I’ve seen these for about that price… wife bought me one as a 10th wedding aniversary present 8)

Story behind why they are cheaper than the £3000 normaly charged by TAG for this type of watch.

carrera-special-edition[/url]

One problem with expensive watches is that when they need servicing (in say 10 years) it’s going to be £350 minimum… just be aware!

Something lovely to wear every day, and hand to the kids etc. Everytime I look at it I’m reminded of the 10 years which is nice (mostly 😉 ).

I like them. Highly capable and great fun.

How I had the 18″ built up.

How I currently have the 16″ built up.

I found the 18″ a bit big and the 16″ is a bit small. As above I’ve found 130/140mm forks to be the best – The Revelation fork on the 18″ was lovely and light but the Fox 36 (shortened to 130mm) makes for a more grrrrrr bike due to it’s stiffness… but either is good. Short stem and wide bars works well… I’m running a 45mm stem with 745mm bars.

If you know what your looking for building one up with a £800 budget will be fun. Because of the 1.5 headtube it’s possible to pick up bargain 1.5″ steerer forks, headset and stem; leaving more of your cash for the wheels. The Reverb is a luxury, for bargain seatpost/saddle consider I-beam’s which can be found dirt cheap.

1*9/10 drivetrain works well for me… it’s a stiff frame so getting out of the saddle and working it instead of spinning feels good.

Enjoy!

I’m an expert at annoying my wife.

Just been offered the magnifica by a chap at work here for £100… almost too good to be true.

My wife has decided she wants either of the two machines listed above for Chrismas.

Gaggiag Brera or DeLongi Magnifica.

Any comments or suggestions from the STW coffee hive mind?

Reading mags is the problem… far better to be out riding.

Another ugly cheap Ragley Mmmbop… it’s too small but it’s damn good fun.

With my two wheel pairs being Pro2 Evo’s I can swap the wheels over in less than a minute… no faffing with the disc brakes as the hubs are identical (even with Formula brakes and their ball-hair-clearance-issues). When I’ve tried in the past with slightly different hubs there has been enough of a tiny difference to have discs rubbing and hence much faffage required.

I’ve put my money where my mouth has been for months and just pushed the botton on the replacements for my two damaged Flow rims… I went for the the Light-Bicycle Chinese-wider-mtb-26er-carbon-bike-rim … can’t/won’t afford ENVE’s 8)

I’ll report back in detail at some point.

ABERLOUR – A’bunadh

Every one who drinks Whisky needs to try this wonderfull stuff. A little over the price range but watch the socks go flying.

These are pleasant.

Thistly Cross Scottish Cider[/url]

In my experience many older gentlemen who like a tipple tend to go for the stronger Whisky’s…

I love much of what’s been mentioned so far. My fave band of the time though were Joyriders. Great bunch of guys who should have been huge.

http://thejoyriders.co.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jad60GImkTo

I’ll vote Chinese carbon… and report back… please 😀

I’m very tempted to do this myself as two of my Flows need replaced… I run two pairs of Hope Hope Flows so everything is interchangeable.

I find my cassettes last ages now I’m running 1×9 as they just don’t see the same wear as with multiple front rings. Change the chain frequently and it will be a long time before you trash that expensive cassette… the £250 rear mech might not last if your unlucky though 🙄

I went from a pushed coil Pike to a 36 Float… The 36 is so much better its laughable… and it was lighter than mt Team Pike! I tried a Revelation for a while and loved the lightness but hated the flex. A Lyrik or Fox 34/36 set at 130mm would be my choice… or a 140mm Deville?

BTR Belter … if you’ve got the balls and the skills do it on a hardtail.

Get dumped… channel the aggression when on a climb.

I’m tempted by a trail 29er… but currently not sure what to make of the 29er trail bike market… I’ve not ridden any so my view is subjective… yet still I’m interested… or perhaps not… I have the following reservations due to where and how I ride…

Forks I’ve found 32mm stantioned forks to be limiting for 26er’s so can’t imagine such a fork being any good when subjected to the forces applied to bigger wheels! Which means “for me” (gag 😳 ) a 34mm Fox fork is pretty much the only option I would consider for a trail 29er hardtail? I’m also not sure I would want the full 150mm of travel as I’ve found 130mm is enough on a 26er hardtail if the fork is stiff enough (Fox 36).

Wheels I don’t fancy having a weaker or heavier wheel than the 26er’s I curently use… which don’t tend to last me that long. 26er Flow’s are a fine light trail rim which last me for about a year but by then they are pretty much scrap. I don’t want to go heavier.

Tyres I run 26″ Conti Rubber Queens but I know they have a limited life span under me, but I will live with that for the lightness and grip compromise… and when the going gets daft at least with 26er’s I can shove on a full DH tyre. I can’t see many 29er tyres which even match RQ’s for strength never mind maxxis DH.

All that said I’m still tempted to a different wheel size… either 27.5(650b) or 29er’s… but I currently think the limiting factor will be the forest where I mostly ride and destroy equipment with stunning regularity.

Sorry to have posted my drivel on someone elses thread… but I can’t help wondering if a 29er trail hardtail is realy a viable option for someone like me?

DiamondBack Mason… if they bring it to the UK 🙄

Titus Fireline Ti 29 Evo seems to be the one to be creaming over at the moment

It even has it’s own thread on STW

That looks awesome

I’ve got a BT home hub set to repeat plugged into a powerline adapter… I had all the above stuff kicking about from BT upgrades and a quick google showed me how to set it up this way.

I’ve not seen that Cube before and I think it looks awesome… of those two I’d be rolling the big wheels 😆

I’ve done the whole retro rebuild thing and it was fun… the most fun was in finding the old bits and building the bike. There was fun in riding it but I couldn’t help myself and I kept pushing things until they broke 🙁 , which was no fun (I still have the scars from breaking some RC35’s and the more modern RC31’s which followed… perhaps that bike was my Eleanor?).

What I’m trying to say is that old bikes handle like old bikes and new bikes are (hold the press) better-er-er in so many ways.

When I break the Explosif I’ll not be looking for an old frame to replace it with so I can keep using the bits… it will be out with the old and in with the new 😛

That said I still visit retrobike to look at the shiney old tat… but I have no wish to dive down that rabbit burrow again.

Good luck finding your “Eleanor”.

The old Cove G-spots rode well and they are pivot round the bottom bracket. Mate of mine ss’d one round Kirrochtree after ripping off his rear mech at the start of the day. He survived.

Sounds like you should buy an old frame and get it modded with track ends.

Here’s my sub 4lb Kona Explosif frame with track ends fitted by Charlie Ralph at Alves (now retired).

I did this on the cheap as I love/hate this bike and one day I will break it (again… the chainstay snapped hence the new dropouts… but I want to break it properly next time) 😈

Love my HammerSchmidt, proper spread of gears for proper mountain riding.

This looks interesting.

According to the adverts on the back of buses in Aberdeen you could be earning that for driving the bus.

I used to have one of these and loved it. They are now some of the worst of the boy racer modded cars I see on the roads and it makes me cry 😥

Still secretly want one… until I remember it’s problems.

Sugar rush

Very much in mind for a future project. Chris has been excellent to deal with so far.

CRC were selling Sunline V1’s for £25 recently which is a bargain, although not sure if they have any remaining.

I’m having a fling with a little Ragley Mmmbop at the moment.

The Fox 36 forks have been shortened to 130mm travel as I’ve found any more fork travel is too much for the frame… the bottom bracket gets higher and the seat angle slacker on any hardtail frame with a long fork, and at a certain fork length the ride is compromised (IMHO IMHE etc etc).

It’s an awesome wee bike and I don’t find the reported stiffness a problem. I had Revelation forks on a larger Mmmbop and I found the lack of stiffness with them was a problem (and I burst them inside).

For hooning on a hardtail I think it better to run a stiffer fork at the correct travel for the frame than ram on an overlong fork to “improve how it handles the downhills”, but which compromises how the bike handles.

Most likely a Y-junction I’d say.

In my dreams yes I’d love one thank you very much. Who wouldn’t want a magic metal hardtail that accellerates and handles as well in the tight stuff as a 26er and yet roles over big rocks and stuff like a 29er… it’s the “Holy Grail” I tells thee 8) 8)

Shame I’d have to pay for it which means it won’t happen. 👿

Whoops. The 650b marketing got me.

I wouldn’t run an old skool QR on any fork if I had the choice – 15mm or 20mm for me from now on. Noodlyness is one consideration but so is snapping QR’s and having the bloody things undoing themselves.

Here you go I Ache

Wide carbon rims from China

There are huge threads about these over on MTBR – most owners seem happy.

I do this anyway and I find it odd that other people don’t.

I prefer to night ride on my own as I find other peoples lights a distraction.

I’ve only ridden the Bos combo on a Nicolai Helius AM – and I wrote my finding on here at the time.

Bos vs fox fight

Worth revisting that thread every so often… I kind of wished I’d bought the Bos combo at the time but I couldn’t. Maybe next year?