Tom Booth

I've ordered the mid grey from leisurelakes as it seems fairly easy to return if it's not a good fit from there. All reviews read well thou which is good. My beard started after movember, through laziness really but now I quite like it.

All I needed to know. Cheers again Matt. Glad you mentioned the facial hair thing, I haven't shaved since November so its abit long.

With a new bike I'm probably gonna push myself too far on I should probably replace my 9year old Giro Xen.. I've tried on various lids recently but nothing seems as well made, spotted these IXS lids and reviews look promising. Anybody on here with one to give any feedback? They seem a cracking lid for the money and read to be well made which is always good. If not what are you wearing/rate? Anything would be interesting to hear about.

Fnar fnaaaar. Had a splash of snow last night but hardly anything to rant about. The house I've moved to has a HUUUUUUGE hill about 5 minutes walk away, dying for sledge action.

Where do you ride usually Paul? On lighter evenings fancy hitting pines up and Cannock?

Who even volunteered they're services/crabs for bottling??

Second hand onone for super cheap funs.

Lolol, we go for bacon sarnies, we're hardly the epitome of fitness

TL;dr? Aimed at mike...

I call it a club, there's about a dozen of us that sort fair weather Sunday mornings out and head out for bacon cobs then back lolol. Sherwood pines cycling clubs supposed to be a good bunch, I've only ever met one guy from their thou and that's through work. He's semi pro thou so I avoid riding with him

Wait till you move out. Shit gets interesting then.

There's some f**ked up minds on this forum. What the hell is with that crab thing?!

This won't end well, I'm running avid elixr 5s on the onone

Best feeling ever, congratulations man. Now prepare yourself for pulling your hair out for 3/4 months

Love Remi Gaillard so much

Cheers man, that's reassuring to know. How long have you been running them? I contemplated the hope upgrade but it was stretching my wallet too far. I looked at the Commencal range but I weren't too won over. I know there good bikes but non really tickled my pickle.. I woke up this morning to an email confirming my order a it gave me the grin of a Cheshire Cat, so I think I made the right choice for me. I'm so stoked to get it, got a good summer lined up of a week at Afan and a good long weekend in the quantocks so I'm really looking foward to put it threw its paces.

It'll last a lifetime looked after properly. I can't think of any 04 echo purse that snapped/cracked, the rear hope pro2 is the trials riders cassette hub of choice and incredibly strong. The only real weak link I can think of are the Fatty R forks, but if full asking was paid I might be swayed to Include the Echo pure forks I have to match the frame.

26" bikes are harder to get chucking about, but once you've got the knack of it, there no harder at all, easier to learn rolling manouvers on thou.

I was gonna add pro2s at a later date anyway so for £130 now it seems the best way to do it. I had a chat with the guy about the slx's and he recons they're great. Still might look into various options later on thou.

Ordered, passion red, slx brakeset and pro2s. 3-6 week wait .

It is massively rider preferences. I can't stand high bbs and low front ends, but that's my riding style preferences. Tobias who I used to ride with liked mid-high bbs, it's all preference. I don't want to seem like I'm trying to sell you my bike to much, but it is poifick for a beginner. It's mid flight geometry so it's not too alien to a beginner. If you swapped the frame out and different stem to suit a more trials specific setup, you'd still have a great SPEC'd bike for well under what it's worth.

Passion red seems the one for me, or ice white looks trick. Cheers man, planning on heading upto a few trails Scotland way this summer hopefully. I'll report back after today, I'll no doubt order a cube or something thou lolol. Cheers for the help you man, very much appreciated.

Solid stuff Matt, if your ever back this way shout at me, I owe you several pints and a good chase around Sherwood pines. Against my better judgement I think I'm gonna go orange and just get owning one out my system. I think I'll spec it with pro2s and slx brake set thou, it's then just about everything I wanted when I started looking for a bike. EDIT- After sleeping on I couldn't be more certain on my decision. As daft as it seems after what's been discussed I'm still sticking to the Alpine. Out of the bikes I tried it was the most 'fun' bike out the pack for me. I know I'll probably regret it in 12-18 months but I'll worry about that then I suppose..

Sound as ever Matt. Cheers for your advice. The heart side of it draws me to the Orange, as Orange bikes have always been the pin-up if you like. My head rules the zesty just for pound for pound performance.

Short chainstays - easier to get into manuals/back wheel moves, bit more responsive on the back wheel too. Long chainstays - harder to get into manuals etc but more stable when they're on the backwheel. I'd advise against a high bb for a beginner, I found a higher bb to be very unnerving on the backwheel as a experienced rider so I wouldn't advise for a beginner.