Coed Y Brenin is miles away from everywhere. People would, and still go there because they have loads of re-enforced ‘pedally’ trails that can be ridden all year round, without having to use a map or worry about running into walkers. When there were fewer trail centres they got more visitors, now there are more trail centres that are closer to where people live they get fewer visitors.

Someone mentioned OnePlanet/Llandegla earlier in the thread. As they are close to Chester/Wrexham and not far from Merseyside/G. Manchester they will be mopping up visitors that would have previously travelled further to go to places like CYB.

CYB can still be a national cycling hub like it has been before but it has to give people a reason to travel out there and go past other trail centres that have opened more recently. E.g. they need proper Black runs (the old Red Bull and Beast are not Black trails), downhill only trails with up-lifts, festivals, events, etc.

Or they can just accept that there’s no longer a need for a big visitor centre and just offer toilets and somewhere to get changed. Charge for the car-park and rent out space for catering vans at the weekend and school holidays like they do at other NRW sites and put that money into maintaining the trails.

I always thought the building of the big UFO visitor centre was hubris.

 

Using lube isn’t the best idea as depending on which one it can expand the seals and cause more problems.

Use either dot fluid or dot friendly grease (usually the red stuff) and wipe down once they are back in.

Smear a bit of grease or dot fluid on the piston, undo the bleed screw and push them back with a Pedros Tyre lever. It’s worth edging the two pistons out that are currently retracted as well and smear them with dot/grease and then push them back. Sometimes you can end up with pistons sticking out because the other two are stuck in.

sharkattack – You’re 100% right and if anyone cares to listen to Neko on the Kickstand podcast he would confirm it.

Neko told the MK Police that through the Airtags in the van they knew exactly where the bikes had been taken. The Police refused to do anything about it. I believe the Police knew who had stolen them and were too scared to do anything about it.

Neko followed the Airtags and ended up on a ‘ahem’ campsite. Neko said there were caravans everywhere and a professional looking operation stripping down stolen cars, vans and bikes. Neko was told in no uncertain terms to leave if he valued his life.

Is there some sort of tax break to be had for car brands when they make these bikes? Generally they’re pretty shit and your left wondering why did they bother

 

Thor Ragnarok – Silly comic book film but enjoyable and flows well. Cate Blanchett is brilliant.

https://nsmb.com/articles/rumors-of-konas-demise-may-not-be-greatly-exaggerated/

Peaty’s grips looked good until I saw the ends. Why do some grips have thin raised ends? They aren’t big enough to stop your hands coming off the grips but they are big enough to cause discomfort if your hands hang over the end a bit.

It’s not sad to see the brand go as it won’t go. It’s sad for the employees but the brand IP is too strong to just disappear.

It was sad for the brand when Kona started making cheap’ish bikes specifically for Halfords. Kona also let Halfords have access to the entire range without having to stock any, I think this all happened in 2000/01. Needless to say UK IBD’s dropped Kona when customers were coming into stores to try out a Kona and then purchasing it from the local Halfords who would get them one in and charge them less. Fast forward just a few years to 2003/04 and Halfords are displaying and purchasing next to no bikes from Kona as on the performance end Halfords are targeting road bike sales, and IBD’s won’t touch them. The same happened to GT.

I read the statement from Frasers to be that Wiggle and CRC will quickly re-launch and therefore the product offering will be what’s already stored in Shirebrook and for sale on Evans.

Nukeproof, DHB, Ragley, etc are all up for sale/rent

I got another one of their brilliant headsets delivered last week. There was something in an email about warehouse moves/changes

Sorry if this has already been done.

Just bought a SRAM DUB BB from Ribble for a tenner

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sram-dub-bottom-bracket-mtb-threaded/

I love this website. A business goes bust because sales, consumer demand and market share have all fallen through the floor and the advice from here is ‘you’re doing great, carry on with what you’re doing just lower the price’. Lower the price you say, why didn’t we think of that?

1st thing – You may be surprised to hear but Orange bikes aren’t really expensive compared to everything else on the showroom floor. Pick any bike in the Orange range and compare it to the equivalent (component spec) from another brand. The SRP’s will be pretty close.

£5,000 from Spesh gets you a GX equipped bike with high spec Rock Shox suspension and aluminium frame. Stumpjumper Evo Elite Alloy.

£4,500-£5,200 from Trek gets you a GX equipped bike with mid tier Fox suspension and an aluminium frame. Slash 9 & Fuel EX 8.

£4,800 from Orange gets you an SLX equipped bike with mid tier Fox suspension and a hand built in the UK aluminium frame. Stage 6 Evo Pro.

These aluminium anomalies from other brands is not why sales of Orange bikes collapsed, it’s because these other brands have carbon, multi-link bikes that start at £4,000 that consumers find more interesting.

Back in the mid noughties Orange mountain bikes were probably outselling Trek and Giant mountain bikes in the UK (by that I mean MTB’s with an SRP above £600) I know this based upon purchases from a specific Japanese componentry manufacturer. This is back when an aluminium monocoque frame was considered high end, think Specialized Enduro’s circa 02-04. The Orange Sub 5, Missile, Patriot, etc were all considered cutting edge frame designs. I’ve got no way of proving this but I’d wager that in 07-08 the Orange Five was the best selling bike at it’s price points in the UK.

Since 2008 other brands continued to develop and get better with multi-link designs. When was the last time you read a review of a single pivot Orange where the ride quality was said to be better than a multi-link bike, about 2010? In the mid-noughties a carbon mountain bike was crazy money and a high-end aluminium bike from Spesh, Trek, etc were the same price as a high-end aluminium bike from Orange. Other manufacturers continued to experiment with different materials and manufacturing techniques though and we now have carbon framed, multi-link bikes that are cheaper than Orange’s aluminium single pivots.

Orange’s history was always one of innovation and experimentation up until 2015. Before 2015 Orange had produced full suss frames that were single pivot; multi-pivot, single pivot with a linkage driven shock, URT’s, etc etc. Orange had sold bikes that were both handmade in the UK and produced in Asia out of steel, aluminium, titanium and carbon. As has already been mentioned before the company was sold in 2015 Orange stated that they were a couple of years away from manufacturing carbon frames in the UK. Since 2015 though the message from Orange has been it has to be a single-pivot and it has to be made out of aluminium. There was a definite change in the attitude towards product development and how the brand engaged the consumer post 2015. I know recently Orange have launched some linkage driven bikes but that was obviously too little, too late.

I’m not an advocate of one manufacturing method over another, I also don’t think that a frame made in Taiwan is necessarily better than a frame made in the UK and vice-versa. What I do think though is that if consumers are no longer purchasing your product because they are choosing a competitors instead then you have to do something about it. History suggests that the management at Orange pre-2015 would have done something about it, as if they didn’t move with consumer demand Orange would have still been making URT’s in 2015.

Unless Ashley Ball is willing to admit that he is the reason the business went into administration and learn from his mistakes then the metaphorical can has just been kicked down the road.

Yes the cycle trade is having a hard time, other business’s are managing to keep there head above water though. In 2015 when Ball purchased Orange the bikes were getting good reviews in the media, they were sponsoring WC Dh’ers and most importantly had a huge dealership network in the UK. The business has been on a steady decline since then.

I believe Ball purchased Orange because it was an opportunity for him to take control of his biggest customer and therefore secure business for Bairstows. Without Wade & Noble at the helm though the brand seemed to stop developing/evolving. I might be wrong but I believe Bairstows/Ashley Ball had no experience in bike frame manufacturing until Steve Wade approached them with plans for a swing-arm made out of sheet aluminium. It seems to me that Orange became so committed to folded aluminium sheet construction not necessarily because it was the best thing for Orange but because it was the best thing for Bairstows.

You only need to look at the materials and manufacturing techniques Orange had used before Ball bought Orange to see that the brand was not tied to any particular material/technique. I’m pretty sure that just before Orange was sold to Ball either Wade or Noble said that Orange were about 2 years away from being to manufacture out of carbon in the UK.

Chakaping’s right, the details at the moment are sketchy at best.

Reading the articles everything refers to ‘visitor centres’ and not the trails themselves. Also I might be wrong but at CYB I thought the café and bike shop are independent business’s that rent the space from NRW. With the rent incomes and the car park fees how much more additional money does NRW have to put into CYB to keep it operating as it currently does?

Stanton (Dan’s real one) obviously needs to now protect it’s IP to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.

Interestingly though with Stanton not having the trademarks registered in important territories such as the US and Germany it lowers the value of the IP of the Stanton brand and makes it more difficult to sell on as an IP package. There’s a chance that Dan was able to buy the brand back from the administrator because they couldn’t sell the IP to a Wiggle/CRC, PlanetX, Bike24, etc.

Bikes in the early 90’s were evolving so quickly. Even in 1994 that Fuquay was both retro and progressive at the same time.

In late 93 / early 94 I was riding a fully rigid DynaTech with canti brakes, long quill stem. By mid 94 I’d fitted a Mag 21 (3rd generation Rock Shox with air spring and oil damping and already quite common) to my 93 DynaTech that even with 43mm of travel really slackened the seat tube. By late 94 / early 95 I was riding a Parkpre (remember them?) Pro Image that had the frame designed around a 60mm travel fork and came with Rock Shox Judy, v-brakes, Aheadeset, 90mm stem, riser bars and conti tyres wider than 2.1.
I can’t think of a time in mtb history when things that became commonplace changed as quickly as they did between 93-95

To be fair to v-brakes they worked really well, a V-brake could lock a wheel in pretty much most conditions. That was probably helped by how light wheels were back then though, the widest tyres weighed around 500g, everything was 26″, rims were commonly 17-19mm wide.
Generally tyres were pumped up above 35psi and compounds were like hard plastic. That for me was more responsible for the lack of modulation and stopping power in braking than v-brakes. I remember having a go of an early’ish set of Hope brakes (O2’s?) and thinking that they don’t work any better than a v-brake probably because tyres were still shit.

It’s probably a typo but on the spec list it lists the rear suspension as 130mm

Ben – I can’t work out whether you like it or are a bit underwhelmed by it.

In a previous life I worked in the DWR business.

That jacket looks like either
A. It hasn’t had a DWR applied. To be honest though I’ve seen some calenderised polyimides and polyesters without a DWR bead up better than that. Which leads me to think that it’s more likely…..
B. There’s some sort of hydrophilic contaminant coating it (Diesel and Petrol fumes can have that effect). It’s not the easiest to clean off yourself but if you have a go do a 1st wash with Tech Wash and a stain remover additive (one that’s added to the wash not direct on the fabric) like Vanish. Then a 2nd wash just with Tech Wash and an additional rinse. Tumble dry and see if it beads.
If the home wash didn’t work try dry cleaning from a good drycleaners that know about waterproof textiles and use the Greenearth process. If after that it’s still not beading then at least you’ve prepped the fabric ready for a DWR.

Hannah – Did the jacket wet-out like that from new? Have you washed it since you were given it?

I don’t know why but flat pedals are the biggest rip-off in mtb’ing.

Hope Union GC clip pedal – SRP£160 – CNC’d body, custom made for Hope double sided clipless mechanism, two pairs of cleats and a choice of pins or foot plates

Hope F20 flat pedal – SRP£140 – CNC’d body, one set of pins.

If the Union GC is £160 the F20 should be max £100

For anyone saying that if you’ve ever owned anything made of plastic, or have ever sat in a car you’re a hypocrite for calling out this deal then you’re missing the point. A lot of people have issue with this sponsorship not because it’s a petro-chem company but because it’s Shell specifically.
I defy anybody to do the tiniest bit of research into Shell and not come away thinking ‘Christ, they’re full on Bond villains’. The amount of information available stating how despicable they are is astounding. Amnesty International have accused them of murder!

Something that you might need to bear in mind before slapping a coil on your bike is whether the suspension kinematics can cope with the linear nature of a coil. Most frames sold now have a significant chunk of anti-squat designed in so they’ll be ok, not all though.
If you’re a big unit (like me) you need to consider whether the air shock on your bike is also a structural part of the frame that has to resist side-loading forces. Air-shocks are big, thick, stiff tubes that are really good at resisting twisting side-loads, coil-shocks aren’t. This isn’t an issue if the shock is isolated from side loads, most frames with rocker links without additional yokes/clevis to drive the shock are good at isolating the shock (Giants, latest Pivots, etc). Frames that use a yoke to drive the shock (Specialized, etc) increase the leverage on the shock so it’s not un-common to hear of coil shocks failing at a greater rate on these than other designs.

If you want to know if it makes any difference back the rebound fully off and measure the sag, then wind the rebound fully on and measure the sag.

How much of a difference it makes is compounded by the sprung weight (you) and how free moving the suspension is (drag in seals and bearings).

If it makes little to no difference then it doesn’t matter, it it does effect it then set sag with the rebound wound off.

Having ridden Butcher’s they are fair to middlin in the wet, I’m not convinced they are any better than a High Roller 2, DHF, Nobby Nic, or many other trail bike tyres designed for a mix of conditions though.

As has already been mentioned the omission of the Hill Billy is a bit weird as it’s designed for wet and or loose conditions, it’s also really good. If you can still find them the Spesh Storms are pretty good if a bit undersized (29 x 2.00) for modern trail bikes.

The Wet Scream is a beast of a wet conditions tyre but is only really for the muddiest conditions when going downhill and is too much as a general winter trail tyre.

So for general winter trail riding I would add to the list in the article Spesh Hill Billy, pretty light (about a 1KG) and can be had in the new T9 compound as well. Vittoria Mota, I rate these really highly, grippier in the wet than a Magic Mary but not heavier and not noticeably more draggy.

Silver hubs and black rims look good on a shiny silver Pike.

Interesting that you don’t rate any Specialized lids although they are some of the most commonly available (therefore easier to try on) and come out as probably the best brand with regards to safety on the Virginia Tech tests. Also surprised at the omission of Troy Lee lids, always seem to be sold at trail centre bike shops and come out better in safety tests than some of the lids on your list.

There seems to be hardly any exposed spindle with the body of the pedal right up against the crank, how much wider than ‘normal’ sized pedals are they? Compared to say a DMR Vault how much extra width are we talking once they are fitted?

Don’t say this magazine doesn’t have any power. Specialized have listened to Ben say how cheap they are at £37 so they’ve put them up to £45 😉

gavalar – The World Cup overall winner is always held in higher esteem than the World Champ’s in DH. The World Champs is the biggest race, it’s not the most important title.

Think of like the FA Cup final is the biggest game in England but the Premier League winner is the most important title.

erm, doesnt that mean that 10% of those five tens are made from recycled bits?

Don’t e-bikes use the ISIS interface?

New tech is always exciting but if more people are going to use e-bikes to commute they need to lower the prices, not add more features.
One of Shimano’s hub gears combined with their existing e-bike tech is more than enough for most city commuters.

Only when the big brands (Spesh, Trek, Giant) that are in most bike shops can have a good quality aluminium framed bike, with a hub gear and e-bike tech for less than £1k will it stand any chance of really taking off in the UK.

Failing that they need to develop a really easy to use/understand, interest free, lease hire scheme. Someone like PayPal/Klarna could revolutionise the sector.

rainper – In mountain biking Junior is a category for racers who are 17 to 18 years old. The best riders in this category will be heavily sponsored and remunerated for their efforts and tested for rule adherence.
I now get the point you were making though. We can all make grammatical errors ;-)

I can understand people getting upset if rules are broken but at a grass-roots level they can’t afford to test them.

I’m not convinced that sport is segregated to keep it competitive

Podge why do you think sports are segregated then? In cycling it’s segregated by sex, age and competence, why do they do that?

rainper – yep I used the word gender where I should have used the word sex. By your response though you appear to have have understand the point I was making regardless of my grammatical error.

With regards to your point about self-id in grass roots competition I wasn’t 100% sure that happened but I presumed it did. At grass-roots level they also take your word that you aren’t using banned performance enhancing substances and that your stated competence level (Sport, Expert, Elite, etc) is also the truth. At grass-roots level they have to take a competitors word as they can’t afford to test it. In UCI and BC accredited races the same rules apply regardless of whether it’s a grass-roots or professional level race, it’s the testing to make sure that rules are adhered to that’s different.
I think it’s a bit disingenuous of you though to link junior and grass roots sport together. To give you some additional background about myself I was a quite good junior cyclist and raced at a high level (NPS, Worlds, etc) and occasionally got drug tested at events. At high-level junior sport there is testing to make sure that rules are adhered to. If there are rules in place with regards to transgender competitors then there will be testing at high-level junior races.

With regards to your point about self-id I’m not sure what point you are trying to make. Are you stating that because rule adherence can’t be tested at a grass-roots level that they shouldn’t be tested at an elite level?

I’m late to this discussion so forgive me if my points have already been covered and I’ve missed it. I should also say as a heterosexual cisgender male who is a father to 3 heterosexual cisgender males I’ve not got any skin in this game.

Anyhow, my 1st point is that competitive sport is open to all because of exclusion and segregation. The categories based upon gender, age and competence are there to make sure that competitors are as closely matched as possible so that participation is interesting and engaging. Competitors would soon lose interest if there was no categorisation and therefore regardless of the % of their improvement in physical performance it made little to no difference to their results from one event to the next. Anyone who thinks that sport is segregated due to politics or a perceived fairness is wrong, it’s to keep it as competitive as possible so people come back for more.

I’m pleased to say that by reading this thread I’ve learnt more about transgender participation in sport than before I started. What is apparent to me though is that the science with regards to whether a transgender-woman has an advantage over cisgender-woman is not conclusive, yet the weight of evidence presented in this thread leans towards the potential for a transgender-woman to have an advantage. For me then the way forwards seems obvious, if a sport segregates competitors through gender then it’s the gender at birth that is used until the science arrives at a common consensus. Once the science is conclusive then that is what’s used instead.

Before I get shouted down remember that sports are segregated to keep them competitive, it’s got nothing to do with gender politics.

The jacket tested (not the one linked by northcountryboy) has a RET score of 12 according to the Decathlon website. Without going into too much detail RET is an iso accredited way of measuring breathability. A RET 12 rating is ok, it’s on par with what you would expect from most outdoor and cycle brands non-branded membrane waterproof jackets. It’s not as good as any of the branded membranes (Gore, NeoShell, etc) though.

What is weird though is the relatively low hydrostatic head rating of 5,000mm. I say low, what I mean is in comparison to stated HH’s from other brands. Most ‘sporty’ waterproofs will have a HH of 10,000mm and over, although if I remember right 1,500mm of HH will be waterproof in rain. The higher HH in waterproof clothing is to make sure in high wind, high rain, higher pressure (e.g. when under a pack) that the fabric doesn’t get overwhelmed. The 5,000mm HH is weird in that you would normally expect a better RET rating from a fabric with only 5,000mm HH.

10/11 – Bloody WTB Ranger ruining my 100%

Non-Boost forks – I’m still not convinced though that the increased triangulation at the spokes increases front stiffness enough to offset the increased flex inherent with longer hub axles, crowns and fork braces. The cynic in me thinks it was all done just to sell us bikes that can run plus sized tyres. Which brings me onto my next point.

Plus sized tyres – According to bikes spec’d from a few years ago we should all be riding tyres that are 2.6″ and upwards on our everyday bikes. We’re not though because it only took one ride on those balloons for you to realise that there is a limit to the width of your tyres before they become heavy, un-damped springs that roll over in corners.