I am always surprised that the gear shifters aren’t designed to sit more outboard of their clamp. I try to set my brake levers up for 1-finger braking and it pushes my gear shifters too far inboard for comfortable shifting. But setting the shifters outboard of the brake lever is no good because they are then too close to my hand and I constantly bang my fingers against the shift paddles. Bloody annoying really.

I was say an “average” 853 hardtail frame is heavier than “average” aluminium one (massive generalisations here!) so weight would still be an issue with FS frames. And what would be the benefit of a steel FS over an aluminium one?

My old carbon hardtail (Trek OCLV) had a sleeve in the head tube and I removed the cups with an old seat post and a hammer without any problems. I was careful to make sure I connected with the cups not the sleeve or the CF though!

The pictures on Merlin’s site are of the “new” ones. I don’t race but I have 2.25″ RRs and they don’t seem overly wide to me. Personally, I wouldn’t want 2.1s

I have a geared Scandal 29er that I use for normal trail riding, rather than racing, and it is great. It doesn’t feel particularly “racy” to me unless by “racy” you mean light and fast. Mine has coped fine with the limited abuse I give it – small drops etc

Fun Bike – Santa Cruz Blur 4X

XC Bike – On-One Scandal 29er

Road Bike – Bianchi Carbon XL

I bought a gore-tex patch to fix the first…and then second…holes I put in the sleeve of my Gill ProSpeed eVent jacket. The patches are black and aren’t too noticable, plus I don’t really care if it looks patched. Quick, cheap and easy

Here

(The world’s slowest loading web page, by the way)

Gore Ride-Ons. I’ve had one set that I’ve transplanted across two bikes. Its been going for about 2 years now. Gore Ride-Ons have a noticably lighter shift than full length outers (on my other bike)

I can’t let the opportunity pass for me to recommend a Blur 4X 😉

Better than I thought they would be. Surprisingly grippy in all but muddy conditions. I prefer Racing Ralphs on my 29er though so have an almost new set for sale if you are interested 😉

Despite that, they are good tyres IMO

I fitted rigid forks because it was cheaper, tbh. But the larger wheel definitely does smooth out some of the buzz that affects a rigid 26er. If it were my only bike I would stick suspension forks on it but I have an FS bike for anything I don’t fancy riding a rigid bike on.

I’ve not got one but I did a few test rides on one a while back. I think they are fantastic. The adjustable angles thing really works and is very intuitive after 10 mins of playing around with it. You have a slacked out 6″ mini-downhill bike one second and a fast-handling, steep angled, short travel xc bike for getting up the hills another second. It really does work. Limited/no choice over shocks etc but the standard ones seem to work really well. It is probably a pound heavier than you would like but nothing too serious and now the Scandium version is available if you are a weight weenie. There are a few test bikes knocking round the LBS’s so you should be able to try one out. MooseCycles in london and Mountain High in Pangbourne both have/had test bikes, as did Abbey Cycles in Liverpool.

Most people dismiss them as being gimmicky and unreliable but in fact they are neither. In the end I wanted a “play” bike and I got a Blur 4X, otherwise I would have got a Golden Willow.

I use NN’s up front and have found 30psi is just right. At 25 psi the sidewalls collapse on hard cornering but at 30psi I have found them great. They work in so many conditions that I manage to leave them on all year round and their last of rolling resistance is a real bonus.

Have you tried RR’s – surprisingly grippy in 29er size (I have 2.4″ on mine)?

600mm ETT is pretty long – my large Blur 4X is a tiny smidge shorter than that (597mm)

Yes. One 29er and one (FS) 26er. 29er ridden at least twice as much as the 26″ bike. Its nice but a 26″ hardtail would be fine too.

rancho – interesting way to run a Blur 4X (step up headset and Pikes wound down). It hadn’t occurred to me to run it like that. It is much different compared to simply running the Pikes a bit longer?

Nox Flux 4X

http://noxcycles.com/cms/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=22&category_id=28&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=168&lang=en

Looks like one size only – 15″ seat tube: http://noxcycles.com/cms2/images/specs/nox_techdaten.pdf

1991 with a Scott Evo (nasty bike!) bought after breaking my road bike at the downtube/headtube lug off-roading 🙂

I put a 150mm Flex-stem on it – hard to believe now

dicky – Ah. Hard to imagine 10mm will make that much difference to climbing then.

There was another thread on this not so long ago. Have a quick search. It did mention just about every tyre under the sun though

The one issue with sticking big forks on a “normal” XC/trail bike is that ideally you want a nice steep seat tube to get your weight forward when seated on the climbs, a la Blur 4X or Dialled Alpine (HT I know!)

I don’t know what the seat angle is on a Fuel EX for example but it might get a bit wandery on the climbs

Re Blur 4X and rear tyre clearance – a Conti Gravity 2.3″ fits fine although isn’t the widest 2.3″ tyre in the world.

I kind of agree with the comment about pedalling in the granny ring – they is a fair amount of pedal feedback but you can always dial in some pro pedal to fix that. I tend to flick the Pro Pedal on (lightest setting only) on the way up and off on the way back down – problem solved

I have survived on my Racing Ralph 2.4s since the summer but they are by no means ideal for lots of mud and are a bit too wide for a rear tyre on my bike (Scandal 29er). I have just ordered a Maxxi Ardent 2.25″ to try on the back instead but it hasn’t arrived yet so I can’t comment on it. At this time of year your list looks a bit too racey I’d have thought but perhaps you don’t get much/any mud where you are riding.

not sure about the colour though.

It was the last Large Jungle could get hold of (they brought it over from the US). I have to admit that Hearing Aid Beige wouldn’t have been my first choice. Fortunately I can’t really see it when I am riding it and I love it!

Ive ruled out the 4x on looks. In large sizes it looks like a gate.

[Defensive mode on]

A gate?!

First of all “how dare you” 😉

Secondly, the large only has a 17″ seat tube? How on earth can it look like a gate?

[Defensive mode off]

Crap photo, nasty bent seatpost (now done), silly long stem (now gone), and nasty beige colour (unfortunately still present)

Not a gate though…sniff..sniff…

Nobby Nicks 2.25″ – 570g
Racing Ralphs 2.25″ – 545g

Gingerflash – I had my Stadiums with me last night as well though 😉

rapidman123 – Really? Stupid question – you had it on the third setting (Max)? I was out last night with 12 other guys with a mixture of the most expensive lights on the market – none was any brighter than my P7 and TK-11 combination. Perhaps you got a duffer?

I’ve got the basic low ones and if I were buying again I would be tempted to get longer socks to reduce the risk of water running down your leg and into the sock – I am guessing the longer the sock the less water runs down in to them. Mine are pretty thick but reasonably warm and work a treat (apart from the rain issue above)

My Scandal is the same. Initially I thought it looked odd but it seems to work fine (LX front mech)

trailmonkey – which parts of Penhydd are you thinking of? The only “technical” bit I can remember was the switchbacks in the Hidden Valley but they are easy enough if you dab? I would have thought Penhydd was ideal for a beginner/someone building confidence.

There was enough outer to do a full cable run to the rear mech on my Scandal 29er but not enough to then to the front mech as well (Gore Ride On cables). I would expect your Scale would be OK but for the rear mech only.

Interesting. I didn’t realise that you were meant to wash eVent jackets “often”. I don’t think I have ever washed mine

Yep – Time pedals are definitely better in the mud than SPDs

I ride at Swinley and local rides solo but I don’t think I would venture in to the great unknown solo. I had a mate who went out fell running one morning on Ben Nevis solo and never came back. It has kind of stuck in my mind…

Another vote for the Budgie. I was properly gutted when I broke it – aged about 17 (OK, I should haven’t been riding it, but I could resist after finding it “hiding” at the back of the shed)

I waited 2 months for a pair of gloves on back order, FWIW

Ben – the Alp x what – jacket?

I’m 80kg and 6’3″ and reckon their jackets are pretty average. The XL fitted me fine apart from the arms which could have been an inch longer but I have stupidly long arms.

I’ve not ridden “Fox Float 32 RL”s but have nothing but good things to say about my Pikes (Air U-turn)