Kate Silverton looks a bit odd though – with those lips and slightly odd face she’s not conventionally attractive. And my better half believed me when I said she used to be a man, so there’s obviously something there….

My Soda, complete with matching blue Hope headset, seatclamp and hubs, and 130mm Revs. Absolutely love it, although slightly stiffer forks at the front (torsional stiffness) might not go amiss.

adh – good point, and one that I tried at the time. I think it helped a little – and I put extra protection round all the valves on the inner – but it didn’t solve it. And having gone to Bonty ACXs, I’ve no intention of going back! :)

Second franki’s post here – I had Fire XC Pro’s, until they started ripping the valves off my inner tubes under braking. At that point I had to switch to something else so ended up with Bonty ACXs because they were there. And personally I’ve found them to be great – I was surprised at the difference in my riding (clearing cambers etc seemed much easier, for starters), they roll well, don’t suffer unduly from pinches and aren’t too difficult to get on or off the rim. I wouldn’t go back!
They come up a little smaller than expected, so 2.2s are a good size for me.

Archive – Londinium (triphop)
Mermen – Krill Slippin (surf guitar – not electronic but fits the criteria and is currently my favourite album ever ever)

Do Thors wind down to 130mm? Bit worried about bunging them on my Soda at 140mm…

Ooh – been a few years since I stopped doing O/ since my folks gave up dragging me along.
You have an electronic ‘dibber’ that you ‘dib’ at the control; when you get back it gets read by a machine and it determines which controls you visited and hence how many points you get. Also it’ll work out any penalties (for being over the time limit).
You may get control descriptions for each control (knoll, NE side; gully, bottom, wet etc), but you won’t get the actual locations until the start time; they should all be printed on the map. Pre-emptive GPS (ie to plot your route) is still not allowed in traditional Orienteering, but not sure about events like this one.

I think I have EBC on the front and have had no problems; Formula on the rear if only because the original pads lasted so well.
Goodridge have reasonable reviews but apparently don’t come with the inter-pad spring; I couldn’t find Koolstop ones anywhere in stock.

um…. in a car. Or possibly with with a large net.
The thing is… without wishing to sound like I’m trolling here, as someone who frankly is a bit wary of horses, if the horse can’t be kept reasonably under control when faced with normal everday outdoor things, arguably it shouldn’t be out in public.
You wouldn’t be allowed out with a dog that wasn’t under control, you wouldn’t be allowed out with a kid that wasn’…. oh.
Well, I reckon it’s half a good argument :)

Depends what you mean by ‘best’. ‘Best for making you worry about whether they’ll last without major servicing/ stanchion scratching’ – Fox, definitely.
‘Best for costing you an arm and a leg, but actually being pretty good to ride’ – Revs, by the sounds of it.
Best secondhand option could be ’08 Pikes with Maxle; I’m also wondering about Maguras, although don’t know the range v well.

I have Oro K18s, and find 180s front and rear perfectly fine for my needs; I’m 12.5 stone (not sure what that is in cubic litres) and do mostly uphill and v slow downhill. :)

I’m v keen on Endura shorts – I still have a pair of Humvees that I bought 4 years ago and have worn all the time; the missus bought me recently some Humvee Singletrack shorts, and if anything they’re even better, with waterproof/resistant fabric, tough lycra panels to ensure stretchiness round the chunkiest of cheeks and so on. Unfortunately I haven’t tried MT500s, though, so can’t comment on them.
One thing about Endura’s is to check the size – the Humvees come up baggy (large is reasonably loose on me, and hangs over the knee), while Singletracks are more fitted (large is just big enough, much closer fitting on the thigh and finishes above the knee). I’m 6′, for the record, and not averse to showing a bit of knee from time to time…. ;)

oooh, tempting – and I already have a Soda! Although it may just be the sunset (in the pic) making me think that…

Obviously the ‘made’ trails are fine; the other ones are starting to cut up somewhat. They’re not as bad as they have been this winter, but expect grit to get EVERYwhere…

How about Pike on a Soda? I’m wondering about swapping to an ’08 Maxle Pike at 130mm…

Not intentionally – it’s more yelps of relief/ achievement at having made it through particular sections without dabbing/ completely f*cking myself and my bike up.
When riding with my regular riding buddy I usually go in front, so heaven only knows what he thinks of it all…

CFH – you’re not the only one; most rides I come back with sore forearms (also pecs). I think it’s often from really yanking on the bars on the way up hills to put the power down, plus sometimes gripping like a bar steward on the way down again.
Does the powerball work? Worth the outlay?

Swinley tomorrow (or possibly Saturday depending on weather); running on Sunday probably. Plus lots of Xbox, GTA4, the Shield and such n such

Oooh, so ‘pre-regs’ Souls and Sodas are going to be collectors’ items, eh? Interesting <strokes beard>… ;)

Chakaping – no, don’t think it’s a problem mentioning that, IMO. Looks like a good package, although I also think I might have to wait around a bit til s/hand prices drop a little…. :)
And yep, I think Cy mentions a couple of points about length – apparently a2c is important, but not sufficiently that running a shorter a2c 140+mm fork is OK.
Personally I’m keen on 130mm – the extra 10mm of travel over, say, Rebas just seems to put the geometry and ride really in the sweet spot for me. Obviously YRMV

OK, so that’s out.
For the ’08 Pikes, is it possible to get an Air-sprung 20mm variant? And yes, I’d also seen a bit about the Manitous – I know they’ve been a bit of a joke in the past, but are they any good now?
Another option is Magura, although I don’t know a huge amount about their range, except that they’re regarded as solid performers.

Good to get a bit of discussion on this – my Soda’s only rated up to 130mm forks, so 140 is out, if only for peace of mind. ’09 Revs are of course tempting, but I’d need to get the U-Turn model to get 130mm, so I’m pretty much going for THE most expensive Revs available.
’08 Pikes – yes, could do, although obviously the weight jumps a bit from the Revs.
The ’05 Zocchi’s sound like an intriguingly off-the-wall idea, too.

Or I could just stick with my ’07 Revs and read about the increased stiffness instead. :)

mmm… funny, I have to agree with sfb that I don’t remember a huge difference in the freewheeling resistance.
On the other hand, I found the resulting weight balance just made my bike feel less ‘fun’, so I switched back to normal derailleurs. I’m glad I tried a Rohloff, but I don’t think I’ll go back to them any time soon.

Have to agree on rounding the tapers. Because I’m goofy-footed (left foot back), it tends to back off the crank bolt ever so slightly. And as people have pointed out, it only takes that happening once to round off the tapers. In fact, I did it on a HT1 crankset too.
Recently I’ve fitted some self-extracting crank bolts; this seems to do the trick of holding everything in place, with the occasional tightening up of the bolts where necessary between rides.

Shut uuup…. don’t tell them!!
Had a fantastic ride yesterday, the weather was lovely, trails easy to find and not too busy. Absolutely excellent; I also enjoyed the new trail section, although it does peter out somewhat… If you go to the start of Whoops, and face towards Lower Star Posts, it’s on your right.

As an aside, with my Racing Jackets (G40 lens?) on, the new trail sections looked very much like the yellow brick road. It was quite surreal…

Does anyone offer a similar service for RS forks (eg Revs to Maxle dropouts), or are the lowers incompatible?

mmm…. I think just more secure, both in a ‘won’t fall out’ way and a ‘less likely to be nicked’ way. I’ve had allen bolts for 4 years or so, and even though I’ve moved to swish blue Hope XC hubs, I’ve stuck with my scratched up allen bolt skewers, so they must be doing something right!

Would agree on the Soda – 3.5lbs, very compliant, handles 130mm forks very well and just feels… right. Great climbing, fantastic for dropping the saddle when going down.
For a bit less money and a slightly larger weight, a Soul does much the same.

You may well fall off at first, but riding up and down on a flat stretch for half an hour clipping in and out will hopefully get the movement into your head as ‘normal’. I find it’s a case of kicking out the heel (or inwards) and there you go.
Also, I would suggest at first running the pedals as loose as possible (there should be a little grub screw on the edge of the clippy part) – just tight enough to hold you in if you pull on it, but loose enough that you can easily unclip. Then over time you can tighten it a bit as required and as you get practiced!

Yes! I love it for running, and for recording routes. Obviously it’s not so good at actually directing you, but hey ho.
I haven’t had any major problems in the woods when using it; to be honest the biggest issue I have comes in the city, where the tall buildings make it hard to get a wide angle on the sky. I’ve heard it doesn’t have quite as good GPS as the 205 and 305 (I think because it’s a little smaller with slightly smaller capacity battery), but haven’t had any major issues.

mm… I’m 6′ and ride a 17.5″ Soda and find it absolutely spot on. So it’s possible a 15.5″ frame could fit you, but really you need to try it out to be sure.

meh, I don’t really feel it, to be honest. I’m in turmoil, caught between ‘women!!’ and ‘meh, they’re so much more than a pair of whatsits’.

Some observations, though: Sabatini= clearly a man in that picture. Large hands, large jaw, large shoulders.
Carter – a completely smooth torso is a little disturbing…

Brew Wharf is pretty good – and lots of space, but last time I went there (on a Friday, about 6.30) it was closed. Went to the Rake instead, round the corner, and it was cramped, full of old men and smelt of flatulence.

On second thoughts, it could have been the last SSSD meetup…

DezB – you didn’t get the punchline quite right (well, not the version I know).

‘I’ve already had my wallet stolen 3 times this week, but I couldn’t find them on Saturday’

I too have been a fan of V-brakes for ages, and even when I had a disc at the front (on my last bike), I ran v’s at the back with no problems. Cable drag can be a pain in the nuts, and you’ll notice the difference between disc and v-brake most on the front wheel.

But if you do want to go down that route, Avid SD5/7 are cheapish, easy to service and so on. I would definitely recommend Koolstop mixed compound pads – salmon on one half, black on the other: the theory is one cleans the rim and is a bit softer; the other is harder wearing and really clamps onto the rim to slow you down.

Problem about using a smartphone with GPS on the bike is battery life. I’ve wondered about it myself – and there is software out there that lets you use it for this – but the battery on my phone gets drained pretty quickly by the GPS. It then causes the issue of what you use to call if you get stuck etc.

Afan has enough trails for a day and a half, I reckon (Wall, Penhydd, White’s Level), and then CwmCarn isn’t far away, either – probably under an hour from there. Swansea or Bristol is a good place to stay overnight

You’re right – most other bike magazines are very much along the what hifi/ what car approach, in that most articles are about whether they would buy this item or that item, and which is the best solution to a particular issue (say… needing a new brake). ST isn’t necessarily the best in that regard, but it tends to have more ‘stories’ – articles that draw you in and, despite their rampant typos :-) , keep you engaged.
So while I’d turn to WMB or its ilk if I need a new set of cranks, I’ll read ST for enjoyment.

Go and buy yourself a copy of What Hi-Fi for a couple of quid and look in the ratings section at the back.

Or… save yourself a couple of quid and read the ratings whilst standing in the shop!
Another thing to bear in mind is that different speakers can sound better or worse depending on what they’re hooked up to. For example, if an amp is quite ‘bright’ and the speakers are generally ‘bright’, the combination could be painful. So definitely get yourself along to a hifi shop, take your amp if you can and try lots of speakers out. Enjoy!

Yep. Think you might find quite a lot of people on who for whom that’s true. But currently – Cotic Soda built up with mostly secondhand parts – ~£1500; Fiat Punto, probably ~£800…