I’d look at the pedals first.

Sometimes creaky headset bearings and crown races can make noises that sound like they’re coming from the rear end.

I found some very cheap Eclipe/DT rim strips which are doing the job on mine. Spent ages trying to find some good double sided tape to stick them down. They’re not happy with Mud-x’s but seem fine with any Maxxis tyres. I’ve tried packing the rimstrips out underneath to get a better seal on the Bontragers, but then they’re an epic struggle to get on.
I reckon you could go at it with some maxxis tyres, some chopped out presta valves and 4+ layers of gaffer tape. Would go for at least 6 layers for Bontrager ones, but have a play as they’re all different!

That is truly the work of a madman.

I’ve never had a problem with a joe blow sport. You have to take manly strokes though! If the gauge on the mountain only goes up to 70, you might find it annoying if you’ve ever got to use it on a road bike. It helps to straighten the bead out by hand first and hang the wheel as you seat it.

Threaded CO2 carts are peanuts if you get them from air gun suppliers, so you might as well keep some if the pump fails.

My optio was ok for its time.. Not up to much by todays standards.

Another option is an Olympus mju tough. I got one for my ex a couple of years ago. colour quality was much better, as was having a wider angle lens. More external moving parts though, like the lens cover, so not sure how long lasting it would be compared to the pentax

I’ve got an Optio waterproof camera from 2006. It’s covered in dents and it’s indestructible! It gets a bit fogged up inside if you take it over the recommended 2m deep, but dries out fine..
I’d get another one.

Xtr don’t come with 2 sets of pads unless this is a recent thing, had mine since May bought in the UK from my LBS.

Olie, I’d go and ask your LBS what they’ve done with your pads.

Having worked somewhere that got the top dealer rate from Madison, I’d be very surprised from the prices if Rose, Wiggle, CRC etc were going through the same channels as your LBS to get their stuff. They were selling stuff and posting it cheaper than we were getting it, before VAT. I know for a lot of stuff they could lean on Madison or other importers to shift a lot of boxes, but there’s a limit, and they have to make a reasonable profit, or they wouldn’t be doing it. There was a Spanish outfit grey-importing shimano and campag stuff a few years back. Madison whinged and had Shimano stop supplying them. Not sure that would be so easy these days.

FWIW, I ordered some XTR bbs for myself from Rose about 18 months back, they came in boxes. I ordered another plus a cassette recently which arrived in plastic bags. They’re the same things, and unlikely to need a warranty, so I’m happy that I got them cheap. I’d have got them cheap somewhere anyway, and I’m not that fussed about protecting Madison’s position in the UK.

Nice to know that someone else is making one of those. Giant used to make one while they still did the old MPH brakes, but never sold it aftermarket.

Steel4real: I reckon you could possibly space that out with a couple of washers underneath, and do a little filing in sensible places and it’d work. Depends on how much space on the outside of the rotor you’ve got. As long as the pads don’t end up hanging right off the outside of the disk you’ll be fine.

Ahh.. I’ve just had a brilliant idea!
Lycra over baggies for tomorrows ride.
No budgies, no snaggage and I’ll be able to descend 32x faster. Sorted!

I’d do that ^^^

I’d avoid drilling and cutting things, as if you accidentally loose a bit of swarf inside the reservoir then it could do a nastyness.

Packing = lycra, lacking = baggies.

Packing = seat up, lacking = mincy dropper post

Hang on, is this baggies vs lycra or dropper post vs normal seatpost?

I just like telling people how much I enjoy wearing lycra. Nowt wrong with that is there?

Well what do the baggies do though really? Just weigh a lot, and weigh even more when wet.. And then keep you cold when they’re heavy and wet with all the wet fabric slapping against your legs..
And then in the summer, they keep you too hot, and still end up weighing loads as they’re soaked with sweat! ffs..

Nah, I’m all with the lycra thing.. I mean, when I’m out on the bike, I’m already wearing the clip-cloppy shoes and the silly hat, so why not go the whole hog?

Already there. I got caught up on my old baggies a while back and had an OTB on a steep down. Mind you, I never moved my seat before, just move it even less now!

Formula guts in that one I think. Most of specs own hubs are theirs.

These here

I knocked them down by a fiver as they sent the wrong split links.. You could pin join them fine though, or bodge the split link with another side plate if you’ve not got to fit it through a tensioner.

A what?
A bike chain, any bike chain that fits on the teeth which IIRC a 9speed will work on a WI. Certainly does on Surly sprockets. I tend to use 1/8 BMX chains but currently using a 9 speed as it’s lighter ;0)

Yer bog standard bike chain is designed to fall off teeth. Yer singlespeed one is designed not to. If you’re dicking around with magic ratios, then a proper chain is kind of essential.
FWIW, I just got a box of 10 KMC 3/32 singlespeed chains for £2 each on ebay.. With 2 bikes, I reckon that’s about 8 years!

fine with 8 speed.. but you really want to be running a proper 3/32 singlespeed chain. KMC 610 ones do the job.

Tatty old thing. Axiom I think?

It splurges out what it doesn’t need! I find them a doddle to service though.. Just leave all the balls in place, and only put grease in the outside.. It’ll work its way through as you tighten it back up.

Was deffo the cold.. Was fine earlier in the afternoon, but engagement got more and more sluggish as the temp dropped.

There’s a noticeable difference in stiffness, plus you’re less likely to break the driveside spokes as they don’t have to be wound up so tight.
I’ve got an on-one hub. Nice and simple, but it’s a heavy lump.

Discovered at the weekend that filling a DX freewheel with marine grease makes it not work when it’s so cold that the mud freezes to your bike!

Looks like it might be the same as a shimano cassette tool.. a bit unusual!

Having said that, have you tried persuading the tool in with a bit of hammer?

What bothers me is that they could have put another one in the top row and had them all nicely lined up!

Nobody seems to have love for the cup and cone these days!

Only the cheap ones have a special tool.. just a 17mm spanner to get them undone. one is a LH thread, but the bodies are marked for tightening direction.
You don’t need to take the bearing assembly apart to adjust it.. It all stays together.. Sounds like a very cack-handed video!

You know you can easily service your XTRs? Just unscrew the axle assembly, adjust the bearings with a couple of dinky spanners (6 and 7 i think), half fill the body with grease, and screw it back together. I’d rather have them than Cranks Bros any day.

on the inside of the skinny upright on the drive side of the rear triangle… at least it is on my 05 one.

A local free newspaper once ran a story on a new phone mast and some nimby local objectionism, so the headline ran:

“New erection sparks mast debate”

Utter genius!

The rim brakes make sense for TT bikes. Normally the cable routing can be so tortuous that rim brakes are mediocre at best. Hence why they’ve got the hose exiting where it is. I imagine there’ll be a separate lever coming soon, like Magura’s new system.

Either works. I spoke to Fishers about this when doing mine. The double seal kit is a more recent thing than your forks, but will fit. They only tend to fit the dust seal and big foam ring from factory.
With the black oil seals gives a little more stiction, but lower contamination if you’re riding harder hitting stuff or in shitty weather.
With the dust seal and big foam ring you’ll get better action, but probably barely noticable difference, but have to keep a better eye on cleaning the lowers more regularly.

Yowch!

Even if those forks look fine, I wouldn’t be using them again.

Yup. Northwind said it! They look corroded to ****.. How long were they in there then, and how much salty road spray did they get?

And what is the opposite of astroturfing?

I would like to point out that I am in no way affiliated with any shonky pad pedallers.. I’m in the posh pads only camp, after I had some Disco Brakes pads de-laminate too, and they weren’t rusty… By posh, I mean comes on a header carded packet, so you at least know which factory they came from: Ashima, Alligator, EBC, Swiss Stop, etc etc.

Is it a secret question?

A mate of mines forks sheared across the SFN because of corrosion.. For that reason, I’ll only use them in steel forks. Hope head doctors are fiddly to get started, but work well.

I hear of it lots. Never hear of Shimano pedals doing that though.. And Shimanos are easier to service than CBs.
Times seem fairly indestructible too, until you bend a spring on a rock.

The bearings are free, but they don’t cover labour. With all the jiggery required to square up the bearings in them it’s quite a time consuming job.

it’s specular light from inside your field of view reflecting off dust close to the lens (or on the front element or a filter)each speck creates a pinpoint of light.

Close.. I think it’s specular light from OUTSIDE your field of view, and probably highly oblique on the lens, so it’s not causing flare.
If you look at the pools of light on the ground from the windows, then there’s probably another one just about where the camera is sat.

What demographic do Nicolai owners fall into?

Engineers?

FWIW, I think Yetis are lovely bikes. So much so, I’d feel terrible about parking one in a bush and scratching it if I owned one.
All the people I know that own SC Blurs seem to get through bearings at an unreasonable rate, so I’d tend towards a single pivot from them.

If you’re gonna buy your wheels from Salvador Dali, it’s bound to go wrong!