Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

swinley tomorrow

need to fall off the above

I should be up for tomorrow. Are the trains running?

trains appear to be fucked!

nothing running until twickenham

Have ordered this today, won;t have it for three weeks but when I do I may join you

great news, please do come with us to swinley

Ooh, cool. Definitely join us.

DJ - your shadow butterfly above needs some work.

I'm in the process of building something new, I'll be up for joining you all again shortly.

Right...Insurance paying up on my nicked hardtail, so I have £1k to spend.

Tried a 29er and didn't like it much, so am sticking with small wheels.
What I did have was light and XC-biased. I'm not hardcore so will probably be looking at something similar.
Thinking possibly about going short travel full suss as I've never had one and this'll be my only mtb, but not sure how good they are at that price - particularly going up though.

While I go research off elsewhere, what's good these days? Still on-ones, Merlins etc , what else should I be looking at?

^ prob should be in bikes & bits somewhere really. UTFS etc.

I was looking recently (for cyclescheme)and it ended with a toss-up between a rockhopper or a boardman (haterz gone hate)

there are some good deals on chainreactioncycles on stuff I don't know much about, cubes and BeOne etc, never ridden any of them though so thought they were a bit of a gamble. I dont think you can go wrong with specialized really, never ridden a bad one or heard anyone complain about them being rubbish

ah yes - Boardman's are meant to have great specs. Will see what sort of extended trial ride I can get round the carpark at Tooting Halfords - poss not very indicative of the full capabilities.

kerb drops and wheelies are a must, as well as a decent stoppie :)

I'd probably spunk it all on this tbh if I was still gonna go cyclescheme

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bmc/teamelite-te03-2011-mountain-bike-ec025215

I'd stay with a hardtail with that budget.
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOWHIPSLX/on_one_carbon_whippet_slx

Noice, but out of stock and only rigid for under a grand.

With a grand to spend and FS in mind, this cannot be ignored unless you are fussed about the name.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_777755_langId_-1_categoryId_165499#dtab

Seems to be out of stock on their website, but it's a shite, badly designed site that makes me gag. Very worth a look, and there's plenty you can glean from a carpark test.

£1000? Get a hard tail. You'll regret getting a budget full bouncer.

What are they for, anyway? Someone explain please.

DJ, that lynskey is nice!

Anyone riding this w/e? Swinley/Dorking, I might be in. Need some offroad.

i could be up for a swinley session, which day?

and cheers for the compliment

£1000? Get a hard tail. You'll regret getting a budget full bouncer.

What are they for, anyway? Someone explain please.

+1

Much better off getting a half decent hardtail than a rubbish full sus

Could be up for a Swinley Saturday, no car though so train reliant

Trains aren't working

£1000? Get a hard tail. You'll regret getting a budget full bouncer.

1+

A decent hardtail with air fork over a full sus with coil spring and budget groupset is worth it.

Who knows trails in dorking? If we can't go to swinley shall we try elsewhere?

£1000? Get a hard tail. You'll regret getting a budget full bouncer.

What are they for, anyway? Someone explain please.

+1

Much better off getting a half decent hardtail than a rubbish full sus

1+

A decent hardtail with air fork over a full sus with coil spring and budget groupset is worth it.

Yes, yes and yes. This is what I have always thought. However the Canyon Nerve XC and Boardman Team FS have been getting great reviews. And I'm coming round to the conclusion that I won't be improving much as a mountain biker any more, so it might be time to go with fun/comfort.

Dunno really though. Where I ride a lot is steeply up and down. With the emphasis on up. So maybe back to the plan of building up a Ragley Piglet frame.

More mulling required.