Non silver bars the right size/shape and some oven cleaner?

I ran mine at about 50psi at 70kg (28c width versions) and they were super comfy and fast. Lower than that they were a bit squirmy when climbing out the saddle.

That looks great! I do love any Full-Sus that has a nice continuous/same angle Toptube & Seatstay though…

So it turns out that SRAM Stealth-a-majig olives can be fitted backwards, which results in them doing up perfectly when attaching the hose but not depressing the plunger in the lever to allow it to pass fluid through and therefore locking the lever solid.

No matter how hard you squeeze it or swear at it, all you’ll eventually do is force fluid out the lever bladder/reservoir cap…

@stevet1 do you know if these ever come with new stock DMR pedals or are they something you have to order separately? I’m sure I have a pack of pins that came with a set of V12’s that I didn’t use, if so and they’re the right ones I could bung them in the post.

“Why does it have two exhausts?”

“Because it has two cylinders?” :D

Enjoy!

Just to thrown in a curveball (and not to detract from the GP5000 as I agree it’s great too) but actually a Gravel King Slick in the same/similar width is also bleddy fast and light despite having a filetread and therefore looking like it should be slower, and this is reflected in the bicycle rolling resistance.com tests. I run these in 32mm in place of GP5000’s due to availability at the time and they’re comfortably as quick in feel and the (non-scientific) data from my rides backs up the stats from BRR.

They’re also half the price normally! I was considering going to the GP5000 AS next time round, but not for any real reason.

Yep I’ve had a play on the new jump line, and that’s what made me think a few skills/play sessions on the Summit might be fun or useful (hopefully both!). Maybe I’ll do the trial as you can’t go wrong for £10, and then buy a pack of day passes if I enjoy that. I don’t think I’d get my moneys worth with the monthly membership, certainly over the summer.

As above if you’re moving across from MTB side of things rather than road and are used to being able to stop, I’d definitely try and get something with hydraulic discs. Even at reduced pricing that’s a ~£300 upgrade later and it’s one that you will want to do unless you happen to be <50kg and don’t mind adjusting them every couple of rides to keep the pads nice and close to the disc!

Other than that it looks like a good little bike really, although doesn’t mention max tyre clearance (unless I’ve missed it). Personally I’d like to have room for 45mm minimum as that gives a bit more freedom and mud room for British winter “gravel” and it looks like it comes with 37mm. Could always just look in the shop at how much room there is around them and guesstimate it from there.

@j.bro even if it’s partially psychological that doesn’t mean it’s any less worthwhile!

I’ve just built up a full 27.5″ Hardtail and I was expecting to not really notice that much difference going back from 29ers on everything else but it’s an absolute riot and changes direction so quickly. Might not be purely the wheel size vs me just expecting it to be more agile but it’s great and I find it far easier to chuck around at the same height as you compared to similar bikes but full 29er.

@richardkennerley I run mine with a Rockshox Super Deluxe Ultimate like the below and it was a really quick fit & forget type setup just with baseline settings/sag etc. and away I went, I think to be honest the next model down with less knobs to twiddle (or mostly ignore in my case) would have been just as good but I picked up a heavily reduced Ultimate so it seemed rude not to!

https://www.tftuned.com/super-deluxe-ultimate-air-rc2t-standard/p4069

Looks like they’re not so cheap currently after the demise of Wiggle/CRC but in my experience it works really well on the bike. But I may just not be super sensitive to these things.

That’s lovely! I wish they still did/stocked the Sirius but seems constantly out these days :(

I went for a pair of Five Ten Kestrels as they were mega reduced and I’m happy with those. Nowhere near as clumpy as the older skate shoe style Freeriders etc.

Still super cheap here but limited sizes now:

https://www.evanscycles.com/brand/five-ten/kestrel-lace-mountain-bike-shoes-140500

That’s true actually. I think maybe these special offer ones were a delayed batch of the older sizing structure from before it moved to UK built?

I absolutely love mine, in terms of weight it’s the same as my friends equivalent spec Santa Cruz Hightower CC. There will be far more weight difference across groupsets/brakes/wheel and tyre choices in reality than frameset weight in most similar travel bikes. It climbs well, plenty of traction on steep or techy climbs and it floats up and over roots etc in a really nice way to keep momentum up. I never feel the need to lock out the shock except on a tarmac hill because it’s pretty stable under seated pedalling, it only gets a little squashy sometimes if you’re standing and really stamping on the pedals.

Going downhill it’s really helped me progress my riding as it’s so capable I can think more about lines and technique rather than just getting down in one piece!

In terms of quality I don’t think there’s any difference from Taiwan to UK built, they are built with the same tube spec. as far as I could tell from the info, mine is a Taiwan in the dark blue. Frame bearings all have caps etc. on them so I’ve not had any issues, and there are only a couple anyway.

Overall I think it’s great personally in case you can’t tell! And they look bleddy great.

Jeht by James Fabian[/url], on Flickr

To answer your second question, Merlin are my go-to for online these days. Good pricing and the stock is accurate, plus you get loyalty points which add up to meaningful cashback vouchers for more parts!

It does seem to vary between components and lighting etc. but mine seem to be closer to their original photos (but definitely more gold/orange than my Nukeproof ‘Copper’ Hubs) but to be honest until I built the bike up I’d forgotten I had those anyway and assumed they were black so I was never expecting/hoping for them to match.

I’ve mainly just contributed so that people can get irate about the ‘rustic’ state of the garden…

I have a Tutto Plus and I’ve run it SS/Geared flat bar and dropped bars (all combinations) so it’s very versatile and rides nicely.

My only issue really was the relatively low front end/short headtube if running it with drop bars, you need to run a pretty decent stack of spacers unless you like to ride an aggressive setup. But I think that’s normal with a lot of these fixie/messenger-ie type framesets! It was also my first drop bar bike so obviously the contrast to a MTB was just quite big.

I don’t suppose you’re after a size Small…? #stealthad

@sc-xc thank you! They’re £200 off at the moment for the 27.5″ version…. ;)

I had the fork and wheels from my old full-suspension so rather than sell those for peanuts or leave them in the shed I decided to double-down instead and buy the frame to go with them!

I did also spend most of the savings on getting Cotic to fit the new Hope Bronze headset and seat clamp though to tart it up a bit..

Not a patch on most of your adventurous/scenic photos but I did finally get out on the new Hardtail (Cotic BFe) for a shakedown and muck about!:

Thanks, I’ve always liked Ritchey parts and heard nothing but good things about Ergon so I’ll have a trawl through the options and maybe see what’s available on sale/relatively cheap to trial before splashing out.

I think around 8-12 degrees would be a good middle ground, I went to swept back on my rigid bike and it made it feel very relaxed/lazy.

Also these for sub-£10 are surprisingly good, but going through actual puddles at speed you will get wet cheeks either side of it! If not the Win Wing is really annoyingly good (annoying as I now need to decide whether to buy another one or keep moving it across bikes!):

https://fawkes-cycles.co.uk/zefal-shield-s10-p22593/s47672?utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=zefal-shield-s10-zmg202&utm_campaign=froogle&cid=GBP&glCurrency=GBP&glCountry=GB&pk_cid=1&pk_keyword=47672&pk_medium=multifeeds&pk_campaign=Google&pk_source=Google&pk_content=SportingGoodsOutdoorRecreationCycling&utm_source=Google&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjMLntujxhQMVQ4pQBh1ywgZFEAQYAyABEgI4U_D_BwE

One thing to look out for on reversing the route is that anywhere that someone has manually put in a section down a bridleway/path that Strava doesn’t recognise as being official/usable is that when you hit reverse it will re-route around any of these sections so you can end up with a completely different piece of routing.

If you’re travelling faster than the speed of light around the earth (assuming it’s not flat) would you be better off having your lights facing backwards and using the light from the previous lap to see by?

Over my first three trips I’ve got progressively braver with tyre carcass/sidewall choice.

On the first trip I scared myself into some DH casing tyres for my 130mm trail bike (I survived though, which was my main objective!).

Second trip I went for DH Casing Front/DD Casing Rear (Maxxis DHF/Aggressor)

Third trip this summer just gone I just went for EXO+ (Maxxis Assegai/DHRII) and felt happier again so personally as a ~70kg not super-aggressive rider I won’t be bothering with heavy casing tyres again. As above though it’s so personal, if you can rip a tyre to shreds in your local woods then maybe ignore my advice!

I like my Brother Cycles Big Bro for the same niche-filling you want/as a Stooge/Shand alternative. Currently swapped over from the setup below to 29×2.4″ fast-rolling Rekon Race tyres instead of the chunky boi 27.5×2.8″ shown.

Also I assume Salsa probably do something similar if you didn’t want Steel, or an On-One Whippet type of thing but you’d need to run a tensioner to Single Speed it.

We normally park at the Lymington ferry terminal and cross from there, about £11/day and never had an issue with a space even on the day of an event (Seven Hills, or a Glorious Gravel ride). But it depends if Freshwater is where you want to be once you get to the IoW?

Merlin is my go-to these days for drivetrain, brakes & tyres these days (and was already for the most part). You also get points which you can then convert into vouchers which is nice (although does bring you back to spend more money to use the voucher).

They normally have great prices on Michelin Wild Enduro’s which I’ve moved to from Maxxis for the most part.

I really liked the 2.25″ Barzo on my Yeti ARC, I replaced with 2.6″ Barzo just because I was bored/curious and found them super cheap but the jury is out a bit on that one as they seem to float a bit too much on muddy trails where the 2.25’s cut in  better.

I think now it’s drying up they’ll be ace, as they’re light, fast, grippy (outside of proper mud) and comfortable. Bontrager XR4’s were also good but probably more trail than XC end of things but still light and fast.

I’ve always liked the idea of these, but they’re never reduced enough for me to take a punt on how good they actually are for cycling in:

https://escapecollective.com/review-adidas-velosamba-casual-with-cleats/

Potentially ideal for daytime cycling/evening pub dinner without looking “like a cyclist”. Although personal preference on whether you’d consider a pair of Adidas trainers a desirable look obviously!

The Alpkit one seems nicely made, around £300 I think so a bit of middle ground between ~£100 eBay and ~£600 Enve/Whisky etc.

It’s also pretty close to 500mm Axle to Crown which seems to be what’s required for a ~100mm 29er fork swapout.

Do you have access to a vacuum pump? A few guys at work repair bike frames on the side and mostly just use normal bagging material & tacky tape to locally bag around it with a valve, then oven cure under vacuum.

Obviously that might not be kit you have kicking about at home!

This might be worth a go? Fits in the front of my Cotic frames which are a very acute angle, but it’s only a half/third frame bag to replace a hip pack really rather than something to pack a days worth of kit in.

Scroll down to the bottom for the frame bags:

https://www.cotic.co.uk/order/merch/

Exo casing has the puncture protection on the sidewall, whereas Silkshield it’s a full wraparound layer so slightly heavier/better puncture protection down the central tread area.

This is on my list for the summer, I get the impression parts of it are on the “should I be on a hardtail” end of the gravel spectrum which may or may not bother you:

The Woods Rat Run

I can’t help with any practicalities/advice but I have been following an Instagram account called “Cheap Irish Houses” which shows listings & photos of sub-100k Euro properties for sale (often a fraction of that) and it always has me yearning for one. Especially when my banking app cheerfully reminds me when I log on that if I’m looking for a mortgage with them, the average deposit for a first-time buyer in my area is only £65k :)

I had my Cotic BFeMAX built up pretty light (12.4kg without pedals) with Performance Elite Forks, Hunt XC Race wheelset and some other light-ish bits and it felt pretty speedy…until I built up a Yeti ARC frame with mostly the same parts.

It came in somewhere in the mid-10’s (ended up with some lighter XC cranks and a couple of other minor tweeks, but same fork and wheelset/tyres) and the weight is certainly one thing, but the way it just surges forwards under power and encourages you to stomp on the pedals to crest a climb rather than perhaps change a gear or two and just ‘get to the top’ was very unexpected. I’ve always loved a Steel hardtail and I’ve since built the Cotic back up to a burlier spec but I was pretty surprised by the difference, so I think the short version of the above is: Do it, it’ll probably make you faster and almost certainly make you feel faster even if you’re not.

I was tempted until I saw the colour options, I like that it’s a bit different but I’m a sucker for nice metallic finishes on a steel hardtail! My old metallic silver/chrome SolarisMAX looked the absolute business.

I’ve got a real hankering for a steel XC hardtail still, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for any change of colour options down the line as it ticks a lot of boxes and I love a Cotic (I have a few…). For now I’ll just run shorter travel on my BFeMAX :)

I find on small framed gravel bikes I struggle with toe overlap sometimes with a 700 x 40+ tyre, but never with a chunky 650b tyre. Some people don’t seem to notice/mind it but for me it’s annoying so I normally go for 650B.

I had an older Ragley Trig and used 27.5 x 2.1 Continentals I think it was (maybe 2.2 even?).

It is almost all the rider but… as mentioned the right bike can also improve the rider to the point where they’re confident/skilled enough to ride better and on more technical trails on a “worse” bike as a result.

I noticed a massive jump in confidence and skill (mostly the former) when I got my Cotic Jeht, and now when I ride my Hardtail/Gravel Bike I’ll happily ride on some terrain that I’d have struggled with before on my old full-suspension.