I rode a mk 1 El Guapo a couple of years back and found it a bit too xc focused for my taste. I know it’s now been slackened and lengthened a bit, but as I can’t get a demo it’s going to be a risk.

The Hustler is also a possibility, I’ve heard good things about them.

Handjob is built with Lyriks, wide bars and short stem and rides fantastically – I’m not heavy so it’s plenty capable, but I want a full suss. If I wanted a hardtail that’s what I’d be asking about.

Size-wise I’m 5′ 7 with a 30″ inside leg.

Much as I like the idea of a Mega, I suspect it would be be fun for half my riding and a bit of a drag for the rest. I’ve reluctantly had to accept that I’m probably not gnarlcore enough for the Mega as an only bike and it’s going to be a while before I can afford to build the Cove up again.

That’d be a hardtail of some sort then? Alpine? bfe?

Nope, already have a Handjob, but I’m knocking on a bit and really need some skill compensation.

Good call on the Covert, that’s a definite possibility.

I have a 2006 Passat. I’ve spent 1500 quid getting the electronic brake fixed, the DMF is pretty much a consumable item, the electrics developed a fault that took the dealership a week to diagnose and the boot isn’t exactly massive.
Apart from that, it’s been smashing.

E: some vile microwave burrito thing
D: Koren Rioja
L: MellowHype

Chain’s fairly central, I’ve tried it rotated forward, back and in the middle and my chain’s the right length. The chain is able to get between the guide and chainring, possibly the guide has worn a bit and there’s too much clearance.

Wow, 1500 quid just for the frame? Do you want to buy my Handjob frame for a grand?

Probably around 500-650 quid I’d guess.

The One X doesn’t appear to have an SD card slot, it’s fixed at 32Gb.

I’ve got a pair of Sunline thick grips you can try for a couple of quid to cover postage. They’re a bit on the big side for my taste.

Go to Tesco, buy a bag of tandoori masala mix, some paneer, an onion and a couple of peppers along with a tub of plain yoghurt and some naan or rice. Mix the yoghurt with the tandoori mix and a bit of oil, thread the cheese, onion and peppers onto skewers and cover with the tandoori marinade for a couple of hours. Shove them under the grill until they start to brown and serve with warm naan or rice and maybe a spot of tomato and red onion salad.

Voila, you are a culinary god.

Second the Alloy Drive. Had it years and it’s still going strong.

I demoed a medium carbon one a few weeks back. I’m 5’7″ and I thought it felt OK.

Funny, I found it crowded, dirty with chronic levels of poverty. Most of the people ‘outside the 5 star hotels’ were trying to extract money from me and I wouldn’t recommend it at all. The only place I liked less was Indore.

Agree about the food, though.

Went out on Thursday, but my enthusiasm exceeded my skill level so I now have a broken helmet, split shoes and a rather nasty looking elbow so I’m off the bike for a few days. Obviously, the weather is now taunting me by not being utterly shocking.

I carry more than 10% of my body weight in body weight.

Alpine Bikes at Glentress have Remedys and an SB-66 as demo bikes.

Unfortunately, I introduced my mate Gaz to Strava and he now has the majority of them. Rab Wardell has most of the rest.

Meh.

South Uist is pretty bleak. Barra or Vatersay would be my choice; amazing beaches and not as flat and blasted looking as Uist.

What sort of riding are you doing on it? I’d be using it for everything from local XC to trail centres and mincing about on DH runs. As you say, shorter crank arms would help with the pedal strikes (when I demoed on, the Titus guy said in advance that it should have had 170mm arms).

I had a two and a half hour ride last week where I covered 2,985km at an average speed of just over 1,000 km/hr. I ended up just east of Iceland via Norway.

So yes, possibly a touch glitchy. That was on Android, incidentally.

New one.

I’m also running a 2.2 UST RQ on the back and an XR4 on the front. I’ve been pretty underwhelmed by the RQ, bit too drifty for my taste and doesn’t have the grip over roots, etc that the XR4 does. If Anyone wants to swap a 2.35 XR4 team for a 6 week old RQ, I’d be open to offers.

Thanks for the answers. Pretty much confirms what I thought. The Genesis would be good for a short commute, but if I’m going to use it for anything else I’m probably looking at something geared.

Not an owner, but I’ve demoed the Alpine and the previous version of the El Guapo. The Alpine is more of a mini DH bike, while the El Guapo leaned towards the big-XC end of trail riding. It climbed very well and I thought the suspension was a bit more involving than the Spesh version of FSR (I rode it back to back with an Enduro). With the slacker head angle and longer top tube on the new version it should be more aggressive, I’m quite tempted by it myself.

B & Q do a professional scraper which is a sort of T-shaped handle with a removable blade. It’s night and day between it and a normal scraper.

And yes, get a steamer.

Ethel

Alice

Use the code UKBANKERS10 at the checkout.

Looked at those Megas, but they only have mediums and larges which, as far as I can make out would be too big for me at 5′ 7.

I looked long and hard at the Mega, but was put off by the short top tube on the small and long reach on the medium. I’ve demoed an Alpine and It’s the most fun bike I’ve ridden, but I can’t afford a new frame and the s/h ones tend to come up just as my Passat needs another grand spending on it, I.e. every couple of months. Covert is an option, as is the new, slacker El Guapo.

Cheers matt, look forward to hearing what you think. Out of interest, what are you riding just now?

Know someone who’s ridden one, said it was kind of like a Commencal without the flexy rear end, but I’d be interested in other opinions.

We’ve reduced the whole thing to a rather sleazy “marketing opportunity”. TBH I’ll probably give most of it a miss. It’s a bit of a shame for the athletes as there seems to be more emphasis on the sponsors.

If you already have a grey suit you want a fitted, white shirt with a cut away or round collar. A narrow tie in grey or navy would be appropriate. If you can lay hands on an Alexander McQueen skull tie then you may escape the worst of the “characters” derision.

Thanks for the feedback. I’d seen the Spesh ones, I’ll need to look to see if anyone near me does fitting. Hadn’t come across the Fizik stuff, I’ll have a look at them, too.

Onzadog, yeah I have a bit of a limp and tend to be pretty inflexible, especially my achilles tendon. I had a couple of operations when I was a kid so it’s a lot better than it would have been otherwise. Doesn’t actually stop me doing anything, I just do it at a slightly more methodical pace. I’m in Glasgow incidentally, why?

I tried the carbon Pivot back to back with a Covert a couple of weeks ago. The pivot climbs extremely well and is well mannered on the downs (such as they were – it was a demo day at Carron Valley). The Covert was considerably more work uphill, but to my mind it was more fun everywhere else. The pivot was set up with 150mm forks, a relatively narrow bar and a longer, higher stem than I’m used to which undoubtedly coloured my impression of it. I guess it depends what you’re after. If it makes a difference, a review I read recently of the Covert (Pinkbike maybe?), tried it with a 150mm fork and reckoned it seriously compromised the handling.

Adagio for Strings by Thomas Barber