You could check out the new yeti sb66. If you’ve got a friend in the usa you could get one for less than 2200 with full build including kashima front and rear!

I’m coming with Fortunateson and two others. I’ll be on a very white prophet. Haven’t done any of the 661 ones before but have done the I cycles Inners enduro and enjoyed that. are people able to ride between stages with their mates in this series r is at very structured and timing tight?

Fox, nice forks for a few rides then oil everywhere/ wobbly stantions, seal wear etc. They’re like marzocchi divided by one.

Moss bros fall to peices fairly quickly. M&S outlet, Gieves and Hawkes outlet or Paul Smith outlet are where you want to be in the 150-300 range. If you fancy something a little more stylish Jaeger suits have a modern design but still high quality. Don’t bother with Tm Lewin, Charles Tyhwitt, Hawes Curtis etc etc, M&S offer much better for the same money!
Alternatively try ebay.

I really rate fat alberts, perhaps not in clay/ silt soil but then what is? Great at cornering, decent rolling resistance and good braking performance. Definitely get the toughened sidewall versions though!
I really rate specialized tyres too, especially the clutch. Great value!

Ha ah! That’s a pretty nice idea, very different!

Gieves and hawkes outlets have some cheaper stuff that will be f nice quality. I was really impressed with jaeger for their styles, quite modern while still using good weight wool and solid construction. M&S Sartorial and Collezionne are also a good choice. If you’re near York I would definately recomend the outlet there, lots of choice across this price range. Hackett, Gieves, Daks, Paul Smith, Ted Baker, M&S etc etc

North Atlantic gyre says no (as would 10-40m waves). Plus it would just be completely pointless in so many ways.

I have good reviews from a New Patriot rider. Better than Alpine.

aye but that’s a 180mm bike is it not?

but many modern 160mm bikes do climb really well and descend even better.

Yep, it’s all relative, the mags are comparing the climbing prowess of the new 160mm bike they’re reviewing against a fuel ex9.9 or giant anthem x1 they tried a week before not your 5 year old 32 lb rig with the mud tyres you can’t be bothered to take off. I think the whole reason d’etre of the enduro and similar bikes is that there is no ‘compromise’ as long as you don’t expect it to be the best at everything which no one would, that territory is occupied by the niche bikes obviously.

I think the enduro looks about the most accomplished do it all bike in terms of up,along, down, price and weight (those canyons might pip it on value per smile). I feel that the alpine’s a bit more focused as a crank up and them bomb it down here as the spesh will do it all and by all accounts be pretty much as good bombing down. Dirt are in love with the new one.

Thanks, I ‘ll take a look. Blackburn’s a bit out of the way unfortunately but I’ll bear it in mind in case I move nearer that way

If I were a boss I’d ban it.

Perhaps, but just perhaps one of the sponsors (maybe a bike shop with a branch in St Andrews) may have enough influence to get something going.

And let’s face it, they may have exams coming up, but they are still likely to be putting in fewer hours than folk with work and family commitments.

Can I ask what the whole contacting sponsors will achieve?
I’d also argue that at the moment most of my uni friends are working 8-11pm (don’t know how they do it) Although I’ve just handed my dissertation in and haven’t slept for 38 hours fun times!

I hope this thread continues for a while it’s becoming a study in over-reaction.

If I had to have one bike ever it would probably be a fuel. They’re really really good and much more capable in the rough stuff than the giant.

I borrowed one for a razz down glentress black and even though the suspension was set up for someone a stone lighter than me it was still fantatsic, very forgiving and corners like a beast. The new enduro is supposedly the bees knees too I wouldn’t take any notice of what mbr say, group reviews are mostly done in an afternoon of plodding around a trail centre getting evermore jaded with each lap. I’d be much more inclined to listen to long term reviews or the ones where bikes have been taken away for a week of riding

Don’t bother with quad core. If you’re editing videos or playing very very demanding gams you migt see the benfit but for normal use you’re better off with a dual core with a higher clock speed/ more cache. Considering the budget my advice would be to go for the amd chips as they offer great performance for very little outlay. If Second life is going to be the limit of the demands put on the pc the I wouldn’t bother getting an overclock able board and instead save some money to spend on the ram or a bigger hard drive (if you need either of those). What grapics card are you intending to be using as if it’s an old one you could replace it wih another old (but much higher spec) for not much money (stuff that was 400 quid 3 years ago is now about 50 quid).

EDIT didn’t see your last post. Hope you enjoy

You might be better pff with some small spinners or a float and just grab some worms from the ground. Fly fishing takes a lot of practice and needs quite a bit of space. Then there’s all the complications of fly choice, line choice and presentation. and you don’t get many collapsible rods that will be fly fishing compatible. The biggest trout I’ve caught was on spinners but of course you might catch a pike! (though the germans love to eat them so they can’t be that bad)

Haven’t done it yet but Golspie (favourite), Balblair and Lagan black are all fantastic.

Very light, very lovely, especially the cool angular bits.

I have 2010 rev teams and they’re great but I’d be very interested in trying some marzocchi 44s. Fed up of faffing with pressures.

Sorry to hear it, I’m going through a ‘lite’ version of this and can sympathise. Surround yourself with friends and family and keep busy, it’s when you’re sat on the couch or in bed that you have time to think so it’s good if you’re mind’s thinking of other things. Give yourself little things to look forward to so you don’t fixate on a big hole of uncertainty and loneliness, things will eventually and some other lady will likely come along.

Beating the sun in a fight would be tricky.

nice.

Pyrrhic foam grips WIN.

1:1 is all well and good but the movement of the mech is not decided by the cable pull. It’s decided by the pivots of the mech so a 1mm move of the cable could have a much greater or smaller effect on the mech depending on the distance between linkages.

That Sarah lass were fit though.

Revs have really short axle to crown lengths for their travel so I reckon you’ll be alright.

From your riding style I reckon a stumpy would be a great choice. Trance x might be good but 550 for that frame is a little optimistic IMO. I have a 2009 prophet and it’s great but for ‘wheels on the ground’ and a 10 stone rider I think you’d be better served by something a bit lighter with some more small bump sensitivity which isn’t great on the prophet or heckler (I think). Gary Fisher Roscoe might be a good one. Loved my old Hi-fi (its little brother) and prefered it to my new prophet for a good few months.

and don’t care if it comes from China or where ever, they probably use the same machines to make the part…

Tru dat.

I don’t understand the sentimentality that people attach to ‘Made in’
It’s a lump of metal that’s pressed, forged, cnc-ed by a standard machine or process. The position on the planet of that machine has no effect on the quality of the part. I’d say that there are a lot of factories in China with more knowledge and skills and are better tooled-up than many Western manufacturers.
R&D might be different but it’s bicycles were talking about not semi conductors so I don’t thik that factors into it too much either.

It’s a really good tool for various reasons. The only downside I get is that some of your less ‘englightened’ friends will see fit to tell the world how drunk they were/ how their not racist but../commentate on current affairs (Cheryl Cole’s love life/Tories doing some tory stuff).
Other than that it’s great. I’m not one of those that’s scared of people seeing my face or what I say (which might a concern for some but you can set privacy accordingly).

I still love my prophet, it’s basically a cheap 5 and if the 5 still garners as much praise as always (having changed so little), I can’t really see the point in ‘updating’ it.

I might pop up, great for the place to get some more publicity!

My mazda 6 is going into the garage for the second time in 6 months to get done. I only really drive motor way miles too which makes it all the more annoying
I couldn’t get it to work but others have had success
http://www.cdn.dk/mazda6/tips.htm

When I was at Glenshee a few weeks ago a couple of tornadoes and 2 chinooks flew by below us. Had an apache fly low over the M74 a while back too.

You might be able to find a maserati 3200gt for 15k. Lovely car and has 4 big seats to boot. But otherwise I’d get the Alfa. My favourite car that I’ve ever driven is a 156 2.4 diesel. More fun than an xkr or sl55 (can’t stand automatics)
EDIT. you can get one with a few grand to spare.

Specialized clutch sx tyre.

Not really a product but I really like rootsandrain.co.uk everything just works so well on it.

My girlfriend has recently got a fritzz as jack-of-all-trades bike. It was 1600 new with fit talas rc2, formula rx brakes and rp23BV shock! I took it down glentresss black and I was amazed at just how well it corners, how well damped and controlled the suspension was and have forgiving it was to poor line choice and badly executed aerial maneuvers. It seemed to pedal extremely well on the flat and uphill. That’s coming from a specked-up prophet which is analogous to the five.
I really rate cubes for their value for money and the reviews are great.

I’ve ridden a cube fritzz and was very impressed. The stereo the 140mm version gets a great write up too, Dirt seem to bum it quite a bit. I’ve also ridden an attack trail and really liked that too. Either way you’ll have a great bike which can take a lot of hard riding. I would imagine the cube is better value and lighter though.

what type of tubeless system are you running?

There’s a piece in this month’s MBR about lady specific bikes. for anyone over 5’8 you’ll do much better to just get a normal bike. My girlfirend has just got a 16″ cube fritzz and it’s by far the nicest bike I’ve ever ridden it corners like a go kart and has such a nice position and suspension action you can bomb down black runs sat down.
she’s 5’9 so a 18″ stereo would be a great value, light and capabale bike for almost all riding styles.

Ok as far as I see it the build of the mech i.e where the pivots are, the distance between pivots and path of the ‘armature’ upon being pulled might be a bit different in the 10 speed than the 9. By this I mean a 1:1 ratio on a 9 speed is to move a 9 speed mech x mm across the cassette. Likewise for a 10speed pairing but if the mechanical method of achieving that shift of x distance is different a 9 speed mech my be shifted by a different amount?
I will give it a go though!

Thanks, that’s what I thought might be the case, think I’ll go the x7 10 speed route then.