I’d say that the intended use of the bike is what you should be looking at and not get too wrapped up in the travel. The bikes you list are all xc bikes, if that’s what you want then go for it. Sounds like the riding you do might be a little more than those bikes are really comfortable with, in which case I’d be looking for something a little less xc focused. I snapped an older Spark just riding trail centres so I learnt the hard way.

34.9 I’d imagine.

Hi Si, thanks for the help. Ideally I’d like both, but I can probably get the mech running ok again with just part 18 from that diagram (the inner plate) as that’s the part that’s actually snapped. How much are we talking and how should I send payment?

Incidentally I popped into your shop with a mate after our ride. Thought we’d take a look since we were so close and I’ve bought a few bits from you previously. Nice shop, a very lovely collection of bikes you have there. Clearly I should have thought to ask about the mech cage at the time.

Thanks sango, that is a good price for the mech.

I just want a replacement cage though as the mech is virtually brand new.

In STW tradition I will recommend my own brakes. Hope V4’s. Great modulation and never short on power. It did take a while to get used to the increased free travel (over elixirs) but it’s all good now and I don’t miss bleeding the elixirs or the sticky pistons causing brake rub.

I’d ride it but avoid turning left.

Might be a blessing in disguise if you don’t like your 2013 fox forks…

I think “Elements” just refers to the dwr coating, as versions are available of the new and old style shoe.

Its the “Vxi” bit that differentiates between the standard freeriders and the new ones with the flat patch on the sole.

I am liking my old style freerider elements, they’re keeping me dry enough so far provided I don’t actually stand in a puddle.

I had the trailstar front and pacestar rear combination for a while. Love the front but the rear is too draggy for me so I’ve since swapped it out.

Nope but I ignore some. You’ve not made the list yet OP :P

even Slants (1963g

My Slants only weighed 1887g with uncut steerer :)

I prefer them for the above reasons, but only just. You can expect an increase in friction in my experience, which is the main downside.

Sancho – are you saying that you shouldn’t add additional links to a KMC chain?

You should’t add additional links without using a quick link. If you’ve been adding links by pressing the pin out and back in again (like you can do on bmx chains) then this is almost certainly the cause of your breakages.

I’ve used KMC, the SL version, then L then the cheap 10.93. It seems to me that the less you pay the longer they last. Unless you’re really looking save every gram I’d go with a more robust solid link chain like the 10.93.

On another note, I’m failing to see any real advantage to the missing link, other than it’s easier to get your chain off should you need to. KMC say you should fit a new missing link once you’ve undone it 3 times as they wear and become loose. You still need to carry a chain tool around in order to fix a broken chain anyway, plus missing links are over twice the price of shimano pins.

As others have said, I would imagine something is wrong if you are snapping chains.

rob2 – Can’t help with an exact weight as I didn’t weigh the frame before I built it up. However my empirical observation was that when I first picked the frame up (previous bike was a Soul) I thought, ‘that’s not as weighty as I was expecting’. Hope that helps!

Thanks nickc. In my totally biased opinion it rides amazingly well. I think it’s fair to say I raised a few I brows on it at revolution bike park at the weekend and lots of nice comments too. Your bike looks the muts nuts! I was very tempted by the Shan I have to say.

edward2000 – The seatube brace is a love it or hate it thing I guess. It was one of my main reasons for going for the Alpine though, as I needed an 18″ and the Stanton and BFe, lovely as they are, both look a bit gate like in anything other than 16″ imho.

The BB is too high on the BFe with 140mm forks

Not so on the Alpine

I’m just going to leave this here…

[/url]
Alpine with 160’s[/url], on Flickr

Has the alpine got longer chain stays length than the slackline, is it considered to have long chain stays?

Yep, longer Alpines are longer than the Slackline. Really short chainstays may make manualing easier, but anyone who can really manual probably won’t notice/be bothered by the difference. Slightly longer chainstays take a lot of harshness out of the ride and make hammering over baby heads less unenjoyable. YPYMYTYC

Water is second nature for a duck egg Soul surely?

Flow EX on Hope, no question. I made the mistake of getting Arch Ex’s and suffered from tyre squirm. Flow Ex’s sorted it, well worth the very slight weight penalty.

This?[/url]

2.4 Conti Mountain King Protections – 650g apparently

This.

Right then
Tyres…more like 800-850g, you’ll need to go to 2.2 to get anything like those weights (and even then 2.2 contis are hovering around 700g)

nickc – I have weighed all 3 of the MK2 protection 2.4’s in my possession, because I’m sad like that. They’re all 650 grams more or less. if anything I’d at least swap the front one out for something else even if it’s heavier. Don’t like the MK2 on the front at all.

Swapping those out for anything lighter would be a bad idea imo.

You’ll feel it more in the wheels than anywhere else. That’d be my starting point. Wouldn’t bother chaing any of the bits you’ve listed, it’s all good stuff. It is a BFe afterall.

Just got the regular free rider (not VXi) in elements variety. First ride tomorrow so we’ll see. Hopefully it ain’t gonna be wet though!

Nice.

I hiked the bike up it for the first time a few weeks ago. There’s a really steep section towards the start of the descent which would have been rideable in the dry but probably not too much fun. If Snowdon is next on your list I’d say that is a lot less challenging but really great fun.

Solaris, obviously :)

grim – did you ride the whole of dollywagon without skipping any bits? You did good if you did :)

Just a little heads up, since you’re tall. I’ve looked at the cube, voodoo and genesis and they all have bottle cage mounts on the seat tube. This means you’ll only be able to get the seat post down so far. I like to be able to ride with the saddle slammed when doing anything jumpy so this would rule out any of those frames straight away for me. Not an issue for everyone though I realise.

I think we need geometry details too…

THIS IS HOW IT STARTS, RUN NOW AND TAKE YOU WALLET TO SAFETY

Alright then, I’ll do better than that. Get the voodoo (£404.99) through topcashback for £399.53!

£405 with the 10% discount they have on at the moment and a better spec than either of those I reckon, might even be able to use the fork for a while before upgrade.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_927849_langId_-1_categoryId_165499#tab2

I’d buy used though.

dannyh – I think this page tells you what you need to know regarding uploading to flickr.

http://ipadinsight.com/ios-6/ios-6-and-ipad-image-uploads-working-nicely/

From there you just copy and paste the bb code into your post.

Any more opinions yet?

What makes you think its the Hans on the front making it hard work? Usually the rear is the cause of most of the rolling resistance, since it carries the majority of the weight.

For me I think the HD makes a great front tyre, yep it’s a bit draggy but on the front not that noticeable. Can’t comment on your rear NN tho.

how wide is the Flow?

EX? 25.5mm internal.

I saved myself a few quid and went for the M665. Double specific chainline, able to run a bash and steel pedal inserts make it a better crankset imho.

GHill (or anyone else) – How do yo find them for walking up something slippery?

Nice little vid dropseoi. I’ve been to that little jump spot and it looked like fun, though it was really wet so thought it best not to ride it. I’l definitely go back sometime soon though as I’m in Leicester fairly regularly. Good to see there’s hope for me for plenty of years to come :)

Whoa! That’s a big drop! Kudos. Funny how it really looks like not a lot on the vid ace posted! Kudos