Cynical Al,
I explained I’m no expert and was asking for informed opinion and you call me an idiot.

You sir, are a tosser.

Thanks for that David.

Came across this post while searching for solutions for a problematic fridge freezer.

God they are rubbish, alarm bleeps at the slightest change in room temperature, [can’t be disabled] sooooo annoying.fridge ices up at back and blocks the drain hole,[whatever temp is set]. freezer can’t maintain a constant temp. about 5 years old and it’s just died.
I have never had a F/F that’s had such a short life span.

Got a miele dishwasher as well and it’s distinctly average, poor even.

Miele washing machine is ok.[very quiet] but no better than a zanussi that’s half the price. fridge freezer is the worst you could possibly buy.

Vorsprung Durch Technic my arse.

sorry mate, not my type of thing, but I’m a lover of conceptual art, so that’ll put me in the tiniest of minorities on here!

There’s a show of ‘invisible art’ on at the Hayward Gallery ATM, some good stuff! I would have loved to have seen a landscape photograph of the peaks included.

Imagine an invisible artwork titled ‘Peaks landscape photograph’, accompanied by a soundtrack of the intermittent clicking of a hope hub, get the picture?

I’ll get my coat…

Had a genesis io [till it got nicked] now got a kinesis decade virsa.

virsa is a tange prestige frame and so much smoother riding than the genesis [reynolds 520 I think, same as on-one frames]

The rigid fork that came with the genesis was aluminium and the harshest thing I’ve ever ridden. [Benji from the mag said as much when he reviewed it a couple of years back] the rest of the components on the genesis were crap too, stem made of welded scaffolding pipe, making the ride even harsher, wheels had16mm rims and were poorly built, seatpost bent in no time atall.

Still liked it though, but would recommend getting a frame only and building it up with a kona p2 or carbon fork if going rigid. Probably suits a sus fork better though.

older kinesis virsa frames have a very thin seat tube, needed clamp milled out to fit properly and shimmed a little on the inside surface to clamp properly, otherwise it wont clamp up properly and can/will lead to seat tube cracking, [check many posts on here about this] I think the new frames, the ones with tapered headtube have addressed seat tube problems.

The swap outs on the kinesis are very thick/sturdy, and I couldn’t stop break squeal/judder through the frame with a qr or bolted qr. the solution [as advised by DMR] was to have a thread tapped into the hollow axle and secure with 6mm bolts, which worked so well I’ve decided to do it on my other bike as well, not as good as a proper bolt thru maybe, but miles better than a qr or bolted skewer. a no brainer as they say, especially for sliding drop outs.

Babyjack…

It is totally unfair to link my comments to the events you describe.

I have a right to an opinion, and to say what I saw.

Yeah, but no, but……

Babyjack…

spoke to police when I first got there, they informed me of operation, uniform, cpso’s, and plain clothes, i counted about 16 covering the market.

The men who were ‘obviously selling stolen bikes’, were obviously selling stolen bikes. It was obvious.

“Did I know that some thieves use supermarket specials etc?’…Yes I did. your points regarding their use are sound, but again, obvious.

Relevance of black guys?….Could be that police were distracted from their stated task of dealing with bike crime when they saw black people on bicycles, taking up all their available resources and attention.

Looked like racial harassment to me….6 police deciding to stop black guys on bicycles just in case they maybe considering a bike crime, whilst all around actual bike thieves/stolen bike sellers are making themselves obvious to anyone with any nous.

I apologise for my over use of the word ‘obvious’….but…say what you see and all that.

I am not trying to stereotype the police, [sometimes they are quite capable of doing it themselves it seems!] and I’m sure all the police that post on here are lovely, but I know what I saw, and having lived in Hulme, Manchester for 20 years I can safely say that I have a better idea of whats going on than allot of the the young country bumpkin police that join the met force and don’t have a clue about what is in front of their faces.

Hmmm….

Got a bike pinched last year at GF’s flat in London, was locked to railing outside front door in secure compound.
A ‘crew’ did a number on the block and made off with 6 bicycles.

security guard asleep! [later sacked]

Suspects on security camera, they returned the next week to rob again, police called, they then ‘escorted’ crims from premises. No more than that.

Went down to Brick Lane market on the Sunday to see if bike turned up, place crawling with police on special anti-bike theft mission.
I saw 2 guys fitting description, obviously selling stolen bikes, as I approached police they stopped 2 black guys on bikes [not selling bikes, on battered supermarket specials, minding their own business] police gave them a hard time, guys weren’t bothered, as they had done now’t wrong.

This happened directly [10 feet away] from crims. Crims then jumped on bikes and legged it, tearing through the busy market scattering all and sundry, not one of the 6 [yes 6] police batted an eyelid, the black guys were laughing their heads off, pointing out the proper thieves, all to no avail.

I’d have laughed too if I’d not just had my bike nicked. I realised my bike wasn’t going to be found with all the attention of the calamity cops.
I asked two of the police if there were any other markets I could check, they stopped me mid sentence to question a guy who looked like he was straight off university challenge, [greatcoat, college scarf, satchel and specs, holding two sit up and beg/front basket bikes, obviously his and his girlfriends!] they gave him the 5th degree.

Meanwhile every dodgy trader was franticly on their mobiles and packing stuff away.

I can laugh now,

pi$$-up’s and breweries.

Ride Euston to Hackney Wick, [right next to stadium, closer than Stratford] all the time. 25-30 mins max, the whole route has been re-surfaced and not a pot hole in sight!

It’s a great ride actually, going through Hoxton and via Victoria Park.

Failling that, there’s an overground station at Hackney Wick, you can get on at Camden Rd which is about a mile from Euston but I’d never bother myself, Love the perfect road surface after riding during the week in Manchester!

After having problems using qr’s and bolted sqewers with my DMR swop-outs,which are much fatter than normal drop-outs[lots of break squealing and judder going through the frame], I phoned mMR and they advised getting a thread tapped into the axle and using 6mm bolts directly into the axle.

End of problem! feels so much more solid than before , no squeal or judder and the brake feels so much more precise.

Done with qr’s now, going to do the same to front wheel and both wheels on the other bike, [which is running bolted skewers currently]

Apparently is something trials and dirt riders have been doing for ages,

unless you’re racing, whats the point of qr’s anyway?

cycling in London is a joy compared to Manchester.So many bikes that drivers tend to recognise your existence. GF commutes east to west 15 miles a day through city & loves it. hates it in MCR

London comes alive when you’ve got a bike, done more there in the last 4 years than previous 10 since getting on us bikes.

Drac ?

Why not introduce a couple more wheel sizes that fit in-between the 3 current standards, so there’s an absolutely ‘perfect solution’ to every course?

I’m just your average rider, not a racer / trail god, I appreciate this thread is about high end racing, but as the privateer article pointed out, too many options can price out or put off your average rider.

If we could design an mtb from scratch and choose a standard wheel size not limited to current availability, one that was the ‘ideal compromise’, I wonder what that wheel size would be?

Perfect solution / best compromise? Splitting semantic hairs really.

Fair criticism TJ, I thought the mag had lost it’s way a little over the last 3 or 4 years, for me it wasn’t the parochial nature that bothered me, .

Had a look at an issue from 4 years ago where Matt was reviewing a Turner Flux and ended the review saying how grateful he was to ride such a lovely bike. Since then it seems to have gone a bit high tech and specialist. [Lee and Cragg quarries seem to have made a big impact in that respect] and moved away from it’s more laid back identity.

Victim of it’s own success maybe? Staff writers getting better riders / better kit to test? I feel that the mag used to represent the kind of riding and attitude to riding as me.

Props to the new format though, moving with the times and responding to the changes in the publishing world. Don’t think it’s fair to compare to Privateer, ST cheaper cover price and more of an all round mag really.

ST probably helped develop the market for Privateer,. Privateer probably saw the way ST had gone and saw an opportunity to fill the gap that ST had left in it’s wake. ST coming back stronger, all good to me, I used to buy ST and one or two of the other mainstream mags, now just ST and Privateer, No extra spend, just don’t get the mainstream mags anymore, [unless tempted by the occasional freebee!]

With al the development that’s gone into designing mountain bike frames / suspension / bits etc. I find it amazing that it’s all been done around two pre-existing wheel sizes, neither ideal for the job in hand. Whilst I know that 650B has been around as a niche size since pre mtb times, it does seem to be the perfect solution. I know what wheel size my next bike will be.

Got crests and specialized rovals [which rip off stans bead socket design]

normal folding tyres [schwalbe, wtb, specialized] fit fine, though ive heard tubeless specific tyres [like the new schwalbe pace star and wtb tlr can be tight / impossible to fit.

It can be important to get both tyre beads into the well of the rim whilst fitting [can make the difference between impossible and easy!] patience is the key.

remove or don’t use the cloth rim strip, one of my wheels came with one installed, though I think they’ve stopped doing this, [you wont be getting any tyre on if you leave it in place]. Only use the rim tape, even if running tubes.

Personally think stans rim design is the best / most secure design for going tubeless, the wide bead shelf pops the bead on and keeps it there, even when deflated. Don’t need fully tubeless tyres for stans rims, just add sealant to normal ones.

Allot of new tyres are going tubeless ready with tighter beads though, which means choice is becoming more limited, don’t let it put you off though, weight loss, puncture proofing and all round performance is great

Also, the wider rim of stans [21mm internal v 17mm for mavic] makes for MUCH more tyre stability even at a lighter weight!. I would choose the stans for this over everything else actually. I would never go back to a 717 and the unstable feeling it gives the tyre.

What’s it like? is it good for mtb stuff? can you bring bits to trade with stall-holders?

Joining this debate late but really quite shocked at the spleen, vitriol, contempt and even hatred exhibited towards artists by what I’d previously considered a reasonable/tolerant bunch on this forum. Take a look at yourselves people.

More than dignified, his words were as profound as his grief.

Seat-tube is very thin indeed, I bought the specially designed ‘decade’ quick release when I got the frame, seems there was a dodgy batch as it gripped the seatpost before the tube.

Phoned upgrade and they went and checked if their stock of the special ‘decade’qr’s would fit a 27.2 post and they found it wouldn’t, They reamed a qr to fit and sent it out for free.

The modified qr has a really narrow lip [the bit sits at top of seat-tube] so it seems that it’s not just that its a thin seat-tube that’s the problem, it’s also the issue of getting a qr that will clamp up tight enough before touching the seatpost.

Art is…… ‘anything done well’. [Andy Warhol]

‘Everybody is an Artist…but only the Artist knows it’. [Joseph Beuys]

I believe the fork reminisces for its lost bosses.

‘reminiscence’ The word I was looking for without even knowing of its’ existence.

Cheers brick.

didn’t want to break the chain and weaken it for half link, though looking at chain [proper ss one] the pins seem to stick out a fair way, so looks more durable than normal chain. Prob take your advice and stump up the 99p!

Just fitted an fsa orbit xl 2, picked up for £20 from cycle surgery [after price match against crc] excellent reviews on the fsa on forums, [better than hope e.t.c.] Only ridden it a couple of times but think its as good as the expensive race face deus on my other bike [which is still running superb after 5 years by the way]

Every day.

Keep safe and courteous though, keep an eye out for the 5-O

Surprised how seriously this issue is taken on this forum.

Thanks,

Looks like I’ll give them a go on the full sus and switch the 32 spoke set to my ss hardtail

Switching out your O/S bar & stem will make a lot of difference. I did the same on my genesis io ss and it improved things no end. I used an old wide EA70 bar and the flex that had become a bit annoying on my full sus made things far more comfortable on the ss and seemed to give better feedback/grip.

Carbon kit may remove a bit of trail buzz but I reckon that the lightish and wide alloy bar made it better when things got lumpy.

Lanzarote for road biking, stayed near playa blanca in the south last xmas, perfect roads cut through a lunar landscape. Did’nt bother doing any mtn biking, roads were great.

Good riding to be had in the hills around Benson as well. Can’t say i’m familiar with the riding in the Falklands though!

Should be o.k. as long as your stem face-plate and neck has straight edges so it fits snug with the flanges on the shims. Wouldn't do it if stem has a curved face-plate / neck.

Poppa's right, some toras' are better than others and Merlin has some of the better ones on offer. Still, at least half a pound difference like for like [coil or air], which is quite a bit hanging off the front of your bike. Recon weight difference exactly half way between reba and tora

I take your point about the smoothness of steel as well actually, though they can rust over time [vs fact that alu can wear]. Just that I don't think many would take steel uppers over alu, for the weight penalty alone, let alone the snob / bling factor.

How many 'quality' xc / trail forks come with steel uppers?…erm, none I can think of !

Just think the new reba coil looks a killer deal, don't need to buy shock pump, less maintenance issues, looks the b*llocks over a tora. Toras'

If budget a big issue, then as Poppa says, a tora with motion control is prob the way to go, I'd just say steer [ha!] clear of the cheaper toras'

Recon all travel adjustment 80/100/120 requires removing a spacer & topping up with oil [or making sure you save any oil when you remove lowers]. Pretty simple job, though LBS will probably do it for £15-20. [My LBS did it for £15 on girlfriends reba]

Merlin selling them @ 100mm. they might do the adjustment for you if you ask nicely.

Recon will be MUCH better & MUCH lighter than tora. Better damping, smoother low friction alu upper legs, alu steerer e.t.c.

Nearly all RS forks have adjustable travel, you dont need u-turn unless you want to adjust on the fly, and with a 456 you'll prob find it perfect all the time at 120mm

Recon all travel adjustment 80/100/120 requires removing a spacer & topping up with oil [or making sure you save any oil when you remove lowers]. Pretty simple job, though LBS will probably do it for £15-20. [My LBS did it for £15 on girlfriends reba]

Merlin selling them @ 100mm. they might do the adjustment for you if you ask nicely.

Great till it rain. got some Fabsil & waterproofed mine. Also snapped clip off bladder after a month. Could say it was my fault, or could say s*it design. 10/10 in all reviews but not as good all round as a camelbak.

Could get a reba from merlin for that £. Or have a look at the new recon coil they're doing for under £200, bit heavier but probably smoother than a smooth thing & could be extended to 120 mm. Serious lack of shorter travel coil forks these days to satisfy the weight weenies, but this new RS fork looks the b*llocks. I'm sure they'll suit the industrial nature of a 456,Think of it as a more versatile [& cheaper! Orange P7, the one with the vanilla]

Low maintenance, bit of platform damping & Bobs your auntie not your enemy. Loving my 8 year old fox vanilla set to 100mm set up with a bit of platform. [can't shorten new vanilla's, they're set at 140]

The only reliable way to measure a tyre size is to measure it bead to bead laid flat before you mount it. Still some variation with regards tyre profile/ height but much more accurate than any manufacturers numbers.

Had some funny looks from bike shop staff when I've asked for a tape measure and headed for the tyre section, but what do they know eh?

1210's

sold mine to buy GF a kona kula. She loves the bike but thinks I'm stupid for selling them.

She's right of course.