The Midlands XC race was there a few weekends back. For a short XC race loop it had to rate up there with one of my favourite courses ridden to date.

Is it definately FC land? I thought it was owned by Lord Stafford?

The Pro3 AM4's have 32 spokes. The XC3 (24 spoke) version isn't available with Flows as it's a lightweight wheelset.

At £306 for the pair they work out cheaper than the Pro2 Hoops if your looking at buying rotors too.

You can swap the ugly tensioner bolt for a normal (5mm thread)4mm allen key headed bolt. I also did away with the locknut, just nip up the dropout and tighten the adjuster into it to stop it rattling loose.

(Mine are on a Lynskey SS which share the same drop-outs and are about a year old). They do work very well.

XC3- Very gently tap them through with a drift like you would headset cups.

AM4- Pull on them, hard! (There is an o-ring in these)

Roughly the same, but the HR is a squarer profile.

Mine lasted 3 months before falling appart and the warranty wasn't honoured 🙁

The driveside bearing came to bits.

Doesn't all the dirt still get rubbed between the 'protector' and the frame and thus still takes all the paint off anyway?

I guess it would protect the outer cable nicely though!

They should be absolutely fine. Just make sure there is a good 80mls of sealant in there and give them a good shake to spread it around when initially installed.

It is indeed one of the best things about Stan's rims that you can use pretty much any tyre you fancy.

Hopster, sorry I was referring more to the fact that the car seat was lashed in place using string and straps 🙂 If it's a specific design for a trailer it would be better and easier.

They are tougher than you think those new-borns!

Probably frowned upon, but we secured his car seat down into a trailer for gentle, very smooth 6mph country road rides only at first. This was from about 6 months plus (was winter before that anyway).

It wasn't until he was a year he would go straight in, and he's now 18months old and happier to go on slightly bumpier trails.

Mine was the one linked above that lasted 3 months and the D/S fell to bits.

The importer would not warranty it so it was sent back to King USA but I've still heard nothing back.

I have now owned CK hubs, headsets and BB's, all of which I think are way over-priced and over-rated.

To re-iterate, the chain tension grub screw on the Io will catch the axle-end, so a QR really will be fine as it is doing nothing other than holding the wheel in place, the grub screw takes care of wheel slipping duties.

Used Chirs King and Surly (both about 4-5mm) on ally Pro2 and Pro3 and both been absolutely fine, in fact better than most cassette's i've used.

This is for proper honking up Dark Peak inclines too.

Just use the supplied grub screws?

Worked fine for me.

I used to night-run in the Old Wood at Smellythorpe.

Go on the bicyclemania website for a 40+ mile XC route around the Wolds. I've been over to do it today as its dry and flows well; when wet it is a slog. It is by no means technical riding, but exploring with a map is always a joy.

Be warned though, it is far from flat.

The Peaks aren't that far away, you can be at Cutgate in about 1hr 30mins.

Evening Mrs.

Should add, chain measuring well under 0.75% wear

Front mech cable-stub catching on the LH crank arm?

(My theory: It's only in the middle ring as the cable pokes out most in this gear. Plus it only catches the LH crank on the back of it's rotation hence doesn't do it when pushing hard on the LH crank as the crank is at the front when pushing down)

New Hope Race X2 if you can find them on a good deal.

Or older Hope Mini X2 Pro.

Or XTR from merlin, plus Hope lightweight floating rotors (+flog the brand new XTR centrelock rotors they come with and your also well under budget)

Yeah, I suppose there are ways around it, but that fine chink of light you can work to with the tyre off can't be beat ime.

Removing the tyre does of course make it easier to locate high and low spots in the truing jig, we're not just truing in one plane are we?

If your riding all-day enduro's the last thing i would be skimping on is tyres.

62a 2.1 Exception High Rollers are sub 500g, roll well enough and seem tough to be relied upon for all day rides. They are about £25 so not massively over budget. They are small for their 2.1 size.

Heat-shrink tubing needs a fairly low heat to activate so you should be fine. I find a hot air gun is great for longer runs, a zippo also works but you risk scortch marks. Don't trim it to length until you get to the end, it will also shrink a little in length as you heat along the hose.

As mentioned, it will make your hoses stiff and it may crinkle around sharper bends.

Never had any problems with ally nipples, drive-side or otherwise.

Not sure if Roger Musson's book is still available to download but it's well worth it if you can.

Just screw the valve core out and insert the sealant afterwards using a syringe. I prefer to do it this way as I find it less messy.

A week or so ago there was a Lynskey built 09 Cube on CRC, full Ultegra, Easton Forks… with a hefty discount to get it to £2k, not sure if they still have any though.

Yeah I agree, that Helix 29er looks really bland on the news page.

50mm seem too short and 110 to long!

Which did you order?

I've just heard back from Lynskey and the frame is indeed faced at the factory.

I'm not sure what else I could have done wrong, I'm sure they will think of something:-(

It's brown.

I have asked for them to put it in writing and return it to me.

Yep, it was the tension from the plastic top-hat that kept the inner race stuck to the axle.

All the loose bearings still in there, but it does mean when you take the cranks out you need to put a container underneath to catch any that might drop out.

Make me an offer, it still works. Non drive side still perfect!

Although it's still in the hands of Evolution atm!

They say it shows signs it hasn't been fitted/running correctly.

Other than screw the cups in, I can't quite see what they are suggesting I have done wrong! As I say, the old one has run perfectly for over a year.

Strangly the King felt fine. It was only when I came to regrease the bearings, I drew the cranks out and the inner race stayed on the axle!

High price = high qaulity and good warranty, turns out it's niether!

?! non comprenday

60 miles for me on the MTB on the road.

I did it years ago but laced it so that each spoke alternated round the rim. To be honest you only really noticed when you looked closely, but it did look quite good.

The grub-screws on the IO do bend quite easily when your using a bolt-up hub. The grub-screws catch in the threads of the axle bolt and as you tighten or loosen the hub the end of the grub screw gets dragged along with it so they bend. A good practice is to loosen the grub-screw before undoing the axle bolt so it's not in contact with it.

Cranks you mention are XT FC-M739 from circa '97 and are about 675g without BB.

2.4" Advantage is indeed huge, it makes a 2.4 Mountain King and a 2.5" High Roller look tiny.

I would be tempted to take either a half or full link out the chain to get the axle a bit further into the track-end. A big drop-off is going to put a lot of stress on it.

Nice though, I loved mine.