I have a Cannondale RZ120 £1,500 last year and perfect for what i need – trail centres/downhill does it all and not too heavy

although for £2k you could get a lapierre which would get my vote

get some Orange rims and you have a winner

I agree they are terrible – got a note from them saying they had tried to deliver a parcel and we weren’t in (surprise surprise – we both work) and could we organise a time to collect the parcel – Saturday would be fine. got to the wherehouse and after 2 hours of waiting (severarly hungover (this being a Saturday morning) Mrs FP and i were told that the parcel was in fact still in the back of the van which was out on delivery, so could we come back next week. Brilliant, so got back to our house to see another note………yep……..’sorry we missed you, please can you arrange a time. etc’

GRRRRRRRRRR

You could also park in the Clifton College sports centre, which is just through the lights by beggars bush lane on the left hand side (heading out of bristol) if you were worried about break in’s the car park is open till at least 10pm and is free

Yep! only one way to find out……..:lol:

@ Flow

<inserts hilarious ‘yo momma’ joke>

Penhydd is still closed

no idea about the cafe

http://www.afanforestpark.co.uk/PDF/AFPMTB231111.pdf

obviously not quick enough on my post about the pinned and welded 😀

i belive also that the 321’s are only pinned together and the 521’s are pinned and welded making them much stronger

i had 321’s orginally and bent them on the first outting to Afan

have now got the 721’s and had no problems in the year and a half i’ve had them

buy cheap, buy twice – IMO

there’ll be a few opinons on this forum

never done Aston Hill

going to Ashton Court in a couple of hours, its got puddles in places but generally quick, grippy and has some good jumps and a few technical sections, is pretty flat – it’ll be a let down after Cwm Carn but is a very good ride and for a city trail is amazing

yeah pretty much why i went down the full susser route, as much as i was enjoying the hartail and can definitly see the attraction – especially when it comes to cleaning

but i love desending very quickly and bollocks to the line choice, plus my legs/body are much less tired by the end of the day

on the whole i’d say i’m much happier riding the susser and wouldn’t go back

yep a few years ago overtook a couple of sussers on my hardtail on the downhill at cwm carn, now got my full susser and haven’t been overtaken again

i think it’s more the rider than the bike

i do miss the hardtail as the susser has made me lazy in my line choice but i am quicker on it

Fenwicks Degreaser, a wire brush, GT85 and a lot of swearing

will probably do the trick

i’ve broken an XTR mech after 3 years usage – the stopper broke and the spring contracted, but i think that was years of abuse like taking the hardtail down the Mojo at Cwm Carn – mazing feeling overtaking Downhillers on a hardtail! – ha ha ha

then bent an XT mech when a stick got dragged into the wheel then pulled the rear mech with it – wasn’t going particullay fast and only bent the rear hanger so bent it back and the mech is working fine on my comuter – new XTR is on my FS for year and half no troubles…..yet

yeah i have this same dilema – i’ve got some trainers that have the soft rubber soles and are really really grippy and only cost £20 from TK Maxx but don’t last very long because the pedals destroy the soft rubber but then i can buy 4 pairs for 5-10’s so don’t if the collective length of time is going to be cheaper to get the trainers or a pait of MTB shoes

try Youtube, plenty of really detailed instructions from Hope and really easy to do – best thing about Hopes is everything is replacable individualy

i have an XTR rear mech that’s been on the bike 5 years now, taken some big hits (not from jumping) 😳 cannont recomend them enough

had a big crash at stiles cop last year and landed on the brake leaver all it did was dug into the ground – got to love those Hope’s….had those for around 4 years as well and no damange

having said that i have been through 2 frames and countless innertubes

chains and cassettes tend to last a year or 2 only i think because of the heavy usage and stresses

i have learned IMO that you get what you pay for when it comes to MTB’ing

Mountain biking woudln’t be mountain biking without the faffing, it’s what makes it enjoyable, especially as we all seem to do it

Road biking is just too damn dangerous for me, i’ll stick to hucking of drops and over doubles thanks 😉

to be honest though if you are boared of the same old routes, definitly do them at night makes it a completly different ride and if you are boared of that, do the trails with a shit commuter light – sure you’ll go slower but it definily gets the adrenaline going

x = n + 1

Where:
‘x’ is the number of bikes needed
‘n’ is the number of bikes currently owned

E-bay i reckon

mate just picked up a Turner 5 spot, CK headset, CK BB, Hope Pro 2 hubs, Mavic 719’s, Fox float Rp23 all in for £940 – ‘mazin

Ace, thanks Lowey

don’t mean to burst your bubble but i fear the re-engineering may have already been done

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/allen-millyard-part-1-2008.html

having said that, this hasn’t taken off commercially (i think)so you might be able to work that angle

My wife and i had a lodger for 6 months and TBH it was a mixed bag really, we were thankful for the money and got on well with the lodger but it is nice having the house to ourselves and a spare room for guestes. If it’s just you on your own then i’d definilty recommend a lodger though but really it all depends on the lodger you get – i’d start by seeing if any of your mates are looking for a house to rent if not, then choose carefully, also don’t charge over £4,250 per year otherwise you’ll have to pay tax and definately draw up a contract.

another option to consider is some mates of ours let out a room in their house monday to friday and charge per night, then you get help with your mortguage, the lodgers get a room that’s cheaper for a night in a hotel and then there isn’t really any arguments over washing and cooking as the lodgers aren’t there long enough

Yep, run full length outers – definitly recommend them, not sure which ones though, mine came with the bike

I always stop/ask, MTBr’s & Roadies, we’re all the same really i’ve given a couple of tubes away, helped a roadie put a snapped chain back together, although i am a beliver in Karma it doesn;t always work. A few years a go on the real Ale wobble, at the half way point i managed to snap my chain and had no chain remover D’Oh, luckily managed to snap the chain right by a marshall’s spot lo-and behold he didn’t have any tools and refused to give me a lift, then a group of bikers come up the track one of whom kindly stops with his chain tool, puts his bike down to help me, at which point this ‘tool’ of a marshall drives his landrover right over the top of the guys front wheel – none of us could belive it

Yeah happend to me in 2010 with the EX5, placed the deposit was told to wait 2 months which i was happy with, this was then put back a couple of weeks, before finally being told that the bike hadn’t even been built citing ‘manufacturing difficulties’ the bike shop asked how long it’d be and Trek said to look for a new bike – so now have a Cannondale RZ120 and love it!!

i had some of those disks on my first bike and they were so awful, that the best advice is to pick up some better brakes on e-bay or here and throw the So1e’s away.

failing that:

on each side of the calliprs in the middle is a hole for the allen key, you will need to make sure that these are altered to remain central, it might be that the fixed pad side is too far out and is not reaching the disk to make the other side bite.

also have you checked the actual reseviour on the lever – there is a tiny plug (that fell out on mine)and it needs to be in to create a seal in the line – it might be that this is not in properly and you are losing pressure so the pads don’t move

i think that are the major pitfalls – it has been a number of years since i had these brakes

can’t go wrong with a topeak multi-tool – £15 from most places. has all the allen keys you might need, a couple screw drivers, tire leavers and a chain link remover.

i carry that, a pair of pliers, spare inner tube, mini pump and most essientially cable ties!! that combo has fixed pretty much any problem i’ve enountered on the trail (so far)

Yeah had my rear wheel drop out with shimano QR, going over a drop off which was pretty interesting – god those XTR mechs are tough! as the bike landed on it and is still fine

defintly do it up tight and on the rear make sure the lever is pointing away from the direction of travel, then any stones, sticks etc are unlikely to open the lever when they invariably hit it

got some thick baggy shorts that stop below the knees – i don’t feel the cold provided my hands and feet are warm, so that’s perfect for me, but i do find that wearing knee pads helps keep the cold out

not done Cannock, but Stiles Cop is definitly worth a look, i was there a couple of months ago and they were busy building a new trail although the gap jumps looked a bit big for me

Shorts and neoprene socks – my legs don’t really get cold, as long as my hands and feet are warm all is good in my world

Never wear glasses, i just can’t get on with them, a muddy descent is always annoying when you have to stop every few meters to wipe off spots of mud which only end up smearing the lenses so you can’t see, its the same when its rainy the water doesn’t tend to stream off the glasses instead the raindrops distort the vision then the glasses steam up because of the temerature difference between face and lenses. so far found that shutting my eyes during a crash works well to stop getting stuff in your eyes, don’t really tend to fall into bushes as i mainly am on the trails. perhaps if i did touring i’d wear glasses and maybe goggles on downhill, but then you have the same problem with distortion, so don’t really know what the answer is, guess just whatever you feel comfortable with and how much risk you want to take

Hope!

had my Mini’s for 5 years, i’m 16 stone and never had a problem with stopping, even on the mojo @ Cwm Carn.

had a big crash and 44p late had replaced a rubber seal- brakes are as good as new again

obviously i’m biased and my only comparison is Hayes So1e which were worse than dragging your feet to stop

Take it to Plod and say where you found it and ask when you can re-claim it

Yeah, Fenwicks degreaser is amazing, not to mention fun (comes out like silly string), but £7 – may as well get a new chain

I think the question was, ‘is it worth it?’ rather than they weren’t allowed to

Yeah i agree, no point in speanding loads on weight saving unless you are actually racing, i really can’t belive people are having more fun with a lighter bike (and lighter wallet) than me on my heavy trail bike and besides wieght + gravity = loads of speed – combine that with big brakes and hey presto, lots of controlable fun, and besides riding that heavy bastid up the hills is only going to make me fitter, so when i do get my fat ass around to racing and rich enough for full carbon, i might actually be good. but for now i’ll keep my heavy bike and spend the extra cash on post ride pints

i can see the appeal on a road bike though

16 Stone idiot + Hope Monos 203 f & 185 R + floating saw + Braided hoses + Sintered Pads = Super Bling and serious stopping power

Size 12 and loving the Azonic X’s