“Mountain buggy wheels” – now on my Christmas list!

fudge9202

Shin ripping (to the bone – bleugh!) rather than gouging… as bad as it sounds!

Yep – and switched back shortly after. Shortly that is after a month off the bike  and numerous trips to A&E….

Sonder Santiago maybe? They do a flat bar version of that one. Don’t know anything about it mind – I have a Camino which is ace, but that’s not really any help!

Just done the rear wheel (bearings, springs etc), new mech and chain ring on the hardtail, might get round to doing the creaky BB on the full suss before it gets worse – and possibly even try to organise the sh**hole I call a garage…

Keep thinking about them, but when I enquired with Rimpact for my rims (Hope Tech Enduro) at 25mm wide, they implied that the rims needed to be wider to work properly – anyone any specific suggestions for this sort of width rim?

Looks good – well done all!

No sorry, but if in the NW, Target Composites in Cheshire are very good if it helps!

How much would a set of laminated wood rimmed wheels weigh just on their own?!!

Get wound up? Perhaps you need to re-read your original comment. Despite what some engineer at Thompson who never has to sort out a bike in the middle of nowhere in shitting down rain thinks, in MY opinion tiny allen head bolts have no place on a stem. I’ve never had any bolts fail on it – perhaps because I’m not ham-fisted – if anything with bolts that small you are more likely to under, not over tighten them when using a multi-tool for fear of damaging them.

<div class=”bbp-reply-author”>mashr
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martinkiely

Member
I have one Thompson stem (it was a gift) – biggest PITA on my whole bike. Bloody bolts are so tiny – seriously 2.5mm bolts on a stem? Wouldn’t waste that amount of my own money. All my other stems use 4mm or 5mm bolts and they all seem to do the job…

You see the “ham fisted” comment above? That’s why Thomson decided to use smaller screws

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Err – yep. I’ve got and use a torque wrench at home – do you carry one around with you when you go out for a ride or do you (like most of us) use a multi-tool on which tiny allen keys are a PITA to sort? I knew that someone would pass that sort of comment… Still don’t see any excuse for screw head that small – and no, as a direct answer – I’m not ham fisted.

Yes definitely, and then if you’re still thinking you’re not sure either way there are loads of cheap road bikes for sale for a couple of hundred quid that you could try and then either keep/upgrade/replace or sell on and lose very little if you decide its’ not for you. Exactly what I did – bought a Triban 300 for £90 and when I sold it about 6 months later got my money back including the extra I’d spent on new cables etc – so going cheapish can be pretty much a no-lose situation.

I have one Thompson stem (it was a gift) – biggest PITA on my whole bike. Bloody bolts are so tiny – seriously 2.5mm bolts on a stem? Wouldn’t waste that amount of my own money. All my other stems use 4mm or 5mm bolts and they all seem to do the job…

Take it you can’t fit a helicoil insert? (Don’t know the exact details obviously, so ignore if useless!)

Large here with 25C tyres (Conti GP4000?) – no real issues, but 28c tyres are a non-starter – tried a pair off a pal and were just too big.

Recently built up a drop bar 700c (well, re-purposed 29er really) wheels Camino AL and so far very happy – and as people have said, Alpkit have been a pleasure to deal with. Unfortunately haven’t put too many miles on it yet to report if any issues, but there isn’t a lot to go wrong!

Seal is seated properly AFAIK (done by the LBS, so it should be) and I don’t use a chain cleaner. Pro 2 hubs don’t seem to have as many issues as Pro 4’s it appears. For my money if what I’m using to clean the chain with is killing the bearings, the sealing really is shite!

In response to tinas – no – no jetwash, degreasers or WD40 on the rear hub when washing.

Thanks for the replies all – buying the Hope tools this week, then will sort bearings out when I’ve investigated what the issue is – just seems like peoples’ experiences of Hope hubs varies enormously – once these die, I won’t be rushing to get more that’s for certain. Front wheels get the same treatment as the rear in terms of washing etc. (I know they have a much easier life) but have never had an issue with them – and they are up to 5 years or so old and have never needed replacing, so maybe I’m just one of the unlucky ones?

By the way, I’m not averse to paying for the price for the Hope ones – would just prefer them to last longer!

Just checked and the rear wheel in this particular bike had a full set of bearings, including the freehub, under 5 months ago and has done just over 450 miles over 21 rides – so not a lot of use! (I have got other bikes, honest!). TBF I suppose the wettest winter since god-knows-when won’t have helped though…

Cheers all – have had little luck with my Hope wheels as both sets I have seem to go through bearings alarmingly quickly (using Hope OE bearings) so was thinking of trying other options. Will probably get a new outer seal, and if past experience is anything to go by, the springs and pawls will be toast – as far as I can see the sealing just isn’t good enough, so unless you’re prepared to dis-assemble wheels after every few rides (which I’m not) the springs in particular rot like the clappers!

Old inner tube, cut into lengths, stretched and tied – works a treat! Pal of mine has lost the straps on his rack so just does this instead – with an XL Cotic Rocket tied to the roof at 80mph…

Arkose fits the bill as already suggested – lovely bikes

You can get a 15mm to 12mm converter – basically an alu tube that reduces the axle to 12mm – just got one to use my Mavic Crosrides on a Sonder Camino as it has a 12mm front axle.

I’ve got two sets of Hope Tech Enduro wheels, and I find them a pain to seal – the rim shape is awkward to tape, and don’t get me started on trying to use Tesa tape on them… I use a wrap of electrical tape first over the spoke holes then a wrap of Gorilla tape – seems to do the trick. It helps that I have a compressor to seat the tyres quickly too!

Generally just before 9 – normally get there about 8.45am, sometimes have to wait a bit but not always. Wouldn’t get there much earlier or you’ll definitely be queueing!

Personally I’ve had nothing but issues with rear Hope Pro 4 hubs having awful sealing (serviced by LBS, not me) and have gone through springs, pawls and bearings alarmingly quickly – on 2 different wheelsets. Fronts have been trouble free, but wouldn’t have another Hope rear – could do with boost hubs for my Solaris but won’t be getting Hopes when it comes time to replace the existing – prob go DT Swiss next time.

Yes, flat mount – first time of dealing with it, so its’ a whole new lot of frustration to go through.

Thing is, the frame I ordered gets sold as a full bike with 160mm rotors, so assumed (stupid, I know) that it might have been designed with that in mind. The adaptor I can cope with, but six different bolt sizes – really?

The MTB bikes & frames I have bought that are sold with 180mm discs have come with post mount drillings, so that calipers can go straight on, so you don’t always need an adaptor.

Pump and tubes on every ride, have a couple of CO2 cartridges as well on the roadie. I never want to be “that guy”….

Off ebay – an outfit called Paragon Tapes who do lots of different sizes. Only doing the main areas, so went for 2m at 75mm wide, which should cover everything I need. Although, after I did my Solaris, on the first ride out I put a big scratch on the one tube I didn’t tape…

Thanks all – have decided just to do what I’ve done before and bought some Helitape – hopefully have a better result this time! Might even have some left to do the areas on my Solaris Max where the last lot peeled off…

Cheers chakaping – knew it would be a pain to remove, but didn’t think about edges – good shout :-)

Replaced the bottom bearing on the one on my Canyon after a couple of months with a 110 bearing – which it was still happily running 5 years later when I retired the frame, so yes – better bearings is the answer!

ZTTO here and can’t fault it, and certainly not for what they cost

Yes, the council (or others?) have been through with a digger and trashed a lot of what was there. Not really surprising – they are at best “cheeky” trails, which are tolerated just about, but people have gone mad recently digging fresh trails all over the hillside which has no doubt pissed off the rangers. Have also heard there was some sort of organised event there recently, which will just make matters worse, so no surprise. They have flattened them before in the past and it generally dies down for a while, so with some luck they’ll be rideable again soon with minimal work.

I’ve read some utter tripe, but that review is right up there

The trouble with carbon is it can look superficial but be serious underneath, or can look awful and not be that bad structurally – again, another vote for Target Composites if you’re in the NW as he has kit (ultrasound I think) to check!

Not got any experience myself, though pals of mine have and they all seem very happy – and they’re not the lightest on gear. Will look that way myself when I get round to replacing the woeful Pro4 hub Hope ones I have, that are permanently needing new bearings due to crap sealing…

How about the ribbed roadie type ones with a central core? might be easier to trim to suit if they won’t go in? Like these:

<span style=”font-family: ‘Helvetica Neue’,’Helvetica’,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: small;”>https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-parts/handlebars-ends-grips-tape/halfords-handlebar-end-plugs</span&gt;

@whitestone

Sleep – minimum of 7hrs per night, ideally 8-9hrs

I wish! Up for work every morning at 5 and normally in bed by 10.30 – 11.00 so max 6 1/2 hours at most… No wonder I’m constantly knackered!