Dammit’s adventures in mountain biking

How does the coil fork feel in comparison to the air?

*without dwelling on the amount of travel used

Honestly? I’m can’t really think of a way in which the Secus/Lyrik would have behaved differently today. But I’m very unfamiliar with Twisted Oaks- a bit of Surrey Hills might flush out some differences, but I’d note that the point of the Secus is to make the Lyrik as coil like as possible.

Spent some time on more familiar trails today, I'd say that the Helm has more support, and rides higher in its travel than the Lyrik, but has a very similar level of small bump sensitivity.

Did the fork come with a selection of springs, or have you somehow ( finally ) struck lucky with the one already fitted?

It comes fitted with the medium spring:

9.7N/mm (55lb/in) - Green 180lbs/82kg

Guess what I weigh?

55lb per inch?

Having ridden stuff with 'good' examples of magura brakes I can understand your perseverance.

Ditto, it was alarming just how powerful they are with the slightest modulation when riding a cargo bike equipped with them and bite really nicely when it’s bled perfectly.

@Dammit is right; the times it take for us to bleed them perfectly end up costing more than just slapping a Shimano brakes on instead.

(Similar to repairing derailleur, either pay an extra £30* labour or buy new derailleur without additional labour)

*£30 = 30 minutes.

£60 an hour? Shit I need to up my prices. Just moved from £35 to £39.50 and feel bad for that.

Maybe this is why I can only afford one Yacht.

How did you get on with these? I can’t find much on real-world use out there but I’m tempted…

I think they're the best option that I've found (having tried, erm, two), the SRAM TyreWiz is, frankly, junk - just goes wrong/stops working. The SKS ones are half the price, mechanically a better design and from a circuitry/sensor perspective they (so far) keep working where the TyreWiz doesn't.

They send your tyre pressures to your Garmin, which I like, the app is ok and will also send you an alert if you tyre pressure drops below a certain point, both of which things help to answer the "should I stop and put some more air in this?" question before you hit that sharp edged rock.

Starting to think of a replacement for the 295, frame only- what trail bike options would people recommend? Bonus points given for 29er-to-mullet conversion ability

Why the change? Are you looking for more or less travel?or a geometry change?

I like my bird aether 9c but I don’t think they endorse mulleting it.

I’ll just go with recommending what I have… Santa Cruz
Maybe the new Bronson?
Great warranty blah blah blah

Just fancy a change?

Something with external brake routing

Transition Patrol?

Something high pivot with an idler?

Yes

For endless tinkering possibilities, get a Geometron

Can't wait to see what @PhilDAS does with the Pace

The Brunson was one of the frames I was thinking of.

At the risk of asking a very dumb question, what's wrong with the Pace?

Progressive aggro gravel rig

It’s a great bike, there’s nothing wrong with it apart from me- I’m trying to run what was designed as a light trail bike as a junior enduro bike. Which, to be transparent, is great fun.

The biggest reason is wanting to try something new, really.

Curve Walmer bars with a 0mm stem and you're set

Pls I said aggro. 130mm stem