I tend to leave them a bit long for 1st cut so you can place a few stem spacers and play around with stack height. You can then cut your steerer again or just leave the spacers on top of the stem.

For a carbon steerer, you need to cut using a fine hacksaw blade and wear a dust mask!

You also need an ‘expansion bung’ or ‘expansion nut’ for carbon steerers, the longer the better and some carbon friction paste to fit it. DO NOT USE A STAR FANGLED NUT!!

Also only torque steerer bung and stem bolts to whatever torque it states on them.

The person who cut his dropper post down to fit frame still wins the top prize for me 🙂

I can highly recommend the services of Phil at Target Composites for carbon frame repairs;-

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Frames come out of him far stronger than the manufacturers and he can even identify design flaws before they actually break!

If you’re going to Whistler take some spares with you too as they cost a fortune out there!
I always take at least 1 Mech hanger, spare rear brake, (that can be used at either end), spare shifter, spare mech.
Don’t take too soft a rear tyre as you will shred it in the first week.
A couple of spare tubes too, I have gashed tyres there that latex wouldn’t seal.

Basically fill your bike bag to the 32kg max.

Don’t bother putting a lock on it either, they will just cut it off if they want to inspect bike. I just zip tie the zip ends together.

As daft as it sounds, pv panels lose a lot of efficiency the hotter they get!
Therefore, it’s vital they are given as much ventilation as possible with an air gap, hence why the flexible ones fixed to roofs without air gaps fail so often.

Having raced there and knowing how brutal and steep that track is I am in complete awe at the speeds they get down, it is literally controlled falling!!!

The camera just doesn’t do justice on how steep the forest is and how big the step downs and holes are!! The section through the deer gate that they were doubling, (possibly even tripling), is mind blowing!

Uswe patriot

Kit 1 for Code brakes will fit from Superstar.

There’s Uberbike too – https://www.uberbikecomponents.com/category/434/Hydraulic-Brake-Hose-Kits

I had that problem 2 weeks ago, tried 3 or four times over 3 days and got no email response.
I sent them a message on Facebook and FB messenger and someone got back to me within the hour and sorted my code.
Remember to save it somewhere too as it’s your personal multi use code for this year 😉

There’s HEL hoses too.
Last year I damaged my rear SRAM hose and it was cheaper to buy a HEL kit than the official SRAM hose.

The only comment I would make is regard parking – there’s not enough space for the actual riders on race weekends, so you’ll probably have to park some distance away and walk into event.

So that’s a new BB??
Whoever installed that is a bit of a gorilla!!

I can recommend Cheshire Cycles in Appleton, Sth Warrington

Mobile Bike Repair in Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside & Lancashire

Get Procore so you can run 16.5psi front and 18.5 psi rear and stick to any terrain 😉

Nothing new, Michelle Dumaresq a trans gender woman won the MTB DH Master world champs in Sun Peaks in 2006, Brit, Petra Wiltshire was 2nd and a bit un-happy.

Nukeproof have entered the market too;

https://off.road.cc/content/news/first-look-new-nukeproof-ard-rim-protection-system-advance-rim-defence-2922

As above, considering that we are supposed to be up shit creek atm, we have been seeing 20%+ return in the past 3 years!!

I played safe with my big pension pot, and put it in a scheme that smooths and guarantees 8%/yr whatever the market.

Unless you are real savvy on financial matters then I would recommend you get a financial advisor and he can ‘steer’ you to your objective.  Yes they cost, but if he’s making good returns for you, then I have no objection to him making money from it.

In my 20’s I set myself a desire to be retired by 60, I am now on target to achieve my retirement at 58 in 2020.

I set up investments and recently ISA’s every year and put regular savings away every month, the big one though was cashing in an old works pension for the lump sum value and re-investing in a private pension which you can draw down from the age of 55, whereas keeping in a works scheme will usually be penalised for early drawdown.  You are then in total control of that lump of money and can draw down a monthly salary to your requirements.  The money is then 100% within your estate too, so any surplus after you die all goes to beneficiaries.

After you retire you will probably require a larger salary for the first 20 years to pay for all your adventures, the last 20 years is just to pay someone to feed you and wipe your ass! 😉

Thank me too, broke collar bone so off bike for a few months, so guaranteed to be nice weather!!

Well the ‘Don’t be a lane-hogger’ campaign didn’t work that causes the tail-gating, so this will just be ignored too!

Yep everything said above.

Watch the back end swinging out on turns, especially on rights, as fekers try to go down your nearside!  I make a point of not allowing enough room for them to get through.

Be wary of cockwombles pulling out on you as there appears to be a common preconception that vans don’t go all that fast 😉   Def get a dashcam.

Get dead locks fitted and a Cat 1 alarm and possibly a tracker!!  Every van I have ever owned has been broken into using a device that by-passes the STD lock and ignition.  Although it doesn’t give me a discount on insurance, I bought a cheap tracker from Oxford products, that will notify me on my phone every time the van moves.

WRT power gains, when Sky released the data for Froome after the Giro, there was a comment on the power figures that the oval rings gave a % increase in power, (can’t remember the actual figure), so his actual output was less than recorded.

Therefore, there Def appears to be a performance gain using ovals, (if you have the right cadence).

Having ridden DH for 25 years and visited Whistler a lot of times, my ‘ridden with’ list is quite long!

However, similar to others above, the most memorable and best have been the random invites at Whistler where we met a legend on the chair and asked if we wanted to ride with them;  Tippie, Gracia, Peaty, Lopes, Smith, Hill and both Kovariks.

But the most memorable was meeting a grom called Jackson Goldstone when he was 5, he had no brakes on his bike ‘coz his dad said he used them too much!!!

SRAM/avid RH matchmaker

I do not know the superstar hubs specifically, but all other Manu’s hubs are different wrt 135/142 vs 150 and a 150 can Def not be converted to a 142 as the hub shells are wider, so I would be surprised if SS are not the same.

Agree with above, make one for pennies!

I made a Mk II out of an old 1kg fire extinguisher that I found at work, required a bit of basic drilling, but just needed a tubeless valve and some hose.  I can pump that up 150+ psi without fear of it going pop and it has inflated every stubborn tyre I have had 🙂

I have to sell a 1 season old DH bike every year and the arse has Def dropped out of the SH DH bike market!

Have struggled to sell a 10mth old 650b for £1.5k – £2k the last 2 years, (they are £5k RRP), it’s Def a buyers market, so 1500 for a 4yr old 26″ is dream land!!

These are the 2018 listed 27.5 DHR dual compound tyres;

2631158 – Minion DHR II 27.5×2.30 60 TPI Folding Dual Compound (EXO/TR)

2631160 – Minion DHR II 27.5×2.40WT 60 TPI Folding Dual Compound (EXO/TR)

2631169 – Minion DHR II 27.5×2.60 60 TPI Folding Dual Compound (EXO/TR)

Not sure if it’s convenient, (Cheshire?), but give Phil a ring at Target Composites if you want a proper job doing on it?

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Not entirely true, Kev has been cleared but case against Mike and BC continues…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-44612429

There’s a local club to St Helens called The Woollybacks who have a few local loops with riders going out most days of the week, post up a message here;

http://www.thewoollybacks.co.uk/forum.php

Put Procore or Deaneasy in and you can run any weight tyre you want with required tread and compound 😉

WRT new Maxxis Assegai, don’t hold your breath!  Stock due in to UK soon but have been told most of it will go out to Press/Mag/Web reviews 🙁

I was Kickstarter backer 190 and got mine last Wednesday, not had chance to try it yet but looks simple to set up and use.

It’s not just CRC, Wiggle are severely screwing over Hotlines Distribution, owned by CRC by not paying invoices to allow 2018 stock to come into the country.

This is then directly affecting LBS who are suffering from V poor service from Hotlines, who are in a no win situation and getting shite thrown from both sides!!

I’m guessing the Manufacturers they distribute will be dumping Hotlines next…. 🙁

I was told on Monday this week by a Hotlines employee that they have them in stock, so I’d contact them again and ask them to look really hard 😉

I’ve tried various over the years and always go back to Stans and use the race fluid these days.

FYI the Schwalbe Doc Blue is also Stans fluid and can be picked up cheaper in some places.

I fell for the hype and tried some of Peaty’s gloop but is wasn’t sealing so I eventually had to put twice as much in as stans to get the stuff to actually cover the inside of the tyre = twice the weight which starts to defeat the object of lighter tubeless set ups!!

Talking of silly names, have you seen Cedric Gracia’s ‘Monkey’s Sauce’ sealant? 😀

A rider hanging from a tree by his back pack!!

Was at Fort William and just going over hip replacement, I could hear shouts of ‘help’, pulled up and a rider had gone over the big LH berm into trees and got hung up, even he was laughing when I got there to help him 😀

This is a common problem for the schwalbe procore valves and at a BDS race, the Schwalbe technician advised putting a couple of drops of Effetto Caffelatex Remover down the valve core every now and gain;

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/effetto-caffelatex-remover/rp-prod150133?gs=1&sku=sku547573UK&pgrid=55297464169&ptaid=pla-415741705627&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=PLA+All+Products&utm_medium=base&utm_content=mkwid|s2XBwbMBe_dc|pcrid|254158694146|pkw||pmt||prd|547573UK

As mentioned above, they have 14 calendar days to ISSUE the NIP after offence, it could get to you outside of the 14 days depending on what channels it has to go through.

e.g., I have a company car through a lease Co, the NIP gets sent to the lease Co, then to my HO then to me, so it turned up 3 weeks after the indiscretion – D’oh!

Try Cyclista; http://www.cyclistaclothing.co.uk/

My wife is 5’11” and found their booth at the bike show a couple of years ago and whooped with delight at the fit!

A couple of the models on the site displaying the clothes are 5’11” and 6′ so you can see how good the fit is.

Other than that, she has used ‘Italian race’ style in the past in size XL or XXL as they have the length but still tend to be skinny fit.