We've got one and he's fantastic. Needs walking often otherwise he just gets in your way pestering, but even if it's just 10 minutes it will do as a stop gap. Don't go crazy while they're young with day long epics though. SWMBO used to take ours out with the horse when he was 1 and 2 years old and he has stiff hips these days if we take him out too far or fast. If it's a dog get it neutered and then he won't go running off and it'll calm him down too.

Great dogs – hope you enjoy it.

Bloomin' 'eck! That's still going? I did it with a load of people from our Uni MTB club back in 1991. It was a good laugh, but hardly a technical course.

Crank Bros ones come with a 5 year guarantee. I've been using mine for about 2 years now with no probs.

That link is for the 2008 races. Try here – http://www.minidownhill.com/
Plenty of entries left I should think.

Irish_AL – I'm with you. WTF is Google Wave and what is it for?

No, I'd say leave it as it is. I'd never look at a WTD section, but have sold a few things that people have wanted purely as I was scanning down.

I just used an old MRP back plate and rollers that I got off eBay for not much dosh. I then got a chap that has a milling machine at work to mill the slots down so that it would be OK for a 32 ring. Works fine.

Nah, it's rubbish.

Cycle Sports ones are 2009. I think Winstanleys are the cheapest I've seen for 2010 versions. Don't know if they're OEM or aftermarket though.

120mm rocker most of the time (Alpine shots are with big rocker), 150mm Fox Talas up front, Hope Hoops (DT5.1 rims), 2.5 Big Earls (awesome), XT cranks, SRAM gears and a Gravity Dropper.

They're good. I did the one at FoD last February and it's a well organised little series with a laid back feel cos of the push up. A good mix of people and skills too with 10 year olds, old duffers and some pros competing for fun.

As well as Iona's cooking, the last days riding was also awesome.

I was also very impressed by my Fox Talas forks. And Sharki's ability to ride up anything on a singlespeed. Its not what you ride, etc.

That one you've linked to (the blue frame) was mine – wondered why my Flickr stats had gone up. Good for XC but I should have got the medium for razzing about. I always felt the BB was too high as well. I've got a Genesis Alpitude now and that's awesome.

Hmmmm, Evil Sov and Transition TransAm. Nice.

*waves*
I'm in Osbaston and know some tracks around Staunton which are good for a 2 to 3 hour blast in a sessiony kinda way (mostly up and down, very little along). Never been out on a Wednesday night, mainly cos I'd heard it was a bit quick and likely to rip your legs off. They usually finish at The Boat pub across the river at Redbrook. I'm starting to get to know a bit of the FoD from the cycle centre, but my knowledge is just a drop in the ocean really. Psling is your man for FoD apparently.

Drop me a line (e-mail in profile) if you fancy meeting up for a wee spin at the weekend.

Ton in looking like he'll keep a bike longer than a month shocker!
8)

saladdodger – Member

CaptainFlashheart – Member

Put in the effort and a single speed isn't any slower than a bike with gears

Hmmmmm.

So I take it you have never ridden with Sharki

Exactly! You could put him on a kiddies bike with 12 inch wheels and tassles off the handlebars and he'd still pummel most people – up, down or along.

TF Tuned recommend winding the MoCo onto full on and then put 5 to 10psi more in the -ve chamber than the +ve chamber. That way you get a fork that doesn't dive as much, but is still quite supple on the small bumps.

I like all this stuff, but I'm a bit of a geek. You do have to be careful to read between the lines when reading that Trek bumpf though. VPP is easy in the first part of travel as it sits just after that area once sagged. And the DW design sounds like fun – pumpy, firm but capable of taking the big hits.

Either way you can't beat a test ride.

I think Blingbling is commenting on GaryM "winning" your £50 and then not "winn9ing" it. That's all.

That lower piece is a spacer and cup all in one so that you don't swipe the tops off your forks in a crash. The lower measures about 18mm deep, so depending on your forks you may be able to take it out and fit a different headset with not such a big lower height and get away with it. If you've got Pikes then it's likely that you'll need to stick with the Cannondale part. Just get a new bottom bearing race – I think any FSA sealed cartridge will fit.

I seem to remember Dusty Lilac saying he had Fox Float 36 forks and a different headset to the OE one and it just cleared.

Here – http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/prophet-and-fork-crowns

Big Wednesday

Mal-ec – I have both frames and just swap all the bits over for a change every now and then. The Prophet can get you into trouble on open flat out style downhill cos you can just let it go and it flies. The Hemlock has a more sort of fun character – boosting off stuff, manualling, etc. – and is probably a wee bit more nimble so better in nadgery stuff. Both are great fun either way.

So, it seems that high forward single pivot bikes are more difficult to initially hoist into a manual than low, somewhere around the BB style pivots. Must be some physics/maths in there somewhere, but I wouldn't have a clue.

Any bearings place really. simplybearings.co.uk near Wigan are good. You just need the code off the old ones.

GW – I mean the initial hoist.

mikey74 – Prophets are quarter inch shorter, prolly about the same with me on board and sagged.

michaelwright – what?

david jev – I'll e-mail you.

Tails – have you seen Barels bike? He's got single crown Fox 36's on it and it's not the full DH frame either. Hill and Brendog are using SX Trails, not Demos. Loads of them are trying something different. Have you seen a video of the course? Go and look at Dirtmag and check the helmet cam. The last section into the finish is smooth and flat and very, very pedally and seems to be 200m long or more. Lockout on Gee's bike is for this bit and others (Fionn Griffiths) have a similar thing. Yeah, it's not a great course in the whole scheme of things, but it's still gonna be a great world champs and the new stuff people are trying out is still interesting.

I had an infernal creak and it turned out to be the cassette. Nip the lock ring up a wee bit tighter and see how that goes. Mine sounded as though the spokes in the rear wheel were being pulled about.

I've got an RP23 with Boost Valve on my Prophet and it's excellent. Can't see why you'd want the extra complexity of the DHX Air with all the potential for ballsing it up.

I was about to say that coogan has a Bullit and a pair of Totems that he's selling, but the wee fella beat me to it.

I think Mondraker do one. A sort of budget freerad type thing. Aren't the Exprezo bikes single pivot too? I s'pose you should know seeing as you've just tested their Gamjam.

Are you after a particular niche/travel cos we've got 4 inches to 8 inches being touted around in this thread?

They're still a wee bit flexy compared to Rock Shox maxle forks ('09 150mm Talas). I don't really notice in my normal UK riding, but did notice on the steep, rocky, tight hairpin bends of the Alps when coming into the corner hard on the brakes with all your weight on the front and trying to turn at the same time. Not much of that sort of malarkey where I ride in the UK though! :D

The Fox chap is prolly right.

Good price! Keep us posted on how it works and if the torque is too much for the Alfine to handle.

Whoops!

We have a Bush Baby Pinnacle. It's the top of the range one and has suspension too, but the lower down ones all have the easily adjustable shoulder straps for swapping between tall blokes and shorter women which sounds like what you're after. Very good piece of kit and come complete with sun shade, little mirror in a pocket so you can check the baby on your back, etc. which most others charge for as an extra.

22/34 front and 11/34 on the back, but I'm a wimp uphill.

Yeah, the ATS place where I go for tyres has back issues of Dirt! How cool is that?

Looks way too tall. BB seems very high too.

I'll be on holiday, but I'd hope the course is better this year. Too much height loss on fire-road last year for my liking. What's wrong with going down on all that lovely singletrack?