It is that one TiRed!
Must say I’m tepted given its got new running gear on it…

I think there’s a group that go from the bridge or golf course on saturday (Bristol tail group maybe?) and a week night too.
The Uni goes Thursday at 2pm and saturday at 10pm from the east side of the bridge (in term time). I just left but they’re all pretty accommodating if you ask when you rock up if its okay to ride with them.

Other option is go off Strava.
Good trails in Leigh are picnic bench, knicker, Rocky horror, s**t tent and happy camper. Once you’re on those you’ll see plenty that you’ll just have to push up to find the top.

Belmont again is good, just lend a hand when you see the guys there or go to a dig day. I can’t hit most of the jumps but still plenty of fun to be had.

Some stuff to go at in bourton combe and wraxall piece too – have a bit of an explore!

If you do end up bleeding the clutch scruff, watch out for the two port brake/clutch reservoir. I ended up dragging a load of air into the clutch lines as I didn’t realise the outlet to the clutch goes out near the top (brakes out the bottom) so just keep it brimmed.

This is the website scruff Clickity click[/url].
The link to the linkage section under Astra H seems to be duff but you might be able to have a look around and find something useful.
I’ve remembered that mine was an F17 box, I think linkage will be pretty common across all boxes though.

I appreciate the input guys and I have given it some careful consideration.
Whilst I’ve not lead before, My climbing experience is certainly more trad than indoor walls. (Climbing HVS/E1 grade (I know its not quite the same seconding)).
I’ll give it a bit more thought and maybe see about heading to Langdale.
Cheers

I should also mention that whilst I’ve done a bit of climbing I’ve not lead before which I know limits me moreso.

It’s brown slabs that I’ve climbed on but as I say I’d rather belay from the bottom as its a first time, otherwise I would have definitely gone there.
Keep ’em coming folks!

I’ve had a look on UKC but a lot of the climbs (especially the easier ones) don’t have height on.

Changed the gearbox on a similar aged astra (after mine ate itself). I ended up with a vectra box.
1st and reverse are a bit stiff on mine but I just decided to live with it.
If you do want to fiddle with the linkage it’s relatively simple. Involves unbolting linkage behind the steering rack, slipping a drill bit in a slot under the gear lever cover then tightening everything up and remove the drill bit.
I found some manuals online which I’ll have a look for when I’m on the computer later.

Imnotverygood – I’m in North Yorkshire, She’s in London and I’ll probably be in Bristol a bit in the next few weeks.
Email is joe spencer *underscore* 33 at hotmail co uk if you want to email me about the vita.

Thanks for the help everyone else!

Last I saw Charlie had some 40cm sets, I wanted 42cm’s and just managed to catch a friend the day before they came back from the US to get some for me. Having spoken to Wayne at EDS bikes the next lot are due August some time.
If you need them now you could look at Jenson USA and add on import duty.

Oliverracing do you have any pictures with the 105 setup?
I might look to rotate the bars in the stem a bit given what you’ve said.

The reason I bought them was to have a variety of hand positions for touring hence wanting to cover all bases.

Yes I need to ratchet it up to about half but that doesn’t effect the bit around the temples.
It does have quite thick padding which may compress…I don’t know.

I should add I really like the wrist position resulting from hood/flare, just not the pressure on my hands.

No need to be like that Scienceofficer – Obviously I wasn’t aware otherwise I wouldn’t have done it and cost myself £100

I’ve got a big roll coming from Biketart at the minute.
More expensive than the 3M stuff but stretchty, Formable and I could never fault it. Changing it on the MTB for the first time in 3 years!

No US friends unfortunately. It would be coming via UPS in this instance.

I should mention the overall cost comes to £66

The reason for steel is to match the ride of the rest of the bike really.
Obviously not going for mega light weight, just something smooth and reliable.
I had considered adding mounts either brazing or bolt on ones but the eyelets at the axle are made for guards and don’t know if they’d handle the fatigue associated with that weight for a long time.

Evening crowd got anything to add?

That was based off the alipkit rating. (Comfort 4 deg, limit -1.5, extreme -8).
It’s going to be a bit of a spread of weathers from Germany, to Greece then Sweden/Norway hence the need for it to go a little cooler than for UK.

I’ll be on a thermarest but off for 6 weeks (plus any future ventures) so want to be comfortable.
I have a lightweight down jacket but would prefer to not have to layer up at night given its for quite a long period.

Matts

If it changes anything I will be on panniers F & R, current weight talley including racks and bags is 8.5kg but I of course expect that to go up, hence why I said 10-12kg.

The reason I was looking at the DTs/Cys wheels was the price point, I can’t really afford to go over the £200 mark as much as I’d like to!

In terms of the Cotic wheels I know they’re not particularly special but having spoken to Paul he said they are designed with the expected usage of the bike in mind so are pretty well up to the job.

Those of you who are using MTB chainsets on STI shifters (Brifters), what front mechs are you using? As I understand it you need a triple, road mech if you’re using road shifters however such as 105 front mech only allows a maximum gear difference of 20 teeth. (so 26/36/48 would be out of the question).

I know there’s always the option of bar end shifters but I would much prefer Brifters

Thanks for all the help guys, pretty sure I’ll go for a bigger range after the advice.
Unfortunately testing different stuff isn’t an option as currently the bike is just a parts list!

Okay so following on from this presume most are using MTB chainsets with either road or MTB cassettes.
Are any of you using MTB bits with road shifters and have you found any issues (other than exceeding the manufacturers operation range)?

Also I made a mistake before the Shimano combination would be 34/32 rather than 36/34

I’ll be pretty loaded (approx 10-12kg) given its 6 weeks mostly camping and self supported.
In terms of future use I guess it would be a little bit of touring/bikepacking/long days out.

I must say one of things that was attracting me was the cheap groupsets on Merlin.

On a side note I have toured with 36/28 as my lowest which definitely wasn’t enough.

Bumpity bump for any nuggets of wisdom the evening crowd may have!

Ah Screenwash hose, didn’t think of that!

Nothing for an impact driver to bind onto, Inner faces are pretty much smooth now as the bolts are only small.
Thanks for the idea though, keep em coming so I can try them all!

My mayhem was fueled mainly on Mars bars last year with a bit of cold pasta and some Gels in the last few hours.
Usually washed down with half and half orange squash with a teaspoon of salt!

Great weekend, my first solo, managed 23 laps.
I thought the course was better than eastnor and certainly looked better suited to the wet.
Who managed to not touch the bakes on the rooty corner halfway through the red bull section? I bottled it every time!

Yeh They’re getting there with the trails,I think the blue “fort Trail” is now open, still plenty of natural stuff around too, best if you head north or East out of the centre.

My first solo 12 hour, Bloody hard work, back and arms are a mess today. Managed 16 laps after digging in for the last 2 hours to squeeze one more in ending up with 10 minutes to spare.
Excellent event and I’d definitely do it again.

Just finished 1984 and thought it was superb- Must read!

Elixr’s are better than Juicy’s but still pretty crap. If I were you I would go for something like shimano slx and not worry about the £15 you’re losing out on on pads as you’ll easily spend that on paracetamol to get rid of the headaches the avids cause.

I got half way down the thread before realising this was about crows not cows