I use a 150mm dual position RCT3 Rev which mostly remains at full length apart from the boring bits when I flick a switch, bounce the fork and have it at 120mm. I don’t use it much but it’s great and much easier to use than U-Turn.

I had a 140mm U-Turn Pike on a Trance which stayed 140 until I got to a fire road/other boring climb. You have more adjustability (a click=3mm I think) so can just wind a bit here or there. The Trance was more fun with more fork on the descents, I wouldn’t exceed 140 on it myself though!

It’s not for everyone, but that doesn’t make it a bad thing. As the Trance will have a “right” place in your opinion I’d say go for a longer fork with adjustability. You may like 130mm but appreciate the extra stiffness of a bigger fork.

I don’t know about Fox forks, but you could try and find a 140mm U-Turn dual air Pike 454 (beefy+stiff) or Revelation (light+stiff) with a 15/20mm Maxle and it should save weight but add some security to the front wheel. If you didn’t know about Pike numbers, they correspond with the spec. The higher the number the better with 454 being the top end.

The current dual position style probably won’t suit as it’s only 2 options.

Although not travel adjust the RCT3 function gives you 3 levels of compression damping (open, platform and locked) which is like having a half lockout. If I was more XC I’d probably use this more, however I rarely do. It’s clever but too much IMHO. I imagine the Fox terralogic thing is much the same.

Lastly, the way the fork works means more than the amount of travel. Dual air is like having a collection of forks which you can swap in minutes by changing the air pressure of the 2 chambers, but you need to read (or ask here) to understand it a bit. Solo air is adjustable of course, but the way in which it responds to high and low speed compression cannot be tweaked as such.

We all are guilty of it, it’s partly defensive as you can hide behind the fork and wheel… but it makes your front wheel light so you can’t steer/brake/grip too well. It’s what we’re told to do at some point or another to prevent an OTB, but will probably result in one!

I saw Jedi last year, this was one of the best points he taught us; relax and stay centred. Sure you use your full range of motion at different points, it’s a useful posture at times but is overkill unless you’re riding down a cliff face.

Another handy thing that links in is applying gradual pressure to the bars (pushing away) in line with braking force. A harsh shove breaks traction, too relaxed and your weight throws forward. I try and remain in a similar fore/aft position but get lower with dropped heels/bent legs for hard braking rather than way back over the rear wheel.

Lastly, we tend to look to near the front tyre when feeling tense on the bike. This tiny point has a massive impact on feeling relaxed and in control as it gives you more time to process things ahead.

I’m looking forward to having rocky descents, I’m in the chalky/muddy South but moving to Sheffield in summer. Can’t wait!

Consider a steel frame. My Blue Pig X (daft name, great frame) currently has a little 2.0 Mud XR @ 28psi on the back at the moment and is very comfy. There’s some clever business done to the stays to make them compliant while the front triangle is stiff to give the best of both.

It’s slack and I’ve got 150mm of fork which invites me to keep my weight forward. This lightens the back end which tends to just carry through after the front wheel.

I also think my Vaults have made a big difference as I feel like I’m in, rather than on the bike and feel more relaxed through chatter as they lock your feet securely.

Although perhaps technique is an issue….

Don’t hang off the bike of the bike if it’s a descent, it’s not necessary. Stay balanced with a good lean into the front tyre to keep traction. That butt way back posture is from the days of short travel and long stems. This alone may fix your issue if it’s something you do!

As we’re at it, have you got your brakes set up for 1 finger? There’s a lot less to do for the same amount of control and a better grip of the bars. Oh, and drop your heals a bit too.

Excuse me if this is familiar to you, if not it helps a lot :mrgreen:

Terra Nova Helios 2 for £108:

http://www.fieldandtrek.com/terra-helios-2-man-tent-783083?src=google

I love TN tents, pack the fabric part in a little drybag with the poles/pegs separate and it’ll be tiny in your pack or pannier. If you feel particularly fancy separate the inner and outer into dedicated smaller drybags for dryer pitching when doing a multi dayer.

Mountain Hardwear tents are brilliant too and arguably a bit more liveable than minimal without being heavy in some instances. However, unlikely to be cheaper than that beauty up there^.

Ah, too slow. Good choice! They’re bags more reliable :D

Rose bikes XT with Facebook discount.

The Deore are good and the SLX are very similar to the XT. The pad pin, forged lever and free stroke are only subtle additions but I quite like them. You can put a threaded pin into the SLX callipers but why faff when you could just get them right first time?

I think I paid £140 for XT non-icetech but aluminium backed pads with SLX 6 bolt rotors using the above, so the same as your projected amount. I think it’s only about £10 more than SLX.

Very stoppy! They bite immediately with lots of power as with the current SLX, which takes some getting used to as they’re sharper than the previous SLX & XT. The new Deore feel very similar to the previous SLX & XT.

Put up a request in the WTD section, go 2nd hand for your budget. My 2nd hand Allez was £250 IIRC from here. Spesh get a bad rep from the road snobs, once I swapped the stem (stock was 130 for a 54cm, 100 is much better) it was comfy and it’s light. Upgraded it gradually over time but it’s my transport about town/to work.

They hold their value as other road noobs seek them out. The fit is really important! If you don’t know about how it works for road read up a little and try and see if you can sit on the same size as you’re looking for in a shop. ‘Compact’ sizing is a bit different, but there’s loads on this on teh interwebz.

Maybe build if you’ve got the tools to? If I was shopping again I’d go for a steel frame but it was easy just to get a complete. If your local roads are a bit pot holey a slightly larger tyre may help too (28-32) but some frames don’t like a larger tyre. I use 700×22 conts which are nippy but harsh at times.

Stick a Pamper on it and train it to stay on your wheel, when it learns to draft you can go a bit faster.

I find many dog owners in my local woods to be particularly inconsiderate, but then others are respectful. You can’t keep tabs on what it does away from you and many owners are blind to their dogs aggressive behaviour. Equally some owners train their dogs well and they are lovely.

Dog eggs on the trail and having to stop mid flow due to someone’s pet are unforgivable in a centre. Equally someone hitting the dog, or hurting themselves from having to stop abruptly is avoidable.

Take the dog to the park/woods/countryside/hills/etc, take your bike to the trail.

Let UKIP be more ridiculous, although some sheep will follow it reduces their credibility to anyone with half a brain. Here’s a comment wot I found:

i would rather give a fit bird a chance to stuff up the? country. she cant do a worse job than the shower of the last 20years. at least she has some ornamental value. give her a chance

As someone who feels strongly in the potential for education to improve society it saddens me that she has made it this far through the education system and is so narrow minded. Bah! (I know, I know. Education doesn’t make you nice)

The spring in the return pin is strong, I’d give it a chance. Sounds like a good excuse to upgrade to remote :wink:

Core removed, but the rim strips have an oval rubber lump at the valve which creates 4 little gaps at the bead. Rim snugged a bit further with some winds of gaffer, tyre was much tighter to fit but still had these gaps.

It nearly worked, I think the extra bottle will do the job. Although the car tyre is probably an option too… We’ll see.

Trail rat, that figures. I’ve read a few other pages saying the same too.

Too good to be true probably is!

Maybe I need to link some more bottles in series to increase the volume?

It’s fine, I think they just burn it all these days :|

I hid mine for some time (I’m stealthy, again the little and often approach FTW) but one evening we were both in the bathroom and the handle failed leaving us both locked in.

I had to fart and I had to think fast as this was a rumbler. I explained, turned the tap on to mask some of the sound and proceeded to drop a rather loud airbiscuit. Missus creases up at the sound and my sheepish expression combined with the rather ineffectual tap-turning-on.

I then had to break back into the flat through the kitchen window and smash through the door to get her out of said bathroom. As much as I felt I slipped in her estimation due to the guff, I also rescued her from being locked in and became an athletic burglar.

I may have broke wind, but I also broke even. Life’s better without being anally retentive. It’s even better if you can add some comedy timing to delivery.

Clean it, sell it, buy a black/dark saddle.

I’ve been a vegetarian for about 8 years, 1 of which was vegan. My partner’s vegan (attempt 3) and she’s happier/healthier for it. I rarely eat eggs and have a low, highly appreciated intake of dairy.

I eat far better than when I ate meat and manage to fuel myself as both a rider and climber (rocks, not just hills) quite adequately. As mentioned, a balanced diet with a little knowledge of food groups and easy/tasty combinations makes it rather easy.

Mexican, Indian, Japanese, Thai and Italian food have extensive amounts of either vegetarian or nearly vegetarian dishes which are easily adapted. You can always do pie, mash and veg. It needn’t all be a fancy faff.

Sainsbury’s veggie freezer section is great, it adds some variety and means you can have lazy dinners too. I have always viewed the meat replacements as another type of food rather than a substitute and I think it helps to appreciate them. Bean burgers for example are a million miles from a 1/4 pounder, but they’re not bad in a bap with some sauce and salad.

I started and thought of it as 1 day at a time for as long as I wanted to do it. It’s just normal now.

PS red Bisto is vegetarian and a lot nicer than the green stuff :wink:

Armour/pads, coaching & practise. No matter how old you are the ground will always win! Equip yourself to take the bail as it’s a matter of when, not if and get some proper advice on technique.

I’ve been mountain-biking for years

Probably some bad habits to iron out which is far easier with someone else to help.

Did your bar pull towards your stronger side as you tried to bunnyhop? It takes a while to get it, but quite a few coaches promote pushing the bike into the jump rather than hefting the whole thing up like a BMXer. Dirtschool and UKBikeskills are particularly good at this, choose the one you’re closest to. It’ll give your riding a boost as a whole too!

Before you do, consider this £2.70 upgrade:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/transfil-gear-cable-waterproof-kit/

Full length coverage without frame mods and arguably lighter than full outers (not much I admit, but it’s a nice bonus).

It’s easy to use and works.

The reducer ferrules poke through the cable stops and a thin tube slips over the protruding bit to keep the inner completely covered. And it looks nice and stealthy 8)

In the UK there is currently only one type of radiotherapy offered which is in the form of X-ray radiation. The problem with this form of radiotherapy is that When an X-ray enters the body, it emits a tremendous amount of energy at the point of entrance. That’s why X-ray treatment leaves people with a burn at the treatment site. As the X-ray continues into the body, it continues to release energy. As long as the cancer tumor is somewhere in the path of the X-ray, it receives some of that radiation. But so does the healthy tissue all around it. The tissue damage that results from this type of radiation therapy can cause serious problems for the child if the tumor is in a particularly sensitive area like the brain, and spine. It can also cause irreparable organ damage, hearing and vision loss, seizures, loss of limb control and tremors, severe learning difficulties, fertility and growth problems.
?
Proton-beam therapy can avoid this type of damage. Protons are positively charged atomic particles, and they have tremendous energy but also tremendous mass. They’re easier to control than X-rays: They slow down as they encounter body tissue. Protons can actually be set to release their energy at a specific point in body. By altering the proton beam’s energy level, which determines its velocity, doctors can send it to a very particular tissue depth. At that exact depth — at the precise location of the tumor — the protons release their energy. There’s very little radiation damage to the tissue surrounding the tumor. Proton therapy is ideal for tumors that are oddly shaped and/or situated in areas that can’t handle much radiation exposure.
?
Proton treatment is not widely available. The equipment required for proton-beam treatment is massive and expensive. Particle accelerators don’t come cheap! Although considered a mainstream cancer treatment for medulloblastoma, the NHS has yet to install these machines and does not provide funding for treatment abroad. Children are top candidates, because X-ray radiation treatment can be so damaging to a body that’s still growing; and children and adults with inoperable tumors in the brain or on the spinal cord are good candidates.
?
Proton therapy patients have fewer side effects because it only kills the cancer. But traditional radiation therapy works like a bullet, damaging healthy tissue as it enters and exits the body.

For the cost of a few pints you could make a big difference. With any treatment there is no 100% guarantee and if Alexander can be helped with less chance of something like acquiring a learning disability, recurring seizures or loss of neural function then I happily have donated.

Fingers crossed for him!

Was your bike upside/sideways down for a while? May have been in the car/on a rack/puncture repair. If there was air in the line it may have made it’s way to the calliper end instead of being above the master cylinder chamber by the lever.

Don’t drain and bleed, just bleed to replace the fluid with fresh all the way through. You’ll suck air in if you let it go dry (BAD!).

Well done for riding it out 8O

Troll?

Never rode it, so it had to go

That’s not how it works, maybe you should have ridden it?

Each to their own but it doesn’t sound like you weren’t a mountain biker in the first place. It’s like BMX and CX at the same time with extra fun and the ability to ride in more diverse locations; what’s not to love?

28, the FS bikes I had allowed a solid progression in my riding but I now ride better than before on the same trails with my Blue Pig X. I don’t wallop through stuff so much now and and land more quietly.

I think being back on a HT has refined the progress I made on the FS, as you can’t get away with as much. A big part of this for me is improved lower body technique and learning to have more control of weight shifting on/into the bike.

Wait, he was on a MTB?

The only answer is upgrade the bike, fad diet and boxercise. Or jazzercise.

Maybe glue some tubs on?

I have to butt in (again), Marin won’t cover the bearings on a second owner and the parts are becoming harder to find. My Attack Trail was only 2009 and it wasn’t straightforward to sort out the linkage/pivots/bearings. The bearings are a faffy niche type which cost a hefty sum, rather than a standard size which can be easily sourced. It doesn’t help that you may need 16 of the little b***ers.

As Vince^ says, a half decent bike at that price is likely to need the shock servicing (if not the fork too) as well as bushing and potentially bearing replacement. If he has a vice, mechanical knowledge and the tools he may be able to do the work. Or will need to pay a pretty penny for the service and parts. I’m assuming as you’re asking on his behalf he’s new to MTB.

I recommended a HT as that’s what I’ve got. No more faff with pivots and once you learn how to ride properly they can be capable of a hell of a lot. I’ve got a Blue Pig X with a 150mm Revelation. As for FS, I’ve had a Commencal Meta 5.5, a Giant Trance and a Marin Attack Trail which have all been great but had a drawback of one sort or another (frame cracking potential, bottoming out on moderate size features, crap bearings & heavy/vulnerable pivots). Decent pedals and shoes are particularly important with a HT as your lower body needs to be more active at times. I’ll go out there and say the pedals more than the shoes. I don’t necessarily think your chum needs a LTHT or even a steel frame as I don’t have a clue of what or how he rides.

Legs have far more travel than anything made by Fox, Rockshox or Marzocchi. Arms have a fair bit too!

Additional to a high chance of a shock/pivot service need, there’s also the fork to consider aswell as the drivetrain and brakes. A little job here and there to bring it up to standard could easily bring the price up to a prohibitive level. A £500 FS is being sold before the work is needed and something fails, or was not a bike worth considering in the first place; cheap FS bikes are heavy and inefficient (some expensive ones are too!).

Either save more money for a FS you can examine in person (still 2nd hand though), or seriously consider a less complicated bike.

All Terrain Cycles and a few other online shops offer 3 years interest free finance which will mean full warranty across the bike and an easy way to buy something decent if he insists on a FS.

It would not be far fetched for a fork, shock, pivot, hardwear and bearing job to be £300, in fact I think that’s cheap by current standards! Forks and shocks should be serviced at least annually, there are a lot of bikes out there that have never been seen to and the problem gets passed over to you. Say you need brake pads, a chain and cassette and a pair of cables you’ve added £60+ taking your service cost to £360ish.

Let’s add tyres to make it a round £400 and he’s spent £900, which is easily done in increments. He could have bought a new Scandal, Inbred or 456 for that and have all things tickety boo. Equally that £900 could be the majority of a lovely new FS on finance spread over 36 months.

As with Vince, I’m speaking from experience. Learn from our mistakes :mrgreen:

We got ours for about £65 off ebay a few years ago. Works great and needs emptying regularly because of this.

I wouldn’t buy one new, I would buy one again.

It just pisses me off that your heart is telling you to smash down that downhill cliff or MTFU those drops.

Slowly slowly catchy monkey. There is no quick fix as a lucky break will be humbled by an unlucky break.

Match the challenge to your competence (or rather perceived competence) and get not just ok but great at the things within your reach. Then you’ll be more confident to do the things a bit out of reach, but obviously still scared of things way out. Everyone has a threshold but we build it on experience and reinforcement.

I can ride bigger drops than ever before thanks to sticking to riding a bit more regularly and sessioning things like wobbliscott (not sessioning him, but obstacles repeatedly…). I feel more connected to the bike to ride things out when they’re not going as well and trusting the bike to handle more than I thought it could (which is really more than I though I could).

Build your confidence, step up to bigger things gradually, ride more, wear pads. Listen to the little voice, it’ll shout when you least want it to and will win with a painful “I told you so!”

A hardtail :wink:

It was my shed. The evidence, much like my bank accounts are all offshore now.

Black Dunked Malted Milk, featuring the Bourbons.

Great news! :D

I had a problem where I hadn’t lowered the mech to match the change from 53 to 50 on my road bike. The ring was bucking the chain as the mech couldn’t trap the chain properly, seems obvious now :oops:

Park have a lot of good info:

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/front-derailleur-adjustments

It sounds like cable tension off the top of my head if the chain is rubbing where it should not. Barrel adjusters can tune this out (remember how many you do, only do small tweaks at a time).

:?

Do it properly.

Make sure the plus shaped dial is open all the way before other adjustments. The compression settings may be off and easily fixed.

Search STW for “9p compressor”. Works like a charm.

BluePig X with 150mm dual position Rev here. Love it.

Drops to 120mm for longer boring climbs but climbs fine at full length. Descends like a mother, encouraging you to pretty much ride the fork.

Slack, mud/fat tyre capacity, extra gubbins for droppers (30.9), Maxle drop outs but QR available, twangy rear but taut front. I first had a standard steerer Pike in the front and the current fork is tapered.

I gather they’re much like the BFe, but less stiff and have a fancier steel (although less popular). Keep your eyes peeled for one before you spash teh cash.

Chapeau!