Or, read your lease and see what it says about communal areas. (Boring I know)

specialized fuse expert carbon 6fattie

Bit pricey, but I want one!

Suggested a hire and she turned it down! To her logical mind, she has a bike so why on earth hire a bike!

Just book one and don’t tell her. If she rides one and realises how much better, lighter, more fun etc it is, it might open the door for getting rid of the BSO. Plus its only £20 for a half day.

Why not just hire her a bike? I think they’re all whyte hardtails.

I think you need to remember they are £19 pedals with a 2 year warranty, so even if you check them at 23 months and send them back, you don’t get another 2 year warranty. For £19 they are almost disposable items and £9.50 a year is pretty good value. Given your experiences why not get some more expensive ones and see if they last longer?

I thought about putting them in a box, but that could lead to quite a warm box

Pretty sure you’re not allowed to do that with toddlers these days.

£9 for new bearings, or £18.99 for new pedals?

Why sent it back to Alltricks? Why not just send it back to Fisher via your nearest LBS with an account. They might charge you for postage (think it cost me a tenner) but much quicker.
I did this with a reverb, gave them a copy of the receipt and no issues at all. I also had a set of pikes which were under warranty and a seal went about 3 weeks before an Alps trip. The LBS put a note in with the forks to this effect, got a nice note back from Fisher saying they had the parts on back order but because they wouldn’t be available in time for my trip they sent me a brand new set of pikes. Great service.

I have used 591s for years and they are great, but I recently bought a 598 and the design has improved over the 591 in almost every way. Better clamp design with padded rubber, torque limiter, ratchet wheel straps and wider channels for fat tyres.

If you were looking at the Les 275, why not the Les 29?

I had the previous generation Spank Oozy trail 29 rims which I think were 26mm width, (been replaced with the 295s). Used them on my stumpjumper FSR all over the country, BPW, trip to the Alps etc, apart from the odd bearing they never needed anything. As above the wheelset is really light and tough and look great. I also have a set of Arch EX rims and the finish on the Spank rims is way better.

Shimano M163s on offer at CRC (£59.99) at the moment.

I had no issues getting an XL test bike from Specialized, even had it for the whole weekend.

I’m 6’5 and have the same issue with finding a balance between a long seat post and low cockpit height.

Currently have an XL stumpjumper 29er FSR, which has a 145mm headtube. Allows plenty of scope to adjust the number of spacers under the stem, and am only using a 10mm rise bar with a 60mm stem.

It’s easily the best bike I’ve ever owned

Bikescene have got £200 off the Whyte 629 at the moment.

The Sherpa option is the most appealing

Thought you wanted alu?

15 stone, hope pro2 Evo hubs with Arch EX rims, been on the HT for over 2 years without any issue.

^^^ This ^^^

Just ring or drop into your local spesh dealer, give them the part number and ask them to get you one.

Commencal meta AM HT 29 – if you can find one. (Alu, light, 68deg HA, 31.6 seat tube.)

I bought an end of year sale bargain to use as a family bike (when the pound was worth something) and was completely blown away by what a fun bike it is. I’m planning to build it up with some decent bits from another bike now.

Email the Spesh UK helpdesk, they are usually great and will give you the part number you need to order form your local spesh dealer.

https://www.airchina.co.uk/GB/GB/info/checked-baggage/special-baggage-fees.html

https://www.airchina.co.uk/GB/GB/info/checked-baggage/overweight-charge.html

As always they make these things pretty difficult to determine. Based on the information in these 2 docs and previous experience of finding airlines for long haul flights with a bike, my interpretation of this would be:

The excess baggage fee would be either US$75, or US$110 depending on whether your bike bag breached the weight limit only or the weight limit and the cumulative dimensions limit. It is possible these fees are per kilo rather than in total?

Although it is also not clear, they may charge you these fees per leg, (flight leg rather than the longer hairy variety) but if your international and domestic tickets are linked together under the same booking you will probably get away with it being one journey.

Audi A4 – not massive inside leg room wise

Do you mean drivers leg room or in the back? Im 6’5″ and had an A4 (B8 Avant) for 4 years, best driving position (comfort wise) of any car I’ve had.

Specialized Small Fry

Arrived yesterday, initial thoughts are:

I agree with this, “The fit is midway between Giro and TLD. Not as narrow as Giro but not as wide as TLD”.

It sits nice and low, coverage at the back is deep, adjustment is quick and easy. It is maybe slightly more bulbous looking than my fox flux but that may in part be down to the very bright green colour I opted for.

Overall, it seems to be light, fit well and be good value. Just need to decide whether I swap it for a less lairy colour!

Degreaser + old toothbrush = quick and easy.

I have ordered one to try which should be delivered today, will update later on!

ChrisL – appreciate they’re not the cheapest option but I’ve had two XL Stumpy FSR 29ers and both fitted in my Evoc bag with no issues. I see you are also on an XL 29er so you should be fine, (if you want to spend that much of course).

29er hardtail with some fast rolling tyres (Maxxis Ikons)? Then doubles up as winter bike when it gets gloopy.

Your garden/backyard is a disgrace! 😉

Taken two different XL 29ers on flights in an Evoc bike bag, no problems.

You know it’s in Wales right? They’d be out of business by now if it wasn’t fun in the wet! 🙂

Dont – worry about it
Do – make sure it goes wrong within the 2 year warranty period so you can get a new one

I wouldn’t risk it with a 29er personally

Agreed, I had my XL 29er in my car on a hot day and it expanded so much it shattered all the windows and burst out through the sunroof.

Just a few of the many amazing places I got to ride over there during a 6 months sabbatical in 14/15.

Lysterfield commonwealth games MTB circuit (VIC)

You Yang’s (VIC)

Belair National Park (SA)

Eagle on the Hill (SA)

I had the bearings changed in mine when it was in for a service. I think it invalidates any warranty but not really an issue.

Thanks Dunc, do you happen to know if any of them do lock matching so I can get the right numbered barrel with the 598?

Sorry for the slight hijack but where is cheapest for one?
I can get the 591 for £65, the cheapest I’ve seen 598 is £85?

Dunc, where are the 598’s for £85, (I’m after another one) and does this include delivery?

Cheapest I’ve seen 591 is Sandcliffe for £63.48 (incl delivery)

I’ve never had an issue with clamping a carbon frame in a thule 591 in over 9 years and this new 598 is a great evolution. Not only is the contact area very soft and pliable against the frame it also has a torque setting on the clamp ratchet so you can’t overtightened it.

If he is buying new then I dont think there is such a thing as “evo” in 2016, they’ve dropped the moniker and both stumpy and camber are evo spec as standard.

Both great bikes and he cant really go wrong. FWIW, I’m 15 stone and 6’4″ and have had two XL stumpy 29ers. Both have been ridden everywhere from Surrey Hills, BPW, Welsh trail centers, Alps, Spain etc and they coped with it all perfectly well.

Only bit of advice I would add is that moving from the previous generation, the shorter stays and slacker front end on the 2016 bikes are a noticeable improvement.