Ultimately, the sport is old enough now for many of us to have moved from pure MTB to a mixture of Road and trail. It’s just how the forum is maturing. Like it or lump it I’d say.

No Irish, Dogs or Roadies please…

‘Soon’ being 5 to 10 years time.

Why did the snooker player go to the toilet? He wanted to pot the brown.

Haha! 😆

Limited-slip diff

Are you talking about the big High Street Loop in the Essential Trails Lake District book

That’s the F*cker! It looked like a good challenge and i was at the top of my game back then. I went prepared…but not for that. I’m not inexperienced out-doors either, on bike or foot, and I know the Lakes very well, but that last section was like getting the Ring into Mordor.

Blackberry! I thought you were going to say a Sony RX100 or something. Bloody impressive.

Blimey! That clip…Go to 4:40 in to see some insane driving/riding. Mad!

Sizing is spot on for these. I’m 5’8″ and the 16 fits like a glove. The On One sizing chart seems to be very accurate in it’s advice.

55ish on the road bike, 40ish off and on-road on the MTB.

Great work. A massive ride at this time of year especially.

I had an experience like that three years ago on a High Street ‘loop’. Looked like a 2 to 3 hour ride. Ended up a 7 hour living nightmare, carrying a Marin Wolf Ridge most of the time. Night was falling fast as I dragged my bike from ledge to ledge in the pouring rain on the final summit. Terrified to the point of feeling sick, out of phone reception and out of energy gels…no lights, and with the knowledge that I was well and truelly out of my depth. Made me question my whole commitment to mountain biking. I knew that if I was killed on the decent in the near dark, it would be because of my own sheer idiocy! What was I trying to prove, and to whome?

Fantastic photos incidentally. Absolutely love Fleetwith and Buttermere. What camera did you use?

Fitted the frame with a pair of 140mm X-Fusion velvets this evening. The frame definitely likes to be set to the 5 in the 456. Rides beautifully like this.

The forks themselves are mostly excellent. The travel, rebound and lockout actions are very pleasantly mechanical: smooth and clicky. Taking the forks for a test spin around the local street, the plushness of the travel when hitting square edges at speed was pretty amazing; an almost seamless transition from one surface to the other! The 110mm setting also gave the same plush travel. The lock-out is very rigid. That’s fairly unusual and very welcome.

The downside is that then pressure is removed from the fork, (when dismounting the frame for example), there’s a knock from the left leg. That’s the first time I’ve had a fork do that and I suspect it doesn’t boad well for this pair. No knocking issues when on the bike however.

Looks like a couple of phone calls tomorrow.

Very effective and won’t shatter if I flick a big stone or similar up at it.

Absolutely brilliant! 😆

The front section of drain-pipe/ guttering is an artery-severing, tendon and muscle sheering death trap! One sudden stop on that bike and you’re going to be a brilliant toulouse lautrec impersonator.

The cadence data it will give you on an MTB is mostly useless as it will show peaks and troughs of pedalling and freewheeling.

I can confirm this. Totally invaluable on the road, but erratic to say the least off road. I used the cadence feature on the MTB to raise my cadence after a knee injury. Helped fix the knee and left me with a great spinning technique 😉

Used mine almost exclusively off road in all conditions for years and its never been caught up, obstructed, damaged or failed to work perfectly.

Never had any issues with my sensor since the release of the 305. Rock solid. Incidentally, the new 510 is available direct from Garmin uk . Looks like a great unit.

I took my build out yesterday for its first proper XC ride. The route was a mix of tarmac flat and steep climb, fire road, steep gravel climb and very steep descent and then technical single track. The ride was really a gear indexing test as this wasn’t the final build (I’m waiting for the 140mm forks to arrive), so the journey was taken on an ageing pair of 100mm Marzocchi MX Pro SL forks.

On the road, I was surprised by the stiffness of the frame. There is a steel-like spring, but power from the cranks seems to go straight to the road. The power transfer felt more direct than my CF road bike in fact! Didn’t expect that.

On the (snow covered) fire road, the bike had a sharp, accurate feel. It tracked very precisely and followed any chosen line directly. Small bump absorption was not on the same level as a springy steel frame, but this is a more substantial ti frame so that’s in line with expectations. Sending the bike into potholes at speed underlined that accurate, direct feeling and bump absorption in these circumstances was excellent. The bike had more of the confidence of a full susser than a light aluminium or XC carbon frame.

The very steep gravel climb was the big surprise of the ride. I’ve been off bikes for over a year so I expected to bonk within 20 ft of the assent, but the bike wafted up with minimal effort. Loads of power was transferring to the surface. So much so that the Conti Mountain Kings were spinning out slightly on the gravel! The bike’s climbing line was as straight as a ruler. That was pretty amazing, and it was fast too.

The top of the climb became fast, tight, singletrack. The ride was as nimble as any XC bike I’ve used, with the benefit of that direct power feeling from the frame. Right now I’m running a 90mm stem but I found the handling to be very sharp through the tight sweeps.

The descent was a straight dive that steepened into a real plummet! The surface is pure XC with some larger loose rocks adding interest. I set the forks to their softest setting and fired the bike downhill. Again, the accurate, direct nature of the frame came to the fore. The bike went exactly where I wanted it to go. Frame compliance felt good and the general feeling was one of stability and confidence. The descent ends with a cheeky s-bend that can catch out the unwary or too-fast. The Bike danced through this without drama.

The final section was along drove roads, moorland and boggy fields. I expected this to be fairly easy, but because of sheep-churned, semi-frozen ground, it turned out to be very heavy going. I had a few near spills as I hit firm looking churned mud at speed only to find it had frozen into a grassy rock garden. Locked forks didn’t help and while I was jostled about, the bike held its line and kept going. On other section, that rigid frame had me taking very unusual lines along the sides of steep bankings. Again, the stability and power efficiency of the frame helped.

This was a purely XC test for the bike build. The ti frame was certainly different in character from any other frame I’ve used before, and exhibited excellent climbing, singletrack and downhill characteristics. It didn’t have the goat-like spring of a high-end steel frame, but that’s not what this bike is aiming to be. What did surprise me was that despite the frame being optimised around 130mm forks, it turned out to be the most effective 100mm forked XC frame I’ve ridden to date.

Back in 2008 the original frame got rave reviews. On-one and Brant have quite a few Ti frame designs under their belt now, but the review link below chimes very closely with my riding experience so far.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/frames/mountain/product/review-on-one-lynskey-ti-456-08–31339

Gorgeous looking frame. More Dornier Duck Egg than Spitfire but hey 😉

I see them. Stunning, bling build!

I haven’t tried carrying a FF helmet, but Osprey packs are generally superb.

Racing through a local forest, early in the morning (in the days when I could a*sed to get up for 0600 bike rides…), only to find myself flanked by deer on all sides, all of us hurtling in the same direction though a light ground mist. Mystical stuff!

Peebles! Easy access to Glentress, Innerleithen, Edinburgh and all manner of Dark Age drove roads and single tracks.

Took my Ti 456 for a shake-down ride as it reached the end of its build today. No gears cabled up so it was single speed! Initial impression is very good. The frame has a lovely zingy life to it. The frame geometry was a real surprise though, and I had a few seconds of WTF? Similair to an Inbred yet so different! Love it. It feels really edgy and ready to charge.

I’ve got a pair of X-Fusion Velvet 140mm incoming with adjustable travel (down to 100mm). Should be a good fit. Interestingly, the frame is fitted with a pair of Mazocchi MX Pro SLs just now and I really loved the way it handles: sharp and accurate.

I’ve been on one sort of full Susser or another for the last 5 years, but there’s just something about a steel (or Ti in this case) hard tail.

Ran a carbon seat post (and handle bars) on my Scandal for years. Always a very smooth and comfortable ride. If you can afford it, carbon control points offers a lot.

I thought I’d resurrect this thread from the dead…

I called Freeborn this morning hunting for a pair of X-Fusion velvets. They didn’t have any in stock but the help I was offered on the phone was top notch, and there was a great degree of riding knowledge shown. Wish I’d been able to buy from them!

Cameron: The truth revealed…

I suffered from knee pain for years after completely overdoing it in my early thirties. After that I was limited to 20 miles max. Over the last year I’ve been riding more than ever and I’ve been trying Glocosamine at the same time and I have to say that the knee pain is a thing of the past. Anecdotal of course, but my knee is noticeably better.

Used them a couple of times. Very good service and they resolved a product problem quickly and without any issues. Certainly as good as CRC and Wiggle.

The reaver spirit, eh? It was like that everywhere in the 80’s. West Lothian was a war zone at times. From my experience, Peebles, West Linton and Eddleston are as Genteel as you like. Mind you, West Linton had/has some highly unusual (and pretty undesirable) activity going on there, and has a very colourful recent past. To say the least! 😯

Pity I couldn’t find a clip of the original video.

It’s got a monster? Excellent! Cardrona is back in the running!

The Creature of Cardrona

This will make Glentress much more interesting.

Really interesting 😕

So it’s nice, but has some slightly unusual (almost ethereal,)drawbacks. Pretty much as it looks then.

Thanks all. I have a lot of thinking to do!

🙂 Blimey! Well, thanks all for the info.

And I thought the resentment felt in Innerleithen about Peebles was sad…

I’m in Eddleston just now and to be honest it seems a very similar place, despite the unbearably snooty bar/restaurant! I do agree that it is a lot like Livingston in the hills though. Having said that, its existence is a reality so it seems a bit mad not to take advantage of it given current prices.

I know it to pass by but no idea of what it’s like to live in. Seems very nice but there’s a negative vibe around it from a number of sources. Main worry is broadband at the moment. I need at least 1 meg. Could be tricky.

Difficult to live any closer to Glentress than Cardrona, and it has it’s own bike track. And it’s on the doorstep of Peebles. All ticked boxes! Still gets flak though.

Cardrona is a bit of a dump though, no decent riding near by either.

Um…No decent riding near by? You jest surely? Though the resale time of your friend’s flat looks credible 🙁

Excellent! Thanks for all that… Looks like I’ll have to get the boat ready and plant a Pampas grass in the garden then… 🙂

Diplomacy. Genius and very simple, but expect to lose friends.

And Panzerblitz by the much-missed Avalon Hill. :-‘(

Even the small step of erecting ‘Cyclists Ahead’ warnings on popular road riding routes would help. The amount of times I’ve gone round a corner on a winding road and thought ‘Christ, what if there’d been a cyclist there?’

I’ve used them and found their service to be excellent on each occasion. Certainly up there with CRC and Wiggle.

Not components. We’re talking actual frame decals.