Well I’d say the Newforcers are quite friendly and the old hands know their way round the local trails with their eyes shut! I sometimes go along on the Tuesday Kormas (normally about 20 miles starting in Winchester area 6.45ish ) and occasionally the Thursday Tikka rides (about the same distance but a bit quicker). There are varying levels of fitness so there’s usually someone to ride at your pace, and in the worst case scenario if you really can’t keep up, then you certainly won’t be abandoned. The Vindaloo peeps are quicker again and probably good for someone who’s enduro training (well enduro drinking anyway) ;-)
No harm in coming along to see if you like the Newforce evening rides.

PS. Forgot to mention: It’s only a tenner a year and you get 3 trial rides before they ask you to stump up yer cash.

Well I’ve just ordered a medium Flux and I’m excited! I’m been pretty pleased with the Nicolai I bought from my buddy a couple of months ago. However I’ve wanted to try a Flux for ages but no shop has wanted to lend me one for a decent test ride, and nice used ones don’t turn up that often,so:- at 799 it seemed like a no brainer. When it arrives, I’ll build it up with the bits off my Helius and then I’ll so some test riding. I’ll keep the bike I like best. At this momtnet, I genuinely don’t know which it’ll be.

Glad to help. Make sure your BB shell is properly ‘faced’ before installing.

New Forest Mountain Bike Club regularly ride from Winchester on a Tuesday night if that’s any good for you?
Check out newforce.org.uk (general forum) for Korma rides. 10 riders would be a busy night but 4 or 5 would be more usual in the winter.

Blimey, this is a tale of woe! I’ve just bought one of these babies (admittedly very cheap) and I rather like it. Having previously ridden an 08 Superlight then recently tried a Heckler, the Nicolai seems a great compromise – lighter and more pedal efficient than the Heckler but seemingly able to soak up as much punishment with a mere 120mm travel at both ends. To put it mildly I’m not as anal about maintenance and cleaning as the previous owner (Bless Him!) so I’ll be interested to see if it copes with the winters as well as my Superlight did. I’ve already earnt the disapproval of poor Jeff (the previous owner) for my very lax cleaning regimen – and the winter is only just getting started LOL.

WCA – do your ride Lordswood regularly? If so, do you fancy giving a guided tour to a slow old fat chap? Also I’m wondering if you’re the chap who bought my Gore Jacket last Autumn – your name rings a bell from somewhere.
Timmy

Thanks for your thoughts guys. I’ve had a play with the 2.5mm allen key and I’ve got the tension so that closing the lever leaves a temporary imprint on my hand and it feels about the same as my old-style Reba Maxle. Now the proof of the pudding with be in the day to day use.

I was very sceptical of full sussers for years and after various models I ended up with a lovely light comfy steel hardtail. I loved it….. but now I love my SC Superlight better! It’s not too heavy or high maintenance either. I just bought a used frame and put my existing components on it. I know the Boardmans are both good why not get the hardtail, put the extra for the full suss in a savings account, and then do some riding for a year or so. Then try some full sussers so you can work out the differences. When you find something you really like, get a used frame and transfer the bits from yer hardtail.

Clearly you all need to meet my buddy ‘Ten Bikes Jeff’. Well actually (at his wife’s prompting) he’s reduced his bike count to 7 with a promise not to buy more than 3 per year. :D

Haven’t tried the SLX shifters but I’ve had the current design of 2-way realease XT’s for the last 3 years and they’ve been superb. BTW the rest of my drive chain is all SLX bits (except chain) and they’re superb too, so for all I know the SLX shifters may be as good as the XTs.

Well I rather enjoyed your comment Andy! :D

You are NOT alone Andy – I read that the Crests were the latest and greatest and better than the 355s, but when they arrived, my tubeless tyes were so tight it was a real struggle to get ’em on. I sent the wheels back and got Justridingalong to put 355 rims on instead. The 355s are great.
JRA told me that Crests were really intended for converting non-tubeless tyres to tubeless. The website never mentioned anything like that before I ordered them.
When it comes down to it, superlight rims are nice, but I didn’t want to risk being stuck miles from home, knackered, dirty, and having a nightmare trying to wrestle a tyre onto a rim!

Well if you can find a used frame, then a Superlight won’t cost you any more than an Anthem.
I’ve had my 2007 SL frame for nearly 2 years and I’ve had no issues with the bomb-proof, maintenance-free single pivot. I’m about 85kg and I’ve done quite a few very mucky night (and day) rides, so if there were gonna be issues, I’d have had ’em.
Put a 120mm bolt-thru fork on it and you have a lighter/short travel Orange 5. I’ve ridden a fancy German four-bar and, okay, it did ride better, but the frame was twice the price of the SL. The Superlight ain’t the latest and greatest but it’s pretty good!

Nice bike, It should ride nicely both on and off road. Worse case scenario wtih the shock would be that you had to send to TF tuned to have it tweeked for you. But it may be fine without tweeking, and you got a bargain with yer bike!
Good Luck! :D

I agree: if Chasman is only doing very occasional offroad, then the Carrera and Boardman hardtails are good value machines that will do the job well until the going gets really rough (which ain’t likely to happen in the immediate future).

Have read extremely complimentary things about the Boardman from the What Mountain Bike team – they reckon it’s real bargain.

But Hang on a moment:
There are other things to consider.

As Underhill suggests, a 21″ frame is rather large for your 5’10” height. 21″ is considered XXL. Maybe your riding position is also contributing your problems.

Are you planning to ride mainly offroad? If so, your current weight would suggest you need a strong FS bike. How about a Santa Cruz Heckler from Ebay? The current shape will cost £500+ for a frame/shock but the previous shape will be cheaper. A whole bike will be about double I guess. You’ll need a large as the Heckler’s top tube is shorter than the equivalent Superlight.

The Heckler also has the advantage of single pivot and consequently low maintenance.

Mmmm…lucky ahsat and candodavid!

I ride a Superlight (current shape) with rp23 and 120mm Reba Maxle. I’ve really loved this bike – even more than my previous Cotic Soul (hello soulwood). Alas, however, I made the mistake of trying the Helios CC belonging to my buddie ‘10 Bikes Jeff’. We did 90 minutes round Thetford on our own bikes before lunch, and then swapped bikes for the afternoon. I hate to admit it, but Jeff’s Helios kicked the Superlight’s ass whilst at the same time Jeff was complaining that my Superlight was kicking his ass (he’s such a wimp)!
Seriously though, I just felt the Helios did everything smoother, faster and with less fuss. I was going faster whilst not having to work as hard. I still really enjoy my Superlight but now I’m on the lookout a nice used Helios. I turned one down about 10 days ago because it was the older geometry, but after reading Simon’s post just now, I see that it would have had the lowered stand-over, even if it didn’t have the latest and longest travel options. Anyway, I loved all your piccies – keep ‘em coming so I can drool.
Tim (Southampton)

I’ve stayed at the Travellers Rest Talybont and I can tell you that Joy and Doug will rustle up some superb meals for you. You can chill out infront of the fire and the pussies (I’m talking cats here) will jump on your knee.

I saw a pic of a bright green one on here a few months back. It looked very pretty – like a large wheeled Nicolai Helios. Don’t know how the Salsa rides but I understand the Anthem 29er is pretty good.

This reply was for Southersteel.

Ahhh but it’s Sooo Good! You can probably get one for 99 squid. I have an indestructable Hope BB, so the SLX bb just went straight into my spares box where it remains. The cranks are also indestructable and have a very durable finish, so all I need is new rings occasionally.
With all the short-lived rubbish out there, it’s great to find some good stuff available! :D

The hubs seem good – I’ve had the Heavy Duty front wheel for about 8 months. It spins much smoother and longer than my old Pro 2 front wheel. The rear is good too. My only slight niggle was that the freehub body doesn’t have unique size splines like the Hope, so you have to be careful to line the bits of the cassette because it’s possible to fit them misaligned. Not a problem if you realise this before fitting.
Watch out for the Crests, I got some initially but I just couldn’t get my tires on as they were so tight. I got JRA to swap ’em for 355’s.

Depends of the relative sizes of your frame and you. I have a medium Superlight with a layback post and an 80mm stem. I could probably get by with a large frame, in-line post and 70 or 50mm stem.
Oh yes – I have 120mm Rebas.

You might want to keep an eye on the website of The New Forest Mountain Bike Club (www.newforce.org.uk). They do a Fortnightly Sunday ride (locations and map of start point listed on the Website). The faster group (Vindaloos) often do Saturday. They welcome guests but they might ask you to join after 3 rides. The membership fee is an outrageously expensive £10 year! They know their routes blindfolded so you’d get to ride with no navigation worries.
Timmy.

I’ve got 120mm Reba Maxles on mine and an SLX drivechain (except for the xt shifters). I also swapped from 90mm to 80mm stem when I found I was understeering quite often (I guess that’s cos the SL is designed for 100mm travel not 120.) I may possibly reduce the travel by 10mm to see what that does but I’m fairly happy with things as they are. I like the Hope Mini’s but then maybe I never do anything extreme enough to want more power. As a previous hardtail diehard, I’m pretty impressed with the Superlight. I love the low maintenace single pivot too. Recently I test rode a Yeti 575 and couldn’t wait to get back on my SL.

You see quite a few Superlight frames on ebay for decent money. The current shape (which is about 3 years old) takes 120mm forks, is low maintenance, and is more trail ready and much less flexy that the older models. It’s popular and easy to sell if you don’t like it – I’m hanging on to mine. :-)

Does anyone know whether the SLX is tougher and longer-lived than the SRAM 970? I’ve run the SRAMs before but have the SLX cassette currently.

5 Years (plain old album versions)

Yep – get your bike shop to face the BB shell and fit a Hope. When I got mine two and a half years ago, I'd previously suffered from several very short-lived Shimano and Race Face external BBs. I've read that today's shimanos are much better than they were. When I got my SLX chainset about 6 months ago, I kept the Hope on the bike and just put the new SLX bb in the cupboard. Who knows – I may have to use it some day!

Ouch, Steve! ….the truth is hurting me (just like those hills) :P

I like your thinking Stooo. My SL has a 120mm Reba and I've been pretty pleased with it but I had noticed it understeer in tight singletrack and fast bends, so I've just fitted an 80mm stem instead of the 90 but I haven't had a chance to test it yet. I guess the other fix would be to have the fork travel reduced 5 or 10mm. *Note* KT's is the older model with flexier rear and bolt-on cross brace – it does look great and it rides nicely. However, the new design is easier to clean, waranteed for 120mm travel, and I'm told the older frames require more bearing maintenance so I'd go for the current curvy design which is about 3 years old. If you wanted a lighter fork, the SID comes in 120mm bolt-through flavour these days.
PS. How do you put your bike pics on here?

Mmmm….visiting pubs via offroad trails and singletrack sounds good to me! PS. I'm overweight so this is the thread for Me…How ironic that I my latest bike's a Superlight! :D

The 2007 ( or later) re-designed frame is the one to go for. Robust bearing with low maintenance and stiffer rear end. My bruv has a 120mm Reba Team bolt-thru on his, and I have a U-turn Rev on mine 100, 115, 120 are fine, 130 is too much.

I just saw the latest WMB review and their only gripe was that for £2200 you still got pretty cheap kit on it.

I don't know how the geometry differs from the ON-ONE, but I have a Medium 2008 Cotic Soul frame (17.5") for sale. It comes with an uncut Thomson lay-back post and Salsa seat clamp.

chatty_timmy@yahoo.co.uk

donks – Member
Fixies…now were talking.

LOL

Peter,
I'm Tim – I ride a superlight that has more gears than you've had hot dinners and I'm NOT ignoring you. :D

Cheers Bear. My problem is the size of the splines rather than the depth of the freehub.

Me and Bruv couldn't be more pleased with our Hope stainless bb's. We've both had them over 2 years on 2 different bikes and they are still going strong. All my previous external bb's (shimano and raceface) were short-lived rubbish. The Hopes are great.

Hi Cinnamon Girl – plase add me and my brother as possibles for the rides you organise. Let us know when you have something in mind.
PS. We are from Southampton and know so nice rides round The Forest. We've done the Hot Challenge a couple of times, but can't do it this year as I'm in Brum that weekend. If you haven't done it then you should.
http://www.testvalleytour.com
Timmy (chatty_timmy@yahoo.co.uk)