4 Assed! How you doing? Get everything sorted?

I have a great contact for advice if the insurance start acting up - Oh, that would be YOU! I was out on the bike that you asisted with today at Ladybower. Still having a great time on it - thanks again, I still owe you a couple of jars for that.

Anyway, back to the subject in hand. Have you considered the Ellsworth Truth? I am mullimg it over against a Specialised M4 S Works FSR XC. I will have about £2k to spend so the lower priced version will be an option for me. You could upgrade from the Z4 to Fox Forx and fit discs of your choice.

Not helping am I?

Not ridden a Sub 5. Seen Jon Halls and it looks nice/seems to ride nice. Long delay on getting one tho'.

Superlights are great. Mine's pretty similar to your spec. Minis are fine now with latest pads. Easton Risers are the dogs whatsits. Mines all XT+RaceFace post but hey if the insurance is paying and you can get XTR... enjoy.

Ellsworth Truth. Lovely by all accounts but could you live with those "goth" graphics.

Bad luck on the burglary but at least you can now go and do "supermarket sweep" at your LBS. I'll have one of those and one of those and...

Oh and wait still Stu N gets on this thread, he'll be telling you Rotweld... that's one ugly bike that only it's mother could love.

MMMMM Monksie,might give you a tad of advice and stay a little distance away from M4 fsr's.3 framesets since May is not good I thinks.
How 'bout the Yeti AS-R.Am going to hopefully order one on Saturday Yippee!!!Looks strong enough,Yeti reputation and not the Marins commoners.

Hi Monksie et al, good to hear from you guys!

Update on the home life, I've now separated from er indoors and I am living with a mate of mine. Suspect the soon-to-be-ex-wife may have had a hand in the burglary as its all gone a bit bitter and twisted. I'm still seeing the receptionist though and all is going well with that one.

Anyhoo, back to things of a two wheeled nature. I didn't consider an Ellsworth Truth but I am now. £1600.00 for a frame though innit??? Fucking shit load of dosh that is. Ah well, I'd only spend it on beer if I didn't buy an expensive bike, hang on now theres a thought!

Cheers for the input all, I'll let you know.

Not sure I could recommend the ProClass IIs. The action's nice but I've yet to get full travel from mine. I took them apart this morning to find out why: in addition to a lot of black gunge there was a broken lower spring.

Dissasembly is also a lot more of a faff than with the old Evo IIs, although I can't comment on how it compares with other contemporary forks.

I've heard of a few other folks having springs break in their Pace's.

I'm now begining th think it's not just a coincidence.

If your looking at the back end of £1500 for a frame then may I point you in the direction of an Intense.

Uzzi SL if you wanna go big(ish) or a Tracer for the more XC minded.

I love mine to bits, just warrantied the swing arm after four years of serious abuse.

Go on - buy an Intense.

I broke 2 small lower springs in my old Evo IIs as well, but sorted that out by upgrading to hard main springs - I'd been running too soft a setup, and think that the lower springs were getting stressed by impacts they weren't designed to handle. Never had the problem again.

I initially intended replacing the stock medium springs in the ProClass IIs with hard springs, but didn't because I wasn't getting full travel as it was.

Having taken them apart, I now think that the lack of travel was actually due to an almost complete lack of grease on the inner legs (as opposed to the black gunge that had pooled in the bottom of the sliders). The plan is to grease those babies up, put in hard springs, and reduce the travel to 80 mm - reckon that'll do it.

Bingo! Fettling finished - just rode them down a flight of stairs and got full travel for the first time. Swe-e-et. More worryingly, the shop says they're getting quite a few folks coming in with broken springs. Not good enough.

'Update on the home life, I've now separated from er indoors and I am living with a mate of mine. Suspect the soon-to-be-ex-wife may have had a hand in the burglary as its all gone a bit bitter and twisted. I'm still seeing the receptionist though and all is going well with that one.'

O_o???

whose name is the insurance policy in?

I'm the proud owner of the new Specialized Enduro Expert frame. I've also got minis,185 front 165 rear.They stop me real quick!!!! No squealling either! I also have the 2002 psylo sl's, problems with them I'm affraid.Firstly they leaked oil from the word go,then they started to make a knocking noise, now they move about an inch when there ment to be locked out.Even so there bloodly plush as you like, once these issues are corrected I'll be laughing. I can't recommend the frame highly enough though, it is absolutely gorgeous black with red decals,4 to 5.2" rear travel ajustable rebound and lock-out(that works). mine weighs 28 lbs with easton bits, shimano lx gearing, pro taper bars, x-lite seat, 317s on hope xc hubs(red),flak jackets,fsa head set,2.2 enduro tyres and I'm well chuffed with it!!!!!

Oh yeah and it only costs £600.

I can't recommend the Easton carbon finishing kit high enough although i prefer the look to the race face stem and seat post thats sitting in a box in my garage at the mo!

I also agree with the Messiah as I have an Intense Tracer, but unfortuneately I haven't been so lucky with my swingarm having had to send it back to the US over 6 weeks ago as it developed a crack along the rear disc mount/chain stay! The buggers still havent sent me it back either! The bike is amazing but I will probably buy an Orange next time, it was my first mtb and I think I'd like to go back there. US customer service seems crap!

I have mine built up with Psylo Race Tullios, which are great, but cos of bushing problems I'll probably go for Fox Forx next time, I have Hope Enduros 198mm front and 165mm rear, but 165mm front and 145mm rear would suffice! With my wheels being F519s built on Bulb Hubs which are the best damn wheels on the planet if you ride light Freeride (or just ride!), they feel lighter than the x517/XT wheels I have on my girlfriends S works! My other finishing touches are a Race Face Team SL headset, and a soon to arrive SDG Satalite saddle, and Intense CC Tyres.

The bike peddles better than the M4 S works over any terrain, even tarmac, I love it to bits I just really wish I had it now then I wouldnt be looking at other bikes!

I'm going to suggest something different. Get a Marin Attack Trail or Wolf Ridge then spend the rest on a biking holiday abroad.

snorider, it might be worth ordering an orange now, theres been a few threads on here of people waiting many many months for them.

How the hell I wrote 198mm instead of 185mm I'll never know!

test ride a 4-bar and single pivot bike and see which u prefer then get something nice with the prefered suspension system. as far as forks go look at the fox or bombers which both seem to be nice and simple, therefore reliable! e4 brakes! may be overkill but 2much is better than to little!
add shiny expensive finishing kit, garnish and serve with some new riding clobber.
and then(best bit!)get it all covered in mud and it will weigh twice as much and look like every other bike.
then u can take it home and restore it to its shiny lurvlyness

Andy, thats pretty damn good advice.
Might try to sell you the minis and Sl's bu other than that sound advice.
In your profile you say you've got an fsr built for extreme xc,well that pretty much sums up my style.Iv'e built an "Exc bike(might catch on)" based around the new enduro expert frame,28lbs total. How about yours?

Right boys girls, I've been tossing it off on the net and reckon I can spoil myself rotten on the following for about 3 grand:

Ellsworth Truth
Fox Forx Float R
Hope Minis
Full XT Gruppo
Easton Finishing Kit.

And just for pimp value, I'm having blue Hope hubs, blue Flite saddle and blue Fire XC Tyres to match the blue anodised frame.

I'm almost erect with excitement!

P.S., Tim D, the insurance policy in joint names with the soon to be ex-wife HOWEVER I am my own insurance broker and therefore in complete control of the situation (sort of)!