There are some great bits on the Syfydrin trail though.

I agree, it’s not your typical trail centre ride, but it gets you out into the wilds with the knowledge that you’ve got all the good bits of the trail centre interspersed with some XC stuff. I really enjoyed it (even if I did get slightly lost and have a good few miles detour!!)

That’s what I was hoping for – I’m looking to swap out the Sora Triple for a 50/34 compact

Brilliant, thanks

I got the flat bar version last year as a cycle to work scheme bike. As a commuter it’s great. I like riding it on road too, but now want to convert it to a drop bar bike. Not sure whether to sell what I’ve got and start again as it’s a medium size and I think I’d need to size down with drops, but I’d definitely be looking for a grade again, excellent bikes

Have a look at my classifieds ad, shifters, derailleur and cassette (although only 2x I think) if that is any good for £32

Flat Bar GT Grade?

Yes, have got the shimano funnel and have done the quick top down bleed with the levers in the right position and they still don’t feel “firm ” with quite a bit of free play before they bite

I used a sea sucker bike rack. I was really nervous at the time but I had a lease car and didn’t want to fit a tow bar – so went with the sea sucker.
It’s a fantastic bit of kit! Rock solid in use and a doddle to fit & remove. The only thing to remember is that the bikes aren’t secured when you stop so you’ll need to do something to stop them being easily removed by anyone who takes a shine to them!

No, not for me, for kids bikes it’s seeing them enjoy riding something that will hopefully mean that they carry on riding as they get older.
Would be nice not to lose too much, but that wasn’t the primary aim

Got a Raleigh performance 20 for my eldest last year. Paid about £185. It’s a cracking bike and weighs in at just under 9kg. Have just bought an isla 20 for my 6 year old. Got it second hand for £180. Both really excellent bikes

Hasn’t pulled any paint off yet! Have used it on a few bikes and find it pretty resiliant & hard wearing. Sometimes need a hair dryer just to help on some complex sections, otherwise it’s been great

I use clear gorilla tape. Works brilliantly and cheap to replace when needed

Have a look at Triton cycles – they sell a Bontrager “2x” remote that has a grub screw that tightens the cable – I picked one up for my internally routed TranzX and it works fine. A little agricultural, but only £14 so can’t really complain (also bought the 1x lever as well in case I decide to ditch the double at some point, again only £14)
Cheers
David

Same at Nant yr Arian this morning – rain just turned all the trails into rivers. We’ve had some monumental rain here in Wales today

Local bike shop (Cycle-tec) charged me £10 to tap out old ones and install new ones. Did whilst I waited – outstanding service

Looks awsome Andy

Good riding

Cheers

David

Thanks all. Will look at dropping the travel to 140mm.
Renton – they were in the Amazon warehouse as new and unused but only one set and in 27.5 flavour

Ended up going to LBS who pressed out the old cups and inserted some new ones along with a new headset – all running smoothly now

Yes, found the bearings – enduro max from BETD. Let me know if I can help
Cheers
David

I’ve got a set of the Betd bearings for the 2014 silver Boardman Pro fs that I had. Let me have a look in the spares box tomorrow and we can sort something out if you want?
Cheers
David

Cheers all, looks like STW has been more than helpful

I’ve pmid Austy

Cheers

Thanks everyone
Cheers
David

Yes, sort of

But not like when I installed a Hope converter previously. That I installed first and then put the crown race on top of that. This one looks the other way round? Almost like a small crown race on top of a large converter. It looks as though both make a chamfered angle onto which the bearing race sits

Thanks all. Seeing as I live in deepest, wettest Mid Wales I’ll give the Tmars a miss!

Ok, thanks

Okey dokey! I might be being overly cautious about the 2 veg
I’ll see how we get on.
Thanks for your comments, really quite like the bike in the pic- tapered or steerer?

Excellent.

Slight change of plan so going to do the Syfydrin long route at Nant instead, but will bear in mind all the thumbs up for Long Mynd and will head over there next flexi day that I get

Cheers everyone

Thanks for all the comments, thoughts, etc

Still not sure which way to go – will probably just stay with the full sus for a while and hope that the weather improves and the grinding slop dries up!

Cheers

I found this a handy video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=621wu4-SXUs

Thanks, shorts ordered

Credit where credit is due

Ordered some brakes on Thursday night after placing an earlier order with CRC

Tredz order arrived this morning (still awaiting the other one!)

Pretty good service (caveat – obviously what I ordered was in stock)

Got a set of the Clarks M2’s fitted to the Boardman that I’ve just built up. Really impressed with them to be honest. I wasn’t expecting a lot from them due to be just £34 a pair including rotors and adapters, but to be fair they are really good. Use the cheaper mineral oil as fluid and take shimano pads, come pre bled and are just fit and forget.
I don’t suppose that they are robust as some of the more expensive lower end shimanos or Srams, but if they last the year out then I’ll consider them an excellent purchase

I’ve got Vittoria voyagers 35mm fitted with some SKS guards – not a lot of room for anything much bigger

I’ve got a MET Parabellum – great fit, nice and light and cost £38 from Amazon. Fits my head much better than the Bell Super 2 that I had. I think JE James is selling the Bluegrass Goldeneyes (pretty much the same as the MET) for £39.99 at the minute http://www.jejamescycles.com/bluegrass-golden-eyes-hes-helmet-2016.html

Seems a great price for a well reviewed trail lid

No, seatpost clamp seems ok.
Just had another quick play with it and it seems really sensitive to cable tension. Added a bit more (and I mean a smidgen!) and it seems to operate correctly now with a funny gurggle noise at the end of its travel! Will monitor and see if it really is that fussy about the tiny amount of tension required – all good if that’s all it needs

Just a bit of an updtae

Finally got round to fitting the post and have managed 2 good rides. I’m not very impressed to be honest. It doesn’t seem to want to return to the fully “up” position. It drops OK, but is really slow to return and then only rises by about 60 – 70%. I need to get off the bike and pull up the post by hand to get it to return to its original position.
Has anyone else come across this with this post? Any fixes?
Thanks
David

I’ve just installed a set of Clarks M2 brakes, £35 for front and rear. Use mineral oil and shimano pads.
To be honest, for the price they really are excellent. I bought them as a stop gap, but I’m not sure I’ll bother changing them until they “break”!!

Thanks for everyone’s help with this.

Have finally got the bike built up – haven’t taken her out yet though as weather was not the best at the weekend

Struggled with the shock bolts – had to resort to some “nearly” right ones from ebay and some washers – they seem to have done the trick for now, although Hadge is still on the look out (thanks :-))

Joebristol – thanks for taking the time to measure the bolts for me. One more question if you don’t mind? Have you had any trouble with the pivot bolts working loose? I hear it is a common complaint and wondered if you had loctited them or anything? I might do it just for peace of mind – is it just a case of undoing the hex bolts? Any idea of torque measurements when retightening?

Cheers

5’8 with the medium size flat bar version. Size seems fine but it’s not as stretched out as drops would be