Hard wire as much as you can so as to take the load off the wifi. Parts of my house were easy to do whereas others are not; the bit thats difficult has to rely on wifi hence taking as much other stuff off the wifi as possible.

When running cables run N+1.

I went for Cat6 cables as the incremental additional costs were not huge and I’ve hopefully saved myself having to run them again in a few years.

I’ve also left the string I used to pull cables through in case I want to pull more cables.

I’d love to try the new Formula ThirtyFive forks but they are far from cheap 8O

240g I believe….

I remember that figure being bandied around on the MTBR forum and it was for Dippers daft fancy Koi camo colour which required loads of paint.

I also read somewhere that its 100g if you go for painted front part and ano rear.

Apparently choosing the colour is difficult… my bikes always end up looking the colour of the local mud :oops:

I love and hate my old nineties Columbus Max Explosif in equal measure; sometimes we get on and other times it tries to kill me… but I will have the last laugh when I kill it :twisted:

I have a B&W A5 in the Kitchen and love its simplicity. Play music or internet radio from your phone etc via Airplay, or use “Remote” to access everything on the PC/NAS elsewhere in the house.

Sound quality is very good considering the size of the box which is easy to place and does not look obtrusive.

Two weeks after mine… I raced the first Macavalanche (I’m at the back of this picture but not at the back of the race 8) !)

I really wish I had taken my own stitches out as soon as they started to be uncomfortable instead of leaving them an extra five days… taking them out was a sweet relief.

I’ve used travel adjust forks in the past and they are good for one thing IMHO… finding the sweet spot fork length for a frame :D . I’ve had a couple of pairs of 120-150mm Revelations and when I first put them on I think they are great; they are light, they seem to work well and go where I point them, and I can fiddle with the height…

after a while with them on I find I’m pushing them harder and feel the flex, and overwhelm the damper, never use the traval adjust as I’ve found the sweet spot, and end up swapping them again for my heavier Fox 36’s which feel so much better (set the Fox at the height I liked the Revs… 130mm for the Mmmbop).

Having said that I like long travel forks on hardtails which are designed for long travel. I ran this with 160mm forks for 6 months (the frame cracked :( ).

This bike was great fun, very slack head angle, relatively low bottom bracket, and a seat angle that was steep enough to climb. The only time the forks being 160mm was any kind of issue was when “honking” out of the saddle, but even then if you weight the front they didn’t bob too much (they bob even less now they have an Avalanche Speed Sensitive Damper in them). With the low bottom bracket it feels great when cornering; you might think the payoff for this is hitting the pedals of the floor but I didn’t find that the case as when your using all the travel your not pedalling :twisted: (if your forks are crap or set up badly I’m sure they will cause pedal strikes!).

I think people say things like “too much travel for a hardtail” based on their own experience of bunging a fork that is too long on a frame designed for a shorter fork… if the frame is designed for a long fork then it will work well with a long fork. IMHO travel adjust forks are a crutch for frames with over long forks, or poorly designed frames :wink:

Coming off the last Mmmpob onto this Blue Pig the Fox 36 fork is still set at 130mm, I think there is room to lengthen it a little but I’m really enjoying how this rides at the moment… long, low and slack at the front with a seat angle steep enough for techy climbing. The stiff fork feels great and I can really keep the bike where I want it on the muddy techy trails I ride often… it puts a huge grin on my face.

If I was getting a custom hardtail frame for where and how I like to ride I would base it on the Ragley Troof I broke. It would be designed for a 160mm fork and be slack head angled with a low bottom bracket, and a seat angle steep enough for climbing. Fork wise I would want a 160mm fork that rides high in its travel rather than being soft and wallowy, that way it will perform well most of the time but have the big travel available when needing it. From my experience this would be a Bos Deville or the Avy Fox 36 I have… although I have heard the new Pike rides high due to the mid-valve technology (like the Bos and Avy). Enjoy!

The Flow rims on my Hoops were wrecked after a couple of years so I replaced the rims with the light-bicycle carbon rims. I wrecked the rear but a warranty replacement is ready to go on, and my next rims will be the same when I decide what wheel size to go for. They feel great and lasted well… even when cracked.

Congrats gavtheoldskater – makes you feel like THE MAN when you can recycle old tech stuff you were about to throw out :)

Never been. But my wife did heaps of research and for the price of a weekend in Euro Disney you could almost do a week at Disney World in Florida; so we spent far more and did two weeks in Florida (makes sense once your there as being in the USA is cheap compared to the UK).

Love it! We have already booked to go back next year.

Book now and go in October when its pretty quiet for Disney and good uk type temperature.

The XD freehub design removes the damage that normal cassettes always do to alloy freehubs. Making a 10spd cassette to fit the XD freehub is really cool :)

Not so sure about the 9 tooth as I’ve found the 10 tooth on XX1 to be a bit “lumpy” under power; not that I power much when in that gear as its mostly required only for road sections (XX1 is on my All Mountain bike).

*drool*

I liked the Deville I rode but it was not as stiff as a Fox 36. Having read the poor reviews of the Fox 34 forks I had an idea I could buy a set secondhand as they are bound to be available cheap, fit an Avalanche downhill racing cartridge and have an utterly brilliant fork (I have the Avy damper in a 36 and a 55 and they are brilliant… but my 36 is a little old in the tooth). Problems with this are that despite the poor reputation of the 2013 34 fork they are not available that cheap, and making the fork open bath will add 150g+ from my 36 experience, and the Pike fork is generaly available for less… its kind of hard to justify buying anything other than the Pike at the moment since it’s the lightest and has been getting good reviews. My only big concern is that I’ve never really gotten on with RS damping after the honeymoon phase…

Cool… I love watching “The Don” ride and I like the explosions 8)

Older thread.

I used an old BT home hub as I mention on this older thread – worked a treat.

FWIW I tend to go the other way for parties these days. Rather than take a stack of session beers which require to be kept cold and refreshed regularly I take one or two bottles of beer that change/improve as they get warmer; then I’m happy to sip and taste all night (and drink water to stay hydrated etc).

An amusing comment and people take it the wrong way… should have added an STW wink :wink:

3.5% but oh my 8)

Geekery update :wink:

The reason my Fox 36 was feeling a bit poorly was the air side had some dirty oil and gunk in it (could it have injested some of the lubricating oil from the lower leg?). With the air chamber cleaned out the fork is now super smooth and performing brilliantly on my hardtail. The fork oil in the damper side was very clean when I serviced the fork.

After the Trans-Savoie week long big mountain enduro race both the DHX shock and the 55 fork were in need of some attention. The rear shock was still performing well but making some squishing noises. The battering of the TS race and a summers worth of riding had pushed some air into the oil so a service by a suspension tuner was required (I used a local guy). Craig did warn me about this and its a risk with any air shock which is worked hard; and why air shocks are best serviced more frequently than coil shocks. After the service the shock is working brilliantly once more.

The 55 fork had gone a bit notchy and I was expecting there to be a problem with the seals or the oil; but when I popped the seals all was clean below? The problem was the wrap on the coil which had come apart and was jamming the coil in the leg. I stripped the fork completely to remove all the damaged coating and found the oil in the damper side to be lovely and clean (as with the 36). A little research later and I bought some heatshrink to re-wrap the coil and rebuild the fork (if you miss out the heatshrink on the coil the fork is rather noisy as the spring rattles about in the leg – I’ve also posted about this on a Marz 55 thread somewhere). I’ve greased up the spring and wrap more this time so hopefully it won’t happen again (for another three years). The 55 is now super smooth and performing brilliantly once more… and I now know to keep a better eye on the spring leg to make sure the spring wrap is in good condition

I’m thinking about a new bike for 2014 (Nicolai Ion 16 is top of the list) and I’m tempted to go for 27.5 but that would mean new forks like 34’s or Pike’s (although I could run smaller tyres which will fit in my 36’s and 55’s).

I see Avy are now doing kits for Fox Float X & RP23 shocks, and all Fox 34 forks. Food for thought for my next purchase as I’ve been really impressed with the Avy kit I have been using.

What a “gushing” review :wink:

Having read the poor reviews of the Fox 34 forks I had an idea :!: I could buy a set secondhand as they are bound to be available cheap, fit an Avalanche downhill racing cartridge and have an utterly brilliant fork (I have the Avy damper in a 36 and a 55 and they are brilliant… but my 36 is a little old in the tooth). The problem with this is that despite the poor reputation of the 2013 34 fork they are not available that cheap, and the Pike fork is generaly available for less… its kind of hard to justify buying anything other than the Pike at the moment :|

Fun.

Cannondale RZ 120.

31.6 seatpost for a dropper.
1.5″ headtube so you can fit a works components angle adjuster headset.

Tracking one down might be tricky as they were not great sellers… although you could pick up a new one here and flog the components on it?

I was about to sell an Mmmbop frame :roll:

Stiff fork with 130-140mm works best for me… I’ve tried travel adjust and longer forks etc but they felt worse.

Reduced travel Fox 36 on a Ragley Blue Pig BTW… with a reverb as you need a dropper post IMHO etc :mrgreen:

Really want to try an Ion 16 with that wheel size but it’s not going to happen :( . Going to try an Ion 15 (29er) soon though 8)

Enjoy!

Thanks. Set to record 8)

RF Thick/thin and 9 speed non clutch Saint short cage hasn’t dropped a chain yet … this seems to work as well as the XX1 on my big bike :mrgreen:

With the following set up the chain never came off but it was noisy and prone to clogging with foliage. With only a top guide the chain would come off and jam :evil:

Meanwhile two days ago in a location very close to where you are now… :wink:

I have a semi-circular scar on my leg from where the snapped 1″ steerer (fork crown end) dug into my leg… Forks were Pace RC35’s on my Retro bike so about 15 years old at the time!

I managed to break a set of RC31’s which came unbonded at the dropouts and the crown.

Cracked a few arches on Manitou forks

Broke two Manitou Sherman Breakout 170’s

Nothing for a few years (touches wood).

The warranty rim arrived yesterday. Its the newer 33mm wide version and is definetly larger than the older 28mm one it replaces – weight for the new is 365g vs 363g for the older one.

Light-Bicycle (Nancy) were great through the warrant process once I got in touch. Next step is to buy some shorter spokes and get the wheel built. Happy days :mrgreen:

Doing too much of anything will lead to deficiencies elsewhere, so it’s really good practice to do exercises that balances things out, will definitely help keep you injury free, and the core work will only make you stronger and faster on the bike.

The captain_bastard speaks much sense :D

Beware doing too much cycling and nothing else as it can lead to some unpleasant repetative strain issues. If your starting out at a gym and know nothing INVEST in the use of a personal trainer until you know what your doing. So many people do injuries to themselves in gyms with poor technique its horrifying.

But at least with it all being adjustable you can experiment, even if you eventually end up with a similar setting for hi/lo speed. The problem i have is i can never decide if the std factory setting for say low speed compression is decent or not!

Although i can see that sometimes, choice can indeed be the enemy of happiness

There is probably quite a lot of truth in this. I am by my nature a fiddler and a faffer always looking for what is wrong and what I can improve. With all my forks and shocks I tend to fiddle at the start until I get a setting I am happy with, which is invariably a compromise, and then every so often I try to improve upon that setup and make it all worse again :roll:

I was never quite happy with either my Fox 36 RC2 Float or Marzocchi 55 RC3-Ti. Both had traits which I liked and disliked and no amount of fiddling with the adjusters helped without causing other issues. So I bought some Avalanche cartridges for them and have lived happily ever after… without feeling the need to fiddle with any of the settings… not one! They just feel so good in the stadard setting I have not touched them. Same with the CCDB I had; I liked it but I could never get it feeling quite how I wanted all the time, and yet the Avalanche tuned DHX-Air I am running now has required no such faffing and is awesome as stock.

I liked the CCDB and learned a lot about setting up suspension from it (and about how I want my forks to feel as well), but having all the adjustments in the world does not necessarily make the shock or fork feel any better IMHE.

FWIW – buying the Avalanche stuff is expensive and was a bit of a gamble instead of just buying new shiney stuff. The Avy carts allow you to change low rebound and compression, although you can adjust high if willing to take them apart and faff with shim stacks (the guides that Craig has written on how to do this and what changes to make to affect what seem very detailed, although as I wrote above I have not felt the need to change anything).

I’ve written about my forks and shocks on here a few times… I’m a fan of the Avalanche stuff as its the best suspension I have used :mrgreen:

Another view for the pot… if you really want to try for children why not commit to it and do everything you can to help?

Improving what you eat and giving up coffee and alcohol for a few months and even *god forbid* staying off the bike for the same amount of time is a small price to pay for knowing you have done all you can to help with the concieving thing.

FWIW – We tried for a couple of years and eventually got refered. I had lazy swimmers and my wife has PCOS. She ended up on metformin and I decided to do all I could to improve my swimmers. Fertilisation for child no1 coincided with the end of the 50+th day of me not riding and our improved eating plan etc. Child no2 was concieved 9 months after the birth of no1 and didn’t require the same effort, but I would have gone through the same if required.

Beautiful.

I’m interested to hear how the campagnolo levers work with the disc brakes.

The first MacAvalanche – I’m the one at the back.

I sometimes ride the same trails/muddy-tracks/forest-bogs/etc on my 6″ travel bike as I do on my retro-rigid-fixie… I’ll be putting in loads of effort, riding as fast I feel safe too… and grinning like a loon on any bike. All bikes is good bikes.

Did have a laugh with some local doonhallers one day as I rode past them on my retro-fixie, and a few months later we all laughed again when they were up there on unicycles… we are all weird and its best not to judge by what bike someone is riding that day (or what kit they are wearing). We are all on the trails and forests to have fun (apart from the ramblers natch :wink: ).