I ran a 120mm Revelation on mine and would have gone longer, but it was already a stretch for me (I’m 6ft and had a large with a 31mm stem) and the seat angle was slacker than I’d have liked too, so as much as I wanted to up it to 130mm to get the front end higher, I didn’t want to make the effective top tube any longer or the seat tube any slacker. I’d stick with 120mm as it seems the best compromise.

I would go Scala over the Kamiq unless you wanted a higher driving position. The Scala is kind of half-estate/half-hatchback, it’s bigger than a golf/leon hatch but not as big as the estate versions. Looked at the Scala when I got the Arona but they were newer so out of budget.

2 years in my Arona 1.0 TSI FR Sport (basically the same a Kamiq) and I do like it alot. It rides quite firmly on 18 inch wheels and sports chassis, but overall it handles well, is comfy, economical and good to drive. Don’t expect masses of space though compared to an estate. I can’t stand my Spur up in it vertically, it just about sits more than half up right with the 60 portion of the back seats folded down, doubt it’d do it on the 40 alone.

Overall a nice car and I love it, but the fact I know my next car will be a Leon/A4/Octavia Estate says it all as far as practicality goes for you OP.

Also, careful with remaps, especially on smaller capacity/turbo/DI engines.
I’ve dealt with warranty on remaps (we can tell, easily, that it’s been done, unless you swap the entire ECU) something like 90% of them switch off half the safeties in the ECU, or block fault codes from being used (but not logged) just to allow their new map to run without turning the dash into a christmas tree.

Seen some right piles of cräp masquerading as remaps.

Been looking at TDI Tuning Boxes as they seem decent from what I’ve read? Also heard some dodgy things about maps so would only go for something reputable!

Thanks all! Tyre pressures were checked recently and they were between 32-34 PSI, have topped these up to 35PSI. I had eliminated E!0 as the cause, I’ve been on E10 for over a year now as it appeared around me in North Wales quite early for some reason and that cost a little to start with, but nothing like as much as this. It’s not changed now the weather is warmer either.

The mileage quoted is per journey as well, so not a trip computer issue, the car gives me a claimed MPG figure for that journey and resets it if the car has been left for more than 2 hours, which during the day it is. I brim the car everytime I fill up, used to get 390ish claimed “range” when I did, now it only goes up to 350ish… Something weird and I’ll keep an eye on it and check for anything unplugged. For the cost of the filter I’m tempted to do it anyway and if it doesn’t improve I’m definitely even more tempted by a remap to try and boost the economy back up a bit!

very nearly jacked in my MK5 Cotic soul and T130C RS for a SodaMax… would have been amazing, but then I wouldn’t have got the Spur which is just awesomer

I’d just go for a GX Spur. As Devash said, the Sid Select+ fork is arguably better and certainly not worse. I swapped the damper to the lighter Race Day one from the Ultimate and is negligible between them. The only different in the two shocks is a bit of machining on the eyelet that saves you a whole 3g. Yes. 3 whole grams. Otherwise, totally the same.

I adore mine, it’s ruddy awesome!

First package delivered, just had an email to say the second, which they said had been pushed back to January has just shipped too 😁

Supposedly 3 of my 5 items have been shipped, but the tracking hasn’t updated since Tuesday when they said they’d sent it to Royal Mail, but nothing since. Annoyingly, the one thing I really wanted/needed, the Outflow Jacket, has been pushed back to January :(

Definitely fault on SportPursuit, as 7Mesh are usually epically quick at getting stuff out having gone direct before hand.

7Mesh Revelation or Skypilot. I have the older version of the Skypilot and it’s awesome!

I’m 6ft 1 and about 72kg and find medium 7Mesh tops/jackets that have a “relaxed” fit are a bit roomy for me, so I go for a small.

Very fortunate to have mine already 😀 The Spur is perfect for me, it’s fast, fun and it’s been rock solid in 2 and a bit years of ownership. I’d like it to have the SRAM UDH for ease and futureproofing though. XX1 rather than GX AXS would be nice, as would a Reverb AXS, but otherwise, it’s all there already 😎

You’ll be fine with a medium. My shorts are all medium and I’m a 32″ waist. I generally wear small in the tops and medium in the shorts/trousers (though my Thunderpants are a small). For reference I’m 6ft, 165lb and prefer a slimmer fit.

7Mesh actually use a great form of “fit” type, they have “relaxed”, “trim” and “skin” fits. If tops are “relaxed” I go small, if they’re “trim” or “skin”, I go medium.

Well I’m a few hundred quid lighter now!! 🤣🤣🤣 Been tempted by the Outflow jacket for a while and this was the final push I needed! Great PSA!

I’ve been using 7Mesh for years now, think my first order with them was back in 2016 and everything from that first order is still in service and is used regularly. I genuinely won’t wear anything else now. The fit is awesome, it’s amazing quality and the performance of every piece I’ve had (and I’ve got A LOT of it) has been next level. Cannot recommend them enough and at those prices it’s a no brainer, stock up while you can!

Have to disagree on the generic “carbon wheels ride worse than aluminium” argument… 10 years ago, absolutely, now though? Much less so.

I’ve recently gone from some Hunt XC Wide Alloy wheels to their new Proven Carbon Race XC’s and the difference is instantly notable. They’re not much lighter (about 130g) but straight away I noticed a difference. They are far more compliant over the rough stuff, yet the bike now feels so much more precise than it did before. I can hold a line far better and actually had to add a click of rebound damping as they felt that lively compared to before. Yes the new wheels are wider (30mm vs 25mm) so not identical rim spec, but all the same, I am super, super impressed with them. Bargain for the price as well with a lifetime crash replacement scheme.

Definitely my Spur with a few changes

Full XX1 AXS and Reverb AXS, along with some stupid light wheels (hopefully Hunt’s new Proven XC wheels are as good as they look) and I’ll be more than content. It’s bloody awesome!

I’d go large with a 35/40mm stem. I’m just over 6ft and my large with a 50mm stem fits me like a glove. Coming up for 2 years on it now and it is the best bike I’ve ridden, let alone own. Amazingly fast and capable.

Cheap as chips Lyrik on CRC with RCT3 damper, right spec for you as well

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/rockshox-lyrik-rct3-boost-fork/rp-prod212295

Grease your through axles. I spent literally months trying to track down a creak on my Spur. New BB, new freehub, new headset bearings, full frame bearing swap, all to no avail. Greased both thru axles and the noise disappeared… Rarely have I felt so relieved but so annoyed at the same time!

Pointless thing is pointless. My GX AXS came with one, it seemed to rattle around a bit so I took it off and had zero issues. Literally no need for it as I can see!

Double your budget, buy a “Refurbished” (basically new but the box says refurbished) base model M1 Macbook Air from Apple and job done. I adore mine, it’s just freaking awesome! Ignore the fact it has “only” 8GB of RAM, it’ll easily handle what you want and the battery lasts for literal days. Worth their weight in gold.

Looks like we’ll have to wait to find out how good they are, due in stock in March 2024!! 😲😲😲

Dissector will be more aggressive than this, I liked the Dissector but it did occasionally feel vague when leaned over due to the big gap between centre lugs and side tread.

This pretty much looks like a love child of the old Forekaster and the Assegai. I’d say its been a Dissector and Rekon as a guess. So probably Minion/Dissector up front and one of these out back if you wanted a bit more speed, or new Forekaster both ends for extra extra speed.

I’ll be after these as soon as they’re available. Shame they’re quoting them as so heavy, the 29×2.4 is claimed at 945g, which puts it same weight as a Dissector and 2.3 DHR II. Was hoping it would be closer to 850g but still very keen to give them a go!

Spied these on Geoff Kabush’s instagram a few weeks back, think I need some of these! Nice to see they’re finally offering it aftermarket in a 3C version, always annoyed me you could get the old Forekaster in 3C OE but not standalone!

+1 for the Hot Laps, I have the Stealth and 2L one and they are awesome, very comfortable and just choose which one for whatever type of ride I’m doing, but been doing longer 25+ mile rides with the 2L one recently with an extra bottle.

Ergon GE1, used them for the last 4 years and they’re great.

Moved from the midlands about 8 years to Wrexham and as others have said, the town centre is not great, but overall, I quite like it up here. Good riding, great travel connections to Chester/Liverpool/Manchester if you want and easy access to snowdonia and shropshire. Peaks is relatively easy to access still, done it a few times. Housing is not bad price wise in decent-ish areas on the periphery. I’d do it again :)

Yeah the multiple choice makes it a lot easier, it’s more a process of elimination. Some I could guess without any hints, maybe 2 I only got because I knew it wasn’t the other options given, not because I knew what the tyre was actually in the picture!

Full marks here, I need to get out more!

SwissStop all day long for me, had the Organics and Endurance pads from them and they made my Guides and G2s feel much better. Prefer the Organic over Endurance as they have more bite and they seem to last pretty well too. Yet to try the RS but once my spare set of Organics is used up I’ll try the RS. Well worth the money.

Yeah tan walls on a Ti frame are a must for me, just looks too plain otherwise! I did contemplate a Cotic Tonic when they came out, but just couldn’t justify the price. If they do another run though…

@kelvin, yeah always go tan wall for gravel!!

@cooperee, it’s a size medium and a smidge taller than you at around 6ft. I do prefer a slightly smaller road/gravel bike though, I matched the geo to my previous Genesis Datum I sold a few years back as it fitted perfectly but just couldn’t take the size of tyre I wanted. I’m right on the minimum insertion that Cotic recommend with a 350mm post mind.

I did think a large might work, but I’d need to run a 80/90mm stem slammed on top of the head tube to get the same position, so the medium just gave me more options for getting the fit just right.

I do kind of want a Reverb AXS XPLR for it, but would prefer to go fully wireless on the Spur first! 😂

Definitely the volume of oil slick to bolts in my stem and brakes/shifter mounts. Reminds me, I still want oil slick to rotor bolts but been holding out as they are already ti, just plain silver! 😂

Another vote for OneUp, the posts are great, easy to fit, easy to give a quick service and if things do go wrong their back up is outstanding.

CYB was actually the location I convinced a very talented mate of mine that dropper posts were essential back in 2012/2013. He was a far, far better rider technically than I could ever hope to be and fitter too. And yet on one long up/down section (think it was Pink Heifer if memory serves) I gave him a decent headstart and caught him by the end of the trail. The look on his face was a picture as he couldn’t understand how I’d caught him. The difference? He had his regular post & saddle dropped for the whole trail and I had a dropper.

Genuinely, I would rather ride a rigid bike with a dropper than a full suspension bike without one.

They make some lovely, lovely bikes and frames, but they can sod off asking for asking nearly £2k for a frame with mostly 631 tubes!!!! 😲😲😲

Me likey. The Celos is very similar to my Spur but with frame storage, which would be nice to have. Geometry looks good to me, again, very close to the Spur, the Asco is a touch slacker, don’t see why you’d want it longer for a trail bike?

Trouble is, we’re going to be seeing more and more tracks like Vegas I fear. For all it’s criticism, there’s no denying the 2 races in Jeddah have been more action packed than a lot of GPs on regular circuits, and Baku and Singapore often throw up a crazy race too. Kind of feel like F1 is going down a similar route to WC DH now I think about, it’s all single line, flat out blast stuff designed to look impressive on screen. Classic tracks like Laguna Seca, Kyalami etc are not going to fit that brief.

The cars are braking even later this year, despite being heavier the front brakes got a big jump up in size but fewer holes to cool them if I remember correctly. I’m sure I read that steel discs wouldn’t actually make the distance longer, they’d just fade quicker during a long run, which is a safety concern I guess.

Kind of getting the feeling the W13 is a bit like the Lotus 80 too, producing too much downforce it’s own good.

+1 for X01/XX1 chains, they last way better than GX!

The steel ones from memory are WAY heavier, I didn’t think it would be much but I think it added about 100g or so! (just checked and a 32T steel ring is double the weight of a GX alloy ring, so some 70g heavier)