Been running an X-fusion hilo 27.2 for over a year now. Works pretty well with very little play and has stayed smooth.

Didn’t do it last year but entered for this one.

Heard loads of good things about the event – should be a good one :-)

Just getting fit again after breaking my collarbone last summer. Luckily mine wasn’t displaced and no surgery required. However I did make a proper mess of muscles and ligaments in my shoulder.

I started on the turbo after about eight weeks off the bike. Two or three sessions a week helped me keep ticking over until I could get out biking properly.

I used my mountain bike with a slick rear tyre on. The more upright position meant a could keep most of the weight off my bust shoulder.

Tended to mix and match sessions. Did a bit of steady spinning whilst watching DVDs. Also did more intensive long and short intervals – found that I was concentrating on the pulse meter and the clock so time actually passed quite quickly. Didn’t really spend longer than an hour per session including warm up and warm down.

Finally got back on the bike about 14 weeks post injury and I’m convinced that the turbo sessions plus plenty of walking helped me a huge amount.

Hope that helps a bit.

Simon

Just got our October back-country trip booked :-) :-)

Looks amazing!

The holiday countdown has started ….

ElShalimo – did look like a flat barred road bike – was wondering whether it was a Rourke head tube badge. Maybe a little something they built while they were doing the pacing bike?

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Who do you ride for bikerbruce?

We’ll look out for you and offer words of encouragement :D

Two items I’ll always add (from bitter experience):

Barbs and olives for brake hoses (and reverb if you’ve got one)

Bolt(s) for saddle clamp of your seat pin

Can’t imagine there’s a lateral stiffness benefit particularly when you consider the stiffness of other bits between your handlebars and the trail – for example, check the lateral flex in a wheel. Front-to-back again not sure – I would have thought fork bushing play would dominate here.

However, a bigger head tube does give a bigger weld area – bit more freedom for the designer and potentially stronger and/or easier to weld?

Also wondered whether there’s a benefit headset bearing lifespan (assuming they’re reasonably well sealed) – more balls or rollers carrying a similar load?

@Nick – well said sir!

Loving mine. It’s replaced an alpine and a five so I justified it as a cost reduction! Great set of kit – reverb, forks, shock and the drive train are superb. Wheels might be relatively cheap compared with some others but the hubs are great and rims are disposable items anyway. I changed the (beautifully made) Thompson bars and stem for something a bit wider and beefier – not keen on lightweight carbon bits.

Seems to carry speed as well as the alpine but at a similar weight to the five. Feels way more solid than the the older five. Loving it – and imho it looks great!

There’s a reasonably comprehensive review in the January issue of What Mountainbike.

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Just signed up too. Nice to see people giving up their own time for everyone’s benefit.
Thanks guys,
Simon.

@billyboulders – yep – all sorted and still a really lovely bike to ride

@Simon R, that’s Legendary Lynskey Build Quality right there! Did you get it fixed?

Hi Northwind – classic Lynskey failure – always in that location and on that side of the tube! Yep got it fixed – very tidy repair but the seat tube is now 27.2 rather than 31.6 which is a real shame and makes my much loved and very expensive Reverb a bit obsolete :( – until I find a new frame to build up :-) (a bit like buying a new house when the cupboards are full!)

I think (based on limited understanding!) that you can get similar results with a PUSH tune and a custom tune from someone like Mojo – albeit the internals end up looking slightly different.

I’ve done both in the past and results have been great with both – much more support without losing too much sensitivity.

I reckon that to get the best out of either then you need to be able to describe to your tuner what you want from the shock. Took me two attempts to get the custom Fox tune right but got the PUSH one right-first-time.

Scottish Highlands …

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Local Trails …

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Doh!

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What I’m getting from this thread is that I’m being a bit too hygenic here …. looks like I can cut back on washing stuff and still not be a gross as the OP :D

Had a friend who tried the sweaty-shorts-in-the-tumble-dryer trick in a holiday cottage – stunk the whole place out for several days after!

From last Easter in the Lakes …..

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Or a couple from the Dales …

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:D

+1 for Chasing Legends. The in-car sequences are really funny.

Not strictly roadie but also think that “24 Hours Solo” was a good film – certainly very different from a normal MTB movie.

One of those little tools for knocking out shock bushes – reduces the chance of damaging an expensive shock.

Proper sized drifts for knocking bearings out of Hope hubs too.

You’ll notice there’s a hammering theme here :-)

Liking the look of that little Jagwire hose cutter and barb fitter …. might have to add that to the shopping list.

Just got back from a cracking week in The Lakes – making up for missing most of the summer with a bust shoulder.

Great day out over Iron Keld ….

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A big ride out round Grisedale (avoiding the trail centre :-) )

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…. and finishing down on Lake Coniston ….

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A nice ride out round Little Langdale and the slate quarries …

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Ullswater singletrack the next day ….

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… out to Pooley Bridge then back via the Boredale Hause trail …

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…. before a final drop back into Glenridding …

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Next up a loop of Coniston ….

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Finished off with a walk round the Torver and then the Copper Mines ….

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Finally back home for tea and medals …

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The Moon lights are great (bright, compact, good mount, good battery life & quick charge) but only if you can keep them relatively dry. A bit of moisture doesn’t bother them but a good solid soaking (normal winter commuting conditions!) didn’t do mine any good at all.
Going to try the Exposure TraceR this winter – supposed to be a bit more weather resistant.

North Face Puddle – Gore windstopper fabric with no lining so weather resistant and pretty breathable. Great fit too. Got one of the gilets too – lovely bit of kit.

Oops …. double post

Was looking for similar info earlier in the week and found these sites … http://www.biketexas.net/mountainbiking.asp and http://ghorba.org/trails
Got some relatives out that way and was wondering about a stop-over (with bike of course!).

First time out on the bike after a 3 month lay-off with a bust shoulder. Only a road ride and felt like my lungs were going to explode but just so good to be out and pedalling around the Derbyshire Dales :D

I think Absolute Black were saying that 9,10 or 11 speed chains would run on their chain rings but you only get the full benefit with 10 or 11.

Tim – I’d have gone for a 28 if they were available :-)

Just gone for an Absolute Black 30t chain ring with a 64BCD – looked like it should offer a better chainline on my setup. Think they had stock of other sizes too.

Some positive news about Roych Clough on Ride Sheffield website …. http://www.ridesheffield.org.uk/

I used to own both. Loved the Alpine for ‘Big Stuff’ (Alps, Scotland, etc.) but always felt it was a bit too much bike for anything else. A couple of trips doing Big Scottish Stuff with the Five and I started to realise that it was almost as capable – I certainly wasn’t finding the limits of the Five! Appreciated the weight saving on hike-a-bikes too. Where the going got more pedally or rolling (particularly trail centres and local rides) then the Five was always quicker and I felt fresher at the end of the day – fresh enough for another cheeky descent or two :-)

50 mm stem with Sunline flat bars at about 740mm width on my Inbred 29er – feels good to me :-)

That’s good news MartynS – just about to try the same thing on some 319s. Fingers crossed :-)

Link here http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/active-plus/road-plus/

Just bought a pair of Schwalbe Road plus in a 35c width. I couldn’t find any reviews so just took the chance.

They’re an OK weight with similar puncture protection to the more expensive tyres in the Schwalbe range. They’ve also got a reflective bit on the side wall.

Seem to be pretty good at £16 each.

I bought a Camelbak one recently – takes 2 bottles and has a small compartment for snacks. Bungees on the outside mean I can add a small stuff sack for a spare jacket. Works really well for a short walk but not tried it on the bike – it’s designed for running so seems to pretty secure.

After breaking a collar bone I was looking for something similar. I found a few useful (simple!) ideas here ….

http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/fitness-basics-turbo-training-24170/

and here ….

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/fitness/article/turbo-trainer-workouts-for-all-seasons-34657/

Looks like you can get a useful workout in as little as 40 mins – one of the best tips I found was to vary the effort throughout the session following a schedule (even if you’re not doing hard intervals). That breaks the wourkout into smaller chunks to help alleviate the boredom.

I like my Olympus XZ-1 – relatively compact with a nice fast lens. Very happy with the results so far.

It replaced a Canon G10 which I also really liked. XZ-1 image quality is up there with the G10 but in a much smaller package. Response times of the G10 (start up, focus and flash charge) were noticeably quicker though and battery life was much better.

Another vote for Ed Oxley – did his Alpine prep course last year – great day out and tidied up a lot of my bad biking habits.

http://www.great-rock.co.uk/

Been shopping around for a new bike and didn’t really want to buy an Orange (fancied something a bit different). However, the Five seemed to tick more boxes for me than any other full sus trail bike.

Dead simple design and the geometry was spot on (for me). After weighing up all the other options the price and weight seemed pretty comparable.

I guess I’m fortunate (unusual?) in that I also really like the look of them :-)

I would echo rocket’s comments – I think it’s a great winter jacket with just a base layer underneath. Plenty of big reflective bits to add a bit of night time visibility too.

For milder weather (10degC give or take a bit) I’ve got an MT500 fleece jacket which is great too – a densely woven fleece but not completely windproof.

A couple from me ….

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