Ok thanks. I’ll let you know Onza if I don’t want them. I haven’t heard much bad about Hope brakes and I’m thinking they can only be better than my Juicy 3’s. It’ll probably come down to if they’re working properly or need new parts.

There are some excellent trail centres here but if I lived south of the border and came up here I would certainly prefer to ride the natural trails almost the whole time. Maybe take in a trail centre if I felt the need for it.

How do you measure the Q factor? Apparently my bike has a wide Q factor but I don’t know if this is a bad thing that I need to change or even if the chain stays are narrow enough to allow it. Does it make much difference to MTB handling?

Anyone else got any ideas?

Sounds dodgy to me. It’ll be ‘sea gulling’ next.

😀

Yeah it is quite eroded up there both sides I reckon. I really like the descent down towards Garabhan although I haven’t attempted the steps at the bottom yet. I’ll have to see how they look when I next go there.

Ha ha! Probably my back actually!

I removed the big ring and replaced it with a chainring protector and the chain is always on the biggest ring when I go downhill. I’m pretty sure this used to happen when I had all three rings too.

I use AVG antivirus and Zone Alarm Firewall both of which are free. They have kept my computer safe (touch wood). I was very pleased with the recent AVG upgrade as it seems to do things a lot quicker now with less fuss. I expect there are other good free ones but I’ve prefered the above to ones I’ve paid for. I had McAfee once which was total rubbish and it cost me loads.

Cruise Loch Lomond and Inversnaid Hotel have ferries but not sure if it’ll cut out the unrideable bits. Worth looking into as I know it’s popular with cyclists. Tarbet to Rowardennan is handy if you’re wanting to join up the West Loch Lomond Cycle Route with the WHW.

I’ve not cycled north of Rowardennan yet but the WHW between there and Balmaha is really good. I’d recommend doing Conic Hill too rather than going round it.

I didn’t see any pigs but there were lots of cows and sheep with new lambs. Unfortunately I had to go slow on one of the fast bits because my tyres were covered in cow poo.

OK thanks. I’ve just realised that my cassette is sram already.

Thanks spoon. Sounds like sound advice.

Maybe I should just replace the missing links from my repair job and keep running the same chain then replace the whole lot when the chain totally dies. How long should the drive train last for before it needs replacement?

Thanks. Hopefully it’ll be ok. My LBS said that the drive train didn’t show too much sign of wear but it’s been ridden regularly for 2 years now so dunno.

I’d just been doing a downhill bit and started pedalling when there was a crunch as there often is and the chain snapped.

I removed 2 links using the punch and reconnected the chain and it got me through the rest of the ride fine. Haven’t a clue if I did it right.

OK thanks a lot. I’ll be heading south tomorrow morning but won’t be arriving in Tregaron until Monday night. I’m up for trying any trails but will need something more accessible for my mate to have a go at too. Not sure I’ll be able to check this down there, do you have any grid references? We can always just go exploring. Thanks again.

Sounds like the bushing and/or spacers are worn. Might be a good idea to replace both. I wouldn’t try and push the bushing out unless you have the proper tool for the job.

You could consider replacing the bushing and spacers with an enduro needle bearing as they’re smoother.

OK thanks. I think the play in the jockey wheel is causing the chain to rub against the metal.

Jemima

I saw your post today at work but couldn’t reply at the time. I was amazed to see this on my Trance X as was the bloke at my LBS. On close inspection I realised that the shock doesn’t rotate around the pin. All of the movement is on the same bearing that the bottom linkage rotates on. The pin and shock are firmly clamped together by the 2 spacers when you tighten up the bolt at the end of the pin. A very clever design I think.

I did however have a problem with my top bushing wearing out. I think it was a bad quality bushing used on the own brand Giant shock. I believe there was a lot of friction at this point which probably caused the wear on the shock shaft and resulting death of said shock.

I now have a better shock and have also installed an enduro needle bearing kit in place of the top bush and the ride is so much better. I’ve not tried the teflon coated bushings you get with the Fox shocks but I reckon they’ll be a lot better than the one I had in my Giant shock. Just keep an eye on your bushing for any wear or play in it.

Is this like the ‘guess where the football is’ competition you get in newspapers but instead we have to put a dot where we think you’ll land?

Thanks. I’ve heard the Marin Trail is meant to be good. The Beast with big piles of rocks sounds appealing too!

Stu some of us ignore the instructions and our girlfriends don’t mind.

Anyway in an ideal world it is a little small, but I’m doing the best I can with what I have.

Lol.

Thanks I’ll have another look.

OK thanks. I think I’ll go for 160mm to save on weight. Looks like CRC have the best deal but not sure if the adaptor or pads come with it although I’m pretty sure the rotor doesn’t. I’ll phone them tomorrow.

Apparently flats are better for learning good technique for off road MTB’ing so I’m sticking with them until I’m happy with my technique. Could be a very long time!

Sounds like a good route.

I don’t know OP. Maybe you’ll get used to it. A friend of mine has a really heavy slack bike but he beats me on the climbs because he’s a lot fitter and stronger than I am. My bike weighs about 35lbs I think so his bike must be well heavy!

I find that the High Rollers do roll very well but they’re heavy. One thing I’ve found with full suss is that you don’t want the saddle too far back as that encourages the suspension to sit back more and make things slacker.

This has happened to one of my favourite trails recently. The sad thing is that it didn’t really need doing. The council didn’t give me a reason as to why they did it but they said it wasn’t to make things easier for less able people which is what I thought might be the case. I suspect they may have been under pressure from rambling groups or running groups that use the path.

The mistake they seem to be making in many places now is that they over do it. As long as the drainage is ok the path will stay intact, you don’t have to ruin it’s character by turning it into the M1.

Achey/clicky back and left shoulder which I can make a bit better by going to the gym and excercising on the pull downy stretchy backy abs thingy (lateral pull downs). I should probably go to the doc.

I came across a similar scene of destruction on my last visit to my favourite bit of local singletrack and what an amazing bit of singletrack it used to be. Rocky, rooty and fast but not too technical it was great.

Contractors bought in by the council had bulldozed a track up through the woodland making a huge mess. Much as this was gutting it was the reply I got from the council to my email that was the odd bit.

‘The track you see is to allow the contractors to bring in materials to build the path’

‘the finished path will be 1.2 metres wide and will follow the course of the old path’

It all sounds a bit dodgy to me. I know from experience that it doesn’t take that much carnage to maintain a path. If they’d got some professionals in it would be done properly without the destruction. I think they just hired the cheapest local cowboys to do it.

Yeah it’s nice to have something different as long as it’s fun.

OK. Why left field and not actually functional?

It’s just the way of the modern world. Small shops and businesses struggle to survive in rural communities as everything is cheaper from the supermarket, big chains and online shopping. In turn there’s no jobs for youngsters and young people are increasingly attracted by the city lifestyle.

I was recently chatting to an old friend on facebook. He was from a sleepy East Yorkshire coastal town and moved to increasingly bigger towns until he ended up living in Hull which he loved. He was a passionate northerner. Now he stays in London where he say’s he’s ‘living the dream’ and now say’s he hates Hull. People have different aspirations in the modern world and older people have the money to ‘live the dream’ in the countryside.

I’m about 78kg and use a medium. I found the firm too firm for small bumps and seem to be getting on OK with the standard I fitted recently. According to this chart you should be OK hopefully with the soft.

http://www.sram.com/_media/pdf/service/coil_spring_chart.pdf

Tick bites are unavoidable no matter how well you cover up. There’s always some that will find a way in. Like Druidh I get many in a year but I always find them quick. Often I actually feel them bite or I get an itchyness if they’re already attached. Always check yourself or get someone else to when you get home and put your clothes straight in the wash. I’ve been bitten by ticks in my house before that have just been hanging about on clothing or footwear.

Good luck with the medication nonk. It’s not always easy to get a diagnosis but at least now they know what you’ve got and can hopefully do something about it.

I went from 100mm to 80mm then to 45mm on my Giant Trance X which has made my bike much more responsive and better on downhills without hardly compromising climbing ability. I have adjustable travel forks so I can wind them in to keep the front planted on climbs. I just don’t get on with that stretched out over the bike position and feel I can do a lot more with the bike with a shorter stem.

You might be able to borrow stems off friends to try out and see what suits you and what kind of riding you want to be doing. Downhill stems are generally very short whilst XC ones are longer.

palmer77 – Member
Chasing Rainbows by Shed Seven

Good choice. Top tune.

I’d go for ‘Going Home’ -Theme from Local Hero by Dire Straits.

My favourite Radiohead album has always been ‘The Bends’ and I think like many others I’ve been a little disappointed they haven’t done more stuff like that, but it’s understandable. Do we really want them to turn in to Oasis or U2?

After one listen I really like this album, certainly more than I liked ‘In Rainbows’ when I first listened. There’s something going on in this album which is very different to anything they’ve done before.