Most of the big chains teach them to offer little or no discount on the first visit. Depending on the garage some of them will give you a call in a week or so with a better offer.

If you continue to hold out or fill in one of those automated survey forms then usually you will get bumped to some kind of sales manager who will give you a better deal.

Quite often I end up using a broker and still coming out better off. I don’t know where you live but in my experience independent rural garages are easier to deal with in pretty much every way.

I think that shock is a couple of spacers over the maximum.

The Long should be fine. First impressions are usually a bit deceptive, once you are on the bike they don’t feel anywhere as long as they look.

If you get the chance just demo one at BPW, then you will know for sure. I’ve had mine nearly a year now and Mojo have been really helpful all the way through.

Is that with fork on or off?

Fork on, its not even a tight fit on the Longest once you unbolt the shock.

This is a slight concern with my incoming XL 29er….

How is the clearance on the front mudguard with big tyres? By big I mean 2.5 minion or 2.35 magic mary big.

It’ll fit the EVOC, you’ll just need to unbolt one end of the shock to fold it in.

There is plenty of clearance on the mudguards for a 2.5 Minion.

It’s going to be very interesting as to whether the length of the 27.5 overcomes the issues which made me prefer 29 in the first place or whether I still like the wagon wheels.

It will depend on how steep, tight and rough your local trails are. The 27.5 is very easy to turn and still very stable. I still think 29 works best on flowier trails and shorter travel bikes.

I’ve a set of Aggressors that I will sell for £50 the pair if anyone is interested. They were great in Finale but they’re a bit “fast rolling” for the bogs of Ireland.

The Doubledown is a great casing, very tough, its a shame they haven’t made it available on more tread patterns.

They’re the best flat shoes I’ve had by a long way. Its basically a Five Ten sole for grip with an Adidas upper for fit and support. They dry very easily. The only negative is the original laces fray very easily, I’ve got a £1 set of laces from Stavely post office in mine.

Chainline what is that chainguide you have on the new bike?

I find it quite interesting an XL smuggler is approx the same ETT length as a M Geometron (shorter reach) for which I’d recommend a rider between 5’8 and 6′ but has a smaller reach than the Small GeoMetron.

The L and XL GeoMetron are much larger, 20mm and 40mm longer ETT and 40mm and 60mm longer reach respectively.

The Reach is a big difference but the BB height relative to the Stack is very noticeable as well.

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32lbs?!

I need to figure out where the weight is in mine.

What wheels are you thinking about putting on?

One of those and one of the allegedly/rumoured/unconfirmed trail bikes would be a great combination.

You’ll need to be living up to your username to get those rides in on a stag do!

I am prepared to suffer. Ive been in the Lakes twice, once for a wedding and once for Kendal Calling. I can’t go back without getting up a few hills!

Thanks for the links, the Google search tip has already been a big help.

What kid would turn down a £10 a week pocket money raise to pay dad’s badged car?

What use is a tenner a week when your dad is a smug ****?

There is a shorter travel 29er in the works….

I asked about that recently and was told there was something on the way.

Just checked, two weeks til eurobike.

I got it from Pedals in Edinburgh, they were sound, quick dispatch and they sorted me a deal on some forks and the headset and fitting.

I’ve got an XL you can try if you’re in Belfast.

The Aggressors have a good balance of grip and rolling resistance for the weight. I really liked them in the dry. In mud the closer, smaller tread blocks tend to clog up more than the other Maxxis tread patterns.

The DoubleDown is a lot stronger casing than the EXO, I am hoping to get hold of a Shorty and a DHR2 in Doubledown before the Alps this year.

Is this just an advert/marketing thread now?

I suppose it is mainly of interest to people who own one, or are considering buying one, with the occasional person just objecting to the whole thing.

The 3C MegaExo are pretty tough, I’ve never holed one on the front. I’ll probably try and buy DoubleDown for the rear from now on.

Thanks Bob.

ehrob I missed that, hopefully you will enjoy yourself at the weekend and lighten up a bit.

Is there a race license required for this? There is no mention of it in the Riders Notes.

Maybe try a DHF

Thanks Doug

Do you have to wear a helmet on the transitions here? I would prefer a full face for the stages but I don’t fancy climbing in it.

Schadenfreude postponed and replaced by outrage.

It seems like you can get £70ish for complete scrap but struggle to get £150 for a baord thats a couple of seasons old in great condition. You might be better off keeping it as a rock board, particularly the way the snow has been this year.

I have the 166 they are a very nice board.

So much great advice on this thread from people who haven’t ridden the bike.

There is a very high chance the vans will be clocked, do yourself a favour and steer clear.

The guys said they could do a 2 week holiday and not ride the same trail twice and I believed them.

Even if you can’t make a full week it is a great stop on a road trip. Aosta is an hour from Chamonix, hour and a half from Verbier, 2 hours from Bourg St. Maurice. Even Finale is less than three hours away.

It seem like I went the wrong way down from the Col de Cou…

Markend where is that ridge line in the middle of your video?

The difference is in the length of the chainstays versus length of the the front centre for each bike. The BB is much more central in the Mega which makes them very stable. If you don’t overthink everything and start shifting stuff round you will get used to it in a couple of rides.

They have two Defenders which hold 8 each, and go about 6 days a week. Most people seem to like doing the Defender as a first and/or last day. The trails aren’t as rough because they are basically private. I think most of the uplift companies take either Monday or Tuesdays off.

Depending on how pushed for time you are I would give Finale at least 4 days – it is really, really good.

Finale Freeride have a great set-up. We rode with a couple of people who had parked their campers just outside in a shaded car park. They have a bike wash and showers. The Defender tour is probably the best days biking I have done. They also run minibuses. The two main spots the busses uplift to are the “Nato Base” and a cafe at a place called Din. If you do a day in the minibus you will probably do both at some point, we did nearly 4000m vertical in the day in the minibus. There is also a trail called Isallo Ecstasy which requires a pedal or specific uplift but its well worth it.

It is worth booking uplifts in advance by telephone if possible, everything is very laid back and you probably won’t get much response by email, but they do book up a couple of days ahead sometimes.

It was warm in June when we were there, you wouldn’t need to be pedalling much in July and August.

A lot of the photos you will see are on trails by the seaside which have been EWS stages in past years. There have been some landowner disputes with a couple of these trails and they are badly water damaged and unlikely to be repaired soon. Don’t set out to pedal these all on day one or you might nearly give yourself heatstroke…

Has anybody used a 2.3 Maxxis in the back of one of these? No rubbing?

The Mondraker Zero Geometry trail bikes have always been significantly longer than the competition, and still are. Reach on an 2014 XL Dune was 497mm, Reach on a 2015 XL Foxy is 518mm. That is 30-40mm longer than similar bikes from other manufacturers.

A rant about novelty-led product development and pandering to the lowest common denominator.

From the guy who imports Fox CTD technology into the UK.

A Spitfire with a CCDB Air CS would pedal well and wouldn’t blow through the travel.

It sounds like you need to buy a 2014 Bandit 29 frame and Fox Floats.

Keep an eye on the classifieds.