agreed …im just being silly…allmanufacs do it especially in sports…im soon about to go skiing …there we see new ski graphics every year…last years models are just so passé :)

great bit of marketing stuff that Kashima(should read Cash for them!). Maybe next year they will change the 2013 colour to purple and have even more people frothing at the mouth and journos saying its “the best possible upgrade”. A new colour each year…what a good marketing ploy…

Im very surprised so few people use Shimano AM 41s.

I have 2 pairs of 5 10s and think AM41s are a bit better, they are a lot CHEAPER TOO.

Yes they don’t look that good(they look more like cycle shoes), maybe thats why we don’t see lots of them.

The BIG selling point is the water/mud resistant lace cover. Its Stops mud, water and puddles filling your shoes in winter. Yes 5 10s are super grippy and good in summer but AM41s rule for muddy wet times.

In terms of grip the 5 10s probably are slightly “stickier on pedals” but I prefer to be able to move my feet on flats to tack advantage of the freedom of movement flats offer.

Agreed, I have been surprised by how good Epping is recently…its been better going than on my rides in Surrey Hills and even Swinley in the last 2 weeks. The leaf carpet is helping at the moment…long may it last!

Agreed foot flaps…Motorists are the same to pedestrians. If you are slow crossing a road in central London, and the lights change lorries and cars will drive at you. There is an unwritten heirachy. Motors good ….get out of my way the rest of you! Where I used to work on many occasion I saw cars lorries and even motorbikes bullying elderly and slower people as they crossed the main road..

With Pendle racks the spaces between bikes are independently adjustable as is the wheelbase of each bike..had mine for a few years..very happy with it.

My new Conti GP4000s tyres punctured in the first big rain shower this summer on my commute home. They are a fast great grip tyre but certainly not puncture resistant in the wet. I think there are tougher tyres out there.

Just bought some Black Pro 2 Evos on Stans Flow rims from my LBS, Marshalls in Welwyn.

I’m very Happy with them bargaintastic !

Here are the weights as per my scales with standard Hope rim strips in

Front 870g
Rear 1002g

so 1872g the pair!

They ride very well. Only mod I made was to add extra grease to the freewheel to reduce the loud hope click a bit…

Never really. Even when I know I’m not particularly good at it. I just enjoy riding. I just like all round riding. Quite a bit of trail stuff, sometimes DH type stuff and just plain mixing it up, especially in the mountains. The big thing for me is being out with nature /countryside… I also enjoy road biking in sunny weather.

I think the thing that helped my riding is realising I ride for my enjoyment not for others’ approval so it doesn’t really matter if i’m not the quickest or most “rad”. The big thing is to enjoy. Many guys are always in competition with each other, and that in my view reduces the fun. Many give up when they can’t be “the best”.

Thanks for your review too cycle life. I do understand the DHXRC4 is a bit plusher than the DHX5 in standard form. What might be a good option is getting TF Tuned or Mojo to tune the rear shock for you?… They could sort it for Plush DH with more pedal platform for climbs.

In terms of suspension action etc I had a real good look at other long travel all rounders before deciding on the Nomad. You will find the space on the frame for the shock much bigger than for the Spec Enduro. This means the shock on the Nomad can have a longer stroke hence more plushness with less heavy spring needed. The Spec Enduro Evo with its shorter stroke shock needs a 500lb + spring for most riders.

Since I moved to using Rock N Roll Lube…. chain wear has reduced…( I use Park Chain checker)…works in wet and dry

Rock N Roll…Chain lube is great. But read the instructions! Wet the chain with it then wipe it off well with an old rag(old cotton shirts work well!)… I have used Finishline XC etc in the past but this is the best i have found…almost eliminates chain cleaning

Run my Alpine with 140 Pikes. I never need to wind them down for climbs as they are spot on for the geometry. If you saw some of the huge stuff R. Duck(post above) does on his hard tails you would realise why he uses 160mm forks…having said that he goes very fast uphill too!

My take on the Alpine is that its slightly longer in the chainstays than some others but that is also an advantage as it makes it stable. It also climbs very well. Steering is tight as they have the head angle just right.

The dropped top tube is a big selling point for me too!
Superb stand over for short legs and tech stuff!!

Today had a Grrrrreat ride round Epping forest today on my Alpine…its my hardtail of choice.

Heres my little story on my heart … Im 49years old and after a recent ECG at a company medical I had a “worried urgent” call from the doctor. He said he was about to go away for the weekend but felt he should warn me as they were worried about my test. The electrical heart signals were peaky and indicative of some potential problem.

He told me not to get my heart above 120bpm and walk but not run anywhere!! He knew I was a keen cyclist ….I said that wld be hard as I had a 1hr ride home from work and an approx. 3hr XC ride the next day. Anyway it worried me and I saw a cardiologist the next week. They did an ECG as well as an ultrasound scan to check to see if there was any thickening of the heart muscle which could be indicated by my peaky ECG. The cardiologist said the my heart was in great shape and all fine and nothing to worry about.

I would have been even more worried if a non medical mate hadn’t already warned me that its quite common in people who do a lot of endurance sport to have the peaky electrical signal. My resting in daytime is about 57BPM but flat out about 188bpm. As said above it seems to vary widely with different individuals .

Thomson are the best quality posts in my view.

I bought a Schwinn gym spinning bike . They are much sturdier and far more robust than turbos,and slightly less boring as you can move about on them plus very quiet. Second hand ones can be had for not too much cash. As they are quieter its “fun” to work out to music!!

Well said br…to be able to achieve a money purchase final salary pension of 30k a year you currently need to have about £700k invested…..most of a million!!!!

Sorry to hear of the thefts…Well done getting the first one back! Great to hear u have taught the thieving idiots a lesson & good luck getting the others…..

Another SDG Bel Air fan here. Just the right shape. I use the chromolly ones on the hardtail as i tend to break the ti ones.

if you rent/buy a film on your laptop or i pad you can still play them on telly via the i player too!

no it doesnt record, its just a watching device aswell as link with i tunes for film rentals etc. its simplicity is what i like ..suits me :)

I like my Apple TV…works fine and not v expensive

With flats the shoe pedal combos are massive in terms of “different feel”. If you use 5 10s combined with pedals with long pins your feet may feel “locked on” as that combo is so grippy! When I use my 5 10s I prefer them with my shimano DX pedals as the pins are a bit smaller than my Nuke Proof pedals and I like to be able to easily move around on the pedals.

As mentioned earlier, don’t run your seat post too high, as the saddle will hit you and push the bike away.

I think the new shimano non-spd flattie shoes with the lace covers are superb. The Vibram soles give just the right amount of grip and the shoes don’t fill up each time you go over a puddle! They are a fair bit cheaper than 5 10s too

Glentress, Innerleithen, Golspie…not sure of what order!

I used to use SPDs then switched to flats a number of years ago. Took some time to get used to them , but for me the flexibility in foot position and ability to bail plus easy foot down when needed on corners makes it worth it. I Use SPDs on my road bike so that keeps me used to them. For XC racing though SPDs are obviously good as you can easily spin fast. When you first use flats the worry is pedal slips on rough downhill bits, but you soon get used to having the pedal a bit further back which I find much more stable and comfortable than the “ball of foot” SPD position.

Be careful if you are buying a small & test ride it first to make sure its ok.

I had a long talk with the guys at SC when buying mine thats why they guided me to a medium & i’m happy with it..( The Nomad replaced a small Spec SX Trail, I also ride a small Cove STD).

Im about the same size as you and ride a medium Nomad Carbon. (5’7″ with 29 leg). As SC produce quite a lot of sizes the medium comes up close to a”small” in specialized equivalent… In most bikes I ride 16s too.

yes i think thats what he is talking about. Its a sort of bermy swoopy smooth “blue category” trail, but taken at speed is certainly testing with tight switchbacks and good size berms…great fun!

I love Swinley, the riding is great… its worth more than the couple of quid trail charge!! Thanks trail fairies :) will probably ride again it some time this week

Had the jab for many years and hardly noticed any side effects. I hope as many people as possible have the jab. There would be much less suffering.

I bought the shoes and kit and tried going back to running a couple of years ago, and had the same problem. I didn’t want to damage my knees so i just bought a spinning bike at home instead, which is useful on dark wet winter evenings. Im heavily built and in late forties and like skiing so I’m quite wary of hurting the knees…

Wow looks great! Thanks for the post I look forward to giving it a go…

I am 80kg just over 12.5 stone and medium are fine for me on lyric coil forks. I had the U turn model with 160mm before and now use RC2DH 170mm ones. I am surprised you need firm. I use medium on my Totem coil forks too. Once tried firm spring and they are too harsh. Worth calling up TF Tuned for a chat. You certainly do need some slow speed rebound on otherwise the forks compress too much on braking etc…

Got back a bit earlier. It was still relatively dry with very few damp bits… Great riding at the mo. The carpet of leaves is stopping puddles forming…a lot of the single track is bone dry as per summer…was great …Thanks!

Cheers for that… I’ll put the mud guard on! I agree with you on the quagmire bit! certainly after the leaves have gone it gets bad if its warm and wet…I stay away from epping riding for most of the wet months…

I have the 2011 SC Nomad (Carbon) with DHXRC4 coil and the climbing is great as well as descending. The DHX4 shock is highly adjustable and there is very little “bob” and the whole package seems superb. I do not think to changing the linkage is worth it for me , surely SC would have done that if needed? Is it a DHX RC4 or DHX 5 shock you are using?

Im no techie but i upgraded my iMac to OS Lion a while back and have no regrets. I actually now like the “magic track pad” i bought to use with it rather than the old mouse…seems simple to me

Banks were just a factor in causing the pain..they leant as much money as possible cos thats how they make profits.
What people haven’t fully woken up to is that the crisis was really caused by regulators and governments failing to account for how much debt was really being created!
The UK and US happily stood by for years pumping up our property market bubbles. The crisis we are now seeing develop are national ones not just commercial banks lending running ammok.
The European Bank crisis has taken off due to Greek (and others!)government bond holdings straining banks balance sheets rather than private lending. It is a convenient political side step to simply blame banks. I remember Gordon Brown instantly changing the subject to naughty bankers every time he was asked to comment on the Uk political expenses scandal.

As said for a small hedge by hand works well as they are quite soft…I have a tall leylandi connifer hedge in my garden…The back hedge is about 5m high and acts as a screen. I have just had to climb up and do the pruning last week. I cut the top of it with a Stihl HT 75 pole chainsaw attachment… the great thing about this tool is that it takes a hedge cutter swell as a chainsaw so is a great all round garden tool. The hedge is very deep swell as high so the pole attachment is superb. I think you can also buy a strimmer attachment for it. The new model it HT 100 I believe. I find myself using the pole chainsaw more than the regular one. Downside is the cost about 650!!! not inc both attachments!! I have regularly cut the connifers over the last few years so its now a good dense hedge. Biggest hassle with my pruning is clearing up the waste.

water…keeps it cleaner. When I finish riding i refill the reservoir with clean tap water and keep it in the fridge…this minimises cleaning… I would only use the fancy electrolyte stuff if I was a racer otherwise I’m happy to stop and enjoy a tasty bite!