Grass needs cut.

I live near Aberdeen… you will never see £5 on me.

Messing with the 'B' adjustment screw works fine on the bike stand but as soon I put it under pressure out on the trail I get the dreaded "crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrunch". I've been living without the 11 for about 4 months now because I can't be arsed to take the bike back into the shop… I'm having too much fun with it on the trail.

Macdui top in May with bikes and skiers.

Name that path?

If it's a new rear mech it might be part of a problem with batch of SRAM X9 rear mechs… if so… send it back.

Hi Sanny… your exploring my part of the world now :wink:
I'm normaly secretive but here goes…
Ben MacDhui summit best from Braemar side. Up Sron Riach and back down Etchachan – Hutchison – Derry Lodge. Your mostly riding and carrying on ROCK and paths if you go this way. Alternative to Sron Riach is Carn a Mhaim – the longest most exposed ridge in the Cairngorms – awesome views down to the Larigh Ghru – but it makes the already long carry from the top of Sron Riach much longer.
From Aviemore side I've only taken a bike round the side of Sneachda and up that way. Remarkably little carrying required but quite a lot of pushing… but I did it in May and the whole top platou was snow so there was us and a few skiers (best time of year to limit footprint).
Last time I walked up top there were distinct paths but thats 10+ years ago. I've not ridden back to Aviemore from the top of Cairngorm so can't comment… I can think of a few route's which would be fun but I would want to avoid the ski area.
Bynack Mor I've only scooted round on the Lairig an Laoigh. There look to be a few descents down to Loch Avon but any path above the Fords involves lots of pushing and carrying.
Lochnagar… Glas alt Sheil is lunacy… best route is up the lightening strike and over Broad Cairn then round the horseshoe (taking in the tops if you wish). The lightening strike can be ridden up… and on the descent there is only one corner I cannot get the bike round! 8O
2-3/4 hours up for 30 mins down :mrgreen:
Alternative is up from Invercauld and back round through Balmoral and Ballochbui which is almost all rideable… but longer and a bit of a chunter.

Callater end a horrible hike-a-bike. Not an easy walk much of the time either… Knaps of Faffernie is a bit of scramble on all fours (but i usally walk up there in winter/snow). I've been eyeing up a route for a few years up that way but when it comes to doing it I usually do one of the route's which I know are ace. I think the way to link Braemar to Clova on a bike is to go up from Invercauld through Ballochbui and up between Carn an t-sagairt mor'/beag (all can be ridden). Then head to Cairn Bannoch and aim for Faffernie, then Knaps of Faffernie and onto Jocks for crow Craigies; the contours look favourable and I suspect a path exists. Other option would be to go up from Bachnagair and over Broad Cairn to get to Bannoch, but I'm not sure which direction to do this route since I fancy going down Broad Cairn to Bachnagair… I always fancied Jocks Road as the climb!!!!!

I should take pictures of my bikes with the saddle down so the look more "gnarr" :roll:

Tha Balfa is a size "long" which makes sense since both sizes had a 13-1/2" seat tube… that black spire seatpost is longer than the seat tube.

Minuteman info here…

http://www.balfa.wooyek.pl/balfa-minuteman.html

Hardtail as used by Russ Morrell for a 30ft huck in Superheroes III.

Brant… happy to help :wink:

I like small bikes with long seatposts – drop the saddle as far as you can for jumps and fun bits. I also prefer if there is less chance of banging my knees on the top tube when manouvering through techy bits – and I have found a low top tube helps that.

A couple of my old bikes. Both of which have nice 23" top tubes.

The downside of the Nicolai was the slack seat angle which made climbing difficult. The Balfa solved that issue with forks at 120mm but up the Pikes to 140 and climbing goes to pot. I keep looking for something to improve on the Balfa and I like Brant's output except for the gate high top tubes… perhaps my only option is custom?

I don't standover my bikes much… but I also don't want the top tube any nearer to my privates than it has to be.

Yes… that's it… improve the standover…

Very interesting Brant…. but will the 16 still be tiny and the 18 be a gate?

Mine goes to mote than that and I feel bit odd. Slow down and it drops back to normal… worried the hell out of me… so I stopped using it :mrgreen:

Good info, thanks all… perhaps Saint is not the answer :o(

Interesting…

Ah… so it's the top pivot which has the play… and my XT shadow is also showing a bit of play there after about six months use.

Sounds like it's more of an issue with all the shadow rear mechs than simply a Saint related issue? Perhaps it's worse in Saint because of the stronger return spring which is the reason I was looking at a Saint – oh great… remove one problem and add another one :o(

It's not my Saint so I'm not sure. I was thinking of going that way to reduce the slap I am getting with a Shadow XT… but the play issue some friends are having with Saint is off putting.

Hence posing on here for more information.

I'm hoping to get my hands on one of my friends rather "play-full" Saint mechs so I can see what the issues are for myself.

Will that work with an 11-34 Cassette?

745 V1's are mahoosive enough for me… I *heart* them very much :roll:

It won't make a difference.

Think about getting a bike fitting session. My back hurt and I eventually solved it by sliding my saddle back about 1/2 an inch.

Funily enough I get a sore back if my saddle is too far back on the rails.

I now mark my rails because I find that over time my saddles do seem to creep back in the seatpost clamp a bit.

Problem with second hand Fox shox is that it's very possible you won't get one with the correct compression tune, which can make it terrible… Sending it off for a custom tune will fix that though.

I'd thought of that Kamina… A custom tune was always in the plan, I paid little enough for them that there is money in the pot for custom tuning before I hit retail price for either 8)
I though it good to get a base reference on a shock before deciding what way to tune or what new shock to buy. But so far I've only had the air shock running and it's ace so I've not even tried the coil other than a short blast. I can get my money back by flogging them so nothing lost.

Halfords cannot do Trek… if you want a Trek phone Halfords who will direct you to a Trek dealer who you can then talk to about buying a Trek.

I did this and Alpine Bikes kindly sold me a lovely "Trek" with my Halfords voucher. I very much like my "Trek" and I particularly like the fact that it's whyte… :lol:

Great write up :D

I've only had my float rear shock for a month and I've only noticed it warm on 15-30 minute rocky drop scary rough descents, by which time I have more important things to worry about. It also cools off very quickly and I didn't notice any fall off of performance, but I'm not sure I would unless it was really drastically bad.

I find Shimano freehubs freeze up in the winter – water gets in there somehow and they simply spin in both directions once frozen.

Being a bloke is handy for unfreezing them with a well aimed stream of warm piss… but best head for home as it will freeze again.

6 months for Deore and 12 for XT sounds about right for the freehubs. The hubs themselves will go on forever if greased and not allowed to get loose… which destroys them really quickly.

I bought two cheap secondhand shocks for my new Nicolai. Float R and DHX4, I'm trying both and fiddling with the settings working out what I think will work best… then going shopping for either a new shock or a custom tune. Fettling is fun.

Yumyum

Forestry have removed all the markers so you will need to plan your own route and take map. Scolty is a cracking area… enjoy.

It's a huge area. Whether its any good depends on what your after. As mentioned there are few areas of singletrack, but there are also some great long distance routes including Kerloch, Drumtochty, Cairn-A-Mount, and the old drovers paths (mounths). A great area to explore… but not necessarily for rad singletrack.

It's easy to get lost up there if the visibility is poor. I've been using the same descent off for years… its so good I've never looked for another… maybe I will?

No comments?

Currently I'm love with Royal Chevron shorts… I paid £25 for my first pair and after two rides went and bought another. Ridiculously good for the price, inner short okay for short rides but not as good as real bibs etc, but how could it be?

Learn to slow time so you can get a chance to position yourself to not get hurt… works for me :mrgreen:

I ordered this with a 1.5" headtube and I think it looks awesome… the 1-1/8" option looks wrong and requires a heavy deep insertion headset.

I picked up the 1.5" 36 Float secondhand or I probaby would have gone tapered (Tapered headset options exist).

The choice of stems is limited but if you hunt around there are a few under 200g… and if you wait long enough ebay will pop up a bargain or two… The Gravity Lite on here cost me £15… strong, light, and cheap… Mr Bontrager can be proved wrong :lol:

I have another bike with 1.5" and the Travis forks on it cost me £115…

Another pair of broken Pace RC31's over here. Unbonded at dropout and crown = BIN!

guinea pigs piss in their own beds… a rabbit would never do that

I'm getting on great with non UST Big Betties. I was expecting them to be delicate compared to the Michelin comp 16/24 I ran before but so far so good. Less than a kilo vs nearly one point five. Jury is out on wet conditions since its been dry since I put them on… which is ace.

The BETD axle is a big alloy bolt that replaces the Maxle – no need to change the 12mm Hope axle unless it's already been broken or bent through the use of a Maxle Lite :roll:

It seems a tad expensive but it was delivered the next day and as long as it saves me a another ruined descent and a walk off the hill I'm happy :-)

Stick an allen key through the holes and twist to remove. Nicolai make a bolt through as well but you need to carry a 17mm spanner with you if you want to be able to take the wheel off :?

Picture of Maxle Lite and two Hope axles… one of which is broken :roll:

I changed to the BETD Intense axle as linked above and have done two epic days in the hills without bendage or snappage.

Hopefully this is the end of my issues :o)