At 6’4″ I thought 29ers would suit me but when I demoed a SC Tallboy I was completely underwhelmed. I noticed all of the disadvantages and none of the advantages with a 29er.

That surprised me from such a highly rated, high-end machine. There may be better 29ers out there but I can’t be bothered with them now. My four 26ers suit all my purposes.

The MyProtein electrolyte powder does not dissolve in water however (even after a long time) so it is a bit annoying. If you use it you have to remember to shake your drinks bottle before taking a swig.

If you are using a hydration pack however you will get a very concentrated solution early on and then nothing later. I stopped buying it for that reason. I find common or garden sea salt does just as well and it does dissolve in your drink.

The other alternative is to use unflavoured Zero tablets if you have your own flavouring or flavoured ones if you don’t.

Here are may experiences with Airborne/Van Nicholas. The saga is for a road frame admittedly but does give some insight into their warranty policy and customer backup.

I purchased a 62cm Airborne Zeppelin in July 2002 and right away knew I’d made the right choice as this was the most comfortable and best handling bike I’d ever owned. I put a lot of miles into this bike as I loved it so much. By early 2007 I noticed a creaking noise coming from the bike and after much investigation found that the source was a crack in the seat tube starting from the bottom bracket weld area. I was understandably upset especially now as Airborne had ceased to exist, the business now being taken over by Van Nicholas in the Netherlands, who were previously the distributor for Airborne in Europe.

On going onto their website I noticed that they had stated that they were honouring Airborne warranties up to five years and so I contacted them immediately as my bike was just coming up to that mark. To their credit they replaced my Zeppelin with an almost identical one that they had now renamed the Zephyr.

Less than a year later the new Zephyr had succumbed to the same fate and contacting Van Nicholas once more they agreed to replace the frame under warranty but suggested that I would maybe benefit from changing to using the Chinook frame which to all intents and purposes was a stiffer frame which should withstand the stresses better. I agreed but by March 2011 discovered that the Chinook has now gone the same way as the previous two frames. Contacting Van Nicholas again they agreed to honour the lifetime guarantee for the original owner and duly shipped a new Chinook frame in April this year.

In one way I am disappointed in what is on the face of it a well constructed and finished frame, should fail on such a regular basis. In talking to the guys at VN, they assure me that although my failure is the same every time, they have a very low failure rate with their frames. On the other hand I can only praise them for their customer support and look forward to getting a new frame every few years or so!

At the end of the day they do offer a lifetime warranty and in my experience at least, do honour it without quibble. How many companies could you say that about?

The Bull’s Head, no question. All the grubs great but treat yourself to the cod and chips, you won’t regret it, especially if you are hungry. They do a selection of real ales as well.

People who ride with their saddles too low because they think they have to be able to get their feet flat on the floor whilst still sitting in the saddle.

I can hear their knees creaking at the top of every pedal stroke! 😯

I use mine for mid-week training blasts round my local country park which is not too gnarly.

Great winter bikes when the rides are shorter, the miles are muddier and the maintenance is more.

Well, that’s what I use mine for.

Same for me also both on and off road. By the way I don’t think of myself as anything special riding SS, it’s just another bike that you have to pedal.

Thorndon Country Park just South of Brentwood has a good official loop with mostly gravel trails which is great when it’s wet. It also has several cheeky unofficial trails and bits of singletrack if you know where to look!

There are also several cheeky trails just outside the park as well that you can link up with.

The Park can be busy at weekends though especially when the weather is good. Loads of walkers with dogs mostly close to the Visitor’s Centre.

+1 for Epping as well but can be a mudfest after rain.

Cheers guys, very helpful. 😀

I am thinking of doing this conversion as well but one query I have if anyone knows – do you need a different front shifter i.e. 2-speed?

If not, is it just a case of adjusting the front mech so that it can’t shift the chain over towards the bash if you push the lever too far?

are Turners not a lifetime and transferable?

2 years transferable

+1 for the rear QR as well! Didn’t matter how tight I did it up including lubing it, it still creaked. Changed it for a Shimano Deore one I think and now totally silent. Go figure? 😀

I bought a Raptor 10 in M/L on the Snow & Rock offer and it is really nice and fits me well at 6′ 4″. Looking at the pictures of the 14 I don’t think it would be that much bigger and does have the compression straps as CaptainFlashheart says.

Snow & Rock have the Osprey Viper 10 and Viper 14 heavily discounted at £44.99 and £50.99 respectively.

http://outlet.snowandrock.com/hydration-packs/run/fcp-category/list?resetFilters=true

I ordered the Raptor 10 myself.

Both pretty mush the same but High5 Zero are cheaper. I use them for post cycle event rehydration or for non-endurance events like walking.

115 psi in the rear don’t sound right either. I suggest you read the Fox manual (on disk) which should have come with the bike and learn to set up the front and rear suspension yourself rather than rely on someone in a shop every time. You’ll need a decent shock pump as well.

I’m just under 14 stone and run my 5 at 90 psi front, 200 psi rear. Don’t forget to allow for your riding gear in the weight calcs as well.

Canyon look like fantastic value for money and seem to be doing well in all the mag tests at the moment. That top tube just looks so wrong to me though.

The pain could be down to a lot of reasons one of which could be the onset of arthritis. Best to get it checked out by a doctor first to see if it really is arthritis because by taking any sort of supplement you could be treating for the wrong condition.

I had a motorcycle accident twenty or so years ago which smashed my left ankle. The medical advice then was that arthritis could start to set in rather earlier because of the damage I had sustained. On and off I started to occasionally suffer aches and then my daughter who is a physiotherapist suggested using Glucosamine and Chondroitin which is supposed to be able to reverse the problems associated with arthritis.

I did some research on the internet and decided that a dosage of 500mg/400mg would be a good starting point and not too expensive. I have been taking one of these tablets every day for the past several years and can honestly say I haven’t had a single ache in my ankle since. Glucosamine and Chondroitin should be taken together because they complement each other for some reason. You will also find all sorts of different dosage sizes and recommendations about what daily dosage to take but I found the 500mg/400mg tablets to be sufficient for my condition.

Hope that helps.

5kg of maltodextrin is only £12.49 from MyProtein and even with £3.95 postage that is cheap. You won’t pay any postage at the moment if the order value is over £50.

http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/maltodextrin#

I usually club together with my mates when I put in an order to avoid the postage.

Should have said, if you have no stomach problems with 4% you can add more of the ingredients untill you do, those ammounts I gave are just what works for me, I found 6% gave me cramps.

Good advice thisisnotaspoon and obviously you need to watch other things you eat when considering the percentage of carbohydrate to fluid to prevent stomach cramps. I don’t seem to suffer from this and am probably consuming around 10% on rides including solids.

+1 on MyProtein maltodextrin. Definitely the cheapest way to go especially if you use a lot (like I do). The simplest energy mixture is 15-20g per 250ml of water (6-8% recommended carb concentration), with a pinch of salt and some fruit squash to your own taste.

Fructose and whey protein are used in some commercial energy drinks like High 5 but they don’t make any appreciable difference unless you are entering endurance events over several hours.

I use the whey protein before and after a long ride for recovery because it makes the drink too creamy for on the ride.

What professional sport isn’t becoming boring and repetitive now?

SPDs are much more efficient than flats although you have to get used to clipping your feet in and out (especially out) to be safe. You will find that the shoes will have a stiffer sole than trainers and combined with the ability to pull up on the pedal stroke, they make riding more pleasurable and faster.

Although some may contradict me I would imagine the majority of riders, once they go over to SPD probably wouldn’t go back. That probably applies more on the road than off however as many MTBers prefer the ability to bale out quickly with flats.

I would suggest starting with SPDs for the road first and then see if you would like it off-road as well.

Weekend, Tuesday and Thursday.

Never had nor heard of knee issues from spinning.

I’m not just talking about pedalling fast, I mean the sort of spinning where one gets a bit carried away and you almost get a whiplash sort of effect in the knee joint at the bottom of the pedal stroke as the lower leg pushes the thigh back up faster than the leg can handle.

I’m fully prepared to accept that everyone is different both in riding styles and physiology so different pedalling techniques may suit one person over another. I also agree with those who warn against staying seated and pushing large gears up hills whether single speeding or not. This may also affect certain people.

It doesn’t seem to affect me riding geared or single speed but I do that very rarely, preferring to climb out of the saddle when single speeding or selecting a bigger cog when riding gears.

I have been single speeding for years both on and off road. The only time I get sore knees is when I spin too fast on the flat or downhill, never when grinding up steep hills. I think it’s a function of the very fast ‘bounce’ in the knee joints when spinning too fast.

Stick with the single speeding but try not to ride too fast on the flat or downhill for the gearing you have and see if that makes a difference to your knee ache after the ride. You might find you will actually benefit from using a bigger rather than smaller gear.

You should find you need to climb out of the saddle on steeper climbs which I actually prefer for fitness training anyway.

On-One stainless steel, £25

fair play, will be trying both but thought I would ask to see if anyone had experience with similar?

I have an On-One Inbred with Rockshox Reba SL forks and an Orange 5 Pro. I use the Inbred for easier terrain round my local country parks where I do the majority of my weekly training rides and the Orange for the Peaks, Surrey Hills, trail centres, etc.

Funnily enough I was on the Inbred in the Surrey Hills yesterday because I was letting a friend demo the Orange. He enjoyed the whole day but I was pretty beaten up by the end of it and wishing I was on the Orange.

Booked two caravans at Cae Gwyn. Thanks guys!

I agree with the OP, 23 pages wasted on kids stuff sucks.

Mons Huygens on the Moon with a total drop of 5500 metres is hard to beat, but the place lacks atmosphere…

@wwaswas

I’ll be on a white Orange 5 which looks like all the hundreds of other white Orange 5s! 😀

I’ll look out for you though and say Hi! if I see you.

Wiggle South Downs Epic on Sunday

I have walked in that area a few times and skied once but never ridden. The ski area is where most of the MTB tracks are I understand with a cable car up to the ski area from the town. There is a narrow road and some tracks that you could probably ride back down to the town from the ski area.

The best I can do to describe the ski area is that I could probably easily ski every run in one day. Hopefully that might give you an idea of the size of the area although I’m not certain about how extensive the trails might be around the rest of the area but my guess would be limited.

Very nice town and area though. Hope that helps.

@Forza: your skill with polishing is clearly amazing… did your wrist hurt or are you used to it? Looks lush…

It took me roughly 2 hours for each crank. I broke that up into roughly 30 minute sessions over a couple of days to relieve the boredom. Fortunately I don’t suffer with limp wrists 😉

I would echo what some have already advised in terms of not experimenting with energy foods on a long ride. There are a wide range of products available and whether any suit you at all is very much a question of personal taste.

I would say if you want something with a bit of taste in your hydration pack then use your favourite squash, but not too strong and a pinch of salt for every 500ml is as good as most electrolyte drinks and much cheaper.

If you are riding anywhere near civilisation then buy rolls or sandwiches if you can en route because sweet energy products can get very sickly over a long ride and your palate will hanker for something savoury.

Boots make a nice orange flavoured energy bar which is chocolate covered but that depends again on your taste. I tend to carry one or two of these on long rides in case of emergency ‘bonk’.

This is what I achieved with some Middleburn cranks that I bought on here:

Stripped off the finish with some 380 grade wet & dry, the moved to 1500 grade, then Solvol Autosol and finally car polish. Too bling to put on my Genesis iO single speeder now! 😀

As I said before I have used all sorts of combinations of ramped chainrings, cogs from split cassettes, worn old chains of no name, 8-speed, 9-speed and 1/8″ chains and haven’t really experienced any problems apart from a bit of drive train noise sometimes.

I have used an FSA chainring quite successfully in the past as well.

My preferred chains now are Wippermann Connex 8-speed because they have a brilliant design quick-link which is so easy to get apart.

My only other suggestion is to try another chainring, even a shonky ramped one from a geared set of cranks and see how you get on and maybe another chain.

Not boasting here but I have never had a chain come off in several years of single speeding. That includes some less-than-ideal setups in the early days using ramped chainrings and knackered old chains.

There must be something fundamentally wrong with your setup but apart from the fact that you don’t mention that you have checked the chainline, it all seems on the face of it okay to me.

Even using a ramped chainring I can’t see how the chain would come off unless it was a) very slack or b) out of line.

The only other thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the possibility of the wheel pulling over to the drive side under load. You say you are using slot dropouts. Are you using QR hubs and do you have a chaintug fitted on the drive side? What is the frame that you are using?

I’ve tried all sorts of creams over the last 20 years or so of riding both on and off road. I’ve been using Savlon for the last 3 or 4 years and it is definitely the simplest and best solution (and probably the cheapest).

I hope the worst of the rain held off for them although the radar picture is still showing heavy showers drifting across that area this evening.

Tomorrow should be better but I would imagine the course will be pretty cut up by then.