It looks like I’m.sticking with them then.

So it’s not just me then. Interesting that a few people mentioned upgrading to XT’s because I’d been thinking about going that way too. It just seems to make sense given that Shimano xt got good reviews and xt stuff usually just works. When Lapierre came onto the market with the Zesty I demo’d one with Formula brakes and they were horrid; such a wooden on/off feeling and no way to adjust the lever. The bite point was right at the beginning of the stroke, as though the reservoirs were full to bursting so I had to take my fingers off the bars to pull the brake which meant holding on was difficult, and then I’d brake too much and almost go flying!

I couldn’t live without lever reach/bite point/modulation adjust.

Are any hydraulic brakes reliable?

So for a smidgen under £100

Not including cassette, shifter, rear mech and chain i take it? Im going from a 9 speed so i’d need them too.

“with X1 out now the price is coming down.”

Yeah i saw that, should be good. Does it all fit on a standard sized freehub or would that need replacing?

Howsyourdad it looks as though youre doing your divisions wrong as 24/36 is 0.66 not 1.3 :-)

You divide the number of front teeth by the number of rear teeth and that gives you the gain ratio.

So 32/40=0.8 lowest gear; 32/11= 2.91 highest gear

22/30=0.73 or 22/26=0.85 so they’re your closest low gears. In other words, second to lowest is a bit lower (easier), third from lowest is a big higher (harder).

The big deal about XX1 and X01 is not so much the 42t sprocket as the 10t sprocket – losing a tooth from the 11t makes almost as big a difference as adding 6 teeth to the 36t. Do both and you go from 327% to 420% of gear variation. Adding a 40t to an 11-36 only gets you 364% (this is just biggest sprocket divided by smallest sprocket, shown as a percentage).

GCSE maths I think but the problem is that unless you do this stuff for your job you forget how do to do it, even if you did know it many years ago!

Not sure why i didnt see this earlier, maybe i just went “ooh maths no compute” and skimmed over it.

I see what youre saying there, although if you do it well theres not much drop in cadence. I can shift down a cog at the front and up a couple at the back, all at the same time as long as i time it so that the chain isn’t under too much tension. Its usually the point where i’m running out of steam but have enough left to give the cranks a good couple of turns, ready for the drop. You can plan this point on the hill depending on how steep or technical it is. You do lose a bit of speed though. Maybe having more gears is a bit lazy?

Where Abouts do you live mike? Any big hills?

Pawsy_Bear – Member

You won’t regret taking the plunge it’s just so easy to change into the gear on the trail you need. Just back from Cmw Carn loop. My only thought was why didn’t I change to 1 x 11 sooner.

How is it any easier? Its pretty easy at the moment i just push the lever and the gears change.

when you normally ride & use the Granny ring do you like to spin slowly up the hill or make your legs work a bit in a higher gear?

Im definitely a spinner. Dig in and grind it out is how i approach them. I wouldn’t get halfway up some of the hills in calderdale or the peak district without a granny ring and thats a fact.

Might just buy some new chainrings and a rear mech, much cheaper than replacing the lot and more gears to choose from ;-)

I reckon I’ll be fine though.

Let me know how it goes.

Chip thanks for that

You can just remove your 17t sprocket and spacer to make room for the T. rex on the back of the cassette or remove the 15t and 17t and spacer and replace a 16t where the 15t was and put the T. rex on the back for more equally spaced gear ratios.

You can get 16t xt sprockets from rose bikes cheap enough.

Interesting.

Is there any way to find out how much i’ll be losing at either end without taking the plunge and finding i don’t like it? I run an 11-34 cassette with a 22t and 36t sprockets at the front. I can probably live without as much top end speed but it’s the hilly bits i’m more bothered about.

If someone said to me that running a hope 40t T rex and a 32t front chainring was like 22t and XXX gear on the 11-34 cassette i already have i could go out and try and climb some hills to put it to the test. Is there a way of working it out?

Can i run an XT 10sp cassette and just add a Hope T-rex? Or will that not fit on my existing freehub?

So confusing all this new fangled stuff.

How do i use that table? Not sure what the numbers mean to be honest

It seems like the general opinion is divided, with 1×11 being closer to a 2x setup but at premium. I do still ride around calderdale and also the Peaks which see me using the 22t granny ring on every single ride. Ive read that you get used to grinding out bigger gears uphill but i think 1×9 would be a struggle!

If i added a t-rex to make my cassette 10 speed would i also need a new shifter? And would it fit on a hope freehub? Reason im considering my options is my chainrings and rear mech could do with replacing.

Has anyone mentioned brakes?! I like Downstep’s suggestion

Where’s the best place to park to get into wharncliffe? Can i use the FC carpark on woodhead road?

Thanks for the heads up im writing this from my new G pad

Nice! I’ve been working away all week so not had chance to get out. Went to greno woods a couple of weeks back, it was a mud fest. Not discovered Wharncliffe trails yet. Are they marked or do you have to know the area? If I can figure out where they are I might have a drive up tomorrow.

Tim

They’re out of stock at freeborn but they took my money anyway and I won’t see it back for another 5 working days which is awesome. So no new shorts for me until after Easter.

Kendo i’ve got some endura singletrack (also too small now) so i’d be interested in how the Madison size up. Hoping to lose some weight off my gut so i’m tempted not to go up a size – if they came up slightly larger then that’d be a win! Or if they were stretchy or something.

Jaffejoffer says there are millions of such products (the “padded undies”) but i have no idea what to search for. Bib shorts without the bib = shorts. Anyone care to link me up? Or throw some google search terms at me?

Cheers

Cheers guys, i’m even more tempted by the Zenith now. If i find i need more padding is there anything i can do? Is there a product that’s similar to a bib that has built in padding but without the top half? Like, dare i say it, “padded undies”?…

Everyone knows that driving fast or driving without common sense means accident.

Chewkw, How often have you driven in London? Do you even own a car? The rules are slightly different in London. I’ve been in more 50/50 situations there than in my entire life up North and yet nobody there goes ballistic and beeps their horn about it. People are resigned to the fact that driving like a cheese won’t get you anywhere, it’s called “give and take”.

Look at the situation in New Delhi in India, do you think the Lambo driver would be able to drive that fast there and not hit someone?

There are places to rev the shit out of a lambo, the track or a mountain road, but if you drive like that in London then it’s only a matter of time. Yes the Mazda was also in the wrong but the Lambo was driving way too fast so he fully deserved it.

My sister lives down the road in Chetwode and it’s flat as a pancake. I would sell the MTB and buy a road bike if i were you.

Blimey, what a tit!

If you drive like that in London then eventually it’s going to happen. Not saying the Mazda isn’t at fault but if he hadn’t been driving like a first class cheese he probably could have avoided it.

Mostly by dropping it on some scales… I was making the judgement based on that and having done 3 builds where the sum of the quoted weights added up to the weight of the bike.

Oh so like, equations and stuff?

b r what did his face say? Was he surprised?

bomberman – Member
I must have picked better parts and spec lists
You must have the bestest specced bike ever

Just the ones that have the right quoted weights, I’m finding most modern stuff quoted properly just there is still some stuff sneaking in – like forks specced with heavier steerers etc.

Really, and how can you tell if a part has the right quoted weight? By looking at it I suppose?

I must have picked better parts and spec lists

You must have the bestest specced bike ever

it’s waterproof on the 7D
Showerproof or water resistant would be a better description, definitely not waterproof though

OK pedant.

It has a rubber gasket on the lens mount so if you’re using a weather sealed body like the 7D you can take photos in the rain (or snow) without worrying too much about it. Light rain….of course. Heavy rain…..yes if you’re quick. Persistant heavy rain….best not. A quick run under the tap….i’ve seen it done. Complete immersion….no. But definitely one of Canon’s weather sealed L lenses.

17-55 in the rain…….no.

Canon 40D in the rain…..no. As i found out at silverstone.

I think the OP would like either a 7D with 17-40L and 24-105L or a MK3 with 24-105 ;)

I’m sure you all know manufacturer weights are optimistic at best and a complete lie at worst. Time after time i’ve weighed something and it’s been over the quoted manufacturer weight, often by a fair bit. For example RS quotes a 2011 Revelation RLT Ti (dual air) as 1636g. When i got mine the steerer had been cut and it weighed 1800g on the nose.

So by the time you’ve added up the (optimistic) manufacturer weights of all your parts you’ll have a bike that on paper weighs at least a few hundred grams, maybe an entire pound, less than it actually does.

Or didn’t you realise you were being lied to?

Yetiman, is that the Peak district?

Cozzy i run folding maxxis high rollers front and rear in a 2.3 style (lighter in folding), then when the weather gets better i swap the back for a kenda small block 8. There’s a massive difference in rolling resistance and the small block is surprisingly grippy in all conditions except bad mud, so it usually stays on most of the year.

If you haven’t tried a small block 8 i would definitely recommend it for when the trails dry out a bit, it’s fast and grippy.

I think it’s a good thing, as long as you have a 26er frame with a tapered head tube you’re sorted and there’ll be forks and wheels around for a good few years in various juicy bargain form. It might even kick start the second hand market again.

Choice is good, without choice we’d be Communists and not Capitalists. All bikes would look the same and be the same price and there’d be no advances in technology and we’d all eat cheese sandwiches for lunch every day.

It depends if you ride mainly for speed/fitness or for fun. I would get the 140mm but then i prefer that kind of riding. I’m not bothered about getting from A-B in the fastest possible time i’m more likely to see something interesting and stop to have a play and then carry on riding.

The 140mm bike will be more fun all round, the 120mm one will be quicker.

Right, i’ve had a chance to get out on them now and reckon i’ve got them set up pretty well, So i can now add my own setup to the list.

72kg/11.3 stone
85 +ve
65 -ve
rebound half way and then a couple of clicks towards the rabbit

I’ve set them up so they use all the travel and don’t dive too easily under braking, mainly by running 20psi less in the -ve chamber (they “equalised” as per Northwind’s post at 80+/ 70-) and messing with the compression.

They’re plush! I might put a bit more air in the positive chamber yet, maybe go to 90+/ 70- but i haven’t had any problems with fork dive or bottoming out so far. Very pleased.

if you mention it to your insurance through the company it will become reportable in future for the “have you had an accident in the last 5 years” question.

So i will just check the box which says no, sorted. Thanks for your help.

so you had an incident then witheld insurance details .

no wonder your manager wants to report it.

world of backlash if the polish guy takes it any further.

Not quite. Didn’t withold anything, i didn’t have the policy to hand so i gave him my contact details. Not quite the same as witholding insurance details.

But i can see how it could pan out if the other guy goes to town on me. I have a photo of the back of his car. People are cheeses aren’t they? Just born to make life as difficult as possible.

A friend who works in motor insurance told us: “NEVER report small incidents to your insurers because they will put you down as an accident magnet. I never said that though.”

That is pretty much what i thought, i had it with my own personal policy about 5 years back when a new driver crashed into me denting my right wing. I never made a claim because it was an old car and not really noticeable but she claimed for all sorts including whiplash (unsuccessfully). But even though i never made a claim the accident stayed with me and my premiums went up slightly. I’ve only just recently had it erased from my record.

But this, this is just a complete non-incident. And i’m gutted that my general manager wants to report it to the insurance company. I say wait for him to claim first but she insists on doing everything by the book, even if it might have a negative affect on my premiums, which i suspect it will.

I just wondered if the company insurance would soak it up or if it will stay against my name when i change insurers?

Just tell him you don’t want to waste there time as there is not going to be a claim and that you wouldn’t want it to affect your or the companies insurance policies going forward.

This is my thinking.

But the policy probably requires that they’re notified of any incident. If your boss doesn’t notify them then it will (if they find out) “affect your or the companies insurance policies going forward.” as they’d be invalid!

This is my manager’s stance.

I doubt it matter much to you as IIRC you just get a statement of number of years of no claims from the company insurer when you want to take out your own insurance again.

Sounds good to me.

Other guy (polish driver in London) wanted my insurance details, wouldn’t agree on the side of the road that there was no damage, insisted on taking photos of the front and the back of my car. So maybe he’s going to try and claim. But there’s not much more to it than that apart from he was a bit of a d*ck about it.

Depending on your requirements, take your pick from any of these as they’re all gems:

Canon 24-105 f/4 L IS
Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS
Canon 70-300 IS
Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 (non-IS version sharper than IS version)
Canon 55-250 (value)
Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4

I think secretly you want the 24-104 and it’s about as wide ranging as it gets without being a bit naff in the optics department. Canon colours will blow you away compared to sigma which all have a slight warm cast. Tamron colours are nice. But for sharpness, colours and contrast you want the 24-104 and it’s waterproof on the 7D if you decide to go that route ;)

with a decent range, like my old one, but sharper

posted my last response before i saw this one.

You won’t get a zoom with that range and good optics or constant aperture – that’s the trade-off.

Just stay well clear of those kind of zooms ;)

I don’t think that’s what andy said, he said he wants the wide end. You mentioned superzoom, not him.

Don’t go for another superzoom though, they’re pants. Distorted wide ends and fuzzy long ends.

What do you shoot Andy? Outdoors? Indoors? People? Animals? Birds? Plants? Is low light important? Would you need IS or large aperture?

These things are important.