Specialized Concept Stores and Giant Brand Stores are franchises / licenses operated by independent businesses; they are not owned by the distributor nor employ staff directly

there has never been a proper mechanism for transferring warranty and post-service costs between retailers, the warranty always resides with the original retailer. its a shame, because as others said, the name is the name, and the public don’t know/care its not a brand owned store.

A number of companies like Starbucks and Hunter operate similar franchise systems, where things like loyalty card (starbucks) and warranty (from other Hunter stores) will not be honoured.

Spesh Kingston closed because it never made money, and since Sigma owned the building, after 6 years they pulled the plug, invested the money from selling the building back into their road store in Hampton Wick and their growing on-line business

Covent Garden turned back into a “cycle surgery” as it was not making money, no favourable terms were presented to maintain it as Concept Store, and the new owners of Surgery (Cotswold) are on a slash and burn with any stores not washing their faces…its actually closing in Feb as a bike shop as its a poor location with ever increasing costs, especially the business rates about to kick in soon

It was on Monday so the guy who deals with sizing wasn’t in.

that’s pretty messed up – bike shop has 1 member of staff who can size customers to bikes they sell…

the problem with electrical tape on its own, is it cannot handle the internal air pressure and starts to depress into the spoke holes, often causing leaks or split in the tape.

I’ve seen this numerous times on customers bikes where they have used it, with failure to seal a puncture, loss of sealant and finding dried up sealant in the rim bed. You have to wrap many times to make the tape stiff enough, and it often starts coming unglued after sealant exposure

when I worked at freeborn (the original stan’s distributor) we sold 100’s of tubeless wheel setups every year – degrease rim with Iso alcohol, couple of wraps of electrical tape to seal the spoke drillings, then quick wipe with Iso again, and wrap some Stans/Roval whatever tubeless tape around to completely seal the rim area. the electrical tape acts as a last defense if the main tape failed/split or leaked

works great. much easier to reapply new stan’s tape if needed.

You want high temperature silicone grease for dot fluid brakes. It’s sold under avid pitstop brand, hope use hunter, I’ve used RS.

Using greases not designed for the brake system can damage rubber parts and contaminate brake fluid

great hubs!all the benefits of the excellent 240 but 1/2 the price

regular sealed bearings rather than stainless sealed bearings

still found my 350s bombproof, just replaced the front hub bearings after 2 years which cost £12

taiwanese forged shell with minimal machining, so a little heavier

same “guts” as 240 rear with upgradeable ratchet if you care about faster engagement.

more limited conversion options than 240’s but cheap enough you can get new 350s without losing much money

masking tape around the cut to stop fibre delamination

water for smoothing the cut and damping the dust down

we use a brand new 32tpi steel hacksaw blade each time (you don’t want to snag fibre on damaged teeth, or introduce contaminants such as aluminium alloy and steel into the cut area

the carbon fibre blades are messy and make a wide rough cut (we were told not to use carbon blades by one of the largest manufacturers)

then finish with fine grade wet and dry

all the MY2017 Giant that are tubeless ready come fitted with tape and valve, and 2 small bottles of stans notubes solution in the bike box. we leave the tires deflated on the shop floor and setup the sealant as we sell…

done loads of gravel on my Tarmac, Defy, Super Six Evo and TCR

not an issue with the right tires

the wear and tear to the bike however….

tried on the new Chronicle MIPS in Evans. Very good fit. Have not enjoyed the fit of some of their previous mtb helmets since the excellent Zen.

I used to build all my prototype frames at my University from Alcan HE30 (6082) this always required me to apply a heat treatment to T6 after welding

I have fond memories of T6 heat treatment using a huge oven, and a huge water bath, and having a successful outcome on many frames.

I’ve had a number of BB30 and PF30 bikes and the BB tolerances have been all over the place, all have had issues (rapid bearing wear, creaking, clicking, working loose, walking sideways)

Some of the frames had BB shell that crushed bearings, others required gap-fill compound or hefty smear of carbon fibre assembly paste inside BB shell, to stop cups moving. When I ran workshops in 2 Specialized Concept Store, we were supplied with DP420 epoxy to glue the cups into the frames.

Praxxis Works the best for poor tolerance frames (the collet expands, gripping the BB shell), but it has its limits; on my last Stumpjumper I had to use carbon paste on everything but the threaded metal interior. The bearings are nothing special, I’d advise carefully removing bearing shield and packing full of marine grease before installing the BB.

I won’t buy another BB30/PF30 bike.

I had Tower Pro 80mm 29’er on my last bike and was very impressed by the fork – substantially better damper than the bigger brands, especially mid stroke.

easy to tune, physically very stiff. highly rated. Only sold it because my new bike needed a longer 100mm fork.

“old” park and “new” park not the same, which could explain the durability of the older tools

I’d choose Knipex every time if spending my own money

according to the available test data from a number of studies, wheel weight makes very little difference to actual bike speed – its negligible, speed that bicycles travel at is low, accelerations are small and not as constant as many think

perception of course is very different and the “feel” of a wheel can lead one to assume performance advantages that may not actually be realised in the real world

aerodynamics plays a much bigger role in wheel speed.

a slightly heavier wheel that is more aerodynamic than a slightly lighter wheel makes a measurable difference

we had two brand new 820 in a row (for my missus) and both had ongoing faults with the screen sensitivity, ghosting and freezing up for long periods – software updates/rollback did not help

after the second showed the same fault, we got refunded and paid to upgrade to the Edge 1000 = no problems since.

@julians

after getting my Works angle headset, I really looked at my setup all over again. the geometry of the bike was much improved, but the bars felt too high

I messed around with stems – tried 5 different length/rise before settling on Zipp Service Course with +/- 25 degrees seen in the above image in -25 degrees

looks odd, but works great and put the handlebar in a great position – much closer to a 650 bike

I’ve had 6 different pairs of 5-10s and always a 42 *uk8* same as my size in Nike trainers.

Workshop is the most profitable but it doesn’t generate large revenues like selling bikes or p&a -which are less profitable

You can complete four £80 services in 6 hours, or sell a £2000 road bike in 1 hour…easy to sell lots of bikes with workshop building out of box with pdi, setup and 1st free service.

Servicing is profitable but difficult to scale up and it’s time consuming, intensive, dirty work.

Our workshop is booked up 5 days in advance even this time of year. We certainly fit parts bought online, I often have 1-2 bikes a day being rebuilt with groupset bought online.

Customer service is key, many shops I’ve worked in its been shockingly poor, bike industry needs to work on it as most of the retail world has moved on!

We get it wrong from time to time, but are working hard to meet customers expectations,the industry is undergoing a massive transformation with compaction, consolidation and people going to the wall already

Use RRP on the front and Ass-saver on the rear on the mtb. Works pretty good considering how minimal each guard is.

DT Swiss 350 no doubt.Taiwanese forged shell with less machining (slightly heavier), slightly lower grade bearing, same “guts” as 240. Still bombproof outlasted all my hopes by some..

Not as easy to adapt as 240’s when moving bikes, choose carefully, but 350 not a big loss if you have to buy a different model.

If you find a deal on 240s get some. Otherwise 350

Manitou’s recent forks are excellent. As soon as my RS s&7ts itself I’ll track down a manitou 29’er fork.

I took 1.5 degrees off my XTC Advanced 29’er hard tail, from frightening 71.5 to useable 70.0

Slacker HA, lower BBH, longer front centre,longer wheelbase.

Huge improvement in handling and safety

Best £60 I’ve spent in years. Works components.

I’ve cut many d locks and chain with an electric angle grinder after legit owners have lost keys. Scary how quick you can go through anything with fresh disc

Finish line Teflon grease or any thick marine grease seem to work well – we often use military specification grease which is super thick red goo.

A good tip – before replacing the removed shield, use a cordless drill with no bit, close the chuck and spin the tip of the chuck against the inner bearing race. Eye wear recommended

This thoroughly distributes grease, pack in more as required, replace shield and wipe clean.

@skids

that Cube is crazy short for the size – my XTC in medium has top tube of 594mm, the large is 615mm

my previous 29’er were all medium Stumpjumper carbon hardtails with top tube of 593mm

My XTC in medium. I’m 5’10” with 32″ leg and ride a 54cm road bike.

The biggest improvements were the Works components headset to slacken HA by 1.5 degrees, lower BBH and lengthen front centre, making a nervous and tall/short bike feel much more neutral

And Zipp -25 degrees x 85mm stem which drops the bar to a similar height as 650 bike, and makes hops/wheelies much easier and more grip on front tire.

Playing around with geometry and finishing kit can really help get a 29’er right for small and medium riders.

Contract of sale including warranty between you and original retailer – not the manufacturer/distributor or one of their other authorised retailers.

If the manufacturer/distributor instructs another retailer to take on your problem and compensates them for their costs, that’s a good way to get it solved locally.

We get lots of people buying the brand we sell, but from on line retailers, and walk in expecting a first free service and warranty issues taken care of. We advise them to contact their retailer or charge for our time if they are happy to pay.

Ultegra is the stiffest road crankset Shimano make, Dura Ace is lighter but more flexible

Difference between 105 and Ultegra cranksets? Its noticeable when standing on the big ring and putting down the power, or doing bad shifts on the front under power.

If you look at the rear of the 6800 large ring, its a carbon fibre infill, on 5800 large ring, its a nylon infill.

105 5800 is excellent value workhorse groupset, but Ultegra is worth the extra in my personal opinion, in terms of performance (especially shifters/crankset), wet weather durability on mechs /brakes and a useful weight saving

wavy washer on non driveside and should be compressed when crank bolt set at torque, but not flattened

use nylon shims to adjust this until the wave washer shows the correct form

SRAM used this too, but thankfully dumped it on later cranks especially higher end MTB models, with an adjustable threaded lock ring and pinch bolt – hell of a lot easier to adjust and set

use a torque wrench, and lots of good quality waterproof grease during the install, it will help delay the inevitable creaking

really liked my SuperSixEvo – bought the entry level 105 bike from Evans (external cable routing, PF30 BB) heavily reduced, just to get the frameset for a rebuild.

Frame in 54cm was sub 1kg.

just finished servicing an Enigma Ti road bike for a customer

this is his second frame (first lasted a year), the first developed a crack all around the down tube / head tube weld, which the customer was convinced was a creaking BB, until I pointed it out

despite my concern, he rode home on it :(

@skydragon

one of these will do the trick, and very quickly.

used them for years with great results.

nothing to worry about – the lower bearing sits directly on the crown seat on the fork steerer

a smear of good waterproof grease (finish line teflon is recommended) on both bearings and any metal headset parts is recommended before assembly

Did the Etape 180km in London the weekend before and it was the most dangerous event I have ever been involved in. The first and last sportive I will do.

I have honestly felt safer racing DH bikes through rock gardens at 30mph, the standard of riding and complete lack of common sense / respect for other riders was breathtaking.

4 very near crashes from being cut up without warning, and then having to hop over 2 riders who crashed in front and run out into the grass I was getting worried!

The disgusting behavour of riders along the route was eye opening – openly urinating by the side of the road, urinating on walls and on houses in villages, dropping gel and food litter, jumping red lights, cutting up pedestrians on crossings, cutting up motorists, riding 5 abreast

It was on open roads, and I saw no real support / policing, just a marshal next to a road junction from time to time.

After 60km I’d had enough of being associated with it, ditched my plate and transponder and dropped back to support my missus.

We then made it all the way round, only for her to get taken out in the last 1km by another rider who suddenly hopped up onto the segregated cycle lane we were riding on in front of her, causing an over the bars crash, nasty shoulder injury, torn saddle, first aid and a trip to the hospital to get x-ray.

No apology and he disappeared very quickly at the finish line…

Profile Race cranks in short length 145mm with threaded Euro BB and suitable spider/ring combo

I’ve got a pair of Giant hybrid (aluminium rim/carbon fibre fairing) deep sections.

Shame they are not made anymore, DT Swiss made these for Giant, 1600 gramme, DT 240 hub internals, very stiff/quick and fantastic when pushed hard, even in wet. Used to sell £1200.

The new ones use cheaper hubs/spokes and come in considerably heavier but cheaper too?

As others said, full carbon fibre wheels are relatively affordable if you shop around.

I had many customers at freeborn Esher buying lightweight qr skewers and putting their steel shimano back on pronto. Dirt jump, DH, FR all best on through axle or steel skewers.

If you ride hard or are heavy you can put a huge load into the axle interface with disc brakes? Old articles mentioned 400nm+ peak load.

For QR, Shimano, Campag, or DT Swiss RTS work well but make sure to clean/oil the cam and skewer shaft from time to time.

I had a hydro disc brake road bike last year. The bike had 45 degree forward/down fork dropout to help counter twisting force.

I rode that bike very hard 60mph+ DH runs, , front wheel secure but rotor tinkling on climbs or sprints, and rear wheel tendency to unseat ever slightly under repeated hard braking. Creaking under power, had to stop, open the QR, wiggle wheel to reseat and retightented. Often…tried shimano, DT Swiss RTS no difference.

Bike got sold off, got 7kg caliper race bike with Shimano dura ace skewers. Lovely….

2017 model of my disc brake bike has 12mm through axle DT Swiss front and rear. Fantastic!!

@renton

The best setup on my 3rd (?) Stumpjumper was shimano xt HT 2 using praxxis works conversion BB for bb30/pf30. Cranks bought cheap online and chainrings swapped for single thick/thin

Mips article in cycling weekly mag I browsed in Sainsburys whilst waiting for the missus.

Confirms what I’d read elsewhere, that many ‘Mips’ lids don’t follow the actual full Mips specification for the low friction sliding/separation?

A mention that some helmet had less rear protection because of fitting Mips around the helmet retention (rear) system

And that current Mips offering have been retrofitted into existing helmet shells – they interviewed one of the POC engineer about this.

Can’t see it doing any harm as long as the fit is good and the Mips harness is robust enough to withstand day to day use.

Guess when new helmet models come out design around full Mips specification then the safety benefits can only increase