@Jamie: you should probably mention the vaguely relevant thing too then when you do. Otherwise you get really helpful people wasting their valuable time having to flag it up.

@drac: Interesting interpretation of urban myth source. You really believe we are sold chemically free fruit and veg??

Radioactive zombie rhubarb and other fruit/vege nasties…..

Apologies for US source but vaguely relevant.

Had a client who was a fruit importer/grader for the big supermarkets. Advice was “believe me, if you knew what was used on this stuff (chemical wise) you WOULD wash it”. That was good enough for me. Washing only takes a few seconds. Haven’t grown any extra limbs or had any body parts fall off so must be working.

Wheel size
26 – straight
27.5 – bi
29 – brokeback mountain

Made my afternoon. :lol:

Kiwifiz junior now 6 and a bit weeks old. Has gradually gone from 2 to 3 to max 4 hours of sleep between night feeds. To be expected as they grow and their actual stomach capacity increases…..they just can’t get enough onboard during those first 6 weeks so it’s pretty standard you’ll be on 2 hrly shifts initially. It often feels like you’ve just finished one feed/change/put down routine and the next begins! But research from decent sources (not to many forums!) on basic baby development pathways and you’re at least reassured that what you’re going through is standard. General medical consensus is that routine before 6-8 weeks is pretty pointless for said stomach capacity/neurodevelopment reasons but then get into what ever recommended routine works for you three (babies start differentiating between day and night at about this timeframe hence the recommended onset of a lot of the various routines). All baby’s are individuals but it makes sense to go down some tried and rested mainstream pathways and then adapt as needed. We’ve talked to a lot of friends and gleaned some top tips from their “experiences”. Wife has also done a lot of reading and distilled what seems sensible and medically grounded. Just remember as others have said, the goal posts move as they keep growing and changing both physically and mentally. Keep ahead of the game by researching what to expect at least! Good luck :-)

Here’s one source we found helpful:
Newborn sleep guidelines

Hats off to them, that was a phenomenal Irish performance, but that last passage of All Black play was just un—-believable…..no prizes for guessing my bias. Had to massively contain the yelling at the TV as was holding my 6 day old son, and had accidentally scared the bejesus out him during the last few seconds of yesterdays Kiwi Eng league semifinal! What a weekend for NZ sport…..just not good for the blood pressure!

.

Minion DHRII new 2.3 tubeless ready trail version

Awesome. DHR2 review

Like the relatively beefy 2.25 Ardent LUST as a bigger volume rock absorbing rear too but its relatively shallow tread depth can’t touch the Minion for traction, cornering hard or braking. Draggy? Nah…..grow some quads.

Duckman……your Aussie prediction might need a bit of a review after today’s result :wink: Good to see Richie back on deck and in fine fettle post sabbatical.

My old 1.8 20VT Leon had a very similar prob with “hunting” revs in idle down to an almost stall (older model/different engine size so quite possibly not relevant disclaimer!)….. Drove ok otherwise but eventually started feeling like missing a bit when accelerating in 5th/6th at motorway speeds. Eventually started stalling at lights etc. All of the above forum suggestions examined by a very good and thorough mechanic with access to diagnostics but cause was still not clear. After checking MAF, coil and vacuum possibilities, he tried cleaning the throttle body but no change. Sourced a 2nd hand throttle body (Seat dealership wanted obscene amount for a new one) and she was as good as new again. One option to consider at least. Hope that’s helpful….I spent ages searching forums and none recommended this.

Fabulous early ride today at Cannock in (slightly) cooler and shaded conditions…..red dusty and sandy trail felt like something from the Aussie outback. Still sweated several litres though…..seriously considering a Bjorne Borg type head band to stop my riding glasses filling up from the bottom like pool goggles!

Hi Paul

Cheeky plug here….have a 125mm 30.9 420 left hand remote (for right underside bar mount) 2012 for sale with bleed kit near new condition (used for two months approx 8 rides with my old rockhopper frame before a mk2 soul frame upgrade made it prematurely redundant. Held on to it for friends who were interested but then defaulted. And have never quite got round to putting it on eBay. A purchase of a 27.2 Lev for my Soul last week means I really do need to recoup funds and balance the books. Drop me an email if interested (see profile).

This. Reasonable price, good quality, calibrated, no extra fittings needed.

Giant torque wrench

Review:[/url]

Rail crossing fenced off with temporary fencing and barrier tape R.Dog. As an aside, the WHOLE of Cannock is open at the moment including the section before the rail crossing that has been recently closed for thinning. Quite a novelty to go round the whole dog/monkey circuit without a diversion. Add the current dry dusty trail conditions and it all seems a bit surreal!

Cooked breakfast: check. Good Coffee: check. AB whitewash of French with two outstanding length of pitch tries: Check. Cracking Lions start: check. = happy sofa bound kiwifiz!

Forks are on their way back after a painfree and easy booking/payment process. Had to book a few weeks ahead but suited fine with a bit of planning and having sent forks Monday morning, they will be back in time for this weekends riding. Great friendly service with good communication throughout.

As an aside, I see Loco are listed in the premier dealers of issue 82, but are missing when checking the ST website list for deal/discount details……forgot to ask for any ST premier discount but looks like there isn’t one anyway? Update needed for mag or website? Have I missed something?

Cheers Pook…..I’m off to load up the car!

plus 1 for larger volume and tubeless tyres…..in prep for some upcoming Peaks riding have just switched from a 2.35 minion dhf to the exo walled 2.5 sp 60a dhf and swapped the back 2.1 advantage LUST for an Ardent 2.35 LUST (on existing flow rims). Run at 30 front 35 rear (ish) as per prev tyres. Result is big time volume change.

Wow. MAJOR “suspension” upgrade feel….regular rolling buzz/bumps really smoothed out and rocky sections significantly less jarring and allowing more speed carry. Not so surprising, but thought the cost would be more drag ……however, average speed on regular trail loops has actually increased by over 1km/hr. No hit on climbing and actually can stay in lower rear cogs, and the traction upgrade upfront with the deeper tread has definitely sped up the downs in combo with the smoother ride. Think I’ll be leaving this combo on post Peaks!

p.s if anyone’s been wondering like i had for ages whether or not a reba 120 (in 2011 RLT Ti form at least) will fit the 2.5 (but actually slightly narrower than the Ardent 2.35) minion dhf sp, can confirm it fits fine for dry conditions at least. Not much clearance but no rubbing generally or catching on hard cornering/jump landings compression.

Hilo is solid as hell

Well hell ain’t that solid then because I had two fail with upper shaft bends…..thankfully warranty covered. Also had a trail drop (v8 clone) crack through upper shaft drill holes…again warranty refund. I like the look if a mates LEV but fear I may just be to big a porker obviously for the engineering tolerances of the smaller diameter shafts. I’ m 6’1″ and 14 stone though so your mileage may vary if lighter. Just thought you might appreciate some balance in actual user experience. Sticking to my trusty old Thomson in the meantime but will try the LEV once everyone else has beta tested it for a while first

KMC X-10 93. A revelation after multiple XT 10 speed chain failures, and with the benefit of a quick link. Quiet, changes well, easy on-off, and most importantly doesn’t snap! As a bonus you can pick them up for between £17.00-20.00 delivered with some google shopping around.

The most likely maxis contender?

Maxxis XC Lust Ignitor

2.1 not exactly light at 710g (or 685g according to nextdaytryes) but not bad for tubeless. On offer too…..

Just in case you’re not aware, as far as the official trails go, a chunk of the dog and another sizeable chunk of the monkey are closed for forestry thinning……fire road diversions in place as per Chase trails website[/url]

The best descents of the monkey (upper and lower cliffs) are not affected and its worth trekking back up their respective fire roads to repeat to make it a decent outing…..bit disrupted/short otherwise :-)

£69.00 with new stealth graphic carbon haven???? SOLD…..thank you Mr Merlin. As has been said, would be rude not to :D

Another vote for 2.35 SP minion 60a MaxxPro. At sub £24.00 for both you can have it in super tacky guise as well for less than the cost of some single tyres for when it’s a bit more hairy. Ignitor 2.35 for dryer/tamer conditions if you feel,like being a tyre whore. Have found the Ardent in 2.25 guise at least a good way to end up with the front end sideways if you’re used to minion grip! Hear the 2.4 is better but haven’t tried it. Of course there is the specialised Butcher as a Minion clone (with improvements say members of STW hive) but haven’t tried that either…..worth considering by all accounts if you can step away from the Maxxis fix…..

I recently got an orange diva HT for £300 2nd hand on eBay as a first bike for my wife. 2 yr old model that looked like it had been for a few road rides and not much else (having watched eBay for several months for the right bike/price there seems to be a high turnover of bikes bought by enthusiastic boys for not so keen girls that end up on eBay after only a few token outings then a long time unused in storage)…..great geometry/smaller grips/shorter cranks for my shorter wife….she was more appreciative of the “disco blue” colour and the name! Perhaps overspeced for the blue trails max she will be riding but she loves it and it’s convertered her from a non rider into a ride requester. Result.

At his core, TJ* is a mechanical platfom with servos ready for electronic integration. Don’t tell him, but he doesn’t have a brain – he needs a servo controller to run!

That might explain a bit…… :-) well spotted beej

?1 for the thick based cast iron Le Crusset ridged pan or similar. Makes the world of difference. Essential kitchen kit for any self respecting carnivore :-)

Double post frenzy……doh!

Definitely sympathise qtip……miss the reverb, and it is a pain stopping now most of my mates are dropper converts. Think the infinite adjustment of hydraulic posts has the edge over the mechanical set position options for me at least, having tried both…..guess you wouldn’t miss it if you hadn’t tried it.

I’m very tempted by the KS Lev option but just waiting to see how other users experiences pan out before i bend any more posts. Other option is a new reverb compatible Soul frame of course! perhaps when they start to turn up 2nd hand……

Destroyed 2x x-fusion Hilo’s and one trail drop in 27.2 guises at a mere 14 & a 1/2 stone and have reverted back to a standard Thomson…..upper tube failures all round. Haven’t tried the gravity dropper or the Lev but thinking 27.2 droppers are probably not for me! Miss my previous bullet proof 31.6 reverb that became a non option with a frame switch to a mk 2 soul frame. A chromag seatpost clamp and the Thomson are working just fine in the meantime…..good excuse for a quick breather at the top of climbs before descending!

Yes iphone google app works on Ipad (in x2 mode) but finding street view isn’t obvious. You need to type in a place name or address/postcode and tap the info bar at the bottom that opens, and then on the “mini” street view window to open street view in full screen.

Was a day for it…..managed to drop my old Specialized adaptalites somewhere on the Monkey too. Doh! Hope yours turn up.

Ok….going to be late for work now….got a bit sidetracked by this vid on the ride rotorua website!

Rotorua/Taupo riding expedition

Think I’m long overdue a trip home with bike in luggage :-)

Awesome detailed feedback people…..thanks so much for taking time to share.Hadn’t thought through night time in the summer so that’s a great heads up. It’s going to be a tough call!

Thanks for replies everyone, and especially project for most relevant info so far. Highclimber thanks for the positive feedback too, but Although double glazing apparently helps, lots of research to date indicates that it’s not as effective for noise reduction …….secondary glazing (100-150 mm gap) relative to road noise experiences please…….just to get everyone back on track. Thanks!

How have you found the noise reduction project?

I didn’t appreciate how good my XTR shadow plus was until a wayward stick demolished the outer pulley guide plate and I had to resort back to a standard XT rear mech for a few weeks until I could get parts to repair it….. I’d forgotten how much chain slap and racket there was on rocky/rough downhill sections! Fitted it back for its first ride since repair this weekend, and the difference is quite remarkable…… I’m back to relative stealth mode on descents. Changing feels ever so slightly stiffer but still smooth.

Why type when you can use the built in voice recognition software (A feature of the iPed three, four and iPhone 4s and five I think?)? It even understands my dodgy Kiwi accent! Even more surprisingly, it understands my mother-in-laws Scottish accent, which I thought would be a bridge too far. For those of you who haven’t discovered yet, it’s the little microphone symbol on the left of the space bar on the keyboard. Used for this message in its entirety. Resorting to typing to say… Comma, full stop, open/close brackets, new paragraph, question mark etc all understood

Edit: it looks like it did pick up my accent with its interpretation of the word iPad! Gotta love those kiwi flattened vowel sounds…..

I am now apologising ……think you had Duridh and I both missing the Cannock tense. As for the tyre info, don’t mention it. Oh you didn’t.

Duirdh plus 1

My exact setup of choice for Cannock as local ride on a hardtail …..wired 2.35 maxpro 60a for summer and a switch to the super tacky version for winter….they come up plenty wide enough run tubeless on flow rims, and are sub £25.00, which is a rare tyre treat these days! A little more hassle to mount initially than a LUST but easy once you get the knack. LUST versions of Advantage out back winter and cross mark for summer. Sorted. Front end just won’t let go, but have had washouts on the 60a highroller equivalents. JMPE.

2.5’s for Cannock trail riding?? Am I missing some super rocky off piste knarrrrr smuggled in from the alps somewhere?