I have tried all sorts of chain lube, and have partially used bottles in my garage in the search for something really good.

Skyline Cycles recommended and sold me a bottle of Wickens & Soderstrom.

Excellent stuff, no black gloop, only downside is that it doesn’t last too long, but the best I’ve found.

Yep, if you only undo the hose and don’t cut the hose, then you can reuse the hose with the already crimped olive on it.

Usually though, the hose is shortened and the olive has already deformed to the hose.

The olive deforms under the pressure of tightening the nut.

As it deforms it mounds to the brake body and inner nut shape by expanding in diameter , very slightly.

It also crimps down on the outer hose diameter creating the necessary seal.

That’s why the olive can only be used once.

26 inch wheeled Turner Flux.

Time pedals on all my bike, road and mtb.

Work well for me, also seem pretty robust, no amount of clattering and pedal clips, haven’t given me any reliability issues at all.

Very little mud at Afan, even if it rains hard.

Hard pack weather proof trails.

All the trails at Afan are fine.

No closures, rides very well and drains fast even after days of rain.

Apologies, posted in the wrong sub forum.
Regards

Denis

Some interesting points of view since my original post.

I have voted with my wallet for my new frame build, unsurprisingly, I have gone for a 2 X 10 set up as I believe it offers the best compromise for my type of riding.

As I said previously, I have had the 1 X 11 system, and it did work very well. It just didn’t convince me for the type of riding I do.

Enjoy the bike Alex.

Wish I could have kept it, but riding a hardtail doesn’t do me any favours now

Not moaning about it, just an opinion on the compromise made by 1×11 vs 2×10.

Chain line just looked a bit odd.

No matter how much adjusting it always seemed to make a slight grating sound in the lowest gear.

I,m not totally against the 1×11 system, it has some good advantages, just can,t help thinking that there isn’t,t the flexibility of a 2 X 10 system.

For me mud build up on the front mech isn,t an issue at Afan.

Agree about 3 x 10, couldn’t go back to that.

Most of the climbs at Afan see me in the lower gears for at least 30 minutes regards of which system I’m using.

Chainline is quite deflected on the 1 x 11 , compared to 2 x 10.

Could witter on about the cost of 1 x 11 cassettes, but never really consider my riding to be a cost conscious thing.

Just that 2 x 10 seems to make a little more engineering sense overall.
Regards

Denis

I thought I might have been the only one to ponder the usefulness of the 2 x 10 system.

Very likely to fit 2 x 10 again.
Regards

Denis

Thanks nixon,

just ordered a pair.
Regards

Denis

Just finished watching it, very impressive that the chap achieved that without spending a fortune.

I never use the climb function, usually in the trail mode for climbing and prefer the descent mode for a lot of varied riding on the flat trail and downhill.

The Fox fork just doesn’t feel that smooth and can be a little harsh at times.

Afan has a lot more trails to ride.

Afan also has a good cafe at Glyncorrwg.

Afan over Brechfa every time.

The tree cull has produced a more barren landscape from previous years.

This has resulted in rockier terrain due to the more exposed trails.

You’ll be able to ride rigid, but some form of front / and or / rear suspension will make it more enjoyable in my opinion.

Just got back in from a ride round Whites Level.

Skyline Cycles Glyncorrwg.

Excellent service, advice and friendly knowledgable staff, what more could you want.

Surely Apple prisons would be a bad idea. Hackers would find a Jailbreak version pretty soon…….
Regards

Denis

Timothy Taylor Landlord

I believe I shall have another very soon as well.

Blue – Joni Mitchell

I find that when the MIL visits, it has a great effect on my training schedule.

any excuse to get out on the bike for a few hours, a great incentive at this time of year.
Return home, shower, clean bike, washing kit, beer on the sofa and snooze.

She is never amused with this, bit I find it the only way to cope with the daft old bat.

I have a Trek Stache 9 29+, and a Trek EX Fuel 650b bike.

Been thinking about getting a pair of boost wheels built up for the Stache 9 to see if the 650b plus would be a better compromise.

I really like the 29+ ,but it does have some drawbacks, and a change to a slightly smaller wheel size could be near ideal.
Given that I might go for alight wheel set up on 650b plus, carbon rims, tubeless and less true mass it might alleviate some of the disadvantages of the 29+ ( every bike has some flaws).

Disadvantages of the 29+ is going uphill.
You can feel the drag, it’s not that terrible, but it is there and it harder to accelerate . Riding uphill on a technical climb takes more effort, as the larger wheel can tend to stall if you don’t have enough momentum while minching your way up.
Can tend to wander on the slower climb as well, just a bit more physically demanding.

Advantages are the ability to maintain your speed on the flat or downhill. Easier to accelerate downhill, ability to roll over a lot of ground easier.
Excellent confidence in the larger tyre.

Have to have a look at what effect the 650+ tyre would have on the geometry.

I just bought a new road bike, never had disc brakes on a road bike before.

Took the gamble and chose a Charge Plug 5 with discs.

Much better than rim brakes in my opinion. Plenty of feel, just like off road bike, nothing to dislike for me.

Yes

So far I have ridden about 800 miles off road with the SRAM GX 11 speed cassette.

Since new I have rotated two chains every third ride , hardly any wear on the chains.

Looks good for quite a few more miles, but I do keep chain, chainring and cassette pretty clean.

I can’t see how it would enforceable to ban e bikes from trail centres or off road riding.

At least with MX bikes, the sound of the engine gives them away.

Can you imagine a force of rangers at each trail centre roaming around trying to catch people riding e bikes?

I have actually ridden an electric bike on the road, so I have a good idea of what the advantage in terms of pedal assist is available.

I’m 60 years old and ride quite a bit off road these days, but the day will come when the climbing involved will probably force me to stop due to me just not being physically capable of the effort required.

An electric bike which would assist me would be great, it means I could still continue to get out and enjoy my riding.

I honestly don’t see any negatives.
The bike won’t cause any more damage to the trails, I probably won’t be that much quicker anywhere, I will be out having some exercise and enjoyment.
Whats not to like?

as for the Strava cheating line, lets get real, if we were any good in terms of performance we would be racing, and winning. Strava is good distraction and motivation on a personal level, thats what I use it more.

Regards

Denis

Infrequently vile
Regards

Denis

I usually buy from my local bike shop, which is Skyline at Afan.

The value of a good bike shop can’t be underestimated. Good service, advice and a great place for understanding and discussing all things bike related.

Sure, they can’t match some of the big online stores in terms of price, but I always ask for their advice on components that work and servicing issues.

I can just pop in or ring up and get great advice and service.

I would rather pay a little more and have great advice, service and general customer understanding of what my requirements are.

Regards

Denis

I just bought the Madison Addict jacket, waterproof shell with vents.

Works well, worn earlier this week at Afan in some heavy rain.

I’m normally a large, but chose the extra large , I would go up one size from normal.

I have been looking at buying a new Nissan Leaf.

Solar panels on my roof are an added bonus to have extremely cheap running costs.
My main worry is low long the batteries will last in terms of replacement due to the drop inefficiency over say 5 years.

Yes,you are right, it’s just got the better of me really.

Eventually it will lead to foot soldiers fighting IS.

Bombing will kill innocent men, women and children and won’t solve the issue.

One buzz phrase that always amused me, and there were plenty in a USA company wth emphasis on Lean.

The water spider.

Someone who takes ownership of multi tasks within a process, God I sound pretentious even repeating the jargon.

So glad I’m out of it now.

Must get around to ending my LinkedIn profile. Loads of people liking articles with plenty of today’s jargon, and writing more prentious articles.

My old boss had signed up to about 40 “professional” interest groups and she didn’t have a clue.

Hey ho ( that’s an old fashioned management speak……)

There were weekly briefing sessions first thing on a Monday morning with all staff at the plant.

One week, my boss, sanctimonious ****, gave a briefing full of acronyms and management bingo speak.

About three minutes into the brief, one of the shop floor employees put her hand up and asked to speak.

She said that she didn’t understand what she was talking about, everyone laughed and clapped.

Needless to say the brief ended there, the look on my boss face was “priceless”.

Hasn’t worked, been rung twice in the last 15 minutes.

Yes, it’s a landline which I hardly use these days.

My wife though seems to talk forever on the landline in the evenings, she must have run out of words by now….

I find them annoying due to them ringing at the same sort of times each day, and it could actually be something important. My son needs medical care and it could be doctors etc. So I tend to answer.

Had a call this morning from another Indian call centre , where I explained that I didn’t want to speak to him about anything, he said that he wouldn’t bother me if I just answered his questions.
I told him where to go as I lost my rag a little , and said that all the calls where being recorded and would be used as evidence of harassment in court.

Early days, but it hasn’t rung since.