Just remember dogs have owners cats have staff.

Dried food is ~£20 a month (special low fat stuff) + £18 insurance + worming (no idea). They’re not cheap but bloody funny.

One of our two crazy creatures enjoying the sun…

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HR2 dual compound folding > £28 posted here

High Rollers / HR2s for everything. Stand up to most things, including my fat ass riding a Soul over Dartmoor and Haldon (so think lots of granite, roots and flint).

Dartmoor. Then aching like a mother fugga. But a happy one.

What Northwind says. You can only play the ‘small company’ card for so long and when you start going on about your own manufacturing kit etc people expect that you’ve got the basics covered.

It’s fine if you don’t rush and make use of the cakes at Hound Tor. I cut out the western loop if I don’t have all day :)

v666ern – have a look at this route.

It’s not too late to play is it?

Classic Cotic Soul

Another vote for Aldi tops – I ended up buying one of the skinny ‘pro’ jackets because the standard softshell is just so warm. It was so cold one night that my bite valve froze but the cheapo aldi top and a Helly Hansen t-shirt thing kept me plenty warm.

Just wish they’d make some 3/4 waterproof shorts.

FSA Orbit XL II headset – paid ~£20 and it’s ace. Has outlasted 3 XT bottom brackets and numerous Hope bearings. Great bit of kit.

On One / SSC CNC stem – light, cheapish and pretty.

Genuine Shimano finned pads – not cheap to buy but last ages and are brilliant so great vfm.

Dwarves are generally a happy bunch as statistically speaking 6 out of 7 aren’t grumpy.

Heard about the magic tractor? It went down the road and turned into a field.

In that case, slx. Works nicely on my rf / xt set up.

Sorry Cotic, I love your bikes, but it sounds like trying to find a reason to justify a shift to 27.5 that’s really happening for marketing reasons (if you’re shifting to 27.5 for sales reasons just be honest and say it).

Are really going to be producing both versions of the Soul longterm? Can’t see it myself.

DD – I actually agree with you, I remember tucking into some pretty nice stuff from Boston quite a while back.

Anyway, back on topic…

“color way” – aarrgghhh

“analogs of” – you mean similar to or inspired by :)

Anyway, us Brits invented Pale Ale (along with most of the stuff that’s worth having).

“reach out” / “out reach to” – you mean email or call?

“curate a list” – you mean write a list?

“touch base” – you mean talk to?

“27.5” – you mean marketing fodder?

Just **** off and don’t come back until you can make proper beer.

Hob nob – what happened to your Zee rm? The cage on mine seems to have gone back passed the stopper and now won’t pull forward like normal and got mangled. No sign of being hit (sorry for the crap explanation). Have replaced it with a short cage xt now.

You need to remove the 17t and with slx it’s part of the smaller block. Needs to be xt or xtr. Which I discovered after ordering an slx cassette…

Stick with MTB pedals – if they’re good enough for Emily Batty :)

Anna, Anna, Anna!!!

Running a 36t Raceface n/w, Zee clutch rear mech, 11-36 SLX cassette without a guide. Only had it for a few rides but gone from dropping ~ twice per ride to zero so far. On a HT. Only regret is not getting an XT rear mech (but that’s for looks, the Zee is nice and tucked away and works a treat).

I live in Devon. I have gills it’s been raining so bloody much! Who needs a boat.

ps: they look real to me – these are 650b but the label is white and my HR2 has a white HR2 label

29″ rims? Have I missed something? :lol:

It’s too big. Must be fake. Who the hell uses 29″ tyres?

I’ve just gone from 2×9 (24/36 x 11/32) to 1×10 (36 x 11/36) on my Soul and not died yet. That said, I just lock my forks out and stand up when I can’t spin up hills so on a bouncer you might want something a touch lower than 1:1 – I guess it depends on how many long climbs you do / how fit you are (I’m not the latter).

If you’re staying 1×9, you could buy a 12-36 cassette and an 11t small cog to give you an 11-36 cassette – although you might want to check if the Deore cassette can still be split. Use this with a 34t front ring and you get a decent spread without spending loads.

Commuting around Exeter sucks but having spent ~10 years in London on the tube and buses my ~40 min drive from Chudleigh to near the Uni is fine.

I’d echo what’s been said up there ^. Great place to live (and bring up kids). Not sure I’d have done it in my 20s though but that’s me.

15 mins to the beach, 15 mins to the moor etc etc. I can ride from the house and be up at Haldon with 25 mins (less than 10 mins to get back!).

Really friendly people etc. etc.

Had a quick blast around some of the unmarked stuff at Haldon. The rangers have done a great job clearing up the main trails after the storms but there’s still a hell of a lot down.

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IMAG1056_stitch[/url] by jruk*[/url], on Flickr[/img]

Glad it’s not just me then. Tried holding it on with zip ties, ran gaffa tape round the outside and the bead just won’t push to the outside of the rim – it’s just too baggy (not great after 6 months…).

Time for a new tyre me thinks. Anyone tried the new tubeless ready exo HR2 2.3s?

Brake issues aside, what’s the ride/performance like? Very tempted but not amused by Giant’s total inability to give me a straight answer about availability. Please convince me I should wait as not sure of the other options.

I’m trying to make the same decision at the moment. I was dead set on the Giant until they were utterly crap at responding to my questions, as were Cycle Surgery. I believe ‘how you sell is how you service’ so they’re off the list. Which is bloody annoying.

Trinity Financial[/url] sorted everything for us – got us a great deal, sorted all the crap out, nice people etc etc.

Well this thread has saved me from buying a bike from them. Thanks gang.

Standard 2.35 High Rollers for Dartmoor, ~30psi up front, bit less on the back run semi-ghetto tubeless. I’m sure there’s better/faster/tougher/lighter etc but they’re fit and forget.

Riding at night with people who known the trails more than me has helped me. It’s probably based on not having time to over analyse stuff and just having to deal with trail features – you learn to trust your gut and go with the flow. Went out in the light today and flew around.

Switching to 750mm bars and a 70mm stem has probably helped but I def trust myself more.

As you were. Back to the dropper posts arguments.

A Rogue here. Although I really should call it “horrible stinky bag that smells of crap” at the moment. May be forced to wash it again (is twice in two years OK?).

I just use a cheapo Karrimor running top from Sports Direct. The long sleeve ones have thumb loops which are pretty handy when it’s proper cold. They’re cheap enough to throw away when they get really stinky.

Del – Thanks, sounds good. Will try and meet up at 7.

Zel – I was up there on Sunday and told the rangers about the 2nd red section so they may have sorted it by now. Will be careful though!

Some of the guys from work have gone to Ottery tonight. Be interesting to see if they have any eyebrows tmw…

Thanks Carl – if you do turn up and here someone screaming like a big girl it’s probably me being spooked by the fury cows!

I’ve just moved to tubeless on the back of my Soul – Flow Ex, standard 2.35 60a High Roller, x2 turns of duck tape and Stan’s Fluid – as was always getting pinch flats.

Only ridden it once but took it through a few rocky sections and no probs this morning. I’m ~95kg in my kit and reckon the pressure is about 30-35 psi (my pump has a crap dial so I go for the highly accurate thumbsquidge test).

Not sure if that’s of any use to you though!