I’ve tried both, albeit on different bikes. I used the Works headset on a 5 Spot. IMO, made a massive difference to how it rode, made it less twitchy.
But the biggest difference was the bushings on the Zesty. These slackened it by about 1 1/2 degree and dropped the BB a touch. Coupled with a set of 160mm Lyriks it was awesome when I took it to the alps earlier this year. Long and stable at speed I (almost) kept up with my mates on their big bikes. Head angle was about 65.5 I reckon. Trouble is, for everyday riding it’s just too slack so I’ve put my original bushings back in. 67-68 is pretty much the sweetspot for me for everyday trail riding, any slacker then it becomes a bit of a compromise.
I had a woman just last night shout that very thing at us as we climbed up towards Pensitone from Langsett. She sat behind us for about 8-10 seconds as we wound up the climb of blind corners with her parping her horn at us a couple of times for not removing ourselves from the road and for stopping her from getting home for her egg and chips.
As she passed, window down and bellows of “you don’t pay road tax, I do!!”
After formuating a well thought argument I retorted with the snappy comeback of “f@@k off”.
She got the message and now understands the merits of an emission based system for road using vehicles.
Despite the many naysayers, I’ve never had a problem with them but I think its fair to say that what used to be a next day delivery is more of a 2/3 day affair – not a problem if you expect it to take this long.
Stevie’s was where all our bikes came from as kids. Favourite for me was a Puch XB20 BMX – stuff of legends. Many mis-spent hours jumping round the Eg wood in Tingley.
And agree, its great to see it back as a bike shop, Big Al is doing a sterling job.
I’m going to use the Wiggle stuff as templates for the credit agreements. With careful planning I reckon 35% savings are possible, and as we’re a small business we can also get the benefit of shopping around and getting discounted deals so even more savings!
If we self adminster, is it not a case of us (the company) just buying a bike (from wherever we like) and setting up a salary sacrifice/loan agreement with the employee? Does the retailer need to be aware that the cycle is being bought for a Cycle to Work scheme? Am I over simplifying it?
pdw – thanks for that, very useful and makes it look like it should be very worthwhile.
We’re only a smallish company (45 employees) and I’ll be administrating the scheme rather than outsourcing it. That way, we can shop around for the best deals rather than being tied into particular shops at not so great prices.
This happened to mine a couple of years ago coming down Cut Gate. I did a trail side bodge with a couple of cable ties and left it like that for another 12 months or so with it working perfectly.
Only when I hamfistedly cracked the bar clamp did I contact GD who said they would repair it under warranty.
For the cost of postage back to the states, they rebonded the post, give me a new bar clamp and cleaned and serviced the post along with new internal bushings/shims.
Awesome customer service – especially given I’d bought it second hand off here in the first place.
Dug the first Happy Mondays album out othe other week, Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out), there’s some belters on there.
Sounds like you’re fitting than me Rob, I remember Elliot Baxter and his entourage hurtling past me as I pootled through Tynwald Mills the first year I did it!
Really pleasing to hear its still got the same charm, maybe I’ll have another go at it next year.
For those that are veterans of the event, how does it compare recently to prior years? I appreciate that the course hasn’t changed much but the volume of people riding it now has risen massively.
I last did it 4 years ago (I think) just as popularity started to gain. My (possiby misplaced) impression was that it was starting to get a bit too big an event to make it enjoyable. I keep threatening to do it again so it would be interesting to hear peoples thoughts.
I asked a question about Octalink BB’s a few days ago as my MTB one has just about given up the ghost (not quite 10 years old but still done a good few years), and I wasn’t sure which one to go for.
It seems the world of Octalink is a bit of a minefield compared to the simpler HT2 options.
Best advise I took from the thread is that you’d be better off taking the old one out and reading the model number from the BB itself before ordering a new one.
FWIW, I’ve just ordered mine from Rose bikes for about £17.
You’ll be fine without. The front mech will help keep the chainwhere it should be. You might lose the chain occasionally but no more so than running a triple.
The fitting is dead easy, it’s the removal that can be a nightmare – correct tools or not.
The shimano bb30’s are made of brittle plastic and I’ve seen them disintegrate when trying to take out, even with the right tools, leaving the bearings in the frame with little to get purchase on to drift out.
I’d get a price in advance from an lbs and if around the 10-15 mark let them fanny about – or let Epo do it for a pack of hobnobs.
Thanks for all the replies.
It seems the best way of finding out the correct size would be to just remove the existing and have a look but in my lazyness, I was hoping to avoid.
I’ve got a distant memory of it being a 113mm but it’s being in there that long I can’t be sure – lets hope the threads haven’t seized!!
I got my eldest a Ridgeback Melody 16″ for her 5th. Solid bikes if a little on the heavy side. Picked it up for not a lot of money second hand from my lbs.
2 years later, it’s been handed down to her little sister who has now just turned 5. Apart from a couple of additional scratches it’s still as good as it was when we got it.
Just picked up a Ridgeback Harmony for my now 7 year old and I’m expecting this to last as well as the Harmony it replaced.
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