Second the tubelesswheels.com guide, nice and easy.

All i would add to his guide is

1) Stans sealant seems to last a bit longer than the JRA wheel milk, although both do the job well.

2) Second Doug’s advice. i had all sorts of issues until I made a point of building up the bottom of the rim well with insulating tape. I deliberately used four or five layers of tape. This makes the tyre really tight to get on, and as a consequence you might have to then fish out the rubber strip again, but having done so, and having soaped everything up, it should inflate easy.

As a bonus, i never seem to have suffered from burps, which may be down to the tight fit between tyre and rim.

If all else fails, a cheapy CO2 inflator makes life a bit easier!

Yeah, according to OS Dunkled is a centre of Dog Sledding Excellence?

Another convert here, initially i’d written it off as a poor man’s “Onion” rip off, then i realised that the onion had ran out of ideas about 2 years ago, and was now 90% video content.

My favourite Mash article (and yes, i’m embarassed by this) is “Genius Chimps spend all day throwing sh1t”. I had to close it down mid way through because i was laughing too much in the office…

Good to hear, I was quite happily runnig 717s ghetto tubeless, but a lot of the eyelets started cracking, either because i overtensioned, or because of the abuse they were getting!

Either way the 819s seem like a good choice, and with any luck at 1/2 an hour every night they’ll only take me the rest of the month to build… :lol:

Cheers, i’ve managed several years building exclusively mavic 717s so am entering uncharted territory! :roll:

Don’t write off the short hammer either, i started off doing a fifteen minute uphill sprint from the bottom of edinburgh to the top, and it seemed to benefit my mountainbiking hugely, maybe just because it showed me how much harder i could be pedalling!

I reckon it could really benefit your mountainbiking technique too, after a few months on 100psi 23mm wide tyres, those 2.3″ tubeless fatties will seem invincible, I go out looking for big fat roots to corner over now…

Possibly.

I’m just shy of 6ft and have a medium duster with a 100mm stem and a layback seatpost. The fit is fine and the bike rides pefectly, but i’m definitely right at the limits of the frame size.

Beautiful!

What roads did you take out of Inverness?

I got some 3/4 length MT500 bibs to replace my full length MT500 longs. I find the bibs quite sweaty compared to the older longs, and certainly sweatier than my specialized or assos shorts.

Very nice otherwise.

I tend to (attempt) a “meh-meh-f**king neoow!” a-la postman pat in this (lots of swearing) clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY5l2xvFass

Problem is, i started attempting it while trying to pass people on boggy granny ring climbs, not very appropriate!

I was offered a similar choice, although my back pain was never quite as bad as yours sounds.

Although I chose surgery (wanted the quick fix) the doctor who had to approve/schedule the surgery had different ideas, and (quite rightly) pointed out that in my situation it was an unecessary risk, and i should continue with my exercises.

I finally found a physio who set me some exercises I could really get into (pilates ball crunches and flexes) as opposed to the previous exercises i’d been given (fiddly and difficult to do right) and the problem went away very quickly, to the point that i’m now happily riding long distances with large rucsacs on a hardtail.

So there is hope at least!

Cheers guys.

Although one of the first rides I’ll be doing on it is a long-ish affair with a full backpack, I’ll normally just be playing on it, i’ve got a full on XC hardtail to do longer days on normally.

I can get a short pavement test ride on both sizes, just hard to guage much from sprinting up and down on the pavement.

So i guess i just want to avoid getting a bike which is too small for messing about on downhill trails and jumpy stuff.

The Glen Nevis site is great, really good facilities, a shop that sells most stuff (including booze) and is open fairly late.

Lots of little trails to play about on nearby as well.

They’re quite strict about noise though, if you want to sit up late (after 11 i think) chatting and having a laugh you’d be best to wander down the river somewhere.

Chris, i’m running a 2.25 60a at the moment, pop round and have a look if you want (i’m in montpelier park now). Its easily a 2.3″ conti, if not slightly larger again.

Great tyre on the front for the pentlands etc. I’m still running something a little more paddley at the rear for the soft stuff though.

Ian

My Duster:

I love it, but i’m no racer either. I use it for exploring the hills, attempting silly technical climbs that would be quicker to walk, and going stupidly fast (well, by my standards) on rooty, twisty singletrack.

With Rebas and mid-to-high-end shimano kit i think it weighs in at about 27lb, maybe a little less.

I’m 5’11” and have an 18″, but it needs a 100mm stem and layback seatpost. I’d perhaps look at a 20″ if you’re over 6 foot.

Hmm, just picked up “Now I Got Worry”. I suppose you could call the Black Keys ‘decaff’ compared to this, if only because they play more slowly and the lead singer isn’t quite so, um, hyperactive. :-)

Still think the black Keys edge it for raw, weighty blues tunes, wrenched out of tortured guitars and long nights on the bourbon and cigarettes etc etc…

For a bit of rolling-stones-meets-oasis-meets-a-lot-of-drugs-and-ego, check out the Brian Jonestown Massacre “Take it from the Man”. Lots of people say these guys are over-rated, and they’re probably right, but people never mention this album, which i reckon is by far and away the best they’ve done.

Noted MrNutt, although I’d mentally labelled the JSBX as kinda dad-rock. :-)

Care to recommend an album?

And if they’re like a caffeinated version of the Black Keys then they should be pretty damn good (although lets not make any comparisons to the Black Keys latest, which is **** lame, stupid over produced nonsense)

Two of my current favourites, both of which are very good accompaniment on long solo road rides, are Magic Potion by the Black Keys, and Passover by the Black Angels.

Black Keys are like the White Stripes but a bit dirtier, and the Black Angels do some good psycadelic wall of noise droney guitars with some thumping drums and great vocals.

Two of the little gold internal floodgate caps from Rockshox forks.

Exciting to find, utterly pointless to keep (think i donated them to a shop in case they ever needed spares).

I’ve left a trail of tools across the Pentlands when i stupidly kept them in the underside pocket of my Deuter (where the waterproof cover normally goes) and left it open.

Happened to a mates Ignitor USTs, but i’ve had no problems with the two ADvantages that i’ve been running ghetto tubeless.

can’t comment on the Glen Finglass route, but we had a walk through part of the forest directly above Aberfoyle (where the yoga retreat and “Go Ape” centre is) and there were some great trails in there. Think the Braeval loop passes through that area.

I’ve solved this problem on someone else’s bike by replacing their old QR skewers with Shimano ones. They tightened that bit more effectively and stopped the flex that caused their wheel to hit the fork crown!

I think a lot of the problems people are having are down to experience and practice, which, granted, is a pain on a potentially messy/annoying job.

Every time I do one now, i take more time preparing the wheel/tyres and work area, and every time its goes up easier and is more reliable.

The most important thing i’ve found is to build up the rim bed with rim tape/insulating tape. The more you build it up the more tricky it is to get the tyre on, but once done it is far more likely to inflate easily, and I think should be less prone to burping as there is less slack in the tyre to begin with.

Ahwiles, if you could ever be convinced to try it again, I reckon that was the problem. On your other point about complications on bikes, I agree! Problem is, having tried a working tubeless system, i couldn’t go back…

Re: deformation. Where the deformation occurs doesn’t really matter, what matters is how much energy (your rolling energy) is used to cause the deformation. If there is less rubber to deform, it requires less energy. This effect holds true no matter how flat or bumpy the trail is, as your tyre still deforms on a flat trail (it bulges out at the side under your weight).

Re: Traction vs Wallowing. The extra traction allows me to push against the tyre more as i trust it to grip better. Although it maybe does compress more, like a suspension fork it gives me that energy back when it rebounds. Infact, another advantage of removing the tubes is that the tyre can compress and rebound quicker, giving you that extra pop.

Re: Extra contact area. i think the effect of the extra contact area is far less than that of the tyre deforming (see above).

Re: me typing like some sort of engineery type w@nker. I’m at work, in an engineering office. it rubs off unfortunately :oops:

Edit: and it took me so long to type that about three people have already said the same thing, ah well.

I think Sheldon Brown showed how most drag, or rolling resistance, is caused by the energy ‘absorbed’* by the tyre deforming when it rolls beneath the wheel.

You can reduce how much energy is absorbed by either pumping the tyre up harder, so it deforms less, or by reducing the amount of rubber being deformed, say, by removing the inner tube.

I can’t prove or disprove this, but it works for me. I’m running under 30psi instead of over 35psi, yet the tyres roll just as fast (and feel faster over rough ground).

The tyres don’t wallow in corners, in fact, the bike seems to spring out of the corners faster than it went in.

And I’ve bashed my rims a few times now with no obvious dings, certainly no more than when i was running tubes.

*Or something, you know what i mean

Easily the best upgrade i’ve ever made to a bike. £20 to turn a fast XC bike into a faster XC bike which punctures less and rails corners and descents like a dream?

Yes please…

Bu99er, i typed that off the top of my head thinking I had it right.

i shall henceforth resort to “the-one-where-the-derailleur-cage-hangs-beneath-the-clamp”

The two biggest improvements i’ve made to my shifting have been high end shifters and a top swing (conventional) XTR front mech. I liked my deore shifters, and initially disliked the lack of feedback my XTs give me, but they shift like gunshots and have never let me down. Look good too :-)

Plus as mentioned above, shifters last ages and are well protected, so you won’t be shelling out again for a while.

I’ve got some brand new 819s sitting in the bike room, still haven’t got round to building them up as my ghetto 717s have been so good!

Oh, Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op got me mine, but had to order it for me. Pretty hefty r.r.p…

I’ve got the M.P.S pack, which can take up to 40litres or so. Whats good about it is that its modular (Modular pack system, see?) so you can make it a small day pack, all the way up to being almost big enough for multi-day camping trips.

Very very comfy, and seems to halve the dead-weight of your load.

I find it a bit unstable though. Perhaps to be expected when its fully loaded with camping gear and i’m trying to bunnyhop drainage ditches, but it would be nice if it could be made a bit more stable.

Check this:

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/a-week-in-scotland-where-must-i-ride-pics-please#post-131264

thread, apart from all the ace pictures, there’s a bit of discussion about the best way to do your route.

For me, all i can recommend is the trail up and down Glen Slugain (accessed directly through Invercauld Estate. really cracking rocky singletrack.

(apologies to those that have seen this image several times now, its the only one i’ve got of that trail…)

Yep, i’ve run them front and back and they’re fantastic. I’ve got the 60a 2.25 on the front and its brilliant, i’ve never cornered more um, recklessly than i do now :-)

Sure, whats your email?

Cheers druidh :-)

NzCol, if it was my posts you’re thinking of (trailers, mud, lots of photos etc) then they got lost when the forum was hacked.

I kept a copy of the first one, but it wasn’t as good a trip as TJ’s above, and would probably only take you three days or so if you were travelling light and fast.

I’ve got a route planned, although probably for next year now, that goes along the lines below:

Glen Finnan to Glen More
Glen More to Bearnas bothy (near Achnashellach)
Through Torridon to Craigs
Craigs to the Foot of An Tealach
Climb An Tealach, ride to Corrieshalloch gorge
Corrieshalloch to Stac Pollaidh
Stac Pollaidh along the “Wee Mad Road of Sutherland”
Walking Suilven and Canisp
Suilven to Eas a Chual Aluinn – Kylesku – Ardmore
Ardmore – Cape Wrath – Kearvaig bothy
Kearvaig Bothy – Glen Golly
Glen Golly – Bein Laoghal
Bein Laoghal – Carbisdale

It worked out at about 600km give or take, but i’d planned lots of daft diversions for the sake of seeing waterfalls etc. Also, while these are almost all trails marked on maps, there’s no guarantee they’re all rideable, as mssrs tandemjeremy and druidh have advised me! I can send you a .mmo or .gpx file if you like.

Booked 8)

I’m opting for the breakfast as well, several portions of porridge hopefully!

Time to install the new forks, build the new wheels and maybe try and shake off three months of overtime behind the desk…

I think it worked out at 80miles.

An obvious extension, and one i wish i’d realised existed, is to go past tummel bridge to kinloch rannoch, and climb up the side of schiehallion from there. I think that is supposed to be a better climb too, although haven’t done it myself.

There’s also supposed to be a better climb/descent further west of aberfeldy, from Kenmore to Amulree, past loch freuchie.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=A984%2FTay+Terrace&daddr=A93%2FBoat+Brae+to:A93+to:A924%2FW+Moulin+Rd+to:Allt+Mor+Pl%2FB846+to:Unknown+road+to:Braes+of+Taymouth+to:Unknown+road+to:56.564851,-3.585105&hl=en&geocode=FQgdXwMdAFDJ_w%3BFdCLXwMd6CfN_w%3BFbZZYAMd9hDM_w%3BFVI6YQMdtgDH_w%3BFYYuYQMdehvA_w%3BFfyfYAMdMvzC_w%3BFUpdXwMdfgbD_w%3BFbo2XgMdYCjG_w%3B&mra=mi&mrcr=7&mrsp=8&sz=15&sll=56.563455,-3.593302&sspn=0.013408,0.032959&ie=UTF8&ll=56.640371,-3.78891&spn=0.428174,1.054688&t=p&z=10

Hope that works. 95 miles or so.

Hi dirtygirlonabike, i think that was me.

The section you mentioned wasn’t very busy at all, although when i did it it was about 10 in the morning.

Enjoy!

Did someone ask for muddy bikes?

Always tempted to get a re-spray, something like that Klein two tone but maybe green and orange a la old school Kona.

I’ve been tagging along with the uni club of late, always good fun.

Also, edinburgh road club leave from the bottom of Bonaly at about 10 i think, last time i was out with them it was quite a big group, good riders too.