I'll say what others already have.....go look at the comments for any article featuring womens biking (even this one) for the #1 reason they are getting turned away from the sport.

In the photo for step 2 you could add a spacer on top of the stem and then tighten it as normal. This would mean that all of the stem grips steerer tube, making for the most secure fit. In step 3 the top ~3mm of step isn't gripping anything and the top cap will press directly on the stem. While this does look neater I'm like the OP in that I don't run it like that.

Yeah, I mean forget multilink suspension and 6 piston hydraulic brakes, and imagine the horror of having to adjust a hex nut by a 1/4 turn :P

"the carbon canister reportedly saves 15 grams" Is this a typo? I could believe 150 grams, but surely even the most determined weight weenie isn't going to blow $$ on a shock to save 15 grams? It's not even that I wouldn't trust the carbon can, but it seems like this was an excuse to use carbon rather than any serious attempt at weight saving.

I've found with BMX at least you're generally better off ditching the bike as fast as possible - the other week I messed up a hop in (goodness knows how many hundreds I've done perfectly, but not this one) and was on my way to landing on my face from 10ft up. Thankfully I had the reflex to launch the bike away and I landed on my feet without a scratch. Still scary though. Whereas on trails/XC I have the best luck with staying with the bike during crashes - since most of mine have been messing up line choices and running off the track and into a shrub, it's better to let the bike take the pain rather than myself. My most memorable bail recently was when my front tire locked solid into a rocky hole and the whole bike pivoted forward around the front wheel. Now this took place barely above walking speed, and I can tell you that there is something worse than an instant wipeout. And that is a crash which happens so slowly that you can fully predict exactly which bits of your body are going to hit each rock ahead. Still managed to bail early enough to avoid a full faceplant, but I don't think I've ever been more scared on a bike when watching the ground come so very slowly towards me, and being absolutely powerless to stop it. We've all been there.

Whenever I have a blast on my BMX I always love how it just works with no setup - when I'm out XCing there's always that bit of me saying 'rebound should be less, more compression, lower tire pressure up front....'....I seem to spend half the ride planning my next component upgrade - end up going down rock gardens wondering if a 10mm longer stem would be better etc. Of course it's part of the sport, but as I said, it is great to jump on a rigid singlespeed bike now and again and just reconnect with pure riding and forget all the marketing. The other point that I think gets missed is when people talk about £1000 forks etc. Great if you have that money, and the tech will filter it's way down eventually. But it's of no interest to me because I'm making do with secondhand toras since it's all I can afford. I guess my point is that everyone gets so hung up on the ultra high end parts and seems to forget that for every rider that can splash out on the latest dual crown wonders there's probably a dozen like me who just want something at a reasonable price that isn't entirely atrocious.

I have a TNF backpack (big shot) that has that rare virtue of being designed by someone who actually uses the things. There's been a trend towards incredibly small and 'stylish' daypacks recently - I was glad to find that someone else appreciates that I might need a pack that can hold more than 2 textbooks and an apple. I've been really happy with the comfort and the sheer amount of stuff I can ram in (waterproof jacket/trousers, thick fleece, hat/gloves, DSLR with 4 lenses and a flash in it's own bag inside, 2 spare tubes, multitools, spanners, pump, chain tool, LED torch, camelbak reservoir, extra water bottle, thermos flask, loads of oat and chocolate bars....and a heavy tripod strapped on the outside). It weighs a ton but I've ridden dozens of miles like that comfortably doing light XC and road. No idea how their MTB stuff will hold up but as I said they seem to be a company that makes it work first then worry about making it 'trendy', rather than the other way round.

what ones?