Bars are tilted far too high and forward, surely!?

15mm is standard pedal spanner size.

It was truly cracking. Turns out the area is a bit of a Mecca for German mtbers, which was a surprise (lots of highly specced these about, which i'd not encountered before). Lots of epic climbs and equally epic decents. That piccy was part of a 1200m decent to the Lake over a distance of about 15km, which included some tricky hairpins around severe drops on loose, limestone gravel and some fairly technical steeps through pine woods. Also some hairily technical decending going on in other parts if you elect to go down the mule tracks rather than fire roads…

I had a lovely time, didn't i?
Yes you did. Wonderful.
Thanks. Should i go again.
Why most certainly you should.
Super! Thanks for the recommendation 🙂

Crank Brothers Acids ordered.
Must be asking the wrong questions as no one has replied to any of my last few posts 🙁

Or that my commuter is a proper fit-for-purpose machine with shiny black mudguards. 🙂

Waterproof shoes won't really keep your feet dry from road spray.

IM-significant-E they will and they do. I didn't think it necessary to add that I combine my shoe use with Goretex troosers and an eVent jacket (with hood).

why not simply get some overshoes?

Hmm… Had thought about that but prefer the prospect of a nice pair of new shoes.

Don't want plastic bags or spare feet to change into at work.
Want trainers that look nice and that won't soak up water like a sponge or get my feet wet. For the last couple of winters i've used some Goretex lined and silicon treated Salomons. They work lovely but they're a bit clumpy for wearing round the office.
Looks like i'll probably get me some of these then: Vans AWT

I hate hate hate having wet feet… I'd prefer a skate style trainer. There must be other companies out there doing apres ski footwear of this type?

Me too. Bit fiddly if you're scared of stripping forks, but otherwise pretty simple. You'll probably need some fork oil on standby in case you lose some in the dismantling. From memory, you'll need some 10wt for damping and 5wt for lubing – but you'd best check the manual. Depending on how old your forks are, if you remove all of the plastic C-clips you'll be able to increase them to 115mm or 120mm travel.

To be honest after this thread he's be as well cancelling his ads anyway.

Do you really think so? How many of his existing and potential customers will actually be following this post? And how many people *really* care whether he's a twot or not?
E.g. Ryanair is pretty sh*t and their CEO is an utter tube, but their product is cheap as chips, and that's what seems to count. If consumers really heeded their moral compass, McDonalds and Nike would have disappeared years ago… Superstar might experience a dip in sales for a few days, but i doubt anything more significant will happen to them following this STW debacle.

I hope so too. I love my Marys but i find going from them on my hardtail to the CNTs on my 5 a bit strange for a while. The Carnegies look like just what i need: nice and wide; comfy, secure sweep; and OS!
I like. They are a good thing. 🙂

Massively dependent on your bum and sitting bone shape. I have a Gobi and two SDG Bel Airs. Have also WTB and an On One Bignose. If i had to replace any i'd go for another Fizik or Bel Air.

My geared Rocklobster SL is bang on 25lbs.

Good luck! I went there a couple of years ago. There are some cracking looking trails, but I didn't see many/any keen riders. We hired some bikes (fairly low end Scotts with semi slick tyres) and followed a local trail map and then did a guided ride. Most of the routes followed tarmac roads and a few dusty fire roads. Shame, as there could be some excellent rides in the mountains. From my expereience, mtbing just isn't that established over there.

Stoner: Ooh… I doubt that’s a problem with the 26″ chaps. The Rockshox manual takes you through the process of removing the clips and it says nothing about needing to worry about it.

As glenh says. They all come with 120mm of available travel and you just add (or take off) the plastic C-clips to change from 80/100/120. I’ve got last year’s model with QR and it was sold as 100mm but i popped the C-clips off to get it to 120mm. 🙂

Oh. Also used a bit of string running around the headtube to each dropout to check spacing between the string and seat tube – i.e. simple way to check frame alignment. Good news. All even. 🙂

I guess Orange do actually know how to make bikes 😉

Well waddayaknow. New bit arrived from Orange today. Fitted this morning, wheel redished, and it all works! There might be a mm or so to argue about, but otherwise it’s all spinning centrally.
Glad to have had this issue resolved 🙂

I’ve had sample frames from my builders that are at least 5mm out of track (visual only do not ride)… and haven’t noticed any particular issues on bumpy offroad stuff. I would guess at high speed dirt road, or, er, road stuff, you might well notice.

Yes yes. I’ve not noticed any effect on ride characteristics, and as Mr Zinn says, don’t muck with the alignment unless you notice it… I’ve chosen to allow this to bother me. A new hanger has been ordered, so when it’s fitted, i’ll report back. 🙂

I agree Oranges answer doesn’t make sense. My five is new and had the alignment issue from the beginning.

Then I suggest you get in touch with Orange and if something’s wrong they should put it right.
I plan to fit a new dropout (tbh i could do with one as mine’s been bended a few times…) and then check that the frame/swingarm is aligned. If it’s not i’ll probably talk to Orange again and/or i *might* have a go at bending the swingarms back in line (in Zinn’s excellent maintenance book he suggests that unless you notice the effect of a misaligned frame, you should probably leave it alone…).

I have an answer from Orange! Just called them and they say that in the models from a few years ago they used to use forged mech hangers, which were quite soft and prone to wearing down from chain tension under pedalling, which in turn caused the wheel to be pulled away from the driveside swing arm (as i have experienced). So they have suggested that i should replace the old, silver, hanger with one of the new, black ones, which are much tougher. I said i was surprised that the worn hanger would result in such a shift of the wheel from centre, but they were pretty adamant that only a mm or so of wear would result in the level of offset that i’m experiencing.
I’ll order the new hanger and will report back once it’s fitted.

bugger…

That doesn’t really fit with my bike as the offset is towards the drive/right side, which would mean a bigger dish on the non-drive side…

CONFUSED!!![/u]Actually i’ve got that wrong… The offset is away from the drive-side, which made me think that the chain tension had pulled the swingarm to the right/drive side, which resulted in the tyre being closer to the non-drive side swingarm, which seems to be consistent with other posters on here…
I’m gonna contact Orange and ask about this.

Do I remember something about them making the frames asymmetric so the wheel did not have to be dished the same amount so it was stronger? Or is that something I imagined

That doesn’t really fit with my bike as the offset is towards the drive/right side, which would mean a bigger dish on the non-drive side…

My 2005 frame has a similar problem, the wheel rim being offset to the none driveside of the swingarm by a bit less than 1cm. It’s been like it since new and I bet we’re not the only ones…

Have you spoken to Orange about this? It could be that there was a reason for it…? Or at least they might be able to explain what’s happened.

I have been using White Lightning dry lube for a few years, which is brilliant for the summer. It keeps everything smooth, dry and remarkably clean. You have to apply it quite frequently though and it is absolutely useless when the season turns muddy.
I’m currently using Prolink, which has been recommended by many. I’ve only had it a month or two but i’m impressed so far. Seems to be a bit more durable than the White Lightning but has performed similarly (although if you put too much on it can get a bit messy).

Ooh… Scratch that last post. Just realised that there was no air in the SPV chamber, so the knocking must have been the damper piston being sucked up at the end of the stroke, or sumfink.
Could it be that you were/are losing pressure from the SPV chamber? The red valve outer can come loose, particularly if you’re often attaching and detaching a shock pump???

Just took my Swinger air to bits and replaced the oil and seals. It’s now plusher than it was, but i’m getting a knock at the end of the return stroke that wasn’t there before. I think this might be due to me leaving a bit of air in the damper when i filled it with oil so i’m going to strip it down again and be a bit more careful when i add the oil this time…
It that solves the problem i’ll let you know. They’re really not that complicated so there’s not much to go wrong. If i’m right about the air, all you need to do is do what i’ve done/will do – i think…
🙂

I had this problem and it was sorted by using resin pads and a bigger rotor up front. This is a much cheaper, and probably more effective, solution than upgrading your brakes.

Ooh… getting excited 😀

done! CHeers. 🙂

Cups and cones look fine to me. No obvious grooves, which was what i thought might have caused the “click”.
The movement is only noticeable when the wheel’s put in the frame. Wheel feels tight. There’s just a weeny bit of movement that clicks. I am loathe to try tightening the cones up even more. They already feel tighter than i’d expect from my previous experience of other Shimano hubs… 🙁