I bought a silver one for my parents’ 25th. It is teh awsumz, all their cycling cronies love it

Elfin +2

The winners of Rollapaluza events regularly top 220rpm average

I think Matt Crampton’s Rolla record works out at an ave of 260+

cross racing the brakes are hardly ever used

I don’t understand how this applies to cross racing. I brake hard into most corners in cross races, especially on the faster courses or towards the end of a race where outbraking someone is a good way of passing without expending too much energy. Well set up cantis are good enough in the dry, but I think the pros will use discs in the wet when good hydros become available.

If you’re worried about the weight, you’re looking at the wrong frame.

mine 520 PA weighs less than my big bike, but more than my road bike.

Northwind +1

no time to ride past a petrol station and give it a spray with WD40? should thin out the packing grease

spesh MTB shoes are rubbish. I’ve sent 2 pairs back after a coupla months, same for my dad and lots of mates have found that the soles separate at the back. Nice road shoes, but I won’t use their MTB ones even though I get a huge discount and know someone in their warranty dept. Shimano all the way

I’ve just bought a house and one day the alarm was triggered and went on and on and on. We ripped the box off the wall, took it in to the garden and smashed it up with a sledge hammer. aaaaaaah, peace and quiet!

you need to cover those stripes up quick-time!

second hand french bikes (and cars) are always bonkers high, never could work out why. sorry, can’t help!

DMR moto diggers seem to work well in lots of conditions (apart from proper mud)and aren’t very heavy.

nicolaisam has it the wrong way round….

It will give more travel and might cause a tyre/frame hit or linkages to reach the end of their movement before the bumpstop of the shock.

However, it works on some frames. I’ve done it on my 07 giant reign as the rear ends of the reign Xs were the same just with the longer stroke shock

I have a 50-39, it is proper bo. Allows me to actually use the 11 sprocket in races.

MrSmith, you talk rubbish sometimes. They’re not putting a pumptrack in the middle, it’s gonna be a vert ramp because London is bidding for the 2015 X Games

that’s my club in the pics 🙂

Go VCL!

where do you ride?

For twisty SE stuff I run my revs at 125. For Peaks etc, I’ll run 140 for the descents, but the BB does feel too high.

cynic-al, he wants a race bike and singlespeed will be a hindrance in a race situation. Also open pros aren’t for tubs and tubs really are the way forward for cross racing.

OMITN, vittoria XGs have a similar tread to challenge griffos, dugast typhoons etc so are good in most conditions. Perhaps you could source a pair of michelin green mud tyres to put on a pair of your road wheels for very muddy courses.

Good find on the brakes finbar!

Are all these alpine suggestions relistic in early May? many ski resorts are open ’till end of April…

I would always choose Campag, but thats a personal preference. 46-36 with 12-27 would cover most riders for most courses.
Tubs for a race bike, they puncture less, weigh less and grip more. You can find Vittoria XGs reasonably cheap. (60/pr)
Go for handbuilts on box section rims, something like 105 hubs on mavic reflex with 32 3x spokes.(250ish new, much less S/H))
mid weight roadie finishing kit, Easton EA70 stem and seat post, alloy bars of your choice

SB, I hope to be down for at least a few days around Easter/royal wedding. I can’t wait, it’ll be almost 2 years since I last rode on those trails.

When I confirm plans I’ll drop you a line to see if we can go for a ride or two 🙂

Rollapaluza at Look Mum No Hands. You should come down Oldgit, it’s really close to Farringdon Thameslink station.

watching the road race on Box Hill for free

TINAS, your race strategy needs to be changed.
Drop off the the fast guys halfway or so up the hill so as to not go into the red, then catch them back up on the descent. Simples

Consider the Limousin. One (large) forest alone has almost 700km of marked MTB trails ranging from green to national standard DH trails and there are thousands more km of unmarked trails.

http://www.creuse-oxygene.com/france/espace-vtt-ffc-gueret-34.htm

Straobiker on here lives in the region and is always very helpful.

http://www.stratobiker.com/

epic troll fail

cheapy cross frame and lightweight tub wheels survived a few of these:

Also done a few very rocky descents in France which is probably one of the only times I’ve used the drops apart from sprint finishes.

for an extra £30 you could get 2011 10 speed SLX gruppo:

http://www.actionsports.de/de/Komponenten/Komplettgruppen/Shimano-SLX-660-10-Komplettgruppe-3×10-fach::28904.html

Another 13.5 myka recommendation here. My GF is 5’1″ and as gusmac says, due to the sloping top tube there is plenty of clearance and the ability to drop the saddle. We got an M5 alloy version so it really is light. She also has correspondingly small hands so the myka grips are ace.

As mentioned above, be wary of small blokes frames which may have long top tubes, my girlfriend tried one or two of those and was far too stretched out.

surely you are only losing the 28 and 32 at the bottom end?

CharlieMungus=Sherlock Holmes!

he found it on the ground outside so maybe maybe maybe someone else found it, tried to use it then dumped it where it was originally found?

your bank will be able to tell you where the card attempted use was

yes if you rode regularly before (muscle memory innit).

My team mate went to india for 8 weeks and “just” ran 3 times a week. The weekend after he got back he did a cyclocross race with no running on the course and came 7th!

zackley. And something that teaches them the Queen’s English. Like Pingu or the teletubbies.

how do you know it’s not piss on the toilet seat?

yup, and helen wyman’s results bringing good euro exposure

yeah, really well thought out too. Maybe they’ll be trying to get rid of them…..

Damn! I was hoping to blag a mega discount on a couple of major jake frames for next season. Maybe I’ll have to brush up on my euro now

Cipo *swooon*

He wasn’t exactly known for going up hills or finishing a grand tour though

Tthose superskinny pros still have a reasonable core endurance Also, the climbers and GC contenders will race at a dangerously low weight for one grand tour only a year. Not really recommended without constant medical supervision…