Superb Alex! The orange disks will look spot on, nae doubt. Have you got that funky B17 that you won yet? Oh aye, and I've got a ton of gear to get through to you from dyna, velo and TK. I'll PM and arrange.
Me and the Hairy Mary went for a spin up Carron Valley today for a proper introduction to 29'ing. Place was heaving, I don't think I've seen the car park busier, which was a bit of a shocker for January. Initial 29er impressions weren't good. The bike felt really sketchy on first climb - I was looking down to make sure the front QR wasn't broken. It's a really rocky trail, and given how the bike rode later, I'm going to put it down to the Kenda Nevegals not liking the slippy rocks. I can't say it's the quickest climber either, although that might be partly down to tired legs from yesterday.
Anyway, up to the top section of Eas Dubh - this really flows nicely after the work that's been done to it. It reminds me of the bottom blue section at GT now (albeit very short), complete with 3 wee optional jumps off slightly raised rocks, again a la GT. This part of the trail was gravel and dirt, and the Mary was instantly so much better. I really felt like I was aggresively throwing my weight around, making very big moves with the bike responding by simply gliding from corner to corner. I have to say, it was absolutely brilliant, grip was good and I kept off the brakes more than I normally would. The tight twisty forest section stuff after Kelpie was pretty good too. The trail is still rocky in there, but I felt much more confident on the bike now and the tyres and grip felt fine. Definitely not the most nimble, but it was cornering well. The bike was excellent on the Runway as well, only did this a couple of times though as legs were feeling the strain of too many Eas Dubh loops.
So, I'm thinking it suits the flowing fast trails the best. Possibly not the best of climbers, and not all that nimble in the tight stuff, but still enjoyable. Need to give it a whirl at GT now, see how it feels there.
Oh aye, and no effin' punctures at CV! On that basis alone, the bike is made of pure win