if I had the cash, I’d pony up for one of these for my missus so I can wrestle her off her blooming Giant Propel road bike and get some dirt under her wheels!

the new 11 speed Shimano road groupsets have much smaller volume STI with greater range reach adjustment

highly recommend for those with small hands, but won’t retrofit to old 10 speed drivetrain, so its a new groupset (5800 105 is affordable)

@PeterPoddy

you certainly can bleed anything, but whether the bleed will hold with damaged seals is another matter?

we saw perforated diaphragm’s in Formula master cylinder and damaged piston seals in the calipers

these “boxed” bike had sat on a cargo container ship for 6-8 weeks before making their way to the UK, not including the time the Italian made brakes had sat on a transport out to Taiwan where the bikes were assembled.

More than enough time for the ‘assembly’ grease to do its mischief!

A bad workman blames his tools, but if the “tools” are fracked then the workman can do nothing to assist 😉

@sundayjumper

It can be done, but I would not recommend a consumer wastes their money as new pistons / seals with labour for rebuild and bleed will cost as much as buying a shimano brake on line. And then you find the diaphragm in the MC is shot, leaking and requires replacing… More cost.

Kinda ideal project for a bored bike mechanic with an Avid spares box to undertake during the quiet Winter months…for their own bike 😉

I have a set of Elixir 7 waiting in my spares box for this winter when our workshop is quiet. I have all the spares but still can’t be bothered unless it gets really quiet!

I dealt with too many customers last season with faulty Formula brakes. We then got a tech notice that many brakes had been filled with “assembly grease” during manufacturing. Damaged seals? We could not get the brakes working reliably… And that is with years of experience working on Hayes, Avid, Hope, magura, etc…

The answer? We sold slx at cost to customers after waiting weeks for Formula warranty support. Bear in mind a good number of these were brand new brakes on boxed bikes!

I used to convert lots of Talas to Float for customers and then set the travel internally the suit their needs and the bike’s geometry

the Talas always had a high break away friction, which was worse for smaller / lighter riders, no matter how well maintained the fork was and dosed with seal lubes it was always sticky compared to the Float

I run a Praxxis HT2 convertor on my Stumpjumper with Shimano XT HT2 cranks. It needs removing every few months, cleaning and regreasing with Shimano grease before refitting, as it tends to develop a creak.

At least the Praxxis BB stays tight, the Wheels manufacturing one it replaced, constantly creaked under power and worked loose, as it only had an “o” ring on each cup providing the fit; with the Praxxis the collet expands as its tightened and grips the inside of the BB shell.

I have a Shimano press fit BB on my Giant road bike. It also needs removing and refitting every few months with Shimano grease, as it tends to develop a creak under power.

I’ve tried Shimano anti-seize, Weldite red grease, Loctite bearing retaining compound, but have found Shimano grease to be the longest lasting (the Loctite cracked, and started creaking), seems you need a “wet” grease to minimize any noise?

SLX for the win, shop around, they are not “unaffordable” by any means 😉

life is too short to faff about rebuilding Avid brakes…

two ‘gold and old’ suspension companies that never get enough love despite having the heritage and offering great products are Marzocchi and Manitou

yes, they’ve both have had wobbly periods, but so have Fox and Rockshox

I’m very impressed with my current Manitou forks, and the last pair of Marzocchi I had were very good

not the lightest, or the flashiest, but they both had good real world performance, and were durable in the long term

There isn’t anything you can do but be mindful of overlap when riding? The old BS 6102 was very specific of toe overlap, but its lapsed and many manufacturers produce bikes, especially in smaller sizes, that have toe overlap

my Giant Defy Advanced is a medium, and I get toe overlap with my size 8 feet, bear in mind that is an endurance bike with a longer front centre and wheelbase. I had exactly the same situation with my 54cm Specialized Tarmac SL4

I only notice it when track standing at traffic lights, from to time if I rotate the bars my foot will touch the front tire.

It would never be an issue when riding at speed, as you don’t rotate the bars more than a few degrees as most of your turn is done by leaning

Park cable cutters?

Not worth the money. We’ve retired 3 pairs since opening our shop last July.

Knipex are more expensive, but worth every penny.

Wheelies have built a very successful business of being the preferred insurance provider for much of the UK insurance industry, as well as operating retail premises, cycle to work scheme and their ride to school scheme (5% kickback to the school), they also operate Treadz and Giant Swansea.

This is why we always charge customers for insurance quotes, we know darn well we are not going to see their business for a new bike (its happened way too many times in different stores I’ve worked at), and that customer will often arrive at some point in the future with their new bicycle, complete with a Wheelies sticker on the down tube.

Wheelies is Giant’s largest UK account, by some way.

We do see some business from Wheelie’s customers because the bikes are often sent in boxes, not a proper PDI. We’d charge £40 for a safety check with a follow up check included after a few weeks, the customer will often send Wheelies the bill or just foot it out of their own pocket because they want their bike to work properly. We’d also charge that customer for bike fitting if needed, as Wheelies have not figured out how to do that down the internet;)

In a number of stores I have worked at over the years, management has agreed to take on warranty work for other dealers, in the hope that the customer then becomes “our” customer. I can think of very few instances when this has actually brought any money in the store with many of these customers never gracing the store again once their FOC warranty has been turned around.

When you retail a brand, you often look carefully at their warranty support and reputation for manufacturing issues / quality control by doing your homework. If a brand is taken on, and has a run of serious problems, and poor support, its not uncommon for the retailer to drop that brand the following season.

I have also worked for a UK distributor that had to drop 2 brands due to ongoing problems with warranty due to design flaws and quality control issues, we had a warranty rate of nearly 75% in 1 season on one of these brands, which cost us a lot of time, money and aggro, and ended up having to move many of our customers to a completely different brand we distributed at our cost.

Without naming names, I can think of a number of small brands that have cost dealers money by leaving them high and dry with piss poor warranty support often from small UK distributors, and angry customers waiting months for resolution. Some of these cases went legal with trading standard, small claims or solicitors getting involved which no one wants as it just increases operating costs.

If a customer has bought their bike from our store, and had a warrant issue after 14 months that was deemed valid, we’d never expect them to pay even if it required a complete strip and rebuild, its part of the cost of retailing that brand. But if the bike has come from another dealer, and the brand will not cover our costs (many do not want to volunteer to pay another dealer when they know the original dealer has to deal with the claim FOC) then we won’t do it for free.

I can’t advise anyone to ride a bike that is cracked, but I’d get some epoxy 2-pack from Maplin or similar, and liberally coat the inside of the steerer tube before pressing the plug back in. It won’t ever come out again, but should hold the steerer together to get you home, or even further along…

@andyxxx

you make a fair point, but its actually very common outside the bicycle industry for franchisee’s to operate somewhat independently of the franchise owner

as an another example to my Barbour comment, some years ago I rode my bicycle into a McDonald’s drive-through in London.

I was asked to leave the premises by the management as they would not serve me on a bicycle, despite there being no signage to say as much. I complained directly to McDonald’s UK, and they simply told me the franchisee was responsible for operating the site, and it was not down to McDonald’s to oversee the operation of that site.

I can also think of examples such as CEX (Computer Exchange) in London where only the Tottenham Court Road and Rathbone Place stores are owned directly by CEX UK, the other stores are franchise stores and have no obligation to accept credits from the original stores

On the side of the customer, it would have prudent for the “brands” to incorporate a mechanism for easily compensating their dealers when undertaking warranty work on behalf of other retailers, but it does not work that way in reality 🙁

@iainc

your example is very apt because it perhaps points out something the bicycle industry could learn from the automotive industry

when as a customer, you see this:

or this:

of course this looks like an outlet owned by the “brand”

but as many customers find out (sometimes during a ‘difficult’ conversation) they are generally franchises operated by an independent retailer in conjunction with the UK distributor

the current store I work at (Giant Docklands) is owned by a property developer who also owns the Giant Radlett bike shop.

A good number of the other Giant brand stores and Specialized Concept store are owned by other retailers who may have multi-brand stores, for example Specialized Kingston is operated by Sigma Sport.

We will always do our best to help any legitimate customer with a “brand” problem, but we have to cover our costs, as we have no mechanism to recover these costs from the UK distributor unless its been specifically agreed.

I can think of a small number of examples where I was instructed by the UK distributors to take care of a warranty claim that had been dealt with badly by another retailer, causing the customer to complain to the UK distributor.

From time to time, we’d also take care of a sponsored athlete, here is Chris Buncombe’s bike which we rebuilt with a new frame supplied by Specialized UK who also covered our costs, after he crashed it during a triathlon event as part of Jenson Button’s Ichiban team.

I’ve experienced this confusion over “brand” stores in other retail channels before, for example 1 retail store in London operated by Barbour directly, and another store independently owned despite being a Barbour brand store, with completely different access to stock and warranty cover

@iainc

obtain benefits means it gets dealt with, however its not free for the retailer handling the claim

the warranty generally applies to the frame set, not the complete bicycle. if the frame cracked, the result would need stripping and rebuilding; which costs workshop time, courier shipping outward (Specialized UK would arrange return courier) and then rebuilding in the workshop

the original retailer absorbs this cost when they agree to retail a brand. if the customer asks a different retailer to handle their claim, there is no legal obligation to undertake this without covering their costs, unless Specialized UK agreed to cover those costs

when we had the road bike fork recall a few seasons back, the customer got £100 voucher and our workshop was credited £30 for each bike we processed. that was an exceptional circumstance

we use these from any dealer that has an account with Madison (Shimano UK distrib.) about £20 each

only thing to watch out for is you can easily damage hybrid aero wheels (aluminium structure with carbon shroud) but just need to put a piece of pipe lagging on the hook before hanging that wheel style up

I used to run the workshop at Specialized Covent Garden and dealt with 100’s of warranty and crash replacement claims for Specialized customers in London

Once the customer understood we were not operated by Specialized UK (but by Cycle Surgery) and that their warranty resided with the original retailer they purchased the bicycle or frame from, we could reach an agreement to sort their claim as painlessly as possible, whilst making sure we were renumerated by the customer for our work, or paid by Specialized in the case of product recalls or special instruction authorized directly by the UK distributor

this worked well, because we’d normally get it turned around within a couple of days, the customer would pay for shipping and workshop time, plus new cables, etc. and would have a working bike.

We used to get lots of customers coming to us who had bought their bikes from Evans, etc. because they knew we would get it sorted asap, rather than their bike sitting in another shop for 4 weeks with no result.

I now work for a Giant brand store and once again, we are not owned by Giant UK, and need to make sure any claims we handle are covered by either Giant UK at their instruction, or by the customer if they have not bought the bike from us?

there are certainly standards for selling a road-going bicycle into the UK market

we used to have BS6102/1 which Cytech mechanics were trained to understand, this has been super ceded by Pedal Bicycles Safety Regulations (PBSR)

the bicycles in that picture are unsafe to use, and if an accident was caused, the retailer would easily be found at fault and liable to prosecution and settlement for injury / damages

Giro Trans £150, although well under that price on sale for the older version around £100 now that there is a 2015 Trans EC70 model out there

one of the best value / performance shoes on the market, with Easton carbon sole

available in normal and high volume versions, which are more suitable for bigger feet or if running an anatomic footbed with shims / wedges

just watch out if you need Varus / Valgus adjustment as the Easton shoes come with a “neutral” footbed which has a Retul-designed arch support system but no Varus or Valgus adjustment, I use a Specialized BG blue footbed with shims in mine

Pull ratio and derailleur geometry completely different. “Works” but not how I’d want my bike to ride

Specialized Stumpjumper 29’er or Giant XTC 29’er – both have great carbon frames and lots of upgrade potential if you buy the base models

Here’s my Stumpjumper marathon 29’er

same issue with my road bike, using Shimano press fit BB

I’ll remove, clean, re-grease and refit it, and then 4-8 weeks later (depending on weather) it starts creaking / clicking, just very slightly, but enough to be annoying on each pedal stroke.

I know its the BB because I have done all the usual like changing pedals, changing skewers, headset bearing, etc. And tried fitting a new BB.

Last time I used gap-fill Loctite (bearing fit compound) which seemed to work well for 6 weeks; however Loctite tends to crack when a fitment has flex, and its just started clicking again….

these are very fast on the real road, as well as testing as very low rolling resistance in the Conti lab in Germany – Conti said it was their fastest tire yet, run at 80-85psi?

had a wheels manufacturing one in my Specialized Stumpjumper (PF30 convertor) and it was constantly creaking and coming loose despite being fitted correctly; only thing holding the cups firm against the inside of the carbon BB shell was a thin “o” ring on each cup! Once these start flattening out, nothing holding it firm.

replaced with Praxis Works with expanding collet design which grips the inside of the shell when tightened, and no issues ever since, so highly recommended!

back in 1994, no one built the bike I wanted to race downhill, so I started a company and built it ourselves 😉

I’d recommend looking at another option which could be DT Swiss 350 hubs built on your rim of choice?

the DT 350 is the more affordable Taiwanese built version of the considerably more expensive 240 hub, and shares the same “guts” / freehub drive technology, albeit marginally heavier (+50 grammes for the rear hub when I looked into it) by using a forged rather than heavily machined hub shell, and in some instances a less modular upgrade path for aftermarket axle conversion

I’ve been a big fan of Hope over the year and had countless sets of their MTB and then road hubs / wheels, but have had to rely on their legendary ‘customer service’ too many times to recommend their hubs to a retail customer.

@howyourdad1

its not a perfect situation for sure, and I understand there are political and cost implications to these schemes. However, Camden have been very unwilling to hear any dissent from actual users of Royal College Street, and have spent the last 2 years bragging about it being the future.

The main issue I have with the planters is that they cannot resist a vehicle collision, and then present a hazard to any cyclists. When you see an image like this it shows how easily they are damaged

In November last year I was coming home from work along R.C.S. and at the North end by the pub, stopped just in time as my light picked up something in the cycle lane.

When I stopped and got off, I noticed 2 metal planters ripped open by what looked like a HGV. There was dirt, plants and jagged sharp metal across the cycle path. If I had not stopped, it would have been a very nasty accident. I managed to find some traffic cones further up the road, came back and put them in front of the mess to warn others cyclists. 2 days later, it was still there!

The council has been very slow to react to damage, perhaps they did not have the money to maintain it as it became damaged.

I would like to see this on R.C.S.

@rs

if you look at the picture of the car parking you will see a secondary line of paint lines closer to where the cars are now parked.

The car parking bays were shifted outwards after a number of “dooring” incidents, they realised their layout was incorrect and adjusted the paint markings to compensate.

However, with certain cars the doors are longer and still intrude into the cycle lane, and people getting out of many of the cars do not look for somewhat silent oncoming cyclists before disembarking into the cycle lane, causing an emergency stop for the cyclist.

We also get couriers with trolleys coming from behind their large vehicles pushing straight into the cycle lane without looking!

the worrying thing about that, is that the people behind this design do not realize the basic understanding that a car door needs a certain width to be opened without affecting other road users. Or that a line of paint does not indicate to a motorist or courier, that beyond that paint is a “live” cycle lane

Pinkbike’s XC coverage is great, and many of the comments indicate the readers (who are not XC riders) appreciate the technical side of the bikes shown

I don’t race XC any more (not since I was a sponsored, expert class whippet in the 90s) but like to see the current XC bikes, and how things have progressed.

LB Camden have finally started owning up that their cutting edge “Dutch Style” soft infrastructure design is perhaps, quite crap, and have started making changes

where we had metal plant pots, rubber armadillo bumpers and some inconsistent white paint

we now have metal plant pots, rubber armadillo bumpers, some metal posts and a thick white paint line, in places

unfortunately it does not stop motorists from driving into said metal plant pots and blocking the cycle lane because the emergency services see fit to leave car in cycle lane..

the sad thing is this used to have a segregated, raised concrete barrier running along one side of the road. It was removed due to some collision at junctions, and they went for seperate northbound and southbound lanes

northbound you get this, cars driving into the cycle lane without notice:

southbound you get this, car drivers opening their doors into the cycle lane without notice:

or going southbound, trying to make right turns against traffic coming straight at you, at speed!

good work London Borough of Camden!

the real horror story is that they are looking to roll this shat design out across the entire borough (because its 1/10th the cost of doing it properly with segregated concrete, and employing someone who knows what they are doing!)

on a seperate note, its really sad to see nice plants ripped apart when a lorry or car smashes into the planter and spreads it all over the highway, ready for a cyclist to ride into

TCR Composite is relatively comfortable for a race frame and very neutral feeling handling compared to some others

I got the rider the newer TCR Advanced Pro for a while last year, and was pleasantly surprised by the ride quality and handling, although I’d say the OD2 (1.5″) front end dominates the feel of the bike to some degree compared to the less expensive non-Pro 1.125″ models

re: bearings

Giant seem to price their bearing kits and frame bolt kits in a very affordable manner, compared to many brands I’ve worked on in this past, including Specialized who dramatically increased their prices a few seasons back

probably the worst for parts pricing are the boutique brands, the prices for Santa Cruz, Rocky Mtn, etc. were stupidly expensive last time I looked

@greatbeardedone

TFL having been pushing for a change in the law to get the ASL enforcement made a civil rather than criminal offence. They could then install cameras covering the ASL and start applying financial penalties to drivers, which I am sure would quickly change driver behaviour

the problem with the current ASL law is that it requires a Police officer to directly witness the offence of the motorist clearly driving into the ASL box after the light has changed red, which as @graham pointed out is the same offence as driving through the red light i.e. 3 points and FPN of £100.

With Police number being stretched so thin, and further cuts on the way, the likelihood of these offences being caught are becoming ever more remote. And as I mentioned, even during Operation Safeway, I’ve seen these offences committed in front of Police who have not batted an eyelid, let alone enforced the law.

Most recently at Aldgate I heard an engine, looked around and saw a motorcyclist drive straight into the ASL box long after the lights had changed red, and position himself right among a group of perhaps 6-7 cyclists who were waiting in the ASL box. I was at the front of the ASL box.

The cyclists started remonstrating with the motorcyclist, who became abusive.

The cyclists then asked the group of PSCO standing next to the junction to enforce the law, to no avail. Lots of shouting going on!

As the lights changed I managed to move off quickly as I was track standing, then I heard a large crash and looked back to see the motorcyclist lying in the road with a car parked in the rear of his bike and bits of plastic everywhere.

Only then did the Police get involved. The cyclists in the ASL had little sympathy for the motorcyclist due to him putting them all in danger, thankfully he got to his feet as it looked like the car had just knocked him over at low speed.

@davidtaylforth

“If you were any good at bike fitting; why would you need them?”

Why wouldn’t you need 2 basic tools of the bike fitting trade?

Like saying you are a bad bike mechanic because you need an alley key to adjust a bolt!

Goniometer is vital for accurately setting saddle height, unless you have magic hands with a built in protractor?

@davidtaylforth

goniometer and plumbline are very basic fitting tools?

turbo trainer to allow the client to pedal whilst on their own bike

tool kit (i.e. allen keys) to allow finishing kit adjustments

@renton

if you are constantly moving around on your saddle its generally caused by a poor fitting saddle and / or incorrect setup causing your body to ‘hunt’ for a better position

without a well fitted saddle, its very difficult to get a good fit

@greatbeardedone

from my own limited point of view as I commute / ride about London every day, I see very little enforcement on the roads, especially the ASL (advanced stop line aka bicycle box) where motorists regularly drive into the box long after the traffic lights have gone red, blocking the box to prevent the legitimate user i.e. cyclist from using the ASL for its intended purpose.

Apart from the occasional PR exercise the Met Police call “Operation Safeway”, which really seems to be small teams of PC and PCSO standing around at busy junctions, talking to each other often with their backs to the road, whilst traffic offences are committed next to them!

(I’ve seen motorists drive up to a junction using a hand held cell phone, spot the Police who have not spotted the offence as they are too busy chatting, and the motorist has sneakily lowered the phone)

I’ve asked a number of these officers about the ASL when offences have happened in front of them / me, and none could give the correct answer, which is worrying when they are supposed to be upholding the law!

Mind you, when I see the Police driving into the ASL box, long after the light has gone red, its no wonder they cannot enforce the law for other road users?

Until we get education, enforcement and a big change in social attitude toward road safety and following the law, I’d not advise my worst enemy to cycle on the highway 🙁

What I find really telling is when European friends or citizens see these pictures they cannot believe the drivers actions and lack of enforcement.

@renton

find a good bike fitter (does not have to be the latest motion capture studio, but an experienced fitter will do just fine using turbo trainer, goniometer, plumb line and tool kit).

I’ve had a number of bike fits – BG Fit, Retul, Powerfit and old school, they all have their merits. I’m the baldie in this photo below!

the guy doing the fit is Matt who manages bike fitting for the Cycle Surgery group, he was trained by Specialized on BG Fit and has experience with Powerfit, Guru and Retul.

well worth some of your time and some money paid. a good road bike fit is happy cycling!

Not had Shimano mountain bike discs since the old XT 4-pot disc back in 2003; I’ve been on Avid for years as they either came on bikes, or I could get them cheap through shops I worked for.

I’ve had lots of different Avid brakes, some have been trouble free, others have been trouble and required warranty claims. My most recent warranty pair of Elixir 7s started to pack up, it was time for a change and many riders were recommending Shimano

Recently I bought some Shimano SLX brakes for a very low price, and am very impressed with the braking performance, the modulation is something I adjusted to very quickly, and they just seem very well manufactured like most Shimano kit.

some more classic driving / parking I’ve recently seen in London:

Proper segregated infrastructure is the answer, but its very expensive. London Borough of Camden have been experimenting with what they call “dutch” design (which is nothing of the sort..) using ‘soft’ infrastructure rather than segregated concrete raised strips.

Their soft infrastructure uses plant pots, rubber armadillo bumpers and some white paint.

They admitted it was 1/10th of the cost of going the concrete route.

Unfortunately its been thoroughly trashed by vehicles, and there have been lots of reports of vehicles parking in the cycle lane, and the plant pots become hazards to cyclists as they get smashed and moved

with government spending cutbacks, they are talking about rolling this cheaper design out across the borough!