I’m in, can’t wait! I’m already in Vancouver having moved here some years ago but 3 friends are flying over from UK & Sweden next Tuesday to join me.

Good news is that after a miserable winter & spring, the weather is finally looking great – loose, dusty trails all round. 🙂 Electrolyte tabs & suncream could be useful.

I wish it was that easy. Unfortunately that’s part of the main frame.

Yes, I’m in for 2017. I live in Vancouver now but have 3 good friends from the UK coming over to join me, can’t wait.

I’ve also recently taken ownership of a Trace DLA and I’ve used this guide to help me get it dialed in:
Bike Rumor Suspension Set-up – PDF download

I’m 80kg and settled on 95psi, which is pretty close to the recommended and gave me ~25% sag. On the last few rides I’ve only used 80% travel but they’ve been XC with slow technical sections, no big or fast hits. I’m happy with that, means there’s a bit left to help out when I get something wrong.

I also started with rebound at half-way – it was ok on technical, slow riding but it packed down pretty quickly on the first high-speed rough section. Following the guide above, rebound should be much closer to “fast”, so I’ll be trying about 10 clicks from fast (out of 35) next time.

DHB Micro saddle bag[/url]. Works fine on my trail bike with a Reverb and also on my road bike. Big enough for tube, levers, small tool, etc.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/saracen-tenet-3-roadbike?replies=12#post-7564336

Full carbon fork, Tiagra groupset and mech discs, onsale for 400GBP.

Some sites show the weight as 9.52kg. It also implies that the fork is full carbon: http://www.manualbikes.co.uk/saracen-tenet-3-2015

Axiom streamliner racks work as well if you don’t want to get a collar with mountings

That’s good to know, as I ordered one from Winstanleys with the Tenet. Axiom Streamliner Road DLX[/url]

Disappointing to hear about the clearance as I was hoping to fit 28mm tyres with guards for the winter. I guess I’ll see how I feel about the 25mm after the summer and shop around for some different mudguard options.

Good to hear proutster. I’m moving up from a flat-bar hybrid so I’m looking forward to riding a real road bike and getting use to riding with drop-bars.

What was tricky about fitting the Axiom guards? I’ll be installing an Axiom Streamliner rack but haven’t decided what guards yet.

Ha, thanks v666ern, that’s the deal I was thinking of too. The price was too good to ignore, I’ve just ordered a 58cm.

Considering one of these as a commuter and for general road duties. What’s the tyre clearance like? I notice that it comes with 25mm, but I normally use 28mm with mudguards for commuting. Plus I’ve got a lot of gravel roads nearby which means that fitting a slightly wider tyre in future would be a nice-to-have option too.

Cheers.

Twiddle the return speed dial and pump the lever to see if that will encourage it back up

This worked for me recently. I normally have mine set to low-speed return but a quick turn to high-speed and it popped straight up.

New Norco Search’s are now aluminium. I guess there may be some deals on the old steel models if you can find them.

Had mine replaced under warranty through CRC with the same problem.

One suggestion I saw was that it can be caused by lifting the bike by the seat when it is in a lowered position. Apparently, it can suck air past the seals.

I’ve got some Specialized Rime’s (44) for sale in the classifieds if that’s of any interest. They’re great shoes for trail riding with hike-a-bike. I got them for riding in BC but unfortunately bought 1/2 size too big.

Nice idea! Just downloaded it and will give it a good test. I’m in Canada, do you know of any country-specific issues that might crop up?

One suggestion – Can you add a “time” option to the frequency selection e.g. only send text between hours of 4pm-8pm. Useful for regular out & back routes like a commute, where you only want to send a text on your way back home.

How do you find them for road-use e.g. 1hr commutes and occasional 2-3hr road rides. I’ve checked them out in the LBS and they look as if they might be much warmer & sweaty than my old Spec MTB Comp shoes?

They look ideal for my off-road riding and don’t have the budget for a 2nd pair of shoes for the road.

Why not run 6mm of washers on the 10sp mech cable clamp?

Tried it, the cable tension just spins the washers around. The spacer has to fit on the mech arm so that it cannot spin.

Why not just buy a 9 speed Sram rear mech ?

I need a clutch mech to stop my chain dropping on just about every descent. I’ve been using a Stinger chainguide for this until now but it doesn’t fit with my RF crankset very well and would like to take it off.

And yes, I’m trying to do this on the cheap by not replacing the whole drive train. With any luck I only need this bike to last another few months and I’ll be selling it on for something else.

Resurrecting this from last week as I’ve now had chance to check out the problem in more detail.

Looks like my initial problem was my own user-error with a little bit of mad panic thrown in. On a second look, I found that the high/low limit screws were wound in completely to the extent that a few of the gears were unavailable. So I am getting the full range of gears after all. Its definitely a regular X5 shifter, not the Attack version.

I was really hoping to not overhaul the whole drive-train just yet. A friend has a Deore 10sp shifter I can try out with my 10sp SLX mech, but I’m guessing that won’t work too well with a 9sp cassette? Or will it shift ok up to the lowest gear and then just develop some slack in the cable where the 10th gear is missing?

Northwind – A very generous offer if its still available?

Its definitely marked as “X5” but I’ll check later if its got any other markings. The spacers are going on next, but I expect that they will only vary the pull very slightly.

Thanks

I guess everyone else is asleep, except us Vancouver locals…. so what time of year, and what type of riding do you want?

For the whole family:
– Go for a leisurely ride around Stanley Park seawall (you can rent chariots/carriers from some of the local places. or head south over Burrard Bridge and follow the cycle path out past Jericho Beach (particularly good on a hot day).
– Pacific Spirit Park out at UBC is all smooth-gravel trails, its mostly ok for a chariot/carrier if you take it easy.
– Vancouver Aquarium good for little ones on a wet day
– Granville Island for markets & food, but also a good kids play zone.

On the North Shore:
– Grouse mountain if its nice spring/summer weather (not much fun in the drizzle). Grizzly bears, birds of prey show, lumberjack show, etc etc. Tickets are pricey ($45) or walk up the Grouse Grind in the summer if you’re feeling particularly fit ($10 down-ticket recommended). I did it with my 3.5yr old last summer… it was good training!
– Maplewood Farm
– Good walking around Lynn Canyon and Rice Lake[/url], free suspension bridge, nice views of the river.
– Capilano Canyon has a bigger suspension bridge but you pay for access; its more of a tourist attraction.
– IF you’re desperate for more family riding, park at Rice Lake and ride the old road. 20km return trip on tarmac road with no motor-access and access to the river at the end.

For non-family MTB, start with Lower Seymour trails or lower Fromme. If you’re going solo, get the guidebook or iPhone app. I can recommend some trails if you give me an idea of what you want, as I bet many will do so below once they wake up. Generally speaking, most of the riding involves steep singletrack or fireroad climbs with technical blue/black descents, most suitable for a FS trail/AM bike.

We chnaged our laundry liquid for an allergy-free version, helped to clear it up for our 3yr old.

why do you need a peak?

Keeping as much rain & sun out of my eyes as possible, I prefer not to wear glasses all the time. On my Xen, the peak is high enough that its not blocking my view of the trail. I understand the shame of having a peak on the road, but then I’m already riding a flat-bar hybrid so there’s little hope of salvation. 🙂

Sounds like the S3 is the front-runner. I think they’re fairly expensive here in Vancouver ($160 = 100GBP+) but I’ll take a closer look. Thanks.

Right, time to ask a stupid question: why bibs? What’s the advantage over lycra shorts? I haven’t tried bibs and at the moment I’m failing to see the advantages over regular lycra shorts, so what am I missing?

The XX – Intro

M83 – Outro

I suppose I was lucky that I had an officer who was willing to show some common sense & flexibility. I emailed him a complete parts specification and several photos, but when it came to returning the bike I still had to describe some unique features in fine detail to convince him. To be honest, I was glad he was double-checking and I couldn’t have faulted him if he held out for a serial number.

Dear god, what are those forks?!

Great result! By happy coincidence, I also recovered my own stolen bike from Craiglist in Vancouver only 3 months ago. My Heckler was taken from my basement one night: reported to police, statements taken and thought I would never see it again…. until 24hrs later when it appeared on Craiglist! I sat staring at the screen for a good 5 minutes checking it was my bike, even though there was no doubt. It was a custom build and the only thing different on the ad was that the chainstay protector was missing.

In my case, the police officer who took my original statement was brilliant. I set up a fake email account to arrange to meet and used the officer’s cell phone number. Once the seller replied, the police office made all the arrangements and had a couple of undercover cops ready to take him down in the local liquor store carpark. I also didn’t have the serial number but had lots of photos and identifiying items for him to check the bike. Police dropped the bike off at my front door an hour after arresting the seller, just over 48hrs since it was stolen. The seller had even cleaned it for me. :o)

On the bad side, the bike is long overdue for replacement and I would have been much better off with an insurance replacement. So +1 good karma for catching a bike thief, but I’ve still got a long list of repairs to pay for. C’est la vie.

I forgot to cancel mine until 2 days after the intial month trial. Unfortunately my wife had got there forst and already ordered something – they kept a few pounds to cover that delivery, but the remainder of the year was refunded.

Had the same issue on my 08 Lyriks U-Turns. Had a few hairy DH rides with oil on the disc until I found the source.

When fixing mine I found a set of Domain lowers, which are the same apart from different colour/graphics. My local shop swapped them over for me.

BTW, seems to be more than a few with this issue:

http://forums.mtbr.com/shocks-suspension/anyone-ever-crack-lyrik-lower-749442.html

Bottom bolt was tight but still leaking. Very slow leak, takes a day or more to accumulate oil around the bottom of the leg.

Anyway, I’ll get it serviced and see what happens. Thanks for the reassurance!

The non-drive side has no spacers, BB cup is directly on the frame.

Drive side has Stinger (maybe 3mm width), then a 2.5mm spacer, then BB cup. I need the 2.5mm spacer so that the granny ring bolts don’t rub on the stinger plate.

I’ll test it without the Stinger to see if that fixes it, then maybe try a thinner spacer.

Thanks.

Bolt – did that mean you had to replace the cranks?

Your thoughts make sense. The funny thing is that I can’t remember changing any of the spacers etc in the last few years to cause a problem, but I’ll play around with them. When I replaced the bearings, I even took a photo of the spacers to make sure I refitted them in the same order.

The 1mm washer on the crank bolt might be doing it, but its tight on the bolt. I can’t even unscrew it so I assumed it was on there intentionally.

Equivalent of Halfords is Canadian Tire, but its bikes are firmly aimed at those who don’t care about bikes. Best advice is as above, try MEC for the best value decent gear, all the details are on their website. Availability may be limited, but phone ahead and they’ll probably check for you.

http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/Cycling.jsp

Otherwise, lots of local bikes shops. As mentioned above, none of them have a good web presence, you’ll have to call around.

The last month has been freakishy good weather… it broke on Friday, its been belting it down for the last 48hrs! Welcome to winter.

Can’t see the Youtube video above (at work), does it show using a 20/24″ tube to seal the rim and then cutting it down to size after the tire is fitted?

I used that method (WTB rim/Maxxis Highroller non-UST) and it worked surprisingly well at first. Inflated at home with my track pump. But it lasted about 4hrs until I got a rip in the tire that wouldn’t seal. So to repair the tyre means a new inner tube each time, not particularly sustainable.

Anyone tried using duct-tape to seal the rim instead?

+1 Aquapac. Car keys used to go in my bouyancy aid when kayaking, not had a problem in 10yrs.

CoPilot has worked well for me in US/Canada.

Interface is not as intuitive as my old TomTom and phone GPS reception is not as good in built-up areas. But you get there eventually.

It does suck power though (Galaxy S), I get 1-2hrs of sat-nav off a full charge. Recommend you use a car charger with it.

Whistler does a “Sampler” pass: 3 runs for $30 as I recall. If you like it, you can pay the difference to get a full day ticket ($55/day?) All the details on their website. If you don’t have a full-face helmet, you can rent them for $15/day from the bottom of the lift. You can also find armour for rent in lots of village shops.

The easiest warm-up trail is Easy Does It (Green). Basically a wide double-track winding down the hill, but there are some fun singletrack sections that intersect with it part way down. After that, you want to try these blue trails:

B-Line – berms and small jumps.
Crank It Up – Bigger berms and jumps
Ninja Cougar > Karate Monkey > Samurai Pizza Cat – twisty, rooty singletrack

If all you are doing in Victoria is whale-watching, don’t bother. You can hop on a whale tour from Vancouver, save yourself a lot of travel time & cost (I think $150 return with a car?). The ferry maybe only 90mins (nice journey, by the way) but when you add on driving time to the terminal and check-in time, its 4hrs+ each way.

Victoria has a nice harbour area for a short look around, but it has very few attractions & sites compared to Vancouver. For me, not worth it.

If you want the ferry experience, then either:
1) Horseshoe Bay > Sunshine Coast. 45mins ferry, great biking near the ferry terminal on the other side. Google “Roberts Creek” area.
2) Horseshoe Bay > Bowen Island. 20mins ferry. No (official) riding, but good for a quiet day with the family. Lunch in town, walk around the lake, etc.

Not much skill involved in dropping off a waterfall.

But it takes skill to drop off a waterfall at the right point, at the right speed and maintaining the right angle for landing. And even more skill to recover in time for the next drop or rapid… some of those landings have zero room for error!