20″ ragley blue pig !

Easton haven bar, £35 from merlin and an on-one hot box stem for £15. £10 left over to spend on beer !

A reply to critic2good:

1. It’s not the size of a small bungalow, it’s probably about 4 or 5 feet diameter. It’s to stop the rain falling on the angler and their equipment. It isn’t comfortable sitting in the rain, if the bait gets wet it can ruin it, and when maggots get wet they can crawl out of their tins. Also useful to cover bags to stop them filling with water.

2. Again an exaggeration, most angler’s chairs are just enough to fit your arse on.

3. Most anglers aren’t as able bodied as yourself, and the trolleys you speak of help greatly in getting their gear to their peg so they can enjoy a day out in the countryside.

4. Most anglers will try their best not to obstruct the towpath, however as said above there’s ignorant folk in all walks of life.Do you need to put all this kit either side of the towpath with just a 12inch gap down the middle ?

5. Most anglers will happily move their gear out of the way of a cyclist 98% of the time, however occasionally they will be doing something like playing a big fish or trying to undo a tangled rig, which means they can’t move their gear immediately on your demand. A little patience from both sides is appreciated in these occasions. Also, please bear in mind that each angler pays an annual fee to the environment agency, plus a daily fee to whichever association controls the rights to that stretch of canal for the privilege of fishing there, whereas I bet you didn’t even obtain the necessary permit from British Waterways to ride on the canal towpath ?

Blue pig here, have run a few different tyres and my favourite is an ardent exo 2.25. Rolls well, comfy and gripswell Iin everything apart from greasy mud.

Nukeproof 44IETS or superstar tapered T4 will do the job. Personally I’d get a hope though.

Sounds to me like the freehub seal isn’t seated in the grooves properly or is the wrong way round.

I’ve ran lots of non-tubeless maxxis tyres including standard and exo ardents tubeless with no problems.

Depends on weight of bike?
Mine moves a bit, manual says it’s ok.

Which one did you get and why do you like it? I’m seriously considering the Mega TR to replace my Blue Pig, however I’d like to get someone’s real world opinion rather than just the magazine reviews.

IIRC you could get a 2×9 SLX front mech to suit the 22/36 chainset.

A mate of mine had his rear hub re-built with cheep bearings 6 months ago. I’ve just finished re-building it again as 4 out of 5 bearings had seized. IMO stick with genuine hope or other branded bearings I.e. skf etc.

30-40mm wider bars will achieve the same feel and extra breathing room as 15-20mm in the top tube for a lot less expense! will also make the bike feel more stable and quicken the steering. Win-Win :)

And also allow extra budget for new cables & brake hoses if required.

Areas to watch for are headset/fork diameter, seat post, seat clamp, front mech band, bottom bracket, rear drop-outs & rear brake mounts. As said above, make a list of what you have first.

As for suitable frames, you haven’t mentioned a budget, so to suit 120mm forks, I’d suggest an On-One Inbred for £140 or a Cotic Soul for £500.

Me too.

Can’t comment on that particular light but as a general rule, XPG = Flood, XML = spot.

Ragley stubbing stem. I’ve got one of the older versions and it’s 30mm stack height.

Similar weight to yourself, I run Hope Hoops with Flows and they’re very good.

Bender Fender XL is great, the extra bit at the front makes a real difference at high speed.

Racing Ralph?
Personally I love ardents and would stick with one of them.

You need to be more specific about the frame as a 1.5 headtube can be anything from 44 to 56 mm diameter. We need the exact size of headtube or model and year of frame to help.

I’ve used Flows and rim strips in Mavic 719’s. The rim strips work, just not as well as Flows. A lot depends on if the rim has a deep centre channel. The deeper the channel the harder it is to inflate the tyre.

+1 for the hope ‘H’ lower cup, I have one on my soul. Cheaper than a full headset, well sealed and silky smooth. What’s not to like!

I’m on the cotic mailing list and after reading how stiff a 34.9mm steel seat tube is and how strong and durable the frame is, I personally wouldn’t hesitate bolting a child seat to my soul if my kids were that small. I’ve run one on an Inbred without issue so the soul should be fine.

Bresty haw (fnar fnar. ..)

As above, used them a few times, one order took a few days to get here but other than that, been very pleased. They’re now my default choice.

Collar colour makes no difference as the later versions are also available with silver collar. Look at where the hose emerges from under the saddle, the earlier versions have a plastic boot on the end of the hose, the later ones are metal.

Guessing that you don’t encounter too much mud in the lakes, I’d suggest an Ardent EXO. I’ve run Ardents and Advantages in the past and the Ardent definitely rolls better at the expense of some grip in mud and the EXO sidewall provides a bit of extra toughness.

The standard convention is to quote the inside diameter and cross-section.

There should be a star between the Racing & Ralph with a number 3 in it and the word ‘Gatestar’ below the star.

Evo is the range, basically it means that you’re getting the better triple compound tyres rather than the plasticky dual compound ones. If the tyre is marked with the compound i.e. Pacestar, it’s one of the EVO range. If marked Performance or ORC then it’s one of the cheaper ones.

Spesh Butcher / Purgatory ?

+1 for Holiday Inn Express, I stayed there a few years ago.

Another vote for the Blackburn Mars 3.

What frame is it ?

You need to be more specific. What diameter is your disc, are the calipers post or IS mount and is the frame post or IS mount ?

I’ve had a pro 2 evo freehub split along it’s length starting at the pawls, and that’s with 4 pawls sharing the load. IMO shortening 2 pawls and only using 2 at a time to transmit the load won’t do any favours for their long term reliability.

Is it Dual Air and have you filled the negative chamber ?
I run my RS forks at 135 and I’m 50lbs heavier than you. Try dropping the pressure to about 105-110.

I bought a Vibe one and it was a different thickness from one side of the rotor to the other by about 0.05mm, under braking you could feel it snatching so I sent it straight back. So it’s a nay from me.

To add a bit of balance, a mate of mine has been using Flame’s for a couple of years without any problems.

You staying at Bluestone ?