Loving the evening meal options, hoping to get out for a few family meals and if lucky a grown up meal for two.

Dumping the bikes might not be an option. We are renting and aren’t allowed in the property until 4pm. I’ll certainly be trying to dump the bikes beforehand as I can’t see it being a problem that they are locked in a garden whilst the property is cleaned for our arrival. Certainly managed this many times before.

Saw the Co-Op and wondered how big and useful it was, read some reviews by locals moaning that the holiday makers clear it out and the store management don’t seem smart enough to plan for busy periods.

Thanks so far, keep them coming.

Done ours using our own digital camera, a little cropping and sizing using GIMP (open source/free photoshop type software) and have printed 6 passport sizes photos on one 6×4 in the chemists for 50p.

Ten passports done that way without any problems, far easier and cheaper than the expensive useless photo booths.

Have a look at some of the similar threads on here that have recommended the Sony HDR-AS15 as a good alternative to the GoPro.

I think Argos are currently selling the for £149.

Floury bap for bacon or sausage, baguette for bacon and brie. 🙂

On the subject of forks, is it possible to adjust the travel Of the XC32 TK Solo Airs as detailed in this service guide without replacing the oil?

I’m wondering whether I can turn the forks upside down, compress them, and then undo the bottom of the legs, then undo the air spring assembly, make the changes and put it all back together. Will this keep all the oil in the lower of the legs, or will it all run out when I remove the spring assembly?

Thanks Rusty, I know the coil variants need a new spring, but hoped the solo airs were adjustable.

Have emailed SRAM distribution in France for clarification.

Looks like DX do a Sony Chest Mount

I got mine from Argos in June last year and it’s came with a case etc. the specs are almost certainly wrong on the Argos site. As Deveron says you can always ask to see one in store before buying. It will almost certainly be the old case and old stock making way for the newer, smaller version.

If you go down the Veho mount route then shop around, I got my first for just under £5, I snapped this one…my stupidity not a product failing. When I went looking for a replacement they were all £10 and I managed to find a handlebar mount set for the same money which includes the bit you need…so I effectively got a handlebar mount for free. And Veho kindly replaced the broken one free of charge 🙂

And on the subject of chest mounting (and rear facing off the seatpost) I mount mine upside down to get a better angle and then flip the video on the computer afterwards. Not ideal and it might be better if you could flip it on the camera as you can with a Gopro, but it hasn’t been a problem yet.

Currently look like they £150 at Argos

Deveron, glad to hear you’re sorted and can keep the gadgets! 🙂

I’m tempted by the new case despite being perfectly happy with the old one. Would be interesting to see the differences in the video it captures.

I’ve been mounting my Sony using the mounts in this thread

Argh, thought I had these forks all sorted.

I ordered some of these Rockshox XC32 TK Solo Air 100mm which I planned to shorten to 80mm based on this SRAM Service Guide

I had a problem with the order and ended up on the phone and asked whether the forks came with the travel adjust spacers to shorten the forks and the guy I spoke to was adamant that adjustment wasn’t possible without buying a new cartridge.  He thought adjustment was only possible on the Dual Air’s.

Anyone have any experience of shortening travel on these forks?  Do I have the right idea, or is the guy at Alltricks right?  Are the spacers included?

Devron, funny you should post this as I saw your for sale post yesterday and considered asking you about your mods, and why you were selling given your previous very positive comments.

Would be interested to know about your Gopro mount modification. I’ve been using a Veho Muvi Tripod mount which does the job nicely.

I spent ages deciding on whether to buy a Gopro, or a cheap imitation, and am over the moon with the Sony which has been the perfect choice offering better quality than most of the Gopro range for a very reasonable price. The video I captured riding in the Alps last year always makes me smile and makes me very glad I purchased the Sony before going.

If I only I could find the time and skills to edit the footage into something worth sharing!

Lol, always enjoy the auto corrected typos that appear in threads 😉

And I’m with you on bread choice, white for sausages as well!

There’s a pipe cutter somewhere in the garage, will have to try and find it in the week.

Thanks for the replies.

Have gone for a new set of 2014 Rockshox XC32 Solo Air 100mm which I believe can be adjusted down to 80mm using an internal spacer (do the spacers normally come in the forks?) Rough calculations suggest these will add about 20mm to the crown to axle height, but it’s probably even less allowing for some sag.

Being Air they will be adjustable to my lads weight and we can move them onto other bikes as he grows and can put them back up to 100mm when needed.

Got the forks for just under £140 delivered, so more expensive than 2nd hand, but they should give a few years of use.

Look out for a series of how do I adjust my forks, cut the steerer type breads next weekend! 🙂

Thanks again to those who replied.

Thanks for the replies.

Wondered about what my options were like with changing the travel on current 80/100mm forks down to something closer to the right size, but hadn’t considered Retrobike so will have a look over there.

Have been looking a eBay and haven’t felt inspired to bid on anything yet.

Wondered how much I could extend the crown to axle length without the head tube being ripped off?

Cheers

Dobo, thanks for the help, much appreciated.

Wondered about just using them as backup USB drives, might just do that as it will be plenty for critical stuff.

Cheers

Thanks for the replies.

I’ve bitten the bullet and got a n54l ordered and a 3TB drive so will have a play later in the week when everything arrives.

I think the plan is;

Install Ubuntu on the supplied 250GB drive.

And, then I’m not sure what next.

Is it worth partitioning the 3TB drive or just using as one big drive?

Additionally, I have two existing 500GB drives (NTFS) and am wondering whether I could mount these, copy the contents across to the new drive and then use those as well as the new drive. Not entirely sure whether this possible or practical given they aren’t server/NAS drives.

I’ll have a think about it before doing anything, but any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

Shame, good luck with the search.

Mines one of these and has Fox Van R’s as forks so cannot help with thoughts on the bombers.

The Rock Springs was the bottom of the range in previous years with the Wolf Ridge and Attack Trail being the higher spec models, but all built on the same frame. In the US in 2007 the Rock Springs appears not to exist, but the same colour frame is used with a different spec using one of the other names. Don’t remember seeing any with standard spec bombers so possibly a upgrade?

Please let me know what you want for the rear mech as whilst the existing one has been fixed with a vice and hammer a replacement and/or spare is probably a good idea.

You’ll probably find it very different to ride, mine feels like a really upright riding position compared to my XC bike, and like you’re really sitting into the rear suspension as opposed to on it…if that makes sense!

The SRAM kit on mine has been faultless, although the rear mech needs replacing since it got ripped off in the Alps…let me know if your getting rid of yours! 🙂

Have fun once you get to ride it, and enjoy the spa weekend.

I think they’re great! But then I own one that I got 2nd hand a couple of years back for a trip to the Alps. The plan was to sell it afterwards, but I kept it and it’s off on it’s 3rd Alps trip this summer.

Lots of people told me it would kill me as it wasn’t slack enough, only had QR wheels and forks etc. but I’ve managed to ride at the same pace as friends on more expensive and modern bikes and haven’t killed myself yet.

2007 was a transition year in the Marin Quad Tara range as they went from one rear suspension designs to another newer chunkier version. The bikes in the years before had 4-6″ adjustable rear suspension, this was fixed on the Rock Springs in 2007 at 6″ and it’s geometry is slightly slacker due to the use of an Alpine Link in the suspension. Most of the other Quad Tara bikes used the new suspension design so worth checking whether it’s a start of 2007 ‘old shape’ or a end of 2007 ‘new shape’, mines the ‘old shape’

Hope that helps, good luck.

Found that video and the associated “I only ride park” and “I’m faster than you” ones in the run up to Christmas and they still make me laugh.

Meant to share but the fear of it having been previously posted scarred me off 😉

Had a similar problem last year and ended up buying this Hex Box Spanner[/url] for about £6 which made servicing forks so much easier than with a normal/adjustable spanner.

HTH

Were the poor marks for the Swann by Bike Radar to do with the lack of mounting options?

I think they are all made by AEE, but could be wrong.

The thing that separates the cheaper cameras from the more expensive ones seems to be how the cope with low light conditions, so if that’s important try and find some footage that highlights the difference. Almost all the footage you see from the manufaturers is shot in amazing light to show the camera at its best. For me low light performance was important as the light in the UK isn’t great, and especially so when your riding through a forest with tree cover.

Good luck with your hunting, it can take ages assessing all the options.

I believe the Nilox is the same as the Swann Freestyle and is a clone of the AEE Magicam SD21

Came very close to getting the Swann as Snow and Rock had them for about £120

Whilst the spec on those cameras looked good, the reviews suggested the footage wasn’t as good as the Sony which was frequently compared to the GoPro Black.

I went though the same debate at the start of summer. I ended up with the Sony HDR-AS15 which had the quality I wanted at a price way below new GoPro’s. Amazon where knocking them out for £170 due to the new model coming out.

I’ve seen lots of people talk about mounting being a problem, but there is an easy way of using all the GoPro mounts buy using a Veho tripod mount adaptor, if you do a search/look at my other posts you will find a video on how to do this.

I’ve used the Sony at the FoD and in the Alps mounted on a chesty, rear facing on the seatpost and mounted on the handle bars on a family ride.

The footage is great for reminding you of good days out on the trail, but insanely boring for anyone who wasn’t there unless you are good at editing….I’ve not had the time to make mine interesting.

Anyway, in summary…Sony slightly better than a GoPro Silver, can easily use all the GoPro mounts with the purchase of a £10 bracket, cheaper to buy, has a phone app for viewing etc.

I’ve got a Adams Tag A Long Shocker hanging in the garage which I should really get rid of since my kids out grew it some years ago.

It has an adjustable shock (hence the name!) 5 speed twist grip, a couple of brackets for attaching to bikes and the high vis flag. Like this one[/url]

If anyone’s interested let me know.

Used these[/url] guys for the last few years. No idea how good they are and hope never to need to find out. £32ish for a fortnight.

Meant to post sooner but have been without internet for a couple of days…very traumatic! 😉

Not sure about those mounts, but assuming the Tough has a normal tripod mount you could give GoPro mounts a go using the tip in this thread. That would allow you to try it out on your mates GoPro mounts and buy a cheap far east copy of the mounts you like.

Be interested to hear how you get on.

Good luck!

Not had time to do photos this evening, but this is the video that I mentioned.

I have the same Sony camera and spent a while working out whether any good mounting options existed before buying one instead of a GoPro.

As it turns out, you can easily use all of the GoPro mounts by buying a Veho Universal Tripod Mount

To use it, you need to undo the bolt through the middle of the Veho mount separating it into a top and bottom section. The top section then screws into the standard tripod mount on the Sony’s waterproof case, and the plastic blades part bolts into the GoPro mounts.

There is a good video somewhere on YouTube that goes through this process but I can’t find it at the moment.

I have used this successfully with both a GoPro Chesty mount and rear facing from the seatpost using the GoPro handlebar mount kit.

I was a little concerned about how far it would stick out when chest mounted, but it’s never been a problem when riding (I mount it upside down and flip the video afterwards on a computer) and I doubt it actually sticks out much more than the GoPro.

I’ll try and post some pictures later when I have access to my camera and mounts.

Hope that helps.

Got back a week ago after 6 top days staying at Chalet Montana in Montriond. Had some great fun at Les Gets, Chatel Bike Park and some nice XC riding as well.

I’m itching to plan something for next year!

Enjoy your trip, look forward to the reports. Will try and post some stuff up later.

Give AlpineSports a try, walk from the SuperMorzine to the roundabout, turn right and they are 100yds down on the right.

English staff and very helpful with the two bikes that our group hired last week. We had a couple of GT Force Carbon’s for reasonable money and no quibbles about sorting any problems.

Used them last year and they were good then as well.

Flew to Geneva and back with Easyjet the other week and had the same concerns about luggage allowances.

I emailed Easyjet and got an email reply nextday that confirmed I was allowed a bike box with a maximum weight of 32kg and a hold bag with a maximum weight of 20kg, with the combined weight of both not exceeding 50kg.

Had no problems on either journey despite being very close to the limit.

PSA : The Sony is currently available for £179.99 in Argos.

Picked one up this evening, it was down to the Sony or a grey import Gopro silver from eBay. Time will tell whether I made the right call.

Now just need to sort out some mounts.

Carried out a couple of flex tests last night and am not sure what I learned? 😕

With the existing wheel in place I could push against the rim and make the tyre touch the frame.

With a wheel from a different bike (one with slacker spokes 😯 ) I did the same test and couldn’t quite manage to get the tyre against the frame, but it was close and it was a slightly narrower tyre. (It felt stiffer)

During both tests there was a small amount of flex in the rear, no doubt caused by me pulling on the seat post and pushing against the wheel, but it all seemed to be moving with the wheel if that makes sense.

Checked the dropouts, and the outsides are worn quite smooth, but they are as thick as on my other bikes so seem fine.

Current plans are to get the wheel trued/tightened and see how things go. If that doesn’t work out then I wonder whether a new wheel with a thru axle might improve things? Something cheap and cheery like a On-One Reetard, or Superstar AM.

The back end feels pretty solid, so I don’t think its the bearings/suspension pivots etc…but you never know 🙂

The problem certainly wasn’t mud, it was during 4 beautiful sunny days in the Alps that the damage occurred, and I’m not sure that I could turn the cranks with that amount of mud in place! 😯

QR was still nice and tight at the the end, guess the dropouts could be worn, will check.

Current plan is to drop a wheel from another bike in and see if it has as much flex. Hopefully it won’t flex as much and I can just get the existing wheel sorted.

No noticeable play up and down, so looks like the bearings are still good. Nice to hear that their are still some Marin’s beng ridden, don’t see many out and about yet seems like a capable bike.

My last attempt at spoke tightening ended in a very wonky wheel…but that was before the internet and involved an old racer, a set of pliers and boy worried about having buckled yet another wheel! Happy days 😀

I might just go round and tighten each spoke a quarter of a turn until it feels tight and doesn’t want to flex so much.

Will give a try later this week.

Thanks for the responses.

Think they are a little loose, but not horrendously so.

I took it to the LBS to get tightened and they thought it was OK and just put it down to the well known flexy back end on the Marin…cant find much evidence to support the “well known, flexy back end” view.

OK, couldn’t notice any flex.

Did it a little series of tests:

1. Lent bike over against cupboard supporting bars and saddle, and stood on the front triangle. Wheel didn’t touch frame.

2. Bike in same place, placed foot on wheel and pushed it easily to the frame.

3. Used a plastic work clamp and clamped wheel to frame, wheel happily flexed agains frame in both directions.

I think my rear wheel is the problem. If so, what’s the solution is it a new wheel?