Weeksy08 the ongoing racing trials and tribulations of a crazy teen

2021-07-02_07-44-11 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

2021-07-02_07-44-06 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Lots of birthday treats for this weekend.

Hope he has a good one 🥳

2021-07-19_01-34-33 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

The boy being cool.

randr-photo-5784417-3600px[/url] by Steve Weeks[/url] – Flickr2BBcode LITE

randr-photo-5766554-5616px[/url] by Steve Weeks[/url] – Flickr2BBcode LITE

Minor techie question here for anyone who’s taken these apart.

On the axle end of the chainstay there’s a pair of bearings. On the outside of the bearing there’s 2 spacers…. However, it seems now i’ve cleaned them up, the spacers are chamfered on one side, flat on the other side. I didn’t know this until i’d cleaned them all up and by then it was too late to work out which way round they went lol 🙂 It’s only a very small difference, but it’d be nice to know if the chamfer is fitted on the inside, so touching the bearing, or outside…

I can’t find a diagram that shows which way round they go

I haven’t taken that particular frame apart but normally the top hat washers touch the inner race of the bearing. The outer is held in the frame so the washer ensures the load goes to the inner race.

I think maybe I’ve described it badly..

Edit: better version below

Ok, they’re the bronze colour ones with the black around the edge.

Lefh hand side, small black one between the big red pair, shows its shape best

https://www.bike24.de/data/17262.pdf

Not exactly the same year but general layout looks the same. Has top down drawings of the pivots. The part in your picture had a seal. Should be able to work out out from the drawing and seal location as it appears offset to one side of the washer.

Yeah I’ve got that and zooming in on top right pic I think I’ve got them the right way.

Cheers boss

The boys bike had a bit of a creak the other day and we thought we’d got rid of it, but then it came back yesterday.

So last night i stripped the chainstay pivots, bearings and spacers, cleaned, greased, checked and sorted. This morning i moved onto the linkages and gave them all a clean/check and sort. Re-torqued and marked.

2021-07-25_10-15-36 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

2021-07-25_10-15-27 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Bit of a tip to make sure everything is lined up and help stop creaks.
Loosen all the bolts off a touch then start by tightening the main pivot then compress the shock a few times.
Then do the same with the chainstay pivots.
Then do the linkage working up from the bottom bolt and last do the shock.
Its in one of the Spech manuals somewhere and really does seem to help get everything lined up and creak free.
Always sorts any creaks we have on an Evo and 2 Kenevos.

Grrrr and arggghhh.

At Swinley today the instructor noticed some play he thought right at the axle pivot bearings.

Luckily I’d bought 2 for it a few weeks ago.

Unluckily I apparently need 4!!!!

I’m also missing a blind bearing puller for 6801s. So the chainstay was removed and it went in the vice for some tappy tappy action. There’s a spacer between the bearings but that means all surfaces are basically flush. This makes any tapping/hitting even more complicated.

Bearings 1&2 exploded which meant I was left with the outer shell still in the chainstay. This took a good 20 mins to get them out.

It was getting a bit grumpy at this stage in the garage as he needs the bike for his training on Wednesday.

But they came out and the new bearings went in.

Not exactly effortlessly but 3-4 tries and they were in.

Happily the other side of the chainstay went smoothly, both getting then out and putting them back in. So that’s all back together.

Phew.

We then moved onto the next minor issue that his chain/chainring is hanging a bit, it’s going past the point where it should on the bottom. Tom (Reynolds) thinks it’s the chainring. So just had to order a new one, not too expensive but I did go for Raceface which is a bit more, but can get it tomorrow from Wiggle.

It may need a cassette too but can worry about that next week.

Just need to do chainring tomorrow then and away we go.

Well the chainring got a little complex as when i stripped the cranks out i realised it needed a new BB more than i thought.

Quick call to Rotec cycles (awesome LBS) and he has a Hope sitting on the shelf to fit…. Oh and a 30& chainring too.

While it was there he serviced the rear freehub and tensioned the wheel. It cost me £170…. but considering, that’s a great price. I’m not sure how many times the boy will need to hoover my car to pay that off !

The chainset is running incredibly smoothly now… it’s a joy !

Couple of bearings on the shock/frame linkage were a bit stiff when checking today, so they were whipped out and replaced.

2021-11-12_09-20-33 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

2021-11-12_09-20-43 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

For anyone who’s still paying attention, the boy has consistently been improving in his debut season.

Southern Enduro last time out he picked up an 8th, which was excellent.

Last weekend at Gawton he got a 5th which was only 2s off the podium, so getting there, although the big hitters were not out.

We’ve got a race at 417 in 2 weekends time, so we’ll see how he goes there.

jersey22 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

New jersey day….. well, Xmas day but it’s just been shipped.

New jersey day…..

Just as well Spec aren’t the litigious type, eh!? 🤣

Suspension tuning – meh
Jersey – meh

Southern Enduro last time out he picked up an 8th, which was excellent.

Last weekend at Gawton he got a 5th which was only 2s off the podium, so getting there,

😀😃😄😁Excellent. We want more pictures/ info about the actual riding.
Great to see he’s still keen
🙂

Does revtothelimit make you any money (not profit, just literally any money at all)?

Because if it does, we’ve got ourselves a sponsored rider here 😉

Colour matched the bike too, I like.

Oh you really don’t generalist 🙂

In all honesty we rarely buy them now as we’ve got so many
2021-09-26_05-36-33 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

randr-photo-6326630-3000px by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

randr-photo-6297160-5568px by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

If you’re bored, there’s a gazillion here.

https://www.rootsandrain.com/rider111960/james-weeks/photos/

I’m amazed i’ve not been talked into the first pic… but as i say, there’s that many now we’ve kinda given up apart from a quick look post event.

Does revtothelimit make you any money (not profit, just literally any money at all)?

It does and it doesn’t… It makes more than it spends for sure, but i generally give it all away.

For example i’m just waiting for Silverstone to release their dates and one of our very own STW members has been gifted a Trackday from the forum funds at Silverstone GP, he came on, is new to riding and posts plenty, so i donated him a trackday so he can experience it. The rest gets given out in ‘prizes’ and things like forum based hoodies and jerseys.
Normally i’d have used the forum funds for the jersey, but we’re not flush currently due to paying for 2 trackday places at Pembrey in August.

We’re just waiting for delivery of 25 of these too
RevToTheLimit-1_PROOF by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Which i find really cool that people would want to wear them. As soon as they’re in, we’ve got another design waiting to be printed.

We’re at 417Flyup tomorrow for race practice and then race day on Sunday.

This one will be particularly awesome as it’s one of his mates birthdays and several of his mates have entered too, most who’ve never raced before

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/238931/2021-Go-Ride-Downhill-Series-Round-5

So Sunday will be full on ego-fest with all of them going full chat for bragging rights.

The best part is that one is a younger brother and only 11… He’s got a good chance of beating the 13 year olds…. If it were more jumpy/gappy his chances would go up !

This one was at Gawton bike park on race day a few weeks back
2021-11-07_08-25-27 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Gawton by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Ossum 😃

I’m ill at home and want regular updates on a the fun.

Wish him good luck from us. We had a great day out earlier in the year but it was hot and dry.
Hope you get the best of the weather for race day.
We are in the Peak and the forecast is for snow tonight and tomorrow
Should make the trails interesting

@weeksy be aware that the local weather forecast for 10:00 tomorrow is temperature of 1.8 but feels like -5.5 due to the wind speed of 30mph gusting at 50mph.

It’s gonna be chilly on that exposed hill and tricky in the air!

I hear you. They’ve closed FoD tomorrow so wouldn’t shock me if they close 417 too

417 is a bit more contained, FoD is closed due to the number of trees that go down in storms, so for public safety they shut all the car parks, but the woods are still open to all, 417 will be a bit easier i think, can’t even think of many trees that could come down and spoil your day on the course, bar a few at the side around the top.

If it is up and running you’ll know the runs that are better shielded pretty quickly, and at least the cold will mean putting on protective stuff is actually not a hotbox nightmare on an uplift!

I should have thought about the first snowfall of winter ;o)

Aye was closed today, I think they opened up after lunch but was too late then really.
Blind practice and early race for the lad then tomorrow

Early start. Practice 8am so nearly at 417. Mrs Weeksy looks unimpressed that her debut watching live is this early and cold

At least there is some shelter at the bottom if needed for in between the runs.
It’s a more civilised place for spectating than most other DH and Enduro events.
I’m sure you will all enjoy it. 🤞

Race run 1 done. Not got times yet as we’re warming up in the cafe waiting for chips!!!!

18/31 in the U16 cat.

Not sure on race run 2 as it’s cold and we’ve headed home straight after bit he doesn’t think he was quicker on the.

The winner in U16 was actually 16 and a giant! Huge lad and really friendly with it.

Good stuff, i do tend to have a love/hate relationship with 417, need to get back up there soon just to get myself back in and see.

Nice one.

Well done 😎

Run 2 both him and his best mate and main rival were 0.5s slower than run 1, so didn’t improve in position.

Was a good if very cold day and a good indication of how fast the 14-16 year old are

2021-11-28_05-08-14[/url] by Steve Weeks[/url] – Flickr2BBcode LITE

The fun starts for me now as I need to clean, sort, lube. Plus new gear cable and pads tomorrow morning.
Then decide if we do the race on 12th Dec at same place and course.

Nows the time to get him to help you.
Just wait till your doing repairs under a van awning with a head torch and hoping you don’t drop anything 🤣