Could try some carbon grip paste

For problems with Hermes you can contact/complain through Resolver. A real person will reply. Whether they respond with anything useful is another matter…

Yeah, there’s a few seatposts being recommended here that do nothing for compliance, and nor do they claim to.

The split Ergon/Canyon post works really well. Only available in shorter road bike lengths last I looked, but doesn’t need as much post showing as others to do the job. I’ve also seen a identical ebay knockoff work just as well and not explode. £30-40 if you can find one.

Syntace, Cannondale, Niner and Ritchey do carbon posts designed to flex slightly. They’re all fairly pricey new. I’ve had the Syntace before and it does indeed visibly bend slightly when leaning on the saddle and is noticeable while riding.

ROSE Bikes. Shortly followed by any websites that show “In Stock” when they have nothing, Triton Cycles for example.

Oops, double post

I think Whyte has lost their edge a bit. Struggling to see what the attraction would be now they aren’t ahead of the geometry curve. According to most of the posts in this thread it isn’t the looks. It’s definitely not going to be the weight or pedalling efficiency. Price has gone up a lot. Because they’re British? Hmm…

One thing I will say about the seat angle is having had a S150 with a fair bend in the seat tube, I measured it, it is accurate for me at my size XL saddle height. So it might look slack, and on paper be conservative, but it’s not absolute bollox like some much steeper numbers being put out by other companies at the moment. That said I found the high front end and low BB sort of gave a false impression that the seat angle was slacker than it really was by tipping my weight back.

We’re not there yet. Expect head angles to converge around 63 degrees for bikes tending towards descents before somebody pulls that marketing spin. Couple of years yet.

But the same was said about 65 degrees not long ago. 63 was only ever going to be for proper DH bikes. Now look where things are heading…

This is way more common than you might think. I know of one employer who has done this with over a hundred staff. No updates for months, impossible to get hold of anyone, grievance letters and employment tribunals stacking up, tried to stop furlough payments early without notice to avoid their contribution. To get paid some of the longer serving people even had to point out JRS would be much cheaper than redundancy, which seems to be the way it’s going anyway. I think some employers are mistakenly hoping those still on furlough will just melt away without redundancy/notice/holiday.

So I had a look around and disappointingly few people weigh their frames. :( But since the latest Tallboy is heading towards a pound heavier than the old one it follows that the Hightower should be similarly heavier. My V1 Hightower was 5.9lbs in XL so I imagine the V2 is heading towards 7. Suppose if the new linkage is heavier fair enough, but it didn’t need to be stiffer or stronger. For comparison Spesh are claiming 6.1 for the new S4 size Stumpy Evo and a Whyte S150 carbon is 8.

I see the aluminium Hightower frame is 9.7lbs…holy cow!

For me when a bike goes over 30 it starts to get a bit draggy and spoil the fun. Although this of course depends what it’s being used for.

What does the frame alone weigh for a V2?

I tend to find any mountain bike will feel slow and heavy after riding a road bike for a while. Usually takes a few weeks to get back into it.

I do seem to be spending more time fiddling with gears these days. Back in the good old days I had several 10speed set ups that never needed touching until something wore out. Still think 10 speed Shimano shifters were the best.

Cleats. Takes ages to get the position and float how I want.

Hardly ever happy with the seat tube angle. Either it’s too slack and feels like I’m falling off the back or if steeper it makes the cockpit too short and I feel perched up on top.

Back packs, even the best of them. Don’t want any weight on my back. As I don’t wear one often it throws my balance off when I do.

I’ve got a slight pinging going on when really cranking hard. 350 hubs, XR 391 rims and CX Ray spokes. New wheel, tension feels okay by hand but not checked it properly or tried to lube anything yet. But I did swap a few bits to verify it wasn’t the cassette or the rest of the bike. Not had this before.

If anything bikes actually repair the damage from horses, at least locally. Lots of clay here that horses sink into leaving deep hoof prints that bike tyres then smooth out. That’s until it sets like concrete in summer and rattles our fillings loose. Erosion tends to be more prevalent in steeper, sandy or rocky areas where it’s running water and failure to consider drainage responsible more than a particular user group, apart from motorised traffic on byways/farm tracks of course.

When a bridleway does get surfaced there’s always signs up asking horse riders to keep the speed down to avoid chunks getting taken out of the new surface. No mention of runners or cyclists being asked to slow down.

Not really come across any horse riders behaving badly or being inconsiderate but some should think more carefully about whether their particular horse is safe to be out in public. Have witnessed a few incidents.

I’ve been getting this a bit. Been riding trail bikes all year, then recently got the grav…I mean cross bike back out. The ride position is lower and more stretched out so my neck is tilted back. Lack of suspension probably not helpful. Also seems to put more strain on my elbows. Anyway I think it just takes some time to get used to.

They do still make them. Not sure if you can buy through a shop but occasionally come up on ebay. Got to be careful though, there’s more than one version. The road version doesn’t work with mountain bike rims. The mountain type may not work with different rims. Depends on the shape and thickness of the rim bed for proper fit and seal.

I’ve no experience with proper Paragon made sliding dropouts but Kona uses a fairly similar design, never had it slip or creak. I thought this design, used in conjunction with adjustment bolt and lock nut, made slipping impossible. I notice the Paragon bolts/hardware look much smaller than on a Kona so maybe that leads to problems?

My experience with EBBs is they slip, but not enough to cause a problem if adjusted regularly.

Yep, Northwave bigger than Shimano. Probably closer to Specialized size if you have experience with any.

He seems quite pernickety about bolt torque. Although maybe there’s something to it as I recently had exactly the same ticking stem he’s talking about.

Get the 700 bars out of the shed and fit them. After a few rides on those 750 will feel really wide again.

mbr write similar stuff to Guy in their review. Maybe Spesh didn’t lay on enough cake at the launch…

Most peculiar to read the Mudhugger is the only one that works. My Topeak XC11 works just fine. And the mud doesn’t fly straight passed it. Guess if the tyre hits it because of the suspension that would be a problem. I’ve just checked, it will squeeze around a 31.6 X Fusion dropper collar.

Ha, I was going to say the chainstays are getting a bit too long on the aluminium model. Seat angle is better/steeper, resultingly quite a big difference in top tube lengths for the same reach.

3.5k model looks good value. This and the equivalent Evo seem to undercut Trek and Giant by a good chunk.

https://www.specialized.com/ca/en/stumpjumper-expert/p/175250?color=281584-175250&searchText=93321-3001

Different geo to the aluminium model and with flexing stays. Nice to see they’ve put some effort into keeping the weight down. Many bikes seem to be getting heavier and heavier at the moment. Although can only see a weight for the S-Works frame.

Definitely no kick stands ^ Also white tyres or bar ends.

Knowing there’s a fatigue life for aluminium I’d trust carbon bars more. In fact I’ve broken probably a dozen aluminium parts or frames over the years, none were my fault, but only one carbon part, which probably was my fault.

Is my memory faulty, or didn’t they do a rear suspended road bike way back when?

I can remember there was a Bad Boy version of the Jekyll in the early 2000s

I usually leave the same chain on, works fine. Assuming one cassette isn’t way more knackered than the other.

Of course if the two rear hubs are compatible and pull apart without tools like DT Swiss it takes seconds to swap the freehub with cassette still attached.

Schwalbe used to have a bit of a problem with deformed tyres, particularly Racing Ralphs IIRC. Quite a few years ago but I returned a pair of wobbly Ralphs and a pair of Nics. Had a bit of an argument with the shop about it. They were like “that’s not possible, they’re all checked by lazer at the factory” me “oh right, look at this”.

If it’s new, return it. If it was fine before but had some use it’s probably damaged from an awkward landing or squirming around at low pressure.

You can plot routes on Garmin Connect. They have their own heatmap now which is able to follow most paths, bridleways and some trails. Or just draw the route freehand. Don’t think it’s quite as good as Strava’s route builder but it’s free. Then just click the button to send it to your Garmin. It will need to be connected to your phone app. This all works rather nicely with my 830, results may differ with older or lower models.

Since SirHC mentioned it, I listened to the downtime podcast last night. The Specialized people said for the shock it’s only the rebound tune that changes between frame sizes. Compression tune they think there’s enough adjustment externally.

For the frame they tune the ride based on expected rider weight for each size, using a different layup and bigger stiffer tubing for the larger sizes. Personally as someone either fitting a S5 or S6 but only weighing 72kg I don’t agree with this.

Interesting. I was told similar when upgrading the shock on my Whyte S150. TF Tuned said they’d had problems with the extra loads from yoke style linkages and the Cane Creek DB coil, as it has a very small shaft diameter, but other shocks with bigger shafts should be okay. Thought they were being overly cautious until I came across one online, shaft snapped and punched a hole through the under side of the top tube.

Anyone thinking of fitting an aftermarket coil might need to look at the strut/stroke length ratio too, Fox are saying it could void the warranty on their shocks

What’s the problem there then? Clevis mount putting additional stress on the shaft?

It does look a bit higher. Of course with it being a 4 bar, raising the main pivot won’t increase the anti-squat if the rocker link’s seat stay pivot has risen or its frame pivot dropped or the chainstay rear pivot risen, because it’s all about where the lines through the chainstay and rocker pivots project to.

Yes, quite right. That makes it a bit harder to tell.

Wil from Singlet…I mean Flow MTB says higher anti squat and more rearward axle path, but still doesn’t sound overly impressed by the pedalling.

https://flowmountainbike.com/tests/2021-specialized-stumpjumper-evo-review/

Guess we’ll have to wait a bit longer for the new standard Stumpy. Don’t think there will be a new ST model, the Epic Evo fills that role. But definitely something to fill the gap between the Epic Evo and Stumpy Evo.

There’s a few details of the photo with a flexing stay that make me think it’s genuine. If it’s a photoshop I’m perfectly okay with egg on my face.

Looks to me like the main pivot has moved up slightly on the Stumpy Evo, indicating more anti squat.

U Wot?

That’s a significant change and doesn’t seem to corelate with Ze Germans picture above. Sure that wasn’t a new Epic or something?

I’m guessing the Stumpy Evo still Horst link and the standard model is flexing stay.

Play from 7.04:

https://youtu.be/B1celWf6iMo

Most of the Spesh tyres I’ve had recently have leaked fluid to some degree. The last Butcher, Ground Control and Storm I bought were dreadful. Sidewalls look threadbare from new and it only gets worse as they wear. Newest Purgatory and Fast Trak have wet patches but not quite as bad. Thinking about it I’m not sure I see the relevance of mentioning the particular casing, had plenty of lightweight paper thin tyres from other brands (and Specialized in the past) that haven’t leaked at all. It’s not like Specialized were perfect before but this seemed to get worse when they switched to making their own tyres, and they got heavier.

Pretty much everyone I ride with has had similar issues and are swapping over to Maxxis or Vittoria.

Been using Orange Seal or Stans. Proper Orange Seal, rather than the Endurance stuff, is quite thick and good at coating the inside of the tyre so might help, but doesn’t last long.

Hadn’t seen any mention of these for years. Quite fancied one for a while. At least Schlumpf seems to have outlasted that Truvativ HammerSchmidt thing.

Seen a few places start charging for store delivery lately, including Wilko :(

About 5-7 years ago most of what I bought came from Evans. Lots of good deals, plenty of stock, interesting brands, often first to get in new products. Then the deals dried up, they started getting greedy with postage, nothing I wanted in stock (this was before Covid), boring products, every time I went to Gatwick and asked for something from the warehouse they’d hand me the wrong item. Haven’t bought anything there in years.

Just had a quick look and the website is full of errors, also doesn’t seem to say if items are in stock or not? I never see their products in Google results anymore which can’t help sales either.

Once upon a time I applied for a job at the Gatwick store. They basically had a room full of schoolkids (presumably to save labour or because the job centre told them to apply) to choose from without any interest in the sport or knowledge of bikes, and as it turned out almost all without a way to get to work each day. This could have been picked up from CV’s or a quick phone call before wasting everyone’s time. I know there’s decent people work for Evans but a few too many give off this vibe. I got the distinct impression from the manager interviewing me that he was set on hiring a roadie for whatever reason, which may have derailed my application.

Anyway, I hope they sort themselves out.

How about a Rohloff or Paul Melvin tensioner?

The only non EBB or sliding dropout singlespeed I had used a Surly. It wasn’t strong enough to prevent chainslap but think that’ll be the case with anything relying on a spring and no clutch. Not used one but I magine one of the fixed in place roller types would be best at stopping that.

Rain, fog, frost, mud, any kind of moisture that gets on the sensor can make it go funny. Although if it’s the hole just below the charging port on my 830, that’s a more sensible location than under the front on the previous 510 I had. Does seem slightly more reliable for elevation, but still not perfect all the time.

I’m not sure why some bike companies are specing non-Shimano chains. I’ve read the inner width is different, as above, also read the link length is slightly different. This would confirm my findings when I tried a new Sram chain. Comparing Shimano and KMC there’s less extensive shift ramps on the KMC chain, which is integral to Hyperglide Plus working. I’d be tempted to ask the shop for a properly compatible chain.

I’ve found Shimano 12spd is rather sensitive to the mech or hanger being bent, and cable friction. Otherwise, best shifting I’ve ever had.