I agree totally with Poopscoop.

I subscribe to support all aspects of STW, the forum being the main reason and I do read most of the articles. I (you might think foolishly) purchase component recommendations from articles and from the forum members. I personally believe this is the best resource about MTB on the web so I will support it.

Another option is to start around Fairfield hospital in Bury or the B&Q just off the M66. You can get all the way up to Scout Moor, Cragg and Lee Quarry. You’ve just got to cross a couple of main roads.

On google/bing maps the route would be Castle Hill Road, Scotland Lane, it then joins Croston Road – (there’s a path), Edenfield road, Fecit Lane, Coal Road up to Scout Moor (don’t be put off as there are no cars bombing passed you other than Edenfied road bit. The others are either very very quiet lanes or unpassable by cars). From Scout Moor you can do, Waughs Well and back through Dearden Woods/Brook or head to Cragg Quarry and/or Lee Quarry. The descent back down from scout moor to Owd Betts Pub is great and can be done at speed or bimbling down at your own leisure.

You can also park on Edenfield road near Owd Betts Pub and start there to Lee and Cragg etc.

Just be mindful that Ashworth Road is out of action again due for 3 months due to roadworks, that’s only if taking car up to Own Betts that way.

The Coal Road up to Scout Moor wind farm. It’s very unpleasant in the wind.

Crank Brothers Iodine 3 and Cobalt II carbon wheels from a couple of Mondraker Foxy’s. I’ve never had a single issue, the bearings are still smooth and I’ve given them a lot of abuse. I kept the Iodines when I moved the first bike on, they’re now on my HT. They’ve been no hassle whatsoever + tubeless is the easiest setup there is and they don’t lose any noticeable pressure week to week.

I commute a 20 mile round trip about twice a week on average – more in summer less in winter sort of thing. I do use my 160mm full suss with minions occasionally as I’m fortunate that there’s a couple of reds halfway between work and home. The rest of the time I’d be on my Bird Zero – again with minions. Very occasionally I use the road bike but it feels like dicing with death in comparison (and that’s just the potholes).

I don’t see it as a chore using the MTB, in fact the exact opposite. The road bike is way more stressful.

I have seen a scrote scuttling around Manchester on an Orange Downhill bike. Looked very odd…

Mine arrived Sunday. I’ve not installed it yet but it does look and feel like a quality item.

I built up a Saracen ALX from my parts bin.  Light frame, can be made into a DJ, 4x or to go on trails – it did me proud around Llandegla.

It’ll take 1×11, 135 back end, normal threaded BB, tapered steerer and I have a reverb on mine at the moment. You get the DJ seat and post with it – when on it’s properly slammed.

I use mine to improve my bike handling skills – the usual stuff, wheelies, manuals and bunny hops etc.

Not Sports Direct!

What chance Donnay branded full susser for £150?

I feel for the staff that will lose their jobs.

I recently passed a pr1ck that put his bike upside down as if he was fixing it, sideways across the middle one of three consecutive tabletop jumps. He was sat there smoking a joint.  I pedal all the way to the top to have the best bit of the trail ruined by an ar*e wipe. Makes my blood boil…..

I put a pile of used parts onto a new hard tail frame a month ago.  It took about 3 hours to get it pedalling down the lane. However, getting it to the point I would take it comfortably on a trail would add about 2 more hours.  Used gears and chain from another used set threw me last time. Drive trains slipping is my biggest fear when out on the trail, something about it just fills me with terror so I make sure it’s perfect before hitting the jumps.

Going tubeless would add time to this.

I deem building a bike up in my garage as one of life’s pleasures………

About 15 years ago we had a Burger King Challenge in our office. IIRC it was to eat 5 Bacon Double Cheeseburgers without a drink in 15 mins..  A couple of the lads managed it – most didn’t including me.  I did eat a fairly substantial Chicken Curry and boiled Rice from the chippy on Saturday night with half of a portion of Fish and Chips as a chaser.  I was famished though…. I reckon I still had room for more.

I’ve got a Brand-X on the hardtail and Reverb on the FS.  I’ve had two other Reverbs in the past and to be fair they’ve all been utterly reliable.  As stated above the Brand-X lever doesn’t feel as robust as others but that’s easily addressed.  IIRC I paid £89 from CRC with the view that it’s probably too good to be true – at the time it was as cheap as a reverb service.

Having had it 12 months, I would buy a Brand-X again if I needed a new post.

I replaced my worn out 11 speed XT with Eagle GX. The range is great.  After 2 weeks I put GX on my hardtail too.  That was 9 months ago and neither has missed a beat and a lack of wear means I expect it to last longer than the XT stuff did.

TBF the first one was a bit of a faff to set-up until I knew what I was doing wrong – I’ve only ever done my own maintenance and never set-up a full group set before.  Once I knew what I was doing the 2nd set was a breeze.

The long mech should be a consideration but I personally wouldn’t go back.

My first set of XT 8000’s were inconsistent until properly bled.  I’ve bought a new set recently and they’ve been perfect (even after reducing the cable size).  They replaced a set of GUIDE RS that suffered very badly from the sticky levers – basically unusable above 20 centigrade. A quick search on here will see a lot of other people have had similar issues with R’s to RSC’s.  Clearly this issue is not limited to one type.

@angeldust

With regards to Vimto as my hydration of choice, I must say that it was just after I started cycling again.  I seem to recall my seat was slammed down as well.  Ah well, we live and learn…

@hyponewt

Fair point but when you’re raging common sense doesn’t always come into it.

I got a blast from a can of beer when a car passed me when I first started riding years ago.  Unfortunately for them the lights changed to red just down the road and I caught them up. I knocked on the passenger window and the bell-end driver opened the window and gave me some good old fashioned anglo-saxon feedback about bikes not paying road tax.  His girlfriend (who was laughing) mood changed when I tipped my water bottle full of Vimto onto her lovely new clothes, drenched his trousers and their cream leather seats.

Lights changed, job done!

“How much did it cost in total for parts and labour for the updated bearings ?”

If I recall they said the bearings would be about £30 so prob about an hours labour on top. Sorry I didn’t get an itemised bill as I had a lower leg service and the bike got it’s annual good going over.

Digging the stealth decals.

I love my Foxy Carbon. I’ve had it a couple of years now and I don’t think I’d ever part with it willingly.

I do echo the other comments regarding bearings and bolts coming loose. Basically keep an eye on them.  I would budget for replacing them annually. My LBS (Ride-On Rawtenstall and also a Mondraker dealer) changed mine only last week. They put in upgraded bearings which are stronger and more reliable.  It was a cheap enough job too.

If anyone has a Foxy on their radar don’t let the bearings thing put you off, they really are fabulous bikes.

I’ll second Neet switches – used a couple of them for years without any problems.

The Police tactic in these recent high profile sex cases is to get maximum media attention and then see how many other victims come forward…..

If the person is guilty and other credible victims come forward it strengthens the case. If not it backfires spectacularly and we end up with new laws.

Mine’s retired so I’ve had it laminated.

I must say I’ve really liked the last couple of editions.

Work on the items that make the business case more risky.

When writing in say great scheme, just what the town needs etc etc then make a few suggestions to improve it.

Start with noise – ask for a noise assessment from the Environment side. Suggest some sensible restrictions on the business hours so it’s not open until 10 pm or midnight.  6pm for that size of shopping centre is reasonable.

Also you’ll not object if the shops are only stocked during core business hours so not 2 am every night with that ****ing annoying beeping from large trucks reversing at all hours…

Request more cycle, bus stops etc.  This at the detriment of parking.  A shopping needs cars (like it or not) and anyone in the retail game knows this.  Foot fall analysis will suffer so shops won’t be interested in taking them up…

A shorter set of core hours you could try the “it would lower pollution levels”.

I’m the exact opposite to this. My adult cycling journey started with a cheap mountain bike which was used to mince down canal paths and fire roads – I never went down a decent trail.  I liked the freedom and bought a road bike which was better than the above.  The first time I went on a decent trail that was it – I’ve been hooked ever since to MTB.

I now find road cycling rather tedious which weeksy summed up perfectly. To me cycling on the road is just pushing pedals.

19 – “W” reg Ford Fiesta Supersport. Bl**dy awful car really but at the time I thought it was the dogs.  It was 1991 and the car crime epidemic was in full flow. I couldn’t possibly have purchased a worse car, maybe if it had XR or Cosworth on the back.  They were literally queuing up to liberate it from my possession.  I had a two more Fords in the 90s but never again – every single one was broken into or damaged by cretins multiple times.  Never again.

Not sure if your issues is grime or just needs some TLC but there’s a well documented issue with Guides having issues when in the heat / direct sunlight, it’s in the lever apparently not allowing the oil to return and sticking the pistons…….  I sent some brand new Guide RS’s back this week and the shop said, “Not another set!, don’t worry we’re returning them all, have your money back”… Lots of activity on this issue on here and other forums.

My 3 week old Front and Rear Guide RS brakes had this problem on Saturday – sticking levers due to heat – they were in my garage not even in direct sunlight.  I  didn’t cut the hose on the front one so it can’t be a bleed issue.

It’s got to be amateur hour by SRAM – heat problems should be caught way before arriving in shops.

It’s early May and I live in Manchester FFS so they’re going back tomorrow.

@Alpin I’d be very Interested in what you think of the 4 pot XT out in the wild…

I really enjoyed it.  I do wish somebody would make a slower paced version though, more in-depth look at the spannering side of things, maybe a version with some of the cut scenes back in. Some people do have more than a 90 second attention span per scene….

Not distance away but the same sort of thing.  I once aligned a mates rear brake for him before setting off on a ride as it was rubbing…..  Two years later he blamed me because there was no life left on the pads and he was genuinely upset.  Any problems he’s had since he gets a concerned “oh dear that’s not good!”. Allen keys stay safely tucked away.

Done.

I think the anthem should be “heads, shoulders, knees and toes!”

It could also help with the obesity crisis.

My colleague at work is from Atherton / Leigh area of Greater Manchester and he can locally go into a chip shop and order:

Baby’s head, chip, pea, wet.

Which translates to:

Steak Pudding, Chips, Peas and Gravy

Decorator used a scissor lift to paint the rendering on the side of my house.  £60 per day IIRC.  Didn’t have to wait either for it to come down 🙂

I had XT 1×11 on my FS which was close to worn out so I took the plunge and bought the Eagle GX groupset.  After one ride I found an excuse to buy one for my hardtail. It’s night and day better.

In the 90s I was told by one of the “people in the know” that Tameside council were actively promoting 4 and 5 bed executive houses to gentrify the borough. This was basically to move the riff/raff on……

This is coming from a council that had 51 councillors in total – 50 of them labour and the other banned from the labour party due to financial irregularities.

I do not trust any council or government officials involved in planning to have it’s citizens best interests at heart.

Amazing map. Mesmerising level of detail.

As you state HTS – Bury seems to have been reprieved although Radcliffe seems to have been isolated.  I’d be marching if they went near Philips Park.

Works perfectly fine with my RaceFace n/w 34T.

I highly recommend a Bird Zero AM. Love mine – it makes me smile more than any bike I’ve ever owned.

Somebody once tried nicking the bonnet off a Ford Ka on my parents road.  Presumably a lot cheaper than paying for a new one and body shop work…..

One of my first cars was a Talbot Samba S (loved that car). The wheels had these weirdly shaped wheel nuts and only 3 per wheel.  Somebody nicked one of them, presumably because they were rare or expensive (for a nut).