WAKI i would definatly put the DHX back on for fort bill, i only have a standard 23 on my Tomac but i would dread to have gone down there with that on it would be all over the shop, think it would have just packed up before the bottom of the main DH. DHX was super smooth down there even tho its old. As for all this tech if you want to see how silly its all getting just compare the internals and service manusal of say a pair of 66s or lyriks to that of a pair of 36s, its just a whole other world. i understand a sealed damper is potentially a good idea but its just over engineered and for what gain really ? £850 for a pair of 36 float Rs versus £750 for a pair of lyrik solo airs with mission control, theyre just having a laugh. HSC, LSC and rebound is all you need and most of the time you dont really need HSC. I think out of all the forks ive had in the past 7/8 years the best 2 are my Pikes and my Z1 FR2s. Both very simple, bomb proof, can go for ages without needing attention (although i will admit i do check them over regularly now theyre 5 yrs old) and feel amazing. I have friends with overly complicated fox forks and yes they feel great at the start, i wouldnt say any better than the equivalent from marzo or RS, but within 18 months / 2 years theyre in desperate desperate need of an overhaul.

Got 3 of these, amazing pieces of kit, fit them and forget it, easy mainentance and replacement rollers are only £7 whats not to like. I think e13 and the like need to take note really £100 for a single ring guide when realistically all your doing is adding a top guide ? not on IMO

I say well done scott, i love how low slung this thing is, certainly looks like its gonna shift and stick like sh*t to a blanket

This is very true but i can give you an example where its a pain to do so. i cut my lyriks to suit my tomac vanish and then decided that i wanted to put a different pair of forks on. So i moved the old lyriks to my orange, not really thinking about steerer length, only to find that i now have to run them on the orange with very little stack which puts the bars a bit too low for my liking. 10-20mm left on the steerer and it would have suited both bikes without issue. As for the argument of a broken sternum from the steerer, come on man your gonna be in a crash to do that and whose to say you wouldnt break your sternum on the stem or if you come off and land on your pedal or even worse hit a rock or tree or other object on the trail ?

Looks very much like a modded canyon torque from 2010/11

I'll second swampys, definatly a go to tyre for me, only on the DH bike tho. AM/XC wise i just stick with one tyre all year round. Swampys are just perfect come winter if you wanna guarantee grip in all but a completely annihilated trail

Well ive never noticed any more build up of dirt on mine than any other product ive used previously including PTFE sprays and silicon sprays that all numbers of bike shops have recommended over the years. i can understand if you leave the bloody stuff on there but i always clean the fork out of the general rubbish that builds up apply fork oil, cycle til it feels buttery smooth and then wipe the excess. worked for 5 years on all my forks and none are showing any real signs of wear. Think not regularly cleaning will be the most likely culprit for that

take out the hi and understand the tech and it means you dont have to spend silly money, understand the tech that suits your needs and how it can be manipulated for what you wanna do and save yourself a packet. Prime example. I purchased a pair of 2007 recon 327 solo airs (80mm not lock out or anything) for £90 because i can understand the internals of the fork (which are simple) i simply removed the all travel spacer, ordered a motion control damper rebuilt the fork for a total cost (including original purchase price) of about £150 to be a 130mm recon 351 (with the exception of the 100ish g weight difference due to the 327s having a steel steerer rather than alloy) that at the time people were selling for £100 more on average and all it cost me was a little time and some reading.

Ok i'll agree bikes have got too expensive for a number of reasons, price of materials, economic nonsense thats going on and more people in the sport (generally alot more well healed older gents to be perfectly honest) and its bloody silly if you ask me. On the side of too much jargon, yup i agree theres too much silly names an acronyms going on but in terms of the tech we have i think its great. Can you imagine someone from the early 90s trying to run any of the WC courses now ? theres no way in hell theyd get near the times being seen today. I personally think we're getting near the wall where all that can really be improved is weight and even then my bikes are more than manageable. I compare my canyon to my big hit and theyre worlds apart. I think anybody that thinks they can run a bike without maintenance or understanding of roughly how it works is daft and to be perfectly honest i think people SHOULD have a basic understanding of what the hells going on which will mean learning to some extent what all the important acornyms mean. Im no car mechanic, but i know when my car isnt firing right or if the brakes are shot and the ABS isnt working. They should understand what its designed to do and how that may potentially benefit them or work against them.Ultimately there are people out there that just generally dont care and generally from my experience they fall in to 2 categories, die hard riders who will pound down anything like a nutter and not care they tend to be people that are just good at it, and people that either bust themselves or their bikes up and blame the bike generally due to the fact that its not setup for the job its doing. Finally technology drives the world not just bikes, new stuff sells end of. how many people on Here bought 2012 parts over 2011 parts ? thats nothing to do with the tech inside them thats just to do with the longstanding idea that newer is better

Ahh you gotta love swansea, used to ride some of those section going into uni. some awesome bits and bobs in and around swansea. Riding from town hill down to the sea front will always put a smile on your face :D