Anyone able to comment on the effect of hot weather on the output of their system?

Mine is an old system, 11 years now so well past it’s pay-back period, but still well within FIT payment timescale so not worth replacing yet. I had to replace the inverter back in the winter so this is the first year I’ve had real-time stats of what they’re producing.

On these significantly warm days, I’ve noticed my max output is 1.6kW, from a system that is rated at 2.25kW – so down about 25%. Can anyone comment – are you guys seeing a similar reduction?

Edit – I should point out that on cold days with a sudden sunny spell I get up to 2.5kW out of the system, so I reckon it’s heat not simply age/deterioration…..

I do. It was fitted to my car when I bought it. No idea how it works, but it plays a little jingle when I switch the ignition on and some kind of BONG if I press the hazard symbol on it (presumably that ‘marks’ the video so I can find the footage quickly?) I think it’s supposed to link to my phone so I can set it up, but so far I haven’t been arsed.

I’m told I get cheaper car insurance if I tell them I’ve got one, is that correct?

<p>T-key is a very abused valve core removal tool. The tweezers would work for pulling out nails and screws from a tyre and installing a mushroom plug. </p><p>has he got a Saturday job fitting tyres?</p>

Not recommending them as a solution for the requested scenario, as pointed out why go for the limitations of a portable system for a ‘permanent setup’.

but…. In the 80’s, 90’s and early 00’s I spent a lot of time and money trying to get a decent HiFi system together. Last night I borrowed my daughters Soundcore 2 and paired it as a stereo pair with mine. The quality of the sound for £80, AND it’s wireless AND portable blows my mind.

Would love to see some stats on age of bike, wheel size ridden, number of gears etc.

Perhaps an annual STW survey would be am interesting thing to do….

I can’t recommend SnoreLab and SnoreGym enough. Brilliant apps that help you manage your snoring.

I now have 3 years of data which shows me how various triggers and conditions affect me. Above everything else it’s heavily related to my weight:

We are there. Tipping point is now. Brace. Brace.

Honestly!

I have a Mavic 719 on Hope XC rear. I have spare pawls and a freehub I bought in anticipation of a failure that never happened.

It’s older than my son, who is about to be a chartered engineer

I have a feeling the longevity of wheels was the primary reason for changing wheel sizes, which still utterly f*cks me off even now.

Edit: I’ve checked, it’s 25 years old. I bought it for my brand new Trek Y5 when I upgraded to a rear disc brake. Still runs perfectly.

Other thing to be aware of  and somewhat controversial but a lot of the blues and some of the reds are feeling a bit tired and worn. I think they’re somewhat a victim of their own success, they’re so busy all year round that they can’t justify closing tracks for long to do the maintenance required. Lots of braking bumps and ruts mid corner.

I returned recently after a similar hiatus – longer in fact, but I do not recognise the above statement at all!

But one thing they have done is finish off Insufficient Funds now, and it’s gone from my favourite trail to one that absolutely terrifies me. But then I don’t bounce like I used to.

I will keep an eye out for bypass ports, but if I am understanding this right the only oil passage through the fixed piston is pushed through by the displacement from the damper shaft, so the volumes must be really low and hence the restriction would be high. This suggests there’s no port.   That said, the compression knob can all but lock it out, so that suggests there’s a port that it can occlude.

That’s how the old Bomber 55 TST2 damper operated – displaced oil from the shaft was controlled to provide compression damping. Very effective but in the TST2 damper Marz had completely blocked the ports with 3 x 1mm steel washers to enable the TST lever to diver through a port or not (lock out). It’s the set-up that got me into tuning in the first place.

Be aware that if there’s a bypass port then the ‘near lockout’ setting means that the movement you get in this mode is achieved by all the oil flowing through the shim stack. It shows how much the valve shims are restricting the flow. In this case, if you mess with the stack then you’ll reduce this effect (i.e. not be able to ‘lock out’ the forks with the compression knob. (I’m sure you realise this but you never know who’s reading this and planning their own attempt).

Of course, if the compression is done via a spring that winds pressure onto the shim stack to provide more resistance to the flex of the shims then the result could be similar in that you lose the heavier compression settings.

Cool. If it were me, I’d probably start with sticking the 9.5mm shim between the 13.6mm and the 13mm shims to see what that does. Might be too much, but you get the feel of what it does and how much of a difference it makes pretty quickly, meaning you can work from there – especially if its dead easy to pull apart and shuffle it all back if it’s a disaster!

Edit: Be careful about the total shim stack height: Many shocks have a hollow bolt which holds the stack onto the piston head. This provides a by-pass allowing oil to flow through the bolt, into the shaft and through into the other side, the rebound pin often adjusts up to this bolt to regulate the flow. If you place additional shims into the stack, the bolt doesn’t tighten down to the same location and the rebound adjustment is affected (hope I’ve explained this properly….)

Do it! I’ve been tuning my forks and shocks for years, its a great way of getting what you want from what you have.

I agree about the ‘tuning services’ from service providers – I reckon most of the time they’re taking a punt with a bit of a shim shuffle (probably not even placing new shims in the stack – simply changing the order of what is already there!) Don’t get me started on the whole Smashpot/GRIP XYZ/etc etc ‘upgrades’ – personally I think they’re the MTB equivalent of directional HiFi speak cable or £6k ‘low noise 3amp fuse’.

I like an active suspension (no point in having it if you don’t use it) so automatically reach for the 5wt fork oil (the thinnest my local MX-shop sells) and work from there. Always struggled to find shim sellers, so have gone with MX-Tech.com previously, but they are States based so long postage times. Although if you’re looking to build a ‘library’ of shim sizes and stack builds then they’re pretty cheap.

@molgrips – let us know how you get on, what stack did you start with, what did you change it to and what’s the difference? Would be interesting to see.

Still here. Same username. Can’t believe how long it’s been – I reckon late 2003 is when I started to visit frequently, since before that I think I had a username but didn’t dare log in from work as the guy who sat next to me had been fired for ‘accessing the internet’ – no one ever elaborated on that so I didn’t come on here just in case.

muddyjamesFree Member
Longer days so more generation but peak is lower. Is this to be expected, pitch of roof Vs sun position perhaps?

My system loses quite a chunk of generation due to heat. It’s nominally an 10 year-old 2.25 kw system. In short sharp periods of sunshine  I have had 2.4kw out of it, but on longer hot days I get a peak of around 1.8kw.

It doesn’t help that my inverter is in the loft, so that gets too hot as well.

Edit: well it worked, but on my iPhone (safari browser) the text ‘source’ and ‘image description’ wasn’t displayed, just the boxes. It might be because I have my phone in dark mode?

We’re now fully electric in the BOAS household. Mrs Stick has an e-Mini (125 mile range max. on about 3.8 mile/kw if we’re being good, but sooo much fun it rarely happens!) and I have an e-Niro (265 mile range on about 4.2 miles/kw lots of bells and whistles and easy driving).

Impact on the electricity usage is very noticeable, but still massively cheaper than the equivalent dino-juice cost.

Main issue is going to be fighting over who gets the charger overnight, might have to get a second one installed (assuming it doesn’t break the grid) …

I have some older PV solar panels which produce about 1.2kw over daytime usage at this time of year, but apparently the minimum current to charge EVs at is 6 Amps so I’m going to have to wait until my FIT tariff ends before being more intelligent with using that to power the vehicles.

Brother and I off to Ibiza for his 50th next month, I was expecting a bit of a ‘group of lads on tour’ vibe but it’s just the two of us, and when I realised this I pointed out that we’d look like a gay couple on holiday.

I booked the flights, he booked the accommodation.

He sent me a link telling me he’d booked it. I click the link and there, top of the page, dead centre in large friendly writing “We’re hetero-friendly”.

He’s booked an apartment with a company that specialises in LGBTQ+ community. He says its an accident…

I’m not bothered by it, I find it funny, but it’s an odd way of coming out and I’ve told him that :-D

A day out at BPW today. Felt off-the-boil. Kept clipping my handlebars / pedal strikes / generally being a bit untidy.

At lunch, my son suggested I ride in my recently acquired glasses. Why? I thought, I only really need those to read road signs at distance. / watch TV across the room etc.

Rode like a boss this afternoon. Bugger.

I think they’ve missed a trick – it *should* be a custom sized fuse, which they could charge a bit more for but would only fit into an equally expensive 3-pin plug…

A bit like a 27.5″ wheel in a special frame.

oh. Errr……

Might it be possible to fit it with offset bushings – an offset of 2mm should be close enough maybe?

I had to have one prior to an investment we were making (can’t remember what – might have been cavity wall insultation?) but it was a disappointing check-box exercise where the inspector decided they knew all about our insulation status almost without setting foot in the property – no attempt to find anything unusual with our build etc.

They did identify that our hot water tank had no thermostat and therefore the hot water system simply heated water until the thermal cut-out on the boiler switched the burner off! So I guess for this alone I should be thankful.

Sorry – I don’t know, but I answer simply to say that the expansion/contraction of the shed through the seasons needs thinking about. Don’t ignore this effect when doing the interior cladding – I had roof braces on my shed to ensure the roof stayed put during storms but they ended up holding the roof up above the height of the walls by about an inch at certain times of the year.

.

…and apologies if this is a little ‘on the nose’ but this kind of talk:
“….have a break from the civil service. I’m struggling with the decision as it’s all I’ve known really and the lack of promotion has knocked my confidence….”
…makes me think of this:

(Ah bugger – still don’t know how to post images. Imagine the “Brooks was Here” graffiti scene in Shawshank Redemption)

Take the money.

Have the summer riding your bike and having adventures. Do the stuff you’ve wanted to do for years but never found the time (if you can with this much notice)

Realise how cheap it is to live when you don’t work.

Promise yourself not to even look for a job until September.

Once you begin to look for a job, you’ll find the fact that employers are interested in you and your experience will give you such a boost you’ll feel invincible.

Since you’ve experienced life without tons of cash coming in, you’ll not feel pressure to wait for a job that pays more than you used to earn, you ca take the job that’s interesting and rewarding.

Don’t look back until retirement.

^^^^all in my experience.

I do think there’s a huge amount of guff spoken about MTB suspension, I think it’s because so much of the mass of the sprung weight is the rider, and even relatively inept riders are extremely good at compensating for bumps in the course (simply stand up and bend your knees).

So it comes down to personal preference, and IN MY OPINION wherever there is an ability to spout guff (hifi, wine, magic wristbands, etc etc) you’ll find companies doing exactly that – smashpots, megnegs etc etc are the equivalent of oxygen-free cables to those worshiping at the suspension guru’s altar OR they fix an inherent design flaw in the extremely expensive thing that you bought already, which is crap when you think about it.

I have a feeling that the classic suspension units that caught people’s admiration are simply those which provide a range of adjustment that covers all personal preferences (e.g. the RC3TI compression and suspension settings can be adjusted to rebound with a vicious kick or take about 3 days – covers all bases)

Wow! There’s no way I could do that – I’d definitely be off big style if I hit anything hard enough to bottom them with the spring they came with (that’s 3 pairs on three different bikes by the way, so I think it’s the standard one they shipped with).

I’m sure when decent suspension first came out (I’m talking 100mm front and back) the advice was that we should bottom it out once or twice a ride.

Now, I’m old-tech (still on 26″ wheels/Marzocchi 55 forks) and have custom tuned my own shim stacks for front and rear shocks a few times over the years when needed (i.e when the adjuster range won’t go far enough).

The forks I run are the much-heralded RC3Ti which people still rave about. I’m 90kg so no lightweight. They’re kept serviced and in good shape by me, but there is no way I get any more than 60% travel out of them with the springs in there. I’ve even jumped with my full bodyweight onto the handlebars (which is very unlikely to ever happen whilst riding – even at BPW) and can’t get them to compress fully, yet they’re widely accredited as being the best there was.

I’ve converted them to air (take the springs out, stick more oil in to reduce the air volume and pop an air cap on that leg – open bath so easy peasy). I now get around 155mm out of the 170mm-travel forks on a typical trail centre visit, but know I’ll get the last 15mm if things get really hairy.

I just don’t see the point of running 170mm forks and only getting 100mm.

TF’s calculator has me bang-on with a 500lb spring (150mm rear travel and 57.5mm shock travel) I have 500, 600, 700 and 800 springs that came with the shock (I bought second hand)

I run the 600 with at least one full turn as the 500 is too soft. I could also run the 700 without any pre-load and can’t tell the difference if I’m honest.

So what I’m saying is that the calculated values can be off, but the difference I feel with 100lbs variation in the springs is small. Goose your starting point and go from there – it’s one of the reasons Pinkbike and eBay is full of people selling springs.

@rockhopper – if it’s got one then yes you could do that.

IF the tank is pressurised (i.e. there’s no header tank in the loft and the hot water system is main pressure) then it could be relatively simple to have the cylinder swapped for a double coil one and you could go for solar thermal – I installed my own a year ago and it produces plenty of hot water over the summer months.

However I have a feeling that the previous owners will have put the electric show in because it’s a gravity fed hot water system with little pressure.

Currently also affecting pricing are the strikes.

As each union calls a strike it requires a new timetable to be constructed – it’s unusual to be able to pull one ‘off the shelf’ given that each time there’s a subtle variation which means any previous version is useless. To do this within the 14-day notice period that the industry is given is a high-pressure situation for the planning teams, as getting them to work together (safely and with coordination between all the services) into the system takes time. If the union then calls the strike off within 48 hours it’s too late, the amended timetable has gone through and can’t be changed back – even for the ‘normal’ one. It’s a huge amount of work wasted but, contrary to popular belief, the train operators do try to do their best for numerous reasons so always try to do something to run trains when they can.

The cheaper tickets require suitable planning horizons – 12 weeks out is supposed to be when train tickets are released for sale, but with the pressure the planning teams are under, getting the base timetable sorted 16 weeks out, for the checks and balances by Network Rail to be completed by 14 weeks out for release 12 weeks out is simply too much. Hence, cheap tickets are in short supply.

I’m aware all the above is an explanation of the current situation. I’m not trying to defend it – especially in the post-COVID world.

EDIT: What doesn’t help is that Trainline (and a few others I think) advertise a service at full open-fare if there are no other fares available, regardless of whether a timetable has been published yet, so people looking to book a service before the trains are released for sale see a massive fare.

EDIT 2: @dangeourbrain – I wouldn’t be surprised if the above is what’s happened to you this morning:

Oddly, since I started the thread, trains for Thursday are now down to £75 outbound and £105 inbound.

I had this back in 2019 whilst in LA….”alert of wildfires in the area” – I wondered for about 3.5 seconds how they knew I was in the area and then realised what it was and they didn’t “have my number” it just went to every phone in a cell.

IMO, very useful if not overused.

@tpbiker are those flared bars? Got any shots from different angle?

…. and what wheels are those? Selcof ones?

Nice. Love mine.

I have wide mudguards and wheels (40mm Schwalbe G1) for comfy stuff/off road and narrow wheels (25mm Schwalbe P1) and mudguards for winter roady stuff.

Although I have to say it looks more purposeful up there^^^ without mudguards…

26″

Because “ride what you’ve got” and it’s all I’ve got.

Plus I kinda like the old guy on an old bike vibe – especially when I keep up with the youngsters.

No rocker plate?

I made mine – 2ft x 6ft 18mm plywood sawn in two. 2 vibration mounts and a couple of tennis balls. Reckon it cost about £35.

Comfy comfy and none of that horrid constrained feeling when you stand up to sprint. Made my indoor training experience so much better.

If you wanted to buy one then they’re available at ridiculous prices …

Yeah, thanks @northwind. I suspect you’re right.

Well @kelvin, since NCR are 35mm stanchions as well with a similar travel … it’s a crackpot scheme but it might just work.

If you fancy off-loading one in this direction give me a shout!

Just as well:
1) Laddo’s rear hub failed 2 weeks ago, the wheel’s been with Canyon under warranty replacement work. They did the work a week ago but it’s not yet been picked up by UPS, so it was looking like he’d have to hire one.
2) He took my bike to Flyup417 today and came off – he’s groaning around the house with a stiff neck now. My bike is fine though :-)
3) I was nervous as hell as it’s been years since I did anything remotely gnar-core and I wasn’t sure of my chances. An alternative date in about 3 months time might give me time to practise

Me and my lad will be there.

He’s on a new orange Canyon Spectral 29er.

I’ll be mincing on an 11-year-old first edition silver Nukeproof Mega (26” wheels, even older DHX5 coil shock, Smorgasbord and Chunky Monkey tyres). Should stand out nicely…