Just wanted to post my story of a broken scaphoid as it doesn’t always turn out like the above posts.
I broke my left scaphoid about five years ago in a BMX accident. I recognised it was broken myself, as I have broken a few bones over the years, so went to A&E and told them it was snapped. They cast it within the hour, I rested it for three or four months (no riding at all) and then the consulant declared it healed.
I ride a lot and have fallen on it pretty hard a whole bunch of times since plus I do a fair bit of sledge-hammering for work too so it is thoroughly tested!
They are hard to spot as a break and they are prone to not healing without surgery but the outcome can be positive.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience BFITH. Good luck with the recovery.

Pretty sure that Fox state 125 PSI is the maximum for 32 Talas.

Rayments in Brighton and Quest Adventure in Worthing. Both cracking shops.

Could the problem you’re having be due to not cleaning out the bolt cavity before inserting the allen key? If the key can’t engage fully this can easily cause rounding.

I do like you except without all the fear and paranoia that someone’s out to get me!
It’s much more fun that way.

After bills + expenses, free to do what I like with, per week £300 to £350.

Sorry, I have a feeling I may be needing them sometime in the not too distant future!

I think I can safely say that bad luck is the cause rather than poor line choice or riding in the woods generally! I’ve been riding for eighteen years and never broke a mech in any of the first seventeen of those!
I’m worried that getting a super burly mech may mean that if I get unlucky enough to have a stick in the spokes again I may ruin a wheel instead of a mech. I can always get home with a temporary singlespeed bodge but with no rear wheel I’d be walking, carrying and crying.
I’m going with a new Saint unit and fix it on with breakaway bolt, plus an old Deore in the backpack on long or inclement rides!
Thank you peoples for all the input.

Trick? I swapped the chewed carbon bage on my XTR to a medium cage from a Saint. Took the mech off the bike, unbolted the old cage and bolted on the new. Why would you need a vice?

I you aren’t using them then take them off. Not only will it stop the noise but it will save you a suprising amount in fuel too!

THREE YEARS!!! I get through them in four of five months to each set! If you’re getting play then change them asap, roughness is a sign they need changing imo. They really are suprisingly simple to pop in and out.

So can it get the newer looking Saint pretty Saint
My bike is last years Stumpy Elite this one. Does this suggest I have 9mm skewer/axle?
Do I need to worry or will that mech bolt to my existing hanger?
Sorry for all the questions!

Oh, I’d not thought of that. They list short or medium cages. I run 3×9 and my XTR had a medium cage. Would these mediums be comparable?

Thanks for all your help guys.
Yunki, your testing of the SLX is most impressive! I think I’m going to try the Saint straight off. It is pretty huh?
By the beard of Zeus this mech better see the year out at least!

Oh man, I don’t know much about components! What are these Alvio, Rohloff and Alfine?

Yes! Indestructable is what I want. I’ve taken to carrying a spare rear mech with me which is just daft! Oh yeah, I just read that it bolts to the axle. I’ve got a hope pro2. Would that be compatible?

I’m not sure what qualifies as a mountain rather than a really big hill! I’ve been most everywhere, except down to the south west of England. Good trails are pretty subjective but I’ve had very few rides that weren’t great fun!
I always ride alone and don’t know anyone who rides so I never get to share tales of the trails. As a result the rides all seem to melt into each other in my memory. Not saying I’ve forgotten any of it but rather it feels more like a six month long trail I’ve been riding!
I shall be doing it again next year so if you have any specific recommendations of loops then let me know!

I quit work at the end of March and hit the road. I’ve been travelling and riding ever since. England, Wales and Scotland. Five days riding each week.
I know, what a shit.

I’ve got a mobi and I’ve been using it a whole lot over the last two years. It’s got a few dents and scratches but it still works like new.

I’m a traveller and I am law abiding. I pay tax and national insurance. I don’t and never have I claimed any sort of benefits. I try not to make sweeping generalisations or call people names either.

@ Shibboleth

Wow! What a load of bigotted generalisation!

I think the term traveller to describe all people who choose to live a nomadic (or semi-nomadic) lifestyle is problematic. I am a cyclist but I am sure there as many ‘types’ of cyclists as there are folks riding bikes.
I would am a traveller. I have been for over seven years but I am not Romany, Irish, new-age or pikey! I’m a man who lives in a van who has no home. I’m also a cyclist (and many other things too)!

Don’t go to Brechfa as it is closed for the winter! The forestry work started on the first of September and is going on for 16 weeks. All routes out of the Raven car park are closed.

“Room for a sweaty one?” Normally space is made for an overtake.

You are probably the only one who drinks it. All the major supermarkets just stock it all over the country in case you’re nearby and want to buy some.

Always. ALWAYS! Mine gets cleaned before it goes back in the van at the end of every ride. If it’s been a dry and dusty ride then I just clean the drivetrain, the rear shock and the stantions.

Ha ha ha!

You mad bro?

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Nice try sausageface but I have been in the motor trade for the last 14 years and an MOT tester for the last 8.

I’m very doubtful of your claimed experience if you don’t know what lambda is!

The link you posted is not to the VOSA vehicle testing guidelines which are the only rules that apply to an MOT test.

sbd16v – Nice work on posting a mocking about others and then talking utter rubbish!

“mixing clean air with exhaust gases will dilute them”?!

An exhuast leak will increase the oxygen content of the emissions being tested and will cause a FAILURE due to a lambda level outside of tolerated limits.

“lol”

A rear silencer with o hole in it will invariably fail an emissons test on Lambda values. If the gas levels do not met the initial 30 second BET test then a full test must be carried out. A full test can mean that the engine will need to be run at a ‘fast idle speed’, the speed of which will depend on vehicle and engine type but would normally be between 3000 and 3500 RPM, for between six and ten minutes.
A vehicle, functioning correctly, should be able to regulate it’s engine temperature regardless of RPM even without being driven.
However, you should just ask to speak to the tester. Find out if the is an over-heating issue or the emissions failure was added to avoid the prolonged emissions test on a vehicle that was clearly going to fail.
To add the failure for this reason isn’t something VOSA would approve of so tread carefully if you want a straight answer.
A ’94 Clio only failing on a rear silencer leak is a very good result!

PLB?

Any one mounted the GoPro on the fork station at the very top up against the crown? I have a handlebar mount but it won’t go around and part of the frame on my Stumpy and it won’t fit round the fork lowers either. Obviously damaging the stantion would be very bad news but as the very top part never gets near the seals I am thinking there wouldn’t be a problem? Am I being daft?

Thanks guys!

Now I’ve just got to find me one. Any ideas for tracking one down in Scotland? I’m on Arran right now and had planned to head up to Lochgilphead and then to Fort William. I may need to make a diversion to get me rolling again!

Had a truly cracking ride on the Isle of Arran in blazing sunshine. Did a route the Arran Bike Club website listed as severe. It wasn’t severe but it was 25 miles of really lovely riding and not so many midges, even under the pines!

Nickcutter85 –

You need to start with working out what you want to put in your van. What you want may determine the base vehicle you choose. Beyond that you need to think about the wiring and plumbing layout at the point you start working out where you might want to put the furniture and appliances. Having a look at the interior structure of a van without ply-lining will show up problems that you may come up against with toilets or water heaters or such that needs to meet the outer skin of the van. Blah, blah, blah, loads more, etc. I put my email in my profile if you want to drop me a line.

Thanks for all the nice comments on my van guys!

Scottidog – Nah, I don’t mind you asking! Ask what you like. As far as work goes I’m a MOT tester and farm myself out to garages that need cover for sickness or holidays and the like.
I stopped work at the end of March though and have decided to have the rest of this year to myself for riding. Van living can be very cheap so if you do it right you don’t need to work full time hours or even very often!

Yeah, I’ve ridden that. There was a route guide in MBR a while back that started and finished in Llangynog and was a big 30+ mile loop clockwise. I took a wrong turn at the top of the bridleway SE out of Llandrillo and ended up riding the bridleway on your link. It was a long slog up and a quick and uneventful loss of height the other side (I rode down the footpath to Tan-y-fedwen to get my ride back on track). To ride from Cadiar Bronwen back to Llandrillo should be fun!

Ha ha! Yeah, it doesn’t smell, even when it get’s emptied!
Crave space, no. The world is my garden and I spend nearly all my time riding my bike round my garden! The van is quite spacious and I wouldn’t spend the whole weekend just sitting around at home anyway so it’s nay bother.