I bought a Honda HR173 2nd hand abut 4 years ago and it’s been great, needs a service but otherwise no real problems. It’s small and easy to use but can go all day long if needed.

I have a XC orientated HT – Kinesis Decade Versa II – and a 650b FS – Whyte T-103 Works – and enjoy both just in different ways.

My riding buddies are all quicker up hill than me, I’m heavy :-), but only one is quicker than me downhill. The quicker guy rides a 26″ Five and is one of those riders whose just fast everywhere. If I’m on the HT I’m usually 20 – 25 metres behind him on our longest singletrack descent and on the FS it’s more like 10 – 15 metres.

One of the biggest changes I’ve made to the HT is to put good quality, Maxxis Ardent 3C, tyres on it rather than the slightly ancient Panaracer ones I was running, this has increased my confidence in the HT’s grip and in particular corning speeds.

Both FS and HT get mud tyres in the winter but mostly ride the HT just due to the extra maintenance the FS takes in winter.

Very happy with my PCS10, height adjustment is very handy

I also have both a Diablo (mounted on helmet) and a Maxx-D on the bars, excellent combination. Only issue is run time on the Diablo but I have a spare battery so gives it ~ 2 hours on full power but I mostly run it (and the Maxx-D) on the 2nd brightest setting only flicking to full power for fast descents or woody singletrack. HTH

@chris_mbuk

if thats the case ill get santacruz on it as its lifetime ;p

assuming it’s the same as what Whyte do you need to bear in mind that this covers the bearings but doesn’t cover the labour to replace them.

if you like Dartmouth, go South West a bit further to Salcombe..

or go the whole hog and look for Hope Cove, too small to be a town but lovely beaches and within striking distance of both Dartmouth and Salcombe

I’ve got a Hope SS which is about 3 years old it has been subject to minimal maintenance and maximum riding through water & mud, the thick gloopy clay like stuff near Winchester. It still runs perfectly, I did take it out a couple of weeks ago, removed the outer ‘seal’ (top hat type plastic shield) and they looked like new, spinning them on my fingers they felt really smooth.

When I re-assembled (and originally fitted them) I followed the Hope video and made sure the tension on the bearings was just right.

Maybe or maybe sue the digital scale manufacturer for selling inaccurate scales? :-)

I run 1.9 Trailrakers (26″) on my HT and in the mud they are great, on the road not so good :-)

My Maxxis Shorty (650b) on my FS are also fantastic in mud and for some reason not anywhere as scary on the road.

I’m not sure about Panaracer anymore as I’ve more or less switched to Maxxis, has Panaracer got ‘modern’ rubber compounds and designs?

Ardent 2.4 on front and either an Ardent 2.3 or an Ardent Race 2.2″ on the back depending on how loose you like your rear :-)

I run these on a 650b FS but should also be good on a 29er

My Airshot arrived on Monday and it’s an excellent bit of kit. Previously impossible tyre/rim combo was sorted in about 5 minutes, 2nd try was all good once I’d removed the valve core, first attempt didn’t work with the core in.

Chain round biggest rear to biggest front WITHOUT going through rear mech, add 2 full links and that should be it.

This is the traditional way of doing it

ootallpaul no not ridden one but having worked in advertising/marketing for over 30 years I’m very cynical about the latest greatest thing, Sea Otter is all about marketing and bringing something ‘new’ to the market. Being 5′ 10″ the 29ers I’ve tried seemed to tall so I settled on a Whyte with 27.5 wheels as the geometry/spec/price suited my needs/wants. :-)

scotroutes I know Surly aren’t based in California but the American market is very different to the UK one and (unless somethings changed recently) the biggest market for off road bikes is America followed by the UK. The images all look like the sort of trails where riding any bike would be fun but I can’t see it’s showing why we need 29+ again just IMHO

As always I guess it’s down to individual choice, if you’re riding a bike of any description then that’s a good thing IMHO :-)

IMHO Another Californian specific niche dreamt up by the marketing department to make people part with their hard earned

I run Renthal 780mm wide bars on my FS and 740mm on my XC HT, when I get back on the HT the 740s feel very narrow for the first few minutes.

I ride on mixed trails around Winchester and there’s only one gap I just can’t get through with the wide bars on, singletrack through the trees is fine provided you’re happy to dip the bars to the side to get through narrow gaps :-)

This

Re the house, as I remember you can exchange contracts but you can’t complete until probate is granted (house is not legally theirs to sell until this point).

Only hassle I’ve had so far was being rear-ended at a traffic light with 3 bikes on the rack! the other driver’s insurance company are making nosies about the expense of the bikes but as it was the other driver’s fault and they’ve admitted liability I’m hoping they’ll settle, may take a while though :-(

Edit: Won’t stop be getting another tow bar mounted rack as much simpler to use than roof bars.

Depends on wheather you need to carry bikes ADN tow at the same time? I had a Witter rack that allowed me to tow at the same time and I am now looking at MAXXRAXX 4 bike ‘Premier’ rack which a friend has (replacement for my rack that was damaged in an accident) which impressed me. Thule ones are great, very easy to use, but expensive and I don’t think they do one you can tow with whilst it’s in use?

Witter ZX89 is £120 fitted whereas MAXXRAXX one above is £159.05 but that includes a light board.

Witter ZX89

MAXXRAXX 4 bike ‘Premier’

HTH

Out tonight on the weekly night ride, did a glorious 20 miler last night and a really nice 13 miles on Monday night.

Family back late tonight so making the most of the ‘single’ time! :-)

Mid-Wales either based at Builth Wells or the Elan valley, Rhayder. If the later pop in to Clive Powell’s shop, Elan Cyclery, for some route maps. Beauty of the Elan Valley is it’s all rideable and natural trails with plenty of fun fast downhills to reward the climbs!

Also quite a few bike friendly B&Bs if that is your preference!

I’d go for slightly shorther stem – 70mm and slightly wider bar max 40mm wider than you’ve got, you can add a lot of confidence by running good compound modern (I’m guess a 7 year old HT has some older tyres) tyres as well. If you’re flush tubeless wheels with good tyres can also add confidence

Aged 50 here and really suffered after my first 5K of the year on Sat, took until Monday to recover but rode Monday night and last night and legs are fine today.

I’ve had TALAS forks in the past but beyond the first few rides I never bothered with anything but the full 130mm travel.

On my current bikes I run a FS with Pikes and a XC HT with Rebas and I don’t even bother to lock them out. I do use the lockout/climb setting on the FS which is running a Monarch Debonair RT3 as it reduces bobbing in the lower gears

I was out on my XC HT tail last night, my Whyte’s awaiting an insurance evaluation :-(, which I run 3 x 9 with 22/32/42 up front and a 11-34 cassette. I found that I only used middle ring and never needed granny. Comparing to my Whyte which is 1 x 11 running a 32T chain ring and a 10 – 42 cassette the main difference is I spin out in top the lower range is good for the hills around Winchester.

Overall I’m happy with my 11 speed setup but when I go to mid-Wales in June I might change my mind.

Riding up a steep hill:

Van driver: Use the f**king cycle path you c**t

Van then passes me leaving virtual no room, turns left and stops at the top of the hill

Me (at top of hill): I would use the cycle path but it’s not built yet
Me: Are you taking the piss? You’re f*ing building the path aren;t you? You t**t
Van driver: OK yes sorry mate just habit

You couldn’t make it up…

Did a 1.5 hour blast last night in short sleeves, planning on repeating tonight

Also try Park Run as a good way to run 5k in a friendly environment with loads of encouragement even if your one of the slower runners

My numbness and tingling in my left hand is due to the two distorted discs in my neck pushing on the nerve bundle in my neck so maybe something similar?

I have some DHB ones and they’re excellent

+1 Broken ribs and a cold/cough

Had a great day yesterday we had 8 adults and 8 children between 6 & 11 so we rode the blue 1.5 times! All the kids rode everything one of the 11 years even got some air! As it was my 50th birthday last Monday it was our Big Birthday Bike Ride so there was home cooked pulled pork rolls, homemade colesaw and homemade carrot cake.

Only slight/big glitch was on the way home someone ran into the back of the car and destroyed 2 bikes and my car’s tailgate! My Whyte T-130 Works was the outer most bike and seems totally unscathed! Insurance company are sorting the repairs etc but have said that if the bike was on a rack which was hit by another car then they write off the bike even if it looks OK!

yes, but it’s loaded and restrained very very differently.

Most common issue is that when clamping the fork in you are doing it from one side and the load you’re applying at the point of locking is likely to be uneven on each dropout.

Had a fork mounted rack fail a few years ago and was lucky that the bike didn’t hit the car behind me, in my case the clamp had a manufacturing fault so I had the damage to my car’s roof and the bike covered by the supplier as the rack was only 2 weeks old!

+1 for Magicshine MJ-858

@don thanks

Heading up to Swinley on Sunday, I’m running an Ardent on the rear & a Shorty on the front. I’m thinking I should swap the Shorty for my other Ardent as I’m hoping Swinley’s not a mud fest at the moment.

Anyone been this week and can advise on levels of mud?

I’ve just bought these which are ~ £45 and I’ve found them really good so far (only 3 rides so YMMV)

3/4 Bib shorts

I’m 50 next Monday and last night I did a night ride with the ‘boys’ which was my 3rd ride since 8th Oct 2014 (damaged arm has kept me off the bike) and I hit 180 bpm.

Age does factor in but HR is fairly individual, look at post on here for resting heart rate, it really varies a lot per person.

I went 20 years ago and the toilets were awful, hopefully they’ve imp[roved but being France they may not have!

I’ve always had a low resting heartrate ~ 40, my blood pressures always been 80/120 and I run warm ~ 1 C above normal. This seems to be genetics rather than being fit – which I’m not. Good fun when I go to hospital though as they always run the machine 2 or 3 times and then panic I have a fever!

My Whyte T-130 Works is 650b and is one of those bikes that just wants to go fast everywhere. the main thing that is making it feel a bit sluggish is the Maxxis Shortys I’m currently running, with the original Ardent/Ardent Race combo it was easy to get up to speed and easy to carry way more speed than my 26″ (very XC) HT