T-Bob

See my fatal mistake was to decide to clear out the shed of all the extra bike parts as I might start hearing *those* voices in my head calling me to N+1... and now I'm still wanting a HT and don't have any bits. So frankly far worse off! Keep looking at the Mrs Fatbike and wondering how much I could macgyver / sell and how much she might notice if it suddenly morphed into to black 29'r HT.

That's the rub. I'm keen on that frame but the frame is the least of it. I did shoot the guys message and haven't heard back from him. If I was going to by a HT I'd like to get something special in steel or Ti and then just build everything across from my dual and run it exclusively for a bit but that frame would be a N+1 and that it's a full build. Hummm... have been hounding Cotic about when their BFEMax would be back in stock and that is going to be December. Ribble are out of stock on their 725 HT, missed the Kingdom sale, Stantons are getting pricey, Hello Daves are very long /slack and allegedly there is a new Cotic SolarisMax happening to soon.

I remember having to take my Tommy Pieterson Fireball fish 5'8" out at Desert Point as I'd broken my proper Indo' boards in the swells before and no one was wiling to share their quivers. Man you had to think fast and I copped some brutal beatings and scored some rash. Picking off the right ones it was a real eye opener. Yeah, trying to get the first bottom turn nursed out before the lip came down or your water skate span off out from under your feet and across the flats was 'interesting' but it made you ride different, use different part of the wave, find speed, realise how far you can actually come back from etc. Kinda like a Hard tail to some degree... shakes up your riding, make you think about the terrain differently, what line you need. Bottom line, with both a small board on a large wave and a HT on a black run, I'm that little more glad with that I've ridden and to be drinking a beer at the end of a day in one piece and not having lost bark to reef or gravel.

I have, I've also been looking at a couple of the Sick Bike stock they had and then sold off but that is well into the long and slack end of things and not sure I want to go all that way. Must actually go back and chat to the Marino guys again now I've got an idea what I'm looking for.

Phoned every Spez dealer and I think you can guess if one is going to arrive at my door.... rhymes with 'oh'.

Okay, so come on and give some feedback on the frames, how they ride in WC conditions (Tokai, HB, Conties and Hoogies etc). Also what is the difference between the 2 ST's just the dropouts? And how does that 69 degree head angle go on the rowdy DH's? I'm sizing this up Vs the Cotics (at double the price plus import, tax etc) as it's a darn cheap frame for what it is!

Now that kinda fun is fun!

Phew... would have been a hell of bargain. I was scrambling around for my bank statements as well.

Wow... that is a great score.

Nice! Welcome to the neighbourhood. Where is the new land?

As someone who only know afrikaans from family members via words muttered under breath while building jetties completely wrong and being shouted at disobedient dogs across a beach let me show you how I see that 'catchy' word!

Sorry, have to just wipe up al the drool from the floor.

I wonder how many other bikes you could buy for the price of that spaz. They have to be different materials... Steel, Ti, alu, carbon, wood! Sure you could fit at least 3 good spec' hard tails at least (and I'm also including a custom frame from - shock - a frame builder).

damn porny.

Daaaaaaa'yum son that's cold. No winners there. Theres no rhyme or reason to insurance companies I've found. My father in law lost his IWC when gardening (long story as well) and reluctantly claimed. They got him a new one. About a year later the gardener found it and the FIL cut a cheque and sent it to the insurance company for the amount they paid out. They phoned him and said they couldn't do anything with it so he couriered the 'new' watch to them... they courier it back. In the end he sold it and donated the money to a school out on the flats and asked them to put a bench up with the insurance company name on it ad he emailed them a picture of their 'donation'.

Nice work but hopefully he / she has insurance, they've paid out and he's going shopping and leaving you with a sweet ride! Not sure what the legalities on that mind!

Had a couple coils on different bikes. My previous Tranny Smuggler went from a Monarch Deb' to a CC inline DB Coil and while the bikes progression wan't 100% suited for the kematics of the coil it actually was night and day. This might have been because the Monarch Deb' was a pretty solid but basic rear can. The Smuggler was was 115mm of rear travel and might I was surprised to find CC's trail coil at that size but when I did on a black friday special (because who wants a 115 coil!) then I snapped it up just to give it a go. It had the climb switch on it and I found climbing alot better than on the air. traction was better and there wasn't any real increase in bob. I was running a vault spring and it didn't add that much heft to the bike. I would have liked to have got a progressive spring that CC have come up with recently. Set up with the app was nice and easy. On the downs it was great, nice and poppy and tracked the ground so well. It wasn't that it was life changingly noticeable straight away but what it gave you exactly what you wanted for the type off riding I do. I stopped wondering about this thing or that thing about the rear, it did what I wanted, it never bottomed out (that I noticed), never did anything weird and let me forget all about the back end. That was paired with a Pike up front with Luffekappe and Ramp control. A good combo. I've now got a Ripmo with a Fox X2 rear air can and MRP Ribbon Coil up front. The bike originally came with a DPX2 and despite that being the 'little shock that can' I couldn't get comfortable with it despite being used on their team bikes on the EWS. Despite not being a twiddler I found the X2 much easier to set up and just changed the bike 110%. Again, once I set it up it was forgotten about as it got on and did it's thing. Really well. The MRP coil up front is a bit more of a 'so-so'. I love the feel and simplicity but I would struggle to say it was a much better than something like Lyrik or a 36 or event the previous Pike I had (but I had that dialed and set up like a boss). The issue I have / had was I weigh in at 85kgs and I'm solidly a M in their spring chart but when I had the medium in I really struggled to get the close to sag I needed and wasn't using even 70% if travel on the rowdy trail. So I swapped in the 'soft' spring and everything was pretty good. Great sag, using 90 - 95% of the travel one most of my trails and it was all going well. Now the issue I have is that on one ride when I was riding Tokai Cobra in a bit more 'bouncy' style, trying to pop off drops etc the fork just cooked out on me. I'm not sure if it packed down, bottomed out, stopped working, tried to kill me. Since then I've been trying too balance that out but I'm not getting that sweet spot. Either it's not giving enough travel and not feeling good enough or it's feeling great and using travel but if I take some bouncy, bouncy repeated pops then I starts getting weird. I've played with all the knobs and levers and change springs but can't get it 'there'... and now that is starting to annoy me. So to wrap up my experience I'd say that as a rear option I found it really good but it has to be a good coil. Not slapping on a weird DH orientated thing and hoping you don't struggle on the ups. On the front I'm 50 / 50. I like it for 80% of the time but it's got me thinking and struggling a bit on rides and that shouldn't be there. I've had forks that I can set up and go ride and not think about at all on the trails. Unfortunately the Ripmo V1 isn't suited for a coil at all (they changed that with the V2) but I'm not actually sure I'd swap out from the X2 as that is a really kick ass rear can. The adjustability is a little much at times but it means that you can tweak that annoying little thing that annoyed you on that little jump and it never happens again. Also on less poppy, goofy bikes than the Smuggler and the Evil Following I had I'm also not sure it would be a great fit. Would I recommend them? For sure as they are awesome but it would have to be the right shock and it would depend on the bike. Trannys and Evils would be first in the line for sure.

Well done sir! ny chance you can say where you bought it so people know how these are being sold. Might help others who have lost a ride.

Some off my fav' bikes have been Alu / Steel but steel is definitely a heft if it's XC / Mara' he's looking at. That said there are alot of bad carbon frames out there and there are alot of good Alu' frames. My carbon frame is pretty damn burly but I didn't buy it for weight. Same reason if I buy carbon hoops its for the feel, compliance and ride (and a lifetime warranty which you just don't get Flows!) Look at the bike as a whole, quality of components, frame and everything and go for the best you can. Or... look at custom build, score a good frame in the classifieds, and grab the bits you want to fit in your budget. It might be a bit more at first (it always is!) but you won't be looking to upgrade a base level SX cassette or tyres or other dodgy part couple of months down the line. There are a lot of upgrades that can make lot of difference to bring your weight down if you want to shave the grams but the biggest and easiest is to drop the weight off the body. Hands down the most you can loose and the cheapest! I dropped from 86kgs to 72kgs when I got sick a few years back. Didn't ride for 6 months, first time back on the bike I did an easy ride on a normal loop and beat my strava time easily.

And welcome to the Western Cape! Hot spotarama featuring such hits as Hout Bay, Constantia Heights, Belle Ombre, Tygerberg, Khayelitsha, Belville, Elsie River, Gugs, Nyanga, Imizamo Yethu, Winelands, Ceres, Tulbagh... think you're getting out to do as you please? Good one!

That fail aside it looks like good kit and I'll be entering the comp for sure! Glad I didn't buy the Australia themed one from https://www.dyedbro.com now!

butt is has gears....

It's pronounced Beefy and apparently B is for burly and the Fe is the symbol for iron... Could be a myth tho. Edit: Sorry, missed the comments and came to the party late with that one. Anyway, because I can't find a decent Kingdom Vendetta I'm going back to the Steel option HT. I'm very keen on this Cotic (£549) with the other option being a Ribble HT £499. Hummm.... they have the blue cotic in stock as a medium!

Oh no you didn't.... (Gen! Gen! Paging GENNNNNNNNNNNNNN!)

My kiwi mates swear by them and I can see why. Keen to get into the wilderness with it... but for now I'm going to make a brew at the end of the garden and have the kids wonder why their dad is so weird!