I've always found the Rohloff to be disappointingly draggy and the Alfine to have surprisingly little drag.

Love the Niner and the Carbon forks but I'm afraid that almost £400 for rigid forks is just a little too rich for my blood. Even if I was on my old overpaid contract.

Wow…the price has gone up a lot since last year when I got mine. And who pays retail anyway? 😀 It's a great fork though!

There are 3 roller clutches in the Alfine…totally silent unless you count the slight clicking noise while pedaling backwards.

I took a few pics of a 2010 514 at Nirvana Cycles back in Septemebr. Link[/url].

Followed the link from one of today’s threads…

Never had any major problems or did any maintenance on my Alfine. No amount of snow would cause problems with it, very cold temperatures might do though.

On a FS bike…

Flickr is by far the best and Picasa is arguably the worst.

1180g…ditching that 1.38lbs is sure to be a pleasant experience. 😀

I’ve had two sets of Stroker Trails on previous bikes and currently have the Elixir 5s and Julie HPs. The Julies are the best value, quietest and most reliable (no maintenance at all so far). My review can be found here.

My Elixir rear brake has vibrated to the point of being unusable since I got the bike…it's my summer bike so I'm not too bothered at the moment.

I bought two Giant’s and value for money was a big part of the decision. But just a couple of years later, value for money is one of the reasons why I wouldn’t buy a Giant. You can do far worse than a Giant but comparing one with similar models from other brands reveals you can do better in some cases. Don’t ask me for examples though…I’ve got better things to do than watch you guys pick them apart. 😀

They’ve cocked-up their own bikes for 2010, I believe the Anthem X Advanced has been recalled and the XTC Alliance 29er is now a 2011 model due to “insurmountable production issues”.

I have to agree with Jamie…Giant bikes are getting more and more overpriced compared to other brands.

Giant’s UK deliveries have mostly been a shambles so far this year.

That looks ever so slightly nice…wheels are a bit too small for my liking though.

Mud clearance seems fine on my Paragon, better than my last 3 bikes. There’s no seat stay or chain stay bridge either.

I had this one[/url] as my desktop background for ages…beautiful!

Flash Carbon 29er 1 and 2. But not available in Europe as far as I know. No weight limit listed on the site that I can see.

Other than the usual grips, saddle and pedals the Trance X2 received XT shifters, crankset and front mech. The Trance 1 received XT/XTR gears and Michelin tyres, then an Alfine and Hutchinson Toro mud tyres for the winter and finally back to ordinary gears with new Hope/Mavic 321 wheels and Kona Wah Wah pedals.

Sold them both and have two 29ers now…

I had an Alfine on my Giant Trance through last winter. Including the rim, spokes, hub, chain and shifter it cost about £200. Never had any problems or did any maintenance for the 9 months I used it, the gearing range is good and it has hardly any drag. Totally worth it!

Combining the edited and unedited versions of this photo adds up to 3037. 😀

If you think that’s cheating then this one currently has 2087 views and still averages 5 per day.

32:18 Singular Swift

Singular Swift

2010 GF Paragon

Just a couple of things to think about and a few Kangoo comparisons:
– The standard brakes aren’t very powerful compared to similar Fiat and Renault cars.
– The Berlingo turning circle isn’t as good as with a Kangoo.
– Leg room in the Berlingo is poor compared to most cars, the Kangoo in particular.
– The Berlingo has a smoother ride than the Kangoo, possibly due to the bigger wheels.
– The Berlingo corners like it’s on rails compared to the Kangoo.

Bikes:
I managed to cram 2 29ers and a 26er into the Berlingo with the wheels and seatposts in with no problems.

I have a 90mm stem with 6degrees of rise, a 690mm flat bar and I think the headset has the lowest stack height in the world. 8)

Google delivers…216, then the 316

The new models have been up on the US site for a while now.Link. 😀

Shame we don't get the good colours or 29ers here…

From 2010 GF will no longer be distributed in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. There isn’t a big enough market for 29ers in those countries and GF are concentrating more and more on 29ers. In fact I’ve heard it rumoured that they may well pull out of the 26er MTB market altogether within the next few years and leave 26ers to Trek. They will return to those countries when there is a big enough market for 29ers to make it worthwhile. It’s not the whole of Europe, just those three countries as far as I know…

Looks like the pricing is on the Hotlines site already, but without pics or specs.

Pics of the 2010 Froggy 318.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to look at Mtbr, the new 2010 bikes have been viewable since last night. Much like the Giant site, it’s just a matter or changing the URL…such a common mistake by companies.

Thanks to those who also mentioned to eBay that it was my photo!

What I wrote to eBay was pretty short but most of it was about my concerns that the sale was a scam. You’ll notice they didn’t mention a word about that part of my message in their reply. 🙄

Great, a little bit late but otherwise it’s nice to know eBay takes the time to deal with issues like this. I got a nice email from the eBay staff earlier:

“Thank you for your report about another member using your image in their 
mountain bike listing (item no. 2028518719)without your permission. 

Let me reassure you that it's our top priority to ensure eBay remains a 
safe and reputable place to shop. We have taken the appropriate action 
in this matter and have removed the listing from the site. 

I'd also like to mention that members are often unaware that using 
images or text found on eBay, or other sites on the Internet, is against 
eBay policy. So, in addition to alerting us in future, please feel free 
to refer the member to eBay's policy page at: 

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/copyrights.html 

There's no foolproof way to stop people downloading your online images 
and saving them. However, you can discourage it by adding watermarks to 
your images using an image editing software. 

Thank you again for bringing this matter to our attention, we appreciate 
your assistance in helping us keep eBay a safe and fun place to shop.”

I think I might take their advice on that watermark thingy… 

I was wondering how that photo managed to get 440 views in a couple of days, now I see where they’re coming from…

I wrote to the seller and reported the item to eBay but it seems both were ignored. Honestly can’t believe anyone would bid on an item that suspicious. I really hope the bidder gets a bike or that his £1300 is safe.