@Somouk

I believe Madison are the distributors, they are on their website.

Not sure where you can demo them?

I rode a friend of mines very briefly, looks good, I may get to through it around the North Downs a little this weekend. If I do I’ll tell you more.

At the risk of causing offence to people, I’m not sure the Willow is all that. I have heard a few bad things about them.

I know a lot of mountain bikers and I don’t know anyone that owne’s a Golden Willow?

If something feels right you will know, whether your riding is adapted to it or not.

Thats quite a varied short list, from XC to Enduro to hardtail.

I have a Soul and a Zesty, they work pretty well together. I could ride the Soul all the time if I chose to and the Zesty climbs well enough to do everything all day. The confidence you get from a full sus bike can really push on your skills though.

If I had my choice again I may lean slightly more towards the enduro side of things as the Soul is such a good XC bike. There’s quite a big overlap.

I’d be looking at the Rocket or Mega or Spesh Enduro. I have ridden with guys on Mega’s in the Alps and they are very capable bikes, perhaps a bit on the slack side for climbing?

I haven’t bought into 29ers yet simply because both of my bike are fairly recent.

Interesting discussion.

You don’t want a bike that is too like your hardtail, otherwise it will be just like riding a hardtail 🙂

Exploit the fact that you have two bikes, use one for XC and the other for more technical gnarrrly stuff.

To be honest most full sus bikes have been good for years, it’s tricky to find a bad one. I sold my old BlurLT for £300 frame only. In 2006 that was my dream bike! It’s still dam good.

Just buy a used Stumpy, Anthem, Trance, Blur, Zesty etc. They’re all great fun and won’t kill the wallet. Next time around you will have a better understanding of what you need.

Remember a bike is just for Xmas not for life and the perfect bike doesn’t yet exist.

Enjoy!

Keep the Enduro and get a cheapo little hardtail for the XC stuff, then you have the best of both worlds. Riding a hardtail will also improve your riding skills and when you through your leg back over the Enduro it will feel even plusher!

I have done similar (p90x) and it kicked my ass. That is more weight / resistance biased though. The Mrs is doing Insanity and is now Cardio fitter than me.

I’m 5ft 11 and I dropped from 82kgs to 72 kgs with two rounds of p90x. Wasit went from 34 to 30 which I haven’t been since a teenager. I’m 39.

It takes a committment of time and effort to follow the diet and you will have little energy for other sports but you will get fit and lose weight and I’m not an infomercial 😀

Nice to see some more Brown (Espresso) bikes on this thread. Thought I had the only one!

Must try running a 120 or 100mm setup. Currently running a pair of Rev’s at 140mm with the intention of dropping them down in the first month of putting it together. 2 years on I’m still enjoying the pop off the front end and can handle the climbing not being top drawer.

Great bike, wish I had a bit more flowy single track to do it justice..!

It sounds Ace and I’d go. Most MTB’ers are easy to please with some good food and Ale. We go back to the Yorkshire Bridge quite often, freindly staff goes along way to a return visit!

However, I think unless you intend to put a manager in place and be happy to let him or her take the reigns you will working you fingers to the bone day in and day out. Unfortunately that is the reality of the business.

Good luck, give it some serious thought!

I take it your Boss is not a mountian biker, so there won’t be any sort of bonus coming your way for being Gnnar to the Max! 8)

Mines losing air slowly too. PITA. Would have sent it back if I hadn’t bought it in Germay, will probably try and service it instead.

Likely it’s just an O ring badly seated. Some good service instructions on the SRAM website (I wonder why?!)

If you don’t like your bike getting dirty, stay at home and watch TV.

I think this thread highlights the differnce between roadie thinking and MTB’ers thinking. The OP claimed to have a road background, this best bike thing may even make sense on the road, I’m not sure? Mountain bikes get muddy and f*cked up, fact.

I agree if you race bike you may have it for that reason and that reason alone. The price of drivetrains has come down so much now thanks to our European cousins shipping them over nice and cheap, I mean you can get a complete SLX train for about 100 Euros and thats going to last atleast two years. Do we really need XT / XTR / X0 above SLX, no really? It’s probably harder wearing anyway……..?

+1 Camber, fun, cheap and light, Done!

I ran 2.25 Ardents front and rear on a SC Blur LT and my Cotic Soul for a year. They def come up big. I wouldn’t have got the 2.4 in the SC frame.

Good alround high volume tyre that is relatively light and fast rolling. Wouldn’t reccomend it for winter use as I thnik the tread is a little shallow for mud.

I found it a little unerving on the front as it would let go on gravel if pushed hard, was able to save, but still a bit of a twitchy moment. Running the front softer provided more grip and you can get away with it due to the large volume.

Coped with a week in Les Arcs last year, Alpine singletrack, not bike parks without any pinches or puntures.

I know Ford have invested a lot of time and money into the Ecoboost range of engines. The proof is in the drving and the cost of running.

I would suggest driving one to see if it is something you might like, this is generaly the direction a lot of the manufacturers are taking now as it is cheaper than the hyrbid technology currently on offer.

I would hope the drive is more dynamic than a diesel engine, otherwise there is not a great advantage offered?

Rev team with the black box damping make a big differnce IMO. Great to slow down the fork when you need too. Saying that I also have a set of Rev RL’s on my Cotic, they are a little plusher and very much a fit and forget item.

Ran 2009 Float RL’s on my Blur for a few years, no complaints, they were the 15mm version. Tried some 2011 Floats the other day, they were super plush. Personaly I prefer the 20mm bolt through and damping of RS’s, but thats comparing a high end model with a much lower version.

Difference between 15-20mm small, difference between 9mm and 20mm would be noticeably more stiff.

SLX or XT? Sorry but my RX’s are pretty wooden compared to even my old SLX’s and I will be changing them.

A good pad may improve things but I think there are some good deals on SLX to be had, ie £140 front and rear including rotors and adaptors from a certain German site?

Easyish job depending on your spanner skills. It will require hitting you frame with a mallet and drift to get the old bearings out, that can be a little disconcerting. You soon get pretty flippant after you have done it a few times.

You will also need the press tool to get them back in. I think it cost me £35 from the Santa Cruz uk website, well worth the money. If your handy with a lathe and have a mate with a CNC he could probably sort one out, otherwise buy the proper tool.

If you buy the service kit from Santa Cruz you get the loctite etc thrown in and I don’t think it’s massively over the odds on price, been a while since I have done it though, it may have gone up since!

Little bit of smoked cheese also works, I mean a little, or fry off some smoked Bacon. I find this enhances almost any dish a part from puds. 😀

+1 for Kenda SB8’s, in 2.1(rapid)flavour but I live in the driest county in the country. Living in Essex has got to have some benefits.

Ex Notts lad stranded in Essex. Not actually a bad scene once you’ve done some digging.

Makes riding the Peaks a real treat…..

I had an 853 Explosif, great bike, but not as good all rounder as my Soul.

Def worth a test ride, the geometry just seems right. Most people that through a leg over it say the same thing.

’07 plate GOLF GT TDI 170bhp or 140bhp. I went 170. I wouldn’t say the thing is a hoot to drive, but it is somewhere between practical and sporty.

Lots of mid range so good useable, felxible power from low down and comfortable on long journeys. Will return 50+ mpg, averages 42-45 all day long.

Fits a couple of bike in the back with the seats down.

I thnik the 170 TDI is available in the Scirocco, might be worth a look. Goes in a TT and a Leon too and an A3/A4.

Bought some 2012 Shimano SLX from Germany for £140 inc rotors and adaptors. Good price but not a good brake so far. They will be going back with a second warranty issue.

1st issue was a small leak where the banjo was crimped onto the hose and the O ring was not seated properly.

2nd issue on bleading after shortening the hose on the warranty replacement unit mineral oil starting seeping past the piston. WTF!

To be fair the rear has been fine now it’s bled, but to have two seperate units with sealing issues makes me wonder what them Fella’s in the quality department are upto?

I hope this is isolated as I have never had an issue with Shimano brakes before. They can’t be serviced in the same way as Hope brakes though no way of getting at piston seals. When they work they generally work well!

I’ve just built a cheapo one up. Got a Kona Fire Mountain frame for £45 and had some brakes and cranks sat on the bench doing nothing. Did splash out on a carbon fork as I thought it was the best place to put some money. When I say splash, out they were £100.

Holy sh*t it builds into a light, fast(accelerating) and agile bike. The first thing I noticed when going for a ride was how much more you sit up and look around the countryside. Thinking about your bike less and which gear to be in, travelling slower all equates to looking up and around more. I even found a couple of trail entrances in the woods I had ridden past before.

Enjoying it so far, although early days, seems to get back to why I starting biking, fast, simple, light bike to get you into the country and soak it up.

No facial hair yet…….

Bought Haven as I found a cheap pair off a demo bike, came from 685, they’re nice but I could have gone wider without an issue, especially for more gravity orientated work. For my riding I reckon 720 would be optimum.

Much wider than that and they could be a pain in the trees at times.

Good work Pook!

Certainly no lack off commitment coming in to that!

@ Jedi
Tony you’ll be pleased to know I was able to utilize a fair few of the skills you taught me and Jamie in the board park on a recent snow boarding holiday.

It’s a good feeling when the work you have done on your bike skills improves other sports. Happy days!

To be fair with the 100bhp thing, thats more because the last small cars I had were around the 75bhp mark did struggle on motorways with the instant overtaking ability, the same on country A roads where you just want to blast past, rather than thinking 10 minutes before hand.

If this is the issue you should probably be looking at a car with a turbo either petrol or diesel. The turbo will greatly improve the low down torque available for overtaking and mid range work. Normally aprirated petrol engines don’t generally reach peak torque until 5-6000 rpm, takes some winding up, add a turbo and peak torque will be 1200-2000 rpm onwards. For everyday driving this often makes for a quicker car, even if the overall power output may be lower.

Consider your driving style, do you like to change gear a lot, ie drop down a couple of gears and pin it to overtake, or are you more likely to cruise in fourth and expect a dollap of low end grunt to get you past something? Then compare the torque figuers of the cars you have short listed and the rev’s at which they peak.

Then cross off the French ones too 😉

Dont disregard the Polo so quickly, the new one is a different beast and quite a bit of kit. My sister bought one after driving Peugeots for many years, she has finally seen the light and some German engineering quality.

New Festers are good and handle very well, not sure on cruise control though.

Mini’s are good too and a lot of used bargains about.

The Audi 1.4 TSI engine is strong, fun to drive and economical, probably a costly option.

No Jap stuff in there? If you want reliablity Honda should be on the list, not sure what model falls in to that class?

Mazda also pretty sturdy and Toyota, although bland.

Skoda Fabia, well made if you can look past the badge.

Used TT, now has a diesel powertrain thats economical.

Golf has to be on the list too really, slightly bigger I know.

Not Keen on Fiat 500’s TBH, Alfa Romeo uses the same platform and prettier / more refined. Mito I think.

1 series Coupe.

Think there’s few there to be going on with!

+1 Les Arcs, Ash knows what he’s talking about. More Singletrack than I could ride in a week, be back this summer. Happy days!

You might need a guide though.

+1 Mondeo, cheap, ecomnomical, reliable easy to fix and common.

Estate is pretty cavernous for kit too. Function, not fashion 😆

I tried both. The Orange 5 I demo’d was great when the trail was pointing down, fun to pop over jumps and drops and felt really solid. It was let down by some very wooden Hope brakes. IMO it didn’t climb as well as the Zesty, but an adjustable front fork would sort that out.

I the end I went for a Zesty as I live somewhere flattish and it seemed more swayed to XC than the Orange. I also stayed away from the carbon rear end. I found a used 2011 314 on this forum for £1350, bargain. Changed the brakes, wheels, fork and rear shock to stuff I had on a donor bike and preffered.

Both bikes are very, very good, your budget and the type of riding you do day to day should be the deciding factor.

Some people have said an Avid kit fits, might be worth a search on the subject.

Took 3 weeks for the Shimano funnel to turn up 🙄

I thnik the problem here is helmet cams. They dont do any trails the justice they need and quite frankly unless you’re a pro they are pretty boring.

The stills look way better, looks like a fun trail. Much rather watch a vid with someone stood beside the trail gives a much better sense of speed and gradient. Much more difficult to put together I know.

This should get you to Santa Cruz’s archive

http://www.santacruzbikes.co.uk/site2009/bicycles_archive/geom/heckler.html

😀

+1 for Poohbahs, there were great
Proflex rigs with Girvin forks
Klien Mantra’s
Friction shift DX thumbies
The original Flite Titanium
Marin Titaniums

Answer Manitou full suss rig, that was a thing of beauty
http://mombat.org/1192Manitou3.jpg

My 1999 Reynolds 853 Kona Explosif
The first time I rode a bike with suspension forks and the revelation that was, all 35mm of travel from a Pace RC35 with floppy carbon legs, earth shattering. No more stopping halfway down descents to shake out the arm pump, no you could go three quaters of the way now! 😀

Happy days, life seemes simple then!

Gets very hot there in the summer, choose your months well. August is proper scorchio!

I was kitesurfing so cant comment on the biking

Nice friendly place though with some good food too!

Blokes driving Fiat 500’s – Wrong!

I think FSA also have spare crown races at CRC, so if you don’t want to cut it just buy an additional race for the other fork.

I cut mine, it hasn’t proved an issue.

Done a bit more digging seems it’s a 12mm key. I Dont happen to have one of those lying around on the bench, funnily enough, being such a common size and all! Beg, steal or borrow time.

Make sure you rude a Camber before making the change. Blur is a VPP bike and will ride quite a bit differently, you may find the Camber doesn’t suit you.

However if you just want a new bike to get the juices going, what the hell. Still try before you buy though.

I just chopped my BlurLT for a Zesty…….both great bikes, just wanted a change and had had the Blur since 07.

The Zesty feels a lot plusher, perhaps the difference between a 2006 design v 2011 technology. Things move on.