Damn it…was planning to press the buy button on some shiney new hope hoops this weekend but this has thrown a spanner in the works.

Was planning to get pro 2s on Crests, thinking I could lose at least a pound off the anthems stock wheelset… so how do these compare?

Can I run 355s tubeless without the rim strips
From a quick google, xt hubs look significantly heavier than the hopes, can anyone confirm
I’m assuming that won’t be a set of double butted spokes they’re laced with?

Decisions decisions…

ta

Heckler works on the UKs trail centres just fine, although I run it with a 150 front end day to day. Not sure what it’ll be like with the the Marzhoci 55s on it.

My one gripe is the ridiculously short toptube which means its a great ‘fun bike’ but not massively comfortable for any XC orientated stuff, IMO. Would be a blast in the alps however, and from what I can see fairly indestructable.

Don’t think the older models have changed massively either, so a tatty one a few years old might be perfect!

Hecklers coming with me in June when I head there…In the process of alpifying it just now, slackened the head angle, 160 forks on on their way, and just ordered some minions….

yes..its 3 months away, but I can’t wait to see the Heckler in his natural environment!

Cheers bud, pinged you a mail!

Thanks TJ…

I’ll take your advice on the conditions. Don’t want to knacker them if they’re to boggy. Will ping you a mail anyway, as it will come in useful later in the year.

Cheers

Whats GTX???

Yeah I used non bio, it says ’40 degrees’ is ok on the instructions. Hopefully they won’t be totally goosed!

Given what you do (without having seen your CV) I’d be surprised if you couldn’t pick something else up in a reasonably short period of time (i’m a resource manager for a big bank, we’re always after skills like that). Having said that if you have time before you have to make the choice, I’d be on the phone to some recruitment agencies and looking on the job boards to understand what the demand is for your skills right now, and more importantly what you’d get paid if you jumped ship. That might help make up your mind.

Couple of things to consider also..first 30 k odd is Tax Free, however you might want to check if you are banking on any payouts for income /mortgage protection. If you take VR its unlikely you’d be eligible. Also, i’d check the ‘I can go back in 6 months’ rule. Due to tax implications of your payout, you might find the exclusion period is 2 years, well it is in my company.

Got mine from Jenson for 140 quid….mate picked it up while working in the states, but even if sent it would have been less than 200.

Marzocchi forks off Ebay…didn’t really want them, certainly didn’t need them…but a speculative bid with a few pints down me and hey ho, an hour later I’m 300 quid poorer…

woops

Thanks for the offer Northwind. I checked my other i900 post and its the little silver pin with a thread on the end that the lever hinges around. I’ll have a look to see if theres anything similar in my dads garage…more hassle than its worth to be honest!

You do make a good point about checking bolts and screws! But in all honesty I didn’t even realise it was a screw, thought it was some kind of spring mechanism so left alone…oops

Have now given the other one a good tightening mind!

Whats the ‘JRA’ excuse?

Yeah you are right I should send it to wiggle. But given they will then send it on to the Pure Sport, who have already told me its not going to be covered by warrenty, I’m thinking its probably not really worth doing.

Other than the principle, I guess I’m just staggered that one screw can cost 4 quid!

to be fair to superstar it was Pure sport who distribute the post under their name I spoke to, who then told me Superstar was the place to go to get the parts.

I bought the post in wiggle who told me to send it back to them for inspection. Barely seems worth while once I’ve spent the money on postage! Thought I could save everyone a load of hassle and postage and fix it myself!

BUt yeah you’re right, it not great customer service is it!

It certainly felt like I had zero energy so hopefully I just hadn’t fuelled myself properly. It was also a morning ride, usually I go in the afternoon so a couple of plates of ceral might not have been sufficient! Didn’t think it would make that much difference however, I wasn’t planning to hammer it.

Margin it was horrendous..

I couldn’t go 200 yards without stopping! Even when I got off the bike my legs were shaky. I’m not fast at the best of times, but would never stop halfway up a hill usually.

The only reason I kept going was that I fancied the downhill, and had made the hour long trip down there. Even then I could barely pedal on the flat bits…rubbish

If you didn’t like it don’t feel obliged to post!

I personally quite like it, appreciate getting the opinions of someone who clearly knows what they’re talking about, equipment wise or otherwise.

Would be nice to see more of those silky riding skills however!

Positive feedback so far. Did Marzocchi have their act in order by 2010? I’m hearing horror stories about some of their forks, however hoping they were sorted by then?

Thanks northwind. Not to bothered about the height adjust, i’ll just be using them in the Alps. Are they Air forks like the name suggests, or will I be required to potentially buy new springs for them if they aren’t set up for my weight?

I get confused by all the different types out there! Just about worked out what the different Fox models are, but also worked out I can’t afford spunking 900 quid up the wall on a pair.

I’m looking second hand, so unless I can get a bargain on the RC3s I’m having to take what I’m offered. Whats the difference between them all?

Firstly well done guys. It is a big challenge to make work with obvious obstacles to overcome, but worth exploring.

As for size of track and cost, well its never going to be able to be particularly steep, but if its technical enough that would be a challenge in itself. Somebody mentioned on a previous post that Berm baby berm is only 30 meter drop, so you can obviously get a good run in there if well thought out (although obviosuly it aisn’t a downhill track). Would be easy enough to get an idea of length and drop of somewhere like spooky, could just take a note next time I use my GPS…

I think the issue you might have is cost. You only have to see the hoards of kids on downhill bikes at inners to see there is a market, but I’m not convinced they’d be willing to spend 12 quid an hour. £20 max for an afternoon seems a more realistic offering, better it to be cheap and in demand than exepensive and dead. Then again, they find money for 900 quid forks, so maybe I’m just tight.

Fair enough, but I’ve looked long and hard and can’t see it. http://en.portesdusoleil.com/summer-lifts.html give the opening dates for the whole network, but nothing specific to Morzine. Best I can find is ‘mid June’…which seems a bit vague…

Had a scoure of your previosu posts and couldn’t find the alluded post either, sorry!

Daft question as I’ve also been toying with the idea of gettting 160s for my heckler for my upcoming alps trip, but does 1cm really make any difference?

I’m a newbie to biking and notice the difference between my current 150s and the 100mm I had before, but is it really worth splashing out min £300 quid for forks I’ll probably only benefit from for the duration of the trip, then they’ll be back in the cupboard until next year.

The most depressing thing about it all is that I wasn’t aware the council were planning to throw even more money at an under used and outdated ski centre. Would be interested to know why they think its suddenly going to fill up with people if they add an extra run?? Besides the fact it has a surface not even slightly resembling snow, its flippin dangerous, went once on my board and snapped my finger in that horrible matting…

Interesting discussion. I’m struggling to see the similarity with inners, given as many have pointed out there is already a lift in place that is barely used.

Yes there are huge logisitical elements to overcome, but I’ve seen more extravegant uses of the public purse before, and it would undoubtably be attractive from a tourism perspective if done right. Lets not forget Biking is a boom sport, that people in power appear to be getting behind. For that reason theres probably never been a better time to push the issue, especially given hillends current finances.

I guess the key question is has anyone on here even got the faintest idea how to even go about making formal enquiries, usefull contacts etc etc. If it was just a bunch of folks on a forum spouting off I agree it wouldn’t go far, but if someone spent a bit of time coming up with a suitable proposal then you never know, stranger things have happened!

And if it did move forward, I’d defo help out…got a spade in my dads shed just itching to be used!

Hey Float…sorry that was in response to the mail above yours from BR! Thanks for the link, will study up before breaking out the tools!

yep! Can you tell I have no idea what i’m doing ;-)

Thanks TJ, will check out their condition, but they look ok to me!

trouble is isn’t it run by snow sport scotland, so they’d probably rather it go to the dogs that see their prized possession overrun by rowdy kids on 9 inch full bouncers every weekend..

Would be great fun however, I’d pay!

Wasn’t hillend going to go bust only a year or so ago. Put it this way, never seen it even remotely busy. Id have thought that the current owners would be desperate for a bit of extra revenue. Plus you would think it would be more profitable than somewhere like glentress simply because they’d make the money from the uplift service.

Not convinced it would be all that long if it went from the top of the chair lift though, I’m assuming you’d still need to hike up the hill a fair bit…

The Brick..now thats what I call a reflector! Would look bling on my Heckler…

mailed you

i have 2 x orange and 2 x white wheel reflectors and a front one as well. No back reflector I’m afraid, but the bike shop will surely sort you out?. Oh..I have a bell to if required!

No charge, I get enough good free advice on this forum. Will mail you and post tomorrow

Defo got the wheel ones, will see if I have front and back.

If you need them let me know and you can mail me your address..

Anyone ever had any joy with hope rotors. I’ve failed to fit them to avid, formula and shimano calipers. The little raised bolts joining the inner spider to the outer always catch on the caliper/brake adapter. Maybe i’ve fitted them wrong, but never had a problem with any other rotors.

didn’t think it was that pointless. Better than doing nothing. And when the coppers turn up and see the frame number filed off/you go to buy a bike and you see the file number filed off at least it’ll be pretty easy to see its been nicked.

Agree with the photos and listing as well however…

Yeah I thought about mounting it on the side with the hinged mount, but does this not unbalance the helmet a bit, which would be noticable whilst riding?

I was there yesterday, went up the black run but it was fine until you got right to the top of the hill, still ridable however. Somebody had closed deliverence however so we came down the red. The top of spooky was a bit ropey, but easily ridable, everything else was fine.

i’m pretty sure I only fiddled with the upper limit to stop it pushing into the bashguard.

cheers folks, some good ideas, will give it a bash over the weekend and see what happens!

never happened before…

It seems to come off when I change between the 2 rather than when I’m already in gear. Happens when I shift both up and down (it slips off into the BB), not all the time but 3 times on my last ride, not sure if I need to adjust my mech?

My Giant Anthem 3..the local bike shop offered to price match an online deal i’d seen so I got 800 quid off and they still offered me my 6 week service!

Does make you wonder about the profit margins however doesn’t it..