I once emailed Merlin asking about a specific fork they had for sale at a great price, I asked was it an OEM item etc etc

They replied saying they didnt know what I meant by OEM

Garmin Etrex Legend HCX with European City Navigator maps.

Epic MTB

The main trail centre is Ballinastoe, about 20 minutes outside dublin in the wicklow mountains.

Coillte are the irish forestry service[/url]

Winkston farm B&B is my favourite

The tip on the DT Swiss one is only 1mm, too stubby, it overtightens the spokes too much in the early stages of building the wheel.

I’m going to try and modify mine to make it release a bit sooner than it does at present.

Allez wont take full mud guards for a start and i dont think it has rack mounts either.

If you are in the dromore area you are close to the mournes.
Ask on mtbrider as already suggested and for routes have a look at Not The Sunday Run

Its very much not trail centre style riding though. Its out in the hills, pushing bits, walking bits… plenty of fireroads and some brilliant bits of single track.

I’ve been told you shouldnt take Whey Protein before bed as the body cant process it.

Trail centres in N.Ireland?
Is this some kind of troll!?

The Rocky Road, Off the Knock Dual Carriage way, Belfast.

It is actually vertical, corrugated concrete.

And in the words of a man that knows stuff: “It was originally flat concrete but the years of mountaineers using crampons and ice picks to climb it has left it in it’s current condition.”

One thing you need to know – ITS BLOODY CASE SENSITIVE

Commercial or Commencal SootyAndJim?

Go and see a podiatrist

Cheers. yea, I don’t think we will be taking any guiding as the wife will want to go at her pace and not have it dictated by a group or guide.

Well at least for the first day or two.

Any ideas on bike hire anyone?

Save your money and take Q’s advice

Doesnt have the clamp plates on in the picture but I am about to start building my first wheels on it the next day i get some free time, its solid and costs a couple of quid to make, very sturdy

Michelin Pro Race 3’s, 700 x 23c, on a road bike, i prefer the speed and ease of rolling for my 35-45mile round trip.

Its all open roads though, well, 6 miles of town roads, but they are generally dead on for debris. I did slash one on wednesday though on a broken bottle on the pavement when i had just mounted it to get off. God Damn it. I think it would have ruined most tires though.

Well I left it back and the guy dealing with it thought it strange, asked “is that singed?”
The impression i got from him was it wasnt going to be replaced, but he didnt say that and is following all the right channels and getting on to icebreaker asap about it.

Suppose its the best I could hope for. Fingers crossed.

17.5miles each way, used to be up to 4 times a week, probably on average of about 2.5 times a week now.

Making a concerted effort to get back up to 3 or 4 times a week regularly.

A new bike will motivate me nicely…

A friend of mine’s family, when I was growing up, bred and raced greyhounds and those dogs were treated like kings.

Can I come?

Hi Barry, 1mm shouldn’t make any difference, it will be fine as long as the jaws match up and if you make them as shown with square cut-outs there’ll be some fore-aft leeway. You’ll need to make the reference gauges as well.

—
Roger
PS. Right now I have an Open Pro, Shimano 105 in my stand. Excellent choice of wheels (which I assume is next on your todo list).

Roger – That is the very combination I am about to build. But I haven’t purchased spokes yet or gone through the measurement process. fancy saving me the hassle?!

5600 Shimano 105 front and rear hubs, 32 hole, Mavic Open pro rims.

roger-m – Member

Looking good Barry, a superb truing stand for well under a tenner. Is it better than a store-bought stand? Build/true a few wheels with the MDF stand then try a store-bought one and see the difference. I’ve tried quite a few stands (including 3 days with a TS-2) and always went back to the wooden one.

Obtaining steel jaws can be problematic and I’m certain jaws made from hard wood will be suitable since you only require a light pinch of the skewer. I intend to make some to test this theory.

2.5mm Alu will be okay as long as the skewer has sufficient thread because the threaded nut will need to screw down a lot further.

Roger

Cheers Roger

It was surprisingly easy to knock together. Though I have made a big of a dogs dinner with the 8mm slots at one part of the base.

If there is a 1mm deviation say down there, will it make my wheel end up like a Pringles crisp??!

Speshpaul – a mate can supply me with 2.5mm aluminium plates – would they be too thing for the clamping jaws? What about doubling them up?

Steel would be a git to work with, I dont have the tools and would need a metal working shop to do it and rocket the price of the stand up.

No more pics at the mo – Its a handy design as it allows a multitude of axle lengths to be fitted with ease.

All the parts are drawn out very well in his book

Wheel pro wheel building book

Having read most of it, it seems a great instruction for the task ahead! Just have to finish this and buy the spokes til I get going on my first build

Needs steel clamping jaws machined and bolted on. Very simple but very stable and needs about £5 of MDF to make.

I’ve decided to jump in and build my own.
Its about time i learnt anyway

I have a selection of shops I can go to, I think one of them can get Planet X in.
One is a specialized dealer too.

Can you ask him how it handles with the panniers etc on in comparison to them off?

Cheers!!

What does Servo wave do? And do you want a one piece or two piece caliper? Whats the advantage of the number of pieces?!

409 – Steel Steerer and solid crown, coil sprung, no external floodgate adjustment (Still adjustable with an allen key)
426 – Same as 409 with external floodgate adjustment
454 – Aluminium Steerer and hollow crown saving quite a bit of weight

Air U-Turn = Air Sprung with U-Turn function to allow travel adjustment
Coil U-Turn = Coil Sprung with U-Turn function to allow travel adjustment
Dual Air = Air Sprung with no travel adjustment (Saving weight by leaving out U-Turn gubbins inside)

All clear now?!