As others have said,pretty much the whole thing, although maybe not bars, stems or frames – although I realise these all have a finite lifespan I would expect them to last long enough to not be classed as consumable (ie not have to replace them regularly).

I saw a child begging his mother to buy him a tin of Spam at Tesco today. So definitely Spam.

I won’t go back to tube on my mtb – tubeless is very easy to live with and great to ride. Even if you manage to put a larger hole or laceration in the tyre the worm things (as above) are so easy to use – far quicker and easier than changing a tube.

I hope I didn’t just curse myself!

I’m sorry to hear this has happened to you, but I have to say I wouldn’t personally use a seatpost shim as I’d be concerned about tolerances etc. I’m afraid I can understand why they wouldn’t warranty it, but also don’t see what it has to do with Freeborn.

Great bikes – love mine. That’s a bargain.

Good link above – has anyone actually ordered from them though?

Shitty Sheilas – I’d buy ’em.

How about:

Scat Stevens
Brown Brians
Choddy Charlies
Corny Colins

Carlos, that looks stunning.

Mine are down at 110mm and work great fwiw. I can’t think of a reason why you couldn’t go to 100.

No.

Good point. I’m not sure I would keep the Ralph on the rear if my local trails were rocky (they’re woody).

As per Mekon on my 26er – The Ralph on the rear is coming apart now (but still holding air tubeless), but it has been ragged for a year so I’m happy with that. Really like the combo for all round riding and the odd XC race.

I find the road surfaces really affect my averages on the road bike. I live in a rural area and the surfaces of the roads are shocking on the whole. Even when you’re not dodging potholes you get this very open, gravelly tarmac (I guess when it’s been cheaply resurfaced) that you can really feel the drag with every pedal stroke. I find as soon as I hit better maintained roads around built up areas (for example) I can maintain a higher speed much more easily. Mind you, I am rubbish.

Where are you Cougar?

emsz speaks the truth. I consider it a form of emotional bullying and I have come to the conclusion that it is indicative of an immature personality. Not all women behave in this way. I have had to put up with a full week of silence before, only getting grunts in response to any attempts at conversation. I have to say, my relationship is in a very bad place at the moment, I hope yours is better!

Thank you, I had forgotten about the existence of Richer Sounds. When I used to use them for Hi-Fi stuff years ago they never used to have any of the stuff you wanted in stock, but I guess it’s worth checking out. Hopefully they’ve improved!

… her head was missing.

I get this cr@p from time to time and in my opinion it is an unacceptable way to behave. You have my sympathy.

Bloke! Those are a tight fit – I had to give mine a good thump with a hammer.

Love the front brake cable!

If they still did the Alberts in the 2.1 I would get those. I’m guessing Nics will be closest?

Thanks, can anyone point me in the direction of the best place to get these online? I’m guessing some German emporium?

Hi, will be using Crest rims. Thought about running a Nic evo 2.25 front and Ralph 2.25 snakeskin back. On my 26er the Nic carcass is noticeably smaller than the Ralph- although it could just be me. I haven’t had any problems with the sidewalls with the Evo Ralph but have suffered with cuts between the tread and am hoping the snakeskin would help.

Thanks. I’ve not seen a Nic 29er in the flesh, but the Ralphs look very volumous in the 2.25!

http://www.theonion.com/articles/royal-baby-born,33171/

Sure they’ll get around to it. Don’t say “not fit for purpose” though if you have to turn up the pressure. That wouldn’t apply here.

What he said.

Salsa Pro Moto – fab bars.

Check rear hanger? Mine clicks if I don’t clean and tighten it occasionally.

Comedy gold. Thanks for sharing!

You’ll not get me riding with inner tubes on a mountain bike again by choice. Tubeless works so well for me and where I ride. I did slash my rear tyre (Racing Ralph), which is too thin to be fair and I expected to break it, on a trip to Cwm Carn. But I stuck one of those anchovies in and a blast of CO2 and was away again. Didn’t even have to take the wheel off the bike. I had to do a proper fix for it this weekend as the anchovie slithered loose (after a couple of months), and I simply unseated the tyre, patched it properly (with a heavier duty worm and rubber solution) and inflated it again with my track pump. I’ll probably regret typing this but for the simplicity and ride feel alone tubeless is so worth it. Up there with suspension forks and disc brakes for me.

On balance I enjoyed it, but as a solo rider with no support it was a bit annoying to not be able to jet wash and there was no way I was going to stand in line for over an hour to get my drive train working. Thought that was a bit of an oversight to be honest, although I appreciate most of the solo riders have more than one bike/ people to help keep them going. I had quite a few problems with muddy clag on laps 2 and 3 (after and during the rain) but it did improve. Mud clag from tyres still wore through the paint on my chainstays though! It would be really good to have something to stick on the seatpost as a solo rider so people realise that after 20+hours you may not be making the best line choice or responding so quickly to calls of “on your left” etc. The atmosphere was great and rider camaraderie was really good – I met some really cool people out on course. I only really encountered one c***-end on my 12th lap. He was complaining about my line choice on the first descent and shouted about me being dangerous. He actually did me a favour because as he came past me on the flat shouting his tosh I found some untapped reserves and came past him on the first climb. I didn’t see him again.

Well done gee – great result.

Yes, I’d love to see some too!

I always call that the Bluebell run. Love it.

I experienced dreadful squealing with the sintered on my Oro’s. Tried a couple of sets and then went back to Formula sintered – problem eliminated. It’s a shame as they are excellent value and stopped well enough, but the din really was appalling.

I have this awful feeling from watching that video that the new location is just as likely to turn into a mud bath of epic proportions. I really, really hope I’m wrong. The lie last year about them having tried to weather proof it was ridiculous. I expect they were trying to boost morale as the grim expectation of what was likely to ensue was dawning on the gathered participants.

They should get one of those Russian rain-dispersing machines for the weekend.

Oh great, thank you very much!

+2 Crank Bros multi 19.

I had a spoke go 2nd ride on the last new bike I bought. Not broken one since. I wouldn’t regard it as warranty.