the T adds a threshold adjuster

It’s even more minor than that, the RLT has an external adjuster, the RL you need an allen key. Can’t say I’d pay a penny extra for the RLT to be honest.

Not too bad, I swapped the oil when I did mine. Just a case of undoing a couple of nuts, taking the stanchions and lowers apart, sticking a bit of plastic, and putting them back together.

If you follow the basic service guide, and buy the few bits it suggests for that you’ll be well away. Always handy checking they have the right amount of oil in anyway.

I dunno, Full Floater seems pretty accurate.

Well given his last post was about frames he’d consider I thought the discussion was still on. To be honest, he said he decided before this thread was even up so it all seems a bit irrelevant.

My money would be on a 14″ 456, the 18″ and 16″ didn’t work, it’s the next logical progression. Scooters seem to be in fashion now too?

One of the new Metas?

Edit: That Cotic looks lovely, even though it’s a bit weird and made of steel.

Wonder how many Whippets FP sold for them last month.

I have to admit, I’d have really liked to see the Dirty Harry review, it’s a shame they can’t do a straight-to-website review, which would allow PX to link it if they wanted. Everyone would be happy?

The whole thing sounds like two drama queens blowing their ego-power-trumpets in each others face*. I think Brant’s reaction to the situation was far worse than the out of context quote he put up to be honest.

*not a euphemism

I really like the look of that, I’ve got a 2010 Tricross Comp and it’s been fantastic. Lots of odd carbon bits and strange tube shaping though, that one looks much more clean. My only real issue is that there’s loads of toe overlap with the front wheel.

In all honesty though, I think I’d just get a 29er with rack mounts were I buying again. Commuting in on my Scandal at the mo, it just feels a bit more fun, very short trip though.

Not too bad, they had a 22″ in their demo fleet this year. I took it out, really liked it and bought one.

It’s a monster frame! The whole head tube/down tube interface is massive. Usually hate how bikes scale up, the top sizes look like the smaller ones but with a stupidly long seat tube, the Five actually manages to pull it off though.

Christ you’re right, 750 bike with darts, from the company with the biggest buying power in the world. Completely inconceivable, it must be fixed!

The whippet had a fantastic score in the latest wmb, this sounds more like Brant throwing his toys out the pram because he’s not the centre of attention for five minutes. How does he react to not being in the test? Quote the private email and try to cause some damage. Wouldn’t be hugely surprised if they just sacked off reviewing on one altogether.

Define panned (6/10 isn’t panned), and had the advertiser just reduced their spend?

Of course it is, the scale is generally 4/5 for everything, with the odd deviation from that, 3/5 seems as wild as 5/5 to be honest. 2/5 bikes usually don’t seem to work and Specialized/Giant/Trek/all the big spenders don’t normally make many of these.

Take the recent forks roundup in WMB, 19 forks from a few random brands, the lowest got 3, the highest got 4.

Anyway:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-specialized-hardrock-se-12-45790

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-scott-scale-29-comp-12-45952

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-trek-bikes-top-fuel-99-ssl-11-42463

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-giant-talon-2-11-40855

Any other brands you’re after? It’s not all a big conspiracy. They just ran out of space in a grouptest and decided to bench the bike from the smaller company that wasn’t paying.

Aren’t you supposed to muscle the forks round/make them work/have your weight over the front on a hardtail though?!!

Not while sat down I don’t. If I want my weight forward I stand up. Having a small bike so you can simultaneously be off the back and weight forward sounds a bit bonkers?

My other bike is a 21″ Scandal 29er, run most of last year rigid. I find the transition between the two bikes brutal, totally different muscles required on the hardtail. At first it feels totally draining as you rarely get to sit down for long, generally end up forgetting about it once getting a bit fitter.

That’ll be because, wait for it, your frame’s too small. Your weight is right over the front of the bike and a lot of it being supported by your hands. On a larger frame a greater proportion will be supported by your arse. I speaketh from experience here young grasshopper.

I disagree with that one. Shorter bike, you’re more upright, the above pic is handy reference. Longer bike you’re more stretched out and the weight is more distributed.

I speaketh from experience too, my 22″ Five got built up last week, hehe.

Hold on, so its 32 miles each way, the third most dangerous road in the UK, finishing at 4am and you have no road bike?

Sounds like a great idea! :wink:

Crewe – Wrexham by train, hop off and cycle the rest?

Edit: Maybe not, £8 a day even with a huge season ticket by train.

I’ve just gone back to normal Finish Line Dry, it does make a bit of a mess and need cleaning every now and then. Getting more than 1 ride out of it though.

well it seems im the only one who doesnt recommend squirt then

Nah, a few people said the same :-) Think it depends where you ride.

So many suggestions of squirt for long lasting lube. Bizarrely I’m struggling to think of a shorter lasting lube. Especially around here when it’s dusty, barely makes 1 ride.

End up reapplying so often that chunks of it build up in areas that the chain rarely touches. Can’t be bothered with it anymore.

Using SB8s at the moment here, on 19mm rims, finding them a bit narrow and brutal to be honest. Had big Nevegals on there before but they weighed the earth, and held mud so badly they scratched my frame to bits at SITS last year (Scandal). Loved the size though.

I’m looking for something high volume, quick clearing, and lightish here too. Ralphs a good bet? 2.25 Ralph would be wider than my 2.1 SB8s? How are 2.4 Ralphs/Nics on 19mm rims?

Did look at Maxxis Ikons, but there seem to be lots of reports of the tread bubbling and falling to bits.

Wait a few hours, then sneak out in the dead of night, graffiti MURDERER on his door in red paint then sneak home. You never know, he sounds pretty crackers, he may well be! You even know where he lives.

Just built up a 22″, first one I saw was on a demo a month or so back. Doesn’t look as gangly as most bikes I end up on. Just been on a quite test ride to make sure everything is good for tomorrow :-)

The routing through the swingarm was fun, ngggh. I’ll take a better pic tomorrow, the neighbours looked at me funny, so I thought the best thing to do was hastily get back inside.

Note the SDG saddle.

Might just be a design thing, I think in most frames that would have been MORE than enough, especially given you weren’t running a huge amount of seatpost out the top.

Given where it snapped on the top tube it looks like the brace at the top didn’t help a huge amount.

Your modification should make it easier to get to that water bottle on the plus side.

To be honest, you had a lot more seatpost in there than I normally do though. Can’t say they’ve ever exploded.

Err, except for the carbon Zaskar, it deserved it though.

To be honest, your setup looks just like that one in the Thomson example.

Woah, that video is amazing. Wonder why they didn’t do this exact thing a long time ago. The concrete wall bit at the end is absolutely nuts.

Tortec ultralite here too, needed bending a bit to get it on the 61cm version. It also lacks clips at the bottom for holding bags on, ended up using zip ties. Was nice and light tho :)

Bit more weight hiding in there, those tyres are like 850g or something bonkers.

You guys should group together and see if you can figure out that caps lock key.

WD Mybook Live NAS drive here, appeared on the network fine, runs Linux so installing Subversion and the like wasn’t too much of a chore. The thing sits on 24/7 now, loving it.

What drive was it just out of curiosity?

I had an ’04 Micra. It died at five years old, but not before having issues with the electrics, the engine (four starter motors in three years), the ignition, the central locking, the EGR valve and the windscreen wipers. Amongst other things. ’03 – ’07 Micras are actually Renaults in disguise. -_-

Some councils don’t help matters by refusing entry to their recycling depots to people with domestic waste

I’ve had that. We’d just moved into our new place, and we’d still got a hire van from Enterprise. The sister-in-law and myself decided to drop off the cardbox for the TV at the recycling centre on the way to Ikea, but when we got there, they told us it’d cost £35 because we were in a van. So we parked over the road and carried the box across, put the box in the cardboard section and the polystyrene and packaging in the non-recyclable bit.

One of the blokes came up to us and was really quite unpleasant and aggressive. He told us that he knew we’d come in a van, and that what we were doing was technically flytipping as we were dumping ‘commercial waste’, and that we could be fined thousands. I asked how it was classed as commercial waste, as it was one cardboard box, and our hire van (emblazoned with the Enterprise logo) wasn’t even parked on-site. He just kept on being abusive, then rather charitably said that he’d, “Let us off this time”.

Apparently, what I should have driven the cardboard box to the centre in the car, then driven back home, swapped to the van then gone to Ikea. Because of course, that’s better for the environment.

I was actually left a bit shaken afterwards, and I’ve avoided the recycling centre, leading to more of our stuff being disposed of in the general waste. I won’t go there without Mr Toast now, as crappy old arseholes on a power trip tend to be rather more timid when faced with a 6ft 6 bloke. I did ponder writing a letter to the council, but meh.

No excuse for flytipping though.

EDIT: Derp, this is Mrs Toast by the way. Mr Toast isn’t married to himself, or suffering from split personality disorder.

Another +1 for the S2. The Nexus is slower than the S2 in the vast amount of benchmarks due to having the same graphics chipset as the old S1, yet with a huge screen. The Note is pretty meaty, but it’ll make you look really small or far away.

I’d assume the next one to push the tech along will be the S3.

I’ve had 3 sets of Hope Hoops, every set has been fantastic. I’d definitely go standard spokes as above, it means you can pick up spares in virtually any bike shop (and you get some with them anyway).

You’d save 50g with the Mavics, which equates roughly to those 16 spokes you’ve taken out and the 2mm narrower rim.

Yazoo from the nearest garage on the way home.

Bought a couple on 0%, Meta 55 XT and Stumpy Elite for the wife. Both paid off fine, can’t see the harm in it really unless you’re hugely worried about your job prospects, both bikes long outlasted the finance.

It’s like saving up, in reverse.

Buying a mobile phone contract is much the same, you’re buying a phone on credit and getting a contract you could get for much less in the deal.

I thought I was set wanting a 2012 Stumpy Evo, but this thread makes me want one of those cheapo 2009 575 frames from CRC :(

The high BB is the one thing that puts me off, I quite like sliding along the ground bumping on the rocks.

No, I’m lost. It sounds more like Orange’s “frame alone” price is hideously overpriced, rather than the full bike is a bargain. In the one you linked, vs an O5 AM (£3k):

X0 chainset (£300) vs Evolve chainset (£100)
Reverb (£250) vs Evolve Ride XC (£20)
Avid X0 brakes (£300) vs Avid Elixir 5 (£100)

Both have own brand bars and stems. Simple maths.

Imagine if the O5 frame alone was £2k, that’d make the full bikes even better value!

Yes. An Orange Five with SLX/XT and cheap Raceface finishing kit is less than a 160mm bike with X0 gearing and a Reverb.

Why do you expect the Nukeproof to be cheaper? Because it’s not been welded in this country?

The Nukeproof looks like a good deal here, way higher kit than most brands would stick on at that price. The Nukeproof own brand stuff is solid too.

The Cube 29ers are bargains, miles better value than the Carves.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=72855

Or if he wanted to chuck another £400 in there’s a very flash looking carbon version.

Pretty sure the next batch coming are 18″ only also.

Indeed, which seems a bit rubbish really. The Race frame was supposedly made in a top end factory, no expense spared, very light, yours for £499.

…or you could buy one of these new Dirty Harry frames that look very much like an ebay imported frame, with some stickers, for exactly the same price.

Hmm

The fact that 29er Race frames have only ever been available in 18″ sort of scuppered them from me from the word go. Supposedly new sizes are due, or were about a year ago or something.

Err glass = gloss obviously, glass frames sound rubbish!

Are they all matte, or are there some glass ones like:

http://www.pro-elbows.co.uk/2012/01/london-bike-show.html

?

Looks nice :)

I was hunting for something like this, where does it sit in the lineup? Heavier than a Race XC, lighter than a Lurcher? Or is it a Lurcher by another name?