Be a bit careful if buying a Hope replacement.. I bought one along with a ‘DUB conversion’ kit (£15 extra) only to find there was a conversion kit already included with the BB.

I’ve used a few brands on a couple of bikes and had very mixed experiences.

Uberbike – Terrible, last 5 minutes
SRAM – Lasted well considering (around 12 months in all weather)
Nukeproof – Felt rough from day 1. Replaced after 6 months
Chris King – Still going strong after 2 years
Hope – No issues, around 12 months old now

Endura stuff has always been excellent for me….. Until my most recent purchases.

I bought a pair of gloves and the stitching around the fingers started to come apart after just 2 rides. At the same time, I bought a pair of trousers (not MT500) and the zips on all pockets have all broken. Some overshoes I bought (MT500) are just falling apart after less than 6 months.

I do have a pair of MT500 shorts which have always been good but these were bought a couple of years ago.

I know this doesn’t really answer your question I just thought I’d mention the issues with quality I’ve had with things I’ve bought in the last 6 months.

I must admit, I’ve not kept up with what previous contestants have done since they were in the show.

I watch it usually on my phone whilst having my dinner half way through a 12hr night shift and always enjoy it. For me, it’s a show that could be so much better but, could also be a hell of a lot worse.

On the other hand, the Pinkbike Racing series was very good.

I am watching but somehow finding that I’m not enjoying it nearly as much as previous series.

Part of the intro says the contestants are some of the ‘best amateur riders’ in the world which seems a bit optimistic in my view.

Best to watch it for what it is I guess….

Thanks everybody for your suggestions/ideas.

I think I’m going to stump up for some Steadyracks. They seem to fit the bill for me.

The Clug was at the top of my list at one point. It lost a couple of points though because it looks to me (maybe you can confirm or deny this) as though the clamp on a Clug touches the rim of the wheel!? I have images in my head of all the front wheels having little ‘Clug’ marks around them.

Also, i tend to use one bike for several weeks before deciding to use another which means the bikes could be hanging for a while. Due to my half-arsed-ness, all my tubeless tyres lose a bit of pressure over time which, I believe, could result in a bike crashing to the floor? Presumably though, the Clug Pro prevents this with the Fidlock gubbins.

The price is certainly a bit of a plus point though.

I’ve used Paisley Freight a few times with no issues. Good prices too.

I put my gold XX1 cage on my GX AXS mech just to see what would happen… and it was gold.
I know that won’t help your situation but, I do still have the GX AXS cage that I took off the brand new mech.

I’m the same. I’ve got my Sky to record all the highlights but when I came to watch this afternoon, I found nothing had been recorded.

I assumed my Sky had cocked up.. maybe it didn’t after all.

My Pixel 6 suffered with the connection issue after the December update.. The phone was running on very low signal.

Things seem to be back to normal now though after the update yesterday… Even the fingerprint scanner seems to be behaving itself.

I don’t have an issue with people doing this as long as they pay twice.

It would be a bit cheeky to do in a free car park though.

How about these?

Tumbling car

No experience of them myself but they seem to match your criteria..

I’m another one for Google photos. It’s pretty damn good at what it does.

Some brilliant advice here. Thanks to you all.

I think firstly, I’ll take a look at Drumeo as it’s been mentioned a few times now.

The best route for me I think is the suggestion of nailing a very simple beat and adding to it once perfected. Along with some work on rudiments.

I’ve also taken onboard the importance of set-up and posture.

Can anyone who has experience of Drumeo tell me if they cover the VERY basic things like how to correctly hold a stick, drum set positioning, how to read music properly etc?

I have a basic understanding of reading music but…. well, it’s basic.

Another question I have is about how you hear the music.. Sounds a bit stupid saying it but, apart from the obvious, is there any benefit to me buying a small amp/speaker to connect to the kit rather than playing exclusively with headphones?

Once again, many thanks for all the advice/help/info, I have taken it all onboard.

It seems that the general advice is to not get ahead of myself. Start right at the beginning and nail the basics before moving on a step.

To be honest, that’s what I want to do anyway. I’m just having trouble finding places to get help with the basics. I’ll keep looking around the internet.

The kit I opted to buy was a TourTech TT 22M. The reviews it got are decent and apparently it’s a good set to learn with. Not badly priced either.

The last thing I wanted was to buy something that I would want to sell to buy something more advanced in a few months. This kit will be good for a year or two I’d imagine before my skills require something more.

Thanks all for the advice.

Oh, I’ll enjoy it. It’s something I’ve always wanted to have a go at but have never really been in a position to do it.

I know what you mean about all the nonsense on the internet. All I seem to be seeing is miracle courses and videos that promise to make you an expert in 10 minutes…. They all seem to be trying to sell you something. Strange.

In my haste, I completely forgot that I’d need something to sit on. I have ordered a stool now.

At the moment I’m trying to get everything in a position that ‘seems’ ok for me but I am trying to find information on how a kit should be set up.

I’m based in Rugeley in Staffordshire. I have looked at profesional tuition but thought I’d give the self teaching method a go first.

Thanks for the advice.

That’s actually really good advice. Every ounce of me wants to just smash every pad and cymbal but it makes sense to concentrate on just one pad for the time being.

Cheers.

I have the same issue. My Chromebook is superb for every other website but as soon as I come to browse around STW, it craps itself.

I’ll follow this with interest to see if there is a solution.

Take a look at the Shand Bahookie.

I’ve entered their scheme where all my vouchers are saved up and paid out to me at Christmas. I think I got some free points when I signed up for the scheme but other than that, there’s no real benefit. Apart from free Christmas food that is.

I’ll echo what others have said in saying it was a great ride. Met some really nice people and spied a few nice bikes (my personal favourite being a singlespeed Sonda).

I’d love to do it again next year but at a quicker pace.

Like somebody else mentioned, being held up at the few singletrack sections was a bit annoying but, I guess you have to expect it with an event like this one.

I think the main problem with asking people’s opinions on both brakes is that generally, people love Hope stuff because it’s Hope and, people hate SRAM stuff because it’s SRAM.

I’ve used both Hope and SRAM over the years and now have SRAM Guide RSC’s (I think Code is the equivalent now) on all my bikes.

You won’t find the modulation of a SRAM brake anywhere else (maybe Magura but I’ve not used them). Add to that the power of the brake and they are VERY hard to beat. They just feel right. Some people do have issues with regards to reliability but since I’ve been using SRAM (around 6 years I think) I’ve never had a single issue.

My experience of Hope brakes is that they seem to be ‘all show, no go’. They look superb, nobody can deny that.. The issues I had were that I just couldn’t get them to work very well… Don’t get me wrong, they worked, just not brilliantly. I’ve had them with different sized rotors, different pads etc but they still were just mediocre. I had several different people bleed one set to see if that could be the cause of the poor performance but, it made no difference. On the plus side, they look good and are very easy to work on.

They used to (may still do, I don’t know) include a collar with Reverbs. The Enduro collar I believe it was called.

In all honesty, I don’t know what the purpose of the collar was but, as I understand it, it was used to restrict movement in some way or another.

With stock/distribution issues that are prominent at the moment, you might be better off looking at the used market..

Cheers for that.

I’ve been looking at gravel bikes for a while now so maybe this ride is the excuse I’ve been waiting for to buy one.

At the moment, an average ride for me is around 25 – 30 miles on my MTB which would be a good mixture of singletrack and joining fireroads.

To help with riding long distances, I’ve decided to dedicate 1 day per week just to riding for as long as I can. Hopefully that’ll help.

I really wanted the 6.30am start too but by the time my mates had finished faffing about, only the 10am slot was left.

I’m looking forward to it though at the moment, the distance is slightly worrying..

Good luck.

This sums it up perfectly. Thanks for that.

It sounds like something to do purely with the downshift lever that has the adjustable throw on it. Everything else suggests the drivetrain and routing is fine – and it shifts up (to a harder gear) just not down. Sounds like the lever is flapping about and not engaging with the internals of the shifter from what you’ve said. Would seem odd for this to happen once, let alone twice.

I tend to make things sound more complicated than they are with rambling on.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I’ll try to answer the questions as best I can. As soon as I can (and figure out how) I’ll post a video which will show the issue easier than I can describe it.

So you can/could shift fine, then shifting fails.

In a word, yes. Shifting does fail but not completely. I can still change down the cassette but not back up.

Is it in all gears or only “mid” block?

The first time was around the top (10th to 11th maybe) of the cassette, the second was toward the top (11th to 12th)

Push the up [block] lever, no gear change, click the release no change.
Does the shifter click through the detents at this point but no movement at the sprocket?

I can’t change up as the lever just spins, the part that the lever clamps to doesn’t move.
If I remove the up lever and turn the part it clamps to by hand, it clicks through the derents.
The release works fine, clicks through detents and changes gear fine.

When you’ve tried to shift but no movement, if you look at the mech is it still in line or clearly pulling the chain up/down the sprocket but failing to move?

The mech looks perfectly fine but doesn’t move at all when shifting up the cassette bue to the lever just spinning.

If you click the release button does the cable go slack at the exit from the outer on the mech (you should be able to see/feel a bit of slack if you very gently pull the cable) or does it require actually pulling through?

If I click the release there is a touch of slack cable. It doesn’t require pulling through.

Do you leave the gears in the smallest sprocket when you put it away?

It’s usually stored mid cassette

What cassette and how old?

SRAM XX1 (500%) brand new when fitted now around 60 miles old

What state are your jockey wheels in? Sram ones die at the bearings unlike shimano ones that wear into sharp pointy things or complete circles. If you’re coming from shimano and looking at the teeth expecting them to do this don’t.

Brand new mech when fitted now around 60 miles old and showing no signs of wear and bearings feel good and free running.

For what it’s worth, I personally think that the mech, cassette, cable, outer cable are all fine. With the pull lever (lever to shift up the cassette) being adjustable, it is held in place by a small screw rather than being a ‘solid unit’ if that makes sense!? Whatever it is that clamps the lever to the actual shifter doesn’t appear to be strong enough to cope with the tension it is required to handle when shifting up and just gives way. With having the same issue with two brand new shifters (one of which I didn’t adjust the lever position so was straight from SRAM to my bike, the lever was not touched at all) there must be something I’ve done wrong in building the bike!?

Thanks for that information. It’s nice to know that there are places for food and drink should we miss the event water stops.

From your experience, what is the best/easiest way to get back to the start point once you reach the end?

Does anybody think that maybe the chain could cause the problem?

If I’ve cut the chain too short, could it possibly put too much strain on the shifter during up changes?

To the best of my knowledge, yes.

The shifters both came with the cable pre installed.

At the mech end, I routed the cable in what looked like the obvious way. By that I mean that the way the mech is designed, it kinda makes it hard to route the cable in a wrong way.

On the mech, the cable goes over the plastic when, where it exits this wheel, there’s a short bit of exposed cable before it goes through a plastic guide which takes it straight to the clamp.

I did think about the B screw but this was adjusted to SRAMs recommendation using the SRAM chain gap tool (chain gap adjusted via B screw).

I’ve since rechecked the B screw/chain gap without the chain gap tool but keeping to the 3mm (If I remember correctly) gap between largest sprocket and top mech pulley.

When the shifters were working (before the lever issue began) the gears were working beautifully. The gear changes were silky smooth and almost silent. No grinding or anything like that.

Everything was new.

Yeah, it is difficult for people to help without having the bike in front of them.

I was kinda hoping that somebody had the same issue and could offer advice as to how they solved it…

As the bike is a hardtail, there are no suspension gubbins that could cause a problem.

The mech itself is set up how SRAM say it should be set up (chain gap, limit screws etc) and seems to have free movement.

The outer cable (which some have identified as a potential cause) was brand new when fitted and has no kinks, severe bends or anything like that but, I’ll change it anyway for elimination purposes..

One thing I did think about was the chain!? Maybe I have cut it too short?

After buying 2 XX1 shifters and a pull lever, the last thing I want to do is replace the chain (also XX1) which wasn’t cheap. And, I can’t seem to find any ‘cheap’ 12 speed chains in stock anywhere to buy and try..

The 2nd shifter I bought had a new inner but the same happened.

I’ve not changed the outer so I’ll give that a go tomorrow.

I’d have thought though that if the outer was ‘pinching’ the inner or otherwise restricting it’s movement to this degree, I’d have had trouble pushing the inner through the outer.

I have tried operating the second, newest shifter whilst applying tension by had (just the cable, no outer) and it worked fine. Refitted the shifter and back to square one.

I’ve had bits from Bikeinn too. Delivery took a while but it was coming from Spain..

We’ll be camping for the weekend at a site actually on the start point.

A few people have mentioned gravel bikes…. That’s a very tempting idea.

I’ll have to have a look at trains just in case there are no other options.

I’d guess it’s best to sort something out now rather than on the day when god knows how many people with bikes are trying to get to London.

The black one in the wedge.

At this stage, I’m almost certain that the issue isn’t internal.

If I take all the tension off the cable, I can twist by have (the part with the silver screen) and the shifter seems to work, put the lever back on and you might get two or three clicks from the shifter before the lever gives way again. With the cable fitted to the mech, the lever won’t budge the shifter at all..

The challenge for me is also the distance.

What happens at the end?

Do you have to make your own way back to the start point?

I’ve heard various answers to that but nothing official as yet.

Thanks for that. I was thinking about what the ride might be made up of.

I’ll either be on my 150mm hard tail or my fat bike.

I have a gravel bike on the horizon so could be tempted to use that.

Would you say it was achievable in less than 8 hours for a relatively fit, competent ride?