The side by side review is very interesting!! But the Klite from Travers is a ripoff, you can buy it direct from Australia including $40 shipping and it still works out £40 cheaper!

Thanks for the replies all!

Klite does look very interesting but the exposure honestly looks better and it has the redeye rear, like I said, I can’t seem to find a bright enough rear dynamo light!

Thanks for the advice Bez, I’m pretty certain it’s angled correctly! I don’t have the Secula, I have this (not my picture!)

Steezy, it was actually partially you that convinced me to get it! I’m really really liking it thus far! I got the Elite which somehow has the wiring for the Dynamo in the fork! The only thing is, the fit doesn’t feel 100% yet. I’m not sure if the stem is too high or the bars too close, there’s a lot of variables…But yeah, really liking it :D and when it’s windy I’m so grateful for the weight of the bike, it feels planted and stable, I really wouldn’t like a bike too light that it would be thrown around by the wind!

cannondaleking thanks so much for the offer, but I’d rather order it from my LBS, sorry! You should have no problem finding a buyer at that price! (:

My Chris King bb is over 3 years old and still flawless.

Which options do you suggest Amedias? I like the look of the DTs but the very low engagement doesn’t look appealing!

Holy smokes that made me lose feeling in my fingers.

“next car” :D

Well I appreciate the sentiment! And is it really enjoyable? Maybe I should learn, I’m honestly just really scared that might mess something up.

Wow, that’s awfully kind of you! I could never let you do all that for free! And I’m in London, but wow. Thank you very much for the offer!!

Well I don’t really want to say on here as it wouldn’t be a nice thing to do. But I can see where they’re coming from, they don’t work that well at the moment and so I’d get new brakes without actually spending any money. I don’t have a job as of now so I have zero income anyway, I’ll have to save up for a bit or sell some a bike to get the money to get them serviced. I am looking for a job though!

ScottChegg, you make a good point, I’ll just find some money to get them serviced then. I didn’t think the M4s were that good hence me considering buying something else but I’m clearly wrong on that!

They work, just to nowhere near 100%. I’d obviously mention they could do with a service!

Thanks for the input everyone, servicing them myself does sound like a good idea and a good skill to learn too, but I’m very apprehensive about the whole thing, don’t know why. Contacted Hope and they said £50 per brake plus p&p so about £120 if insured, at least. LBS reckons I could sell the set I have for £200 (has hope team green caps and everything) and buy new x2s or Zees and it will cost me nothing whereas this will cost me £120+. Honeztly really conflicted and confused. :S

Assuming you’re talking about the Cove, the frame is pretty darn beefy, though 17kg does sound on the high side, don’t think mine weighs that much! It does have a very, very nice weight to it, it feels incredibly stable on the downhills.

Thanks, just ordered the lights!

I have a Cove STD which I would sell for the right price if interested, Rock Shox Totem 40mm forks, Fox DHX Titanium, Hope Moto V2 203mm brakes, Hope Pro 2 hubs, Saint groupset etc and all in pretty newish, unused condition!

I apologise if I annoyed you! I just emailed Hope (:

And teethgrinder, how does one go about that? Is that a service Hope offer? Thanks!

Ahh, I see. I thought they looked kinda cool but thank you for explaining. I just got them because like I said, I thought the oversized rotor would look nice with the oversized tyres!

Thanks for the advice all, that sounds like a really good idea actually! I’ll do that then, please tell me it’s £60 for the set, not each?!

Thanks for the advice all, took it down to LBS and the problem is the frame, and the reason it’s rubbing even with spacers is because the calliper mount on the frame, it’s not perfectly straight, could be Surly QC as some of you have said!

and I have been told my rotors are shit but struggled to get an explanation as to why. They just called it cheap shit?

Fuse looks fantastic

Wow, thanks for the replies! Alan, the problem is exactly that, the rotor is so high up on the calliper it won’t move at all!

Haha, dirtyrider Surly say all that, but they are a mainstream(ish) brand! And what’s wrong with my rotor?! :( haha I thought the oversized rotor would look nice with the oversized tyres!

Stato, that’s exactly what it is! I don’t like the sound of that as I’m going to be doing some enduro-ish riding on it (help me!) and the idea of having the wheel hanging in the dropouts scares me!

edit: just tried it, wheel still won’t move at all! The previous owner of the bike was running a 160mm with a shimano adaptor which was working fine, but I was told by LBS the hope adaptors are machined for the calliper to sit completely flat and work much better so got one of those?

Epicycle, what’s your plastic fantastic fatbike? I always thought of you as more of a utilitarian kind of cyclist haha

Show us!

So the quality of navigation is different between the two? I thought they were the same but the 810 just had a few extra features. I’m going to get one myself and was confused between the two, too!

Epicyclo, what is the issue when riding through that kind of terrain? Is it an issue with not enough traction? Or do you just need more float? I find that dropping the pressures helps the most on that kind of terrain. How does a Big Fat Larry or a Bud fare on it? You might be able to get a hold of those 5.6″ prototype Vee Snowshoe 2XLs if you truly really hard! I think the production ones are 5.05″ or something. The prototype ones would be perfect on that size rim!

Also what you could do, which would be fantastic for actually completely offload stuff is add suspension in addition to the fat tyres. I have a set of Monster Ts which I bought because they’re completely modular, including the fork crown, meaning it would be possible to get wider crowns machined in order to fit a fat tyre! Halo do a 160mm x 20mm front hub, which would be perfect too! I really wanted to do it, but I have never had the money ):

As much as I do like Salsa and Surly stuff, they are just ripping us all off.

@Steezy, I have two SP Dynamo hubs, really like them! Alpkit have just come out with one that looks very similar to the SP and they’re selling it for £60!

@Amedias, thanks so much for your input! I think you’re really right about the tubing, I can’t imagine it making much difference. and having a bike to just ride will be great instead of waiting months to save up again and get it all builtt. Going to go in tomorrow and change it, hope they’ll let me do it. They said if I put a deposit down it’s non refundable (£75) so I’m going to be quite annoyed if they say no.

And I didn’t realise the hubs were C+C, I thought they were sealed! Do sealed hubs have too much drag for road riding, or are they okay?

They look great, really want to get a set of fleegles but they’re 25.4! :(

Are the wheels that bad? Because they’re the only thing separating a custom 105 build from the stock in terms of price. If the wheels aren’t worth keeping then I might as well build it custom?

BMW i3 is up there too!

Thanks for the advice all! You’ve hit the nail on the head there ton, it’s going to cost quite a bit to build it up. £600 for the frame, £120 for brake callipers, £100 for shifters, £120 for derailleur and cranks. All 105 stuff bar the brakes. Was thinking of building up stand grail rims with hope and an SP Dynamo, but that would be another £300 excluding labour and spokes. The stock wheelset comes with unbranded rims though, so probably not on the same level. Can’t seem to find anything on the level of it for sale though.

Steezy, the colour is (as silly as this sounds) one of the reasons I want to get the elite! I really don’t like the drab black, I want to use it for summer riding! And dynamo is a must, I agree!

And yes the frame only is a different frame, reynolds tubing, though 720 and 520, 520 which is pretty much cro-mo. It has swinger dropouts and wiring for a dynamo in the fork (I think).

That’s how much I can get it for, never said anything about RRP. And yes, I need a small! The only size they’re out of!

The standard AWOL are all gone in small for this year, so ordered the frame only for £600 and going to build that up. Very excited, but nervous too! :D

What’a the deal with their new payment system? They don’t take paypal anymore and you just enter the details on their website, it doesn’t even take you to an external website..I still bought a rotor though, the new alpine floating ones look really cool

Guess it’s decided, going to get the AWOL! Going to pop in tomorrow and order it, super excited! Thanks for the input Captain (:

And Steezysix, thanks for the advice, that was the only thing bothering me tbh! I don’t want to run it SS or anything, so the standard frame should be fine! And the pizza rack does look so, so cool! :D

Curious, what’s wrong with the cheap alloy ones? they seem decent enough.

Hey all! Sorry about the late reply, been trying to get the money for the bike and I almost have it now!

I actually went to my LBS and they can match the £250 off I get at Evans on a Spesh, so going to get it from them! I was talking to owner and he much recommends the Diverge over the AWOL, he says it is generally a much better bike, much quicker and much lighter. The Smart Weld Diverge does look fantastic tbh. I just wish I could try them both but they said they can’t order in an AWOL unless I buy it because they’re quite hard to sell apparently. :( The Diverge is another £200 which I don’t currently have so would have to save up for a while longer.

Amedias what you described the AWOL as is exactly the reason I want it! I don’t want something traditional or boring! And to be honest with you, endurance > all. I want to be able to ride for really long on it above anything, and the AWOL does look very very comfortable. Thanks for the offer to try it, that’s really good of you! I am in London so quite far, but I really appreciate the sentiment! The idea of having a steel adventure bike like the AWOL that’s got a nice weight to it, is as tough as nails and can be ridden all day, anywhere and everywhere does sound incredibly exciting, though the only question is, is that the reality?!

Douglas, thanks for your input! It is surprising to hear that you prefer the Fargo so much more, I have an ECR myself which I’m running with 1.95” Spesh Renegades, but I’m not enjoying it too much for road riding. It feels dead and is a lot of effort, and on top of that I really don’t find the flat bar position comfortable at all, or can’t seem to. I wish I could try one out but it doesn’t seem to be the case thus far :(

edit: Just seen the AWOL standard has a different tubing to the AWOL Expert frameset, standard cro-mo vs Reynolds 725, would the latter be noticeably better? And I really want to put a Dynamo on it, which the AWOL can but the Diverge can’t. One question I have is, would you guys buy the AWOL Sora for £750 or buy the Expert Frameset for £600 and build it 105? I could probably do it for under £1000.

There’s nothing in that link! But that review really really really makes me want to get an AWOL! I might just get it instead of spending hours and weeks and months researching and then if I don’t like it just swap the frame? :)

Wow, I honestly can’t thank you enough for taking the time and effort to write all that up! I’m actually in awe. You seem incredibly knowledgable so thank you so much for sharing that with me!

Unfortunately I’m only more confused now. I’m really really confused because I really did think it was much simpler. I have no idea what to get now at all.

My LBS is a Specialized so I really wanted to get it from them as they can knock a fair bit off list price for me (£200ish!) and help me fit it. Unfortunately they don’t have much in my size at all. I did try a Dolce Ladies in a 51cm (I’m 5’5”) and it felt perfect, a Roubaix in a 52cm felt too big weirdly enough. Trying them and comparing them is a brilliant idea but I honestly don’t know if it would be possible. I don’t really know enough about geometry or what works for me to just compare it on paper, though I wish I did! Aggressive doesn’t sound good for all day riding

I am still liking the idea of the AWOL as a go anywhere bike, but mainly for road but you find it slow for longer rides? I do want to do touring on it, that is the idea I guess. I need to carry lots of water minimum 2liters as well unfortunately!
I’m really liking the look of the Spesh Ruby as well?

Thanks again! Wish I could buy you a drink :)

Wow, thanks for all the detailed advice! I was actually looking to do long distance riding on it, minimum 40 miles a ride and I’m thinking a light carbon frame might feel a lot better than a steel frame after that distance, the steel frame might feel deadish after riding long? And I kind of wanted to ride say from London to Brighton but be able to go offroad a bit when I get there if that makes sense?

I do intend to carry luggage but I’m thinking I can just strap bikepacking bags, so panniers isn’t necessarily a requirement.

I totally get what you mean, ooh you have one? What do you think of it for longer distance riding?

And well the AWOL spec is so low, I could buy a 105 groupset and a better set of usedish wheels and have a much better bike for the same price, but I’m easy either way. I was actually looking at the Specialized Ruby which looks like a fantastic buy at £1400, carbon frame and hydraulic disc brakes, plus I can get £200 off too! I tried a women’s Dolce Evo in a 51cm and it was perfect, a men’s 52cm was much bigger and too big!

Thanks for the advice, I’m really grateful! And like I said I’m not too sure exactly, I just want something to fly on for long distances, I’m thinking a featherlight carbon bike would be much better for this?