Wish the camera in the heli would zoom in a bit more!! Need a magnifying glass to see the riders

I bought a 5L bottle of Hutchison thinking latex based, cant be any diffferent to Stans but when I popped the tyres off on getting back from holiday 100ml+ had dried up in 3 weeks.

Second that…..however it does seem to depend on the tyre. Using in a maxxis HR2 seems to be fine. In my conti trail king…..dries up extremely quickly!

sounds like a drastic solution. Assume you have tried letting oil and/or WD40 soak down the post to try and free it up. Not entirely sure if carbon likes WD40 however!

Good luck!

re craigeburn accom. There is a backpackers/hostel not to far down the road https://www.flockhill.co.nz/accommodation/shearers-quarter-backpackers  

Stayed there a good 15 years ago on a ski trip. Was basic but did the job. Not sure what it is like now however. Prob one of the cheapest places around there I guess. And yes, there is nothing around so take food, beer etc!

I have just been through the same decision process. In the end I went with the POC VPD Air. I did like the look of the trail skins but as mentioned above there were a lot of comments about the velcro rubbing. They are fairly short above the knee which I was a little worried about but its really not that bad. They are pretty comfy and stay in place really well. I never need to adjust them. 1000% improvement on my old Bliss knee pads. They flex nicely but the padding feels solid. I havent had the pleasure of stacking with them yet but I’m pretty confident they would stay in place and do the job. All day pedalling is not a problem with them. I didn’t pay full retail however…I got them for £52, which I thought was pricey but after wearing them for a few months I think they are worth it. I was in the middle of L and M so ordered both. I went with the M in the end. The M was a bit tight at first but they have stretched a bit are a great now.

I have often thought the same. I don’t understand people buying second hand at a price marginally less than brand new. No return, no warranty for slightly less money – makes no sense

I’m sure its not April 1st….is it?

This is what you need. Brilliant little tool!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shock-Bushing-Tool-for-rear-Fox-Rock-Shox-Marzocchi-2x-Polymer-Bush-DP-DU-/283077392541?hash=item41e8ba389d

Second time for me and enjoyed it as much as last year. As for showers – couldn’t be bothered waiting in the queues and jumped in the river for a dip every day – good thing the air temp was warm!

Food lines were pretty long – for the life of me I cant understand why the chicken van didn’t have two or three people serving at once……surely more throughput = more money for them.

Learnt lesson from last year and bought beer with me…..used river water to keep them semi cold.

The stages seemed more cut up, esp 1,2,7…still fun though.

maxxis with a 50% offer if replacing another maxxis

dam……didn’t realise this – I thought it was only if you punctured your DD maxxis? I would have got a new DHF…oh well

The cut off time is a bit tight however if you start late. We had a 10:50 start and didn’t muck around, just the normal rest at the start and end of each stage and we were being hushed along at the end. Got back at 5:30

Great weekend overall and for the price I think its pretty good value.

The sram truck is free from what I can remember…..not sure about what happens when seals/parts are needed though. The wait last year was pretty long and based on priority. Shagged brakes would probably be a higher priority as you cant ride without them, so you might be in luck. Its worth a shot first thing on Fri morning.

 they are going to do a mod which will allow a more robust retaining clip to be installed, the mod is an extra tenner which seems reasonable given that this looks to be a relatively common fault.

What is the mod they are doing – does it replace the current retaining clip with a chunkier circlip? Would be interested to know.

write left handed, kick/tennis/cricket right handed/foot, “normal” on skate board, right foot forward on bike. Left foot forward feels all wrong!

^^^ Hmm, genuine part?

I bought the kit from BIkeinn and the ebay one. Both look/feel exactly the same. Cant tell the difference between them. I imagine there is a huge demand for them hence why they are selling them individually. Time will tell though…

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sram-Guide-RSC-Ultimate-Piston-Assembly-and-Return-Spring-Qty-1-VER-2-Gen-2/273281825150?hash=item3fa0ddb97e:g:X5oAAOSw4Q5bHclv

Mine took just over a week to arrive.

might be easier to pop a normal link and replace with a spare missing link?

A thought – can you not get it tig welded?

Thanks all. Some positive feedback there. Should have asked about the sizing. Are they true to size chart? For me the charts say I’m a large. 47cm thigh and 38cm calf .

Trying to decide between these and Trail Skin 2’s

Cheers

I found that info above earlier. It’s useful but it doesn’t say what size key is in a particular post. Seems a bit silly that you have to dismantle the post to find what key size you need. I’m surprised there isn’t a table saying post X has size Y key

gave it a crack without a vice and it was no issue. The only issue is that it is pretty dire inside…ok so maybe it just a few hours over its 50hr service shall we say! The bushing is toast. Will def need to replace that.

Do watch out removing the seals. They are on tight and i ripped one (temporary superglue repair awaiting new piston)

Been there, done that! Many swear words came out!!

The circlip is a pain to remove. I could only get my pliers to fit in the openings if the clip was in one specific position. My patience was tested to the max however!

not sure on the answer…but knowing Sram you will probably need to buy a whole kit of 15 pieces to get the one bit you actually want!

was there a few weeks back – from memory there were a few slots up the very front for fat tires

Excellent. Even more fun to be had! :-)

Always an interesting topic for debate. I  MTB and cycle to work pretty much every day for the last 10 years, so more a city rider than a country lane rider. My view is that a lot of drivers are already p**sed with cyclists getting in the way so I always try and stay to the side where possible and let cars go. Might sound odd, but I even get annoyed with road cyclists hogging the road and causing huge tail backs…..its really not that hard to ride single file and then everyone can be friends :-)

ah, glad I didn’t convert last week at x2. I’ll wait until Monday and hopefully get x3. I need a new helmet!

There were 4 new runs advertised as being open yesterday and at least 1 of those was still shut (AC DC).

So I wasn’t dreaming when I thought ACDC was supposed to be open! Was a shame that the entire riders right was shut but it was still a great weekend. At least the sun was out :-)

I have tried one of those bikes. So confusing!!

Spent an age in Evans last week trying on helmets. I have a narrow head and one of the best fitting ones was the Endura Singletrack II helmet. Huge vents in it, so you wont get to hot. They are on special at Tredz at the moment. I’m tempted to get one. I like the Bell Super 3’s but have never found a shop with a M size in stock so not sure how they fit.

Contacted Wych bearings and explained the situation and fair play to them they offered to send me a new bearing. So great service from them. I’m really hoping it was a dud bearing otherwise I have another issue all together!

You say they’re loose. Have you opened them to see why?

Just took at outer seal off to have a look — nothing really out of the ordinary. All greased nicely. Everything looks new, as would be expected from new bearings. No crushed balls etc. The race just has a lot of free movement – the balls don’t seem to have play. It looks like the inner race is just to small! Hard to say though.

One side is miles worse the other (dare to say the other is okish). Could be duff bearing or damage during installation, although I struggle to see how I could have done this. They are not hard to put in. Either way, I’ll order another one and see what happens…Same bearing again…hmm, not sure!

They should definitely last more than 2 rides, and if you got them from Wych they shouldn’t be cheap knock-offs.  Are the bolts properly torqued, and threadlocked, and were the bearings seated correctly when you bolted up?

Torque wrenched to 7nm, blue threadlock, seated square (as best I could tell)

Is it definitely the bearings?

As far as I can tell. Removed the bolts this morning and dropped the link out for closer inspection. When I put the bolt back in and wiggle up and down I can see the inner bearing race moving a lot. More than the old bearings I took out! It is weird. They were solid two rides ago. Might just have to try again. Maybe just bad luck!

I used the “Enduro” brand   – http://www.wychbearings.co.uk/398-E-LLU-MAX-Enduro.html

Used a press to put them in….nice and gentle!

They sound like decent enough bearings but maybe they are not?

When you fix it, don’t use the same replacement part as it will just happen again. Use the Gen 2 piston/plunger – the design is different – so one can assume that the issue has been addressed by Sram. I did my guides a few weeks back and went riding in 27 degrees on Sunday and no issues at all. Previously they would have been stuck or very slow to return. You can buy just the plunger from Taiwan rather than the whole kit. Mine only took a week to arrive.

Sram suggested I returned to them for warranty even though the 2 years is up, but I couldn’t be bother with the hassle, so just did it myself. God knows how long they would have taken to do it.

old camping sleeping mat.I use this in addition (down entire downtube) to my rockguardz when riding in really rocky places! Doesn’t look all that fancy though, but effective.

The dimple of the port is located 3/4 of a fingers length up inside the stanchion (it’s approx 1.5mm cubed). The common cause of issue with it is an excess of grease from the factory, which can end up congealed on top of the air shaft head.

As above.

I just did mine on Monday night after having the same issue. Found about half a tub of grease in the air shaft assembly. Followed the manual on reassembly and used a “liberal” about of grease. Hopefully the forks wont suck down after riding…have yet to test however. Fingers crossed.   And the washers…no idea – they don’t seem to lock to anything, so I assume they are free to move up and down!

Don’t venture up to Scotland very much, but anywhere in Wales seems to be a killer for me. I always find Afan a nightmare!  BPW next weekend and I’m dreading the following days of itching fits. They are potent little buggers!

What are the go to site(s) in Germany. Rose bikes is one I guess….others?

**insurance companies starting to rub their hands together**   now what ridiculous price can we charge for that insurance….

on a similar note some brake pads I received yesterday came with a full A4 sheet of Legal disclaimer and “customer information”….for example one gem piece of info ” if the road is wet it will be slippery and you may fall”……what a laugh!

What….no more “On Track”!!. I quite enjoyed those video’s!