Another shout for Dillinger here…

Been getting right into them lately, check out Black Bubblegum, Milk Lizard, Farewell Mona Lisa, Widower… I could go on!

Tried to link some vids but failed miserably 🙁

Thanks to the recent price drop, here’s mine…

Initially bought as a winter bike, I’m actually enjoying her more than the Maverick. Great frame.

I’ve got a 170 bhp V5 Golf at the moment as my only car and over the last 2 years I’ve averaged about 30-32 mpg. As long as you keep your right foot under control and stick to 70mph or below on motorways it’s really not so bad. Almost worth it for the engines soundtrack!

Totally agree with some of the folks above though, it’s crying out for a 6th gear!

I would avoid the older 150 bhp model or autos though as the fuel consumption is quite a bit worse. A friend has a Bora V5 150 bhp automatic model and reckons he averages 20-23 mpg!!

Great deals here:

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Galaxy nexus looks good but, isn’t that starting to get almost tablet big? Also, not seen a deal for it which gets close to the 2 I mentioned…

If this chap is going to town with the survey to be able to provide you with extremely accurate elevations, sections and top notch 3d visualisations then that price is extremely reasonable as that’s a fair few hours/days work. I’d estimate (without knowing the job details) that the least you would be looking at is £700-800 for the same job without sections, 3d vis and with reduced level of detail in the drawings, basically enough to get it through the local authority and more than enough detail for your regular builder.

If you want a serious answer….. I’ve just asked the Merchandiser for morning goods and it was apparently removed from todmorden in the 7th of November due to poor sales as well as, apparently, the fact that it should never had actually stocked it in the first place.

Rochdale is the closest Morrison’s stockist of said goods to todmorden.

So there you go

If you like expensive tyres, I can recommend Conti Rubber Queens in black chilli, I’ve found them excellent over everything except tarmac where they’re just a shade draggy.

I ditched my NN’s earlier in the year. Wish I’d have done it sooner instead of persevering for as long as I did… so many great reviews and yet, I just could not get on with them!

A couple of years ago I replaced my Linn Mimik 2 with a Rega Saturn. Now that DOES blow the Linn away, and the Linn wasn’t exactly horrible!

Thanks kudos, I really like the look of the bfe (especially in gritstone) but having read a few reviews was a bit worried that it would be more rigid than the Sovereign. Coming from a full bouncer I don’t want to be jarring my back over every twig in the same way as I’ve experienced with ally ht’s.

Thanks for the suggestions stee, there are certainly a lot of frames out there, very few are anything short of excellent which really makes choosing between them difficult. Kind of a case of examining the finer points to be able toss a few of the options aside.

Cheers GW, just trying to gather other opinions from folk who may have had more experience than me first.

kudos, how did you feel the rides differ between the two, if much at all? The geometry looks similar on both… Appreciate your feelings about the Sov, honestly struggling to get my head around what a riot it is!

Why would you want a heavy steel frame if going faster on a stiffer chassis is your main concern?

Not sure I actually said that it was my main concern, although I did say I was faster…

Had an aluminium hardtail before I got the full bouncer, very harsh ride, tried other alu ht’s before going fs, some were even more rigid than the Evo4 I had…

I didn’t say I wanted anything stiffer than the Sovereign, I simply want to know if it is more, or less, stiff than the frame I rode and enjoyed.

Weight not a concern, fun is. Steel ht, so far in my biking lifetime at least, is the most fun I’ve had on a pushbike and I want some more!

Sancho, can’t see an email address in your profile so, out of curiosity, what website would I need to visit or shop to contact regarding these frames?

This will no doubt be an unpopular suggestion which I will get flamed for in all likelihood but, have you considered a Maverick Durance or ML8? Same number of bearings as a single pivot and the Durance is simply the best climbing bike I have ever ridden 😀

If it has any weakness it’s that there are plusher suspension designs when it comes to nailing the downs (although the ML8 is more that way orientated than the Durance). Oh, and the looks aren’t to everyone’s taste…

Durance 140mm travel

ML8 165mm travel

I’ll second the cutters from Halfords. Mine are branded Cyclo and have a bit for reshaping as well as a bit for crimping the little end caps. Used ’em to fit two lots to two bikes so far and seem great to me. Think they were less than £20 too.

Chris that looks great! I thought it looked tight in silver, but in black..! And great decision leaving the front plate silver, looks really classy!

I have wide feet and normally take a size 10 (euro 44). I had to move to a euro 45 as the 44 wasn’t long enough but in terms of width, I would personally say they were quite generous.

My parcel arrived on Friday. 🙂

However, I placed the order on the 24th of July. And yes, all items were showing in stock. They weren’t even dispatched until 1st of August.

Fact is, they have some cracking bargains and I don’t mind waiting. If I wanted something urgently i’d pop in to the LBS!

Crosstrax in Rodley or Adel are very good if they’re near you?

I was on the verge of pulling the trigger on a set of custom Jawbones on the Monday night when they were still full price. Decided to sleep on it and went back to have a look the next morning where they were suddenly showing up massively discounted so I clicked to order!

Well, they arrived this morning 😀

Crikey, seems there really is a lack of love for the Nic’s! Quite interesting considering the glowing press they get from magazine reviews.

Right, I’ve Googled every tyre mentioned on this thread and pulled the trigger on the rubber queen in 2.2 with black chili. Seem to get very favourable reviews (although so do nobby Nics) Fingers crossed it’ll be what I’m looking for! Thanks all for your suggestions.

Ox, not tried a fat albert but I have had a go with a Minion up front and quite liked the feel. Still found that the Nic as a rear wasn’t inspiring confidence, as coogan says, very sketchy feeling.

Number of times when I had a Nic on the front and, banking the bike over to go round a corner, ended up on the deck had become pretty tiresome! Someone recommended the Minion DHF so I gave it a go. Sadly, he seemed to think the Nic would be good on the back. I’m not convinced.

Rudedog, as well as the Minion DHF I’ve had continental verticals (not bad but draggy as a rear) and a racing ralph (which is only really any good for very dry, firm terrain IME).

Only other thing I could think of is the headset, might need greasing? If you could get a chris king for the maverick then I would almost certainly have checked there first!

Specs place here too. Bought some titanium Oakley frames on eBay and sent them to be glazed at the specs place. Cost a total of £180 of which £120 was thinned Kodak lenses. Same standard from vision express was over £400!!

I am very happy with them too most importantly.

’07 durance here, only noises I’ve had were crunching from a shimano bb which I suspect was made from Gouda and creaking from the seatpost if it gets full of soil.

Could it be the cranks?

Not an owner but i’m qualifying myself on account of my surname being Swift. Also, I would like to see more pics of these myself as I quite like them…

Hope whoever’s image this is that i’ve lifted doesn’t mind! Lovely pic.

Surprised no one has mentioned Cassanovas in Llandudno yet. Surely the best restaurant in the area without traveling all the way to Abersoch. I’ve been several times and never once been disappointed.

According to the ebay feedback he bought those forks from someone around January so probably just too lazy to get an up to date picture? Agree about wanting to see them in their current condition first though!

Anything by Mountain Cycle…

I tend to find uk sizes inaccurate as sometimes a 10 fits where other times it’s a 9.5. What I always do find though is that a euro 44 pretty much is always right for me. With that in mind, I had to go up to a euro 45 for my am41’s. Tried a 44 and they were way too short, 46 was way too long! Width wise they seem generous whichever size.

Yep, the AM41’s sure are minging, got a friend at work with NHS shoes to correct his walking that look more fashionable!

Comfy though……

Flats mainly, although I do own clipless I hardly use them.

Shimano AM41’s with Sunline V Ones.

I don’t think they change the range/models too often therefore excluding them from the majority of marketing catalogues. Sorry, magazines.

Seems as a bike company you have to ‘upgrade’ your models annually regardless of how good it already was, otherwise no one cares (and it doesn’t sell mags) 🙄

mboy: 5 Pages full of Maverick Pictures here… Be sure to add yours!

Mines on there! I’m assuming you must be markyboy who I’ve just replied to.

And congratulations loddrik! Out of interest, why did you sell and then re-purchase a different DUC32? Are there performance variances in models/ model years as I thought there was only one?

Have you given up on the Maverick loddrik? (No experience on an etsx to add to this
thread, sorry)

Agreed, it’s bloody tough! Especially the second part of the ‘8’. Certainly not an XC loop…

I’m your weight and run 100psi positive and 110psi negative. Gives me about 1/2 inch shirt of full travel in most trails with the rest in reserve for any surprise big hits. When I ran 90 pos and 100 negative I was bottoming them out a bit too quickly, not that I ever felt it but the rubber ring had nowhere left to go in the stanchions. Running less negative pressure than positive will almost always prevent you achieving full travel IME.

Page 6 on the 2008 manual (first in list) has info on solo air, rebound etc.