I’ve got 4500km on my Knolly now, in all weathers and probably a third of that around the peaks. I’ve replaced the bushes once now and the bearing on the swing arm twice.

If it’s good on single large hits, but poor on repeated impacts it could be packing down. This can be fixed with less rebound damping.

You’re best off with a good second hand one in my opinion. FB marketplace/Gumtree/local car boots would be the best place to look. Check that the jaws aren’t too smashed up though. Record, Woden are good brands to look for, but it’s not too crucial if it feels well built and moves nicely.

Oh and why, when there’s more than 2 people walking, do they always split one on each side you have to go between them and risk hitting them? How hard is it to both walk on one side?!

Normally after crossing over each other to get there!

Rode there yesterday afternoon – As said Cafall open round to the top of Pedalhounds which was fine on my trail bike, not sure why it has the grading it does. They’ve done a good job signing the diversions with a sign before the climb up to Pedalhounds pointing you to Twrch. If you get to the top of Pedalhounds and decide against it they’ve signed an ‘escape route’ which I presume is fire road. I’d printed maps off thinking I’d need to work that out for myself (you would at cannock), but it was all straightforward to follow. As P-Jay said, the surface is very loose/dusty, so there’s not a lot of grip to be had on the flatter corners.

There were logs on the new(ish) trail that crisscrosses Hogans Run On Thursday evening last week. One in the bottom of the second drop (just after the jump over Hogans), the second a bit further down on the RH Berm. I cleared them off the trail and as far away as I could lob them. (I’m assuming the naming of Hogans Run is correct on Strava BTW, the newer trail hasn’t come up with a segment for me, possibly because I was messing about clearing logs…..

I had flush bars on my car and snapped them buggering up the roof a bit – my own fault for overloading really, but the regular bars would (and have) been fine. Not that four bikes are likely to overload it, but standard bars will be more solid.

The giant store in Pune also organise regular rides out in Pune, so worth taking to them.

I’ll send this thread to a mate who all travels and rides there regularly who has a few local contacts.

This:

Nobeerinthefridge
10 months for a Cotic Rocket, gave up in the end.

And yes, this happened, all be it to parts I’d bought in anticipation of delivery!

scruff9252
For those of you waiting months for a new bike, are you not concerned that standards will have changed and your “New” bike will be obsolete by the time it get’s delivered?*

*Only semi-tongue in cheek…

Leisure lakes run a good demo day at Cannock once a year. Not sure when in the year though! Cotic also run demos from their base in Calver with a good range of sizes etc.

I decided that it was worth putting the leg work in and traveled around as necessary to try the bikes I was interested in.

OS map and explore is my usual method. Look for interesting bits of woods etc.

with the mk1’s I would get the upgraded seals. They make a huge difference to the initial sensitivity.

As I said, I was suprised, but these have been reworked and have the new 000255 seals in them.

Poah is right, offset is 41mm on the 26″ fork vs 44 on the 27.5, a lot of manufacturers seem to be reducing offsets at the minute though, Fox have a 37mm F36 option out this year.

There’s an epic thread on mtbr which will include details on the swap, you’ve just got to find it. I haven’t read the manual yet, but I’d hope it’s in there. Manitou’s website has a full set of service instructions too should you need them, these forks seem to be fairly home mechanic friendly.

Cheers all,

The Arkose looks pretty good in a all of it’s versions, I’ll go to my local Evans and see if they have one in to try.  I’m going past planet X tomorrow, so I’ll probably pop in and have a look at their offerings.

I think I’ll give hub gears a miss this time round, they seem to add to the cost, make finding bike with hydro brakes awkward and I hadn’t thought about kerb hopability.

If it was more of an urban commute I’d be seriously looking at town bikes – I rode a really cool one a few years ago at the hand made bicycle show in Bristol.  Can’t remember the name now, but it was a single oversize tube frame with grab handle tubes on the rear end to help put it on the train.  Had big apple tyres and a hub gear.  It was remarkably fun to ride and being upright had great visibility. As it is maybe a mile of my commute is suburban so being able too get my head down for the rest is a bonus.

That wayfarer really does have a long steerer!

Thanks for the advice so far.  I haven’t yet ridden anything yet, wanted to get an idea of what I should be looking at first.

The advice on avoiding Alfine is interesting, hasn’t thought about roadside tyre repairs, but I’ve had the odd one and<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”> can see it being a pain.  I keep looking at flat bar, but can see myself being annoyed at being up in the air too much, certainly if it’s anything like my xc bike.</span>

The arkose is looking like a good option (non Alfine), so I might try at get into an Evans for a look see and hopefully test ride.

Good ride, think I picked up all the recommendations, though I didn’t get over to Stanage in the end:

http://www.strava.com/activities/1097664523

Thanks

Edit to say I don’t know what the forum is doing with this link, just copy it into a browser and it works!

Cheers!

Cheers for the suggestions, but where devils elbow?!

Cheers Guys

Fair point on lacking model – they’re TS8 150 Lift Select’s!

Cheers for the seal advice.

I’m in the not camp being quite heavy. I’ve had front pinch flats at speed on fast descents. Plenty of time to haul up the bike safely, throw another tube in and carry on.
I wouldn’t fancy my chances with total tyre deflation in the same situation like tubeless would do.

I’ve been running tubeless for over a year now and had my first ‘puncture’ this week pumping the back end through a drainage ditch in the alps and slicing the tyre on a very pointy rock. Deflated in about 5-10 seconds, and I had plenty of time to stop up before it was flat. To be clear if I was running a tube it would have sliced that too!

Chucked a tube and a thick piece of rubber in over the hole and blew it up quite a bit above my normal pressure – handling was negatively affected and later on I still managed to pinch the tube – would not have happened tubeless.

I also run my rigid single speed tubeless, have quite frequently felt the rim bottom out on the tyre – never flatted the bugger, this would not be true with tubes!

For the reduced on trail hassle I’m a convert – never had a massive issue setting them up, 26″ Hans Dampfs on Arch EX and 29″ Ardents on WTB somethings.

We used The Barn, through MTB Morzine I think – sleeps up to 16 at a push. Hot tub, centre of town, non catered, nice pad, and decent garage. We also broke the washing machine so now has a nice new one :-)

BTW OEM stands for ‘Original Equipment Manufactucturer’. So Shimano pads for Shimano brakes. Super star and the like are ‘Aftermarket’.

Just trying to stop the confusion in the above posts!

Ah, fair enough. I don’t trust anything without markings! Pivot harware on my bike is all 12.9….

Bolts come in different grades though.
If you look on the head of one of your existing bolts, there should be a number.
8.8 is standard high tensile. If it’s not marked, you can generally assume it is this grade.
If it’s marked 10.9 or 12.9, then you really ought to replace it with a similarly marked bolt, as these are greater tensile strength.

Unmarked bolts are normally grade 5 aren’t they? I.e. Cheese grade…..

Just make sure the shank doesn’t bottom out on the female threads too, it’s likely to be longer on a longer bolt (but check).

Cutting down long bolts can sometimes give you a stronger joint as the longer shank can be better. As said above the issue is corrosion of the cut surface.

I replaced my bolts with ‘non-standard’ bolts, however they were of the same size and grade from a local lengineering supplies place. Google/Yell fasteners suppliers in your town.

CTD, kind of wish I’d gone CCBD Air though.

Can’t say on the 650b side of things, of course Knolly now do the 650b Warden, so there’s another option :wink:

A friend has engineered his to click into place inside his seat post. Very ingenious.

I’ve got an endorphin. See here for commentary:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-did-you-demo-what-did-you-buy/page/2

Demo’d:

Banshee Prime
Banshee Rune
Banshee Spitfire
Spec Stumpjumper 29er
Trek Remedy
Santa Cruz Tallboy LT
Santa Cruz Blur LT
Yeti SB66
Yeti SB95
Cotic Rocket
Knolly Endorphin

Bought:
Knolly Endorphin

Stop reading here if you aren’t interested in my views on them all!

AlexSimon here are some notes I wrote down for another forum member last year:
I’m no seasoned bike tester, all of my previous bikes have been bought unridden (currently on a 2005 Orange 5), but my I’ve scrawled down my impressions below. I’m an okay rider, in the faster group going down in my club (though there are no DHers in our club!), mid pack going back up, ride trail centres, peaks, long mynd, swinley etc. I’m 5’11” and rode a large in all the bikes except the Cotic which I rode in L and M.

Banshee Prime
Really liked this bike – rolled well and was chuckable for a 29er – worth a ride if you go 29er Good value too from memory. The lacquered raw finish on the Banshees looked great.

Banshee Rune
Super plush pillow of a bike, probably great if you’re riding big stuff, but way too much for an ‘everthing with an uphill’ bike. I struggled to get it off the ground on my test ride, and found it really draggy on the flat – not for me, so I exclude the SC Nomad as too similar

Banshee Spitfire
This was much more like it, really snappy and fun, I just wanted a shade more capability and the SB66 was more confidence inspiring.

Spec Stumpjumper 29er
Just not for me this one, seemed quick, but not fun

Trek Remedy
Felt too on top of the bike, and thus a bit nervous, quick though.

Santa Cruz Tallboy LT
Didn’t get on with this bike for some reason, it didn’t seem to have very good small bump compliance, but I wonder if that was shock setup – I was going to re ride it with less air, but decided that 29ers weren’t for me after demo’ing a mix.

Santa Cruz Blur LT
I like the suspension feel on this – good small bump compliance, not too much bob uphill, it was just the short TT that put me off, I felt far too cramped

Yeti SB66
This was the first bike I tested, and I immediately gel’ed with it, was the equivalent of a hot hatch – egging you on to go faster, giving you loads of confidence. The faster you went the more you got out of it. It pedalled really well up hill even with the propedal off. I re-rode it at the Leisure lakes demo day as I had some spare time and still got the same feeling coming off the other bikes. The first bike I rode had Devilles fitted and the second had fox 32’s. The BOS were really nice – I’d have them if they weren’t so expensive! The 32’s were fine, but were a little flexy in comparison.

Yeti SB95
Similar to the 66 but not as quick to change direction, it rolled over ruts very well and could be made to go where you wanted, but was happier to just steamroller a line through the trail. Easier going on the flat though. If I were less aggressive down hill it’d be between this and the Prime.

Cotic Rocket
Much like the SB66 this pedalled really well up and felt great down. The Large was spot on for me with a 60mm stem (I was riding Cy’s bike). I’m not convinced the forks were working properly though, they seemed to be locking up on the bushings. Cy had the Vipr shock fitted and I probably used only 75% of the travel with the sag set right, I suspect the compression tune on it suits a more aggressive rider than me (Cy)! The medium I rode was definitely too short for me both in length and height, and made my back hurt in fairly short order. The narrower bars also didn’t suit going down, I felt much less confident. The CTD shock felt better for me though – although I did pinch flat twice within 200m and didn’t think I was riding harder than on the large.

And an email on the Knolly, as I hadn’t ridden it when I wrote the above:
It’s the first bike I’ve ridden that has managed to combine the plushness of an FSR design with a good ‘platform’. When I first got on it I thought it was going to be another pillowy type bike as it smoothed out the trail chatter under the tyres in the same way that the Rune did. I expected that this would make it hard to get off the ground and pop, and would kill pedalling efficiency.

I rode two loops on it, the first was the Cotic demo loop, so I could get a direct comparison. Smooth climbing it’s probably not as efficient as the Cotic, but not a million miles off, and a lot better than many of the bikes I’ve tried. Coming down the rocky chute it was much more capable of dealing with the ‘chunder’, smoothing the worst out so I could concentrate on picking a line rather than correcting. I turned round and rode back up the chute to test technical climbing – really good, better than the rocket, probably because of the reward axle path of the FSResq rear end, it was also fairly easy to lift the front and rear over the edge of steps. Coming down the last descent into Calver it was easy enough to pop off the little lips and bumps, probably not as poppy as the Cotic, but similar the SB66.

The ride on the Beast (Peaks) was interesting – I picked lines that’s I’d never have gone for on my Orange Five (2005, so steep head angle version), it’s a shame I haven’t ridden the Rocket on it too. It had a very reassuring feel to the suspension coming off drops – it felt like it had a lot more travel than the Rocket – even though it’s actually a 140mm bike. I didn’t get close to bottoming it out either, with about ~8mm of shock travel left according to the o-ring.

Anyway long story short, it wasn’t quite as poppy as the Rocket, but it did a better job of merging FSR plushness with single pivot poppyness. Good enough that I now have a dayglo yellow one sat in my house.

I just picked up a Lazer Excalibur from JE James for £45. Not too heavy removable pads and no sodding D-ring buckle. Size a bit on the big side in comparison to fox.

I like my raceface sixc, trimmed down to 765. Were a decent price when I bought them too.

Strava uses digital elevation data, so on routes where you are either climbing or descending I’ve found it to tie up pretty well with friends garmins. On routes with a alot of undulations (like trail centres) I find strava underestimates.

Cheers for the heads up on the Costco Homak set. My wallet is now £360 lighter (plus membership)! It was entertaing getting it in the car, it didn’t look that big in a giant wharehouse!

It is however an awesome box that instantly made one mate jealous when he popped round to return my ladders.

procabulary

Totally stealing that!

Saints here.

Morzine on the Sunday here :-)

Charlie the bike monger has axiom panniers – just got mine and they seem very good. Roll top seal. Rack mount not as slick as the ortlieb’s but works okay, I need to mod my rack with a bar for the lower hook rather than a tiny hole as it takes two hands to unmount at the moment. It is a 34 year old rack though, so a more modern rack may be okay.

£44 for the 30l pair, £55 for the 40l pair.

My Dad once compressed a transit coil spring in a doorway, with a bottle jack. As it compressed he bound the coils together with steel wire. Once in place he snipped the wire & the spring…sprang. (Somewhat noisily).

8O