not sure I’d enjoy my riding with an element of niggling doubt every time I approached a downhill and glanced at my front wheel….

I was up there on Friday and there was snow at the top of Spooky Woods…Still good fun. I’d be more worried about the potential for a driving arctic wind :-(

MBUK did an article about the best 400 quid bike to buy this month in their bike test. Carrera Vulcan got 5 stars!

clock starts from leaving carpark !

53 minutes????? Think I need to quit the smokes and get training!

:-(

same height as me. The 18.5 did feel quite big, not much standover, although I do have short legs.

cool thanks folks,

18 bikes, what we talking about price wise for a set of factory hoops (with coloured hubs) as opposed to your shop built versions with white rims?

ta

Blazin – when you say ‘hope tech shop’ do you just mean my lbs that is an authorised hope dealer? I was told they could order the bits, but they would be assembled by the shop, rather than hope themselves. They may have been telling porkies however!

Some decent trails around auchtermuchty..could make that in 20 min, if you drive very quickly..

Ah…understand now! Every days a school day on here!

Would be nice if it was one size fits all though wouldn’t it!

Thanks again!

Thanks mate

Out of interest, whats the difference between integrated and traditional anyhow? I’ve got a hope one currently…so whats that?

42 a high roller on the front and a 2.2 Captain control at the back. Works for me at Glentress, but then I’m very very slow….:-(

what about the canyon torque tool? I have one in my toolbox for some reason (nicked off a mate), it looks extremely inaccurate?

Just had a mail back from Danny at Santa Cruz. Apparently the bike isn’t covered by warranty if I run 170s, so may give it a miss and try to source some 160s instead. Not that I’m that bothered about the warranty, but I am worried about it breaking in two when I’m heading down a hill

on a side note, Took the chap 15 minutes to respond to my query…hows that for customer service from Santa Cruz!

I bought the heckler based on what folk had said about it rather than the geometry. Run a 150 fork which gives a head angle of a hair over 68 degrees I reckon, but could certainly do with another degree off it. The big problem I find with it is how short in the top tube it is, its about an inch shorter than any other competitor bike (in medium) I’ve ever looked at.

Great fun bike, but not sure I’d buy another for the reasons above

Hmmm…mixed response so far!

I’d rather use a garden hose but don’t have access to one, and a bucket isn’t massively practical since I have to put my filthy bike in the back of my car due to having a car that can’t take a bike rack.

I imagine the Mobi on a lowinsh setting (it goes from 50-140 psi) would be ok, as long as I stay away from firing straight into the linkage bearings and BB, although ironically that exactly wear the mud all gathers.

And for the person who asked above, mobi holds 15 litres, does 2 bikes when a bit muddy, or 1 when its clogged with dirt.

Thanks for the responses!

By the time you get it over from the states its barely worth it from a saving perspective. I bought a i900, cost me £120 quide from jenson but postage, duty and vat meant it cost £190 overall by the time it got to me. Exactly the same as wiggle were selling them for!

I was looking for a bit of both XC and Downhill to be honest. Don’t enjoy going up one bit but need to get in shape so ideally wanting something I can pedal up! I assume the aformentioned downhills are push up only then?

Didn’t one of the guys from one of the UK bike mags try that with the Sektor from his Zesty. Ended up ruining it if I recall. It is possible, but the moral of the story was don’t attempt it yourself, send it to someone who knows what they are doing…

go with the 160s. I went with 150 (mainly cause I couldn’t afford the fox 36s) and always think the bike would be a little better with the former. It also seems to have quite a steep headangle and short wheel base for what i bought it for, which the 160s would go someway to improving

Good spot..the title is wrong I meant ‘reducing head angle’!

If I went with both options it’ll give me a 66.5 angle, which I assume is going to transform the handling of the bike. Is this a bit extreme? Never heard of the bushing approach, any thoughts on what other impact this might have?

and just a thought, will all these changes invalidate my warrenty with Santacruz?

Thanks?

What on earth are offset bushings??????

If you do die, can I have your bike?

If you bury me where you find me then yeah, you are welcome to it…

I read 72 was average for a 35 yearold, but then there are a lot of fat lazy b*s****s about which probably skews things in my favour! And yeas, I did set it with my age!

Thanks for the responses guys, will sleep easier tonight :-)

I didn’t think 63 was that bad! Just started riding again after along time out however, wouldn’t class myself as a cyclist just yet :-). My average heartrate was taken sitting infront of the box, so hopefully if might be a bit slower in the morning.

I’m with you on the tyres…think they look quite good!

Rest of the bike looks awesome as well, don’t even mind the cowskin saddle, although not a fan of the bent seatpost look..;-)

[/quote]Me and my mate did the same aged 39 and 40. Do it – you know you want to.

My mates are much more civilized than me! Looks like its June 20th to Morzine, most of the gondelas appear to be open by then, and for 3 days I don’t think we’ll run out of hills to ride! Cannae wait…

dirtbiker…defo the way to go! Especially the pasta and sauce:-) I’d do the same if I could…I’m 35!

assume the whole area and lifts is open in June? i’m looking at the second week? Someone mentioned the resort doesn’t fully open until July which was a bit surprising. Can anyone confirm?

ta

Thanks for the responses! Sounds and looks absolutely amazing and having checked some of the above accomodation suggestions I reckon a full board deal with transfers might be the answer! Any ideas how much lift passes are at that time, I’m guessing 100 quid for 3 days worth that’ll let me explore the entire area?

Now all I need is to scrounge some of those halfords boxes and off I go! Awesome!

And make sure they get charged with handling stolen goods! I hate that shop, they clearly know the value of the bike so must know fine well that the place to sell it isn’t Cash Convertors…ie its nicked

fingers crossed for you bud…

Thanks guys!

I wanted to drive as well, the issue is that all the other lads have ladies/kids which means they are banned from a full week away larking around on their bikes, and as I live in scotland its pretty much an 18 hr trip either way. By the time we get down we’ll have to come straight back home!

Was planning to bike for 3 days, fly out monday/back friday. Your right bike hire would probably be a sensible option but I hear it can be a bit dodgy over there, plus it would be a shame to not see the Heckler in his natural environment! :-)

This thread seems to have been started purely to dirty someones name and try and pressure someone to pay up to the buyer.

It does look abit that way given the buyer messaged the link to the seller doesn’t it. I might be a bit more understanding if he’d ripped you off for hundereds, but its 15 quid, one month later, and even then it sounds like you got a fairly good deal.

ummmmm….I have one, stripped it down and regreased and rebuilt but never let out any air during this process. Didn’t even spot a valve to let the air out if I’m honest, although I did wonder?

Keep us posted as to how you get on!

BTW, I phoned the guys at purerace when I had an issue with mine. Most useful!

its all in the shoes…

Are Ralphs tubeless compatible? I know they’re light but I hear horror stories of paper thin sidewalls. My mates exploded going over some fairly average looking rocks?

S works Captain is 600g. Anything of similar weight would be ok.

Duanne, will be keeping the Crossmark I’m afraid, lovely tyre in the dry!

Stick some fatter tires and wider bars on the Anthem!

Ha well yeah that is an option! But i bought it specifically to do a bit more XC/race stuff and love the fact I can actually go up hills for a change:-)

But yeah, if I only had one bike I’d have the Anthem and stick the fatter tyres on it, I reckon they’d make much more difference going downhill than an extra 5cm of suspension, on the trails I ride.

Depends what you are after. I have a 150 travel heckler and a 100 travel anthem. The heckler is great fun for a day out on the trails, but a fair bit slower than the Anthem.

That said I reckon its the set up of the bikes which makes the biggest difference, rather than the amount of suspension. The heckler’s short stem, wide bars and mammoth super tacky front wheel inspires confidence going down, and is a drag going up. On the Anthem I’ve never felt undertravelled going down (Only used it at local trail centre mind), but do notice lack of control and grip from skinny tyres and bars.

Don’t hope floaters have those stupid rivet thingys which rub on the mount/caliper? Or they did when I tried to use them with my formula and avid brakes, and the same thing happened when I gave them to my mate who has shimano

Or perhaps I just fitted them wrongly…however no similar issues with the standard superstar rotors I replaced them with, and at a 3rd of the price!

Not on mine either.

I dinged my seatstay and sent a pic to Santa Cruz for an opinion, they got back to me in a couple of hours.

info@santacruzbikes.co.uk

The chap said he’d never seen a frame fold due to a dent, but he couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t! I’m tight so I left it, however not so sure I would if it was on my down tube!

Thanks folks. Checked out your article Foxy, really helpful.

So is this all they do when you send it to Mojo, or do they do anything with the airspring etc? All looks fairly basic for what they charge if its a simple clean, seal and oil change!

Two final questions!

How do you know when the seals need replacing. I’m assuming this isn’t done every time you strip it down for inspection, just if you think they look a little worn out?

I assume that fox float fluid and 10 oz fox oil could also be used on the sektors? All I’d need to source is the RS seal kit?

Again thanks for the responses. Just back into Mountain biking after years away from the sport. When I did it last suspension didn’t exist and the only maintanence required was a spot of wd40 on the chain! Oh how times have changed :-)

Any thoughts? This doesn’t appear to be a very popular topic! Sorry if its been done before, had a search and couldn’t find anything.

I have a couple of KS i900s. the first one got a bit sticky after 5 months, but a quick strip down, regrease and cable swap and its as good as new. No issues with my second one as of yet.

They come in 75, 100 and 125 mm drop lengths and are a bit of a bargain compared to the reverb (although probably not as good). I got mine from Jenson for about 120 quid, came within 2 days but the tax man violated me for a further 60 quid :-( Wiggle do them for £180 also.

Either way get a dropper of some kind, best thing on my bikes by a long shot.