danger death corner.

I had to hike a bike after over shooting that one twice 👿

Stage 2 was difficult to maintain momentum on I thought.

It did make it more than a fair playing field for the two or three guys I saw on 100-120mm hardtails.
Maybe they new something everyone else didn’t 😉

Stage 4 was all uphill Wtf?

I was really surprised! I thought the fitness element came in with meeting the transition times! I think I may have just made mine, but a lot of riders didn’t, so they were a test as it was. Probably because they didn’t have the 5 min mechanical, and they were set in the dry.
I ended up pushing up most of Stage 4 😳 .

They included the XC, DH4, and some of the 4X, and that was pretty much it. Very XC orientated, even the DH stages had really annoying off camber pedally bits.
Stage 4 was just a big climb too 😯
Didn’t speak to many competitors other than the ones around my number, but from what I’ve heard there were loads of DNFs as people finishing RD1 simply couldn’t be bothered to do it again!

Not tried high rollers there in the wet but can’t imagine it will end well.

👿 Gosh darn, I can’t justify new tires for a race!

@ lbjones – S2A isn’t exactly what I’d think of when you say “enduro”. Other than the drops, practically no technicality, and I’d imagine that big drop could be lethal in the wet with tired riders, so I hope not too.

From what I’ve seen of the other venues, if they go ahead and use either it’ll be much more hardcore than any of the other races.

Not looking forward to picking my way down the black in the wet either 😕

I’ve read that Carlos said S2A was definitely being used, so who knows?
I’d imagine they might use the chicken runs round the bigger drops / only use a part of it though.

Really excited now anyway!

It probably does somewhat dull the trail if your local riding route involves pavements and towpaths.

I’m guessing he’s seen the funky looking orange coloured strange at Eurobike. Long travel 29er without the stupid wheelbase mmmmmmmmmm.

@Hobnob, I’d buy the cheap £18 one and put it on the bars. Then, if you find you are night riding a lot, buy an X2 for the bars, and put the other on your helmet.

I struggle to believe it could ever last that long with the standard sized battery.

One thing I did notice though is if you leave the light on high with no airflow, then after around 5 minutes the light will step down to the lowest setting until it has cooled down.

This would obviously last longer and could trick people into thinking it has lasted that long at the highest setting.

I don’t know, just an idea.

Maybe explains it 😉
From what I’ve heard, high isn’t exactly needed, as medium is bright enough for general use.

On the highest setting the battery died after 1hr 15mins.

That’s sad, I saw on another forum, someone managed to get there’s to last 4 hours with stock batteries on “high”.

I bought one of these in the end
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CREE-XM-L-XML-T6-LED-Bicycle-bike-Head-Light-Headlamp-Rechargeable-Head-Light-/330958001861?pt=UK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item4d0ea256c5

I had one as my only light mounted on the handlebars, I was really impressed! Haven’t done a battery test, but it was on high for well over an hour and it was fine. Brightness wise, I was impressed, although the spread wasn’t amazing. On the twistier trails, a little bit of guess work was required, as I couldn’t illuminate directly in front of me, and 10m down the trail, which made things interesting at speed.
For £18, a superb light.

I think having one of the above on my helmet, and ordering an Solarstorm X2 for the handlebars should be the perfect combination though!
Can’t really see how some of the European branded lights can possibly be seen as good value with these about.

Don’t quote me on this, but I think the stanchions on forks are longer than the actual travel. The stanchion may measure 170mm, but you will bottom-out at 160.

I’d be pretty nervous tbh.

Not really looking forward to the drop on S2A with tired legs either!
So long as I don’t come last 😛

By the sounds of it probably going to be baptism by fire as it’s my first ever race 😕
Not looking forward to racing in the wet with my 60a high rollers.

Super nervous right now.

It could be your axle , if its not tight enough a creeking sound can be heard that is amplified through the swing arm as it is a large box section . Put a bit of copper grease on the lugs and tighten the q realise or through axle , it works on mine

Will do that presently 🙂

Thanks for the help. I’ll give the rear end a purge tomorrow!

Gear cable slapping around inside swingarm I’d wager

Possible, but I can’t see how that can make such a clunky noise – I’ll check it out.

Rear mech hitting of the swing arm?

Is that even possible?

rear hub?

I’ll have a look, any idea how I can check for this?

Blimey, we do them at £18.20, need to look at our margins!

Sorry Loco! Bloody hell, I feel like an idiot!!!! I saw that just after I bought them from Mojo. Don’t know why I assumed Mojo were exclusive stockists. 😳

Just ordered a spacer kit. I’ll fit the Medium spacer and see how the shock feels.

At £26 seems like a better option then a custom tune to be honest.

If it still feels rubbish, I’ll get it custom tuned.

@Loco Yeah it is, I’ll have a look at doing that, thanks!

I’m a big unit so was getting through the travel much too easily

What sort of stuff were you bottoming out on?

Watching this from my rubbish phone, but it does look like there’s a ridiculous amount of steerer sticking out from the headset. 😯

EDIT: Thanks for sharing, I always enjoy a half decent vid.

Right. An update for any interested.

I’ve managed to get the bearing race off, in the end a plasma cutter was used 😯 (I wasn’t actually there)
The pivot spindle needed a slight wetsand to get all the grime off, but the new bearings went in fine and so I then aligned the swingarm.

Then I tried to put the bearing clamp bolts back in. Unfortunately, one of them, then non-drive side one, as before was weirdly tight, despite me checking the threads of the hole and the bolt. I ended up rounding the head off the bolt about 2mm from the end. 😳 👿 😥

I’m going to reassemble the bike tomorrow and take it for a ride, and hope and pray the clamp is tight enough to grip the bearings properly.

If not, I have no idea what to do 🙁

EDIT: Fatharrywhite : I tried the mole grips and mine are a bit sh*@£y, so they weren’t gripping hard enough.

Thanks, I’ll give that ago tomorrow! Luckily my dad knows a guy, so I think he should be able to do it. And if that fails my LBS has a dremel, though I’m loathe to spend money on something that can be fixed so quickly with the correct tool!

It should just pull out. Can’t think of any tips other than brute force and ignorance.

Make sure the axle spacer is removed. You could wrap the freehub body in cloth and vice it, then use the wheel to pull it out.

I bet it was because you put the milk in before the sugar.
Try it the other round, it’s a different beast. 😉

If it is a very good deal I’d probably buy the whole bike, then sell and upgrade as I see fit.
If not it’s very good fun to build a custom built bike up from the frame though, and I’d recommend doing it yourself, as it will be far more satisfying and you’ll learn some mechanical stuff while you are at it.

I personally buy all my stuff second hand and custom build my bikes, I do end up with a slightly shorter lifetime between servicing/replacing on some of my components, but it is easily worth it.

For example, my current bike I built for £1900, it’s probably worth around £5000 new, however the bearings are knackered and I’ve only had the frame since April.

Always worth buying new brakes and drive-chain though in past experience.

can you lie bike with this upright, soak in a releasing agent(Plus Gas etc), make a small reservoir (plasticine etc etc, fill it with releasing agent and leave

also see – http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Arm-Puller-3-Bearing-Puller-Gear-Puller-450950-UK-SELLER-/270973001312?pt=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item3f173fde60 but I’m not sure you could get the arms round the bearing thru the arm hole

Thanks gusamc, that bearing removal tool looks the ticket. Should be a good insurance policy if the dremel doesn’t go to plan.

You could get the right sized easy out to fit over the inner race and get it spinning and then off?

Maybe worth a try, it’s either that or buying a dremel and cutting it off, by the sounds of it.

I’ll give my LBS and Orange a call tomorrow and see what to do.

@Raisinhat – The non drive-side bearing came out no problem, but I can’t get the swingarm off, because the inner race is wider than the gap in the bearing clamp. 😥

Not really sure what else to try.

I’ll give Orange a call and see what they say.

If they have no ideas, I may have to try to dremmel through the inner race 🙁

I think you hit the nail on the head. Focus. Set yourself a reasonably hard goal in the not too distant future and work your way towards it. Eat well, sleep well and ride your bike lots! Get as scientific as you think you want to. Everyone’s a training hero these days and its all ‘threshold this’ and ‘Z3 that’ but much more important is just consistent training. Allowing yourself recovery time is important too so don’t let your enthusiasm trick you into over-training. Instead, use rest days to read lots, drool over new kit and fiddle with your bike, then you’ll be even more fired up.
I use hills as intervals, push hard right to the crest and just over, then recover on the downhills.
Logging your rides is important too, especially when you look back at how far you’ve come.

This, and cycle with friends as above.

Without sounding like too much of a twit, Strava may help as you’ll end up competing against others as well as yourself, take care not to take it really easy on unsegmented parts of the ride just to get a good segment time though.

@getonyourbike – 😯 I need to get out riding more!

How long have you been riding out of interest?

You’re clearly a big show off

its shit

Jealous?

Awesome riding there, I enjoyed it.

EDIT: twang just seen your edit. 😆

34-36 MRP G2 mini.

Sorted, got one reserved at Leisure Lakes in Cheltenham, thanks for the help though.

take out the other one and measure it? It’s a standard looking posi-drive counter sunk) screw, you’ll probably be able to get them in B&Q

In process of. I don’t think I have a B and Q anywhere nearby, fingers crossed the Cannop Cycle Center may have one.

Cirencester, but will be at FoD tomorrow.

Depends on how much you will use them. I got am XML derivative which was way better than the fenix torches for output but sadly proved unreliable with lots of use. Now I ride at full pelt until 11pm every tuesdaynight I wanted something awesome with no cables massive runtime and warranty. I like buying uk made stuff so bought a coke can light from Exposure. It’s ace even if it cost a princely sum!

Cheers, yeah it would be nice to go for something quality and British, but I don’t have the money. Think I’ll end up going for the Red thing Bregante linked.