Since your currently running a 9spd 11-32 cassette there are a few things to consider. If you went 1×9 with what you have you would lose the bottom three granny gears, which could feel like a lot. But if you went 1×9 with an 11-34 (or 1×10 with an 11-36) you would lose only the bottom two granny gears which would feel like a lot less.

If your seriously thinking of giving 1×9/10 a go then try a ride without using the bottom two gears before your drivetrain dies… you might be surprised at what you can do.

It’s always worth upgrading… how else are bike shops going to remain and the workers feed their families… think of the children 😉

Sync?[/url]

Nonsense. People would just ask for “a faster horse”.

Have the balls and crack on.

BrewDog produced Ghost Deer, which, at 28%, they claim to be the world’s strongest beer produced by fermentation alone.

If it’s unusual or interesting then it’s fair enough.

From field… and a few days hanging in the workshop 😆 …

to pan…

Pure sex that 8)

I can’t think of any that have got worse as you don’t generally get to try them back-back… so any likes from the old days tend to be through rose tinted specs. I can say with certainty that the latest version of Brewdogs Jackhammer which has just come out of the new Ellon Brewery is better than the older version from Fraserburgh

If your going to post pictures… 595g for 26/38 175mm see the Next SL[/url]

RaceFace SIXC or NEXT.

I just lost an hour of my life looking at the Shand cycles flickr stuff 😳

Loving these dropouts 8)

Seattube angle does look very wrong, but they are custom.

Anyone for CX?

8)

Carbon Ceramic Rotor as a cutting disc.

Delivery of these has started… proof and pudding time soon for the kickstarters.

Pinkbike Barel Interview

Fanboi 😳

Well… strength is just one factor in many. I ran 317’s and Flow’s back to back for a few years. I ran 2.3 to 2.5 tyres on the Flow rims tubeless at down to 25psi with little problems. On the 317’s I would not run larger tyres than 2.2 and even then when tubeless they would burp and squirm at anything less than 30psi… which was annoying and enough to put me in the bushes a few times

I bent a couple of Flow’s in that time but no 317’s… and yet it was the 317’s I sold because I prefered to ride the wider Flow rim which allowed me to run tubeless, reduce the pressure, and run the bigger tyres I like. Were the 317’s stronger? No idea… I just didn’t like riding them as hard because they felt crap compared to the wider Flow rims.

As above. Mavic seem only interested in updating their complete wheel offerings (where their bigger profits lie I assume). In the grand scheme of things the rather outdated Mavic rim offerings are certainly stronger than DT and probably stronger than Stans… but the narrow profile and heavier weight makes Mavic no longer the default rim of choice they used to be.

Come on Mavic… smell the coffee and get with the modern times! Until they do Stans or other “wider” profile rims are better to ride… if perhaps not as long lasting.

Pirates!

I’d love to see something like this work but fear the economies of scale will be working against it. Perhaps if making the custom frames is part of a larger business which keeps the people and tooling utilised and hence paid for?

Do you remember Solitude Cycles? Alex used to be on here a lot and he designed the frames with the customer and had them made by Lee Cooper. Perhaps something like this where a welder/fabricator is able to get on with building stuff while a “designer” speaks to the customer… one problem with this is that there are now two mouths/families to feed; unless your both doing it as a sideline?.

I’d love to get a custom frame built as I have certain ideas I want to try. But I can also try some of these by buying cheap frames which means when the ideas don’t quite work I am able to move on without crying into my coffee… but one day 8)

Finding a niche such as 2souls in Germany has managed to do may be a way to be successful… but only for as long as the niche is yours unless your able and willing to follow (and probably even push) the niche. Mountain bikers can’t even decide on wheel or tyre size at the moment so the future could be anything 🙄

I wish all you frame builders and dream livers the best, I hope your still there when I figure out what I want and decide it’s time.

PS. I’m in Scotland so keeping it local would be Ben or Shand. I was sad when Charlie at Alves called it a day as he did a great job on repairs for me 😥

Back order until April 😥

You may have the answer to your own question in saying that both the full sussers you have owned have been of the XC variety.

Question for you… from the bikes you have and your planned usage why are you thinking of selling the Dialled Alpine? Surely this with a dropper would be the perfect hardtail for Alps and Enduro racing (in as far as any hardtail would be perfect 🙄 😉 ).

I wouldn’t go for the Surge because of the 27.2mm post. I’ve bent too many skinny posts and it limits your dropper options.

I suspect KS will be wanting access to a larger more traditional distributor… and to achieve this aim have made life difficult for the little guy who took the risk and championed their product so well at the start. It’s a dog-eat-dog capitalist world out there. Expects announcement from KS about major “improved distribution network” shortly 🙄

How do you make your living?: Oil Industry: Completion Design and Well Intervention Enginner.

Are you happy doing it?: Yes. When I was younger I was happy to travel the world doing the work but now as I’m older I’m happy to drive a desk and engineer projects. Work life balance is excellent and I love where I live; it’s the home with wife and kids life that swallows my time limiting the ski/bike/etc opportunities.

Would you consider a change of career?: Not at the moment but who knows what the future holds… ideally to only work a few days a week 8) . Certainly not the move to X country for X years that the headhunters offer 🙄
Change is good; I used to ski for a living and it was something I could never see myself not doing… yet I fell out of love with it and yesterday was my first day on ski’s in three years. It was a great day watching my 7 year old grin like a loon all day… but I wouldn’t go back to that life… I’d miss the mental stimulations of what I currenlty do (perhaps the ski-bum thing was a rebound result of my efforts to get through a Beng at uni?).

Does it pay enough for you to MTB comfortably?: Yes. I’ve found I spend less on bikes if I’m riding a lot… I get spendy when I’m away from the bikes and have too much time on my hands and end up thinking about bike bits and how they will make my biking “X” times better 😯 which they don’t .

Next version of the Brodie Holeshot Ti will be 650b

@M1llh0use – luckily Reset do some cheaper pedals… only 445euro!!!

brewdog for lunch
growler for dinner

Banshee Rune or Black market Bikes Roam.

I’ve thought about doing something like this but one thing I really like about a normal Reverb is how easy it is to remove if something where to go wrong… but in two years of reverb useage I’ve had no failures after the initial “expected” failure I got since I bought two mk1’s 🙄

Well done though 8)

Hora – the older geometry 456 (and C456) work best at the 4&5″ end of the fork length as when you shove on a 6″ fork the bottom bracket gets too high and seat angle gets too slack (IMHO/IMHE etc etc). The EVO geometry fixes this by lowering the bottom bracket and steepening the seat angle. I like long forks on a hardtail and my Troof with 160mm forks and 64deg head angle was ace until it cracked!

geetee – I probably could run my 1.5 steerers by mixing headsets with a Nukeproof 44×1.5″ top, or running a 44×1.5 CK/Hope bottom cap upside down up top… swapping one of my Reverbs for a 30.9 would be possible… it’s tempting 🙄

The new 456 EVO Ti is very temping. There is a thread on here where Brant (the designer) mentions it being similar to the Ragley Ti he also designed, but with a 5mm lower bottom bracket. I’ve ridden a Ragley Ti but it was set up for a taller rider so did not feel great for me. My smaller Ragley Mmmbop I currently run has the same geometry as a Ragely Ti and is my current favouritest ever hardtail… I would probably buy the 456 EVO Ti if I could run my 1.5″ steerer forks and 31.6mm Reverb 👿

The Carbon 456 has older geometry which does not interest me.

Free the heel.

Quite the bargain that Nukeproof.

Here is my 33lbs, 160mm travel bike at the top of a Munro… correct tool for the job if the descent is demanding enough (and your the kind of rider willing to winch the climbs to enjoy the descents… IMHO etc).

I know people say bikes like this are too much for a trail centre etc but who cares… if you’ve got the legs to get it to the top you can enjoy the downs. I’d rather take a bike like this and hammer it than take an XC bike and be forced to mince the fun bits.

Geekery!

A4 and Passat engines go in different ways so they are not the same platform… Passat B6/7 is on a stretched golf platform.

My singlespeed and XC hardtail fit in with both wheels on. To fit in the AM bike (or two bikes) I need to take the front wheel(s) off.

With the rear seat folded 60/30 it can take three bikes and three people if you take both wheels off and remove the seatposts.

This Nicolai Helius FR frame is far sale cheap by Yetiman who hangs around on here sometimes.

I meant to edit that so it read better but I really do think that is brilliant. Looking forward to hearing how you get on with riding it. Be justifiably proud as commisioner (and builder BTR)…I’d like to think Mert would approve; and it’s an awesome piece of upcycling.

That is awesome. Well done for going down your own road.

ononeorange – if you followed the pressures on the back of a Rev fork you were almost certainly running them at much too high a pressure… I think I used to run mine 20psi less than reccomended to get 20-30% Sag.