Heres my take on the same theme. 2x Tesco rear ends threaded on my lathe to fit front ends, switch internals removed & buttons epoxy glued in place ( makes wiring far easier), 4xAA holder from Maplins ( rewired to give 2.4v )useing Vapextech 2900 AA’s,battery sheath from innertube,remote switch useing one of the original switches in an old remote electric horn button bar mount, torch bar mount £2 from CRC flood sale. Can’t realy justify the time spent bulding it, but it’s far more satisfying than watching some of the cr4p on TV every eve.

motorbike= Gas Gas 250 Pro !

Can anyone turn up ? and if so where do you meet, and how long do you ride. Cheers.

A couple of beers, then maybe a glass or two of red. My wife says I drink too much. I keep telling her “I only drink to keep you looking good! ”

Me too, went from drilled Hope rotors to undrilled wavey ones. Not as grabby as the Hope ones, but not as much stopping power either. Now gone back to drilled Hope ones for the winter, better wet weather performanc.

Based on above comments, I have just ordered both, can’t wait.

Nescafe Alta Rica does it for me

Got them on my Hustler for more than 12 months. They have had 14 stone of lard to cope with on a regular basis with no problems whatsoever, I even landed hard enough one day to snap my seatpost and puncture my tubeless rear tyre, but the rim is still unmarked and true. Add to that, the outstanding reliability of the Hope hubs, for the money nothing comes close.

Vapextech, 2900 mah, £5 for 4, Very impressed.

Had my Machine Mart one for 15+ years, still running strong. Although I have had to repair the motor mount plate 3 times due to vibration cusing the mounting lugs to shear off.

On the subject of inflating tubless tyres, even with a compressor it does’nt always blow up first time. I find if I have a tyre that just wont inflate due to losing too much air around the bead, I remove the valve and then blow it up, the extra volume of air this lets in quickly, always works, popping the beads into place, I quickly replace the vavle and blow said tyre back up. Has’nt failed yet !

singletrackmind:- after stripping 5 HT2 BB’s over the last 6 months (not mine), all had failed on the none drive side bearing. All due to the ingres of water, which quickly rusts the bearing track and balls overnight. Then when next used, if it does turn, it will be grinding its way round with rusty pitted balls and bearing surface.

My guess is that the radius on the back of the crank arm helps to channel the water directly into the seal area of the bearing. The drive side however, gets a lot more protection from the spinning sprockets, which will help deflect any muck and water away from said bearing.

gunthunter:- I did it myself. Got the idea from when I had my 5spot, and just happen to have kept the grease gun after selling it. The grease ports are from some old spherical bearings. To get the grease ports where I wanted them, I had to mark the BB cups when they were in the frame, so as they would return to the same spot when refitted. Not expensive, but a bit fiddly.

as itchy said, a bit muddy, nothing deap. It can get a bit sketchy if its freezing though. It still puts a smile on my face.

atlaz, I make it nearer to 195mm, due to a radius machined into the top of the tube. Build quality seems nice. I hope to modify to remote operation at some time in the near future.

My Zerk grease ported HT II BB has been been used twice a week on average all through the winter, and still smooooooth. It was already a well used (9 months old) one before the Zerk conversion.

As for the length, you don’t count the head of the bolt, just the threaded or partially threaded/straight bit depending how long the bolt is. I hope I made that clear enough.

My 1999 Audi A6 tdi Avant 2.5 has been fantastic for bike and other hauling. The rear load cover has a built-in folding dog net (although I don’t use it, because I dont have a dog)I’ve had over 50 cars, any of which I have only ever kept for 6-18 months. The A6 is still here after over 3 years. Better build quality than any of the 7 BMW’s or 2 Saabs I’ve had. Decent ecconomy, 36-38 knocking about, 42-44 motorway. Maybe selling soon, but only if I can find a newer one to replace it

Always get the best bed or shoes you can afford. You spend most of your life in either.

Quite a few Sammy Miller bits, but I built it myself. Trick 35mm (Montesa)forks, steeper steering head angle, wide rear hub and swingarm etc. etc.
Enjoyed building it, but never rode it.

Sold this last year. Now rebuilding another.

Keep it comming, I hav’nt bought one yet. Any options will be looked into.

Faster now at 48 than I was at 38 ! but then I only started mtbiking at 45. Oh how I wish I could turn back time.

Cheers guys, I will do a bit more research before spashing out.

Also, your rebound damping will be slower on a realy cold day, partly from the lower air pressure, and parly from the higher viscocity of the shock oil in the extreme cold. I back my rebound off a couple of clicks if temps very low.

Got Pushed Pikes on my Hustler, spot-on. The Push internals allow a greater oil flow, which helps the faster and rougher you ride, where the std. Pike damping could’nt flow enough oil quick enough to cope with the higher speed bumps, hence packing down and feeling harsh. Well worth it.

It may be worth considering selling your std. Pikes and buying a set of new ones alreadey Pushed. I bought a new Pushed RP23 for £330 from TFT, when a std. one was £300

‘On any Sunday’ Documentry/film by Bruce Brown, staring Steve McQueen, Malcolm Smith and Mert Lawill, a true classic.

My SX Trail may not be the lightest bike here, but at 31.2 lbs I’m prttey chuffed with it.

Their held in with a fine stainless type of circlip (a bit like a thin piston ring), plain with no hole for pliers. Best to use a small blade or jewellers screwdriver to gently prize one end out, then folow it round till its out.

Heres my two, The hustler has Pushed Pike & RP23 and rides a dream.
The SX Trail, I have just finnished building into my version of reasonably light “All Mountain” bike 31.2 lbs )yet to try it out.

scienceoffice- when I had my 5spot (late 05 Horstlink) I thought it was brilliant, then I read a 4 bike test ( MBR Feb 07 I think)on the Orange 5, Cove Hustler, Ellsworth Epiphany & Turner 5spot. The Ellsworth & Turner got 8/10, the Orange and Cove got 10/10. Soon after I had the chance to test ride a Hustler at my local Llandegla trail. The main things that I noticed a first were the planted confidence inspiring fron end, and the plusher backend. After that I picked-up a seconhand frame a started throwing money at it. I will be putting a pic of it in the full sus thread on this forum in the next hour or so.

I buy them all, MBR, Singletrack, What mtb, MBUK & last but not least my favourite by far DIRT

I’ve been running 2.25 Racing Ralphs for over 6 months with no probs. Did my own version of ghetto/stans strips. I used the 20 BMX tubes (less than £4 from Asda for 2) but I cut them neatly to fit inside the rims as per stans. I did’nt like the look of a ridge of tube sticking out either side of my wheel. I ran a thin smear of silicon sealer around each edge of the rimm before fitting the strip.

CheekyMonkey, being 14 stone I had to set DHX air pressure at about 230 psi (more than the recommended max) to get the correct sag, and then I had to run at full rebound, mainly to compensate for the high air pres. Whatever I did to damping or air pres., the shock neber felt in full control. With the RP23 I only ran 170-175 psi.

P.S.
If you realy want to improve things, sell the 5spot and get a Cove Hustler. I did and hav’nt stop smiling since ( I still loved the 5 spot )

I tried a DHX.5 air on my 5spot, a load of carp. Bought a brand new Pushed RP23 from TF Tuned (only £30 more than a std. RP23 if bought new). The Pushed RP23 is far better and far simpler to setup than the DHX air. Reliability has been faultless too.

Just finnished building this SX Trail, weighs in at 31.2 lbs without pedals.

Just got a Fat Face long sleeve merino base layer from Cheshire Oaks outlet reduced from £40 to £12, looks and feels just like my Howies. Bargain.

Used many times. Great deals and service.

Get mine from Asda, about £3.60 each (Schraeder)