Windwave has just taken over the distribution from Surf Sales and they’ve always been really helpful in the past with Marzocchi.

Have you contacted Transition directly? As Lars has always been helpful

Offset Shock Bushes (from Offsetbushings.com) – £10 each and after a few rides they stop creaking and just work
Hope Hubs
Mavic 521s – going strong after 3 years of abuse
Shimano Brakes – Zee & XT
Orange Alpine – high performance/low maintenance
26 inch wheels – 26 ain’t dead
Endura MT500 Burner shorts
Maxxis Tyres – especially the Minion DHF and Wet Scream

+1 for Orange Alpine 160 2012. I got mine when I was 105kg and not had any problems (apart from knackering the RP23 Boost Valve after 2 years). It gets abused 3-4 times a week and still going strong.
And best of all the down tube is no fatter than most other bikes (unlike older Oranges) and it doesn’t have the huge ugly slab sided sided single piece swing arms so isn’t much noisier than other bikes. The newer 27.5 is longer and lighter. And the spec might not be the best but the geometry and handling is spot on.

Tom kP

They look like they’ve been squished and the tubes have bowed out like Specialized road bikes (I’m expecting them to sue me for that comment). Pretty damn ugly bike.

Tom KP

No man should wear a onesie! It’s the law

Quite a few friends had the Furious and pretty much all of them decided that for jumping they were really good but couldn’t touch the Supreme (and Mini DH) for actual DH performance as they “rode a bit weird”.
Ime say pick the Supreme (the FR or DH version) over the Furious as the only person that seemed to like it was Cedric Gracia (who had a lot of input in the design) all the other sponsored riders seemed to avoid it.

My bro’s 2007 Supreme is still going strong and pedals well for a 40lb bike (nota light build)

Tom KP

I’m heavy and I recommend ghetto tubeless. ghetto tubeless how to[/url]

Only ever had it burp once when I was seeing how low I could run them. Now I just run them at normal pressures for a fat person and enjoy not having punctures.

I wouldn’t have thought it would have less range than a 10 speed 11-36 cassette. and surely it would work out cheaper than converting your bike to an 11 speed which would require the XD driver, cassette and shifter and mech compared to just the XD driver and a cassette if it was 10 speed.

I just thought it would be a way to keep the high gear and get a low easy gear without having to fit a massive 40/42 ring which seems to stretch the capacity of several mechs to (or beyond) their limits.

cheers

Well spotted Fivespot. What a silly bunt I am.

2012

My Orange Alpine 160 had them on the inside of the chain stays. I just used a bit of heli-tape and have had no problems in 3 years

I seem to remember that one of the Kona designers said they didn’t want to do it with their newer bikes as they wanted to keep them riding the same across the size range and didn’t want tall people to have long rear ends that were hard to Manual, etc and short people to have short rear ends that were less stable at speed.

I know Norco do it but I’ve never tried them out.

Had a spin on a well specced one ages ago and they rode really well. Quite a stiff ride but burly and handled really well.

Tom KP

The Minion DHF is a great front tyre. I’ve been running them for years and haven’t found anything as reliable and predictable yet. The EXO 3C TR is a good tyre as it rolls a bit better. I’m currently running a EXO 2.5 60a but have used the different 3C tyres before. The Missus is currently running the 2.35 EXO 3C TR and it’s great.

Would like to hear some feed back on the Beaver as I always seem to end up running a 2.35 DHF on the back and fancy something a bit faster rolling come spring.

Tom KP

I’ve had a pair of Switch AM wheels since 2008 and they’ve been used for XC, DH and dirt jumping, they’ve have the axles swapped from QR, 20mm and 15mm and are still straight and true without need for any bearing changes. And they get jet washed now and again when I’m lazy.

Damn you Jamie (shakes fist in air!!)

Mucky-Nuts/Marsh guard on the front and mount one vertically to the seat stays close to the tyre (if frame allows it. They’re light, cheap and don’t make your bike look like a Moto-Trials bike.

I thought I read somewhere that the XTR Di2 mech automatically adjusted to whichever cassette you had fitted. So it should work on a SRAM cassette. Not sure if Shimano have a 10-42 tooth cassette.

One of the magazines was even querying if that meant it could potentially work on 9/10 speed as well.

One of the things I liked about the SRAM 11 speed was the 10 tooth sprocket which meant you could use a smaller chain ring for climbing (with the 42 tooth rear) but still have a decent top gear, unlike 1×10 where you either get a really easy gear OR a decent top gear.

Allemonde always used to be pretty good and right next to the shuttle bus. And there’s a pool within
Walking distance

I wore out a cassette and chain on my Orange over the winter, but I guess I would have done the same on a hardtail anyway. And TBH the cassette was pretty old anyway.

On a slightly different note, is there any reason to buy an Inline if my frame will take a standard CCDBA? Apart from a weight saving of approx 10g according to the CC website?

My mistake, I mis-read bar ends to mean the end locking rings of the grips rather than the extra handles on them.

Easton grips are designed to work safely with carbon bars

You’ll be fine. Plenty of people out there riding them. You can always whack a bigger set of forks for the trip if you want. But I’m sure you’ll be fine.

The Mavic tyres are great. If you look at all the pictures of Mavic sponsored riders’ bikes after Enduro races the bikes are a bit grubby but the tyres look as good as new. If you didn’t know better you could almost say that they weren’t even ridden in the race, like they’ve just been fitted

Kirt Vories in one of the last 2 NWD movies.

South Gloucestershire is good. Somewhere around Yate or Chipping Sodbury means you can just ride out the door and be hitting the hills of the Cotswolds. Yet it’s still easy to commute to Bristol and Yate has a train station for access to London, Brum and Bristol.
There’s also riding at Nirth Nibley for your DH fix
Tom KP

If it’s Partridge cycles they’ve have all sorts of random things in over the years in random specs. Often they have had in ex-rep and demo bikes. They’ve also been known to swap spec on second hand bikes around.

Maybe the seller just stuck on some RAD stickers. I’ve known people do the same with TF Tuned and PUSH stickers.

Tom KP

He probably caught them mid-barspin :wink:

I’m with you, baggies are the way forward when out in public. Although never caught my shorts on my shifters.
Tom kP

The Yeti and Atherton podcasts are free and worth a watch. Life Cycles, Arrival, Not Bad, Follow Me, Where The Trail Ends.
Of all of those I rreally liked Arrival and Not Bad and 3 Minute Gaps

Had the RP23 on my Alpine 160 Pushed last year after the Boost Valve died and it’s been brilliant. Much improved it (although I had spent the previous 6 months including 3 weeks in France running it broken).

Tom KP

Pretty sure the Minion I bought last month was 60a.

I’d consider buying something like this or the Commencal kids bikes if my kids were really into it. I reckon they’d hold their value really well and do several kids as they grow out if them. Need to have kids first though

Tom KP

I bought it on ITunes. Quite enjoyed it.

Tom kP

He has a choice of 2 bikes and picks the one he feels is better for that track. There’s probably nothing wrong with the Strive(as far as I know) he just prefered the Spectral for that track. Probably for the same reason he used to switch between the Alpine 160 and the Five when he was with Orange and why Leov swaps between the Slash and Remedy 29.

Tom KP

They sit on the platform of my DX pedals and old pair of Mallets. But not really when it comes to the Shimano pedals with the small ‘faux-platform’ on some of the newer pedals (like the XTRs). Shimano dX pedals are the best I’ve found. The resin platform can be surprisingly grippy if you fail to clip back in.

One piece of advice is to drill out the slots on the shoes and move the cleats back about 2cm. Is a massive improvement. There’s a video online where Fabial Barel talks about it. I tried it on my 5:10s but you can’t do it as the Shimano midsole is completely solid whereas the 5:10 midsole isn’t.

I would recommend the AM45 + DX combo
Tom kp

Shimano DX or the cheaper version. Both have a resin platform but the DX is a bit tougher. They last for ever and the SPD is ever reliable. VP do one, Funn do one, HT have the one Aaron Gwin uses.

New or old?
GT Distortion rides nice, Knoa Howler, Specialized SX, Blur 4x or similar, Spesh P-Slope, Commencal meta 4X(get the long one as the short one is tiny), Orange Blood, Transition double (again get the long one), Bottle Rocket, there are loads. Some of the older ones might need offset bushes or angle reducing headsets.

Tom KP

That would be my perfect hardtail if they had a threaded BB.

Tom K p