Wouldn’t that require one to last a long time? :)

“Most sorted all round 29er” is an 80mm travel xc frame?

Looks nice, it’s like a heavier Scott Spark with less travel and Dave Weagles million dollar name written on the seat stays.

The linked review is for the 26″ Oozys by the looks of it, CRC claim 1800g for the 29ers. Would be a bargain if they are the same width rim.

Not an easy thing to Google at work :)

http://bikemagic.com/gear/spank-oozy-26-evo-wheelset-review.html – ooh, that said, there’s the 29ers.

Similar sizing to Pacenti TL28s, wonder how they’d compare to some Tesla + Pacenti wheels. The 26″ weight is similar.

Ride 21″+ bikes here so wheelbase didn’t hugely change. Generally running bars higher than I used to on 26″ bikes so it’s been easier if anything.

Chainstays are 25mm longer on my Stumpy FSR 29er, than my 26″ Five.

There’s so many standards, everything’s niche these days.

From that site:

You have the right to reject your item and get a refund within four weeks of purchase

That fact that it’s survived 2 months is where their argument will come in. Perfectly within their rights to just replace it.

Firstly they asked me to take it to my local bike shop for a set up. They paid. This did not sort the problem.

The local bike shop set up the bike and didn’t notice the jockey wheel was stuck?

Astroturfing btw!

I listen to music road, trail and commuting. Don’t use the ear blocking headphones, so can still merrily have a conversation with someone or hear a car nearby. Done it for years, never been an issue.

Even around events like Mayhem I’ll have an earphone in. Didn’t ever have an issue with riders shouting to pass.

Yes, but the upper stay will remain level when braking (due to the orientation of the upper link), meaning braking remains consistent throughout the travel.

Ooh, I see. Sounds quite snazzy.

Interestingly sounds like the polar opposite of a Spearfish/Horsethief, where you’d get a massive spring rate curve as it has to fight against the flex stays.

Not sure how they can claim “Incredible pedaling efficiency”, unless they’re totally relying on shock technology. The pros/cons sounds very like a 4-bar surely?

The claimed weight is about the same as my Stumpy FSR 29er came in at. Will be interesting seeing how it does :)

Surely it’s still a single pivot technically? A linkage actuated one.

Shame it’s quoting plain 4130 chro-mo instead of some posh Reynolds stuff, like the Sir 9. Not convinced personally.

Totally agree with the STW side on this one. You got told off, do you NEED the last word OP? Grow up.

Personally like the regular little prizes :) Can’t say I want this one, entered the previous one for the wheels though.

Loving my new Stumpjumper FSR 29er here. Bought one of these £800 frames:

http://www.bikescene.co.uk/Specialized-Stumpjumper-FSR-Comp-29-Frame-5988-0-0.html

Built it up with a 130mm Rev 29er, Merlin’d an SLX groupset. Frame weight was about 7lbs for a monster big size.

The huge wheels almost mask the fact it’s an XXL frame! Definitely not spaghetti, 142×12 axle on the back end probably helps.

A FS is also perceived as being too ‘pro’

Curiously I always see it the other way around. If I’m not skillful enough to ride somewhere I’ll full sus it :)

I’d say my riding mates are about 50/50, people seem to go through phases of one or the other.

Prefer the Saracen here too. To be honest you could swap the frames and sell the old one on here for no real cost.

Got both here as well, I’d go SLX if there’s more than £10 or so saved. Both are fantastic.

Cheers! I’d had my eye on both :)

there are, however, plenty of races out there that DO have this, give them a go too!

Do you have any favourites just out of interest? Always get tempted by this and SITs purely for the scale I think.

Found it really hard gauging how far through the course I was curiously, it felt very samey start to end, where Eastnor definitely felt more varied.

Overall I can’t see what makes this event any better then Sleepless in the saddle or Twentyfour12.

I prefer SITS personally, feels a lot more chilled out, quite like being able to zone out a bit more while racing. Shame it’s not on this year.

I thought it rewarded an all round rider more than just a very fit rider a nice balance of technical skill* and uphill prowess

This! :)

Sadly I normally blag it by turning up on a light bike and making it up on the climbs. This year all the climbs were a lot more brutal, barely anyone riding some of them. Ditched the XC hardtail and swapped to a trail bike after my first lap and had a much better time.

Huge respect to the riders making it up that grass climb multiple times! As well as the climb after the Red Bull bit.

Oh and the Wiggle stand was the most barren place out of all the shops. They always manage to find the most irrelevant bits to bring and sell.

the services of a well know rim guru

:?

Best value for money? A machine that’s scrap after two years, or a machine that’s still in use twelve years on?

Best value for money?

An repairable grey box with PC components in it for £500.

A sealed grey box with identical PC components in it, with a picture of an apple on the front, for £2000?

Never broken a PC here, don’t know how you can really, bits break, you fix them for minimal cost. If your chain fell off would it be new bike time? Use Windows 7 at work and home, haven’t had a crash for… must be a couple of years now.

Wooohooooo ! I was just coming on to say I had found the CTRL click thing ! Now the MBA is even more perfecter !!!

Well you’ve got me there. The MBA does indeed have a right click, pure technological perfection.

What I don’t understand is that some of these £6-7k bikes don’t even seem to be cheaper than buying a frame and building it up

Yeah, this is the stuff that baffles me the most, used to be the case that FULL bikes were drastically better value. Really bad example, bit of an easy target (even though I own one):

http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/five_pro/

So we’ve got a £1500 frame, £330 groupset (Merlin), £250 wheelset (and I’m being generous given those rims), £150 finishing kit (which is even more generous), £400 fork. The remaining £400 for them to build it?

I’m not convinced components have hugely gone up in price, just seems to be full bikes taking the p.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/carve-pro-2013-mountain-bike-ec042223

M4 being their cheaper, older alloy. £300 groupset, £300 forks, own brand finishing kit…errr £1000 frame!

Thought you said rigid previously? I’d agreed with you and everything, while secretly planning to take my Five.

True, I just trust a shonky machines wheel building skills more than my own, which is pretty tragic. :-)

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=74&products_id=698

Seem quite hefty too. Their trail wheelset is a better weight, but I’m not going back to 17mm rims.

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=674

I’ve been on course for a few days getting it ready, and its holding up nicely, bring gears unless you love the pain! The camping/arena ground is very very firm.

Top news, thanks! :)

Wonder what their full builds are like, loads of stupid light, very wide wheels for $500.

Do they sneakily sell any other brand names?

If last year is anything to go by, we’ll be fine, you’ll have sunk by Friday afternoon.

I can almost foresee the, “What tyres for my flying bike?” threads.

Mortars

Yeah, its most likely what I’m doing. The idea of grinding up all those grass hills keeps making me consider the other option though :)

It’s probably more that if you want a good spot, with your friends, you need to get there quick. Might even mean they’re trying to avoid the normal thing of fencing off huge areas (which we do too).

Has anyone on here had an early peep at the course? In the typical STW fashion, what tyres are people taking?

Can’t decide between overkill Five with huge Smorg/CM tyres or racey 29er hardtail with Ralphs or Beavers. I’m on a team of 4 anyway, so the wrong choice isn’t the end of the world.

No long wave on his radio? Waiting for next years personally.

I’d have one, were it not for buying a 26″ Five only last year, in 22″ as well! There goes any resale for me.

Loads of Cannock Chase in the 4000s:

http://app.strava.com/segments/3839724 – Ridden 18612 times by 4354 people

The weight’s about 40g or something trivial, even then I think that’s including BB.

Mustn’t…feed…the….troll….

…oh go on, I’m a bit bored… £50 mobo that’ll take a IVB-E xeon with 12 cores and 1866Mhz ECC ram? Linky?

Om nom nom nom.