TBH I dont think there is much out there for the money that can beat an X2. The build quality of the main unit and the battery are the biggest things going for it. The battery is VERY neat, rubberized with an indicator on it and a built in loop thus no pouch is needed, just velco to secure it.

I run an exposure on the bars and an X1 on the helmet. A friend just uses an X2 on his lid and finds it perfect on its own without the need for an additional light on the bars.

Spotted a bronson and solo at Afan this weekend in the shop and also a santacruz demo weekend were there. Both looked lurvely!! just cant afford one yet otherwise I would jump at the chance to get one.

Just got back from a weekend in Afan.
FANTASTIC. Great trails, great weather, great food and beer.
Although a diversion was in place it didnt make much difference and the lovely dry and fast trails were great fun. Skills park is good fun too after a cuppa at the cafe half way down the Wall.

V shaped gates were not a problem, and as someone above said, they are to stop motorbikes ploughing up the trails.

Afan lodge is comfy, good food and beer and designed around bikers. Location was perfect too.

Ah dont worry, once they float on the stock exchange, they’ll have top of the range MTB’s. The bosses will have a couple of billion of capital raised by then and will need to spend some of it :)

I wouldn’t go for the XAR at the moment due to supply chain issues in the UK. Mine is less than a year old and the inner pads have disintegrated. No one has them in the stock (at least in UK), no one can get hold of them and GIRO US arent replying to emails. So Ive got a relatively expensive lid that is very painful to wear and no idea on when I can get it fixed.

Shame as I love GIRO helmets and have always been my first choice, shame they are in such a mess in the UK currently.

Thought the whole point of new Swinley is for one way trails for bikes only to stop the walkers, runners and dog near misses and two way traffic?

Bike:
Will be sticking some Spec Storms or Trailrakers back on when it gets a bit wetter than it is now.

Stock up on brake pads…uberbike this year and GT85 off flebay.

Clothing:
Dig out the long bibs once we get down to less than 5 degrees or so.
Use a mix of long sleeved jerseys and gillet for dry but cold days down to almost zero.

Already dug out the MT500 baggies.

Gore phantom and mix of short sleeved and long sleeved baselayer for below zero or blustery mixed weather (showers and windy days)

Baselayer and full waterproof for snow/icey weather and very wet days.

Just ordered Altura Attack shorts to try this winter and Endura’s windstopper long sleeved jersey. Will also try Howies active shell too coz @ £30 from Wiggle it would be good to have more than one windstopper jacket now I ride at least 3 times a week. Washing a gore jacket 2 or 3 times a week takes its toll on the fabric.

All depends I guess on where you ride and whether you feel the cold much or not. Hands and feet are always the biggest problems.

Used Castelli neopreem (sp?) gloves last winter which are super warm but once you take off (say pub stop) they are all wet and cold to put back on again.

MW81 winter boots are VERY good and definitely worth the money once we get really cold and wet.

Thanks.
Just been into LBS to see if they had any bearings and chose to replace the whole of the bottom cup as the bearing literally fell apart spilling ball bearings everywhere. Bottom cup was a pain to get out, but nothing a hammer and blunt instrument couldnt handle. So installed a new hope bottom cup and bearing….now its all super smooth. Top bearing was fine.

The smoothie headset had done quite well, at least 2 rides a week for the last 18 months in what was last years mud bath.

yes helmet mount works well but remember to use the lanyard also. Low flying branches can knock the light off the mount quite easily if you’ve got some pace on.

Exposure are definitely worth the money. IMO they are the best all in one lights. They have a new 2000 lumen head torch which looks good.

I run an all in one exposure maxxd on the bars and a gloworm X1 on the lid, perfect combo IMO…but then again I am biased.

You can use the cycle to work scheme to purchase lights, so can in theory save up to 40% :)

Thanks loco, so what do you reckon is the best way of getting a pair in black that can be run at 120mm, get the dual air 140’s as I believe they can be run at both 120 and 140? Cant see any available though.

thanks everyone so far….food for thought :)

Saw one yesterday in the flesh, and IMO its fugly and colour scheme doesnt work, especially not for 4k. Lots more to be had for that money elsewhere Im afraid.

I like the Five 650b in bright orange though, much better choice if you wanted an Orange.

See what exposure come back with as they are normally very good on these sorts of things. The two guys (brothers) that own the company have developed all their products themselves over the years and its very much a family business rather than say a big company owned by accountants that know nothing about bikes.

Cheers, glad there is a tool for it. Funnily enough was on a ride last night with a friend who said the same thing and could have a tool I could borrow. Sounds easier than drilling the thing out.

Many thanks
J

For build quality and power I would go for:

Gloworm X1 or pay slightly more and get the X2.

http://www.crgmoto.co.uk

I have the X1 on the helmet and an exposure on the bars.
Good friend just has an X2 on his lid and finds it more than enough.

Worth looking at http://www.wheelsmith.co.uk and their race23’s as they have a hub option that brings them under £400…..but you could wait a while.

I have a set of strada wheels (H Plus Son Archetype on novatech hubs and sapim spokes) which came in at a few pounds over 400 but are fantastic.

http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/shop/h-plus-son-archetype/

Just bought my 7 year old one of these for £250
http://www.orbea.com/gb-en/bicycles/mx-24-dirt-13/

Different from the usual spec et al and VERY well made. Little things like the brakes are from a BMX so smaller than the normal MTB brakes. Not quite at Islabike level but very good all the same. In red it looks the doughnuts.

33g should be ok. I normally get through 2 x16g for a 2.1-2.25 tyre

http://www.tyreinflators.co.uk/index.php

£1.99 –

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TUOO26MTB/on_one_26_mtb_inner_tube

gloworm x1 +1
cheaper than a joystick and much more throw.
I have an exposure maxxd on bars and x1 on lid and its perfect.
comment ref cost of gloworm vs joystick is daft as a new joystick is £140+ vs x1 with 200 more useable lumens at £125

Shimano multi realease cleats – 1 year (MTB 2-3 times a week).
Initially thought it must be the pedals, but even when I changed pedals they unclipped too easily. Changed for new pair of std shimano cleats and good as new. Guess they must be relatively soft these days.

I would be wary of them, it seems in the Motorsport world many say they can do more harm than good with little proof they actually work. worth doing some online investigation on karting sites. that was the theory of them a few years ago on the national karting circuit. I have no proof either way but just my opinion

Problem solved and Mavic have been excellent.
My LBS decided the only thing it could be was some kind of bonding issue in the assembly of the hub. It was sent back to Mavic who have just sent me a brand new 2013 wheel to replace it. Slightly different design and no centre lock (they dont do the centre lock on this wheelset anymore) so Ive strapped on a 6 bolt and…..sorted job done, no more noise.

great stuff. The old wheel was 18 months old so a brand new wheel I think is a good result.

not uncommon for despatch email to arrive same day or day after actual delivery. Had 4 x tubes arrive from them today, ordered 2 days ago. Never had a problem with them. Yes the phones are always busy so you have to keep trying.

The only thing I would criticise is lack of updates on Brant’s blogsite :) I want more piccies of the C456Evo.

Ive been using super star sintered for a few months and found them really squeely on the SLX and XT brakes so changed to uber bike components. More expensive (race pads 8.99 an end) but still half price of shimano pads.

First impressions, two rides, very good and no noise so very happy.

With the right focus and will power for change they could become quite a force in the UK and possibly beyond. I agree with all of the comments above in that many outlets are currently a complete hit and miss. Big investment is needed but it sounds like the new chief exec is willing to do that.

The advantage they have is buying power with a good distribution system in place with large outlets, they could threaten the online only companies at least here in blighty.

However the UK is only a small part of the online companies revenue these days. Wiggle is doing alot within Asia and even setting up distribution space in that part of the world to speed up delivery.

There is significant risk for Halfords as this is sink or swim for them given the money they are going to invest, so I hope they have done their sums or at least poached someone significant from Wiggle or CRC.

Good luck to them.

+1 more squirt.
Had the same problem with MucOff Wet….horrible stuff on my bikes, just collected dirt like nothing else.

I wash bikes after every ride and re-apply squirt after riding rather than just before, that way it has time to sink in to the links.

Have a look at:

WHEELSMITH RACE23 – http://www.wheelsmith.co.uk (circa £450)
http://www.stradawheels.co.uk/shop/h-plus-son-archetype/ (I have just ordered these with sapim spokes circa £408)

both cheaper and lighter than mavic ksyrium elites which are the sort of benchmark at that price point.

indeed but the hub is all one piece. I think it may need a trip to the service centre. I am now starting to think there may be a crack on the inside of the hub casing somewhere. my two local bike shops who know their stuff are also stumped. after this I will never go factory wheelset again, right pain in the you know what.

It also happens when you have the wheel off and tighten the disk (shimano no bolt rotor)by hand with a wrench so definitely not pad related. Very strange. Will try non disc side hub adapter :)

Thanks everyone,
Agree definitely worth me having a play with the setup.
LBS are very good as many of them race and at a good level so will pop in and see what they reckon.

If you fee like you’ve got to much weight on your hands then move your saddle back (and possibly down) a bit.

Possibly, but I think if anything I have the seat a bit too far back as today I constantly felt like I was riding on the nose of it and moving back. Interesting about dropping saddle a bit.

Rochey – Haslemere, Surrey, not sure if that helps.

Thanks, Ive noticed the pain in the right shoulder over 30km and put it down to resting too hard on the bars. Up until today Ive completed regular 30,40km rides and one 60km, but first 100km today. Im starting to think it may be something else as today I actively tried to use my core more and not lean on the bars too much..

Mindmap3 – worth.demo’ing a yeti asr5 or sb66 as they can be had for around 1500 just as a comparison. A good friend of mine demo’d 5 or may be 6 different frames before taking plunge. Good luck

Yes, I had same problem with barb not being wound tight enough

If looking at a Covert, worth looking at a yeti too just as a price comparison for frameset. The carbon covert does look very nice though!

Ah, time to break out the turbo then.
Thanks mtbtomo :)

Thanks all….being thick, what is meant by intervals?

Currently I do:

2 lunchtime road spins (1 hour, approx 20-30kms)
Tues Night MTB Ride – 2 hours (20kms)
Thurs night MTB ride – 2 house (20kms)
Sat morning MTB ride – 2/3 hours (20-30kms)
so no lack of rest days.

Would like to increase my climbing speed for MTB and endurance ability for road.