I occasionally ride with the Old Gits group featured in the subscribers version of Edition 109 of Singletrack…..I’m not really sure I should have confessed to that! Anyway there’s a wide variety of riders and bikes. One of the guys is particularly opinionated and likes to “share” his opinions during the rides. On a recent ride he was holding forth on how a hardtail was all you needed and why FSers are unnecessary, rubbish etc. After about 15 minutes of this one of the other guys turned around and asked him, if he’d buy a car, motorbike or moped which only had suspension at the front………he shut up…..job done.

I have been thinking about going slacker on my Strive and did a bit of investigation and came up with this:-

http://www.workscomponents.co.uk/10-degree-zs44–ec52–tapered-steerer-tube-headset–canyon-fitment-260-p.asp

If you read the description even though it’s a 1 degree headset it gives a 1.5 degree head angle decrease as it lowers the headset height. If you don’t want to go that slack straight off, it would be worth looking at the offset bushing options….cheaper too.

I’ve had my Strive for a month. I haven’t used it on any pure long distance XC rides, but have used it in XC mode to pedal between trails and yes it does seem to make the bike a bit more pedal friendly, particularly on steeper climbs where the front end is less prone to wander than when climbing in downhill mode. On my standard loop I have managed to get up all the steep technical climbs that I can on my shorter travel more XC bike.

I built up an Evil The Following nearly a year ago and have been riding it 2-3 times a week, on my local trails and on a few uplift trips. Absolutely no problems at all except the main pivot bolt needs tightening every now and then and because of the DELTA design it’s a bit fiddly to clean the shock.

I thought long and hard about buying one. US Bike mag did quite a good background article on Evil and The Following which went someway to alleviating my concerns:-

http://www.bikemag.com/gear-features/blueprint/evil-following/#BxY5iwWeEwtKeocl.97

Also I understand that Evil are now being made in the same factory as Santa Cruz’s carbon frames……….hopefully to the same specs and Quality Control.

I can’t comment on the Insurgent, but The Following is just amazing to ride and personally I’m really glad I took the risk.

+1 for considering a 29er along the lines of the Whyte T-129, especially if you are 6′ 3″ and riding the Southdowns and general trail riding.

I just bought a Strive from them. It was “In Stock”. I ordered it on 13th September and the estimated delivery was this week, but it came a week early on the 20th, last Tuesday, 7 days after I ordered it.

I had a similar experience last time I bought a bike from them a few years ago too.

I ran a set of 29er American Classic All Mountains (same hub as Wide Lightening) on a Yeti SB95C for 2.5 years without touching the hubs. I got the hubs serviced just before I sold the bike and the guy who did the service said that the hubs were fine and the original grease was still pretty clean and the wheels were still true.

Other than sealing on the hubs, the other negative comment that comes up in reviews is that the hubs have less points of engagement than most other wheels in a similar price bracket and tend to be a bit “laggy” in comparison. I found them fine.

Winstanley’s are/were doing some good deals on American Classic wheels.

Hope this helps

I got through a pair of Freeriders in 15 months. The knobs started to tear where they were in contact with the back of the pedals (Vaults) and eventually the sole split. In terms of usage I ride 2-3 times a week for about 2 hours. So say about 5 hours a week on average, so around 320 hours of total usage before they split. I weigh 72 kgs and wouldn’t describe myself as a particularly aggressive rider. I was a bit disappointed with the wear and checked my CRC orders to see when I bought them. I am now using Impacts and the sole seems a bit stiffer than the Freeriders and the wear so far appears a bit better.

+1 for Tamed Earth and Tom, I go to them all the time now. They happily and quickly sorted out a couple of problems on my older bikes…even though I didn’t buy them from Tamed Earth and they were low value jobs. When it came to my new bike, I decided to get a frame and build it up myself. I wanted a frame from a brand that they are not dealers for but was so sold on their level of service I decided to talk to Tom and see if he could get one for me. He managed to get me the frame and provided great support as I attempted my first build. So even if they don’t stock a brand that you may be after, it’s still worth talking to them.

I come from a windsurfing background and there was an article about sealing blisters, reef rash etc with super glue in one of the US windsurfing mags. The following month there was a letter from a doctor pointing out the risks. If I remember correctly it was to do with making sure that the blister/cut was completely clean otherwise it is a perfect breeding ground for anaerobic bacteria to flourish.

Re blisters on long windsurfing trips I would always use surgical spirit to dry out any blisters, before they popped and tore off. Some people also use surgical spirit to toughen the hands before a trip if they hadn’t windsurfed for a time and their hands had softened.

Yes I have a Canyon Nerve CF 8.0 what would you like to know?