For those saying they feel underpowered / have too much play then two things:

I’ve lined them up twice which didn’t seem to make much difference.

So fiddle with the two until you get the feel you want

Annoyingly, I think I just have small hands (and I like the lever close to the bar) so I have to have both of them wound pretty much all the way in, and it’s still not as close as I’d like or as close as I could have the XT’s.

My main frustration is I have around 50% dead throw with the Hopes, where as it was maybe 10% with the XT’s. When I pull the lever I want to brake as soon as possible :)

Brand new rotors too when I got them. I might try bleeding them again with the pads out and pump the levers a few times to try and reduce the dead throw.

Had Nukeproof Electrons for a couple of years, probably did around 2500 miles on them. Still look good and haven’t touched them service wise. They are on my singlespeed now and bearings are still good.

Bought Vaults after. Way more grip and the larger platform is excellent. Find it hard now when I get on other people’s bikes with smaller platforms, and I have small feet.

However, I’ve had to replace the Vault bushes 3 times in just over 18 months. The official DMR kits are a joke price. Fitted a metal bush now which I got for about 60p each. Hopefully they won’t eat the axle but I’m sick of faffing around with plastic ones.

As the finish is anodised you aren’t chipping paint off them with every pedal strike and mine still look as good as new .

My Vaults looked like crap after about 10 rides. The paint didn’t chip off but just wore away.

I did the same. Got fed up with 3 XT warranties in a year.

Bought E4s. They are nice, but a noticeable drop in power over the XTs. I also can’t seem to get them to bite early enough, they have quite a bit of dead throw on the lever.

If I was doing it again I’d get the V4s to try and match the power of the XTs a bit more.

I have i9 torch.

I prefer the sound to the Hopes.

Had to replace the outer bearing in the rear after about 7 months, which was a bit disappointing.

However the bearings can be replaced tool free using the axle, which I liked.

Other than that they’ve done around 18 months with no other maintaining and around 2500 miles in all conditions.

The Sika trail in Wareham is pretty flat. The main route is mostly wide firetrack, however there are quite a few wiggly bits that divert off to be explored.

Symondsbury has an XC loop but it’s a bit wider in general than Moors Valley from memory.

Otherwise maybe Wareham has some similar bits.

Went from a 2.5 WT maxxTerra DHF to a 2.35 Magic Mary trailstar on 35mm internals.

Wouldn’t say I noticed any difference in performance or rolling speed.

The DHF however got the Maxxis “wib wobs” where the tyre deforms and has a permanent wobble, hence the swap to the Mary.

Did you bed them in before you went for the first ride on them?

No. I never bed in pads and just let riding bed them in. Never had an issue before with Shimano pads doing this.

After 1 run the Uberpads picked up performance wise, but never as good bite as the Shimano pads.

Bought a set of Race Matrix for my alps trip 2016 for my XT’s. Put them in on the Tuesday, first few corners were terrifying as they had no power, then bedded in ok. They never felt as good as the OEM Shimano pads. After 3 days they were pretty much finished. Put a fresh set of Shimano sintered in and they were substantially better.

Whilst they are cheaper than OEM, I don’t think they last very well, and I didn’t like the performance so haven’t used again.

Assume S4 is closed then too?

Had M785s and had no problem in ~2 years of use (around 4000 miles in total)

Then got M8000s and had a caliper leak, and lever leaking twice in under a year.

Warrantied them each time no problem, so not out of pocket, but still annoying.

After the lever went for the second time I gave up and bought some Hope E4s. Performance wise I’m not convinced they are as good as the XT’s, but with luck they won’t keep breaking.

Bought the small £7 “running” backpack as I wanted something smaller just for a hydration bag and not much else.

Quality is decent enough and it does the job. The bigger £12 bag looked to be really good quality and a good buy.

I’ve been seeing this for a week or so now.

Raised a ticket and got this response:

Thanks for reaching out. We are reviewing features that were originally designed for athlete motivation and inspiration to ensure they cannot be compromised by people with bad intent.

Regards,
Strava Support Team

and the ticket was closed as resolved.

This kind of breaks Strava for me as very few segments locally now show up.

<h1>CHRIS AKRIGG – AS IT LIES</h1>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlDRdRQc9oQ

Everything about this video is perfect. The music, the locations, the riding. Love it.

<span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 12px;”>Go to Okeford Hill instead! Book yourself a half day uplift and get yer DH on </span>

Do this. You’ll have a much better time.

Some 100 miles of marked trails, an extended network beyond that for anyone that is willing to look, including some brilliant technical as well as far reaching out there loops.

This.

Some great stuff in the area. Very different to BPW but much better imo.

If you’re not happy with any of those, just deny access?

I tried to ride up the zig-zag fire road on the east side last night. One of the steepest sustained trails I’ve tried in a long time! Then got lost a bit on top.

If you’re talking about where I think you are, there is a ton of moto tracks but not quite so many mtb tracks.

I don’t know how people manage to loop those trails, as you say, that climb is meaty!

99% seem to smile or nod back to me. Once I was even sat down on a verge waiting for a friend and had a large group of roadies pass by over the course of a few minutes. Nearly every one asked if I was ok.

Remind me what can’t you buy again?

That was a good podcast, with interesting points. I think the “You can still get 26″ rims” argument is kind of backwards though. If you have a 26″ frame and want something with more modern geo, you can’t just buy a new frame. You’d need new forks (650b) , new hubs/rims (boost) potentially a new BB, potentially a new shock (metric).

So lots of people understandably just don’t buy new frames or bikes. Also impacted by the drop in second hand value of 26″ and other “outdated” parts which then impact the amount of cash available for a new bike.

Depends on the conditions. The hr2 isn’t particularly good for any and is quite draggy

This is my thoughts too. Found HR2 ok on the front for trail centre in the summer, but useless anywhere that is loose or muddy. Tried it on the rear (2.3) and it just clogged up with mud almost instantly. It cleared once you picked up some speed but for steep tight technical stuff and climbing it was painful.

1 bike per year at 1.5k
Resale value of £700
net loss over five years = 4k

1 expensive bike every 2.5 years at 5k
Resale value of 2.5k *
Net loss over 5 years = 5k

So, not much in it financially over a 5 year period.

I’d argue this doesn’t take into account consumables and servicing.

The 1 year old bike likely will have the same drivetrain and not have needed a suspension service. However the same could’nt be said for the 2.5 year old bike.

DMR Vaults are wide and flat. Not a big fan of the axle bush though, seem to go through them quite quickly.

I use the TF Tuned lower leg mix stuff.

When I went it had been torrential rain the day before do it was very muddy.

Had a DHF 2.5 on the front and a nearly bald Hans Dampf on the back. The trails aren’t steep so it was just a case of sliding around in a fun way rather than a scary way with that setup.

Use Super Gravity versions front and back for France.

Normally a Hans Dampf on the back but at the moment a Shorty I had lying around.

I hear you oldfart, you are not alone. doesn’t matter the make, i go through frame bearings like cups of tea.

+1

I clean and repack frame bearings every 3 months or so, with current bike and previous. It’s the same story for both, if I wanted to keep them running buttery smooth I’d be replacing every 6 months or so. As it is I get 8-10 months out of a set of bearings.

Add in to that headsets (~10months) and BB’s (last one lasted about 6 months with 2 stripdowns and regrease)

I prefer the Mary to Shorty. This is mainly because it’s wider though so looks cooler.

Not sure if I could tell the difference in performance though.

Oh and the sideways slits are called sipes. Not sure how much difference they make. I just replace tyres based on feel rather than looks.

Closest I would say is Hans Dampf, that’s assuming you’re talking about the 2.3 HR as the bigger sizes have much bigger knobs.

If the Reverb has the Connectamajig thing in the bottom, this can be removed to give another 25mm or so room in the frame.

Strong DH tyres.

Also do a bit of research of what kind of trails you want to ride beforehand and get some names/rough locations. The sign posting is patchy at best, and the best trails can be tricky to find.

Never taken that black option under the Chatel chair lift into Linderats off the GR5 because it’s black, instead going down the fire road. Looking on you tube it doesn’t actually look too bad with a few steep corners in places?
As above, it probably was a fun trail at one point, but it was built so badly the rain/snowmelt had washed away a massive channel through sections & the braking bumps were monsterous, even by Morzine’s standards (actual, axle deep at points).

If this is the trail I think it is, it’s been reopened after work was done on it this year.

I find I don’t need one for the first few months use of a new front ring, then suddenly…. I do. So just leave one on all the time.

Got the Rideworks one, had the OneUp 35g thing but it snapped off after only a few weeks use on a muddy ride.

Just found this handy thread with pictures

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/suspension-and-effect-on-reach

On those graphs what is the ‘ideal’ to look for use with a coil?

I believe you want the leverage ratio to decrease as it sits through its travel so you want something that drops from left to right overall.

Yeah, as coils are linear, you need the suspension linkage to add the ramp up as the suspension goes through it’s travel.

As air shocks naturally ramp up through the stroke you can have a linear or regressive suspension curve and it still work well.

I’ve tried a coil on a linear bike and needed to use a higher spring rate than on my old bike which had a much more progressive linkage, otherwise it would bottom out too easily. Whilst this worked, it reduced the small bump to worse than the air shock it replaced, making the whole thing a little pointless.

From here: http://linkagedesign.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/whyte-t129-29-2016.html?m=1 looks like the leverage ratio is progressive at the start and then regressive at the end of the stroke, which isn’t ideal for coil.

You may find it bottoms out easily unless the shock has adjustable bottom out resistance.

That said, if it’s from a friend can you give it a test run and see how you get on?

Way too busy, somewhat overhyped now too. It’s great, but not worth the cost and three month wait for a ticket, the bus queues and inadequate cafe etc

I’ve never found the trails to be busy at BPW. I’ve always thought they could get away with having more people riding even when it’s fully booked. Also the uplift seemed to dramatically improve a year or so ago. Been a couple of times since and barely had to wait at all, most times just straight in the van.

Agree the cafe seems permanently rammed and so I’ve never bothered queuing for food and just take my own lunch.

I’ve not been to BPW, is it in an old quarry or ex industrial area or FC land? If it’s getting very busy then surely there’s a business case for another somewhere not too close to it.

There is a really good HKT podcast with one of the guys from BPW talking about how it all started. Very interesting, a lot of the funding was from the EU (something like £2million I think?), so any future projects would likely need funding from elsewhere.

Well done newrobdob. Think you can definitely call this thread an op success. :D