Its worth checking Air Canada as well.. we’ve flown with them a few times often much cheaper than Zoom (were).

Air Canada can be hit and miss with some flights being great.. some not so. In fact, from my experience, you know what you’re getting with Canadian Affair so even if its a bit average, you’re generally not disapointed

AC are feeling the economic pinch right now, so all being well they’ll start putting out some cheaper fares to encourage ticket sales. I think that still have fuel surcharges on routes to the UK though.

Also look at KLM from B’ham via Amsterdam.. thats sometimes been an affordable route.. although travel agents will probably get seats cheaper than KLM direct.

Best I ever paid for a summer return was 280quid return incl all taxes on BA.. heathrow – seattle though. Sadly I fear those days are long gone :(

I should probably mention that my Julies had a barbed push hose fitting and plastic hose as opposed to the nut/olive connection of higher end Maguras..

Thus, you may find you need to remove the calipers from the bike as undoing the connection at the master cylinder/lever end might just end up twisting the hose as you undo the nut.
If you’ve got decent braided hose with nut/olive hardware, jobs a good un and you can do the swap with everything in place.

yes, easily as SSS said – be careful.

just dont squeeze the brake lever by accident with the hose disconnected.

The Dread Tread is also a fast rolling tyre.. not as easy pedalling as the SB8 and IMO, not as much traction either. that said, it seems a much tougher/hardier tyre that is still quite capable.

Raced both, prefer the SB8, but prefer to ride the Dred Tread on trail and keep the SB8’s for race day.

Enjoyed this very much.

I plumped for XTR on my race bike – but go for XT longevity on the trail bike.

Agree that XTR shifters are rather nice.

My Westy was running an 1800 Zetec on twin 40’s.. ‘supposed’ to be putting out 155bhp from an engine that was originally 105ps spec.

Weighing just over 700kgs it was plenty quick enough for road use and quite a step up from my Austin Sprite ;) More power to weight than that and I would’ve got myself into a world of trouble I’m sure
It’d do about 110mph..but not for long – I had faith in my build.. but 110 in a car with zero protection, no doors and the wind howling up your nose threatening to blow your eyes out is quite something. You’d need some serious BHP to get a car with the aerodynamics of a brick over 110mph.

It was completely impractical, but I loved driving it and the 7 months it took me to build it were worth every penny IMO.
Had to sell it as I moved to Canada and couldn’t import it here.

Have a google at the Westfield Weasel.

When I bought and specc’d my kit, it was all about Zetec/XE’s with 15″ wheels… pretty much as soon as I picked up my chassis etc, bike engines became the in thing (superb for the track and sound fantastic, but pretty sure you’d get fed up with it in traffic) 13″ wheels were also the thing to do with a view to keep the suspension working for the car, not the heavy wheels. Then it was VTEC and Duratec… not sure what the current vogue is though.

If I did one again… I would certainly consider diesel for the simplicity
I do love the idea of diesels and even the 1.7 Astra Eco tdi and 1.4 tdi VAG cars I’ve driven have been fun with an entertaining ounch when they go on turbo.
The tourqe diesels could generate would make getting the power to the road interesting though (probably much like the rediculously over engined V8’s)

To be honest, I’d probably agree with mboy and move away from open front wheels and go to something like a GTM Libra/Spyder. Or some kind of lightweight Cobra (mmmm)

I have a friend who built a locost as per the Ron Champion book… 250 quid my arse ;)

I highly recommend the whole experience though!

Greatest trail dog ever! He’ll run and run and run.
Will race you down the single track, becomes aware when you are closing in behind him and hops off to the side, lets you past then tucks in and follows you down.

Its my business partners Hungarian Vizsla named Alfie – official BBB tail guide ;).
He was the runt of his litter, pee’s like a girl and is very confused in his sexuality (although I guess many of us would be if we’d had our balls lopped)
Alfies best mates with a German Short Haired pointer, whilst not as agile as Alfie, could run through a wall (infact they both ran through my girlfriend who subsequently required knee surgery + titanium)

The pointer is more of a swimmer.. Viszla definately the trail dog.
That said, we’ve another friend with a Viszla and this one simply doesn’t understand the concept of bikes.

drawback with Viszlas? – can need a huge amount of personal contact and be quite ‘nuts’ (alfie didn’t chill out till about 2) Very pretty breed though IMO

My Lab shep X is only just one, so we’ve not done much with her on trail yet. Probably wont do anything like the rides we do with the Viszla either.. She’s quick, but i think will suffer in the heat and chances are she’s not going to be that durable in the hips :(
Longer haired dogs are a chore to clean up after too ;)

Isn’t GT85 much like WD40? i.e a degreasing and penetrating agent?

If so, i’d suggest that if you getting GT85 (certainly WD40) ingress into your bushings.. you won’t have much in the way of fork oil between the bushings and stantions = wear.

WD40 and moving parts that rely on lubrication dont mix.

I know the feeling.. I ‘upgraded’ from Avid BB7’s to Hayes 9 (won them in a raffle but would’ve been annoyed if I’d paid for them)

I’m a Magura convert and tnew Julie HP looks like great value especially with the filter down in design features from the higher end stuff (Louise caliper).
Aside from that, before Shimano’s price hikes, their stuff was definately worth looking at in terms of price point and functionality.

Worth thinking about running a 180mm rotor up front? Even on my XC race bike I prefer to have it available so run Marta SL on 180/160.

It depends on your shifter/brake lever combination. I run adjustable mount X9 shifters outboard of my Louise BAT’s on my DH bike and its just works with careful positioning. Not quite ideal though. Doesn’t work with Gustavs.

I like the idea and simplicity of SRAMS lever bracket – shifter mount which would appear to solve all the problems.. except that you have to use SRAM and Avid.. which doesn’t work for me ;) (i’m a Shimano only guy for pedalling and I’ll now go to saint rather than X9 for DH)

On the rear they are great, just as quick as a regular QR essentially but seem much more secure.

Up front, I found that the lever fouled up on the fork lowers to I wasn’t able to use them as designed… had to really step through the small rotating agle to get them on/off – therefore way slower than a regular QR up front. Clamping force is good though but I had to do them really tight to prevent loosening… something made difficult by not being able to get a full turn on the lever. If they clear your fork lowers, I think they’d be great up front too.. however on my race bike I don;t want to be mucking about in the case of a flat or loose front wheel… I threw a Mavic QR on teh front instead which is pretty darn good.

The thing that annoys me most about Konas is the pivot bearings(particularly the nylon

The bushing system that they used on the ’95 Sex One.. and still on current bikes?

this is mainly due to the dated designs and technologies used

Pretty much.

I’ve had 3 stabs, all with worn bushings.. resulting in numerous rear mechs getting destroyed as the rear end folds sideways under cornering.

I love their older hardtails (love the RM blizzard too) but i’m completely unimpressed by their current XC and trail FS bikes.

Relatively cheap over here though – especially if you work for Whistler Blackcomb.

Sounds like air in the damper cartridge. The fox site shows how to service this part – well I’ve followed the instructions for the 40 damper cartridge and the procedure is essentially the same.
It is pretty straight forwards is you follow the instructions… or send it off if you’re not that way inclined

Fox tech help

Pay close attention to the sealing of the rubber bladder – which is possibly your problem.

Usually use a box with pip elagging around frame and clothes to pack out the spaces.

More recently i’ve used a simple bag over the cardboard box… basically, you can’t beat cardboard for the money.
bags for sale here[/url]

Bought my CR1 carbon road bike last time I went home.. alng with my Blizzard frame – all in the same bag.. not a problem or a concern.

As for release tension it depends, racers tnd to have them set very loose so that they have to realy twist a long way, pevents them coming out accidentalty. Newer riders should have the reslease angle set smaller so you can pull out of them if needed.

This is more to do with float than release tension.

In the case of eggbeater style pedals, ‘advanced’ riders can choose to run a larger float angle.. this gives the rider more motion across the surface of the pedal. If you imagine you are really laying the bike over in the corners, to keep your body over the tyres, you’ve go to get those feet around on the pedals.

On shimano spd’s its definitely worth starting off with loose tension so you can reduce any clipped in falls.
I found with loose shinamo tension i’d pull out of the pedals when pedaling (remember that TDF time trial when Lance pulled his foot out of his pedals? – not that i’m suggesting i’m a bionic man)
Also with Shimano spd’s I found that any foot contact with rocks on technical sections would result in me becoming unclipped, however for riders new to cipless pedals, spd’s are super in that they offer great feedback between pedal and rider. ‘click’ you’re in – ‘click’ you’re out and you can really feel the point at which the cleat is about to activate he release on the pedal. With Crankbros, you dont get that definate feedback at all but I prefer how these pedals work for my knees and that i get less incidental releases when riding.

Wellgo Mags of a pretty dainty drop… Jamie the rider had some pretty nasty war wounds as a result… I’ll leave them thanks.

I’d look in the direction of Kona’s Wah Wah for a decent flat.

racers tend to mount the clips either on big toe ball or forwards, the more rearward you go, the more of a feeling of stability you’ll get – and less stress on your calves when stood.

Pedalling efficiency is supposed to be improved forward of big toe joint, however Andy Pruitt of Specialized BG fame suggests that it doesn’t make much difference.

in terms of to in/out orientation.. it needs to be a natural position for you physiology. Everyone is different.

Keep trying with it though as it’ll click soon.

Also, soft soled shoes will make small bodied pedals feel odd… your foot will bend around the pedal whereas a stiffer soled shoe will be an extenion of the pedal.. effectively the shoe sole being the pedal cage IYSWIM

Opium SL vs Pig pro isn’t an apples with apples comparison.

Crank bros headsets are aimed at weight weenies… or in this case DH race. Pig pro is 3 times heavier so wouldn’t be that appropriate on a trail bike.

I really like the idea of the outer race being the headset cup and whilst it means you have to replace the whole unit should the bearings wear out.. I’ve never replaced just the bearings on a regular headset but the whole unit anyway. Plus you get a 5yr warranty to boot.
I guess time will tell if this is a design genius or another thing for people to moan about with CB.

Crank Bros do have the best packaging in the business though ;)

Now, if only they did them in semi integrated sizing.

Assuming its not a spline issue now as a result of incorrect fitting, you need to go back to installation with this one.

Did you fit it?, Did LBS fit it?

Ensure that your BB is fitted correctly as per your BB shell width.

Check the installation instructions for number of small driveline spacers required – use this as a starting point only. Any spacers i refer to from here on are the ones that fit over the crank spindle. There should be no need to adjust the BB spacers from here on.

Install cranks into BB with driveline spacers in place and tighten crank bolt until it bottoms out.

Heres your fault finding – IF:

1) crank bolt doesnt bolt out (doesn’t definately come to a dead stop at the bottom of the thread (forget about torque readings as I doubt ‘bastard tight’ is on the scale ;) ) then you have too many driveline spacers in place. Remove ONE and re-install. try again to bottom out crank bolt. (also now check as per step 2)

2) crank bolt bottoms out but you notice wobbling or knocking then you have too FEW chainline spacers in place. Add ONE and reassemble. If you already removed one, then add a half width chainline spacer instead of a full one

3) crank bolt bottoms out, but cranks dont spin freely. replace full width spacer for half width spacer and reassemle.

Basically, you are trying to achieve a bottomed out crank bolt with a BB preload that will allow the crank arms to spin freely. Unless you bottom out your crank bolt.. you may end up with self loosening cranks. Effectively the bottom out acts a mechanical ‘thread lock’

a bottomed out crank bolt with too few chainline spacers (i.e. cranks wobble within BB) shouldn’t come loose, but will accelerate dirt ingress and BB wear.

I’ve seen many external RF cranksets installed badly whereby the crank bolt has been backed off in an effort to make a tight BB spin freely resulting in – self loosening cranks! I don’t doubt that bikes come from manufacturers or from LBS retrofits installed in this way.

Each of my RF crank installations take at least 2 or 3 install, remove reasseblies to get them spot on.. DH bikes with chainguides often more than 5 fettling refits. Kind of a pain, but then i’ve never had one loosen on me.
I should point out that I’m pretty anal with bike builds and it takes me a lot longer than it should ;) I also agree that this is kind of a PITA.

This is my opinion, from experience and I hope it helps.

I know that people say that you can easily unclip but that means you have to make the decision to bail out early-

I can’t remember when I last had to think about pressing the clutch pedal when changing gear in the car – its essentially the same thing. I’ve had a good number of over the bars crashes in clipless pedals where I have literally run off the front of the bike.. emergency release becomes a natural thing… its amazing how well the bodies self preservation system works ;)

That said, when I first started riding spd’s it was frustrating.. sideways stalled falls etc.. when I switched clipless systems, I had sideways stalled falls again until I adapted.

That said, I definately appreciate that proper pedal technique riding on flats is quite a talent and probably harder to master than it is to get used to clipless. I certainly respect people who have flat technique nailed (sadly I dont)

If i’m pedalling i’m clipless.. if I’m on my big bike i’m flat.

I’m all for whatever works for you, but both require time to adapt to

I’ve run Marta SL’s on my Spark for 2 years now. Initially with 180mm vented rotor up front and 160mm std rotor out back. Now 180/160mm std rotors as I gave the GF the venti as I didn’t really need it on my race bike.

I also run Marta SL’s on my Ransom with 203mm venti front, 180mm std rotor out back.

The brakes are super in both applications, one for xc race, one for trail/AM riding. Both applictaions give well modulated and confident stopping and IMO better than the 06 Louise FR’s that I had on the Ransom previously.

Only problem i’ve had is on a super muddy enduro race (4 hrs of mud plugging) was dirt in the lever bodies and calipers meaning I had to give them a thorough squirting with my water bottle to get the wheels turning freely again as things were binding.

I think ceramic BB’s have a lower co-efficient of friction meaning that they should be more free spinning as the surface of the ceramic bearing is smoother and harder than that of steel bearings…

You do get ceramic bearings on a ceramic inner race which would be the ultimate way to go, but some bearings may be ceramic bearings on a steel race, which is cheaper and I assume ultimately means that the ceramic balls are likely to have more of a wear effect on the steel race surface?

Regarding the SS ceramic vs Hope stainless question, and not getting ceramic as an answer is that its not necessairily an apples v apples comparison. I have zero experience of SS components so dont make any suggestion as to quality, however if you compared say a hope stainless with hope ceramic, the answer may be different in terms of which material lead to the higherst quality and durability and which you should buy.

Serious question – viewing a catalogue online requires a considerable amount of power. How many times would you have to view it online before it was more economical in resource terms to have a hard copy?

Only as much as lurking on the internet.. if it wasn’t the e-catalogue being browsed it’d be STW ;)

36’s are the only forks that I’ve heard of which had a problem with snapping dropouts from over tightened bolts and the torque for the bolts was very low, so it was very easy to do (and who carries a torque wrench on rides with them?).

Sadly not.. Marz 888’s went through a phase of breaking the through axle tabs from over tightening.. Fox and IIRC Marz have warning stickers to inform you not to over tighten the pinch bolts..
Of 3 second hand 888’s on complete bikes I’ve had, 2 have been snapped here.. fortunately they also snapped mid lower casting at the mid bushing machining so I got both lowers warranty replaced.

With a downward facing dropout a QR failure will be catastrophic as the wheel will be ejected. With a forward facing dropout out it wont. Fail safe????

Without real world testing, I expect there a very high probability that a failed QR on a forward facing drop out fork would also cause the wheel to fall out (if you continue to ride) I appreciate that if you immediately [as quickly as this catastrophic failure occurs] identify the QR failure and continuously apply brakes till you stop, said wheel may stay in place.
So, ultimately, direction of the dropouts aside, a failed QR is still a failed QR :(

So, had this gone all the way and Pinder had won his claim, there would be a precedence set. Would this then lead to a recall by Fox for all their downward facing dropout forks that are in existance? Effectively therefore a known and proven safety issue.
If this was the case, would Marzocchi, DT, RockShox, Manipoo et al also be required to recall all their forks as essentially its an issue that affects every manufacturer of downward drop out forks.

So, I guess by settling, Fox are essentially protecting the interests of the industry while ensuring that Mr Pinder can carry on with life?

I appreciate going after the big fish, but I still don’t see why action wasn’t brought against the brake manufacturer and Syncros as ultimately it was a failure of that system that resulted in the terrible injuries. (syncros QR’s have a running theme of loosening – check MTBR)
Lawers summary of the case:

“It is Russell Pinder’s case that the design of the Fox forks when combined with certain disc brakes, and when using a front wheel secured by a quick release mechanism create loosening of the front wheel after repeated brake application, followed by subsequent ejection of the wheel out of the front forks.”

I see the theory and accept that loosening can occur (I’ve had it on DT RWS and regular DT skewers on techy enduro races but unsure as to wether or not this was me being fairy fisted when putting my bike together. In both incidences, noticeable knocking and loosness was evident even when the skewer lever was still effectively tight and a long time before the QR nuts were anywhere close to forcing through the lawer tabs. Perhaps as I have a history of restoring/driving classic cars and self built kit cars, I’m somewhat more aware of feelings and noises that don’t sound right or normal.

However, not being there, I cant say what the lead up to the ultimate failure was in his case nor indeed that he should have been able to stop and address the (apparently catostrophic) failure. Although the evidence that the QR must have worked loosed enough to pass the lawer tabs without scoring would suggest that significant knocking must have been evident. But sadly it happened, and the resulting injury is terrible.

As a side note, Would reverse thread QR nuts have resulted in a tightening effect as opposed to a loosening one?

Best of luck to Pinder though and I hope he can now look towards the future.

Inspiration?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmjgzEFJhi0%5D
http://www.sitski.com/stacyoff.htm

Good guiding will maximise your riding experience.
Bad guiding is a waste of everyones time.

Our packages are comparable to the cost of a hotel, but you get food, transfers and great guiding included… and a bunch of like minded people to enjoy it all with.

Whistler’s XC mapping is very good, but we’ve seen no end of people ride trails so far out of their comfort zone that we would never have contempleted taking them on. e.g. people picking up a map and heading into comfortably numb in the middle of the afternoon?!?!

I’m sure Smoke will agree that their guided riding is tailored to the ability of the riders to ensure the best possible experience.

Feel free to get in touch if you want info on our extremely well priced holiday packages.

I really should hit Smoke up for a trip further into BC ;)

BC Bike Race

I’d lean towards the BC bike race – more singletrack!

Winter tires (tyres) are superb.

A 4WD in the snow on regular summer tyres won’t compare to a FWD car with winter tyres.
Yes it will set off fine and be better than most on bends… but 4WD does nothing to help you stop.. and ultimately where do you need traction for safety? stopping!

Virtually every car we see off the highway, on its roof or in a ditch is a 4WD. They come up from Vancouver, Seattle etc and think that as they have 4WD, they dont need winter tires – oops

I’ve driven a friends Ford Escape 4WD with ‘all-season tires’ on the snowy/icy highway here and it was dicey to say the least. Comparing that to my nasty FWD min-van with cheap snow tires.. The mini van is way more stable on the road and ultimately far safer – which obviously is rather important.

for my mind, if the GF takes the car to Whistler on a snowy or freezing day, I’m far happier to know that she’s less likely to get into any difficult situations in terms of the 80 miles round trip per day commute in the snow or ice. Worth $400 of my money I reckon…

The Whistler trail standards are superb although its worth noting that as soon as these standards are applied to trails on private land – they’re not worth much as private land owners are still quite nervous about the inherent risks of liability associated with TTF’s. This is probably a major reason that the UK doesn’t see a higher level of technicality at all trail centers. Not because its too expensive to build natural trail, but because its potentially more likely to lead to legal issues.
Ultimately I’d imagine that machine built trail is more expensive to build than a well built natural trail.
Chris Markle (of Comfortably Numb fame) spend months building some superb woodwork in a new development in Whistler under the employment of the developer, only be told to take it down as the developer was concerned about the potential risk on their land. These features were all built to the trail standards.

Another great thing about Whistlers bike club is that now that trails are becoming legally recognised, WORCA can operate in a no net loss method whereby if a land developer intends to remove existing trail they have to rebuild (re-route) trail to a higher standard and in more quantity.

Also worth pointing out is that existing trail that fail to meet the trail standards guidelines are being brought up to standard, re-routed or in cases – decommissioned.

Theres certainly a lot to be learned from Whistler and many other BC riding communities too. Theres also still lots for Whistler to learn.

Holy cr@p its frustrating trying to figure out which way to handle biting (teething too). So many trains of thought and who know who you should listen to. From the replies above, I think commieriders approach is the most ideal and worth persevering with for a good period of time.

Basically we decided that teeth on skin was unacceptable and it took us a while to get it almost sorted. Barkings our next challenge.

We didried the water spray – good until she caught me with it im my hand then worked out what was going on.
We did the ‘hurt’ puppy yelp – how puppys communicate pain during play
We did the NO firmness
We also did the if you bite me i’ll ignore you, get up, leave the room and leave you on your own… which did have its place.

Anyway, at 9 weeks old, you’ve got a load more frustrating challenges to deal with on the way! I’d advise you keep any sacks, rope or heavy rocks away from your GF for the foreseeable ;)

A puppy is hard work.. but its worth it!
My business partners dog was a PITA until he was 2.. now he’s an amazing dog even in light of his faults (sorry – personality)

One thing we’ve been careful of is to not make our dog ‘hand shy’.. although at times it feels like a good belt would do the trick :o
Soon as you’re do associates you with dominance, pain or punishment then you can’t expect your dog to be mans best friend for long.

Whilst dirt ingress is an issue, particularly in the UK, dry seals is a major issue when combined with dirty oil.

Dry seals with dirty foam rings is basically sandpaper.. not going to be kind to your stantions no matter how you look at it.

Your forks WILL benefit from being inverted overnight on a regular basis… this allows the oil bath oil to soak the foam and keep things lubed.

Oil changes and cleanups as per matt_out’s schedule are also important.

We all lube our chains, and being that a fork costs considerably more than a chain.. I’d be making sure I take more care of my forks.

As for warranty, if you didn’t service your car or ran it out of oil, you wouldn’t expect it to be warrantied… however that said, I think Mojo have a responsibility to UK riders to help better develop the Fox product for UK conditions. That or help educate riders and make owners more aware of the things that they can do to keep things working superbly.

I guess this is a start

smoke – Member

There’s some issues with parks in the Whistler alpine. Once you start heading out around Singing Pass you’re in a protected wilderness zone, and they’re pretty restrictive about the kinds of activities you can do out there.

Absolutely, other options include heading out over towards the Cheakamus side.. or over Blackcomb way… Peak to Peak is intended to increase summer visits and I’m pretty sure we’ll see the bike park activities develop on the Blackcomb side in the next few years.
Whistler Blackcomb have already guided Khybers on XC bikes… so that kind of riding is on the radar.

Dues Cranks will be more than enough on your 5 spot and more of a comparison to the middleburns.

I’d run Atlas AM’s on a 6+ inch FR bike.. although I do run Deus on my Ransom.

Atlas will be stiffer, but the deus are stiff enough for AM riding.

IMO

Whistler has 2 examples of trail centers… well.. areas of riding that are purpose built for riding.

The bike park is a phenomenal example of how to purpose build trail for bike riding and a good example of one that some people love, some people hate. Simply put though, if thats what you are looking for, theres nothing better.

If, i’m sure like most of you here, prefer to pedal and earn your ride, then the cross country trail network is possibly the perfect example of a trail centre. Every trail is accessible by riding to it from your doorstep, everything has been maintained with a view to bikes being ridden along them (I hesitate from using built as many of the trails were existing hiking, hunting and logging access trails that have been purpose adapted, not purpose built) and pretty much everything has a natural feel and has been maintained in a way that keeps the essence of riding pure.
Of course there are trails that have been purpose built. Many lovingly built by hand as well as those that make use of machine based construction and copious amounts of pea gravel. These machine built trails still serve a purpose and do have a welcome place in the Whistler trail inventory as areas that help to encourage people into mountain biking.

Anyway, love them or hate them, I believe trail centers are an important and integral part of riding culture although it’ll probably be a long long time before the UK sees a trail center that gets close to the 250+kms of XC riding that Whistler has on offer. I for one hope that it does happen.

One thing that Whistler is missing, is a high alpine XC trail – So, thats what I would build if I could.
Give it a couple of years and we will see high alpine XC riding with lift support in Whistler.

DT EX1750.. good raceable weight for the larger gent.

Had some 5.1d’s on 440Fr hubs with supercomp spokes and alloy nipples on my Ransom.
They were built and went on in 2006, they did 2 summer seasons in Whistler (averaging 3 hours per day I reckon), trail riding, guiding and XC racing, also a winter on a Blizzard hardtail riding in the UK, North Van, Squamish etc.
Since then they’ve done another summer season of hard riding in Whistler by one of our guides who was probably riding 5+ hours a day all summer long.

He broke a few spokes and appart from replacing those, nothing else has been a problem. They are still straight, not dented and most folding Kenda tires are removeable by hand or 1 plastic lever at most.

I’ve dented a 4.2d (low pressures and crap bike control.. I rode over a sharp rock on teh virgin ride on my race bike) and put lots of dents in my DH bikes 6.1’s.. none of which have gone out of true though.

The 5.1s have been superb.. pretty much fit and forget. The 6.1’s have been somewhat frustrating but the wheels do take some abuse over a seasons Bike Park riding so its an issue that we have to accept.

I kno wthat we can give you exactly what you are looking for.

Whistler’s world famous… although the XC doesn’t recieve the press it deserves!

A week in Whistler followed by a few days in Spruce lakes would be hard to beat.. although Sacred Rides tours look pretty mouthwatering.

The BC Bike race would make a better MTB multi day stage race than transrockies as far as I can tell.

BBB

Best i’ve bought is a Blackburn one. I’ve had Blackburn hand pumps die, but they have a lifetime warranty anyway.

The track pump, aside from needing the bottom nut tightening has been suoer reliable and the dual valve stem thingy works well.

the seat on a DH bike is only for controlling the bike with your thighs

I don’t think you want to be controlling the bike with anything other than hands and feet.. unless you’re into no-handers when jumping.

Its a nut saver, and somewhere to sit when you get to the bottom of the trail (or when you get lazy).. otherwise.. there’s no reason to touch it ;)