Nothing quite as exciting as the news from Pace, but if you’re waiting for the final parts for your dream British bike here’s the latest news from the lathes.

Across in Lancashire, Hope are finally up to date with their Mini disc brake back orders in this country. This means your LBS will be able to get hold of them in a couple of days if you ask nicely. We also asked them about some clicking problems we’ve had on our test set. Woody told us that occasionally the pads have too much paint or pad adhesive on and foul the tight clearances on the caliper. Basically if yours are goiving you grief get in there with a stanley knife and sort the pad edges. If it’s squeal you’ve got a problem with then you’ll have to be a bit more patient as Hope are working with new compounds from various manufacturers.

Meanwhile Hope’s headset plans have been delayed by all the Mini building and though they’ve got all the bits ready they’re “still chatting away with Cane Creek about licensing and all that.”

Down on the south coast USE have been so busy building enough Alien posts they haven’t had enough machine time to keep to the EVO schedule. At the moment they are still “squish testing” Elastomers for a September Interbike / Eurobike launch.

On the international scene, SRAM are still beavering away with their disc brakes, and hopefully we’ll be able to sneak a look at the hydraulic version if we find the right car boot to peer into at the Red Bull.