Charlie the Bikemonger lists them as out of stock but he’s a very helpful chap so you could give him a call and see if he can track any down for you? Or let you know when stock will return.

6’7″ here and another big shout out for 29ers. Used to feel fairly unstable on my FS (despite it being a 22″ frame) and went over the handlebars a few times. Was ok on my 21.5″ Trek 8000 though before i sold it.
Got a Rockhopper 29er at Xmas and love it. So much more stable on downhills and also climbs way better than any of my other bikes. Never feel like i’m going over the bars now even on very steep descents. The 29er will be my weapon of choice at Mayhem despite the fact my FS cost over 3 times as much.
Will probably get a FS 29er at some stage in the future too. My days of 26″ bikes are over.

Kenda Small Block 8, choice of sizes and ticks all the boxes.
Have the 2.35’s on my singlespeed (26″) and just put some 2″ on my 29er tonight and they seem great too.

Pretty light and roll almost as well as my slicks on tarmac.

I also got a pair of the Mud X from Chevin even though i never really got on with the 26″ versions. I bought them especially for Mayhem as they were such a good price (just incase it rains but then what’s the chance of that in June….)
I run The Captains as well at the moment and think they are pretty good but also bought a pair of Small Block 8’s as i am hoping for a dry Mayhem this year and love the 26″ versions although i run 2.35’s and the 29er verson are 2″.

No worries, thanks guys.

If i don’t have it then it’s not the end of the world, very few of my clients use email anyway so it’s mostly sales bumpf from companies.

At least i’ve managed to set up my answerphone to allow remote access so that should cover most eventualities.

Cheers.

Yep, I have the mountainbike set and two of my riding buddies have them also. Very happy with them so far, great burn times and more than enough light. Very neat units and well made.
Bought mine when Ayup had a uk office but the word is that their customer service is second to none so i’d have no problem with them being in Oz.

I bought some forks off ebay that came from Taiwan a few weeks ago. They arrived and then the courier (Parcelforce) wrote to me telling me that i had to pay VAT and a Parcelforce collection fee before they would be delivered. Paid it online and then the forks were delivered the next day.
Cost me £15 VAT and £13.50 fee on top. (£132 purchase price).
Import duty seem like a lottery though as the chap who recommended the forks to me got his sent with no extra fees at all. If you get lucky whatever you’ve ordered will just get delivered the same as if it had been sent in england.

Every series has some classic episodes and a few that are so-so.

On the whole i love every series (Cartman is the best character ever, anywhere!!).

Again, the latest ones are on Paramount at the moment and some are pretty funny and a few not so hot (but their average episodes are still better than most other programmes best ones).

Paramount recently (a few months back) did a weekend of the top 10 episodes after a big vote. See if you can look those up and watch those first?

Best cartoon ever in my opinion and the film was great too.

I still think the best horror ever made was An American Werewolf In London. Special effects still ace despite it being 1984 i think. Good black humour and great opening scenes on the moors and the dream sequences as well. Makes me jump still and if i was ever out riding at night and i heard that scary wolf howl they used i’d be straight up the nearest tree to spend the night….. Top stuff, a must for anyone who’s never seen it.

Same for us, a couple of days. Did they take any money from you?
Doesn’t look good.

Mr Agreeable.

Decathlon do a bladder cleaning kit which has everything you need in it for £6/£7 i think.

I have one and got one for my mate also. It has the slinky long hose brush and works great. The camelbak one is waaaay too expensive.

I’ve been wondering about this as i’m off to the states in 2 weeks. Best bet i guess is to look over a few US based bike shop sites and see how prices compare from here to there.

May still be cheaper for US based brands but i don’t think there will be any bargains in the same vein as 12 months ago when it was $2 to £1.

I used to live next to that road on MeArse Lane. :-)

Allterrain cycles seem to do the best selection of 29er tyres and they stock The Nevegals.

I lived 500 yards away for a good ten years (mostly before i biked though) and now live a massive 3 miles away which means i have to ride up a big hill to get there. :-( But i get to ride down it again on the way home :-)

It’s good for a bit of a blast but does not cover a massive area so you have to criss cross over your tracks a lot. Very hilly really as well so you are always doing ups and downs with not a lot of flowy flatish singletrack. Certainly gives the lungs a workout though.

Local knowledge helps (there are 3 different areas there to ride if you cross over the roads) but beware the many dog walkers and families there on a nice day – you only ever meet them on the downhill fun bits!

Lickey Hills, up from Lickey End, a couple of miles away from Bell End. Priceless.

Nukeproof,

How much would you want for the small block 8’s?

Have them in the 26″ version and think they’re great (2.35s) and as i’m convinced we’re gonna have a lovely warm summer this year i’d be interested to try the 29er version as they should be a lot lighter than the Spesh fastrack which came on the bike. Now using The Captain tryes whixh are actually pretty good allrounders as well.

All i meant was measuring from the floor to the very top of your inner leg. My jeans are worn on the hip so the start of my leg is above the start of the leg on my jeans.

I may be waffling here but i know what i’m trying to say. I think. :-)

Those are most of the choices at your price point (i’m assuming £1000 is the limit). Anything else tends to be a bit more niche. I was in Chevin cycles in Leeds a few weeks back and noticed that Marin also do some 29ers now but don’t know if they are too expensive? They also stocked a big range of the GF 29ers and the owner rides one so they are a good shop to talk to if you need advice.

My inside leg for jeans is 36″ but measured for cycling is around 38/39″ so if you are a ‘real’ 36″ then a 21″ frame may be ok for you.

If you are anywhere near the midlands you’d be more than welcome to try my Rockhopper.

The Rockhopper is a slightly better spec than the Basic Kona (IMO) and is also cheaper.

Stock is the difficult thing as the bigger sizes are hard to come by. When i got mine it was one of only two in the country at that time. Depends what size frame you need and whether your height is in your legs or body.

A 22″ Kona should be ok for you though as i also have a Hoss in that size and it fits ok despite my ridiculous inside leg measurement.

Halfords are a Kona dealer and they have a few 29ers in the range?

Other than that i wouldn’t know unless Halfords can get any bike?

I’m the same height as you and got a 23″ Rockhopper 29er at Xmas but not via the ride to work scheme i’m afraid.

Look on the Evans website at the Kona range to get an idea of price and spec, i think there’s one for just under a grand.

Your main problem as ever with people our size, is getting a test ride on anything as they won’t get a massive bike in unless you definately buy it.

I’ll see you there later Mick. Any idea what state the forest is in today?

Bunnyhop, thanks for the info and the offer, i’m in the midlands if you are anywhere local.

Mr A, think i have one speed dial lever on my hybrid but as for grips i think the female specific bars/grips are already a bit slimmer than standard ones. The spesh comes with Avid BB5 discs but i don’t know what levers they run?

I think it looks like the Specialized Myka Sport Disc for £360 ish.

BUT, i’ve been tight and told her that if she wants the better bike then she has to pay for half of it now herself and i will refund the money to her at a later date if she actually uses the bike. If it gets ridden once and then sits in the shed gathering dust then at least we’ve both wasted money on it, not just me. I think that’s fair enough and she begrudgingly agreed.

I wanted to get the even more basic non disc Myka and then put on the spare wheels i have and get some half decent hydraulic discs off the classifieds but she doesn’t like the colour of the basic model. :-(

We’ll pop along to a few shops at the weekend and size her up on one.

BTW, any ladies (or men) out there know if lady specific bikes have a shorter reach to the brake levers as she was struggling to grab the levers on the existing Apollo last night? I know some have adjustable reach but do the lady ones start off closer to begin with? Cheers.

I swapped to a 29er at Xmas and it’s been great. Sold my 26er.

Try a 29er if you can, they just ‘fit’ so much better for taller chaps.

I went for a rockhopper which was a cheapish way of getting into the 29er thing but rode a Full Suss Niner the other day and didn’t think it was any better than my hardtail.

Just tried a testing ride across the road on the terrible Apollo to see about sizing and it’s so wrong it’s not true.
She’s had this since she was a child and it’s an 18″ frame with 10 speed gearing with a 40 & 48 tooth rings at the front! No wonder it makes her knees hurt.

I priced up a basic build and it came out way more expensive than a new bike despite not needing a fair few bits which i already have.

I’m thinking basic level Specialized which i can upgrade bit by bit later.

Sorry to ask a rather personal question ladies but what inside leg measurement do you all have? I’ve just checked and my GF has 27″/28″ at 5’5″ which seems a little short to me, especially looking at the “loads of standover room at 27.5” post above when that girl is meant to have short legs?

I was expecting to get a 15″ frame (hardtail) for my lady but am wondering if 13″/14″ may be better as her legs appear extra stumpy. :-)

There is a bike in both sizes at my LBS so i’ll sit her on both but i’d be interested to hear what you other shorter ladies think in the meantime.

Thanks.

There’s a specialized Myka FSR on ebay at the moment which looks nice in a 15″ frame. Ridden 3 times as it’s too big for the 5’0″ owner. 2008.

Looking at bikes for my gf in the same size but a bit too much for a first bike….

This has got me thinking now. I could buy the most basic Spesh Myka and upgrade it with the nice spare disc wheels i have sat in the garage if i just get hold of some 2nd hand disc brakes from the classifieds?
Building up from scratch might be fun too but getting the frame could eb a problem. Not much around in 15″ size although a quick look on Merlin shows me that i could get a Malt 1 in a 15″ frame with seatpost clamp and Headset for £100, leaving me well over £200 to finish it off without needing to buy cranks or wheel/tyres which i already have.
Hmmmm, i feel a good fettle coming on – god help her, it’ll end up being put together worse than her Apollo…….

Finishline Ecotech. Just got one today from Halfords for £3.50 (half price) cos it had a tiny leak. :-)
I find it works very well when cleaning the chain which is pretty much the only place i use it. Apart form that it’s just water and elbow grease.

Knowing my girlfriend as i do, i reckon she’ll only ever do local park and country road lanes at best (maybe the occasional towpath) and would have no interest in what we would generally call ‘proper’ mountainbiking so i realise rides with her will just be a bit of time spent together in the sunshine at a more than relaxed pace and no doubt stopping for tea every 500 yards. I have no intention of pushing her too far at all.
If i’m brutally honest i quite like the time alone (or with riding buddies) away from her so i don’t know how i’d feel if she actually got really into it (although it would be pretty cool i guess).
I’ve just got back from Decathlon and Halfords and there was nothing inspiring in either. LBS had a nice GT but at £460 the budget is starting to creep up from the Spesh at £360 (which seems the best value out there at the moment).

If i buy the spesh then i reckon i could get back a good chunk of the original cost if i sold it again in the classifieds/ebay within the first year?

Rich, she’s 5’5″, i’m 6’7″. Not sure my knees could cope with a 15″ frame ;-)

I’m swaying towards the Spesh but i’m off to Halfords at lunchtime so will look at their offerings as well as popping into Two Wheels to see what they have on the way back.

I’m midlands based so could go to the Chase and hire a bike but are there any female specific bikes available? Plus as she hasn’t ridden for years and it was an effort turning around on the driveway yesterday so i wouldn’t take her anywhere remotely offroad until she finds her cycling legs again.

Not sure what a tandem would look like with a 6’7″ bloke on the front and a 5’5″ woman on the back! I think custom would be the only way to do it and boy would it be ugly and expensive!

Money isn’t an issue with the purchase (within reason) but i don’t want to simply waste money on something that won’t be used. The decathlon bikes are not too bad for the money. But then £360 for the spesh is hardly the end of the world is it.

In an ideal world i’d like to be able to go over to the park for a couple of little tester rides on her existing bike but it’s just toooo horrible.

“Leanne, of Coventry, blames her obesity on thyroid trouble”

Ha ha ha ha ha………….

Couldn’t possibly be lack of exercise and incredibly poor diet could it?

That woman is the walking (or sitting and eating) embodiment of everything that is wrong with todays society.

I’m with Franksinatra above – how could you possibly get that pregnant? The thought fills me with horror.

That’s a lot of dough for a number plate.
I know that P1 LOT & K1 NGS both went for over £220k if i recall but £450k is unreal.
F 1 to a racing driver perhaps?

Bonesetter on here has two Niners, one HT, one Full suss so he may be able to help you.
I got a Rockhopper 29er in a size 23″ frame and love it and i’m the same weight as you and a tad taller and find the bike fits so much better than all my 26″ bikes. Sold my old hardtail as i realised i’d only ever ride the 29er again. My riding also seems very similar to yours.

Hey Mick,

I have some unused 700c slicks in the loft if you want to give them a go rather than buying a set straight off?
Let me know.

EA30,s? Cheap, strong and 685mm wide.

Where did the mounting break? I have a single shot as well and found it great, i even did some offroading with it (used alongside a helmet mounted joystick before i got my Ayups) and it never gave me any trouble.
Great light for the money. Joystick would also make a great commuter light if you can get one for a good price in the classifieds/ebay.

My bike trousers have a removeable inner liner which comes out for the summer making them far cooler.
Thinner Summer gloves are a must also.
Plenty of the jackets out there also have removeable inners but are not usually that cheap.
I don’t commute on mine so i am generally always moving so don’t need that much ventilation. It’s only when you walk around in the gear that you realise how hot you suddenly are.