yes, i have the smaller version and the battery is very well designed to sit neatly against the frame, with no real rattle/wiggle.

Also, the remote switch is very compact and can attach to the grips to make changing modes very easy.

Detergent just breaks the waterproofing down. I just hose my Surplus Goretex cut offs down when they’re still wet mud, then hang ‘em up to dry.

For the few really nasty days I actually ride in each year, they work just great.

@mashr

Boost, yes indeed.

Include BB?…. well thats currently still running on my Stumpjumper, about 6 months old now with summer use only. Could take that out if you really wanted it?

I fancy changing it to a Wheels Manufacturing jobbie anyway.

I’ve a set of Race Face Aeffect cranks, 170mm 2x rides old….
came off my stumpjumper before i replaced them with some existing XTR ones i already had.

Sitting in a box, doing nothing.
PM me if you’re interested. 2 ride old direct mount 30t ring included….

Tis true the FSR link is very ‘vanilla’, but the bikes have come on alot since 2015.

My previous Stumpy was a 2015 evo with an air shock, but my current 2018 coil version is a very different beast.

and in particular I hate the wallowy suspension that no end of spacers and tuning was every able to overcome

Coil…. say no more.

I have the S-works Stumpy from 2018 and ride around the Brighton area too, along with Wales and further afield when i can. It’s a 140/150mm version.

I’m using 27.5 wheels in it most of the the time, with larger volume (2.4WT) tyres and bike feels great. The Roval Carbons that came with it are not particularly light, so i wouldn’t buy the bike on the merit of the wheels. I only use the 29″ Roval wheels in the summer with fast rolling tyres on for longer days in the saddle.

For the shorter travel at 130/140mm i think the benefit of Pike chassis is not so important. For longer travel bikes, i reckon you’d notice the difference much more.

For the 1k difference i’d but the cheaper one, ride and upgrade back to Shimano (as i have done) when the bits wear out. It’s only the rear mech and shifter that will need changing, as the SRAM cassette will be fine with Shimano drivetrain. Spend the money you’ve saved on a better rear shock (a coil) and something towards some posh wheels maybe.

Its a fab bike for this area tho. Buy it.

Ive got a ‘Moon Shield’ rear light, with a good seat rail mount. Not had one fail yet, they have lots of useful modes and they’re very bright. Although, be sure to disable the silly ‘auto’ setting, which turns the light on after dark. My bike store is dark, so this doesnt quite work.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/moon-shield-x-auto-light/

The WHeelsManufacturing BB i use is great, no creaks and bearings last well.

Across my three bikeS, I’ve got 4 reverbs laying in a spares box, with a variety of issues in The last 4 years.

IME reverbs work very well for about 2 yrs, then develop sag/lever weeps/ or keying goes. They’re too expensive to repair, being only slightly less than a whole new post.

So, great post, poor durability and expensive servicing.

It’s a shame, as I hate the waste involved in this process, but don’t want to ditch the dropper completely.

I’m 110kgs and ride Around 25ish in the front and rear. Maxxis DHR 27.5, 2.5/2.4wt exo+ carcass on the F/S trail bike.

I sometimes run a bit less on the Maxxis shorties in the winter, as I’m never smashing as much as when the trails are dry.

In 5 years of tubeless, I’ve not yet dinged a rim.

Of course it’s not…… says the STW 45+ year old massive.

Thanks for the recommendations- I’ll look into the Southern series then.

By ‘not fresh nee’ I meant that the only enduro I have done so far, simply had new routes taped out through some trees, which had no real flow. It was rooty, slippy and just hard work. Although this does make it sound like I want an easy course, which I don’t.

@BeagleBoy……

Yes, i got a Moon 1300 for £55…! great deal. They’ve stopped that one now, but i did see this other one for the 1800 which is again, a great bargain.

Moon 1800 lumen

I just sling some Maxxis Shorties on around November, then take ‘em off around April.

Headphones and some good tunes.
No more creaks.

I just ran a 26” Xs frame FS Giant with RS SID forks, using 24” wheels until my son grew into the same frame with 26’ wheels, and slightly limber stem.

Got Tf to Service the forks (as they were used) and calve them for his weight more closely.

It’s a fab bike with suspension that works properly for him now.

Hiya- yes, there are better ones.
I mounted some to my Yuba Mundo, which clamped to the regular frame tubes, AND flipped up when not needed.

Now, I’m nowhere near my shed, but they’re still in there somewhere. If you can wait a bit, I’ll dig em out and as I believe you’re local (brighton) you can have ‘em.

I got them from a dutch bike type company somewhere on the Interwebs.

I hate throwing good stuff away and I won’t use em again.

Pm me if interested.

Neilson are a good bet- lots to do if you’re a non biker too! Varied ability groups go at different time, food and accommodation are good.

I reckon. 2.5wt maxxis would be prone to tyre roll on a Tech Enduro rim. You’ll not die* but it won’t be the best combo.

*all views are subjective opinion and not legally binding professional advice.

I get mine from ‘justridingalong’

The only advice I can give, is to get coil shocks, even though they are a bit heavier. Even the very good modern air shocks of the past few years can’t compete with a good coil shock.

They’re trickier to get the spring rate right, which is very important, but if performance is top of your list… you’ll love them.

They won’t let you down on a big day out by losing air, and they won’t need servicing as often.

Fox, or Ohlins would be good.

I have an Ohlins coil shocked stumpjumper and it’s fab. The only bike I need really. Trails/enduro/alps/dirt jumping/uplifts.

Oh no….. that’s never gonna end well for me.

Oh, and i’m 112kg, butt naked.

I cant remember the model (as i’m not in front of the bike) but i’ve had 2 Spesh saddle swith a cut away in the middle that have BOTH popped a rail out of the back of the saddle. It’s because the ones with cut-away tend to flex alot more, so the rail pops out from the hole it sits in at the back.

Not a problem, if you could actually pop it back in with your hands. Seems the leverage of my fat arse is considerably more than i can gain with my bare hands. So, i have a good condition, but otherwise unusable saddle now, as one was replaced by the LBS and went on the kids bike.

I use Ergon grips with those little stubbby bar ends integrated into them.
Sorted any numb palms/hands for me. Plus the bar end things have save my little fingers from the occasional bump into something.

I run a 650b wheelset with chunky tryes/rims and inserts on my trail bike, for traisl/jumps/messing, then swap to 29er wheels with smaller/lighter tyres when i’m off for a longer XC type ride. Works a treat.

Fox 3/4’s

Fox do (or did) some, and they’re pretty durable. I have lots of pairs of them.
Polaris also do some, although they’re more expensive.

You’re not particularly heavy, but as mentioned before, the areas i’d first look at are:

1st: Suspension tune (although i’m not sure how much you CAN tune the Rock Shox 30 Silver TK Solo Air that comes on your bike)
2nd: wider rims and stronger sidewall tyres. These make quite a difference to my 18stone when getting the right tyre pressure without over inflating, and loosing traction.
3rd: Only when you’ve made the first two adjustments, and are finding yourself going MUCH faster than you did before will you need better front brake maybe. 4 Pot calipers make quite a difference IMHO.

These upgrades will enhance your riding (a bit) but not enough to spend loads on.
Most of the other components are plenty strong enough, unless you’re dropping big gaps, or jumping.

I route plan on ‘bikehike’ Website, then just put the GPX file into Dropbox where viewranger harvests it from. Works a treat.

I use viewranger too. Free offline maps are ok quality, but I pay to download specific OS maps for routes I’m gonna be navigating on.

Pay per tile, or by a region.

One caveat to my previous post, is that i don’t use Hope rims at all. I build my own wheels using a mix of Stans FLow and Chinese carbon rims.

Still, the hubs are very reliable.

I have 7 sets of wheels with Hope hubs, mixture of Pro2, Pro2 Evo and Pro4’s. Over 14 years of riding all year long (albeit not massive milage) i’ve only replaced the bearings in 2 sets of those wheels (the pro2’s, to get wider Axle for thru axles). Amazing durability.

Made of cheese freebody, thats a different matter of course.

Oh, and i’m a 115kg biffer,

I was going to take some shots of my friends riding using remote flashes etc: and although i’ve done this before and was going to use signs warning of flashes and so on…. BPW were of the opinion that they wouldn’t permit that.

I think the comment about enforcement of photo taking would be tenuous at best, i didn’t want to haul all my gear up onto the hill to have an over enthusiastic employee getting all hot-under-the-collar with me, so i just decided not to do it.

My Butcher Gription 2.6’s were only on my bike or 2 rides, then came off as i didn’t get on with them at all. Coming from Butcher 2.3s (which i did like) i found them to be very thin side walled and in corners were wandering around and slipping out alot.

I’m now running Maxxis DHR’s in 2.4WT both front and back, which are awesome.

2 nearly new 2.6 butchers (27.5 tho’) for sale??…….

I have fitted a ‘Smashpot’ and a YariUp to my pair, and the difference is massive. I also changed the seals when i did the Damper/spring swap.

I only did it this way, because i got a great deal on some new Yaris, and wanted a coil fork.

@Del

@excitable1

@Carlos

looks like there will be a few from here on that week then.

So, can someone tell me exactly how SARLOC works?

How do emergency services send a link, if they don’t know you’re lost?

I downloaded the App and it does not make much sense. I’ve also looked to see if I can work it out, but haven’t yet.