“How do you make sure the can stays put when you slide the post in?”

real simple to sort out, grab some pliers and turn an edge on the top side of your shim

when you install the shim and seatpost, it cannot slide down into the seat tube as the edge will catch on the seatclamp

happy trails!

road riding, and running

and mountain biking when the weather gets terrible (snow) because I can wrap up in lots of warm clothing and have fun

rode my road bike..on the road in NW London

windy and cold but alright

then rode my road bike to work on the road, worked and road home, again on the road :)

Thomson Elite seatpost

Specialized stem

Specialized bars

might get round to switching the stem to Thomson or Easton, one day, if I can be bothered and have some spare money to waste…

find this debate very interesting, its no secret in the bike industry that Renthal taper bars are made off-shore

New Balance have a UK factory, and also a number of off-shore factories (China), yet the Chinese and Japanese are very keen on the more expensive, UK made New Balance shoes, whereas New Balance sell more of the off-shore shoes (cheaper) into the UK market!

Dr. Martins shoes the same, have a UK factory making a limited run at higher prices, and rest of range made off-shore and more affordable – yet many sales of the UK shoes going to overseas customers

“UK Made” has a cachet for certain, to our friends overseas, even though we may not all appreciate domestically manufactured goods, especially when price for cash-strapped UK shoppers is more important than moral considerations over ‘where’ the goods are manufactured

in more recent news, Apple are moving some of the gadget production back to the USA as its actually becoming cheaper than doing it all off-shore

costs in Taiwan have risen somewhat dramatically in recent years, as anyone working in the bike industry could tell you ;)

these rising costs of off-shore manufacturing (and shipping) could create new business opportunities for manufacturing again in the UK, where falling costs of doing business making it once again viable

was very impressed by Devinci’s Dixon Split-Pivot

145mm in the rear (feels like a lot more), never felt out of its depth, pedals with much more control than four-bar horst pivot bikes, and can be built with Fox 32 150mm for lighter build or bigger fork like Fox 36 Float at 150mm for heavier duty build – mine was sub 30lb with Reverb post and sensible built kit

absolutely loved my Dixon, sold it simply because it made my riding in the South-East too easy (boring) as the bike was so competent!

All the riders I’ve collared at kings cross (who have had a dahon) slated them for failing after 6-8 months of daily folding. I ‘think’ the tern & the new top of the range Dahon have a new design which is allegedly stronger and more reliable.
I’m inclined to give the Verge X10 a go & maybe singlespeed it. I could put the 10spd cassette on my AM bike
Anyone know a Tern dealer near Chancery Lane Station?

^^ this

I used to work for the UK distributor and retailer of Dahon and later Tern (its the same company basically owned by father = Dahon, and son = Tern), same sh*t, total warranty nightmare on bikes that fell to bits after a few weeks if not months!

*hint* all the previous UK distributors dropped Dahon one after another due to the same grief

actually the QC was terrible on the Tern we got in stock after the Dahons, could not actually sell them out the box…

the ONLY folding bike I would ever consider, its proven itself over 20 years, its British made by very passionate staff (and like Hope, etc. you can get all the spares easily) is Brompton

its made from steel for a reason, and although looks simple, is a brilliant example of industrial design and real world engineering

had the pleasure of riding a custom Brompton all over London and found it very very rapid especially in traffic, and easily over taking roadies and other riders on full sized bikes

the “fold” is second to none, you can easily pimp them out, they last for ages and will not sh*t themselves like a Dahon, Tern or Mezzo

people only brought Dahon and Tern because they were cheaper than Brompton, but sooned learned why; after months of warranty B.S. would get a full refund and heavy discount on a Brompton and we would not see them again for a long time ;)

now that Intense have brought their heat treating ‘in house’, are we going to see an end to the absolutely shocking mis-alignment we have seen on many of their VPP frames for the previous seasons?

high temperature Silicon grease

its what’s the factory uses…buy any Hope tackle box for bike workshop servicing and you get a bottle of Hunter silicon grease in there

Avid also sell it under their “Pit Stop” label, but its blooming hard to get in the UK

you can get the same stuff from RS Components more easily…

Following the advice of shimano and kmc? At the most extreme; washing with warm soapy water and rinsing. Then lubing with dry lube. Wiping chain with clean rag whilst in middle chainline and using rag pulled down to put chain under load. Followed by more lube and wiping off. NEVER using solvents or chain cleaning machines…

Specialized Control Captain

sorted…

“Seriously?? What’s the average wage for a UK mech these days? That’s a sheet load of money for not much return shirley?”

@walleater

typical ‘chain store’ salary is £12K for bike builder, £14K for mechanic and £16.5K-18K for workshop manager

plus commission / bonus on workshop productivity and overall shop performance

some LBS will pay a bit more for each position (to poach staff from chain stores), some LBS pay really badly

@bobbyspangles

I’d agree that Cytech is actually a fantastic development for the trade of working as a bike mechanic because its a professional qualification

of course, as you mention there are rubbish cytech mechanics (people good at passing the exam / course) as well as great ones

I’d also agree that the bike industry benefits from having professionally trained wrenches with a recognised qualification, which includes the City & Guild which is quickly gaining traction

I’d also like to see a union for bike mechanics, but that is perhaps a bike dream as Jules Tandacharry (the previous Cytech trainer for Evans) got very close to setting it all up until the workshop managers and key mechanics at Evans bottled it, fearing for their employers reaction to them becoming unionised :(

to answer the OP ‘What’s the difference between a home mechanic and a Cytec mechanic?

the difference between a home mechanic and a professional mechanic?

(not perhaps ‘Cytech trained’ as I have worked with shockingly bad wrenches who have Cytech 1,2 and 3)

-is the ability to produce high quality work consistently, every day, whilst standing on your feet for 7-8 hours a day

-knowing what Cytech does not teach you, which are all the ‘quirks’ of particular components or situations and bike brands / models

-being able to troubleshoot problems very quickly and come up with effective resolutions, often when under pressure

-admitting when you don’t know something, and not being afraid to ask for help (from a fellow mechanic, a trade technical support source or elsewhere..)

-being honest with customers when your repair work would make more profit, but in the customer’s interest its actually cheaper for them to buy a new bike

nothing worse than arrogant mechanics who think they know it all..or lazy mechanics who simply don’t care, and just want to do the minimum

I like every day when I learn something new from experiencing a new product or situation I was not familiar with, and adding that knowledge to my skillset

after 5 years in the independant sector, I’ve spent the last couple of years managing key London workshops for the biggest chain store in the UK, and now currently runing a specialist high end workshop for a concept store in London

the money is not fantastic compared to other industries or trades, but I actually enjoying going to work every day, and that is saying something!

@xiphon and @ kimbers

thanks for your kind words!

I used to run freeborn esher but it closed last Easter

since then I worked 14 months for Evans managing some of their key workshops

currently I run the workshop for Specialized in Covent Garden

we don’t really have the facilities for on-site suspension servicing, most of it goes back to Mojo (Fox) or Specialized UK (anything with the ‘brain’) but I am more than happy to do ‘lowers’ fork servicing on-site or just give any needed advice

cheers!
Rob C
Workshop Manager
Specialized Convent Garden

@crazy-legs

its a great point you raise – honesty always goes a long way when attempting to make a claim for warranty

both the shops and the distributors / manufacturers are not stupid and have heard it all before – which is why the bike industry has the term “JRA” (just riding along…)for customers who claim no wrong doing when their frame has suddenly snapped

the OP was very honest about the cause of his breakage and I can tell you that this information would have been passed back to SBC UK who always appreciate honesty, they will do everything they can to help you back onto the road because you have not tried to B.S. them with a funny story

in comparison, today I had a customer who has cracked a brand new CF seat post which had I fitted last night (using Finish Line fibre grip and torque wrench)

He claimed the seat post slipped whilst riding home so he ‘adjusted it’ using his torque wrench and it has magically cracked…

despite myself and the store manager having a conversation with him last night (after fitting his seat post) where he told us he did not own a torque wrench….

….and we even brought a torque wrench out of the workshop to show him what it was, and explained how important it was to use one for fitting CF components. also told him he could get a Ritchey torque key quite cheap which would be ideal for his needs.

this morning when he has brought said seatpost into the store claiming either the seat post or his frame are defective, he magically produced a well-used torque wrench he claimed to be “his torque wrench”, despite the conversation we had only hours before ;)

@jambon

the frame is question is actually a road frame (Specialized Roubaix) that is fitted with a flat bar to create a sports hybrid, rather than what is used to make the typical commuting hybrid like the regular Sirrus

its a very light weight frame, making for a great sports bike, but obviously not as tough as the cheaper and heavier aluminium alloy Sirrus which is a v-brake compatible hybrid frame

when the OP had his frame sorted out at Evans, we supplied Shimano road calipers FOC to help make his old build parts compatible with the new frame

@lionelblair

sorry to hear this has happened as I had sorted out your replacement frame when I worked for Evans Cycles

Despite the annoyance of what has happened to your new frame (and your honesty in admitting a piece of metal went in there, not trying to blag it under a ‘JRA’ claim) its not a warranty situation but something covered under Specialized’s ‘crash replacement’ programme – which is a new frame at their cost price to you.

I deal with crash replacement work for Specialized customers on a regular basis in London, normally road riders on Allez, Tarmac, Roubaix bikes who have been hit by motor vehicles or have had severe crashes whilst riding (caused by themselves)

I won’t put the prices onto a public forum, but the crash replacement is very fair and I have never had one of these customers complain about it, most are more than happy with the deal they get

you’d be surprised just how strong / tough a steel spoke is, even compared to a carbon fibre frame which is certainly not weak

won’t go wrong with E13 LG1+

expensive but quality comes at a price..

sold over 100 of those to customers and owned several myself, no issues at all and rock solid even under hard impacts

currently riding a carbon fibre Stumpjumper Expert 29’er hard tail with 100mm Fox 32 forks, 1 x 10 gearing, short stem and 750mm bars

simple bike, easy to clean and minimal maintenance

very nice for trail riding, no complaints about ‘handling’ from me?

actually a very precise handling bike on steep and tight terrain

very good for climbing technical terrain, and goes like lightning down the hills

it also seems to deal with snow and mud very well, with 2.2″ Specialized Purgatory tires, plenty of clearance and floats on the soft ground where my 26″ bikes used to get bogged down

was very surprised after hearing all the bad press on 29’er

sold the 26″, and bought the 29er without testing to find out what all this bad press was about?

considering the Butcher and Minion are manufactured by the same company (Cheng Shin) there is not as much difference as perhaps assumed

something I would say for Specialized tires, they always come up much larger width and volume than the “given” size

Specialized 2.3″ is as large, if not actually larger in ‘volume’ than Maxxis in 2.5″

BB7 = good

BB5 = f*cking shite (loads of production bikes come with them and mechanics hate them…)

Shimano have their Ultegra CX disc brake coming out, but its not arriving until Jan/Feb 2013 :(

the funny thing is that “mountain bikes” only ended up using 26″ wheels due to a tire ‘supply’ problem with the Finnish 29″ tires that the American pioneers (Fisher, Kelly and others..) could not source in sufficient quantities for their new companies which commercialised mountain biking

when they tested the 29″ tire (on the 700c, wide rim) they said it performed better than the 26″ wheel size

but they ended up “specifying” 26″ wheels because Schwinn’s ‘beach cruiser’ 26″ tire was readily available in high quantities

so to anyone ney saying the 29’er, its really gone full circle..and come back to what was originally intended, but for a supply problem

spent 1986 to 2012 riding 26″ wheels in all disciplines including XC racing (national level), DH racing(national level), freeride (sponsored Pro) and recreational trail riding

then bought a 29er in early 2012 and actually found it a better performer for off-road trail mountain biking, which very much forced me to question my previous cynical attitude towards the ‘marketing’ surrounding the bigger wheels ;)

there is nothing else like Shimano Anti-Seize on the market, its worth every penny. especially when dealing with light-weight, high-end components and the new press-fit bottom brackets, and integrated headsets

on a daily basis in my workshop, I am dealing with customers with high-end road bikes coming in with ‘creaking cranks’ where the original dealer has assembled the bottom bracket and crankset with grease…

grease…is for bearings, not for fitting metal to metal parts, and using grease definitely has a variable impact on setting torque when using torque wrenches and torque measurement tools, compared to anti-seize which has no impact because its not a lubricant, but an isolating compound

on these problematic road bikes, we strip the BB, crankset and pedals from the bike, degrease with ISO alcohol and install the components with Shimano Anti-Seize (this includes chain ring bolts and any BB adapters or other metal components like shims and pre-load spacers)

these customers don’t come back to our store, with the same problem, because the problem has been solved

on my mountain bike, I can install a set of cranks using Anti-Seize into a press-fit BB system, and ride it for 6 months using the bike 2-3 days a week in wet weather, washing the bike after every ride and will not have any issues with drivetrain noise, the Anti-Seize is still visible after 6 months

just don’t get Shimano Anti-Seize on your clothes because it does not come off!

fresh bearings to suit your Stout 25mm hub, and rebuild into a new if needed

front hubs are simple, compared to rear hubs which have freehub mechanisms….

went riding this morning (7.45am) it was raining lightly but the trails were still dry as its been dry for weeks and the trail surfaces are still hard

got home with a light spray of mud on me and my bike, threw a bucket of warm soapy water at my bike and all the mud fell away, including the past 2 months of ‘trail dust’

no complaints from me, though I did have to wash my jacket, gloves and helmet liner

5-10 Sam Hills or 5-10 Impact II every time for trail riding, have been using both of these for some seasons and find them very very good, no problems with grip, wet weather or pedalling efficiency on my mountain bike

I use Shimano 520 MTN SPD on my commuter and Shimano 105 Road SPD on my road bike as a comparison

would recommend skate shoes like vans / etnies / orchid, etc. for dirt jumping and “freeride” when you need to move your feet more freely about on the pedals; however for trail riding these shoes can lack toe / heel protection and feel very flexible under power promoting cramping in the foot

be aware that within the skate shoes brands, they offer several levels of shoe stiffness, often called “tech” for the stiffer soles or “natural” for the more flexible soles, they are not all the same as skateboarders and bmx riders have definite ideas about what they want from their shoes, and the brands have adjusted their offerings, accordingly

I work for a well known chain store (not Evans)

in one of our London stores, their senior mechanic is in hospital because he went to view the Olympics in Surrey and got a nasty tick bite, he contracted Lyme’s disease from this bite

he is currently in hospital, seriously ill, had a cardiac arrest last week, but is making good progress to recovery, best wishes and healing vibes!!

I drank a large bottle (1.5 L) of organic beetroot juice in one morning last week, that I had bought on a cheap deal from a well known high-street health food chain

for nearly 2 days, every time I went to pee, my urine was bright pink

I started getting concerned I had a problem (blood in urine?), but remembered reading about beet juice being expelled in urine

however, I felt very good that day (apart from funny coloured pee)

I would not “top up” but remove the tire, clean out the remnants of the Stan’s sludge and then refill with fresh sealant; you may find a very odd “alien spiky ball” which is what is left of your original Stan’s sealant :)

I used to work for the original UK distributor of Stan’s, but after many years of using Stan’s have found Bontrager tubeless sealant (Super Juice?) to be vastly superior to Stan’s, it does not leak or gum up the valves so readily, but stills seals any penetration punctures without issue

as well as finding numerous tubeless valve cores on the market to be superior which have additional ‘o’ring sealing to prevent leakage through the rim valve drilling

and tubeless tape from “Roval” which is 1/2 price of Stan’s yellow tape, stickier and much more secure

Erm, play nice folks. My original intention for this thread was that I was kinda hoping that people would enthuse me about riding in the UK again: C’mon folks!!

@mikey74

best advice I can offer after several vacations (typically 3-4 weeks involving WBP, North Vancouver and the Interior) is to put the ‘big bike’ away and get some trail riding (we have excellent trails in the UK) or get some BMX riding / racing (again, we have excellent BMX facilities in the UK), or if not into the BMX, then some dirt jump and pump tracks

nothing more depressing (we have a term~: PWD = post Whistler Depression) than taking a ‘big bike’ to your local spots and realising how damn short and flat the hills are i.e. basically crap, compared to the sheer vertical madness of descending Garbanzo into the bike park at WBP :(

@PeterPoddy

sorry to hear about your experiences commuting in the ‘big smoke’

unfortunately there are too many dicks riding bikes in London to make the commuting experience pleasurable…never mind the cars, taxis and goods vehicles!

its normally aggressive / arrogant dicks riding bikes I have trouble with on my daily commutes through London

from a fellow cyclist that stops at EVERY red traffic light and pedestrian crossing…

@jedi

great to see you getting excellent feedback, its all I ever hear about you, from contacts that have spent time with you, on your coaching sessions

cheers!

Rob Cole

@lionelblair

glad you liked your new bike, I personally took care of that problem at Evans Spitalfields (I am the workshop manager)

we don’t often get any feedback from successful “warranty” jobs as the bikes are often collected in the evening long after the mechanics have gone home (often starting at 7.45am working through to 4 or 5pm)

Specialized supplied the frame and headset, we “wrote off” all the additional parts against our store’s profit and loss account because we’d rather keep our customers happy than hassle them for additional money in warranty situation

had the pleasure of knowing JMC as I was riding on the same team for Hardisty Cycles during the early 90’s, he got signed to Specialized a year later!

he surely inspired all the XC guys on the Hardisty Team to get into DH in a big way including myself and team mate Adam Robertson

went on plenty of riding sessions with JMC and the local University Mountain Bike Club, including his crazy friend Paul Plunkett who had the raddest back garden riding set up including lots of jumps and a huge dirt “full pipe” he had made with a mechanised digger

last time I saw JMC (before his accident) he had popped into Hardisty’s where we talked about tires of all things! the news of his accident was very sad to those who knew him :(

super nice guy, really great down-to-earth attitude with time for everyone, truly an inspiration to everyone who ever met him, or went riding with him :)

went to the Specialized Concept Store in Covent Garden, London last year for a promotional event and saw one of his bikes on display, brought back some memories for sure:

as the workshop manager of one of London’s flagship bike stores (we have just passed £3 million turnover from Jan 2012 to present) I make a living (somewhat less than £20K), but not a “good” wage compared to my previous jobs, including running a bike store for an independant

my 4 mechanics are making just above the minimum wage, that is what the job pays..all are Cytech qualified and were put through the Cytech training by the company

when the shop hits target (our weekly target at moment is just over £100,000) then we get “bonus”, but this target has been hit twice in the past 4 months, so its not something we regularly see

I can make additional money working additional hours when we are super busy, 12-13 hour days were not uncommon last month meaning an additional 46 hours of pay on top of my salary

regarding paying for Cytech? I would not spend the money, better off finding an employer willing to pay for you ;)

no idea about the physics but certainly found my 29er a much better performer in snow and mud than any of the dozens of 26″ mountain bikes I have ever owned?

running Specialized Purgatory Control tires with tubeless on the 29er, certainly not a paper thin tire….

nothing but positive experiences with Specialized for me, both for my own bikes and customers at my last independant store where Specialized was the only boxed, complete bike brand we sold

recently? problem with the PF30 BB shell on my 2012 Stumpy Evo 29’er(aluminium), it was machined out of tolerance (just 0.2mm) causing ongoing BB issues since January when the bike was bought

sent my frame back to SBC UK, within 3 days was sent the Stumpy Expert 29’er (carbon fibre) frame free of charge with new BB and new headset

awesome service!

My Thomson is getting a bit tatty. Fairly deep scores from constant dropping of saddle. I actually managed to take a chunk out it on my first ride when it slipped. So, I’m not convinced by the Thomson hype ,but to be fair, it hasn’t bent like the EA50 it replaced

try reaming your frame’s seat tube?

any seatpost will get damaged if the seat tube has been poorly finished in the factory, regardless of the choice of seatpost

we get brand new bikes turning up from all brands with poor reaming, and scratched seatposts “out the box”

Thomson easily have the toughest surface (hard ano) of pretty much any seatpost on the market, based on my experiences

what a great way to completely f*ck your chain?? (this goes against all the technical advice issues by Shimano and KMC)

hope they are replacing these chains very regularly!

and the idiot using the air compressor hose to “dry” the bikes really should put on some eye protection…really stupid behaviour, the air comes out of the gun at 100mph+ and can shoot / ricochet grease and dirt into your eyes before your blink reflex can react.

I work with compressed air all day drying bike parts, and cleaning (never “degreasing”) bike chains ;)