Glynn and I had spoken of swapping bikes before so he could see what a 5" full susser rode like. Doing it in the middle of a ride was a good idea as we had ridden the track before on our own machines.

First things first, I was knackered before we started the 2nd loop of Follow the Dog and my first impression of Glynns bike was that you needed to be in the mood - aggressive and energetic.

First the good points - you knew exactly what was going on under the wheels as the bike really communicated with you, the brakes were fantastic but the stretch to the levers was a bit much for me. Glynn has hands for bending girders, I have hands for pushing buttons on a calculator. SRAM X0 shifts really well and you could rail around the bike around berms as fast as you liked. This was something I had been struggling with on my own bike during the morning.

Bad points - the forks only moved in cases of nuclear explosion, I couldn't get on with the front tyre and the bike generally gave a very harsh ride -none of the titanium zing I was expecting. I reckon my Pace RC300 would have been more kind to my back.

I would love to ride it when fresh after spending a bit of time setting it up. I'm sure I would love it.