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

^^ It's rather more functional that the NAHBS crap. I'm not fan of the aesthetic of the Lefty but it's proven to be stiffer and lighter. The stem is a bit meh and I have never liked stem+bar combos. Stems should always be black of silver, painted stems are wank. Also a personal is the seatpost, suspension seatposts are well meh. I guess I've never ridden on terrain to justify one.

I think the best bit about 36" rims is that they're readily available. Ok, the choice is a bit limited. IMO the 26" - 29" debate is a bit shit. It's not that big of a difference but I guess it makes sense to make all rims the same size. The downside for the 29er is anyone under 5'6". 36" wheels are such a massive difference and I'd bet it's make a hell of a difference in long days in the saddle.

I may have to get a 36er one day. Quite interested to see how 'normal' one would look in my size.

IMO the 26" - 29" debate is a bit shit. It's not that big of a difference

It's a big enough difference. Not sure that it's big enough to fit a third size in between, but the market seems to be moving away from 26" completely, with 27.5/650B/584 being the new standard for ladies/shortarses/long travel bikes

36" is clearly too far, unless you're about 7'6" tall

New bike for Apollo then.

I've changed my mind on 650b, I reckon a 2.4 inch tyre on proper wide 650b rims would be proper fun, loads of grip but still be 'chuckable'

If you want a BMX, buy one. I don't think the chuckability of 27.5 will be noticeable vs. 29", the littler wheels are just necessary for little people.

Yeah, chuckable was in inverted commas cos it's a bit of a STW buzzword, you know what I mean.

How long before 29" and 650b hit BSOs and then no one will know what size tube they need when they come in my shop and pointing at obviously different looking tyres no longer helps?

Walmart have had them for a while now, can't be long before we see them in Asda. I'm still fairly surprised at the number of leisure/family cyclists I see on 29ers now, considering how niche they were a few years ago.

Are they on 29rs or hybrids with knobbly tyres though?

700c wide rimmed hybrid = 29r?

Nah, £500 entry level mtb, Specialized Rockhopper kinda things.

Ah right, think I've seen a hardrock or rockhopper 29r, had to double take...

Personally, I like the 'chuckability' of 26" wheels... I think there are times I would benefit from bigger wheels, but more times I benefit from smaller ones.

I'm beginning to think I want a longer fork though, 150/160 rather than 120.

Have you tried a 29er? I can still whip the back end out on mind, they're not that much different. 150 would be too long for the Cotic though, no?

I haven't had a proper go on one.

With 30-40mm sag I thought might be ok, frame is designed for 120 but I got a low stack headset on.... Up in the lakes and saw someone on a hardtail with a long fork the other day and just thought it made sense.

I wouldn't call the rockhopper a BSO, I've seen them about a bit recently but a BSO would be a £95 apollo or dunlop or some shite.

I haven't had a proper go on one.

With 30-40mm sag I thought might be ok, frame is designed for 120 but I got a low stack headset on.... Up in the lakes and saw someone on a hardtail with a long fork the other day and just thought it made sense.

I run my 456 with 6" up front. I love it.

Yup, mine goes between 4" and 6" with magic pikes, always 6" on the way down.

Well 5.5" really.

Whats half an inch between friends.

I have a new frame coming with a tapered headtube that takes an external headset.

I'm tempted to pop a CK in it as it's quite a nice frame - but I'm also tempted by Hope. Any reason why I wouldn't want to go for the best of British?

That's a tough one. King as the nicest, but so pricey. Hope are also really reliable, and considerably cheaper I think. If you're after ano-colours then King, else Hope?

PX have cheap-er CK headsets at the min.

Personally I like CK for headsets, hope for hubs (and brakes)... (probably cause I can't afford CK hubs....)

Hubs and brakes will be Hope - the frame is British designed so it would be nice to get as much Brit stuff on it as possible.

What frame?

If you want to keep it British then get the hope, simplz... Hope stem/post too?

Stem, clamp yep. seatpost will be, ahem, a crank brothers dropper. Until it breaks. Surprised Hope don't make a dropper post - yet.

Frame is a Stanton Slackline.

Ti.