Still tarting about with my choice of new bike after the theft. I have decided to splash out on an Ellsworth Truth and would be grateful for your advice on the following issues: -

1) Fork - Psylo SL (with U-Turn) or Pace Proclass 2's. (sub heading: Freeborn recommended Marzocchi Air forks, either Marathon S or X-Flys but I had problems with my 2000 X-flys and haven't heard anything about this years. Are they any good?)

2) Race Face Prodigy or XT BB & Chainset? (i.e ISIS or Octalink)

Any snippets of advice greatly appreciated.

I've got the Marathon S (£355 from Freeborn) and they seem fine, only had them a month so it's hard to comment.

What sort of problems did you have with the x-flys? IIRC the 2001 x-flys where supposed to be a lot better than the 2000 ones, so I would assume the 2002 ones are as well.

My X-flys only gave 85mm travel as opposed 100mm as the air chamber was too small. This also cause the spring rate to ramp up too much at the end of the stroke, a bit of a design flaw if you ask me as the air would have had to have been compressed into an almost non existent space to get 100mm.

Do the marathons give full travel? Freeborn said they are only about 3lbs and very stiff/supple for a light air fork so if they appear OK I might go for these. Probably look shit on a blue/silver bike though!!

Well the Pace is nice, but I can't help feeling that a full suspension frame makes me push them more than my 15 stone should! If I were buying now, I'd look hard at the Fox Forx (I prefer coils), or maybe even the Shiver SC, but that might be a bit yobby!

Comments elsewhere suggest that the Prodigy may not be as good as the Race Face title suggests.

I would have thought the Marathon would be the better bet. Surely the Psylo is a rather long travel fork for an XC oriented free-ride bike. Also if you want to be pimpy then race face turbines (have you thought about Middleburn) - otherwise shimano. Prodigys bear a striking resemblance to FSAs (V drives I think). IMHO plain Deore would be preferable.

get the x-flys most bombers tend to stand up to lots of abuse, and are reliable! u could just have been unlucky b4. as for the cranks the shimano xt seem the better bet, im getting some for my "(insert trendy tag eg hardnut, freeride....)" bike as i know some big lads and trials riders who use them and they withstand much abuse!

oh yeah id love to see some picks of the new bike when its complete! we shuold have a section for members bikes on the site, what does everyone think?

X-Flys got a major redesign for the 2001 model. Having said that, I quite like my 2000 X-Flys, the high rising-rate allows lower pressures without then bottoming out so badly.

No problems with my Prodigy crankset. Feels stiffer than my Deore cranks.

Chain Reaction still have 2001 X-Flys for just £200. Theey've got polished with blue letters in 80mm, or polished with black letters in 100mm. The polished/blue would look right on that frame, but dunno if you can convert it from 80 to 100 easily.

i know nothing about full-suss xc frames, but.......
the prodigy bb is really, really weak, think un52!!
it gets frequently trashed by hardcore riders who've noticed that the next model bb up is far better in ration to it's cost. the more expensive one does work with the prodigy crankset.

I reckon Race Face looks nicer but I'd still go XT. I know it's very tempting to avoid S wherever a credible alternative exists, but the plain fact is that you just can't beat them for the money. I've seen horrible amounts of play appear early on Prodigy BBs. BTW, does anyone know if the Deore 22 & 32 rings fit the 4 arm XT spider? I would prefer steel rings to saving a few grams.

members bikes pics can be put here for now until the staff get a look in and decide if this sort of feature would be suitable for the site.

but face it, the man hours and storage space might be pretty big obstacles to bikemagic doing so :(