Carry on regardless. Everyone falls off at some point, maybe it's just a run of bad luck? Take the opportunity to invest in a bigger front tyre and some lucky heather?

Where are the sliced gherkins?

No – not really – I think it depends where you ride and who you're chasing.

I have had a bit of a spate of seeing off bottom brackets, chainrings, discs, tyres, chains, cassettes, cables and finally my favourite saddle which is 6 yrs old. I also seem to be tearing tyres on the sidewall a lot.

Conversely my riding partner has seen off a bolt, a chainring, BB and a set of pads. That's it. We ride more or less the same place same time.

Morning Fellas –

Perhaps I should have said it's a 2 dayer – but points all duly noted. The idea is long enough to hold the interest and make everyone earn their beers but capable of getting up the next day to do it all again.

Thanks for the tips

Paul

M part headset spacers, Deore shifters, M parts seat clamp, Superstar pads, M540 pedals on an otherwise rather nice Blur.

Nice in a 'pimped' style. I'm off down the shops – I've grip envy.

Lovely. Now green with envy.

Simon Bates' 'Your tune' on Radio One in the early 90s. A horrid tale of disease and death, on the factory radio – a mate and I looked at each other and laughed 'til we hurt. No real idea why to this day.

Didn't get on with the Ergons at all and gave them away after 3 months. Even bought gloves without the ulnar nerve pad to make sure they weren't 'over compensated.' Tried all sorts of angles.

Whilst they gave a bigger contact area, I felt you couldn't get a proper 'bowels voided death grip' for the moments of steepness and mild terror. It was the v rare 'wheels off ground' moments that made me fret.

I too have adjustable forks – frankly I didn't get on with the grips well enough to worry about the implications of the travel and angle.

New frame? What's not to like?

Fair play to the shop too for service above and beyond for building it up.

17 st – UST proper works great and has done for me for 4 years. Managed 2 yrs without a puncture and then had 3 months of sidewall tearing frenzy, literally every ride- the sealant didn't sort it. Recommended. Bit heavier than Stan's rims – but somewhat more robust in my experience.

Stan's rims – I have found them a bit more sensitive to impact damage meaning the tyre has blown off mid ride. Not for me and rebuilding hubs onto UST proper.

Mavic rims and Stan's tubeless sstrips – frustrating. Gave up, gave them away having covered my cellar in latex once too often.

Blimey. For bits that cost under a tenner a pop and eventually (in my experience) wear out there seems to be rather a lot of excitement.

Anyone want to come riding later instead? Meet at Will's Wheels on the A6 at 6.30 today (27th April) and then off for a cheeky 3 hrs or so round Marple?

Cheers

Paul

I miss my 69er SS but was too rubbish to ride it in the Peak for any distance. It was also hopeless for the 15 mile road approach.

Gears for me round here and big rides, but SS is something fun to flirt with IMO.

Still- if I lived somewhere SS appropriate I'd probably be more enthused as the 'no pratting about with gears' approach to climbs was fab, unlike the feeling of imminent collapse if it was steep enough.

Daisy Duke has just prevented me doing any work at all. Possibly for days.

Fab.

SV – ZTR 355

Molgrips – don't get me wrong I really like the idea of Stan's the lightness of them and that they seem to run true. The UST rims (Mavic) have proven to better withstand the use/abuse (dings, dents and such)they get round here from me – this isn't a go at Stans, just 'horses for courses.'

The other point with their lightness is they're not carrying 50g of threaded 'collars' holding the spoke nipple in place – which is a big plus if you've got to work on them.

I might just need to accept that I'm outwith a weight that's appropriate for the Stan's and go back to Mavic.

Toodle pip

Marin excellent warranty seconded. I don't know why they do it, but they do. Good work fellas. The chaps at Bikeshak in Altrincham were very kind and built it all up for me.

Ride the other bike, it'll properly hack you off you're in the back end of nowhere and it does 'go' properly. No one likes walking poorly bikes back to the car.

+1 Buffalo windshirt (1993 – tatty)
+1 Hope Tiglide
+1 Rohloff chain checker
+1 Hope C2s

So why do I keep buying new stuff?

I am not keen on the CK o ring/steerer interface.

Have filled both with cack, cleaned out and regreased and both worked. King look nicer, but in my case badly scored a steerer which was expensive to replace.

The Hope one is trundling on nicely and is about 8(?) yrs old – dates from when they did the one with roller bearings and the one with sealed bearings with the snap ring and rubber seal. I need to get out more.

Went to Abersoch – beers -sleep – surf lesson – playing on the beach – beers (stag dressed as 118118 man who had to get ladies to sign his singlet) – there are some very bitter divorcees in Abersoch, early tea for soakage – local comedy hotel nightclub complete with big knee slides cross dance floor a-plenty, sleep – hungover hovercraft racing against the clock – surf lesson – pub mid afternoon lunch.

It was the funniest do I've been on. We didn't spike the stags drinks or get him so drunk he couldn't function, no naked ladies, as it's not his thing, but a silly task to mean that we had to go out and talk to clothed ladies. The vast majority took it in great stead and we were a harmless bunch of buffoons having a lovely time and not causing offence. Also cheap in a bunkhouse a suitable staagger home from the town.

Anyone else feeling slightly saddened that they know what all this is about? Picolax makes me chuckle just thinking about it.

Is the Badger simply running his own 'what tyres for' thread?

Dunno. They all look lovely.

Which one of them is funniest? Should be the winner IMO. Perferably with a filthy Sid James laugh.

BB tool – if it's Hollotech 2 avoid the Pedros one – the Shimano one is nice.

Hub sockets? if it's cone spanners- most are pressed out of cheese and cheap – but fine for the job IMO, pretty much regardless of where they come from.

Chain splitter- my Shimano one has been fine for over 10 yrs, despite my ham fistedness. As long as the pin's replaceable you can't go that far wrong, hopefully.

Good luck and make sure you've a tool box to keep it all in one place. V irritating when you find Mrs Wife has 'tidied' your chain whip to the point where you buy another one. All my own fault mind.

Anywhere after dark.

Me, if you don't mind second hand ones. E mail addy in profile.

Nobby Nics. Unless you ride somewhere rocky. With Racing Ralphs for the summer. Unless you're heavy/aggressive in riding.

My Avid 3s now work fine. They didn't at first because like an eejit I hadn't done up the lever hose clamp tight enough.

Did have an Avid 5 from CRC that didn't work properly straight off the shelf and like the sterling folk they are replaced it within 24hrs.

Other than that 3 prs, 3 years, 17st of ham fisted enthusiasm and no problems. Also liking the Superstar pads.

One with runners, preferably from the 1970s. My Dad turned up with my old one just before Christmas, unused since 1977 and it was a good deal quicker than all of the plastic tat. Also you can get at least 3 folk on it. That's the thing with welded steel and wood.

To be fair he has another one in the shed that he doesn't want if anyone needs one – he'll be pleased to be rid. e mail in profile.

What a nice lady. Mrs Hillsplease won't broach such things, but enlists the children to hose me down post ride, whic hisa as close as it gets. Thankfully it's really warm at the moment.

One bike is madness. What do you ride when it's broken?

More bikes = better. Fact.

I'll get my coat……

I'm with TeaBoyPaul. GT85 can be used as solvent and doesn't generally play nicely with the grease in bearings.

I've had a Blur since 2004 (I think it was -tied in with my first proper work bonus) and save the occasional strip & clean of the frame the bearings have been sound.

The top rocker ones came apart once, because I missed the shim out on reassemble – but that was my fault entirely.

Rightyo fellas – I'm now trying 55 psi and if that doesn't do it it's DH tyres, assuming i can get them to inflate.

Maybe it's the brakes off, pedalled off the top fo the gears straight line attack into loose rock?

It's possible, but I am ham fisted and haven't managed it with mine despite the 4lb lump hammer usage.

It may just be that either the axle is a bit scored or you've damaged the bearings putting them in. I've done that and it's a pain in the whatsits. Now have the proper bearing tool, it's in S Manc if you need it.

Alternatively you could have put the spacers in wrong as one of the above posters said. I've done that too and spent hours wondering why the freehub binds when it's in the frame under compression.

Is the QR spindle spangly and clean or a bit rusty?

Similarly in Timperley. Or better still you can do it wit hmy tools and I can chip in as required.

Had CKs they made me very very unhappy. Serviced by the importer, LBS, NWMTB loosened off at the sight of daylight, regardless of who'd looked at them. Not for the fuller figured Peak riding enthusiast. Fine for my mate's girlfriend who now has them and the noise was ace. On the odd occasion they worked.

Hope -Tiglide/XC/Mono/Bulb/Pro II -all share ease of service, noise, slightly portly, difficult to break

Shimano Deore – it's on the commuter – who cares?

Occasionally Campag Veloce on the road.

HED tri spokes on the rare occasion that I venture near ridiulous races of pain rather than joy. Usually with a reet early start, but perhaps that's a good thing as no one looks good in a skin suit.

Yes. It's top stuff, an the new kit doesn't yellow, unlike the old kit – my Heckler looks like it's getting over smoking – such is the number of patches all over the place.

Because every time I meet someone off here they're good value and then we have to eat cake. Riding bikes can be involved, but that's optional.

Nope. Manchester from the south is sheet ice all over the place within 2 ft of the kerb and there's no off road alternative. On the one hand it speaks of a lack of commitment. On the other hand I've got a busy season ahead and 3 weeks of turbo training and swimming is better than 6 weeks of nowt through a sprain or worse.

Good luck to all those still pedalling.

Horatio's right. Hope maintenance is unsubtle, which I also happen to like. It's also relatively infrequent, which I also think is a good thing.

Also if on a ride you notice there's a problem you're unlikely to have cone spanners about you and the default position is the whole hub takes some damage, in my experience. If it all goes horribly wrong with cartridge bearings the worse that happens is you knacker the bearing and an axle. Replacing these is generally cheaper than a whole hub, with rebuild etc.

If I was lighter and less clumsy I might go with C&C, but for lardy folk of the North riding rocky nonsense I reckon cartridge bearings.

King hubs on the other hand I found a chuffing nuisance and gave them away. Albeit to a mate who had given me a HED tri spoke for my birthday.

Lovely – ta chaps.