Pics of my new bike

[chrisga]

Probably won't be of interest to anyone but thought i'd put up some pics of my new bike.
Got it about a week and a half ago and it had its first outing last weekend around whites level, mynydd, and the tarw trail at cwm carn. So far so good, it climbs pretty well (better than me at least - i seem to run out of energy before it runs out of grip) and goes down pretty quickly too!!!
Sorry about the duff photos, and I have a few upgrades planned....

[tricky69]

looks fantastic, is it the 2008 ? Can i ask how much it cost... is exactly the sort of bike i am after

[beanbag]

Cracking bike! Very nice!

First upgrade I recommend is changing those tyres. The stock Spesh ones are ste.

[chrisga]

You said that before beanbag, but I got round whites level at afan, a trail in the brecon beacons and a damp cwm carn with wet roots and rocks everywhere with no probs, no lack of grip really. Do you have the same tyres? Which conditions did you find them dodgy in? I was prepared to get some new ones when you said that previously but they were fine. Although having said that I have noticed a nick in the sidewall of the back one so I may buy one to keep ready for when it does go. Was it the Maxxis high rollers you recommended???

Bike was £1300 from Mike Vaughans cycles in Kenilworth. Very helpful guys in there. Dont want to sound ageist but the sales guys i dealt with were older chaps and anything they didnt know about they would endeavour to find out rather than blag it like in most of the other shops we went in which was a breath of fresh air to be honest! Recommended.

[beanbag]

chrisga said:

You said that before beanbag, but I got round whites level at afan, a trail in the brecon beacons and a damp cwm carn with wet roots and rocks everywhere with no probs, no lack of grip really. Do you have the same tyres? Which conditions did you find them dodgy in? I was prepared to get some new ones when you said that previously but they were fine. Although having said that I have noticed a nick in the sidewall of the back one so I may buy one to keep ready for when it does go. Was it the Maxxis high rollers you recommended???

Bike was £1300 from Mike Vaughans cycles in Kenilworth. Very helpful guys in there. Dont want to sound ageist but the sales guys i dealt with were older chaps and anything they didnt know about they would endeavour to find out rather than blag it like in most of the other shops we went in which was a breath of fresh air to be honest! Recommended.

Hey chrisga,

Yeah, I had a pair of Spesh Enduro tyres on my stumpy FSR, and I found them to be unstable, lacking grip and just absolutely crap. I had zero confidence on them.

I tend to do a lot of mud trails with ruts and rocks and so forth, and for that I recommend a pair of Kenda Tomac Nevega tyres. They are cracking tyres and incredibly sticky so they work very well in wet conditions.

The only downside is that they're very soft and my rear tyre is already looking a bit worn out after about a dozen rides, but that's about a good 500km.

Since I've got a stumpy, I've opted for 2.1's both front and rear, but I reckon 2.35's would be perfect on your enduro. The mud clearance on the stumpy isn't as good on the rear on mine as it is on yours.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Kenda_Tomac_Neve...

Equally, if you have a bigger budget, my friend rates the Nobby Nic's and they seem to last longer.

Either way, if you get the Kenda's, make sure you buy the stick-e version as they hold their grip much better.

[chrisga]

Hi beanbag, I had a quick look last night and my tyres arent specialized enduro, so perhaps they arent the originals (the bike is an ex demo). They are 2.3 s-works eskar 2bliss or something like that. Would that make them significantly different to yours and might it explain why I didnt have any trouble with them?

[beanbag]

chrisga said:

Hi beanbag, I had a quick look last night and my tyres arent specialized enduro, so perhaps they arent the originals (the bike is an ex demo). They are 2.3 s-works eskar 2bliss or something like that. Would that make them significantly different to yours and might it explain why I didnt have any trouble with them?

Could well be then. However I've not always heard great things from Specialized tyres....I could be totally wrong though!

Either way, if you are enjoying your ride, then that's what matters. You've got yourself a cracking bit of machinery there. It was exactly the model I wanted but when I came around to ordering, they had no large frames left!

So I'm continuing with my Spesh Stumpjumper and I'm upgrading my shocks to improve the ride, performance and handling.

This weekend I'm off to the Austrian Alps to finally try out my CB Mallet 2 pedals...

[Fetchez la vache]

That does indeed look rather lovely

[chrisga]

Uh oh, its started - that unending urge to buy pimp stuff....
These just landed on my desk....



Totally pointless, but should look quite good, and a subtle pimp that noone will realise is there unless you know what you are looking for!