tragically1969 – lardman – Its also England so English would help, not some hybrid text\yoof speak, i had to read it 3 times before i know what they hell he was talking about.

Brilliant. In your hurry to be self righteous, your own spelling and grammar seems to be lacking. I should think the letter ‘i’ would look better as a capital I. As it was intended to be.

It’s just another opportunity for the STW elitist mafia to have a pop. You pompous prick

.

Absolutely.

errrr…

Mollski, does that mean your gonna post it out?

cheers

Scienceofficer
Mister P

It’s a bike forum, not an English exam. Maybe worth remembering that before you both decide to be unpleasant.

Mollski..

i sent a mail with all the details.. Are you not able to get e-mail?

All looked fab, and in great condition, BUT there was no 9-speed cassette in the box. So you just forgot to put it in. Can you send it on to me.. same address as before.

Mail me or post here if you need any more details

Cheers

Hi Darren..
Can you check your mail re: bits you mailed over to me last week.
Cheers
Lardman.

Not a bit of lard on me… no, honest guv!

Bought a pint last friday of some very nice wheat/beer/euro trendy nonsense.
It was lovely, but also was £5.50 pint.

Get a proper spring sourced from someone like TF Tuned, as it will make all the difference. Or better still get a cheaper fork and spend the extra getting it valved/tuned for your weight and riding style.

sorry Ton, that should not be funny. At all.
Cars, bikes, roads dont mix well….. nothing funny at all. And i’m the first one with some twisted humour normally.

By the way, I’ve tried them all (almost) and I weigh in at the bantam weight of 18 stone.

coil springs ALWAYS give a better ride, if the fork is tuned properly. BUT, air sprung forks nowadays are pretty close.

Coil = small weight penalty, small performance increase, better reliability.
Air = small weight gain, small performance drop, worse reliability.

If you don’t really care about weight too much, get a coil, and get a good one.

Of course, it’s all IMHO, and apparently round here you should have no gears, no suspension, and a beard.

Get some flats on…

ride bike in a straight line, with saddle low as it will go (or indeed find a vey shrt post). Do all this Very slowly.

Making sure your rear brake is shit-hot… throw all your weight back as far as you can whilst pulling hard back on the bars.

The aim IS to get the bike to flip out from under you.

when the bike flips out (back wheel goes under, front wheel comes over the top) jump off the back and land flat on both feet.

Do this repeatedly until you can manage to catch the bike with the back brake BEFORE it flips out.

This way you’ll find where the balance point is, much quicker than working up to it. It’s much further back than you think.

When you are comfortable with this technique, you’ll be able to hold the bike vertical, and stationary for a very short time.

If you then transfer this to a slight downhill slope, and let go of the brake once the bike has tried to escape from under you….. it will want to roll forward, and you can then pull back again, and the technique becomes a game of feathering, and pulling back, whilst the slope give you momentum.

All of this worked forme. But then i am a bit of an animal.

big fat slicks for the Slickrock areas. It’s mostly grippy sandstone/concrete type stuff. Something like this DMR one would work

For the other trails, i would go with something in super tacky, with tubless/slime type affair. It’s not really that rough, just big flat slabs of rock, with sometimes sharp edges. Minions/high rollers?

well… i’ve pedaled about 20 metre’s at top of the Thorong La pass, as have some others here. I soon gave the bike back to the little Nepalese man, who was making me look like a fool with my gasping and throwing up a lung. He pedaled off seeming unaware of the ridiculous height and lack of oxygen.

I returned to my cup of tea, and spliff.

well, there’s plenty more places i can direct you to, for when u go again.

I know a great route that takes you from the center of San Fran right over Mt Tamalpais, down to beautiful white sandy beach (and pub) then back over on singletrack to Golden Gate bridge… and back to SF. All off road, and at least half singletrack (mostly legit)

Plus lots more round the bay area.

cheers

well, there’s plenty more places i can direct you to, for when u go again.
cheers

hey.. you should definitely check out the Yuba Mundo…. I’m going to be getting one of them pretty soon. They look just right for my two kids, and shopping etc, and can take alot of weight.

£450 for the frame is pretty good price too!

I’ll post up some pics and views when i have it.

Hey Itheisinger…

glad you had a great time in Northern Cal, it’s ace eh! I replied to your thread last year, when you were canvassing opinion on your trips and possible destinations. You seemed to have gone to all the places i recommended and looks like you had a blast.

Glad i could help out with a destination or two, and along with Mr Kelly and Co: looks like it was fun.

Ain’t Downeiville great eh!

Deore disks… cheap as, and very solid performers built onto deore hubs, laced to any durable mavic rim.
Easton vice stem, easton bars. Good, cheap, and strong.

SLX cranks, mechs, and shifter bits.

Go for older second hand Marzoochi fork(pre 2006), reliable, and bombproof.

You might be able to get most of these bits new for 500 (if you can find a second hand pair of forks..

Isle of Mull…

dollar rate is pretty favorable right now, makes things super cheap.
I was just looking at some Fox 36 van's 2011 model. £900 here, and £530 from there.
Mind you, they're neither small nor light.

SX trail, and it must be around/over 38lbs.
But, as you might have gathered from my Username…. it's all necessary.

I ride it on nearly every ride, other than mid-winter-mud. I have a Alfine HT for that. as the travel is not necessary slithering round at 5mph

train booked well in advance is pretty cheap. Seeper from London will be the best way to maximise on your "on the hill' time.

IIRC it was £150 from Brighton to Fort Bill, and back. SLeeper cabin was 50ish extra.

Cut a hole in a friends inner tubes, and filled them BOTH up with water, then fixed abd returned them to the bike. Just before a long sunday ride. He was suffering after a couple miles, and thought he was not feeling well. As he went to turn around and head back i confessed.

Strangely it was when i lved in San Fransisco, and we were doing a North Marin loop than included the repack.

We bumped into each other many years back Charlie. Top of Mt Tam i think.

not mine… but same as.
here

Mountain Cycle – Rumble. Short stays, steepish head angle, suited to 130mm to 150mm fork.

Stiff, strong, and not too short in the the top tube. Run it with a super short stem.

They have replaceable drop-outs, to run thru axle, or slotted/single speed/internal geared hub.

They're cheap, and bombproof. Mine handles great with a 150 fork, over jumps, roots, rocks.

that was the problem. Maintenance.
I was quite pleased about them being there to rent (initially) as they would be not too dissimilar to my own SXtrail.

ONe problem with any rental FS bike is the problem with suspension set-up. This big-hit came with a rubbish stock fork, which had an underweight spring for me.

Maybe a good option would be some differing spring weights on offer at time of rental. Booked in advance this would not be too much of an issue? surely?

err… well i'm at the office so cant remember specific sizes.
Great tip about the Crank Bros 'tingy. I'll do some measuring later, and see what i need to lose.

I can lose some of the stem, as it's a Easton vice right now.

It's all going on my winter-hardtail-jumpy thrasher bike. SO, weak stem would not be a good move.

thanks all.

errr……
I'm not a thin woman.

cheers for that NorthWind.

I suppose i'll just have to make sure i take my own ride next time then.

i love listening to tunes when i ride. Bit dull for everyone else if i'm on a group ride.

Time, kids, work, all get in the way of joining in with anyone else.
Love to ride on my own, i can go any speed, whichever trail i want, fast or slow, and go home when the mood takes me.

PLus, i'm slow and old and everyone else seems fitter, and more keen to go fast up hill. Not for me, i can tell ya.

So, does anyone here know where you can hire a 'good' bike at the Nevis range.
Demo8 maybe?
Santa Cruz V10

or something worth the WC course?
In case i'm there again soon without my bike, and need to rent.

I was there on a business trip without my bike a few weeks back. Had to rent a bike from the place at the bottom of the Gondola, and have to say.. the bike was NOT in a good state.
Chain slipping all the time (looked like a worn cassette)
Chain guide got jammed at every bump. The brakes were poorly set-up too.
The bloke in the shop was nice enough, but the bikes (spesh big hit) were trashed.
Swapped it twice, but none were much better than the first.

So, don't count on finding a good rental. Not from them at least.

i run about 1/4 sag on the front, as when you are going downhill (the time you need the performance most) you'll weight the front more. SO, start with a slightly firmer 'spring' setting. Be it air, or coil.

On the back, i run the sag at about 1/3 of travel, as the back will un-weight slightly in the same situation.

These settings are dependent on you having the right spring (if it's a coil) for your weight- so it does not bottom out more than once per rough downhill section.

This rule of thumb, works for me irrespective of bike/spring type/set-up/travel variations.

hope .. moto V2.
Stop on dime, and i ride my bike with them on about 20 times a year. 2 years on, no servicing, no problems, and 1 week in Les Arc under my belt.
changed pads about twice.
brilliant, but not cheap, or light.

Just come back from Lasagne Al Forno @ pizza express.
big glass of Merlot. Job done.
Yum.

34 up front, and 11-34 out back.

Wont be easy going up, and wont be fast going down… BUT, anything else either side of that would be daft.

surrey hills/ north downs got to be about 1.5 hours from Chelmsford.
Some great trails, and a decent (short) climb or two.

wiggle order made seconds after i posted this on here – lo, and behold… it's arrived this morning.

yep, basic shock with valving, and spring for you and your bike/ride style would be the best way to go.

i have a 5th Element, TF tuned and its fab.