No, I’m sure santa cruz alu frames are stronger than most. But here is clear evidence showing how much superior carbon SC’s are to their aluminium counterparts.

Except in some ways they aren’t. It’s much harder to visually assess CF for issues caused by chronic long term stress and it tends to snap violently as opposed to bend.

So you run a greater risk of riding along and then finding your bike falling apart underneath you, I wouldn’t want to ride a carbon Santa Cruz after it’s had 1500lbs of force put through it during a crash either. Just because it looks like it survived on the outside doesn’t mean to say it’s very healthy underneath.

All materials have their strengths and weaknesses, carbon is very very strong. I’d just rather be able to visually asses my bike easily before each ride.

Yeah and that’s going to be more weight that just sticking a tube in and having more support, unless you care for really low pressures.

just watching the end of a program on bbc 2 about a susie wolff becoming a formula 1 driver.

was wondering why there aren’t many women in formula 1 and especially moto gp (as there are some fast women who do the iom tt).

have women raced moto gp?

Not to be harsh but for the same reason why womens elite riders in downhill are a long way behind the blokes in terms of times, although I’m sure Rachael Atherton would leave everyone here eating dirt.

It’s a mixed category championship so teams will try to find the fastest racers possible ie men. What needs to happen is a womens championship needs to be set up but what they need for that is 1) Enough riders 2) Sponsor interest as it’s really freaking expensive to run a team.

Sorry Aracer, you have a fair point…..Wakefield just really….really winds my shit up more than anyone I know.

I do think science has to be made more readily understood by the public so that we can convince them of what we do, this could start with news papers appointing health correspondants that have a minimum of a 2:1 in a scientific discipline and who demonstrate an aptitude for making things easy to understand.

I don’t have the patience for that and I suppose my outraged Jeremy Clarkson way of making my point doesn’t help.

Unfortunately interpreting data is of little effect if you can’t articulate it. Granted the medical profession had the obstacles created by a lazy and divisive press, a corrupt medic and his rich sponsors, and herds of bandwagon jumping messiah complex alternative medicinal gurus….. but the medical profession is bigger than all of that and failed to articulate the facts clearly and consistently and persistly enough to counter the truck-loads of attractive bullshit.

Good point, I’ll explain the graph to people later.

I’ve got to go and escort my missus back home as it’s dark.

I’ve had problems in the past similar to GAD, I know what it’s like to be constantly worrying about things.

Good to hear you’re better. The best thing I ever did for myself was to close my eyes, think of a time and place when I’m really relaxed (when I’m laying prone with a rifle at a range)…I’d go through the same process of taking a shot in my mind and would control my breathing as I would with my shooting and at the same time I would touch my trousers with my hands….focusing on the texture.

I did this enough until I could get my heart rate down simply by touching the sides of my trousers, it reduces my nerves massively and helps me to keep a cool head. I still do it sometimes at the top of downhill runs or during exams.

It’s a psychological grounding technique, google is your friend – it set off my interest in biology and medicine.

That’s nothing….this is how Russians do hostage rescue….machine gunning them from a moving BTR and then going all kamikaze

No need for a tyre…a tube or two would do the trick…attach it to the bottom two thirds of the frame.

Inner tube + zip tyres + downtube.

If you want to spend money there are loads of downtube protectors on ebay.

I wouldn’t worry about the carbon pivot mount though, that will be incredibly study.

TBH this is why I don’t want a 2.5k frame anytime soon, I could probably afford it but writing it off would leave me heartbroken. I’d rather have a 1 to 1.5k (max) alu frame and be comfortable riding it into the ground.

I reckon your missus is the girl in this vid.

I don’t like the revellers either but IMO she should be buried covertly at sea like Osama.

Perhaps around the Falklands.

I got totally knocked out with work related stress last year, and that was one of the symptoms- one highlight was literally sitting in front of the TV for hours because I couldn’t decide whether to eat lunch first, or go to the shops. By the time I managed to do either, I could have done both. Other times I got so freaked out trying to decide what to do that I just thought, not worth it, I’ll do nothing. But it was only ever discussed as a symptom so I don’t know what the actual name is. “Pure stressed as ****, ken, bein a useless miserable ****” is I think what it said on the sick line.

Sounds like GAD, sorry to hear you went through that Northwind. Hope things are better now.

The biggest “LOLZ” of the whole saga is this forrest plot

If you don’t get how to interpret it, you should just shut up and listen to the advice of your doctor.

Jack the forks up and try some higher rise bars.

That will sort it.

Mac can we realistically assume that people can filter out the crap in the media when their reasoning capability is effectively

I think the mtber demographic less likely to give their children the MMR jab are those with fixie fat bikes :mrgreen:

The way that people believe without question what they are told is what worries me.
How do you know vaccines are safe? Why does the government have a vaccine damage payment fund if there is no risk?

They have risks, all drugs and medical procedures have risks. The fact that some governments have vaccine payment funds simply demonstrates that those governments care about the individuals who do get side effects.

I know the vaccines are safer than the diseases because hundreds of doctors and scientists around the world independent of the original studies performed by the pharmaceutical companies… carry out their own studies. These are published to major/minor journals or left unpublished but often accessible to researchers who can then perform a meta-analysis which for lay men effectively finds the average outcome of all the studies.

Because the serious complication rates of any of those diseases are much muuuuuuuch higher than that of the jab.

If there was no overall health benefit to them, they would never be recommended. Eg the same reason the smallpox vaccine is no longer distributed, the risks outweigh the benefits as the disease doesn’t exist in the UK outside of *possibly* Porton Down.

P.S. Rubella and Measles are two different diseases.

For questioning peoples’ views on vaccination!

No, for child abuse where it can be proven.

But yes, I’d also be partial to some sort of German “Holocaust Denial” style law.

Wakefield and Melanie Phillips et al should all be banged up, as should those who pedal groundless blogs on the matter. The plebs need putting in their places.

Personally I hope people like you restless are one day prosecuted in the same way parents are who allow their children to die through exposure to elements etc.

Finally, the authors of articles that say anything that is not backed up by science in reputable journals in a fashion that attempts to deny current scientific consensus in regards to something in which peoples lives are held in the balance should be prosecuted with legislation akin to the ones Germany has for Holocaust Denial.

**** had enough of it, there’s a time and place for free speech – placing others at risk with groundless rumours is not it.

Of course shooting me would be a criminal act, not vaccinating children is not a criminal act.
Would you prefer that it was?

Yup.

In fact I have political contacts within parliament anyway, so when this terms over I’ll be seeing if I can do some lobbying.

So you think that parents hold responsibilities for other peoples children as well as their own.

Yes, we live in a society don’t we?

If we didn’t and we weren’t bound to responsibility to society, I could just go round to your house and enact my version of rampant individualism with a shotgun to protect my children.

wow! So you think parents should be forced by the state to have their children vaccinated?

So you think children who cannot be vaccinated for various medical reasons should be forced to be placed at risk by those who have not had them.

You are denying them their choice to go to school in a healthy environment, the burden should instead fall on those who CHOOSE not to vaccinate your children. It’s fine to make the choice, just find another way of educating your tykes. Maybe send them to a hippy brainwashing co-operative school…. perhaps a Steiner school?

The **** David Icke style whack jobs are really coming out of the woodwork in the comments sections of those papers.

It was utterly irresponsible to print those articles even if they do poorly attempt to paint Wakefield in a bad light.

We need to get tough on these people, if your child is unvacinated then they shouldn’t be allowed in school whether they are state or privately educated. If you want to go hippy, go full hippy and home educate them.

Anyone who doesn’t get their child vaccinated for any reason other than medical grounds should also pay an increased tax rate to cover the costs of dealing with lowered or non-existent herd immunity and the costs of compensating those people who are infected by measles etc because they can’t have the jab on health grounds.

The same **** left wing middle class hippies who are usually the types to not have their children vaccinated tend like to bang on about how we all live in this world together. Well, suck it up….your individual liberties shouldn’t extend to infecting the rest of us.

May I suggest a simpler vastly cheaper fix for your hands.

Push on wired grips. Eg Renthal Soft compounds…more rubber more damping. If you install them correctly and maintain them once in a while you will never have a problem with twsting.

What kind of riding do you do? If your not doing long day epics I wouldn’t bother with more comfortable bars – what you gain in comfort you lose in terms of control.

I came off really comfortable springy Syntace Vector Carbons to hard as nails Spank Aluminium 777’s and it really is quite a revelation. The former just kind of dulled the feel of the ride and the input was less direct.

Also for the record Syntace, Easton Havocs and another companies are just about the only carbon bars that have passed the German VR3 safety standard for downhill. Not that I know or really give a **** about what that means but you might want to look at the safety testing that has been done on these bars.

Products from nice big companies have usually been rigorously tested.

Get the hub refaced? The problem tends to be the hub, my experience from hearing about this issue is that if you had a a Hope or Shimano hub it would most likely work.

I already had to drive an hour to get the seat tube sorted I don’t really wanna spend anymore money on what should be right from day one.

Hope you get it sorted Mosey, I know it can be disappointing. Are you building a bike from a frame? If so you should definitely get a torque wrench.

Anyway I ask because I’ve had lot’s more minor issues with frames as compared to what I’d expect from full builds. I think the reason for this is that when full bikes are assembled, those doing the assembly process notice things like roughly finished seat tubes.

Well if there’s a dodgy batch then yes – it will. Santa Cruz don’t make the bushings themselves.

The reason why I say get the correct torque settings is that there are different levels to how free the suspension moves, when my mega (and previous SX trail) is clearly not torqued up properly the suspension does move a bit more freely.

Spare bushes are always good to have around anyway – especially if you notice play whilst on holiday.

Order some new bushes from TF tuned and get the torque settings from Santa Cruz. They’re a couple of quid.

If that doesn’t work out send it back.

You’ll be dealing with this at least once a year, Santa Cruz’s (or at least the Nomad MK1 and MK2 and VP Free) eat bushings.

Chris, that video makes me think of what makes good motorcycle development riders like Rossi…they have the feeling/instinct plus the analytical side that helps to confer what they feel to the engineers. Some riders are really great at going fast but no good at helping develop bikes.

Fabien seems a little like the former – perhaps like Rossi who is a thinking mans rider.

You used to find really fast riders at racers who could never confer tips to riders because they simply rode with a lot of instinct and little else (my brother was like this)….I guess that’s sort of the same.

There aren’t that many spares for Hawker Hunters either. People still manage to keep them flying, you just have to have the drawings and someone who will make the parts for you – which costs a fortune.

The beeb have given this coverage as well – it’s beyond reason and belief. The really sad thing is, is that it appears that of all papers…The Daily Heil has decided not to run this story.

The man needs to go to prison IMO, I’d be very very close to kicking the **** out of wakefield if I met him in a pub.

Perhaps it’s harder to get good feel out of carbon…or it’s just a different feel and some of us don’t get on with it…..my Syntace Vector Carbons were just to comfortable and dull…..having said that the Carbon Havocs seem pretty good. I still don’t like them quite as much as my 777’s….

I want to try a few more carbon bikes to make my mind up. An SB66c is the next on my list for a test ride.

If I could find a carbon frame that felt right to me (Nomad C and the Mojo’s do not) then I’d be willing to get one….not sure about wheels though (when they become cheaper) as I don’t fancy the idea of checking them for cracks before every ride. Pinch flats, burps or hard landings seem to result in fractures as opposed to dents or flat spots. I don’t like the idea of that.

No because carbon supposedly kills feel. I do reckon I get more feedback now I’ve gone back to aluminium bars, less of a dead quality to the ride. They flexed more as well….much more compliance – my new 777s are on par or perhaps a bit stiffer than my old mans carbon havocs.

Giant felt no reason to build the Glory out of carbon btw

My old man sent my Monarch to TF tuned as part of my birthday present (away at uni….no room for bike) to be PUSH’d as it was leaking air. Apparently they are still doing it for the monarch which I was unaware of…. maybe they still have some stock left or something.

Anyway, I asked for a faster end stroke rebound and the air can volume to be spaced down a little. Looking forward to trying the results!

50mm and 30mm rise spank 777s.

Tioga twintail saddle

Sintered pads

Xt chain

Xt cassette

Hope bashguard

Renthal grips

I think what he was trying to get at is that its faster to ride smoothly than ride at your maximum all the time….eg his interesting comment about the main difference between him and steve…he hardly pedals

He touches a little on how to train as well…Most of its common sense to privateers who pick up these tips on how to go about shaving seconds off their run. Practicing techniques so you can read sight read tracks….I liked that… as well as steve porters comparison with musicians as thats my folks background.

Think I will go chainless when shuttling for a while to force me to use the terrain more.

Stewart, I might be in HK this summer. Mind if I fly my bike out and badger you into hitting those trails with you?

I love the assumption that people who buy 29ers have been “suckered in by marketing”

29ers are better for most MTB applications – Fact .

I could pick so many theoretical holes in this theoretical concept but I can’t be bothered as I’ve bored enough of you on previous threads in regards to this topic.

If I start another one, I’ll be the replacement for “TJ + Helmet” jokes.