I think putting the front on the back makes sense for tubed but maybe not for tubeless. Road tubeless is so much more sensitive than mtb so once the tyre is on and sealed leave it alone – fix punctures if need be using anchovies and top up sealant every 3 months through the valve with core removed. Stretched beads and dried sealant can make a tyre that went up easy first time become a nightmare second time round and tyres that were a nightmare first time I just don’t want to attempt twice

64kg, continental 5000 25 mm 72 front, 78 rear

Have you read Joe Friel’s Fast after Fifty, really helped and motivated me

My wife has also been through this. After getting her new bike, she did about 15 two hour rides before going for a bike fit. During this time we didn’t adjust anything on the bike so she really got used to the position and sitting on a saddle for a couple of hours. She wasn’t very good at changing her position so we made her garmin beep every 15 minutes to encourage her to stand up on the pedals for 30 seconds. The bike fit changed her position significantly ( shows how little I know ) and again she had to go through the learning curve of getting used to the new fit. Now she never mentions bike comfort and looks great on the bike. The bike fitter was very approachable and has fitted many women. She has a specialized power saddle, she sat on their arse measuring device and specialized recommended we set it up level. Her only issue is changing the front dérailleur with small hands but even that is significantly better than before the bike fit and I think the only answer there is di2. The bike fitter is in Folkestone, good luck.

White lightning epic on mtb and road all year

Hydraulic discs, front suspension and GPS

It’s great finding new routes on all the different apps out there and being able to download them in a couple of seconds to your GPS. Faffing around with maps, constantly stopping and starting, and getting lost / backtracking used to be so frustrating So maybe my three are all equal first place.

My tyres unseat at around 10/20psi – roval tubeless rims and Hutchinson performance / 5000 / IRC tyres. I’ve had about 5 punctures that needed plugging. If I get a puncture, I quickly put a thumb on the hole and use a pre loaded anchovy. Always works and I top up with a regular pump, don’t really get the benefit of dynaplugs. I’m running 70-80 psi on 25mm width tyres.

Anthem 29 for me too, far better for my local trails which is where most of my riding happens

Thanks for the reply. I’ve been on the wolf industries site and it says the goat link needs to work with a derailleur with a clutch – mine is from the era before clutch mechs, my 1×10 set up works on a nw front ring only. So any recommendations for a different goat link manufacturer? Thanks

First bike was a purple specialized rockhopper in 92/3 bought from m steels in Newcastle, had a soft spot for specialized ever since. Moved to Arizona and took bike with me but bought a Marin pine mountain with a manitou m4 fork in 96. Happy simple days exploring everywhere. Still got the pine mountain frame, bit tatty but free to a good home ( and now in Kent ) …

I use autoglym convertible soft top clean and protect on our mx5, very good product

I have the same bike as mick_r, agree with the others that it is a rocket ship but I’m a fan of short travel, fast handling 29’ers

To try and balance this out, Im a fan. Size small, 31 waist and 38 chest and everything fits well – road and mtb. Really like MTR, singletrack and F2260 ranges and I like buying British

Way more to the point where I Now have tendonitus in my hamstring / glute and have had to back off to three 1 hour rides per week. I can see my hard earned fitness disappearing far too quickly! Why didn’t I back off when I first felt the injury, I’m a slow learner!

These are my favourite threads, i moved back to England in 98 from 5 years in Arizona and was permanently freezing so bought a rab down jacket for walking around in, lusso thermo bib tights and a Pearl Izumi jersey for riding – all still going strong. Also got a ground effect Baked Alaska from around the same time. Still look to those brands before any others when on the look out for new kit

Yes you can, just be careful not to damage the packaging

Bit disappointed to read the above as I was keen to hear people’s feedback. I’ve never had a problem with anchovies and I always preload them at home so the repair is very quick, they’re cheap so can’t really see the point in the more expensive solutions.

My wife is very happy with her specialized power saddle, had the fit done at a specialized concept store

Well it looks like I’m the only fan. I have it 50:50 milk to water with about 100gms of frozen blueberries or a banana.

Ive had one for about 6 months. i use it on road and mtb and it has been a revelation compared to my old garmin 25. Its frozen once and took about 5 mins of frantic button pushing to unfreeze. I use it to download routes and follow workouts with power and cadence sensors – workouts can be in or outside. For me it has been perfect and I chose it over the 1030 because of the stories of touch screen issues with older models, but i think the 1030 is fine. battery life is also good and it is very easy to customise the screens.

Out of curiousity, what tyre is it? I’ve seen a few pics of Hutchinson Fusion Performance with this fault and they were replaced under warranty

Happy with mine

Kid.a, are you running your hutchinsons tubeless? If so, how are you finding them and which variant have you got? Nice bike by the way, I have the SL5 disc comp which I’m really pleased with but would like the extra tyre clearance of yours.

loved my 2007 super light, sold it in panic due to wheel size obsolesce and bought a whyte 905 but never really got on with the slack thing. Now have 29 anthem and am happy again. Agree with the above of depends on where you ride and what sort of rider you are

I have the latest variant 29’er (2018) and it’s the best bike I’ve owned. I’m a bit of an old school xc rider and much prefer super efficient fast climbing bikes. I ride the north downs and swinley. Don’t use a dropper but I think ks do a 27.2 internal routed model. Only thing I changed were tyres and saddle, Paul’s cycles have amazing deals on last years models.

Thanks all, think I will try some trials. Staying in one gear and ramping up the cadence between 90 and 100 in 2 rpm steps for 2 min intervals to see the effect of cadence through 90-100rpm. Then do fixed cadence and ramp up the gears in 2 min intervals. Then vary tyre pressure for fixed gear and cadence. And try to keep my form!

Tpbiker, I’m looking at the average of 10 mins and seeing this difference – not the fluctuation during the 10 min period

Trail rat, I’m using the 4iiii to give the cadence. I took my garmin cadence off when I got the 4iiii as I thought they couldn’t work together. Is one more accurate than the other?

Interesting points. I initially ignored left right inbalance as i thought that if I had it, it would be consistent from day to day. But it looks like garmin have updated their software in the last couple of weeks and it now shows torque effectiveness left ( about 75 ) and right, pedal smoothness left ( about 21 ) and right. These figures do change slightly from one activity to the next and I don’t really understand them – especially as i only have a single sided power meter.

The air temp in the room drops by about 4C over 1 hour – i have the doors open to the garden and a fan blowing, hadn’t really thought about bearings getting hotter but surely that would happen for all workouts?

Would a change of tyre type have a significant effect – same pressure and width but the one used that gave the lower power readings feels like it has softer sidewalls

If I’m in the same gear and maintaining the same cadence I would have thought my power would be the same from one day to the next. If I was fatigued I assumed it would be my HR that would be the only variable that would change

Have done quite a few tests now and am repeatably getting around 170 HR for FTHR so thanks for all the advice. I bought a 4iiii left hand crank power meter and am curious about repeatability. I’m on rollers with tyre pressures checked, same gear, same cadence but power can vary by upto about 15 from one day to the next. Usually very consistent, but every once in a while I will have a day with low numbers. I calibrate each test and ambient temps are stable. Battery life is about 50%. Any ideas why this may be happening

How about the C7 Shakedry Stretch?

If the narrower handlebars don’t work, and I went with the 1×11 set up I initially suggested , I think it would cost about £220 which is a fair bit cheaper than Di2 – would it work and do I need to worry about the 2.5mm chain line shift?

Thanks for all the suggestions, lots to go on. Unfortunately the 7025 levers are hydraulic only which is a shame

Webbierwrex, that’s a good point and the bike fitter suggested riding the bike with the current changes for a while and then perhaps going to a 38cm bar – thanks, I forgot that detail!

Joebristol, can I just get the left lever and front derailleur for the system to work and what is the throw of the lever like? Thanks

She does rotate her hand around the lever body but since her hands are small, she has to rotate her hand along way which then becomes a body movement! And it is only the left hand side because it has the longest travel

She is struggling with shifting when on the hoods, when I try it, the lever seems smooth and well adjusted. The levers are adjusted in close to the bars. If I went the di2 route, could I just get the left lever and front derailleur, and is it a button or do you still have to push the lever. Some of the problem is her elbows are very flexible and actually bend in. I haven’t seen the 7025 levers and will check them out. The GRX route seems an expensive solution …

I’m measuring the last 20 mins of the 30 min test as per the british cycling test protocol for both power and Hr. The one big negative to the rollers is I’m so knackered after 30 mins that I have to stop myself keeling over and falling off the rollers!

I have a Quito and it gets damp around the shoulders with a day sack weighing about 4kg. It’s supposed to be a slim cut but it’s quite baggy. Those are the only negatives, I like the soft quiet material, probably a better fast walking jacket than fast cycling jacket.

A quick update. I repeated the FTP/HR test today and got exactly the same HR as last time, 170, and my power was up 5W. So I’m putting the low first result down to a faulty HR test. This is the 3rd time I’ve done the test and although the pacing gets easier it really is ridiculously hard work! I’m following a Joe Friel fast after 50 plan and I find the training plan a lot easier than the testing!