in my workshop I always pack the headset cups with waterproof grease when installing a new sealed bearing headset, or re-installing a sealed bearing headset

once assembled, excess grease will be forced out of the headset, you wipe this off with a clean rag

the grease I have put into the headset during assembly prevents corrosion by acting as an additional “seal” in addition to any headset cup seals and the sealed-bearing seals (2RS)

have been doing this for years, and have never found this grease to attract or hold dirt / water

spent the three past Winters here in the UK riding XC on flat pedals wearing 5-10 Sam Hill shoes (both the 1st generation model, and for the last season, the 2nd generation model)

rain / snow / mud = no problems?

if its dry then I am wearing Merino wool ski socks

if its raining then I am wearing SealSkinz socks with Merino liners

the shoes seem quite water repellent as standard, and can be treated with Grangers to increase this performance

never got cold feet, and never had any issues with pedal grip?

@ spooky b329

Use brake fluid to lube the seal/piston.

DOT fluid is not a lubricant

yes, it will assist in the inital re-installation of the piston against the seal inside the brake caliper halves

but it doesn’t do anything to address the issue of seal drag on the pistons as the DOT actually causes the seal to swell slightly (this helps seal the piston bore)

what you actually want (and is used / recommended by brake manufacturers in their factories and during servicing) is high temperature silicon grease (AVID sell this under their Pitstop label, or just use RS or automotive DOT rebuild grease)

you want to use this sparingly on the seals before re-installing the pistons, and then wipe any excess on the piston surface with rubbing alcohol before rebuilding the caliper

makes a massive different to a disc brake, will make the pistons feel silky smooth and prevent long term issues with piston imbalance ;)

what torque is your seat clamp set at? this is critical for the Reverb

once you go beyond the recommended 5nm and into the 7-9+nm range you can retard the free movement of the seatpost

are you using carbon fibre installation paste on your seat tube (or grease)? are you using a torque wrench on the seat clamp bolt (or an allen key)?

have you tried bleeding the post using the supplied kit?

I always dose my Reverb’s seal with Finish Line Dry Lube spray after cleaning, pump the post a few times, wipe off the dirt and then apply Fork Juicy spray to the seal and pump the post to lubricate the stanchion and wiper seal surfaces

things to consider before going for a warranty claim

if you are waiting on the new frame?

no harm in researching the “lowers service” for your Fox fork

and then spending some time doing a high-quality lowers service with appropriate suspension fluid and suitable grease (Rockshox Judy Butter / Manitou M-Prep / Stendec fork grease / Slick Honey)

also make sure your new fork has the SKF seals as these make a big difference to the fork performance (especially break-away friction i.e. stiction), if you don’t have these then get them from Mojo direct or your LBS and install them when you do the lowers service

its actually the UK Shimano distributor Madison that is to blame for the lack of Shimano spares, not Shimano themselves

this again comes down to a business decision by Madison (relating to stock levels)

it also makes sense for shops and customers in some way because its often cheaper to buy a new disc brake caliper than to buy the spare parts and then have a UK workshop charge you the labour to strip / rebuild and re bleed your brake, compared to installing the new part and rebleeding

you can actually get spare seals/pistons and MC parts for Shimano disc brakes outside of the UK, if you shop around ;)

wonder if this was the EW Ride specifically imported into the UK for a Sunday newspaper to review (the first one imported I was told)??

as someone who works professionally as a bike mechanic; something I would say is that all the Avid brakes we’ve had through our workshops (in 4 different stores) with ongoing “bleed” problems have had bad bleeds, often when a customer has tried to bleed them at home or had an inexperienced mechanic work on them

if they need bleeding alot or feel inconsistent, this is because they still have air in the brake system – this doesn’t magically work its way in ;)

perhaps this is Avid’s problem – their bleeding process on the Elixir is “tricky” and best left to experienced bike wrenches

I can count on one hand the number of times there has been a genuine
problem like a leaking MC diaphragm or faulty piston seal

spare parts are readily available for both Juicy and Elixir if you shop around and the brakes are super simple to work on even at home with basic tools, silicon grease (for piston seals) and Avid bleed kit with Dot 5.1 fluid

some of my customers had this issue a few years back with their Pro II hubs and all the hubs were rebuild with new hub shell FOC by Hope within several days of us posting them to Hope.

we then rebuilt the customer’s wheel with the rebuilt hub, FOC.

Hope told me some of their blank hub forgings were faulty, hence the problem

love Hope for their hubs and other trick bits, but no love for the QR skewers whether wheel or seat clamp

basically a poor cam design with an uncomfortable lever shape, that makes it hard to generate adequate clamping torque

all my previous customers who had problems with the Hope skewers either working loose on the front, or allowing the rear wheel axle to shift on horizontal-dropout dirt jump bikes (even when using chain tugs) switched to good ‘old Shimano steel QRs and never had a repeat of the issue

I would take Shimano or Campag (or Salsa for fancy ones) any day over Hope

no problems with mine

got Juicy 7s in 2005 and gave them away this summer to a kid who needed some brakes for his bike – they were still working perfectly well despite 6 years of abuse all over the UK, Canada and Europe on 6 different bikes with different rotor sizes

bled them twice a year, new pads as needed, changed the master cylinder diaphragm on the rear after 2 years, never changed the pistons or seals in the caliper

also have Elixir CRs, also no problems to report – now 3 years old and have been on 3 different bikes, lots of muddy / wet riding and downhills

the Elixirs are tricker to bleed, it takes some experience and knowledge to get a good reliable bleed and also set them up properly to ensure balanced performance – Avid’s CPS mounting system does not help in this respect as it allows a bad initial setup which can cause premature pad / piston wear, squealing, etc.

something I would say about Avid (and SRAM in general) is that we have seen a decrease in their quality control pretty much every season

the “new” Avid is not as reliable as the old “Avid” in my opinion having worked on 100s of sets of Juicys and Elixirs

however we are seeing reduced QC on many brands (cheaper parts, wonky wheelbuilds, poorly aligned or defective frames) as they cut costs to try and maintain competitive pricepoints

one of the best things about Avid / Sram is the stellar backup you now get from UK distrib. Fisher Outdoor, as long as you guy from a proper dealer then you have a solid warranty on Avid

my 2010 Reverb has been very reliable

recently I snagged my shorts on the remote shifter and snapped the switch clean off (my fault..)

within 3 days Fisher Outdoor (SRAM UK rep.) had replaced it FOC and even serviced my Reverb also FOC

cannot fault the service, or quality of the post compared to the grief my customers had with the SBC Command Post, and the sh*tty feel of the Gravity Dropper in comparison to the Reverb.

Evans Waterloo Road still have a decent selection of MTBs downstairs including hardtails and full-sussers (specialized, lapierre, bmc, kona, etc.) lots of tires, body armour, full face helmets, etc.

most stuff is available next day from that gigantic warehouse they have in Gatwick, rather than having lots of stores stuffed full of the same stock?

..bike sales in London are healthy and this involves mainly road/hybrid but MTBs figure in those sales too, I’ve heard from different sources that a store like Waterloo Road will normally reach £2 million in sales every season, and that is not the best performing store in the london portfolio

tubeless definitely works

recently replaced a worn-out Specialized Control Captain tire from the rear of my bike, run with Stan’s No-Tubes solution

inspected the tire, little pieces of glass and thorns protruding through the tire carcass into the interior, no punctures in 1 year of running this tire :)

heard all the hype about CK headsets, took the plunge and got them for both bikes – a DJ bike with 100mm forks and a DH bike with 200mm dual crown forks

within 1 month both CK headsets were causing problems I’d never had before with FSA, Cane Creek, etc.

headsets constantly working loose, causing creaking / clicking noises and starting to chew a nice groove in both my fork steerers where the top cap ‘o ring’ sat.

the lower bearing on the DJ bike actually failed (seized), and Evolution refused to warranty it claiming abuse and just sent me a bill for a new bearing which I refused to pay and returned.

the steerer tube on my DH bike was becoming compromised by the other CK headset, in Whistler the Marzocchi technician who looked at my forks before fitting a new steerer (free of charge, bless ’em) and a FSA Pig Pro headset I’d bought and he said “we’ve seen this many times with CK headsets”

my riding buddy also with a CK headset on his Marzocchi 66 fork had exactly the same problem, and the Marzocchi people in Whistler also replaced his steerer, we bought them some beers for their troubles!

for riders who keep their wheels on the ground I guess a CK is worth the money?

for riders getting airbourne, I’d steer well clear (to clarify though my experiences were with the older “o-ring” top cap CK design)

never had any issues with my replacement headset which were FSA Pig Pro and Race Face Diablous

never grease…just attracts dirt

you want a smear of shimano anti-seize inside the HT2 cup before sliding the driveside arm/axle into place. this will coat the axle and allow easy removal, months later ;)

neilsonwheels – Member

Rock shox for the home mechanic and serviceability.

absolutely no difference in doing a “lowers” service between RS and Fox, either for home mechanics or professional bike mechanics

damper servicing on RS or FOX is not different either, in terms of technical ability ;)

PUMP TRACK??

funniest looking ‘pump track’ I have ever seen?

its a BMX track basically ;)

the whole bleeding point of Pump Tracks is that they recirculate, so you can continously PUMP the damn track, and the best pump tracks offer multiple line choices, loops and directional changes

just had an excellent night ride this evening!

blasting around my secret trails in NW London with no one in sight..very nice

guy in my bike shop had actually the same problem with the Hope brakes on his S-works hardtail bike

brakes were about 14 months old, he rides alot.

sent the rotors to Hope, they replaced them free of charge.

not a good tire..made by “Duro” = cheap rubber, high durometer is slippery, heavy carcass construction, pretty useless in most conditions including dirt jumps, there are much better alteratives for both mountain biking and dirt jumping

my local ski shop was shutting down due to on-line competition, I did a deal with the owner where I took a good numbers of pairs of Teka Merino organic wool socks off his hands at a special price

2 years on, I use them every day, I have shorter length and slightly lighter weight socks for regular riding and commuting, and full length (knee) and heavier weight socks for bad weather mountain biking

best clothing purchase I have made in years, and I’ve started buying Endura Baa Baa Merino clothing like their base layers, which are proving much better in performance than similar style synthetic products

@flow

I should have clarified, my comments were about the Fox forks, not the shocks

no experience with Kashima on the shocks, my RP23 XV BV has no Kashima and runs just fine with the stock seals and regular applications of Finish Line Dry Lube spray and then Fork Juice on the outside of the seals, after cleaning

had very good results with Stan’s ZTR Flow rims the past 4 years, always on tubeless setups using Roval rim tape, Stan’s valve units, Stan’s solution and Specialized Control series tires

only had 1 Flow rim fail, and this was after 2 years of dirt jumps, pump tracks and skatepark abuse on my short-travel bike (Banshee Rampant)

the rim developed small cracks around a number of the spoke holes, but considering it was ridden like a big BMX, it was not surprising really?

don’t bother with Kashima

ask for the SKF low-friction seals, it makes a much bigger difference

and make sure you do regular “lowers servicing” on your Fox fork, it keeps them running buttery smooth and prevents any premature damage to the fork stanchions

no problems with mine, and a big increase in power and modulation over my previous Juicy 7s

nearly 3 years old, been all over the globe doing big descents and no problems with power / fading

if bled properly (many cannot do this – its not their fault, Avid Elixir CRs are tricky to bleed compared to the cheaper Juicy, Elixir R or Elixir 5) you won’t have issues, and despite popular opinion they don’t need regular rebleeding (this is only caused by bad bleeding)

last week I rebuilt my rear brake with new pistons / seals as the back brake had gotten a little noisy and tended to drag – the pistons were worn

after a rebuild with DOT rebuild grease (high temp silicon) and a bleed with DOT 5.1 and some new pads, the brake feels silky smooth and works great

today, I did a brake-dragging descent of the “wrong side” of Ivinghoe beacon and my brakes were smoking at the bottom, but kept the bike under control with no fading, and this is only using 160mm rear and 185mm front

from time to time, I have had problem Elixirs through my workshop, but this happens with any mass produced product being made in 1000s of units ;)

For example, scott bike RARELY need more than screwing the peadls in, and putting the seat post and the stem.

several Scott “sub” hybrid bikes have come through our workshop with the damaged rim (spoke nipple) issue I mentioned

when you are talking about higher end bikes, they are generally well built and fit for purpose

its really the entry level and mid level where costs are being cut

if you look at the Specialized Rockhopper in 2008 and Specialized Rockhopper in 2011, the difference in components are shocking…

never had any luck installing customers’ Panaracer tires onto Stans ZTR rims of any flavour

advised these customers to use Specialized Control (2 Bliss) tires (i.e. Purgatory, Storm, Captain, Eskar, Fast Trak, etc.) which seat easily with a track pump, don’t leak or roll and work with minimum fuss in the long term ;)

Are we being fleeced?

as a workshop manager at a very busy bike shop belonging to the UK’s largest “quality cycle retailer” (hint: not Halfords)

I would say from my first-hand experience that companies have definitely cut quality control in their off-shore manufacturing in the past 1-2 seasons

in the workshop we PDI (pre-delivery inspection) all bikes we receive from our suppliers, we have to make sure these bikes meet British Standards for road-safety

we have noticed recently that the quality of wheels on complete bikes is decreasing, both on entry level bikes and mid range bikes from all brands

this requires additional mechanic time to true the wheel, before the PDI is complete

I’ve had brand new boxed bikes from “big brands”, where the wheel rim is damaged beyond repair as the spoke nipple was ripped through the rim wall by the wheel building machine, or the freehub body is so wobbly that the gears cannot be indexed.

other items we are having increasing problems with are poor quality gear derailleurs (from both Shimano and SRAM), poor quality gear / brake cabling, bad disc brake bleeds (on all brands) and the poor quality of unbranded components including v-brakes, mechanical disc brakes, wheel hubs, bottom brackets and finishing kit

basically where the bike company has cut costs by using cheaper parts, to maintain the bike’s pricepoint

the manufacturer lowers their QC (which is a genuine cost) assuming the bike shop will pick up their slack

where a £450 bike would have had a shimano bottom bracket and shimano v-brake calipers in 2008, it now has an unbranded bottom bracket which goes rough before the FOC (4-6 week first free service) and constant rubbing from the brake pads on the rims as the unbranded v-brake calipers cannot be balanced using the spring’s screw adjusters

its a casualty of increasing costs for manufacturers, and the reduced buying power of British Sterling

there are very good value, tough parts on the market (like Shimano SLX) and it really pays to be a smart shopper when choosing kit, use the correct tools (how many home mechanics have facing tools, a torque wrench and actually follow service intervals for suspension parts?)

here’s a tip from a busy bike workshop ;)

remove the pads and spring, grab the brake lever and pump the pistons out a little (not so far as to have them pop out)

if you find one piston moves out and the other sits still, use a 10mm ring spanner to retain the moving piston, this will apply pressure to the static one and get it moving

once both pistons have some exposed depth, use a silicon grease or spray lube (Fork Juice is ideal) on the piston’s diameter, and then push the pistons back into the caliper with the ring spanner, wipe any excess off the exposed face of the pistons

install the pads / spring and go ride..

this effectively lubricates the piston body and piston seal with silicon, which has enough heat resistance to not become mobile and leak onto the pads once the brake gets hot

you can get DOT specific silicon rebuild grease (Avid offer this) but general silcon grease (RS) or spray works just fine ;)

today at work, Madison told me they could not supply a £3 spoke nipple for a Shimano 550R rear 700c wheel, because it was “discontinued”…

the customer had brought the wheel into our shop 3 weeks ago with a broken spoke, we’ve had a mission getting the right spoke (a straight blade Shimano design), third time lucky they sent us the right spoke, but the spoke does not come with a nipple.

my customer cannot find this nipple anywhere else either, because the shops all buy from Madison

because of this missing £3 nipple, my customer is now faced with dumping a perfectly serviceable / fixable wheel, and buying a brand new one :(

we’ll all probably end up riding British made steel frame fixies with recycled tires and fully serviceable hubs / bottom bracket once the economy truly goes down the toilet and people revert to riding bicycles purely for transport, rather than “fun” in the woods…

Easton Haven for sure :)

I have owned 6 different Thomson stems (2 x Elite and 4 x X4)

more recently I have owned the Haven stem and the Renthal Duo stem, I still use the haven with Renthal 750mm bars on my mountain bike

the Haven is noticeably more ‘solid’ than the X4 when really cranking on the bars, especially with wider bars (i.e. 750mm+) yet comes in lighter too

before moving to wider bars, I never had any issue with the Thomson stem feeling flexible

when you look at the Haven, its a blatant rip-off of the Thomson X4 stem, but with a wider bar clamp, wider body and Easton’s Top-Lock clamp technology

as a professional bike mechanic I don’t bother using chain cleaners on my own bikes

washing up liquid, put neat onto an old toothbrush and thoroughly scrub the cassette, chainrings, pulley wheels (on rear mech), chain device / front derailleur cage and then the chain

rinse with warm water, leave to dry indoors for 3-4 hours and carefully apply (link by link) quality chain lube

no problems to report in 25+ years of mountain biking, bmx, road and wrenching

you don’t need the circlip ;)

put a drop of blue loctite on the screw-thread of the pad pin before installing, let it cure overnight, go ride

the weirdest thing is the motorist looked just like one of the 2 scousers from movie “Lock Stock and 2 smoking barrels” – the one with the big permed curly hair!

a number of years back whilst commuting in London, a motorist overtook me and suddenly turned left in front of me

I managed to skid / stop just before hitting the side of his car, and started screaming abuse at him, he drove off down the side street

I continued my journey, but then turned into Brick Lane to get some bagels for breakfast, about 1/2 way up Brick Lane there was a loud engine noise / roar behind me, and the same motorist was driving straight at me!!

I hopped onto the pavement he tried to follow, skidded hard and then hit a metal bollard further along the pavement edge, bending his bumper

I was about 100 yds up the pavement, he got out, walked round to the boot

I remember hearing 2 loud clicks like catches being released and he pulled a long black metal tube out of the boot and pumped it with a ‘chink-chink’ noise

I realised he had a shotgun (!!)

I f*cked off straight up the road before he could come any closer and called 999 from a phone box and then hid until the Police turned up, he was long gone by then

Police got vehicle number plate from 2 German tourists who had witnessed the incident and it was a stolen vehicle that had been used in armed robbery in Manchester!

never swore at any motorists again after that

not worth it, you don’t know what something is carrying in their car and how deranged they might be??

@honourable george

its more than 2 forks – in the past 3 weeks working for a big Specialized dealer I have replaced 26 forks on different bike affected by the recall.

8 of these had cracks around one or both of the brake bosses

on 4 of the other bikes’ forks, the brake post pulled out of the fork boss whilst removing the brake – with the thread damaged and cracks around the boss area

second hand forks can be problematic if the original owner has ignored the service intervals and has regularly ridden in poor conditions which can cause the damage seen in your photos

I have run a number of Fox 32 and 36 forks, followed the “lowers” service intervals (with a pinch of salt…20 hours? more like 8-12 weeks) and never had any issues with premature stanchion wear

I have seen numerous fox forks come through my workshop which have had little to no maintainance and most have had issues with stanchion wear because the fork is dry and contaminated with mud / sand…

have also seen this problem with Rockshox forks (pike, lyric, totem, etc.)

nothing wrong with Fox forks as far am I am concerned, but they do require regular work to keep them sweet?

“fork juice” (silicon spray) or Finish Line Dry Lube are well worth using on the fork seals after cleaning to keep the fork feeling slippery and to prevent a build-up of contaminants on the inside lip of the wiper seal

Evans can certainly claim the cost of workshop time for your warranty work, from Specialized UK

if you get any more problems, speak to Evans customer services and explain your pain, they will sort it out 100% as far as you are concerned!

from someone that works for them, as a workshop manager ;)

i have done the wiper seal service a few times but only while the legs are still attached. other than more friction the structure is sound.

so you have never done the Fox Factory recommended “lowers service” which takes only 10-15 minutes with practise?

there is a reason that Fox (and most competent suspension tuners or suspension-trained mechanics) recommend the complete “lowers service”

doing the ‘wiper seal service’ is a quick-fix, but causes problems with premature stanchion wear in the long-term ;)