I’m running a magic mary up front with a nobby nic (latest pattern) on the rear. Really impressed with how the NN clears out the mud. I usually have a hans damp on the rear for most big rides in the summer (more drag, but it’s seriously grippy in the dry), but it gets taken off for a NN if the brown sticky stuff is expected.

I’ve not left the magic mary on up front during the summer, but it may well get left there this year as I’m becoming more of a fan every day with it.

Keep it standard on the 36 unless you want a custom tune. Fox forks are a bit sensitive to oil quality, so at least do a lower service. The stated interval is 125h for a full service, but in a very wet UK or when you’re pushing hard on long repetitive descents (I.e Alps uplift holidays) will reduce the service interval. My bet is on oil quality in combination with the forks now being fully bedded in (first service has all the running in crap in the oil and seals).

Time for a service before you go any further. I’d highly recommend getting them sent into mojo. You’ve got a years worth of riding so they’ll be overdue.

That looks very odd indeed…….there’s no kashima coating on the rod at all, and the adjustment lever doesn’t look like a 2015 or 2016 model.

It looks like an older 2013 Fox Float CTD with a new air can from the 2015/2016 Fox Float DPS

Order the newly reduced one from their website. When the first one arrives, keep it and use it to prevent any delay in fun. Then when the second arrives, return that item against the first order (assuming you can return free via the collect plus service) for a full refund.

There are many retailers with an option to tick when returning a product for ‘updated sale price’ (or similar) so they’re well aware of the work around. You’re perfectly within you rights to return an unused item if they change to price within the returns period.

You need to be within 2mm of of the calculated length (preferably with a spoke slightly longer than shorter). Ideally you’re within 1mm over the calculated size.

The issue is that many spokes are available in 2mm increments, so you sometimes get a recommended length. The more accurate you get the spokes, the less dish compensation you’ll need to do when tensioning up, this does make it a lot easier.

Next investment is a day at UK Bike Skills (seriously the best bike investment you’ll make). More or less the first thing they start with is how to go around a corner. Turns out most are doing it wrong anyway.

Make sure the foot that is on the outside of the berm is all the way down, then steer by pushing the handlebars towards the ground on the inside of the berm, trying to keep that lower arm as straight as possible. The aim is to at least get the bike at right angles to the berm, so it’ll be leant over quite a lot. This will give massive levels of grip and stability.

The key is the quick change over to drop the other foot, then straighten the other arm into the next berm.

Its fundamental skills like this that are so lacking in most riders. Usually a combination of bike quality and bravado gets people through, but not through efficiently.

A day spent on a bike skills course will go through all this stuff, and be of a massive benefit.

Extra wheels….I have multiple sets, but one set has a crash damaged hub, so the hub’s up for replacement. Quite fancied a pro 4 as the replacement opportunity has presented itself. However, I don’t want the pro 4 if the rotor position has changed, which would mean readjusting each time a grabbed a different set of wheels (or changing tyres).

The steady racks have a gap of 2.4″ for the tyre in the smallest spot. I’ve got a magic mary on a wide rim that blows out to 2.5″ that fits into the steady rack pretty snugly. You have to give it a little shove to get it in, but no issue really.

Most important thing is to mount them at the right height so you can wheel the bike in. Lots of videos about on installation. They;re a bit of a marvel once you’ve got one. We picked up ours at the NEC bike show, so got a pretty decent discount on the day.

Steadyrack, it’s pretty much the best out there

Lighting, very bright lighting.

Also a replaceable top to the bench. It will get destroyed over the years, so its nice to be able to swap out a top sheet every now and then.

Power outlets right next to or above the workbench are also a must.

Between £1 and £1.60 for each nipple and spoke (quality dependant) then £25 to £35 for lacing and tensioning. Might be an extra £10 on top to strip out the old rim.

If you’re getting new hub bearings in the £100, then it’s about right, but if not it’s very steep.

The pad rubbing is almost always due to a bent rotor from hope. New rotors seem to have a slight amount of distortion when they get riveted onto the spider. A quick true up solves this forever. It’s always worse on 4 pot brakes as the distortion is more evident due to the higher tolerances in alignment being required.

Otherwise, awesome brakes that are most importantly totally user serviceable with spare parts available very easily.

I had the same deal with a superlight (exact same bearing setup). I slowly nibbled away part of the out race with a dremmel until it was thin enough to stove in with a punch. Then hey presto, out the race came.

You do need to be very careful not to go into the frame. Fortunately the steel race sparks nicely and the aluminium frame doesn’t, so you have an indication if you go too far.

Other long shot is to pour boiling water (a full kettle at a time) carefully over the outside of the frame. The aim is to keep the race cool and the fame may expand just enough so you can get the race moving when punching it out from the opposite side. It is a long shot, but something you do tonight.

http://www.silverfish-uk.com/ProductDetail/0/10842/DW-Link-M8-Sex-Nut

Plenty in stock at silverfish!

I did note that the rebuild kits sold out in a few days when they last had stock. Fortunately I managed to accquire one in time

The front does get dragged a bit, if I don’t then the dog gets left in my dust and the poor thing will do itself an injury trying to keep up! Think I’ll go the v2 route as doing a bit of searching there seems to be a definite step up in performance that sounds like it’ll stop the problems. Just have to hunt down some at the right price :o)

The back is also getting very hot, but not to the point of loosing power. The front disc will be a deep blue colour, the pad willnhave a nice burning smell and the power drops off a fair bit. I’m very familiar with brakes overheating and fading in my job. I’ll have a play with the other fluid as that’s much cheaper than swapping over callipers and rotors.

The m4s are the latest version with phenolic pistons and the rotors are the saw version.

Thanks for all the info, anyone want an m4 caliper?!

Already on organic pads, moved the sintered aside already as they really made it cook. Blue discs, smell of burning, a very odd sound and lack of any braking power might be an indication at they’re a wee bit warm, oh, and watch the spit flash boil off them!

Fluid has already been changed a few times, and yep, done properly with the right stuff.

The v2 with vented is pretty much as far as it’s possible to go, but at least there’s no chance of brakes deciding to pack in just as you reach the bottom gate!

Yes, I could take a bigger brave pill or get better, but that doesn’t happen instantly and for now, I’d like to stop.

Would the 203 on the m4 really make much of a difference? Don’t want to buy it to discover that I’m still in the same boat!