Awesome, cheers for that guys. I did wonder about the axle but everything I found was saying you just changed end caps. Just had a go now and the non drive side one came out with my fingers. Easy… Just need to fing my cassette tool and chan whip now?

So I fitted it… there are no clearance issues whatsoever, ifact it bottoms out a good 20mm before the wheel would hit the seat tube (there is a brace on the rear triangle that would hit first anyway). It looks very slack, a quick bomb up the road makes me think its going to be a lot of fun, very easy to hop about. Although with that head angle and lack of travel adjust forks I doubt I’ll hve much controll of my direction on the cilmbs… Should be interesting.

It does indeed, I love how Cove still use good old Easton RAD tubing and not all this hydroformed mumbo jumbo…

Cheers guys, I think I’ll give it a go… I’ve got nothing to loose. Float, I don’t think the wheel will hit the seat tube as the stroke of the shock is 7mm less, so that means it should bottom out only 3mm closer I think, I’ll obviously cycle the shock with no air in it to be sure.

When I used to work in a bike shop the common cure was to take the wheels off, clamp the seatpost (with the bike upside down) in a bench vice TIGHT! and twist the frame around by pulling it from the head tube. Unfortunately it usually involved writing off the seatpost because of the ammount of pressure you have to use to clamp it. A thompson might be OK but I wouldn’t risk riding it after you get it out.

Where are you based, I’ve got one knocking about. No use to me as the bike with my 55s on it got robbed. Your welcome to it mate.

I love my Reign X. The angles are perfect and it climbs better than any coil sprung 7″travel bike has a right to. Better than my old meta 5 actually. It’s an absolute freight train on the way down but what I really like is that it doesnt need a massive steep hill to get up to speed. Any slight gradient and it’s off. Jumps great and very flickable, an allround awesome bike!
Although for a grand you’d be looking at one of the old style frames but they use the same maestro system so probably good too.

As chakaping says a pitch with a 160mm fork would also be a good (cheaper) option. A mate has one with domains and it’s awesome, really fun bike

PaulMc, got your wires crossed pal

Your post appeared whilst I was typing. It was directed at ‘Crikey’ not you. Relax…

Crikey, you are a typical example of the sort of smug keyboard warrior that ruins this forum. They have a sense of entitlement because they are legally entitled to ride those trails. All the OP was trying to do was warn other riders about some nutter. Should I call ahead to warn the scally kids that hang out at the end of my street when I want to walk past? This is no different. The person suggesting that they call the police after an aggressive confrontation has a vlid point you do not. Put the mouse down and ride your bike mate.

I have completely flat duck feet. I’ve been through both NHS and private podiatrists and had custom innersoles made which were invariably uncomfortable and expensive. The two best things that I have found are: 1- Asics running shoes for people that over pronate. The comfiest sohes I’ve ever worn, even if you do look like a tool in them. 2- Blue Superfeet insoles, I use them in every pair of shoes I own (except the asics) including my five tens. They are about £40 a pair and worth every penny.

Oh yeh, in answer to the question, it is oxidisation of the crown underneath the paint. It is just cosmetic…

I worked in a bike shop for a few years a while back and I saw a few cases of this with rockshox forks. Most people just lived with it but we did send a couple of pairs off for warrany with Fishers. As far as I remember both sets of forks were replaced, although they were within their rights to just replace the crown / steerer unit. One thing you realise about warranties after you have worked in a few different bike shops is that the response of the distributor has a lot to do with the size of the account the shop you bought your forks from has and how tenaciously they persue the problem (especially with boarderline isues like this). It’s in your best interest to be friendly and keep the shop on side, that way they are more likely to chase up the warranty claim with Fishers. But you will be without your forks for a minimum of three weeks I reckon.

Cheers Fellas, I’ve been doing a bit of research and I think Pemberton is on the cards. I’m getting the greyhound from Banff to Whistler so Kicking Horse isn’t on the cards.
paulpalf, I got that feeling about comfortably numb. Might give it a miss.
Walleater, What is ride don’t slide like?

Cheers guys, I’ll give it a bash. Cakefest, the first climb is a real bastard. I’ve never made it up without a push, but the rest of it is probably the most fun natural trail that I have ridden in the peaks. Well worth the pain!

Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure the company that bought the Nukeproof brand also own Chain Reaction and the distribution company Hotlines, hence the hook up with the CRC team.

A few of the younger kids I knew that worked up the ski hill went through a similar agency. I guess it is a positive if you know you are going out there to do a ski season but I would recomend you go on a moose tour and keep an open mind. I had no intention of staying in Banff, I’d planned to go back to Vancouver and find work, but I fell in love with the Rockies when I was there.

Most ski hills have a recruitment fare so it may be worth finding out when these are and saving yourself some dosh. Basically anyone that shows up gets a job (although this was pre resecesion). Also the hostels in most towns that rely on a seasonal workforce like Banff, revelstoke etc have job seeker packages where you get a discounted rate and a job hunting pack.

If you do end up working up a ski hill, I would reccomend living in town, not on the mountain. A lot of them have pretty strict rules and its common to have to share a room when you live in staff accomodation. Not ideal when there is a town full of pissed up girls on their holidays!(if your single, you’ll have a grat time. Canadian girls rock!)

Oh and look out for bike and ski swaps in the local paper of wherever you end up. Its a common thing in canada for the local ski or MTB club to hold a big sale before the season starts, so members can get rid of their last seasons gear. I got a sweet Kona that saw me through the summer there from the North Shore bike swap in vancouver as well as all my snowboard gear for the winter in Banff.

When you get to vancouver, book in at the same sun on granville st. http://samesun.com/
I stayed at the HI hostel but people I met along the way said the same sun was much more social and friendly.

I would recomend the Mustang tour that moose offer

http://www.moosenetwork.com/content.php?id=4

This is the one we did, the two nights in the wilferness hostels at rampart creek and Mt edith cavel were unreal. Real back country feel to them, no electric and water from a pristine creek. Not to mention playing beer pong with jaegermeister and getting truly smashed.

Any more questions mate, just ask…

Hi Tom.
The Moose Network thing was great. Its full of people in the exact same situation as you. I met two of the people that I spent the year with on the bus. Also the youth hostels are a great way to meet people, you just need to make a bit of an effort to chat, just remember every one there is in the same boat.They also usually offer organised bar crawls etc. Its a bit like the first week of uni. You’ll have no probs meeting drinking buddies, believe me.

I initially was using my UK contract phone for employers to call me on. Big mistake… My bill was £400 because every call recieved is charged to you as an international call. Just buy a pay and go phone out there. The one bad thing I found out about Canada is they don’t have the same industry regulators as us so certain services such as cell phones and banking are stupidly expensive. A basic pay and go cell will cost you about $100. Calls are about 25c / minute and you pay the same to recieve as you do to call. Also the banks charge you a monthly fee for the privilage of making interest on your money, and then they charge you a dollar every time you use a cash machine.

Other than that little niggle, I firmly believe it is the best country on earth! You’re going to have an amazing time, I’m jealous just thinking about it.

Oh and as the others have said, take as much money and as many credit cards as you can lay your hands on, it aint a cheap place and you’ll want to experience it to the full. You also can’t book anything without a credit card (debit cards are only used for over the counter stuff there) although I think some places accept visa debit.

I did a similar thing two years ago, best thing I ever did. You’ll have a great time. Vancouver is an amazing city, If you have a background in bike shop work have a look at John henry cycles or Cove on the North Shore. Don’t just limit yourself to the big city though, pretty much anywhere west of Calgary is worth checking out. Fernie is amazing if you like the small mountain town vibe. Nelson is really cool aswell. Whistler was cool, awesome riding, but seemed very fake, not sure Id want to live there…

I spent most of my time in Banff, Alberta which is probably the most beautiful place on earth (crazy party town too!). There’s lots of jobs up the ski hills but they pay **** all and the winters are brutal! You won’t be able to get a job until you get out there, it really is a matter of blasting every shop, bar and resteraunt with your CV. If you can get bar work you’ll be on to a winner, its customary to tip atleast a dollar on every drink. A few of my friends were taking home $200 a night in tips.

I’d strongly recomend taking some kind of tour of the west before deciding where to stay. The Moose Network offers really fun, laid back trips for people (generally) under 30. The busses only cary about 12 and the driver / guides are all in their 20s. The best thing is if you want to get to know a place a bit better, you can get off the bus and jump back on whenever the next bus comes through.

The Hope Valley Loop in the Dark Peak, between Manchester and Sheffield.

The most fun, scenic ride I've done anywhere in the UK. The final descent into Hope is a flat out blast and the Beast (mental rocky decent) is only a slight detour and a push back up. It can be linked into a bunch of other amazing natural trails around the Ladybower resevoir area. Theres a very good guide book called Dark Peak mountain biking.

So many amazing trails, its beyond me why so many people from the area flock to trails like LLandegla that do half the riding for you when this is on our door step. If your not local, make the trip…the Peak District has the best riding in England

Cheers guys. It has indeed been taken off Iplayer. Swavis- that is what is was called, found it on cast TV. Here's the link if anyone is interested

http://www.casttv.com/video/7ipwy9r/ride-of-my-life-the-story-of-the-bicycle-part-one-mov-video

I don't think you can do it. Its an anti piracy thing to stop you plugging your ipod/phone into a mates computer and giving him all your music. Apple's thinking is that you should trensfer all your music from your old PC to the new one. There are third party programs avaliable that let you do it however. If I remember correctly they take the music off the ipod and put it onto your PC, you then have to re import it all into itunes. Massive ball ache but it means you can borrow all your mates ipods/phones and copy their tunes. I used one ages ago called Media Widget and it worked very well, cost $25 US I think.
Hope this helps

Look for a Gelert Solo on Amazon, you should be able to pick one up for 30 quid or so. I used on for this years Welsh ride thing and it was perfect, it pissed down and I stayed dry. It weighs 1.5kg and packs down tiny. Anything better would cost you about two hundred pounds. You can drop the weight by replacing the cheap pegs with alloy ones. Somone I know replaced the fibreglass poles with custom alloy ones, cut from a length of tube with a hack saw. His tent weighed less than a kilo. You can even fit a bigish pack inside the fly sheet. Bargain of the year in my opinion.

The Maxxis Advantage it the best allrounder ive ever used, very grippy and rolls a lot quicker than it has any right to. Most of the guys i ride with have switched from their high rollers / minions to the advantage too.

The sticker on the seat tube of the Fuel EX bikes quote two sizes for each frame. A virtual size (which is the one you should go off) and an actual size (which is what the frame will measure if you take a tape measure to it). I sell these bikes day in day out and have found them to be a bit on the small side compared with other manufacturers bikes. For instance an average 5'10 to 6' guy will probably want a 19.5" fuel, where as they would normally ride an 18" bike. I think you are probably reading the actual size which will be generally about two inches smaller than the virtual size, there fore giving a top tube length of a bigger bike.
I hope this explains it

I use the same two apps as smeg and they work pretty well for me. The GB National park app is great, it stores all the maps on the phone and doesn't need cell reception. Its a bit of a faff to have to use another app to track rides then upload and re download your routes, but it works.
Memory maps new app looks promising but you need to pay extra for the OS maps.

I keep the phone in an otterbox defender case which is tough as hell and pretty much splash proofs the phone. If its wet out I put the whole lot in a little dry bag.

Trekster – Member

what is the best way to get money when in Canada? [/quote]

If your under 30 you can get a 12 month open working visa through BUNAC (www.bunac.org) that allows you to work anywhere for a year. If your older then you need to have an in demand skill to work there.

I've recently got back from living in banff for the last 14 months and I can honestly say that it is the most beautiful, amazing place I have ever been. Just make sure you get out on the hiking trails into the mountains to escape the crowds in summer(biking's a bit limited due to it being a national park, but what there is, is stunning). If you like a pint of three its one hell of a party town too. Vancouver is also the nicest big city I have ever been to if you want a more cosmopolitan vibe.
To be honest, Toronto is no different from any city, the whole East is pretty uninspiring compared to the West. Canada is a massive place but nearly everything worth seeing in my opinion is west of Calgary.
If your considering the Rockies and want some insider info feel free to PM me (I worked in the tourist industry there for a year).

I got a nasty concussion riding in Canada this summer. I put a deep dent in my lid and threw up a bit when I came too. I felt a bit wonky for the rest of the day but physically OK the day after. The next ride was a bit nervous at first but I soon got back into it.
The thing to do is get back on the bike as soon as possible and not over think it. Wear the crash as a badge of honnour, that you were riding hard enough to test your limits. At the end of the day this isn't motor racing, we rarely get above about 20mph and it's very unlikely that your gonna kill yourself. A broken collar bone or the odd concussion is as bad as it gets for the vast majority of mountain bikers. I think it's worth sacrificing a few brain cells for the soprt we love.
Hope this helps.

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12348
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11571

A couple of useful tutorials

Check out http://www.britishblades.com and http://www.bushcraftuk.com. I found tons of posts and advice about knife sharpening when I was looking. There's some pretty knowledgeable fellas on them both.

Thanks for the info guys, a great help as ususl!

Hey Carlos, sure you can tag along. The more the merrier. I think were gonna just have a gentle one around Delamere though. My mate's a 20 a day man and I recon the combination of steep hills and grim weather might be a bit much for his first time. PM me your mobile no if you wanna tag along.

That would be great man, thanks a lot!

Quite often on new frames there is too much paint on the dropouts and your wheel won't fit. A round file or sand paper wrapped around a stick will do the trick. As the on one is steel, try not to go through the base coat or she'll rust a bit.

The Bones racks are the best about in my opinion. I used to sell them and Thule at my old shop. The Saris racks take so much less messing about and fit nearly every car we tried them on. You can hang off the things when their set up right. Plus i think their made from recycled bog roll or something so your doing your bit for the planet.

Wow I'd consider yourself lucky mate. In my experience insurers will do just about anything they can to not pay up on stolen bikes. The fact that their willing to replace new for old and not try to fob you off with 'market value' is pretty good. Do you mind telling us who your insurer is as I might give em a look.

Yes in a word.
As mountaincarrot said you can wear a hole in aluminium,(the side of my head tube has 1.5mm deep grooves in it from un protected cables and riding in Peak District grinding paste) I'm sure the epoxy that holds the carbon together isn't much harder than aluminium and the consequences of it to a carbon frame are much higher. If you don't want to use heli tape, Park instant puncture patches on the frame do the trick and are cheap.

The exact same thing happened to my evolve XCs after about two and a half years. I couldn,t see any visible spline wear in the axle but they just wouldn't stay tight for more than half a mile. Must have been wear on the crank spline itself. I was working in a bike shop at the time and it seemed to be a pretty common thing on 2005ish Raceface cranks. Once the wobble starts I'm afraid there's not much you can do about it, down hill all the way from that point. You'll either have to see if you can find a new right hand crank (not gonna happen) or splurge for a new chain set that's not made from brie.

Petzl Tikka XP. So light you forget your waring it, easy to adjust, batteries last for ever, spot or flood beam and four power setttings so you can read with it with out blinding yourself. After my leatherman its probably the most useful thing I own.

That Nikolai is both the most hideous and the most beautiful bike I have ever seen at the ame time. I can't stop staring at it!