I thought the idea was to encourage those who might not normally cycle to work to do so. If there is no saving on the cost of a bike regardless of whether its a £200 bike or £1000, people won't be inclined to do it.

Would the tax office not save more by doing less farting around with the guidelines than what they lose on any taxable benefit a few cyclists might gain from the scheme?!?

I don't think people would begrudge the prices if stuff did last longer. The technology may be advancing and improving performance, but improving durability doesn't seem that high on a lot of companies agenda?

Seen the VTT map of the area. Will be riding for a week but wondered if a couple of days guided was worth it or if anyone had any recommendations for guiding companies. If there's enough to go at, as suggested there might be, we won't bother with guiding.

The Reba I had felt flexy compared to Fox forks I've ridden. They were 120mm versions so not the exact models and more travel than you're talking about.

But so far as filth, there are infinite reports of worn stanchions on Fox forks if you don't keep them pristinely clean but rarely any bad reports for Rockshox.

Nice bikes but probably not worth a lot now, especially if the shock needs attention. £300 – £400 max depending on exact spec and year?? As a rough guide its normally half what it was new minus roughly 10% of its value per year

If a fork has damping, it will act on both rebound and compression. They may be separate circuits and whether the damping is adjustable or not is another matter.

Adding higher weight damping oil will increase the compression damping and reduce the diving. The rebound adjuster will need adjusting to suit as it too will now be slower for a particular setting on the dial.

I have a 2007 Ex 9.0…couldn't stretch to a carbon one this time, so would be swapping over most of the bits onto an alloy version…

Not so bothered about the stiffness of a 15mm axle fork – I have a qr Magura Menja which I'm happy with and feels way stiffer anyway than qr Reba's and Fox's I've tried.

It was mostly the pedalling performance (and mainly uphill) I was interested in. Seems the 2007 version needs propedal on or a higher than recommended air pressure to pedal without bobbing.

Or why can no one produce a decent single pivot FS along the lines of the Orange 5 or Santa Cruz Superlight/Heckler? Or do single pivots only get a good write up when they are uber overpriced and have a niche brand name on them?

Something like Sunn Wisdom S3 – is that any good? Single pivot swingarms must be cheaper to produce than linkage driven single pivots or horst link bikes etc?

Scott G-Zero went down to £799 price point years ago and all the way through to their top models £2k plus. I'd have another with an air shock and a bit stiffer swingarm.

A decent full suss frame for under £1k. Giant Trance, KHS XC604, Boardman show its possible without the budget getting hammered too much. Though I don't know if they have fairly standard size shocks if anyone wanted to easily upgrade the rear shock?

Frame, fork and wheels would be my order of preference. A decent fork would mean a minimum of a RS Recon – Tora's look nasty and cheap – Decathlon show you can get one of those on a £500 bike.

Most likely to be that cheap cos they look fairly old stock – canti bosses and for 80-100mm forks.

Aside from that they're probably about comparable to Merlin's own brand frames or any other low-ish cost hardtail.

Wouldn't have thought there's anything much wrong with them if you just want to build up a cheap hardtail

PS, yes, I know my car sounds somewhat impractical for lugging bikes!?

MBUK reviewed the SE 7000 last issue I think which is a cheaper model by £200 or so. It got a good write up. Looks like a similar or same frame at least?

Van Halen – Suggest a frame then that will give a shorter wheelbase?

Can someone tell me the wheelbase of a normal 18" 456 with a 120mm fork as a comparison to my SS?

Think I probably just need to improve my riding most of all tho….

They're Marzocchi MX Comps – I think Marz were quite long for their travel?

I have some Rebas I could space down to 100 or 80mm.

br, do you know what length stem he's running?

Went round the other day. Much better than what I expected after all the complaints of switchbacks, loose rocks….. I can't ride some of the switchbacks either, but I'm not complaining about them just cos my technique isn't good enough and yeah, there are braking bumps/ruts in the berms but I thought this was mountsin biking, not road riding ;-)

I really enjoyed it, and its a step up from the original Follow the Dog.

I struggled to get tubeless to stay inflated for any length of time on a pair of crossrides I had a while back. They persistently went flat overnight, when I'd had the same tyres running tubless on a set of WTB rims, so it wasn't the tyres. They're pinned rather than welded rims which I think can cause problems.

Have a look on Justridingalong or search for stans or joes no flats conversions.

Stans 355 will be a lot lighter than crossrides and Hope hubs are better, so its not just the extra ton for ease of tubelessness!

Also, years ago my mate had an alloy Falcon hardtail that he'd upgraded with XT and XTR. All the bits then eventually went on an Orange P7 frame. Nothing really lost by doing it this way!

You'd notice the performance benefit with a better fork or better wheels and both would be transferrable to a lighter frame if you got the cash. A pair of lighter tyres could save a pound in weight. Aren't On-One doing SpeedKings for a tenner each?

A Rockshox Reba would be likely be cheaper than a Fox and nearly as light.

'Daft' things like foam grips are cheap, save weight and are cheap.

I don't see why people say its not worth upgrading, when everything bar maybe the seatpost/front mech would be transferrable to a better frame. Nothing is lost by buying better parts, if you appreciate that it will never be an xc whippet machine.

Pen Machno has more singletrack. Marin feels like it has a lot of fire road and is pretty much about the last descent. Neither is particularly technical?

From memory, I think I fitted a 200 eye to eye x 50 stroke Manitou Swinger to mine to replace the original Fox Talas.

Do you not have the original to measure?

10psi less than recommended for your weight is hardly anything. It will ramp up at the end of the travel as said and also if its a fairly new fork, it might need a bit of breaking in.

Can I just ask, I've asked before but having actually taken out insurance recently with M&S its concerning me more….

I haven't specified the bikes I own, I have just ticked the 'possessions away from the home option'….is this right, as most insurance companies I've been with have required the bikes listing as specific items? Couldn't see any options to list my bikes when I took out the policy.

Ok, then ~£400 to get a carbon 2007 Trek Fuel Ex painted or forget what it looks like and buy a new frame sometime?

The Argos respray does look superb…but they're pricey.

But just as people use industrial powder coaters at a much lesser cost than Argos, surely there must be some industrial carbon painters out there.

Where did you get yours done Mr Mojo and any pics?

I'm 5' 10" and went for an 18". Got a 70mm 20deg rise stem and its about right for XC, a bit long maybe on twisty descents but I wouldn't want it any shorter for sat in the saddle.

Doesn't the summer season especially suit a short stem due to the slack head angle?

I have a mate who is 5'8" ish and he's just had to get a 400mm seatpost get a good enough saddle height on a 16".

Its a simple single pivot. Apart from frame failure there's not much to go wrong and its probably nearly worth it for the parts alone? One of the Bootlegs got a good write up in WMB / Bikeradar

I got a 1litre bottle of LHM+ for about £6 from the local car spares shop and it works fine. Have done two sets of brakes so far with no problems in about 4 months (touch wood ;-).

Bigger tyres, spare brake pads and a bike you're comfortable with is all you need.

I've never ridden a bike with more than 120mm travel abroad and never had a problem, you'll enjoy it and naturally ride within your limits. Good technique will get you down most trails, even some of the DH courses. Taking a bigger bike and you might end up injured if you find yourself at speeds you can't handle.

Its the older style 'faux bar' rather than the newer ABP design, but I have the 2007 Fuel Ex 9.0 with the same design and its fine. Someone will be along to tell you how its dated, but there are loads and loads of rocker activated single pivots and normal single pivots still being sold so they can't be that bad. I like mine.

Probably a bit heavy in stock form but the more expensive versions with the same frame were quite light, so its a good base for upgrading.

If its in good condition you should probably pay no more than half the original price. So as full price was £900, no more than £450?

Take the freehub off with an allen key. A mate of mine got a shimano freehub apart (and back together again). I think they are held together by a circlip or a fine metal ring that can be prized out.

The other option is to immerse the freehub body in white spirit / diesel / mek or some other oil based cleaner. Agitate the mechanism and leave for 24 hours or so. Then immerse and leave in a thick oil to relube. Yeah, you probably won't get it as good as the grease that should already be in there but it will be a lot smoother and extend its life (if its ready for scrap)

I have some and they're similar, a good all round tyre but they drag a bit more on the flat and ups but, probably as you'd expect, floatier down hill.

I have a pair of very good condition used 2.35 tubeless ready ones you can have for a good price if you want to try them cheaply. They're a tight fit on the rim being tubeless ready, which is why I've stopped using them. Email in profile

Nickegg – yep, trails are marked on maps, people still GPS them so they can find them again easily and in the best combination? Why bother going guided at all if its that easy?

Some of the back country routes don't have too distinct start points and aren't that well marked from what I remember. Paths covered with layers of pine needles they're that untouched.

Been with TA and would go again – as per all the other comments, good food, comfortable accomodation and superb riding. They'll tailor it to suit all abilities. Excellent!

br – I've yet to get the map, roughly how far is what you suggest?

Was looking for a 3-4 hour xc/trailsy route. Something fun so wanting some singletrack, fast descents, a few rocks maybe. Used to the Peaks/Lakes/Wales/Yorkshire…

I've been to Epping before – could I create a route round there lasting 3-4 hours or so? Not exactly rocky I know….

Not meaning to hijack the post but…

If my RP23 is gradually leaking air – say about 10psi a week – would changing the seals on the air sleeve fix this or could it be more serious than that?

I got it tuned by TFTuned back in September so should it be leaking at all so soon? It hasn't had that much use, maybe once or twice a month and less over the snowy period. Or could the cold weather have degraded the seals slightly?

Its a basic up/down mechanism, there is no need for hydraulic damping or fancy coatings like there are on suspension forks.

To pay £200 for somthing that is essentially so simple grates a bit.

What's wrong with trying the concept for sub £100?? It might look basic, it might look naff, it might need cleaning and it might be heavy but don't the expensive ones?

I've did a quick search on google and couldn't seem to find anywhere, hence "where do I get one"?

The 2007 Trek is essentially a single pivot, so if people say its dated then so are Orange Fives, Scott Sparks, SC Superlights, Konas etc etc.

I've got a 2007 Fuel Ex 9.0 and its a light frame for 5". Its light, nimble and pedals pretty well. I doubt the ABP is massively massively better despite the hype.