Chain checker is *the* best spent money on a bike. Cyclo ones are only a fiver.

And GT85 is the devils jizz.

I run a couple of cheapish chains on each bike, and swap them over each time I clean them. If you change them for a couple of new ones when they reach 0.75% then you’ll easily double the life of the cassette and chainrings.. After all, an xt middle chainring is easily more costly than 4 chains.

What demographic do you fit into?

Solicitor = Yeti
Searching for lost youth = SC

Personally, I’d buy a Giant. Lots more for your £2k.

rebuild on a hayes 9 master cylinder. Fiddliest circlip EVER

amen to that!

why Sturmey?

It cost me a fiver, and it fits in a 120mm spaced frame… Mind you, I’ve got the frame because of the wheels, so that doesn’t really count as a reason! If I ever end up doing something very long distance I might get a sturmey 8 speed, as they come in a 120 flavour as well. Once they’re worn in (at about 2000 miles, apparently!) they have very low drag, especially if oil lubricated.
And, as epicyclo said, it should have a longer lifespan than my knees.

Epicyclo, is your rear sprocket a 2 part thing? It looks that way on your bigger pic.

You can keep that niche..
I got a job lot of KMC 3/32 singlespeed chains.. 10 at £2 each! When they run out, I’ll think about it.
The other thing is those Gates rear sprockets are prone to shearing off.. The sprocket interface is designed for steel, not aly. Might have just been a batch problem though with the 2 I had to send back, but out of 2 bikes sold it wasn’t a great success rate!

Also liking the fact that we seem to have found a *real* niche here.. Nobody else seems bothered!

They’ll be common as much next week.. Mark my words!

42/17 should be almost the same as that then, although I prefer to spin, so 18 might be the magic number.

I went by Sheldon Brown’s advice that you should be pedalling along mostly in top, and have 2 spare low gears.. But then what’s the point in having gears if you’re always going to spin out downhill? I’m used to SS, so grinding up hills isn’t a problem.

I am liking the fact that changing it into a CX bike will just involve a tyre swap, loosing the mudguards and a quick sprocket change.

Commuter bikes with hydro disk brakes.. Guaranteed messed up, corroded, stuck pistons etc etc..

But the worst job absolutely of all is trying to explain this to the clueless customer..

“Yes sir, on top of your **** chain, cassette, chainrings and front mech, we’re going to need to rebuild your hayes/avid brakes at great cost to you..”

“But when you sold me the bike you told me it was a good one.”

“Yes sir, but you decided to ignore the scrapey-wapey noises for the last 8 months, not change the front gear since you bought it, and never, it seems, oil the chain..”

“Well, can you half fix it for less?”

“**** off, sir.”

I liked it coz it was a sort of stealth Sturmey.. It well confused the London fashionistas!

What ratio does your belt drive end up as then? I’ve got 42/19 on there at the mo.. I was aiming for the top gear to slightly over-run the 42/16 that I had as a singlespeed, but middle ends up too low to be that useful. I’ve got a 17t and an 18t in the post though.

Mostly the escaping air when you detach the pump is just the pressure left in the hose. The whole losing 5-10psi thing is a myth… except when the valve stem stands really proud, and then it’s true.

Try this.. Pump the shock up to a known pressure, and then detach the hose. Then re-attach the hose and read the pressure. This is the drop in pressure to fill the hose and the gauge.
Now, pump the shock up to the same pressure, and detach the hose slowly.. Now re-attach it and see if the pressure drop is the same. If it is, then it’s only the hose that’s losing air.

I like that! Is the adjuster from an old calliper brake then? It’s hard to make out from that pic. I’d have thought you could take one of those old adjusters and use it to close the clip. TBH, I’m probably going to keep with the down tube routing, as I’ve not hit it with my ankle yet. I’ll make up a little zip tie guide to pull it out the way and stop it rattling in the high gear.

The old incarnation of this bike had something similar going on:

But I was a bit worried that reaching round and changing gears would be taken as indicating by motorists!

EDIT: Volvo Claude Butler for sale!

Could be that one of the glide rings round the piston has slipped. I’d not ride it till you’ve had it to bits, as that could score the stanchion.

Cranks. Stiffer, lighter, and longer lasting rings than XT. They shift rather well too, but don’t come in 172.5mm any more. boo.
£17 BBs from Rose Bikes.
Hubs.. If you’re happy looking after them.

TBH, with most of it the function isn’t vastly better than XT, but the weight is, so the chunkier bits like cranks and hubs become worthwhile.

I just half sliced my fingernail off with a stanley knife! I’m still slightly confused at why it doesn’t hurt more, and bleed more. I’m sure it will the next time I go climbing though.. I foresee spurting..

Good luck Showerman!

That is deffo £180 well spent. But tuck that mudguard in a bit tighter at the back would you? Cheers!

Whenever I see a Ribble, I always want to get the tippex out and give it a D before the R..

Nice 🙂 I’ve got a 3rd hand prototype Enigma ST.. Was a test frame made to their specs as a production try out in the far east somewhere, so sort of a bastid half Enigma!
It’s an awesomely lovely ride.. Siff to climb but really well behaved on the downs. I can only imagine a proper one being even better.

aw.. poor thing!

Before you take the right of way, look at the car driver that could pull out in the eye. Glare at them.

They’ll see you, and you’ll know that they’ve seen you.

It’s probably not the wiper seals.. more likely the foot nut crush washers, and possibly the piston rod o-rings.

Yeah.. I knew a girl like that…

Are they not the funny nipples on them though? Looks like the’re the same as standard crossmax spokes in the pics..

Google seems to have just found me a rather happy coincidence though.. Stans 355 rims and Bontrager Race Lite rims *apparently* have the same ERD! Am just going to have to get the marker pen out to colour in that braking track on the rim..

…And I’m pretty sure that somewhere I’ve got … A bontrager tubeless rim strip!

The thing is, the rims come as a pair.. Does anybody want a 24 hole rim by any chance?

?
OK then. Thanks Al.

The 24 hole 819s were a Cannondale special. One of the first ones I looked for, but nothing out there..
Just found a sun-ringle black flag rim.. Could be good, but it’s in the states and more to post than to buy!
I would be happy to drill one out Al, but not one that’s eyeleted..

Don’t be such a cynic, Al! They’re out there… Sprinkled in hens teeth and unicorn poo..

Here’s another, but I’m not sure of it’s pedigree:
evans own brand, anyone?

If I can find one with an ERD that’s within about 3-4mm of the Stans one, I’ll be able to use it. I know all about trying to source SP spokes.. They’re all custom and a big PITA for shop mechanics.. If I have to source spoke, then I’ll just get a Stans replacement, but I’d rather try and be different!

I’d go one better than an 8spd chain, and get a 3/32 singlespeed chain. The plates at the side are higher so there’s even less chance of it coming off.. so even less tension required.

Not sure with those ones, but they probably have a 2.5mm allen key adjuster for the rebound under each lower leg.. It’s probably all in the service manual anyway.

I had an old skinny downtube inbred like that.. flexybendium to climb hills but lots of fun down… Cheap heavy clunky fun! 70mm stem seemed spot on for mine.

TBH, if they’re squelching and not leaking at the seals and not feeling sticky, I’d probably not bother taking them to bits yet.. Get a feel of how the compression damping is working and then give them a fettle later. The new seals take a good while to bed in, so you won’t know you’ve put the right weight oil in for a while!
If he’s heavy (it’s a tall bike, so I’d assume so!) I’d put something higher than 7.5 in.. 10 or a mix of 10/7.5 would be a good start.

It sounds like a bunch of people have ended up with front shifting issues that have made them not use the front gears enough, and then abandon the 44 as they don’t use it.. From spending years as a shop mechanic fixing gears and brakes, it comes as no surprise to me. Front mechs are only generally ever set up wrongly from the factory.. Too high, wonky or bent.. and generally cheap, as nobody cares what’s written on their *front* mech when they see the bike on display.. and most of them aren’t fixed up before the bike leaves the shop (well I always did, but it’s quite time consuming on a PDI on a busy saturday).

Expensive bits (ie, at least XT mechs, good cables and decent chainrings) set up and working properly are so much better to use, work quickly, and don’t tend to drop the chain or grind through changes, no matter how muddy it is. I guess that not a large proportion of people ever get to use something like that.. so they never learn to use the front gears properly.

Hi Steve. No email on your profile. Drop me a line. Ta!

You’ve not even commented on my 500gm = 20s on a 90min race or produced any mathematical analysis of your own.

I’d say that your analysis is very partial.. It doesn’t attempt to quantify the effects of unsuspended weight on rolling resistance. It’s valid on a smooth track, but not many mountain bike races are.

Although I don’t pretend to know any maths to show the significance of the effects, I’d certainly say that the following points are true:

1. Having less unsuspended weight (or less unsuspended inertial mass, as it’s spinning) will allow the suspension to react quicker to bumps.. So less deformation of the tyres and wheel, less energy transfered to the ground, and less rolling resistance… So less slowing down over bumpy ground.
2. Having more reactive suspension (because of the above) will have the effect of sticking the tyres down better, giving the wheels greater grip on the corners.. So carrying more speed. After all, suspension is about traction, not comfort.

These could each be equally as significant as the accelerative effect that you mention (well, actually they’re the same effect!) so if 20s became 60s over 90 minutes.. what then?

Last thing..
If the wheels are constructed the same, then the lighter ones will be less stiff.. So might deform more due to pedalling forces and losing energy that way. Most light wheels aren’t built like that though.

If you stick the single ring on the outside you’ll have loads of room anyway.. Just maybe not on the first BB you buy!
I’ve got a un-53 68/107 kicking around if you want it..

I’ve seen it work fine.
Might be more likely on a steel frame with skinny stays, and you can always give them a tap with a hammer for more room!

If you can then go for the bigger chainset, as you’ll have better jumps between the rear gears then.. If you’re on the 11-12-13 sprockets all the time, it’ll wear out faster.. Go bigger and you’ll be able to pick a nice range cassette to suit.

EDIT.. Sorry, ignore that bit about gears.. You said singlespeed! It’s always worth running bigger rings/sprockets though for a lower wear factor.

Yep. That’s all really. It’ll sit the same as normal with tension on it

Same as.. I didn’t really get it. Was never that bothered to try further (for the sake of science, of course!) as I’m not all that over the moon about funding child soldiers.

I agree with the social conditioning thing.. I’ve stopped drinking for the last year, and can still get all hyper and shouty with friends in the pub.

The US war on drugs has **** Mexico, Colombia and a bunch of South American countries.
It really boils my piss that they can take their societal problems and utterly fail to fix them, but then manage to screw over so many other countries and cause so much death and suffering in the process.

EDIT: and for what it’s worth, a mate of mine summed up cocaine in two words: dickhead dust.

Why oh why is there a Hammerschmidt on that top bike?

“Lets make a nice rolling bike, and then fit this treacle adapter as an afterthought..”

Never mind that stupid pump placement.. Have they never carried a bike up stairs?

But yeah.. Racks, 3 speeds and moustache bars are all a goodness.

The chain tension will hold it in place. The stop is only that it doesn’t stick out backwards, and makes it easy to fit because you don’t have to wind the spring up as you put it on.
I had a dura-ace mech on my old road bike that was exactly like that. It had been damaged in transit by an airline and written off. Customer didn’t want it, but it’s still going strong for my mate 7 years later.

if you look on the shimano techdocs site, you’ll be able to get a part no. for the cones. You might be able to google for that to find it. Not sure if the madison consumer site lists the spare parts.

ooh.. can I have your old one then? I might die, but it’ll be fun trying!

Front hub? then there’s usually 11 per side.
It’s probably a combo of too tight and guff cones. It’s an arse trying to get the exact same cones, as Madison are woefully unhelpful with little bits like this.. Even if you’ve got a part number, then it’s hard to search for it.
You should be able to get a complete hub for peanuts and swap all the guts over. Tightness of the cones should be very very slightly loose when out of the bike.