On the second point I did try an exorail before settling on the dp mount. It was definitely more a more rigid connection but I felt like it was therefore transfering all the sideways swinging load of the bag into the shaft keys on the dropper post and so seemed to make the side play in the dropper worse. This might just be me over thinking it but decided that would rather have a bit of sway in the bag than potentially knacker my dropper post. Might be ok with a smaller saddle bag.

I also tried the enduro collar for a saddle bag support. Didn’t notice scoring but did find that strap would work its way off and it also limited me to half travel on the post. I now use the topeak dp mount linked above. It solves the saddle bag mount problem, still allows practically full travel and is also handy as a kind of mudguard for the post. A note on fitting the dp mount though, I have a 27.2 brand X dropper and found that the shims included with the dp mount weren’t quite right for the shaft diameter so ended up fitting it around the head of the post just above the shaft.

I would support the view on Epson option. I have been really impressed by our Epson ecotank printer. Higher initial cost but ink is cheap, last for ages and does not need cartridges so potentially less waste and hassle.
https://www.epson.co.uk/for-home/ecotank/

Sounds like you are doing a great job for the first year, thanks for posting the honey video, watching flow out of the extractor is one of the most satisfying parts of keeping bees.
One other bit of advice I thought may be handy for your first winter is to try to avoid the temptation to check on the hive. It is hard, but honestly they will do fine by themselves if you just give them a warm hive and a bit of food then just leave them to do their thing and wait for them to start up again in the spring. e.g. just lift the roof enough to top up the food and that is about it. In our experience too much disturbance over winter seems to result in an unsettled hive the next year.

For us in Scotland have found we do need insulation to help out in snow and wind particularly for weaker hives.
We did try the insulated hive covers initially but found that got damp underneath so would not recommend. Last winter tried using the cork insulation from Thorne. This has blocks to fit in the outer recesses of a national hive and replaces the two outermost frames with insulation. Seems to work well as insulation and avoid the condensation issues of a complete cover. one hive did have a bit of a nibble on the insulation in the frames the others left it alone.
https://www.thorne.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=8022&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0IDtBRC6ARIsAIA5gWvIhjrakLRhhbQxZAzcXRF-s-RRBJIbokr1H1FapNzeYGAz_a1yS10aAl7XEALw_wcB

I found that a superstar components raptor chainring worked for going to a single ring on sram 94 bcd cranks. Was slightly dubious that they claimed was both 94 ad 96 bcd compatible but took a punt when they had a sale and it did work.

This may be an option for you if you are willing to reduce your gearing slightly, looks like they only go up to a max of 36t in that model.

In the end though I just got a set of direct mount cranks from ebay because they looked neater and was needing to replace BB at same time. For your situation it looks like superstar do go up to 40t in direct mount chainrings so maybe an easier option long term option to get some cranks.

I had some Aions fitted as OEM on my hard tail for a few years and was initially pretty happy but found a couple of annoying things over time:
– q loc is a neat idea but the petals can jam and make action gritty when muddy and wet
– mine did not have the remote lock out but just the compression dial on fork leg which did not actually provide the ability to lock the damper. I thought this would not bother me initially but did grate over time, especially when using the bike to get to work
– Aions have a coil negative spring which can be swapped to suit rider weight, I ended up going down to the lightest spring which did allow me to get the fork more supple but could only be bought from suntour USA which made it expensive once taxes and shipping were paid
– similarly expensive for spares for spares e.g. seals, not sure if seals from other brand 34mm forks might work?
– Mine had a token type system in the positive air spring but it was just a cylinder of hard foam stuff, I think aftermarket ones had actual tokens but never got a definite answer on if my model was compatible so to avoid wasting money just left it as it was but was always annoying that could not experiment

Maybe says it all that I ended up selling mine on ebay at the end of last year and switching to some rigid forks on that bike which I prefer now for weight loss and lack of faff!

Overall I would say that if you just want a fork that gives ok performance for not loads of cash then maybe worth a look. However any type of tuning or servicing did get expensive for parts. I have to say Suntour USA were helpful though and did send me some exploded drawings to try and help with working out the right parts for my model.

I came across this thread last week when searching for help when I also had the base came out of my helix post on a ride. Have now fixed the post and done a couple of test rides and thought would add my findings for any one else having problems and expand on some of the points above

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>The air pressure is for the return spring so should not matter about rider weight, just how fast you want the post to rise and how gunky the seals are on the post. </span>Greasing the post shaft seal makes a massive difference, I followed the process in the video USE have posted on youtube and now get a good return speed at about 55psi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFjBEbbl2-o

The advice I had from USE was to keep pressure below 70psi if I can. With a fresh greased post 70psi is pretty scary fast. After 2 wet rides over the weekend 55psi still seems to be ok. A good point on this post is that the valve is accessible so if needed could be topped up mid ride if you are carrying a shock pump.

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>With refitting the post I have also found that a stiffer cable outer helps keep a larger bend radius within the frame to help with tight routing. The fibrax cable which came with the post got a bit mangled when the post failed and just replaced it with some used old outer I had to hand. This is a stiffer cable and seems to help force the cable to take a larger curve over the bb in my frame (orange segment). Even with the replacement outer being used it has made the cable pull slicker over the original cable.</span>

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>For tight cable routing a lever with more advantage also seems to help. I originally experimented with the lever from an e13 post from my partners bike and in the end settled on a wolf tooth light action lever, this was before the cable change but haven’t tried back with the original lever yet.</span>

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>A</span><span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>fter a couple of months owning and despite one failure I am still pretty happy with the USE post. </span>I seem to go through cycles where I get fed up with bleeding reverbs and go to a mechanically locked post before they break and switch back. I not sure there is a perfect dropper post yet but for me I would prioritise ease of maintenance in a design, I prefer to be able to fix stuff myself with minimum of faff rather than need to rely on sending away to the supplier. <span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>In total was about an hour to rebuild and fit the helix and only needed spanners and normal bike tools. In my experience rebuilding a reverb to get rid of sag was a similar time but need a special kit, bench vice and soft jaws.</span>

Value for money? on purchase price alone I am not sure when you add in the lever and the availability of other droppers for £100-£150. I guess I am in a position where I can afford to spend more on British manufacturing which is what swung my choice when looking for a new dropper post (I am an engineer though so possibly over sentimental about others making stuff in the UK). Will need to assess long term on life and service cost to really assess value.

For what its worth I would also say that the USE support team were really quick and helpful with answers to my questions when rebuilding the post.