Better/lighter rims with the SLX set – 717s as opposed to 317s. XT756 hubs are six-bolt, whereas the LX will be centrelock/splined I just got some wheels with XT756 hubs – they’re good enough hubs but will be heavier than the LX hubs. Also, the wheels with SLX use double butted spokes. I don’t think it is a straightforward choice between the wheels. I think the XT brakes should be better though – i’m sure someone will post about that.

Just swap them for my Tora’s…

I think the quality of the bars is more important than the diameter.

An eye for an eye just makes the whole world blind….

I had problems with deliveries last week – it did snow a bit mind.

I’m sure MBUK reviewed a very wide flat bar recently – 710mm or suchlike.

Bike thief carrying class-A drugs? What a surprise!

Fantastic news though.

Cheers guys. Deus it is.

I thought Toras were the same as Recons (assuming you get motion control damping) apart from heavier materials and no travel indicators on stanchions!?

I would like to deck my bike out with that stuff, if only because I think it would be mildly amusing given how rubbish my skills are.

No, but I pissed myself laughing looking at the website: http://www.shimano-yumeya.com/

Bizarre way to sell bike bits.

Bled or not it’s probably a good idea to buy some now if you think you will need them in the next year or so.

The price at CRC is still good, cheaper than Merlin. CRC are £140 for F&R whereas Merlin is £150. Plus, at CRC if you want you can choose a bigger rotor for the front – at a slight price increase of course. I bought some at Wiggle, but the price was excluding rotors and adaptors.

I believe that bigger rims will give (slightly) more volume to a tyre, and a flatter profile. Smaller rims will give a rounder profile, so the ‘corners’ won’t stick in as much, e.g when leaning over or on off-camber stuff. That’s the theory at least.

I asked similar questions, was wondering whether to get XM717’s or XM719’s. Mavic say the XM719’s are suited for use with 2.3’s so no worries there. A good few people said they used 2.3’s on 17mm rims!

>Why is steeper better?

More control at low/very low speed, and for ‘trials’ type manouvering?

Does this mean pre-mainstream On-Ones will become collectors items?

Mor like ur ghey

And make sure you have no sharp edges on your clamps etc.

I would suggest that unless you are doing full on dirt jumps, downhill or big ‘hucks’ to go for it. Easton apparently claim that their carbon Monkeybars (or whatever theyre called) are the strongest they do. Just be sure to tighten your stem and controls to the correct toques.

If only we could harness the power of neil853’s anger, we would have a renewable energy source capable of boiling a kettle of water every time somebody uses MTB slang… !

Yes… I am about to fork out on SLX brakes and a wheelset. I must admit I wouldn’t be buying it if it wasn’t for the impending Shimano price increases though, was going to buy them as a birthday present for myself later this year.

Lovin that picture flamejob, jumping with bar ends and a long stem – MBUK would have a heart attack!

SRAM PG980 is almost the same weight as XT, and can be found a little more cheaply at the moment.

Merlin sell some cheap ones, but you will need a fairly long allen key to get enough torque for the BB cups.

The FC at Lordswood seem a fairly friendly bunch.

Wooly hat – which you can find on eBay. I got mine for £32.

For the type of riding I do, parked cars are the biggest hazard. I got knocked off my bike once by someone opening their door – I just heard a bang, next thing I know I am lying on the road on my back, facing the way I had just come, with my bike about two metres away. I was clipped slightly and went over the bars. I was lucky not to be more seriously injured, but now I scan cars for occupants and give them a wide berth. Defensive cycling is definitely the key.

I do get the impression that most drivers do not enjoy driving however, and are in a state of continuous borderline anger and frustration. How else to explain the compulsive desire to accelerate madly out of one set of lights, only to brake ten metres down the road at the next set of lights. .

So there we go, SLX. Buy it or don’t, its great or a marketing con. Thing is, SLX is fairly similar to XT now, e.g. shifters use the same internals but different materials. What will they do to XT to make it better? Multiple upshifts a la XTR?

Errr, mine’s really quite lame. Cleaning the crap out from inside the cassette and derailleur – I seem to manage to clog it with a mixture of mud and twigs every ride, and it forms a kind of immovable cement.

New products for Spring, according to the website. The lock-on grips look interesting. It’s all about being a canny consumer if you ask me, take the wheat leave the chaff.

Haha, even those jumps look big to me! Ok, will keep a lookout for your shore though. I do have a map, but only a paper copy. My electronic original died with my computer recently, but I will work on sorting out a new one.

Sounds good but i’m not sure what my weekend schedule is yet 😕 . I have got a map of lordswood, with many of the trails marked, so I think I have visited a fair bit of it. Would be nice if there were some easy/small jumps to have a go on, as i’ve never really jumped before, but they seem quite intimidating so far! Is your shore the stuff near the bombhole? After reading this I think lunchtime sessions at Lordswood every now and then may be a nice break…

I think the alloy ones are 40% off at the moment, if that’s any help.

– Rules for eating toast at a communal breakfast –

1. One knife is denoted the butter knife and is used for transferring a portion of butter to your plate
2. For each jar of jam there is a spoon, which is used for transferring a portion of jam to your plate.
2a. Jam spoons may not be used for more than one jar.
3. Each diner has a knife, denoted a personal knife
4. The personal knife is used for spreading butter and jam upon your toast. AT NO POINT must the personal knife be used to retrieve butter or jam from their respective receptacles.
4a. The exception to rule 4 is that Marmite may be both removed from the jar and spread with your personal knife.

WHY THE EXCEPTION FOR MARMITE?!? I DON’T UNDERSTAND ! ! ! !

RoleyMoor – I disagree about the Tora remark. They are pretty much just a heavier version of the Recons and you should def. be able to get full travel out of one.

So you want something not too expensive that doesn’t perform too badly in mud (but isn’t a mud tyre) then? About 2.1-2.2″ in size?

Rigid forks.

Chain tugs? This is a polite, family forum thank you very much.

I know this is probably just unfustified paranoia (a la carbon), but I have a preference for hand-built because they tend to use more spokes and it is typically easier to get spares. This is because I often go cycling into the wilderness on my own and wouldn’t want to break a spoke on a 24 spoke wheel.

It is incredibly unlikely that you would break a spoke however, and if you don’t go out on your own it’s probably not an issue.