Ta – that’s what I thought.

An extension to this question: given that I already have an XD freehub, is it worth considering sticking to 11-speed?
I’d just assumed 12-speed was a good choice – feel free to disabuse me of this notion.

I think the smallest you’ll be able to get with absoluteBlack is a 46/30, which is (obviously) a sub-compact road setup – I know this because I’m looking at solutions for my on-road/off-road/commuter/tourer. For me it’s likely going to be 105 crank/fd running that pair of chainrings (https://absoluteblack.cc/oval-road-chainrings-30-46-and-32-48-for-110-4bcd/) with XT-sgs rd and 11-42 cassette (and a Wolf Tooth Tanpan to get 105 shifters working with the XT rd). I doubt that will have a short enough gear for mountain biking?

The strength in a spoked wheel comes from its ability to spread the energy through the whole wheel, and this is best achieved by uniform tension in the spokes. As @vincienup says, each side will have a different tension (unless the spokes on each side are the same length, for example if it’s a rim-braked front wheel) but all the spokes on one side should be as close to the same tension as possible. If it’s a front wheel, the non-rotor side will all be at a lower tension than the rotor side – they’re all going to be longer spokes on the non-rotor side – unless the spoke holes/mounts on the hub are offset.

My view is that having the tensions as close as possible to identical in all spokes (on the same side) is the most important part of the build – that is what will ensure the strength and longevity of the wheel.

This is a really interesting thread!

47 years old and I’ve just upped and moved to the other side of the world (kinda home for me), and that has chewed through a stack of what would otherwise have been savings. No kids and had a dual income until moving here – the mrs hasn’t found anything yet; we don’t really consume a lot: went car-free a year ago, but got rid of a 15 year old car that we’d had for 15 years and barely used any more. We do have 6 bikes between us (they’re *still* on a ship, grrr!) but lived in a modest 2 bed Edinburgh “colony” flat (which we’ve kept – we’re renting it out at *way* below market rates, but enough to pay the mortgage and maintenance). At the moment, we’ve got about £7k left in savings, but that is largely because of my redundancy payment and sale of the shares from ex-work – it’s cost us a lot to move. There is probably also about £2k in a cash ISA and I think we’ve got about £5k in a stocks&shares ISA too.

We have, though, got a significant amount of overpayment in the mortgage and, because of the deal we’re on, we can access it nearly instantly if necessary – that’s about £50k. I’ve got a pretty good pension pot, but the mrs has less. Right now, we’ve got about £200k equity in the house (excluding the overpayments) but I’m expecting that to plummet when y’all realise exactly what Brexit means (that might take 3 years)

I work in IT, so that helps, and I’m on a good but not stellar salary over here – NZ$115k (I never really understand why folk are so careful about publishing their salaries – I think it should be transparent). For what it’s worth, I do work hard but I don’t credit that with getting me to where I am – I don’t try to kid myself that it is much more than a result of blind luck and privilege.

We’re renting now – house prices in Wellington are crazy and it’s hard to find >80% mortgages. Even if we transferred all our overpayments and savings, we’d still need to find around $50-100k.

@weeksy – screw-on inflator; first time I’ve realised this is a shortcoming…

@scotroutes, @njee20 – putting the core in means I can’t get the beads to seat. I’ve tried several times… The inflator is a Schwalbe Tyre Booster, which I think is essentially identical to the Airshot.

I’ve given up and put a tube in, at least for now. The tyre actually looks like the bead has struggled to seat completely the whole way around – I still think I’ve ended up with one that is just too small. It’s worked with a tube, and (after a wee bit of frigging around with a tyre lever during inflation) the tyre is true when I spin the wheel. I’m hoping, as before, that a few hundred kilometres of carrying my Clydesdale-class engine will stretch it out a little and I can maybe return to tubeless.

Thanks for all the advice!

Adam…

@carlos – 2, I think. I did wonder if my tape wrapping might have been the problem as I’ve recently had to redo it (one of the spoke holes had a sharp edge, which caused the original tape to fail at that point, I think). The old tyre had no problem with it, though…

@tthew – yes, tried using an inflator – whatever I use I can’t get it to seat with the valve core in – just not enough flow.

@pdw – I’m pretty certain it is properly seated (I took it up to 120psi and inspected fairly thoroughly) but I can’t spin it as the pump is still attached; as above, can’t get that off without losing the pressure and the seating as the valve core is not in…

@scotroutes – tried.

@tthew – haven’t worked out how to get the valve core back in without deflating it and can’t get enough airflow to pop it onto the bead with the valve core already in place.

Thanks for additional responses…

@vincienup – OK, I understand. It might work if I ratchet it up as I deflate the tyre, as it might help to keep the beads in place. The tyre stays on the bead down to less than 20psi… I could return it – or use a tube…

@Garry_Lager – yes, definitely snapped on. It holds pressure without issues until I deflate it to put sealant and valve core in; then, somewhere below 20psi it pops off the bead with exactly the same sound as a tyre makes as it snaps on.

@rickmeister – the problem isn’t getting it to take to the bead, it’s getting it to stay there without pressure to hold it in place.

@tjagain – what do you mean? Put the strap on and tighten as it is deflating?

@timbog160 – could be; it’s been sitting overnight, so I’m about to see if that has worked – should be no soap now…

@jamj1974 – yes, very nearly exactly…! I’d be reasonably happy with the price, too, were it not for import duty into NZ. I’ll take a close look at the geometry

@dovebiker – thanks, that’s awesome advice. The Sonder is one I’d been considering – but, as above, at the moment I’m thinking that ordering from China into NZ might be easier than ordering form the UK.

Thanks again all!

I’ve used standard tyre patches on a hole of a similar size. My first attempt failed, but second time round I scrubbed the area to be patched with steel wool, and left the patch clamped in place for a while.. The patch was applied using the normal rubber glue. It’s worked fine for about 4 months…

Thanks for the cleaning tips – I’ve already got a task in our big flippin’ list for bike cleaning…

Aaaah, awesome @mikewsmith – I’d totally missed that one (after trawling through loads on baggage sizes)! Thanks – that looks hopeful…

@jonas – test ride as many as you can in your price range, ideally on similar terrain to what you want to ride. Buy the one that makes you grin the most.

I rode a 100mm hardtail for years. Loved it. Took it to the Alps. Loved it. Got a too-good-to-pass-up deal on a 120mm full sus. Was a bit “meh” – sold it when I realised I was always choosing to take the hardtail out. Persuaded to demo a Banshee Spitfire (160 front, 140 rear), way more travel than I thought I’d ever need. Loved it. Demo’d loads of other bikes to try to persuade myself not to spend all that cash. Came back to the Spitfire – now I ride it everywhere and never fail to return from a ride grinning.

@poah: if, after reading this piece and (I assume) being aware of the ever growing testimony of women being abused at every level of our society, your response is genuinely “This whole PC crap is more offensive than a company posting pics of hot chicks on bikes”, then: you are part of the problem.
If you disagree with this, ask yourself: what your response be if that hot chick was your mum, your sister or your daughter?
If the answer to that is that you’d be fine with it, then words, or at least Singletrack’s policy on personal insults and profanity, fail me.

As others have pointed out, MHR is a poor measure of anything, from a physiological point of view. FTHR is much more relevant to anything related to training.

MHR does vary, by age and by fitness – but the various algorithms are nothing more than best guess at a population level. The value I worked out (using the gradually-increase-effort-until-you-puke-measure-max method) seemed to be correct for about 4 years (I only ever occasionally got to 100% MHR) but this last year I’ve been exceeding it more regularly. The point, though, about MHR is that it’s firmly in your anaerobic capacity and because of the lag in your heart rate matching your effort, you’ll likely be spent before you hit it anyway.

Hi muckytee,

There is really a pretty simple answer to this: treat cyclists like vulnerable human beings, who have as much right to be on the road as anyone else, and whose right to get safely home to have dinner with their loved ones absolutely supersedes your right to get to where you want to be 5 minutes earlier than you otherwise might. In a civilised society, they also have a reasonable expectation not to be scared or threatened, just as everyone else does.

If that means slowing down a queue of traffic by waiting for a safe place to pass, do it. It definitely means looking ahead and only overtaking if it’s safe and if it is actually going to save you time – a significant percentage of overtakes that I see result in the car joining the back of the queue they’d have joined anyway, just a few seconds earlier.

@marin – thanks, that’s interesting, since its SOP will be long journeys. I’ll see if I can arrange a test drive…

@the00 – ideally, I’d like to be able to fit up to 4 bikes (2 mountain bikes, 2 road bikes – largest would be my large Banshee Spitfire), all wheels on. That would be the edge case though, for when we’re going on holiday – mostly it will be 2 bikes. Doesn’t mean I won’t consider it if I have to take front wheels off, but that would probably swing it towards the Connect. Having to take both wheels off will mean I look elsewhere…

@downhilldave – is that 3 bikes with the rear seats in?

Toast tsp each of fennel and cumin seeds, then grind them in a pestle and mortar with 1 or 2 cloves of garlic and a tsp of salt. Fry this in 2 tbsp of olive oil on a moderate heat for a minute then add half a cabbage, sliced finely. Toss this in the mix and fry for 3-5 minutes more, then add the juice of half a lemon. Turn down the heat, cover and leave to sweat for about 15 minutes. Really nice with a simple pan-fried or oven-baked fillet of salmon on top.

Had an excellent ride y’day, so massive thanks to everyone who offered advice. Ended up following mattoutandabout’s route suggestion, and it was great. It was my second ride out on my new Spitfire and it was amazing; I rode far more of the ascent of Dumyat, and it ate up the descent, plus it gave me so much confidence on the rooty drops in Mine Wood. Stunning day (even if the wind was more late January than late May) and incredible views…

Thanks again!

Never expect gratitude, ever – that way you won’t be disappointed – but especially never expect gratitude for things that weren’t asked for. You said you ‘persuaded’, her reaction says it was nearer to ‘brow-beaten’. In fact, it does sound like classic mansplaining.

Having said that, you are absolutely right that this would be the best bike she could get for an introduction to mountain-biking. Doesn’t matter. If a mate came to you asking for advice on a cheap car for a 5 minute commute, and you suggested that a bike would be cheaper and would leave them fitter, healthier, happier, less-stressed and richer I’d warrant they wouldn’t be grateful for that advice, either.

What you did was noble and really nice, and it was pretty crappy taking the bike in for an independent valuation, but you were clearly not solving the problem *she* had. Keep the bike, help her spend her £400 on the best bike *she* wants. Sell yours for a profit, feel free to trek her what the profit is.

Wow, thanks all – I’ll get out the OS maps!

@mattoutandabout: is the Darn path the one that runs along Allan Water?

Thanks Shackleton – I’ll see if I can try all of them. Out of interest, why is the Phantom better than the Spitfire?

Hi pigyn – sorry for delay in responding. You say ‘Helps if you are/can squeeze onto a medium’ – does that mean all your demo bikes are medium? I’m interested in the Scout, but also in the Banshee Spitfire – is that available as a demo?

Thanks – have pinged them…

I’ve got 200/180 on my hardtail, 180/160 on my suspension mountain bike, 200/200 on my commuter/tourer (a result of transferring old Hope IS-mount calipers to a post-mount frame) and 160/160 on the CX(/road) bike – I weigh 93kgs. The stopping power on the tourer is awesome, even with narrower tyres, the modulation and the ability to drag the rear on long descents when fully loaded, without massive overheating, is great. My advice: unless you’re really concerned about weight, go for the largest rotor you can get on there – even if you don’t need the absolute stopping power, the control that a larger rotor gives is worth it.

Thanks coatesy. And, @rse.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:U9gEQbRA2QoJ:www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php%3Ff%3D40090%26t%3D12955537+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

Now sold (or, at least, not there any more), so presumably that was a good price…

Hi Lewis,

Only just seen this thread. Any words of condolence I can offer will be largely meaningless, but your story moved me. I’ll keep it to offering my best wishes for the process of getting on and to a donation, which I’ve just made…

Adam.

That’s excellent, thanks all!

Just for info: I’ve contacted both Enigma and Carrs. Both asked for photos (which The Bike Chain kindly supplied). Enigma didn’t respond again but Carrs were hugely friendly and helpful and assured me that they could fix it (and the quote was £45 + VAT & carriage!) – the frame is on its way to them now (again, thanks to The Bike Chain).

Only time will tell how well the repair lasts, but I’ve been impressed with the service from both TBC & Carrs.

Hey all – just to let you know, I’ve pinged Enigma to see if they’ll repair it for me. If not, i might ask them or Pipedreams for a frameset – when I’ve saved a bit…

Thanks for all the responses. I phoned RideOn; they’re still around but no longer doing the Ti frames – shame, I loved that one. They also suggested welding, and I’ll send photos to see if it can be done – not hopeful though.

Time to start saving the pennies…!