TA are (were) solvent and had a valid business case (as you would expect after all those years trading), but have been landed with a one off huge debt, that in one swoop liquidates them

They don’t have a valid business case if they were only solvent through not paying their tax bill…

Tentatively claiming that GE1’s cured my hand pain on long descents and inability to peel fingers off bars afterwards…

it’s just annoying that they have now ‘upgraded’ to I-spec B

Get with the program, iSpec B is old news as well. It is iSpec II now! :lol:

Personally, with little ones, I’d have either a proper motorhome (even a small one) or a T5 Shuttle/Caravelle along with a decent airbeam tent. You can still use the van as a bolt hole in bad weather but you will be falling over eachother in a T5 size van with kitchen and beds and kids (in my experience).

You’re doing it wrong. It is great.

Ok cheers, might give them a ring next week. Out of interest are the bits cut out by the diversion any good?

eBay, Gumtree and Preloved are the best in my book. Also autotrader has a campervan and motorhome section too. Watch out for the countless scam ads on eBay/gumtree – camper vans/motorhomes seem to get more that any other category. If it looks cheap, check their other items to see if they have loads of other vehicles listed silly cheap too.

I’ve always gone for ‘proper’ conversions, I wouldn’t want the wife and kids travelling at 70mph with half a ton of DIY timber loosely screwed in the back. I know a proper motor home won’t fair particularly well in a crash, but there is some consideration to safety. We also decided that a bathroom was required, hence I had an Autohomes van (no longer made but similar to Autosleeper) and then a couple of Hymers. All were great! I now have a T5 but it is only for a family car, not for camping in.

I’ve also had great support from BOA who sent me out a full set of replacements, I just wish i’d known about the lifetime warranty before previously replacing them all at my cost.

The inner two click, the outer two turn (can’t recall which is which). The manual refers to turns for two adjustments and clicks for the other two.

I’ve never had one on the singlespeed. I miss it a medium amount when cornering and a big amount on steep techy descents when I get stuck behind the saddle and have lots of near death experiences.

I have done them on the bike before as well but thought it was a pain keeping the bike vertical in the stand to insert the lowers and put the oil in. I guess you could put the bike upside down on the floor and do it that way.

25 mins would be pushing it for someone who has done it many times before…

You have to:
Remove them from the bike (wheel out, brake caliper and hose clip off, stem off and headset apart)
Clean them up externally (otherwise you will end up getting grit on your hands and then inside the fork)
Measure spring PSI and let it all out
Pull apart and drain oil
Pull out and clean foam rings
Clean the main seals
Isopropanol in the lowers and clean then out with a rag on a dowel rod (this is a fiddly job)
Compressor gun (or a long wait) for the inside of the lowers to dry
Oil up and re-insert the foam rings (always takes about 10 minutes to get right!)
Grease the main seals with SRAM butter/slick honey
Insert lowers back in (can take a bit of practice)
10cc oil each side and bolts back in
Clean up all the headset parts that are no doubt full of grit
Refit forks, headset, stem, wheel
Pump back up to required PSI while bouncing forks a bit to equalise + and – chambers

I wash mine on the pavement and hose the mud into the gutter. Every now and then a nice man from the council comes and cleans it all up.

I had exactly the same problem as the OP 2 years ago. It came on randomly after years of riding the same bikes in the same setup. The only two influential factors I could think of were either a) pushing too hard up hills on the singlespeed or b) some softshell bib tights pulling/pressing the kneecap as I rode.

I saw a physio who said it could be muscle imbalance and proposed stretches (mainly quad stretches) and some exercises to help. One of the main ones I focused on was leg extensions (using the machine in the gym). Just doing the last half of the extension and focusing on using the inner quad muscle. Running also seemed to use that muscle well.

After about 2 months and many frustrating aborted rides it went away and never came back!

Ohlins are still a 29er27.5+ only fork really.

Personally i’d go Fox 36 for an off the shelf fork. Or Marzocchi 350 NCR ti…

You can still ‘lockout’ for the road, just wind the LSC all the way closed. Not quite as easy as the 3 position lever but not a problem if you know you usually run, for example, 4 clicks from open then just wind it all the way closed for road/climbs etc. I have the ‘cheapo’ RC Pikes and like the fact that LSC is easy to adjust while riding (more so for avoiding sketchy g-outs etc).

I could probably save £20 and skip the lyrik top out spring and use the rubber one out of the Pike? Or, go full DIY and turn down the pike air spring piston diameter .5mm or so, bolt something through the top of the piston to make it a top hat shape to retain a spring and just find a spring and some acetate?

I’m tempted to try a DIY coil conversion using coil Lyrik parts. Have read on mtbr that it works, only sticking point would be getting the right length and rate of spring.

In my head I need a Lyrik 160mm spring shaft (cut down and threaded to give the right travel) 11.4015.421.020 (or a 170 cut down more), a Lyrik top out spring 11.4015.458.010, Lyrik spring sleeve to protect the inner stanchion 11.4015.205.000 and finally the difficult bit, an appropriate length, diameter and rate spring. I guess I’d have to fit the other bits then measure the spring length required? All the above parts excluding spring would be ~£60 then i’d hope I can get away with a cheap off the shelf spring

My current and previous Pikes don’t creak, so not fussed about that. I did notice a huge increase in lateral stiffness and grip going from Pikes to 36s on my 26″ bike. At the time I remember thinking cornering felt like going from a regular compound to a super tacky front tyre. I wonder if torque caps on my front hub would stiffen up the pike a bit in that respect..

mildred – I have been scouting out those as well, can’t find anything to say if you can reduce the travel on them though?

Thanks Tom & Rick, read and taken it all in, lots to think about!

OP do you have a RC or a RCT3 damper?.

Pike charger damper is not a straight fit in a Yari.

Current fork is a boost Pike with RC damper, so I thought it would be a straight swap? I had the same experience with RCT3 Pikes on the 26″ bike too so assumed the damper was identical barring the lack of trail/climb modes.

Tom – the coil conversion for the Pike does look good, i’ve read your thread before – i’d need to be a bit more certain of my current settings before ordering one though! I kind of figured my issue was down to damping though rather than air spring? Let me know if i’m wrong…

Some useful replies guys, thanks.

lyriks are the fox 36 equivalent no?

Yes, but I have Pikes already. I have been tempted to get a cheap Yaris and drop my charger in but its probably not very cost effective vs selling the Pike and buying a complete 2nd hand fork though.

have you tried burping the Pike?

No, but have only done 2 rides since servicing them so wouldn’t expect a pressure build up. I dropped down to 2.5wt RS oil in the charger at the same time, was initially impressed but back to back vs. the 36 at BPW really showed them up. Not necessarily on big hits, more on repeated smaller hits at speed and braking bumps etc.

Also interesting about the FAST base tunes, 36s do feel harsh when cruising but go like butter when you plough in to a hairy section at speed, exactly the opposite of Pikes in my experience. I’d probably want something similar from the FAST damper.

I’ve used Tesa tape, gorilla tape, regular duct tape, electrical tape and Bontrager rhythm strips. For me the Tesa tape was the worst of the lot, too stiff to apply neatly and lifted on one rim and split on another rim. I’ve still got masses of Tesa tape left but have gone back to Gorilla tape or regular duct tape cut down to size. No problems at all with it.

Bonty Rhythm strips are the best by miles in my opinion.

When we went the 4X/dual/jumps were shut as it had rained heavily overnight. I found the blue a bit boring (couldn’t get anywhere near fast enough to double up the upper trail features), the red was OK for a couple of runs, but watch out for the doubles at the end, full commitment required and a big step up from the easy to clear tabletops on the blue.

The black however was an absolute riot. There was next to zero grip with crashes on most corners and hilarious overtakes with your mates.

Pump track and cafe also ok.

Overall it is worth a look, but too expensive to compare to revs/stiniog etc

After a snowboarding fall some time ago I had 2 or 3 years of injections and treatments on mine before eventually having it removed. The 6 month recovery wasn’t great, but totally worth it to not be in constant pain…

5’11” and L is perfect for me. You have to be an XL.

poah – I was looking to DIY it (I like tinkering…)

Bump on this in the hope someone can save me a few more trial and error assemblies!

I find it quicker drop the effort 5% so I don’t get all sweaty and need a shower. The commute might take 2 mins longer but it saves 10 mins on a shower! Although I do get a shower at lunch in the gym.

You need a thin walled socket, I used one out of a drill bit set. The smalller ones were also perfect for removing the bushes.

I’ve had 29+ Chronicle on the front of my rigid for a year or so now and its great most of the time. I very briefly tried a B+ Hightower on Reckons and felt it was slightly unwilling to change direction, and the lack of edge bite a little un-nerving. It also felt a bit disconnected to the trail (you couldn’t feel exactly what the grip was doing). I’m sure they are all things you can learn to adapt to, however following someone else riding it (who loved it) the plus bike was surprisingly sliding and moving around a lot more than I was on regular tyres.

Maybe they just feel faster?

peaslaker – Member
Some of the comments on the Pike ring true to all but my most recent experience.

Harshness over braking bumps. Great until high speed. I recognise these… And then I managed to tune them out. I now have a much greater respect for the Pike and what it can do; that’s a 65kmh over other people’s brake bumps level of respect.

Slightly OT but please do enlighten us how you did it.

^^ What he said ^^

Had 150 and 160mm Pikes on my SB66c, great until you do long fast choppy descents/braking bumps where my hands felt like they had been on the rigid bike instead.

Put Fox 36s on it and cornering was the first improvement I noticed, probably due to the extra stiffness. They felt harsher at low speeds and in the top of the travel but vastly better on the fast descents that I didn’t like on the Pikes.

Have just gone back to 140mm Pikes on the T130 and having the same experience again.

Shwalbe has a big gap between Trailstar and Vertstar compounds: https://www.schwalbetires.com/triple_star_compound_page

Maxxis MaxxTerra 3C is definitely softer than Trailstar without being as draggy and fast wearing as Verstar – somewhere between them both.

First impressions of the Shorty 2.3 MaxxTerra on the front have been great. I’ve had a Magic Mary 2.35 SG Vertstar on all summer on the bigger bike. I took my T130 out at the weekend with the Shorty and despite it coming up tiny by comparison it felt very grippy and predictable around a wet Cannock, which i’d have expected to be too firm for something like a shorty. Got a couple of PRs on descents which I think is very telling considering I’ve ridden there 15+ times and it was soaking at the weekend.

The only fiddly bit is the circlip removal and refitting. My tip is to use a socket to push down the air shaft rod and plastic fitting thing enough to remove the circlip. It also serves to protect the shaft at the same time.

Can you press in an offset bushing at 90 degrees, I thought the shock under compression would just spin it round?

I was wondering how that worked, wouldn’t like a big bottom out to spin everything round and leave you stranded – or with a cracked frame!

Monarch plus fits (no surprises there…) Have to remove the shock when you fancy a drink though.

First picture seems the closest, maybe try offset bushings pressed in at a 90 degree angle to push it away from the frame?

Not a bad idea actually, might have another look at that. 8mm shock mounts though so only 2mm of offset.

X2 hits the linkage and frame or just the frame depending on which way you mount it.

Float X hits the front mounting or the frame depending on mounting.