Another “what mike said”. We started one recently as a local advocacy group mainly. All riding is done informally, racing is taken care of by another club in the area. We do the bare minimum needed to be recognised as a club, including not charging a membership fee (we’ve ‘crowdfunded’ the few things that needed to be paid for, such as sending people on trail-building courses). With this done, our time can be focused on more useful things like developing relationships with landowners and local authorities. It’s worked very well so far.

One I’d never sell:
2018-01-16 13.24.06 by Mike Jones[/url], on Flickr

One I did sell and wish I never had:
2013-11-26 15.01.48 by Mike Jones[/url], on Flickr

Where did you have it last?

Weight difference between a Reba and Pike within the last couple of years is gonna be less than 100g. Seems like it should be the last place to chase grams.

No. It’s from before Metric was introduced.

Considering the roughest of their test rollers is still comparable to pretty smooth asphalt I wouldn’t worry about their charts for actual riding.

I picked up a Hiplok DXC in the sales maybe a couple of years ago now. It’s done the job securing my commuter and is a good size for portability. The clip thing even works well too. Downside is, I guess, no bike mount, but that’s not something that’s bothered me.

is there enough difference to justify the 2?!

Well, there’s…

Funny to see all those brand managers giving lukewarm praise and then ‘but none of it matters cos we don’t have a choice anyway’.

Because SRAM enforces purchase of the full Eagle group [for OEM]

That right there must be the explanation. From a GT rep in the DUB q&a over on Pinkbike. YT probably wanted e13 cranks as they’ve done before and SRAM just wouldn’t play ball.

sauce

Sort of. Never did the rear brake cos I didn’t have a bleed kit to hand and it’s stayed like that. The rest are there, were something of a pain to do first time, but I’d do them again. And seriously, “I’ll have to keep removing the bottom bracket”, how often do you plan on doing it? Do it, if it annoys you that much don’t bother with it next time you change cables.

I wouldn’t since you’re not going anywhere near the cartridge.

And if Fox is able to sell a 700 buck RRP fork for 200 bucks there is a lot of margin to go down!

I agree it’s maybe good for us, but it’s not fox selling them for 200, it’s retailers. The prices bike-components were selling Fox forks for recently were far below what retailers will pay for the aftermarket forks from local distributors (and those b-c forks were openly grey-market). I’m not saying you’re wrong that a lot of extra costs are added to products between production and end-consumer, but it’s a far more complex chain than you’re allowing for. For a good example go look at the old PSA thread for Mojo selling off their Fox stock. Sometimes retailers just need cash.

My Brand X XL lever is sprung, but only very, very lightly.

Same happens right now with forks. The new SF18 Auron and new Durolux put a lot of pressure onto Fox…

I doubt a company who’s forks seem, at best, to have elicited a ‘meh’ from the MTB community have much to do with Fox pricing. The rise of X-Fusion and return of Manitou alongside new-ish, smaller premium brands are far more liekly. List prices for Fox forks are still ‘premium’, it just seems that more grey-market examples have made their way to consumers recently.

Skimming seems a very likely explanation, especially for something as subjective as tyres, where people tend to find one they like and stick with it forever because it’s trusted.

In my experience the 3mm doesn’t matter, but the clearances are tight enough I can see that they could do if fate decided against you.

I just don’t understand why if all that really is true, what the restriction on doesage actually achieves (and nothing suggested here so far really answers that).

I guess if the benefits are somewhat unknown, if they exist at all, then they set a limit at a high therapeutic dosage. When someone seriously exceeds that dosage then there are some questions to be answered, whether the drug itself is considered beneficial or not.

Wickens and Soderstrom no.5. Was always a Finish Line XC user before (tried others but they were always worse in some way), but Wickens lasts almost as long and it just doesn’t pick up crap.

According to Commencal you probably made the right choice. All I’m trying to say is that tables like that are usually quite general and meant as a starting point rather than being taken as gospel. Now that you’re at that starting point go ride and decide whether the spring fells right for you. Chances are it will, but don’t take it as a failure if you think it could do with being firmer/softer.

Well, yeah, but you have no idea what they mean by ‘enduro’ and if it matches what you think it means. Just ride it and go from there.

It’ll be fine, but whether it’s ‘right’ depends on how you want it to feel.

Plastic gloves might work. I always have a pair in my pack now, just in case. They certainly kept me riding when I realised I’d forgotten to pack my proper winter gloves for a race in Stockholm last winter. That was only about -12 with windchill though :-)

I did for a couple of years. Eventually got another FS as I found long, rough rides were just becoming a chore. I was becoming less fit though.

If, for some reason, I could only have one I’d keep just the HT though. Can do everything the FS does, and might even be better at a couple of them.

(Re univega bikes, they’re still around and pretty good value by the looks of it. One of the lbss in town sells them alongside Scott and they seem pretty popular)

I’ve been pimping the 16″ my son got for Christmas. The bars on his were surprisingly light; 440mm, 25.4mm diameter came in at 202g. The stem was a boat anchor though, 200g. So, even though the bar I put on was no lighter, I saved about 90g changing stem.

Bike’s good though, and son loves it.

What legend said. Failing that, when I did mine I’d gotten a couple of tapered rubber gasket things from the plumbing section of my local b&q-esque store before I realised I could just cannibalise the old spring.

1 sold 8O

As usual I’ll recommend the Crank Brothers multi-17. It just works,and very well too.

edit: this[/url] sums it up nicely.

Old KS 900s used to be about 300mm with 75mm drop. Think they’re still available with a different name now.

It’d probably work out, just. As mentioned, the parts might be unridden, but the new owner would have lost all warranty rights, which makes a a large difference in value to a lot of people.

lets say, small cruising airplane: designed to be stable. Makes hands off flying possible.
I would compare this airplane to: road race bike for example
aerobatic airplane: designed to be not stable. Airplane follows every control input right away.
This is very much what I want from an mountain bike…

It’s what you might want from a trials bike or a BMX, but I can’t see it being much use for the majority of mountain biking. I agree there might be a place for less extreme variations, though, but still limited.

Not really tied to one or another, but I’ve had a few Omnipollo Leon more often than anything else recently. If I’m back home there is almost always some Old Speckled Hen or Landlord.

longmover – Member
Get fully kitted up and then desperately need a poo, especially when wearing bib shorts.

This, with the addition of a preemptive, failed, attempt to lay some cable before pulling on the bibs.

Ordered some of those shorts on the 6th. Arrived the 12th, during a blizzard, in Sweden.

I totally agree that it sucks they took so long to tell you, though, but poop happens.

(fwiw, the shorts seem good. I’d probably not buy them at full price, but that’s more an expression of my tightness than the quality of the shorts)

edit:

Therefore, they should pay me whatever the difference is

Yeah, sorry, you lost me there.

I agree with Mike. This sort of bike would be an ideal +1 instead of the trail bike for the local parks, but in that price-range I’d probably just go for the cheaper YT Tues, which also has proper tyres rather than pricepoint crap, and sacrifice some versatility.

I can see Cube’s interest being getting them in as hire bikes at the various central-European parks.

Depends what you want out of the windproof IMO. Almost waterproof, but generally sweatier as a result, would be a membrane softshell like Gore Windstopper. More breathable but potentially more insulating would be a woven stretch softshell. Least water resistant but windproof, breathable and very light would be Pertex type materials.

As above, mountaineering or fell running gear generally much better cut and quality than bike specific stuff.

Just repeating this really. Gore is boil-in-the-bag in pretty much all conditions for me. I use Montane and Marmot woven ones for when it’s properly colder (super-super-cold, like under -15, and my Buffalo Mountain Shirt comes out) and a cheap Howies Dyfi Pertex thing for a light Spring/Autumn jacket. I don’t think any of the specific models I use are made anymore so sort of interested to see other recommendations too.

nickfrog – Member
I wouldn’t want a repaired CF frame. Actually I wouldn’t want a CF at all, on ethical grounds alone.

+1 for everything amedias said. Flaps so long they almost drag the ground, and then just run everything into the ground. My last drivetrain lasted around 12000km until it annoyed me enough to need changed (it turned out the graunch that had been annoying me was actually the pedal bearings anyway, my bike hates me).

What Yak said? I have an old Hope branded one I regularly keep in my work bag.

I’ve had 2 of those asaklitt ones where the lock has seized despite frequent lubrication. Unfortunately they’re known for it, as I found later.

Now I use an ancient Abus Granit and a Hiplok DX, which is quite nice so far.

Living in a Swedish university town is good for seeing the extremes, especially the exchange students. Aussies who need to prove their manhood by only wearing shorts and ‘thongs’ through the entire Scandinavian winter. Chinese who wrap themselves in ankle-length down-jackets with multiple scarves and hats so that only their eyes are visible as soon as a cloud passes the sun.

Tbf, though, the locals are just as bad. After months of dark and cold, as soon as Spring makes a hint of an appearance most shed their clothes a little over-enthusiastically and then complains about how cold it is.