A custom tune is the best option – so yes, a custom tuned Van R (with or without Push) would be top dog for £250 – with hopefully the correct spring and tune for your riding once you’ve spoken to the chosen tuner. My understanding of the Push tune is that it is a worthwhile upgrade as it gives more internal oil flow which helps with small bump sensitivity and recovery from large bumps.

A stock shock on the other hand has to fit many bikes and suit many people, so other options like bargain Swingers or Rocco’s would not be custom tuned and hence almoot cetainly not as good. They may have more adjustments… but if the custom tune is correct you will not need to adjust anything.

Fox shocks are the standard – and there are so many tuning options which are well understood. Getting the same level of support for other shocks might not be so easy – Rocco’s are well known for problems, and I’ve heard older SPV Swingers can be tuned once the internals have been swapped out for shims… I would (and have) stuck with Fox because the chassis is good, and you can get many things done to the insides.

Diverse Dueler looks like excellent value with the Ti spring – if you can stretch the budget.

A few days of spring like weather and I’m looking lustfully at the mountains again… bliss :D

60mm will be spot on, or even a 50mm stem if your going for wi-ide bars (680mm+).

Defo 170mm cranks for your height unless your used to 175mm and like them.

Have you asked BETD?

Ballater – go across the bridge and along to Bridge of Muick, up the access road towards Craig Vallich, then path across Lach na Gualainn, then down to the Sheil of Glentanar – start the horror climb of Mt Keen.

I wouldn’t bother with this if your not doing Mt Keen – the descent from Sheil of Glentanar to Aboyne is nothing to write home about.

There is a cracking wee path from Ballater over to the base of Mount Keen :wink:

As you have suggested – From Tarfside you could head over the Fungle to Forest of Birse (Ballochan), and then quiet roads to Finzean, Strachan and Banchory, or up into Blackhall/Scolty – loads of options.

Dont worry about the colour, it doesnt aid performance.

Amen 8)

Just looking at the map and noticed that the path I suggested is not on the map :oops:

The path leads from Milden Lodge and is obviously the one that goes up to below Wester Cairn… then across to Battock Summit (the most westerly Corbet)… where you can pick up the obvious and fun path down and across to Clochnaben (again it’s not on the map but it is very much on the ground).

Two options from here to get to Stonehaven – neither of which is anything like direct! South to Drumtochty Glen and then through the forest, or North and over Cairn Kerloch and again through the forest. Fetteresso/Durris forest is huge and sprawling, and far from flat. Pretty much all the maps are confusing as hell and it is easy to get lost or at best confused on the rather boring forest access roads.

Easiest route would be to go round Kerloch on the road and then through the forest – I can easy draw this route on a map for you – not a lot of road involved… adding in Kerloch summit would be stinker… but is a fun descent.

Whats your route? Which direstion are hitting Mount Keen from?

Too heavy for you TLR :roll:

Tarfside to Mt Battock – Clochnaben – then through Fetteresso Forest to Stonehaven and a pint or two at the award winning Marine Hotel

http://www.marinehotelstonehaven.co.uk/

Flats for BMX
SPD’s for MTB

Happy on either but prefer the efficiency of SPD’s when on a mountain bike.

Getting lost in the moment and deciding that I have time for one more loop before going home and that “she” won’t mind and will understand when I am late home for lunch/dinner/anniversary/wedding/etc.

Nope. Been there and done that… retrobikes was a nice little project and the fun I had was in sourcing the parts and building the bike… the riding was dissapointing since modern bikes ride so much better IMHO.

Technique will show you how to make the most of the available grip and improve your skillz. New tyres will be new tyres, then not so new tyres, then old tyres…

Neither of my tyres are UST so I don’t know about that. Sidewall wise the two tyres I have feel very similar… i.e. scary thin and flexy… which means they feel great!

I’ve got a 2.4″ Big Bettie on the front and a 2.4″ Rubber Queen on the back at the moment – both running tubeless on Flow rims. Quick look in the garage last night and a wee test with piece of cardboard shows that the size of these tyres is about the same to within a couple of mm, with the Rubber Queen being the slightly narrower but only where the knobs are – I checked them up and down and side to side and they really are very similar.

If the 2.4 Big Bettie is a bit close at the back and rubs the chainstay then a 2.4″ Rubber Queen will almost certainly do the same.

Was that article in Dirt a review? Looked more like a page of words written around the general subject of the bike as a detention exercise…

:wink:

Edited… I know… it was a mini review but I was a bit shocked by how uninformative it was for a whole page of writing :mrgreen:

Mine are over a year now with no problems, and I have heard of no problems from the other 10 or so of us who have them (Group buys for even bigger discounts).

I got the Friday afternoon set but they sorted me out really quickly hence I can vouch for the nice guys bit :roll:

PP is right enough that they are not rocket science – the charger is more than just a bit Heath Robinson, but it all works and is better than I could knock up. Perhaps the on/off switch on the helmet is the low point – but it’s easy enough to find and the battery seems to last ages so I hardly ever bother to low beam it (except in snow when the main beam was too bright).

I run one as a helemt light, which is my only light. I think it’s brilliant and at the price they are quite a bargain.

I borrowed a friends and that swung it for me – even if there are better lights out there I knew from the test ride that these were excellent. Only comparison I can do is with a Hope Vision 4 and the Four4th was markedly better.

Nice guys to deal with too which is important :D

I think thats awesome, and a great way to really test out the geometry to see if it works for you before buying a Soda :wink:

Bmx is difficult and sore when you slam.

Shorter spokes are lighter :mrgreen:

Thats a point… do you not NEED long nipples for Mavic UST rims?

If it was me I would crack on… from my experience 2mm is about the most you can get away with.

(disclaimer… don’t blame if it doesn’t work :wink: ).

I have 120mm Reba SL with Maxle on my Whyte 19 – they are a great fork until you start pushing them hard and then the damping loses it. Go for the BlackBox damping if your going to be working the fork hard.

I demo’d a Soda which had QR Fox F120 forks (with a big DT QR)… and to be honest they felt as stiff as the Reba’s, and they certainly felt like a better fork… I wouldn’t worry about the QR/15/20 thing and if money is tight get the better performing fork rather than the one with ego boosting look how rad I am axle.

TLR,

When you say you’ve spent the last 2 yrs trying to get your AM to work, what exactly do you mean?

It means TLR doesn’t listen to advice :roll:

Try a shock, work out if there is anything you dislike or could be improved and get a custom tune when it needs a service…

I’ve done the bit of plastic in the second chamber to alter the volume on my HV Fox Float R shock. It reduced the blow through and helped aleviate the pedal strike and “wallow” I was suffering when running 25-30% sag.

To make the performance a bit better I’ve reduced the leverage rate by using the 6.18″ travel setting instead of the 6.7″ (again with 25-30% sag) this has again reduced the shock mid stroke blow through to an almost liveable level.

Next stop is a custom tune…

Another Helius AM 8)

We could be here a while…
1990 Trek 8900 bonded alluminium – tore the rear mach hanger off
1991 Rocky Mountain Blizzard – bottom bracket shell stretched
1991 Rocky Mountain Blizzard – bent rear brake boss
1992 Rocky Mountain Blizzard – cracked wishbone seatstay
1993 Trek 9900 Pro Issue OCLV Carbon – snapped rear brake boss
1993 Trek 9900 Pro Issue OCLV Carbon – bottom bracket shell fell out
1994 Kona Explosive – cracked the diveside chainstay – Welded locally and now my SS
1998 Intense Uzzi SL – snapped seat mast – snapped chainstays x 2- snapped seatstays x2 (I had this for seven years)
Been riding Nicolai’s since 2005 and not broken one of them – loads of components though…
2010 Whyte 19 steel – cracked dropouts

Don’t start me on forks and other stuff.

Might not need to lose a link – just depends on the position of the adjustable dropouts – you might be able to set it up so you change between the 16 and the 18 without removing a link. Not something I’ve tried but it might be possible.

Great thing about the cable guides on this frame is that you can take the gears off and put them back on easy without requiring new cables or much messing around – mine are usually still indexed spot on when I put them back on – make a good mark where your front mech goes :roll:

32 x 16 is the standard for offroad – if you live where it’s hilly or are unfit go 18 on the back – if you live where it’s flat go 14/15 at the back or 34 at the front.

Congratulations, they are a nice ride.

To run it as singlspeed you need will need something like the Gusset thing you mention for the back and ideally a chainring with no shifting ramps and pins (also short chainring bolts). Just use a normal 8 or 9 speed chain – lighter and tend to be better quality than many of the bigger chains. Yes to using the dropouts the adjust the chain tension.

Cassette kit
http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/gusset-double-six-16t-spacer-kit-223-p.asp
Short bolts
http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/bikemongers-cromo-chainring-bolts—single-speed-double-and-extra-large-128-p.asp
Non ramped chainring
http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/fsa-104bcd-chainring-92-p.asp

Is it a 2011 model you’ve gone for? Hopefully the Fox forks are better than the 2010 Reba SL’s which I have found a little wanting.

A custom tuned Fox would be much more fit and forget – but where is the fun in that compared with the endless possibilities of screwing up your suspension with a CCDB…

For the money a custom Fox is hard to beat.

Everytime I see that Brodie Holeshot I require new pants :oops:

I have a Whyte 19 Trail Steel that I bought for this purpose… very much a jack of all trades master of none type of bike.

Compromises all over the place but still a great place to spend a few hours.

All my xc/sport/bulb/big-uns required the ratchet ring changing every 2 years. Bearings lasted longer than the bloody ratchets… have to send to Hope to fix… still good hubs but I prefer the pro2 (but not in 12mm axle… grrrr… bring on the Evo).

I have some cracking mountain route’s I like to get done each year – I currently struggle to get these “classics” and variations done never mind exploring for new trails.

I often see trails like that to Corrour and wonder what like… but it would be the best part of a days walking to ride a very short and steep section, with a hell walkout through the Larig Gruh to finish off. I’d class that in the “not worth the bother” pile and go spend my precious mountain day riding something I know is going to be awesome.

You may think otherwise and I may very well be wrong… so if it’s good let me know :lol:

I’ve never managed to get round my local forest without dabbing.

Riding a twitchy 1991 race hardtail with 1″ of spongy crap rubber travel in the same way that you ride modern bikes is asking for trouble. For some reason I get away with it more on my old rigid Kona Explosif… but thats perhaps because it has the Kona magic dust they used to sprinkle on their frames in those days :wink:

PS – 15 year old carbon fibre bouncy forks were possibly pushing things a bit far, but the 5 year old rigid ones fared no better… me and carbon fibre do not get on (PACE RC35 and RC31).