cheers tracey, just popped out and picked some up. not a bad shop, friendly stuff and loads of shiney stuff to look at. got myself an LG1+ while i was there too.

ton ygm

that sounds like a fantastic offer but im busy all weekend so its got to be a mid week jobby.

you can get away with 140mm as long as its ajustable i reckon. i tried 150 and 160 and it was fun on fast open stuff but just didnt feel good on the kind of stuff that the bike normally excells on eg twisty lumpy steep stuff.

you can get hope hoops from the group buy thread on here, just do a search, you will probably still have £50 change from your budget to spend on tyres too. if you are looking at 719's id go for the stans ztr 355. personally i really like the flows which arent too heavy but are nice and wide and strong enough for my clumsiness.

isnt that the chinese titanium factory featured in a thread recently? sounds like you are one of the lucky ones to be happy with your bike!

ive done w2 a couple of times and its alright, just wanted to try skyline as not done it before. is cwmcarn worth a trip?

whyterthanwhyte=troll

how is a single pivot anything like a URT?

awesome bikes, i really miss mine. crap bearings and could easily be a pound lighter though.

crash test rider is right but so is tj and cookieaa. IS refers to the way in which the caliper or adaptor fits to the frame fork, its the International Standard, as opposed to the post mount method.

as a general rule, you can bolt an IS caliper straight on to an IS frame or fork if you are using a 160mm rotor. same for post mount frame and post mount caliper.

you can then use adaptors for both systems to run bigger rotors.

no its not, that my other bike! 28.6?

clamp is 31.8 i think

just another park rat :P

prob be helpful to know the top tube length of the frame you are on now to give you an idea of what might be good and that bit longer. id add a marin rocky ridge frame to your list. (and not just because im selling one, it really is a cracking frame)

lol so glad im not a F1 fan or id be gutted at this spoiler fail

not a bad idea but not many bikes out there that mimick a blur 4x unfortunately…

last time i had 2 bikes that i used regularly they were similar; a blur 4x and a chameleon with almost identical builds. as such they rode quite similar and it was great fun to nail scary stuff on the 4x for that little bit more leeway then go back on the chameleon and do it just the same. i know lot of people reckon HT makes you a better FS rider but for me it was the other way around.

cheers all, food for thought. that was also one of my concerns nicko74

i dunno about risky but its **** scary! i got spooked by a badger who i met on a singletrack blind bend, an owl swooping through my beam and a white stag on a high speed fire road blind bend.i have a strong suspicion they were all of the vampire variety.

Good: fluking my way out of doomed situations then smiling and blagging that i meant to.

Bad: manuals and skinnys. i get better at skinnys with practice but rarely encounter them unless i make them myself so dont really bother. manuals i dont worry about cos im not planning on running my bike chainless and with a bit of momentum i can pop my wheel up and hold it without pedalling anyway.

plus half the nastiness is really pretty funny. if you dont like what you are reading there will always be plenty of other threads, sites and *gasps* interests to pursue.

personally id sooner vent my pent up frustrations about work, money, weather etc. on a bunch of middle aged forum saddos than my wife and kids. they dont deserve it, neither do you, i just like them more. so up yours the lot of yer.

id suggest a minion f or a ignitor, both work pretty well on the rear and if you go for the lust version of the ignitor its a bit tougher in the sidewalls than a regular 2.35 single ply without any real weight penalty. last time i looked they had em at the same price as regular kevlar maxxis on crc.

but tbh neither roll significantly faster than a high roller IMO, i dont find high rollers slow though. crossmark and larsen are bound to be faster, probably not the time of year to be putting one on though!

can i ask a dumb question about cotic frames? when they say that all their frames share the same geo, does that mean that for a given fork length they will have exactly the same angles or that they tweak the angles to suit the travel? dur, fanx!

brant, no idea!

sigh

cos mbr gave it 10/10 (joke!)

cos work were doing the c2w scheme again

cos i like new toys

cos it was the best one i tested

so good it deserves 2 threads

cy, id love a soul. they look fantastic and on the odd go ive had they ride really nice. your explanation sounds justified to me but just to be a little pedantic, isnt the spooky horror taxi about 3/4lb lighter than a soul and fit for long forks? twice the price mind, but still might upset your claim for the lightest long travel steel hardtail i guess.

Hora, i swapped my blur 4x for an 09 five with 36's.

i do miss the 4x as it was an absolutely class little bike. if you are 5'10" ish then it would probably be long enough in the top tube to get away with as an all dayer without having to run a long stem. at 6ft it was just a bit too short for me but more than made up for it on the fun stuff. that bike did more for my confidence and riding skills than any other. if i could afford to run 2 full sussers then id have kept the pair of them but if im honest the 5 is a better all rounder and just as capable in the rough stuff, maybe more so. my 5 is lighter than my 4x by a couple of pounds with a pretty similar build, the only main differences being forks (36 talas vs air pikes) and wheels (flow rims vs stupid heavy things).

i quite fancy a mojo. if anyone can nick me a large with a lopes link in either green or orange id appreciate it.

thanks.

i only read the first and last page of this thread so apologies if there is a queue.

lol cheers for the respray advice! funnily enough its crossed my mind more than once. im actually going to get one of them polished if i can find someone who can do a good job. the other one im looking to sell though so could do with it looking smartish.

cheers all, ill try the lube/ t-cut tips

nice one big pete, one of my fave rides this year if not ever and that includes my alps trip this year. ive only done the rangers descent though, not the main one. my advice is enjoy it! its over so quick you wondr how it took you so long to get up there. its a brilliant mix of fast loose skree, rock gardens and lumpy narrow chutes and i cant wait to go back. if you have time id highly recommend sessioning the good bits to make it feel like a bigger ride cos it really isnt that big. it helps next time you go too, first time i went it took me half a dozen goes to get a couple of tricky bits but second time i got top to bottom without cocking anything up or dabbing. that felt good i can tell you!

i had an epiphany for a bit. a bit too light really for my clumsy approach but great fun nonetheless. it was the older one designed for 130mm forks so i put on pikes to slacken it a little. it really did go like shit off a shovel, especially cos i used spd's which i normally detest but they just seemed to suit the 'spin through anything as fast as you can' feel of the bike. much more of a trail bike than an all mountain bike but thats what the moment is for. as someone said above, you can do a sensible strong build and still get it sub 28lbs. i flogged mine cos i was starting to go way beyond what it was designed for but it was probably the best xc trail bike ive ever owned (compared to the white 46 and the yeti 575 i had before it and the blur 4x and orange 5 i had since. they have all been a little more 'big stuff' capable though)

i would advise anyone to get the nicest shifters they can afford and nto worry too much about the mech as the shifter makes much more difference ot shift quality and feel. they last forever and dont get trashed by rocks too.

i think ton has just started a thread that captures what lots of people off here probably think about when a new mag comes out/ they should be doing some work/ the other half starts talking about saving for a new kitchen etc.

good distraction thread i reckon so stop bitchin!

i would have said the lapierre dh bike but that got bagsied already so maybe the new evil revolt dh bike. hey, if its a dream bike then i can be a dream downhiller ok?

if you run the brakes pretty inboard and one finger brake you get great leverage, a comfy position and if you set them up pretty close ot the bar with minimal free stroke it should help reduce hand pump a bit. i use xts with the windows off with no interference whatsoever.

get flat headed screwdriver ones instead of allen key ones if you can, saves you cutting your own screwdriver head when they get stuck/ rounded off.

get 36's if you really want to push the limits of the bike. OTT for a lot of stuff but they dont slow you down any on climbs if you go for talas and you wont regret it on the downs.

maxle was worth the money for me. its not just where you ride but how you ride it i reckon. if you are a flowy, light rider with a bit of finesse and dont really crash through stuff at silly speed then it may not be worth it but tbh, why go for the flexy option? its only £100 after all!