Just converted mine to 1×10. Happy with the way the Superstar N/W ring is working. I have just added a Superstar Top guide for the Alps trip next week just for a little peace of mind though. But I can’t imagine it staying on there once I’m back in the UK

Been buying it from Bike start for years without any complaints but the last lot I bought a few months ago was cheaper quality. So we ended up buying some 3M tape from eBay and it’s great quality. But I still recommend the kits from http://www.invisiframe.co.uk. Is £50 that much to protect several grands worth of bike?

Tom K p

I’ve got an Axminster compressor. <£100 reliable and makes tubeless set up so much easier. Well worth the money for that alone.
Tom KP

Buy a few different pairs from CRC or Wiggle and try them on for size and the. Return them free of charge using Collect+. I do this all the time.
I have pretty big legs and use the new Race face knee pads that can be put on without taking shoes off (Ambush I think). And the Leatt 3DF L/XL pads felt nice.

Similar thing happened to me and a friend last year. But when 3 guys got out of the car to threaten us a mini bus full of Rugby chaps fresh from a sponsored cycle ride pulled in behind and kicked the living sheet out of them.

I don’t condone this type of violence and did attempt to stop it from happening. But a little part of me was secretly delighted.

LH remote under the right side tight to the grip, then a at brake and X9 shifter on the inside.
TBH I have found it amazing that the Reverb remote(most awkward design ever) fits better with My new xT brakes than the Avid Elixers I had before. It’s like the Avid, SRAM & Rockshox designed their products completely I dependants to each other

Wire head Dual Ply are perfect for France. Easy to set up tubeless and much more reliable than single ply tyres. It’s a long walk down from halfway up a mountain

I rode up to the Mossettes lift last year on a bet/date. Wouldn’t recommend it. Was bloody hardwork. But meant I got beers paid for rest of week.

It does seem to vary. Order a jersey on Wednesday evening and it was here Friday morning. But a few weeks ago it took 7 days for a helmet. And some shorts never arrived (although after contacting them they did send them out the next day).

Tom kp

If you look at it solely from numbers you’ll find that “Freeride” bikes were GENERALLY heavier, with steeper head angles, slacker seat post, angles taller stand over and shorter wheel bases. And emphasis was on absorbing big hits rather than pedalling ability.
Apart from increasing the travel to match the bigger more gravity orientated (often) Alpine tracks the new longer travel bikes are worlds apart. The Enduro race series’ here in the UK tend to be on smaller tracks so a lighter short travel bike can make sense. Although bikes like the Capra are light, pedal well and long travel so they’re probably good for them as well. Santa Cruz admit that the Nomad is for the bigger gravity orientated races/tracks and reckon the Bronson is better suited to things like the UK has.

But as said before buy the bike you like that you think is best for your riding. Don’t buy a bike based on 2 weeks annual holiday.
And rejoice in the fact that we have 170-180mm bikes that pedal well. I remember a time when forks were so crap some hardtails sucked to pedal!
Tom KP.

They’ll be fine at 170mm. A friend has had 170 55RC3s on his 2010 Alpine for a few years without any problems. I prefer them to my 160 36 Rs. And another fried has 180 36 Vans without any problems.

Tom Kp

If you decide to park up and sleep after you land in France. I recommend you drive a little while and get clear of Calais/Dunkirk etc and find a quieter Aire to sleep in as being women up by the Police who are checking on if immigrants and stuff is a PITA

Sounds like Penmachno will be saved for a day when the boss isn’t riding with me.
Cheers

Go big as you’re going to France, you can always downsize when you come home and the mountains become hills.
I’m 90kg and pretty sure my bike is 180/180 although it might be 203/180 can ‘t remember. The Mrs runs. 180/160 but she’s about 30kg lighter than me and found that 203/203 on her DH bike was to much so went smaller and never went back

Cheers rot the recommendation. I did a google search but wanted some real world experiences

Stick with what you normally ride in. The same as stick with the bike you normally ride. It always amazes me that people leave their £4-5k All-mountain/Enduro bikes with decent suspension and parts at home and instead take an old crappy cheap DH bike with inferior parts

Squats – a combo of both high rep low weights and low reps high weight depending on what type of riding you actually want to improve. Pilates, Yoga and stretching are all important.
Work on core strength as well, like stretching it’s often overlooked by cyclists who often just concentrate on leg strength at the expense of balancing out their muscle groups.
Combine all of that with riding your bike, chuck in some circuits and general CV improvement.

Gravity dropper or Gravity dropper Turbo by far. But the KS i7 is pretty good as well.

I’m sure they’ll be fine if they’re what you like and are used to, but in my experience they’re a pretty rubbish tyre, never seem to grip in corners and I’ve always had to pump them up rock hard to stop them from folding and wallowing around.
I tend to run DH casings out in France as there’s nothing worse than shredding a tyre miles away from home/shop and having an hours walk down to the bottom of the mountain.
My choice is High Rollers or Minions, but that’s just because I like them

My fairly stock Orange Alpine weighed in at 15.8 kg (34.7lbs) but now I’ve fitted a KS i7 and stuck a single ply Minion DHF on the back instead of the (utterly terrible) Nobby Nic and gone tubeless so I guess it’s a bit heavier. Switching to Dual Ply Minions F&R so it’ll be heavier again.

Tom K p

It was horrible blasting around dusty dry trails all weekend. Who’d want to do that? Rubbish – got dust all over my bike. Not a good as mud, only took about 30 seconds to clean after riding. That’s not character building

My money is on Hoy replacing him as he was out in Cali, Columbia doing something with them and everyone was being a bit vague as to what his actual role was. Either him or Shane Sutton.

You can often pick up a pair of MPHs on eBay for <£40. And they’re new, used ones come up for almost nothing

The GF has a covert 26 2 in stock build. It rides brilliantly. I would say that my Alpine 160 has the edge over it for descending, but I think the covert pedals and climbs better. The CTD shock doesn’t seem to be slowing her down and as she hates fiddling with settings (weird I know) it suits her. They’re not the lightest, but if weight was everything we’d all be on carbon XC hardtails with seat posts on full extension complaining there’s not enough climbing on trails these days!

Tom KP

Probably because the Garmin is actually accurate

I’ve got an i7 which was a hand me down from the Mrs when she upgraded to a reverb. Never been serviced in 4 years but I just clean it after every ride and lube the seals with a bit of Finish Line Wet every other ride and spray some fork juice on t after each ride. Seems to be going ok. But I might try the new cable idea to see if that improves anything.

And maybe give it a good strip down soon. Are they easy to do?

I’ve had 2 pairs of Impacts the a pair of Sam Hills since they were first released many years ago. They’ve all been abused, left wet in the back of the van for days and ridden 3-4 days a week and thy’ve all lasted fine. I think the Sam hills are a bit better designed and still going strong after 18 months of abuse. Slightly less ugly as well.

Tom KP

It has no back end

Cheers, have no interest in whatever segments are, I just want to clock max/average speed and ascending/descending height just out of curiosity. Don’t want to spend any money on a Garmin or similar.

Ta

Tom KP

Love my Alpine. I spent ages trying everything around the 150-160mm travel market and just found it to be the best at most things. Although I’m more of a potter up blast down rider rather than an XC whippet. Geometry is spot on and the bike is super stable at speed and in the air as well.

Planning on keeping it for a while and maybe supplementin it with a 29er hardtail. Preferred it to the Pitch I tried

I liked it. It reminded me of why I like Les 2 Alps.
Also liked the lack of slo-mo and “arty shots”.

Not to worried he was wearing a vest, look at some of the stuff other people
On here wear when they go riding.
Tom KP

My RP23 is much better since it’s been Pushed. They also did a little jiggery pokery as well to suit my weight, style and needs and I’m happy with the results.

Tom KP

I ride my Orange Alpine 160 for everything. I needed a something that could replace my DH bike and my XC bike as I couldn’t afford/keep 2 bikes. At 34lbs it’s a bit heavy for long XC days compared to many, and you feel over bikes if you take round a neutered trail centre but it pedals well and you just get stronger.

If I could afford another bike I would get a hard tail to compliment it but can’t.

All I would say is to buy the right bike for what you ride most rather than the right bike for an Alpine holiday. There are a lot of lighter bikes out there with decent geo and strength nowadays that would probably be better for trail centres, singletrack and less hilly places which will still be fun.

Tom kp

Forks for kids bikes. Scott have them on some of their kiddy bikes

Tom KP

Laying a hedge properly is a skill that shouldn’t be lost.
If it’s done right it’ll last a long time and has way more benefit than just flailing it. Just because somethin isn’t quick and easy doesn’t make it a worse option.

And this is Nithig to do with being a cyclist and more to do with growing up on a farm.
Tom k

There are often quite a few deals to be had at the end of the season out there.

CRC will ship to Morzine in 3 days

If anyone wants to read it but doesn’t want to give their money to a drug cheat I think I have an eBook copy that I could probably email to people.

To quote Sam Hill “I just ride it the same as if it was dry”.

No problems with 2013 34 CTD Floats in our household. 70kg rider riding them hard (not me) and no probs over last 4 months