Some shops will allow you to top up with your own money over the £1000 limit although they are not supposed to. Most of the big shops won't allow this though. Keep it in mind as well that if you do find a shop that will allow you to top up over the £1000 that the bike won't be insured for the full amount, the bike will only be insured for the £1000. So in the event of a damaged/stolen bike, you'll take the hit. I know this as the shop i work for allowed this to happen last year. The bike was stolen. Customer only insured for £1000 and he had to pay a £250 excess, so he lost out pretty badly.

Some companies can get the limit upped to more than £1000 but they need to apply for a credit licence agreement to do this. This costs the employer so most are not willing to do it.

Hope this helps some.

Great bit of kit the led4. Keep an eye out for the new improved one coming out. IIRC it doesn't have any more power but it does have more efficient led's and a better battery.

Not district 9, district 13!

A nice section of trail though, once bed in properly it should ride real nice 🙂 Hats off to the lads and lasses doing the building at Hamsterley, there are some really nice sections developing to go with the older stuff already there.

I know it's section 13 but a few of us NE lot prefer to call it district 13 😉 (after the film)

Just head up to the 4X track, the new trail section, 'district 13' goes off right at the 4X head. Quite a few other new sections at Hamsterley as well.

Not offically open but it's been finished for a while and yes it can be ridden. Think the official opening is next sunday with a BBQ and stuff going on.

Been using a 60a 2.25 ardent on the rear of the HT and full sus all summer. A great tyre. Plenty grip and fast(ish) rolling. Not tried one on the front as i'm more than happy to stick with a 2.35 minion up front.

Agree that an advantage is a bit pants up front. Ok on the rear though as long as it's not wet. Ardent much better than advantage imo.

The green looks very nice in the flesh. Saw one of the trail addiction guides riding a single speed one in Les Arcs last week. Might have even been that very bike.

Get the van R pushed by TF.

Endura Helium is worth a look. Light, packable, good performance and not a bad price at £80.

GW is god. Simple as 😉

He does know his stuff though, especially all things DH.

5ft 11 and on the 17" (med). Fits me spot on. Find it best at around the 120-130mm with pike forks. Pikes really suit the bike imo. Can pretty much handle anything on the trail. Got mine built up reasonably tough with coil pikes, hope on mavic 321, maxxis minion/ardent tyres, saint brakes, thomson, easton, XT etc. Not a light weight bike but still climbs pretty well. Bike really excels at tight twisty steep technical stuff. Love it.

Pic

A mate can pretty easliy get 5 bikes, 5 lots of kit and 5 people in a transporter so i reckon a transit van will be similar.

Agree with cyni-al. Save your money and get the Pro II option. Spend the money you've saved on some new rubber.

I have the following:

Santa Cruz Nomad
Dialled bike PA
Planet X Uncle John

The girlfriend also has:

Santa Cruz Heckler
Spech Stumpy FSR
On One Inbred
Planet X Kaffenback

As we are both 5 11", thats 7 bikes to choose from 🙂

Most LBS will do you some discount, go in and ask. They'll still be pricey though as the 2010 forks have gone up in price over 2009. We just sold a set of Float 36 RC'2 yesterday for £810 (a lot of cash but then they are a great fork).

Fair point Mike

Ashima SOS pads are very good.

mr_stru – it’s very hilly around those parts! Hope it’s a good event but i’m not paying the £50 to set off at 6am and ride what will probably be mostly fire road. Take away the man made trails at Kielder and there is not actually that much to ride except the odd BW and lots of fire road. Correct me if i’m wrong though.

Hope can supply rim tapes at a little extra cost.

Not the best picture of ours called Binks but he’s does enjoy his food.

PA one of the best if you want a tough do anything, go anyhere HT.

Good reliable brakes with plenty of power, not the most powerful on the market but ample enough. Only ever use shimano brakes these days because of their reliablity/easy pad change/simple bleed procedure. Recommended.

You looked at the giant reign x? Lots of travel and very capable. Got a Heckler myself with coil shock and wotan’s. A very capable bike both DH and for longer rides.

If anyone is having problems with the wotan diving and want it to be a bit more progressive then have a read of this:

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Magura-Wotan-review-2008.html

Bring the xc bike on monday Death and we can do the xc/new/sneaky bits.

Got some Wotan’s, great fork, the best big fork i’ve owned (tried 36’s and maz 55’s, ridden lyrics but not owned a set). They are a little heavier than the Lyric but every bit as good out on the trail. albert select works very well, travel adjust does it’s job, fork is super stiff and plush. Keep the seals lubed and it’s very reliable. The lyric is also a great fork but the 2 step can be unreliable. If you want an air fork then i would say get the wotan. If you get the lyric then i would say get the coil version.

I’d be up for a couple of t’s. Medium in size. Not that bothered about coulours but nice earthy brown/green sort of thing would be good.

Some really nice PA’s on this thread 🙂

Me and the missus 🙂

What the hell, if you’re all posting pic then here’s mine

Benefits, getting a little more travel from your frame. Problems, maybe not enough clearance between frame/links etc resulting in bits of the frame hitting each other when bottoming out. Depends on the frame really.

Belgrano going down

Golpsie is a must, Kyle of Sutherland worth a visit as well.

Yeah, agree the sombrio pinners are very nice as well. Very comfy.

Zyme 3/4’s are very good. Your Humvee liners will clip into them as well. Also rate raceface downhill 3/4’s.

Not a Leeds fan but would much rather have seen Leeds make it through the play offs. What now for Leeds?

Expect to stand and queue for about 20 mins at the first section of singletrack unless you make a decent fast(ish) start from the front(ish).

I’ve already sponsored you but bumpty bump 🙂

Had a few like this at work. Try a little bit of bearing fit when installing cups. If it still creaks then change the headset.

355’s and flow both seem to be tough enough, my only concern with them would be that they don’t have eyelets. Having said that, i haven’t actually seen one of these rims crack yet.