only been the once & found it terrible all flat with no where to go .has it improved in 3 years

You must have been looking in the wrong places then.
It's not the hilliest place on earth, but there's miles & miles of good fun singletrack, but loads of people moan when they can't find it. Best way to find them is ride with a local a few times if you can.

I've got some of the Troy Lee ones & they're great unless it's wet, then they're about as grippy on the bars as wet tree roots!
Rest of the time I've got some of Giant's Velocity gloves & been pretty impressed with those, or something lighter I use the Polaris ones, but can't remember what they're called.

Used to sell quite a few of them. Not a bad bike at all compared to what else is out there for the money. Loads better than the Raleigh etc. they were along side without the expense of the Giant or Specialized kids stuff.

Try your lbs, they might have a decent wheel builder, or ask around a local club, someone should know one.
Unless you're in the Nottingham area, then I might know of a man…

Few randoms from me, but not really bike related except for I have ridden in these locations

Have a look here for some ideas
Mountainbikerides

Why not ring your LBS & ask them? Just a though…
Really don't understand why people ask these questions 'how much will a bike shop charge for xyz?'
Why not pick up the phone, or drop in & ask them, they'll probably have a better idea how much they'll charge than a load of people you've never met on an internet forum!

Sorry, just a little pet hate of mine, nothing personal 😉

Where are you from Spock? Happy to give you a lesson on the basics if you're not too far away

how do i know which length of spokes is required?

You'll need some details of hub & rim such as: ERD of the rim, pcd of the hub flanges, hub flange's-centre, number of spokes & how many cross pattern.
Have a look at the wheelpro website, one of the easiest to use.

Probably yes, unless the PCD & flange-centre's are the same on both hubs.
Always advisable to have new spokes in a new build anyway.

This is the 4th Litespeed I know of that's given up on the back end of the frame, three of which were on the chainstays after 3/4 years.
What is the warranty on them?

Who was out Hayfield/Little Hayfield direction & found the horse ride today?
I wasn't riding, but was taking the photo's of the dobbins & even saw Nick Craig out riding!

Distributed by Raleigh, they had some at Mayhem at the weekend, funny looking things that I've heard are nasty to ride, but couldn't possibly comment as haven't tried one myself.

Have a look here, available through most bike shops.Chicken Cycle Kit
Edit-scroll down until you get to the TA rings, 130pcd available in various upto 60T

tacx, but make sure you get the stainless ones, not the cheap ones as they'll sieze up as soon as you even see a puddle.

IF you want it to index & run properly then no, it won't work.
If you're happy for it to be noisy, clunky & not very nice to ride, then yes it'll get you by.

Very common on a lot of Dawes (I ran a shop for eight years) Have to agree with Basspine, the amount of paint in some of them was quite impressive & quality of the bolts used dreadful, so the combination wasn't good unless you chase the threads first.

It should bolt on the outside ok as the bolt pattern is the same for both outer & middle ring, but obviously you'll need single ring chainring bolts if you haven't got them already.
You can't space out on the axle itself. Try the BB you have already & if that's too long/short you'll need another shorter/longer to try in it's place.
Hope that makes sense, if not, feel free to ask.

Is it a SS specific rear hub, or a normal 9speed version? If it's not an SS one, you can obvisouly move the sprocket around to adjust. If it is an SS hub, you'll need to adjust on either BB axle and/or change where the chainring is bolted onto the crank, either inside or outside the spider.

You can do, but what hub are you running? assuming you're running it SS? As you can always space out the sprocket to suit on the hub instead.

There's miles & miles of little singletrack all over the place-the Kitchener trail uses a very small amount of what's been there for years & more keeps appearing (Now & again) care of the trail pixies… 😉

Any of No 29? Solo, so would have an orange dot as well.
Don't worry if you haven't got time as looks like you've got a lot on now!

I just ran lots more than usual, as had the riding fitness already. Which one are you aiming at?
Started off running 2-3 times a week in the evenings, building upto around 6 miles at a decent pace.
For a later one (Coed y Brenin) I did saome more hill interval work as it was a hillier course than some.

I've got black Pro 2's on white DT 4.2's with black spokes & IMHO it looks brilliant, does depend on the bike though. No photo's yet, but should have some from Mayhem soon.

I use a Snap On set after I got fed up of Park ones wearing out once a year.
Nicer shape too. Have tried the Ice Toolz which are pretty good for the money, just feel a bit more springy.

i always keep my bike indoors i dont trust any shed

Sadly I'm the same, MTB's in the Kitchen & Road bike in my spare room.
Gutted for you though Mike, happened to a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago, seems to be loads being stolen at the moment.

Such a personal preference thing as well, I rode on a pair of Nevegals after they were recommended by a few people & hated them-thought they were one of the worst tyres ever made.

No such thing IMO, used to run Conti Vert Pro's year round until I realised how much of a difference changing tyres can make.

I saw what was left of a pair of glasses on the middle of a piece of singletrack, but couldn't tell you which bit. Thought about stopping, but there were no lenses & frames had been ridden over more than once, may or may not have been those.

Could be, but ideally want two hubs the same as it's for a ghetto 29er conversion on a Surly Pugsley I'm doing for a friend.

Pull like **** & they'll come off (usually)

grr. says i only did 9 lap for solo but 100% positive i did 10! meh!

Happened to two friends of mine this year & to me last year. I think it's something to do with riding over the timing mat if you were going out on another lap, hoped it wouldn't wouldn't be like that this year, but it was. Doesn't seem to always pick up the chip when you're still on the bike

Why would you want to? Why not just turn up thursday evening & pitch your tent then?
We're going down friday lunch time & there won't be any shortage of space.
Just really don't get it, sorry!

Crell, yes very normal, it's used to lubricate that part of the fork, assuming you mean the negative chamber? Only has 15ml on there. You can always put the fork upside down first, that'll make the oil run away from the valve.
HTH

I've got a NeilPryde bag that I've had for years, bought in '01 I think & it,s been fantastic & had a lot of use with trips to the Alps & used weekly for transporting in the car

Sadly it does happen, bit pathetic, but thats how it is with some folk.

I wouldn't put a coil in a Trance X, they're designed for an air shock & IMO it'd be horrible to ride with a coil. Having ridden loads of Maestro bikes & worked on them since they came out, I feel they need the rising rate of the air to make it work properly.
I know the likes of the Reign X, Faith, Glory etc. have coil shocks, but they're designed for it, the Trance X isn't. You may also struggle for seat tube clearance, but not 100% sure.

Regulars at LBS's sometimes get prefered rates.

Luminous, any chance of some details on your lights?
Burn times, prices etc? BY email if you prefer.
Cheers
Dave

Just had Rutland Cycles email me saying they're out of stock of 1.5" Mud Sharks

Thats probably because they're no longer in production, Schwalbe stopped making them last year in the 1.5's iirc