I ran one with no problems. It was super light as well.

I’ve got a copy of DIRT from earlier this year where they profiled some of the enduro racers bikes; it makes interesting reading and worth tracking down a copy. Keeping the weight down seems to be very important, when I did the Macavalanche earlier this year I was amazed at how light the top enduro boys had got their bikes with many taking it to an almost XC level of weight-weenieness.

3.5 liter rover V8

I wouldn’t bother for mincing but if you like gnar they are addictive, I’ve got Reverb’s on both my gnar friendly bikes now.

Back in your box… Hans is a deserving hero of the sport.

Er… is all the timing not done on the descents? In which case it’s only the doonhalls that count and hence take the best bike for the doons and slog the ups?

Nightriding with a difference… spot the giant saguaro cactus 😉

Sunrise in the Sonoran Desert – McDowell Country Park (The old Cactus Cup trails )

Short-Bus Shuttling early on a Sunday morning

Shuttling crew on South Mountain Phoenix – fab people and some brilliant “chunk” on these trails

Mt Elden Trails at Flagstaff – awesome biking

Sunset in Sonoma – lovely trails around here and well worth the effort

So… if you get the chance to go to Phoenix or that area of Arizona do it… and take your bike 😆

Formula Th1 are fantastic. I went with 180/160 and have had no problems even on some scary brake heavy descents.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/nfcycling/_i.html?_fsub=1016831011

Nicholas was a pleasure to deal with – the UK price for these is daft.

I liked my Whyte 19 steel, it did the whippy steel thing really well… but I kept taking it beyond its comfort zone so moved it on… but I do miss it.

I broke my rigid, my 63mm ht, the 80mm ht, the 100mm, etc etc… currently seeing if the 150mm hardtail can take it. Your riding and your trails will decide which is right for you.

33lb 160mm travel all mountain fs for, er… all mountain, the more tech and gnar the better.
26lb 150mm travel hardtail, so I can ride it in a similar way to the above bike without risking life, limb and bike snappage.

Holey thread resurrection!

I’ve put “some” my money where my mouth was and done some experimenting.

I went from a Hope V2 200/200 combo on my Helius AM to a Formula RX 200/180 – I prefer the feel of the Formula RX but I missed some of the outright stopping grunt of the V2 (although sometimes I found the V2 grabby which is one reason I wanted to change… the other was I could never get the lever comfortable or get it to feel quite right). I liked the RX and it was good but not good enough, but since I loved the feel of the RX lever I bought some Formula TheONE brakes which have a bigger piston… and to test my theory I bought 180/160 disks figuring that if they are not up to the task I can go back to the 200/180 I had with the RX’s. My seat-of-the-chammy testing is ongoing but so far so good; TheONE is an increasable feeling super powerful brake, with the 180/160 combo they are definitely better in the feel and stopping department than either the RX or the V2. Only downside I have found so far is clearance between calliper and disc which is an issue when you bend them a little in transit. No issues with overheating despite some ridiculous brake heavy descending in the high temperatures of Arizona.

My AM looks a little funny with the dinky discs 8)

I found I was always faffing with the bite-point and lever-position adjust on my Hope brakes… and could never get it “just-right”.

I bought some Formula RX as an experiment and did not miss the adjustments one single bit… lever position adjusted with an Allen Key and then leave it alone as it’s perfect. I was so impressed I bought some TheONE for my big bike and am moving the RX to my hardtail.

I’ve had a few posts in mine. The slightly worn I-beam post I have slips like a greased banana skin no matter how hard I crank the QR, the nearly new I-beam post has to be cranked up really hard to prevent slippage, and the Reverb doesn’t slip and is the dogs danglies.

A few years ago my FS bike hit 45lbs and my HT was 35lbs… I’d built them up heavy to make sure I didn’t break them, the problem was they were a bastard to cycle anywhere which removed some of the fun. I would only use the FS where I really needed it and often rode the HT where I should have had the FS. Two years ago I replaced them both and my current FS is 33lbs and my HT is 26lbs, and they are much better bikes because it. I can now ride the FS and the HT everywhere, I love my lighter bikes, no going back.

Oooh, the 2012 Slash looks really interesting. I did look at the Scratch last year but the geometry was hopeless (IMHO).

I’ve ridden a couple of Alpine’s and I like them fine enough although I found the med too short and large to… er… long. When I bought my Helius AM the Alpine still had a 27.2 post which instantly removed it from my list. I also have a friend who has broken his Alpine twice; Orange honoured the first failure at 6 months but since he has an early Alpine with a one year warranty when it failed again at 14 months they said no… which is fair enough if a little grrrrr… so it’s currently sporting some rather professional looking welding done by a local welder (and I do mean professional – think helicopter standard welding!!!).

I’ve still got 3-1/2 years of my transferable warranty left to run – which I know does not cover damage caused by lack of bushing maintenance! My AM was also not quite how I ordered it so be carefull with the ordering process… but the pudding is in the proof and I really love it.

MTBR is a good resource, and there are many older threads on this very subject on here. Like this one…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/nicolai-helius-am-4

Do an advanced search for Helius looking back a year – seach for user messiah or geetee1972 as we usually have a lot to say 🙄

Oh… and I love mine 8)

That should read “without snappage” obviously 😀

Correctamundo. New freehub required. I sent my wheel to Hope.

I’ve been running an Evo for about two months now with snappage, a non Evo pro2 would have died.

Messiah, you actually used one of these?

Yes, it does what it says. It’s not light and the bitties at the end which go into the frame seem a little short but it’s functional and works fine with my XT Quick Release.

I did wonder how it would work out since the frame is either going to come into contact with this axle or the hub grippy-bits first; On my Pro2 Evo hubs it’s the Hope grippy bits which grip on the frame first and this thing “floats”, or it would if it were not gripped enough by the frame dropouts. It’s bang on the perfect length for my application and I could not hear or feel it rattle/float in garage fettle or use.

I don’t use it all the time, but it’s handy to have about so I can sling the heavy duty wheels and tyres off my Nicolai (12mm) onto my Mmmbob (QR). Or if I’ve bunged the light wheels on the Nicolai I can chuck them back on the Mmmbop without having to take the cassette off – it’s also a usefull thing to have for trueing 12mm rear wheels on normal wheel trueing jigs

I sent Dave in the service/warranty dept a double box of Jaffa cakes a few months back… he deserved it.

I’ve gone Pro2 to Pro2 Evo so know what I’m talking about 🙄 , on the Evo you do just change the end caps, which unfortunately means removing the cassette to get the drive side end cap off.

Quickest/easiest way to convert between 12mm & QR is one of these… it’s not light but it’s a piece of piss, and means any 12mm hub can be used.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=34779

Nicolai Helius AM – first time I took it to play in the big mountains it’s performance astounded me. It was the holly grail of trail bike for the ups and doonhall bike for the downs. A year and half later and riding it still makes me grin like an idiot 😀

linn of dee to hutchinson hut – about 2 hours

Close, I would say nearer 3, especially if kitted up to sleep at Hutchison. As I said above, 2 hours to the turning off the Laoigh, and then another hour up to Hutch.

To go to BigMac top from Hutchison would be a walk, and quite a stiff one at that.

Hutchison roof in the middle of this picture, path to Etchachan rising on the right – from Etchachan up is similar but mostly not as rocky (beginning and ending are… rocky that is), brilliantly scary fun on the way down but for me a deal breaker on the way up.

… and yes… it was snowing up there last weekend

what is the climb / carry like up the Srion Riach to the top? is it all a carry?

“it’s a sair fecht fir a half loaf”

I consider muchsome of it rideable but I am in the minority.

Not a route for baggage.

I was with the captain – two of the party turned round and went home before we were half way up Sron Riach… it’s that kind of climb/walk/mountain-day-out.

How about this for a circuit:
– from the Hutchison bothy,
– through the Lairig an Laoigh pass,
– around Loch Avon and
– then approach Ben Macdui from the north
– descent back to Hutchison bothy and back down to the van at Linn of Dee.
Would that be doable? Or am I getting ahead of myself?

Hutchison is a good bit off the Lairig an Laoigh – I would say two hours to the turning, and another difficult hour up to Hutchison bothy, which you have to back-track to do anything from – nice fun descent though.

Lairig an Laoigh to Loch Avon is a walk – very difficult terrain to even push a bike so when we did it we ditched the bikes and walked it just for the views. Loch Avon up to Loch Etchachan is a scamble.

The Cruel Sea (1953)
Thirty Nine Steps (1935)
Big Lebowski

Your conservatory sounds ace compared with mine. If the wind is from the wrong direction water pishes in where the roof meets the wall… which is over the door… the floor is tiled and bloody slippery when wet… so we live with soggy carpets are end up on falling on your arse… the conservatory is also the entry point to the back of the house we so have to go through it to get in. It’s in the sun all summer so stupid hot, and no insulation so in the winter stupid cold. To stop it getting too much like a greenhouse in the summer we leave the windows open, which means it fills up with hoverflies… which the spiders who live in all the little nooks and crannies just love (hoover them up at the end of summer!).
There is a hole in the floor from where I had to hack down through it to unblock the drains… three layers of concrete! Conservatory floor is higher than floor level in the house which is very wrong, so when the conservatory floods it comes into the house.

I’ve been meaning to get rid of it for the 9 years I’ve lived in the house but couldn’t afford it, and for the last few years it’s been a handy place to keep prams and pushchairs… next year it will go 😈

I’ve still got it 😆

1996/7 Columbus framed Kona Explosif – twitchy ditch magnet bast&^rd constantly tries to kill me. I was going to sell it but I dented the top tube in a huge crash two weeks after getting it and have been stuck with the fri*&er ever since.

Either this bike is going to kill me or I am going to kill it. I did break the chainstay at the dropout… but I got it repaired so I can continue to try and kill the f*&*er properly 😈

It’ll be fine and won’t make a single bit of difference… it’s wheel building not rocket science, and as mentioned above snowflaked wheels hold up fine and they have damn daft bent and twisted spokes. Chalk it up to experience and don’t do it again.

See how long it takes for anyone on the trails to notice… I suspect nobody ever will.

Enjoyed this last night while watching Dexter season 6

I ran 2.4 Rubber Queens for six months over the winter, come the summer the rear died very quickly. The UST version I’m running out back now has far more beef to the carcass and is holding up great.

Seat post angle can be an issue. I.e. a slack seatpost angle can mean your quite far back on the bike and pedalling up a hill mens your pushing forward on the pedals as well as down which hurts the lower back.

Sliding the saddle forward on the rails can help as will making yourself straighten your back during the climbs… basically don’t “hunch” but push your tummy forward and shoulders back… works for me when I get twinges in my lower back.

This frame is still top of my wish list. I’ve currently got an Mmmbop built up almost how I would build it… and I’ve learned a few things from riding that build.

The Revelation U-turn Teams I have are a good fork… but they feel a little flexy when hammered into things and when landing drops. I’d like something stiffer but 36’s/Lyriks are a bunch more weight. Depends on your thoughts on the flexyness vs weight issue but the Rev is probably a reasonable compromise for all round riding. I have some 36 Floats which I will bung them on it at some point to see if the extra weight is worth it.

I went for 1 x 9 and am loving it for where I ride this bike – it works for me because the bike is light. I do miss the granny gear occasionaly but a bit more grunting and effort gets the same results. Secondhand XTR crankset = cheap & lush. Chainguide for the top only is required.

Reverb post is a must – and with no front mech shifter the reverb lever goes in it’s place.

Wheels – same as my other bike so I can swap them – Ubiquitous Hope/Flow with Rubber Queens (2.2 on hardtail, 2.4 on big bike).

Brakes – Formula RX (TH1 on big bike – both 160/180 as it’s all I need).

Stem/Bar – 50mm stem with Sunline 745 bars – shape I like, and same as big bike.

So… what I did is set it up as close to my big bike as possible so bits can be swapped around if need be or to try different things. Also – keep an eye on the scales as keeping the weight down without compromising strength on a bike like this makes it really versatile and great fun.

Enjoy… and post pics so I can drool.

I’m still in shock at how awesome Arizona is. I did scary Doonhall shuttles with gnargnar on the Sunday and Wednesday mornings, rode Mcdowell desert at night in the rain, and at sunrise on another day. I took an extra day and rode Flagstaff forest trails in the morning and Sedona desert in the afternoon… until my legs hurt.
Arizona is amazing and the people were great, I really hope to be back sometime… pictures to come when I get the time. Thanks Arizona, I’m going to miss you.

I’ve got 150 Rev Team on my Mmmbop and 36 Float RC2 on my Helius AM. Both are good forks and feel great. I plan to try the Revs across on the AM some time… but not for big gnar rides as there is much more flexyness/twangyness to them. Whats more important… light weight or control?

I was planning to take my Mmmbop with revs on it… but I might HAVE to take the Helius AM after being shown this on mtbr…

http://www.gnargnartours.com/

Up early for a few shuttles on the Wedenesday morning before the conference?

I’m getting excited now. Looks to be heaps of information online about trails in Flagstaff and Sonoma – both of which promise to be cooler than Scottsdale.

I know I won’t do it justice but I will see it and know if I must go back