Glad I ordered a forekaster for the front as the recon race would be terrifying on anything other than hard pack.

Also bought a Forekaster when I bought mine but actually the Recon Race are deceptively good tyres and I never put the Forekaster on. Alright the RRs are going to have their limitations if you’re more trail riding biased but for XC & ‘light’ trail, I really rate them

Walked it around Easter time when i was 16 (so a long time ago!) with couple of teachers and some other students from my school..we took 2 weeks peaking at 33miles in a day but also had a couple of rest days. Glad i did it, some good memories like bivvying on the beach at st bees with a view of sellafield, dinning on just hobnobs with butter on, and generally being unprepared & ill equipped for a 2 week walk

I had similar ‘no can do’ response for a 10% off offer (was after a frame): the 10% offer was still showing as a banner advert on the site but they said it had expired on the Sunday and this was Monday AM…they aren’t as flexible as they use to be but so be it, their company, their policy.

Pricing is up and down though so check the stock level (flood your basket with up to 30) and if high, it’s likely it’ll drop back down again 🤞

Been using Paistely shoe sole glue, the ‘Strong’ version (was on Amazon but seems to have disappeared now). Fixed various soles with it from Salomon, allstars, leather shoes, hiking, nikes…and all still intact. Used Stormsure successfully for a hole in some Aigle wellies

No, i wouldn’t pay on the basis that it’s just immediately going to get filthy again at this time of year. I also don’t believe in regularly washing with hose/jetwash in that it can do more harm than good so just get the worst off then focus on drivetrain/brakes/moving parts at this time of year then, when the weather improves, do a proper strip down and clean

My race bike gets a full strip and rebuild after every ride. That has to be done my way, and to perfection, takes me 8-9hrs usually,

Say what now!?! Lots of potential questions raised here starting with what cycling discipline? How often do you ride it (just races?)? Do you genuinely find its necessary?

Do I need to buy one of those front wheel riser things

Crc/wiggle are knocking them out at £2.99…

https://www.wiggle.com/p/lifeline-front-wheel-riser-block

Got one last week for my setup… bigger than expected but worked well for raising the front and adding stability

Another humax owner…t2000 i think (aerial), can’t even remember how old it is (10 years maybe) and it’s been faultless. One thing to note though as it’s not WiFi enabled so hard wired with internet via the electrical socket plugs (Still works fine though for recording etc even if it wasn’t internet connected…just needed for apps and updates)

Never felt that any bum bag style worked well unless only very light loading so ended up getting a Wingnut Assault which is like a bum bag size version of their bigger packs

@nuke what size do you have and how tall are you?

5′ 9″ on a medium here. Id say a large for you but they are loooong….Im runnning a shorter stem then Id expect for an XC bike

I’ve had a rapide fs crs since start of 2023. Love it, most used bike i have….spent last summer using it for general Surrey hills riding and then doing longer and longer rides including the longest off-road ride ive done and doing SDW again (10 years since the last time). Changed the contact points and added a (brandx) dropper and it was ready to go. Only gripe would be only 1 bottle mount.

I got it discounted by a decent amount but current price is crazy good.

With regard spares, I’m hoping that the fact that the frame is effectively  a Carbonda means that spare parts will continue to be available even if vitus is no more

Ha, never used shift + enter on Teams, always used Alt + enter (like in Excel)

We’ve a black and a silver car….the black car gets cleaned more (although that’s still rare as lifes too short for car cleaning)

Maxxis Forekaster is billed as the all weather xc tyre. The new model is 2.35 but the previous model was 2.2 (which is what i have) and can still be found (bit pricey on CRC though)

Another suggestion for Motorola but Id suggest the Motorola G7 Power….good battery capacity so even if second hand and therefore battery had potentially degraded, it’ll still give you over a day.

Anyone looking for a decent AM 29er rear wheel, the M1900 rear wheel looks a good deal (only 6 or so left):

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/p/m1900-mtb-rear-wheel?color=blackgrey&freehubBody=Shimano+Micro+Spline&wheelSizeAxleSpacing=29%22

Its down as 37% off but the RRP is actually £270 and not £180 so its more like 60% off. Not the lightest out there but 30mm internal and DT Swiss quality plus 6 bolt, not centre lock (which is bonus in my book)

If microspline isnt for you, I’m pretty sure the very reduced standard HG freehub should fit as Ratchet LN:

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/p/dt-swiss-370-ratchet-freehub-body

They also have the front but not such a good deal given the RRP is as it should be:

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/p/dt-swiss-m-1900-front-wheel

Staggering that the RRP of that Epic was £3300 with that spec 🤯

Set of these came on my vitus i bought last year and did intend to sell them on but actually thought they were pretty good (although no real on the fly adjustment) so kept them and bought another set to replace some Elixirs. Very good price

I’m eyeing up these Rekon Race for rear fat-gravel use on my Cascade, so probably more thn OK

Ha, just bought a Cascade so will probably do the same

Those Rekon Race 2.25s at Merlin: do we know if they’re EXO? No mention in the listing but Maxxis’ own website only lists EXO versions, so I’m not sure what to believe…

They’re not exo as i have the Merlin ones and some Exo TR ones. I did weigh one…circa 650g iirc so lighter than the tr exo quoted weights. Walls felt thinner. Not sure what to use them for as yet as i really rate the Rekon Race Exo TR but can’t decide if the cheap version will offer the same ride; i do like a stronger sidewall for support and for avoiding damage

My 26er alternates between my daughters summer bike and, since this winter, the turbo bike…

Note chainstay sticker 😁

Couple of summers ago we stayed in an apartment in ‘Oz 3300’ and it was overlooking the lift…accidental really but was very handy and a great holiday. We just got a week pass and went up & down to Alpe d’Huez, Allemond, Vaujany etc. Marked trails back from the poutran/dmc station to the apartment including being able to do the switchback section of the mega through the woods (the section after the short pedally hill bit) then just take a right when it drops back on to the double-track back to Oz apartments or continue down on the mega route all the way to Allemond and get the telecabin straight back to Oz from there

10 😀 … don’t really follow the news side of things so wasn’t expecting to do will and i didn’t!

Shame as was interested but the Cascade offer discount expires before the ‘big reveal’. Don’t get it really as I’d have thought that whilst they might not have the frames in stock, at least they could have confirmed the geometry since the first press release. oh well 🤷

I’d get the Rovals.

Why? Genuinely curious…I do get it if you say internal width but, aside that, given the DT Swiss are top of the range, I cant see why you’d choose Roval

good aluminium rims

I do get what you’re saying (And I recall your high end bikes over the years on here) so which brand rims would you go for?

Was going to ask a similar question to this in the new year but I was going to add JRA Karve Carbon. Kind of settled on the JRA given the company had been around for years, Hunt have mixed reviews in general when i read about them on here and the like plus Silt was a bit more unknown as i havent seen much about them

However, at the moment, the dt swiss carbon xc wheels on merlin trump them all given they’re currently a similar price to all of these mentioned. 25mm internal rim but that’s fine for xc & light trail purposes

Lyric ultimates now sold out, just as I was going to order of course.

They found some more down the back of the shed by the look of it as about 12 in stock as of now

It’s interesting but still holding out for geometry (unless I’ve missed it somewhere?)

Blows me away how there’s graffiti everywhere but once it’s confirmed as banksy graffiti its worth goes from nothing to tens of thousands. Only a matter of time before it got defaced or nicked but i was surprised at the speed and blatant nature

Griffon are down to £40.99 today and the 17% off EAST17 works on them too:

https://alpkit.com/products/griffon-hoody-mens?variant=40499721699433

Whats the sizing like? At 38″ chest cant decide on small or medium

Where have you seen it for £100??

Ha, this +1 👀

Once you think about how much sweat soaks into the lining and straps then you’ll not be able to not think about it!

Nope, Im fine not washing it as its never caused any issue to me or the helmet. And on your other point, if it did smell, I’d agree that I would wash it but it never noticably has…not once have I put one on thinking ‘thats a bit ripe’

Never washed mine…hadnt even thought to

I pop mine on a quick 30’c wash cycle every few months, I always remove the visor though and so far so good!

Hmmmm, cant tell if serious or joking

That’ll be a 1 bed apartment around here:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/142766054

Handily close to the triangle for a convenience store/takeaway, close to meadowbank park and Dorking centre too. Busy road though. But then you have all that the Surrey hills has to offer on your doorstep!

All that money for comms advisers and they still do these ‘the public will understand once I’ve got my side across’ interviews….have they learnt nothing from Prince Andrew!?!

Annoyed with the BBC for giving them the airtime though

14….actually fairly happy with that, that was tougher than expected!

the parents (your siblings / siblings-in-law) who should also shoulder the responsibility of saying ‘have you thanked Auntie Karen for the necklace?’

Yep, im firmly in the ‘blame the parents’ camp. What sort of attitude do the parents of your gfs nieces have…do you think they’d be ‘meh’ or mortified by their kids lack of courtesy?

Never had a kebab

Just need On-One to bring their forum back

Yeah the links don’t work for me (‘inactive’) but items like the Kode are still on the site when searching so worth checking

the 2020 model is back in stock, Large only at £399

Ha, where do they suddenly find them!?! Been many weeks since they were in stock. I guess the most likely is someone has returned one