Take a spare pair in a dry bag. You alreaady realise they are all good up to a point no matter what you spend – a back of beyond face plant into 2ft bog hands & head first and you have wet inside your gloves, it could go pear shaped very quickly. Pull out spare pair, Ta Da! You can do the same with socks .

It is good fun but get there early. Once the deathstar has docked then it’s crawling with stormtroopers!

Its been done and I think you’ll find something on here. To keep legal substitute Helvellyn for Scafell Pike and time your attempt so that you are on Snowdon outside of the voluntary ban.

I have some squeaks like this at the moment. They only happen when the bike has not been used for a while, almost as if it dries out or something. A 90min ride every few days keeps them away. Ride it before the big ride.
Some squeaks seem horendous on your dry road test loop outside your house but once you get off-road the damping effect of a soft surface along with the trail surface moving about masks the squeak.
I do run a few bikes all with the same drivetrain and wheels so I can swap bits around in times of need – what about the drive train on the hardtail?

Enjoy

Did you ‘shrink’ them in the freezer first? They are tough otherwise.

it’s good – pick up a map or guidebook and you will find

If nothing springs to mind then you dont need anything.

How about sending your fork or shock off for a service?

Otherwise I’d invest it in consumables; chain, cassette, tyres, innertubes, brake pads, bb bearings, cleats, grips, gear cables, maybe a rear mech etc. Buy them on-line now cheap and stash them away, then when you really need them in a rush you don’t get a virtual punch in the face from having to pay full rrp at a lbs.

IMO the reason they wont work today:

Is that the majority of us have removable seatpost clamps. They worked when the clamp was firmly welded to the end of a seat tube but alas those days are no more.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=hite+rite&hl=en&biw=1283&bih=618&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=106taRXok879AM:&imgrefurl=http://www.cyclofiend.com/mtb/index.html&docid=oG4X3PKdFM1Q4M&w=253&h=521&ei=49hTTvW4D8rKhAf4-8GRBg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=0&page=1&tbnh=150&tbnw=72&start=0&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0&tx=32&ty=67

http://blogs.oracle.com/chrisg/entry/tightening_a_rivnut

Definition of Bike Porn is 2-fold:
1) It has to get you exited – that could be a little niche!

and

2) If you purchased it and the wife found it secreted away in the top of your wardrobe/shed then she would go nuts. This is largely because of price and the fact that you kept it from her.

I’d contact Marin but if you must DIY then buy the largest phillips head (PH4) or pozidrive (PZ4) screwdriver you can find and grind the tip down?

I was a Victor and ocassionally a Warlord man.

I have never been one to embrace new (unproven?) mtb technology so I was running internal BB’s longer than most. After watching others and doing my research I decided that SKF were the boys who knew their bearings so that very same Aerozine BB was my first ever HTII BB. The cups are well finished but unfortunately the bearings only lasted 6 months and then went graunchy. It was from that same seller and all he had left was the pink too but I don’t think it is anything to do with him. It was then that I heard that 6 months was about the going rate for external BB’s whatever price point you entered at. Hence I replaced it with a £20 Shimano XT job but that is still going after 18 months. I am not sure what price point to jump in at now with Shimano, those £20 cups are now £30, there are now some Deore ones at £15 and the XTR are £40. I may try some Enduro bearings in those pink cups next.

150mm e2e? Not sure. Are you looking at an older frame with a shortish fork? Would a 165mm fit in there and give you more travel (but perhaps steepen your angles)? Then you could pop a longer fork on to relax the angles back again?

If your plastic soled shoes take football studs at the front you can get rubber studs to replace the hard plastic or metal tipped ones. They come in different lengths from approx 8mm – 12mm. Not as great as a grippy sole for long walking sections but they help when you have a dab.

At the cafe on a wild wet day:

“Hello Sir, please come in and take a seat. I can take their order but your dirty chums will have to sit outside”.

Sir loved his mudguards!

I am running two of Tesco’s cheapest corded computers. They just keep on going. Over the years I have done Cateye and Vetta and Avocet all of them were the dogs nuts at various stages of the mtb time continum but they all eventually packed up so I am more than happy with Tesco’s. My mate trumped me with the Tesco cordless but it never really worked properly so don’t bother with that. The only downside of the Tesco jobbies is the size.

I sound like a right pikey or someone my Dads age! Honestly I am not and my bikes are fully pimped with all your usual top end bike name brands, I just got fed up with so called top of the range computers packing up.

Was it a FAG BB? I saw one of their tools on ebay recently and wondered if you won it?

FAG BB’s were the first cartridge BB’s that I used after wearing out my first MTB’s loose ball cup and cone BB. They were about £15/unit in 1990 and our LBS owner would let us borrow the tool and do the job on the pavement outside the shop!

My LBS charges £10 for the truing, £1 per replacement spoke and £1 for the rim tape which is required whether you have 1 new spoke or 36 new spokes. Usually a buckle that you can ride to the shop costs £10-15 depending on how buggered things are.

EDIY – just reread the OP and flat spots will never come out. Big problem when we used rim brakes but not so much of a problem with discs…. unless your rims look like 50 pence pieces that is!

It’s all a matter of stuff.

Got one in 1999. Great in summer but not big enough to take me into Winter so got a Blowfish, still a bit of a faff with the Blowfish so got a Trailblazer which is great for full on winter kit or using on a bivi trip or an over nighter. Then again another mate of mine did the TransCambrian Wales 3 dayer thing with his Mule. It depends how stuffed you want it to get and how much stuff you want to stuff in it.

Wow. Was there a Tardis about?

I had a Karakoram and a Girvin link fork but not on the same bike together. The GT is in my brothers garage and the forks are in my loft. When short travel suspension forks first came out the j-shaped axle travel path of the Girvin was IMO superior to the up and down (in and out) road-drill action of a poorly damped telescopic fork. Major stiction on the elastomer and the damper rod mean they didn’t last long between strip downs. There were some lads Rapid Descent Scotland doing COR springs for them a years or so back but they called it a day.

Of the budget pad brands A2Z (Wooly Hat Shop) have never let me down on price or longevity.

Do they do an alu rear for that frame? Cheaper and stronger?

I went through a phase of smashing my Giro lids a few years ago. Crash replacement was out because no receipts. I used to be a top drawer man (E2 and Xen) but because of the cost decided to try a Hex and it’s fine. Funnily enough my helmet smashing phase has stopped.

Are you still wearing those Skoolshoes? Measure a screw which he has lost?

Aaaaaagggghhhhh – and now I have just snapped the rebound knob! It was a bit stiff and I got the pliers on it…. now it’s very loose. Full service mehinks, by someone that knows what they are doing.

What does brazing mean and how is it different to welding then?

There is this little bikeshop just over the Irish Sea from me:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=29489

I think it does mail order. I don’t know what the different colours mean though.

Any ring will deglove you.

I have a titanium ring (£22 from ebay), my brother has the same. Really pleased with them, we don’t really do jewelery so didn’t want to spend too much in case we didn’t get along with them but these have been great. It is a 4mm Court Shaped one from elma.jewellery.ltd my brother has bigger fingers and got a 6mm one. Find out your abc size from any high street jeweller.

I do remember looking at £2K Platinum rings on the high street, then I mentioned titanium and this poncey jeweller said they tarnish! He was just gutted that they look like platinum but are so cheap. He did then start to mention a ‘metal’ called Palladium…. all I could think of was Jimmy Tarbuck and the Royal Variety Performance!

As an mtber platinum or gold means nothing to me other than the colour of the borecaps on my Hope callipers – titanium on the other hand is what they make top end bike bits from so it is like gold to me. Get one and save yourself enough money for a new bike! Unless your fiance is a biker she won’t go for it on her finger though!

Still interested Steve?

It’s still for sale (£430k):
http://www.smallholding-wales.co.uk/dolfrwynog-smallholding-tea-room.php

They have been a welcome sight for many knackered bikers over the years. Maybe a new owner will keep the cafe, maybe not?

There is a grouptest in the current Singletrack Mag.

Is it just full of fluff that needs picking out or has something more sinister happened?

Agree on the bleed sorting you out more than the hoses. In my opinion Goodridge’s plus point is the leakproof screw-in connectors and not the hose material.

Plus gas loosens stuff (don’t know the science)better than WD40.

I’d try dousing in more WD40 and/or penetrating oil and get some leverage on your screwdriver or buy an l-shaped torx key or try a socket set with a torx bit. If the rear of the fitting starts turning then use the tool that you mentioned to hold it steady.

I did mine yesterday., what is the name of your parallel universe?

Just like you the bolt would not come out and the rivnut just span. I WD40’d it, poured boiling water on it, heated it with a blowtorch (bare frame) and finally I superglued the rivnut in place. After 5mins for the glue to set to my surprise I was then able to turn the bolt and the rivnut stayed in place. I am not sure if skipping to the superglue straight away would have worked on it’s own but that’s what I did. I just put a well greased bolt back in since I am not using the mount at present.

I understand that a rivnut setting tool can be used to tighten loosened rivnuts (it’s a bit like a pop riviter) or there is a longbolt, nut, washer bodge that I may try:
http://blogs.sun.com/chrisg/entry/tightening_a_rivnut

There is loads on the web just google rivnut or nutsert and bike frame.

Good luck.

I defo would bung a betd link on it.

The S-works frame in 2004 used M5 not M4 but only on the down tube, the rest is A1 so they are almost the same frame.

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?arc=2004&spid=21119&menuItemId=0

You asked for thoughts.

I thought that that was the best Enduro they built, I cannot comment on the last few years though.

I’d love it in my stable and would use it on my two local big up and down hills (Drum and Snowdon).

singletracksurfer – who owns the land and or who is going to be linking up the man made trails?

http://www.tendersdirect.co.uk/Search/Tenders/Expired.aspx?ID=%20000000003166657&sect=P002&cat=15&Source=Categories

That’s all I know of its progress so far. Pete Bursnall scoped a bit of it last summer for Conwy Council:
http://web.mac.com/petebursnall/Pete_Bursnall/Blog_42/Entries/2010/6/9_35km_over_the_Moelwyn_and_back..html

There are plans to link up all the existing and future trail centres in North Wales utilising historical/quarrying infrastructure and I think something like this track is on the list.

It’s almost no-mans land – I’d have thought you would be ok trying it.

These are £4.99

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=40570

Is it inner ones that you need?