Mikey74: “Well some of the soloing is a bit pants, to be honest. I realise some of it may be Nils Lofgren, but even so…”

Erm… Are you trying to tell us Nil Lofgren is a bad guitarist?! Something is very wrong with you.

You obviously also have no understanding of what Neil Young’s guitar playing is about if you think his solos are a bit pants.

Oh dear. Oh well.

Yep, 2009s – mind you I only paid a little bit over that a year ago and now they are over £500 on CR, everythings gone up sooo much.

I think it depends on the fork/year with Fox, some you can reduce down but you cant increase travel.

Call Mojo if you are in doubt, they are v. helpful over the phone.

A great fork: Fox 120 RL:

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/fox-32-f120-rl-forks-black-id56351.html

Putting the reducers to run a rock shox at a lower travel wont damage it at all, just make sure you get one you can add the spacers in. Pikes are a bit heavy but the U-turn doesn’t effect performance. (Well only if that bloody rubber piece slips down the spring but that’s only on the coils).

IMO avoid forks with lock down travel adjusters such as a Talas, they are pront to breaking or going wrong in time, I just don’t trust those designs.

Yeah, tracks are hard pack enough for it never to get that muddy.

Of course it will work, it’ll just make the steering faster/lighter. You’ll notice on the climbs that the front wheel can easily be moved from left to right more than staying dead straight but then it should feel better on the downs. Prob want a 70-90mm I guess.

Switch between the two a lot, never cause me any probs. Get the odd cut/gauge here and there but it don’t bother me and shouldn’t bother you.

Ride all the stuff that is signposted as hard else it’s a bit dull. Pretty easy going track.

What are you wanting to know?

Ha ha, I knew someone who had one of those re-issues, he wouldn’t sell it to me even though it was just lying around in a shed. I bought an avalanche and took all the paint off then polished it to within an inch of it’s life instead.

ltheisinger – you really do love that bike.

I’m sure he’ll get over it, if you don’t like em, don’t buy em.

If money wasn’t too much of an issue and you isn’t mind flying about a bit you could also visit Luang Prabang in Laos and Angkor Wat which for me were real highlights.

Personally I saw a lot of the negative sides of tourism in Thailand before I saw the beauty.

All depends what you are after. As Quirrel says there’s some good stuff to see in Malaysia too. Borneo particularly. Be aware of Monsoon times though for Perenthians etc.

Air Asia and a couple of the smaller flight companies aren’t too pricey.

I’d go for the Blue Pig personally. (Actually I’d go for a second hand Cove Handjob which is what I went for buy that’s another thread).

Dunno what yout frok situation is but if you went for an Mmmbop, you could take advantage of the very cheap forks with 1.5″ steerers knocking about at the mo.

I was lucky enough to spend a month in Thailand and 5 weeks in Vietnam last year. I’d definitely go for Vietnam without a doubt. (I also much preferred Laos and Cambodia to Thailand). There are beautiful Thai islands that are less visited by the masses and northern regions are great for hiking, biking and jungle related trips but Vietnam IMO is far more varied and interesting.

In two weeks you could go from Ho Chi Minh up to Hanoi and see the highlights but if I had two weeks there I’d suggest more in the mid and north:

Hanoi for a few days (more picturesque and Ho Chi Minh).
Sapa – Train overnight from Hanoi to Sapa – great trekking there among the still traditional tribes. Can be a bit touristy on some of the trails so ask to hike off the track to the further out areas.
Ninh Binh – national park area with boat trips and hiking/biking.
Halong Bay – boat trips around beautiful cliffs – a must.
Hoi An – one of S.E Asia’s most photogenic towns, great food too – a must.

If you do go to/from Ho Chi Minh these places are great too:

Dalat – Central highland area – further south but there’s a great bike ride from here to Nha Trang (on coast) almost all downhill in mountains on good roads.
Mui Ne – massive red sand dunes, kite surfing, long beaches not necessarily what you expect to see in Vietnam.
Mekong Delta – tunnels from war, lots of war related history, little villages along delta.

All in all far more interesting than lying on a beach full of pissed backpackers!

Sparkingchains!

Might be worth a look at Superstar components too as they have some cheap deals, also on-one had some good deals on FSA headsets.

I’d suggest some Pikes or another Vanilla.

I’ve had a pair of Pikes for 3 of 4 years (went for them for the bolt through and U-turn over the Vans which were only 9mm drop out at the time). I’d recommend them overall but this year they developed a clicking sound when compressed hard. After some useful advice on the forum here I took them apart and fixed the problem – just a rubber piece around the spring that needed moving up. Apart from that they really have been very reliable.

Now that you can get Vans with the QR15 I’d get them over the Pikes as they are the lightest 32mm coil fork around and their lockout is more handy than the U-turn. My pikes are the 426 coil u-turn and weigh at least a pound more than a Van.

The Marzocchi 44 RC3 is apparently very good from all I’ve read but a lot of other Marzocchi models in the last few years have been crap compared to what they used to produce. They used to be incredibly reliable partly because of the open oil bath and lots of metal parts rather than plastic ones, only penalty was the weight. Apparently their whole 2011 range is meant to be a return to this previous quality.

That’s a great link. Cheers guys

Yeah, I got quoted a range of sizes depending on the company. Many road bikes have a more compact geometry now.

Nice selection of photos from where Orange do some of their testing with guides who all use Orange for a very good reason – reliability and ability to handle the rough stuff.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlandsian/collections/72157625153713061/

– Can anybody shed light on Santa Cruz customer service, parts etc, and even if a US frame would be covered over here?

Try giving Stiff bikes a ring, they’ll know for sure.

XTR is a waste of money and you’ll and a talas is a reliability issue waiting to happen but I’ve heard nothing but praise of Cube as a brand.

Ah, good stuff, you’ll be sorted then.

Perhaps consider if you’ll be over-biked with a 5, it’ll obviously give you loads more confidence to take on tougher trails faster but ask yourself if you actually need the travel. I see people around trail centres on 140mm bikes not because they need them but because apparently that’s what a ‘trail centre’ bike is. A great 120mm bike like an ST4 could be faster overall if you do ride a lot of XC. – Just a thought.

If you’re 6ft you’ll probably be spot on with an 18″ Five. It’d be a choice between a Heckler and 5 if it was me and if you want a bike that can take some punishment in the real world I’d go for the 5.

Yeah, if you are spending 2200 on a bike, you want more than a cheap rockshox, hubs and gears. The trade price for Orange stuff is high so you’re lucky to get much money off, helps it keep a good second hand value though.

You’ll find loads of opinions on Zestys v’s 5s on here. Here’s my 2 pennies worth:

5: hyped but will completely deliver the goods. Strong, really versatile (can take 160mm up front and bash guard for Alps etc). Hold their value really well. Only downside is little bit heavier than a Zesty but not by much. Also you may find the sizing a little annoying if you are tall – lots of people seem to be between a 18″ and 20″. Spec on the lower model isn’t up to much, definitely get the Pro version.

Zesty: Heard a few too many issues of them snapping for me to be completely confident if I was heavy but it’d probably be fine for most. (Spoke to guy working at Bike Treks in Ambleside who said they’d had a few come back with cracked swing arms from heavier riders). For the money though they are spot on, bit annoying you don’t get a fork with bolt thru until you are into the mid range more pricey models. Graphics are a bit tarty this/next yr too.

Blur: Not ridden a LT2, only the classic (2005 model before LT2 & XC). Great but more maintenance involved – just overhauled a Classic and it wasn’t much fun or cheap. Prefer look of 5.

If you do switch bikes now and then, bear in mind the 5 will hold it’s value very well compared to a Zesty. SC will be alright too mind.

If you’ve the money Id get the 5 frame or Pro build. Or completely change your mind and realise how good the Heckler and ST4 is even with 120mm!

Ah I heard a friend tell me about this problem with the same set up.

Try dual ply Continental Diesels in 2.5 – the heaviest draggiest nastiest tyres any bike could come with!

I’d say fork wise – try looking after them yourself – as you do. Shock wise it’s always a toss up – is it worth a new one, depends on it’s age etc…

I put up a post about sorting out some Pikes and as Neil 853 says Loco’s advice was helpful. Here’s his site http://www.locotuning.co.uk/ – bit cheaper than TFT and seems a helpful guy.

Could try going down a size to cut through the mud and also have less drag.

Done. Again, I’d be interested to use a cleaner that requires no brush or little brush work.

Good luck.

I’m always a fan of Zefirellis http://www.zeffirellis.com/restaurant/ GOod if you are into mediterranean food.

Cheers everyone. Si – just mailing you!.

Cheers, I’ll enquire. I’ve not seen the progressive site before. A set of Revs for 320 ain’t bad at all.
I was stupid to pass on some 150mm Floats 32s for £300 OEM on On-one. (Guess I’d always rather have the 36s mind!).

Sit ups!

Yeah website isn’t maintained much. No 514s left. Down to the last few from what I saw today. Still a few road and cross bikes though.

There’s a demo going even cheaper too.

Thanks for the help everyone! With all the above info I’ll hopefully get it fixed.

If it turns out to be other than the black rubber piece, I’ll get in touch with you guys at Loco – cheers.

… and it’s lucky we do, else we’d all be out on the same bikes!