Mountain Biking

rhysduck said:
What kind of "trails" are these? Any examples?
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Bridle ways, towpaths, footpaths (naughty), fair amount of mud, sand and rock.

Current bike is a 2016 Iroko 2. 27.5 and 2x10 Deores, always been fine on hills and at peak fitness I didn't need the small chainring on the front.

UTmaniac said:
Have you considered a Pinnacle Arkose "adventure bike," rather than a mountain bike?
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That definitely won't work for me.

I plan to go play on the Surrey Hills and maybe Swinley a bit more this year so something slightly more trail than my Iroko (which I now plan to use in the wet).
 
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Been having all sorts of trouble with the forks on my Bizango (Suntour Raidons) the last couple of months. I don't know much about suspension at all so I may not describe things correctly but basically they are intermittently going firmer if not completely rigid mid-ride. I've had them serviced twice and then a third time with the damper replaced and it keeps going back. First time they lasted one ride, second time I got a few rides and the latest time with a new damper I got even more with some trail centre abuse. But then was 15 miles into a ride yesterday with them having been perfectly squishy up till then I had just flown down a rocky descent and they were almost completely rigid when I stopped at the bottom. There's no pattern to it either once they've "gone". I can take it out of the shed and they'll feel fine some times and not others. Then sometimes I can just pump them a few times and they'll get stiffer (heh). First service was done by an indi, since then I've been to Halfords seeing as a local rider works there (wasted on Halfords but still) and because the bikes from there. They are at a loss with what's going on too.

Not sure if anyone has any ideas?

I was planning to upgrade to a full susser this year anyway but can't really justify it until later in the year. Plus I'd want to keep the hardtail anyway as a backup/winter hack so would be nice if it was actually working.
 
Friend of mine has a Charge saddle on his bike so had a wee seat at Glentress yesterday and it was like sitting on a cloud compared to the Giant saddle. Ordered one which should arrive by Friday for the weekend's ride!

Cheers for the suggestions! :D
 
https://www.facebook.com/hopetech/p...958553845985/2445842735457544/?type=3&theater

Thats an impressive move from hope! I dont know if it was triggered by lack of sales or higher than expected interest, either way they seem to have decided that they will recover R&D cost quicker at a lower price point.
At £5500 its still expensive, but when you consider you are getting dream bike specs considerably cheaper than some of its rivals (Yeti, Spesh, Santa Cruz, even Orange).
The fact that they have stated they will refund the £2000 from the original RRP to the people that already have the bike is even more impressive, or there arnt enough original priced sales for it to make a significant impact on profits:confused:

Still way out of my price range though:(
 
£7500 was way too much when rivals like YT and Canyon are selling full carbon bikes for 1/2 that. Yes, there's an argument that the Hope gear should be better, but not £7500. £5500 is more in line with carbon "premium" makes like Santa Cruz, but could you argue that despite having an amazing reputation for their components, they almost could have tried building a reputation for frame design/quality before going in at the top end of the market?

They claim the £2k drop is a change in the way they're amortising their R&D costs, but had the bike sold at £7.5k, would they have dropped it once costs were recovered, hell no... they surely just thought their brand was enough to justify the premium/cost and tried to fleece people for as much as they could (which is sales at the end of the day).

yes, more and more people seem to be getting into mtb, and some seem to have silly disposable incomes for bikes and gear, so there's somehow a market for £6-7k bikes. But, with YT, Canyon and other direct sales companies offering such amazing bikes for relative ease, then they really need to justify any cost above the £3-4k bracket.

In some respects, if they offered a "middle weight" bike with less premium parts for £4k and their top dog bike for something like £6.5k then they might have been able to get people onto their frames to get a reputation for shops to up-sell that premium model.
 
DereksDontRun said:
£7500 was way too much when rivals like YT and Canyon are selling full carbon bikes for 1/2 that. Yes, there's an argument that the Hope gear should be better, but not £7500. £5500 is more in line with carbon "premium" makes like Santa Cruz, but could you argue that despite having an amazing reputation for their components, they almost could have tried building a reputation for frame design/quality before going in at the top end of the market?

They claim the £2k drop is a change in the way they're amortising their R&D costs, but had the bike sold at £7.5k, would they have dropped it once costs were recovered, hell no... they surely just thought their brand was enough to justify the premium/cost and tried to fleece people for as much as they could (which is sales at the end of the day).

yes, more and more people seem to be getting into mtb, and some seem to have silly disposable incomes for bikes and gear, so there's somehow a market for £6-7k bikes. But, with YT, Canyon and other direct sales companies offering such amazing bikes for relative ease, then they really need to justify any cost above the £3-4k bracket.

In some respects, if they offered a "middle weight" bike with less premium parts for £4k and their top dog bike for something like £6.5k then they might have been able to get people onto their frames to get a reputation for shops to up-sell that premium model.
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I wouldnt consider YT and Canyon as direct rivals, they bring affordable performance bikes at a good price point very much aimed at bang for buck, bikes that the average joe can afford.
Bikes at the HB.160 price point arnt anything new, there have been bikes at this range for decades, I remember spending £5500 over 15 years ago to get a really good frame with **** components then i had the import fees and the ~£2500 on parts to upgrade it, what you get for this money these days is a bargain in comparison
Hope are a premium/boutique brand, they really dont need to "build a reputation", and to be fair £7500 isnt even top end money, there are still bikes beyond that, bringing it down to £5500 brings it down to sit between Direct from manufacturer companies like YT/canyon and other high end companies like santa cruz orange etc. it would be hard to over look the HB.160, its some serious spec at a great price.
 
steve45 said:
I wouldnt consider YT and Canyon as direct rivals, they bring affordable performance bikes at a good price point very much aimed at bang for buck, bikes that the average joe can afford.
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A couple years ago I would have agreed, but Aaron Gwin and Troy Brosnan seem to be showing that YT and Canyon's bikes are pretty competitive, not just financially...

There's no denying that companies like Santa Cruz, Transition, Orange, Yeti, Orbea etc do some v nice bikes and charge a pretty penny for them too, and people buy them, but it's just plain badge-snobbery to suggest the latest YT and Canyon bikes are any worse in today's market.

There's no denying the HB.160 is a v nice bit of kit and Hope are a bullet-proof proven company (for components), but I personally think £5k range is a realistic price for it instead of £7.5k and the cynical part of me thinks they've now shown their hand with the price drop, that they're still able to make a profit at £5.5k so it was pretty cheeky (and almost arrogant) to assume it was worth 2k more. Don't get me wrong, I love the Hope brand, but they kinda dropped a clanger with their marketing here.
 
DereksDontRun said:
A couple years ago I would have agreed, but Aaron Gwin and Troy Brosnan seem to be showing that YT and Canyon's bikes are pretty competitive, not just financially...
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Dont take too much notice in what pros run, you could swap any of the top riders round with the majority of the field of bikes and you'd most likely find that the pecking order is pretty much the same.

DereksDontRun said:
the cynical part of me thinks they've now shown their hand with the price drop, that they're still able to make a profit at £5.5k so it was pretty cheeky (and almost arrogant) to assume it was worth 2k more. Don't get me wrong, I love the Hope brand, but they kinda dropped a clanger with their marketing here.
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Fair one, I suppose they thought the same hence the £2000 refund to the people who bought them already.
 
yeah, I know, and almost wrote that, but, they surely still need to be within the ballpark... if the bike/frame isn't designed well then it's not going to survive the stress they're put through. If the riders are trimming down the blocks on the tyres to get additional hundreds of seconds, then surely if the geometry or spring design of a sub par bike would shine through.

Yes, I agree, that swapping the top riders around wouldn't necessarily change the standings, but I think that's the testament that the present YT and Canyon bikes are as good as their rivals and not a sub-par "you get what you pay for" offering.
 
So back in December 21st/22nd/23rd there or thereabouts(it was all a hazy blur), anyway I got home drunk, lying in bed at about 4am trying to focus on my phone screen scrawling through FB as you do... happened across the replay of the video of Southcoast Suspension monthly dream bike prize draw (forgot I had even entered that month), i heard may name called... Not for the top prize but the first runner up winning £1250 to spend on bike stuff... Gobsmacked that I had actually won something worthwhile, well it took a few weeks of deliberation, I just couldnt decide, do i pimp up the DH bike that i'm already more than happy with? or something else??? well as it turns out i went for something else, I decided that it was time to get another trail mile muncher, a Hardtail this time (not had one of those for nigh on a decade:eek:), after a lot of umming and ahing about different bikes most of which had similar spec that left me wanting, i spotted that the Orange Crush S was on special and in budget! Well thanks to Foxy at Southcoast Suspension I got my hands on it on Friday and took it out for its first spin on Sunday, quite a few moments of ear to ear grins, I forgot how fun a hardtail could be, only thing i can fault it for so far is the lack of dropper, got one ordered which should arrive this week, cant wait to get it fitted and hit the trails again this weekend!

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not had a hope brake since the o2's (which was a long time ago now)

I do have the cranks and hubs though, must say cranks are very nice, first mtb cranks I have not had a problem with either (kept pulling out pedal threads on shimano ones)
all of the moving parts are far better than some of the competition - headsets and BB for example, mainly down to using better quality bearings
lots of people destroy raceface / pushfit BB's all the time end up on hope ones and get much less faff as a result

first set of hope hoops I had only needed one back wheel true in (3?) years of abuse
new enduros survived alps etc without incident

xt brakes are cheaper than hopes, but the machining / finish on the hope stuff is much better than the cast shimano stuff

incidently waiting to see how much 4 pot xt brakes are going to be when they show up in stock soon, so those or Hope e4's for me next I think
 
rhysduck said:
Equally good brakes at half the price. What gives?
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I don't agree, in my opinion no other brakes on the market I've used have the same level of modulation/power/adjustability/build quality/parts availability in one package, granted there are some very good brakes out there but each for me lack something, be that horrendous lever feel and lack of spare parts for shimano, unreliability of sram etc etc. So are hope worth the extra(sometimes twice as much) that's debatable, for me they are but I understand why others might be happy with shimano or sram etc.
 
Are dropper posts worth having? I'm thinking it would be a nice weight saving if i sold it and just used a normal post as I have never had one before and not really noticed a need for one.

Also can you adjust the highest height the Rockshox reverb goes to? I didnt get any instructions and can't find an answer online. I have adjusted the speed so its rises slower, but there doesnt seem to be an adjustment for height. Its already in its lowest position in the seat tube. I think its ok, just glad I didnt go for the XL frame.
 
I suppose that depends on your riding, just fitted one to the Crush today, it was the first mandatory purchase, I dont see why anybody would want to compromise the ideal seat position for either climbing or descending by keeping a post in one position all the way through a ride, and its just a pain in the rear to be stopping and raising/lowering the post by hand when required, the dropper was in my opinion (alongside 1x) the best trail riding innovation in recent years, I'd take the minor weight penalty any day, 200-300g?... hardly a game changing weight saving, take a **** before you ride, have one less pie... you get my point! But then i never have cared much for weight saving.

As for limiting max height? No not as far as i'm aware anyway, just got to do as you have done already drop it into the frame lower. You can limit drop height by fitting supplied collar, but max height is determined by rise length 100mm/125mm/150mm etc.
 
Dropper posts are an amazing invention and well worth using. Are you suggesting the post in its lower position is still too high and getting in the way? As long as you can easily move your hips about and behind the saddle then it should be ok, I guess a different/smaller saddle might help? Personally I have it set so at its highest position i'm pretty much locked out when sat on the saddle normally - this is too high to peddle on the flat (so normal peddling it's about 7/8th of its total height), but I find that on a climb this extra height enables me to sit on the nose of the saddle (which isn't the most comfortable, but keeps the weight over the rear wheel for grip). Might sound weird, but seems to be working for me atm. Dropped, it's about 4" below my normal peddling height, so enough room for me to move.

If you've previously mentioned about saddle not being comfortable, or pain in the rear-end, then are you sure you have the seat set to the right height/distance for your normal peddling? Assuming you've bought the correct frame size, then it should easily be able to drop out of the way, so are you trying to peddle with the seat too low and possibly rocking around the saddle?
 
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