I had a lovely pair of Pace RC36 Pros. Double carbon fibre fork bridges, XT Vs on the back, carbon fibre lowers. Brilliant. I was a proud owner, until all the bolts came undone on the only semi technical bit of the Salisbury Plain Challenge at minus 10 degrees.

Since then I have given up on top of the range, pride of ownership stuff and go for moderately priced reliability. (But they were very nice to look at).

I like the sound of the Society 120mm forks.

Buy it. as Nickf says above, even if you are over-biked (if there is such a thing) your riding will probably improve, and I have had so much fun being a mid-pack/slowish DH rider that my DH bike is the bike I miss most at the moment.

Unfortunately, trying to transfer the ‘skills’ from the DH bike to my XC 100mm hardtail has taken a while, but has eventually made me better on that too.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark 2/10

Utterly, utterly predicable. I should have realised when it said ‘presented by Guillermo del Toro’. I would go in to a Kermodian rant about how poor it was, but don’t the energy.

Hmm, haven’t heard of that one before, but might try it. Thanks.

You might be right grum. I ride it on my hardtail, but have passed many people on very big bouncy bikes, all padded up. Not sure why.

The Gorlech trail is fun.

Oh and I don’t like the centre by Beddgelert.

Or Beulah, where I always crash and scar myself, or have a major mechanical.

The Raven trail at Brechfa. Soe fun bits, but overall I just don’t get it.

How hard is it to take along something to measure 25% of the shock stroke, or even guess it!

A bit of research on the recommended suspension setting for the frame/bike before you went wouldn’t be too difficult would it.

Surely that defines a generic rider?

Unless of course you happen to be that rider. I don’t know, perhaps you are the specific rider that can buy a bike he has test ridden, with the specific recommended settings, not alter the components at all, who has the perfect ride off the shelf?

In which case, good on you.

Or not. As I said earlier, with experience, you begin to know what you are talking about and may be open to the fact that others know too. I think that if you are the sort of person that needs a test ride then crack on to the bike shop, try the frame in your size and spec, test ride it where you ride, decide to buy it and have the best bike/rider relationship ever. I, on the other hand, buy stuff online, without test riding anything and base every decision on luck and marketting hype.

Or just test ride with settings for a generic rider!

And your test ride is where? A demo day on the trails you ride, superb, but generally bike shops are in a tarmac trail desert so what does that tell you? Apart from those gnarradcore kerbs and steps?

And five minutes set up pre test ride is the same as the adjustments above? You know the correct pressures, sag etc for a new frame? I bow to your unparalleled knowledge.

But you can tell if its going to be too long across the top, inside leg etc.

And as I said, with experience, you know that a 71/73 degree XC hardtail rides differently to slacker angled longer forked bikes.

Or perhaps he actually knows what he is talking about (a rarity on here) and buys the right bike, in the right size, without buying a bike and turning it into something it wasn’t meant to be. As I do, because with a bit of experience (and an averagely sized body) most bikes fit if you know how to compare the geometry, and you know what to expect?

About to ex-pat myself in a move to Oz. Other than family, and my dog, I think I will miss a decent curry and Joe’s Iced Cream. Probably worth the swap for sunshine and perfect surf.

I stripped my Maxlight with Nitromors and wire wool. It was not the easiest thing to remove all the paint. The frame now has an aged/industrial/distressed look which may look planned, or not. Still rides the same.

So you’re saying there is no product placement in other mags? Just depends on the genre of magazine surely, just as it depends on the genre of website you choose to browse.

Not that I’m defending MBUK. I have a subscription, but actually prefer Dirt as thats the riding, content and design I prefer.

Best reason to subscribe to mags is for the free gift on offer. I have a pair of Altura baggies which are brilliant.

You end up swallowing a lot by default don’t you?

As for the rest of your response, true, but it doesn’t answer my questions.

Reason I ask is before a couple of years ago I wouldn’t clear my nose, apart from sniffing everything back. Then I changed, ad seem to have less respiratory tract infections. Was wondering if other people experienced the same.

Beer festivals are great! The first few beers get the attention they deserve, but by the time I have spent £10 of my beer vouchers they all taste the same and I want a kebab. Cheap, fun and not often beardy.

Being a bit short of money when I had to replace my road STis I bought some Microshift 10 speed shifters. The quality was okay (considering they were only £100), but ergonomically they are generally pants. Its very difficult to drop the chain down the cassette when on the drops, and when on the hoods my mitts can get caught in the shift levers.

Based on that experience I have decided not to consider Microshift again, but to make sure I buy Shimano. Also don’t think I’d try the mountain bike shifters.

Apart from that I have no problems not being faithful to the big companies. Will happily use different brand chains, but do avoid Shimano as I went through a phase of snapping them. Tried a BBB cassette which was so heavy it nearly caused subsidence in my house (in my head).

I might actually be inclined to be more biased against ‘other’ brands if I find a fault, or possibly be less prepared to admit the bigger companies stuff can be short lived or just not very good. Does that make sense?

I used some chain ring spacers .

Initially my front mech served quite well as a chain guide.

Fair enough. Hasn’t happened since I spaced mine.

I had to space my cage out approx 2 mm with a random washer from my toolbox. Chainring now sits bang in the middle of the cage with no chain droppage.

jam bo – I assume you’ve set up both, but how do you gauge the stiffness of the product? It sits on the frame, and when riding you don’t notice it?

Went to see a gig he did last year, and going again in November. Not bad, but sometimes you should leave these things behind as a teenager.

Increasing strength and stamina seem to be an increase in fitness to me?

1×9 here. 36 front with 11-34 casette. Its enough for South Wales hills. Having gone to 1x I now can’t see many reasons to go back. Most of my riding is off road, apart from a mile and a half road downhill where I generally spin out. Off road, no reason for smaller or bigger gears for me.

As Hugor says, every time I have a cold I think ‘its just about gone so I can go ride/race’ which leads to the cold heading to my chest for a few weeks and a course of antibiotics, or to a dose of laryngitis meaning missing work (I’m a teacher so no voice, no teach).

Just getting over a small cold, didn’t ride today as my voice was croaky when shouting at the World Cup this morning. Hope to ride tomorrow but might leave it as I am taking the kid on an outdoor pursuits week starting Monday so don’t want to kill myself and spend the week getting cold, wet and muddy in caves, canoes etc.

Not sure whether I am becoming more sensible as I get older through experience, or laziness (I am a sprightly 40).

Any Kona HT I’ve owned (AA, Pahoehoe x2, Kula x2).

Think I am always trying to replicate their feel on different bikes, but not quite making it.

Oh, and my next bike, TBA.

I’m quite worried that I enjoy browsing websites of bolts.

Yours.

Just PMed you

Isn’t that what all the pic threads on this forum do?

How about

‘blind’ product testing. Giving products/bikes to testers with brands blanked out, without marketting blurb as to who its aimed at, without a price to see what riders actually think, independent of hype.

‘themed’ rides/routes. EG its approaching halloween so here are a few rider submitted routes to scary haunted places, or its VE day so here are a group of rides to places have historical significance for WW2. Routes that include some tourist/historical/geographical/archaeological/geological/ecological info rather than just a nice bit of singletack, lunch stop, back to the car.

The psychology of fitness rather than 15 minutes of hill reps. I have found an awful lot of fitness is in your head so a feature with sports psychologist explaining how to beast yourself into being fitter?

For me, all the ‘I ride my bike cos its the answer to life’articles are utter pants.

I currently use Endura half frame changeable lens jobbies. Less than £40 for 4 lens, although the darkest and mirrored lenses have a strange polarisation effect when looking at damp patches on road. Optical clarity is good as every other pair I have used, in that I can see through them, don’t notice the edges and the frames are unnoticeable.

Did like my Spesh transition glasses, but snapped the frame.

Do you not trust trip computers? Mine says if I drive very carefully I can achieve 37mpg. Or drive with a bit more welly for 30.

Which means in a month I spend approx £150 pretty much all commuting.

I am emigrating to Brisbane in January so have been trying to check this out too. Was planning to buy a new On One mountain bike, and a Planet X road bike when I am out there, as without VAT the bikes cost over £100 less including delivery to Oz. Any idea how much the import charge/tax may be if I do get stung?

Does all this cleaning actually prolong the life of your chain? Or is it just obsessive compulsive bike detailing?

I spray mine with WD40 followed by a wipe with an oily rag, allow to dry then lube.

I used an Uletgra BB on my Giant Glory for close to a year. The Glory has a BIG BB shell (think its supposed to be 83mm? Maybe 85mm). I took the plastic sheath thing from the old BB and everything fitted together nicely. No problems with threads etc, no problem with seals. Just killed it eventually with my incompetent DHing.

57 and a half minutes in typical weather at the start of this summer on an XC2 100mm hardtail (with a minute stop for a pee).

As for the sarcastic replies, since when has mountain biking been a non-competitive sport? Might be where I started, but if I don’t have a time to better or a person to catch/beat then errm, why bother?

Are you saying he will only notice a difference because he knows they are wire bead? Shocking.

I use wire bead tyres because I am tight/broke, and rely more on looking at the tread pattern to assess how good the tyre is rather that the durometer rating. To be honest, every folding tyre I have used seem to be more fragile than wire beads so don’t really think about buying them any more.

Their socks are great, shame they are all Norco.

I enjoy reading MBUK and with no sense of irony. It is silly and can be attention deficit, but then so is the sport of mountain biking.

I never understood the reason for Hammershmidt gearing to be so low. Marketed for free ride bikes that seem to be pushed up hills rather than ridden in the granny, surely the Hammerschmidt gearing would have made more sense to be equivalent to a middle/big ring rather than a granny/middle? Might have then been more useful on freeride/DH bikes?

I snapped a lot of chains by changing too many gears across the cassette in one go, using old twisty gripshift. Seems to worked itself out as a problem now as I use trigger shifters.

I read a review that said it was JJ Abrams love letter to Spielbergs work.

It was very Spielbergian, alien was Cloverfield and everything was derivative, but I would still give it 9/10.

flow – Member
Hope stuff is excellent, you just get the occasional idiot that for whatever reason doesn’t like them complaining.

I won’t buy Hope kit after knackered quick releases and seat clamps, squealing brakes and after snapping the flange of a hub spoiled too many rides.

Seems a perfectly reasonable thing to decide and not at all being an idiot?