Ah cheers, good to know. I think we'll have to have a hunt about this weekend. The garage only got back to us today, so we've not had a look anywhere yet. I'm just seeing if there are any obvious bargains or disasters to avoid really :)

Oh or a DeLorean :D

Yeah, to be honest I don't drive, the missus does, so I'm shockingly naive in the car buying department. This is my attempt at doing research :)

The less the better, I'm completely skint after going stupid and blowing all my cash and banking on finance :( I did actually suggest just getting a £500 banger for a while, this didn't go down very well though.

She quite likes the look of Corsas after having one in the past, which was cheap to keep going, and we had a hire car which seemed pretty solid. I like the idea of a Fiesta or Focus, as they seem common as muck, so I'm banking on them being cheap to keep going. There seems to be a lot of positive reviews floating about for both.

Chrome runs a thread per active window/Flash pane/Java applet etc, which is how it goes faster. This obviously comes at the expense of more overheads and slowing everything else down though.

Firefox here, if you don't like the addons remove them.

Cotic Soul?

Awesome vid. Normally people watch retro vids to mock the fashion, in this case they probably look more cool than modern bikers, pre-lycra. I like the wide riser bars we've veered away from and back too as well, another foot or so and we'll have gone full cirlce.

Wish more rides like this existed nowadays, I'd grow a beard especially.

Kona Jake?

I thought it was more of a 700cc bike as opposed to a 'proper' MTB 29er?

It's got a bit more tyre clearance, I'm sure it'd fit some CX type tyres if nothing else.

I have found that they do ride quite heavily even with an ok build and aren't as nice as most of the other steel frames on the market. I'd say for general messing around on and commuting – great

Ah cheers, just curious really in case it was secretly a Sutra frame or similar in disguise :) Might just man up and get a proper cyclocross as it ticks all the boxes (bridleway type touring/commuting), I've never gone with drops before which is why I'm pondering the safe alternatives.

Chucked you a mail Gee regarding a potential swap if the other one falls though ;) 355s that is, I'm after some Hope Hoops on Flows.

it is a full size downhill style frame

That was the line that got me! I'm with that guy, more rigid 29ers downhilling please.

Shame really as that's EXACTLY what I'm looking for, same size and everything. Grr.

6'6" with long legs.

XL Ibis Mojo – both trail bikes have long seatposts
XL Commencal Meta
21" Stumpjumper HT – bigger than the other 2, gets used for commuting/road rides too

I'm yet to try a 29er properly, but very keen to replace the Stumpy with one this year I think ('03 Stumpy). Curiously I tried a Niner hardtail at Bikeradar's demo day last year, it was fairly muddy and the tyres* seemed VERY keen to fire out sideways. Since then I've not really given it much of a chance. There's one little rocky loose climb on the trail which I must say was easier on that bike than anything else I've ridden though!

* WTB Wolverine 29 if I recall correctly, racing tyres which seem equally fast sideways as they were forwards.

As I said when I started this thread, I'm test riding an Orange 5 next week in xl which has a slightly longer effective top tube, albeit only 12mm. When I've had it for a couple of days I will post my thoughts on it.

I'd be intruiged to hear how you get on actually :) Demo'ing XL bikes is always a pain in the arse, at the big events it's usually about 50/50 whether manufacturers have big bikes. Lapierre and Yeti for example, for the past couple of years I've been keen to demo both but their own demo fleets don't have either in XL. Grr.

What do you ride at the moment? As I mentioned I find higher front ends work a bit better for me, my Meta isn't crazy high, standard spacers and things:

I've never had trouble with nerves in my hands on it though. Oddly I demo'd a 22" Trance X and it had the gate feeling a bit for me, short and high with a huge stem.

6'6" here and ride a Meta 5.5 in XL. Curiously I don't normally get on with shorter bikes, I sold an XL Avalanche due to it feeling cramped, but with the Meta I get on very well.

Shorter bikes with lower front ends always leave my weight pitched too far forward, on the bars. I found I couldn't heave the bike around properly and got lots of nerve pains in my hand, which has never been an issue before. Shorter bikes with higher front ends and I'm fine.

I also ride a 2003 Stumpjumper HT which is lower at the front but very long so it works fine. I've bought a Mojo frame to play about with next year, I've only been on a spin around the local roads on it so far but it felt fine. All my bikes I run with a high rise 685mm bars and 90mm stems, I didn't like the feel of anything longer and haven't been prepared to shell out on anything lower.

Terrible IMO, I had a set which seemed to be very flexy. Much more so than my (also 24 spoke) Crossrides so I sold them on thinking it was just a lightweight wheel issue. It turned out there was an issue with the axle and they ended up being replaced under warranty.

Since then I've seen dozens of reviews of bikes with them on (a Whyte in MBR a couple of months back springs to mind), all stating the bikes are great but let down by very shoddy wheels. The newish M775 hubs aren't without flaws but the ones used on the M775 factory set are even worse. I've seen stacks of them on here with hub issues, ranging from cones coming loose every day to locking up completely.

Weight wise, they do come in just over 1600g, but this is due to very 24 light spokes, a very thin dainty rim with a meaty hub in the middle. For about the same weight and £228 (from Winstanleys) you could get a set of Pro IIs, 32 solid, replacable spokes and a ZTR 355 rim. Mine have been faultless and I've seen lots of similar comments on here.

Don't expect to replace anything on the XT factory set if it goes, the hub is completely custom and not available to buy separately, same goes for the rim obviously.

They are pretty though, that's about the only plus I've noticed :P

Excluding unbranded random bikes pre about 7 years old:

Raleigh Lizard (still in my parents garage!)
1997 Raleigh Max Cromo "
2001 Specialized Enduro (sold, unfortunately)
2003 Stumpjumper HT (still have)
2007 GT Avalanche 1.0 (sold)
2007 Specialized FSR XC (sold)
2008 Commencal Meta XT (still have)
2008 Zaskar Carbon Team (cracked, cash back via warranty)

Wow, that was an unfortauntely short list.

why not just ride in the daylight!

For a start, that limits your rides to 2 hours long in winter.

Sorry, you've lost me there… What had always been there?

Hehe, sorry. Quite suprised seeing a Maverick around the Chase, as I say, I was just pondering the pros and cons of buying one this weekend. It did look better in the flesh than the photos oddly, I think it's the jauntly angle everyone takes bike photos from.

Ah, were you at the bike wash at about 3pm mboy, with a chap on a Santa Cruz of some sort (looked a bit like a Superlight)? I bizarrely got there late today, then got a very random headache. Assuming it was you, I was the very bewildered looking chap sat on the grassy bank in a garish yellow jacket.

How did the Mav fair around FTD? I was very tempted by one myself recently and want something a bit lighter for endurance racing next summer.

Quite suprised to see one on FTD as soon as we arrived, and pondered if they'd always been there, but I'd never noticed them before. Perhaps not.

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………………………………………….. …………….__„-~”¯¯:::,-~~-,_::::”-
………………………………………….. ……….„~”¯::::::::::::::”::::::::::::::::::\
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……………………………………__-~”::,-‘::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::~-,
………………………_______~”___-~”:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::”-,
………………….,~”::::::::::::::¯¯:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::,: |
………………..:/:::::::::::::::::__-~”:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::_,-~”:’\’-,:\:|:\|::\|\::\:|
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Stranger: You again??!!
Your conversational partner has disconnected.

haha, this is genius

You’re now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
You: Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey, Chim chim cher-ee!
Stranger: Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey, Chim chim cher-ee!
You: A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey, Chim chim cher-oo!
Stranger: A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey, Chim chim cher-oo!
You: Good luck will rub off when I shakes ‘ands with you!
Stranger: Good luck will rub off when I shakes ‘ands with you!
You: Yay!
You: Thanks for singing along

Oddly singing Mary Poppins songs works better though.

Everyone on there seems to think it’s a top spot to chat people up. My huge list of pirate phrases really isn’t working.

Just got back in from taking my white Zaskar for a spin on the moon.

Toasty: Is that a large?

No, extra large! It measures a whopping 21.5″, GT don’t seem to do most of their range that big so it was quite fortunate.

Age: Spring chicken.

Slightly out of date pic, Fox F100s, lighter speedy tyres and IBeam seatpost setup now.

If you intend to tether it to a laptop T-mobile seems to be the best, it’s a fiver addon ontop of their Web’n’walk tarrifs, you can get the lot for <£30. O2 have recently put out a statement saying they’re aware people are using tethering without paying for it and they’re cracking down on it.

http://www.slashgear.com/o2-warn-unofficial-iphone-tethering-may-prompt-disconnection-1847347/%5B/url%5D

Unless you’re using an iphone there doesn’t seem to be much benefit to getting O2 imo.

Oh and on the N95 note, we use a car charger when we’re using the GPS. It’s a small screen but big enough to see an arrow and you get the voice directions telling you which turn to take etc. The GPS works well, I don’t use it for sports tracker when I’m in the woods, through a Camelbak and tree cover it seems a bit patchy. On the road though it’s fine, the newer firmware spots where you are much faster as well. The iPhone hasn’t had ANY guided GPS since release anyway, I’m pretty lost as to what it thinks people use GPS for, wasted feature.

Image wise:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3111/2734290475_d71662a157_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3273/2714377675_e89cac8ec5_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3551/3491718739_d20f9bd17c_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2040/2383230838_af70820a9e_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3293/3354838130_239f811f50_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/2697075505_7da39ae225_b.jpg

They’re not perfect, it oversaturates quite badly if you take shots into the light, bright photos like the last one can come out grainy too. It’s a mobile phone camera though, could do a lot worse. Due to the micro-SD slot I’ve got a good few GB of storage on there as well.

The iPhone is just so far advanced in every way it just not true.

Well, except for the above I guess, I still think the GPS is leagues behind. Yes, it’s got a bigger screen but aside from that it seems to do less :P It’s also literally a newer phone, it must be a year newer than the N95? And this is the original model, 3G must be a couple of years newer.

Can’t really argue with the browser, it is a bit of a pain, it does render everything well though, even a lot of Flash stuff. Hence thinking the N97 with a big screen might be good :) Once the 30 day novelty of wasting money on apps had run out I think I’d feel a bit cheated on the old tech with a spangley UI approach of the iPhone. :P

Tethering is part of the OS 3.0 update (I believe… soon find out as I’m downloading it now) if so then you don’t need the 3GS for it.

True, unless you’re really trying hard to hide what you’re doing though it’s easy to see it’s a laptop and not a phone using the connection though. They have data bolt-ons set up for that:

http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/internet.html

Absolutely nuts pricing. I’m on a £35 (well £30 tarriff + £5 to tether) contract at the mo and can tether with a wire or via wifi. Takes the pee a bit that these phones offer this and we’ve already paid for data usage, yet these companies see this as another avenue to fleece a bit more cash.

Odd one, I actually found my N95 by far the best phone I’ve ever had. What did people find bad in particular? Even the UI speed I found miles better than other similar smartphones. Also:

The camera is top notch for quick snaps, I can upload to my flickr instantly as well. No chance would I take a proper camera out with me biking.
The wealth of apps means I can do what I want with it, it’s got little bits, Sports Tracker, a Gmail client, joikuspot (use your phone as a wireless router), Geocaching stuff, loads of bits. All free.
The built in GPS genuinely works like a proper in car GPS. We’ve let it guide us all over the place, it gets used about once a month minimum I’d say.
I tether it to my laptop when we’re away from the house and have mobile broadband, it’s fast enough for browsing and streaming vids/small downloads.

I’m a bit lost as to what I want next as well, the iPhone wins on ergonomics but loses on lots of other fronts. The tethering stuff is a pain, the 3G S supports it now but O2 charge £15 EXTRA a month if you want to do it. Did even ponder trying out a random Windows Mobile device like the HTC Touch HD which got decent reviews. If I can have my same contract with an N97 though I’d guess I’d go that route for all of the above.

The estimated number for my Flows on Pro IIs were very, very accurate much to my surprise, just under 1900g. 355s on Pro IIs are quoted as 1653g which isn’t too bad, it still seems like overkill though really. Removing weight from the heavy XT hubs, and putting it on the spokes instead. The 24x comps on the XTs at the moment are fine, flexy but it’s a racey bike so I let it off.

I think I’ll pester the local shop to let me demo something with the rovals on, quite easy to see if a wheel is going to flex. Maybe Traversees are a better bet with the Supercomp spokes, just wish they did a version with a narrow rim :)

Looks like my bike is desinted to never hit the mythical 20lbs :( hehe.

At 14 st, have you looked at the standard Pro II build with Flow rims? Hope Hoops through Wheel Pro sound like they’d suit you perfectly.

Well, no, not really as I’m after light racing wheels :)

1900g, 28mm wide indestructable wheels are a different kettle of fish to 1400-1600g race wheels. I’m not a burly freerider, I’m 6’6″ tall with a BMI of 22.6 apparently. I’ve got Flows on Pro IIs on my Meta :) This set would be for a ~22lb carbon Zaskar running narrow racey tyres.

I might just stick on the XT for the moment, it just seems a shame. So much weight is lost in the hubs, something like the Roval Controle looks very similar but with lighter Dt240-style hubs. Maybe XTR would be a better bet, so expensive at the moment though, £400 became £600 overnight.

Don’t take this the wrong way but…

I wouldn’t trust either considering you’re almost 200lbs! My friend weighs under 165lbs and he says his rovals are super flexy and doesnt trust them when riding agressively.

Nah, don’t think I would either to be honest. Just seeing if anyone had any experience in the matter. Pro IIs on ZTR 355 with 32 DT Comp spokes is infinitely more likely, given I’ve been riding for a year on 24 spokes though I was just wondering how a lighter set would compare.

Mine seems to creak with carbon grease, normal grease or no grease, this is an alloy post in a carbon Zaskar frame. The only solution I’ve found is to tighten it up as tight as I can, which I’m not a fan of doing.

The frame does look like it has some sort of aluminium shim inside so I’m not sure what sort of grease I’m supposed to be using. I’ve tried an SDG IBeam post and a Thomson post with the same results.

Bah ;(

Why has the sole point for comparison between Windows and Mac OS got to be ease of use? I work every day on a PC, it has a piece of software for everything I require, most third party apps by companies who specialise in their respective areas. If something goes wrong with any we can physically email that company and get support.

Windows is generally quite a bare OS, yes it comes with a few random apps, they’re normally just .exe files dropped in there though to give it some basic usability and add features to their sales pitch. Do want my operating system to nicely catagorise my music and make my photos into a nice coffee table photo album? No, not really, and if it did I’d download an application to do this.

I don’t use Acrobat for viewing PDFs, it’s slow and tries its best to pester me about updates. I stuck Foxit on, 3mb, tabbed viewing, free, very fast. I like having the choice what I use, not being told Mac software is best because it’s best for someone else?

Much as I don’t use iTunes, it’s a huge bulky tool, it reencodes things it doesn’t understand into another lossy format, further losing quality. I’m using Winamp, tiny app, does everything I want, plays everything, very low memory usage, masses of plugins incase I require anything odd (remote control support, more file formats, visualisations etc).

Headset presses and bike scales, both about £60 a pop, bargain. The bike scales are particularly bad, has no company thought to rebrand a well made Chinese ripoff?

6’6″ here, used to be about 210lbs, now about 200. Commencal Meta or Spesh Enduro for me, both fit fantastically. I’ve owned the Meta for about a year now and still love it to bits, the Enduro I rode at a demo day (after riding lots of others which I didn’t get on with) felt very similar, slightly more efficient, slightly less gung ho.

They’re only marginally lighter than M540 and way more expensive…a silly choice in my book, but I place vfm quite highly!

Much like M540s are exactly the same weight as M520s and double the cost I guess :)

“tire”? What’s with the American English? :P

Yeah Fire XC are still popular for all round riding, decent weight, decent grip, can’t go too wrong.

I wonder if the price will have hiked at all, it seemed odd some retailers could comfortably sell for £100 less than others all year round. Freeborn claim June for new stock.

Perfect, ordered them with the cheapest delivery option. Within 24 hours they arrived, quick spin tonight and they’re infinitely better. Just what i was after!

Went for the cheaper Nano in the end, the Mag Lite looked a bit thin at the ends like the V8s.