What do you reccomend anyjoe?

No - it's deffo a travel reducing spacer - it even gives an explanation in the manual!!

 Don't worry, I have been riding with lightweight armour for a long time - I have justcome back to the UK from Spain, where I was running a mountain biking company - the rocks we had out there were very punishing if you even had a minor spill.

I bought a full facer in the summer whilst I was riding in Andorra in the summer, and I was bloody glad of it when I slammed hard on my face on the Megavalanche a few weeks later! Not that it helped my now smegged shoulder very much!!

Speaking of which, I've just bought some 661 Race shin/ knee pads, and a big pile of cheap Royal clothes from CRC's sale - but I am having trouble with upper body protection...all of the pressure suit type stuff doesn't seem to fit properly. The only success I seem to be having is with the 661 Assault or comp suit - but I have to go for a small (and I am normally a large for upper body clothes) - has anyone else had this problem? I even tried the Pro Suit, but the fit was terrible in a medium.

They seem huge across the shoulders, so the pads end up moving around all ovr the place and don't seem to be in the right location at all? How should they fit? Seems to me that the suit should be tight to keep everything in place...?

Well, I'm afraid I wimped out and bought the Demo guys....my plan is that it seems plenty of bike to get me started, leaves me budget to buy some more armour/ clothes/ health insurance and if I find it's not enough bike once I have ridden it a bit more I can either sell or upgrade the fork....

Right, I'm about to do the travel conversion on it that gives it nearly 8 inches of travel....anyone tried this? Pros and cons? Have seen other forums talking about it, but very little after-the-event feedback....

 Cheers for all of the help to date!

Cheers Jedi! Need to grow some bigger cojones to ride some of that stuff first!

Mmmm - replacing the forks would probably be a bit of a waste of cash, I'd end up spending a lot more than I need to! Had heard that there are problems with the 66 blowing through it's travel too easily, and dampinhg issues. However, also heard that this was due to user error - people pressurizing chambers incorrectly? THen one of the mags (eith MBR or WhatMTB) had the same problem on a review....

To answer the question about use...well, it's kinda mixed - will get used reasonably regularly next summer, as I am going to be touring round bike parks in Europe - both XC and DH stuff. After riding my Enduro at Vallnord in Andorra in the summer (had to be a one-bike-for-all kind of trip) I found that I was fine on the top parts of the DH course, where it was losing elevation more slowly, but as soon as I dropped into the tree line and things got really steep I started to find the angles were chucking my weight far too forward to feel comfy....in fact it was quite...er, exciting....could hear hear someone occasionally yelling four letter words...then realised it was me!!

So, yes, it's going to get Bike Park use - and that's another reason why I am having second thoughts on the Glory...not sure how manoverable it would be if I was playing around sessioning the wood park rather than just piling down the mountain. I guess I need a bit of an all-rounder....but the majority of the time it's just going to be pointing downwards. I'd just like the flexibility to do other stuff too. I'm very unlikely to ever race it.

I'm a reasonably skilled rider, but remember I've never ridden a bike of this kind of weight before, so it's going to be a learning experience for me in terms of positioning, technique, approach etc. I've ridden flats a few times recently, but have been riding clipped since I was a kid back in 90 (when Shimano launched them!), so even getting  used to the sensation of not being attached is going to be a bit weird (think I am ok with flats, can still do most stuff, so can't be cheating too much on my other bikes!) but the point I'm trying to make is that I need to adapt a lot myself - so the bike that helps me do that the most is going to be beneficial.

Thing is, when I started this thread, the bikes were £500 apart, now they are £800 pounds apart, so I am probably more conscious of making sure I buy right than I was last week!

By the way, it's been a while since I have been on BM - got fed up of the number of c*cks that ruined threads for people - really nice to find that they have mostly gone, everyone here is being really helpful!