I have a Vortex Smart, is it the same?

Like this: https://www.tacx.com/products/trainers/vortex-smart

It works fine with Zwift and an Ant+ dongle, though I use a chainstay sensor for cadence not the Vortex’s dodgy estimate.

I don’t think so. Several of my mates ride fatties around the Surrey Hills. These are not weekend warriors, they ride hard and often and they love them. They ride everything. Might get one myself.

I could post my xray but I think stuker has nicked it.

You’ll be fine.

Mentally it’s a time warp thing, right now it feels like you’re out forever, but pretty soon and looking back it’ll feel like a blip. Don’t rush it.

So fast once in the flow.

amen. takes a bit of booting up but once it’s rolling, hang on and work it! a big bag of fun.

@swanny sure I understand thanks. But the ’17 models are specced at 120mm travel not 110mm, for the same named fork and frame geo, so I bet it’s just an internal mod.

Alex I see from your pics you’re running 2 clamps, brakes outboard. I’ll give it another try.

another question: anyone on a Stache 9 with XT brakes and the SRAM shifter – does it come with Problem Solvers or just 2 clamps? (Trying 2 clamps on my S7 to run XT brakes but can’t get positioning to work for my lickle hands).

Any closeup pics of the S9 setup please?

I have goofed on the dates and can’t do this. Bugger. Sorry! As you were!

Anyone know how to get extra travel out of these Manitou Comps? At full travel (110mm) there is still 20mm or so of stanchion left so I guess it’s hitting a bumper or something.

ps the saddle is crap.

just the 17.5 and 18.5 left I think Gavin.

Yeah the shop did the tubeless for me. They said it wasn’t hard, used Gorilla tape. Those tubes are quite meaty!

I’ve had the wheels off a few times while interfickering, they’re not heavy.

But I’m expecting to put a heavier tyre on the front when wet season arrives.

Is there any consensus about tyre pressures folks?

-added to post above-.

Thread resurrection!

I just bought a ’16 7 (the purple one). They’re reduced prior to the ’17s coming in, but the aluminium ’17s are near identical, except 10mm more fork travel and the 7 is a truly gopping green too so I took the plunge. The 9 seems a lot of extra dosh to me. The 9s fork seems to have more bells and whistles, that I could probably never tell the difference of anyway.

With a shorter stem this is a very right looking bike to my eyes, some bikes have that, this one certainly does.

A mate’s had one for a few month and he raves on it. But he’s a strong powerful rider – podium contender – and I mos. def. am not so I looked elsewhere, figuring it took a low of brawn to get those big wheels up to speed.

But a car park spin then a couple of borrows soon showed otherwise – this is a fast bike in anyone’s hands.

It’s a near perfect bike for the riding I love – fast flowy woodland singletrack with plenty of roots thrown in. Leith Hill and Surrey Hills. Go at it.

Absolutely could not get on with the stock saddle, swapped out for a Spoon, and the DB5s can’t match up with my XT M785s yet, maybe they need breaking in.

I can make my legs contact the seat stays if I want, but it disappears when riding. A non-issue for me. No heel strikes despite being duck footed.

What I like most is this is a very physical ride. Mincing is not an option asit will just carry on forwards like on rails. On my 29er boinger on 2.3s, to a degree the trail features will turn it for me. On the Stache I have to pick it up, plant it, and lean over as far as I dare, then it sticks like glue. Put effort in and it comes back. Lots of fun.

Climbs are physical too – because it grips you go at it.

Am still messing with tyre pressures. Will probably end up around 10/12.

It’s a 17.5 in Surrey Hills if anyone wants a go, and Head for the Hills say they’ll have a 19.5 shortly.

I’m 5’8, long legs, short body, the 17.5 with a 50mm stem is a perfect fit. I swapped the bars for a pair from the spares bin that have 25mm rise instead of the stock 15mm.

May SS it in the winter, not sure I’d want the chainstays any shorter though.

Oh and a Connectamajig won’t fit through the routing port on the seattube so I’ll need to find another dropper. I’m also finding on the stock static post the seat is slammed right back on the rails so it will need to have some offset. KS Lev probably.

And the new carbon ones for ’17 are slightly tweaked geometry – slacker, longer TT, lower BB. Ticking all the ‘progressive’ boxes.

But I find the aluminium geo dob on for my use, I’m not sure the tweaks would be beneficial for my use. I don’t want it more stable!

The big takewaway – if you’ve been hanging back thinking you need to be a power rider to get this thing moving, it’s not true. Put that aside and go try.

(& I guess I can’t use a 10 speed quick link as the plates are too thick?)

hey all, quick q – can I not split and rejoin a SRAM 11 speed chain the old school way, by pushing a pin out with a chaintool then pushing it back in? Or is this a no-go?

Took my mate’s Stache around some local singletrack yesterday, what fast rolling ball of fun that bike is.

you’re talking in code.

ta. no biggie, I prefer a bit of boing at my age.

thx chaps.

Hey all, just getting in to this year. I used to love the live graphics on the Tour site with the little spinning cyclists, showing the breaks/groups etc. Has that gone? I’m at http://racecenter.letour.fr/#/stageprofile

Un the upside, Waldorf and Statler have been shuffled off ITV4. Yay and double yay!

Several of us ride SS in the winter, some rigid too. There’s very little a reasonable rider on an SS can’t get up around here. Climbs can be long, or steep, but not usually both.

For what I saw yesterday it seemed everyone was with long travel full suspension bikes, dh protections etc. More like freeriders than xc, is that the norm?

no. trail bikes are the norm, it sounds more like your rider just preferred the more gnarly side of things.

& don’t judge Surrey Hills riding by the bikes you see at Walking Bottom car park. most people parking there, intuitively, are not local riders.

I was thinking of bringing my Felt DD 30 from Spain, but after riding yesterday around the area Im not sure if it will be enough bike.

a hardtail is enough bike for Surrey Hills if that’s what you like riding, unless you really want to do the jump lines and super steeps.

try the Saturday morning ride, 0930, Westcott Green, Westcott. (A couple of miles along the A25 west of Dorking) It varies but usually has a bit of everything. You can ride off road north south or west from Westcott.

& if XC is your bag, you won’t be disappointed riding here.

The train ride from Dorks to Gomshall is pretty, regard it as part of the ride. In fact everything past Leatherhead is nice, if you’re coming that way. Have a good one, Surrey Hills is a gem.

^^ nice tats.

In. But a soft In, I think the EU has big issues about where it is now and even bigger about where it’s going. But I just don’t think the sunlit uplands the hard core Outs are pedalling really exist, and it could be an economic clusterf**k. Out has some very legitimate concerns though.

What’s really driving the moderate Out vote? I think it’s that the I-word has been pushed under the table for decades, by all sides, nobody has listened to the voters and it’s coming home to roost. Voters are seeing this as a one in a lifetime chance to have their opinion at least noted.

But this isn’t a vote about (only) mass immigration, it’s much bigger than that.

The STW poll is showing 77% In, I was surprised about that.

This says it pretty good: http://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2016/06/eu-referendum-2

they do look a bit silly but whatevs. ordered.

ta guys.

I’ve always thought Cham is a little short-sighted when it comes to MTB, and this does nothing to dispel it.

Cham’s heaving in the summer with climbers and day trippers, I doubt accommodating more VTT is worth their while.

Personally I think there are no shortcuts, they are what they are, you can only do your best and muddle on. I used to shush mine by rubbing gently down her nose and making a reassuring ‘shhhhh’ noise. No idea if it ever made any difference. I wouldn’t have swaddled.

Right now this feels like endless torment but in a couple of years it will seem the very briefest of blips and will bring a tear to your eye. It will be over before you know it.

& she’s lucky to have you. Daughters are awesome.

But hey, chicks dig scars eh!

Not mine. In the doghouse again.

Thx Max, I’ll be ok. It wasn’t a super big deal, but did wipe out my weekend. Nasty gouge out of shin from pedal or brake lever contact, and a big slam on the hip that’s now a bruise the size of Australia.

A couple of minutes into Terry’s Belly. Yeah really can you believe it. Grrrrrrr. On a 29er too!

Further tips: don’t **** yourself 5 minutes into the first run and spend the rest of the riding day in A&E having wound cleaned up. (I’m fine, nothing serious, but bloody annoying all the same). Also the BPW beers are very good, especially Badger Run.

Info on the closures: https://www.facebook.com/804574009622582/photos/pcb.1043337629079551/1043337249079589/?type=3&theater

see you there.

– it accelerates noticeably more quickly
– it changes direction in a flash. First descent even felt a bit twitchy
– There is a bit less rollover/cushioning on rocky stuff. Not like going back to a std hardtail but definitely notable. I was running a bit more pressure (16/13 as opposed to 13/11) and not sure I’ve got the fork dialled – was running quite a lot of compression damping.
– easy to manual – shorter chainstays probably the thing

sounds like a win to me.

ta all. FOD not a goer but worth a look next time it seems.

Afan will be busy this weekend…

http://www.british-enduro-series.com/schedule-for-the-2016-cannondale-bes/

oops!

Change Web provider Mark, disgusting.

+ 1.

thx, you have used/know them?

I just did an image search for “fat Axl”. Just because of this thread.

haha.

eeek!

Got my (just) 5 year old down the flat wiggly bit of Summer Lightning (Leith Hill) the other day. Not bad on a 14″ singlespeed Islabike I thought.

Poor kids they’re gonna hate us.