Same bike but with SRAM RED etap AXS for 3k on the same site…

Neither are lovely but better in black, and both are a lot of bike for the money.

Many years ago I asked for a Fox (racing) umbrella for a Christmas present. A well meaning family member bought one from the fox umbrellas link above. It’s had 20 odd years of abuse and is still going strong… recommended!

How is the tyre clearance on these – the specs say 2.4″ in 29 mode for the 29/27.5+ boost fork, but 2.4 seems very narrow for a boost fork? Or is it more a clearance issue with the lower bridge or the fork crown underside? And has anyone managed to source the 130mm springs, standard or soft, yet?

Thanks for the info, definitely best not to keep if you’ve no confidence in it…

I’m intrigued as it looked an interesting bike – quality of the what was very very poor, and in what way poor?

Weight, & tyre clearance in either wheel size, would be useful too… I’m not sure what the point of the release was, as they apparently used old pre-production frames in the photos, they aren’t for sale yet… maybe it was the geometry and to keep the hype going. I’d be very interested with a few more details!

Sophie – any details on tyre clearance in 29er mode, and approx frame weight including shock?

Exactly same thing on both of a pair of WTB cross-boss, and reading reviews after discovering it said others had same problem. Warrantied (didn’t have to send back to CRC, just pics) and both replacements had same issue! I like the tyres so just glued a patch on inside and superglued the outside, they’ve held fine. But crazy they haven’t sorted it, this was a few years back now…

Could be bent forks as well, even if your Jaspa’s don’t affect the steering – I serviced a bike for an elderly relative and had the same symptoms, took me a while to figure it out but it was a bent fork (both legs bent a bit towards the left I think, though I don’t remember if that made it steer left or right…)

Or maybe you’re a bit offcentered, if the Jaspa runs straight despite wonky forks? :)

Adapters are called boost adapters (148mm = boost) – review of some good, cheap ones here on STW:

STW boost adapter review

Read through the review to see if you want to get the rear wheel re-dished by a bike shop – I’d guess that will be another 10-20 quid on top so total price 25-35 vs 60 for the rear wheel. Then your call as to what is easier!

What would the SPZ app suggest if you entered the distance & climbing stats for the SDW? How would it decide how to share the power – by time or distance or something, or would this throw it completely? I guess it would never get out of lowest mode?

Oh yeah, the damping on the machete pro is pretty good, I think the same as on their Mattocs etc, external rebound & compression, and much better than the 30mm RS options (and the cheaper RS32mm forks too). The machete comp is a different cartridge & gets much worse reviews…

I really like my manitou machete pro, 120mm straight steerer & QR, on an ‘XXC’ hardtail. Can’t say I notice much difference in stiffness to the Fox 34, 15mm thruaxle & 130mm travel on the full sus, I’m ~75kg but not very princess/pea when it comes to bike feel…

I’ve wondered about this, what/where am I meant to be wiping… are you wiping the outside ie left and right of the plates, or the top and bottom of the plates. If the outside, how do you get oil on them anyway if you spin the chain backwards while oiling the bottom run from its top (so the oil goes on the rollers where the contact the chainring/cassette, to start at least)?

@Brant – the name on the PX page for the soap is great, as it repeats the same Ltd. company name in Finnish then Swedish… something like ‘genuine Vaasan (a city in Finland) soap Ltd.’

Am waiting to see if I get a second xx0 cassette on the Black Friday deal. Ordered 2 separately a day apart, first arrived fairly quickly, second had email saying dispatched a couple of days ago so fingers crossed it was posted before they shut… let’s see!

How are the economy figures on the 2.0 petrol (roughly 2007-2010) or T4 petrol (1.6, 2010-2013) models?

Went through similar process with the previous mk2 v70 here in Finland where again they are very available vs other makes, ended up with 2.5t petrol as it is mostly low mileage, city driving (and on a low mileage, well kept, high spec model at a good price).

I’m only 187cm but not many other cars fitted a child seat behind me (3 kids in back) and the seat is oh so comfortable…

Thanks, good to know. I’ve looked at the Borrowdale Bash route but a few of the descents look potentially a bit much for the range of skills and bikes in the group. This one seems like it would be a decent natural loop with good views as contrast to Whinlatter the other day.

One option to avoid ~10 extra miles of road would be to go on footpaths straight from Scales where we are staying up to the track on the north side of the river Glenderamackin to Mungrisdale; are those tracks reasonably rideable?

Sweaman – that’s how the numbers all add up, apart from the line on Low sprocket max capacity – you can’t actually run the 42t with a 2×11 using their M8000 2×11 chainsets, and I thought Shimano were usually quite good at considering the other components when setting the limits.

Might be a fitted once GS mech for sale/swap in the near future…

Should have said, hardtail so less issues there. And already have new mech, cassette, chainrings so didn’t fancy buying either another cassette (40t) or another mech (SGS), and the chainrings are already pretty close to each other…

Akers – spec here:

https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/deorext-m8000/RD-M8000-GS.html

specifically says:

Low sprocket_Max. 42T (2×11-speed) 46T (1×11-speed)

but also

Total capacity 39T

which is what is throwing me, as it doesn’t then fit their 2x chain sets! Anyone know a bike speccing full XT 2×11 with the 42t and GS medium mech?

Good point jabbi, hadn’t thought of it that way round, was thinking is it going to explode the mech etc if too tight but if it’s setup to be only too loose in 28/11 that’s not really a problem! Maybe that is their way of seeing it too, you shouldn’t cross chain that much especially from small front to small rear, but still that’s not how it’s usually worked out as far as I know, and not what their specs say!

Guess I will give it a go and keep fingers crossed, thanks all for at least confirming it should be doable!

Yep, had to argue with a customer services rep one time as the bus driver wouldn’t take a bike; ended seeing a manager who paid for a taxi from somewhere near Reading to Bristol, which was quite a good result! But I think totally at their discretion, so not useful as a guide to what would happen any other time…

Thanks all, looks like I’ll go for one unless someone can recommend a slide hammer blind bearing puller set with a decent range of MTB bearing sizes for less than say £40?

Yep you likely have to pay tax anywhere on a speed-elec ebike e.g. anything over the local cutoff limit. It would get you to the office faster and without sweating as much, and if you can afford a Cervelo P3 frame I doubt the tax would come into the equation much! (And why not use that, it would be faster than the posted bike I’m sure, I’d forgotten it was a TT frame).

Toppeak Office MTX laptop bag plus some corraplex or similar as TiRed suggested? Looks like it is still available in the states…

The other option for true speed increases is of course a recumbent, but they aren’t for everyone.

Or a speed pedelec type ebike, not sure what regulations for that are where you are though (presumably not UK if it’s 30 degrees! Licence, insurance, proper helmet and possibly licence plates needed in the UK as 15-28mph capable bikes are classified as mopeds in UK law I think).

John Nobile won the Great Divide Race using exactly what you are after – an aero rear beam rack box (oh, and a front fairing). Both carbon/kevlar but homemade unfortunately, as is I think the rack – they are all pretty niche, though similar fairings are available by i.e. Zzipper.

Portrait-John Nobile by Adventure Cycling Association[/url], on Flickr

Integrated lights in the fairing, and the fairing means you can keep a normal position with aero benefits. A few discussions around the web as to whether they actually make much of a difference or not on an upright vs recumbent bike…

Otherwise for your setup, TT bars will likely make the most difference, then aero clothing or skin suit plus shoe covers, mid section front wheel, road aero helmet… (to keep it relatively practical for commuting vs a TT machine). And small things like figuring more aero places for lights, reducing the number of bags in random places etc. And I guess an aero frame/seatpost/bars if you have the money!

Agree they have great customer service, same thing happened to a ~10 yr old Thermarest and was replaced by return of post. Considering the amount of use the original and new ones have had, I rate the company highly!

Really nice! If use those RC36 in mud, the gold stanchions will last about 5 mins, but in the dry they should be good for a long while.

I also do the ‘modern grips, tyres, saddle, pedals’ thing on a SS bontrager race lite, it rides really well.

Still got a good scar on the inside of my elbow from the Arizona Trail Race 750 where I ran into a massive cactus in the dark. Was being chased by rednecks in a car, turned off the road into a carpark/brush area, lights off, pushed into the undergrowth to hide, ran into cactus, ow that really hurt, and spent next 20 mins removing cactus needles from various parts of me and my clothes, still in the dark. Makes me smile each time I notice it!

Bowglie – it was your SC SL I spotted, but I think as you say it is closer to a trail than XC frame.

Scienceofficer – thanks, there are quite a few frames like the Sultan, SC SL etc around, 120 wish travel and 2.5-3kg frame, I’m looking more at 90-100mm travel and sub 2.5kg preferably…

cp – anthem is a good call, just need someone to be selling a good nick frame only in XL now!

epicyclo – yeah, good point! I had thought it would mean I’d be less tired at technical sections, and if I went through at the same speed as on the SS, hopefully more in control…

c.klein87 – will look for those too – any idea of frame weight?

So far all I’ve spotted is an SC super light 29 frame, which at ~2.75kg, really doesn’t seem to be super light!

No-one got a good source of e.g. cheap canyon/cube/similar alloy 100mm XC frames?

Spearfish for 275 is a good start, was there a second one in L/XL?!

Good start to my first race of the season – crashed on first lap, broken rib and possibly collarbone too! Finished the race, 2 more laps (rather slowly) and cycled home, but very sore and didn’t sleep well at all, before doctors yesterday. Guess there will be a big gap to my next race now! I hate slippery roots…

Like mine, pretty solid, would be very tempted with a spare or ‘alternative colour way’ at £40 – do tell!

It’s all microns and nanometers in my trade :)

Thanks all! It has to be roughly this route (or basically any route from Geneva to near Basel) as I need to get between those two places as start and end destinations. (And possibly end and start if it ends up being a return trip too).

James – yeah, I read your report on the old STW thread on this. Using gr-infos.com, it looks mellower than the south side of Geneva – usually around half or less the elevation gained per equivalent distance section, and peaking at 1400m instead of 2500m or so. I wonder if that lends itself to less HAB, or if there are still steep pitches and just lower peaks. How did you do your going off trail – preplanned with lots of research, or on the ground decisions?

Oliver – I’ll have a read through your trip writeup, thanks! Lots of info on Geneva to Nice out there, little heading the other way. I wonder if the not so steep but goat trail nature means flowing single track all the way or impossible to ride trails up and down hillsides?! When you said as tough going did you mean in terms of the trails being less good condition so harder to ride, or the facilities being less good/frequent, or something else? If you get a chance to resurrect the desktop, I’d be very interested in those details. If not, where did you look for info on these, and was it a known route or one you were working on to link shorter routes together?

Andy – Hmmm that Jura route is a possibility if it looks like I need to minimise time. As you say, it sounds more like a CX/rough tour route with about 50% surfaced and <10% singletrack. I need to somehow hybridise this and the GR5 to get something in the middle in terms of elevation and difficulty I think! Do you know if you can get GPS files from that site, I couldn’t see them?

Not really. Well, it depends how you look at it. If you’re terrified of not getting the best possible price, then it’s a problem. But value doesn’t mean “cheapest price”. Those bars are actually decent, at the price they’re definitely good value even if tomorrow they’re ten quid less. It’s just annoying, is all.

But I’d say that when their raison d’être is being a decent but cheap direct to customer operation, and when they have been available at £30, £40 and £50 (and probably all sorts of prices between at various times), and not just in once yearly sales but at all sorts of random times, they are now back in ‘might as well pay a little more for a branded bar’ territory. I’d agree they are decent, if they were i.e. £40 or £45 all year round that to me fits the decent but good value price bracket that should be what they are about.

Anyway, just had great customer service from them, ordered last night the randomly £40 cheaper of the 2 sets of carbon fatty forks (plus other stuff) and forgot to include the bung, phoned them this am, got through in about 2 mins, bung added to the order no problem so don’t have to pay postage twice. We’ll see what turns up, but that’s better than most places where the order placed can’t be changed…

And if SQ225917 can tell me the difference between the carbon fatty forks at £92 and those at £137 (rrp £150 and £199 respectively) I’d be very grateful as I’m about to order a set of the cheaper ones…

And Tracey’s handlebar purchase is the other reason, they’re now back up to ‘not great value at all’ price levels from ‘bargain’ and you never know which it will be from day to day. The boss apparently goes through every item once a week on a spreadsheet to look at sales volume and current pricing and how it should change; my guess is these crazy maths sales are just applying known maths algorithms to that spreadsheet with least change selected for most products!

This is why it’s effing frustrating, they can’t get product descriptions halfway right so you have no real idea what you are getting on anything more than basic handlebars etc! Dimensions are not in tables or are just wrong, product details vary between title, list of what’s included, description etc… If they just paid one person who knows anything about bikes to sort all that rubbish out it would be far less frustrating! STW basically knows more about half their products than they do…

Wish I’d tried when I was younger, I used to run 55s 400m, 1:57 at 800m, and county level cross country. On basically no training other than running to school when I was always late in the am, and once a week run or race for x-country in the autumn. But like someone else up there, while I loved distance running x-country on interesting courses in rain and snow, I hated 1500m and higher on the track, going round in what felt like slow circles. I reckon with some coaching and proper training I could have got close to a 4 minute mile, but switched to mostly cycling while at uni. I do keep looking at the local track and thinking I should have a go someday…