Have ordered a Rab Generator Alpine hooded jacket in large. Unfortunately there are no shops locally that stock them so I’ll take a chance and send it back if need be. Concept2 Chris what size is yours?

Rab generator looks to be a good option. I’ll definitely see if I can try one of those somewhere. Will check out Patagonia too.

The filo looks interesting and good value too. I’m not totally opposed to that style but I’d prefer to look as little like the Michelin man as possible.

Going to go to glencoe on Monday then. Will do a few reds probably before working up to the black. Should be good.

Thanks for the advice guys, it’s all very useful. I buy a lot of bike bits on eBay but hadn’t considered looking for a tablet there so that’s a good shout. I know what you mean about the use of a mouse not being a limiting factor and I’ve used live trace before but I felt that using the tablet might encourage me to combine free hand drawing with graphics more naturally. Off to check out the links above now and have a little browse our eBay. Thanks

Oh well, something to look forward to next year I guess. Any thoughts on Glencoe red as I see it’s still open?

Is it any worse than Laggan black?

Not done the downhill at innerleithen before but to be honest I’m not that great at downhill so had been a bit put off by it. The appeal of the fort william red was that it was moderately easy and I enjoy rock sections etc. Will possibly just go to Laggan instead. Do they have any sort of cafe there any more?

Argh, how annoying, so I miss out by one day! Had been putting it off for ages due to work. That’ll teach me! Oh well will have to go somewhere else for a trip instead.

It does look very suspect at first but then it is a steep banked corner and it got me to thinking about how many times I had laid my mountain bike down like that on a slope and it had rotated around the pedal that was in connection with the ground whether the wheel was in contact or not. The gathering momentum thing could just be gravity as the bike slides down the slope.

Who knows, I do enjoy a good conspiracy theory though.

It’s hard to comment on these too much as the spring that I had in was too light for me so I was running compression pretty high to help stop the fork diving to much. I’m hoping that the new spring is going to give me a little more support on the lip of jumps as previously the fork just swallowed them up and flattened them out. That said, they do just eat up the rough stuff brilliantly, it’s been years since I’ve had a coil fork and I immediately noticed an improvement over the lumpy stuff.

Am off to Glentress on Sunday for the first proper ride with the new spring so will get a better idea then.

Agree with everything shedfull says. I’d never buy anything other than shimano now. I’ve got xt and slx. Bought the xt ones first but would have bought the slx ones if i’d known they were going to be just as good. Like he says shortening hoses is really simple but if you’re doing it with the brake still attached to the bike be careful not to let any brake fluid drip down onto the caliper.

The Dmr Bolt Long promotional video is good for a wide variety of riding.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=_VAHVNH-Ba_H7Aa2moDgBA&url=http://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DnClULfpZTug&cd=1&ved=0CCAQtwIwAA&usg=AFQjCNHnTa_1ycq9MPsSpqtCACKf4sY-BA

Also anything with Chris Akrigg will be sure to inspire.

I like them. I have them on my DMR Bolt Long and to be honest I bought them because I wanted simplicity and strength. They tick those boxes and are beautifully plush seeing as they’re the coil version. I have had to change the spring to suit my weight though as the fork just wouldn’t hold me up enough with the stock medium spring. If you’re less than 75-80kgs it should be good.

I’ve previously had u-turn revelations and would never buy u-turns again simply because it was a hassle to use. I mostly use the bike for downhill stuff but on the odd occasion that I pedal it anywhere the dual position is handy and a lot easier to use than u-turn (u-turn always gave a horribly clunk when it topped out too).

Those are my impressions so far but I’ve only had the fork for a month. Buy one, £245 from CRC is a bargain for a fork that will last ages with little maintenance and no bells and whistles to worry about breaking. :-)

Thanks very much. That’s what I’d thought but the doubts were niggling me. Good to have it confirmed.

Sorted. Thanks LoCo

ajantom – what sort of pressure are you running in the rear shock? I’ve tried setting it by x-fusions guidelines but it seems incredibly firm.

DT78 – Fife Cycles is where I saw one that I think was around £900. Give them a call if you’re interested. I know they’d just bought in quite a few of last years model because they were such good value so I imagine they’ll have most sizes available.

I’ve had a genesis steel mountain bike before and it was great. When I was in my local bike shop the other day they had last years model of the equilibrium 20 and it looked awesome. Candy red with tan bar tape and saddle. Full 105 groupset too for less than £900 it’s a bargain. If I didn’t already have a titanium road bike that I don’t use I would have bought it there and then!

Here’s mine. First ride tonight was really good. No need for a chain guide on bike park stuff but on rougher trails it’s going to be essential so that’s going to be the next addition.

That’s the long frame. You can tell by the extended seat tube and brace from the top tube.

Not sure if Winstanleys have any in stock or can get any.

I got mine from Fife Cycles they did me a really good deal. Give John a call and I’m sure he’d be able to sort you out with one.

I think that was the soul that I sold on to you wasn’t it? Glad you’ve got so much enjoyment out of it.

I’ve recently had the same conundrum. I’d agree with others who said not of get rid of it completely. When I sold my original cotic to you it was because I had bought a meta5. It was an awesome bike that did everything brilliantly and basically made the soul redundant.

After about two or three years with the meta and realising that I couldn’t be at the perfect trail centre every weekend I decided to move it on and bought a 2nd hand soul frame which I loved just as much as the first (there is something about steel hardtails isn’t there?).

That one was built up with 140mm forks and big tyres just like yours by the sound of it. It was great fun but eventually got moved on and replaced with an Orange R8 frame with 100mm forks which is set up in much more of an xc kind of way.

It’s the perfect bike for doing a bit of everything on but for getting the most out of jumps and downhill I decided I needed a full suss again.

I bought a DMR Bolt Long frame. Not built it up quite yet but should be finished tonight. I’m no downhiller as I don’t quite have the balls or skill for the most extreme stuff but it should be all I need for taking on a few things that I wouldn’t on the hardtail.

Like others have suggested I made a concious decision to buy a bike that wouldn’t replace my R8 for day to day riding because I know I’d regret it if I were to get rid. In my experience any off the shelf full suss isn’t going to give you the same long lasting sense of fun that a steel hardtail like a soul or R8 does but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for them too (good deals on the new style meta at the moment). I also love being able to build up and spec a bike just how I want it so that might be an option for you too. Could you get shorter travel forks for the soul and use the 140mm ones on a full suss frame?

I got the tango one. It’s bright! The colour does kind of suit the attitude of the bike though. Nice to see modern colours and graphics on steel bikes I think. I liked the blue one too but my hardtail is that colour so thought I’d get something different.

Got my frame yesterday. First impressions are that it looks awesome. Nice matte finish with smart decals.

Also it is tiny. It’s the same length as my xc hardtail but the seat tube is really short like ajantom said. Don’t think it’ll be a problem though as I bought it with the intention of using it purely for bike parks and red style downhill.

Not got much of it built up yet as I realised the bottom bracket I had was beyond repair so have had to order a new one. Will post a picture once it’s done.

The spec is going to be something like this:

DMR Bolt Long Full Suspension Frame 125mm
Rockshox Sektor Coil 150/120mm
SLX shifter, mech and chainset 32t
SLX brakes 180 and 160
Maxxis Crossmarks on Stans ztr355 on Hope Pro 2 (shared with my xc bike)
Raceface Ride seatpost and charge scoop saddle (shared with xc bike)
Raceface Ride stem 70mm and bars 710mm
Some pedals (not sure whether to go to flats for this bike or stick with spds – leaning towards flats)

Hopefully it should be good.

That it’s a great price and I expect the price will eventually increase as they seem to be gaining more interest. Are your pikes 150mm and adjustable for climbs?

I’m just about 6’4” so I’ll be seeing that much post too. Not to bothered about that though as I’m not planning on going far uphill on it.

Ajantom what length stem did you go for?

I’m getting one this week. Having done a bit of research first I’m expecting it to be heavy but a lot of fun. They’re pretty good value at Winstanleys at the moment although I’m getting mine from the lbs. Just building it up with bits of an old slx groupset and sharing some parts like wheels, seat post and saddle with my hard tail so should be a fairly economic way of getting a good strong full suss hopefully.

Hope you don’t mind me jumping in on your thread but I was wondering which headset you bought for the bike?

Managed to get a double room at the travel lodge in Fort William thanks to a kind Singletracker. Roll on the weekend!

No fortunately it’s only me without accommodation. I entered and then got my dates mixed up and thought I was away on holiday while 10 under the ben was on but as it turns out I’m not. Only realised this when I got back yesterday though so that’s why I’m a bit late in getting the accommodation sorted. If I don’t find anything I can always drive up on the morning of the race but don’t really fancy the combination of no preparation, early start and jet lag too.

I had a similar query on here the other day. I’ve just ordered some mavic rush shoes which look pretty stealthy that I’m going to use on both road and mountain bike.

I had briefly looked into Plex and it seems to do all I want but do I need to have a pc with Plex installed constantly running to allow me to instantly access my dvds in the house? I think you can upload to the cloud with Plex and stream via the internet so that might not be a problem. I’ve limited space in the under stair cupboard so don’t want a big pc kicking out heat and using up space.

Either way I’m going to need to buy a storage device large enough to keep all my dvds on. Confused now.

No I don’t have a media server. This is the sort of thing I was looking at but don’t really understand what it does differently to a hard drive in a carrier. I guess it’s just the fact that it can connect directly to the tv via hdmi.

http://www.3000rpm.com/acatalog/Sumvision-Cyclone-Primus-MKV-FULL-1080p-HD-Player-with-1TB-Hard-Drive.html

I think I’ll give it a try. Will probably stick with the shimano shoes I mentioned earlier but some giro privateers have caught my eye too. Anyone tried them? They look a little sleeker.

alibongo001 – good thinking. I could keep my tatty old shimano mtb shoes for summer riding as they’ve got quite a few unwanted ventilation holes now!

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-xc50-mtb-spd-shoes-2014/rp-prod69960?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Shopping&utm_name=UnitedKingdom&gclid=COiL9Ljrrb4CFdLHtAodazoArg&gclsrc=aw.ds

This is what I was considering buying. Nice looking and I know I like the fit and feel of shimano shoes. Anyone tried them?

Yeah I figured fashion would be the main reason for most people to use road shoes but mtb shoes also have the added benefit of being able to walk around comfortably without fear of falling on your arse.

I think the bank has offered him 63k and the houses he’s been looking at are just over 100k. His parents have given him 17k I think but not exactly sure on the figures.

He’s been living at home for the past 2 years so not sure how much he’ll have saved up. But the month long trip to America last year won’t have helped. Wish I could afford to go on a month long trip somewhere.

I’m getting a bit bitchy now though. It’s not his fault his aspirations are set higher than his means and I sympathise with his situation.

I was fortunate enough to get a similar loan for a deposit from my parents when I bought my first flat and with that I bought a flat that was within my budget. My parents guaranteed the mortgage for 2 years when I was a student but the mortgage was was based on what I would earn on my first year out of uni ie. sweet f’ all. It did me know harm living in a 1 bed ex council flat, to be honest I felt really lucky to.

As a matter of fact I think he’d feel the same way. He’s just got his first career focused job and wants to be more independent which is totally understandable. I’m pretty sure he’d agree that his independence needn’t involve me guaranteeing his mortgage.

I’m actually pleasantly surprised that I’m not going mad and that the overwhelming majority think that it’s a bad idea too. Is there a chance that I might not be a selfish, miserable cold hearted git after all? . . . . Nah!

“They are all cuckoo if they really think it is your responsibility”.

“Run.”

I have this thought every day. Not about my wife, just her family but she loves them so much that they do have far to much influence on our life and happiness. She’s a kindhearted person who just wants the best for her brother but I’m afraid it’s not going to happen.

My view is that he should look for something that he can afford or wait until he can afford the one he wants.