If yours have seized and they are sealed bearing jobbies, then i believe that replacements are brass bush jobbies, which are much more suited to mud.

I *hate* getting wet so i wear a nice Event hooded jacket, Goretex cycling overtrousers, Goretex shoes and Sealskins waterproof gloves. Underneath i wear my work clothes and i only get a bit damp if i end up getting silly and Fred-racing someone so that i sweat too much.
I ride about 4 miles each way everyday, all weather. Absolutely agree that full mud guards are a must. I love cycling to work. It wakes me up in the morning and chills me out in the evening. 🙂

Not heard of the plans to manage Wild Park but have now looked here (thanks for the headsup :-)).
Doesn't seem to affect much of the sweetest trails, unless access rights become a problem…

Jedi,
Not poked my nose around there since last summer but i imagine the woodwork remains pretty much the same – although new stuff seems to pop up regularly. It's all on quite a steep slope through the trees and is mostly made up of jumps, drops and small sections of raised track. Much of it is linked with berms and there's a pallet and planks wall ride near the bottom of the slope. I've seen some big bikes come visit especially to ride it but if you're used to bigger stuff then you might be disappointed. I imagine it is curated by folks at Freedom bikes in B'ton. Give em a call if you want to find out more – that sort of riding isn't really my thing.
Cheers.

Check out the Brighton Big Dog website. They used to have a rough map of last year's course on there. Some wonderfully long stretches of linking singletrack marked out – properly surprising that so much can be found in such a seemingly small area.

Also, there's a plethora of "hidden" trails at Stanmer, some cheekily hand-cut by members of B'ton MTB. they meet at 7 on Thursday nights at the Sussex Uni sports centre. Come along. They're usually happy to share their trail knowledge. No one knows Stanmer better.

There's also the track that runs parallel to Ditchling Rd from the Hollingbury golf course heading down towards 5ways. Great fun in the dark 🙂

The downhill from Hollingbury Fort to Wild Park is a must. Take the left hand (northerly) track from the fort, or if you fancy trying your skills on the Shore woodwork, go right. Ace fun 🙂

A yes from me. Had a SRAM jockeywheel seize, a rear X9 mech get ripped off by a small branch and an X7 front mech spontaneously snap with no evidence of what might have caused this. I only use Shimano now now and have very few complaints. The LBSs around my way pretty much all agree that Shimano make tougher mechs.

I couldn't find any info about Orange but its a sporting bet they use the same material, most manufactures do. If any firms other than Santa Cruz do post weld heat treatment, which is essential to keep the props of 6061-t6 , is another matter entirely.

I spoke with Orange the other day and they said they buy in untreated aluminium sheet and tubes and do the post-weld heat treating themselves. They were reluctant to go into the details of what the treatments were (i.e. temps and times etc) but they said there were at least two, and after each one the frame is returned to the straightening table.
I asked them if they thought that the the heating process during powdercoating might weaken their frames and they were confident that it would not. They said they've been recoating frames for years using standard powdercoating methods with no adverse effects. I asked them where the most common frame breaks that they deal with occur. I assumed that they say the weld areas, but they insisted that breaks are no less likely to occur mid tube/box.
I hope there's some useful info in here on this topic for you all.
If you disagree with or would like to challenge Orange on any of this, then please call them direct. I got the impression that they would love to hear from you. 🙂

Heat them to 200 degrees and you will lose a good deal of the yield strength. Don't do it kids.

Really? You can safely powdercoat 6061 t6, which means heating it up to 200 degrees for an hour or less. In order to help pop some bearings i would have thought they'd only need to be in an oven for 5-10 mins. Sounds messy though with all that plastic and grease…

bigyin, i was thinking of soaking them in hot soapy water first. Thought this might help?

Ah, Duncan, yes… You were already there with that site. Thanks 🙂

Found this last night, which is just what i was after:
http://www.mountainbikerides.co.uk/fettling/hollowtech2bb.htm
Sorry that i wasn't clear enough in my OP, but some of you got what i meant anyway 🙂

I got Lopez's skills book for Xmas a couple of years back. It's good fun. I particularly liked Mark Weir's recommendations for taking lots of laxatives as part of his training programme…
Linky

The Slider, good luck mate! It's tough going. There are knee- (and some waist-) deep drifts up there.
I must say that the novelty of riding (or rather, flopping about) in ice and snow is wearing off… Bring on springtime, bluebells and dry singletrack!

Jimbo, v cool! I went and had a hot choccy and a toasted ciabatta sandwich in a cafe in town afterwards. Was proper knackered from climbing hills without chair lifts and beating a path through drifts. It felt just like the Alpine winter holiday that i'm unable to afford this season 🙁
Never mind; ambition achieved! 🙂

It's a personal thing and it's difficult to know just by sitting on a saddle on a shop bike for a minute; so i recommend you properly test ride saddles if at all possible. However, I swear by Fizik Gobis and SDG Bel Airs – like much of the people above (so there must be something universally good about these perches :-)).

Poor shot, but you can get an idea of the orangeyness (it's a sort of slightly creamy, Sainsbury's orange orange).

macmclaren, He's got to be. No one other than a serviceman (or ex-) would be happy putting wet clothes back on in the morning…
🙂

I'm pretty sure that when Stan's kits first came out they just used the tape. The rubber rim strips are a more recent addition and help to prevent the tyre 'burping' air out when cornering hard.

Ooh! Singletrackmonkey, do Merlin do Lobster stickers? I could do with getting the anodising on mine replaced with something a bit more durable.

Just got swingarm back from Orange to replace stripped helicoil.

Here she is! Will build her properly after Xmas. 🙂

Swingarm back from Orange with new helicoil. All looks good. I will fit it tonight.
🙂

I used to swear by the dry, waxy stuff (White Lightning) in the summer on my road and mtb bikes. However, its next to useless in the wet/winter.
I now use Pro Link chain lube on my bikes for much of the year and Finesse Multi Lube (which is really messy and sticky) or Finish Line wet lube in the winter.

joemarshall, damn that is a brilliant tool. Thanks for the heads up!
Are Garmins still the best handsets out there?

Ooh. That looks worth a try. But i do also want a new one. Preferably with a USB connector too, and one that works on a Mac.

Rapid rise and dual control are wonderful. If i had the money, i'd fit all my bikes with them. Shifting down while breaking is an emotional experience [bites trembling bottom lip].

He's still at it
Do you reckon he likes Rage Against The Machine?

Dog in a hat?

Merlin Malt or Rock Lobster SL?

tis fixable by an engineering firm, not a bike shop with tools

Weeeeeell, i'm hoping that all it needs is a new helicoil in the current thread, which my LBS could do. But why risk it if it needs something more brutal? I also know of no local engineering firms, good or bad 🙂

peakmonster, i think you're forgetting that it's a "C" shaped clamp, so access to the hole is via another hole…

fatmuthahubbard, agree about cost. I could go to my LBS who have the tools to do this. However, the cost to worry ratio for Orange's fix is acceptable.

nickegg i didn't try the long bolt. I think it would have been a bit of a bodge, and i don't think £50 is too excessive for more significant peace of mind.
🙂

I have spoken with Ben at Orange. He seems confident that a new, bigger thread can be tapped and a bigger bolt inserted (all of this if a new helicoil can't be inserted into the current thread). My frame's out of warranty now but he reckons it will take less than an hour of workshop time, so probably no more than £50 cost to me. Swingarm's going in post today.
I am happy, of sorts 🙂

Surely the tap would be bigger than the bolt because it's got to make a hole that would accommodate the helicoil, which the bolt would then go in?
Great news mttm. That's reassuring. Thanks. 🙂

Piccy here:

However, there is a problem… When putting it all back together, the helicoil in the swingarm bearing clamp snapped… Thread here.

"C" shaped clamp means that unless there is a fancy tapping tool at Orange HQ you can't get access to the bolt hole… Here's a piccy i took earlier.

I reckon if it can't be tapped, then i'll just have to drill out the thread and work out some way to locate a nut inside the swingarm and use a longer bolt. Not ideal, but it would certainly be strong enough. Again, I hope!

I have spoken with people from a couple of LBSs in Brighton. Sounds like a sensible solution lies with Orange. I'll call them on Monday. If they can't help then i think i can drill through the hole and then drill another hole in the swing arm 😯 to allow me to insert a nut and use a longer bolt.
I'm feeling better about it. I now believe that it is fixable, even if Orange can't tap a new thread.