Yes, had problems 2013 kili-flyer X, First set of bushings in a single weekend (wet welsh grit), second set lasted a week in the alps, but damaged the aluminium shafts as well.

Replaced the plastic norglide OE bush, with same Ø15.0 diameter, but much longer (17mm instead of 5mm) metal backed ones from a bearing supplier. They seem to be lasting a lot better.
http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=3_4701_4703

Let’s hope Saracen sort it out, great frames otherwise!

Jono

I have a 2013 frame in large i built up with XF sweeps @140mm as a fun bike for wales weekends, trail centers, alps holidays ect.. I have a Pivot Les for all things cross country

Feels like it has much more travel than it does (rode back to back with SC bronson, g150 and Norco sight, all felt about the same)
Good in the rocky stuff and happy over-shooting jumps (oops)

Great climbing (4 secs off KOM at BPW climb (go me!))

Not convinced with the CTD shock, i’d rather set the compression and just leave it alone, climb mode seems ok for 90% of the time

Well made and thought out cable routing, crudcatcher mount, but no bottle mount, options for all rear wheel axles standards, and screw in bb

jono

I have the rl2 sweeps, i set the travel pin at 160, but use a normal plastic travel spacer underneath to set them down to 130.

This then takes about 10 mins to whip the lowers off on a flat bench so you don’t loose any oil, unclip the spacer and stick the lowers back on for the annual trip to the alps..

jono

Pivot Les..

Torsionally super-stiff, light and really sorted handling, our team has been using them for a full year now, for everything from short course XC, smashing down bike park wales runs to winning the tour divide.
jono

https://facebook.com/PivotBoompodsRacing

BETD don’t do rockers for the ’06 stinky unfortunatly, have emailed them anyway..

Took me a good month to see straight again.
Sea sickness pills work.

Strange unexplainable phantom pains.. walking around like an OAP.. chatting rubbish to anyone that would answer the phone.. girlfriend couldnt wake me up one day, so back to A&E for a few days..

really don’t remember alot of it..

had 29er maxlights for a full season of racing/training, real tough, nice and stiff, light enough.. still dead true.
Other lads on our team running lighter dt swiss wheels had a few dings.

jono

https://www.facebook.com/PivotBoompodsRacing

Bike’s good to go as is..
Just make sure chain, cables, tyres, bb are all in good shape before the first race.
Wouldn’t get new wheels unless yours are worn out..
Easy weight savers would be cassette, chainset/bb and forks if you feel the need..
Or just save it for a racy hardtail for next season if you enjoy it..

Jono
https://www.facebook.com/PivotBoompodsRacing

Go with some good mates, pre and post race banter always helps..
Secondly a crud catcher, being able to see on the fast bits..

what a machine

Jono

http://www.facebook.com/PivotBoompodsRacing

Full TT machine, or track pursuit bike if its flat.
no need for mudguards if you’re in a rubber aero suit.
drop a headset spacer a week untill you can fit your tt-ski’s to your fork crowns, your back will get used to it.
18mm tubs @ 15 bar, disc wheels and a dinner plate chainring should see you nibbling at 7 minutes for the 5 mile trip.
don’t forget to warm up and warm down on the rollers before and after.
jono

Race is on sunday, not saturday, and it’s now at minley manor, not crowthorne.
You can do a pactice lap anytime on the day as long as you give way to people racing..
usually do a gentle lap to warm up with about 20 mins to spare before the start..

Other guys running x kings too, but they were on unicycles!
Great tyres!

X-kings all year round for the last 2 years here.. on 29 hardtail
Can’t recommend them enough
6th at mayhem open team (slightly damp)
2nd gorrick masters autumn the other week (lashing down)
2nd bontrager 12 team (complete with water splashes)
all on x-king 2.2 protection folding ~40psi tubeless

Jono

mapmyride route

This was basically my old commute a few years ago, lived in Ealing, worked in Wokingham

Definatly Ascot and Virginia Water, down Egham hill was fun on a fixie!
A30 really not that bad, very wide so plenty of room, usually stacked up with traffic jam every day anyway..

Had hydrostops on my pace rc100, bolted to the frame, were a hell of an improvement over cantilevers at the time, especially if you used the red, soft pads.
But not as good as the xt v-brakes when they came out in 96ish, probably down to pad material and set up with the half moon things.. nearly went over the bars first time i used them!

This was 20 odd years ago though, so not sure how new hs33’s compare

Used to ride to Watford ~15miles, train to Northampton, then ride back home to London, ~65miles.. twice a week, drive the other three.
Had to be super organised, and keep an eye on the weather forecasts, pick the best days of the week.. but was definatly worth the effort.

Sram for me since the early 90’s (was called Sachs, then Sedis before)
xc, bmx DJ, track, road, dh, 1,7,8,9,10 speed. never snapped one.

https://www.facebook.com/PivotBoompodsRacing

It’s no Big-Dog.. (In reference to any other UK sporting event)

Tyres – 60psi, check
Big ring – (“the only ring” – Dave Hemming)
Lycra – sized down for a race fit, the others were dragging.
Gels – 1 every 6 minutes (strategy – Frazer Clifford )

“The big-dog isn’t won in the park, it’s won in the fortune of war” – Ian Leitch.
“Cycling is real” – Rory Hitchens

See you boys on the podium! – Jono

Pivot-Boompods-Racing
https://www.facebook.com/PivotBoompodsRacing
@pivotboomracing

Great course.. never got a chance to look at those zombies, that section was big ring (the only ring) flat out, eyes down for the roots!
Podium for us in the 12.. happy days!
Jono – Pivot-Boompods-Racing
https://www.facebook.com/PivotBoompodsRacing

2007 1.8 type s gt (3dr)

average 43.6mpg (over 5000-6000 miles since we bought it)

girlfriend drives it most, so stays under the v-tec switch.

elast density tensile
crmo steel 200 7830 650
6000 t6 alu alloy 69 2700 310
6al4v ti alloy 120 4400 1000

If you divide the elasticity by the density of the three materials, per volume they are all about the same.
You have to use thicker alu than you need for the required tensile strength to overcome the fatigue strength properties, hence a stiff frame.
You need super thin Ti as it is so good in tensile strength/density hence it feels flexy and subject to cracks around welds.

Personally would choose carbon/alu for performance. steel for a life-long frame. Ti just for bling.

Don’t really believe the whole trail buzz absorbtion thing, at least not when you are sat on 2″ air cushions, unless you are running 10 bar!

jono

Took some 2011 160 coil versions out to the alps last year, (think they were unused OE versions from a big-hit) absolutly brilliant forks.. rode them back to back with fox 36, lyrics at tignes, les arcs and pila. Can honestly say these felt the best, seemed bottemless travel.. especially over high speed washboard type rock sections.. they’ll be out again for this years trip for sure!

yes you have it right, the alloy cup will deform if the faces are not square, only a tiny bit, but its enough..
the thread cutting is just to clean up the thread and make sure all the threads are in contact with each other (not just one, making the others stretch)

deep groove rolling bearings need to be aligned within 0.2 of a degree before the service life starts reducing..

http://www.skf.com/portal/skf/home/products?maincatalogue=1&lang=en&newlink=1_1_10

HT2 shimano bearings lasted nearly 10,000 miles over a year and a half of abuse. wet/ muddy/ hub deep puddles ect.. as long as you dont let them go rusty they should last..

sounds like the alloy cups could be out of alignment / frame may need facing square again?

Juicys here.. 5’s on my dh rig, which has been all round the Alps, and raced at Whistler, never had any probs with boiling / fade / power

Ultimates on my xc rig, one set of lever piston seals (£11) over 3 years.

Always use dot 4, replace the fluid once every 6 months or so..

The point of fixies

Regulation for track cyling
Tour boys / road racers use them on the road to train for cadence
Messengers use them so they dont have to buy brake pads / rims
Commuters use them because they dont need maintaining
Scenesters use them because the messengers do and they [messengers] are cool

not sure about offroad..

Small block 8’s, all year round. There’s always something to grip on.

have had the “wild race r” tyres for the last year or so, and love them.
As a comparison my other tyres are small block 8’s for the dry and bontager mud x’s for the wet

the michelins are a little squirmy on the side blocks on the road, but great off road, have had the least punctures of all, and have also worn really well..
not as fast as the kenda’s but faster than the mud x!

nico vouilloz runs them too!

Just put a larger wheel circumfrence in your bike computer, you’ll hit 20 no probs..

Average speed pretty meaningless as a measure against the masses, too many variables!
But to get faster, ride with faster people.. nothing like giving your old redline a nudge upwards, when chasing down an attack!

check your diameters with a micrometer, if you are a the upper end of the tolerance band, it will be pretty tight.

http://s15.postimage.org/xwswrdaob/crownrace_fit.jpg

Used to do pretty much exactly the same as you, my commute was 30 miles each way, west london to reading and back. 1:40 was a good time.
fine on the way out, headaches and blurred vision on the last 10 miles home.
found the key to avoiding it was recognising the teltale early signs, quickley eating something sugary, before you are hungry (double decker and a coke for the win) and taking it easy for a few miles.

Did it for 18 months twice a week before moving to brighton, by the 18th month i got used to it and could hammer the whole way home..

jono

Think matt24k has it on the nose..

You would have to press the stanchions out of the crown (which may well gall and ruin the crown in the process)
you then have to mount the stanchion in a lathe and grind down the surface back to a perfect tube of bare aluminium again, so you don’t end up with a difference in diameter from the top to the bottom of the stanchion.
you then re-anodise and build up the 20-30 microns or so to just larger than the diameter required and then grind/lap/polish the surface to the original tolerance.

expect this process would reach £250 quite quickly unless you are doing big batches of jobs..

Have not come across any motorbikes with aluminium stanchions, all steel with chrome, ti-nitrided, or DLC coating.

I know it’s not the best place in the UK for mountain bikers

In terms of variety and sheer amount of riding, within a couple of miles of all the conveniences of living in a big city. Think it probably is.

Some of the UK’s best riders live and ride down here too..

If you do see it crop up on gumtree, calling the police won’t do you any favours..
at best the police will contact gumtree and they’ll take the advert down.

what you need to do is arrange to buy it back, meet the seller, and then call 999 and ask for police assistance, once you have actually identified your stolen property.

my story here.. stolen recovered

i have a bobby j vigorelli, absolutly fantastic on the track. a little bit twichy on the road.

very very stiff frame, very high bb to avoid pedal stikes, and steep head angle, both great on smooth banked corners, but dont expect to go swooping round country lanes on it!

Got mine for the preston park track league, then moved to london, and used it to commute to reading for two years, 120 odd miles a week, rode a 47-16 on 165mm cranks, finally gave in and bought a propper road bike which suprisingly rides like a dream!

do agree, when you factor in the dropouts being a bit flexy, when you put a large side load on, you overcome the tension, and start a bending moment on the skewer..

i know this because my front skewer was bent when took it out once..

I’m interested in the subject because i tred to improve front wheel stiffness on my ’08 superfly.
I concluded after a bunch of different tests that there are quite a few factors that go into determining front wheel stiffness / steering response.

tyres and their pressure
spoke tension / spoke thickness
number of spokes
rim stiffness and diameter
fork stiffness
steerer tube and crown stiffness
frame head tube stiffness
front hub / skewer tension

In my case adding the 9mm thru skewer did little or no noticable improvement, as i think the most flex in my system was coming from the f80 fork, and the 28 spoke 29″ wheel

I also have a dirt jump bike with std QR marzocchi dj3 36 spoke, wheels and a heavy guage steel frame, and its a stiff as a post!

Best way to get motor drivers to give you a wide berth, is to stick a baby seat on the back with suitably realistic doll, or a real kid if you can borrow someone’s..

second to that, would be a rack monted kitten, or baby panda-in-transit sign.

much easier to imagine the following

5mm QR wheel in the dropout undone, or done up with fairy hands, i.e 0 tension. you can rock the hub in the drop outs from side to side.

do the QR up, as tight as poss, with a rubber hammer, and you may reach the limit of the M5 screw thread – around 8KN tensile load. (although i dont think a QR cam mechanism get near this), now when you rock the wheel you have an 8KN opposing force reacting the rocking

put an length of M9 threaded bar and two nuts and do it up to full torque you should be around 25KN tensile load, now when you try to rock the wheel you should have 25KN reacting.

agree the DT swiss RWS ratchet could get to higher torques, and hence improve stiffness. the superstar 9MM one however, with the standard QR cam lever cannot improve stiffness.

QR’s and 9mm skewers are shear joints, rely on tension in the skewer.

15mm and 20mm through axles are pinned joint, rely on the bending stiffness of the axle.

the 5mm and 9mm thru skewer should incuur no bending stress / force, only tension.

unless you have an interference fit between the dropout slot faces and 9mm skewer / hub boss. (you would struggle to remove the wheel in this case)

the 9mm boss on the standard qr hub only locates the wheel in the correct place, it should not provide any structure. if you measure the dropout slot it should be 9.0-9.2 ish and the hub boss/ 9mm skewer 8.9 ish. a good clearance, so the wheel can drop in and out in a jiffy!

get a good old steel threaded axle and 15mm chrome nuts on there for max stiffness!