“Tora or Pike I cant remember 140mm”
Try and remember, it’d help here
I don’t think there was ever a 140mm tora, but as there was a 140mm recon I don’t imagine it would have been impossible
What dropouts/axle does the fork have. ‘normal’ Quick Release lever, or Maxle QR where you unscrew and remove the axle out the side before the wheel?
If they’re toras then I’d be thinking about somethign else If you feel they don’t cut it for you. On a prophet I’d have thought a pike was ideal. Maybe get it ‘pushed’ by TFtuned if its in good nick and you want it to improve it a bit?

“Im thinking about reducing the travel a little bit as I like the forks to be solid but dont want to screw up the geometry (the bike comes into its own on the downhills”
Not sure I’d be thinking about reducing travel, maybe upping spring rate (by upping air pressure or changing the spring for a stiffer one) if thats what you’re after? A firmer fork?

I’d be looking at Rockshox Revlation as well as you other options. The Dual Air models (Not dual-position-air) models can be spaced down in travel from 150mm if you want
If its something a bit firmer (solid?) then maybe try to find a Manitou Minute, in 140mm and 20mm axle, light and should be able to find a deal from somewhere for a year or 2 old models. SingletrackMag seems to like them as a harder (solid?) riding 140mm fork

“You cannot be deemed to have accepted this as you have never actually had it built and used”
I have built it up? Used no, not turned a pedal (while sat on it)

Forks (lowers, air chamber, damper) DIY job, though yet to open up a Blackbox damper yet
Rear shock only done air can/sleeve. I don’t think you can DIY rear shock dampers, pressurised nitrogen maybe? Or is that just tosh?

“£95 + postage for a service is robbery”
Specialized Shock/Brain service is more ..
That said every time mine has gone back they seem to send all the old internals back too

“Depends who you ask.Stay with Rockshox.”
I dunno, Rockshox haven’t exactly had a clean slate for past problems?

Heavy stantion/bushing and stantion wear isn’t difficult to achieve if you don’t keep up with dropping the lowers
2 step on Lyriks (And mission control? or not?) was hasn’t had the best track record?
Motion Control units can leak under harder use

I’ve also found lower rebound adjusters are prone to rusting/seizing up within 3 months, A dust seal blew mid ride on me not so long ago, with a loss of air pressure (though the lowers aren’t supposed to hold air?), ball bearing U-turn adjusters can jam/seize

That said I don’t think I’ll ever pay the extra for fox over heavily discounted Rockshox I’ve bought previously, the little bit of extra weight (And the 07/08 ATA issues) of marzocchi has put me off too, that and no 20mm axle on 44’s (one of the mags reckoned QR15mm 44’s were flexier than fox 32 QR15mm too)
That said (again) my 2004ish Marzocchi MX Pro ETA 120’s have been faultless, yet to open them up. Only issue I have is being 30mm stantions, QR and a touch weedy looking I think they might be a bit flexier than newer (32mm) rockshox I’ve had

Also, a failry pointless sidenote, certain Rockshox spares are ridiculously pricey. over £200 for older revelation uppers (Though I fox are that money too). A travel spacer I think is something like £15. Fox(or rather mojo) I think wanted £1 when I looked

“somewhere flat-ish

I only drop my seat post for steep tec sections”

Me too, if you know/think you know whats coming you can
Obviously that’d never be anything like an adjustable post, just saying you don’t have to stop and get off the bike if you ‘only’ have a QR seat clamp

Probably not every 3 rides normally, but if its been a bit wet out and/or if they don’t put a lot of grease in from new then it wouldn’t hurt to try in case it does sort it

Else, send it back

I don’t enjoy mechanics in the dark, but I don’t enjoy walking (With flat tyred bike) on my tod for 7 miles in the dark/mud more

“so will replace the cassette I think”
How much use has the ‘new’ chain had? It will have been ‘trying’ to ‘wear’ to the worn casette. If you use a new casette with your ‘new(er)’ chain the casette will have to ‘wear’ to the ‘new'(er) chain?

I always buy chain/casette/chainrings all together. Then not wasting anything new by making it ‘wear’ to anything not new
Last couple of times I’ve swapped to a new chain at or just (I mean just) over 0.75% stretch (on the 1st chain), again nearing (or at) 1% stretch on the 2nd chain aand then leave the 3rd chain on until everything is dead and slipping/snapping

Going by waht I’ve read on here the best thing to do would be to have 3 chains from new and alternate them every or evry other ride. (cleaning everything properly between obviously). I can’t be bothered with this level of drivetrain dedication/faff

put the old (worn) chain back on. Clean everything, lube it. Spin a bit more. It ought to last a bit longer before the gear slippage becomes really unbearable again

If you keep it that filthy, I’d reckon 1000miles was fairly good?

You don’t carry spare tubes?

Maybe try opening up and regreasing the insides as per the instructions?

“I was sick of stopping and lowering my post”
Learn to do it while riding then. Its not that that hard. Just got to be careful, do it somewhere flat-ish and go slow

“I was sick of stopping and lowering my post”

“when the post is dropped and you pick the bike up by the seat the post comes out then goes back in when released… which it never used to do”
My KS i900 used to do that
The side-to-side play got so much that it was hindering me riding on anything slow and very techy where I was wanting to use the saddle to anchor/reference with my knees/legs a bit. On the plus side it gave a bit more give when climbing anything loose enough to get the bike bouncing off stuff sideways
Replacing the guide pins made little difference, everything else was worn
The fore-aft play was getting noisy too
After that it stopped staying down

“the reverb got 5 out of 5 on bike radar says its the most reliable post going”
+1 on the lol. Bleeding it all the time is normal then?

“22+30+38 you could probably get away with having 7 or 8 gears on the back 11-30 this should be plenty for most situations”

22-34T is an extra gear over 22-30T, I use this bottom gear a fair bit on steep(er) hills, either at the end of a longer ride when I’m on my arse, when its really really steep and/or when I want to be able to spin fairly fast (rather than grind away) over the rough
Re: its quicker to walk, spinning quite fast in 22-34T is faster than walking IME, plus I went for a bike ride, not a walk with my bike
Only times I’ve really really wanted higher than a 32T chainring on FS bike has been on road downs (good bits but still). I’d like a 36T so I’m not using the smallest end of the casette so often and spinny, but I don’t really want the 14T jump between 22>36T tbh, I’d be losing 32-34T which is quite useful for up-down-up-down-up-down trails where I’m up and down the casette

“You can get an 11-36 10spd cassette for ~200g if you really want, which is lighter than nearly (or possibly all) 9spd full sized “
Yes, but how much does an XX 10spd 11-36T casette cost?

“you use it downhill the chain has more tension so rattles against the stay less”
I used to do this, I often found I ended up with the chain halfway (or further) up the casette, the chainline then not only was less efficient, it very often pulled the chain off the big chainring over the rough.
I found within 6 months of fitting new outer chainrings (which I stopped using since shimano figured how to make (middle) chainrings that aren’t made of cheese (since SLX came out) I’d worn the teeth so badly the chain wouldn’t stay on it.
2*9 + medium cage mech + shorter chain suprised me how much less my chain falls from middle to granny ring (And then off and jamming against a frame pivot). Its pretty much never now

Mech hitting chainstay? A Shadow mech gets round that IME
(Or chain slapping chainstay?)

“Bashguard is required to allow the screws to tighten”
Not if you use short ones?

SLX come with removable shifter windows and blanking plates

I believe the difference (I’ve ‘stood-tested’ both, though at different times) is that XT (2008-2011 9spd) changes slightly quicker

On the release lever (ie going to lesser-toothed-sprockets/harder gears on ‘normal’ release mechs (not rapid rise), I think XT is supposed to release as soon as you push the lever, whereas SLX won’t release until you start to let go of the lever? In reality so long as you don’t have some sort of habit where you hold onto the release lever for too long, its going to be a very small difference

I could of course be wrong in thinking all of this ..

“Unless you want 2 way release”
Which Deore 9speed has these days (at least from around mid-2008), though I imagine non-2-way release deore shifters will be hanging around somewhere online and probably came supplied on a few bikes in the meantime?

Would this somehow make it easier for the preserved steam line from matlock to rowsley/Network Rail to extend tracks along this route in future?
“It means you can avoid the A6 from Bakewell to Rowsley”
You can do that already can’t you by using a few b.ways? Though having never ridden them I’m clueless as to how suited they are for non-MTBers/MTBs?

I don’t mean to belittle this in any way as a cycle path extension to rowsley I can see would be a very useful addition. Just interested

Also walna scar rd, since they levelled most of it (the down on the E/Coniston side) I’d be tempted to try peeling off the walna scar rd climb 2/3 of the way up (from dunnerdale) and head S down this:

which is here

Rosthwaite/Seatoller(Borrowdale) upto Styhead and down to Wasdale wouldn’t be favourable with bivvy kit IMO, just for the uphill. I don’t know what ‘good’ options there are around there. Might be a carry up whichever route you choose?
Probably the longest ‘don’t screw up, or you’re over the bars’-technical down I’ve done. A great down, though I had in my head that it had hospitalized one of the magazine’s staff some time ago (I think they may have been on a lightweight hardtail but .. )

Sty head south to Wasdale I’ve never done, I seem to think an old STmag article (same one as mountain rescue/hospitalisation) said the most south easterly of the 3 b.ways was pretty good, though can’t remember what the wording was. Something like issue 26-31ish I think, at a guess 27? or 28? maybe 29? ..

Geograph isn’t showing a lot
(part of) Borrowdale upto Styhead
Styhead down into Wasdale
Move around a square or two

A few of mine (Borrowdale upto Styhead):




Not the best selection but was going down so stopped when arms were feeling it/had to dab/thought might make a good pic of the down/waiting for walkers/etc

“I didn’t know they did centrelock xt in 2004”
I was guessing on that one

M765 on winstanleys says its 2004

Which XT hub do you have? 6-bolt or centrelock rotor attachment
(they’re quite different and need different tools to maintain)

What has actually happened to it? You say fallen apart,are the nuts loose on the axle? In which case they can easily be tightened with the right tools

Other hubs?
6-bolt XT is a 2004 groupset. So 430g ish weight, 16point freehub pickup speed, threaded 10mm axle w.QR

centrelock XT will be 2012, 2008 (M770 etc?) or if you look really hard they’re probably some 2004 (M760 etc?) ones kicking about somewhere
2004 I should think will be similar to the 6bolt one
2008 is about 100g lighter than 2004, 36point freehub, oversize 14?mm axle (reducing to 10mm QR)

2009 SLX centrelock I think is about 380g. 32point pickup, 10mm threaded axle w.QR (CRC has some M500 series (16point) SLX hubs listed, they’re not SLX
Also a 32point SLX freehub will bodge onto a 2004 6bolt XT hub IME

Similarish money
On-one has a 10mm thru-bolt hub for £40 IIRC (no idea on pickup speed) for about 300g
Superstar Switch EVO about £60. 24point pickup, 300gish weight, will convert to many different rear axle standards (QR, 10mm thru bolt, 12mm maxle, syntace 142mm)

Must be a few other things for similar money

“Weren’t the old Cotic full suss frames knocked out at a reduced price at the end?”
IIRC they went up at the end, to £1100 (inc RP23, seat collar, chainstay, posted)

“Why not introduce a single pivot/simple frame at a lower price point as the start of a full suss range builder?”
Like a heckler? I assume many more people with know/hear of santa cruz than cotic, why would you buy a cheap cotic (after WMB/MBUK/bikeradar told people the hemlock broke (without saying there was a spacer missing)) over (the well proven) Santa Cruz Heckler?

“Hope Pro II on Mavic 521 will cost you less than £300. Strong and light”
Well, the rims aren’t light. Granted less heavy than 321’s but ..

“you can’t beat Hope Hoops”
So long as you are happy with the loud, slowish pickup speed of Pro II hubs of course
And unless you want the more middleground Stans Arch/ArchEX rim (rather than the XCy crest, or the DHy flow)

Similarish to the original 3, how do Easton EA90’s/similar stack up?

I like it. I think I prefer them in luminous green though ..

“Got to be the silliest thread since”
What about the guy who dremelled (off centre, off straight) rectangular holes into his crank arms to make them lighter, did one jump and declared on that basis that they would never ever fail ..

Get the centre threads tapped (though not sure who would have that size thread tap?). Move them on if you don’t want them. Buy some shorter cranks

Offset bushings can wear out quicker as one edge is thinner than normal (being offset)
Slacker HA will likely make it more of a handful going up anything steep/tight/techy
Long(ish) stem and slack(ish) HA might be a bit at odds, 66.5deg HA, 65mm(ish) stem would be fairly middleground? Maybe up your bar width upto about 760mm too?

IIRC Hecklers are ok upto 160mm forks warrantywise, so you’d think it’d be able to take a bit more up front, not that it should be any worse? In short, I’ve no idea

“so imagine my head angle is around the 68 degree mark (SC website states 69, but I think thats for a 140 fork”
Probably more like 68.5deg

“Increasing headangle”
“fit a longer fork”
Which is it?

To slacken the front end you could also fit a bigger tyre up front too. Obviously you wouldn’t want to go much bigger, but it’ll add a little more with other things above

“Minion DHF’s”
I thought Minion was the dry(ish) DH(ish) tyre?
High Roller being the middley/ Wet loamy one andScream/Swampthing etc being the wet ones?

Same sized wise I have thought you’d be better going for one for wetter conditions if you’re going maxxis?

Compared to this non electric Nicolai Nucleon E2 for about the same money, the electric one is a bargain no?

EDIT: Also this non electric Nicolai Nucleon AM is similar money too?

Anything on what speeds it can do uphill?

I could live with 15mph up a typical uphill fireroad ..

Am guessing the frame alone is many thousands?

EDIT: Nice, 31.5lb just for the frame, and over £4k ..

“Flat featureless and dull”
Fairly flat, mostly featureless, but dull? You’re not riding it fast enough ..

Went early december (so not upto date on conditions), maybe the best I’ve found kitchener to ride. Keep up some pedalling and pumping and I htought it rode really well. Suprised myself how well tbh. Never quite clicked with it before, then again don’t think I’ve ridden all of it before either

Okay so they are one or two bits that don’t work that well, but I’m willing to ignore those ..

There is plenty of non bridleway stuff about. Sad to say I missed all that was mentioned above when I lived there. Thought I’d sussed out the majority within about 5miles (as the crow flies) from the city centre
Look at an OS map, look at the old railway lines, look for the blocks of woodland, they’ve mostly got something in worth a try

If you let all the air from the -ve chamber on the reba’s I’d guess they’ll also have more stantion showing than travel. RS Dual-air models seem to sit into their travel if you run the pressures equal or -ve more than +ve IME

528mm rings a bell as to what RS say

Was going to suggest truvativ boobars (780mm, 20 or 30mm rise), but just seen the superstar descent’s are only 5g heavier for £15 less

BBB one. 2-24Nm, includes a selection of allen key bits and a Torx25

31euro a day?
Whats a week pass? and whats that against the BikeParkAustria pass which lets you use Leogang, Saalbach Hinterglemm, Schladming, Semmering and Wagrain. Well I think thats what a dirt mag top europe thingi said a while back?

“Superstar pads do this now and then. They won’t do anything about it”
I seem to think they’ve said they think its using a screwdriver/etc to push the pads/pistons back (I’ve had SS pads go this way) or not bedded in properly (they’re not easy ‘bedders in’, perhaps especially so if you have too big or too well vented rotors and haven’t got a massive hill to drag them down?

I’m still on SS sintered’s anyway atm. Will go back to ‘organic’ SS front/sintered SS rear once it dries up a bit, maybe organic/organic SS, though maybe something else If I go on go biking somewhere drier

“Surely if its that steep they’ll make a difference you’re probably walking anyway.. “

Depends on whether you’re bike riding or taking your bike for a walk ..

I use my U-turn forks. Granted the click per 0.5mm travel is faff, but I wanted to be able to use the intermediate travel settings in between the newer Dual-position-air, 2step style setup as I knew the maximum travel on my fork would make my bike handle poorly in that setting

Lowest travel for ups, some singletrack. Middling travel for bits of both. Longest travel only for downs that I think might be more fun and aren’t too pedally or slow/tight/stop-starty

The issue I have is working out what height to run the bars at? I could make the bike handle better with the fork at full travel with a flat stem slammed, maybe lower rise bars. But then it’d be so low in the lower travel settings that it’d only work on really steep stuff (else my back starts to moan). Conversly if I have the bars a bit higher so I can leave the forks in lowest travel on the flats/less techy downs, then the bike is worse with the forks wound out?

Mowgli, where from?

“I would be extremely surprised if these were not the original spec forks”
Spesh site isn’t showing any models fitted with that age MZ since 2005?
2006 and 2007 have MZ’s but with later graphic styles?

I have some 2005 MZ’s. I’ve never checked (I will be doing now) but I’ve not seen any corrosion on the lowers/dropouts. Certainly not chipped away anyhow. They’ve never been in a ‘remove wheel’ type bike carrier, nor used to commute on salty roads? (probably been on a salty road or two while on a ride but)

I think On-one have recon coil TK’s for less, at £100. Not 100% sure on what discounts you can stack up on merlin atm
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FORSRETK/rockshox_recon_silver_tk_coil_100mm_fork_with_lockout

“6’3″ and a bit and ride a 16.5″ or 17″, I’ve never understood why you need a gate”
Really?
Or do you not ride more ‘cross-county-ish elements’ as much/as seriously? As in uphill saddle in a ‘proper’ pedalling position, flat out (still pedally) stuff, much fully saddle up descending? other instances where a fitting frame benefits over one 2/3 sizes too small?
Rather than just very chuckable and jumpable?

Me
6’3 (a short arse on this thread .. )
Large (19″?) Spesh SJer FSR
20″ Sanderson
had a 21″ Giant XTC
21.5″ Trek 4100, used as a commuter/sort of tourer
‘Large’ (upto 6’1) Pinnacle Camino ..
May have a 19.5″ El Guapo on the way

“22 front, 36 rear?
It would be quicker to walk up”

Depends how fast you spin?
If its a pedal mashingly slow speed/cadence your at then likely yes, but manically spinning up rubble/etc IME I’d say not

Though you’ve got to factor in the extra slowness of getting off/on the bike if you’re not going to ride you bike on the bike ride that you’re apparantly undertaking