I haven’t ridden for over 2 weeks, before that I was doing 5-700 miles a month but my body sucks with heat.

I tried to go for a ride 2 weekends ago but when I woke up I couldn’t get out of bed and the covers were hurting my hand, I then woke up fully and realised I was lying in a bush and my bed covers were in fact nettles hence my painful hand, I had passed out at the top of a climb only three miles in despite drinking loads of water (I don’t normally drink anything on rides under 30 miles)!

I used to pass out all the time at school in the heat, so much the teachers used to stand people behind me to catch me during hot weather as they were fed up with me smacking my head on the way down.

I have spent all the hot weather in doors with a muggy head moaning about the oppressive pressure and heat, I love being at work in a chilly air cooled office

This weather sucks :evil:

Not quite sure why people are posting all these super bling lightweight hubs like Tune and DT 190 if reliability is the primary requirement. For ultimate longevity with no concern as to cost I would go with Phil Wood. I have some which are heading on for 10 years old and I’ve not had to touch them once. In that time I’ve been through countless sets of Hope bearings, a couple of DT freehubs, and a fully exploded Tune freehub (which they replaced no quibbles I have to say). XTR would also be a very good option but I believe they are centrelock only, which would put me off a little, purely for reasons of disc interchangeability with everything else I’ve got, nothing wrong with centrelock in itself.

Mine has a ti freehub being the SS version so no issues there, I also believe they changed the ali freehub on the other Tunehubs to a different design.

You will get stories of failures on all hubs as people are more likely to grip than comment about no issues

Had kings and wasn’t impressed at all, nothing wrong with them other than being boat anchors, just not really special enough for the price

IS £413 pricey enough?

Got one a few weeks ago

Ti Tune SS Hub, weight weenie tastic 8)

It is hard to say as I have been riding light SS bikes for the last 5 years ish, my 26er Scandal was 15.7 lbs so embarrassingly my current 19lb Niner feels a bit heavy :lol:

I am only 10.5 stone with about 10-11% body fat so not much on me to lose so losing 7 lbs on my bike is actually a reasonable percent of my body weight.

I have also only just got back into bikes as have been riding mountain unicycles for the last year big old 36″ ti one for XV and 24″ for trials so my mind is a bit skewed as to what things should feel like.

Light wheels are great though you really notice those, they spin up effortlessly.

Hopefully by the end of the week I will have shed another 2.5 lbs off with the fork swap so will need to post more pics :)

Some more pics of spangly bits, the Tune 15mm QR was another stupid expensive purchase but crazy light

Have found some red R1 brakes to replace teh RXs but with hardly any weight saving it is a bit pricey

feisty – what size is that Air 9?

It is a medium 17″, my Scandal is an 18″ and other than the chain stays being 17mm shorter on the A9C they are the same Geo, the AC9 just has a curved top tube so a shorter seat tube length so needs a 400mm post. I am only 5’8-9″ but have a shorter body so run a 60mm stem and find the fit fantastic

I am happy to be a shortish as I think the small/medium frames look far more balanced, the larger A9C frames look a bit off to me as the top tube/seat stay curve is to pronounced and on the small / frame it is too straight

lol I really did um and ah, I got the frame for £1650 so about £100 cheaper than rrp (it still gave me a few sleepless nights), Charliethebikemonger was very tolerant of my faffing about, although I think he learnt that I eventually just buy the ting I know I want as when I emailed him about the availability of the RDO fork I got an email back saying he could have one out to me this week and provisionally ordered me one and sent me a paypal payment request, that stopped me faffing about :lol:

The wheels hit me for about £820 from starbikes but really transformed the ride over the Heavy Hope Stan 355s ones, the forks at £485 represent the biggest £ to lb weight saving but far from cheep

This is the closest I have come to totalling up the build cost think I will stop now 8O

Here is my second “spare” bike that I have now rebuilt out of all the parts, a fatty at 23.5 lbs :lol: spot the same parts (fork is actually a later 2012 tapered one on my A9C, in fact only the brakes, pedals and chain are the same lol)

I use the MT Zoom bars, I have the 85 gram narrower ones but they do a wider 640/660 one around 100g depending on clamp size

Linky

They have got good reviews and are more than up to XC riding

Once a tyre is blown off the rim they rarely fit again as they have stretched the bead.

Would you want to risk it pealing off the rim doing 30mph down a hill? Didn’t think so, junk it and get another and put it down to experience as your safety is worth more than £40. :-)

Thanks again, I accidental built her due to an irritating creak in my On One Scandal 29er v2 frame, end up replacing the whole bike bit by bit, now I have two bikes lol

I run 32:18, the same as my 26″ ss was hard going at first but after a few weeks I fly up the hills now and have gained 2-3 mph on my average speed over hilly terrain and do 12-13 mph avg and on flatter rides I do 14.5-15 mph avg (I did 14.5 avg on a century ride last month that I was pleased with)

hmm I think I need to take some “whoring” shots with a nicer back ground than a pile of crap and some washing :lol:

Cheers

Fantastically, the light 1410g wheels pick up instantly and the short chain stay makes her climb brilliantly and adds a touch of 26er liveliness back into the big wheels.

Frickin pricey though, I am still recovering from the shock of the frame, the wheel and new fork cost has yet to even register lol

Niner Air 9 Carbon SS

Tune/Crest/DT wheels
Reba RLTs with Xloc upgrade
Sram carbon cranks, Spiderless ring
KCNC, Tune bits and bobs

19lbs dead

Have a Niner RDO fork coming that is going to drop me about 2.4-5 lbs on the forks/remote so will be down to 16.5lbs ish :lol:

If it wasn’t for teh flint shredding my tyres here I could go to non Snake Skin tyres and get into the hight 15 lb range boooo

My cannodale one does both valve types without changing anything and seats tubeless tyres up with ease, why I waited almost 20 years to get a track pump I will never know.

Best tool I have ever bought

Crests are tight by design and fantastic for running tubless as they hold air virtually without sealant (on Schwalbe they do anyway).

As has been said seems a bit bizarre moaning about puncturing a tube on a rim designed to be run tubless.

Convert man you won’t regret it :) If you must as has been said it is critical to set the bead of the tyre in the rim well carefully and all the way around as you roll the tyre on, I can get mine on by hand with some strong thumbs doing this but levers are a must to get them off

Anyone who thinks it is fine to play the drums at home has no right to complain about noise as it is the most antisocial selfish thing to do, most drummers would agree with that and play at studios etc, modern electric drum kits are more than good enough to practice with using headphones as it is practice after all not belting out to a crowd! (can you tell I live near one lol)

Also being a parent crying kids are a fact of life get over it (I make sure my kids are as quiet as possible and are in bed from 7pm so no trouble at all.

But taking your side for a minute parties, barbecues, smoking/drug taking around kids makes them A class ****s who I would be on to the social about (had that once where the mother use to abuse her kid as well, after lots of work with the police and social got the kid taken away and her evicted).

So as has been said already I am glad I don’t live next to either of you lol

I don’t get how people can’t think of others, I have my TV quiet in the evenings, given up listening to music as I don’t want to inflict that on people, when I used to work on my Landy with power tools I would go to all the neighbours and tell them when I was doing it to make sure it was okay and to apologise in advance, hell I won’t even wash my bike in the garden until 10 am or so.

If everyone was considerate and thought of others the world would be such a nicer place

No peel them off than use the NVR to wipe off the sticky residue :lol:

Saw a kid’s bike in the shop at Llandegla with a belt drive. Seems like an ideal application.

Easyrider belter, I have one for my daughter and it is top notch and nice and light, they do a call balance bike as well with carbon bars lol

Most of these things are just personnel preference and not game changers

Dropper posts (used by the minority), OS bars, heavier and in some situations inferior, numebr of gears, travel lengths blah blah blah are just evolutionary changes

Real game changers

Tubeless, lighter, lower pressures, more grip no more flats what’s not to like

Wheel size, whatever your preference there is now a choice which is only a good thing

Disc brakes, rim brakes sucked in the wet and mud

Suspension, Not a fan myself these days but has transformed the types of riding you can do so great to have a choice

I love this bike more than any I have ever owned.

Just fitted some 1410g Crest/tune/DT wheels to it lighter rotors and slightly lighter tyres and lost almost 2 lbs from my heavy hope wheels and 2 piece rotor set up.

Loving the XO cranks and AbsoluteBlack 32t spiderless chainring as well

Currently 19lb dead and with non snakeskin tyres (needed around here) and the rigid carbon niner fork it would be high 16s!

My short evening ride is 20 miles, my medium weekend rides are 40-50 miles ( I don’t generally take water or food on these ones) and my long rides are 60-100 miles. Strangely my average speed doesn’t change at all with the increase in distance.

I do about 150-200 miles a week at the moment

All off road and on a single speed 29er :)

put 4 straight zip ties through the grip at 90 degree points around the center of the grip then slide twist the grip on with the cable ties acting as a smooth bearing surface to aid pushing them on, then use some pliers grab the end nob of the cable tie and while holding the grip in place pull them out one by one.

Works for all grips and needs no evaporating lube etc

If you do a calculation with 12mm then you need a 1mm shorter spoke to use 14mm and 2mm shorter spokes to use 16mm. Sometimes it is hard to get the correct spoke length due to most places carrying only odd or evens so using longer nipples allows you to make up the difference.

Use the DT spoke calculator and play with the nipple sizes and you will see how it changes.

Spoke length is pretty important as it is very frustrating to run out of thread or worse not have deep enough engagement of the spoke in the nipple and start having them pull out of break

Never had an ali nipple break in 20 years of riding but they do round more easily so maybe not a good idea to use on your first few wheels (with a little lube on the nipple rim hole and some anti-seize on the threads I have never had an issue with stripping or spokes loosening)

Worthing!!!!!

Nooooooooo, chav scum around here are getting worse :cry:

ASDA may be £3 more for delivery but my main monthly shop is about £50 cheaper doing it online with them (use money supermarket.com as it compares them all as you go and has a nicer interface than most of the supermarkets own sites)

Weeee 1st 8)

Now that was a tough month!

Sandwich kept dragging me along pushing to keep up with him the entire month, every time I got clear of him he would sneak lots of weekday riding in so I had to up my game during the week :lol:

Managed my first century ride in a respectable 6hr 56 min with no issues (was quite easy to be honest) and did 190 miles in the final week phew.

If real life hadn’t gotten in the way (weather and sick family members) I would have broken 800 miles

13.52 mph avg
708 miles
52hr 24min 42s total duration
28,439ft climbed
31,532 kcal burned

All on one gear :)

Pretty chuffed with that although 1,230 miles in two month has trashed a new Schwalbe NN tyre and my rear ali sprocket, I have a 0.5 mile 17%+ concrete farm track that I ride up to get to my main trail head that you can hear the tyre wearing away on as you slog up it. :lol:

Overall I feel great my legs feel fine and strong although I am struggling to eat enough to deal with the amount of energy I am burning.

I am sure you will be fine, I went from riding 100 miles a month then after 4 weeks of ramping my riding up I did my first 100 miler a few weekends ago, offroad (flat ish) on my single speed 29er in 6hr56min with one 10 minute stop at 50 miles for an energy bar and that was it. Was pretty easy but then my legs seem to like distance riding.

As has been said check your bike thoroughly, take tools and a means to get the train back etc (no one wants to be stranded miles from home)

The stem is the same ass the On-One CNC stem and I have had 2 of them and they are great, good looking, light and very good value for money!

I ride 32:18 on my 29er and don’t ever stop on <= 50 mile rides over that just a 5 min break for a snack bar, thunder up hills cruise at 16 mph on the flat at high cadence and average 14-15mph avg on flat rides (14.4 on my last 100 mile ride 6h56min) and do 12.5 average on hilly rides and never get out of breath even after 2-3 miles of uphill slogging standing up at 9 mph

how manly am I :lol:

Maybe time for 32:16

Sorry thought this was a bragging thread :wink: In all seriousness my legs have come along fantastically over the last 2 months and all I did was ride mega miles for the STW monthly mileage challenges (525 miles last month and hopefully 700 miles this month), hardly any days off, just rode flatter rides on days my legs were tired then hilly ones on the rest of the days.

Just ride hard, have fun and it will all come naturally

yup not had any issue, my only slight moan is that their red is not very red but other than that they have some good sizes for semi integrated ones that are hard to find anywhere else (and at a good price)

Camelbak man, aside from your issue they are more efficient fr drinking little and often, and for everyday use why do you even in need to take a drink? If I ride for less than 40 – 30 miles I don’t bother, and even if you must take a drink on short rides popping a camelbak on is hardly a biggy.

Oh and bottles on bikes just look so pants :lol:

Up to 60 miles in a session I am fine but 100 miles wears the skin off ma bum and that stuff helps

Do some training and do it in a day? :lol:

Previous thread

Much faster on my 29er with 32:18 gear set up than when I had gears 5 years ago

On a flat xc ride I average around 14.5 mph (14.4 mph avg on my first 100 mile ride at the weekend), on a hilly ride I will do about 11.5 to 12.5 mph average (over 30-40 miles. Up hills I try and hold 9 mph and can stand and slog hard for 2-3 miles up hill no probs.

I never get passed by anyone on a ride and I also have lost all riding buddies :(

I love the simplicity of a single speed and the silence , gears seem to just be an excuse to go slower, my fitness is so much better these days, I am doing 150+ miles and don’t really feel it all

Thinking maybe I should start racing?

I lived next to a flat that was let to people on benefits and it was a stream of chav scum, beaten abused kids, loud music, trashed flat, threats of violence, drugs, police.

Oh and remember the government in their infinite wisdom is moving to giving rent to the tenant to then pay the landlord to help make them more responsible!!! Now that isn’t going to go wrong at all is it.

Oh and being that they will probably be kidded up to the max getting them out will be a massive drawn out affair while you suck up months with no rent.

I would never rent to anyone on benefits, especially with money not being paid directly in the near future.

Their are obviously good tenants on benefits but even those when faced with feeding their kids and paying rent will naturally get into rent arrears.

Get a professional couple / family in with good references

I thought we were going to have a moan about your Mrs being a bit of a Forth Bridger :lol:

You all must have hands dragging on the ground :lol:

*strokes 580mm 85g bars

Maybe it is because I ride SS but I can’t fathom these prices, I have built a Niner Air 9 Carbon for about £4-4.5k which is insane as it is but I realy can’t think what the hell I could spend to go higher without going proper mad on £500 stems etc which these prebuilt 7k+ don’t have either.

What I was irritated about is the crap level groupset lower midrange bikes have, I think spending £500-700 on a bike like my mate did and getting base deore / alivio kit with a token “better” rear mech is taking the piddle, I know this is “as good as” mid range of 5 years ago etc but I can’t help feeling people spending £1k or less are getting jipped.

Apart from cycle to work schemes which are perpetuating poor value for money under 1k as you have to buy rrp not sale prices on most of them any sane person would be last years model for half the price.

they are awesome, 2x schwalbe tyres for the price of 1 in the UK!

I use my galaxy note, with its big battery and the screen off in my camelbak it will do about 7-8 hours using endomondo and it has been very good accuracy wise

sudocream?