http://thehappylarder.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/rum-truffle-cake-balls-delicious-treat.html#.WYdHBa2ZNcA I use extra chocolate rather than coconut oil to bind though, better taste/texture!

I swapped over to v4 and 203 last year. It’s now a real problem as the other bikes in the fleet are e4 183 or less and that feels pants in terms of power.

203mm will help a lot, but v4 with the vented rotor is stunning.

Now about that new hope 6 pot hope thing and 220? Rotors spotted on the World Cup circuit……

They could have at least taken the warning sticker off the maxle for the photo shoot.

Prototype is no excuse for poor welding. If anything it should be better as it’s a proof of concept and needs some extra detail.

I’ll stick to my Stanton for now, their quality is leagues ahead for less that 1/2 the price…

You’ll need a different version of the shifter I’m afraid…..that bar clamp doesn’t come off.

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Linky

And it’s a standard pump for tyres….not a shock pump. Still it’s a pump with 13 magazines for free….

Lycra. Lots of it. Preferably with boutique road cycling brand names all over it.

Then pop into the local roadie shop for a pretentious coffee while smothered head to toe in mud with the MTB resting up against the counter.

Triple on the hardtail, nothing like getting in ‘big ring’ and leaving everyone behind. Still amuses me that an 8 year old drivetrain is still providing a better day out than the 1x club. I can spin up a wall then push down a road/fire track so much faster than the current trends. I’m faster and my knees thank me, plus I don’t have to push up those hideous inclines.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Lubricants/Super-Lube-Synthetic-Grease-Syncolon-Multi-Purpose/B000XBH9HI

Very good grease, it’s been lashed into the wife’s 5010 and all our Chris King bearings with no issue at all (the bottom brackets are still as good as new with a regular flush of superlube).

The tube will also screw straight into that little grease gun from Santa Cruz

Husky, that’ll do 40 miles in a Scottish winter…….

Just bend an enduro guard into there. I did with my HD3 and now the upper rocker bearings last a lot longer.

Like for like replacement of the damaged one is all you need (I.e. Same make a model -keeps a uniform handling behaviour). No need for two with only 2k on the other.

For some reason I have a suspicion that the 2x xtr front mech can only handle a 10t chainring size difference. If you didn’t want to get to the smaller cassette cogs then this might not matter, but could compromise the chain line a bit.

How about a Rotor Qring for the smaller chainring? It was my solution to put on a 25t qring and it’s been utterly brilliant

Dyaplugs for trailside repair. I keep them in a side pocket for quick access. I’ve never used one on my own bike but they’re brilliant on the wife’s bike. Lake District rock has a habit of popping little holes through, so just shove in a dyna plug and you’re back away.

Once home then it’s 4mm or 6mm car tyre mushroom plugs – proper ones that need bonding to the inside of the tyre. Make sure it’s dry, sanded, cleaned with IPA then roll it down very hard with a patch tool. I’ve got a few repairs over a year old now and they’re perfect still. Nothing older as the tyres are usually wrecked and replaced by then.

Some north facing outcrops have a tiny bit of hail left in them (not that you’d be able to ride in them!), but all paths and tops are totally clear. You’ll be very very lucky to even spot anything resembling ice by Saturday.

If it fails again, then send it to WFE or similar to have it built up, turned down and rechromed. It’s a lot cheaper than you’d expect and you’ll have a near enough new cylinder at the end.

Ideally a step drill so it stays round. Standard drill bits won’t have anything to centre into, but will do the job if used carefully.

Have a few ‘test clicks’ with a bolt in a vice or something that’s much bigger. It’ll give you a chance to practice and get some feel for your wrench. It might also show up an issue if it doesn’t click off at all. 24Nm really isn’t a lot, and as already mentioned, some much smaller fasteners like stem bolts get routinely overtightened.

It might be that you’re bottling out because your torque wrench isn’t clicking off at the real torque value. The wrench could be faulty or out of calibration, so you could be applying a lot more than 24Nm. If there is doubt, then dont use the torque wrench. There is very good reason that a reference device is next to most company’s torque wrenches alongside regular calibration.

On another note, my ibis is happily setup with that figure. Just ensure the threads are clear of any crap or old loctite and you’re good to go.

Sadly not, it was a life under max gross load (3.2t) that showed up the faults. It wasn’t an isolated case in the fleet, most of ours suffered similar failure rates.

T5….oh dear….I had a 2.5 litre version and over 150k of miles saw 3 sets of driveshafts, 4 turbos, 3 sets rear shocks, 6 exhaust gas pressure sensors, 2 egr rails and a complete radio, amongst some other more minor issues. They’re a lovely surf wagon, but just can’t take the beating a Vito can over the miles.

2×11 is worth considering. You can find it in xt and xtr flavours fairly readily. You can then choose a gear range for everything a mortal will ever do. I took the 2×11 option so there’s no issue with being in the lakes one week then the flat south the next, which happens throughout the year. Nice silly bailout gear that you can spin up anything in, yet enough top speed to hammer down fireroads etc.

If you do go 1×11 but have doubts, then go shimano xt. That way you can always add in the other parts to go 2×11 at a later date. This keeps your options open.

I haven’t found any crud make it’s way into mine yet, even despite a very British winter or two of thrashing. I can’t say I noticed any change in performance after a service following a year of abuse, so it’s fair testament to the sealing quality. Hence I vetoed the home service situation once the cost was checked. Forks are a different matter though……

I did look it all up last year (don’t have the figures anymore) but ended up dismissing it. The reasons were the combined tooling and seal kit cost (extortionate!) meant I’d need 2 to 3 services to break even. Considering an annual service seems to be all it’s needing, I figured 3 years and I’d likely be changing out the shock for wear/upgrade etc anyway. Agreed though, home service looks to be no real issue, as with pretty much any suspension product.

Ah…£38.28 plus £9.80 delivery is Ok, but the delivery is just short of 1 month at an estimated 23rd Feb to 4th March. It would be nice to track one down a little sooner.

The ones I had seen on amazon are insanely expensive, near enough double what they should be. A small premium in a parts drought I’ll tolerate, but not that degree of robbery (unless I’m being a muppet and the ones I found are not the ones you’re talking about….)

We pressure was ours, being careful not to go too close to main bearings. Generally we tinker with the bikes regularly so the bearings are frequently repacked with grease and suspension serviced regularly too (I’m yet to find the suspension oil milky and contaminated with oil). There are drawbacks, and even careful washing will result in water being forced into things, but the time/effort saved is worth it to me on balance with potentially getting through an extra part or two.

I haven’t found any ramped ones, but was curious if a normal one will run between the two rings (rather than messing about experimenting, I was checking if anyone had been there…)

I did one a while ago without a puller to hand. I used a dremmel to very slowly grind away an area of the outer race until it was thin enough to bend in with a little screwdriver. The race then near enough fell out. Be seriously careful doing this as if it’s a carbon frame then the heat will melt the carbon a bit (so lots of water to cool after only a second or two of grinding) and if aluminium then the frame will be a lot softer than the outer race, therefore easy to cut into the frame.

That’s brilliant, thanks a lot!

It looks like that’s the cutting head, but it’s covered in a transport wax/plastic dip to protect it. Is that covering soft at all? If it is, then try to pull or cut it off and you’ll likely find the cutter underneath in good condition.

The robs have a good plan. Add in the trick of removing the valve core too then you’ll get it sorted.

Remove valve core to eliminate the restriction to flow it creates. Inflate tyre and seat, then reinstall the valve core and inflate to desired pressure.

I use the park one. I’m also useless at telling the difference in tone, so using the plucking/tone method is unreliable for me. A gauge has its issues, but it’s pretty consistently accurate if used in the same way each time.

The other issue is that without a lot of experience, how do you know what tone you’re aiming for? You could have a nice consistent tone all around the wheel, but the overall tension could be too high or too low. At least with a gauge, even a cheap one, you’ know you’re in the right area of tension.

A spoke tension gauge would be a wise investment in this case. It’ll let you track the tension and overall balance around the wheel. This does sound like a case of tension being too low or uneven to start with, very easily done if you’re not building regularly.

I’d wind off the whole lot and start afresh with a gauge. Build up the wheel properly (follow roger mussons guide) rather than correct a known build with faults.

It’s the 13mm one that’s the issue on fox 36’s. seems a little steep paying £1 a washer from most sources!

re-use isn’t really an option in this case, but I’m well aware it can be done.

When really wet and cold they do squeak for a moment, but once dry they’re faultless. Odd thing is that not all sets seem to do it, even when setup correctly. Calliper alignment is critical on 4 pot brakes, but easy to do when not rushing. You won’t regret going hope, people rarely go back.

Superlube lasts a very long time, and the synthetic base helps keeps it from absorbing moisture.

As for pulling out the seal, a blunt seal tool rotated around the inner race works best. This is the area where the seal is the most forgiving, don’t pick at the outer race contact area as it’s too easy to bend the seal base material.

Mobil blue grease mentioned above is also excellent.

A bent rear derallieur hanger can cause a slight hesitation or misalignment when shifting through the cassette, especially in the middle of the cassette. Start with getting the hanger checked for alignment, and don’t assume a new hanger is correct, the frame tabs could be out from an impact or even manufacture.

Get out of morzine and park up at the bottom of the lindarets lift. You can then take the lift on the avoriaz direction or chatel direction. Much more interesting routes in chatel and lindarets. Pleny and super morzine are very formulaic in their berm/tabletop placement.

The area becomes much better when you get over the mentality of being in one bike park all day. It’s so easy to get a region pass then ride between valleys using the lifts (I.e. You can easily do a tour of plenty, Les gets, super morzine, lindarets and chatel in a day with only one 2k section of pedalling between the top of super morzine and avoriaz). By covering the ground you’ll soon work out the area and where the stuff is you like, and the genius of the lift placements.

I too am highly unfashionable with a 2×11. There is a lot to be said for have a bailout gear when you’re tired. Being able to comfortably spin out a long steep climb is very important to me as there should be energy left over at the top to enjoy the descent. The other issue is that pushing too hard in a gear makes my knees ache quite badly, but upping the cadence and dropping the load on my knees is a godsend. I really can’t see too many drawbacks of a front mech.