Overheard in glentress cafe- a chap who was going to fit 650b wheels to his 26 inch bike but with skinny tyres, so he could get quote “the advantages of the bigger wheel without messing up the geometry” Congratulations sir, you just invented the 26 inch wheel, only worse.

Please tell me you asked the chap to stand if not already, before taking a firm grip on his waistband as you proceeded to pour his coffee into the front of his shorts whilst uttering you sir are a fool.

Then after putting a little more tension on waistband released with a thwack and then proceeded to place empty cup upside down on said gents head.

Please say you did that.

I have a subway ltd edition as above as my commuter hack.
It has been an excellent bike for the money.

I would suggest putting the extra money you and your brother are providing on replacing the original tyres straight off for some puncture resistant tyres, I put conti travel contacts on mine a year ago and not one puncture since. Or others are schwalbe marathons I think, ether way you will be doing him a great service as the originals tyres are pants.

I thought the op had been quickly outed as a troll and the thread then rightfully high jacked to do a bit of 650b bashing.
No need to bash 29ers as they are no threat. I did see one once though, may even have been the op, as he was not hanging about.

I should not be that bothered really, I have perfectly serviceable bikes for the moment and if that changes worry about it then.

You don’t get honest salesmen if you did they would be on the breadline.
I don’t buy bike mags, but if they are anything like the airgun mags I used to subscribe to where I never ever read a bad review of any of the guns they reviewed, may be me being cynical but could have something to do with the full page adverts for the same guns in the magazine.

Its just the very bikes the industry was touting as fantastic last year are now fundamentally floored because they say so.

Made me think of this,

i agree with chestrockwell, its all a bit

Not so much, just if it is a genuine advantage why lie and mislead.
There was an interview with someone in the industry where the interviewer kept referring to the standard as 27.5 and the independent bike builder referred to it as 650b. At some point the interviewer pick up on this and asked why the builder preferred to call it 650b, to be told quite matter of factly because it’s not 27.5 and to call it that was misleading.

If it is better, then tell it as it is . Don’t take me for an idiot and try and mug me off with bullshit.

Because it’s pish, and all pro 650b diagrams demonstrating the wheel difference are always not to scale, enforcing the fictional 27.5 in the middle best of both worlds pish.
Because showing to scale and calling it 27 which it is would not serve their purpose so well.
And may make people instead question the fact it’s not April first is it.

“What would Bill say.”

Until he saw this.

Boils my piss

I am sure in the future the 26er will be back, marketed as the new standard quoting better acceleration and chuckability.

But by then they will all have 2″ steerers and seat tubes stopping people from running to their shrines and ripping the old frames from the wall in a bid to resurrect their old 26ers.

It’s obvious the big wigs of the mtb industry clubbed together and built a massive wheel size calculating super computer.
Then asked it to calculate the perfect wheelsize. It then used satellites to scan the entire surface of the earth and using this data calculated every earthly possibility before reaching the conclusion that 650b was the answer, as irony would have it turns out the earths surface is absolutely littered with 26″ incompatible ruts, who’d of thunk it.

If you don’t believe me, email Steven hawking.
He will tell you the same.

Wheels are for losers….

I had a couple of big offs last year one resulting in fractured ribs and scapula and another nearly knocking myself out and severely winding myself to the point I was on my knees taking a lean off a tree thinking I need to take a breath soon or I will die, and the fact I physically couldn’t was quite scary.

I am not naturally skilled on a bike and never have been even as a kid on a bmx but I enjoy riding never the less.
I do crash every ride so choose to wear quite chunky knee/elbow guards and a helmet and do not make me feel uncomfortable or compromise my ride in anyway.

Both of my above crashes were at swinley and I believe they would have been a lot worse without the padding as when it comes to body slamming that armoured trail is very unforgiving.
Also as far as swinley is concerned, I get the impression that I am being over the top with my attitude to safey, the whole stormtrooper/power ranger labeling, or the occasional “nice pads comments” from a little shit who has no responsibilities.
Yet to the contrary I have seen many ambulances in attendance there, three at once one time.

I have broken a fair few bones in my life some more than once,worse being smashed heel and fractured spine after crashing a motorbike which meant a mechano core saver care of the NHS and not being allowed to put my plaster clad foot on the floor for 3 months.

Stupidity is the reserve of the young, that is why they make great soldiers, I am now well into my cautious phase of life.

I have had money go from my coat more than once at work, a mobile phone, and a cd wallet filled with 20 CDs.
Each time I was pretty sure who it was but my boss said if you did not see them do it there was nothing he could do.

The last time money was taken I actually blamed myself for leaving myself open to the theft rather than try to apportion blame on who actually took it as have long since accepted there are some serious pond scum about.
You only have to tune into an episode of Jeremy Kyle to see it.

I thought it was pretty unremarkable.

brakes – Member
the current one on my other half’s agenda is the baby-eating foxes in the garden and how they’re going to maul our 2-yr old.
telling her that baby-eating foxes are very very very rare falls on deaf ears because her cousin found a fox in her bath last summer…

Just imagined your other half’s cousin having just lowered herself in to a steaming hot bath, when up pops foxy complete with bubble bath Afro.

:D

Maybe some help,
flapjackie

I recently received my order of 30 16g screw top co2 capsules from tyre inflators uk.
They were £19.49 plus £4.99 postage care of FED EX, came in good time and very pleased.

Have used them before and will use them again.

You have a great bike. The new 27.5 version would still only be marginally better if all the marketing bumf behind the wheel revolution turns out to be true.

Internet forums, mtb magazines and marketing do generate a lot of bike envy to the point of turning you against your own trusty steed and believing your once beautiful bike is really a heep of crap that is holding you back whilst making you the laughing stock of the trails.
And by buying the latest bike you will reach mtb nirvana and thus being eternally happy.

Thing is, there will always be a new bike, much better than any that have came before,
Meaning you will never be happy.

All of the above is easily cured.
Stop looking, and ride your bike instead.

Why not just run your bike as is.
Then in the future buy a 650b bike if it is still the current standard at the time.

Riding something that is not specifically designed for the wheels size you have seems odd if you plan on keeping those wheels for the foreseeable.

matther01 – Member

@twohats – loving that SC and colour scheme
Chip – is that pic taken at Brocton?

No mate,
Tank traps at swinley forest, which I think is now completely flooded.

Not enough orange in this thread,

Now running tubless with bonty xr4s on hope/flows.

looking into enposhening options for the standard 2013 sektor DPCs soon .

I have conti travel contacts on my hack and they are great on road, pretty bombproof puncture wise but only marginally better than slicks off-road.

Bimbleing on the flat In good weather they would be fine.

Co2 inflator and some soapy water in a squirty bottle works for me.

I have been using 12g capsules as have loads knocking about, they seat 3/4 of the tyre then finish off with track pump.
Although I have just ordered 30 16g capsules from tyreinflators for £20 plus £5 postage.

They should last me a while, also carry one when out on the road on the commuter for when I get a puncture in undesirable surroundings where I feel a bit of a soft target late at night with my bike upside down, otherwise I just use the mini pump.

Best advert ever bar none,

It’s a penis pump, I have fully deflated the hand bellow could you just check with your T&CS that that’s OK.
would not want to lose it,
Sentimental value and all that.

I used the gorilla tape because the shop where I bought the valves only had 21mm stans tape and I had a new roll of 1″ gorilla tape at home. And went round twice as better safe than sorry.

Traction is friction, so any tyre that provides more traction than you need will also be causing unnecessary friction slowing you down .
Chunky tyres with tall well spaced tread although great at scrabbling for grip and shedding mud better (as a mud clogged tyre is effectively a slick ) do not roll well on hard surfaces, slowing you down.

For what you describe I would try maxxis ardents 2.25 as a good size with enough grip in most conditions apart from if it gets real muddy but still roll exceptionally well even on Tarmac.

If the tyre is holding air and friction is stopping the bead from seating, I would suggest more soap and invest in a co2 inflator or maybe run the wheels down to a petrol station and use their compressor.

I set up my new flows tubless yesterday with some new bonty xr4 team issues.
The day before I fitted gorilla tape to go,two layers before wrestling on the tyres and tube.
And I mean wrestle, I have never struggled as much to get a tyre on a rim ever.

Once on it was impossible to seat even with the tube until I squirted some fenwicks bike cleaner I keep mixed in a squirty bottle around the edge of the tyre/rim before inflating with track pump which solved the problem.
I only fitted the tube to help compress the tape to ensure it was stuck down properly.

Yesterday, some more wrestling to remove tube, fit stans valves and refit the side of the tyre. Quick squirt around tyre/rims with some more fenwicks and inflated using co2 inflater then track pump to forty psi to reseat tyre.

Deflated , removed valve core before adding joes super sealant and reinflating and giving it a good shake as if panning for gold.

The only drama was the fact the tyre was really hard work to install and seat due to being tighter than a gnats chuff.
I converted my bonty tlr wheels last week using their rim strips and valves with maxxis ardent/minion tyres no trouble at all as the tyres went on easy and the co2 inflater seated them in seconds with no soap required.

Only thing I did not align valve with tyre logos on the flows as even with only one side of the tyre on it was too tight to rotate the tyre around the rim to line them up and did not want to risk damaging the gorilla tape trying .

Young family, I would slow down to walking pace, out of courtesy and people can be fond of there children and tend to get arsey if feel that you have endangered them even in the slightest .

Dog walkers , slow to a walking pace , same reason as above and dog could bite you if he feels threatened or feels his people are threatened.

Old people, slow to a walking pace out of courtesy and they may feel less able to react out of self preservation as quickly.

Young fit adults, slow to a walking pace if they don’t acknowledge and give way. If they do I would go faster.

If passing people is few and far between I don’t see the problem with slowing down.

If you pass someone at what they perceive to be speed at what they perceive to be to close, despite your thinking otherwise on a hunk of metal. I should imagine they are feeling how you feel when some muppets in a car passes you too close for your comfort despite their thoughts otherwise.

The walker could stumble at the exact moment you pass the same as you could hit a pot hole when being passed by a car, you should factor in the unexpected.

Also read a customers review of a pair of nukeproof grips once that listed as a product pro the all metal bar ends were great for damaging cars. :(

I was the first car waiting at a set of lights.
There were three lanes of traffic middle and right lane were straight on, I was in the inside lane which was left turn only into a B&Q with a separate filter light.

Light turns green, I turn into B&Q, an almighty bang as a cyclist bounces of the passenger door.
Passenger door of my immaculate mk2 Golf GTi dented and scratched and one badly shaken up and apologetic cyclist on his arse.
I helped him up and made sure he was alright before going on my way, don’t know why I did not ask him to cough up.

A youth came darting out of an alley straight into the road in order to cross the road in front of my mothers car.
Luckily she was going quite slow, slammed on the brakes, got out to find both the cyclist and his bike still on the roof of her car. Had to have bonnet and roof resprayed paid for by youths parents.

I’m 5’9 with short legs so feel more comfortable aboard an 18″ frame but means when stood astride my spuds gently nestle the top tube.

Also means I can only use a 100mm dropper.

A 17″ frame would be perfect for me.

I am not having a go at the member of staff who I was dealing with.
More halfords in general.

He did not refer to it as a crown race but instead pointed to the joint between the bottom of the headtube and top of forks and said the bit that goes there. Now he may have said this as not to bamboozle me with science.

But he despite this was very friendly with generally a good attitude, who wanted to help hence his unsolicited offer to build me a new bike after repeatedly failing to solve the missing crown race problem by adjusting the preload on the bearings.

He was doing a job he had not been sufficiently trained to do.
I still use that halfords and others for bike bits but after that experience I decided to do all my own repairs .

The suspension forks on my halfords hardtail began to knock so took bike in to have them replaced under warrenty.

On collection I found plenty of movement in the headset , told the guy who served me ( bike hut manager. ) who repeatedly tightened the headset till no slop , but also completely locked steerer .

After repeated adjustment told me come back tomorrow we will build you a new bike.
Then went on to tell me he thought the problem might be they could not get the crown race of the old forks so fitted the new forks without one.

So I got a new bike for the sake of a crown race,
But could not believe they knowingly tried to send me home with my bike without a crown race.

Thanks,
standard non sp wheel set ordered.

Remote on my big bike,
Lever on my hard tail.

I use my hardtail mainly for local woods and such like where I rarely need to drop the seat apart from some quite long steep steps here and there. Which I wouldn’t go down without checking they were clear with no one walking up anyway.

So have plenty of time to use lever, so would rather have less bar clutter but still a lot less faff than a qr.

Slightly off topic,

When buying a brandnew frame do all manufacturers state the warranty is only valid if built by a professional bike mechanic.

I remember reading threads in the past where people were refused replacement frames because of this.

He doesn’t use a two ton car to force his way through,
That implies that he some how shunted the cyclist out of the way.

Either your seeing something different from me or you refuse to see what I see.

I don’t understand the people here who believe it is ok to run your mouth abusively and in a threatening manor but then plead that putting your Hands on someone makes you a bully.

What if the driver had been of a nervous disposition and panicked and tried to drive away causing an accident.

You don’t have to lay your hands on someone to be a bully, there are young kids taking there own lives due to constant bullying on the net through social networks.

Just because the cyclist channelled his venom through words does not make him not a horrible ****.

Northwood, I agree, but I understand there are many people who would feel threatened by someone who is screaming obscenities whilst enraged.