Just leaving this here…

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/bikes/mountain-bikes/rocky-mountain-element-a50-mountain-bike-greyblack__9115

£1,999 from £4,499

What Tom meant by Classified rear hub…

Powershift Set

I’m a luddite and still use tubes, although I have just switched to lightweight TPU tubes on one of my bikes.  I honestly don’t see the benefit of tubeless over the faff of all the dried sealant on the tyre that needs cleaning off, topping up sealant, etc.

I might do my own thread asking what are the actual benefits of tubeless, cos I don’t get it.

Clutch mechs keep better tension on the lower section of chain, so less easy to get dragged up.

I lived in Monmouth from 2007 to 2017.  Now between Monmouth and Coleford, so right on the doorstep of great riding.  I might consider retiring to the beach, but otherwise I’m here for life.  River, forest walks, great riding, close enough to big cities if that’s your thing, great rugby club (especially for the kids), pubs around and about, decent road connections – ticks the boxes OP wants.

I don’t understand why you think you might need a new rear wheel just to go 1x.  Unless you’re trying to justify it to the wife/husband/partner…

Lots of wide range options at 10 and 11 speed, plus a (heavy) NX type cassette will fit on an older HG style freehub if you must have 12 speed.

@BruceWee – happy to answer any questions you might have.

And thank you to Mark (or Hannah) for giving me access.

It’s my bike and I can’t even read the article either.  :-(

Your post says 27.5 to me. You want fun for razzing about which is 27.5. But at the same time avoid LLS as it just makes a bike super capable, but just loses some of the BMX fun – popping the front and generally dicking about.

Just checked.  It does have some wibble on the lever in both open and closed positions.  It’s kinda loose up to a hard stop where it then clicks over to the open/closed position.

My shock is a B2 Deluxe Ultimate – £200 from Pace.  I think latest versions are C1.

Did you get it from Pace?  I got one from them, yet to be put on the bike, but I don’t remember the lever having any play.  I’ll go and check in the garage later.

Granite do a chain tool that pops in the end of your bars (but you’re sorted there anyway).  I think they also do tubeless repair strips and stabber thing to go in the other side of your bars.  I’ve got an EDC Lite, but the star fangled nut does seem to creep with it, so it needs tightening every now and then.  Lots of other options for tools in steerer tube from Bontrager, Giant, Specialized as well as One Up of course.

If you have Shimano cranks then there’s a cheap tool available on eBay that slots in there – I’ve got one on my gravel bike and it’s actually quite good (includes a spare chain link slot thing).  Giant and Topeak(?) also do a version that goes in your cranks.  In bike, it’s stuffing things in the ends of your bars, your steerer tube, cranks if you have the right type or going One Up pump.

For frame bags, 76 Projects do a Little Piggy plus a bag which I have and that’s good – comes with rubber things to hold it off the frame if you don’t have the bosses.  Dakine also do a similar thing which I also have, also good but you’ll need some tape to stop it rubbing paint off your new frame.  Then of course there are several bottle cages from Topeak, Specialized and Syncros among others that add tools to the base or somewhere.

Photo of the sliding dropouts here – the dropout slides along the guide that’s welded to the frame.

The leverage rate would depend on what shock you have now and what travel you’d want.  If Marino was able to communicate back and forth a little around the design I may have dropped to 145mm or 140mm travel just to get the shock and upright at 90 degrees or less to give a preferable rate.  Having said that, it’s not too bad now – nothing that a progressive spring or an air shock won’t fix.

Fit and finish look fine to me.  The headtube is a 44mm and the M:Part lower cup pushed in with my thumbs, so I’ve ordered a Nukeproof lower set to see if that’s any better, but if not then I’ll get some Loctite 603 bearing retainer compound.

BB went straight in with no tightness.  The pivot set up is quite agricultural and old school with the bearing pinch bolts, but it works.  For the price you can’t really complain, especially as it’s a custom build to my geometry design.

No, I already had a shock.  I think he can do a DVO shock for a decent price though.

$895 with a spare SRAM UDH and a spare rear axle, so worked out around £740 with exchange rates. They also included a nice Marino long sleeved riding top for free, but it’s a size small, so my boy can use that.

I filled in the online form on 24th Feb and paid the $100 deposit on 11th March after the toing and froing to get everything as I wanted.  It was shipped to me on 17th May (they had a 2 week or so delay due to dengue fever lockdown in Peru) and I picked it up from the Parcel Force depot on 6th June.  So about 15 or 16 weeks in all.

@tall_martin – Marino does two types and gives you the choice; he says the e-stay type is stiffer, but mine has 4 bearings at the pivot and feels plenty stiff enough. The pivot point of the e-stay version is also quite a bit forward of my type for better leverage ratio but I find a forward position makes it more difficult to loft the front end for dropping off stuff and generally messing about. That was a big reason in choosing the lower chainstay design for me.

As for bottle mounts, the tool roll thing in the photo fits well on the back mount and the bosses in front of that could mount a bottle cage. I’m currently using a Fidlock bottle on the bosses on the down tube in front of the shock. As you say, I don’t think I’d get 2 bottles in (not really checked yet) without losing the tool roll, but I wanted the flexibility in case one set didn’t really work. I don’t think Marino has time to faff about checking these things for you, so I just hedged my bets.

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Thanks, ads!

I can’t see any img tags.  That’s how I remembered doing it, but can’t see that now.

Anyway, I doubt going for the 725 over the 4130 makes that much difference on weight.  I was hoping it would, but I doubt that now.

Importing was straightforward.  Marino sends a tracking link and it probably took around 10 days or 2 weeks door to door.  I had to pay £76 handling fees and VAT, but UK have a trade agreement with Peru, so no actual import duties.

It’s a 27.5 wheel frame with 150mm travel off a 210×55 shock.  Geo is 65 head, 75.5 actual seat angle, but effective works out at 78.8.  455 reach, 435 chainstays, 135mm headtube to give a stack of 634, so more in line with a 160mm forked 29er than most 27.5s.

I was keen to not get anything too digressive on the shock leverage and my coil shock is good to a certain point (probably 2/3 of way through) and then bottoms more easily.  Looking at getting a progressive spring, but also have a RS Deluxe shock on the way to use the natural progression of the air shock to assist that last 1/4 or 1/3.

That didn’t work…

chakaping – saw that you’d got a Switch 6 on the Instagrams (some Orange fanboi page or something).  It’s a fantastic bike, but the old medium sized 2018 Five was more fun at feeling on the edge and mucking about.  The Switch feels quite serious in comparison – super quick and composed.  I’m looking forward to my Marino arriving.

Having said all that, I think the 27.5 or Mullet thing is more to do with geo.  If I made a long and slack 27.5 I’m sure it wouldn’t have the flicky feel I’m after.

I missed the nimbility a few years ago so built up a 2018 Orange 5 as a DAB (Dick-About-Bike).  Loved it then sold it…  Thought Mullet was the one true way (it is good mind), but the bike I replaced it with (Orange Switch 6) is just far too capable in a dick-about-bike way.  So, ordered a Marino from Peru and that’s on a plane on its way here now.  27.5, nothing outlandish in terms of geo, but it’ll fit me better than anything else with my long legs/short body frame.  Very much looking forward to riding it this summer.

Damn! If it had been a 27.5 I’d have been in like Flynn.

Google Nest battery outdoor cam here. Battery means it doesn’t constantly record like the wired version, but it saves and notifies you of movement, people, animals, vehicles, etc. Battery lasts about 3 weeks for us before needing 3 hours charge back to full again. If yours looks at a busy street it might not last as long. Very easy to set up and being Google it integrates very well, but not necessarily the cheapest option + £50 per annum for the stored footage.

I’ve been running a ZTTO 9-46 lightweight job for a few hundred miles now (maybe as much as 1,000 miles?) and it’s fine. If you’re a princess and the pea you might be able to tell the difference in shift quality, but after a while you’ll likely forget that and just ride.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000505967946.html?src=google&aff_fcid=280cf6583ebb4a7f829f43b5fb47b516-1702308729322-08720-UneMJZVf&aff_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff_trace_key=280cf6583ebb4a7f829f43b5fb47b516-1702308729322-08720-UneMJZVf&terminal_id=b0171ba29cbc4da0b44b1c45899f97c4&afSmartRedirect=y

Yes, very good. I used them for an Orbea shock bolt. They do indeed have all sorts of weird little bits that are difficult to find.

Cathartic and freeing.

https://velosolo.co.uk/shop.html

Starling Swoop? Propain Tyee as above also a good option – last model being sold off at the moment on the Propain homepage.
There was a Giant Trance X on Pinkbike last week, but seems to have gone now. New frame stripped of parts with an Ohlins shock for £600 IIRC. Shame it’s generally only available as a full bike.

Probably this. Were at £65 for ages, but now out of stock and more expensive, but still a decent deal. Get a ZTTO lever off Ali express and you’ll be good.

TranzX +RAD Adjustable Travel Dropper Post – 30.9mm – 170 – 200mm Travel

Wasn’t aware there was a difference. I know about old style Hyperglide type, XD and Microspline for MTB. What’s yours?

Yes, I know – the regressive rate I was referring to was on the frame.

Bumped into a bloke on the trails last week that had one. His was based on a Commencal TIEMPO. I think he said ordered January, received in March this year and a little Brexit bonus is that we have a deal with Peru so there were no import taxes (either that or he got lucky). His was the e-stay type frame and he was running a coil shock on it that was short enough to be pointing in the right direction to give something closer to linear rate than some of the long shock frames you see from Marino – some people must be oblivious to a coil shock running a regressive rate! He said he had no problems with alignment, etc. but you do hear of some horror stories on the FaceStalk group. I get the impression that they’re getting better though.

Love how everyone has got sidetracked on your lack of clutch use.

Anyway, back on track – have you tried fitting one with a rock? Nice result at the weekend too, by the way. Hubba to the pair of you.

I built a Planet X Jack Flash in this sort of style. Moto bars with BMX stem, de rigeur mullet (27.5 front, 26 rear), rigid forks, 10 speed microSHIFT drivetrain and all that jazz. Stuck some Maxxis Ardent tyres on it for gravel and light (smoothish) singletrack duties. It never gets used…

I’ve had a Kia Niro EV for 5 months now and done more than 11,000 miles.  I charge at home on overnight cheap rate – just dropped to 7.5p/kW.  Charging on motorways costs similar to petrol/diesel on a pence per mile basis.  Home charging is around £5 for 225 miles, but charging on the likes of Instavolt at 75p per kW would be £45 for those 225 miles.  Worse in winter (0 degrees daytime) when I get 200 miles to a full battery.  Without home charging the faff of charging while you sit in the car would just kill the nice, fluffy feeling.

https://youtu.be/TdsCTMzBKRQ – first look

https://youtu.be/ImkJHT9ixvE – ride review

https://youtu.be/JWDkduSMp4Q – trying to make it better

Check Hardtail Party on YouTube. He did a couple of videos on the bike. Didn’t like it much from what I remember.

I got a Switch 6. Still miss the agility of the 5 though. It was a medium 2018 version, but bikes have grown and become almost too stable.

Those type of bearing pullers seem to be a once or twice use only. I had the same problem. Bought an RRP set plus a Wheels MFG tool for the little twin sided Horst link bearings (about £12). All good these days, admittedly the RRP set is spendy, but so nice to use.

https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/wheels-manufacturing-6001-6801-6901-sealed-bearing-extractor?gclid=Cj0KCQiAgOefBhDgARIsAMhqXA7B64zpELKk1vKx9TmWKkT9V6DzPur_nyIIvfu74uVUiIenFOgKOeIaApU7EALw_wcB#256=13868