Farringdon Road is due to close soon and they are moving that site to a new one next door to the Lloyds insurance building in the City of London.

Canary Wharf is their brand new flagship store opening on 1st May.

@mangoridebike

ask for Matt at Specialized Covent Garden. He is in charge of bike fitting across the entire Cycle Surgery company, but generally works from Specialized Covent Garden where they have BG Fit, or from the Cycle Surgery store at Lee Valley velodrome (London olympics) where they have Guru FIST fit

shame to hear, although it seems to be the Moto side that is shutting in Italy?

Marzocchi is like Manitou perhaps, in that their mountain bike forks of recent times are very good performers with good durability but often available heavily discounted, due to a lack of market traction leading to sales.

Its all about “Fox” and “Rockshox” according to OE spec and aftermarket advertising, with X-Fusion and Suntour at the low end, and some DVO and Bos thrown in at the high end?

I have been much more impressed with my current Manitou 29’er fork than any Fox fork I’ve had in recent times.

Its a little heavier, but has not started creaking in the CSU, does not “twang” when braking and the damping actually works properly!

Specialized Covent Garden, Soho Bikes, Rapha, Condor, Cycle Surgery Holborn, Giant Docklands, Bespoke Canary Wharf (opening friday), all shops worth visiting.

For riding? Boris Bikes, if bringing your own then Lee Valley Cyclopark *London Olympics site*.

@JAG

you don’t “lubricate” seals in a DOT brake with DOT fluid – DOT is not a lubricant in any way as it causes the piston seals to slightly swell (helping to provide the seal around caliper bore).

I don’t doubt you design brakes for a living, but all of the factory training as a mechanic I received from Hope and Avid included always using silicon grease as a seal lubricant when rebuilding DOT based brakes.

In fact, Hope provide “hunter” silicon grease and Avid provide “Pit Stop” silicon grease as part of their service kits.

The amount of customers I have helped over the years who tried to rebuild their DOT brake using DOT as a “seal lube” and then wondered why the brakes still suffered sticky pistons simply proves that the factory training I received was of course correct….

BB86 uses standard HT2 crankset, just make sure you install a Shimano specific BB as you can get SRAM and FSA press fit BB which are a different internal diameter to suit their specific cranksets

The only longer axle crank from Shimano is their Saint DH crank 83mm threaded ISO shells

All Shimano road HT2 use the same width axle width

seals are typically proprietary parts designed to work with the piston / caliper bore

lubricant could also be an issue? Silicon grease is used on DOT system for piston replacements but no idea what Shimano’s pistons are lubed with, and silicon could damage the seals or cause contamination to the mineral oil?

running a successful LBS is very difficult at the moment

not that this makes any excuse for bad customer service, or a customer having a bad experience in that store

to put it in a nutshell; bike and apparel manufacturers are more than keen to sell their goods directly to cash-flush on-line retailers, bypassing established in-country distributors who traditionally sell on to retailers.

This ‘vertical’ retail (stripping out the middleman i.e. distributor) means that the “cost” the on-line retailer pays for their ex-factory goods are typically, considerably lower than the “trade” price the retailer pays for goods bought on credit from the distributor.

This is obviously happening in many retail channels, not just bicycles. The internet has created an un-seen level of “transparency” for consumers, but has reinforced the mindset of “knowing the price of everything, knowing the value of nothing” among consumers.

Levels of showrooming and price matching are excessive in the LBS and the chain retailers at the moment, its very tricky to turn a profit let alone break even. Some manage better than others, as an example Evans Cycles made a reported £3 million profit last year on over £100 million of turnover.

Its very easy to sell something for nothing, any mug can discount their stock to “price match” massive on-line retailers, and then offer to “fit for free”.

This actually leads to making a profit loss on that sale, although it helps cashflow when suppliers need paying and the payroll bill is due.

Slowly bleeding to death, is not good business….

Interesting times in retail in general, especially in the bike trade, which is almost unique in selling a product that requires assembly before sale, often requires fitting to the customer during the sale, and is a product that wears out as its used, requiring regular servicing and parts replacement.

Many LBS and chain retailers have a very loose grip or no clarity on the hourly operating “cost” of their workshop. Labour is never “free”, incredibly important when you factor in the costs of setting up and tooling a quality workshop and employing time served, certified mechanics.

Its also a very technical trade to work in, which is hugely underestimated by those outside the trade; which makes it difficult to find experienced staff, especially when the relatively low wages and seasonal trade flucation are taken into account.

turn rebound on full when refitting air can, makes it much easier 😉

Specialized Control Purgatory 2.2″

great tire for all round use, especially tubeless running Stan’s solution

I’ve had the same great experiences with Specialized UK

when my Tarmac SL2 road bike developed a crack behind the down tube mounted barrel adjuster, they upgraded me to a Tarmac SL4 frame FOC.

I sent the warranty guys a crate of beer as a thank you!

retail clustering is very common in many large towns and cities

bike shops selling coffee? If you look at hard data, you are better off letting coffee shops sell coffee, and use the space for extra retail lines or workshop expansion

Evans? In London they don’t want scheduled services beyond a “bronze” in their stores; its all about bike building and quick profitable repairs like punctures. Allows them to staff the workshops with bike builders and junior mechanics on low wages.

Silver and Gold services are all transferred by their fleet of vans down to LCW (London Central Workshop) in Bermondsey.

Different business model to the LBS, or Evans stores outside of London that are too far from LCW.

Same way that Evans don’t offer / are not interested in “bike fitting”.

They are smart in that they know who they are, who their customer is, and have returned to profit.

I’ve done 100’s of tubeless conversions (I used to work for the original Stan’s No Tubes distributor in the UK) and my advice is that any quality track pump should be able to inflate an appropriate tubeless conversion setup

if you need to flood the setup with a huge volume of air (i.e. a compressor) then its not a “good fit” and any problems on the trail are going to be very difficult to resolve.

It really comes down to issues of tolerance / fit between your chosen wheel rim and tire, and setup quality / technique of the conversion.

Personally I have run tubeless conversions for years, and would not use a setup that requires a compressor to inflate. I’ve switched choice of tires, or redone my setup if required to get an easily inflated conversion

@sam_underhill

some more pics for your pleasure

sadly..long gone (demolished) but great fun whilst it lasted.

pump tracks are ace. here is my old one, showing some berm construction

Saddle position is critical. Generally, 30 degrees on the goniometer with foot at POTE and patellas in line with crank tips on the horizontal, with discrepancies in leg length adjusted through cleats.

If you have to compromise your saddle position to ‘fit’ your bike, you are on the wrong size.

I see a lot of bikes coming in with extreme adjustment made to saddle position to shrink or lengthen reach.

Really depends on the bike?

I ride a stumpjumper marathon 29’er and find it a very efficient, great handling bike but also comfortable for a ht with its skinny seatstays, 27.2 seat tube and carbon seat post.

Whether the skinnyness in this area is durable is questionable as I’m on my 3rd carbon frame in 2 years but specialized have always taken care of my warranty very quickly. The quality of the ride makes this inconvenience a worthwhile trade off for me.

@christhetall

Shimano’s are much easier to bleed and don’t need any fancy kit, reminds me of Hope in that respect

its generally a plastic “bucket” that screws into the master cylinder (brake lever) bleed port, and then a length of hose at the caliper running into a catch bottle (i.e. old Coke bottle) or bag.

Gravity bled, with some lever pumping assistance, very simple, and using Shimano mineral oil so less corrosive if you spill (you still need to wipe away any spills).

@Robert

don’t repair…

SLX for the win – crazy cheap if you shop around, and so darn good!

I’ve just come off a faulty pair of Elixir 7 (which had been replaced under warranty twice) onto SLX and am very impressed

DT Swiss 350 hubs (the marginally heavier Taiwanese made version of the 240 with the same “guts”) and Alex rims – they do some fantastic, wide 450gm aluminium alloy 29’er rims at reasonable prices

@djen83

had this issue on every pair (7) of Fox single crown forks I have owned. its not a safety issue just blooming annoying to ride a nice bike that creaks/clicks when you brake, pedal hard or turn sharp?

Its just the assembly grease used in the Fox factory during press fitting of stanchions into the crown, that has leached out during time, often with regular cleaning.

Mojo have been very helpful and replaced the CSU free of charge (which includes a full rebuild) whilst in warranty in each instance.

unfortunately, my last pair of Fox 32 were just out of warranty and I was looking at £250+ for new CSU and rebuild

I found a Manitou Tower Pro fork heavily reduced on CRC for £180. Much happier now..its a slightly heavier fork but actually has more controlled damping, is structurally much stiffer and the CSU is much burlier with proper overlap on the stanchions.

I’d be happy getting a bike with a Fox fork as original spec, but won’t be wasting my money buying a fork aftermarket.

the Alex rims (badged as Roval Traversee) I use on my 29’er are 453gm and 455gm (I weighed them before rebuilding) and made from good old aluminium alloy, certainly not carbon.

choose some decent hubs and spokes, should able to hit the weight target without spending silly money?

OD2 still featured on Giant’s road bikes

but dropped on mountain bikes for 2015 onwards

on the road bikes, it definitely makes a difference in feel to the overall frame as you’ve got a 1.5″ fork steerer and oversized head tube with OD2 stem

Canyon use the same 1.5″ on some of their bikes, which is not surprising as Giant make their carbon fibre frames.

If you ride the Propel Advanced (1.125″) and Propel Advanced Pro (OD2 1.5″) bikes back to back, you notice this straight away when really cranking it hard or dropping into corners.

Also allows them to build a lighter weight frame and fork

I’ve built close to 500 pairs of wheels and yes I use a tension gauge to get it right each time – its a really useful tool even for an experienced wheel builder

Just built a new wheel for my own mountain bike this afternoon : Roval Traversee 29’er rim with DT Swiss Super Comp spokes with brass nipples on DT Swiss 350 freehub

Used the wheel tension gauge to get it really nicely balanced, rode the bike home tonight with the new wheel and it feels just right

this was my second Mythic (banshee) Rampant setup as a play bike with pivotal (bmx) seatpost/saddle and Fast Trak tires, perfect for dirt jumping and our pump track

the first Rampant, setup for DH vacation to Winterberg with padded saddle and knobbly tires

older brother with a little more travel, the Wildcard

my old Mythic Rampant

there are 2 seperate cog stacks on the 10 speed XT (M770). Which are the largest 3 cogs on 1 stack, the next 3 on another stack, and the remaining 4 loose.

you will always get some gouging on the soft alloy body of the Pro II, make sure to grease the body before fitting the cassette, and use a torque wrench to set the cassette lockring at 40nm.

@johnnikgriff

best advise?

take it easy, enjoy the scenery and the amazing flow / vertical drop of the trails but stay safe as its easy to spanner yourself on a short holiday in Whistler

happy trails!

Unfortunately I cannot see your picture, but I’m sure the Tallboy is a rad bike based on what I have read and seen

here is my own 29’er porn, which is my custom built Stumpjumper Marathon 29’er

happy trails on your Tallboy!

many coming out of the same factory (or two) with different packaging

Clarke’s, Fibrax, superstar, etc. not much difference, pay your money, take your choice 😉

‘Sealed’ ball bearings used on many current designs are not the best, but are a good compromise in that they work well enough, are easy to package into a design, are cheap, easy to replace and typically capture all the wear and tear into an easily replaced unit, unless you’ve left it too long and damaged the axles or bearing socket in the frame

bushings? sounds like a great idea, I worked for Freeborn when we had all the problems with the previous Banshee’s running bushings pivots and it almost ruined the brand both from a reputation POV and financially. The new Banshees with ball bearings have been good as gold, from what I have heard!

Specialized Concept Store Covent Garden, also very close by, in Mercer Street just off Seven Dials.

Lots of nice shiny you don’t see at many regular Specialized dealers, as well as strange sights you often see in London streets.

You will always notice a difference when upgrading road wheels.

Racing 5’s are great value / performance wheels and tough to boot. But dropping a few 100gm if your budget allows, will be be noticeable.

@Kevin

I’ve dealt with 100’s of warranties as a workshop manager of a number of bike stores.

Warranty resides with original owner / purchaser. Don’t expect warranty support unless you have POP (proof of purchase) from a retail store with your details on that receipt.

Manuals are useful for riding off sketchey tree root drops, like this one in swinley forest next to the mod area.

Start small, work up and then…braaaap!

@njee20

Its something I’ve been working on for a while, and keeping robin at rozone in touch with. Ideally we’d like the US parent company to tool up a moulded splash back piece to replace the stock bench top, but it would not be cheap.

The time saving on my setup is immense, the only downside is higher consumption of rozone Ozzy juice as its more messy (more splashing). You need a good floor, we use a modular chemicals resistant floor from slip-not.co.uk

Pro bolt is who I bought the bolts for my Thomson stem from – we used to sell a lot of pro bolt at freeborn as the boss was a motorbike enthusiast.

Parts washers are great. Like most bike shops we use a rozone,this has been modded with a splashback, longer hoses and wall mounted park workshop clamp.

Wheels off, hub with q/r skewer and stack of cassette spacers (allows chain to run freely whilst turning drive train during washing), you can see it hanging up above eye protection sign.

Allows you to wash a bike thoroughly without removing all the components, which generally does not do them much good. To clean the non-driveside you just remove the bike, adjust the clamp angle and clamp it back on non-driveside.

Swapping out ‘like for like’sized bolts from steel to titanium alloy can cause flexure problems in highly loaded areas like fork crowns and stem clamps.

I experienced this first hand some years ago installing quality titanium bolts into a Thomson x4 stem and going to Woburn Sands. Despite being set at same torque, my Pro Atherton DH bars felt ‘flexible’, and made frightening creaking noises. I installed the original bolts when I got home and never experienced this problem again.

Steel and titanium bolt of same size / cross section; the steel bolt is stiffer (resistance to loading) meaning a titanium bolt may be a bad choice. Often with components fitted stock with titanium bolts, you’ll see a different size of bolt or longer thread depth.

I only use titanium for fixings like shifter / brake lever clamps, or pinch bolts on derailleurs.