I did buy a road bike, £5 from the tip, I always think its best to pay a bit extra for a good one, my nephew rides it now.

I flipping hate riding on the road, the area I live in isnt very nice for road riding, though there are always hunderds out.

I guess I meant its a tougher choice for 1 MTB to do it all questions.

Still my opinion if your going to ride it offroad sus forks is the way to go, I love the look of A rigid bike, I love the feel of rigid bikes, I love the way there isnt any compression going into corners, I love the singletrack directness they give and the weight saving, but if your riding it then 80mm travel isnt a lot but will make it much more of an MTB. I personally went from the RC31 to 125mm travel and promtly sold the carbon forks on, maybe the 80mm your considering isnt such a vast difference in feel on the bike.

I have to say lot of my change of heart was due to how low the rigid forks felt on the front for most of the time.

Me and chapking think we are medium… 🙂 6ft is bordering on giant and obviously something very wrong in the gene pool.

Your a dead average sized bloke, just like myself, when your buying a t shirt you dont buy smalls, you probably dont buy XL's you buy something in the middle there like a medium, depending on the make maybe even a large. It should be the same when your buying a bike.
Looks a bit small to me.

edit… I guess its a very different thing your doing on it to my XC stuff, so maybe I am barking up the worng tree a bit..

I had 2 bikes for years, 1 full suss, 1 rigid carbon forked, I got a hold of some decent sus forks and thought I would pop em on the rigid bike see what this hardtail lark was all about…. I sold the RC31's the next week, they are good, better than steel rigid jump forks I had before them, but its not as good as sus forks, lovely and light and you can still do everything, but for offroad, sus wins in my book and now makes it a tougher choice for 1 bike to do it all questions.

I went from 100 manipoos to 120mm zochis on an 04 1oomm stumpjumper FSR, was all good but found a lockdown feature was your freind on climbs.

In fact I would rate a lockdown feature on a fork way above lockout or travel adjust.

All that shear % stuff is right in a way, but unless you jumping a lot and landing flat, its the braking bumps and such like that is putting most stress on the headtube and so the angle your hitting stuff is more inline with the fork travel. There is also the thought that fork stiction is greater on slack head angle bikes so it might be a bit less supple on small stuff and be harder on fork bushings etc, but obviously will pay off when it gets rough and downhill.

in answer, do it, see if you like it.

centre…. but I prefer to measure down from the north star rather than ground.

bigdawg if you learn not to whine about the conditions you might even win it!!! 🙂

If the taping over it works, then maybe the stick on patches you put over blisters would be good, they stay well stuck onto foot skin for ages, and pretty sure they dont breathe. But I stand by my first post the chiropodist is the fastest way to remove it.

I just bought a 2nd hand one, and am going to build it into a do it all bike with all the bits from my full sus putting 125mm forks on mine, am hoping on something a similar weight to my Tinbred that got knicked (as using the same type of fork), great for XC, a bit of racing, and a bit of general larking about… Not heard of any broken ones so assume it can take everything I can give it.

At risk of getting flayed, I didnt like the finish at all on mine and its getting powder coated before I build it up. (my full sus is matt black so guess I am bored of that look)

dunno I have a £5 limit on riding glasses for the reasons you just found out, my interchangeable lens ones from Lidl are ace, but also really likes some of the cheapo Bolle safety specs off the bay…

Joe blow.. yep I pumped all that at one night so my nipper had it for her birthday, it a much easier job now I have aa £6 electric inflatable's pump.

Yes yes, I know new fence, new roof felt, lose the tent thing.. all done now.

My lovely bike and my wifes has been knicked, and I am very glad of threads like this, even if nothing comes of it, its well worth highlighting just in case, and if not we still get to laugh at stuntjumper.

Pay up and look tough, go to the chiropodist.

Or small can of lighter fuel, 1 sock and a swan vesta.

Langdon will be great, nice rooty singletrack and lots of hills… 🙂

I have no idea what the course in Cambridgeshire is like on the 23rd August though.

It hold the weather really well at Langdon, bigdawg..

Yup lots of riders in the 2 hour I guess it would have cut up quite a bit more.

I take you are running a rim strip? put a strip of tape over the valve hole, duct tape would be the best, re fit rim strip, then force a valve through the tape, that should cover any edge you have around the hole, try not to remove the valve, and re fit your tyre should be easy enough with folding tyres.

But yes talc is good, for stopping the tyre getting stuck to the tube.

Edit:- are you using a presta valve in a shrader sized hole?

Ha ha, well I won the old blokes who arent tough enough for the 2 hour race, my excuse is the 2 hour race is too late in the day and makes it a long day out for the nippers..

The results are up now and the official pics too.

http://mudsweatgears.blogspot.com/

Bloody lovely course I thought, a good mix of everything, one of the few courses that I can make up for my lack of fitness with riding… My lad did the 20, my daughter & nephew the 40 and I did the hour, it was way to feirce for my kids first time, I need to get them a bit better prepped for the Langdon one.

Land owner was fine, he is a MX & Enduro rider and his kid did really well in the 20 min race, the little berms around the course were for his kid to use the track on his MX bike, the little damge the MTB's cause will be invisible within a few months…

edit, some great shots there, thanks for hosting them….

I finished the Summit race wednesday night and was cursing the last lap as it was so ferkin dark in the woods, and my DX torch thingy was in my drawer at home…. Or was it cos I rode so slow?

The bonty forks will be the right length, post a pic when its built up.

skyliner, I had to ditch the forks in the pic, as they were too short and brought a new meaning to the word RIGID, put 440mm RC31's on it and it was lovely.

ps yep its the same as the CRC frame. And yes quite light sub 4lb for 18" not mega light but not bad for the money.

I bought the wife a brand new Carrera frame of the bay for £45 for the wife bike (lasted 3 weeks and stolen) that had some really nice features on it too, bit heavier than the DJ though… Might be worth a look see if any more are about though..

Ha ha, so you like them forks…

I absolutely loved mine, thought it was a real bargain, its only painted so the finish isnt mega durable, but OK.

I gave it to my mate and he created a monster. (I scrounged him some RS forks and made him take one of the mudgaurds off after I saw this!)

sssshhhhhhhh…. the shops are watching!!!!!

Is the Whyte 120 made in the far east then?

I thought the V8 was re buildable?

tootall… £20 it will always be worth a tenner after your finished or can keep it until the next time.
http://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b167s163p2756&rs=gb

edit Or just leave it on if it doesnt cause you any worries, I also found the BBB one I had in mind at parkers for £21

Only problem I see is the shortest is 90mm if you run a 70mm stem it looks like you have had it.

http://www.parker-international.co.uk/3545/BBB-HighSix-Adjustable-Stem.html?referrer=froogle&utm_source=google&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=pid3545

2nd the Assos stuff, but its not a thing to put on once sore though, its designed for the job and doesnt hint at scabies like the Sudocreme pot in the bathroom cabinet does.

Following on from a thread yesterday, how about an XT outer ring at £77(crc price at that), seems pretty expensive as the chainset can be had IRO £120

buy an adjustable one, think BBB do one, but guess the length is pretty much set on it, but changes in angle a lot, you can measure it once your happy and buy one of that rise.

Whyte?

Ive had most of the usual suspects, WTB rocket & an SDG bel air, but niether suited me as much as the charge spoons I use now, £30 might get you a ti railed one. Very much a personal preference thing though, might not work for you at all…

Ken its the anodized finish that bothers me with it, its really rough textured, I did think the coating would go on over it but rekon it would affect the finished result without being removed or flatted off first.

I have spoken to the place I got in mind, he has a chemical dip or a blaster, so guess its in good hands, I cant get the price to match the £30 I have seen quoted on here but £55 sounds reasonable enough.

Just got to choose my colour..

it was posted the other day with a misleading title, the way the forks folded looked very clever…

Sam if it wasnt for you coming in 2nd last night and owning a bike company I would argue with you..

Yeah I am a stalker. 🙂

Yeah but its a consumable part so there is a big call for it, its brand new, look up the price on CRC, knock enough off the set to make it attractive. You are way off on the £120 thing, as said thats more than a new chainset.

edit, i take it all back…
He is right you know, the outer ring for the latest XT is £77 alone, and they do add up to about £120, the self same chainset is only £140…. wierd.

njee20 I got asked once wether there was a mechanical advantage to being in the big ring rather than the equivilent middle and rear combination, but wasnt clever enough to work it out, my theory was the leverage was the same as the BB is the fulcrum and the pedal arm length the leverage, so my guess was there wasnt a mechanical advantage, discounting drag and flex in a ring.

Would be quite interested to find the truth though..

They are new so just knock a few quid off CRC price, still be a good deal.

without fail I always wear the big ring out fastest…

Bloody hell, I wear out middles but thats it…

But look on the bright side, the mud and gloop when you go on your maiden ride will bed all the new drivetrain and brakes in nicely.