Do you have a Pirtek or Hydrasun near you? They’ll usually make up hoses in a couple of hours, or there and then if they’re not busy!

I bought my 964 when I was 32, to avoid the inevitable mid life crisis ‘jokes’.
Echo the Cayman comment above, too. A pal of mine, ten years older than me, bought himself a 2.7 987 Boxster this year. I had a wee shottie of it when we did a road trip to Czech and Austria in the summer and it was incredibly capable. More fun than folk would have you believe as well.

25k will get you a 964 needing heaps of work. It’ll cost you 2k per year most years once it’s sorted, which seems like a lot but you’ll feel absolutely alive every time you drive it. I LOVE mine. You can also fit a surprisingly large amount of stuff in them. And two children.

That’s really clever and I like it a lot.

Good suggestions here, and I’d like to add another. You need to be aware of vehicles , yes. The old adage about seeing mirrors is still true, but one thing that nobody’s pointed out yet is that bad drivers are more often than not in crap cars. Audis and whatever Will have seen you, but they just don’t care about you. Their view of traffic is hierarchical. It’s the people who aren’t interested in driving – and by extension, cars – who are the worst at it. Nobody who actually enjoys driving, who WANTS to drive, drives a Vauxhall Zafira, a Peugeot 3008 or a Hyundai i30. Wide berth, every time.

Do BT still sell off the back halves of their Transits? Used to go for about £150. They’re ready made workshops that are watertight and secure. Ugly, but a bamboo screen is cheap.

My neighbour bought one recently and loves it. He had an afternoon at the factory and tried a few, ordered the one he liked best. Apparently there’s a test track there. Only really a four hour drive from Ijmuiden or the Hoek, so could be a good weekend away idea?

You’ve sorted it now, but those washers are the same as you get on V-brake pads.

Onza Ules or Serfas Connectors. Keep trying lock ons, keep going back to those two.

Is it possible to go the other way? I’ve got decent 29″ qr wheels that I want to use with my new frame and forks, which are Boost because everything is now.

I like Uvex. Fit well and usually cheapish!

Orange L just ordered! Looking forward to my first complete bike build since I did my Zaskar in 2005. Granted I’ll be reusing components from my horrible Zaskar 29er, but still.

Can’t believe I’ve come back to Singletrack for the first time in years and a few days later I’m buying bike stuff again… or maybe I can.

Similar for me, except I’ve got a collapsable Hazet Assistent 166 for all my bike tools. Small enough that it can go in the boot for a big biking weekend, and when it’s up and the lower ‘bin’ is weighed down with tools and spares and whatever, it makes for a damn good makeshift workstand. I love it!

Edit – tried to quote the first reply. Failed.

Had the same thing on my Kona Explosif. And Schwalbe tyres. I’ve never had a good experience with Schwalbe, and having to hacksaw the tyre off was the absolute last straw. Also put me off the idea of tubeless for life, as there’s no way I’d’ve been able to fix a puncture out on the trail. I Will Never buy them again! Never had a problem with Maxxis or Michelin, though, with the latter occasionally on offer in Decathlon being a sweetener!

Great replies, thank you guys! Won’t be camping in early October but could easily do so in the spring. Think I’ll book some accommodation once I’ve got confirmation from him. Might even stop off at Winterberg on the way back…

Excellent reply, thank you very much! I’ve been biking with this pal once before in the Alsace and found the same sort of thing with the trail gradings – I was expecting red to be technical and fun, but it was a mix of fun trails and long fire road climbs. Mainly fire road climbs, if I’m honest. But we worked quite well together in that respect – he’s fitter but I’m better, so I tried to up my fitness by keeping up with him on the climbs, and he tried to improve his technique by watching me on the descents.
Sounds like we can easily make a long weekend of it and not get bored, which is precisely what we’re after. Thank you!
Oh, and is there food nearby, or will we need to hit up Kaufhalle or whichever supermarket is closest first?

What about using an oil filter wrench?

My last KMC enjoyed snapping quite a lot. Fortunately I live in the Netherlands, so last time it snapped on a ride I could push it 200m to a bike shop where I could get a 15Euro Shimano HG one that’s given me no trouble since.

The first GT Zaskar Elite 29er. Very, very pretty and graceful looking but a horrible thing to ride trails on. Steep head angle and a stem about a foot and a half long combine to make it particularly unwieldy. I’m forever twatting my front foot against the back of the front tyre when I turn as well. It’s almost like it’s a road or touring bike that’s been given some mildly chunky tyres and told to go and pretend to be something it’s not. I tried it on trails a couple of times and just could not gel with it, and no-one has wanted to buy it for even a few hundred quid (it was £1,300 new!) so it gets used purely for dragging the youngest to school. Which it can’t even do competently because the rear QR keeps working loose. It’s a truly hateful thing and it’s put me off 29ers for life.

What you really want is the back off an old BT Transit. Effectively a fibreglass workshop, easily transportable, secure and leakproof and usually sold with a workbench and some racking still in place. Paint it NATO green if you don’t want the neighbours to complain.

Thanks. :)

Might just stockpile a few pairs and get them powdercoated as and when…

Such as?

Y’know when something just ‘works’? Just feels ‘right’? Yes, objectively there may well be newer, better, cheaper, whatever things, but I just love V8s.

See also mk2 Golf GTIs, Maxxis High Rollers, Chimay Bruin, DIN 1451…

Dying? I hope not. I’ve a 650b Kona Explosif and I have never gelled with a bike so quickly in my life before or since. I’ve had it for over four years and must have done 3,000 miles on it on various surfaces. My Zaskar 29er on the other hand… It was bought under the bike to work scheme and after attempting trails with it once it was relegated to pure commuting and dragging kids to school duties. Looks gorgeous. Is cumbersome, slow to steer and generally just horrible to ride. Keep twatting my front foot off the back of the front tyre as well which means the geometry is completely wrong as far as I’m concerned. It might well be Mr. Zaskar designer was having an off day that day, but it’s put me off them for life. Will stick with 650b – and my twelve year old, 3×8, 26″-wheeled Zaskar…

And so to an update of the update of the update! My lovely new Foxy arrived on Friday afternoon and I set to assembling and setting up and failed pretty quickly when I couldn’t get the front wheel on. Hmmm. Seemed that the front disc was bottoming out in the caliper. No problem, it probably just needs adjustment, thinks I, so I whip it off and get the wheel in place. And can’t refit the caliper because the 160-180 post to post mount with appropriate longer bolts was missing…
So now I’ve assembled it, set it up as best as I can, but can’t ride it as I don’t have either the appropriate bracket or a spare 160 disc. Because who has 160 discs these days?
I’ve emailed Silverfish and had no reply – I’m probably on their blocked list now – but to be fair they hadn’t even opened the box, this is entirely Mondraker’s screw-up.
I’m sure it’s going to be lovely to ride when I get round to riding it…

Probably should have clarified that – Silverfish made the offer. They were at Mondraker headquarters this week – I have no idea what deals or otherwise have been done but Richie said that it had been talked about. Either way, I’m happier today than I was yesterday!

I guess it’s only right to update this thread again – I’ve been offered either a complete frame or a complete 2017 Foxy at a heavily reduced price. I’ve opted for the latter as I couldn’t build the frame up to a spec I’d have liked for less than I was offered a complete new bike for. So provided it all comes off, it’s a solution that I’m happy with.

I wish it could have been settled without so much hassle, but ultimately it seems like it’s going to work out okay. Will keep you updated! 8)

Also, thanks to whoever it was from here who shared my post off Mondraker’s facebook page! :D

Yeah, well documented along with the cracking. Like I said though, never had a problem again after the first set were replaced under warranty. Funny how they honoured that claim, eh? Makes me think the warranty registration thing happened AFTER I bought it…

Yes, it’s a 2010 bike, so ‘covered’ under the ‘lifetime warranty’. Left them a scathing review on their facebook page, so if anybody would like to read it and view the pictures of the damage, it’s here:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/MondrakerUK/reviews/?ref=page_internal

I’m surprised Richie from Silverfish hasn’t come back to defend them, tbh. But yes, I shall start to make a nuisance of myself! :lol:

I was first warned about the frames cracking from some boy at 10 Under the Ben so always kept an eye out for it. I’ve had a set of bearings under warranty early on when the back triangle kept working itself loose but I never had a problem after that. It’s been brilliant until now. And yes, my lbs stopped selling them because of the amount of hassle they had with them…

Lifetime means lifetime in my book, not expected lifetime. But yes, pretty dishonourable, very disappointing, extremely unlikely to get me buying a Mondraker product again. :(

Perhaps, and if it was a £30 Argos toaster I’d be inclined to agree, but for such a big-ticket item? Obviously if I’d known about it at the time I’d have registered it – it took all of 90 seconds to do, afterall.
And you’re right – this thread could have been full of me singing their praises, a confirmed Mondraker customer for life.

Also yeah, definitely the original owner, with paperwork to prove. Hell, I could probably dig out my credit card statement from the time to corroborate, not that I should have to!

A few years, and I registered it as soon as I realised I was supposed to – it wasn’t actually mentioned in any of the documentation I received when I bought the bike in the first place!

Apparently I never registered it in time. Which is just the shoddiest of reasons. It’s not like that makes it not their product, does it? Can you imagine if your still allegedly in warranty new BMW or whatever had a failure of the chassis near a suspension mounting point and they turned around and said ‘yeah, we know you’ve owned this from new, but you never filled in this form in time so you’ll be fixing it yourself LOLZ’? You’d be utterly livid. Like I am now.

So I suppose one month on I should update this with the fact that Mondraker’s ‘lifetime warranty’ is no such thing and isn’t worth spit.

Despite my bike being registered with them, despite me sending all the pictures they required, and despite me being quite clearly the original owner with the receipt to prove, after another month of me having to chase this claim once a week they have turned around and said that they’re not honouring it. So yes, I’m very annoyed today. Annoyed at Silverfish as their first correspondence was amazingly cheery, making me think it’d be a formality but that with the 26″ to 650b changeover they’d probably get credit for the frame alone and that I could use it as discount against a complete new bike. Fine, I was okay with that. I was less happy about having to chase it up every week, and even less happy that four weeks later I got an email from an intern-sounding person asking for all my details ‘to send to Mondraker’ – which were on the bottom of the email chain that he’d replied to me from.

I feel like I’ve wasted two months, hoping that I’ll be able to ride a lovely replacement full susser. I’m annoyed at the unprofessional nature of the emails I had from Silverfish. And I’m especially annoyed at Mondraker for claiming they offer a lifetime warranty that very clearly isn’t.

So yeah, won’t be buying Mondraker again. And I’m unlikely to deal with Silverfish again, even if I move back to the island. The whole experience has been frustrating and has left a bitter taste.

So it seems that’s it. I’ve got a useless garage ornament taking up valuable space that’s going to make me angry every time I look at it. FML.

Thanks very much Richie! Have fired you over a couple of emails outlining exactly what’s happened so far. Here’s hoping it all works out amicably – I love my Foxy!

Thanks guys, probably could have explained the situation better. Bought it in Scotland, live in the Netherlands now. Not exactly halfway around the world, but still a pain in the arse. Mondraker in Spain have been helpful and make all the right noises, Mondraker’s distributor’s agent in Benelux initially asked for photographs and a copy of the receipt by email and said they’d do everything they could to help, then two weeks later (after a few reminders spaced a week apart) said that Mondraker Benelux weren’t prepared to do anything and that I had to take it back to the shop I bought it from. I’m happy to strip it and ship it if I’m likely to see something back, but potentially wasting hours of my time and however many Euros for no return, well, that sucks.