Can’t wait for my new Spesh to arrive. So excited!

Red Orchestra 2 is already frighteningly addictive, but the up-coming Rising Storm expantion presents the prospects rehab levels of dependency

Has this thread degenerated into a mixture of trolling and people taking crap?

Not quite how I was going to put it but… 😆

Well there you go then. You’ve resolved your own conundrum. I proscribe a Merlin Cycles XT groupset and an immediate trip to Honister pass to experience the joy of gears…or not.

Maybe…I dunno. The OP certainly has an issue to resolve, but objectively speaking, this looks like one of those ‘ my Cotic Soul frame has cracked and they refuse to warranty it! By the way I’m 16 stone and like jumps and drop-offs’ sort of thing.

And a VERY undignified death at that 😡

Well there you go then! Not that I want to encourage 29er adoption. Remember when it was almost impossible to source decent forks and tyres for them? That’ll be us dwindling 26ers soon.

Good grief…why would you?

Fitting Stealth Reverb

Or what about the Carbon Lurcher. Nearly ready it seems. Sounds great…

Lurcher test[/url]

Or Carbon 456. Still quite light but offering more flexibility in terms of terrain type. Sounds like a better fit for what you want.

Seriously, you will find some sort of gearing improves life massively. And I wasn’t joking about the soft tissue damage!

should I be doing anything other than hosing the mud off the forks after each ride?

Warm soapy water, sponge and cold water poured over to wash away the foam. Never, ever blast it with any sort of pressure hose.

Anyway, I detect some sort of information disconnect here. SRAM generally know their stuff, and I don’t doubt they’ve seen it all. So how do you account for the damage?

Middleburn Duos will ensure you still look like a cutting edge outsider jay boy, while offering you less extensive cartilage and ligament damage.

😉

Interesting. I’ve been in a Similair place, but for me, FS had quietly destroyed my trail riding without my realising it. Reverting to a capable hardtail brought back the excitement and physical effort I was so addicted to years agin. Being forced to float the rear while the front takes the big hits is massive fun. I find it much more engaging that just blasting through on full shocks.

not bought them yet

😯 Just like the shape of them, right? As andyl indicates, shot-peening is a structural strengthening process. It prevents small cracks from propagating. Buy shiny, don’t bodge shiny, despite what you might have seen on forums,

Check On-One’s range. Good prices and wide range of styles. You’ll find what you want there.

Crank length…can of worms!

Bicycle Cranks by Sheldon Brown

RIP Sheldon :’-(

Always had excellent service, both when ordering products (and quality there of) and seeking support.

Lovely frame. Why not take some pointers from Tom Ritchey? Retro but gorgeous:

Ritchey steel frame

Shortening the cranks will let you spin more quickly. Always a good thing in my opinion. The longer length is supposed to give more leverage off-road, but I never noticed a benefit when moving between 168mm Middleburn Duos and triple ring 175mm XT.

Ti 456 Evo is turning out to be a great XC/trail bike with 105mm forks. Very addictive frame to ride.

Saw my first lambs on the lunchtime ride…aw.

Ass-saver…Very interesting idea. Very Dragon’s Den. After all, who likes having a rear guard stuck up in the air like a horny beaver’s tail? positive review on Road CC too.

What sort of mudguard is that on the back(lovely bike BTW)?

Grips? Hmm… what sort of bar are you running?

Lovely images justinbieber!

Still in the process of shaking down the Ti 456 Evo (2013), and having a great time doing it. Fantastic technical climber. This image was Saturday…by Sunday the stem had been shortened to 60mm (major improvement to the handling). By the end of this week the forks will be 140mm…also waiting for a new hydration system to arrive too. Grit every mouthful at the moment 😡

Anyway, fantastic ride to the North of Peebles.

I remember (a good few years ago), reading an article/bizarre rant regarding the ‘myth’ of helmet safety.

The argument centred around the rotational effect on the neck and brain during a crash, created by the increased diameter of the head caused by the helmet.

The writer believed that the only real solution was a helmet designed to simulate the sheering effect of the human scalp sliding and separating from the skull in a glancing-type impact. As such a helmet didn’t exist at that point (mid 2000s), he asserted that one should never wear a helmet under any circumstances, as the naked human head provided superior safety mechanisms!

Frankly I thought he was fairly insane at the time, but fast-forward to today and that helmet design is now available to buy:

MIPS

POC MIPS MTB Helmet

God I so wanted a Ritchie frame back on the early 2000s and these look even better. Ritchie WCS stuff is just brilliant. I was sorely tempted by the new Team version but went for a more ‘versatile’ design (Ti Evo). But still…no I don’t need another bike.

Pros: road bikes…lovely. Get a carbon fibre one.

Cons: your mountain bike will start gathering dust 😉

Too true. I bought a catlike whisper (the helmet with all the finger holes in it), but no matter what size I tired it wouldn’t fit. Thinking back to my Xen, I couldn’t get comfortable in it until I’d embedded the rear adjustments into the foam. Met seem to have a good fitting system, and the POC is a perfect fit because of the adjustment design. Problem is that so few shops carry a good range of helmets. My old trick is to order a couple from Amazon and send one back (unused with the labels still on of course). They’re really good like that.

Oh, and the tutorial movie in this thread:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/too-crap-for-a-five

…has a couple of POC Trabecs being used. Gnarly. Probably.

POC Trabec Race arrived today. Conforms to all the stuff I’ve read. Initially it looked really weird on. After a couple of minutes it started to make sense. The build quality is a good step ahead of the Xen it’s replacing too (no mean feat). Fit is excellent and it feels light. Removing the peak gives the helmet a great Xtreme sports vibe. Love it!

In terms of safety? It clearly looks like a very protective helmet. Only one way to find out…

Here are some up-themselves Rapha-style images to snigger at, complete with Top Gear style labels left attached.

😉

Used Windows 8 for several months, but some hardware issues came to light (gtx 680 really didn’t like it), and some apps played up. Reverted back to 7, but I do find I miss 8, much to my amazement!

Lightweight steel…I dunno. I love a good steel frame but they all fall within the the old ‘Light. Cheap. Strong: Pick any two’ saying.

You’ll get a Soul and immediately begin the process of buying costly lighter parts, and eventually you’ll have a faily light bike. But even at its lightest, it’ll still be heavier than the average CF XC hardtail. Then you’ll sell the steel frame and go CF, only to realise (two years and probably thousands of pounds down the line), that what was so great about the steel frame had nothing to do with weight, and everything to do with materials.

Got a POC race in the post to replace my ancient Xen, but really, the Xen is still one of the best looking and fitting MTB helmets ever made. Classic design.

A thick ,short wooden rod and a hammer or better a rubber mallet should do it. Just grease the steerer and tap evenly around the race. And keep calm! Simples.

I can’t recommend them enough. I have two of them, two Planet X blue Marino roadie tops and two On One/ Planet X Marino t shirts. Not through being a fan boy either: I just think they’re the perfect riding tops, and the quality is definitely there. I’ve washed the cardigans twice in three years, and the blue roadies never! They smell completely fresh.

Buy!

What a pretty frame. Fair takes me back to the mid 2000s…the Sun always seemed to shine back then. 🙂

Convert- Absolutely spot-on analysis. Agree with all of that.

From the image, the right hand side is definitely higher, and that’s a problem. If it’s that in reality then you’d be best to do something about it.

Love it! Farm gate indeed! Is that one of Jon Whyte’s?