“So once you hit something they stop being flexy?! “
I dunno, it was mbr that kept on printing it

“just make sure you get single plys and the hard compound ones”

Or the 2.35″ folding ones are 150-200g lighter (per tyre) than the single-ply(wire) ones

2.25″ Crossmarks are just over 700g. The 2.1″ is about 500g-600g depending on whether its wire or folding, 70a or 62a. They ride well, just not so good in mud

“You do need a fair amount of grunt to get some joining pins out so just keep trying!”
If you are using a mutlitool one, they’re usually too short to provide a decent amount of leverage, which will make it quite difficult to do. Either try harder or use an independant chain tool. I’ve got a topeak one for £6-7 (that the handle unscrews and can use as extra leverage when using allen keys on a multitool

“Or get your old chain ‘measured’ and see if it needs replacing anyway.”
Or buy a chain measuring tool for £5-10 and do it your self

“it bent . this can happen if you dont oil your chain regularly. if you wash the bike and leave it to dry then you get a rusty chain within a few days, then links can dry and seize up then get bent. so every time you wash the bike (Always oil afterwards and obviously oil before you set off… dont think our mate oiled his chain properly !! it was a a newish chain too !”
Your chain will wear out quicker if you don’t oil your chain, or leave to dry/rust after washing. The chain gets weaker and bends
If its a new chain its much more likely it just had a weak link, or you happened to be putting power down and you(or the bike) decided to change (a few) gear(s) at the time

If its new(ish) definetly stick a powerlink in
Edinburgh bicycle co-op were the cheapest last time I bought a load in. They’ve got puncture repair kits for £1 too which I bought a few of and other bits and bobs I could do with to get it over £20 (to get free postage)

” it might be nice to take off wet shoes at the end of the ride”
Ah, I hadn’t thought about that.
Maybe me own multi-day bike ride footwear plan needs a rethink

Given the price rises you’ll be lucky to find a HTII stile crankset for £40. Even before the price rises I never saw one that cheap

However for a few more pounds these should all be good (despite their cut down prices):

Truvativ Firex ( Team) = 940g. 44-32-22T, 170mm or 175mm = £45 posted

Shimano Deore HTii 44-32-22T, 175mm = £50 posted

Or with a bash guard:

Truvativ Firex (2.2AM) bash-36-24T = 940g = £48 posted

I rode my 2.35″ 60a folding (not the single ply one) high rollers on the road yesterday for an extended period (35/45psi) and was very suprised at how fast rolling they are

I suspect you’re willing to live with something with less grip offroad in order to be even faster on the road though?

“very small pair of non bike shoes for evening”

Have you considered getting a pair of vaguely hiking boot lookalike SPD shoes? Like the specialized tahoes or the shimano equivalents. Would let you take one pair of shoes, and perhaps be better for shouldering/pushing the bike if that were needed. I think only the front part of the shoe is designed to flex, so it shouldn’t loose that much stiffness for pedalling. (I’ve not ridden a set myself though). Just an idea?

“a Pa, but it’s the obvious alternative; heavier, but stronger and cheaper”

I would’ve thought a pipedream sirrus was maybe closer to a soul. Lighter, more flexy, about the same (or cheaper – not sure if they went up) than a PA and take 120-130mm forks

2007 ones were 140mm. I rememeber reading reviews that they were really quite flexy at that travel, but not a problem at 120mm

Follow the link on here to the 2007 forks, the float X (terralogic) was 130mm, the RLC, RL and R were 140mm

Saddle and tyres look a bit shonky

mine (1*9 speed because the chain/casette worked out cheaper and got the 9spd LX shifter for a fiver):

EDIT: Now I’ve actually read the thread title, I’ve noticed the commuters bit. Am feeling a bit silly now. As you can probably guess, its no commuter

“Thinking of lyrik 2 step but there a bit pricey”
“Wotan”
“There very heavy “

According to their respective websites, the wotan is heavier than the lyric 2-step yes, but by 1g. So if wotans are heavy, then so are lyrics

I don’t think its a case

low cab/rear windscreen and the large grill on the front part of the bonnet sides look wrong

As for the thread (the bike ride pictures):



went for a wander around ride, and to see if anything more had been made on all that shore, some progress since last time (Which was novemember)

I’d be suprise if anyone guesses where it is. If you do, did you have a hand in building any of it?

Looks much more like a belarus to me, the low rear windscreen gives it away

Else maybe a same or a zetor. Its not overly clear

All stuff gamekeepers buy cheap to do a few odd jobs

Given the proximity to the fire it looks more like hes trying to stop it spreading, but theres not a set of discs or anything obvious in shot, though it also likely he is spreading it (burning tire on a rope or something)

Looks like they’ve not got many left as complete builds. Do they deal with cycle to work schemes?

Is it 1 1/8″ steerer, or 1.5″?

On the offchance it’ll take 1.5″ steered forks these are £180 posted brand new:

Walna Scar Road is very good. The track heading south down into satterthaite? (the place on the West side) is very good too:

Have you looked over there —>>>
on the trails page of the website?
They have this on whinlatter up there:
Trail guide on here[/url]
and for the south loop:
Whinlatter south loop on vimeo

Theres not a weekends worth at whinlatter itself, half a day to a day depending on how quick you like to take it.
Theres loads of really good riding in the surrounding area (just like pretty much all the lakes) though to fill the rest of your weekend
The book by V graphics is pretty good for the lakes:

Not in stock on the shop part of here at the mo apparantly. Should be avialable in any half decent bike shop in the lakes (its available in others across the country)

“Could the chain have been damaged by attempting to use the middle chainring suring one 2 hour ride”

Its more likely to either be:
-You’ve not set the chain to be the correct length for the casette/chainrings [round the biggest chainring, round the biggest rear sprocket (NOT through the mech) and then overlap of one outer/one inner plate]
-Just too new, the chain hasn’t worn to the chainring yet (whenever I replace the chain/casette/rings, it takes a ride or two to stop jumping/skipping and so on

It could be something else
And it could also be that the old chainring was so worn, its worn the chain too.
Use/buy/borrow a chain wear tool and see how stretched it is. If the old ring was really bad and has worn out the new chain, it’ll be obvious. Get a new chain (though could’ve worn the casette too). If the chain tool is miles off fitting the chain and it has no play in it whatsoever (and no or very little obvious wear on the little inner rollers (the bit that goes in contact with the rings) then its probably better to make the new ring ‘fit’ the partially used ring

Is it possible to put the whole shock the other way up?
Like this:

Theoretically it means there is less ‘suspended weight’ (ie less mass to move when the suspension moves) because the ‘fat’ end of the shock is now connected to the frame

That doesn’t really answer you question though

I wouldn’t want to run without the air cap, mud will get in at some point, you’ll not be able to get it all out, and when you depress the valve to let air out/put air in, the dirt will get inside the shock

“Damn it !!!!! Between james’s post and tomato’s I only went and ordered four bloody sets of Superstar pads thinking everything was all-right with them now :o{“

Just make sure you bed them in properly to start with, and although I don’t know that it will help, maybe somehow make sure you keep on riding things that get your brakes hot (some brake dragging maybe required?).

Only a theory (as I’ve no idea about anyone else), but maybe being heavier means I’m getting them hotter more often, and so as they wear they’re being cooked/heated/hardened more often? Only a wild guess though

If it turns out you need the plastic thing, you could always run in in the middle ring, put the front mech onto the bike, but wind the high and low screws all the way in, so the front mech acts as a chainguide stopping it from changing gear on you?

“I would never use ones from a company I had not heard of or that has a bad reputation”

The superstar ones I’ve used have been fine. Perhaps a little less ‘feel’ than genuine avid pads, but not by much. They last just as long.

The ‘normal’ ones are slighlty sintered already by the looks of them.
(Available for all of these brakes)

The sintered ones are even more long lasting (but only available for a few of the most popular brakes)

Get a set. If you don’t like them you can always send them back
Just make sure you bed them in properly (though I’ve not had any problems with them falling apart)
superstar components disc brake pads

Whenever I’ve put anything other than water into a camelbak it goes mouldy quite quickly (after rinsing/cleaning). Do I really want to be pouting sugar/fruit juices in it? I think I’ll be giving it a try though

“Have you tried sucking the little pads inside your helmet?
If so, what do they taste like?”
I’m not sure as to the levels of urea in sweat, so not overly keen on licking the sweat back

Laggan Black is graded as a double black (confusingly), so is the warren boulder trail, but is much harder

I take it you’ve already had a look at the page on the trail guide on this website[/url]?

A 32:16 on a 29″ wheel will be equivalent to 32:14.35T on a 26″ wheeled bike
Obviouslya 14.35T sprocket doesn’t exist, but the third smallest on a 11-32T casette is a 14T, the third smallest on an 11-34T casette is a 15T. So in between.

It basically going to be 1.1154 times as hard to ride in the same gear. It maybe that thats too high for the terrain you ride with whatever level of fitness you may have

A 32:16T on a 26″ wheeled bike is equivalent to a 32:17.85T on a 29″ wheeled bike. So the closest is a 32:18T setup (assuming still using a 32T front ring?) which is slightly easier, but not by much. The extra wheel weight will probably more than make up for the slightly easier gearing anyway

“Comparison value includes delivery charges”

Does this mean they’ll match other peoples price plus P&P, and then charge their own postage?

“it was a steel frame with a non replaceable hanger”

Ah, fair enough.
I still don’t get why steel frames don’t come with replacable hangers (except the orange P7 (must be others as well?))
Surely its easier to carry a replacement hanger with you than a spare mech. That said when I mashed my old mech into a log head on, the over-beefy (compared to other mech hangers) specialized mech hanger remained straight and unharmed

I’ve read on here you can top up the BtW scheme
The Commencal Combi is 100mm. Thats not really long travel (compared to everything else out there – especially given pretty much all XC race bikes are now 100mm)

Genesis Abyss = £1075?

On-one 456 SLX Revelation Complete (built up, in stock) I’m not sure whats going on with the handlebars though? If they’re ‘mary’ bars you could always swap them for some Easton EA30 685mm’s or something = £1150

Norco Sasquatch – though not showing on the UK part of their website for 2009 :( – but is in the canadian bit (Roughly £1k):

Kona Five-O Deluxe = £1200:

Kona Five-O = £1000 (though the (brown/white) ’08 one is as low as £710 (search google products):

I can’t think of any more (apart from frame only ones, or second hand ..

“and saved my nut many a time get one “

Have you replaced it at all after the knocks?

If a giro doesn’t fit (like me) the specialized instinct (£50 – though probably harder to find as discounted as the hex) is really good, has a crash replacement scheme like giros

” It took my hanger out and THEN snapped”

Surely thats what you want to happen? You can/should carry a spare mech hanger, but nobody (there are exceptions I know) is likely to carry a spare rear mech with them on every ride

“None of the new mechs appear to have adjustment at the mech end… “
If you back it off before you secure the cable, theres enough at the shifter. Though I agree a mech adjuster is easier/better to use

Don’t buy it for the shadowness, just for the neater, more direct cable routing and that it doesn’t hit the chainstay (whereas in the rough the old style did all the time)

Price rises mean they’ve gone up a bit though
The XT one has an aluminium tensioner, I bent one and have heard of other cases. £45ish on merlin, £62 on CRC!
The SLX one has a steel tensioner, isn’t supposed to bend, but is 30g or so grams heavier than the XT one. But at £32 (from merlin) is cheaper.

I’ll be getting an SLX one next time I smash my XT one into something

“CRC or wiggle only show 120mm Reba’s with the 15mm Maxle”

I thought rockshox only did 20mm? (Fox and marzocchi being 15mm)

Don’t quote me on this or anything, but my guess would be that given all the pre-09 ones came supplied at 100mm (though by adding or removing internal spacers could go to 85 or 115mm). Maybe all the QR versions o the new ones (spacerable 90-120mm) are being supplied as 100mm.
If thats the case, it maybe that you could get a shop (at point of purchase) to take out the 20mm spacer you don’t want to make them to 100mm. To do so it requires a service (being taken apart) though so would probably have to go to/through the importer/tftuned/whoever.
You could maybe ask a (decent) bike shop if they could get one supplied to them set at 120mm?

Else its the 120mm 20mm maxle lite one, or the 90-120mm U-turn one (if they’re not the same thing)

EDIT: Sorry, I didn’t read the above link. TFtuned do them, but may well be a bit pricier than from elsewhere

“would this coat the shock and wreck it?”

Just get one of these:
Rear shock boot (works just as well on an air shock)[/url]
If the shop you get one from stocks them, and you ask them to, they ought to chuck you one in when the sell you the bike, well if you pay other than by card (2.5%) or on a credit arrangement they should if they’re nice
A spare mech hanger would be good too

“all Konas, including the entry level £330 bike, have butted frames use forged head tubes, drop-outs and bottom bracket shells”

As will every other manufacturer

“They havent invested in any new technologies”
Apart from the magic link”
Its on one bike, a bike which most people won’t buy.

Instead of redesigning the suspension to deal with problems with a linkage single pivot (thats waht the seatstay pivot ‘faux-bar’ is) they came up with the floating brake arm on the longer travel bikes. Maybe they’ve been prevented from using the FSR chainstay pivot, or the DW link, or Giants Maestro, or marins/whytes Quad Link and so on, but maybe they should have come up with a design of their own?

“Why do people seem to think that every mm of tubing on a bike needs to be hydroformed into a work of art?
Kona have simply decided that a normal tube works just as well”

The whole point of hydroforming is to increase the weld area at the tube ends and to manipulate the tubing in such a way that it can be made lighter, stronger or both

Kona do use hydroformed tubing

If you look close enough (its only subtle because they haven’t been using and developing it for as long) the top and down tubes are hydroformed

The 2009 hei hei, four, one20, dawg, and coilair all have some hydroformed tubing

“Trek have Keith Bontrager to design all the bits that Kona have to buy in from the likes of Truvative”

The vast majority of trek bikes don’t come with bontrager cranks, but shimano ones, so are buying from elsewhere.
Trek use Bontrager bars/stems/seatposts/wheels/saddles yes, but kona also do their own stems/bars/seatposts/grips and use them on the top end models, not just the bottom ones

“even their faux-bar full-sus bikes ride perfectly well enough for the average mountain biker”
Thats kind of the point, what about people who don’t just pootle about and actually get somewhere near pushing the design a bit, then konas can show themselves to be lesser than some of the competition

If you’re spending say £2k on a bike, then surely you should expecting something more than just average?

Though the tubes look fine (its only a picture – so I can’t tell), the headtube looks like its bent back a LOT
In the pic from konas website the head and seat angles are about parallel
In your pic of the crashed bike the head angle is significantly steeper than the seat angle.

“what’s the point of having stiff ‘everything’ and then spending 1.5 grand on a sus frame”

Because the stiff sus frame will have been designed to allow only movement in the suspension direction, not laterally (Well thats the idea)

“Could you get them all to do it in fancy dress?”

I thought they already did .. ?

“ST isn’t necessarily the best in that regard”

Once you’ve being buying it for a while (say 2 years) I’ve found itd far better for working out what to buy. Over that time most* if not all of what I’ve been looking for has popped up in a review at some point, and the review has actually been useful in deciding what to buy, rather than a glorified spec. list

*though not really true for bikes

They were £140 RRP when they were first introduced. So a 50% price rise

I’ve not seen it any cheaper than merlin recently

Just get an SLX triple instead. Still has a steel/compostite middle ring, and theres about 35g weight difference between them. (SLX = 889g) Its £35 (on merlin) cheaper too. So £1 per gram difference