Best looking bike I’ve had was the Turner Flux – but it wasn’t the best bike to ride.

Still looked very nice, surprised it’s the first in this thread though – they do look good.

Not so much a stretching issue, its just that it holds the moisture for so long. Can make riding on it (wet) a little uncomfortable. Fine otherwise. I tend to fit a normal WTB saddle for the wetter days.

hmmm…. I can’t download it either.

I’m using a Brooks Swift, its fine. Only down side is riding when its really wet, the leather gets saturated eventually.

Have a look here
http://my.opera.com/nicolap99/albums/showpic.dml?album=584360&picture=9112885

Drinking – bottle of Chardonnay from Naked Wines – nice

Listening to DJ Shadow on Spotify

Not eating, thats enough multi tasking fo the moment

Drinking – bottle of Chardonnay from Naked Wines – nice

Listening to DJ Shadow on Spotify

Not eating, thats enough multi tasking fo the moment http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/my-plugins/bb-smilies/default/icon_smile.gif

Have a look at Kriega, a tad pricey, but excellent build quality. The Hydrapak bladder is much easier to clean than the Camelbak bladders.

Castrol R – used at speedway meetings….wonderful stuff.

Where:Neath to Baglan Energy Park

When:about 7.30am

What:Surly Long Haul Trucker

Have a look at the link, should explain all about the oil change and oil levels etc.

http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/rohloffhuboil.html

I’m a very recent convert to the NN’s and put a post up last weekend about them. I was using NN’s front and rear, tyre pressures seem to make a difference. 30 psi front,35 psi rear worked well, but I still thought the NN on the front lacked a little bite (have been used to the grip levels from a Super Tacky Maxxis Minion).

I tried an Albert on the front at 30 psi with the NN on the rear this weekend – thats seems to suit me fine – rolls really well with a good amount of confident grip – not like the Minion at all, less ultimate grip, but acceptable and it rolls so much better.

54

2.1 XC High Roller, relegated to rear tyre duty after a poor initial try.

I suppose I got spoilt with the Minion – something like the Minion but without the tractor features – couldn’t believe how well the NN’s rolled (compared to what I’ve tried).

LBS have recommended trying the NN’s at the lower pressures above – failing that a Maxxis Ardent on the front with the NN at the back.

I suppose I run my tyres a little hard – usually ran 40 psi in the front Minion and a little harder at the back.

HR would have been about the same.

Going to try the NN at 30psi front and 35psi rear.

As AndyPaice says , might take them off and use in the drier conditions (later this year?).

Might be a little early to put my new Nobby Nics on though. Should notice the difference in better rolling resistance though.

what swello says is pretty much spot on….me I’m convinced , its all good.

I had just the same sort of dilemma, wanted a smaller hydration pack – bought a Kriega Hydro 3.

Comes in pretty expensive, and you’ll have to buy an extra 5 or 10 litre pack – but the quality is superb. Pack stays put on your back without any movement.

Just back from riding the Wall -it’s fine up there. Even the fireroad at the very top (near 373) is ok – all the snow is gone , and ice.

Don’t know for certain what its like at the top of Whites Level climb (Windy Point) but I would think its ok.

You can still see some snow on the outer parts of the Skyline though.

Should be perfectly ok for Penhydd and The Wall – probably 99% ridable for Whites.

I rode Whites Level yesterday (well sort of) , the climb out of Glyncorrwg is ok, but the closer you get to the top the more difficult it becomes. The snow has frozen with packed ice at the top of Whites level (Windy Point). Couldn’t ride much – mostly pushing.

I then pushed the bike from the entry at Energy to take the shortcut over to do the Wall. Even the fire road was bad.

Top of the Wall at 373 was ok.

I’d say that Penhydd and the Wall are ok. Its been a little milder here today, and now there’s some rain / drizzle which will help the thaw.

I’ll be riding the Wall tomorrow.

I got the medium spring through Pearce Cycles , give them a ring (really helpful), failing that Pace will have them.

I recently had a pair of RC40XCFR,before that I had a pair of coil Revelations. The RC40’s were better at almost everyting except the bigger hits.

I’m 14 stone – the std spring was fine , the firm spring was too hard and I couldn’t get all the travel.

Have to say though the Fox Vanilla R140’s are a better fork than either of them – that’s why I sold the Pace’s and fitted the Vanilla’s.

I’d choose the RC40’s over the Revs though.

avdave2, yeah had a look on the Thorn forum – recommends fitting brake outer with XTR cable inners.

Bike is used exclusively off road – mainly at Afan / Glyncorrwg / Brechfa – the grit seems to get in everywhere and cause havoc with most components. This was the main reason for going with the Rohloff hub in the first place, couldn’t keep up with the relentless wear and tear of (primarily) the drive-chain components.

Will be fitting the brake outer with XTR gear inners, plus the addition of three Middleburn cable oilers on each cable. One at the radius near the handlebars, one on the downtube length and the last one just after the radius under the b/b pivot area.

Hopefully this will provide a solution to the (relatively) frequent cable maintenance issues. Very pleased with the Rohloff overall, just need to get this sorted.

Might try some brake outer again with the XTR inner gear cable – could even give the Middleburn cable oilers a go to try and keep the worst of the gunk out.

nickc

yep, tried that – the SP41 outer just gets harder over time – I’m sure its the repeated flexing.

Cable outer lasts not much more than 2 , maybe 3 months – not a terrible task to replace, but a bit more intensive on the Rohloff than replacing conventional gear cable. Plus the inner gear cable is somewhat goosed (due to the grub screw mangling the end of the cable).

snaps
do you use the rohloff cables with the liner? I’ve read that the liner drags itself up into the twist grip and stops working (well it needs alot of untangling etc).

Ta for the advice.

The SP41 outer casing breaks up around the bottom bracket area – the Nicolai Helius has the cable routing down the downtube and underneath the bottom bracket and along the chain stay to the rear wheel / gearbox.

I think its the constant flexing of the cable outer in the b/b area that creates the splitting.

Better shifting with the SP41 gear outer – but becomes brittle and breaks up.
The brake outer is more flexible and withstands the flexing better – but has poorer shifting performance.

Thanks for the advice and feedback,after a bit of research I decided to buy theKlipsch Custom 2 ‘phones.

How about a Surly Long Haul Trucker ? This is my commuting bike, tough as old nails.

130 to 140 mm travel will be fine. I tried riding my Pace RC40 wound down to 120mm , but didn’t feel quite right to me.

The CC (cross country) is a little misleading description (in my opinion), it more like an AM.

The AM is almost a FR frame, and the FR is very well built – as nickc said – probably too much bike for most.

CC or AM are good choices, choose either one – just depends on how aggressive a rider you are (and how much travel you want).

Nicolai Helius CC Rohloff – medium – I’m 5 11 tall. Build is on the burlier side of xc, but its built for durability as opposed to being light weight.

Excellent bike, no regrets at all.

cheers, will do :-)

singlespeedstu

Do you have any images of the bars with the rohloff twist grip?

I’m interested – thanks.

Hope these images explain a little better – don’t worry about the big bolt above your head, I’m more worried about the comedy off’s than the big tumbles.

Looks neater as well.

Yes, I also had the 3K version as a Christmas present. I just read the thread and got the USE helmet light bracket out for a try.

It works :-)

But, you could do the same without the USE helmet light bracket – you just need a long enough bolt and a large washer.

Bolt (preferably with a spring washer) through the large washer and then threaded up into the camera itself. I’ll give the new mod a try tomorrow.