Hi, gone single with a race face thick thin 32 tooth, took a link out of the chain and with no chain device it’s not once slipped or dropped

m@tt
now upgraded to aftermarket hans dampf super gravity tyres which are a world apart In terms of stability and puncture resistance!

I ran these tyres when out that week with TWR on my Zesty, and although not riding at Matts pace, they seemed pretty tough! Back home, where i ride, they are are overkill, and i’m going back to NN’s or something i think

BTW, i’d love to say how good the Stereo looked with Matt riding it in Les Arcs, but i never saw more than 10sec of the back of his rear tyre disappearing off round the hairpins ahead……….. 😉

I got as far as “I had a nice lappierre on DH tyres” but what it looks like you’ve done, rather than spending maybe £70 on some faster rolling, lighter tyres for enduro type duties, is gone nuts and bought a whole new bike.

Congrats

Ha, yeah it’s funny you should say that as I was driving to work this morning I did wonder what would have been the difference if I’d just bought new front and rear shocks instead of a whole new bike, but no point wondering about that now…!

It’s still awesome, got very wet riding at Whinlatter on Tuesday morning, bike was actually cleaner after the ride than before as the driving rain acted like quite a good natural bike wash. Was loads of fun and disappointed I only had time for one blast around the two loops, would have liked to have done the North one again.

I did mention an issue with the bushings in the rear shock, well I took it out and it all looked solid to me, so leaving it for the time being. Just wondering if I should bite the bullet and get the shocks serviced at some point as it’s just had a thrashing since I’ve owned it.

No issues since I went tubeless except I have to run the tyres at a higher pressure now, not sure if anyone else has had this, otherwise they feel under-inflated. Still need to re-tune the gears, single chain ring up front is seeming more attractive after each ride…

I thought I would put a quick update in. My love affair with my cube went on the rocks due to the rear shock leaking…. All the time. To be fair it’s been fixed and we are back on track.

I have ditched the 3 chain rings shifter etc and put a works chain ring on. I have also changed the rubber as I just didn’t like it. I have put some Mavic tires on, I am much happier with them. They are a fair bit heavier but they are more my soft of tire.

After these changes I weighed it 28 pounds dead with pedals. Not bad at all.

Has anyone else drop the shifter ? How did you plug the hole in the frame?

I’ve dropped the single ring, but not yet plugged the hole, shame it is bare metal underneath as well!

I really like the HD tyres, been great so far and I have run them as low as 15 psi with no issues being tubeless.

Anyone know where to get a bearing kit?

I have no idea where to get a bearing kit from I’m afraid, I’d probably start with the place you bought the bike from working on the assumption they must have some sort of idea where to get parts from. Other than that, start looking at the cube website for technical info on bearings, if you can find the actual types (as opposed to getting a full ‘kit’) I’d probably try and buy them from a specialist supplier who will no doubt be cheaper than cube or a related lbs. Depends how helpful cube or the lbs are really.

Did the Gisburn Enduro today, was really well organised and it had a good atmosphere (I can’t work out why they built the new Hub café so far from the car park, or vica-versa). The trails were good, there’s not masses of elevation at Gisburn so it was always going to involve more pedalling than some other enduros I’ve been to. Totally burned my legs out on the last stage and then they’d moved the finish 50m up the track after I’d done the practice so just when I came round the corner thinking it was all over I had another hill section to climb!

Bike was great, gears attached to bike not so. I spent about 45mins yesterday fine tuning the front and rear derailleurs, went riding up the street shifting up and down repeatedly. Got the front one dialled in after a while, and it didn’t drop the chain past the granny wheel at any point like it’s done in the last few rides. It requires a tremendous amount of thumb power to shift up on the front derailleur though. I’m very close to going single up front, so any tips on what I need to be aware of in this bike would be helpful.

The rear derailleur though, what a load of rubbish. It’s fully dialled in so it shifts no problem (well 95%) on the bike stand. But when you’re riding it’s just a different story, failing to shift in the middle gears of the cassette, having to go up two gears and back down one constantly, phantom shifting, slow under power. I’m constantly comparing it my old SRAM XO gears, but once they were set up, they shifted faultlessly every time. I know the Shimano are cheaper, but it should still work.

Anyways, I’m thinking single cog up front, new cassette and rear derailleur out back. Now, just need to work some overtime to be able to afford all of that!

One final point, I’m wondering if I burped the rear tyre on the 2nd stage practice run as it seemed flatter after that, but I’m pretty paranoid about tyre pressures at the moment so maybe I was just finding a problem where there wasn’t one. I was really glad I was running tubeless today as there was some rock sections that you ploughed through at top speed. I do find the valves leak fluid a bit when pumping the tyre up though. Otherwise the tyres seemed to work really well. I had one major moment on a gravel road trying to turn into stage 3 start at top speed and drifted into it, thanking my lucky stars I ride flat pedals as the quick foot tap saved me crashing, but they seemed to work well with the rear giving way under pressure but in a controlled manner, the front stuck well (I have been working on that in my cornering though so hoping it’s paid off a bit).

Gears aside, it was a great bike to ride yet again.

Put my deposit down 4 weeks ago on the stereo race 2014. Wont be here till November but very excited and should be the first to own 1. Decent spec but never used formula brakes (T1S) any1 had experience with these? Cheers

You won’t regret it mate it’s a awesome bike. I had a ride on a mates Santa Cruz he had spent 6.5k on. Ye it was nice but no better than my SL. He even said as much when we swaped back.

I have the SL I see they have changed it over to XT know, I love shimano brakes so that’s a good thing in my eyes.

Let’s have a picure when you get it.

Also, for the first time I suffered from brake fade on the World Cup downhill course which was slightly disconcerting when you’re flying down sections picking up mega levels of speed and constantly trying to wipe it off just in time to compose yourself for the next major obstacle.

You adjusted the levers? Sounds like boiling fluid as opposed to fade, fade is where the rotors get to hot for the pads to brake effectively. So you end up just having no power. Are you using organic pads? If so, swap to sintered as they work better at higher temperatures (and it the wet)…but they will also boil your lines more easily…so replace your fluid with Motul 600 or better Castrol SRF, if the brakes use dot 4 or dot 5.1 – the wet boiling temperature of both these fluids are much higher than the dry temperature of most off the shelf fluids.

The Cube seems a hell of a lot of bike for the money compared to other competitors, shame it comes with a Fox 34 though. Judging by the reviews it would hands down be one of the best bikes for the money if it had a Pike/Monarch or xfusion combo.

Hey Tom, I haven’t looked into the brake issue too much since that day as nothing I’ve done since has required the same level of constant heavy braking. I was using metal sintered pads (I think), definitely not organic. I did think about using DOT 5 instead of 4, but I’ve read that all Formula brakes must use DOT 4. I’ll check it again though with those suggestions, see if it makes a difference.

Speaking of brakes, I went round Dalby yesterday and got absolutely covered in sandy mud (as is usual when Dalby’s soaking wet) and my brakes were a bit rubbish at the end but they were covered with wet sand, so some tweaking required in general.

Also, rear derailleur is now nearly seized due to the cable, so got new cables yesterday after the ride, so thinking the gear issue all along may have been the cable (only had the bike since May so wasn’t expecting to have to change them just yet…).

Also, for all of those out there using Muc Off and fairy washing up liquid on your bike (i.e. me!), there was this mini expo thing at Dalby yesterday and one guy / rep there said these contained salts which could effect the warranty / service on Fox forks, he was plugging Rhino Goo as an alternative that is apparently used in the moto x industry a lot, both for cleaning and then an after spray which helped repel muck and water in the first place. Will have a look into it when I’ve used my remaining supplies up, anyone heard anything like this as well, or using it?

I cant speak for muc off, but i defoe wouldn’t use fairy to clean my bike (or car), its far too harsh.
and yes, my understanding is the salt content is to blame.

Quick up date I had two days away at bike park wales on the cube.
The bike performed way better than I thought it would. I had a mega before and the cube felt better in the big stuff.

I am not signing up the fox 34 is rubbish, I have the fit one and I was impressed just kept on taking me smashing it into the rock gardens.

I have managed to ding a rim though 🙁

Changed the gear cables, now it shifts faultlessly. Hmmm, guess I should have sorted this first before slating the shimano gears! In my defence, I just didn’t think the cables would need changing that soon.

However, I haven’t been able to re-thread them back through the down tube. I’m not that bothered either, apart from a bit of electrical tape holding things in place, I reckon they’ll perform better for longer as there’s now less openings along the cable length for mud to get in. Just need to plug the redundant holes now.

How was bike park Wales then larry, did it live up to the hype?

Ye it was pretty good. Uplift was a bit tardy. Tracks were very good. From baby smooth up the way up, I was loving all the rock gardens.

WhippetBoy – I’ve got the 29er Stereo, which I ride in many of the locations that you do.

I too got the problem with shifting, it’s an issue with dirt getting in the cables, usually after a couple of loops of Whinlatter.

Switch to a cable set with inner tubes like the Jagwire ones, really helps.

As for getting through the down tube, an old spoke works great for hooking the cable and pulling through.

Wheel size withstanding fully agree with you, the Stereo is awesome!

Mine is for sale, l love it but want to do more DH so something has to give! It’s in the classifieds 🙁

Probably going to order a Stereo 650b in the next couple of weeks and wanted to check with owners as to the sizing? I’m 5′ 7″ and think I’ll need the 16. Slightly concerned as to how short the effective top tube length is though.

Guys, how do you find climbing? Do you use the talas a lot? Thinking of the 2014 sl, it doesn’t have talas? Been used to the 2012 Stereo and did use the talas on techy climbs.

The 2012 stereo was 150mm with a head angle of 68 degrees.

What do you reckon?

Cheers

Alan

@monster101 never use the talas on mine, the wife got a Stereo too and doesn’t use the Talas, no real need, they climb amazingly in full travel just left in trail mode.

I agree, I haven’t touched the talas other than to wonder what it is and does it work mechanically (it does obviously!), the bike climbs so well in full travel mode it’s just not been an issue.

I’m 5’10” and well basically as normally proportioned as you can be, got the medium which I think is 18″ and needed a shorter stem but I’ve needed to shorten the stem on every bike I’ve owned so this wasn’t a surprise for me. I guess if there was a 17″ available this may be a slightly better fit but it’s 16 or 18 as far as I’m aware.

I’ve had to tweak the seat a couple of times and move it forward as I sometimes get lower back pain as if I’m lent too far over, but it’s sometimes due to not tightening my camelback up properly and it riding on my lower spine. The wider handle bars do also cause you to lean over a bit more and I normally find on long climbs I’ll adopt a narrower hand position on my grips as long as the trail allows it.

If you’re ordering one in, surely you get the option to reject if it doesn’t feel right?

Thanks. 16 it is then. I’m probably going to be buying online to get interest-free credit (can’t afford til mid next year but am impatient) so returning it would be a bit of a hassle.

Apparently not going to be available until end of Jan 2014 though now. Doh.

Anywhere near East Yorkshire, you could always have a sit on it?!

Just signed up to the Innerleithen Day / Night enduro on the 30th November, so will hopefully finally get to see what it’s like up there. Just need to get some lights now…

Got my cube stereo race 2014 at the weekend went for a light ride round my local woods. Wow wot a bike will post a few pics soon!

Nice writeup. But could you not have just fitted less ridiculous tyres to the Spicy?

Hey Tom, I haven’t looked into the brake issue too much since that day as nothing I’ve done since has required the same level of constant heavy braking. I was using metal sintered pads (I think), definitely not organic. I did think about using DOT 5 instead of 4, but I’ve read that all Formula brakes must use DOT 4. I’ll check it again though with those suggestions, see if it makes a difference.

Castrol SRF is Dot 4 and has a higher boiling tempt than any Dot 5 or Dot 5.1 fluid. Never use Dot 5 unless you want your brake seals to die a horrible death…. either Dot 5.1 or 4.

Might I suggest you fit a 203mm rotor on the front as well, it will make a huge difference to braking perrformance on extended downhill runs.

Can’t say my hopes have problems braking when sandy and wet when using sintered pads though.

You might have glazed the pads?

I’ve had to tweak the seat a couple of times and move it forward as I sometimes get lower back pain as if I’m lent too far over, but it’s sometimes due to not tightening my camelback up properly and it riding on my lower spine. The wider handle bars do also cause you to lean over a bit more and I normally find on long climbs I’ll adopt a narrower hand position on my grips as long as the trail allows it.

You are running your bars to low, the wider you go the taller you have to run them to keep your body position the same.

Hi Tom, thanks for the tips. I have to admit I’d prefer tweaking the brakes rather than going out and buying new, especially as I can’t afford it either. The comment on the bars was interesting though, going to check the rise of the stock bars and possibly see about trying a riser bar to see if that makes a difference.

I can guarantee with 95 percent confidence that taller bars will solve your issue mate.

I went from 10mm rise to 50mm rise and boom, my back issues and arm fatigue went. And I actually gained more control over the bike.

Wide bars are great, but wide and flat is an utter fad. Sure I lost a little bit of confidence on flat turns because the front wheel is less weighted….but guess what you have to do to resolve that? Lean forward a little more to the position you’d be in with flat bars.

The correct bar height gives you a nice neutral position that allows you to get over the back or weight up the front, WHEN NEEDED. Slammed bars have you weighting up the front wheel when you don’t need to and needlessly increase rider fatigue.

Let me know how the 203mm rotor and Castrol SRF/Motul 600 go. Have a look at some guidelines on how to properly bed pads if you’ve glazed them.

I’ve got some brand new boxed 30mm rise black Spank 777 evo bars, you can have them for 20 quid….dunno if those will be enough rise for you? How many spacer’s do you have above the stem (if any)? If you can’t move the bars up to try the rise before you get a pair of riser bars (because masses of spacers looks awful)….get a couple of bars with different rises…try them out…send the on you don’t like back.

Now then, figured I’d give an update on how ye olde cube is getting on.

Stuff I’ve changed since my last post –

Got some Nukeproof 760 wide bars with a 38mm rise in them to try and cure a slight pain in my lower back. Seems to have done the trick.

Changed my brakes, got some Shimano XT and sold the Formula RC Tune on ebay – was going to try bleeding with a higher temperature brake fluid like Tom suggested in a previous post but ended up changing them. As a side note, Halfords brake fluid has the same active ingredients as the Motul and Castrol but was about half the price and readily available.

Decided on this after a number of rides with me just falling out with my brakes. I think one of the key things was I didn’t like the way the lever pivoted and I basically couldn’t get them set up how I like to brake without a lot of discomfort. I also didn’t like the modulation on them – something that I have since discovered is absolutely awesome on the XTs. I don’t exactly have cash flying around, so changing them was a big cost even though the XTs were reasonably priced at about £135 for front and rear. So I ventured onto ebay and managed to sell the Formulas for £75 which was a result. Then I also sold a load of other stuff that covered the cost completely and a new set of tyres.

The XTs are awesome. The first time I tried them was at round 1 of the Scottish Enduro and they weren’t exactly bedded in, but on the slopes you could just apply them and the modulation and feel was a world apart from the Formulas which seemed to just be on or off in comparison. It’s possible the formulas needed bleeding anyways, but either way, it was a sound purchase. I also had to shorten the rear brake hose (at 12pm on the Friday before the weekend of the enduro) and started looking round for bleed kits when I realised you could shorten it without having to re-bleed as long as you had an insert and gromit (with spares coming with the brakes), so did that no problem.

Also got a set of WTB Vigilantes which I’ve been looking for since before xmas but they were either out of stock or too expensive. Saw some on sale so got them and I’m running them tubeless. One minor thing is they are freaking tight on the rim, I don’t actually think I’ll get them off again without ripping out the rim strip first. They seem to have loads of grip in the rubbish weather though although the argument could be made that I got them the wrong side of winter, but never mind. My rear Hans Dampf was pretty much bald and I could feel the difference straight away with the Vigilantes.

Also went for a 1 x 10 setup after botching changing a cable on my front deraileur and having no option but to remove it to go out the following day. The gearing has worked absolutely fine and I find myself wondering why I ever had a 2 x 10 setup in the first place (I had a spare 32 ring from when I bought the bike and got rid of the outer 3rd chain ring and replaced it with a bash guard). It did drop the chain though so got a race face thin fat chain ring which has worked absolutely fine so far and I have to say I like the bars and bike in general being less clustered.

I did the Innerleithen Day Night enduro back at the end of November feeling a bit rubbish and it absolutely destroyed me. Since then I’ve been out pretty regularly and as mentioned completed the 1st round of the Scottish enduro series at Fort William. Was good fun and my fitness was good even if it did absolutely chuck it down most of the time. Round 2 is next weekend at Innerleithen and I’m looking forward to that with some slight trepidation.

Fitness is generally good at the moment. I don’t commute and I’m planning on getting out on the evening a bit more but it’s difficult with work so mostly weekends for me. Went to Gisburn a couple weekends ago and I think I’ll leave going back there. It’s quite a drive and just not worth it really, the trail’s too short and just so freaking rocky it becomes unpleasant. I’d rather slog it through mud than get vibrated to pieces. There’s the odd bit that’s good, but it’s in need to repair in places and lengthening – not easy I appreciate, but there’s just better alternatives closer to home for me.

Main two issues at the moment is a pain in my left knee and left wrist. I think the left knee is a result of getting some five 10 shoes with that stealth sole which grips your flat pedals like there’s no tomorrow. But I find I pedal a bit wonky just due to my freakish left leg and as a result, I think the lack of give in the sole means that I’m putting my knee through a more unnatural range of motion than before when I wore trainers and they were less grippy and had some flex. As a result I’m going back to clip ins tomorrow for a ride to see if the same pains comes, the hope being that the clipped pedals will force me to pedal in a more natural range of motion. I’m also going to see a physio just to get it checked out so i’ll have to see how it pans out.

The left wrist issue is a bit more tricky and I’ve tweaked my bars and brakes to see if this goes away. It could basically be a number of things so I won’t bore you with the details, just tweaking here, going for a ride, tweaking there, etc, etc.

Other service stuff that needs doing. Both the fork and shock could do with a service, or at least a strip down and oil change. The headset bearing casings are rusting up but the bearing seems to be fine. The rockshox reverb could do with having the hose shortened (but I’m very wary about this one as my mate had issues with his and he fixed it at great cost for spare parts – like an extortionate £45 for a bit of metal in the handlebar lever).

Other than that, I’d still like to change the gear lever and deraileur as I#m still unhappy with them but can live with that and the wheels have taken a right battering to the point that my free wheel fell apart the other week when putting on the Vigilantes. I managed to fix it but the free wheel hub body is basically loose. It rides fine (for now), but it’s a DT Swiss hub so if it does loosen then the ratchet won’t engage and I’ll just be spinning a lot and going nowhere! So i’m considering getting a new rear wheel. I can’t true wheels, the rims damaged as well as some spokes and the hubs a bit ****, so I figure it’s cheaper to get a new wheel than pay someone to lace in a new hub. But I haven’t checked this exactly as it’s all still working for the time being and the bathroom needs redecorating!

Hope everyone has a great weekend riding.

Here’s a picture!

[IMG]http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll255/whippetboy/20140315_112109.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Nice write up Whippet 🙂

I just pondering a new bike and had the briefest of rides on one of these it certainly seemed a lot lighter than my Five.

One thing that has put me off cubes, is that a few have snapped among the people I ride with, but you seem to be riding this one pretty hard and so far it’s been OK.

Think I will try and get a test ride.

Right, I’d thought I’d bore you to death with another update. First, I hadn’t heard of a cube snapping but I guess it’s possible. Someone who I see at these scottish enduros snapped his devinci in the EWS at inners, but I think he’s sponsored so he got a new bike to keep on riding although I don’t think any of his times were then valid (I didn’t enter this as I couldn’t afford it at the time and was then massively jealous reading and watching all the stuff on it!).

Since Gisburn I’ve done the second and third round of the scottish enduro series. Inners was very muddy and slippery and I have to say that riding clipped in there was pretty unnerving but I just got on with it really and for the most part it was ok. I played around with the air pressure in the front tyre and ran it pretty low working on the assumption that as long as I could get my front tyre to go where I wanted it to, the rear of the bike and me on it can follow in whatever bike kung fu pose I could muster.

Most of the stages were ok if ridiculously steep and technical as only inners seems to know how, but withe the full face inspiring a bit of confidence I rode it pretty well except the top section of stage 5.

Following on from that me and a few mates had a long weekend up in Dalbeattie, rode there, Kirroughtree and Ae. All good fun.

Went back up to inners a couple of weeks ago in the lead up to the third round of the enduro series and had a bit of a mare riding there even though it was bone dry, just wasn’t on it mentally. Had a better time at Scolty outside of Aberdeen riding the local trails there which are real good fun and have a cool fresh cut, gnarly technical appeal to them – if only that was my local riding spot!

Laggan was a cool place ot ride, first time I’d been there and the enduro tracks were really good fun. Could have done a bit better but was still pleased with the result.

Since my last post I don’t think I’ve done anything to the bike other than ride it. I’ve just ordered a whole new set of linkage bearings as the first part of some expensive tlc. I’ll get the front wheel bearings changed at the same time but a new rear wheel is still on the cards. I’ll service the fork and shock in some way shape or form too.

Also bought a cheap road bike from halfords to get some miles in on the evening, quite enjoying it now and it’s helping my fitness.

The bike in general is still riding really well, I’m still the weakest link on it. This was reinforced by the guy who won the EWS in scotland as he was riding the team version of the cube, so it’s definitely a fast bike! I’m considering a coaching session or two as I want to get better at jumping and try to learn the steep rooty technical stuff that you get at the likes of inners in a more competent fashion, riding the bike as opposed to feeling like a passenger on it hanging on for dear life and being grateful I got to the bottom in one piece!

I’ve stayed riding clipped in and my left knee doesn’t hurt anymore and neither does my left wrist. i find riding clipped in really helps with technical climbing, in scolty there’s some hard stuff to get up and being able to pull as well as push made a massive difference.

On a side note, I do find it slightly amusing how everything has enduro slapped in front of it now as if it will help stuff sell because I ‘need’ it to be more enduro focused! Some of it’s great gear, but I do wonder how many people just buy it because of the marketing hype. Almost makes me cringe buying stuff now, but then as I’m broke most of the time at the moment I’m more of a bystander these days.

Bathroom is basically done now as well, toilet is shite and needs replacing!

So it’s Saturday night and my active social life means I have time to write up an update on here…

So since the last entry, the bike has had almost another years worth of riding. I’ve not replaced the toilet and it’s still shite and I’ve spent some £££ on the ye olde cube.

The main thing rolling over from the last entry was getting the linkage bearings replaced. This is where me and my carbon framed bike fell out of love a bit. To cut a long story short, I seemed to round off one of bolts for the main (central) horst link that goes through the seat tube. As a result I had to pay a bike engineering firm to CNC drill the bolt out (I just didn’t feel confident handing it to some plucky lad at a bike shop on a Saturday afternoon for him to be let loose with a pillar drill on it and I didn’t have the tools myself having spent about 3.5hrs with an engineering bike enthusiast friend one evening trying all manner of ways to get it out) and then fit the new bearings. This they did very well but at great expense to me (all in all including the cost of the bearings it set me back about £350 – 400 not to mention a couple 5hr round trips to drop and then pick up the bike).

So much for proactive maintenance! To an extent, I only had myself to blame as I’d never stripped down the linkages and cleaned everything out which I’m sure contributed to this. As a result, I stripped the linkage down a month afterwards to clean and the same bolt caused more problems so I left it well alone. In the end, several months later (and after hearing nothing from repeated e-mails to cube – very poor customer service) I took the bike back to where I bought it to have it looked at before the 2yr warranty ran out on the frame and the mechanic there undid the problem bolt no problems – so two 5hr round trips and £20 to get a bolt undone – but in my defence, I wanted him to experience the same problem as me in the flesh – it just turns out he didn’t experience it!

Either way, I would have felt more comfortable bodging around with an aluminium frame as opposed to a carbon one as they’re a bit of an unknown entity to me, even though they are stronger – it’s just a different material and I was worried it may be result in something snapping, cracking if I put any force into getting the problem bolt out. It’s a poor design in my opinion and something I’d recommend potential buyers consider on whatever type of bike they might get – that it needs to be serviceable.

Anyway, all the linkage parts strip down and can be regularly cleaned out and greased and the bearings are doing ok. All I’d say is that if you ride in muddy weather throughout winter and regularly have to wash your bike, just make sure you strip down the linkages and clean them out, it will likely save you money and time in the long run. Lesson learned!

New stuff I’ve got on it. Shimano Zee derailleur and shifter, just fitted a 40t crawler cog on the back (had to replace the B tension screw with a longer M4 x 25mm bolt from halfords though to get the clearance and add a few links to the chain) – will be testing this new sprocket tomorrow hopefully.

Got new wheels eventually (one at a time), Hope hubs on Stan rims. Can’t fault them. Tubeless set up was a bit of a pain, but eventually resolved after much swearing although the older WTB Vigilante needed cutting off in the end and I punctured several inner tubes in several places trying to get a tube in to help seat the tyre. I’ve since made a DIY coke bottle compressor thingy but not had to use it yet.

Been running a Magic Mary on the front over winter and it’s an epic tyre. Was my saving grace at Rd 5 of the SES last October at Inners – very muddy and slippy and this tyre just got me through stuff that should have seen me dumping it otherwise. Very confidence inspiring and decided to keep it on over summer as well. Slapped a new Hans Dampf on the back.

Front fork has been playing up with not getting full travel and scratched stanchions, thought it might be dried out seals so changed them but to no avail. After much procrastinating I decided to opt for a new pike instead of trying to revive the existing Fox 34 – I worked out that if my worst fears were realised with the Fox (which is usually what actually happens) then the cost of this would cover a large part of the new pike and the pike is epic compared to the 2013 Fox – according to all the reviews and fellow bikers. I can only just afford it but I’m hoping it will be a decent upgrade as I don’t plan on spending any more money on it for months now if I can help it.

Enjoyed the Vallelujah (sp?) race in March near Selkirk. Very muddy again in places but good fun and good tracks. Didn’t do so well at Inners Rd 1 of the SES in March and enjoyed the tracks at Ae forest for Rd 2 of the SES. Rode the practice days at Inners/Glentress last week for the EWS (I tried to get a place but was too late), I think the under performing front fork definitely contributed to a lack of confidence on certain parts of the track, but if was still fun all the same although felt like pish the whole time due to illness. Planning on being there this weekend coming with some mates for a lads weekend so looking forward to giving some of the stages another go.

Overall, the bike is still awesome after two years although I’ve changed a significant number of components on it now mainly due to wear and some personal preference. Buying, maintaining and upgrading parts on a bike of this type is expensive for me, I don’t put new items on without some serious consideration. The costs relating to the linkage bearings was annoying and I’d not planned on changing the fork – but I think it will be the right decision in the long run with the fork. The bike is enormously capable, evidenced by Greg Callaghan’s win in Ireland in the EWS and 3rd place last weekend in the Scottish EWS. So I do try to keep some perspective on things when spending money on it that I am the weakest link on it and strive to improve my skills as much as possible.

It’s a fun, fast and light bike and I’ve had some awesome times on it over the last two years, so all those benjamins have counted for something! I’ve just this month finished paying it off (I’ve also included it on the house insurance now which I find gives you a certain piece of mind) which means I’ll have some extra cash to spend on that pike. I’m sure people on here have just as much fun on something a third of the cost and that reality isn’t lost on me, when it comes to changing it again at some point in the (distant) future, I’ll be keeping that in mind.

If you have any questions then let me know.

Picture of me nailing it at Inners last October…!!

Stopped riding clipped in as well. Knee seems to have sorted itself out and riding flats is better for my confidence if not as pedal efficient.

I reckon if Sam Hill can manage with flats then so can I…!