I have a minion 2.35 folder on the rear of a shimano wheel with stans and its hassle free. Up front I have a 2.5 steel bead version that lets fluid fizz out all over the place (bead as well as any tiny hole it can find)

After a few months I ended up with a laytex ping pong ball rolling around in the tyre. I removed it,refilled with fluid and another ball has formed along with dusty powder everywhere inside the tyre. There is no moisture in there at all. A tube has been fitted and I think I’ll go to a folding version for the front as this steel version is a pain.

On my wage I would need the Rapha wallet to have nothing but coin space as taking the cards along for the ride would be pointless after buying it.

Tanner goods of Portland make some quality wallets. Some of them (possibly all of them) have some of the finest leather available and they aren’t too expensive. The cardholder might do they job for you as I think you can also stuff coins in there too. A few stores around the U.K. stock them.

I don’t care if the Breezer’s dinnae qualify. I’m blown away so I’ll just …erm.. head off to the next thread as RR has blown it all apart!

Dez,I used to do that as well. I liked how you could ‘T’ mark points in the recording and delete any size out of the recording. Great for swear words in shop friendly recordings!

This morning my knee pain came back! I was riding stuff with the seat up and down and everything inbetween yesterday along with carrying it up ledges. Driving for quite a while with lots of clutch work over the west coast might have been part of it too.

Its on the outside of my knee and usually feels fine during riding. Hard pedalling usually strengthens it.. but messing around doing daft things can bring it on. It’ll now be nagging me for weeks.

Some names cropping up here and there in the thread that have been known to be great for the first few months of use then cause problems soon after.

If the OP is under 10 stone,enjoys replacing bearings quarterly,waiting around for freehub body replacements and is happy to go for a pair of 350-400 quid wheels (when his budget was more than double that) then he has a great selection above.

If he wants to fit and forget,then the mavic and shimano options listed above might be worth a look.

Astra estate or Drumrunie estate? ;O)

Good write up and nice pics. I have only taken the motorbike around that neck of the woods but would love to climb it sometime.

I still have a few magazines to scan. One has a mountain biking on Ben Nevis article from around 88. I’ll try and get it done this week.

Good choice,funk. I was dreading you buying an xl flux a few mins ago (Was reading a few pages worth) and pictured you on a big flimsy gate with all that weight going through the pedals. You would have noticed it more than I notice the difference between a 5 spot and a flux ( I ride mediums)

It’s only a tiny amount but with the size of the frame you would need along with the weight you’d be putting through it,I reckon you made the right choice.

edit: @ 16 stone,the diff between a flux and 5 weight-wise is not worth thinking about. Going for the slightly heavier/stiffer option was a good move.

People are reading the original post and picking things up all wrong. If it was the right selection and fitted correctly.. then he may have had no issues.

If it was a case of this then I too would be spouting how Shimano is fit & forget but its not.

As much as I’d like it to be, its not ;O)

Could be down to the fact that the SRAM X0 front mech is about 4mm above the big ring as the Direct Mount fitting won’t allow it to go any lower.
LBS tried to fix it and even a shorter chain did not help.

By adding in this bit it shows that it was never going to be right in the first place. You come here to spout anger over ill component choice and make yourself feel better by putting a brand down that you haven’t chosen/set up correctly in the first place.

Now from me,some might think 100% Shimano all the way,I have to stand up for Sram here. I use a XX front mech on the 2×10 XO chainset on the 29er and it shifts sweet. Not keen on their shifters and rear mech’s but I do get on fine with the above.

I had an S&M dirtbike that had bosses designed for a dia compe brake that never made it into production. The pad fixing hardware on the brake had to be ground down and they nearly rested on the stays. This brake,AD990,and araya aero’s custom chromed by customriders was a very powerful combo. Not quite magura rim brake power but nothing like yer typical calliper dia compe’s etc.

As for not affording brakes.. if you look around you will find many pro models with no brake mounts at all.

I had an S&M dirtbike that had bosses designed for a dia compe brake that never made it into production. The pad fixing hardware on the brake had to be ground down and they nearly rested on the stays. This brake,AD990,and araya aero’s custom chromed by customriders was a very powerful combo. Not quite magura rim brake power but nothing like yer typical calliper dia compe’s etc.

A hell of a lot less tight than that!

I have to say that I am with GW on the fat bike down spooky wood question.

After going out on the Turner flux earlier this eve after weeks on the salsa spearfish.. 26×2.1 is the way to go til the day I die!

Andy,mind that counter clockwise loop from Incheril (loch maree) where you end up at the loch before descending the mad gulley? They would be great for floating up the lochs into no man’s land and making a full day out of it. I rode,pushed..crawled for a few hours in that direction and decided to give in through lack of track. By water on the other hand..

Yes but never tell anyone that you have.Especially on here.Folk will only mock you with pictures of tortoises on bikes.

Then it’ll go a step further with comments along the lines of big hitting tortoises etc. Not worth it.

I don’t know anyone from here. Not one.

2007 AJ5’s in black. I shouldn’t but I do.
Vans la cripta dos £17 sale items.
2003 dunk lo’s – still going strong with soles hardly worn. Best soles ever!

and shimano MT90’s when its snowing. A bit hard to stand in all day but they are all I have that’s waterproof.

Squarewheels have a few epo’s in stock now. There’s around 5 electric bikes in the shop. Demo-able around the village if the weather is nice :O)

There’s a vid of an old guy nose diving into the run up of that ramp. It might have been posted on here a few months ago.

‘do you know who the **** I am, and do you know what’s inside this rucksack, old man? I suggest you move at least three carriages along’

This all on top of it being the best hardcore trail bike money can find!

Spits coffee over the laptop too.

Heck of a lot of damaged laptops this morning ;O)

I usually sleep after a strong cup of coffee or three. Not sure what’s going wrong with me but I could have a big mug of strong fresh coffee and crash after half an hour for the night (after drinking it around midnight)

We had bad weather the other day but today is one of the best days of the year so far. Bit breezy but blue as a blue thing.

Wow,imagine how good he’d be if he rode a bike with wheels suited to his height ;O) 20″ or 24″? lol.

I have crossmax st’s that were 2nd hand. Probably used for a year and a half in total and I have never altered the spoke tension.Trued them a little about a year ago and that was it. Adjusted the rear hub a few times over a few years but its so easy to do. If the sx is of the same build.. then I would definitely consider them. I would buy another pair of st’s tomorrow if I needed new wheels.

The 29er versions are something I’d love to try.

For certain electrical goods to be ‘liquipelled’ in the factory is something to really look forward to. I have dried out my mp3 player for the 3rd time on tuesday eve before getting it to play again.It takes hours to do. If I put it in a bag,its a pain to use the functions with gloves on. I had the same problem with the phone trying to start and stop Cyclemeter app. It was in a bag but again,a bit tricky. Headphones can get saturated in the rain too so the remote on the lead to control the apps etc is another thing that could also be treated. I use £15 earphones on the bike but to have decent quality ones treated would be a bonus as I really want to splash out on something that sounds great during riding.

http://www.dbethune.com/Mountains/GlenTilt/CarnaChlamain.html

‘Finally, a pleasant 5 downhill miles on the bikes (no punctures this time!) back to the car at Old Bridge of Tilt’

Aaaaye! Sounds braw. (below border translation ~ spiffingly fantastic)

I rode past that trail a few weeks ago,Fortunateson. I never bothered going to the top to ride it as it’s altered a bit since <2004ish for the worst.Its a shame.It was obviously once natural top to bottom and I like to remember it that way.

I forgot to look back at this thread. Is that the coral beach north of Dunvegan,Druid? I remember D.M. go on about the coral beach/beaches up there. I could sit there for hours sifting through that!

Brilliant!

Ahh Mr salsa! Was up riding in Rothiemurchus and around a bit of the euro ss champs race course on monday. Sun was shining and I thought to myself “I wonder what salsaboy’s upto these days.. haven’t seen him on the forum”

Hope yer doing fine.

Well the new sim will be using my old number shortly.. so virgin will be leaving me with my phone and a virgin sim that’s not going to be useable. In the text they said to make sure to save everything from my phonebook before the big day.

It’s not just the dampness i’m worried about when riding with a new phone. I could bag it.. but its still carrying way too much when a cheap nokia weighs next to nothing.. and probably does the job better when it comes to calls. The extra weight is another thing (in the hydration pack)

Going light feels good,on big rides you need to take more kit but it’s good to be able to keep weight on the back to a minimum and this new phone feels twice the weight of the old thing.

ordered one item monday eve.. arrived wed.

From the auto side of things I will never use them again.

Ordered iridium plugs for the car at a cost of around £70 (at least rrp paid,if not more) Found out on the net that the brand recommended to use a slightly different type of plug in the car so I asked if I could have the correct plugs sent out/exchanged.

Customer service couldn’t see the a problem as the manufacturer said that they would work.. only the brand later found another plug a better heat range for said car.
This is why the manufacturer sent out the newsletter in the first place. To notify dealers to make changes to the type of plugs sold for a certain car from a certain date (they were bought a year or two since the newsletter came out) Failure to read/receive the update and a snotty attitude on the phone put me off using them again.

I paid full price and probably postage too and got nowhere with what I thought was going to be a case of ‘Ahh,I see what you mean,we’ll get the best suited plugs exchanged for you..no problem’

Snow tomorrow,best wait til next week!

I see. I think it’s A719’s I have in the shed from a previous 29er wheelbuild but with the braking surface which doesn’t look the best.

Even the alpha with its higher pressure capability will drop its (correct) tension compared to the mavic.

I see. I think it’s A719’s I have in the shed from a previous 29er wheelbuild but with the braking surface which doesn’t look the best.

Mavic – eyelets. A719 rim around 550grams?
stans – no eyelets.

mavic – maxtal.
stans – cheese.

mavic – no issues whatsoever with spoke tension after high inflation.
stans – trust me,it will NOT be the same as the 719 once inflated to the same pressure given same tensions before tyre inflation.

mavic – overall strength maxtaltastic.
stans – probably fine enough all round bar the spoke hole area after many years of useage. I just can’t see you getting anywhere near the amount of trouble free use out of a stans over the mavic.