I find 35t with 11-34 is spot on. On the very rare occasion as I feel asthough I need an easier gear, I change into a harder gear and stand up, and im no pro.

WTF? I bet you don’t ride the same terrain either… Next thing people will suggest is taking some –

😉

Find I rarely use 32/11, perhaps on smooth road descents; could use a bit of help on rocky loose climbs.

Then maybe a single ring set up isn’t for you… just saying.

Or perhaps the terrain he rides is different to yours 🙄

I’ve been thinking an FSA 386 chainset and ditch the big ring to give you a 27t?
Good price on CRC at the momentFSA 386

There is also another FSA crank with a 29t… I guess the problem with these is that in a few years you might struggle to get any rings to fit the very bizzare BCD’s involved 🙄

If the posters are to believed you can earn £35k driving a bus round Aberdeen 😕

Driving a tank through the heart of the city would be far more rewarding though 😈

Edit… not sure if bad BO is a requirment or long term perk of the position?

My new house was causing problems for my BT Home Hub. It was an easy fix with the two Homeplugs from my BT vision box and a second BT home hub which was sent to me in error, all I had to do was reconfigure the second BT Home Hub as an access point (very simple after a quick google). I now have full wifi round the house and right down to the summerhouse at the end of the garden (I am awesome).

If your tempted by xx1 why not just buy the chainset first

I’m thinking this could work very well for me… If I drop to a 28 front ring with an 11-36 10 speed cassette I’ll be able run the considerably cheaper (and stronger looking) dinky Saint rear mech. From a quick look at the gear ratios I currently use I’ll lose a little off the top and bottom which I think I can live with.

Currently not many options for 28t front rings and even less suitable chain guides or I would probably have gone this route already 😐

I wouldn’t be too concerned with chainring wear… if you already run 1×9/10 or Hammershcmidt you’ll know that chain and chainring wear is greatly reduced from 2 and 3 chainring set ups. Change the chain when it starts to show wear and the cassette and ring will last for ages.

I have a strong dislike for front mechs and don’t run them anymore on the bikes I currently ride offroad… I realise other people don’t have the same opinions or experiences 😉

Thanks Toons… I’m trying hard not to really want this and you go and post that 🙄

As Stoner says… work out your current hourly rate and multiply by between 2 and 4 depending on what you think you can get away with are worth.

Mary Mary from Gaye Bykers on Acid was into bikes for while…

My personal must buy would be a “Pitchshifter Industies – popular culture sucks”… just like the long sleeve shirt I bought at a gig many moons ago… oh how I loved that shirt 😥

my only experience of Rolhoffs off road is waiting for people with them to fix their 3rd pinch flat of the decent.

Yep… been there too 😆

I’ve tried and owned various Rohloff bikes… your either willing to put up the negatives or your not. Going back to a normal drivetrain felt great to me which shows me where my allegiances lie (wa-ay to go to off-topic the thread by the way 🙄 back under your bridge 😉 ).

Cassette wear is not a huge issue as long as your meticulous with the chain wear checker and change the chain ealier rather than later. But smashing a £240 rear mech is always going to hurt… my record was two in two days and it was one of the reasons I went Rholoff all those years ago 😆 (and also the reason I now run SXL/XT/Saint rather than XTR… £240 for something dangling down there is a bit scary 😐 ).

Get used to the difference. I use the same wheels front and back but for no other reason than them’s the wheels I have… but I use very different tyres sometimes. 1000+g UST DH tyre on the back and 700g tubeless AM tyre up front… probably more weight difference in my tyres than in your wheels. I might notice it for a few minutes after changing them but out on the trail it gets forgotten about (IMHO etc).

If building a new bike I’d almost certainly do it, can’t see I’ll change though.

This^^^ As part of a new build the upcharge would not be huge, but to swap out a drivetrain for £1000 is ouch 🙄

Plus… my experience with SRAM (other than my HammerSchmidt) so far has not been too positive (My X9 was sheeeeeeeeit).

I emailed HOPE in July and they replied to say they had no plans to produce a compatible hub body… but I’m sure that will change if/when they see demand.

Hi, we have no plans to make a compatible freehub at the moment. We would have to have a look at the cassette etc first as we have no experience of them yet. Very sorry about that.
Cheers,
Dart.

Rather than buy XX1 I would prefer to get the HOPE 10 speed 9/10-36 cassette that was rumoured; then I could use Shimano Saint/XTR stuff… but I would be very tempted by the XX1 crank to get those chainrings… but how long until other companies copy that idea???

I had a Whyte 19 Steel – on paper this has a slack head angle with 120mm forks which should have made it a good handling bike for the gnarly low speed techy stuff which I like to ride… unfortunately it has a bottom bracket which is the height of the ozone layer which meant that in the afformentioned terrain it was a bit of a handful (IMHO etc etc). I still quite liked it though 😳

Head angle is not the only important variable etc etc.

“Best” and “XTR” go together like oatcakes and cheese 😆

Nice find packer… that deserves it’s own picture… ooof!

If you are struggling to ride steep stuff it’s YOU that’s the limiting factor, not your choice of telescopic fork.

skillz innit 😆

I often ride much the same trails on a 1994 rigid Kona Explosif as I do on my 160mm travel hardtail (and full suss)… ignoring all the big drops and concentrating on the gnarly techy bits the big difference is the confidence and hence speed I can ride them at with the long travel forks. I can get the Kona down much the same stuff but it’s a very different type of riding (i.e. mincing).

FWIW… the best fork set up I have found for the long travel hardtail is exactly the same as the set up I had on the full suss… no changes.

Recent new arrival with a friend of mine.

33lbs with air shocks (nearly as pictured)… I plan to get a shottie sometime

Er, if I was planning a ride to take in the Glas Allt Sheil descent I would want it to be as early in the ride as possible not at the end of a death march of epic proportions.

Callater to Lochnagar path… here is a pic of “stuartie_c” from this forum riding down the Callater end of it… it’s a fun descent so I would suggest it’s quite a hike to get up!

I can’t put the picture in because he hasn’t allowed sharing but here is a link to it…

There is an easier way up to the Lochnager plateau from Invercauld up the Feindallacher burn which is mostly rideable (IMHE, YMMV etc).

Interesting to hear feedback on these things… a big thank you from me for sharing this 😀

Beinn a Bhuird can be ridden almost all the way up… the descent is a bit more problematic unless you know the “secret way”. 😉

For Lochnagar riding up from Invercauld/Ballochbui via Sugart Mor/Beag saddle is more rideable than going from Loch Muick over Broad Cairn; but the return via Gelder Sheil and Balmoral is a long fire road deal breaker for me. A big reason for riding Lochnagar is the descent of Glas allt Sheil… it makes me nervous just thinking about the super long techfest of trouble with the ever present feeling that if you get it wrong you might be going home in a chopper… or as chickenman puts it

(there’s no freaking way I am ever riding down this path..total respect to anyone who does!!);

One of my favourite descents and I try to do it at least once a year

IMHO: designed and warrantied to take a 160mm fork are very different things.

On paper my Ragley Mmmbop could take a 160mm fork but became a bit of a dog when fitted with a 150mm fork…

I didn’t like the 150mm fork’s noodlyness in the gnar and wanted to run a 160mm fork so bought a Ragley Troof…

which is awesome with a 160mm fork.

Edit: I think for everyone it’s always a trade off between the amount of carrying they are prepared to do and the quality of the ensuing descent. Personally, I’m happy to carry for a couple of hours over the day to access good descents (EDIT adventures) but I appreciate that others are not. Several of the rides I have done were good days out but involved so much carrying that I will be unlikely to repeat them often. For the most part though there aren’t many big hills in Scotland with quick access to good descents. For me this is one of it’s charms. You’ve got to earn it!

I’m with Spin… but I’ve walked more Munro’s than I’ve taken bikes up.

I don’t want it be easy as the challenge/exposure/effort is a big part of the fun…

It’s not…

🙄

blindness follows

Did you mean Blandness follows in that is how all other beers taste afterwards?

Anyway… I though it was mast*rbation which lead to blindness?

Sat – Hawaii themed house warming

Sun – Cursing my own stupidity?

wiz74

Looking at the route down from Lochnagar, where is that aircraft wreckage

Hi Wiz74. It could have been us you saw as I think we were coming round the bottom of the loch at about 3pm. How did you enjoy the Glen Doll to Muick route? It’s a good introduction to high mountain riding IMHO… at the head of Loch Muick did you ride down the doubletrack switchback “Streak of lightning” or the more entertaining waterbar singletrack “streak of pants” (Corrie Chash)?

The crashed Canberra is just off the top of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor. There are two piles of cairns up top and it’s off to the East of the North top on the path you take when descending to the saddle towards Carn an t-Sagairt Beag. Difficult to miss once your up there. The detour I mention is going to the top of Carn an t-Sagairt Mor; more usually on a bike you start the climb up here from Cairn Bannoch but join the path which goes round the side towards the Stuic (from Callater)… but if it’s a nice day and I have the legs I like taking in the tops as the little “detours” add to the fun.

Sometimes (IME anyway) it helps if you give the inside of the tyre a scrub with some hot soapy water and scotchbrite before you fit it, as some tyres seem to have release agent residue left inside which makes the sealant “bead” and not spread across the surface of the sidewalls properly.

This^^^ and/or a wipe round inside with meths/degreaser.

Get the same rim, tape them together and swap the spokes over carefully – then retension. Good fun 😀

Hmmm, to Pinion or XX1 ❓

Back in the real world I’ll stick with 9spd until the stuff I have dies 😈

I have two. Both get hammered in the North East of Scotland and I am really hard on kit especially seatposts.

Both of mine were early ones from 2011 and both failed within the first few months of use and were fixed under warranty through the local LBS (who I did not buy them from for availability reasons). Both returned from SRAM-UK/Fishers/LBS/Whatever within a week and have been perfect ever since.

I would buy another in a heartbeat…

Is there a problem you want the Push to fix or is it upgradeitus?

It all depends what YOU want from the fork. I ended up getting some Pike’s Pushed after talking to TFT about the problems I was having, and it certainly improved the performance on repeated hits which was the problem… but they were not a patch on either the the Black Box Rev’s or Fox 36 which I’ve since used.

School holidays so I’m far to old/embarrased to go near the skatepark at the moment 😥

Only two weeks until the kids are back in school and my lunchtime fun restarts 😀

The other use my BMX gets is going out and faffing with my 5 & 6 year old boys… been a bit of that recently but it doesn’t really count.

Greg “Willie” Williams at Yuba Expeditions was an awesome help when I was in Downieville many years ago…

http://www.yubaexpeditions.com/

Oh goody… here is last years thread.

History repeats

Absolutely dismiss it out of hand… look at the programme and you’ll see why…

What do you think this is… Scottish mountain bike rider contribution scheme[/i] ???

Hmmm, when I first tried them I had the lever as close to bar as it would go and I have medium hands. By going one finger braking I’m now middle of the adjustment… they are great brakes and one finger is all you need so worth a little perseverence. Hope this was helpful.

That’s a bit poor…

Looks like it will work with the new gripshift anyway.

Google image search for “reverb mmx gripshift”

Linky

Number 1

Number 2

I decided against putting disc tabs on this a few years ago when it was repaired/modified after the chainstay snapped. I wanted to keep it cheap and a bit sh1t so I could justify replacing it “properly” when it breaks again… which it has stubbornly refused to do… must try harder 😈