no need for “urban mountain biking” where I live in NW London??

this is 10 minutes from my house…

from my experience as a professional bicycle workshop manager, and bike mechanic that has worked on 100s of disc brake including Sachs, Tektro, Hayes, Hope, Formula, Magura, Shimano and Avid:

don’t use DOT fluid, its not a “lubricant”!!

it causes the piston seal to swell (this helps sealing), it will certainly help your initial “installation” as it will allow the piston to re-seat into the caliper bore, but it does not do anything useful once the brake is reassembled and will actually exaggerate the problem of ‘stick pistons’ or ‘brake imbalance’

what you actually want is high temperature silicon grease – Avid and hope supply this in their workshop “tackle boxes” along with replacement pistons, seals, o-rings and MC diaphragms

Avid sell this under their “Pitstop” label, but its hard to find and expensive

Hope use the “Hunter” brand which is commonly available.

Automotive suppliers also sell ideal silicon grease cheaper than bike “brands” for motor vehicle disc brakes (which also use DOT 4 or 5.1 fluid), try your local motor factors for supplies

RS also sell a suitable silicon grease, which works just fine…

apply the silicon grease to the piston seals evenly coating all surfaces, and reinstall the seal to the caliper piston bore, once the piston is reseated degrease the caliper bay with Iso alcohol before rebuilding the caliper

I am running 33T front and 11-36T 10 speed rear, with Sram X-0 DH short cage rear mech and E13 XCX front chain guide

works just fine for climbing, riding singletrack and descending

only time I run out of gears is commuting to work, on those rare days I decided to run the 29er to work, and not my road bike ;)

Is Superstar blue anodising the same shade as Hope blue anodising?

No, and different batches of Hope blue anodising do not match other batches of Hope blue anodising

have been selling Hope skewers and hubs for years, and have seen on many occasions front and rear Pro II hubs and Q/R skewers from different deliveries (batches) with slightly different shades of anodised blue..

only thing is that the quality of brompton parts has degraded.. the rear bearings my first s2l were japanese and lasted 3 years. the same bearings on my current s2l were unbranded and i had to replace them after 6 months *fitted skf and been fine since.

@rootes1

this is a malaise that is affecting the entire bike industry, not just Brompton, as manufacturing costs rise, and our currency devalued..

look at the 2012 Specialized Hardrock, the new model has a FREEWHEEL rear hub, which is actually shocking for a bicycle designed for even light off-road use!!

cost cutting is rampant in the bike industry with ‘subtle’ downgrades to wheel hubs, bottom brackets, 7 speed drivetrain components and cheap finishing kit (steel handlebar, plastic pedals) that are not evident to many consumers on the shop floor, but always catch an experienced mechanics’s eye straight away

any of us older riders with long memories can remember the problems (axle failure) with the freewheel hubs before Shimano introduced their freehub design with extended axle support

regular J-bend every time

cheaper and slightly lighter (according to Hope’s own information on their 2012 parts poster)

and much easier to source spares for when a spoke is broken in a crash at a trail centre which has a shop with only J-bend spokes in stock

however, Hope told me that the straight pull is recommended for their 29er wheels because the higher tension builds a stiffer wheel, which is not noticeable in the smaller 26″ wheel size

workshop manager for a very busy Central London bike store selling a variety of bikes including folding bikes from Tern, Dahon and Brompton

Brompton 100% choice for ride performance, long-term durability and hassle-free ownership with second-to-none warranty and spares backup from a leading UK manufacturer

(this is similar experience to Hope for mountain bikers in the UK)

there is a good reason that Brompton use steel for their frame manufacturing, despite aluminium alloys being “en vogue” ;)

Brompton have been made for many years and have been thoroughly refined using experiences of 1000s of owners, and all spares are available very quickly

the factory tour of Brompton (near Brentford in West London) is simply fantastic for any bike enthusiast, and its so refreshing to see UK manufacturing in action

the “other brands” have been constantly problematic in terms of even getting a brand new bike to work out of the box (PDI – frames are often misaligned) and especially in terms of long term durability and spares availability

we have had to refund owners of these other bikes because we cannot source replacement parts within the warranty period, the customers then buys a Brompton and we will only see them for an occasional puncture or the yearly service

If I had to pay my OWN money for a folder, I would look at nothing but a Brompton, and my first upgrade would be Avid FR-5 brake levers which substantially improve the brake response, and some decent lock-on grips to replace the original foam grips

I was in the middle of the road as the road had those crossing kerb edges with illuminated bollards (so probably 2 M from kerb)

pedestrian was jogging, so went straight into road without noticeable warning

believe me when I say the next 2 days were very unpleasant, as was the extended stay in A&E at the local hospital

I grew up riding BMX (still ride BMX) and can manual for 100s of metres and jump out of a skatepark bowl, manual around the platform before jumping back into the bowl

I go to my local skatepark, manual across the flat for 50 metres before manualling up the tabletop, across it and down it..

the photo below shows a gap out of the big bowl up the stairs, to manual across the platform before dropping into the middle bowl

on other days I just go to a local basketball court (very smooth tarmac, but dodge the broken beer bottles) and sprint before manualling all around (it has 3 courts back to back) and carving big 360 manual turns whilst manualling, and doing this in one direction 360 before changing direction and going 360 in other direction

something you learn when you manual around corners is just how much camber (lean) you have to put into the bike, its very exaggerated

its my favourite “trick” as such, because a well controlled manual roll feels simply sublime

hopping to manual roll also feels really good

it takes a lot of practise to manual properly (I would highly recommend riding a brakeless BMX as the stubbed toes will teach you properly)

it also gets *mad respect* from the local chavs frequenting the skateparks and stated basketball court, who can only “wheelie” whilst pedalling with the seat at pedalling height

when they shout “do a wheelie” as you ride past on the street, and you pull a 50 metre manual roll, you can almost hear the cogs turning in their brains trying to fathom the ‘Harry Potter’ magic they have just witnessed…

on the MTB its a great skill to posses, pulling a SMOOTH manual really helps with bike control at key moments when setting up for a corner or traversing some choppy ground on a hardtail

always use a torque wrench and blue loctite when working on the twin clamping bolts

clamping torque is 12nm on those twin bolts

most issues with Shimano HT2 are related to either improper set up (spacers are incorrect for BB width), unbalanced torque on the clamp bolts causing movement under heavy load, or unprepared bottom bracket shell (not faced)

Shimano HT2 is incredibly simple and reliable when instructions are followed, its basically an “A-Headset” with splines when you look at it carefully, and then look at your fork and modern headset system, your stem is the non-driveside HT2 crank arm and the plastic bearing preload cap is the same as your stem cap

what made my daily commute through London much safer?

a LOUD bell on my handlebars, because pedestrians use “noise” much more than many people realise, when making judgements about crossing roads and junctions

motor vehicles are always loud, you can hear the engine coming along, bicycles are near silent (unless using a Hope Pro II rear hub!)

something like a Pashley “Ding Dong” bell or rubber-ball horn style ‘bell’ loud enough to be heard above the background noise of traffic is ideal, the “Air Zound 2” (air compressed system) is also brilliant although may give pedestrian cardiac arrest at close quarters

found my loud bell very effective, constantly ringing it as I pass through stationary traffic and cross green-light junctions as there are always pedestrians too busy on a phone call, navigating using their GPS smart phone or updating Facebook to pay attention to “noise-less” traffic like bicycles

the collision that put me in hospital with a head injury (crushed my helmet) was a pedestrian in Surbiton, Surrey wearing headphone who stepped straight off the pavement without looking and I hit him square (I was going about 20mph), went over bars into road smashing glasses and helmet on road leaving me cut and concussed, he mumbled “sorry mate” and jogged on (very wobbly) leaving me in pool of blood on road

no bell would have helped as he had headphones on, and I would not have had time to react

very good tires, have used extensively in 26″ and now in 29″

something to understand about Specialized tires is that they offer their aftermarket range in 2 types

“Control” is 60tpi which means more rubber on the carcass, so more resistant to abrasion cuts

“S-Works” is 120tpi which means less rubber on the carcass, so less resistant to abrasion cuts

typically the weight difference between the same model / size of S-Works and Control is only 60-70 grammes, so not much in it?

after some bad experience running different S-Works tires on the rear with tubeless conversion (stans) I will only run S-Works on the front, and the thicker / heavier Control on the rear

currently running S-Works Purgatory 29″ x 2.2″ on the front and Control Purgatory 29″ x 2.2″ on the rear and very impressed

the rear is certainly better than the Control “Ground Control” which came on the bike – which felt draggy like the Eskar but without the crazy grip of the Eskar, or the grippy and faster rolling style of the Purgatory

its actually surprisingly effective!!

my previous fork was Fox 36 Float RC2 with 20mm

my current fork is Fox 32 Evo RL with the DT skewer and 24mm hub end caps

not as much difference as I assumed there would be…

I was thinking of upgrading wheels to Hope Hoops with Pro II Evo hubs and Stans ZTR rims but probably won’t bother with the front wheel as the Specialized hub is very unusual in supporting the DT 10mm skewer

I’ve seen a Specialized Nimbus 700c hybrid tire develop 2 “blisters” that look exactly like those in the photos

from using a regular inner tube, rather than any tubeless sealant…

how the air got into the blister no one could work out??

Have a look at the link on my prev post ES. Its not Merlin, but Stan’s who say so. Nipple washers are sometimes used on road wheels that employ hidden nipples. They’re not that common though.

@bikewhisperer

when I worked for Freeborn we were the original UK importer of Stan’s for many years before there was much widespread interest / belief in tubeless tire conversions

we were never told anything about spoke nipples by Stan’s in all these years and we must have built 1000s of sets over the years before Paligap signed a more lucrative deal with Stan

hopefully if enough clued-up consumers reading forums like this one, get the message

these money-grabbing muppets (i.e. small shops posing as on-line retailers with stock warehouses) will be driven out of business as their constant lies about “stock levels” does no one any favours whatsoever…

personally built over 100 pairs of wheels with Stans ZTR rims of various flavours and have never used / heard of “nipple washers”

never had any of my own ZTR rimmed wheel sets or my customer’s ZTR rimmmed wheel sets ever come back with rim / spoke / nipple problems?

never seen “nipple washers” on any of the ‘Hope Hoops’ wheelsets we started buying which had Stan’s ZTR rims…

..I would always use a touch of Finish Line wet chain lube on the nipple / rim interface when building, and always brass nipples (DT Swiss) never aluminium alloy nipples

sounds like complete B.S. from Merlin, to me??

its not true, been using Stans sealant for years with no issues

tires always wear out long before sealant can do anything?

don’t let water get anywhere near my bikes when cleaning then, let alone pressure washers!

the 2 pinch bolts are fitted around 12-13nm

My new (disc braked) road bike has got what are described as “29er / 700c” rims (mavic x470).
Now to me they’re essentially just 700c disc rims as they take 700c tyres.

I was under the impression that “29er” meant 29″ wheels. However they can’t be 29″ in diameter as 700c wheels are approx 27″ in diameter.

???

@bonj

the difference between road / CX / hybrid 700c rims (ERTO 622) and a ’29er’ specific rim is the rim width

the 29’er rim is substantially wider to support the larger volume (2″ +) tires that gives rise to the name ’29er’

any tire under 2″ in size will give less than 29″ diameter when wheel is measured horizontally across the tire edge to opposing tire edge

the wider 29er rim is important to properly support the wider tire, to prevent excess tire roll or deseating

I would not blame SS’s postage methods for the bent rotor the OP received

every day I install disc brakes from Shimano, Avid, Hope etc. all supplied in rigid cardboard boxes, the rotors are always a little bent and require a quick tweak with the Park rotor tools we have in our workshop

probably the worst brand for bent rotors “out of the box” is Avid (made by Tektro), some have been shocking even the high end XO and XX models

Hayes used to have the best straightness for new rotors, but its been several years since I have seen a Hayes brake, let alone fitted one to a mountain bike :(

@beefheart

that sounds more promising, but it does not mean that the mechanic at CRC has actually checked the pivot hardware of your suspension bike during his PDI

one of my ongoing jobs as a workshop manager is to scrutineer my mechanics’ work, and its amazing what I can find despite the PDI “checklist” being fully ticked (which manifests as a “box ticking” exercise rather than attention being paid to the ‘question’ being asked by each box)

if the bike has arrived in the same box it left the factory in, it has not had a suitable PDI, as it is then assumed the customer has the skillset and toolset to safely reassemble the bike from the factory box

I literally cannot fit a bike I have PDI’d into a factory box, I have to do too much disassembly to make it safe to ride without a mechanic at the other end to put it all back together

I have seen some companies (Evans, etc.) who get around this problem by removing the bike from the factory box, assemble and PDI the bike, then put it into an oversized custom bike box, and only turn the bars and remove the pedals – supplying detailed instructions, allen key and pedal spanner

I know of bike shops that have lost their dealership with big brands like Specialized and Trek by selling bikes in the factory box which has not even been opened, and the customer has received this bike, damaged it during assembly and directly complained to the distributor who has then tracked it back to the retailer

regarding suspension bikes, I have pulled up my mechanics in the past when they have made the fatal assumption that a suspension bike has come from the factory with correct torque settings on all the hardware (and even assumed loctite has been used!!)

I have then checked the torque settings and found them way off (usually under-tightened, sometimes over-tightened) and also taken hardware apart finding NO loctite has been used during factory assembly.

@kayak23

poor wheel build was your problem, not the ZTR Flow rim itself, perhaps spoke length calculated incorrectly or just poor build technique?

I built probably 150+ pairs of wheels at freeborn with ZTR Flow (Pro II hubs and DT Swiss Comp D/B spokes with brass nips) and had none of them came back with your issue

if you use a spoke tension meter when you build a wheel with Flows, you find you are in the same tension range as an eyeletted rim

I have owned Mavic rims that cracked around the eyelets, and see this on numerous eyeletted rims of customer bikes using Mavic, Sun, DT Swiss eyeletted rims

buy plenty of used DVD and Blu-Ray movies from them (bought another 3 DVD this morning for £1 each)

have sold plenty of old / unwanted items including televisions, dvd player, music system, computer monitor and computer parts, watch, etc.

don’t get great prices when selling but its quick / easy (across road from my house) and instant cash

I would draw the line at buying a bike because their pricing is completely overpriced, and the condition of their used bikes often very poor

as a professional bike mechanic I amuse myself whilst waiting for the staff to find the DVD discs I have chosen, by having a quick look at the state of their “for sale” bikes which are often in shocking condition with numerous faults or worn parts

liability implications are shocking if someone bought one of these used bikes and went onto the highway and got hurt from a mechanical fault :(

recently saw a “No Logo” fixie style BSO selling for £499 with “No-Logo ‘Custom build’ bike” on the price tag

manager’s face dropped when I informed him these are the same bikes selling on Ebay brand new for £149 and the same bikes we have coming through our workshop with repeat punctures (sharp rim edges) and hub / crank / bottom bracket failures..

my last set lasted 3 years of this kind of abuse..

eventually cracked the 3 year-old rear rim around a number of the spoke drillings, but considering the abuse I am not complaining

have the same bell on my commuter that redthunder posted (I love my bike..)

great for riding in the city (London), seems much more polite than shouting, many times people have said “thank you” after I have dinged my bell to warn them I am coming through

but of course from time to time, I have to shout as the white headphones (I-Pod) mean the pedestrian cannot hear my repeated bell dinging and go to step off the pavement and end under my wheels!

don’t have one on my MTB because I ride in an area with few people ever seen

and to clarify, British Standards dictate a bell must be fitted to every bike I sell through my workshop, but after purchase the customer is able to remove their bell as the Highway Code suggests a bell as a “recommendation” rather than a requirement for running a road legal bicycle

Hope pads are half-manufactured by EBC ;)

Hope manufacture their “backing plate” in house, and then ship their backing plates to EBC who then apply the braking compound to the backing plate, and ship back to Hope

SRAM for shifters / rear derailleur, chain and cassette

Shimano for front derailleur and crankset / BB (Hollowtech II)

also like SRAM’s Avid hydraulic brakes (Juicy’s a while back and more recently different flavours of Elixir)

but never liked SRAM / Truvativ cranksets?

my 1 month old 2012 Stumpy Evo is off the road – the SRAM 1250S crankset and PF30 BB are back at Fishers for ‘warranty inspection’

after the driveside bearing failed and the crankset started clicking / creaking and working loose after 4 mild XC rides..

used Shimano HT2 (mainly SLX) for years with no issues to speak of, ever?

one thing about SRAM in the UK, their service / warranty department at Fishers is top notch, compared to Madison which can be somewhat ‘slow’ and vague..and seem to “credit” the shop’s account rather than send things back fixed or replaced?

had an issue with my RS Reverb seatpost, and Fishers had it back to me within 4 days of posting

There will always be cynical people who think mags / websites only survive by companies offering incentives for reviewing their products.

And there will always be people who swear it doesn’t happen.

EDIT : I’m on the fence for this – I reckon *some* backhanded dealing does go on, especially when dealing with a large influential supplier (who could stop 70% of your new spangly kit arriving…)

@xiphon

some years ago I was a regular product tester / writer for a sports magazine in another industry (extreme sports)

I was sent product from a very respected USA brand, and gave an honest review (product fell to bits in very short time frame, under normal conditions)

both I and the editor were then threatened with legal action for slandering the brand / product, and editor forced to sign a legally binding agreement that I would never be allowed to test any of their products ever again

Oakley have always been excellent to me, even when I have done stupid things like sitting on my sunglasses and snapping the frame

replaced FOC, and was offered new lenses at the same time for minimal cost (£30?) as the original had scratches

fantastic optical performance, and legendary backup…nothing else comes close to Oakley

regarding production “costs”, Oakley still make all their frames and lenses in the USA so if anything their production costs are somewhat higher than most brands that farm out production to off-shore vendors with varying QC

would not touch any of the current electric bikes

just not worth the grief

I have a lock-up full of broken ones, waiting “warranty” support

as soon as the electric assistance fails, you are riding an extremely heavy bicycle with high rolling resistance

get a nice road bike ;)

running Fox Evolution 32mm 100mm on my 2012 Stumpy Evo, with the Specialized hub featuring OS24mm axle caps and DT Swiss 10mm skewer – feels plenty stiff in the front end

open bath fork (lots of oil) with rebound and lockout (adjustable compression – with lockout mode)

work just as well as previous Fox forks I have owned

100mm on a 29er wheel feels more than adequate considering I am riding the same trails I was riding on my previous bike (26″ wheels) which had Fox 36 Float RC2 set at 150mm

try the Specialized Concept Store in Covent Garden, London (run by Cycle Surgery)

the manager has been successful in sourcing lots of irregular (i.e. non UK Specialized stock) for his customers through his buying team..

at Freeborn I used to see a lot of customers bikes in the workshop, running both Fox and RS forks with damaged stanchions from a complete lack of “lowers servicing”

a problem with suspension parts is that the performance degrades *slowly* over time

some times so slowly you will not notice unless an experienced friend (with suspension experience) gets on your bike and says “your forks feel like crap” or you start to see visual signs of wear and tear to the fork stanchions or shock shaft

after dealing with my customer’s problems due to lack of suspension servicing, I started really getting into this aspect and paying a lot more attention to proper cleaning and regular maintenance regimes on my Fox forks

never had any issues after that? bought some Fox Float fluid, suitable grease (RS Judy Butter) and suitable suspension fluid (Rock oil in relevant viscosities) and went from there..takes about 10-15 minutes with practise and typically done every 6-8 weeks when riding 3-4 times a week

2012 Stumpy Evo…if you can find one..here’s mine :)

totally depends on which 29er you have bought and your size too?

I bought a medium (17″) Stumpjumper Evo 29er, to suit my 5’10” size

am running Thomson 70mm stem (bike came with 90mm), Easton Havoc DH bars 750mm wide, and Thomson Elite seatpost which is “in line” whereas the stock Specialized seatpost was a layback design

still playing around with stem spacers and saddle rail position in the seatpost clamp, but the wide bars feel very nice!

not sure about ‘reclaming streets’ but how about ‘motorists being less angry at sensible cyclists’

on Thurday riding to work in London, traffic lights changed in my favour (at a junction just off New Oxford Street), motorist in big BMW drove straight through the red light and nearly hit me, along with a black cab following him.

had “words” (polite words, no swearing..) with him, and the abuse I got back from his car was unbelievable, even pedestrians in the area looked shocked by his behaviour

then the Black cab (taxi) driver behind him had to get involved and accused me of being a “jobless c*nt” and “another f*cking cyclist who jumps red lights..” etc.

despite the fact I was on the way to work (incidentally as a workshop manager for a big bike chain) riding an expensive mountain bike, and both of them had jumped the red light…ignoring my right of way

what can we hope to change in the UK with attitudes like that?

well, I am new to the 29’er and actually sold my 150mm all-mtn FS bike because I was bored of it, and wanted a new bike to stoke my fire

I’ve been riding MTB’s since the mid 1980’s, and this is the most interesting bike I have ridden for some time…

its very fast, handles beautifully and most of all, is huge fun to ride – which is all that matters, really?

I am 5’10” and this medium Stumpjumper Evo fits me perfectly with 70mm stem and 750mm bars

I bought the bike “blind” without test riding because I wanted to see what all the fuss, hype and negative comments were about, and have not found any issues relating to slow / cumbersome bike handling from the bigger wheel size?