If you’re an outdoorsy type and can deal with the various aspects of army officer life – it’s still very much a class divide between officers and soldiers, for instance – then it can be good. My oldest mate, who is a senior officer, loves it, but I can see it definitely wouldn’t have been the course for me.

JP

yet no one is even questioning it

Utterly not true, a good proportion of the world is questioning it.

That’s not true, though, is it? I don’t mean a few people on bike forums, the odd documentary on BBC4 and the occasional expose in a left leaning newspaper. I mean governments, the Competition Commission and its equivalents in other countries, etc. No one of any consequence is seriously questioning it, or the monopolistic position of Google or Facebook. Something is very wrong here.

JP

Rents on the high street have been disproportionately high for a long time now. The increase in business rates was a royally stupid idea as well.

I really don’t believe Ashley’s grand play is to buy up high street real estate – that’s just nonsense.

As mentioned before, Amazon is the real evil – I can tell you all sorts of horror stories from people who work there and through partnering with them in my line of business. They are heading towards having a dangerous amount of power, yet no one is even questioning it.

JP

There have been studies on this and they’ve found that there is no universal correlation between what some cultures believe to be sad or happy music and our reactions to it.

JP

The SuperGravity casing is much thicker than almost everything else mentioned – what on earth are you doing to it? It’s certainly thicker than the DD casing and much much thicker than the Wild Enduro.

JP

Let’s try an analogy then: if you’d only ever eaten at McDonald’s you might think that their food is perfectly acceptable.

No one would object to someone coming on here and saying McDonald’s burgers are terrible, yet I’m somehow branded a snob because I say that certain methods of making coffee and certain types of coffee are poor.

JP

I’ve never enjoyed the coffee from my moka pot. It’s always very bitter which I understand to be because of the excessive heat burning the grounds. I may be wrong. Similarly, cafetières make coffee that’s too earthy for my tastes.

What you’re describing is over extraction – coffee has many compounds, some of which extract easily (fruit acids, simple sugars, etc) and some of which are hard to extract (burnt distillates for instance). Extraction is increased by heat, pressure, time and surface area (grinding finer increases surface area and, therefore, extraction). Stovetop makers over extract because they apply too much heat to the coffee over too long a period. This means that you will nearly always end up extracting the undesirable compounds in the coffee, which give, woody, bitter and burnt flavours.

JP

He was at our local fete recently with his children, riding on a Thomas the Tank engine that was doing rounds of the village. One of our friends suggested paying the driver to keep going indefinitely.

JP

Stovetops are rubbish – they apply too much heat to the coffee and almost always over extract it.

Oh do snob off 🙂

Its a personal thing, coffee should be made how you want, I’ll bet you’re the sort of person that tells people they’re overcooking their pasta as well…

In what way is it snobby to state a fact (stovetop coffee makers over extract coffee) and offer a cheaper, better alternative (Aeropress)?

I do despair of these sort of responses. It’s as if I’ve ridiculed some deeply held belief that you have; I haven’t – I’ve just told you that a particular device doesn’t make good coffee. Deal with it.

JP

CFH – IIRC Islam condemns homosexuality in similar ways. I don’t know if its in the Quran or from the old testament which as you know is also one of islams texts. I really should have another go at reading the quran.

Don’t bother – it was the dullest thing I’ve ever read, with the possible exception of the Old Testament and Das Kapital.

I always find it remarkable that such texts have had such great influence on civilisation.

JP

Stovetops are rubbish – they apply too much heat to the coffee and almost always over extract it.

As an aside, I don’t know how the stale oils from coffee will ever improve taste (shows that you should never trust Italian coffee folklore).

Get yourself an Aeropress.

Before anyone mentions how popular stovetops are in Italy, you need to understand that Italy hasn’t been at the forefront of coffee for many years now (my friend Rubens Gardelli being one notable exception) and that Italians are predominantly staunch traditionalists when it comes to coffee.

JP

Fair enough. You’re wide of the mark with the lag, though – the DT Swiss XM1501 wheels that won MBUK’s test a while back have 2 degrees more lag than the Hope wheels.

JP

Lol – nothing wrong with Hope hubs – 8 degrees is pretty standard on decent hubs, unless you go for something super fast engaging (and put up with more drag from the freewheel).

I’ve never had any problems with their rims either, so are you going on hearsay or actual experience?

JP

We’ve got a couple of Fender Blues Deluxe in stock and they sound great for their size. No quality issues.

JP

The Fortus 30 is a downhill wheelset – if you look at the rims they’re a different design from the 26 and 35mm rims and are much heavier.

The Hunt wheels are good, but the hubs aren’t anywhere near Hope quality, and I doubt they’ll have the same longevity.

Hope really needs a 30mm wheelset that is more enduro focused. As it is, when I replace my rear wheel it will be a custom build with a Hope rear hub and a Stan’s Flow or similar rim.

JP

Book in advance.

JP

Question for you eco types – do you really envisage any of this working?

Let’s take one specific example – air travel. Now let’s just say we all stop travelling by air, or at least we make a sizeable reduction in air travel. How do you think this will affect the economies of countries heavily reliant on tourism? Greece would be an obvious European example, but many developing countries are even more precarious. I suspect that if the aims of, say, the Green Party (and equivalents in other developed countries) were met on air travel we’d be looking at a large number of these tourism-reliant countries becoming failed states.

There are multifarious other examples like this, yet, whenever I’ve raised this point I’ve never received an adequate response.

I’m not just making a rhetorical point here; I’m actually interested to hear how issues like these could be addressed, because, at the moment I see only over simplification and calls for abstinence (bit like religion, then).

JP

I assume you’re being ironic.

Other than the Conservatives imploding I don’t see any of those scenarios occurring.

JP

OK – first ride on it at Wind Hill this morning.

It’s much lighter than the SG Magic Mary – 970g versus 1200g on my scales. It sits a bit square on my 35mm wide front wheel, but grip levels in the corners seem pretty high, although there aren’t many flat corners at Wind Hill, so I’m only going on its performance on various heights of bermed corners.

Grip levels on the roots and technical bits are very high, but it does need to be manhandled a bit. It almost seems like it gets better the faster you go.

On the jumps and drops it felt a bit weird; I guess I’m just used to quite a heavy front tyre stabilising the bike in the air. On the bigger drops and step downs it felt quite lively and I had to be more careful than usual with my body position in the air.

Not sure how it will feel in the wet, but I’m hoping it’s going to be as good as in the dry.

JP

Just got back from Wind Hill – first ride there on the Charger 2.1, but have done hundreds of runs there on the Yari. The difference was most noticeable on one of the black trails – Rootiful South – where I’d often manual through a big rooty section to avoid the spiking from the Yari. The Charger is massively better here – you can just barrel through and it skips over everything without the bike losing speed.

JP

I think he was being ironic.

JP

I hit 215 a couple of years ago, when I was 40. Regularly hit an average over 180 when running, say 10K at my fastest pace, so 220 minus your age is nonsense.

I remember Mark Allen (multiple Ironman World Champion) saying that the max HR he could achieve actually decreased as he got fitter, so I don’t think it really means anything.

JP

Cheers all. It arrived today, so will be out on it tomorrow.

JP

The Assagai’s are expensive and also quite heavy even in just exo plus casings. The Wild enduro is over a kilo a tyre from what I read a week or two ago and quite draggy. But then you’re racing enduro somewhere quite natural with some rain due so it might be just the ticket!

Yeah – the MM in SG ULtrasoft is a similar weight, so not worried about the Wild Enduro being a kilo. I’ll take grip over rolling speed any day.

JP

Cheers.

It’s just come out on top in the MBUK tyre guide. Other reviews have not been as flattering, but most reviews from people who own them have been very good.

I’ve taken a punt on them. Assegais are too heavy in a decent casing and most other Maxxis are overpriced IMO – I’m not paying £70 for a tyre!

JP

It’s probably already been said, but:

Sick Bicycles
Rich Energy
Dark roast coffee
The popularity of Donald Trump (in the US)
The popularity of football (only about 1% of a match has any interesting bits)
Rugby (ditto, but you can’t even see the ball for 50% of the time)

There are many others.

JP

Pike is less stiff than a Lyrik. 2016 model has the Charger damper which isn’t as good as the Charger 2.1 (I’ve ridden both, so not going on hearsay).

Much cheaper to upgrade the damper in your Yari to a Charger 2.1 (£170 from Bike Discount) and possibly the Debonair spring (£38) then you have a 2020 spec Lyrik. If you’re worried about bar height just buy a riser bar

JP

Ah, the sanctimonious response so beloved of STW!

In the real world, yes, you should have said something earlier, but your line manager is obviously taking it all too seriously and should calm the f down.

JP

Usual nonsense about being overbiked by some above. Just ride faster or ride harder trails. It’s absolute rubbish to say most UK trails don’t need a 160/170/180mm bike – unless you live in Norfolk you can always find technical stuff if you look hard enough.

Of course, there are loads of pootlers on STW who think that we all ride on gentle bridleways that are suitable for gravel bikes; don’t listen to them.

I’d rather have a bike that’s fun to ride on the descents and doesn’t feel like its holding me back, than one that’s great uphill but hopeless downhill.

JP

I think if you’re outside of a standard weight range then the additional control over HSC is worth buying the RC2 version for. If, like me, you’re fairly average in weight then I don’t think you’d need the extra control over HSC, as the standard setting is pretty good.

JP

I really think it may eventually settle on a mixed 27.5 rear/29 front combo – that totally makes sense IMO.

JP

Josh Bryceland spoke about this when he was asked about why he was on 27.5 on his new Cannondale, and I think he knows a bit more about bikes than random STW members.

Not many folk in here will ride a bike like he does though. That’s the thing, everyone has different needs / wants. Just ride what you like. I’m a serial swapper and have gone rigid for the first time. It’s like a big, daft retro BMX. Josh wouldn’t approve, but it makes me smile. Less time worrying, more time just riding 😀

That’s not really the point I was making. A previous post in this thread stated that 27.5 wasn’t more nimble, but someone who knows a lot about bike handling (Bryceland) clearly stated that it is and that was the reason he chose to ride it.

I don’t care what other people say about 29, I just don’t think it works well on long travel bikes for riders shorter than about 5’11.

JP

Funny how Danny Hart went away from 29ers to a mullet bike and Troy Brosnan still managed to lead the 2019 DH WC on a 27.5 bike.

I don’t think there’s any demonstrable difference in speed between the two wheel sizes, especially as 29ers get really heavy in the wheel department as soon as you put decent tyres and wide enough rims on them.

And of course 27.5 is more fun/nimble. Josh Bryceland spoke about this when he was asked about why he was on 27.5 on his new Cannondale, and I think he knows a bit more about bikes than random STW members.

JP

Yaris will hit full travel – you just need to remove the tokens and run them at the right pressure. This said, I’d generally only achieve full travel when hitting the bigger drops at Wind Hill or BPW.

JP

Homophobes, yes.
Cretins, I don’t think iodine deficiency is much of a thing nowadays.
Religious types, only if they’re homophobes.

I realise you’re being facetious here, but using an archaic definition of a word is the result of a strange mind! The word ‘slut’ and a certain politician springs to mind as another example of this sort of thing…

JP

OK – second ride completed so some more thoughts.

I did upgrade to the 2019 Debonair spring, going from 170 to 180, before this upgrade. Having now got a better setup – no LSC and dropped a few PSI to about 3PSI below the Rockshox recommendation for my weight (not sure how accurate my gauge is, so it may be under-reading) – I think that the new damper has made a bigger difference.

It definitely feels a bit easier to manual for one thing (rebound feels faster even on 11 clicks from full slow, whereas I ran the Yari fully fast). Multiple bump performance is better – you don’t feel so much feedback, and there seems to be a little more grip on rooty corners.

I did a few runs down one of my longer local descents (1.5 k with about 120m of vertical) and I was within a second or so of my best time despite conditions not being optimum (loads of glare and it’s been very dry so the flatter corners are sandy and very slippery.

All in all a worthwhile upgrade for the money. I really wouldn’t write off the standard Yari, though – it’s pretty good most of the time.

JP

The amounts are lower than you might think for a couple of reasons:

Haas is a rubbish team and therefore commands lower premiums for sponsorship; and

Since F1 went to pay TV in many key markets (UK for one) reach is much lower, so sponsors aren’t willing to part with the same sums as ten years ago. F1 teams make more of their money now from their share of the revenue generated from these pay deals (this is distributed on the basis of performance in the CC).

JP

Lol! Typical STW advice! Someone asks for advice regarding a £700 gravel bike. Recommendations are for a 1950s tourer with caliper brakes or a cheapo mountain bike from the mists of time.

JP

No such thing as too much bike, as long as you don’t live in the Netherlands – just ride faster/bigger stuff.

Turner aren’t exactly cutting edge any more, especially when it comes to geo. I’d go for the Bird or Whyte, or maybe a YT, Nukeproof or Commencal to name a few – you’ll get much more for your money.

JP

I’ve ridden the Motion Control Yari for a couple of years. Never felt like it was holding me back, especially once it had the 2019 Debonair spring in it. However, the Charger 2.1 is an absolute bargain on Bike Discount at the moment, so I installed that a few days ago. Initial impressions are that it is better, but it’s not night and day. I’m going to do some longer runs later today and see what the times are like over a range of trails.

JP