They’re all pretty much the same from a stiffness point of view. I do like the Hope bolt-in system, but it’s main advantage is that it makes putting a singlespeed wheel in much easier as you don’t have to put the axle through whilst tensioning the chain.

My priority would be ensuring as much cross-compatibility between bikes so wheels can be swapped rather than anything else about the system. If all your bikes are Maxle etc then you’ve got backup if you break an axle too.

Your front is 20mm btw, not 25mm.

PS, wound down to 115 the lyriks are great for climbing and the pop-lock thing sorts them for SS climbing too.

456C with Lyriks is great fun, that’s where my money would be.

SIDs used to be blue too. Marzocchi occasionally do limited edition colours and they were doing grey RC3Ti forks a couple of years ago.

If you look on eBay you can get the stickers done for your forks in most colours for £12 delivered. This will likely fix the problem for most.

Paul’s Cycles have some great Anthem deals on at the moment BTW.

I reckon the Flux is a great frame too btw, though I’ve not ridden one. Looks like it would make a fantastic bike.

Are you doing Burn Tod as a push up and ride down or as part of a loop?

I’ve got an Anthem and rate it very very highly. My only regret is that I picked up a top of the range (£5k) one for £2k second hand (ridden 5 times) and now I don’t dare ride it in the mud in case the gears I can’t afford to replace get worn out, so it sits in the garage awaiting some sunshine!

Anyway, it’s absolutley superb and if you’re looking for something comfortable and quick you’ll struggle to find better. I use mine for xc stuff, but I’ve also set it up with a 70mm stem, which transforms it into a pretty swift bike for riding in more technical bits too. not on a level with a bigger bike, but as an all-round bike it’s dificult to beat. It starts to struggle on massive rocks , but on anything smaller it flies. Lots of technical descents it’ll be faster just because it’s so light and quick across the ground and it’s often more fun too because it always feels like you’re on the edge of grip (Crossmark tyres).

If I put proper tyres on it, a set of 120mm Pikes and a dropper it would get you in and out of some serious trouble.

parkedtiger, it’s going to snow. Snow lots, you’ll be stuck in your carpark and I’ve already been out today. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway.

Are you riding at the weekend, I’ll be up.

Great pics, but it’s making me depressed that I’m not in the Lakes anymore and that I’ve got a house to renovate this year so I won’t be getting much fun in. 🙁

Think I’m up to nine now:

DH Bike
6″ Bike
5″ Bike
4″ Bike
Rigid SS
150mm Hardtail
Proper Road Bike
Winter Road Bike
Track bike

Hello Stoney,I’m good thanks, missing being in the Lakes, but have some good trails straight out of the back door in Rochdale so I can’t complain too much. I’ve got a new bike just been delivered to my parents house, so I’ll be riding in the Lakes next weekend if anyone is about. Have just posted on the Facebook page.

100mm drop on the cheaper one, 125mm on the other too.

The red socks don’t give you too much hassle, they’re usually amazed you’ve got your bike up there, want to heckle you if you push down a section, or take your picture if they’re Japanese. I only get hassle biking round the sides of Lakes, where the walking’s easy.

Can’t work out from your description where you mean, I’m pretty sure it’ll either be death or glory riding anyway down from there. Next time I’m in the area I might go for a walk up that area and see what it’s like.

You’ll be fine riding footpaths, though it is odd the mag has suggested you do. Will have a look on an OS Map and see what it’s like….

Blencathra, Skiddaw and Helvellyn are fantastic, Scafell Pike I’ve not tried as from memory it is too much. Great Gable is also very good, though the very top is right on the limit (ie I had to walk it). I’m not 100% sure which the big 4 are, so I’ve included my best guesses!

I suspect what you’ve read isn’t talking about going onto the summit, rather riding in the viscinity of.

Get yourself to Esk Hause then head up towards Scafell Pike, get yourself to the point where it turns from rideable to certain death, turn around and descend back to Esk Hause, past Sprinkling Tarn, past Styhead Tarn to Stockley Bridge and you’ll have done one of the best descents in the area. Rossett Gill will likely kill you at worst or disappoint you at best, unless you are a total god.

Back to Langdale via Easdale is pretty good by all accounts.

Does the Hope one do the top and bottom headset races?

We shall see….

Has he snapped any? The headtube is massive, the whole frame is massively overbuilt and rated to 160mm. I can’t see that it’s likely the frame will break. I don’t have any history of breaking stuff like some people seem to and I’m pretty light so I’ll chance it.

It’s 150 rear. Mark Weir is running 180/150 on his without any issues. My previous bike was 127/160, so I’ve been running them unbalanced for a couple of years now, it works well. Maybe it’s my riding style, but I always work the fork much harder than the rear end.

Nothing will snap, I’m only little!

Is there a recess on the end of the spacer so that the end of the lyrik shaft sits inside the spacer?

If so the dimensions should be the same as the diameter of the shaft, but with a wider sleeve over to overlap the shaft. With a length of 10mm from the end of the spacer to the bottom of the recess.

Yeah, I was going to stick at 170mm I think, if I can work out the dimensions!

From what I can tell it’s 12mm diameter, 8mm hole through the middle, but then from the pictures it looks to be longer than 10mm and it quotes 174mm travel, so could be 14mm? Trying to wade thtrough the thread to see if I can work out any more than that.

Oh yeah, I’ve just been looking at the lyrik 170 mod you linked to, do you know the dimensions of the spacer at all? From what I can see I’m not sure if I need a spacer in one or both legs and exactly what the various dimensions are. I think I understand how it works and how to put it together, but I could do with being 100% on the dimensions before I get some machined up.

Thanks!

Crap, I thought it was a normal 1.5″ headtube! Any idea what the specification of the internal 1.5″ thing is, it isn’t listed on Cane Creek’s calculator. The headangle won’t be far off what I’m after, but I need a reducer headset to run 1.1/8th forks even if Works can’t sort out an offset for me.

Regardless of the looks, some new shoes for £11 was pretty desirable!

Not for me thanks, not a fan of the Nomad and already spent up. Bought most of the bits needed to sort the Jekyll out – stronger wheels, Lyriks, wider bars, bashguard, Saint brakes. Just need a dropper and an angleset and it’ll be sorted.

They’re on Paul’s Cycles, they have some pretty good deals on Cannondales and Giants at the moment. I’ve pulled the pin on the Jekyll, so should be able to report if it’s any good shortly….

I’ve never had an issue with any shock and the reviews don’t seem to mention any shock issues. I’m sure Cannondale would look after me anyway, so I’m not going to rule it out on those grounds. Leaning towards the Jekyll, Lyriks done to 170mm and slack it out by a degree or so at the headset. Dropper post. Should be pretty versatile, which I like.

Anyone want to buy some 150mm 32s with a 1.5″ steerer? Thought not!

Bumpity, bump! Does anyone have experience of either the Cannondale Claymore or the Jekyll? Both are available half price and about the price of building up a Mega. Both could be decent options, but difficult to get any objective opinions on them. I guess they haven’t sold well over here because they are expensive at RRP, but google isn’t throwing up much either.

What do we know about the Cannondale Claymore and Jekyll, have found both at billy bargain price so could buy a complete bike rather than the frame. Both look intersting, just looking for reviews and some geometry info….

I used to hack a Bullit with 888s on all over the place, that pedalled like shit but I coped ok. TR250 would be a little heavier but should pedal a bit better I’d think. Maybe the Bullit was steep enough to reign the travel back in. One thing though, loads of travel meant loads of grip on technical climbs!

Don’t worry I won’t be going for the 250, it’s not far of double the frame weight, would have worse gearing and would only be marginally better on the downs, just not worth the trade offs.

Don’t tell me stuff like that FFS! That TR250 makes NO sense surely?? I’ll have to keep telling myself I DO need a granny ring and not one of these mega-mega range rear cassettes instead. It’s too heavy, definitely too heavy. FFS!

Will give you a shout if I fancy a go out on the Covert, to be honest I was looking at them because I wasn’t expecting a refund and they’re the best 160 frames the shop sells. I’ll probably be out with the club a week on Tuesday if you fancy popping out?

Do they not just rotate by default into the slackest orientation?

Does anyone do an ISCG05 front mech mount and does anyone know how this would pedal?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2012-Transition-TR250-Mountain-Bike-Frame-Fox-Shock-Medium-Brand-New-Stock-/271111953325?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item3f1f881bad

🙂

Yeah, thanks, I’ve just seen the link now, will investigate further. Keep me in the loop re Loco please, I imagine it’s more of a goer if there’s more demand and I would definitely want one or two spacers. I know a few people that would also be interested.

Works Components do suitable angle-adjusting headsets, disadvantage is you need to decide what angle you want, whereas with the offsets you can experiment a bit more. At £40 a set it might be worth using them to find out what angle headset you want perhaps. Offsets drop the BB too, which might be useful on some frames or a disadvantage on others. I don’t know what people are running though. Offsets on my GT Fury seem to trash DU bushes quite quickly, but the offsets themselves (titanium) haven’t been damaged.

Ooooh, what’s this mod then? Sounds like a good answer!

While I’m here, Angleset vs off-set bushes, any thoughts? Off-set is easier to remove and adjustable, but issues with wear? What do most people go for?

Ha ha, thanks for all the info! I’ve never tried a bike before taking the plunge and never had any issues with anything I’ve bought. I have a good enough grasp of the numbers and you can always tweak stuff to get it to ride exactly how you want it. I don’t think I’m particularly sensitive to bike setups anyway as I’ve tried loads of people’s bikes and not tried much that felt wrong at all. I’m coming from a Banshee Spitfire, which is set up slightly slacker than the Mega, similar length and lower BB. I think the Mega TR is pretty much as close a match to that frame, but I fancy something a bit different this time. and would say BB around 13.5″ as the Spitfire is a little low. One thing I really like about the Spitfire is having more travel at the front, seems to suit the way I ride really well, which is why I am leaning towards having a 180 option on the 160 frame really. Would be as a second pair of forks though as they’ll be a pain to pedal.

I know someone that rides 180s on a Mega in the Lakes and loves it, I’ll take on board what you’ve said, but will likely end up answering the question through trial and error as it’ll niggle me if I don’t try it! Can always punt the 66s on again if they don’t work.

Banks, get Lyrik coil u-turns. Doesn’t matter too much on year as they’ve not changed much, mine are 2009 and have been pretty much faultless for 3 years now. Easy to maintain yourself, very adjustable, stiff and great performance. You’re looking at £250 to 300 second hand, loads will tell you not to risk second hand, but if you can inspect them before and you know how to service a fork you’ll be ok.

Leaning away from second hand to be honest, but might keep an eye on eBay and see if something daft comes up around the £5-600 mark, or complete bikes up to £1500. The Mojo is ex-demo, so the shop should stand behind it as if it was a new frame, but that would be something to discuss anyway. The black Mega with yellow wheels though, that would look pretty sweet wouldn’t it.

I’ve not got any 66s yet, but I’d like a bike I can use some on then I can buy some 🙂 Pretty easy to swap forks over and on a push-up blast down route they should work pretty well.

Looking at the Dune now….

To be honest I really like the graphics on the Black frame and the Yellow one looks good too, so not bothered about all that.