Mate had early 66's on his – you know… the super huge silly long ones with the mahoosive crown. I think you can flip the travel and he had them at 150 and 170 on there. It felt a bid unwieldy but it was mostly due to all that weight up front, riding it was a not a huge problem.

I'm watching these developments with interest. As has been said; most 4" travel full-suss bikes are XC oriented which means the geometry is wrong and they are too weak for the kind of riding I like to do – hence I spend most of my time riding a big forked hardtail. I do have a 6-7" travel beast bike which is ace for the mountains but overkill for the forest.

Something between the two would be good… if that happens to be called a "4X" then so be it… I don't care what you call it as long as it's fun.

Summary – if your not giving your Pike's a beasting and hence haven't noticed that they are a bit rubbish when things get "interesting" I wouldn't bother with PUSH.

If you have noticed your Pike's are a bit rubbish then consider going for PUSH or upgrading to a better fork… personally I would go for Lyrics if I could afford to change… but I could not so the PUSH upgrade to the Pike's I already had was the best option to improve the performance – especially since I had blown the damper beyond what I could repair and hence needed to get the forks seen to profesionally anyway.

Back on Topic.

I've got PUSHed Pike forks! They are the coil "Team" fork from a good few years ago and have had a hammering. Two years ago I got them serviced and PUSHed after blowing the damper – something to do with a 20ft cliff drop :twisted:

I had been servicing the fork myself to that point with no problems – they are very easy to do.

First up – the Enduro Fork seals that TFT use are ace – no crap gets into my forks any more where it used to before this was done.

I have Medium and Firm springs at my disposal and have changed them over a few times.

No PUSH
With the Medium spring and without the PUSH my Pikes always ran deep in the travel with a tendency to bottom out with a clunk. With the Firm fitted they rode higher in the travel but never felt very supple.
They often felt like there was no travel and things would feel very odd with repeated hits in rock gardens etc.

I discussed the above with TFT who said Pikes have very slow rebound which means the fork packs down unable to react to repeated hits – the PUSH chip fixes this.

With PUSH
With the Medium spring and with the PUSH my Pikes feel really supple but with about 40% sag so they run deep in the travel – no bottom out. With the Firm fitted they ride higher in the travel and feel very supple and controlled.
I have to agree with TFT – the fork is much improved nd now does what it should have done all along.

With the Puch and the firm spring I have to run my Pikes at 120mm because of geomtery issues – but they feel ace like this now and I am really happy.

If your not having issues with the Pike I would not bother – but if you think the performance can be improved the £160 spent on your Pike's is cheaper than selling them and buying Lyrics or 36's… with the bonus of the Pike being lighter that a Lyric.

Funily enough Pike's seem to fetch a good price second hand though…

As a first foray into Singlespeed may I suggest you get it built for the person you will inevitably sell it onto…

Even if you know what works for you on a normal bike there is a fair old chance that with a SS you will discover that spending more time spinning or climbing out of the saddle will require something different.

Start cheap and work your way up – or buy something to suit me and sell it to me cheap when you discover it's not correct for you.

Or buy what you feel like buying and stop asking daft questions on forums frequented by bored office workers looking for an excuse to avoid doing any work.

Nicolai – enough said 8)

How about something really rare?

I love old bikes… :D

Mid 90's Kona.

What more do you need?

How about a frame with good clearance for 2.0" tyres?
How about a frame that has good cable routing for the gears?
How about a frame that has good cable routing for the rear brake?
How about a frame that doesn't have a habit of breaking at the driveside dropout?
How about a frame that can take a suspension fork with more travel than 63mm without ruining the handling.
How about a frame that can take a riser bar without feeling silly flexible along the top tube?

Where have you been since 1994?

Mavic 823's for 5 years here with Michelin 2.5" DH tyres – awesome performance on my DH type 6-7" full suss bike with no problems whatsover (other than the heft).

2 months with Flow Hoops on my Pike'd Hardtail with the same tyres and the front rim is a little bent. My worry is I'm not sure when I did it so can't gauge how strong or weak the rim was – but I'm a little dissapointed.

Two peas in pod.

Old bikes are old bikes, just like new bikes are new bikes, except old bikes are older which makes them old bikes unlike new bikes which are newer, than old bikes which are older, than new bikes which are newer, just like new bikes are new bikes, except old bikes are older which makes them old bikes unlike new bikes which are newer, than old bikes which are older, than new bikes which are newer, just like new bikes are new bikes, except old bikes are older which makes them old bikes unlike new bikes which are newer, than old bikes which are older, than new bikes which are newer, just like new bikes are new bikes, except old bikes are older which makes them old bikes unlike new bikes which are newer, than old bikes which are older, than new bikes which are newer, just like new bikes are new bikes, except old bikes are older which makes them old bikes unlike new bikes which are newer, than old bikes which are older, than new bikes which are newer, just like new bikes are new bikes, except old bikes are older which makes them old bikes unlike new bikes which are newer, than old bikes which are older, than new bikes which are newer, just like new bikes are new bikes, except old bikes are older which makes them old bikes unlike new bikes which are newer, than old bikes which are older, than new bikes which are newer, just like new bikes are new bikes, except old bikes are older which makes them old bikes unlike new bikes which are newer, than old bikes which are older, than new bikes which are newer…

Urgh… don't go there… It's an endless nightmare and it all starts with the great idea of building a retro ride.

Why do people think Pike forks are so good?

I found the damping is a bit pish and they frequently blow up on the bigger drops I do – they are easy to fix though and the problems were semi cured with a Push upgrade, but had I the cash my bike would be wearing Lyrics. I also find they chatter in rock gardens and are not as torsionally good when compared to my 180mm Travis – even though I run the Pikes at 120mm most of the time.

Pike's are overated.

More…

All the route's I ride near Braemar are the real mountain (or)deal. True mountainbiking and wilderness stuff which I'm not sure most people are up for (or up to). I.e. How can someone complain about having to step off the bike to climb over stepping stones or hop over a rain bar? If those "features" where not there on the trail the trail would wash away – if that is the kind of muppets your trying to entice then all your going to get is complaints. Wilderness areas are never going to have trail center type routes.

It's a fantastic area and there is huge pottential to get people to come, stay, and spend the all important cash. I doubt the tourism board will be of much help… but if your serious about doing something the first move has to be scoping out suitable trail networks and getting maps made. Then get people riding them and take on the comments to improve what you have. Don't expect any help and simply do the work for yourself and for fun, if you make it good it will all fall into place and word of mouth on forums like this will have people coming to Braemar.

P.S. I have the opposite problem since I have no interest in getting people to come and ride where I live, I spend my time trying to keep the trails quiet and keep people away :o)

Good luck dude!
I've only passed through Braemar in the last few years when accessing the mountains, but in the glory days of the nineties I lived in the village over the winter and worked up the hill. Even then it was all about certain "vested interests" and in-fighting between the "summer" and "winter" groups.
I always disliked seeing the Shearings "Come and see Scotland and die" tour busses. You knew the end of the ski-season had arrived when the buses started parking outside the hotels. I take it the tourism committee is full of people who make their living off of this and thus arn't interested in any new ideas?
By Braemars very nature stradling a highland pass most tourists end up being on a "pass through" route, ticking boxes rather than immersing themselves in an area and enjoying it fully. It's difficult to change that since there seems on the surface to be not a lot around to make it a centre to stay and spend a while.
Compare with Aviemore – which is bursting with middle class couples with young children spending great wads of cash! It blows me away every time I am up there how many Q7's and Rangies you see full of families enjoying the outdoors :roll:
I would love to come up and spend some time in Braemar as I've had some of the best times of my life there – I looked at buying a house and moving up a few times but I like the sea as well as the mountains. These days I am in the young family club which means my Mountain Fix is either day trips or staying in Aviemore with the family. The Landmark Centre at Carrbridge, highland wildlife park, folk heritage museum and even Laggan/Inverness being not far away make Aviemore family easy.
Braemar is only just over an hour from home for me which seals the deal – not far enough away to stay overnight.

From memory the loss of the Invercauld "Climbers" Bar was sorely felt (when Shearings bought the Invercauld) – I believe people have tried to buy this off them before but were told it was not for sale. The Morefield is a bit out of town and I hope the new owners do more to get it a reputation than "Morefield Mike" used to :lol:

On the biking front I think you have to be careful what you promise or wish for. Bikers tend to ask for things and when offered them decide not to use them. The access to showers thing and late opening of the Spar shop would be examples. I can see that if these were offered there would not be a huge take up – handy as these things may seem. If Spar thought it could make more cash by being open longer it would… end of story. Once in your car at Linn of Dee it's easier to keep going than stop. It's only if you can get people to stay overnight that the cash registers will start to ring… and when your choices to saty seem at first glance to be the "Fife" or the "Cauld" which a full of bus loads of oldies it's simply not what our age group wants. We also don't want a hostel usually – I don't even know if Braemar has a hostel other than the YTH???
Braemar simply does not sell itself to our age group which is such a pitty. Bizzare thought of the day… would Braemar like to be the centre of Hen and Stag parties that Aviemore can be at weekends?

It should be possible to come up with some route maps like Bothy Bikes have. There is good riding in Ballochbui but getting to it means riding along the main road or going round the Lions Face Path… and then riding along the main road, or park at Keiloch (pay and display) – not ideal. Alternative is duckpond and Birkies which from memory is very wet (it was usually winter). I've also been followed through Ballochbui by blacked out landies which is always fun… and nearly run over by chinless morons in Rangies which is off putting. A bridge over the river would be fantastic and would upen up all sorts of stuff around Cullardoch and quich – not sure what the owner of Invercauld house would have to say mind?

I struggle to find positives to help. Route advice is a big draw and if the rouet's in Aviemore are anything to go by the easier the better. All the route's I ride near Braemar are the

I use the Rock-N-Roll Extreme and am incredibly impressed with it. It sounds like your using too much if your only getting 6 lubes from a bottle? It doesn't say to drown the chain in it… A bottle lasts me a good while and with ride lengths of 3-4hours I have no problems, a wee bottle in the Camellback means even on longer rides I can top-up.

Solution found!

Last night I whipped out the motion control damper (the red plastic tube spring thing). With the metal 24mm cap held in the vice the plastic tube unscrewed from the top cap as per the MTBR link above. This revealed that the compression damper seal had popped out of the tube and was interfering with the compression adjust lever (which was not pushing through it's complete arc – this is a good indication that you have the same problem – do not force your compression lever if this happens as you may damage the seal!).

I rotated the seal round so the slightly squished bit was at the back and pushed it back in the tube and all was sweet when I reassembled it.

Very easy fix and now my Pike's no longer puff :D

Depends where you live and ride innit?

If you need the slack geometry to ride down mega gnarly hills you'll probably have to walk up them first so any bad uphill handling traits are mute?
If you live somewhere flat where you sit in the saddle all the time then again whats the point?

I live near big hills. For me the SS is all about a comprimise for climbing. A silly light bike which I "dance" up steep hills a-la Contador. For doonhall the rigid forks are a real hoot. I've tried it with suss forks of only 80mm and I found it too much when "dancing" on the pedals; I can only imagine that 160mm would be seriosly annoying bobbybobbydiveytastic fashion.

Despite all that I say build it if you want to.. it's a bike and it will be fun.

Different problem then. My air/oil is actually coming up through the motion control damper top cap – underneith the blue compression adjust cap with or without the O-ring and cap in place.

Old Pike Teams – a good fork much improved with the PUSH upgrade.

I meant to put that "Not a common problem apparently". in italics.

Thats good info, the MTBR thread does link to somewhere that mentions stuffing more pressure on the O-ring to make it seal… but surely the motion control cartridge should seal properly from inside?

Hmmm… a quick chat with Neil at TFT and he reckons the motion control damper needs to be resealed. This was done by TFT about a year ago when I had the Push upgrade installed – I just looked at the paperwork – "Resealed Leaking Floodgate".
Not a common problem apparently.

TFT can do the work and I can send them only the Motion Control Damper which is much better than shipping the entire fork – but this is not the first time this has blown and being a bit of a mechanic I would like to try and fix it myself… but there seems to be no way into the damper and hence I am not really confident at taking it apart without some kind of basic instructions.
More detail – Disassembly last night and I could clearly see the air and oil coming out of the top of the motion control damper beside the floodgate knob (once I'd removed the compression adjuster and the O-ring).

Google did not find me anything on servicing the motion control damper which looks to be a sealed unit – the SRAM tech documents certainly do not show disassembly?

MTBR search found me the following which looks like the same problem

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=3478850#post3478850

But no definite fix judging by the replies.

Worth a try though

Useful :?

Makes sense to me. Bars are a one piece item. All the carbon components that have failed on me have gone where thay are bonded (usually to aluminium), and frames tend to be made of bits bonded together which is a bit scary having seen what I have.

As for damage to a carbon component… if in doubt throw it out.

I like my 750mm Funn Full-on

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=15827

Route? Hmmm, I make a habit of not posting these things on open forums after something that happened a few years ago.
Feel free to mail me if you want.

There are some good route’s around Lochnagar and Ben a Bhuird. I was up both last month :o)

Lochnagar routes depend if you want to ride as much as possible, or are looking for “interesting” descents ;o)

I love the Cairngorms, here are A few pics from an Epic Cairngorm trip a few of us maniacs did in April 2009. Braemar – Aviemore – Braemar

We did not do a circuit of the Cairngorms but went right through the middle and then back over the top. It’s been a few years since we last did this… you need good weather. We lucked in with the snow, it was awesome.

Special thanks to Fox Europe and Alpine Bikes in Aberdeen… I had a problem with my Fox shorts on this trip and Fox supplied me with a new set. Excellent shorts and excellent service, Cheers!

http://www.ecurieneep.co.uk/

I went with the flow rim strips on mine – been working a treat for the last month with Michelin UST tyres.

Joe didn’t do the sloping top tube thing so much back in the day which is the main reason I bought a Rocky Mountain Blizzard in 1993 instead.

I did a race friends Breezer thunder when the Blizzard was broken though – lovely bike.

If I were shopping for an XC race bike that would be near the top of my wish list. I think it looks stunning.

I used to have 685mm Answer Pro-Tapers on my hardtail and 710mm Diabolus on the big bike. I was happy with these but when I needed to replace the Answer due to damage I went for some 750mm Funn Full-on (Cheap on CRC).

They are currently on the Hardtail and it’s very amusing sqeezing them through the tight trees – lots of leaning over. Lofting the bike over jumps and manualing seems to have suffered a bit so I’m thinking they are overkill for this bike

I plan to swap them onto the big bike and bung the Diabolus on the Hardtail – my current thinking is that I like them wide… but I think the full 750 is a bit much on the hardtail. I’ll try them at full width on the big bike and if I’m not happy I can always cut them back to the same as the Diabolus.

The 23″ flat bars on my other bike now feel really sketchy.

How long do you need?

Thomson seem to have a good reputation but I’ve seen a couple bend/snap… and the one with the bend in it already is a good way to ruin the look of a bike (IMHO… light blue touch paper… stand back).

Thomson were not long enough for me and I’m currently running a Black Spire which is hugely long and so far seems strong. I haven’t bent it in 6 months of use so I’m currently impressed.

Here’s a pic of the bike with a bent ROOX post…

So not much post showing :lol:

Drool!

If I ever have/decide to replace my Balfa Minuteman with another hardtail a Curtis is at the top of the list.

Cheers for posting a pic… added to my folder of lovely Curtis pictures :oops:

Another broken pair here.

Long story – enjoy!

I bought my Pace RC31 with a 1″ steerer second hand from a bloke who to this day swears they were never abused. First outing with the Pace forks was really enjoyable and I was wondering to myself if I should even think about putting the Z2 Bombers back on?

Second outing was not so enjoyable… I had a wee crash :oops: It didn’t seem like much at the time because I didn’t actually come off the bike, but we were stopped pretty much dead by a tree stump. My front wheel was buckled and I had to take the front brake off to get back to the car. I noticed that the wheel was not straight in the fork and noticed when removing the wheel that one of the bonded magnesium dropouts had moved on the carbon fork leg :evil: :evil:
I phoned Pace, got a returns number and sent them off. Pace informed me that both dropouts needed rebonding which I gave the go ahead for :)

A day later and another call from Pace to say that after bonding both the dropouts on they torsion tested the forks and found that one of the legs was moving in the crown. This is non repairable damage and hence the forks will be scrapped :cry:
Pace offered to sell me a new set for £110 when they built a limited batch of new forks in about a months time – which I guess is not bad considering I bought them second hand and they are obliged to do nothing for me really :)

Adrian reckoned that the forks had seen a severe twisting force: When he described the forces it pretty much described my crash. It didn’t seem like much at the time because I didn’t come off… but my whole speed and weight went straight through the front wheel and fork when I was stopped pretty much dead by a tree stump. My handlebars were at an angle so there was definetly a twisting force going on, also evidenced by the buckle in the front wheel – Hope superlight hub so no support there.

Nobody likes to break a £100 component on it’s second outing but heyho :roll: In my biking time I’ve done a lot worse but it’s been a while since I’ve broken anything because I tend to ride stupidly overbuilt monster bikes when I’m riding the silly stuff.

The moral of this story is not to crash when using superlight bonded carbon fibre forks :wink:

Reason for crash? I was riding with an injured hand which means I was not covering both brakes effectively, when I lost control over a 1ft drop I could not react quick enough to get on the brakes and scrub off speed before launching into the undergrowth… and then the tree stump got me :evil:

Oh well… chalk it up to experience and fun.

I’ve been hoping for further enhancements to the G-Boxx concept for 5 years. The new G-Boxx-2 is only good for DH since it’s seven speed and the G-Boxx-1 with the Rohloff Internals has never really caught on (probably due to cost).

I bought my Nicolai Nucleon 5 years ago and have been thrashing it ever since – it’s an early version with a centraly mounted Rohloff hub.

The spread of gears is great as is the weight distribution… the problem is the quantity of that weight. Compared with modern 7″ travel all mountain bikes my beast is well over the desired weight. Five years ago when the alternative was more XC bike breaking or the conversion of a DH machine for the dumb mountain excursions I do it was around what you could gear up a DH bike for.

Technology moves on and it seems a shame that the G-Boxx concepts seem to have stalled.

G-Boxx bikes are not perfect, but I am willing to put with the downsides of mine for it’s bombproof drivetrain, lack of rattle, non skipping gears, and it’s general doonhall prowess.

I’d love to replace mine with a Nicolai TFR – but I’m happy with what I’ve got.

My three year old has had his Like-a-bike for a year and absolutely loves it. We bought him a cheap bike with pedals to try but he currently struggles to get his feet on the ground which has put him off trying it. His confidence on the balance bike is amazing and watching him whizz around on it makes everyone who see’s him smile and comment – especially in the local supermarket where the old ladies love him.

Two year old little brother will soon be ready for the ballance bike but I doubt big brother will be willing to give it up… I suspect we will have to buy him one too when we are at Bothy Bikes in Aviemore in the summer.

Go break your own… hanging up the results of someone elses actions is a bit like supporting a football team when you have no connection to that town… ;o)