I run conti four seasons 25c on my commuting Sirius 300km a week does not feel much slower than my road bike running 23c unless facing wind or really putting hammer down

fit an-line barrel adjuster between the brake lever and the first cable stop on the frame (or first zip tie if a continuous run)

allows you to take any slack in the system

works every time…

been using KMC 9 and 10 speed chains on various bikes for some years, both road and mountain

no issues to report?

fit a lot of KMC chains at work too…seen very few, if any come back with any problems.

Seen many more broken shimano chains over the years, and even broken SRAM chains

Make of that what you will?

Careful cleaning, regular but accurate lubrication and tempered gear shifting make a big difference to chain and overall drivetrain life

Be aware that using aggressive cleaning products, overlubing the chain and skipping cleaning (allowing build up of gunge) and forcing bad shifts will accelerate damage to the chain and other drivetrain components

@project

you won’t know unless you take the plunge and buy one 😉

borrowing a mate’s bike won’t tell you much except you don’t like his setup, and that alone could put you off the big wheels for ever

if you find after months of riding the big wheel you don’t like the bike, good quality bikes are never hard to sell on

I sold my Devinci Dixon and bought a Stumpjumper hardtail 29’er “blind” (without test riding) and have never regretted it

it certainly makes my trail riding around the S-East much more interesting than the Dixon which was so capable it just squished everything flat

remove the bottom bracket cable guides. remove any hardware bolted to the frame and the rear plastic “banana”

use an inner brake cable (its much stiffer than gear cable) and start at the top of the downtube. Feed the cable through until it pops out of the BB area. then slide a long length of internal cable routing “pipe” onto the end of the brake cable (it will be a snug fit) and drag the cable back up the DT taking the pipe with it. Tape the end of the pipe where it comes out of the DT, so it does not fall down once your remove the cable.

you can now install the hardware and feed your inner gear cable through. Always suggest doing the rear mech first. for the chainstay its a little tricker. Rotate the frame / bike in the workstand so the back wheel is up in the air (vertical). Take your inner brake cable again and start next to the BB, feed it up the inside of the stay. Sometimes you have to twizzle the cable as you feed it, other times you get lucky and it finds the exit hole above the dropout. Then plug in more long pipe and drag backwards. Tape the end next to the BB, and remove the brake inner cable

Then feed your gear inner from the DT / BB area into this pipe after threading the wire through the right cable guide (some Roubaix use a single cable guide under the BB). Once the wire is through and out the dropout, you can pull the pipe back out of the dropout and trim it to length, as it will be too long. Put the pipe back onto the cable, install the banana and finally the loop of rear gear outer

Sometimes you may have more success in feeding the inner brake cable the other way, but you tend to have to chop off the brake nipple, whatever works is worth sacrifcying a cable

Front mech is easier as you just have the procedure for the DT. Once cable is through, run it through the left cable guide and then bolt both guides in place using the cover plate and bolt

If you ever find your frame is clogged up with muck / grassy stuff / etc. I’d strip the frame, flush with warm soapy water, rinse with warm clean water and dry overnight before rebuilding

I work in a Specialized Concept Store as a bike mechanic, and have worked on 300+ warranty / crash replacement / service jobs on Tarmac, Venge, Roubaix in case you are wondering 😉

constantly dealing with customers in our bike workshop having “issues” with BB30, PF30, OSBB and all the other crappy press fit standards

most issues relating to re-occuring creaking, rough running bearings, or failed bearings often in a short period of time after purchase

I’ve gone through 7 pairs of bearings in my Stumpjumper’s PF30 BB in the past 2 years and I only ride 1-2 times a week and never jet wash my bike! Thankfully my SRAM cranks with their 30mm axle have finally worn out…

..tomorrow I’m installing a Praxis Works BB convertor and Shimano XT HT2 crankset in an effort to banish this ongoing press fit nonsense

thank god my road bike uses an english / BSA threaded bottom bracket shell, as that bikes sees some serious mileage 🙂

the best advice I can give being constantly at the “blunt end” of this nonsense is to install all the components with loctite, anti-seize and re-pack the new bearings with quality waterproof grease before installation

@northwind

good point, and was not meaning to have a dig at you 🙂

just a reference that a fully tensioned and trued wheel actually contains a lot of torque, and working on one spoke at a time can cause all kinds of issues for the overall wheel structure

its probably something we are seeing more with “factory wheels” where mechanics will attempt to replace a single damaged spoke and completely throw out the wheel, causing further breakages in the future

many factory wheel manufacturer now recommend returning the wheel for repair (as their mechs have specialist training) or completely de-tensioning the wheel before making the repair.

Keith from Banshee Bikes in action at Esher

and testing prototypes at Woburn Sands

don’t try to replace each nipple and re tension that spoke before doing the next nipple as a previous poster suggested.

Just places unnecessary stress on the wheel, and it will typically go out of true using this method anyhow.

Back off the tension in all the spokes using a spoke key, so the spokes are slack, and remove / replace each nipple in turn.

Once all nipples are replaced, then start to tension and true the wheel

I’m a professional bike mechanic and have done 100’s of wheel builds and repairs in case you are wondering about my credentials 😉

£40 charge from a bike shop would be an acceptable rate

Specialized Allez and Specialized Sirrus have very different geometry and 2 models of the same size fit very differently

Sirrus feels short and tall with very long upright head tube

Allez (similar geometry as the carbon fibre Tarmac) feels long and low with short head tube

I own a Tarmac and a Sirrus. Sirrus has mudguards and is used for wet weather riding and wet commuting.

Tarmac for proper road riding and dry commutes when I need to go fast

For the Sirrus I have cut the fork steerer to minimum height, removed the taper headset cap (which is a cover for the flat headset cap underneath) and used a BG Stem set at -16 degrees, all in an effort to get the handlebar as low as possible due to the long head tube.

Its not as fast as the Tarmac due to the more upright position (you feel this going against wind) but its comfortable and great for cruising at a relatively fast pace. Bike is 9.4kg with mix of Tiagra and 105 and road wheel / tires and carbon seatpost / bars / saddle

I’ve converted a good number of drop bar road bike to flat bar bikes for customers who just could not get on with the drop bar positions.

Its not cheap but they all seemed happier afterwards with most commenting they actually rode their bike regularly, which was not the case when their bikes had drops.

Specialized also sell a couple of high end mens (sirrus) and womens (vita) models which actually use the Roubaix and Ruby carbon road frames fitted with flat bars and flat bar shifter / brake levers as stock

@kimbers

its definitely hard finding a reliable mountainbike savvy shop in London because there are very few mountain bike riders living in London actively working in those bike shops

I’ve worked for Evans, Cycle Surgery and several LBS and can think of perhaps 1/2 dozen staff in those stores who actually “mountain biked” and knew their mountain bike. The rest were all road, commuting, fixies or didn’t even own / ride a bike

when we had our shop at Esher (Freeborn) we did huge business from London mountain bikers wanting proper support. Our weekends consisted of fitting E13 chain devices, bleeding Avid brakes, doing “lowers services” on forks and selling DH tires, full face helmets, body armour and downhill / freeride and dirt jump bikes and frames!

It might be a little further away for your needs, but if you want some mountain bike servicing give me a shout at Specialized Concept Store in Kingston 😉

and to be fair, headset bearings are a completed PITA, I have been waiting 2 weeks to get a FSA #70 bearing for the lower race of my Specialized Tarmac road bike

great to hear people are having a blast riding the new Runes and Spitfires

when I worked for Freeborn we had a heap of trouble with the 1st generation bikes using the old bushing pivots, and moving forward Keith @ Banshee worked crazy hard to redesign the bikes with the new K.S. (Keith Scott) Link suspension and ball bearing pivots

very pleased to see that Ison Distribution has been making some proper inroads into wider distribution of the Banshee brand to UK dealers

currently I am not riding a FS bike, but a Banshee would be first choice, and probably a Spitfire with 650 wheels 🙂

looking at this in a different light

what about “corporate responsibility” from the local authority that has painted the junction road marking with a cycle feeder lane on the inside left leading up to the ASL box

when a cyclist is killed following these road markings, surely this could be considered as corporate manslaughter because the local authority has indicated to that cyclist, where the cyclist is expected to position their bike going into that junction?

If the road marking is promoting these fatal accidents, surely it is not “fit for purpose” and immediate action needs to be taken, as well as a prosecution of the local authority by the H&SE

I’m looking at this myself as I’ve gone through 7 pairs of BB30 bearings in my 29’er Stumpjumper’s PF30 BB in the past 2 years, doing mild XC trail riding once a week and being gentle cleaning the bike

I’m convinced the nylon PF30 cups and BB30 bearings are not aligned properly when installed, as my last set of new bearings have lasted less than 9 off-road rides before going rough when the crank is spun

thankfully, I’m a bike mechanic with access to a very well equipped workshop, so it easier to deal with these issues

since the SRAM crank is now wearing out (arms looking very shabby) I’m considering moving to Shimano HT2 cranks with the native 24mm axle, and have been highly recommend the Praxis Works convertor by many riders and industry contacts.

Its around £60, with quality bearings, reduces the I.D. to 24mm for the Shimano cranks and most importantly has an expanding “collet” design which grips the BB shell as its tightened together; its also a machined aluminium alloy unit which should ensure the bearings are held parallel relative to the crank axle, unlike the Nylon PF30 cups…

-dump the Avid rotor and buy a Shimano rotor (they have a different braking track)

-dump the current brake pads, and buy some new brake pads (your old pads are dirty, and may be contaminated)

-degrease the caliper bay with disc brake cleaner or iso alcohol before installing the new pads

-reset the pistons in the caliper using a 10mm ring spanner, push them fully home

-install the new pads

-centre the caliper over the middle of the rotor, tighten the caliper bolts. give the brake lever a squeeze, check the contact between pads and rotor, should be even

-find a new local bike shop!

*certain bike frame and brake models / pad types* have a known resonance problem, but its not something common on your Giant, so its probably bad setup ~(the Avid rotor does not help..) or contamination

@gravity-slave

good work!

most recently saw a lad riding no-handed whilst chatting on his phone, with the forks back to front on his carrera mountain bike

very impressed with his handling skills, but I turned his forks round after chatting to him, and he told me the bike had been like since he got it “from halfords” about 2 years before!

11 speed road?

11 speed chain and cassettes of all brands, seems to happily run on the 11 speed Shimano, 11 speed SRAM and 11 speed Campag shifting systems

most recently a customer with campag-freehub body wheels running campag 11 speed cassette with 11 speed KMC chain on Shimano Ultegra 11 speed shifting 🙂

would take quality True Temper or Reynolds steel frame over titanium alloy, any day 😉

just tell him straight, and offer to set it right 🙂

I have seen this a number of times whilst riding through London on my commute, have engaged in friendly conversation with the rider, stopped with them at the next opportunity and set their bike right for them (I’m a bike mechanic and always carry basic tools), given them a business card for our shop and invited them to contact us when they need any help in the future 😉

DMD front mechs are specific, and don’t have adapters for band-type mounting (regular seat tube)

my Specialized Stumpjumper Expert Carbon 29’er hardtail frame is 1.18kg (I weighed it before rebuilding the bike)

you can pick a complete 2014 bike up around £2000 with the same frameset

@mikewsmith

not really?

29’er generally benefit from over-exaggerating pressure on front wheel, compared to similar travel 26″ bike. also assume you are travelling faster into corners, which also means a more aggressive stance.

have fun with your ‘clown wheels’

learn the ride the bike properly, if you ride it like a 26″ bike you won’t get the most pleasure!

maintain momentum, pump the trail, less on the brakes, the big wheels roll over everything, push the front wheel hard into the corners to get proper grip and control

been riding “clown wheels” since 2012 and enjoying every minute. have fun with your new rig!

had 2 pairs and no complaints

bought the Sam hill V1 when it was launched, these lasted several years and eventually the sole went bald and the shoe split on the sides where the toes flex

bought the Sam hill V2 and these lasted 3 years until once again they wore out, started going balde and the shoes split on the sides where the toes flex, but I was doing lots of trail work in them

the bald sole never effected their grip on the pedals (if anything it was better as I could move my feet around a little more) but it was starting to stop me pushing up in mud where mud would clog what was left of the sole tread and cause slipping.

now have the new Karver high-top, really nice shoe. only got these because I could not find the Sam Hills in stock (maybe too popular?)

no complaints about 5-10, easily best flat pedal shoes for proper mountain biking

the big advantage with 29’er?

it flatters the novice rider by smoothing the trail

it allows experienced riders to go quicker, for less effort

KMC 😉

@andytherocketeer

yeah that’s true, and the sad thing it cost £1 million for the 1km road when it was installed, money now wasted as it was ripped out for the new scheme.

the main issue was priority at the junction with Pratt Street (see photo above) because motorists would be looking right (at oncoming one-way motor traffic) and ignore southbound cyclists.

However, if you are riding a bike and come to this junction, common sense dictates you slow down and watch that motorists, not speed through and seem surprised when you are run over? I used this road for many years and never had a collision.

the rebuild with the plant pots and paint cost just £50,000 in comparison.

in contrast to my earlier post about Royal College Street, here is a photo showing the “old” segregated dual-lane system that was ripped out and rebuilt in favour of the new “soft” dutch design…

it was not perfect in that there were some near misses at the junctions, but the huge concrete strip running alongside the cycle lane stopped vehicle infringement into the cycle lane

Well this is the problem with the dutch Lane in NW1. Someone sold Camden council the myth of “dutch” cycle lanes meaning “soft” infrastructure. When you do some digging you actually find its been installed because its 1/10th the cost of the older solid concrete segregation strip that previously sat there…

The van parked in southbound lane in my pic is a Camden council van !

I recently got dragged into a row with Camden Cycling Campaign and Camden Council when I publicly criticised (in a local newspaper) their “Dutch” soft design for Royal College Street in NW1, which frankly has fallen to bit in a few months, and offers no proper protection to cyclists going in either direction.

Unfortunately this replaced a solid concrete segregated lane that had been in place for 10 years.

I did take them to task several times at a “green event” and then in communications but was told not to be negative as this Dutch design is seen as a prototype for the future of cycle lane design in London

had enough of being ignored so wrote a letter to the local newspaper and then got attacked online by members of Camden Cycling who could not see past the ‘flaws’ in their design which is based around rubber ‘armadillo’ humps, some white paint and easily squashed plant pots

they are now “making adjustments” to their scheme….

be aware that different brands size their road bars differently, some centre to centre, some outside to outside, some inside to inside and some..who knows what?

its really hard to recommend any sizing without seeing your bike setup, as this affects the choice of handlebar.

Frame geometry, stem spacers, stem length, seatpost, saddle, pedals and cleats, your body shape/size, personal choice, etc. all has a big affect on your handlebar

bought a big Stanley toolbox for £30 a few years back (it was so big it had 2 smaller Stanley toolboxes inside, which I gave to friends) and then plastered it with stickers

It hardly fits all the tools I have (I work as a bike mechanic, but this is my “home toolbox” with my own tools) and I can hardly lift it off the floor because of all the tools it rammed with, but its nice to keep everything in one box

Owned a number of 661 pieces for wrist and ankle protection.

For wrists found them too restrictive and was put onto nsd “powerball” gyro by a bmx buddy. Used it for 2 weeks, then riding bmx again where wrist brace did bugger all to rehab my wrist

Had numerous pairs of vans, etnies, airwalk,lotek, orchid, DC and 3 pairs of 5-10 (sam hill v1, sam hill v2, karvers).

Been riding and racing flats for years on bmx, free ride, downhill and trail. Have also used SPD since 1992 and still use SPD on commuter bike and spd-sl on road bike so not anti clipless!

Nothing comes close to 5-10 for MTB. Grip, efficient pedalling, feet protection and resistance to dirt/wet which kills skate shoes.

Only exception is for dirtjump or pump track where bmx shoes allow more free movement on pedals, 5-10 too grippy for that style of riding..

@sharkattack

Wish that was true but the US side of the business tightened things up.

Without POP they won’t even consider warranty, let alone crash replacement or sale of excess stock (they don’t have any..)

I’ve spent last 2 years in London focused on sorting out Warranty and crash replacement for Specialized customers through two concept stores.

Can’t say anymore on public forum.

there have been some big changes to the way Specialized do business (reducing operating costs)and so they don’t sell off any production frames anymore.

The only frames available aftermarket are the high end “S Works” frames.

They don’t even hold “crash replacement” stock anymore, they just offer “assisted purchase” for genuine owners of Specialized bikes involved in an accident.

This is typically a good discount off the retail price of a new bike, not a frame. I recently sorted one of these out for a customer with a damaged Stumpjumper FSR and he got a good deal on a 2014 Enduro Comp

The only frames that are held are now solely for use in genuine warranty claims, which is a legal obligation rather than a “goodwill” gesture which is what the ‘crash replacement’ scheme was. In the past it was not unheard of for older warranty or spares frames to be sold off, but unfortunately no longer..

Avid (SRAM) produce 1000s of set of brakes every year, they are easily the largest provider of brakes for OE customers (complete bikes)since taking this business away from Hayes brake

this means cost cutting to meet pricepoints for OE customers, and since QC suffer when cost cutting, and producing 1000’s of brake sets, more badly manufactured sets get out into the “world” (i.e. you and I…)

I’ve been working on Avid brakes since their first disc brake.

The original Juicy brakes were solid, as their business model shifted to more OE customers the QC on further Juicy models really suffered

however, the later Elixir model with its “taperbore” Master Cylinder introduced a new level of problems in terms of QC

its usually not an issue of “bleeding”, I have years of experience bleeding hydraulic disc brakes of all brands, but when you do a very solid bleed on an Avid brake and its instantly sucking air due to a fault in the MC or a leak in the caliper, its not a technical issue as much as a QC issue, and that is only solved by SRAM’s excellent and timely warranty department!

don’t bother- it does not work in terms of sealing puncture

the powder inside the tube stops the Stan’s from coagulating when a puncture occurs