Sympathies and condolences to family and friends. Bad news at any time but more so just before Xmas. I do hope they ID the driver.

I used to hate the smell round the car parks down in the New Forest. Not sure just flicking it to one side is the right way to go.

The Heckler bob must be an air shock thing as there is none on mine, coil DHX5. Based on my experience get a Heckler but to be honest the best advice I can give is to get a demo ride of each. Until *you* have ridden it you will not know what works best for you.

Yes.

Here you go. http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bike-workstands-money-well-spent
I knew it rang a bell..

Good luck.

I seem to recall that there was a PSA about work stands not so long ago or am I going more senile in my old age.

Another Spesh Defroster user here and found them to be very good. Go up a size or two to make sure you have room for thick socks would be my advice. I found Shimano and Northwave to narrow for my wide feet.

Just to confirm what has already been said.

1, Soapy water really does help get the bead to seat easily.
2, If refitting a used tyre the clean the bead and the seat on the rim.
3, Valve core out so you can get the air and sealant in.
4, Compressor at home does make it a lot easier but not essential.
5, Damaged rim may cause issues getting the bead to seat.
6, If struggling seat both beads with inner tube then crack one to remove the tube and install valve. One bead seated is much easier.

If you brush on loads of soapy water you will get to see where the air is leaking from. I have seen tyres that are damaged on the side wall close to the bead and this will leak sufficient air to stop you getting it up, especially if hand pumping. I have not found the need yet to use a more expensive UST tyre to go tubeless.

I hope that help with the rear tyre.

Another good result. It would be even better if those responsible were dealt with properly by the legal system. I guess we wait and see.

Be upfront and honest. If you are going to lie and deceive about a bike then what else becomes “fair game”.

Maybe more details required but if the parked car is your side then the on coming traffic has right of way I reckon.

By default the Rhythm Comps are supplied with the strip fitted.

Great hubs. IME they seem to be shipped a bit short of grease when new and the pawls then fail. Since I have fitted new pawls and greased myself they seem to last a lot longer.

If you can get away with just rinsing and wiping it down. If not then as said pure soap flakes. Much like tents keep any detergent well away from it.

The check enough sealant was learnt the hard way. The only puncture I got in years was due to it all having dried up. I am one of the fit and forget brigade as far as tyres go. I do not change my tyres on the car every six months so why do it on the bike? Yeah there may be some benefits to certain types of tyres but I can get my bike over most stuff on one set. It just make it a bit more “interesting” 🙂

Vodafone phone reception is pretty non existent let alone any data. O2 will get you phone coverage but no idea on data. Wifi in the Peel cafe though.

Sealant dries in the gap to form a flexible plug. It is worth checking the sealant say every six months to ensure you still have sufficient liquid sealant in the tyre.

How much water do you take? I suspect a typo and you meant 2.5 ltrs 🙂 .

Dirtworker user here as well, must be about 5 years old as well and never missed a beat. The engine running does boost the pressure a bit if you need it, warms the car up for when you get in as well!

Bit of advice I would give is to clean out the filter every now and then. and a drop of dettol or similar to keep it fresh.

A word of warning is that lift assist locations such as Morzine can be considered as downhill racing etc and therefore your standard holiday cover policy may not pay out. It may pay out but I guess that if they consider mountain biking as you riding down fire track and you have to get air lifted of the Pleney you may end up paying for it yourself.

Too slow, was going to suggest Endura as well.

Yeah that last one does seem to be very very unlucky or does he create the situation in some instances. If I was that unlucky I would sell the bike before it killed me.

sorry failed..

You could do. I tend to do that if I am in a rush after washing the bike down and not time to sort the chain properly. The WD will get the water out/off the chain. I then clean and lube when I come back to it in the next few days. I tend to wipe as much WD40 off if I am lubing the chain for a ride without fully cleaning it first.

If I have the time then the chain gets cleaned, wiped dry and then lubed ready for nest ride.

I banged a roadie tyre on from Decathlon. So far so good

WD40 is not a lubricant but a water displacer. Not suitable for lubricating your chain. I put GT85 in that same category as well.

I currently use Rock and Roll extreme but when the big bottle runs out I may need to find an alternative.

Well done, Like all things one step at a time and before you know it you are way ahead of where you started. 🙂

Some Dettol works well for my gear.

Let a trained professional tell you what it may be. Doctor interweb can and does get it wrong and you can scare yourself unnecessarily.

They clamp down on the ball. The witter will be a swan neck and will be fine. The thing to be careful of is the max nose weight. This varies from car to car. The total weight of the rack and the bikes should not exceed this.

Glass fibre repair kit on the out side. When that has set some plastic padding on the inside.

One up for the good guys, result! 😀

1, I have used old and new non UST tyres with no issues. That pattern on the side has not bothered me. I did change a tyre that was like that when I went on a coast to coast(5 days fully loaded) as a precaution. It has now gone back on the bike okay.

2, I only use single ply. I have got away with it in the Alps as well although this year I did get a flew cuts in the tyres. Others in our party with dual ply suffered in similar way so could just be luck of the draw.

Clean the rim and the bead of the tyre. Use loads of soapy water on the tyre/rim to get the tyre to seat. When it is seated then add the Stans fluid through the valve stem and work it round both beads/tyre walls. with the soapy water all over the tyre you will see where it may be leaking a bit so you can ensure the Stans gets down to that bit. My tyres now hold up for week/months without issue. Currently using wire beaded Maxxis hi rollers but have used Bontragers before.

Tubeless is obviously the way to go.

Not sure what or how much the shop would have done for you. If we assume nothing that will be a safe starting point. All of this is what is comfortable for you but here are some pointers.

Seat height, basic starting point is heel on pedal leg almost fully extended when pedal at bottom of stroke. You can fine tune this, up from my experience. The trick is not to have your hips dipping side to side when pedalling. This is bad for the back etc. You can have it lower but this will not be the most efficient pedalling position.

Seat fore/aft, Sit on the bike and have the ball of your foot over the pedal spindle. With a plumb line from the front of the knee it should line up with the pedal spindle when at 3 o’clock. The seat should be able to move forward or backward on the rails to adjust.

Brake levers, These normally need to be moved inboard. This is done so that you can get your 1st/2nd finger on the end of the brake lever and not in the middle. It will give you more power and control of your braking. While doing this check the angle. I have mine so that when stood on the pedals and hands on the brakes the wrist is fairly straight.

You have not mentioned if you have suspension or not. Getting the correct sag set up will next if you do.

Yeah I have been there with the burnt porridge :x. It aint nice. I have had success by extending the boil in the bag principle. By putting it all in a ziplock bag and they boiling it up works. That way I get tea and breakfast :-). The other added bonus is that the Jetboil is still clean.

Jetboil flash is a good product. Very efficient on gas. Super quick for hot water and takes the boil in the bag type meals fine. It is not so good for simmering so porridge and soup etc can be tricky. The Zip is just smaller but looks to have the same burner. You used to be able to get the mug on its own so you could have a flash and zip.

The older Jetboil had a sligthly longer piezo ignition tip. I hear it was prone to damage to they changed it for the flash. Works a treat and I have not broken it yet. Not sure what the Zip looks like but suspect it will be similar. Great not having to have matches.

I have DT hubs, old Onyx? and 370. Great hubs. As have been said real easy to sort out if you need to and very quiet. Hopes are just to flippin noisy for my liking.

Not seen/used the Pendle rack. I do have and have seen the Thules racks though. I have the cheaper version about £130 for 3 bike variant. The more expensive versions with the fancy hitch lock and tipping mech are also very good but at £3-400 they should be I guess.

Having had various racks that support the frames I have found the wheel rack so much easier to use and load bikes on to. Bikes just go on and off, the kids can sort their own. The number plate and lights are part of the rack so no trying to hang it on after or risking not fitting.

I have gone for a smaller car and a tow bar rack. I also looked at a van conversion but the costs did not stack up for me. Bikes go on the back a treat and the MPG is much better than when I had roof mounted bikes. I also do not have to worry about car park height restrictions. The only word of warning is to keep an eye on the nose weight. Some cars/tow bars have quite a low limit.

+1 on chain suck. I have mixed Shimano and Sram and it has worked fine. get yourself a chain checker so you can keep an eye on chain wear.