very little, you’d be better going up Rangers.

First weekend after the end of the ban we did this route:
Up Rangers – down Rhyd Ddu – up Rangers to Telegraph – Llanberis path – down Rangers.
That’s the best “non-standard” route I’ve done on Snowdon.
Rangers is not a long carry and soon over-with.

Another North of England resident here.
I was loathed to part with 2×10 but glad I did now.
1×10 on the hardtail now running 30t N/W and 42t extender gives almost as low a gear as 2×10 did.

1×11 on the new full sus is SRAM 30t N/W and 10-42. It climbs Lakes/Calderdale big hills all day just fine.

The Chunky Monkey is great as a general purpose front tyre on the hardtail. Running tubeless on Flow EX.
The Smorgasbord fitted on the rear at the same time was a disaster though. Destroyed by pinching through the carcass twice in first ride. Nowhere near tough enough or big enough volume to survive anything remotely rocky.

Datura TNT has been OK as winter slop tyre but grip on roots and wet rocks is not good.

Loco Lobo TNT failed spectacularly for me but I think it may have been a manufacturing defect. The rubber encasing the kevlar bead separated from it and the tyre exploded off the rim on landing from a small drop. They promptly went back to O-O who refunded. I might just have been unlucky. I haven’t tried them since. Maxxis dual ply or Schwalbe supergravity are the only rear tyres that I’ve been happy with.

tomaso – Member
I put heavier weight oil in my 44 RC3 Tis but did add a wee bit of air preload. I found them to be the most awesome bit of bike kit ever.

They do bob a bit but hit a rock garden and they slurp it up

Exactly my experience too.
I run 10 wt oil in my 44s instead of the recommended 7.5 wt. I think it improves them (for a 14st rider).
A tiny bit of air preload helps but you will sacrifice a little of the legendary plushness. Probably only 5 psi or so in mine.
The real art with these forks is getting the compression adjuster right. Keep experimenting.

There is no grace period so far as I’m aware.
You will need to tax it before you drive it home.

OK, looks like our only opportunity to play in the snow this season is going to be 26 Dec to 2 Jan.
We’ve always defaulted to Austria or Italy but if we’re going to have to go so early in the season, I guess we’ll have to cast the net a bit wider (and go high).
Any recommendations for that time of year? Either resorts in general or specific hotels/packages/companies, all welcome.

Looks like it’s going to be the two of us plus 17yo daughter.
All competent intermediate skiers and will be taking our own gear.

Cheers

What they ^^^ said.
I’ve seen fluid leak around the valve but it’s been from a failure in the tape somewhere else on the circumference, not the valve.

I have the 44 RC3ti on my 456ti and the 66 RC3ti on my Patriot. They are fantastic forks.

I haven’t tried it personally but I believe you can make all the RC3 ti range ride lower in their travel by using negative pressure in the air assist chamber (i.e let all the air out whilst the fork is compressed)

Marcus,
I’d always read the lower leg volumes as 5/15 too but was never quite happy with the idea of only a teaspoonful of oil doing the lubrication, so right from new I’ve always doubled it up to 10ml in the damper side.
No issues.

Very pricey!
When we swapped out the knackered conventional boiler for a condensing one, about 4 years ago, we paid about £800 total. One guy, one day.

or £4.28 at Rosebikes if you’ve got a big enough order to absorb the postage costs.

I’ve run quite a few combinations over the last few years in Shimano XTs. A quick summary of my experiences:

Shimano original organic are probably the best of the lot for performance.
Uberbikes race matrix have been pretty good so far. Quieter than sintered,a bit more stopping power and lasting better than organics.
Ashima semi metalic have also proven to be a good compromise between longevity and power.
Superstar sintered have lasted best of all in Winter slop and grinding paste but will probably eat your rotors quicker as a consequence. They can be noisy too and less absolute power.
Superstar kevlar worked OK in dry conditions in Garda, (so certainly well bedded in) but the remaining 50% was completely eaten within 10 miles in Northern UK slop/grinding paste.

I heard all that on the radio this morning and really couldn’t decide if he was winding up the presenter or not.

Nobeerinthefridge – Member
How you get to angle tarn is irrelevant, shoulder the bike up and over to Sprinkling tarn and then ride the fun fest all the way down to stockley bridge.

Simply sublime.

That’s the cheeky alternative to the standard 4 passes route. It goes down Grains Gill, which is a whole load more technical than Styhead Gill.
Both are fantastic. Styhead flows better once you get past the boulderfield. Grains doesn’t flow the same but is a good technical challenge. I’ll take my hat off to anyone who clears Grains without a dab.

[Edit] If you want to extend 4 passes, start at Langdale and go up Rossett Gill, down Grains Gill, 4 Passes (well the three remaining passes) to Styhead, back down Rossett Gill to Langdale. That’s a BIG day out. [/Edit]

Magic Mary both ends.

Skiddaw House – Sale How – Skiddaw is a nasty (boggy when wet) push/carry up.
Down the track from the summit is a waste of hard-earned altitude. Bad route imho.

I’d recommend start in Keswick, up via Latrigg and bridleway to Skiddaw summit (the top bit is ridable), Scree slope, Ullock Pike, pick up the track to Whitewater Dash at Barkbeth, Whitewater Dash, round the back of Skiddaw clockwise (fairly boring), Skiddaw House (a bit more interesting), Lonscale Fell (getting better), Latrigg, back to Keswick.

compression adjuster on the 35 has a good range of adjustment and you can feel a couple of notches either way making a noticeable difference. I haven’t got too hung up about whether it claims to be “high-speed” or “low-speed” tbh.

yep, I’ve read up on the reviews and no-one seems to have a bad word to say about them. I’m also very happy with performance and tunability from the couple of weeks that I’ve spent on it.
I’ll give Silverfish a call to ask about the 2 year servicing.
Just wondered if anybody out there has any first-hand experience of living with the 35 long-term.

Beautiful day up Snowdon yesterday.
Managed two ascents and two descents. Up Rangers; Down Rhyd Ddu; Up Telegraph/Llanberis; Down Rangers.
Never knows the weather to be so kind. Usually almost need to peg your bike down to stop it blowing off the top!

Spacer between cup and frame will have absolutely no impact on GXP.
I’d be trying a new BB.
When my GXP BB is worn out, I’ll be going for a Hope one with the GXP adapter.

Either the qr endcap is not seated properly (i.e. not far enough onto the axle), or is the wrong cap (they are handed), or your lockring tool isn’t suitable (fouling internally on the qr endcap).

Assuming it’s the correctly handed endcap…
As most have said ^^^ remove the endcap (pulls off with pliers)and try fitting the lockring without it in place.
If it seats/tightens, then you’ve definitively proven it’s one of the two remaining causes.
Remove lockring. Refit qr endcap but take a look at the depth of the internal face first. That’s how far to expect it to push down the axle.
Take a look at the condition of the o-ring in there too. does it look damaged?
Grease the inside of the endcap lightly it and refit it by hand.
If it doesn’t seat deep enough, as a last resort you could try nipping it up with the skewer, in the frame.
If it seats as far onto the axle as you think it should, try the lockring and tool again.
If still fouling, you need a new lockring tool

wwaswas – Member
Liteville 601 or 301 depending.

nemtbroutes – Member

@wwaswas – Good shout – will look into that. Thanks.

I may be selling my 301 soon (because I’ve bought a 601)
18 months old, XL frame, full Syntace build inc W35MX wheelset and those fancy Titan pedals reviewed recently on STW.
Would you be interested in taking a look if you’re anywhere remotely local to Preston? (email in profile)

self-amalgamating tape +1
really useful stuff and leaves a clean finish if applied tightly

epic adventures (non trail centre) on the MTB – you know those kind of Peaks/Lakes/Welsh/Scottish 30+ milers with a bit of hike a bike and a lot of rocky bridleways footpaths and epic views.

That’s pretty much what we do every weekend.
Doesn’t answer your question directly, but as an alternative worth considering maybe… Look up Bogtrotters on t’interweb.
Sunday rides are typically a big mountain day out in the Lakes/Peak/Wales.
eg This weekend we’re doing Snowdon (twice, both Rhyd Ddu & Rangers).
Last weekend was Helvellyn, the weekend before that was Golfie/Innerleithen.

You can have light 40mm rims in alloy too.
syntace w40

I’ve been very impressed with these.

Supergravity trailstar HD is what I went for as a faster rolling substitute for Supergravity Magic Mary. Feels quite a bit easier.

Quite impressed with Empire from what I’ve seen. Their MX6 EVO looks good in the flesh but I haven’t ridden one yet.

Hope, obviously, for their customer service.

Shimano RT76 for me, marginally lighter at best but probably not worth it as a weight saving exercise.
I have run Ashima Airotors in the past and didn’t like them. They had far more cut-out than actual braking surface and the large size of the cut-outs caused some pulsing effect on the XT brakes that I was running.
I wouldn’t recommend.

[edit] basically, what somouk said [/edit]

nope, still down for me

I’m either even less fit than I thought, or you lot don’t have any proper hills.

30t front and 10-42 rear is just about right for me on the 601.

65 ish I think on my 456 EVO Ti, but that’s a 26″. Works well as an all day & ‘ardcore ‘ardtail.

If you’ve got two spacers on the drive side (68mm BB) then I’d remove the outer one (replace with guide) and leave the inner (against the frame).

The guide was presumably designed to work with both 68mm and 73mm BBs. A 73mm BB would only have one spacer.

Chunky Monkey is great on the front. Works well tubeless too.
Smorgasbord lasted less than one ride though (also tubeless) for me around Rivi… but I’m a heavy clumsy oaf.
Just pinch flatted the carcass on first descent of Icecream-run. Not tough enough and not enough volume for my liking. I’ve run dual-ply or supergravity rears ever since.

Lasting reasonably well for me since I started packing them with Castrol waterpump grease from new. 18 months so far. Whereas. I previously found that I could kill them within 3 months.
Also, don’t over tighten your crank – that makes a big difference as it side loads the bearing.

Glad you enjoyed it. Good route.

Need to go back though, I have unfinished business with those switchbacks…

The switchbacks aren’t so bad… It’s keeping the pace up all the way to the gate/river crossing at the end of the segment that’s tough (foolish Strava-fuelled incident last time, resulting in use of facial tissue as a breaking surface)

Aye, we rode Hebbers on Saturday too and managed a new record for shortest distance ridden on an “all-day” ride. <15miles but over 3000ft of descent.
Best place for miles around if you’re looking for a tech-fest :D

We did manage Blue Pig twice – both times as a climb though!!! :twisted:

Just looked at my strava from last time I did that loop, in April.

4 hrs moving time but that also includes a loop of Skeggles Water and HP Plantation on the way back from Kentmere.
Also riding slowly because of using my face as a brake on the bottom section of NB.

Nan Bield

Now those are proper trails.

yep

oh, and another vote for Tour of Coniston on your other day, rather than the Grisedale loop.