Wysiwyg – riding mates 37 and 540 also please. Thanks very much.

Wysiwyg – Do you have my two riding buddies 253 and 570? Will be in touch for a hi-res copy of the one of myself. Cheers.

Wysiwyg – Have you got rider 539 captured? That’s me.

Awesome weekend. Fantastic trails, craic, atmosphere, weather. Pretty much perfect.

Heading up tomorrow. Maybe get a look at some of the GT stages. Have ridden the golf course trails countless times so I know what to expect………..,carnage! Really looking forward to this.

Slants here on a Rocket. Better than the Lyriks they replaced. They take a while to bed in but when they do they offer stiff, supple, non-divey, unfazed performance. Ok, the Pikes are a touch plusher and have slightly better damping but for the money the X-fusion forks are excellent. Not tried BOS but if you ride hard then maybe they are the best of the bunch, having said that I know people who don’t get on with the BOS.

I’m surprised by this as it’s one trail that is pretty worn out feeling after the winter; You sure you don’t mean Repeat Offender?

That would make much sense chickenman to use Repeat Offeneder as it’s relatively new and doesn’t have the blown out corners like Community service does. I only offered Community service as a possible trail being used based on an Instagam pic. It could well be that Mr Ball is just teasing us. Roll on Sunday and the map being available.

Northwind – No, I’m definitely happy in E2. If the rumours are to be believed then the transition times are going to be barsteward tight in E1.

hels – yes practice Golfie for the steepness. Just seen a picture on Chris Ball’s Instagram feed and it looks very likey that Community Service is going to be used.

I certainly hope E2 doesn’t have any less trails than E1 (I’m in E2 also).

theonlywayisup – I was in a similar position recently. I normally run Specialized Tracer’s (700×33) on my Genesis Fugio. I switched to some Specialized Espoir in the 700×28 guise for a recent Sportive (The Tour of Lauder). The Espoir’s definitely feel a little quicker on taramc, maybe 1-2mph quicker. They definitely don’t offer the same level of cushioning but they are still very comfortable tyres. I actually prefer the way the bike rides and handles with the Tracer’s on but for big road based rides then the switch to road tyres is worth it.

The Purgatory 650b is now on Specialized’s trade website so should be widely available, the Butcher however is still only listed in 26″ and 29″.

I’d ask what trade is, but it would probably make me cry.

£390 for frame and carbon fork – Hope that hasn’t made you cry 😉

Jamie

Looked at the Fugio when I got my Croix De Fer frame, but just couldn’t warrant spending the extra £400. Looks very nice, though.

I work in a shop so paid trade for it 🙂

Genesis Fugio 853 Reynolds steel frame. Not the lightest but lovely to ride. Makes a great ‘go anywhere’ type bike.

Currently using the Specialized MTB tyre levers. Very good indeed. Work well on all tyres, even tough DH casings.

853 Reynolds tubed Genesis Fugio. Lovely to ride.

One of the lads I work with is involved in the building of the indoor stuff. He’s pretty excited about the whole project. Some really great work going on with regards the indoor stuff. I gather the outdoor stuff is in need of a bit more work to get it right but it’s all very promising all the same.

merynella – big thumbs up for the slants after 17.5 miles and 4000ft of descending at the golf course trails this weekend. Stiff, controlled, sit nicely in their travel (no diving), consistent rebound. Nothing fazed them really. A bargain fork. Only time will tell on reliability. Ok, there is no opportunity to tune compression of the fork but I didn’t feel the need. I like simple forks that just do the job in hand.

Genesis Vapour is worth a look. If it rides anything like my Genesis Fugio then it’ll be great fun.

merynella, so far impressed with the Slants. They’re 1.5 lb lighter than the Lyriks so the front end is much easier to lift over obstacles. The progressive nature of them is also a bonus as they resist diving. Good range of rebound adjustment and very easy to set up. Compared to the Lyriks they are definitely not as stiff but they are still stiff enough. The Slants have made the bike less of a battering ram than it was with Lyriks fitted. I’m yet to fully test them. I’ve done my local trails (mainly steep, rooty, techy stuff) and they’ve remained unfazed. I’m riding the golf course trails at Inners this weekend. If they survive without getting fazed then I’ll be impressed. Great forks for the money. Pikes are maybe a shade better but they’re also almost twice the price. Currently set at 160mm which is great on the steep stuff but I think I may drop them to 150mm. No regrets so far.

I’ve had my Rocket since December 2012 now so I guess mine must have been one of the last of the initial run of them. Anyway, great bike. It’s so much fun to ride. Fun and agile is definitely the best way to describe the bike. It climbs pretty well for a 150mm travel bike, eats the singletrack and is a real hooligan on the descents. I work in a bike shop so I get to ride plenty of 650b and 29ers and while there are many great bikes out there none of them so far have tempted me to part with the Rocket. Like I say it’s just so much fun to ride. Here are a couple of pics.

The bike no longer has the RS Lyiks, it’s now sporting X-Fusion Slants

Current build is X-Fusion Slants and Fox Kashima CDT shock, Hope tech 4 brakes, Hope Hoops (Flows), Reverb, Thomson stem, XT (1×10) drivetrain, XO chain device, Vaults, Deity bars, Hillbilly front tyre, Purgatory rear tyre. Here’s another pic of current set up.

The pic is our little take on #26aintdead

There loads of road clubs in the area and some great road riding almost straight from your door in Newcastle. A healthy CX scene in the NECCL (both winter and summer series). Mountain bike clubs, try Newcastle Mountain bike club (Midaircrisis), Beamish Oddsox, CHR for more gravity orientated riding. As for trails, there are loads at Hamsterley (both official and off piste), Hamsterley also has a great set of DH tracks. Chopwell is small but packed with trails. Thrunton has some of the finest trails around (check out Thrunton Trail Builders). Also loads of great natural stuff in the Cheviots, Rothbury and across the moors of County Durham (check out Bolts Law, Edmunbyres etc). North York moors is only an hour away, Lakes is easily reached in an hour or two. Spoilt for choice really.

All the usual suspects have already been named (Bfe, Slackline, Alpine etc). Maybe consider a Whyte 901 or 905 as an off the peg option. Great riding, fun, hooligan HT’s.

Hoping some of the golf course trails are included!

Been very impressed with the X-Fusion Slant so far. Only done a couple of rides on them but they’re light, stiff and well controlled for not a lot of money (got mine at trade so even more of a bargain). Previously had Coil Lyriks which were also great but heavy.

Edit-missed the bit about 1 1/8th inch steerer.

I made it in for E2. Terrible registration process. 3 of us at work spent a good 5-10 mins just trying to figure out where to click.

Just built up a Genesis Fugio. Lovely bike to ride. Seems to do all you ask of it (road, CX, commute). Granted it won’t tour as it has no guard/rack mounts. Great handling and a quality ride.

Several Giant TCX slr2’s have come through our warehouse and have gone out to customers this week. Unsure of the sizes or when they were initially ordered though. Look after the hubs on these bikes as the wheels are a bit poor (to be expected I guess at this price point). Great frame, fork and rest of component package though.

It goes up and along pretty well. Way better than you would expect given the numbers. Point it downwards though and it turns into a proper hooligan. Very composed on the steep stuff. It eggs you on to go that little bit faster. The most fun trail bike I’ve ever owned. Pedals really well also, it doesn’t wallow in it’s travel like some longer travel bikes. Here’s mine. It now has X Fusion Slants rather than Lyriks. The Slants seem to suit the bike a little better.

Good shoes. Well made, comfy and grippy (although not as grippy as FiveTens), bargain at those prices.

CRC have got the Zee shifter for £22.99 about the cheapest I’ve seen it.

2.5 dhf exo or 2.5 dhf 42a tubeless are both great front tyres. Both work really well tubeless. Have you also considered a Specialized Butcher? Very similar to a Minion. The 2.3 comes up pretty much the same as a Maxxis 2.5, it’s tubeless ready and only £30 a tyre, well worth a look.

I’m sure Cy at Cotic tried this out of curiosity and the verdict was that the wheel would buzz the frame unless the shock stoke was changed. The other obvious question is why would you want to? The bike already handles amazingly well and a change of wheel size would surely upset the already sorted geometry.

Looking forward to seeing this finished. Great work so far fella.

Been running Purgatory F & R for a while on a rigid 29er, surprisingly capable all rounders. Not a mud tyre but they cope with it. Grip pretty well everywhere else. Thinking of a Butcher up front (probably overkill) and a Storm out back for winter traction. All of the Specialized 29er tyres are pretty sorted and well priced. As above get the Control option not the S-works. S-works sidewalls are made of paper. There is also a Grid option on some tyres, tougher sidewalls than both S-works and Control.

Edinburgh bike coop have the blue ones reduced. Not as cheap as the link above though.

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/teva-links-mid

I have the Teva Mid Links and they are comfy, tough and built to last. They take a while to break in but make a pretty good off the bike shoe. On the bike they work well but the sole isn’t as grippy as 5Tens (this can be viewed as good or bad). They can feel a little clumpy on the bike and I prefer 5Tens but they make a good alternative. Definitely better looking.

Conti Baron Black Chilli up front could be the winter mud solution (not cheap though).

You can buy Avid bleed blocks. These things. Cost about £3.99 each, or as above just make/bodge your own spacer.

Already got one in black. Awesome bike, so much fun to ride. Very agile and capable bike. Running the Fox CDT Kashima boost valve rear shock and RS Lyrik forks. The rear shock is very good (tend to leave it in trail setting). Reckon if I was buying again then I might plump for the BOS rear shock option. Here it is watching the sunset at Thrunton woods.

Fatty as a commuter? A mate is about to pull the trigger on a On One purchase via the bike to work scheme. It’s going to be used as a commuter. Will he die?