these:

heard all the marketing buzz about “graphene”, went in skeptical, but thought I’d give them a try

2 months into ownership including 5 days a week commuting through London (30km round trip) and no punctures, no noticeable wear to the tread, hardly any cuts

with latex tubes, feel stupidly quick and grippy, no trouble even on wet metalwork on the road – which has always felt sketchy on armadillos, gators and 4 seasons

a revelation after the older Pave and Corsa which would square off and cut up within weeks

got a S-Works carbon flat bar on my MTB and it was noticeably more comfortable than the Easton Havoc aluminium bar it replaced

would not have paid for the privilege, got given it by a customer who actually wanted a riser bar on his new S-works mtb

I’d recommend getting a good, full carbon fibre post in your frame’s natural size. Don’t bother with the carbon shaft/alloy bonded head models, they don’t provide any real relief.

bigger the seat tube / seat post diameter, generally more harsh. the skinnier 27.2mm setups definitely flex more.

I ran a Thomson on my first road bike, a spare from my old MTB, and soon changed it when I realized how harsh it actually was.

Easton’s EC-70 is available relatively cheaply from usual on-line retailers and is well known for providing a degree of comfort / damping. they also do a EC-90 but is the same idea but with a carbon top clamp, and a big hike in price.

I just bought one off CRC for my new Giant XTC Advanced 29’er hardtail which had a very stout 30.9 Giant aluminium alloy post.

Replaced the Giant stock post with a Easton EC70 in 30.9mm and noticeable difference to comfort.

did the same thing to the remote on my Reverb, stood up to pedal, snagged on my baggy shorts and snapped clean off

sent back to SRAM / Fishers expecting to pay for repair, they did it free of charge; totally unexpected but great customer service

not sure if a smaller company like BOS has the pockets to do repairs out of “goodwill”?

the axle thing is more dependent on the fork make / model?

I’ve gone from Manitou tower pro q/r fork with the DT Swiss RWS 9mm through-axle and Specialized Stout hub (OS end caps)

to Rockshox Recon QR15 fork with DT Swiss 350 hub (QR15)

the Manitou fork actually felt stiffer under heavy braking, the Recon has more “twang” in the legs?

assuming this is because the Manitou has a more substantial crown and lowers with the reverse arch (the fork is a little heavier), from reading old information Specialized always claimed their OS hub and RWS 9mm axle was practically as stiff as a dedicated “through axle”.

just been out for a quick 30km around London with my missus in tow, cold wind and rain but good to earn your Christmas dinner!

surprisingly busy in central London, thankfully no buses but lots of idiots busy driving whilst using their phones, saw several near misses with pedestrians and boris bikers 🙁

I agree entirely that in many cases a judge would be unlikely to consider an injury sustained riding at speed down steep ground to be due to the negligence of the highway authority (or landowner if not a highway) however those of us working in this field know never to underestimate the capacity for judges to find ways to justify a finding of negligence in order to make local authorities or insurers pay compensation to catastrophically injured claimants. It’s normal human instinct to do so. It is for this reason that very high value claims are often compromised before trial.

if I remember correctly, the case between an injured individual and ATB Sales (Marin distributor) after his handlebar snapped was found in favour of the claimant. It could not proven whether the handlebar (4 year old bike) failed causing the accident, or if the accident caused the handlebar to fail.

However, as this was a severely injured private individual vs. a company with insurance, the judgement was for the first party.

Following this, many distributors and manufacturers sharply revisited their insurance agreements

it depends on the position of the cable guides; typically you see many frames with a bias towards european brake setup which can affect the cabling for british setup riders

some frames will accept crossed cables, others won’t

if I can cross cables, I always will as it gives better cable performance and usually prevents contact with head tube or fork crown

I worked for a company that was on the receiving end of a legal action brought about by the family of a rider that suffered life changing spinal injuries at a bike park (Esher Shore).

The rider was experienced, signed a waiver and wore protective gear. He fell off a low trail and broke his neck, causing permanent paralysis to all limbs and requiring constant medical care.

Within months of the accident we receive notice of the legal action.

Our solicitors fought off a number of different false claims made about the cause and outcome of his accident, ranging from:

-the rider being unsupervised (his buddies were 20 feet behind him on the trail, and actually served as key witnesses during our defence, in addition 2 volunteers were building trails in the bike park less than 100 feet from the accident)

-that assistance had taken 1/2 hour to arrive which made his injuries more severe (he received 1st aid within 1 minute of the accident and a local 999 ambulance was on site within 5 minutes, which saved his life due to breathing difficulties)

-that assistance in removing his helmet made his spinal injury more severe (this was done by paramedics as he was going into cardiac arrest)

-that he had been lent a rental bike (he was riding his own Norco DH bike, and we did not have rental bikes)

-that the trails were slippery from rain (the MET confirmed no rainfall that day, and all trails were chicken wired)

-that the risk had not been made clear (liability waiver, and warnings signs all over the park and at every trail entrance, with all trails colour coded).

Each claim cost £1000’s in solicitors fees to overturn, eventually after 6 months they gave up the action as they realized it was a rider error and not negligence on our part. This had cost nearly £12,000 in legal fees to fight.

I completely understood the POV of the injured rider; despite not agreeing with his claim – we knew it was rider error all along. What we understood what that this guy was facing a life time of medical care costs and loss of earnings, and wanted to try and put himself in a better financial position.

Ultimately we knew the legal action was fruitless as the bike park was setup as a “not for profit” entity with no assets, all takings were reinvested into the bike park.

Isle of Grain – a really hidden and unique environment east of London

highly recommend for road riding; if coming from London you can ride out, or train HS1 from Kings Cross to Gravesend and then ride out

previous bike:

current bike:

just come back from riding in the rain, current bike seems to work safely enough with the blue swiss stop pads?

I really like the lack of brake lever rattle (a problem with the shimano hydro levers), lack of brake noise when climbing or sprinting, and overall lighter weight (1kg)of the current bike

the previous bike was a great bike for slower, longer distance riding in bad weather; if you have the time for long rides which I don’t anymore

would be interested to try something like a Tarmac Disc to see what hydro discs feel like in race platform

I had a carbon disc brake road bike all year. Sold it in September and bought a carbon caliper brake road bike. Similar spend, new bike is 1kg lighter and silent to ride, accelerates faster as 300gm lighter wheels. Braking adequate in wet, not as bad as I assumed after hydro discs.

You should have been supplied with rolls of adhesive tape and valve cores. Tape rims, insert valves, add Stan’s sealant and good tires = good to go

Matt at cycle surgery Covent garden or the velodrome store, depending if you want BG fit or guru fit.

Or come see me at Giant Docklands in the new year 😉

Cyclefit are also very good, and Pearson’s in Barnes have one of the best fitters in uk

we saw a lot of this with the first generation Gates, typically on Trek Soho city bikes; admittedly related to debris from the highway or mishandling of belts during assembly

XT mechs are great, especially modern shadow + clutch mechs

always found my own X7 mechs quickly developed wobble / slop in the main pivot, leading to unstable indexing

for chains I always use KMC unless a bike comes with Shimano

@scaredypants

the probable reason for poor sales of new bikes is that customers just don’t want / need new bikes, and are buying upgrades for existing bikes (i.e. new wheels or dropper post).

modern bikes are damn good, and don’t need replacing every season!

There are too many shops selling the same stock to the same pool of customers; its often been said in the bike industry that we are just selling different bikes to the same group of enthusiasts, there was an increase in this group as former golfers turned to sportive cycling, but there is not a massive driver

the real ‘boom’ in bicycle sales will not be from the next innovation (i.e. gravel bikes – again, sold to same enthusiasts) but when our obsession with sports bicycles becomes second to the needs of regular people wanting sensible bicycles for transport.

this is taking time, as new infrastructure is built to support safer cycling (removing the fear factor for non enthusiasts) you could see a big increase in transport bike sales

if you visit European countries, you will find most bike shops sell regular city bikes, baskets, locks, lights rather than “sports bicycles” and lycra race gear

I’ve had a number of Specialized Stumpjumper 29’er carbon hardtails and just bought a 2016 Giant XTC Advanced 29’er hardtail

no complaints here, but as a major concession to “comfort” replaced the stock aluminium alloy post with an Easton EC70 full carbon post as the larger (30.9mm) seat tube on the XTC definitely felt more “uncomfortable” than the skinnier 27.2mm on the stumpy, and benefited from the more forgiving ride of the carbon post

the axle pre-load cap is only tightened 1-2nm

very easy to overload, and often overloaded by mechanics both at home and in bike workshop

especially with companies making metal tools to tighten this cap

this drastically shortens bearing life

I got the new Singletrack jacket in black with the red detailing direct from Endura on a staff deal a few weeks back

not gone riding in it (its too nice to get muddy, and I still have my Endura eVent jacket for that) but it seems well made; the sizing does come up big as I am always a medium in Endura and it feels huge but I guess that is to allow a fleece underneath and room to move around

my new hardtail with 180 front / 160 rear

I had this with my old Banshee Wildcard. It drove me crazy trying to work out what was clicking whenever the suspension compressed or bike was pedalled

tried different wheels, spare fork, new pedals, cranks/bb, greasing bolts, skewers, etc.

eventually noticed the driveside bearing on the main swingarm pivot was running very notchy. this could not be felt when moving the swingarm up and down. just when turning the bearing inner race with fingers.

I thought it was knackered and got some new bearings. when I remove the old bearing it was not in bad condition, just a little rusty on the outside.

the new bearing became notchy when pressed in. removing that bearing showed it was still as new, and not notchy.

realised the bearing socket (seat) in the swingarm was slightly too small for the bearing.

solution was to take the old rusty bearing and repeatedly press it / remove it until the notchy feeling went away. This took about 10 pressings and removals. Noticed thin slivers / scrapings of aluminium alloy coming out of the swingarm during this process.

new bearing went in no problem, and felt smooth. problem solved, lesson learned.

I’d used Hope hubs for years

but then noticed DT 350 hubs and found them to be very well priced and super durable, really well sealed, long lasting bearings and a great free hub mechanism

the 240’s are only worth buying if you want more axle options in the future (mainly the front hub), but with the price of the 350 its not a catastrophe if you have to sell and buy another hub to suit a new fork.

180 front and 160 rear

@sharkattack

the photo of Esher showing the padded trees was part of the “blue” (novice) area, from the 2nd build of the park

This is from the 1st build of the park

the ‘skyline’ trail in the 2nd image is 2.8M off the ground

following a serious (life changing) accident in the early days of Esher Shore, ironically on the lowest trail (2 foot off ground) in the park the H&SE got involved and shut the the park down for nearly 8 months.

During this time we worked closely with them to develop new guidance for elevated timber ‘north shore’ trails in the UK. Park was completely flattened and rebuilt

the big development was grading into carefully defined blue, red and black trails

each category had a carefully defined ratios of height/width with no gaps / free drops on blue trails, and black could not be higher than 1.95m as the nearest H&S regulation that could be applied was ‘working at height without restraint systems’

In the end we built few black trails as additional guidance came in that riders on black trails had to be supervised and wear additional body armour

we tended to use the few black trails at the Jams for the visting pro riders to put on a show, the rest of the times the black trails were locked using removable entry ramps

you can do everything to mitigate risk, but it was an inherently dangerous activity and our insurance premiums rose every year as more and more riders got hurt. the early work we did with the H&SE simply allowed the park to re-open and remain open. we constantly rebuilt stunts and entire trails if accident patterns became evident. the entire site was covered in deep woodchip, crash pads wherever needed and “fall zones” cleared 1.5M either side of the trail with all spikes and stumps removed.

the insurance company would insist on inspecting the accident book every renewal, even though we had no further legal claims.

during the 8 years the park ran, for the first 6 years it was very successful during its peak attracting over 200 riders a week from all over the UK, plus some from further away like Mr. Wade Simmons below:

The entire experience was a real eye opener to the risks of running a publicly accessible bike park. I was somewhat glad when it all eventually closed, and I did not have to constantly worry about law suits and rider accidents. When you operate a facility that is open to riders with very different abilities you are surprised about how people manage to have accidents, in ways you would have never seen possible – the great unknown is often present in accidents which can occur on the mildest of trails.

@sharkattack

the photo of Esher showing the padded trees was part of the “blue” (novice) area

This is from the 1st build of the park

following a serious (life changing) accident in the early days of Esher Shore, ironically on the lowest trail (2 foot off ground) in the park the H&SE got involved and shut the the park down for nearly 8 months.

During this time we worked closely with them to develop new guidance for elevated timber ‘north shore’ trails in the UK. Park was completely flattened and rebuilt

the big development was grading into carefully defined blue, red and black trails

each category had a carefully defined ratios of height/width with no gaps / free drops on blue trails, and black could not be higher than 1.95m as the nearest H&S regulation that could be applied was ‘working at height without restraint systems’

In the end we built few black trails as additional guidance came in that riders on black trails had to be supervised and wear additional body armour!

we tended to use the few black trails at the Jams for the visting pro riders to put on a show

you can do everything to mitigate risk, but it was an inherently dangerous activity and our insurance premiums rose every year as more and more riders got hurt. the early work we did with the H&SE simply allowed the park to re-open and remain open. we constantly rebuilt stunts and entire trails if accident patterns became evident. the entire site was covered in deep woodchip, crash pads wherever needed and “fall zones” cleared 1.5M either side of the trail with all spikes and stumps removed.

the insurance company would insist on inspecting the accident book every renewal, even though we had no further legal claims.

during the 8 years the park ran, for the first 6 years it was very successful during its peak attracting over 200 riders a week from all over the UK, plus some from further away like Mr. Wade Simmons below:

The entire experience was a real eye opener to the risks of running a publicly accessible bike park. I was somewhat glad when it all eventually closed, and I did not have to constantly worry about law suits and rider accidents. When you operate a facility that is open to riders with very different abilities you are surprised about how people manage to have accidents, in ways you would have never seen possible – the great unknown is often present in accidents which can occur on the mildest of trails.

removing trees or adding padding to trees at somewhere like Swinley would not be practical?

I remember the huge cost to cover the old Esher Shore bike park in high density vinyl pads where our risk assessment felt that the trees were a major risk if falling from a trail – we were not allowed to remove trees due to the site’s status as a protected woodland.

I’d hate to think of the cost to do a trail centre!

all remaining 2015 Giant currently at 40% off, we have a small number of Defy aluminium bikes left at Docklands but in random sizes

the reason they are listed at full RRP on Giant websites is that 0% finance is done on-line through Giant and does not allow discounting at the sale price

give a store a call 😉

@swanny853

I had a good look at DT 240 and 350 last year after my “stout” rear hub failed.

I settled on 350 for the rear as it was a marginally heavier version of 240 using same internals, but considerably cheaper and also could be converted

however, if i remember correctly, the 350 front hub seemed to have limited conversion (my fork has Q/R dropouts but with the OS28 / 9mm DT thru axle), and I figured I’d need a 240 for the front wheel once the original hub dies?

Shimano pads are known for being quite abrasive in wet weather, which can wear your rims quicker

I tend to use the Shimano R55C3 (ultegra / dura ace) pads in the summer and for winter blue Swiss stops, got mine from Sigma for £18.50 per pair

my Vision 2 has been back 4 times and has been fixed FOC every time

still using it now, excellent service from Hope

great article but very flawed bearing in mind the ATX was a medium which was tiny for Rob Warner, and the sh*tty Tioga tires with a hard compound

a great test would have involved the correct sized ATX and some half decent tires like the tires fitted to the 2015 Glory in the test

the best thing about the emergence of “gravel” bikes is that manufacturers are now redeveloping their CX bikes as proper CX race bikes. In the past a good number of CX bikes were not race bikes, but compromised all rounders.

Specialized Tricross? probably the worst bike I’ve owned in recent year. not good on road, not good off road – the newer Specialized Crux much better for off road, its a proper race bike.

some riders like converting a proper CX bike for road use, the compromises I’ve found is the geometry (slack head angle, tall bottom bracket height) means they can feel ponderous at front yet unstable in rear) and undergeared for road riding, especially when swapping out CX tires for road tires which further reduces the overall wheel diameter and effective gearing

if you are spending majority of time on the road, getting a good road bike is a safe bet

hell there’s nothing to stop you riding it off road, sling on some tires like Vittoria Pave, I’ve certainly done miles of muddy canal paths and gravel roads on my road bikes!

if you want a really decent bike check out the 2016 Giant Defy 0 at £999

in the long term I’d swap out the wheel set for something lighter (once the stock wheels give up the ghost), and in the short term some quality winter tires and your saddle of choice, otherwise a very good bike

Seal Skinz gore tex socks with fleece liner

absolutely perfect for mountain biking in flat pedals

you should only carbon fibre friction paste on a carbon frame, regardless of seat post material

you certainly don’t want to use grease, anti seize or copperslip!

and likewise use the friction paste if installing a carbon fibre seat post into a steel, aluminium or titanium frame

we always use an inner brake cable in our workshop – its much stiffer than inner gear cable and relatively easy to route through internal frame routes

at times you might need to put a slight kink in the end to assist it finding its way out, and its good to have a front light / small torch to hand to aid spotting the cable, as well as a spoke with sharp bend at one end (use pliers) so you can grab the cable once its next to the routing port – there often isn’t enough room for needle nose pliers

once its through, we then slide on a short length (4-6″) of inner routing sheath so that its covering 1/2 the inner brake cable, fill the remaining 1/2 with the inner gear and slide the lots backwards whilst keeping tension on both ends

used the same method for routing brake hoses, just without the inner routing sheath obviously!

I’ve recabled 100s of bikes with internal cable routing including Planet X with internal cable routing issues.

as long as you can mount a hard point at each entry/exit point, and fill the space with a low friction internal routing sheath, you should be able to get the front and rear derailleur systems to work reliably.

This may require some frame modification, but as they claim the frame is out of warranty, nothing to lose?

However, if there is internal debris or obstruction caused by a poor quality layup (i.e. random fibres, layup bladder, paper, etc.) you may find your effort thwarted as this can cause friction and prevent a clean routing path

a really good starting point is a bright torch and dental mirror or in the extreme case a probe for a video source so you can have a good look inside the frame

its surprising the mods I have had to do even on brand new “big brand” frames to get cabling to work properly; this is widening for a supposed “Di2 compatible” frame just to fit the darn connector through the chainstay

I used to work for a really sh*t shop in Kensington High Street, London called Cyclopedia – unsurprisingly it went bust

the owner (a rather unpleasant man) would cut the locks of bicycles left on railings next to the shop, and replace said lock with a cable tie. Bike would normally be gone within the hour due to local bike thieves

owner would deny all knowledge of this activity.

he also did this for customers who had left their bikes in our workshop for more than 3 months, and failed to answer phonecalls or emails asking them to collect their bike. bike would be cable tied to railings outside shop and also gone within the hour. customer would be told that bike had been sold to recover “storage fees”

@TiRed

Deuter Air EXP for the win!

Not had a sweaty back (since using these for the past 2 years) despite my previous commute being a 90km daily round trip in all weathers hot and cold

strangely its often the colder commutes where you can easily overheat and sweat, from having to wear extra layers