Just doing the same for my 11 year old which will be his Christmas present. mmmbop frame and using a combination of 2nd hand off the classifieds, searching for good deals on new, and some donated parts that I have upgraded, total cost will be ~£300. He will get a far better bike than whats available pre built. I did consider an on one but the mmmbop frame is about 1.5lbs lighter and there are some cracking deals about on them.

The M532 one is definitely steel, i’ve just got one off CRC

I’ve got Dia-compe mini Vs on my Roadrat. Work okay with Tekro drop bar V brake levers (RL 520 I think), never tried cantis to compare though. Pads are a bit cheap so I swapped for avid rim wranglers

Those figures for the 456 and SS are for a 120mm fully extended fork according to the on-one website. They ride great whatever the angles are.

Surely bearings are consumables, I wouldn’t expect them to be covered by a warranty

They come with a head doctor, but you don’t need to use it. The top cap bolt from the head doctor will screw into a SFN

The Park Tools ones work well for me.

see last paragraph for aftermarket crown race

http://www.hopegb.com/voir_HSX.html

There is some info on the hope website about the thicker crown race, it is not the standard one, should be available from your LBS

Very pleased with my hope headset, you can also get a crown race for the Hope headset that gives an extra 3mm of clearance. Costs less than £10 and may give you the extra clearance you need.

Got a pair of clear lens and a pair of esp lens Bolle spiders. Prefer the look to most of the bike specific glasses around. The lenses do scratch quite easily but at under a tenner they’re cheap to replace- and I usually loose them first anyway.

hora – Member
I don’t see the point of building a carbon hardtail upto 30lb?!!

Try riding one, maybe you would then 😉

Deore 36T middle ring with a blackspire bashguard outer, like I said I had to gind a small amount off the tabs. I did a search on the internet at the time and there are several threads about differences between shimano rings with nominally the same BCD, thats why I assumed it was the ring rather than the spider, especially as I had the exact same problem with a shimano XT/Saint 36T ring on a truvative spider. Sorry I can’t be of more help, but from what you’ve described I would say the spider is correct.

What rings have you tried?

Mines the same, thought they are supposed to be like that.

Are they Shimano rings? I had the same problem with shimano rings on both a middleburn and a truvative noir spider, XT and Deore 36T rings, so I’m beggining to suspect that it is the shimano middle rings that are the non standard size. I ground a small amount off the tabs on the rings to make them fit – a bit of a bodge but it worked.

Pretty sure you have to take the clip out and then the drive side will slide out. That's how I assembled them.

Yes for pre orders, they did red white and blue 16" and 20" on pre order too but not 18"

Still good value at £599 IMO, glad I got mine for £399 tho :D. Pretty sure if you speak to them before ordering you could specify a different fork. Saying that I run a 9mm fork with an RWS and it feels pretty stiff.

Very impressed with mine,it a big improvement on the 853 inbred it replaced. Running with 130mm Talas. Very stable descending and feels good climbing wound down to 110mm. If you are thinking of getting Sektors I'd get the U turn versions

Chucking my 456C about and it seems pretty tough. I've had a couple of hefty rock strikes and nothing worse that a bit of chipped paint under the BB, but paint will chip regardless of the material.

Unless I'm reading this wrong, the head tube is 10mm longer and you've currently got 15mm of spacers. Therefore surely using the same headset and stem with no spacers you've got 5mm to spare?

Had one fitted for over 12 months and it still feels very smooth. Had to clean out between the outer sheild and the bearings once as shown on the Hope website but other than that it has been maintenance free. Didn't get the BB faced, the Truvative one fitted before it lasted less than 6 months

Don't know where the pics went, maybe they've been removed to protect the inocent 😕

Just back from the first ride and while the colour/style/graphics are not to eveyones taste, on-one have got the ride spot on. On the ups it feels faster than the 853, but maybe not as much as I imagined. Its on the rocky descents that the bike really shines. Hard to explain but the front end feels much more solid, seems to allow the forks to work better without the skitteriness (sp) of the 853, the back end just follows without any fuss. Don't know whether its the frame material, geometry, tapered head tube or whatever but it certainly works for me, well worth the upgrade.

Hicksy – The frame is 1.5lbs lighter than the 853 frame, 3.5lb vs 5ish. Build weighs just under 26lbs, I'll let you know how it rides

CharlieMungus – Member
But you might die horribly when it breaks, with shards of carbon shattered throughout your body. Then you'll feel daft won't you

Andy – Member
I wonder how those 456C's deal with chainsuck…..

Sounds like chainsuck is the least of my worries!

All positive so far then 😛

Charlie – need to hold onto the 853 frame for when the Carbon one inevitably breaks 😉

futon river crossing – Member
How did the 853 frame handle the 140mm forks – am interested – since I've just bought a second hand 853 off here

Don't know, they 130mm talas, felt good at this but tended to drop to 110 for the uphill bits

Got mine from Winstanleys

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/31366/USE_Seatpost_SS_309mm_Shims

showing as in stock

racing_ralph – Member
a shim that is less than 1mm thick – me thinks not!!

Yep USE make a 30.9 to 31.6mm shim

90-130 Talas on my 853, feels right at 130 dropped to 110 for the climbs. The front feels low at 110 on the flat to me. The 100m is now quoted to pass the CEN test I beleive.

Yes, my tracks for android phones is good, speed, distance, average speed, time, moving time and elevation data are all displayed, which can be viewd live. You can also send tracks and data to google maps. Plus its free 🙂

Sorry for the hijack, Can you run a blackspire stinger without a bash guard? The blackspire website isn't very clear.

I've run a 2.0 exception Larsen on the back as tubeless. It inflated without too much trouble but I found it a bit fragile and prone to burping. I'm now running the UST version and it has been much better.

I did a similar thing with mine changing from flat bars to midge bars. Initially I reduced the the stem from 130mm to 100mm but felt a bit stretched. Have now gone with an 80mm stem which feels right and I can't say I've noticed any deterioration in the handling.

IME it makes a small difference in stiffness, not sure whether its worth the expense for the improvement, however if your worried about the qr working loose it does seem more secure.

I would recommend the Halo Aeroage, got a fixed/free combination around Christmas time. Using for mixtre of road and bridleway type riding. Has stayed true dispite my clumsy riding style and bearings are smooth. Winstaleys were doing them for about £70

You'll need an adaptor to fit to a hope BB, only about £9 I think but the BB does not seem to run as freely with it fitted. The cranks are nice and stiff and look good when new but soon look tatty. The left hand crank broke on mine after about 18 months too. The middleburn HT 2 cranks I replaced them with spin a lot better.

Using XT calipers and hope floaters here with no issues

I got some alpina carbon cross forks for my rat and was amazed by the improvement in ride. They save a load of weight as well.