Premier Icon
chiefgrooveguru
Free Member

Andy, that’s an epic amount of ‘90s gear! Rackmounted I presume? Is the Trace Elliot GP12SMX preamp the first one to have the two different preshapes? I’m designing an amp at the moment and I’m putting a few switchable preshapes in that and one of them is the more rock ‘90s TE preshape (I’ve already got the super scooped ‘80s shape covered).

Yes, it has the two preshapes (but the GP7 did too, so I’m not sure about it being the first) plus the “EQ balance” and separate high and low compression.
Tube/solid state blendable front end and full range/variable crossover line outs. There’s a reason that I’ve used it for as long as I have…
Flight cased with one of the Mackie M1400s (which I believe you also used at one time?) with the other in a 2U flightcase.
That, along with those Peavey birch ply cabs (with not very light drivers) weighs a ton and I’m getting too old to hump it about. I sometimes use the TC Electronic BH800 but I’m old-school and it just seems like a toy….
Maybe I should pension it all off and get something more state-of-the art? But at my age??

I’ve been a bass player since I was sixteen, so that’s fifty plus years….
I sometimes wish that I’d had the balls that Paul Turner had and left the same small island and tried to make it out there in the big, bad world, instead of forever being a big fish in a small pond.
But I didn’t, because I also had other stuff that I was ok at (motorcycle trials and later, sled dog racing) and I spread myself too thinly, which doesn’t work….

However, I’m still gigging, both here and from time to time in Greece.
Gear, if anyone’s interested –
1986 Peavey DynaBass
1991 Peavey Palaedium
1991 Peavey Foundation with EMG p’ups and EMG 18v electronics
1994 MM Sterling fretless
1996 Yamaha RBX 375
1998 Yamaha BB404 (DiMarzio ultrajazx p’ups and Omega bridge).

Trace Elliot GP12SMX preamp
2 x Mackie M1400 power amplifiers (1 in use, one as back-up).
TC Electronic BH 800 head
TC Electronic BG250 combo.
2 x Peavey 410 TX cabs. (re-ported and with Eminence drivers)
2 x Peavey 115 BX cabs ( with Eminence drivers).

The Trace GP12SMX has been with me since ‘93 and I don’t think that I’ll ever part with it, nor will I part with the Palaedium or the MM Sterling (because that was a gift from my wife)….

Mine is a 2009 Genesis Altitude

Isn’t that the Alpitude? I have one too, out in Greece.

Glad I bought one before I’m to old and done in to ride it properly.

I waited until I was 68 to even try one, let alone buy one.
Well past being old and done in, obviously, but it was a toss up between that and getting back into trials again.

Premier Icon
wzzzz
Free Member

The greatest inventions in the history of offroad cycling for all disiplines:

1) SPD pedals
2) Dropper Seatposts
3) Suspension that works

I’d change that a bit….

Disc brakes
Dropper posts
Disc brakes….

Premier Icon
onehundredthidiot
Full Member

Some local to me have a subtle way of showing an entrance and most have an end away from the main trail so you can’t ride out of it.
After a few weeks ,if they’ve been spotted, the entrance will be huge and the trail cut to shreds and the exit may as well have fairy lights round it.

This, exactly…. one trail of mine had originally had a very convoluted exit section which both slowed riders down before they hit the fireroad and also made it not so obvious.
Look at it now – all the switchbacks have been short-cut and the exit is just a straight drop down the fall line, as wide as a motorway, which loses 30 metres of height in a few seconds for bugger all satisfaction.
I just don’t get it tbh, which is probably why I don’t build much anymore.

But I do think 5K is a lot when a new Husqvarna FE350 only costs about £9.5K 🙂 An S-Works E-bike is 13k 😀

You’re not wrong there – for what I paid for a s/h RM Altitude I could have bought a very, very tidy 2017-ish trials bike.
Which I was seriously tempted to do, but nowadays there’s hardly anywhere to practice that’s any good anywhere near me. Long gone are the days when any disused quarry, out of the way woods or river bed was fair game.
Now that the haters are everywhere it’s even hard to find good comp. venues.

But why not save £5000 and just check trails out on your enduro bike?
Or, if you want something lower profile, buy a s/h trials bike which you could get for a lot less than 5k. That’s what I’d be tempted to do.

Molycote 33 – I seem to recall that Marzocchi used to recommend it.

Lucas Red n’Tacky.

We don’t have country parks around here but I use battery chainsaws and brushcutters (Makita) in “sensitive” areas. Just carry a few spare batteries in a backpack and it’s surprising how much you can get done, in a fraction of the time that it would take you with hand tools.
Makita are not only the best battery stuff but they’re not orange and therefore more “stealthy” than, say, Husqvarna….

Surely a lot of this all depends what assistance percentages the different modes are set at?

Premier Icon
kayla1
Full Member

Dibs on any 55 Ti RC3s they find!

I’ve got one lying around doing nothing….

I’ve owned an e-bike for about eight months now (a RM Altitude, not that it matters) and what I enjoy the most about it is the ability to climb stuff that I have never, ever, successfully climbed in 35 years of riding, other than on a motorcycle. And no, before someone says it, I was never a crap climber – I was always known as much for my climbing abilities as descending.
And now I actively seek out ludicrous climbs and attempt to clean them – that does even more for me than a clean descent, I couldn’t give a monkey’s about speed for its own sake (trials rider, you see).
That’s really why I chose the Altitude – 108Nm torque (as standard) with the possibility of more.
It’s not a 300 TXT, that’s for sure, but if you have the skills you can do some impressive climbing – and that’s even at my age.

I still have a LV 301 and my Hummingbird singlespeed and I still ride and enjoy them both, but climbing the top section of Ballacuberagh (with the Liteville across my back) brought it home to me just how much that pissy little motor is doing when I can ride clean to the top, if I choose my line well – carrying the front over rock steps almost like being on a trials bike, stopping and hopping to sdjust position and then setting off sgain…..

It’s a whole different thing and for me that’s how I justify it. Not to just make things faster/easier but to open up a whole new world – new if you’d never previously done it on a motorcycle at least.

Most people around here know how much I like my Hummingbirds (2 steel, one Ti and my wife has one).
My first steel one was pretty much all I rode for 9 or 10 years (rigid singlespeed 69er). I used to rave about its handling to anyone who’d listen – eventually they all got pissed off hearing about it.

Now after being tempted away by Liteville 301s I’m back riding the Ti one (with Ti forks). One of my riding mates reckons that if he had it he wouldn’t use it – he’d just use it as “wall art”.
It is a thing of beauty, mind.

The nicer of the two steel frames is for sale btw…….

Neither – out for a curry. Not that I give a monkey’s about football anyway, even if I was English (which I’m not).

Vaude Moabs for me too.

Couldn’t agree more. Shocking that the leading motor repairer can’t fix them.

They don’t repair the Dyname 3 (Rocky Mountain) motor either.
But when they say “motor repair” isn’t what they really mean associated mechanical parts replacement – nobody is going to repair the actual rotor/stator assembly, are they, or the control board/ECU?

Premier Icon
james
Free Member

26” L/XL, my current horizontal dropout search includes, what am I missing?

Genesis io

You’re missing the fact that the IO has vertical dropouts…

KMC Z610HX

I’ve only just seen this, TJ. I’m so very, very sorry to hear your sad news. It seems as if I’ve known you (if only virtually) ever since I first became a STW member. I can only wish you all the very best for everything that you decide to do from now on – all my best to you.

. Or he might get a driving licence, a girlfriend and sack his bike off forever

True, this….

Loctite 641 is what you need…..

[/url]”

[/url]

Top image is looking forwards, bottom image rearwards.

No complete weld around the joint line (as expected) and what you see are little more than assembly tacks, given that there’s no prep.
The rear one is basically just an extended tack, done while there was still access before the down tube and seat tube were attached.
I can’t compare with my other Mk10, as that’s in Greece, but I suspect it’ll be just the same.

As far as LIteville’s response goes, I tend to agree with chiefgrooveguru (if only because we bass players have to stick together….) that it’s a standard customer service type reply.
There’s no way that they can change weld specs on an already completed and heat-treated frame anyway – all they could do is replace it but I can’t see why they’d consider doing that?

Hope this helps a bit anyway…

It seems Liteville disagree. I assume these are the same photos they saw?

As I said before, for the life of me I can’t see what Liteville think could be wrong and, apart from swapping the frame (which you’d think was pretty unlikely – brand new Mk15 anyone?) I can’t see what they’d do either.
That BB shell is a pretty hefty chunk of aluminium and we have evidence of weld penetration, because we can actually see it on the inside.

As it’s going to be a crap day tomorrow (weather wise) I’ll pull the cranks and one BB cup on mine, have a look around inside and take a photo or two. Ok, mine isn’t a Mk 12 but a well abused (sorry, used) Mk10 – however I don’t think much changed in the BB shell design in that time.

Speaking of abuse I will say one thing – I have two Mk10’s and I’m pretty sure that both frames will outlive me, given the chance.
I may be old, I may look after my bikes but I certainly don’t wrap them up in cotton wool – I’ve never known anyone have any issues with any Liteville frame and they get some pretty harsh use.

I’ll report back, anyway!

Right – what you’re seeing in that photo is weld penetration right through to the inside of the shell from the external weld. To me, that looks about perfect. There is no way that is going to be the source of any creaking and, to be honest, I can’t understand what LV are on about when they say “they’ll repair it”?

Even if they can prep and weld that small area that you can see, then that will both damage the anodising and, more significantly, compromise the heat treatment in that area.

Having studied (briefly) the outside of my 301 BB shell there is no way that it would be possible to fully weld it internally anyway – especially the area that forms the suspension pivot – maybe the most highly-stressed area?. There’d be no means of getting a tig torch into there, never mind manipulating the filler rod.
The BB shell is probably welded as a sub-assembly before being incorporated into the main frame assy and so not only will it be welded around all its periphery but then a considerable part of it will, in effect, be reinforced by the down tube and seat tube being welded onto it and bridging the joint line.

I’d not worry about the integrity of the frame and would look elsewhere for the source of creaking. I will, however, strip mine as soon as I get a chance, have a skeet in there and take a photo or two, even if it proves me wrong…..

Premier Icon
toomuchtime
Free Member

I also run a Liteville H-3 might take out the bb and see what that looks like assuming they are built the same as the 301 ??

If there’s a weld line running through the centre of the BB shell, then yes it is.
I might have a look at mine but it won’t be until Sunday at the earliest.

If there’s no evidence of cracking externally then what leads you to believe that the source of the creaking lies there?
I can’t understand why Liteville say that there’s a fault – unless they actually are normally welded both internally and externally, although I can’t really see why this should be the case.
I’m almost tempted to pull the BB out of mine and check….

I can’t help but smile at the “a brand new frame, welded to fix a crack?” comments, btw….

Those 301 bottom bracket shells are machined in two sections and welded together anyway, so is it not just how it is?
I’ve never noticed what mine looks like on the inside, tbh, but I wouldn’t imagine that it’s welded on the inside as well as the outside. Think of every frame-BB joint, they’re only welded on the outside?

Post a photo, if only to satisfy my curiosity…

It’s not only cyclists – a couple of weeks ago my wife and I, pushing our 5 month old grandson in his pram, dared to walk about 200 metres along a country road (it was unavoidable, because of where we were going to).
We got some shitty looks from a few drivers and one of them, because he actually had to stop to let a car coming the other way through, wound his window down and shouted “Bloody idiots, get off the road”.

As I said, this was a country road – not the M1. To be honest, I was too gobsmacked to be able to come up with a reply…

I always fancied trying that, because I’m not averse to a bit of exposure. The sad reality now is that, for various reasons, I know that I never will.

To be honest, that HB160 would do it for me too.
But you’re safe enough, OP, because Lowey won’t sell it to me because I can’t collect it, so you might as well buy it instead.
At least my bank balance will be £3.5k better off – I’ll just have to make do with my old 301…

Half links are shit and become the weak point in the chain.

I’ve never had any problems with a half link and they’re useful if you want to get sliding dropouts or an EBB into a specific location to alter chainstay length, seat tube angle or BB height.
Unless you’re extremely lucky it’s too coarse an adjustment, on its own, for chain tensioning.

To be fair, holes in an injection moulded component can be as accurate as you need. You’ll be giving us toolmakers a bad name ;-)

Ironically, I don’t like the floatey feeling whenever I use spds now (which is very rarely) because on decent flat pedals/shoes you actually have no float, unless you lift your foot off to reposition it.

When did this “threaded” expression become a thing?
Surely it’s a stripped thread or else it’s cross-threaded.

Premier Icon
Northwind
Full Member

The old Sombrio X-Shazam was good, hard to find now though.

They were – I’ve still got a pair that I use occasionally in summer, otherwise it’s Vaude Moab STX.

What usually happens is that my race bike gets a new 10sp chain and cassette whenever it needs one. The fun bike then gets the old one off the race bike (if that wears out first the race bike gets a new one and the fun bike gets the old one) Whenever the fun bike gets a new chain and cassette the singlespeed gets the old chain and a sprocket from it.

You’ve got your priorities wrong here – singlespeeds deserve the best of everything.

I’d just nip it up by feel – it’s just a fork top cap, it doesn’t rely on tightness for sealing because surely it’ll have an O ring to do that?