Mountain Biking

Begbie · 6 May 2018 at 08:00

Supercow said:
So, I self-medicated with beer and wine, and whipped out the credit card and said "fck it'

Pic from the advert, still en route to my sweaty paws. I was in between another Reign again and a Patrol. Given that the Reign is a tampon bike, especially here in Australia, I went for the Tranny instead Got the frame and fork for a bit of a bargain too - stoked

Can't see the photo at work. But those Patrols look nice!

Good trails around your area?

Should never had sold your Reign

How long till you have a coil and fox 36s on there

Supercow · 7 May 2018 at 00:50

Haha, not any time soon

I'll try work with what I got .

Begbie · 7 May 2018 at 07:17

Got a 50km~ race coming up this weekend. Circa 2000m of elevation, thankfully mostly down.

So just blasting down dusty fire roads for 2 hours

Supercow · 8 May 2018 at 05:22

Begbie said:
Got a 50km~ race coming up this weekend. Circa 2000m of elevation, thankfully mostly down.

So just blasting down dusty fire roads for 2 hours

Where are you living now - you still stationed in Cyprus ?

Begbie · 8 May 2018 at 07:12

Supercow said:
Where are you living now - you still stationed in Cyprus ?

Sadly yes.

Skillmister · 8 May 2018 at 09:29

TallPaul_S said:
The bike came with a minion DHF 2.3 on the front and a minion SS on the rear in the double down casing, so not only did it have no grip in mud it also weighed loads! Got the 2.5 DHF from biketart, put that on the front and the 2.3 DHF on the rear. When the rear wears out I'll replace it with a 2.5WT DHR II or a High roller.

The 'toy' is a Wahoo elemt bolt GPS computer, cracking bit of kit.

How's the off road navigation? I'm trying to decide between the Bolt and the Garmin 820. Think I'm leaning Bolt at the moment..

I've got some new routes I want to try without having to constantly check my phone

TallPaul_S · 8 May 2018 at 10:45

Skillmister said:
How's the off road navigation? I'm trying to decide between the Bolt and the Garmin 820. Think I'm leaning Bolt at the moment..

I've got some new routes I want to try without having to constantly check my phone

It's pretty good, it's black and white vs colour and there's no re-routing if you venture off the track, other than that it's great - you get a dotted line on the map page to show your route and you can zoom in and out, you get the turn instructions on all screens, not just on the map screen. The LEDs give you an indication of which way to turn and they flash faster the closer you get to the turn. It then displays the next turn after you turn for a few seconds.

You can create routes on ridewithgps or download .gpx routes straight into the wahoo app and it syncs effortlessly, no faffing around having to upload files manually onto the device etc.

Ridewithgps allows you to create routes going basically anywhere, so long as you enter turn instructions it'll give you the prompts on the wahoo.

I've not tried it yet on a route I don't know but I can't see any issues with it.

It doesn't need to be connected to your phone but if it is you'll get phone calls/text notifications. Other than that it just works - hearing the stories of issues with Garmin devices I decided to go with the Elemnt Bolt.

Hedge · 9 May 2018 at 21:01

Crc just reduced the commencal meta am v4.2 and at the current price I would have jumped but they don't have xl in stock. Sad times

TallPaul_S · 9 May 2018 at 21:30

£2k for the v4.2 with eagle and fox performance dpx2 shock/36 forks is incredible VFM, a bit too much travel for my liking at 160/170mm but if you're hitting some big stuff that'll be a beast.

£1800 if you use the BC discount, keep an eye out for them getting stock back in, they did when the Vitus escarpe went on sale for £1480, once size went out of stock then back in.

Hedge · 9 May 2018 at 21:39

Yeah its amazing value. I asked for email notification

Begbie · 10 May 2018 at 05:51

TallPaul_S said:
£2k for the v4.2 with eagle and fox performance dpx2 shock/36 forks is incredible VFM, a bit too much travel for my liking at 160/170mm but if you're hitting some big stuff that'll be a beast.

£1800 if you use the BC discount, keep an eye out for them getting stock back in, they did when the Vitus escarpe went on sale for £1480, once size went out of stock then back in.

Unless I'm blind, that model is closer to £2700.

The £2200 comes with the lyriks,sram NX? Regardless still a bargain. I'll be looking at a commencal 29er for my next bike.

Hedge · 10 May 2018 at 06:49

Begbie said:
Unless I'm blind, that model is closer to £2700.

The £2200 comes with the lyriks,sram NX? Regardless still a bargain. I'll be looking at a commencal 29er for my next bike.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/commencal-meta-am-v4-2-essential-bike-2018/rp-prod160321

Begbie · 10 May 2018 at 07:10

Hedge said:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/commencal-meta-am-v4-2-essential-bike-2018/rp-prod160321

I read as though it was £2k. Unless it is, it's showing as £2628 for me.

Which means it's acctually cheaper direct from Commencal.

https://www.commencal-store.co.uk/meta-am-v42-essential-650b-shiny-red-2018-c2x22591075

Ignore me, my CRC autoset to the Cyprus store. Wow, considering the stock for Cy comes from the UK and you get hefty shipping on top that's pretty poor.

Also just get a large! Though IIRC your like 6,2?

TallPaul_S · 10 May 2018 at 08:33

The large is also sold out now

Hedge · 10 May 2018 at 18:18

Begbie said:
Also just get a large! Though IIRC your like 6,2?

6ft 3.

I was tempted by the L frame but if I'm spending this much I wouldn't want to make compromises. The Meta is meant to be very good in XL for tall people like myself.

Annoyingly I have been looking at Meta TR and AM all week and I never got chance to see an XL one in stock at CRC. If they had any at discount price they must have went fast

Begbie · 10 May 2018 at 18:24

Hedge said:
6ft 3.

I was tempted by the L frame but if I'm spending this much I wouldn't want to make compromises. The Meta is meant to be very good in XL for tall people like myself.

Annoyingly I have been looking at Meta TR and AM all week and I never got chance to see an XL one in stock at CRC. If they had any at discount price they must have went fast

Would've been a cracking buy at that price, sadly I think that'll be them selling off their stock.

What is your budget? £2k?

TallPaul_S · 10 May 2018 at 20:38

6ft 3in is the same height as me, we're normally on the line between L and XL recommended sizes - however my Escarpe has a long seat tube (too long if reviews are to be trusted!) and yet with a 150mm dropper post, to get the correct height I still need more than an inch of seat post showing.

On a size L I'd end with nearly 3" between the dropper collar and the frame, I'd basically be able to fit a 170mm dropper and still have room to spare...

The meta is in the same one week sale as my bike and they got that back in stock, I doubt any 2018 bikes (apart the new specialized ones) are being sold off to clear stock just yet.

Hedge · 10 May 2018 at 21:03

My budget started off low but the price of the Commencal made me want to push it.

If it returns to stock I could very well have one soon.

Begbie · 11 May 2018 at 08:58

TallPaul_S said:
6ft 3in is the same height as me, we're normally on the line between L and XL recommended sizes - however my Escarpe has a long seat tube (too long if reviews are to be trusted!) and yet with a 150mm dropper post, to get the correct height I still need more than an inch of seat post showing.

On a size L I'd end with nearly 3" between the dropper collar and the frame, I'd basically be able to fit a 170mm dropper and still have room to spare...

The meta is in the same one week sale as my bike and they got that back in stock, I doubt any 2018 bikes (apart the new specialized ones) are being sold off to clear stock just yet.

Surely you don't need the seat post 'dropped' for it to fit for descending anyway?

My seat sits a lot higher higher than that and it's more than fine for descending.

E.G Sam Hills Enduro machine - https://s14761.pcdn.co/wp-content/u...ga-275-Carbon-EWS-Finale-2017-002-810x540.jpg his sits even higher than yours.

Someone posted a good article on here forever ago why your seat post shouldn't be decked.

http://theteamrobot.blogspot.com.cy/2014/10/seatpost-height-hall-of-shame.html

No idea how I found this

It isn't a 'good' article, more of a **** take. But still makes a good point.

TallPaul_S · 11 May 2018 at 10:23

Oh yeah it's low enough for descending, in fact as I'd not used a dropper post prior to a few months ago it took a while to get used to the seat not being there!!

I was just saying that according to the size charts I could have gone for a L or XL frame, where the XL frame fits me much better.