The spokes aren’t broken – I was cautious enough to stop before any damage was done.

I received my Scandal a couple of weeks ago and I took it for a 50 metre up on the road, once the small amount of assembly was complete. It only took me a few seconds of gently working through the gears to hear the ping of a couple of spokes to immediately trigger the brakes. I sighed and popped the Scandal in the garage, pulling it out again this afternoon to check over the gear set up. indexing seemed OK until the mech started shifting to the two biggest cassette cogs and the mech cage started to brush the rear wheel spokes.
The bike appeared well packaged on delivery and I couldn’t quite believe I would need to dig it out, but I have the overpriced but invaluable DAG 2.2. They say a picture tells a thousand words…

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XZhNj11WNDrdGF637

The difference is approx 4cm which is the worst I’ve personally experienced. I’ve managed to get that down to more like 5mm, sorted the indexing and stop screws – all now seems much better from a brief ride.

I ordered my Scandal (large and burnt orange) last night after spending hours debating the merits of a Scandal vs. a Vitus Sentier VR. The Vittoria Saguaro tyres don’t sound fantastic (certainly not against the tyres on the Vitus) but I will give them a go – I’m sure they are better than my rusty abilities and the likely trails I’ll ride for the foreseaable future. However, can anyone clarify whether the wheels are taped up to be run tubeless or do I need to hunt down some rim tape for the i29 rims? I have the necessary fluid, kit etc from running tubeless the Hunt wheels on my Boardman CX.

I somehow missed that Scandal deal – a little slow on the uptake! My experience of SRAM is limited to the Rival drivetrain on my Boardman CX (my commuter) which is a few years old. I’ll bear that info in mind – thanks!

I have been watching the price of the Whippet and it has dropped £200 overnight to £999 (+£100 for the Rockshox 35 Gold RL Debonair fork). I used to MTB as a 20 something but I’ve moved over to the dark side (i.e. road) in recent years. However, my eldest daughter is 8 and is keen to try out some simple trails e.g. the easier stuff at Cannock Chase. So I have my eye on Isla Bike for her Christmas present (if stock becomes available….) and I was intending to get a hardtail or perhaps even a rigid, such as the whippet. Clearly the bike isn’t going to be ridden hard but equally I’m not keen on buying a cheap, heavy bike. So a Vitus has been on the shortlist and the Whippet has also been under consideration. Essentially I’m looking at a budget of £700 – £1,000. The Voodoo Bzango carbon appears to have been withdrawn from the Halfords website in recent days (which I’d otherwise been tempted by).

However, I’m so out of date with the tech – mullet bikes were 69ers from what I remember when I had a Singular. I’ve been reading up on Boost but I have no idea how good each model of Rockshox are (my last pair were some SIDs about 15 years ago!).

In short, is the Whippet at a good price or is it worth holding out for a further potential price drop (or indeed buy a heavier Vitus when back in stock)?

Bez, I intended to buy an Xperia Active phone last week and I was wondering how to set it all up for a long day’s ride – your posts were invaluable, thanks!

I bought a veho pebble smartstick because the battery you suggested wasn’t available from Amazon at the time I pressed the order button. The supplied cable is just long enough to reach the phone.

My only disappointment when I gave it a trial this morning is that Endomondo Pro doesn’t capture the cadence data from the Garmin GSC 10 I set up on my road bike. Which apps do you use? I saw your other post re google maps >GmapToGPX > MyTrails (I’m playing with Viewranger which worked well on the road this morning).

I need to find an app which supports interval training on the turbo trainer (about to go on work secondment which is going to curtail week day rides) and supports the Garmin HRM and speed/cadence sensors. Endomondo was close to perfect, strava may do it but is costly (I may try the free version to see if it supports the sensors).

I have the Logitech equivalent of the Sonos system – Squeezebox which is much cheaper and I find user friendly. There are regular Squeezebox deals on HotUKDeals to make the cost even lower. Supports FLAC files stored on my NAS (you run Squeezeserver on the NAS).
I have the Squeezebox Classic (connected to speaker set up), a squeezebox controller (connected to amp) and two squeezebox radios which have a single speaker (sat in the kitchen and bedroom). Absolutely great!

Example HUK deal:

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/logitech-squeezebox-radio-white-logitch-online-store-89-00-1038363

I bought the Giordana Tenax to use on my road bike after my cheap DHB shorts proved painful after just 30 miles on the road bike. The Tenax shorts are so much more comfortable that I would never buy cheap shorts again. I did the Birmingham to Oxford ride a couple of weekends ago and the Giordana shorts were a godsend!

Just to clarify the situation (for cynic-al's benefit 😉 ), the forks must conform with their description (section 13 Sale of Goods Act 1979). Of course, if the description is silent on an issue and the general description isn't misleading, the buyer must heed the words, caveat emptor.

Afan Lodge is absolutely great – a group of 12 of us stayed there recently and I would not hesitate to stay there again. The Lodge has secure bike facilities.

http://www.activehotels.com/1/1/3486716-afan-lodge-port-talbot.html

I attempted to tally up the weight savings of Ultegra over 105 and it came out around 200g.

This is the thread which gave me comfort around the correct frame size for a Gran Fondo:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15965112

When I placed my order a fortnight ago I was told that there's a 3-4 week backlog on some of the frames including the Gran Fondo.

Oh, and these Xpedo Thrust pedals (apparently made by Wellgo):

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Xpedo_Thrust_XRF5MT_Pedals/5360049866/

After reading this post:

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=169494

Very light for the price.

I have a Gran Fondo on order. I read around a bit as I was undecided between the Sportive and the Gran Fondo, the former supposedly having a carbon steerer which accounts for the different quoted weights.

I've gone for the 56cm frame (XL?) as a couple of guys on bike radar have the Gran Fondo with that frame size (sat on the Ribble test rig to measure up) and who are a similar height (5' 11"). I would have gone for the 55cm (L) Sportive.

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15956981

I went for the Special Edition as it has been cheaper for me to shop around for flashier finishing kit than to pay Ribble's upgrade prices.

I've gone for an Ultegra set up and then bought separately an Arione CX (Planet-x), Bontrager XXX Lite seatpost (All Terrain cycles) and Pro-lite Bracciano wheelset (Chain Reaction).

I've also bought Planet-X's carbon/titanium QRs and carbon bottle cage.

Regarding legal responsibility, there's no right to rescue under English law (e.g. if you see someone drowning in the sea you are not legally obliged to wade in and try to save them). Think of the RNLI's liability if a lifeboat is out of action when someone drowns.

Having said that, if you pay for a service then that's another can of worms….

I will use Bournes next time as I used a powdercoating company in Redditch (near Halfords?) and I was disappointed by the rolled up paper technique (I accepted the suggestion admittedly due to my own ignorance of the powdercoating process) which still required some time with a small screwdriver and some paint stripper. I've also noticed some paint coming away near the headtube – I'm not sure whose fault that it is but I'd try Bournes next time.

Yes, good shout, Brecon isn't far away (I remember getting lost in the thick fog on the Beacons back in my uni days in 1995 – the army patrol on training looked quite shocked to see three guys in lycra wandering around without a map and just one mars bar between them….).

Thanks guys for both of your comments. Whinlatter is in fact the only trail centre my colleague has ridden so he will have a understanding as to the level of experience required. I'll look into Dalby too.

I think Simon's exploits have become infectious:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8454242.stm

Liking the shallow depth of field in the photos – good bokeh!

(The bike looks rather nice too!)

I've destroyed SID lower leg assemblies in successive winters after using the MTB to get to work in snowy conditions. The road salt chews through magnesium in time time at all. My mate's KTM motorbike crank casing (also magnesium) was similarly munched through by the road salt last winter!

I'm also running an 18T – I only rode my bike for the first time last weekend at Cannock Chase and so its early days, but I think I've made the right choice. I think I bought the Nexus cog from here:

http://www.petracycles.co.uk/product_info.php?language=en&currency=GBP&products_id=5818&source=googlepbs

I hadn't tightened up my wheel nuts sufficiently when I took my Hummingbird for its inaugural ride at Cannock Chase yesterday morning. I found out on the North Shore section…. (it must have amused the two guys watching). Numerous heatset adjustments, Avid Juicy brake pivot lost, Alfine cable tension all wrong (realised the yellow mark alignment issue when I got home), axle bolts retightened – it's a wonder I even got around!

I do have a white saddle and I did have a pair of white grips when I changed to a flat bar on my fixie – they quickly became oily and grubby after a few puncture repairs when commuting on it and so I chucked them away a couple of weeks ago:

The build was originally quite compromised because I was trying to use parts remaining after I sold my Epic frame and Fox forks a few months ago, hence the XT cranks and MAvis 317/Hope XC front wheel. I also wanted to try out an Alfine using an EBB frame, hence the Hummingbird. However, I did get the credit card out and so the build is as follows:

Frame: Medium Hummingbird
Forks: Magura Durin Marathon 120mm (relatively short crown to axle length and excellent price from US ebay seller)
Front wheel: Existing Hope XC laced to Mavic 317 disc specific rim
Tyres: Specialized The Captain Control 2.0 2bliss
Rear Wheel: Alfine laced to Mavic 817 UST rim. 18T Nexus sprocket
Chainset: Existing XT cranks. Surly 34T stainless steel chainring and chainbolts
Chain: KMC Z510 singlespeed chain
Brakes: Avid Juicy Carbon 203/160. A2Z Centrelock adapter for Alfine
Seatpost: Thomson 410mm
Seatpost QR: Black 30.0mm Hope QR
Saddle: Selle Italia SLR (spare from Epic build)
Stem: Ritchey WCS 90mm stem
Headset: Black Hope headset
bars: Ritchey WCS carbon riser bars
Grips: Scott Racing Open Pro grips (thought I'd try them out for £7)
Shifter: Alfine shifter
Pedals: SL Eggbeaters

The bars and stem were Merlin's excellent deal – £95 for the two items.

I will give the fork colour some further thought but first of all I need to get some miles under the belt 🙂

Photo updated with new front tyre and Thomson seatpost to minimise the eye pain suffered by some (yes, I've not even adjusted the saddle yet). I'll get a new front wheel built up once I master this tubeless malerkey – I'm suffering a slow puncture despite fllowing youtube vids.

I'll hopefully give the bike I ride out at Cannck Chase tomorrow.

I have considered getting the forks painted to match but I'll ride it first and see how I get on with the frame and forks.

I totally agree about the front tyre – it will be changed.

The seat post is too short and will be changed too – deciding what to buy.

I'm keeping the cranks for now – the cranks and the front wheel are spare bits.

"my Honda's paint is sh1t and it cost me £25000

i complained direct to Honda UK however….. "

I don't think you can blame Honda for your decision to pay £25K for a Civic 😉 I'd have bought a DC5.

Honda paint is quite soft but the alloy wheel lacquer is even worse (as is the case for most Jap cars).

48:15 on my 700c fixie – 9 mile commute which is pretty flat (just one half mile hill on the way home). It is a big gear though and a 48:17 is probably sensible unless you have legs completely disproportionate to your bantam weight top half (like me).

and you've spelt helmet wrong on this page 😉

One of the smallest, lightest and most powerful helemet lights on the market

I'm loving the power of the Troutlight, I just need my HID bulb to fail to justify the upgrade 🙂 (I have a 14.8V LiPO battery pack and charger).

How long will a HID bulb last? Mine is running on my commuter bike (~40 mins each way) and has survived three winters so far.

You mean this one?

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sanderson-soloist-opinons

That's the one.

There'a thread on the frame – search for "eccentric". I know this as I was considering a Soloist a week or so ago – in the end I opted for the Hummingbird which I'm building up with an Alfine (arrived today from an STWer) and Magura Durin Marathon 120mm forks.

The Soloist's EBB sounds novel and the few comments I read on it were positive.

Rebas – 85-115mm.
Spend most of their life at 115mm. I reckon 120mm would be ideal, unless you have lots of steep climbing to do (which my Life does really well at 85mm – let down by my lack of fitness/talent)

I've not bought a Sanderson but I did buy a Singular Hummingbird this week. Sam recommended a Reba 85-115mm fork and, on not finding a reasonably priced Reba above 100mm, I found a pair of 120mm Magura Durin Marathon suspension forks on ebay. I've ordered a pair and there's one pair left.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150366153896&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

My paint job didn't last because, despite several coats of undercoat, approx 7 coats of paint and several coats of lacquer, Halfords spray paints aren't tough epoxy paint, designed to last (well, at least not in the hands of the amateur spray painter). It probably cost £50-60 in materials alone – I would simply send it to Argos Cycles if I wanted a proper restoration done now.

From memory, the lacquer started to crack really quickly which is probably due to insufficient curing time or some other cock up on my part.

My effort:

Lasted a few weeks of winter before the road salt destroyed many hours of effort…..now powdercoated black….. (it's my daily commuting bike though)

Thanks for all you replies, plenty to consider.

After a couple of years riding an Epic, I may just revert to a hardtail!

(I hate pivots!)

Off on Thursday next week for a long weekend in Les Gets with Alpine Elements. Took my Epic to Chamonix and hoping to find it more fun on a Kona full sus this year!

Yes, I was stuck for VAT on top of the quoted price too. The powder coat is failing around the head tube (just above the lower heatset cup) on my 1960s road frame after 18 months but the headset has worked loose and I wonder whether the vibration has caused the failure.

I used Reditch Shotblasters – cheap but I had bugger all choice of colours unless I was prepared to wait a few weeks for a bigger order with my preferred colour used. Therefore my plans for a pastel blue fixie became gloss black within a few minutes.