Chateauneuf du Pape Vieux Telegraphe if you like lush reds. The 2007 should be pretty drinkable now.

Jailhouse Legs McGee! (probably explains why my pedallin’s so crap..)

Let’s leave my suspenders out of it eh..? 8O

That’s the whole point though – it is only 760g but given the frequency of the accelerations etc, any saving is going to make some positive difference over the course of an endurance race – which I believe was where all this came in? :-)

Blimey! Having just fitted hope hoops / crest / nobby nics and saved 760g over the existing wheel/tyre set up I would suggest that I can definitely feel a difference in the way the bike rides. As to whether that translates to ‘faster’; I’m not one for higher level maths, but given that the only power available is human, any small improvements to the mechanical elements must help. Acceleration has been mentioned, but gyroscopic effect will also be diminished by moving to a lighter wheelset. Just try holding your old (heavy) front wheel at arms length with it spinning, and tilt it from the vertical toward the horizontal. Then compare it with your new (lighter set). Then consider how many times you initiate that tilting action on the trail. Over a decent distance, I think that the slightly lower fatigue-inducing effects of both accelerating, decelerating and compensating for gyroscopic effect probably leaves the rider with lighter wheels (bike) in a better physical state, therefore able to go faster further with his (her) given limited resources. (throws two cents on the bandwagon before it rolls over him..)

Thanks Burchy1, did the cafe shut, or did someone take it on – my missus loved their cake…

+1 for the Cube Ltd. Mine’s a 2010 Comp spec, though it’s been upgraded as stuff’s worn out. Weight-wise, I’ve saved a fair bit switching to 120mm SID’s, XT chainset/BB and more recently Hope Hoops so it’s down to c.11kg now. And in the black anodized finish it looks great. Bare frame weight’s 1850g (small) if that’s useful?

Del, I haven’t been over to Haldon for a while – what state are the trails in (last I was there there were some horrific braking bumps forming)?

Hello mate, sorry, bit slow getting back.. I’ve never serviced Fox forks, but I think I know what you’re referring too. There wasn’t a washer under the neg air nut, can’t remember how the rebound adjuster sealed, but I didn’t replace anything crush washer-esque, and it all seems fine.

One thought;

If you can, try and get a larger syringe (c. 150ml)to put the damper oil in with(agricultural supply store, ‘Moleavon’ WHY) – I think putting the oil in in stages with the 20ml syringe supplied in the TF kit can lead to errors (perhaps it was just me).
Having put in (what I thought was) the required 106ml, I found I couldn’t get full travel.
The fix is simply to take out the damper unit (no need to remove the lowers for that) and use the syringe with a short length of plastic pipe (fish tank hose – also good for brake bleeds) to extract a few mils of oil. I took out two ml and re-assembled & tried it. Much better. If you take out too much, I guess the damping will suffer. Hope thats useful.

I don’t have the SID’s with the brain – or a Spesh for that matter, but I serviced my SID’s last weekend, and just used a small bottle brush to clean round the rebound adjuster & neg air spigots. Local branch of Boots (other chemists are available..) will sell them for cleaning babies bottles & breast pumps etc.

That was the first time I’d stripped them after 1400 miles, and the seals & foam rings were pretty grubby, though the oils that came out looked pretty clean, and there was no damage or visible wear on the stanchions. FWIW, the kit from TF Tuned seemed pretty good value at £40 – new seals / foam rings / oils / syringe & grease.

You’ll need a deep 10mm socket to get the neg air side undone, and I wound up buying an adapter so I could use my 1/4″ drive torque wrench with the 1/2″ drive socket, as they tighten at just 7.3Nm
Oh, and try and find a 24mm socket where the inner (working) facets extend right to the open end (most sockets seem to have a generous chamfer on the inside), as the top cap nuts on both legs are very slim, and it’s very easy for the socket to slip off.
Hope that helps.

Had these since last June, and have put about 1200 miles on them since, including a few short races, 3 weeks of dry, dusty abuse in Southern France, and half way round the Kielder 100 last September. Personally I think they’ve got enough ‘float’ (I run them at a low tension – and haven’t suffered any unintentional un-clipping).

Giving them a quick spray with ACF50 after cleaning has stopped the slight surface rusting on the spindles (my commute takes me across the sea front, so corrosion can be an issue).

I can’t see any point in spending a load more on the XT version when the Deore model seems so competent, as the weight savings not that great anyway. That magazine sub would be the way forward eh?

FWIW – I went tubeless using Schwalbe bmx innertubes and stams sealant for less than £20, on the stock Alex ZX 24 rims that came with my bike, and Schwalbe Nobby Nic’s. The tyres are billed as ‘tubeless-ready’ as far as I know. Not a problem so far, I just carry my spare tube in a ziplock bag, so if I need to swap out the sealant covered ‘rim strip’ I’ve got something to put it in to keep my pocket clean..

Minimal weight saving I guess, but the ability to run lower pressures without pinching is worth the minor faff to begin with IMO.

That’s grand – cheers all. Just need to get a deep socket then..

Have a good Christmas one & all. :D

So has no one else considered / serviced their own SID’s?? A little help here please – it’s (nearly) Christmas after all.. :-)

David, this guys achievement is incredible, I’d struggle to do one day’s distance let alone keep it up for a year or so! I mentioned your piece to guys at work and we wondered how he chose his route? Was he just doing the same circuit – I can’t begin to imagine the mental torment..

Edit – thanks wwaswas for bringing this to our attention.

avdave2 – not when there’s a head (as in regular allen bolt head) on the back side of it, no!

Granted, if it were just a grubscrew you’d be correct squire. :?

Nanos with titanium spindles get the weight down nicely, but FWIW I reckon DMR V8 / 12’s pin pattern fitted my old trainers better.

Question: In the Great Flat Pedal Debate, why are pins that are threaded through the pedal reckoned to be better than those just fitted in blind tapped holes? From an engineering point of view, when the working end of the stud or pin gets damaged / bent the only result is then destroying the thread in the pedal as you try to extract it, as you’d be drawing all of the damaged portion through the inevitably softer pedal body material.. (sorry, used to design machinery – seems like bad design to me..)

Wish I’d been using my nano flats on Saturday though, as fell heavily in thick gloop riding down the sunken and very appropriately named ‘Hell Lane’.

I’m not familiar with your particular rim, but for what its worth I used Schwalbe bmx tubes & Stans sealant to convert my alex zx rims (stock wheels that came with my Cube LTD hardtail) – I couldn’t see any physical differences between that and a Hutchinson kit (oh, apart from saving about £30 of course!). That was about 300 miles ago, and so far so good..

I guess using Stans’ tape might yield a lighter result to be fair.

Thanks Knottie – hope to get some time over the Christmas break.

Cheers for that. I’ll have to decline this time, just found out the mother in law’s off the the ‘midlands for the weekend, so I’ve got the kids.. Another time eh, as it would be great to hook up with people who know the area (I’m in Lyme).

Mike.

Did someone say ‘cake’? (leans slightly & elevates nostrils in an ‘Ahhh, Bisto’ stylie).

Is this ride open to all-comers? I’ve not been to the Quantocks before but if I can get the MIL to childmind I’d be up for it..

Don’t Kona make a bike called ‘Shonky’ ?? (just sounds crap/poorly made before you’ve even started eh?).

Good luck to you all – I’m still smoke-free since end of Aug 2010, and if I can manage it (finally) anybody can.. Still miss’em sometimes, but the bike’s keeping me honest. And my missus can’t moan if I spend odd moments tinkering with the bike, as I just point out that I’d have only been outside having a fag otherwise eh?

I can’t believe the cost of straights these days anyway, I’d never be able to afford to smoke now (30 a day, rollies mind you).

Keep it up, think how much fitter / faster / more enjoyable riding (& life in general) will be – trust me, it is..

Cheers for the input folks, I was thinking of 2012 XT from rose (uber cheap etc) but for the extra 30 quid an end the future serviceability of the Hopes may well be worth it eh?

DaveRambo – how do they sit with shifters? I’m using XT (no indicators).

Cheers.

I went for M770 XT as an upgrade for the Deore stock items on my hardtail, primarily so I could ‘lose’ the gear indicators and move my brakes inboard.

Never used SLX, but in terms of shifting performance / feel, there wasn’t any significant improvement going from the basic Deore to XT.

Best gain for me was switching the cables to XTR inner with contionuous SP41 outers – very slick, and so far not needed any maintenance.

My Cube hardtail has a little sticker on the back of the seat tube stating ‘handwash only’ – I’ll be honest, trying to get it into the zanussi never crossed my mind.. (who says the Germans don’t have a sense of humour!) :D

Seriously though, Turtle wax wash n shine in a bucket o’ water with the dustpan brush, followed by a rinse & if needed, a drive train clean up with Park scrubber / citrus degreaser. Bounce dry, and either GT85 or if the weather’s minging ACF50 (better at keeping the salt-laden sand & spray at bay on my coastal commute). It doesn’t get a wash after each outing, as it’s in daily use, but I generally wipe the stanchions over.

Well, you know what they say – just because you think you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you..

I didn’t realise that Paolo chap could move that quickly, I mean he’s a great singer/songwriter but hey?

:roll:

Tried the email thing – I got an ‘out of office response’ about three weeks ago, and nowt since. Tried a dealer too, but it’s not stated in their Cube book.

Only really wanted to know as have been wondering about a single speed – and whether to just convert the cube or look for a second hand frame & build one up. I’ve been on a few rides out with a mate on his SS, I just stuck with the middle ring and 14 teeth out back by way of solidarity.

I’m currently running XT transmission / shifters and XTR cables with continuous outers, so converting to single speed would save almost a kilo. But it’s plenty hilly here, and I can only currently get part way up some of the hills before I’m reaching for the granny ring.. (I should point out that I’m not wildly fit eh?)

I figured if the bike weight came down significantly I might take a punt at it. TBH, I could loose about six kilos by leaving my laptop / books / lunch etc on the kitchen table before leaving for work. Perhaps gears are the way forward after all!

EDIT – just found a comment elsewhere that suggests 1850g for the small, mines a large (fnarr fnarr..) so I guess add 100g or so. hey ho.

+1 for altura attacks. I have the 3/4’s and they’re just the job. A bit rustly if you get my meaning, but definitely waterproof.

What you should really be concentrating on is what tyre choice said miniscule particles made, prior to attempting to circle this underground raceway.. I mean, little room for the odd wash out or two travelling at that speed – and what pos & neg pressures were they running in their forks eh? I’d recommend carrying spare pads at least, given the speeds they’re likely to achieve..

(all right, i’ll shut the **** up now, and get on with cooking a moroccan for tea.) Not a real moroccan obviously, that would be inhumane, and probably not as tasty. Recipe available if higgs boson doesn’t appeal.

My 3 year old thinks the best joke ever is ‘why are pirates called pirates? – because they arrr!’ (and who am I to disagree?)