Don’t mean to be offensive but how much do you weight?

I would have thought pinch flats are more likely on a hardtail as on a full susser some of the impact is taken out. Spose you will be riding faster though so swings and roundabouts.

Maybe you need to try something with loads of volume like a rubber queen 2.4.

The blobbly bit is a chain guide pulley affair like the blackspire stinger. Basically what I’m after is an integrated stinger / XCG.

Surprised no one has thought to make one before with AM / Enduro riding being so popular.

Scott do you feel it would be strong enough to do jumps and drops on? Not proper massive ones, just stuff like at Woburn, Stile Cop red and FoD dh

I reckon it will handle anything you can throw at it, it feels very sturdy and well built. definitely recommend putting some 160mm forks on, nice to have the travel and it slackens things out a bit.

Rode it at my local DH track on Wednesday because my DH bike needs fixing and it never felt remotely out of it’s depth. I’d be happy taking it over all the jumps and drops at Stile Cop, in fact I’ll probably use it at the next racer’s guild as I’m so smitten with it at the moment (new bike syndrome!)

Haven’t ridden any of the other places you mention but short of big jumps or drops with flat landings, which aren’t exactly fun anyway, I think it would be plenty strong enough

It’s rides like a dream. With the 36s going up is a case of just winching away but if you’re into climbing you wouldn’t be looking at this bike anyway.

On the way back down it’s an absolute beast, just feels so composed taking in the bumps and extremely stable at speed. I need to re-adjust my idea of what fast is, I’ll be on the brakes thinking this is bloody quick but there’s no need because the bike is capable of going so much faster and still being in control.

Monkey- that’s what I did, bought a Ariel 2 for £1200 and fitted it out with the 36s, superstar wheel, formula brakes and bash guard. managed to do it very cheaply by getting the forks over from the states and dodging the tax.

Dunno if this will work but here’s my Ariel. ITS ACE!

I’ve got their DH wheelset and it’s still straight and true after around 6 months of regular use. The SDH team riders use them too and rate them very highly.

36s are 35mm longer than 32s btw
but not when you take into account the extra sag.

Didn’t think sag was factored in when measuring these things being as everyone sets their bikes up differently.

Oops well spotted SD that was out by a factor of 2 – it’s 17mm per degree…

Cheers. So I’m running a HA around the 66 deg mark, sounds about right. Feels mint, scary fast.

The Ariel is an awesome bike

you are only looking for 8mm at either end, or 4mm at both for 1 degree, I’d be surprised if you could notice 0.5 degree.

I don’t think this is right because it would mean that changing from Fox 32s to 36s on my trail bike I would have changed the HA from 68 to 63.7 which would be slacker than most DH bikes and horrible for a trail bike.

36s are 35mm longer than 32s btw

Very nice. How powerful is your drill?

Option 4 and get yourself a nice 7.5′ mini mal to learn on. Not much point having lessons to teach you stuff you already kind know and just need to remember.

To get the grit out more easily after a fall.
Clearly you not fallen off.
If you no fall off, you not try hard enough.
Ergo, you is mincer.

Ergo, you is too pussy to pull a bit of hair out of your gritty wounds

Bike looks mint though!

It’s that syntace bollox. I think it’s still compatible with 135mm one way or the other

Definitely have a look at the Marin Rocky Ridge is amazing. Nice slack 67 deg head angle, excellent spec for the money compared to orange etc.

Had mine for 18 happy months now and have ridden it all over

Mark Beaumont seems to do OK on his…

Marple or the surrounding areas would probably be a good for you. About 30 mins on the train to the city centre or a 10 mile bike ride so commuting is pretty easy.

From those areas you have access to a lot of excellent riding right off the doorstep.

When the time comes for me to settle down a bit that’s where I’ll be heading!

I’ve got the freeride giant glory as there were a lot of them around second hand when I was looking so it was easy to get a good deal. Cost me about £700 i think, then another £200 ish for some second hand 888s triple clamp forks.

I’m no pro but I reckon I generally get around pretty well and I am so far from finding the boundaries of what the bike is capable of it’s a joke. I’ve ridden it at Fort Bill, Glencoe, Hampsterley, Cwm Carn, Rheola, Stile Cop, Wharncliffe, Moelfre and Nant Gwythern and it’s been great on all of them. Will be racing it this summer and taking it to the alps. Amazing piece of kit.

I am sooooooooo tempted by the Ariel. Proper review here rather than the usual by some mincers at MBR/ bikeradar etcectc…

http://www.southerndownhill.com/reviews/bikes/saracen-ariel-1-long-term-review.html

They are outrageously cheap for the spec and seem to be spot on for UK lakes/peaks/scotland riding. I’m sure the price will start to inflate over the next few years as their reputation is re-built.

The guys in the bike shop at fort bill were raving about the myst too. Looks like Madison are really on to something.

Mixing oil is fine. I do it often as my Fox and Marz forks use 7.5w fluid which my local motorcycle garage doesn’t stock, so I mix 3 parts 5w with 1 part 15w to get 7.5w.

I’m not smart enough to figure out the proportions you need to mix 5w and 20w to get 15 though I’m afraid!

It does say it’s the ‘apparel’ private sale to be fair

LHS do you have anything material to back that sweeping statement up?

No one dies in the UK because they are too poor to afford healthcare

This is what separates us from the beasts

So lets get the kids down the mines and work till you drop?

To put some perspecive:

Average Single cover isurance policy – $4800 a year
Which in real money is £3000 a year, or £250 a month.

How much do you pay for the NHS a month? I know it differs per person but my National Insurance contributions in the UK far exceed £250 a month

NI pays for a lot more than just the NHS

It’s pretty crude but NHS budget is £110bn / 60 million = £1800 per person per year. That’s shitloads cheaper than the US model not to mention the fact that the NHS is so much further reaching, including things like social care, subsidised prescriptions etc

Good stuff mate, it makes me really happy that someone is doing it and pulling it off. All the best!

That thing is outrageously slack!

Hi Milky,

I’m very impressed! I have always wanted to spend a year or two living in a van but could never figure out how i’d pay for fuel, food etc to make it sustainable. I suppose doing something web based, like being a designer or similar would work. what do you do? (if you don;t mind me asking!)

and to get rid of errors being returned when using IF you can use IF(A1=””,””,xxxxxx) inserting your original IF function in xxxxx and where A1 is the cell you are looking at. That way it will just be a blank cell rather than those ugly errors

You need a pivot table me thinks. Other thank that it’s array formulas which to be honest i have never really understood…

I popped mine out a good few times snowboarding. MRI showed a bankart leision, stretched capsule and ligments. While waiting to have the op I did loads of physio and was surfing a lot, it got loads of exercise and was feeling really good.

The I had the op, moved inland and got lazy with the physio and 3 years on it’s still not that great. Physio is the key imo, have discipline, do your exercises and you’ll be fine. Thing is they are soooooooooooo boring!

Sling for 2-3 weeks, back riding into work after about 4-5, reckon mountain biking again after 2 months but take it slowly. I was early twenties though when I last did mine. Beware though if you do too much too soon it’s very likely to happen again.

Gaffer tape to seal the spoke bed and a valve cut from an old inner tube gaff’d into place work perfectly on any rim and costs next to nothing

MWIS and raintoday.co.uk for me.

Metcheck seems to have been awful lately

This is pretty cool:

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/5670317/

I would have thought for something to qualify as Alpine it has to be in the Alps?

Where can I get a copy of the rules please?

The flat surface of the seal is the top and the lipped side is down. Simples

That’s definately AM riding. For freeride think Redbull Rampage, Crankworx etc….

http://fmbworldtour.com/

Can someone explain to me why cyclescheme don’t have to pay my employer the fair market value of my bike when the ownership is ‘transferred’ to them at the extended hire period? Why can’t my employer ‘transfer’ it to me instead!?

I feel like I have been **** in the arse