Max knew what he was doing for sure and it again shows his unwillingness to play the long term game and instead just throw his dummy out the pram or resort to playing dirty.

He knew that with Lewis ahead, he had zero chance of getting back past and would lose points; he couldn’t get past a Mclaren so how could he get past a faster Mercedes? No problem, just lob it up the inside and not cut the chicane as others would, best case I get past and we bump wheels, worst case we’re both out and I’ve lost nothing. It’s just petulance and one day its going to end in tears. His sheer “I’m right, it’s my corner, everyone else is wrong” sense of entitlement mentally has already caused a number of incidents.

I get it, everyone makes mistakes/misjudgements in the heat of the moment, Lewis included, but Max is next level in terms of entitlement and I hope it doesn’t take someone getting seriously hurt or worse for him to realise that sometimes you just have to accept defeat and be a man about it.

I may be wrong, but isn’t it just a re-jigged version of Felt’s Equilink?

No doubt it will be nice to ride, but as ever with Yeti, good luck to anyone who buys one!

Well, first issue with my GX AXS mech, the clutch has seemingly died according to the LBS, will send off for warranty. I thought something was odd as the Spur was a super quiet bike but the chain has been rattling around like no ones business for the last few weeks, even extra sound deadening around the frame didn’t help… Good job I kept a mechanical GX derailleur/shifter as spares!

I think next year Mercedes will need to be on it to avoid a 2007 repeat, as other has said. Initially it’s more likely to be like that than the 2014-2016 years of inter-team fighting with no threat. They’ll have to back one horse and given George is younger and new to the team, unless he pulverises Lewis in the first few races they’ll back Lewis to be “Number One” with a promise that the second year (and Lewis’ last year most likely) is open season and fight among yourselves.

AXS all the way. I replaced the mechanical X01 on my bike with GX AXS and it is just flat out better.

The V1 Bronson was such a disappointing bike. I rode one just after they came out and was so hyped for it, but felt like such a let down. It felt heavy, soggy and the geometry felt awkward, I’m also just over 6ft and rode a large. I later rode an XL V1 5010 for a day and adored it, so you had to size up and live with a shorter dropper. Well done for steering clear!

Good old Shimano, nothing remotely interesting at all as usual. SRAM really have got them licked these days.

I kind of don’t see the point of the 900 but do at the same time. The RC was mega, just the one I tried was gagging for a dropper post, even with pinner Rekon Races on, it could rail corners in the dry.

The 900 gets a heavier 130mm fork and beefier tyres, but really it’s only the tyres that need changing if you want it to be more like a Spur, a Sid or 34SC is more than enough for it. I never felt like the RC wasn’t slack enough or lacked stability. A bit quicker handling than the Spur for sure but I couldn’t see what going up to the 900 would gain me really aside from grippier tyres (easy to change) and a fork that’s just heavier for little performance gain.

It’s the same reason I don’t get why some folks add 130mm Pike/34 to the Spur, it doesn’t need it, all you do is make it heavier for no reason. Keep it light as you can, fit terrain appropriate tyres and your preferred bar width/rise and be done. Having ridden both, I don’t see how changing the fork and tyres is going to bring the Spark closer to bikes like the Spur/Tallboy/Ripley, it’s still going to feel very different to those bikes. If you want an XC race bike that can do dual duty as a trail bike at the weekend, the Spark is one helluva machine though!

As mentioned, I rode the Spark RC a few weeks back and really liked it. The cable routing is not bad at all, but you are limited with what stem/bar you can run. Technically you can get other bits if you want to run a different stem, but good luck actually getting them.

The hidden shock for me was a non-issue too, after being burned by the shocking attention to detail on a Mondraker I check out bikes thoroughly and there was nothing that made me worry suspension wise. Only slightly awkward bit is the top shock bolt; you can get to it by compressing the shock but easier to just take out the lower trunnion mount bolts and let the shock drop through the hatch in the frame and then reverse those steps.

The pressfit BB would be a pain though for me. I get that PF92 is common now, but T47 threaded would be the way to go if you insist on a super wide BB shell and don’t want to narrow it down with a BSA BB. Also, you can just remove Twinloc altogether and leave the bike fully open all the time. Honestly, it’s so efficient that unless you’re racing, it really, really doesn’t need it.

If you hadn’t guessed, I was impressed by the couple of hours I had with it. Would I have one over my Spur? No. If I couldn’t blow £5K on a Spur though, I think it would be towards the top of my list.

I don’t have many regrets MTB purchase wise, but having spent a year on 29 inch wheels on the Spur, I wish I’d gone for a Solaris Max over my Soul. The Soul was convenience as I initially used the wheels from my old T130 and just swapped them between the two bikes, but as I subsequently built a new set for it anyway, the convenience of initial lower cost is gone. Now I just have that nagging “it’s slower, heavier and has silly little wheels” every time I’m looking at which bike to ride. Safe to say I’ve picked the Spur. Every. Single. Time.

Come to think of it, a Foxy XR Carbon SE that cost a fortune, then cost even more of a fortune with all the upgrades I put on it. It still rattled itself to pieces and creaked more than anything I’ve ever ridden. Was very glad when that was gone!

Another vote for 7Mesh, super subtle, great colour choices and the fit/performance is far beyond anything else I’ve tried. Even better, they have a repair centre in the UK so if you do wreck a piece. Good luck doing that though, I’ve had one issue in 5 years across a number of bits of gear in constant use all year round, which they’ve offered to repair. Good gear, good people to deal and given how long it lasts, I’d say bloody good value in the long run!

I’ve been running a Dissector/Rekon Race through the summer and absolutely loved it, will put a normal Rekon on the back for winter in North Wales, seems to work well. If I rode steeper, loamier trails, I’d be happy Dissector front & rear. Did try Rekon/Rekon Race for a few rides and it was OK, just felt the minimal speed gain was outdone by the reduced grip up front.

Looks kinda similar to the Sherpa one-off that was doing the rounds last year:

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/the-four-year-story-of-fin-woods-diy-carbon-enduro-gearbox-bike.html

I think if someone can create a gearbox with minimal drag, a trigger shifter at roughly GX/SLX weight with a 500%ish gear range, it might take off, but until there’s a standard for mounting them to frame so you have choice of which gearbox you go for, the cost comes down and the friction/drag is dramatically reduced, it won’t take off at all and will remain a niche.

Looks like Andi is running the new SRAM rotors too, press release imminent on those?

780mm Chromag Cutlass Carbon bars with 25mm rise on both bikes, though the ones on the Spur are newer and a slightly different shape, think there’s more sweep on them. I did have them at 800mm but it was too much, so went to 780 which I knew works for me at 6ft 1″. Ergon GE1 grips probably take them a little wider but they feel great.

You think getting sub standard frame bearings is bad, back in 2015 my £4.8K Foxy XR Carbon (and indeed the £6K range topper) came with loose ball and cage bearing headsets! And the less said about the constantly loosening pivot hardware the better!

I got a chance to get 20 miles on the new Spark RC on Friday (same frame/shock as the Spark 900) and was really impressed. Even without a dropper post and despite the 740mm bars and XC race tyres I could push it pretty hard and it was fun to ride. Very fast and efficient and the twinloc works well too. I wouldn’t even say it needed the longer 130mm fork of the 900, just stick a dropper, wider bar and a gripper front tyre on and let rip. The press fit bb would the only thing to really put me off. The bike I was on had a serious creak already. Other than that, hard to fault, right up there with my Spur for me.

I’d go for a Sid on a 629 personally. Plenty stiff enough and nice and light, well impressed with the set on my Spur and would be the fork I’d go for on a 120mm 29er hardtail

Yeah he’s done a bit on his YouTube channel, worth a subscribe!

Yep, all doable. GuyKes has been running the “older” axs road mech and cassettes on a hardtail for a few months, using the flat top chain on a regular eagle chainring. The tooth profile on the chainrings is the same between 1x 12-speed road rings and the eagle MTB ones, so will be all good.

You mean like the new XPLR groupsets they just released?!

Yeah you’re right there Kelvin, so many hurdles for any brand to work around at the minute. Going to take a long time to get back to whatever the new normal becomes. Lead times are already into 2023 for a lot of things, factories are backed up for years and who know what demand will be like by the time things actually become available again. If only we all had crystal balls to see this coming and plan ahead!

Surprised they haven’t tried to turn it into a mullet for one run to see how it goes? Get Fiveland to make a mullet specific front end, but I guess it’s a stretch to justify for one run if the orders for swingarms are that big with the factory. How long will the 27.5 BFe last as their remaining 27.5 bike? While we’re discussing their line up, they should do another run of SodaMaxs!

Most gravel bikes seem to these days, and a whole host of XC race bikes.

Looking at the ardrock photo epic ove ron PB, looks like a new lever is in the works too. New rotor on the high pivot bike and some prototype carbon cranks over their IG. Plenty in the works from Hope it would seem!

Not wanting to flame you OP, but I’m amazed you’re T130 weighs under 13kg. My old T130C RS which was built light as I dare (700g tyres, 1700g wheels, carbon cranks, bar etc) was 13.5kg. I’d be checking another set of scales!

More helpfully though, as others have said, you’ll have to compromise somewhere and it’s going to be down price or weight really. I have a Spur (GX build in large) which I’ve extensively swapped/upgraded stuff on and it’s 12.3kg. I’d have to go way lighter on the front tyre (Dissector is circa 950g) and wheels (Hunt XC Wides at 1650g) and back to mechanical X01 over GX AXS to drop below 12kg.

For me, I’d be aiming to get as close as you can for your budget, the Vitus or the Spur would be a good shout, the Spur fits every bill aside from weight and long term, you could get it down if you had money to spare down the line. I’m 72kg and find it light enough as is though, it’s a rapid bit of kit!

If Rockshox are still stupid, I think they revert to fully locked out if you just remove the lockout? Are they the latest 35mm Sids?

Maxxis have a habit of making tyres for brands OE and then not selling them after market. 2.35 Forekaster made in Exo TR MaxxTerra for Canyon as an example yet only Dual compound if you don’t a bike to go with them!

If Max had taken a different line he’d have finished first or second. I believe that Max knew he had to be ahead of Lewis at the end of the first lap to disrupt the Mercedes strategy and that was all he had on his mind.

If that was his mindset, then he won’t be a world champion with that attitude. He proved less than 24 hours earlier that the Red Bull easily had the Merc covered for pace and he had far, far more to lose than gain by fighting that hard. Let Lewis take the corner and the position and get him back later. But no, he let his ego get in the way. There is zero shame in playing the long game and not playing every corner like it needs to fought over tooth and nail like it’s your last. Because as he’s now proved thanks to his attitude, it was his last corner.

Got one on the front in 29×2.4 and its bloody awesome for my riding. Was a bit edgy in proper winter mud but otherwise it’s a fast, grippy tyre. Don’t think it’s particularly small personally, quite happy with the size it is and wouldn’t want it any wider for sure for the trail centres/ natural riding I do.

Hungary could be pretty good, especially if the weather plays it’s part. Lewis has won there 8 times before already and there’s arguably more chance for the drivers to make the difference given the layout. If they line up on the front together, could be fire works!

I’m a Hamilton fan, penalty was lenient given the outcome. On the other hand though, if the roles are reversed the same thing happens in my mind. Max needs to learn that sometimes it’s better just to let it go and live to fight another day. He had a big lead in the championship and a faster car to boot. He would have been second at worst and probably would have had the pace to win anyway. Just back out of it, let your ego shrink a minute and go again. As ever, he didn’t and he now has a far smaller lead, a team with a huge repair bill for his car (a team that will be on the very limit of the cost cap it should be said). Everyone has said it for years, until he calms down and learns to live to fight another day, this outcome will always happen every now and again.

Transition Sentinel? I’ve got a Spur which is a little light duty for what you want but if I wanted to go burlier I’d be on a Sentinel for sure, nice clean lines, amazing warranty support should you need it and they are really, really nice to ride.

To be honest, I quite like the new car, not a huge fan of the new nose/front wing, but overall, it looks great. However, I’m not sure the current car is the main problem. We’ve seen some decent wheel to wheel action in the midfield for a few years now, I think the big thing is the sheer amount of data and sophisticated tech they use to dial the cars in to an Nth degree. Usually when a race is wide open its either because of weather or because there’s limited running through practise. Limit practise and simulator time and maybe that would improve the spectacle and save money while they do it. Going to be really interesting how Silverstone works out this weekend with just the two practise sessions before/after qualifying.

I’d avoid the Newman wheels, rims are tough, but the hubs are shocking, go through bearings like nobodies business. A mate had them replaced 5 times in 18 months on the set that came with his Cube, and that’s only riding once a week! Several other sets I know of have been problematic also. Shame as they are seriously light for the money!

This thread needs pics!

Both are great bikes, if I did more uplifts and the like (and was far better at jumps and steeps!) , a Sentinel would be top of my list for sure. I think the Smuggler would split the difference between the two, but not by much. With a 150mm fork on your Smuggler, it’s going to be very close in capability to a Sentinel, whereas the Spur will be way, way lighter and still have enough to get you by, just without having a big safety blanket if you get it wrong.

I just love how the Spur manages to toe the line perfectly between being a lightening quick speed demon that would show up many an XC race bike and something you can just let go of the brakes and shred on. It’s plenty slack and long enough and with the stock tyres & suspension it’s got enough grip and composure to get away with it too. Yet to feel like I’ve overstepped its mark yet and that includes a top 10 Strava time down the last descent at Llandegla, which is torn to shreds at the minute and rattles many a bike around!

I don’t think a Pike would make the Spur anymore capable to be honest, certainly 10mm extra front travel won’t help, it’d be the slightly stiffer chassis that would make more difference, and even then, I’d say it’s marginal unless you are a heavier rider. I’m 6ft 1″ and 72kg so no heavyweight mind! The SiD is a stonkingly good fork really, it’s easily a match damping/control/comfort wise for the Pike on my old T130.

At 105kg, you may find the Spur a smidge on the flexy side, but I don’t think it would affect durability; the “issues” with the Sidluxe shock aren’t really issues at all, they just overfill the air can with grease and mines been flawless since new, likewise the fork. No bushing play in mine so far and I’m nearly 800 miles in on it.

@davegt, if you did want a Sentinel, what size would you need? Tweeks have a large NX build in stock in Ti Grey

Had mine since October and it is a riot. Beyond fast up hill and along singletrack but it has just enough in reserve to hit things hard. I haven’t taken it on too much that I’d say I NEED a longer travel bike for, but I’ve been hitting everything I usually do just as fast as any other bike I’ve owned, and indeed faster in a lot of cases.

Biggest bike I’ve owned is a Mondraker Foxy Carbon XR back in 2015/16, so 160/140mm with a Fox 36 up front and the Spur has it licked in most areas. Be interested to see how it gets on at places like Antur, the roughest place I took the Foxy, but for everything else it’s no contest, I’d take the Spur every day of the week.

Genuinely think that unless you frequently ride proper DH trails, whether they be fresh cut super steep loam or properly rock, Antur/Fort william style stuff, it’s all the bike 90% of people will ever need and would give a hell of a lot of people a second thought on the need for e-bikes… Jump off an Enduro bike and ride a Spur and you’ll be amazed how much faster it is yet sacrifices so little going down.

There’s loads of EC90 and EC70 copies online, they are horrifyingly bad! Avoid at all costs.