small balls in a nice tight scrotum or the ability to ninja them up inside at will would both be better than a large set.

Skill, commitment and self belief.

Head angle doesn’t really matter at all.

the only bike specific things that do are decent front tyre grip and a slammed saddle.

vibration causes the squeal.
moisture between the pad and disc cause more vibration.

it wisnae me…

this time ;)

WTF dat ^^ BTW?

They Surly boys’ve def seen a few bongs in their time.

There’s no such thing as a nice high rise stem.
so you might as well just buy the one you feel suits your clamping criteria and pocket best

do folk really ride to Walkerburn to push up the uplift road?

Aye, I’d pay* to see him drive his Landy up the 39 steps

*well I might pay my tab a bit sooner

1) **** rules
2) no I definitely won’t

is there a big Glastonbury style security fence round Gethin nowadays then?

Sad times

RIP common sense :cry:

take a quarter of the time ;)

Have you guys thought about taking up Airfix modelling?
AFAIC any time spent fixing bikes is a waste of riding time

shorter stays manual better, long stays add stability. I’d guess neither are of any importance to your road bike.
the only advantage in shorter stays will be stiffness, which begs the question, Why use steel?

I wouldn’t particularly want a frame built by anyone who couldn’t explain the above to you. nevermind the rest of your questions.

No. I really don’t have to look at F1.

it’s dull and has very little in common with how to ride a bicycle well…

A tiny bit of flex induced divergence will not phase most fast riders.

As for your previous assumptions. You get very fast riders who are super sensitive/picky about set-up/component choice. (Vouilloz would be a classic example) and other very fast riders who are far less interested and just charge regardless.

Sorry to piss on your fireworks but none of the drops on Matador are to flat.

I bet anyone in the WC DH top 50 on a modern bike would beat Vouilloz at his best on a year 2000 bike down any of the gnarlier WC tracks. But if everyone is on a bike with less good technology then it’s a level playing field.

Be nice if there was a way of placing a bet and holding your challenge for real..

using the longest running track on the circuit, Mont Saint Anne as an example. Vouilloz used to put almost 30 seconds into 50th place in his day. the difference between 1st and 50th last year at MSA was closer to 20 seconds. if you are correct you are saying Vouilloz on his 190mm travel single pivot Bos engineering damped Aluminium V-process would have been 20seconds slower than hill riding his 205mm travel rockshox damped Aluminium single pivot Nukeproof.

Personally I think you’re massively underestimating just how good Nico actually was and also how much more consistently winning in DH has to do with a riders mindset than the equipment.

MC’ll still have the PDF somewhere from when we did his. Sure he’d share.

29er is just 700c

so any cx tyre

I ran 25mm spesh road tyres on 230s at 90psi for a few chaingangs. Admit it, a little sex wee just escaped didn’t it? :P

Jameso, P-J probably means the forest rather than the purpose built trail centre. Folk rode mountain bikes in Glentress in the 80s well before suspension became commonplace but GT didn’t get purpose built mountainbiking trails until 20 years later. a lot of the natural trails back then were more challenging than todays waymarked ones too.

Fruitcake maybe. Certainly no Cupcake though. ;)

Trail centres… slack angled hardtail with about 130 fork Any half decent hardtail from the late 90s/early 00s from the classifieds.charity shop.

There’s nothing super fast or super rough at any trail centre.

Seriously. an old Marin, Trek or GT etc. for <£40 and add a new set of cables to your budget.
I ride something similar myself locally and it’s fine for trail centre use.

I know this is probably not what a lot of folk want to hear but it is actually true

x

I’ve no idea Njee (and don’t really care. but 230s (and IIRC 231s) were a good bit lighter than 717s and weren’t as light as many other rim brake rims back in the 90s.

I thought you’d given up on the pompous goading. :roll: You don’t know everything. You’re far too young to remember a lot of stuff I and many others will so please just chill out a bit in your approach.

eh? 717s are nowhere near the lightest mtb rims that even Mavic made

ha ha. :lol:

You misunderstood Soma I wasn’t actually referring to anyone in particular’s size but thanks for sharing your lush stats with us. I’m a 34 waist and a lot heavier than you and the (L) Metros are quite a snug fit on my not fat at all upper leg muscles. not uncomfortably so but not loose if you get me?

have you thought about a Kilt?

Yes. definitely

Have never ridden in the lakes but have ridden the yorkshire dales and did Have a rigid DB Apex in ’93/94? it was the champagne coloured steel frame with the snake stays (same frame as the Axis I think). loved it! rode it happily on big epic rides in the north of Scotland and I’m guessing that would be comparable? in 1990 I had a rigid cannondale that was far too big for me. but apart from the size of it. the answer would still be yes on one of those too.

Metros are quite a slim leg for an mtb 3/4. def one to try before you buy. esp if you’re not the slimmest yourself I’d imagine.

Grown men in 3/4s = Pirate
Grown men in shorts = that knob from AC-DC

if only you weren’t taken Steven

THE REAR OF THE TOP SEATCLAMP BOTTOMS OFF THE REAR OF THE MAIN SEATCLAMP AT JUST OVER THE 12 DEGREE POSITION!

you can max it out with the supplied bolts, longer/shorter bolts will achieve nothing.

I run mine saddle nose up to the max angle possible.

b r longer/shorter bolts won’t help as I’ve described above.

switch to a spoon/flux saddle and you’ll get a few more degrees if you need the nose up further, your current saddle has quite a built up rear shoulder

also, any further than 12deg and the top clamp bottoms on the main clamp body at the rear.

I like a DJ saddle angle so run mine a fraction off the max angle too.

And then you go onto be……..

intolerant of the selfish

Sell that to Surly ;)

Ps. you riding this weekend?

just added a wee bit up there ^

if it’s really that wet you’re going to need to add rock/sand or move house ;)

I was wondering how much sand might be in it really.. but it kinda sounds like you CBA finding out… yeah.. go for type 1 stoney foundation stuff and seriously think about concrete or something else properly all weather for the top surface. I reckon even whacker plated T1 would end up a rutted crumbly mess over your way.

stupidly dry over at MCs and it’s clay based under his field and even that never really ever got hard/dry enough (fairly decent drainage too)