Can we stop all the armchair nonsense (and posting links from armchair experts like that medium one)?

JP

My friend Joe, who has been an expert witness at many music copyright disputes, wrote about this a while back:

Linky

The verdict yesterday is the correct one.

You can fiddle around with your bike, but the fact is that BPW blues are generally longer than a typical UK descent, which means they’re showing up your limitations rather than the bike’s.

The main thing you can do to counter this is specific exercises to improve your arm strength – pull ups are good.

JP

Calipers are only £35 each, though – you can buy quite a few of them for the price of a Hope brakeset.

JP

I’ve had them for a year. No issues, plenty of power and they work with most Shimano levers (don’t believe the nonsense about 4 pot brakes not working with levers from 2 pot brakes – there’s no discernible difference).

I’ve replaced the pads with sintered previous generation Saint pads, which work better than the stock ones. Other than a bleed, that’s all I’ve had to do.

JP

Yep – better range, but it doesn’t shift quite as well as Shimano.

JP

This thread reveals the worst excesses of STW virtue-signalling, self-flagellating asceticism. It’s just a replacement for religious zealotry for atheists.

JP

What happens when you live outside of the city and commute in? Such a situation would take 3x as long as by car where I am if I were to use public transport.

What happens to people who live in cities but need to travel for their jobs? (I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to be a rep using public transport, for instance).

JP

The diminishing returns point on guitars is around £1200. It’s well over double that for an enduro bike.

Why a kid would want an electro acoustic is beyond me, but each to their own.

JP

The Fortus 30 is heavy but really strong. I’ve seen one come away unharmed from a serious case at the big step up at Wind Hill. Other wheels have completely crumpled with the same treatment.

JP

Get a Calibre Bossnut, either useS or up your budget to 1k for a new one.

JP

I’ve got a 2018 275. It climbs pretty well; the only place it doesn’t work well is on trails with little gradient. I run heavy/sticky tyres, though, so with something lighter I’d imagine it would feel more lively. It’s a great bike overall.

JP

@scotroutes Where do you live?

JP

I wish people would stop buying from Amazon. They’re an awful company in many, many ways. You can almost always buy cheaper or at least at the same price elsewhere, so why help such a hideous organisation get into even more of a monopolistic position?

/rant over

JP

Removing your chain to clean it, then refitting it is surely something for which life is too short, you f***ing nutters!

JP

Zee are some of the most powerful brakes available. Something is wrong if this isn’t the case.

JP

It’s nothing to do with servowave. The most likely cause is the master cylinder issue described above.

Never heard of any issues with the Deore 4 pots.

JP

Met Office is completely useless. Tried to work with them a few years ago on a collaboration with some interesting technology, but they were the most hopeless bureaucratic mess I’ve ever encountered.

I’m not sure that changing the forecast as the forecasted day gets closer is actually forecasting at all – it’s just looking out the window.

JP

They are VAT registered – number is 289179540

I’d have been surprised if they weren’t as it’s not difficult to hit 80k turnover when selling bikes.

JP

I’ve never had a problem with the bolts – just check them every ride. Bearings lasted a couple of years for me.

Just got back from Wind Hill and it’s so good on the blacks there. Give one a demo.

JP

Revelation has been 35mm for a while so is much stiffer than the Sektor. Damper is similar, but you can eventually upgrade the Revelation to a Charger 2.1 for about £150. You can’t do that on the Sektor.

JP

I’ve had my 2018 one for a couple of years and love it.

Head angle is actually slacker than stated (I measured 63.8 on line before I upped travel to 180 at the front – MBR had similar results on their test bikes). I think this makes it spot on – it never feels too slow in the steering department.

There are longer bikes out there and some with steeper seat angles, but I think the geometry is perfectly balanced – slack and long enough to be stable but not so long that it’s not playful.

Suspension wise it’s great – enough ramp up only to bottom out on big big hits, but still supple enough to use most of the travel the rest of the time.

My bearings lasted a couple of years of being ridden about 1.5k off road miles per year – mostly Wind Hill and BPW plus the odd enduro race.

The 2020 models are a bit longer IIRC in certain sizes, but otherwise identical to mine.

I’d go alloy witha Lyrik, as this represents the best bang for buck imo.

JP

My Name is by Eminem is built around a sample of a song on which Chas and Dave played.

JP

Yeah – you might be right. Will these work with XT 12 speed if I upgrade?

JP

Everyone I know with Guide brakes of various types has had issues with them. I’ve never encountered the variable but point issues that Shimano brakes are supposed to have.

JP

Cheers. I was finding it hard to work out where the boost element is – some info on the web says it’s the cranks, others the chainring. I guess it’s different for different brands?

JP

One thing I’ve learnt in the last 10 years is that with focused practice you can achieve results at any age.

As an example, when I packed in my job in the university sector and started my coffee business I never thought I’d get any good at latte art. I’m not much cop at fine motor skills other than playing musical instruments, and my early attempts at latte art made me think Id never get it.

However, after a few months of making hundreds of coffees a week, I found that I could do 20 layer tulips on demand. None of it was natural aptitude – it was all a result of focused practice.

I’ve found the same with my piano and guitar playing – I’ve focused closely on key areas, rather than just randomly playing stuff – and I’ve improved more in the last couple of years than the previous 20.

JP

Napa, Marin, Mulholland Drive, Venice Beach, Malibu, Carmel.

JP

I know Brian – way back in his Coffeespot site is a review of my old coffee shop.

JP

Well, the Lyrik wins every test in pretty much every magazine over the 36. Plus, I’ve ridden both and the Lyrik has slightly more traction over roots due to being more supple, yet still has plenty of mid stroke support.

So, in answer to your question, it’s both my opinion and that of most professional MTB journalists. Is that enough for you?

JP

Nukeproof Cub Scout. SEOT.

JP

Something’s not right if Saints aren’t powerful enough for you. A friend of mine is a giant, weighs 120kg and doesn’t hang around, but he’s never found his Saints to be lacking. Ditto all the World Cup DH riders who are much faster than any of us.

JP

Colombia produces some of the world’s best coffee beans, but almost all of the good stuff is too expensive for the domestic market.

JP

The Lyrik is the better fork, but not by a huge amount. I think the carbon frame saves about 400g, but that may be offset by the component differences.

JP

Italian coffee is largely terrible for a number of reasons, including the government mandated maximum price for an espresso, extreme culinary conservatism and their consequent tendency to roast coffee way too dark. It was only ever viewed as good because coffee everywhere else in the world was even worse in comparison.

Notable exceptions include roasters such as Gardelli, which we import.

JP

You could have just looked at the Pinkbike review, which is quite detailed. Expecting someone to answer a whole load of random questions, but not prefacing them with any sign of gratitude is a bit weird.

JP

Reactor is available in alloy in 29. £3k gets you one with a Pike and Super Deluxe.

JP

Yeah but not for every race.

👨‍⚖️

Lyrik can be had for much less money than a 36, it’s generally rated as being slightly better by magazines and it’s much easier to service. No brainer really.

JP

Incorrect use of the present perfect continuous (‘have been standing’, not ‘have been stood’) and the ending of a sentence with a preposition. And to think leave- voting boomer types are always complaining about younger people having a poor grasp of grammar.

JP