I struggled with getting Schwalbe Nobby Nics on Sun Ringle Black Flag rims. Dreading the day I have to change a tyre.

Don’t think it’s an issue with Stan’s rims but some tyres. Stan’s website is very useful and actually lists which tyres don’t fit so easily.

@pomona
I love Mrs Macs pies, maybe it’s the fond memories. Can’t stand the Ginsters stuff you have here.

Anyone going to N Zed my advice is always; don’t try to do too much or see it all in a short space of time. Relax, chill out and enjoy where you are. It’s all lovely but you won’t enjoy any of it as much if you are rushing from place to place. I also think people under rate the North Island. Coromandel Peninsula is one of the most beautiful spots in the world.

Sony Music Unlimited

Good question; I’m 6’2″ and the biggest Alpine is a bit small for my liking… I’m running a Love/Hate at the minute with 100mm stem and a setback post…. wouldn’t want any less reach even for the different riding style of an Alpine. Figure a 650b “hardcore hard tail” would be spot on for folks my size.

Lovely.

Can we have a 650B Alpine also please Mike?

Please clarify on problems with BB due to salt. Is it the BB having problems or the EBB? Inference is EBB but post reads BB.

You do a road commute on a SS? Must be a fairly sedate pace?

Oh, and +1 Love/Hate.

Dialled Bikes Love/Hate

Finally built up the way I want it. Tried to go for a dark moody / industrial look.

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From what I understand, no repair will work. As the screed sets it contracts causing surface tension which gives it the hardness. Now, if it breaks up, then that is because it actually pulls itself apart because it isn’t bonded to the floor below properly. Moisture can cause it to debond from the floor if you don’t have a damp proof membrane or it isn’t a moisture tolerant screed. Alternativley if the floor below hasn’t been prepared properly then the screed won’t bond either. By prepared proeprly I mean clean of surface contaminants and free from dust, same as for any surface you want to stick something to.

Your options are to put a wood floor over it and let it continue to break up below until you are forced to do something about it which could well take many many years. Or, pull the entire screed up now and re-do it properly.

As price seems to be a factor for you, I’d suggest wooden floor.

If you have any warranty from when the shed was built, you can claim as it is clearly a latent defect.

Stretch. Two main muscles in your calf Gastrocnemius and Soleus.

Straight leg stretch targets Gastrocnemius.
Bent leg strecth targets Soleus.

Make sure you stretch both. Surely you can remeber the stretches from your P.E. class. Otherwise Google is your friend.

WD40 sprayed inside the tubes and swilled around as suggested should be part of yearly maintenance for steel frames especially if they are being used in the wet/mud. Prob less important if the frame is kept I’m s drycellar.

Also, after a wet/muddy ride, remove seatpost and put bike somewhere warm to dry out.

All steel rusts but you can delay it from becoming.a problem for quite a long time.

Lighter frames have thinner/stronger tubing which means they will rust throuh more quickly.

Alloy fatigues/cracks more readily than steel.

Each material has their pros and cons but at the end of the day…
Steel is real!

The trouble with sports drinks is that they’re so weak compared to the electrolytes etc in your body and although they’re better than water in terms of electrolytes, it is because they make you thirstier and thus drink more that they effectively dilute the ratio of electrolytes to fluid in your body.

Your body has its own ways of increasing electrolytes in your system. For example minerals and salts are stored in your bones and as I understand these can be utilised where necessary.

For me, I put my faith in thousands of years of evolution and listen to my body rather than listening to a few years of “science” and marketing hype.

Google “exercise associated muscle cramp”

Good article from divefitness.com

There was another excellent article I read somewhere a whiles back but can’t find it now.

Related more to stretching than hydration / electrolytes. Basically, muscles cramp when they are fatigued.Stretching relieves the cramp although you’ll want to wait until the cramp has passed or better still stretch when you feel the cramp coming on, before it hits.

I would go for Rose Pro SL of your list for internal cable routing. Otherwise all those options are much the same.

Had same dilemma a while ago and would have gone for the Rose but went Genesis Equilibrium 10 only because Steel is Real.

If you go Cannondale, the Synapse is less racy than CAAD and I believe they are same or similar money.

Absolutely, yes it will hurt like you can’t believe. Around the nips will be worst where there is more hair and its more sensitive.

Expect to be red for a week afterwards.

On the plus side you will be nice and smooth.

What’s the charity and where can we donate?

Mint. Nice work fella, it’s journey getting builds to where you’re happy with them. Not many folk appreicate the time/thought you’ve obviously put in.

Would a short cage rear mech be more suited to a single ring set-up?

Flows over 819s cos wider rims are better… says so here.

You will need to spend the first few trips orientating yourself. None of the trails are marked.

Should you choose to ignore the fact that almost all the trails are closed at risk of £200 penalty, mud tyres are best choice at this time of year.

You may also want to look at essexhertsmtb.co.uk

Thanks for the informative post geetee1972, that’s what makes forums a great resource.

Reba’s all the way at your price point.

The RhynoLite Kit / rimstrip is the one for a 26mm rim although rimstrip too wide is better than too narrow apparently so you may prefer to go for the FR kit. Up to you, but I’d expect the RhynoLite width to work fine for your set up.

Notubes website is a wealth of information including how to videos and tech support forums.

The sealant doesn’t like the freezing cold CO2, so if you have to use CO2, the Notubes site describes the best way.

Often pondered on the handlebar width debate which seems to be in vogue at the minute.

Personally, I cut down 685mm bars to 665mm because they felt too wide for general XC and I’m 6’3″ with proportionally wide shoulders and arms in proportion also.

Cleverly, I bought a frame that was the right size, so I didn’t need to run wide bars to get my weight forward for more front wheel traction.

Anyways, in your position, I wouldn’t want to run 665mm on an all mountain rig purely because in today’s fashion it just wouldn’t seem right.

Things you need to really consider:
Advantage of wider bar is really more steering leverage and not getting knocked off line on fast tricky descents.
The disadvantage is threading between the trees.

I guess the faster and trickier the riding, the wider you should go with the bar.

Noting that World Cup DH Pro’s generally run 29″ bars and motocross bikes which are heavier, faster etc. generally are around 30″ in the handlebar.

No one needs a 30″+ bar for leverage, they need to get in the gym and build up some muscle.

In my opinion, anyone running more than 30″ on an all mountain rig has taken fashion one step too far. Chances are they also wear ‘carrot’ shaped trousers with elastic bands in the ankles. What’s that all about? I stopped wearing trousers with elastic bands when I was a toddler.

Nothing in here to suggest you can’t run a 2009 Reba Race at 120mm.

RockShox MY2009 Technical Manual

I’ve converted 2009 SL’s from 120mm to 100mm, so expect you can go the other way on the Race version.

I believe they are exactly the same apart from the way the floodgate is adjusted; Race (external) vs SL (internal).

Not a contractor but do travel a bit for work, so keep the bike in the car.

With wheels off it fits in the boot no probs.

Wickes To-Order at 50% off, plus an extra 15% off cabinets.

Yes, I’m impressed with product but that’s the easy part.

Customer service was good also. Sometimes there are problems and it’s how a supplier handles those problems. We had a dodgy kitchen stylist who ordered the wrong worktop and didn’t suggest we have end-panels to the exposed sides of the cupboards.

First off, we sent the wrong worktop back on day of delivery and had the replacement delivered the next day by specialist courier. Then, on first day of installation we noted that there should be glossy end panels for the exposed sides of the cupboards, so conatcted Wickes and they sent the end panels next day also, and didn’t even charge us for the end panels themselves which should have been an extra. They must have spent a fortune on specialist next day couriers.

The worktop was dealt with by the store, the end panels by the head office as store manager wasn’t in that day. The head office had no qualms about resolving the issue, so I’d say there is a policy of customer service at Wickes rather than just at individual store level.

Because of their prompt responses, we never incurred a re-visit from the kitchen fitter.

Sounds like I’m singing their praises but I’m not. They did exactly what they should in the situation. I’m sure there are some horror stories out there with kitchen suppliers. Probably Wickes included.

There’s always an offer on somewhere with these sort of things, so never pay full price.

Shop around for sinks and taps online, we found the same sink and tap that Wickes were selling for about £100 less per item. They draw you in with the offers on cabinets and then sting you on the accessories because most people will go the easy option of a one stop shop.

Sweet. Thanks.

Just figured it looks a neater solution than one of those tensioners hanging off the back looking like a spare part.

@sadexpunk: don’t you mean 1g to 1.5g of proten per kg of bodyweight rather than lb of bodyweight?

Postworkout you want something more like the Hurricane XS as recommended above because it has not just protein but also simple carohydrates in it to replace the glycogen/muscle energy you’ve just expended in the gym and the carbs also help transport the protein to the muscles. Some bio-chemistry thing.

Post workout, I mix up my own shake from ingredients acquired from My Protein: 1 scoop Impact Whey Isolate, 2 scoops Vitargo Pure (simple carbohydrate), 5g Essential Aminos, 5g BCAA’s, 5g Glutamine, 5g Creatine Monohydrate.

With majority of driving being less than 10miles I’d say it’s safe to assume that with a diesel you will incur a bill for the diesel particulate filter.

As I understand this is the thing that filters all the nasty emissions, but becoming clogged with them and then when you’re driving down the motorway or under similar conditions, the car chucks loads of fuel in to get things nice and hot so that the hit gasses burn the accumulated nasties out of the filter. The problem arising when the burn off phase is interrupted (like when the journey is too short) and the filter becomes more and more clogged.

I am not a mechanic.

richmtb above cuts through all the opinions… based on the official mpg of each car and your mileage, the additonal cost will require ‘x’ years to recuperate. Add in a bit for extra servicing and then you’re decision is made for you based on how long you think you’ll own the car.

Consider also manual or auto, with the cost of a replacement clutch, the small loss in mpg of an auto may make an auto more financially attractive… no clutch to replace.

Good luck.

London is heavily biased towards the commuter. I went looking for some MTB (Fox) gear once, specifically to Evans Waterloo where the member of staff bemoaned the fact that the Evans area manager was chasing the commuter dollar. Could have had anything Altura etc but the Fox range was very limited considering Fox put out some pretty funky stuff but all that Evans had was a few black or otherwise plain jersey’s.

Try on a few pieces to see hwat size you are in Fox before ordering online. In their Freeride gear I droped a size to what I would normally wear because I guess it’s designed to go over body armour.

From vague memory of science class, I suspect it has something to do with resonance of the spring/damper system further enhanced by the extra loads going through the wheel/ground during braking.

Recsonance being the tendency of the system to oscillate at a greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others.

Similary, on the road you may notice that on tight uphill bends the road is corrugated on the inside where the inside driving wheel creates the same effect due to acceleration out of the bend and up the hill.

This even occurs to a smaller degree in a constant state system, constant state being no acceleration or braking. Train tracks develop these corrugations over time.

My text books were discarded a long time ago, so I can’t offer any further explanation.

Jeepers Lugz… when it’s your own injury it somehow doesn’t seem so bad, until the drugs wear off, but your pic has made me feel all squeamish now.

Thanks for the well wishes all.

In the car which I bought second hand, the drivers floor mat has worn through in one spot after just 225,000miles of light use.

Should I contact the manufacturer and expect the latest model as a replacement?

@ransos

Old VW’s aren’t proper campers.

Style in spades. By any other measure, useless. Pay a preimium for the privilege.

Ex-pat kiwi here.

Went back for 3weeks over last Christmas and took the English missus, so toured around the country. Knowing the lay of the land, my preferred option was tent and cheap rental car. NZ Car Hire 2000 is cheap and although not at the airport, they’r enot far away and will pick you up and drop you off. Cars are used Japanese imports, but that’s the sort of car most kiwis drive. A brand new Hertz rental car stands out as a tourist.

Camp sites are really well specced. Most we went to would loan cooking utensils, pots, pans, everything, and provided free cooking facilities, fridges etc. Most campsites also have cabins available. So, you just need clothes and sleeping equipment. No need for a camper with all the kit.

If you’re staying for extended period, buying and selling a van or car can make sense as per toys19 experience. But you take all the risk on depreciation, and potential mechanical failure.

With regard to proper campers, everyone I’ve ever known to hire one, myself included, has damaged it. They’re a lot bigger and more unweildly than a normal car. Easy to forget how high they are above your head and there’s lot’s of trees with low hanging braches, plus many other hazards. I would strongly advise taking any collision damage waiver policy so you can just hand it back in pieces at the end of the hire.

Freedom camping, parking up overnight wherever you please, is now technically illeagal I believe. But realistically, you’re unlikely to get caught, or prosecuted. Take your rubbish with you, keep NZ beautiful.

In NZ, don’t speed and don’t drink drive. You WILL be caught and fined or prosecuted.

Enjoy.

Havens are an absolutely lovely looking wheelset. True dream bike stuff. If you can afford them, you are morally obliged to buy them. The world needs wheels like these.

Ok, enough gushing. Looked at these a while back and just had a quick Google search to find the info I was looking for but alas, so I’ll have to go from memory.

There was a lot of talk about dodgy hubs. I accept that every product will have some warranty issues even if it’s just one minior and rare fault but you’ll always hear about it on a forum somewhere as a total product design flaw. So, you need to sift through all the B.S.

How do you know if an issue is genuine or just forum B.S. In my opinion, the basic principle is:
If it’s the first gen product there are more likely to be teething problems.
If the teething problems are a geuine issue there will be a revision in following generations.

So, the Havens.
Yes, the hub was revised.
No, it wasn’t just for axle sizes.
From memory, the bearing preload ring I think it was changed from normal to reverse thread of the other way round. Can’t remember. Key point is, the bearings and prehaps pre-load seemed to be the issue on the forums and there was a design change. So, I suspect there was a genuine issue.

My advice, get the later model wheels/hubs. I’ve seen older models going cheap but wasn’t at all tempted for the aforementioned reason.

Bike sizing including stem length and seat layback is subject to many variables including personal preference and fashion.

As a guide, you want to be centred on the bike. Sit too far back and front the wheel will be more inclined to lift when pedalling uphill in the saddle. Too far forward and you’re more likely to feel like you’ll pitch yourslef over the bars on the downhills. To stay central, you should match a longer stem with a setback post. Also, if you’re at the upper end of height relative to frame size, you’ll appreciate the extra length in the cockpit where a larger frame would lose the ‘chuckability’.

Then there’s riding style, referring to road bikes: a time trialist will sit further forward as it’s a position where they can exert more power and be more aerodynamic but it can’t be maintained for a long period. A TdF set-up will be more neutral, providing the necessary long distance comfort.

Best advice is to try a few different things within the range that seems right for you and see what suits best.

I like my Love/Hate. Had it about 5 months I guess.

Considered Sanderson Soloist. Went with Dialled Bikes because I’m tall and it has a long top tube. Plus it seemed more niche and I preferred the decal’s/colour combination.

188cm tall, 180mm cranks on SS. Can notice the difference but it’s not night and day.

Did some research before deciding and settled on 180mm because basically I’m taller than average, so should run longer than average cranks.

Also dep[ends what sort of riding you;ll be doing as well as your size and personal preference.

More XC orientated people tend to favour larger.
More All Mountain orinetated folk go smaller / more ‘chuckable’.

The 60mm stem you propose is pretty short, firmly in the All Mountain category I’d say. But if you’re on a relatively small frame the last thing you’d want is a short-ish stem.

No one want to suggest the Sheldon Brown bike fit?

In response to the original post, it depends on your driving conditions.

From my experience:

Majority of UK driving suits an auto. Roads are flat and congested. Can’t enjoy driving so why bother with a manual. Zoom around in direct control of the perfect gear as much as you want you’ll soon be tucked up behind a slower moving vehicle.

Would consider a manual if majority of driving didn’t involve traffic and the roads were hilly purely for the engine braking.

Not what you want to hear but get the contractors back to sort it out. You’ve prob spent a fair chunk on the bathroom, so don’t skimp now just cos you don’t want to do a bit of retiling.

There may even be recourse against the contractors for them to make good any surrounding finishes (the tiles) as well.

You have to live with this for the next 10years. And it’s your home. Everytime you go ito the room you want to be able to enjoy it.

I know how you feel, you’ve spent far too many weekends doing DIY and not riding, the last thing you want is another weekend doing tiling which you probably hated doing the first time round anyway.

You paid these professionals for goods/services to add value to your home, they haven’t provided those goods/service. It’s up to them to put it right.