In my experience Manitous don't have much rebound adjustment. My last set had about 2/3 of a turn.

I remember my uncle coming to ours with a pen a kid had given him as a gift. He said, "It's only a pen. How much can it be worth?" Turned out to be some limited edition Montblanc (~£2000 8O ). That was just the beginning!

You were lucky he'd taken off his Gore face-warmer to catch a breath! :wink:

Sure I read somewhere that you should be able to move the chain about a 1/2 inch up or down. Can't remember why, but that's how I always ran my singlespeed with no problems at all.

There was a guy here last night doing a "What's it worth?" for exactly what you're looking for.

+1 no problem. If you have a particular liking for Avid rotors then I believe some of them are available in CL anyway.

Depends on your type of riding I'd say. I find a mud tyre on the back serves me far better for climbing (or just about any) traction in really sloppy conditions. Up front I tend to have something intermediate, an Ardent right now. Combination's served me well for a couple of winters now.

If you're leaving it then a chain is the best bet. A good marine padlock'll take most conditions and attacks.

Singular do some with the hummingbird. Not sure if they're available seperately though.

+1 what Chris said. They wanted to see if bikes for roughly £1000 could compete with their benchmark alp bike.

80mm on trail-type HT
110mm on XC SS HT

I actually prefer the stretched out position but the shorter one suits its purpose.

Old Blackburns were dirt cheap and lasted forever. See if you can find an older model Mammoth. Newer ones cost more but are prettier and have 'features'.

WMB have rated it as their top 'long forked' HT for the last coupe of years. At that price I 'd be interested to try the 19 Steel though.

What finbar said. There's a GT LTS on a forum local to me (Swedish) that looks very tempting. Even has an AMP fork!

So many ways to damage the family jewels. Don't fancy the clearance on triangular pedals either.

I have a pair of the knee pads that I almost never use. They're too stiff (in that they are made from solid sheets of padding that are supposed to bend to form) and uncomfortable. Tried Kyle Straits and much better, but as slim protection for keeping in a pack the veggies'll do.

Only ever used shimano and only heard everyone else was different. My bad :oops:

To redeem myself slightly: there are those 15G ones reviewed in this months mag. They seem to use larger bearings at least.

Nope, not at all. Shimano and Race Face use the same diameter axle but pretty much everyone else is different. It's all about the axle.

For the kind of riding intended is it really such a problem? I would think a hybrid type bike would be fine apart from some possibly flimsy wheels. I used to be about 20st and thrashed around on an old steel Kona (no modern reinforcing whatsoever), which is still alive and well.

EDIT- that Kona Smoke, over in another thread just now, looks good.

Yes to torches! I have a Fenix torch of some kind (L2D I think, about 210 lumens in turbo) as my helmet light and it's been excellent all winter. Takes 2 AA batteries for about 2hrs on full power and only cost about £30. There are probably even cheaper similar torches available from places like dealextreme but you have to factor in a couple of weeks wait for those.

I just attach it with one of those lockblocks like in the link above. Just make sure you get the right shape for your helmet.

EDIT- just checked, mines a LD20. Rated at 205 lumens.

Sorry to hijack a bit but…

Does anyone know if Hope are gonna change the 355 Hoops for Crests? I can't see a reason why they wouldn't change to a lighter, wider rim but I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere either.

Endura MT500s. Had them all winter down to -25 (admittedly with 2 pairs of socks on) and still looking good. They're cheaper than most too. Not much hiviz on them though, just a strip up the zip on the back.

Yes they are. I'm sure they'd be happy to help you out though if you mail/phone them and ask for a nearby dealer.

What ahwiles said. I used to ride an old 19" steel Kona and an 18" inbred is perfect for me. It's a lot more comfortable in the rear than my old frame too. Running 120mm up front w/80mm stem and it seems about perfect for me. Excellent value for money.

I bought mine on a Mondat and it arrived at my front door in Sweden by Wednesday (Thursday at worst, it was a couple of months ago now). That included getting a headset fitted. Other people have different experiences though.

While the obvious sounding questions are coming:

what does SRAM stand for anyway? There's no info on their website.

EDIT- well now I just look stupid :oops:

If the mean SCAM then I sort of understand (most of the threads seem to have to do with Blackbox jockey wheels), but why not drop the 'R'?

Thanks, I had that already but appear to have become temporarily blind to simple instructions. Who woulda thought you just had to slide it off? :D If I'd just stopped a second and thought, it would have been obvious. No more wine and fettling for me.

Thanks to everyone who offered help. I'll go and hide my shame now.

Oh, and Merlin are great. They did send me the correct fork and I'm an idiot.

There is something that looks like a spacer. I found a picture on google of what it should look like but mine is at the bottom of the stack and not the top. It's also solid, so no way to remove it peacefully.

Girlfriend's hand proved very useful (as did hitting harder, several times) :-)

Now I'm just a little angry. Bought the cheap Reba SL from Merlin which was advertised as "All Travel Adjust". Is it ****. Any chance they'll placate me considering I've already cut the steerer and ridden them a few times?

Doesn't feel lose. I'm trying to pull them apart from the crown and brace and they don't budge past past the normal topout (the rebound bolt is removed).

I've had a Cane Creek S3 for a couple of years now, still seems to be doing fine. I was tempted by the Deus from On One, when I got my latest bike but heard reports of rubbish seals. Went with an FSA instead, no complaints.

It's the geared/ss capability that might be tricky. Off the top of my head an Inbred (not 456) and Soul Cycles Hooligan are all that come to mind in that price range.

Never seen a Hooligan in the flesh but they look purdy in pictures. There's a lot of them over on mtbr.

EDIT: Kinesis decade too.

Like this reducer

Everytime Scalpels get reviewed they come across as the hardcorest of hardcore race bikes. Have you looked at the Rize instead?

Cheapest way would be to go for new XT (or even SLX maybe). They fit better with Hope levers than SRAM shifters and you'd be able to keep your current rear mech. If it's still not right, you could get the Hope Shimano Matchmaker at a later date

If I remember correctly X0 offers slightly more adjustment than X9. SRAM shifters don't too play nice with Hope levers but Hope do an adapter that fits them together like an Avid Matchmaker I think.

+1 Buffalo (circa '97), and a pair of endura thermal tights from about '96. Bike-wise Onza barends (best ever!), and I have a '96 Kona Lavadome frame just waiting to be rebuilt into an SS commuter right now. I 'd never part with my first 'proper' bike.

I had the same problems with the E.13 version. Can't shim the guide on it either. Ended up having to use a variety of BB spacers and washers on the chainring bolts. Not pretty, but it seems to work now.

Collar bone – 0
Arm – 0
Leg – 1
Jaw – 0
Rib – 3 (+2 non bike related)
Finger – 2 (+3 non bike related)
Skull – 0 (almost, once)
Ass – 0