ahwiles – thanks that was what I was thinking of doing. Benefits of 456 vs Chameleon?

Thanks for all the useful comments. I need to ride some demo bikes – of which there are few in N Scotland, but a good excuse for a weekend away!
I could have more than one bike – so long as I smuggle it into the shed!
Good point about the suspension setup- I don’t know – will need to have a tinker.
I remember enjoying the move to FS – and the extra speed over rough stuff. But that was much more xc orientated.

Crap stay at Rosetta. Full of folk tanked up on strong lager, having noisy marital disputes at 2am!
Whole place had a very unfriendly feel.
Buzzards nest next time I think!

Great light – just don't get the battery wet – otherwise you'll be visiting Smudge's (very nice) battery emporium……….
Bought from DX

They are great – so much more flexible than a tag along bike. Means you can go out for a big ride & just hook them up if they flag a bit. Had a couple of scary falling asleep moments at the end of long rides!

Get your pals to phone up to arrange a bike ride at a predetermined time, let your wife answer the phone, when your mate asks "Just phoning to see if Bushwacked is coming out for a ride on Saturday", it's much harder for her to say no.
I did try the "Just tell her" strategy but that is more high risk……….
As a medium term strategy make sure you encourage the kids to get into cycling – it's a lot easier to get permision to go to some trail centres because Sprog has been pestering all week. Then you will face the next problem of net being able to keep up with them…………

You will need to give Brian Aiston a call. I found he doesn't really do e-mails. Top bloke, couldn't be more helpful. I got a 4 bike wheel support rack – ditto the comments above. Sold it on so can't get any pics sorry!

The hotel we stayed in had the only MTB hire service in Marrakech – decent Kona full sus)

What is the biking like round there?? Also keen to go and would like to combine biking, Morrocan stuff and beach to appeal to all members of the family.

Mine had a sucession of Turbos and Intercoolers (caused by the hop up/ factory boost to 136hp on the 54> plate mk1 models)

But with a normal driver it would probably be OK?!

Octavia 4×4 – amazing where it will go & great on road performance

We used rear seats – Co pilot Limo – that fit onto Blackburn racks and are easily put on/off & swapped between bikes. The kids were comfortable, and the seat was supportive enough for them to fall asleep.
Also happen to have 2 going cheap if you are interested!

variation on inbred's suggestion. Had a similar situation on a kids Hotrock. The post would turn but not come out. We tapped a thread on the inside of the post, screwed in a slide hammer with a bolt welded onto the end, a couple of blows an out it came. There were some serious grooves on the post when it came out – must have been some debris on the welds that locked the seatpost in.

Les Carroz – which is on the road up to Flaine has it all. Pretty village (unlike Fline)Been there for last 4 summers.
Trails down from the cable car to the village, really nice pool in vilage.
http://www.lescarroz.com

I removed an aluminium post from an aluminium frame by tapping a thread into the post, screwing in a bolt welded onto a slide hammer & whacking it out with the slide hammer. Worked a treat – mainly as a result of my engineer pal!

second that samuri.
I have a have a pact with my kids we only discuss details of a ride on a need to know basis…….

Just remember to keep the battery dry when they do arrive…………

Fair point. Scurries away to remove zip ties………

Spec Hotrock. Our son's got the FS version – only because we got it on here second hand – would't have paid the new price. The the sus does work well. Problem is it's been so well used & now needs all the sus bearings changed. Hard tail would be lower maint!

If my one very wet ride before DX battery failure is anything to go by I think smudge is going to be a busy boy!

I've put a mega range freewheel onto our kids bikes. The std rear mech coped fine. It looks a big jump from 1st to 2nd but worked well. The std ratios supplied are totally unsuitable – except on Isla bikes.

Rich, I had a similar problem. The battery pack got v wet, water seemed to have got under the heat shrink. Looks like one of the components on the pcb in the battery pack was not properly fixed to the board. Hopefully a mate if resoldering. Yours might be the same problem?

I removed a stuck post by carefully tapping a tread on the inside of the post (the head of the post came off during previous attempts) then used a slide hammer with an apropratly sized bolt welded on the end. Worked a treat. The post looked like it had been stuck on some roughness at the bottom of the seat tube.

Any of their kit we have bought has been good. Son has their shorts & they have stood up his abuse!
Their hydration packs are good too!

Thanks for those replys – sounds like it is fine then – I was comaring them to the last brakes which were shimano and the clearance was probably about .5mm ( at a guess), and the clearance oin these is so small as to be invisible!

Thanks
Yes -very wet on first outing!
I will stest the bits with a multimeter first – I guess if I strip the heat shrink off the warrenty will be kinda void

Specialized Hotrocks hae done well with our kids. Most kids bikes – apart from Islabikes don't have a low enough 1st gear – I put a Shimano megarange cassette on which made a massive difference. The standard mech coped fine with this.

Physio showed me how to do some serious massage – basically at the points the muscles attach – the points where it is most painful when you dig your fingers in. Massaging accross the muscle fibres to free them up. Worked a treat!

senditnow.com is worth looking at – from memory £13 for 24hour delivery. It is parcelforce by another name.

Are there any issues with warranties on kit bought from USA?

6 month old xc600's had no rebound control or lock out. Windwave had them back to me within 3 days with a replaced tst2 cartridge under warranty. Pretty good service!2 rides later the lock out doesn't work, and they feel uncontrolably bouncy again. Even with new bits in will they ever ride Ok or should I cut my losses??

It does make you wonder why there is so little clearance on some brakes. The hayes on the Dawg are definatly closer than the Shimano on the last bike.

No – shimano cheapo not XT – just another example of the crap components on the bike.

Had this on a kona dawg – but it took a while to realise that it ws happening. The cause turned out to be slightly loose cones – when I loaded them up peddaling up a hill it mad ethe disc rub on the pads.

Make sure you get them out on kiddy seats, then a trailagator bar, then they grow up with biking being a fun thing to do. Then by the time they are 8 they will be leaving you for dead, going over bigger drops and have better kit than you (that's what happened here!!)

From the Linn of Dee has got to be one of the best bits of single track going.
Can't those ramblers leave anything alone??

and keep an eye out for the symptoms of Lymes disease………….- bulls eye rash.
Chances of getting Lymes much reduced if you remove the tick within 24 hours.

Windwave were pretty helpful – but won’t have any replacement cartridges for 2 weeks, and no spare forks to lend either.
Oh well I survived the Fort Bill red with them, so the alps should be no bother!

Thanks AndyPaice for that – I e-mailed them today – so will also call them.
I was also wondering about the warranty side of things. Maybe better to get them sorted then sell them.

………but the most important thing is I have an almost new 5″ travel bike which rides like a rigid coz of the crap/f*&%^$£ked forks 4 days before setting off for the Alps…………..
Not a happy bunny

Thanks – will give them a go – after I get them back from the warranty claim.