Mmmm

Constructive, eh?

At 6’2″ I find my large Soul doesn’t feel at all like riding a gate.

It still looks like one though!

My brother has an NS majesty and it seems to be very well built. I doubt the surge would be any different, but it does seem strange that richieokeefe has broken large frames from too much seat post showing when he’s only 5’9″….

Very niiiiice, grips will match the saddle after the first ride (this is good). How tall are you?

Given your budget, I’d be thinking French/Spanish/Italian ski resort. Easier to get a job at the start of the ski season and then use the winter to make contacts there. Come May you’ll hopefully have wangled yourself a suitable job for summer. Good luck whatever you decide.

Aren’t you off skiing before then IAche? Carve with care!

Ignore me

Loved mine on the front. Just that bit too heavy for all day riding for me though.

Not too many options it seems if you need a 400mm.

All the really good stuff that I try not to eat too much of when not exercising.

Peanut butter cereal goo bars, steak and cheese panini, Bag of tortilla with guacamole.

If it’s a really long ride then pack an MSR and eggs, bacon etc…

Water in the camelpack, single malt in the hip flask.

8O

Decide what width tyre you want to run and go from there.

Thanks for the replies so far, looks like a 130mm fork is where I want to be then. Any specific fork recommendations, around £200 used?

Don’t you like the Sektors?

I say what you have is a great fork for the bike, so just stick them on and try riding it. I suspect you’ll then want to space them down to 130mm or so.

will have to sort a stirchley get together even if its just a blast around the canals one evening

I’m in Moseley and have a mate that rides that lives in Stirchley/Kings Heath. I’m sure we’d be up for ^this^ if it gets off the ground.

P.s. tandem peeps …. AWESOME! A lot of respect there

+1!

Thanks all, it was a good day with good company. Because I’m a tart my bike is now spotless (and no doubt the wheel bearings are greaseless).

I think I’ll tag along on this one as well :)

evilclosetmonkey – I don’t know what pressure I’m at, havent got an accurate gauge. I’m guessing around 25psi. When I look down at the rear tyre it is quite flattened out at the contact patch.

I think I’ll just pop the damper out of my RLT’s and take a look when I get a chance. It’s annoying if I can’t adjust the compression damping.

I’ve found big sticky tyres at low pressure just great on the ice, without the hassle of swapping :)

I’m contemplating getting rid of the poploc on my 2012 rev RLT’s and replacing with a normal crown adjust. The main reason being I’d like to add a bit of compression damping to help with brake dive.

I can’t work out if it will be worth it though. Holding the poploc lever in a midway position seems to have no effect, leading me to think that the compression adjust is only on or off???

ChiefGG –

1. Major corners – drop and weight the outside pedal, turn the hips, look to the vanishing point.
2. Slalom corners – keep your pedals level and your head and body straight and throw the bike from one side to another beneath you.

Some good stuff here. Where would a set of berms like you might find on a 4X track fit in?

Northwind,

Your foot/ankle isn’t the best shock absorber- if you find dropping it causes things to get bumpy you’re probably a bit stiff in the knee?

You may well be right. Maybe I need to do some squat or something though because to take out all the bumps with most of my weight on one leg just gets too much all too quickly!

This happened to me on my bmx in Italy, tore my shoulder open and spent a few days on my back recovering in a youth hostel.

The guy that had opened his car door just gave me a “scusi” and walked off!

I’m unsure about the ‘drop your outside foot during cornering’ technique being thrown about by the likes of IMB. Riding a hardtail this can make for a very bumpy ride. I’ve gave it a good go for several rides but I honestly don’t think it works too well for me.

Right now I just concentrate on ‘staying low and loose’ and that seems to set me up great for whipping round corners with aplomb :D

If I *had* to commute 100 miles a day, there’s only one car I’d choose. Caterham R500.

Have spent an hour or two researching this today, found out peterpoddy had written a guide and was about to post a request for it, only for this thread to appear at the top of the bike forum :)

Thanks Peter!

Anybody?

Find a group ride somewhere local and see how you compare with others?

davesmate – Yeah no problem.

29er better for riverbed work?

What tyres for silt?

Tubeless to avoid fishing hook punctures?

Does ‘The Wood Bank” at Cannock constitute a bridge? I’m not sure, oh well here you are anyway.
Today’s ride was great. Hardly saw a soul the entire time we were there. Riding in the snow was just really good fun.

Well haven’t been for a ride in too long and the snow is too much to resist. Will be making an attempt tomorrow morning!

10 years of dreadlocks and it isn’t an issue.

I’ve just added one of these in black to my pile of things I don’t need but none the less have thanks to recent psa’s. Thanks OP.

slackman99 – Why choose flows over flow EX may I ask?

Apologies if this has been discussed as I’ve only skim read this thread but…

Sealed bearings in my limited experience (pro2 evo’s) do not roll as well as cup and cone. I think if I were building an XC race bike I’d consider cup and cone for this reason.

Pacenti TL28 – 23mm internal
Flow Ex 25.5mm internal
Pacenti DL31 – 26mm internal

there’s no way they’ll last at the weight and width they are

The TL28’s are 2.5mm narrower than Flow Ex’s.

The DL31’s are 0.5mm wider than flow Ex’s.