for a couple of bottles/mounts and also some down the fork legs. It rides in a pretty relaxed way, not super light but it never feels like a lump to move around and ride. I did run it briefly with 700x40c and it really sped it up on the smoother surfaces, but for the terrain I ride I prefer the 2.25″ Mezcals.

@molgrips That’s exactly how I use mine, the other option was build a folding/sliding bed into the back of my Caddy Van and just have that in the way for the 9 times out of 10 I’m just using it as a van/to carry multiple bikes and a box of kit.

@johnjn2000 I have just left mine on the roof of my Caddy as it’s parked off the road and only really used for bike trips but I’d say initial install/minor assembly of brackets etc. was probably an hour with a cup of tea and some biscuits and no real urgency.

1. Removal/Refit to the car if your roofbars are already on and you’ve done it before is probably 10 minutes and is a 2-person job to hoist it up just because of the awkwardness/size of it. Actual weight is sub-40kg so physically lifting/moving it alone isn’t an issue it’s just getting purchase on it to get it up and onto the bars safely.

2. Set up if you wanted to do it gameshow style I reckon you could easily go sub-60 seconds. Unclip the cover at two corners and pull that off, grab the end of the ladder off the top and you use that to swing it open and down as the ladder extends. Then one clip-on pole inside to push the porch section out and lock it into place.

Packdown is just as quick up until putting the cover back on, that probably takes me 5-10 minutes because it actually fits a bit too well from new so getting it fully down and cinched up tight at each corner takes a couple of circuits of the car just to get it nice and snug so it doesn’t look naff. I think it might loosen up a little with more trips but if you needed to get going in a hurry/there were two of you doing it you could do a neat enough job in a couple of minutes in reality, it’s just two clips at each corner that pull tight but I’m always a bit funny about trying to get it packed right down and tightened/square so it looks presentable and doesn’t flap at all.

I bought the previous version of this for about £550 delivered (this new version already isn’t far off now with the 15% Bank Holiday discount code on their site also) and it’s been great:

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/19611994/oex-vertex-lite-130-roof-tent-19611994

For my use case it’s perfect:

1-2 people

1-2 nights with the bikes securely locked away in the van (VW Caddy so not really big enough to sleep in with a bike or two without too many compromises) along with my kit etc. down in the New Forest/Brecon Beacons etc. staying at very basic (just a field with a toilet block) type camp sites.

It won’t be ideal for everyone but it means I’m doing more mini trips where I’ll drive down the night before a big day out on the bike rather than trying to squeeze in a trip to the Forest of Dean including travel both ways in a day for example, for the sake of an extra ~£20 for a cheap campsite stay.

For the price I paid it’s ideal for me and I’ve already more than got my moneys worth, if it was £2k+ I’d have probably talked myself out of it in favour of a decent regular tent but after a few decent weekends away for me it’s already “free”/paid for itself compared to staying in a couple of cheap hotels/BnB’s so I’m happy.

I like Hollands Wood as you’re straight into the forest tracks for offroad access to Lyndhurst/Brockenhurst and onwards for bigger rides but also just to nip out in the evening for dinner etc.

I imagine it’s less tranquil in the summer holidays but I suppose they all will be!

I probably have lower aspirations of the gnar levels I wanted to achieve than you two, as it was the perfect steed for me to semi-mince down various Reds without feeling like I was going to die and actually start pushing my boundaries a bit :)

I don’t think that’s because I’m super hardcore so a 150/140 Enduro bike was plenty, but I could maybe convince myself that was true I suppose! (it’s not true, I’m very average)

I bought a Cotic Jeht for this exact reason, funnily enough they’re doing a deal on Frame & Shock for £1299 currently…

Also good deals on full builds, although if you want a full #gnarsled the RocketMAX might be the better option but they’re all UK built frames so not as cheap but still quite good value I think.

The Specialized Status does seem to be the objectively more correct answer from where it sits on the value/travel/gnar scale though and it looks quite nice for a Specialized.

Well I’ve taken step 1 to having less stuff by…buying more stuff to keep it in.

I’ve bought a couple of plastic crates and anything low/no value I don’t want to throw away but ‘might need’ is going in those in the garage. If I haven’t needed it by the end of the year it’s going into a skip!

I did wonder/worry something was going on as availability etc. has seemingly been low/an issue for a while now as I’d been keen to get hold of a Sirius S5 but didn’t manage to get hold of anyone when asking about next batches etc. so I feared they were quietly going under.

If this does mean business as usual(ish) and stock being available again from UK sources then hopefully it’s all/mostly good news!

Well at least it’s not just me…!

To be honest the total sum of it all could probably fit in a single bathtub sized box and just tucked out of sight, but whenever I think that I also just wonder whether I might as well bin it rather than put it away never to be seen & used anyway!

I do tend to “buy right, buy once” which is generally a good thing, but it does mean that I then look at some of these things and think it would be even more wasteful than it would be to bin something cheap and crap as someone could probably make more use of it.

You can take the ratchet out of a SRAM Apex shifter and it works well, although only if your left lever is actually a shifter lever and not one of their 1x specific ones that doesn’t have the secondary paddle or any of the internal gubbins like mine is.

Here’s the guide we followed:

https://www.bikeblogordie.com/2018/10/turn-sram-shifter-into-dropper-post.html

Same, I’m thinking of doing it in late September/early October in the hope that’ll be when it’s closest to being dry!

Try and get down once a month-ish for the Sunday morning “Shop Rides”, I’m about a 50 minute drive away so I try not to do too much “driving to ride” but a change of scenery is nice.

It’s easy enough at this time of year if you don’t mind a bit of sand in places! I’ve ridden it on a hardtail and a gravel bike, they were both fine but overall I’d pick lighter/faster and just deal with the odd squirrely bit of sand.

The other option would be to get across to the New Forest (although that’s easier from Southampton than Portsmouth) as there are miles of nice gravel tracks there. If you use Komoot have a look at the Woods Cyclery (Lyndhurst) page as they put all their Sunday morning shop ride routes on there for free use. Should have recommended that earlier actually thinking about it… but they’re mainly loops rather than rides to somewhere.

Shipwrights way is far more interesting than the Downs Link in terms of variety, but depending on the time of year there are sections of either nice muddy bits or deep sandy bits at various points and a lot more singletrack so although I wouldn’t say it’s very technical in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a ‘leave your head in the clouds and pedal along’ type of trail like the Downs Link. Would thoroughly recommend it though, I think you can quite easily nip along the coast once you’re down there too and train back up London direction (or combine it with something else as suggested above, I’d probably do Shipwrights down to the coast and then Downs Link back up as it’s quicker/easier going).

Plenty of variety at QECP but that’s 15 minute drive rather than ride.

The rest we’ve only really explored from a XC/Gravelly point of view (I work in Bordon, we often ride or run out from there of any evening as there’s a few of us that like to get out).

I really need to explore more, @bugpowderdust I don’t suppose you have anything on a strava account to get some inspiration from? I have a terrible sense of direction so we tend to stick to sections of Shipwrights/KAW and variations of that and looping back around the ranges. I should really explore more!

I live closer to Farnham so tend to head off more Tilford/Frensham/Hankley direction from home.

Just to throw an idea out there, have you thought about swapping one of the forks you do like the setup on across to the FS? Then go for a ride on each bike and see if the problem transfers across to the hardtail/the FS suddenly does feel fantastic?

Only because I’ve been nerding out on youtube videos with Jordi from Fox recently regarding suspension setup and one of things I picked up on was the relationship between fork and shock can really affect how the fork feels. If they’re not balanced you can end up with a horrible feeling fork/bike, because the bias of the bike has been shifted by the shock setup/condition.

Worth a try first? Plus workshop tinkering is fun.

I see quite a few people on it as it runs pretty much past my house (the Frensham/Farnham area of it) and they quite often look a bit shellshocked. I get the impression this section of it is the most mountain-bikey/least suited to a loaded up gravel bike if you’re used to fire roads/forestry tracks.

700C? 40mm WTB Nano’s are very good and generally pretty cheap/on offer somewhere. Plenty of variants available though so don’t get suckered into the cheapest only to find out they’re sneakily selling you non-tubeless/wire bead variants or similar. They’re quite tall as well so although ‘only’ 40mm they do seem to offer a bit more cushioning than the width suggests. They have a nice centre section that rolls fast on tarmac too and you wouldn’t feel the need to swap them out for something slicker afterwards I don’t think.

Also WTB Raddler in a 700×44 are a good all-rounder with decent corner grip, not on offer quite so often though and they’re slower on tarmac.

I ended up going down the “Enduro Hip Pack” (re-branded 80’s bumbag) route, partly as I swap between bikes anyway so it works for me just to grab that with a little selection of tools/snacks/bottle that live in it all the time .

Tried a few but found this cheap (considering it comes with a £15 bottle) one feels the least intrusive and doesn’t give me a sweaty back etc.:

https://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/camelbak-podium-flow-belt-camelflage.html

That’s right, it means the mechanism on the bottom of the dropper post/the first inch of cable where it exits from the dropper can potentially foul the suspension pivot as that runs through the seatpost roughly where it kinks. I think it’s mainly just an issue on the small frame, once you go up a size or two I don’t think it’s as much of an issue.

The seatpost insertion is a little bit of a niggle for me too, although as I built from a frame/shock I went down the Oneup V2 seatpost which has a shorter insertion depth/less intrusive mechanism on the bottom than most options so I can run the full 150mm drop but the collar is a good 30/40mm between collar and seatpost clamp so I “should” be able to run a 180mm drop otherwise.

It definitely takes a different style to an XC bike to get it turned, but I think that’s true of all modern trail/enduro/insert genre here bikes.