Not sure about the Schlumpf, but I remember the SRAM Hammerschmidt had the lower gear being the draggy one. I forget the technicalities now, but I read about it and it put me off. Something about the direct drive being the higher gear, so when you wanted to climb you had to contend with a load of drag. Not sure which end of the gears is the direct ratio for Schlumpf.

Can you cut and zoom in and show photo again? I can’t see if shock is internal or external.

Spond admin here for our U14 rugby team. Good app and can do all you need it to. Happy for you to dm me if you need, but the Spond team are also excellent and very helpful.

I’ve a set of 160mm Lyrik Ultimates.  Nice forks, seem to give up initial travel more easily than my old 2020 Fox 36 Perfomance, so when travelling at less than warp speed that’s a benefit.  Good mid-travel support using the compression damping, but disappointed I don’t get a truck air brake noise when I press the buttons on the back.  :-D

Can’t remember my settings, but it’s probably around 20% sag (I never really measure sag, just go on feel) and I started with no LSC or HSC, but I run fast rebound.  Slowly wound on more compression damping during first few rides, but more on the HSC.  Can’t remember exactly, but I’m probably somewhere around a third to half from full open on the HSC.

I bought an Ohme Home Pro charger online for £550 and then got my local electrician to install. I’m with Octopus too so the Ohme helped to make sure I could go Intelligent Octopus and get the 10p/kW overnight rate.

I don’t understand obsession with reach. It’s only half the story. Sat down it’s all about effective top tube, which is linked with seat tube angle. I’d be paying more attention to effective top tube as most manufacturers seem to have seat tube angles sorted now.

Also, do you prefer agility over ploughing? If so, size down if between sizes. I’m 5’10” and have sized down to mediums in my most recent bikes.

An Orange will generally be longer than other more vanilla manufacturers, so a Large in a Marin might be the same as a medium Orange.

Intrigued as to what it was now.

Agree that a bike not especially designed to be a mullet has compromises somewhere – too slack seat angle, too low BB, etc. I put up with the slack seat angle on my old Spec Enduro, but was one of the reasons I went with the Switch 6 as a properly designed mullet.

Your interlinked turns is what they’re good at. I went from a mulleted old Spec Enduro (the tall and steep one that really benefited from a smaller back wheel) to a Marin Alpine Trail where I could really feel the added gyroscopic effect of the bigger wheel in certain turns and now ride an Orange Switch 6. For me the mullet is perfect. I ride FoD off piste stuff.

So can i make my bike shorter? A shorter 35mm stem (to replacer the 42.5mm stem on there), more spacers under the stem?

All of that lifts your weight off the front wheel, so you’ll still have to consciously weight the front, possibly more so. You will have a better view and be able to pop the front wheel more easily though.

I thought this was going to be about Commencal…

Pug 106 Rallye. I suspect they hold their value very well though and may be out of budget. But what is your budget, Al?

I gave up with the internal routing on my boys version – there’s a weird slot under the BB where I think it was meant to pop out, but cable only appeared to go internal, not outer. Anyway, bought some stick on guides and went under top tube and down the seatstay. Far more direct and reliable.

From Whyte website –

We have designed the geometry of the G-180 to use a 29er fork on both wheel sizes so if you want to mullet the bike, change the lower headset cup and swap in a 29er front wheel.

G-180 S v1

You can get 1,000 litre plastic water troughs for horses and cattle and that. Might be too wide for what you want. An 8 foot galvanised trough holds nearly 500 litres though and that might fit better.

Puts into context how hard Camille Balanche must be – to ride that with a not long broken collar bone to secure the overall? Nuts!

That was my thread. I bought an Uberbike headset and it’s still in the frame now. Looking at their website it seems they don’t do complete headsets anymore, which is a shame for you. You can get a Superstar bottom set for £25.99 and the insertion seems about right.

https://www.superstarcomponents.com/en/uk-made-headset-bottom-set.htm

Said it before, but Ragley need to do a mullet full sus. Around 150mm travel, single pivot for ease of maintenance, bottle inside the front triangle, etc. Well in keeping with the brand. Keep it good value and I’m sure they’d fly out the door.

Best one I ever had was magic ratio. 😎

Chepstow is more of a commuter town due to proximity to Bristol, Newport and Cardiff. Monmouth is more of a proper little town due to being that little bit further away. Lots of coffee shops!

I live at the top of the Staunton trails. Redbrook has village stores and 2 pubs (one over the footbridge). I also coach at Monmouth Rugby Club (U14s), so would obviously say to go there, but other clubs are around – Lydney, Chepstow, Berry Hill, etc.

Cracking part of the world to live. Go for it.

Thanks for the support, chaps. Needs to be an official support group set up for this type of nasty job.

I’m slowly realising that I should have probably fitted the grommets while the hose was still kinda free and before fitting the hose to the lever just to give me some wiggle room.

Nice big ports with covers next time please, Orange. 😬

What bikes are on test?

Fox Ranger Gel

Interesting. Thanks for reply, Stanley.

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. You say you were tired but few other symptoms, so how could you have caught it earlier in the process? Have the experts given any clues there or is it just pot luck sometimes?

Just bought some 2023 Lyriks with the buttercups and pressure relief valves from Starbike. £617 plus import duty at about £100, so £720 delivered. I could only find 2021/22 versions at 160mm and 42mm offset for £675, so I’m hoping a good deal for the new version being less than £50 more.

“Just off to splash me boots”. Used when taking a visit to the gents.

Events

These guys also do the MiniDH events.

It does work. My boy has had one for school since October last year. I’ve had a quick go and the theory does work if that’s what you really want to know.

2nd hand from GiffGaff, Music Magpie, etc. would be my vote. That’s what we did for our 13 year old. Ended up with an iPhone for £100 that looked new once you put a case around it (a couple of scuffs on the back from memory).

I think you’re probably right. It was an issue for me as I was only using a 42 cassette.

I went 11 speed from 12 and used a SRAM XD 11 speed cassette with XT shifter and a Deore 12 speed mech. However, it didn’t work (for me). All to do with the length of the mech cage and it being designed for 51 tooth cassette, but I was using 42, so there was way too much chain slack. I found a video on YouTube ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auo8yiPp74c ) that demoed why I was getting the problems I was having, so sold the mech and got an SLX 11 speed instead. Problem solved.

Can we have some closure here? :-D What was the answer, OP?

Microshift Advent X 10 speed is about £160 for the posher cassette, the shifter with the rubber pad and the mech plus a SRAM 10 speed chain. It’s about £25 cheaper if you choose the cheaper shifter and cassette. Cassette goes all the way to 48!

Just fitted it yesterday to my Jack Flash rigid gravel runabout. It’s back in stock in most of the usual suspects.

Trek Top Fuel seems to fit your criteria. 395mm seat tube on the 15 inch.

https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/bikes/mountain-bikes/cross-country-mountain-bikes/top-fuel/top-fuel-8/p/35072/?colorCode=red

As mentioned above, you’re comparing a trail bike with down country type bikes so the reach will usually be longer on a trail bike anyway. Plus Whyte were way ahead of everyone else when it came to front end length, so no surprise you’re finding little difference even though it’s 7 years old.

You’ve seen the recent Pinkbike down country field test?
https://m.pinkbike.com/news/video-2022-top-fuel-vs-element-vs-jet9-vs-trance-29-vs-blur-tr-vs-lux-trail-field-test-roundtable.html

Also, Canyon Spectral 125, but that might be going a bit to trail for what you’re after.

Lezyne Flow as a couple of others have mentioned. No flex, so the bottle needs to give to get it out. I used mine on the Murmur I tested a couple of years ago and didn’t have any issues.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/lezyne-flow-bottle-cage/rp-prod73214?gs=1&sku=sku281052&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=base&gclid=CjwKCAjwxZqSBhAHEiwASr9n9PcT_EPxPvRzBXJFKnvn-5sW8oqlKpc2xc3vIqcOpZNH2TeiVcZNfhoCmawQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Check out Mitox for budget/infrequent use too.

I’d be looking more at the ETT than the reach in this case, especially if comparing with an enduro full sus. Don’t forget that reach will grow a little bit on a Hardtail when sagged.

You’ll also need the shifter cover that the i-spec kit bolts to. No idea why they get sold separately, but they do.

EDIT – that was me going i-spec to band on at least. Band on to i-spec might come complete, but there’s no need to junk the whole shifter.