Timmys: because as I said to firestarter the sale was agreed with the description provided, if they are not as described then for the seller to take my money would be fraud (obtaining money by deception) I'm giving the seller an opportunity to back out with no harm done if he was creative with his description, am I such a bad person?

Firestarter, I know what you are saying and yes I should have asked all the questions first, but if the forks are not as described then I would be within my rights to send them back, I'm just trying to save everyone involved the hassle.

here are the pics

this is the description;

fox talas 36 r forks, some bubbleing to crown,a common problem with fox forks,100-160mm of travel,
overall in good working order,usual paint chips nothing majior stantions are smooth,

and this is my email;

Hi, before I send payment I just wanted to confirm a couple of
things, you described the stantions as smooth, that to me means
there are no scratches or chips or any other damage to the
coating. You also describe the condition of the rest of the fork
(other than the crown which I accept) as just a few paint chips,
one common fault on this model of fork is cracking around the
pinch bolts if shims have not been fitted and the bolts have been
over tightened, can you confirm that there are no cracks at all on
the forks?

If you cannot confirm any of these things then let me know and
we can come to some arrangement regarding eBay fees and then
you can make a 2nd chance offer to the next nearest bidder.

Many thanks.

does that seem fair?

thanks for the info peeps, I'm going to email the seller and ask him about cracking.

Thanks Chunky.

So if it was down to the fox 36 van R or the Lyrik coil both for the same money and I am ready to pull the trigger, which would it have to be?

Higgo, pretty as those steeds are, I'm afraid I don't understand?

All I can find in my budget is some 'new' 2009 36 Vanillas, would they be good enough?

Aren't the fox's a bit of a nightmare to maintain, changing seals every 3 days, storing the bike in a gravity free environment etc?

The lyriks seem like a bargain? any other input from anyone?

Jedi have you seen this?

http://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/product/rockshoxlyrik2-step152008bikefork.aspx?&id=5185

Wow, I got a Paul Smith key fob as a leaving present from a previous company and I thought they were being tight buggers, I didn't know they cost that much.

Maybe I should have look more pleased with it, instead of the WTF look I gave them :oops:

it was merlin I was quoting, £311.95 with 203mm rotors, if they were at £250 I wouldn't have even asked the question :D

thanks for responses so far, it was ribble I was looking at for the XT, is it not worth going for XT over SLX for an extra £20ish?

XT levers have free stroke adjustment?

Yes just the caliper

+1 for media monkey

OK sorry it's not very interesting at all, and to some people a bit obvious, but I found it useful for narrowing down the bewildering choices of cassettes out there and I thought I'd share in case anyone else was in the same position.

Interesting how different people take different things from the same article, I didn't see it as SRAM bashing, just bashing any cassette that doesn't have a solid spider tube (or whatever you call it) it has certainly ruled out some of the cassettes I was considering.

Cheers for the replies, they were ordered from J E James.

I was just surprised, but like you all say the boxes just get thrown in the bin so I'm cool with them.