@oldfart, that’s as maybe, but Shimano’s Resin pads are absolute crap!

4pots are quite a bit stronger than 2pots yes, but you’ll notice a decent pad over the crap OEM resin pads far more, and for far less money… If they’re worn out and you’re replacing anyway, then it’s not an upgrade expense anyway is it?!?!

Mixing on one axle is a bad idea, front/back not so much.

This…

You have to remember that the difference between the very worst “legal” new tyres sold and the very best is quite a gaping chasm in some conditions, not so much in the warm and dry for sure, but in the cold and wet, what is legal and what is actually safe might be 2 different things… So stay away from the cheap ditchfinders, you’ll probably be fine.

Of course, if you’re a trackday addict and this is your pride and joy, then absolutely don’t scrimp, only fit matching tyres and always make sure they’re in tip top condition. But I doubt you’d be asking on here if this was the case, you’d be on Pistonheads or a trackday specific facebook group asking for advice on which specific tyre and pressures to run no doubt, much as some of the more enthusiastic riders on this forum ask about high end MTB tyres for specific conditions etc…

On my E Bike both take the same pads G05S R-X which are now on offer at Merlin for £4.99 ! 

G05S RX are a resin pad…

Not worth 5p let alone £5!

OEM Sintered pads are a lot better assuming they’re not ludicrously expensive (usually are though), but there’s plenty of much better aftermarket pads out there for not a lot of money…

OR… And I wouldn’t usually recommend “cheap” pads, but recently came across these… https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303734639157?_skw=brake+pads&itmmeta=01JA6CBZGQZ33QH0E367G4F6CG&hash=item46b7feca35:g:MBEAAOSwA-9fjv0I

Using some on my ebike currently, and have been very impressed by the performance so far for the price! Not quite as good as my favourite CLBrakes VRX compound, but they’re 1/4 of the price and performance is definitely one of the better pads I’ve used at any price!

@weeksy

geo available here… https://bikes.com/products/instinct-a50-22?variant=41230871330979

From 65.1 in slackest to 66.2 in steepest…

Fairly common ZS44/56 headset standard though, so easy to slip an angleset in too…

@lister your two closest dealers are Zero Bikes in Much Marcle and Setchfield Cycles in Wrexham. I know the Zero guys very well to be fair, very helpful bunch if ever you need anything. Setchfield have a good rep too by all accounts.

@nigew you’re kind of on the cusp size wise… Do you prefer a slightly more agile and nimble feeling bike, in which case go medium (it’s still 462mm reach), or if you prefer a longer more stable bike then go large basically…

Just had a test drive in a VW ID7 Tourer… Very impressed with it!

Anybody here own one?

What are we typically seeing for real world ranges vs claimed ranges for VW group cars on the whole?

Just looking at the specs on Pauls’ site it says they are Performance Line Nobby Nics (even though Evolution Line are clearly pictured on the bike on their page), which means a harder compound if they are. I can’t really see clearly in your pics, but doesn’t look like there’s an “Addix stripe” of any colour around the tyres, and looks like there might be a “P” (for performance line) on the sidewall of the tyre too… My experience of the Performance Line NN is it’s fine as a rear for firmer trails and trail centres, I do prefer something softer and grippier on the front though. The Evolution Line NN in Addix Soft compound (orange stripe) is actually a very good tyre I find, a lot grippier than the harder compound versions without sacrificing any rolling speed. But up front something like a Magic Mary would make more sense for most people most of the time here in the UK.

Could also look at Big Betty, Tacky Chan or Hans Dampf on the rear too with a Mary up front… Depending on your preferences, but all of those are good combos.

FWIW, I’ve come close to buying one of these discounted Instincts many times over the last year or so, but keep having to remind myself that I just would never ride it. I’ve got analogue bikes sat doing nothing as it is right now, given I really only ride an eBike these days… ? But the Instinct really is lovely… Worth noting that the 52.5 stroke rear shock can easily be extended to 55mm stroke for an extra 6mm of rear wheel travel. Also given that the mainframe is the same as on the Altitude, it can easily take more travel both front and rear… A popular mod seems to be to up the stroke to 55mm on the shock, fit a -1 angleset (easy to do as the RM has a very common headset type) and a 160mm airshaft to the fork… Results in around a 64.5deg head angle in the mid setting apparently whilst not compromising the BB height or climbing manners. Also lengthens the wheelbase and front centre usefully too, and means experimenting with the longer chainstay setting starts to make sense too… Makes it much more of a short travel Enduro bike than the longer travel trail bike it ships as, if that’s your kind of thing…

As it is, I’ve still got my 2019 Element A50 (bought from Pauls’ cheaply at the start of COVID ironically) that I love to bits, that punches way above its travel. Recently purchased a -2deg angleset to take the 69HA down to around 67, and a 44mm offset fork. Did look at the newer Element but would only swap it to go Carbon I think, and the deals were only left on the alloy ones… That said, £2k for the A50 model is bloody cheap (and can do it on C2W too if I paid for the 10% charge) and the carbon frame is only around 500-600g lighter than the alloy apparently, and in an area it doesn’t really matter… ?

Nope… I still don’t need it! ?

Long story short, i have to put together a gentleman’s weekend in the Cotswolds.

Gonna have to ask you to elaborate here…

Most of the Cotswolds is absolute heaven for a quiet weekend away with the missus, but suspect a group of blokes might be looking for something a little less demure perhaps…?

Cheltenham has a lot going on for anybody… The Races might be a good shout. Not far from Cleeve Hill for a walk/golf/ride…

If a little more serene, then Broadway area (including Snowshill, Willersey, Chipping Camden) would be good for walks and pubs, albeit better to visit when it’s a bit out of season as Broadway is very touristy.

Or the area around Stow on the Wold, the Slaughters, Guiting Power and Temple Guiting are lovely too.

Winchcombe is nice and is very close to Cheltenham, some decent walks from there too.

Tetbury also worth a shout potentially…

Gorilla tape – fine until one time the residue would not come off. Took hours to remove.

Was waiting for someone to suggest Gorilla tape…

Guys… Please… DO NOT use gorilla tape as a tubeless tape (at least not on alloy rims, might be ok on carbon)… It is porous and most tubeless sealant contains ammonia.

I have seen first hand far too many times the effects of a tubeless rim corroding from inside out over a couple of years, when an otherwise perfectly fine looking rim can just collapse out of nowhere because whoever taped the rim up decided to use gorilla tape, not a proper tubeless tape…

As for electrical tape… Well it’s not porous! But it’s about as tough as a wet piece of paper in the context here… Might work at fat bike pressures, certainly don’t expect it to work at normal MTB pressures as it will not be strong enough not to tear on the spoke holes.

I might be biased, but the Schwalbe rim tape (also available as DT Swiss branded, and quite possibly a few other brands buy the same product and have it rebranded too) is the best in my extensive experience…

https://www.merlincycles.com/schwalbe-tubeless-rim-tape-148891.html

So sorry to hear this. Best of luck to your Dad!

Just gone 2yrs in remission here myself, so there is always hope…

I get nice things are expensive, they do t need to be THAT expensive

Built to last mate… And that’s a high bling spec to be fair.

A mate just had a factory tour @ Nicolai in Germany on Friday, he has a G1 currently, was blown away by just how good the Saturn 16 MGU is having had a play on one…

Whether Nicolai or not, the future of eBikes really has to evolve towards the use of these MGU’s, derailleur gears make even less sense the more torque that is continuously applied through.

600W. Will need a bit of detuning for the UK.

Eh…? Most eBike motors are 600W peak now… It’s not the continuous figure.

Had quite a lengthy chat about Tuned Mass Dampers with Matt from Rimpact (who has been experimenting with them for a few years now) at Tweedlove earlier this year… Says he has plenty of scientific evidence to prove their effectiveness when tuned properly, and can make a decent difference even for the most amateur of riders… The key is, of course, getting the effective operating window setup correctly.

The tech comes from the F1 world for any who might not realise their significance. It’s not back of a fag packet engineering certainly…

Of course the biggest issue, even if they were proven to make a decent difference, would be convincing most MTB riders to actually strap more weight to their bikes rather than remove it!

Local lad put one in a hedge last week

Mustn’t grumble…

bike takes up all of the rear space (she ideally needs one seat in the back free)

Look at proper estate cars, not SUV’s… Far more practical in the rear world, especially for carrying bikes.

one of those stupid little engines

Ignore what you think you know about engine outputs historically… Modern small capacity turbo engines in cars are not only plenty torquey enough but generally quite a bit more frugal than their larger capacity counterparts.

a few 1.5ish diesels , although for her a petrol would be better, i cant help feel a lazier diesel would be better

Diesel definitely not better these days unless you have a hell of a commute… I’d say 25k annual mileage and under, stick with petrol still as a general rule.

manual (her eldest to learn to drive in)

You keep saying BIGGER engines though!!! He’s not going to get insured to drive anything above about 1L capacity to be honest, not unless she’s willing to shell out a fortune on insurance… I’d be more tempted to start looking at petrol hybrids myself, which will be automatic of course…

However… If it must be manual… Then take a look at the Seat Leon Estate, ideally the 1.2TSi engine as it keeps it under the 120g/km tax threshold (so CHEAP VED), still has about 110bhp so quick enough, genuine 50+mpg as long as not thrashed everywhere, nice to drive and she stands an outside chance of not having to remortgage her house to insure her lad on it! One like this…

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202409103880428?sort=price-desc&advertising-location=at_cars&body-type=Estate&fuel-type=Petrol&make=SEAT&model=Leon&page=2&postcode=wr2%205jf&price-to=10000&fromsra

Would be interested to try a Dirty Dan. Weight is up by quite a lot since the last one.

Yes, but the old ones used a Liteskin casing, which was properly thin. Took a lot of perseverance to work properly tubeless too.

I have a brand new unused pair that have been stashed in my spares box if anybody wants to make me an offer… 29×2.0″ Dirty Dan Liteskin tyres, never even been fitted.

Kept them originally as a “just in case” as couldn’t get them any more, but now we’ve reintroduced the 2″ DD into the range, I can always get more if I actually need them…

How does the Dirty Dan compare to Bonty Muds?

Faster rolling for sure… Been a long while since I used either though to be fair.

Rocket Ron?

For most people, most of the time, would tend to agree with you… It’s described as a “wet conditions XC tyre” though, it definitely doesn’t work as well in full on mud as well as others, but most people never ride in full on mud and a tyre such as the Rocket Ron provides a much better compromise that still works well in a variety of other conditions too. Still available in a 2.1″ version too (though rarely seen) though the 2.25″ is narrow enough for most people on modern bikes… The 2.35″ version definitely floats a bit more over the terrain than digging in, but its knobs are slightly larger too…

Very sad news for the staff involved… Heard this earlier today and then the industry press releases came too. Here’s hoping they get paid at least!

Schwalbe Dirty Dan 29×2.0″ was reintroduced with Super Race carcass and Transparent (tan) sidewall relatively recently, after the fallout of it being removed from the range when the “Super” carcasses came in to effect…

SQ Lab 610 on my eBike

Spesh Romin Evo Pro Mirror (3D printed) on my road bike

Fizik Aidon on new full sus I’m building up.

Other bikes all on a variety of Spesh Romin’s, Genetic STV (it’s Ison’s own brand, basically a Spesh Romin copy, but with more padding and a more flexy shell) and Spesh Bridge comp’s on other bikes… All have relief channels (I can’t sit on a bike saddle without one!)…

These all work for me in their varying degrees.

But I’d suggest getting a proper fit… And though not cheap, I really can’t recommend SQ Lab’s enough if you’re having genuine troubles getting fitted on a saddle. Go to one of their dedicated fit centres and get fitted!

Sorry to change the topic slightly… Any of you guys who’ve just bought one of these absolute bargain frames, fancy PXing/swapping your Fox Float X Factory shock for a DPS Factory, or some cash…? Just thinking you might be wanting to build a slightly more XC biased build, where I want to go the other way on my bike…

£400 for some MRP Ribbon forks at Bird. 140mm/ 27.5.

If anybody wants the same fork but the 29er version (I also bought it from Bird a short while ago in the sale), PM me… A change of plans means it’s now surplus to requirements… Will let it go for £360…

Saw this on UK hot deals

That GT Sensor ST is one hell of a bike for the price!!! Shock stroke can be increased to 55mm to give 140mm travel, it’ll take a 150mm fork too… ??

It really isn’t often I’m lost for words, but…

Who’s lumbered with a bike they’re unable to sell, without taking a huge loss?

Who’s picked up a bargain?

Yes to both… But that’s just the situation we find ourselves in right now! It’d be a terrible time to be giving up MTBing, but a fantastic time to get into it… As I am neither, it doesn’t really matter ultimately as the hits I will take when selling something tend to be covered when replacing it!

@mboy see that’s the problem, that’s compatible to a wide range cassette . I need a mech for a 2 x 10 with a 11-36 cassette and I’m not sure that will work ?

Compatible, yes…

But not specific to…

You can use a closer ratio cassette with a mech capable of taking a bigger range cassette with no problems, you just adjust the B tension screw to suit…

https://www.bananaindustries.co.uk/collections/drivetrain/products/shimano-deore-10s-rd-m6000-krdm6000gs

Which cassette have you gone with?

I don’t even think the LG600 cassette is available any more. I just got my mate to order a full group off Madison and it’s coming with the LG700 cassette…

I’ve got 8 months out of my LG400 10spd running two chains and it’s starting to slip on the smaller cogs, which is OK wear IMO.  I was going through 12spd deore in 4 weeks before I got linkglide.

4 weeks?!?!

I have a feeling Linkglide will last me a very long time!

Think the XT cassettes also have replaceable smaller cogs

They do, the 11/13/15 cogs are available separately… Won’t be an issue for me though, even on an eBike I’ll be wearing cogs 3/4/5 more than I will 9/10/11…

Performance are an OEM option

Incorrect

Available aftermarket too, though more rarely found than the Factory versions…

Only Rhythm is OEM only…

I’ve had a few in the past, but was always when proactively selling stuff in the classifieds.

My issue with drivetrains isn’t wear anymore, it seems to be bending the derailleur on what’s feels like every other ride.

If we’re talking 12spd Shimano, then I feel your pain… Suffered this a few times now, only once on my own bike, bending a £90 derailleur every other ride was getting damned expensive!

Deore 11spd seems to have been a fair bit tougher in this respect, and I’m hoping 11spd XT Linkglide will be tougher still…

Otherwise it’ll be back to expensive, but nigh on indestructible, SRAM 12spd for me (which I was really hoping to avoid on a full power eBike as I really don’t need 520% range nor the expense)…

Ok cheers guys. Ordered it…

On paper it makes a lot more sense to me for my eBike, hopefully that’ll transpire in the real world too… ??

You prefer the feel of 2 pot SLX over MT7’s at 90kg riding steep and techy terrain predominantly?!?!

This does not compute…

MT7’s are one of the most powerful brakes on the market, Vs a mid priced XC brake…

Whatever you do, at your size and riding the terrain you do, it is false economy to scrimp on braking power… So if you must go with Shimano, just get the 4 pots…

But don’t say we didn’t warn you about the wandering bite point!

No gloating.

You asked.

I replied.

Simple as that.

What Stu said…

I do have a job and a fairly sizeable mortgage in addition though… Keeps me busy enough during the week, and the odd weekend.

Currently enjoying getting back to some sort of normality health wise, and being able to ride a bike again though… Having dealt with several near death experiences and chronic illness for much of the last 2yrs, I have very much come to envy the likes of you @bikerevivesheffield who have been able to exercise for several hours a week without recourse…

But I would never be so vulgar as to judge you for doing so, or assume a position of comtempt!

Zero kids that I know of…

I don’t have this problm!

It really doesn’t matter that it doesn’t have a throttle. It provides more power and torque than even an elite cyclist can generate.

That isn’t even remotely true though is it… Most eBikes can deliver an additional 500W peak power in short bursts, or 250W continuously… But you’ll deplete the battery very quickly if you do this.

Chris Hoy could deliver over 2 kilowatts at his peak in a sprint, most Pro Tour sprinters can sustain well over 1 kilowatt in a bunch sprint, I remember an interview with Bradley Wiggins after he won the TdF in 2012 after he won the final TT where he said he had to sustain 440W for an hour to do so…

The components on the bike see power and torque above what they would see on a non-eMTB and from what I’ve heard and also seen on this thread this leads to more wear and failures of drivetrains

Can’t disagree with you here. The sooner that we see integrated motor/gearbox units like the Pinion one, the sooner we can ditch the outdated derailleur gear setup… You will find that Pro Elite sprinters will likely get at least a new chain after every sprint finish if not quite a whole new drivetrain, with the peak power they can put through a drivetrain significantly outweighing that put through by an average weekend warrior on his eMTB…

What a legend. Love these threads in which a bunch of people who ride expensive engine-powered bikes convince each other that it’s great for fitness.

Possibly the biggest endorsement of eBikes on this forum yet is that it took 3 full days and almost 2 full pages of responses until anyone decided to wade in with their ignorant prejudices!

You do you… If you believe that you need to be doing max exertion all of the time to be “fit” then don’t let me stop you…

Tell me this then… Why is it so many pro MTBer’s now use eBikes for a lot of their training? Is it because the actual activity of riding the mountain bike itself is arguably the least important part to their training schedule maybe? And that structured gym and turbo sessions are far more important, when combined with the ability to ride a bike that not only allows them to get out and ride further but also allows them to tailor the effort required it at any given moment… I spoke to Nick Craig a while back about his Scott Lumen, he said it’s easily his favourite bike and he was riding it more than anything else, putting the same amount of effort in as he would on anything else and covering twice the distance and climbing, or simply just using it to go out on an easy recovery ride that he may have otherwise had to do on the turbo trainer…

I was stationed next to the Yeti team at EWS in Innerleithen year before last, one of the mechs there told me that Richie Rude literally never rides a non eBike except to race on it, the eBike allows for much better structured training and simply a better descending to climbing ratio meaning more time practicing the descents too…

For my own situation, which you chose to ignore, like many others for me it had unfortunately become a case of riding an eBike or not riding at all… I hope you never have a long term illness, much as I hope to be as fit as I was 7yrs ago again and able to enjoy riding conventional MTB’s as much again as I used to…

possibly the most feeble justification yet! For me curiosity & satisfaction of occasionally finding a decent new trail/route trumps “oh I can’t be bothered” :) I also actually enjoy riding a bike which helps I guess.

Easily a brilliant justification if you actually tend to ride anywhere particularly technical and steep…

Its funny just how much derision people get for riding a bike with an electric motor for assistance, yet nobody bats an eyelid at someone with a DH bike getting a lift to the top…

You’re going to get a lot of different answers…. I will kick off with ODI Elite Pro grips.

Seconded… and seconded… ODI Elite Pro’s easily the best I’ve used.

Gusset S2 also good… As are Ergon GE1’s.

Got some new ODI Vanquish on order to give a try soon though…

thanks for all the replies, so if I was being very picky, what XC bikes are out there with wireless shifting and integrated storage that are likely on sale?

Being that picky is less likely to result in a bargain…

I’d ignore wireless shifting for now myself… Certainly it’s much less likely to get you a bargain bike, and you can always upgrade in the future should you want to anyway…

Do you have a budget per se?

Perhaps that’s at the same tyre pressure. And they did say you should be able to run these higher to get the same deformation/grip while gaining bottom out rim impact protection.

Nail hit firmly on the head there…

Run it at the same pressure you would have run a non radial tyre at, it will be slower… But have more grip… Run the pressures higher (roughly 30-40%) and you’ll experience similar grip and rolling resistance to the old tyre at the lower pressure, but increased sidewall support and all the benefits that go with that too…

There’s always the thing in these threads that different people ride e-mtbs in a different ways. 

BWD makes a very good point here… There’s big numbers of people riding eBikes on trails now that simply didn’t ever try Mountain Biking before there was the option for it to be done electrically assisted, and I find that more often than not, these people are riding their bikes in full power mode all of the time until the battery runs out, and often even taking a spare battery with them…

And then there’s people for whom the challenge is that the bike never comes out of Eco unless they are absolutely spent, who just use the bike to go a lot further and get more trails in for a given amount of time, but still want to be putting a significant amount of effort in…

And then there’s everyone inbetween too…

It’s also worth remembering that for a lot of people, the choice hasn’t been eBike or conventional MTB, it has been, for whatever reason, eBike or sitting at home watching the TV instead… For lots of people, eBikes have become real game changers for their fitness as it allows them to get out and enjoy doing something, rather than just suffering and it never becoming fun!

There are benefits to exercising at more consistent effort and HR levels at times too (just as there are for doing intervals)… Nothing is clear cut here and the “eBikes make you fat” or “eBikes make you lose your fitness” crew really don’t know what the hell they’re talking about… They just can’t see beyond their own ill informed prejudices!

As someone who is hard wired to put effort into riding a bike (been MTBing since the early 90’s), I sometimes have to tell myself even now to relax a bit more on my eBike, and not feel guilty using Tour+ or even eMTB modes rather than Eco (NEVER Boost!) if and when I am lagging or trying too hard to keep up with others or simply that I feel my heart rate is getting higher than I want it to be in a given situation. That there are others who ride their eBikes like a 450cc Enduro bike and want all of the power all of the time is up to them…

We’ve talked about this before… are you on the clock just now? :)

Always on the clock… You know that! ;-)

I know we have talked before, I just find it unfair to criticise something and provide no context for others, that’s my point… I hate the music of Coldplay… If I left it there, it doesn’t provide any context as to my criticism of them… So specifically, whilst I find their music quite boring and almost “paint by numbers” in its formulaic approach, it’s Chris Martin’s voice that goes through me… His tone (or lack of), the nasality of it, the fact he seems to have made an incredibly successful career out of having zero talent that I can find etc… Now I’m putting some context as to why, personally, I can’t stand their music… The fact that he dresses like a total wannabe hipster half his own age and is so high on his own self importance, just makes it worse!

Anyway… Back on topic…

I do think your issue with the Super Trail casings is quite an isolated one… It’s not something I have seen or heard of except for a handful of very isolated issues, and/or people using them in situations far beyond their remit. For context, I am a LOT heavier than you (95kg currently, so a good 30kg heavier I suspect) and also riding a full fat eBike right now… I put in a request for Super Gravity versions of the Tacky Chan in soft and a 2.6″ Mary to go on it. They were of course, out of stock in our warehouse, with delivery dates for free stock (as in not already pre ordered by distributors) months away… So I had two choices… Go out and buy my own tyres at or near rrp from a shop, or go with Super Trail versions that I could get for free from work…

I think you know where this is going…

I’m not the smoothest of riders either for context, but so far, no problems at all running a lighter casing than I would expect to be able to get away with at my weight, riding style and on an eBike too… Tend to run the pressures about 25/26 rear and 21/22 front and all is good with the world… I expected to have killed at least the rear Super Trail carcass by now, but nothing of the sort!

In speaking to many other good riders I know who ride Schwalbe out of choice, I know a lot of guys who at least run a Super Trail on the front now, and a handful who have switched front and rear… No issues…

For context, I have owned a 1.9TDi VW Passat that had its engine seize at only just over 120k miles… The “most reliable” engine in the world according to everyone on the internet (I’ve owned several more of the same engine since, and they do go on for a long time in general), and not only that but one with a full main dealer service history too… When I explained what had happened on t’internet there was of course dozens of people literally up in arms that I’d question the reliability of their god-like engine of choice, and that I must have done something on purpose to make it seize whilst doing 75mph on the M4 in the fast lane at 11 o clock at night… But sure enough, something happened in the engine and it dropped a valve, and caused said piston to valve interface and it was only my quick reactions dipping the clutch that stopped my tyres from locking up more than momentarily and causing a big accident!

Whilst I didn’t rush out to buy another one, I did accept that my experience was incredibly rare and not at all indicative of the product from the many hundreds of millions of miles other users have had with it without their engines seizing…

And whilst I still despise Coldplay, I will begrudgingly accept that there are people out there who will pay good money to see them play live, and that whilst I might not understand how they derive enjoyment from said experience, that they do and I should not judge them (too much!) for doing so… ;-)

If you wanna sell (or swap) a SG 29er Rock Razor let me know… probably my favourite rear tyre ever for my local trails and trail centres in the summer… But again, you and I are exceptions to the rule here as more and more people want all of the grip all of the time, and fast rolling harder use tyres are incredibly unpopular when it comes to sales figures, hence it was canned… Yet we had significant demand for a Super Ground Magic Mary, hence it was introduced into the range!