Judging by the trashed roads (potholes from the freeze) I think there are going to be some trashed road wheels out there. Some areas are so bad I may as well go mtbing as it would be smoother!

DT swiss any day, particularly the 240s. Long lasting and easy to service. As long as your not jet washing should last you years. Mine are 7 years old and run as new. Look at them as an investment.

I’m not sure where the rigid forks on SS comes from. Maybe it is all to with simplicity but I just love their point and shoot feel to them.

I love racing SS, its much more fun and laid back. If you do well you can be smug if you’re at the back you can use it as an excuse. I don’t think it slowed me down that much in all honesty.

Hope you continue to enjoy it!

As my evening isn’t very exciting I paid a visit to Halfords website to check the prices. To save you the time, A brake bleed is £25 per brake. A bottom bracket service is £20 and a pad change is £6 each. Doesn’t include parts in this. Id say from this that he has over quoted.

Now I’m off to get a life…..

Halfords have quite a rigid price plan when it comes to work done on a bike. The list is available for people to look at. It is steep in some respects and not very flexible. But if memory serves me right that’s about right for Halfords pricing and not something hes made up. Mind its a bit mean charging for brake fluid.

Halfords use a rough guide as to how long a job will take and then give a set price. This then has a set code to put through the till. It gives consistent pricing if nothing else because some stuff like bb can turn into a right bitch of a job if stuck.

In comparison to Evans its about the same, an LBS might be more forgiving but that’s how they gain their business.

Weirdly it was Lee Child who wanted Tom Cruise to play the part! Go figure!?!?!

One of the more interesting threads on here. Answers a few questions anyway.

Bought a 29er Scandal SS to replace my 26er Kinesis SS.

Yeah mines not great either, doesn’t look like race is totally on either. It may move in which case you headset will slacken a bit but it not dangerous just your forks may dive a bit under braking. Easy to tighten up again. Main issue is it will cause problems with the bearing in the long term.

Question aside, are you QR fully screwed in? Forks are quite thick at the bottom and I’m worried not enough thread is screwed in for it to be safe.

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

Someone said he’s not real? 😯

Did I really read on this thread that its an American marketing idea as they mostly ride fire roads? God give me strength….. 🙄

Ooi I was there in 2000 and 2002 too. Don’t think I ever got our final results as we were right at the back after all the night light problems. That was back when you got cool freebies like 24 cans if redbull and a one off sigma embossed bottle. That was an age ago.

Is there somewhere in the archives of the net these results can be found?

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

Simply put don’t use shimano chains. Yes they work well but stretch fast and use an annoying split pin system. Kmc or Sram chains any day over shimano.

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

Hate to say it so I’ll type it quickly. Alberto Contador.

I would like to add I’m racing better since I stopped using him!

Recording ones are by far more expensive around £100 and monitors like polar pick up less interference from other monitors. I’ve found the most important extra feature of a heart rate monitor is average heart. A feature that won’t set you back too much money wise.

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

Broad ranging question on which entire books are written. Have a look at some one like joolze dymond and her bike photography for some inspiration and then get out and experiment. Are you using dslr or standard?

How wide do you want them?

It’s very detailed and gives great insight into how to develop and use a training plan but it is a lot to take in and as andypaul99 said you have to be super commited/ unemployed/ single otherwise you are doomed to fail and get disappointed with yourself. The book IMO is great material for coaches themselves as it gives over all detailing in creating a unique and specific built year round training plan. I am a wiser man because of him but I’ve moved on in hoping it’ll make me a good racer. I’m not. You either have it or you don’t.

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

Salsa pro moto carbon bars

Yep mine mounted the ztr rims with few problems. On-one had some racing Ralphs for £25 for the snakeskin ones in 2.25.

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

Got the RRalphs on mine with no real problem. Easier than putting on road tyres anyway. Can I just say if you’re going to run the schwalbe tubeless get the snakeskin ones. Too many bad reports of split sidewalls with the standard ones

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

Just in the middle of finishing my build which is On-one Scandal 29er with custom paint job. It’s to be a rigid singlespeed which I’m going to use for xc racing and doing the Kielder 100 on. You can see pics on my blog.

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

Used mine happily for years and they have worked brilliantly. Still got them although I only have singlespeed bikes now

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

You can see my example on this link: http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/build-progress.html

Taking inspiration from cars, go white and white graphics. Finish with high polished silver.

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

It’s very easy to look down on cheap bikes when you know about and ride better quality bikes. But for the majority of people its all they can afford and does for what they need. For some its a starting point that gets them involved in the sport and that can never be a bad thing.

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

It looks fun and I want to try it! I mean look at the Rapha Super X series who doesn’t want foam pits and tequelia shots in their races?

Actually knowing that makes me want to go out and buy it! There are no CX specific mags out there anyway so its good to see a bit of variety from the usual articles.

Dirt magazine also recently had a feature on cx racing and as you can imagine that brought some controversy. Still some were open minded enough and enjoyed the article. (and that comes from a bunch of downhillers!)

Ok, thanks for the replys would it make a difference if I needed to change sprocket sizes to suit race courses. For instance I know I’ll be doing short fast races as well as kielder 100. Is the tensioner method more versatile for this?

Do you have a link for me to look at?

Actually id also like to know if there are any other custom design places to also consider?

Just go for it, you’ll soon adapt to it and you’ll get fitter as you it more. SS is having a boom period it seems because the crappy conditions but really they are fun all year round wet or dry.

It was mbuk who used to put the same line of test between hardtails and full sus and there was only a few seconds between them then……and yet people moved from there adequate hardtails to full sus. Why? Probably because their mates got one…..and then their mates got one etc. Can see the same thing happening with 29ers whether I like it or not.

…….Im starting to feel like a ss heathen!

Sorry should have quoted. Eyerideit put just below your comment ‘not sure if flats are allowed on ss’

When you buy the videos it gives a scale for you to use which is based on rpe (rate of perceived exertion) It works quite well and I try backing it up with my hrm monitor but it does lag behind my effort at times.

Yes there is a bit of camera shake with the YouTube videos but sometimes I don’t want a full on painful workout so they make do for endurance sessions

Miketually is right, ride whatever you like, I really don’t like this idea that if you ride ss you must abide by some kind of weird set regulation like steel frames, growing beards etc. I ride spd because I love them. If you are worried about your knees then get some with plenty of float like Time Atac or speedplay.

Gears……what are those? 🙂

I’m sure there are those will hate it, and why not its harder. Some just like it to be all easy. That just takes the fun out of it for me. It’s just a different way to ride and I’d encourage anyone to give it a try. I’m wanting a pompino too just I want to make a sscx bike from it.

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

Agree with the above. Sufferfest is a great workout and doesn’t get boring. However, for a free alternative and to give you something to watch go onto you tube. There are some people who have filmed their hour long xc races. I change my gears to suit what they ride ie choose harder gears when they climb. Bonus for me is that they are done without music so you can happily but on your own music.

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

Yes you are right the scandal comes with vertical drop outs and it’ll cost £30 to convert. £15 each side. I’d love to be able to comment on how it rides but I’m just finishing off the build of my own scandal. Got to say you have a limited ed inbred and yours does feel a little different from the standard inbreds due to being from different steel. I am somewhat jealous!

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com