My god Cunningham, couldn't you have left this stupid debate with that rediculous rag you left? Seriously, how many 26'er vs. 29'er 'Shoot Outs' have you got hiding under your wings and what good have any of them done other than fill space where you couldn't think up or cover anything more pertinant? To be honest though, I'm surprised it took you this long to publish this crap with your new employer.

A friend of mine has a Rune which he just gave to his wife. Definitely a different breed of bike than the Spitfire.

I held off on Follow Me until a couple weeks ago. After a myriad of the same junk being replayed in v.32 it had become pointless to purchase, let alone watch and get stoked with much of what came out after 2007... besides the Earthed series and Clay Porter's race dvds. But I have to say that Follow Me, in particular the last section with Gee and Smith, was a nice change. I think guys putting out MTB films in the future need to get a bit more creative, simply for fear of mediocrity. I'm not talking about pushing the riders any harder, so much as having their work say something other than being an outlet for new music.

Hmmm saw this at the premiere last night in Salt Lake with one of the film makers, Ryan Gibb present (those of you past puberty may remember him from Thor Wixom's 'Down' series). For mountain bike porn it's beautiful from a cinematic perspective. However, I don't know what's with the monotone Clay Porteresque diatribe about how mountain biking is going to save the world? We already know that. Mute that out and you've got a killer film.

Actually, I dumped my 29'er and am just riding a Banshee Spitfire now. But, I am running the Maxxis Minion 2.5 Exo's set up tubeless. The Exo sidewalls make setting up those non-tubeless tires even easier with a bit of Stans. I would have been a bit nervous doing that with the Aspens.

I ran an Aspen (lighter, 2nd generation) on the rear of my 29'er hardtail earlier this year. It hooked up decent, not superb, but was super fast. My only real gripe with it was that like the Larsen TT's, it has a super thin sidewall and it tends to wear faster than the actual tread. However, if I had to choose between an Aspen and a Crossmark I would probably reach for the Crossmark as it seems to last quite a bit longer. Think of it more like a pinner version of the Ardent where you have to lean the bike quite a ways to get the side knobs to hook up.

I bought a pair of these and had the same problem with the lining around the bottom of the sole's coming off. Can't say I was happy about throwing down that much $$$ to have the sole's come apart after walking around town a couple of days. IMO, these are nowhere near as confortable as the Impact 2's. They look really good, but I think they need a bit of work.

You're right to a degree, but if you're on a trail that undulates frequently from a steep, technical descent to a steep climb you ruin the flow-but that's just a personal preference. I've been lucky to not have a Gravity Dropper break on me, but I have had two QR seat collar bolts break in years past. That's not saying that GD's are indestructable. Like any component, if you don't take care of it you'll run into problems. For $15 plus return shipping I send both of mine back to Gravity Dropper once a year over winter. They completely clean it and upgrade anything they've changed since the previous year, swap out the cables/housing with a new set and send it back ready to ride.

I'm all for adjustable seatposts and have been using the Gravity Dropper brand for 5 years now. I've often thought about changing but never had one break-the only issue ever being cable stretch right out of the box, which happens just like your new derailleur cables-and only takes a minute to unscrew two bolts and retighten the cable. What's been a huge turn off from other hydraulic models is: [B]1.[/B] Size. If you're running an older Turner or some other brands you're going to be hard pressed to find a hydraulic model that will fit your 27.2 seat tube. [B]2.[/B] I can tear my Gravity Dropper down completely with a simple set of allen wrenches. [B]3.[/B] The cables are static and attached to the lowers of the seatpost, so they're not moving up and down with the saddle and hanging off the side of the bike like the other brands-[I]that looks really cheap IMO[/I]. If a company is going to ask a customer to dish out $250+ for a seatpost, they need to think out the aesthetics of their product a bit more. I do think the Joplin, etc... look cleaner and nicer. But that long cable dangling off the side of the bike is just an accident waiting to happen. Get that caught on your shoe as you're going down and you're riding home without a seatpost that works and hydraulic fluid all over the place. Like hampsteadbandit mentioned with his customer, a good friend of mine who will only buy Specialized experienced the same problem with his. After one ride, the thing wouldn't work. A simple coil, derailleur cable and 3 magnets and my Gravity Dropper have been going strong for years-and I weigh about 215 lbs with gear on.