Trans-Savoie 2013

weldtite do a puncture repair “Patch Strip” thing which is a big rubber sheet so you can cut any size of patch. I use these so I can increase the area of the patch and stick on multiple layers if the hole or tear is large and the first patch bulges through.

Coil fork and tuned air instead of multiple configurations.

Sorry if I confused you with my post above. It’s more that both my fork and shock are tuned for how I want them than that the front is coil and the rear is air.

I used to run my Nicolai Helius AM with different set ups; coil shocks for more DH places and Air with shorter travel for XC. I eventually got frustrated with this as I liked aspects of both but neither was perfect; so I got a tuned air shock and coil fork which offer me what I think is the best all round set up I can have… I’d rather have less better suspension travel than more rubbish travel that compromises the bike. As for the weight thing you could run heavy wheels and tyres for training… but I ride for fun and find the lighter bike is more fun.

If I was looking for what you are, and I kind of am, I’d be looking at a Nicolai Ion (15 or 16) I.e. In any wheel size which takes your fancy. A bike for fun according to Pinkbike when they reviewed it recently.

Carrying the kids is the easy bit… getting in the pram or pushchairs and all the other stuff is where it gets tricky unless you check the ones you have or plan to buy fit (but you still have to get the shopping in as well).

… but my wife went totally irrational and didn’t like driving a small car with the kids in so we ended up swapping the mini for a monster Volvo XC90. Thankfully now we are passed the pram and irrational phase we swapped the horror vengabus for another mini (Countryman so not really very mini at all).

The Light-Bicycle Carbon rims have been an interesting experiment so far, I’m awaiting a warranty replacement for the rear. They ride brilliantly but my rear cracked rather easily… the mk2 versions are supposed to be stronger so I’m going for one of them. Fingers crossed.

30lb… 1500g carbon rimmed wheels, XX1, carbon bars, 135g saddle, etc… quite an expensive weight weenie build as set up for the Trans-Savoie.

I love my DHX Air… but it’s insides were replaced by Avalanche Downhill Racing so it’s not really a DHX anymore :mrgreen:

I don’t get on with them as they are all too sugary… only for absolute bonking emergencies… and handy in other emergencys too! (trashed carbon rim cutting through the tyre side wall)

The roads were very different when Mr Magoo past his driving test… what do all these new road signs mean?

I’m keeping my 6 and 8 year olds away from the online thing… its enough that they share worlds between each other, they are very capable of winding each other up.

I use the chain as a bashguard to protect the teeth :mrgreen:

I was very surprised initially that my XX1 never dropped a chain considering where and how I ride. What might lead to problems with chain droppage is a stiff freewheel… when not running a clutch rear mech this was frequently an issue for me and one reason why I lube my Hope freewheel with oil to make sure it is extremely free-to-freewheel. If your clutch/wide/narrow set up is dropping the chain I would look at the freewheel as a possible cause.

One thing to consider with wide/narrow is that the chainring tends to build up a layer of crud which is best removed… and not having a top chainguide makes cleaning it a much simpler task.

Metalheart who posts on here went from a Soul/Soda to a Solaris. A quick use of the the search facility came up with this older thread where he comments on it.

This stuff is awesome 8)

I love it. Perfect range for me and where I’ve ridden it so far… Munro bagging in NE Scotland and racing the Trans-Savoie.

Maintenance so far has involved greasing the clutch after it seized, but it was an easy job.

Its piss easy to change the oil 8)

Innertube won’t work as there is not much clearance between the spring and the stanshion – heatshrink is the only option.

Well… my fork went notchy recently and when I took the spring out I found the heat shrink was badly damaged and was causing friction with the spring against the stanchion wall. Since I installed the spring I raced the Trans-Savoie which is probably a years worth of riding in a week 8O

I guess the shrink wrap I’m using is a little thicker and may be causing the problem. I prefer the fork quiet so I’ve re-heat shrinked it and installed it with more slick grease this time.

I’ll be keeping an eye on it again for that notchy feeling.

3D movies I don’t get, as above it gets muddled etc.

Rides with 3D screens at themeparks like Disney/Universal etc I can appreciate… the new Transformers ride at Universal Studio’s is much awesomeness.

*ping* I don’t find those clippy things stay on the bike very long *ping*

This is the bit I don’t understand. Everyone accepts that a front mech is a good idea on a road bike, but a mountain bike has to deal with a much larger variation in gradient and trail conditions, so surely it needs a wider range of gears.

Hence the for “where and how I ride” bit :roll: We all ride in different ways. A front mech is designed to take the chain off one ring and put it on another… and the two/three chainrings are designed to help the front mech achieve this by being cut-away/ramped/pinned/etc to help the chain shift… on a mountain bike being ridden/peddaled hard over rough ground I really don’t want the chain coming off the front chainring at all… ever! I don’t like my knees and bo*&*^ meeting the handlebars and stem. I’m happy to compromise my gearing by having fewer gears for the benefit of never having the chain come off at the front.

So far I’ve yet to find a climb I was able to do with 22 x 34 that I can’t get up the 32×42 on my XX1… Munro’s included.

Are your knees just more tired because they have had a bit more of a workout than they usually get because your standing on the pedals more on the doonhalls? Were you having more fun?

If it’s just tiredness from doing more your body will get used to it… or you will have to go back to normal post and mincing.

For me front mechs are for road bikes… it must the where and how I ride :roll: Actually… there is only one local hill where I need the inner ring on my road bike so maybe I should make that 1x???

I’ve not used a front mech on a mountain bike for years and will not go back unless its for a mile munching clown wheeled thing for cummuting… in which case I’ll buy a cross bike… and even then I might go single up front!

I had a HammerSchmidt on my big bike but its now running XX1 and its all I need even with a 32 up front for the stupid big mountains. I love XX1… the first properly thought through mountain bike groupset :wink:

On my hardtail I run 1*9 with a 30t and 11-34 which is great for the local forest where I ridebreak hardtails. Sometimes its over/under geared but I can live with that because nothing last long in there.

The lovely Lola.

This is Maple who will join out happy family in eight days 8)

Tomac.

For the last two evenings I have been mostly drinking excellent beer at the Stonehaven Real Ale Festival.

Rumour has it that Nicolai will be releasing the details and geometry of the 650b/27.5″ version of the Ion 16 today… 8)

Not a cheap option though :|

I really enjoyed the Trans-Savoie but my best ride of the year was an epic solo evening scoot across the Grampian Mountains joining two big day rides.

Loch Muick to Clova to Mayar and back in an evening.

Into Clova via the Capel Mounth (that big Munro in the background on the right is Mayar).

Up Corrie Fee.

Top of Mayar.

Down the Kilbo, up Bachnagairn, down the streak of pants to end at Loch Muick at sunset.

One of my best days on a bike ever :D

I use oil as I prefer it quieter and I’ve had sticky/freezing issues with grease. Only downside with oil is it needs re-done more frequently, but the noise tells you when to do it and its a quick easy job if you have the tools to whip the cassette off.

@pymwymis – I was not a TA customer before last years TS. I missed the first cut last year and was on the back-up list until a place became available.

I don’t think entry for events like the TS and TP could ever be truly random as they ask questions about experience which need to be taken into account for event safety… so there must be some kind of ranking prior to random from a hat type choosing. As for me getting in again perhaps the organisers of a young event like the TS ranked last years veterans higher as a reward for supporting the event and helping make it the success it was in its first year?

Perhaps I should keep quiet and look away from the gift horse’s mouth.

jambalaya – @messiah – congrats, didn’t you do it this year too ?

Yes, I was lucky enough enough to get in last year too :D .

It was a hard event so training is important… but it was so much fun that I’m very happy to be given the opportunity to do it all again.

The newer Grenade with the D30 has normal padding behind the D30 – the older versions did not. I checked on this before buying as I had read Jedi’s comments about the non D30 version of the Grenade being better (than the Pro version with D30).

Er… they are just another toy like any other. Some parents will use them as a virtual babysitter much as many parents have used TV’s and games consoles etc… or the “go play in your-room/steet/traffic as I have things to do”; we all have to do that sometimes.

Using these devices so you can ignore your children all the time would certainly (IMHO) be a problem… so not the actual device itself which can be a useful educational and fun toy for the developing mind.

P.S. I’m frequently complimented on the behavior and manners of my boys… even when they are telling stories to strangers about how Elvis died on the toilet from eating too many burgers :lol:

We went to a nice park with lots of swings and slides.
I was amazed how many children were there.
70 percent of these children were sat at a picknick bench playing games on smart phones while their parents talked.
I thought to myself that’s the future. It’s a bit sad really.

I’m more used to seeing the adults sat on the benches playing on their phones… which tends to mean they have no idea where their kids are or what they are up to 8O

We would never take the iPad’s to the park or give our boys a phone or iPad to amuse them in a restaurant. Unfortunately this is something we see all the time. When we take the boys to restaurants they are part of the group and will be involved in most of the discussions, not ignored and placated with toys.

My two have iPads. At 6 & 8 they are great for many things… favourite is minecraft but the 8 year old is quite boffin/geek so he loves science stuff. The iPad’s are easy to set up with parental controls and the way they are set up at the moment they need permission from us to change almost everything. Both are currently tethered to the same account so updates and aps on one go on the other – which is good as both boys like being the same. The apple shop set ours up when we bought them and installed the child safe/friendly k-nine browser which seems good.

K-9 Web Protection[/url]

My boys don’t tend to OD on the ipad’s. It’s just another toy/tool to them and they often use the iPad’s to look at stuff for drawing or other play ideas… I’m really impressed with how they use them and what they can do with them.

I know cheaper options are available but my wife had an iPad already and not having to learn our way around another device and OS appealed more than any cost saving.

Both were bought as presents with an understanding from the boys that they will not be replaced if broken. I thought them a better “large” single toy/investment rather than buying other toys which all end up broken and in the bin. They get enough toys like that from other family members so we tend to buy the bigger things – I.e. both boys want/need their rooms redone as they are a bit babyish at the moment, and we are talking to them about making that the big Chrismas presents this year.

Love the Monza MountainMutant :mrgreen:

I like this one –

At 39mm and with the plain black face it’s almost subtle compared with many of the modern monster watches.

I’ve also seen it with a white face and dark blue hands which I liked.

If you read the monster MTBR thread not drilling the outer part of the rim only works with the new even wider (33mm rims) which have a deep enough section to allow working the nipples round. Those that have done it say it’s fiddly but quite good fun 8O

In my experience you need some of the yellow tape under the gorilla tape to stop it leaking around the spoke holes; perhaps the stans liquid damages the glue on the gorilla tape?.

@Messiah Scott Grenades were going to be my first choice. Are they particularly bulky?

I don’t find them bulky but I don’t have a lot of experience with others to compare them with.

Action shot 8)

I had no chaffage in the week of tough use and they took a few hits with no damage to them or me… so they get my approval.