No-one’s mentioned the Capel Mounth into Glen Clova and the Corrie Ghash back down to Loch Muick. The descent from Lochngar to Loch Muick is also pretty epic – all 2500ft of it!

If you've got those horrid QS Centaur Ergolevers you'll be pleased to know that the current model year Centaur has gone back to proper Campag ratchetted shifting.

This may be the answer – it is two clicks for a downshift and about 5 for an upshift. Sometimes I don't bother downshifting at lights because otherwise I will be fumbling at the gears for about 10 secs while the trendy roadie behind me passes with a distainful look.

Thanks for the reply. The vagueness comes I think from a combinaton of the lever being able to move in two planes and the amount it has to move before it shifts. When you are used to MTB shifting it seems to take an age. I am already shunned by true roadies – riding with a peaked helmet, MTB SPD's, a mirror and a bell!

We did the descent of Lochnagar to Loch Muick a few weeks ago – there are some youtube clips on the link below. It is mostly rideable, but lots of drainage ditches. I managed to split my face open on one of the ditches so didn't do a fair bit of the lower steeper section.
Neeps do Lochnagar

After the great skiing season this year there were reports in the Aberdeen press of Glenshee applying to instal a new chairlift on the Cairnwell side. That would be a big improvement over the current rickety 1970's lift. Might encourage more people to visit in the summer too.

i guess the issue is more with hub compatability. I would think that any hub that is compatible with 135 x 12mm should be easily convertible to 142 x 12 mm. I have a Yeti ASR-5 with a set of Crossmax SX's, the rear hub comes with both 9mm and 135 x 12 mm setup and I have bought a 135 x 12 mm conversion kit. It certainly makes a very stiff rear wheel attachment.

Not sure I fully understand your question, but I run a 1-1/8" fork on a tapered head tube using a Chris King headset. The tapered headset comes with two lower races to fit either 1-1/2" or 1-1/18".

A couple of years ago I used wheel milk with some Blue Grooves. It was fine for about 6 months, but then I tried to change tyres. The sealant had partially dissolved the inside of the tyre and left it incredibly sticky – so much so the tyre stuck to itself and I couldn't get it off. I ended up cutting it off. I have subsequently switched to Stan's and haven't had the same problem with a Nevegal. Don't know if it's the different sealant or Kenda have changed the rubber inside their tyres.

No, I am not selling it and it is only two months old.

I don't think it is a direct copy of a 355. Uses similar technology hence the court case, but I am pretty sure the Roval is a bit wider.

Convenient for Golspie and Balblair if nowehere else.

I run 2.1 Nobby Nic's on my Lancaster, no problems with tyre clearance.

My wife's maiden name was Nutter. She use to live in Barrowford. We do have back cat. Oh dear, is she a witch?

I have had both the ASR and the 575 and ridden the ASR with Fox Talas 100-140mm forks. The ASR is very fast and rides well most of the time but on steep downhills it is a bit steep in the head angle even with 140mm forks. I swapped it for the 575 and am much happier with it. It is still fairly light (mine weighs 27 lbs) but handles rocks and downhills so much better. The Yeti dealer said if you can't decide between an ASR and a 575 go for the 575 – he was right, I should have listened to him first time.

Lynsey

The Ecurie Neeps (link above) meet every Wednesday evening and Sunday morning. We welcome new riders. There are usually a few people who ride out from centre of town to Kirhill, Countesswells. If you put a post on our forum you should get some replies.

I just paid £23 after a year for a £1000 bike. They were going to charge £96 to take it off my hands if I didn’t want to keep it!

We went through a spell of this, birds’ feathers everywhere, blood smeared across the walls and little dollops of guts left neatly on the carpet. You’re not going to stop a cat hunting but you need to make it clear that they can’t bring the catch into the house, by chasing them out everytime they do it. After a while they get the message and eat them outside. Our cat rarely brings a catch into the house anymore. Not much use though if no-one is in the house all day.

Who’s playing? I lived in Calgary when the Flames got to the final – a party in 17th Avenue everytime they played.

When i lived in Calgary and my parents visted I took them to:

-the Glacier off the icefields parkway (forgotten the name but you drive to it in a bus with tyres the size of a car)
– Peyto Lake
– Lake Louise
– Moraine Lake – very pretty
– Johnstons Canyon – if you’ve got kids, they will love this – the chipmonks and ground squirrels are very tame.
– Banff – try the cable car up the mountain for great views

Most of these involve some walking but it is usually fairly easy going.

Yes, it was a Neep ride. Had intended to do Mount Keen but the fantastic weather was too good an opportunity to miss.

The climb is surprisingly rideable, you even used to be able to drive up years ago. However, climbing 800m all in one go tends to mean you just have to get off and push just to use some different muscles – it is a huge relief when you get to the top.

Yes, the water bars are a pain, most are hoppable but a full-susser certainly makes a difference and tubeless tyres an advantage. Both my mates mis-timed a front-wheel lift and smacked their shoulders. Here are a few more pics – particularly like the two of the Snek.

It is 40 km, about 5 hrs. Start at Keiloch car park, head up the Dee to Inverquoich, cross the bridge at the Devil’s Punchbowl, then up Glenquoich. After a few miles you will cross the Quoich again and Beinn a Bhruid is in front of you. Follow the track and, you then have an 800m climb that just goes on and on. The path becomes indistinct on the top, but head for North Top and then head East. Go to the right of a small hill, then down into the Snek, careful here it is very steep and loose. The path from here starts rough and rocky but further on is smooth with drainage ditches – follow this all the way back to Keiloch via Invercauld.

Surpised no one has mentioned the Yeti 575, slightly more travel but not difficult to build to 26 lbs, The half carbon version is almost as light as the carbon Blur LT2 and considerably cheaper.

As ever, the late great Sheldon Brown had a view:

http://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

Sorry for the plug, but the Ecurie Neeps are doing the Loch Muick – Glen Clova ride this Sunday (10th) if anyone is interested. It is one of our regular(ish)rides, although we do it from the Loch Muick side. We meet at Loch Muick car park at 10.00 am

Ecurie Neeps

Nonsense, the first 2 albums after Gabriel left were fantastic – Collins did the vocals but didn’t have any/much <cough> creative input.

A year ago I would have agreed with you – And Then There Were Three – is a great album, but nowadays I find myself mostly listening to Foxtrot and Selling England by the Pound, probably the zenith of progressive rock.

And I thought you wanted to discuss the merits of the Peter Gabriel vs Phil Collins eras. Definitely the former.

You get the normal 20kg + 12kg if you pay the sporting goods supplement. I’ve never been able to stay within this limit but we’ve flown with them 4 times in the last two years and only got stung once for excess baggage – I think it just depends who is on the checkout desk at the time.

There was a discussion on here about the rim tape a few weeks ago. Basically, after a while they start to leak if you run them tubeless. I now run mine with Joes’ strips which have much better sealing. Apart from that they seem pretty good, altough I did ding the rear rim due to too low a pressure before I realised they were leaking.

I did that ride last year on a warm summer’s day in July after a two week dry spell and there was still a little bit of snow up there. I would say it is a total no-no at this time of year. We were riding in Glen Muick yesterday and there was a couple of inches of snow above about 200m. Having said that it is a great ride, the singletrack coming down from the Sneck through the Slugain is great although you need to be able to hop the drainage ditches. The total ride took me 4-1/2 hours.

I think there was path from the Sneck down into Glen Avon but as Fizzer says taking that route would turn the ride into a multi-dayer as you are pretty remote.

BETD do them as well, but don’t come with the bolt.

Riding is ace, anything from forest trails to full-on Munro climbs within an hour of Aberdeen. See here for a selection:=http://www.ecurieneep.co.uk

The same has happened on my Roval Traversee’s. Specialized have the rim strips on their website, so I presume they can be obtained at a Specialized dealer. To be honest, I don’t rate the rim strips, so i have bought a set of Joes. Too cold to fit them at the moment so I have just been using tubes.

I’ve had a set of the traversee wheels for about 6 months. They are nice and light but I’m not impressed by the sealing of the rim strips if you run them tubeless. I’ve found after a few months, air starts to leak underneath the rimstrip and out past the valve. I didn’t notice it at first and rode a rocky descent with too little pressure and dented the rear rim. The strips now don’t hold air at all and I am running them with tubes. I’ve just bought some Joes’ rimstrips, I will see if they hold pressure better.