I got one of these as it works with knobby tyres, or rather the friction device runs on the rim. Ideally it needs something like a stans 355 rim that has a breaking surface but it seems to work with most wheels.
http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/training/trainers/minoura-trainers/minoura-e-rda-80-rim-drive-trainer.html

I just flogged my Impreza STI, great fun in this weather ……… But I never seemed to be able to wrestle it of my wife.

Good mid life crisis car and cheaper than a Porsche

I mentioned earlier that I had used them with no probs, just spent two hours, 5 co2 cartridges, feel like I’ve worn out my compressor and got in trouble by trying to warm the tyre on the radiator to get it to inflate. Maxxis Advantage! Maybe the LUST version is a good idea :)

Just order some tubeless ready RR’s from bike discount in TL EVO for £20 each to sort out my 10 yr olds bike.

Iain

Thanks Luke, a bit too far to travel on regular basis for me, cheers.
Iain

Can anyone recommend a dentist to do implants in south Warwickshire as I need to get one done and been quoted £3,500 so far, sorry to hijack the thread!
Thanks
Iain

I had a bad time with them, ordered a ladies spec bike at about £1600, really nice spec (xt) for the money but ordered in the anodised finish which was a disaster. The first frame was awfull, lots of scratches where it had been dressed with flap wheel and looked like it had been dragged over the ground. Returned it with no problem and another sent, this was a bit better but not much. Returned again.

Tried ordering the next level as it was painted (X0 spec) and should have been ok, by the time the UK staff had phaffed around they were out of stock.

Bought a specialized sapphire pro in the end!

So my advice, avoid raw finishes and do not expect miracles from the uk office, apart from that they are really good value and nice bikes.

Cooked, in France. Raw, in Japan. Haven’t had it knowingly on the menu since.

Used minions, highrollers, ardents, aspens and an advantage all tubeless with no troubles. They are problematic going up though, sometimes a compressor is not enough and have to resort to a CO2 cylinder to get them on the bead.
Iain

What you used to do all night takes you all night to do……..hmm, maybe not!

Also got the 661 Rythms – great for fitting under a jersey and at £8….

Try NFU, not the cheapest but I have a few bikes insured for accidental damage and theft at 2-3k value.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=94593

No lockout but could be added later.

I am based in s Warwickshire (shipston on stour), we have a regular Sunday morning run (3hrs ish) and Wednesday night run if you ever want to join up. Local bridle way and north Cotswold riding mainly. Iain. Email in profile.

try this – good price http://www.thebikechain.co.uk/Rock-Shox-Sektor-RL-150mm-MaxleLite-15-201108100201/

Entenox, thanks, I’d spotted the Merlin ones but I’ve still got all my wheels on 9mmQR so I’m loathed to start swapping over to a thru axle, too many bikes in the family (!) that I like to be interchangeable with wheels.

Evans, That’s useful information.

Thanks again to both.

Thanks, much appreciated – that makes sense regarding the lengths.
Iain

There are two sealed bearings in the freehub, circliped in. The free hub pulls off easily but you have to undo something else that is obvious – sorry cannot remember even though I only did this job on a set of blag flag pro’s about 2 months ago (must be an age thing :( ).

Once you get the free hub off, the pawls are also free to fall out/be inspected, they seem quite robust.

The standard bearings seem to be absolute rubbish, I have two sets of these wheels and both have gone prematurely with no obvious influx of mud/grit, now chaged to SKF on one set to see how they get on.

I’ve never bothered apart from when I was younger in GS (mandatory when racing), however, now using my Garmin edge 800 while skiing has opened up a whole new world of latched maximum speed data! My wife told me last year when it went over 100kph to get a helmet, probably will just not take the Garmin this year :)

Showing my age now, Bartelski was my hero when I was skiing, my mate also coached Emma Carrick-Anderson (but way after my time – I was cycling by then)), she was meant to have some real talent but as was common in pre-lottery funding it probably never got maximised, for what it’s worth….

Got a pair of Endura Stealth Extremes in CRC sale before Xmas, now ridden in all weathers and the only thing they do not work in is above 8 deg C, brilliant. 2 hour ride on boxing day at 3degC and pouring rain and still felt warm and dry at the end.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=18076

SW Lakes, staying at the inlaws, started in Seathwaite, headed up the duddon valley to Birkes bridge, down to Grassguards, down by Wallowbarrow (not much grip on wet leaves!), up over hoses swapping to bridle trail at the top to stephensons ground, up long mire where the bike sank into the bog to it’s axles many times, then down Park head road – 12 miles, 2,000ft and 2.5 hours. Not the best stats but bloody good fun!

We’ve had 2 now and the ‘cost to own’ is very good due to the high resale value. They really are good, simple bikes that are well suited to kids.

Note, ‘proud dad moment coming up’ – my youngest even got his pic on the front of the Islabike Gallery (Fraser) the other month, he was well chuffed with that!

http://www.islabikes.co.uk/gallery/gallery.html

Definately recommended.

I did around seven seasons on the track when I was a lad (25 years ago…) in the Meadowbank track league every week and racing in England a reasonable amount (National champs etc), used to reckon on one major crash in a year but managed to never break anything (unlike my recent MTB history, 3 bones in one year..).
The Glasgow track looked very slippy and i suspect that any rapid changes of direction would be more risky than normal due to the amount of dust on the new track.
I also think the racing is much more sanitised now, Kierons used to be absolutley brutal!

I got a Thule 929 EuroClassic G6 LED Towbar Mounted 3 Bike Carrier with a 4th bike carrier, funnily enough after asking people on STW what they thought.

It’s bloody expensive but the security of the locking mechanism and ease of puting on or off is great.

Be careful your exhaust does not melt the wheel cariers, mine did and I had to make a deflector.

The smallest bike we have on is Islabike Creig 26 plus 3 adult sized bikes, there is a bit of bar clashing and some of the saddles have to come out so be careful if you use a dropper.

Thought this ride interesting!

http://app.strava.com/runs/18625394

I lashed out a while ago and bought a small compressor for inflating tyres, never had a problem setting up since, also great for drying the bike off after cleaning.

We have 8 bikes in the family running tubeless and no punctures in the last 2 years since I converted (except one when it was about -10degC, not sure if the sealant works well at that point).

Not massively close to the trails but really nice, great if you are taking any young family with you as the woods are quite something and access to the farm is neat.

Barn to leave bikes in as well.

http://www.puzzlewood.net/cottagestolet.htm

If you are interested in understanding, this is probably the best (and very good) read available:

‘The descent through the ploughed field was indeed horrific on a cross bike’

If it’s any consolation it was bad enough on a hardtail! Could not the believe the downhill bit thru the field was harder on the legs than the uphill before!

Cleeve was also hard due to lack of signs (maybe just my sense of direction!), got the right route in the end but wasted a load of time, 5 1/2 hours total for 100km which I pleased with.

Brill, wish I’d known as would have come along! I took my kid’s up there a few months ago and they loved the track.

NFU Murual worked well for me, we have 9 bikes in the family, anything over £1k (I think?) had to be named, not the cheapest but the best available cover I could find at the time. Also covers accidental damage.

Thanks guys, that’s really useful, I just need to decide now..!

It’s like for like and they support for 5 years, ours was a 3gs.

http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=servicefaq&geo=United_Kingdom&product=iphone

Go to ‘Battery replacement’

You can take it to the apple shop, give them your phone and £55 and they will give you a brand new phone, my wife did this in January ’cause her battery had given up and we looked into changing it.

Get lots and lots of helicopter tape, it will help protect it. I took a lump out my Mojo a while back from about the only part of the frame not covered. http://www.tape2go.com/Product/Bike-Frame-Tape/47 .

Frame looks great.

Carbon paste also works well for the seatpost, very little pressure needed.

I’ve used it twice, both times at about £110 and it’s discounted the full £50. I never got the voucher code, when I phone they advised me to use the order number in the dsocunt code at checkout – it worked fine.

Great deal.

My wife and kids started MTB’ing a while ago and the solution that worked for us was to get a skills lesson from Harry at the bike school at Cannock. This has worked brilliantly, the kids have increased their ability massively and my wife is taking on more and more technical routes. We went from bridal trails at the start of the summer to; my wife heading off on her own to do a Coed Y Brenin black route on her own, my 12 year old did the Ski Run dh course last Saturday at the FoD on a HT and my 9 year old seems to want to get air off even the slightest jump now!

One tip that also worked for us; get a set of knee and eblow pads as it helps hugely with confidence.

One last (and final) tip, don’t try teaching your partner yourself, it never works!

Good luck!