Didn’t Brant send Dirt magazine a steel 456 test bike fitted with a 29″ fork and front wheel ?
IIRC they liked the way it rode.
So you’re idea might just work.

How do the bearings hold up on Trances?
And do you reckon I’d be OK with a small 16″ at 5’9″ tall?

Day rides I like to ride solo or with a couple of mates.
Nightime no more than 8 and it helps if everyone is riding at a similar speed and knows the route.

Old timer – Member
Great answer Stoner. I’ve often considered trying to do a wheel build, but when you price up decent hubs, decent rims, decent spokes etc., is it cost effective or is it the satisfaction of doing it yourself ?

I recently did my first wheel build.
I got hold of cheap brand new rear Hope Bulb hub so thought I’d give it a go, and with the help of the Wheelpro book it was easy.

I was going to build a matching front wheel, but I priced up the hub (Pro2), rim (XM719) and spokes (DT DB black) and it was around £20 cheaper to get a built wheel from CRC.

It was rewarding to build a wheel myself but cheaper to get someone else to do it.

Salsa on my 456 works fine.

EN321 on XT hubs are are good tough budget wheelset.
Although I’ve just replaced mine with Hope 2 front/Bulb rear with XM719 rims.

Me on the pump track on Sunday, just look how niche my bike is :wink:

More pics here.

:lol:

I noticed you videoing Tom. He can’t half talk, although like a lot of politicians he had a bit of dificulty answering the questions that were asked without going off at a tangent. :lol:

I had a ’05 Rocky Ridge for a couple of years until the top of the seat tube broke off. It was OK but I found it was quite a harsh ride, very tiring on longer rides.

I much prefer the red 456 I have now, very stable on rocky steep tech stuff.
It’s more comfortable too, which may be down to it being steel or it having a more seatpost of a narrower diameter showing.

Anyone go to the showing of Klunkerz and Gary Fisher Q&A last night?

Half the fun (for me) is riding back up.
I had a Rocky Ridge for a while, it rode well at Stainburn, as does my 456 and my Teocali. Once rode a Marin Quake around the Boulder Trail, which was good on the downs but too heavy to ride back up the hill.
IMO a 5″ travel hardtail or full suss is ideal for Stainburn, anything burlier and you’re gonna be pushing up the hills.

I find my (lack of) skills and confidence more limiting than the bike I’m riding.

bomberman – Member
someone said there were some trails in the woods above the road at the top, is this true?

There were.
The felling work has wrecked most of them.
We have plans to re-do them longer and better, but it takes time.

Jonny. He posts on the SingletrAction forum as Nobbynick.

Me rolling the drop, I’m too crap to drop it.

It’s steeper than it looks.

Goood on you Ton.
The Hovis Corner and the Cole Chute scare the shit out of me too.
On Tuesday night one of the lads I was riding with came off on the Cole Chute, hit a tree backwards and broke 3 ribs. Ouch.

We were up there with the kids playing on the pump track this afternoon, good fun in the sun.

Get a copy of Mountain Bike Guide- West Yorkshire. I got my copy from Aire Valley cycles years ago. It’s a bit dated now but it has lots of good ideas for rides. Follow some of the routes and have an explore with an OS map of the area.

Also if you head out of Haworth to Crossroads and up Bingley Road to the Guide pub and then onto Harden there are loads of tracks and old quarries to ride to help improve your skills.

After years of riding at Stainburn the Slab still scares me, I think it’s the 90 degree turn into it that does it.
The one on the descent line is pretty straight forward, just keep off the brakes.

There’s a sticky up plastic spring loaded bit at the end of the roller thingy, slide it in to release it. HTH

Been using an FSA ZS headset for a couple of years with no problems, cost about £30 at the time IIRC.

Day off for me tomorrow and every Friday for a while. Ecconomic downturns do have their plus points. :lol:

Riding Tuesday night Paul? It will be Bingley this time.
Rode to work today, had a play on Harden Moor on the way home it’s fairly dry at the moment.

I find Endura Singletracks not that baggy, they might fit the bill.
Best to go and try some on really.

FSA XL2. Cheap, re-placeable bearings and the one I have has a split crown race.

Charge over the odds for stuff, unless I go home and order it online and get it delivered, and then it’s cheaper :?

Been using double & bashring for a few years now after wrecking a couple of big rings around Stainburn and up on’t moors on rocky stuff. Don’t miss the big ring at all.
22/32 on the bouncy bike and 22/36 on the hardtail, the latter being the best combo IMO.

What did you go for?

Hopefully not at all :lol:
Read this from the On-One site, Brant sort of okayed it, I think :?

The indent just means if the chain sticks to the chainrings it wont get jammed against the chainstay.

I’m on my second Berlingo Multispace.
1st one was a 2001 1.6 16v petrol, which I had for 3 years until it was written off in the snow last December.
Now got a 2004 2.0 HDi diesel, which has better trim, roof storage lockers and roof bars.
As a mountain biker and father of two small kids for me they’re the perfect car.

Not much in it between the 2 engines performance wise, the petrol is probably slightly quicker. As for ecconomy the petrol did about 35mpg and I get just over 40mpg from the diesel which I’m bit dissappointed with really.

This is a pic of my 456 after I attacked it with a g-clamp to put the indent in the chainstay.
It’s not pretty, the paint damage was done in one ride by the chain jamming between the rings and the chainstay, probably not helped by running a 24t granny and 36t middle ring.
Now running 22t granny (new), 36t middle (same as before) and there’s been no jamming since the modification.
I really must rub it down and get some paint on it at some point. :?

Love riding it, it’s the best hardtail I’ve had.

paulosoxo – Member
How can a frame cause chainsuck?

Who said it did?

I had problems with my red 456.
So I’ve put an indent in the driveside chainstay, like the new blue 456s have.
I did it with a g-clamp and a bit of wood.

stumpy01 – Member
Respect to the person/people who chiselled out those logs! Gonna have to have a go over them, even if just as a mark of respect. It would be rude not to after all that work.

(my balance is crap though, so I’ll probably fall off after 2 bike lengths.)

It’s labour intensive but the result is fairly grippy. If we get the logs cut across with a chainsaw first it speeds things up a bit.

4 weeks 8O
The last frame I had replaced under warranty arrived in 3 days, and two of those days were Saturday and Sunday.

Did I mention it’s digday at Stainburn this Sunday? :wink:

I’d ride it on whatever pedals you normally use be that flats or SPD, the bit about the seat is a good idea though, apart from on the very steep uphill bits.

Quick local loop from home (Bingley) this aft, that’s about it for this weekend.

Go and give it a try. You’ll either love it or hate it.
When you’ve been let us know what you think.

BTW it’s dig day this Sunday for those that are interested in putting something back, take a look here for more info.

He went over the bars on the doubletrack coming down from the highest point on the trail, he wasn’t hurt just shaken up.

Wasn’t his bike though :lol: It was one he had on loan from a bike shop whilst they sorted out a warranty replacement frame for him.

No problem, I was in the group that stopped and tried to straighten your wheel out by standing on it.

I don’t know who the guy was that whacked your wheel on the ground but it was an impressive technique which we copied later on when one of our lot managed to taco both wheels when he crashed.

Good to hear you got back OK.