I have absolutely no desire to own a fatbike ever (Yes, I have ridden plenty).. but this thing actually makes a lot more sense to me than the general touring bike style rigid, steel framed rubbish everyone raves about.
Why crawl around climbing un-climbable climbs on your massive grippy low pressure conformable tyres when the second you point it down something rocky/rough it becomes an uncontrollable terrible handling spacehopper-like mess?

or simply raise the front of your bike :lol:

“some races”? really? that’s cleared that up then :lol:

Training for what?

“Increasing fitness and speed” is a bit vague

oh.. and anything with a handbag strapped to it

anything with one of those MEGArange cassettes that are so fashionable at the moment.
anything with a non-racy saddle
anything with mudguards
everything steel

Bob – That DH was actually found because motorbikes had been ripping UP it for years. I helped build the original DH track (circa ’95). as a DH track it died years ago.

No **** s given here.

Polaris stuff is heavily discounted a few places
http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p57973/Polaris-AM-Enduro-Softshell-Cycling-Jacket.aspx

Don’t know if I even know what “water resistant” entails but I can’t see any modern windproof jacket not being half decent in a light rain shower if worn as an outer layer.

it’s kinda difficult to fit fork seals incorrectly but if you did it would become apparent very quickly. when fitting them are you sure you refilled the fork with the correct oil weight/height/volume? and have them set up with the correct spring rate too?
Sorry, I have no knowledge of your particular forks internals but you probably want to work out what caused your seals to “blow” before seeking a solution.

What is your definition of a blown seal BTW?

a nice stiff 20mm axle fork “should” twist less so I suppose bushing wear “should” be less and torsional forces on the seals less also but seals being elastic should be able to deal with this fairly well.
Removing your front brake would make a bigger difference to longevity of your bushings than the difference between QR and thru axle would IMO.

Er.. You regualry ride a mountain bike off road?
by regularly I mean spending more time riding it than reading/typing shit about it online..

he he.. sorry pecker.. as everyone is telling you. only You can decide.

I’ll add to NWs advice though.

4) how long you ride for

Go 33T but remember, you’ll need a wide wide chain too ;)

Uh? why wouldn’t you go 11/28?

need a tow wee guy? :wink:

have a shave and you can race Junior ;)

No one’s interested in staring at an insecure boys packet

a review? you haven’t even used the thing :lol:

I bought one of those 2 years ago for £13.
I didn’t think to write an essay on it though. Just fitted it to my roadbike and used it 3-5 times every week ever since.

HTII BB lifespan really is pathetic no matter how you look at it. folk defending this fact seems very strange to me.

Does no one remember that a £15 square taper shimano BB used to last circa 10 years (and even then it would simply develop a little play rather than sieze completely like HTII often does). that’s easily over 20000 all weather off road miles with regular jetwashing or 40000 miles on the roadbike with little to no looking after at all during their life.

a 3 mile FLAT city centre commute?

Yeah, you definitely need to start a discussion on what bike to buy for that.
mind and get a “bike fit” while you’re at it
:lol:

serious answer.. a BMX. – you’ll hopefully learn skills like hopping onto non-dropped kerbs to avoid HGV squashage and standing for 3 miles will improve your core fitness no end.

yes it is.

They allow you to clip out, flip the pedal over and ride on the flats for the techy stuff.

lol

sounds Ace! :lol:

That’s a coincidence. I met the best looking Doctor I’d ever seen in A & E lastnight, lovely soft hands too.

He didn’t ask to see me again though, I reckon you’re in with yours :D

(True story BTW) appologies if it didn’t raise a smile.

just ride flats to work then. there’s no great advantage in using SPDs commuting.

Ha ha :lol:

Take gloves off…

Err.. I never wear gloves so to me you’re already a queen of faff. 8)

for those here who find every day life a bit challenging…
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onetapstrava

Happy belated Christmas :)

Actiontec do 20T 4 bolt rings.

http://www.actiontec.us/prices.htm

I don’t include my commutes (too much effort to do every day)

I feel your pain. Each of those 6 taps on the phone’s touchscreen are sooo tiring.

I’m off for a wee lie down now.

every 650b bike I’ve ridden so far has felt horrible.

how many have you ridden?

No idea what the internet thinks. I’ll wait until you’ve answered my question before making a firm decision regarding my “thoughts” ;)

There’s a stock answer? :?
how bizarre. Seems incredibly blinkered to me.

I went into a local Giant dealer about a year ago looking to replace my old Giant roadbike and the owner spent all of his time trying to convince me to buy a Defy. Thing is, I’d already ridden Defys and found the Medium far too short and the M/L had too long a headtube to get my bars low enough. When I mentioned this his reply was “That’s fine, we can do a *Bike fit* for you” :roll: When I mentioned the TCR he just seemed to lose interest and went on to tell me the Defy was his best selling bike, had won various tests etc. etc. blah blah blah.. very odd. I can only assume he must have had an excessive amount of Defys to shift.
I made my excuses took my cash elsewhere and ended up buying a Medium TCR and Couldn’t be happier with it.

I’ve no idea what your mate’s cycle to work scheme entails or what shops do it but if he shops around full Carbon 2014 TCRs with (mainly)105 are available in a few shops discounted to under a grand.

Other brands are available too. I’d suggest trying a few before plumping for a “stock answer”.

Ah “smiley Peirre” the Les Lindarets lifty? Was the fat bikist trying to claim his grin was bigger?

of course it’ll fit.

it’d be way cheaper to just fake a video if that’s all you want

What I find interesting is that even after typing all that, you still don’t seem to have stumbled upon the answer to the original question.

The No1 thing that makes an mtb faster is appropriate tyre choice*

*assuming optimum tyre pressures of course

Graeme. What are you on about? I’d rather not spend all that much time on any bike forum thanks (discussion like this kinda sums it up for me) and I’m guessing your social media must be full of STW types. FWIW I have ridden with actual cycle clubs for 30+ years… you know, since before helmets were even common.

For me, it’s not a debate even worth entering into. I have had the odd comment over the years from folk who haven’t gotten to know me very well yet but funnily enough, without a keyboard to hide behind they’ll generally make one stupid comment. i’ll shrug, smile, laugh or say nothing at all and that’s an end to it. Seems impossible for this to happen here so I’ll leave you all to it.

Yes I reckon.

Surely only a STW regular would have even found such a website :roll:

finding some of these videos a little tame?

Meet Kirill Benderoni…

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/228328/

how long we talking? On my roadbike I use an older (it’s over 2 years old now and cost £12) single XLM chinese 2 mode light and on medium (way bright enough for most situations) and occasionally using full for 40mph+ descents it does me for 6hr+ night road rides. can’t tell you exactly how long it lasts as it’s never even reached the orange low battery glow on me .

I could probably find a link to it if you want one.

without a helmet leads to hysteria.

ha ha… only on here. :lol:

I pretty much never wear one and ride pretty much every day (about 6000miles a year split 2:1 between road and mtb with a bit of BMX)… only time I even get comments it’s from relative noobs with all the gear.

get well soon funky dred bloke.

Saddens me to read that people are too weak to ride hardtails these days when tougher people are available so cheap.

you lose around 40% off RRP the second you ride any new bike.

how much extra will you lose for each new standard that’s introduced?

Ha ha… Quality rant but in reality all of this is a bit of a non issue, eh?
Only seems to affect that certain type of rider who believes all of a sudden for some inexplicable reason we’d need discs fitted to our roadbikes or a completely new mountain bike to ride the latest discipline (#Enduro anyone?) on exactly the same hills their old pikey mate’s been happily riding a wee 8spd, 1&1/8 steerer, 25.4 bar, 100mm hardtail with bald tyres up and down for the last 20 years unphased ;)
I’ve known Roadies, MTBers and even BMXers who have been happy to part with wads of cash just to have a completely new up to date bike and kit every year since as long as I can remember. Either go full pikey and just enjoy your riding rather than the shiny or suck it up fas#ion queens and princesses :lol:

Happy 2015 :)