I'm so out of touch. :oops:

Another vote for Royce and Middleburn here. Square taper is fine, the whole thing won't look scuffed to **** after 3 dirty rides and you won't have to re-mortgage your house to buy new rings.

I knew i shouldn't have checked back on this thread. I feel a need for a Ti On One 29er. Must resist… Does Brant do the cycle to work scheme?!

Title is arse about face….you know what I mean. Where's the preview button gone???

Use them all year round, love 'em. Let some pressure out in the mud and they're good all round tyres.

La Marmotte, oh you meant off-roading?

Singlespeeds. Pure and simple.

Royce

I am in awe. And quite scared.

Rode it a couple of days after La Marmotte 2009. Nice climb, great views and road surface. The decent back to Bedouin was mental fast, be wary of gusting wind at the top…..and take a camera! Enjoy!

I've just done the marmotte on fulcrums and I weigh in at 16st. Good solid wheels. I 'train' on Askiums and highly recommend them too. absolutely bargainacious.

Does this thread :D set a record 8O for overuse of smilies? :wink: :roll:

So now you'll be called coticpaul?

If you want to speak to the font of all knowledge on square taper bb’s give Cliff at Royce a call.

fliesinmy eyes is spot on,plus a bit more according to the man himself:

NO GREASE on the tapers
Torque them when fitting
Torque them again after a spin up the road
torque them again after an hours ride
Torque them again after a long ride
If they make a ticking noise Cliff will tell you they are ‘talking to you’, they need re-torquing
Do, however, grease the end bolts as they need to spin freely to apply the correct force.

Smiffy, the crank will go on further with lubrication and enlarge the hole in the crank arm. Ouch!

Alpe d’Huez is a fantastic climb but don’t underestimate it. Low gears are a good thing, you don’t have to use them but it’s not a good feeling struggling on long Apline climbs in your lowest gear. When you hit the first ramp settle in, there’s probably over an hour if this to come. If you get fatigued take the wide line around the hairpins for a break.

It’s your mate I’d be worried about. He’ll probably struggle on the upper reaches if he’s not a cyclist…

And go like f£ck on the downhill :-), you’ve earned it and the road surface is very good. Just make sure your brakes are A1.

I’m doing La Marmotte this year, we will be getting to the Alpe after 99 miles after climbing the Col du Glandon, Telegraphe and Galibier.

YGM

Third shout for chalriethebikemonger here. Top service.

Std flite/flite gel flow on mtb = SLR gel flow on the road bike.

Doing regular 100 mile rides no probs. Saddle fit is very personal though.

Any bike with mud on it looks pretty cool to me.

Decidely uncool is overpolished underridden ‘exotica’

IGMC

I ride the track, they’re friendly bunch. But weird though. On the track they’re mostly grimacing from the effort…

I train on the roads, I say hello to everyone I see. Hit rate is about 50%
I commute a couple of hours each day, see the same faces, they generally all say hello.

I ride off road loads, I say hello to everyone I see. Hit rate is about 95%

When I ride in France (dans la rue) I always[/u] get a nod. And respect from other road users. What a great country. And they play better rugby than us….

Be friendly – it catching!

My point is mountain bikes are designed to ride through mud…. :?

theboatman, you only read what you want to see! Where’s the ‘presumption?’ It’s a fact! I have solid experience… disc brakes should just work and last a while. But they don’t.

My beer tastes of beer. I love muffin, just love it. In fact Mrs kona_ona’s going to get it right now. Far more fun than mtb’s.

Sure, hang on a minute….. ;-)

theboatman, I turn on my mahoosive flatscreen TV and it works. It’s better than black and white (unless you like Fred Astaire) and is an improvement on what went before. However when I go for a couple of hour bike ride and my brakes just wear out!

And on set were bedded in, they still disappeared. I ride plenty in all weathers. My riding buddy has exactly the same problem, different bike set up. Don’t you think it’s reasonable to expect brakes to just work?

Nice condescending reply though.

theboatman – try buying a bike without disc brakes, it’s not easy…

Crikey! Thanks guys, food for thought. What a faff bedding in appears to be.

What was wrong with v brakes, and sqare taper bb’s and rigid forks…?

>Kona – because they have never got hot enough to cure properly – that is a >part of bedding in.

Tell me more, my noodle is still screwed…

Front was bedded in, rear not. But how the **** can the pads just disappear in one ride?

Thanks for your help.

Big orange frame has gone I’m afraid.

6’4″ people and 29ers are ‘to scale’

I ride mine exclusively, it rolls beautifully.

Lots and lots of good bits but they’re all hidden by the locals…. :-)

And it is quite muddy but aren’t mtb’s designed for that sort of thing? Pussies!