^ was. Freecaster.tv

Careful, most come without loctite and will wiggle loose in 10 minutes. Get some yourself and apply before fitting (voice of experience here 😳 )

You’re on sram – go gripshift!

You don’t need to run it both sides either

Gotta love Rob W’s commentry

“he’s off quicker than a jewish foreskin!”

“More dangerous than a spanish cucumber”

Super-fi in Camden should stock it.

There’s a good shop in the west-end called Walrus… but you’d need to add a few zeros onto your budget

A damn good ride. Awesome singletrack – but mind the walkers .. thankfully due to lack of trees, you can see them coming a mile off

nodders? ❓ 😐

It’s the natural lay-up of the carbon fibre. Looks cool.

The tyres are Bontrager XDX btw

I reckon so. You might have an issue with chunky DH chainrings, but otherwise – you’ll be right.

It’ll work fine

Weight weenies have used 10 speed chains on 9sp for a while

buzz-lightyear – Member
It gives the impression (to me) that geometry has been compromised to accommodate large wheels.

You can pretty much apply that to most 29ers 😉

650B all the way!

DNM pre-amp – nice.

Should should better than you expect

I’m selling a brand new set of XT 3×9 rings in the classifieds if you don’t believe the hype 😉 😳

LOL at the ,performance’ product comment!!

Why? I’m talking generally

I’m not talking about carbon-chainrings here – but how many ‘cyclists’ use SPDs – in the grander scheme of things? – 5% ?

SPDs are a way to extract that extra 10% of “performance” out of oneself – I really don’t see a big market for Kids under 10 with that criteria.

And can I ask – are the kids asking for SPDs – or are you trying to encourage them to use them? At best putting kids on SPDs is a strange idea, at worst it’s recklessness – a bad accident waiting to happen IMO

Can’t do the ride, but I work by the London eye – never seen a bow-ti in the flesh. I might covertly walk past and secretly have a perv

very much doubt it.

Safety aspect not withstanding – clipless pedals are surely classed as a ‘performance’ product – and marketing at kids makes no sense.

I don’t know how healthy SPDs would be for growing legs/knees either! 😐

Pay more for durability?

I think you’ll find an 8sp drivetrain will out-live a fancy 10sp drivetrain by some margin!

A 600 quid Hard tail would probably do quite happily for 80% of riders, but if you have the money to spend – there’s no harm in buying lighter / better bikes.

But if you race / ride reasonably fast – you’ll really appreciate the difference that better forks/brakes make

– You will need to get the BB shell “faced” to remove the paint – and allow the bearing cups to sit straight/flush

Ah, cool – I didnae see that. cheers

EDIT – How the **** did I miss that big yellow button? 😳

Living in London – I miss the sort of bike shops I remember from oop north.

The london stores are 90% staffed by students and young eastern europeans who are paid a pittance and know next to nothing – except about giant’s new hybrid range. They also charge ridiculous amounts of money for servicing – and often with poorly trained mechanics (i.e. 70 quid for a same-day service that involves “checking” your bike – the prices for actual SERVICING are charged on top!!)

There are some really good London stores (Mosquito, Condor etc.) but they tend to be a bit uninterested unless you’re a banker looking to spend your bonus.

Places like Wheelbase, Chevin cycles, JD cycles, Stif (stores with long-term staff who ride/race) are sorely missed

Aside from the bickering – my take on this …

The KEY word in this is “flow” – FS bikes just flow better – you can really carve a berm or land a jump and keep riding without the jarring feeling that comes with a HT.

I currently ride a HT – and it’s what I’m most ‘used to’ – but I do get a massive grin when I borrow a FS bike and point it down hill.

With a good FS, technical climbing is improved – just imagine grinding up a slow tricky climb, and then – *stopped* as your rear wheel hangs up on a rock… FS lets you keep going as the wheel doesn’t get ‘stopped’.

But the ball-ache comes from the bearing problems, the weird rattles, the loose feeling, the mystery creak, the ‘out of date’ linkage, the none-existant s/h value, the shock service etc etc.

Had a ‘Maryland’ Bridge – one of my canine teeth lost in a tarmac face-plant.

Looks perfect but feels a bit odd – not ‘solid’ like an implant would. It was pretty inexpensive though compared to an implant.

Strange how this thread is now littered with ‘buy an implant’ ads already 🙄

I would say – Pro-lite Luciano’s

£125 from Ribble … Handbuilt & Pretty Tough

I think it’s pretty well accepted that cycling has a history of doping at the high levels for over 40 years. It’s only recently that the use of certain performance enhancers/compensators have been outlawed.

I think drug use should be stamped out in cycling, but I can’t condemn competitive individuals who did it to stay in the game 10 years ago.

Like it or not, Armstrong is a strong ambassador for cycling – I hope it stays that way. Although I don’t doubt he (they all) took drugs

Upgrade from an S3 ??

AFAIK, that’s a 3499 frameset! – Do you honestly think it’s holding you back?

I’m sure Storck could sell you something for twice that – provided you have more money than sense.

* Indy Fab / Pegoretti all nice and that for poncing about and showing off on, but they couldn’t match a decent Carbon frame for weight/stiffness, the only thing they’re got going for them is the ‘prestige’ and the romance of ownership

In my experience, chicks don’t actually dig scars 😕 Much to my chagrin, Having a 12 inch gash down my shoulder and a lacerated lip has never really earned me any compliments 😮

Cool skillz tho

With the exception of the XTR Nazi Chainset, I really don’t like the look of this new shimano stuff at all 😕

At least the m970 & m770 prices will be coming down then!

I sold a bike to Barry George 😯

Was also a bike-rider extra in Emmerdale a few years back

I’d say – be prepared to be charged about 30% of the item’s value.. Doesn’t help that vat has gone up!

So if you buy something for 200 (including postage) – expect to pay about £60 when it gets here.

It can be a bit random – sometimes things slip under the radar – but don’t bank on it – esp with a high-value item.

Start with flats, get used to handling the bike, proper technique etc. before worrying about the ‘clipped in’ aspect.

I used to be all about flats, but since riding SPDs on road, I have gained the confidence to use them off-road and would never go back to flats except for DH or slopestyle/northshore stuff.

Be under no false impressions – being clipped in is a BIG BOOST to climbing power. The only time I really miss flats is when hammering multiple tight switchbacks at speed – always good to throw a leg out without having to unclip – reclip – swap foot, unclip.

FYI – After riding a number of clippy-inny pedals – the ONLY ones I’d ride off-road are the SPDs as they are the only type I’ve tried that I can set ‘light’ and feel exactly when I have clipped out

why not.

I’ve found anything by Oakley or 661 fall apart pretty much immediately.

These days I seem to buy Gore products – they are usually a bit pricier but they work, are comfortable and last!

Egon Schiele – love his expressive portraiture

Although I do have a soft spot for Carmen Herrera

I love the way he describes the bike as his “summer fairweather bike” .. then posts a bunch of pictures in the snow! 😆

MSP – Member

Watching that program about the bloke building up his dream bike, I think it was cinelli and chris king that struck me as having cycling pumping through the veins of the companies, they seemed to do a lot to encourage cycling as a lifestyle in their employees

Ah yes, I remember that now .. the Chris King Employees looked chillax’ed

I’ve had about a million bikes in the last 5 years (well, at least 20 IIRC)

This I miss the most (super light & super stiff)

This one … not so much

Have to agree on the mountain kings .. used them on a bike when they had just come out (3/4 years ago?) God awful tyres. No problems with punctures but absolutely atrocious grip – esp. in mud – sliding everywhere. Could not ride with any confidence.

Speed Kings not much better – nice and quick but the side knobs are so flexy that you can feel the things wobble in a tight turn!

Other awful components
– Crank brothers Headsets – rust up almost immediately
– DT swiss rims used to dent with no effort at all
– Look quartz pedals – come with almost a booklet of shims, and the cleats chip to pieces in weeks.

xtr

I just bought a velour (re-badged velvet r) from the states .. not here yet though.

By all accounts they are a superb XC fork for the cash, and stand up to a lot of hammer – as evidenced by their use by so many Dirt Jumpers.

Upgrade has just begun to import them into the UK, so thankfully spares should be a little more available.

Also Stainburn Trail centre if you feel up for a challenge … Around Norwood edge/ Menwith Hill