I used 2 20ml syringes. One with tubing from pets at home for aquarium air hose as recommended on here.

Easiest to remove brake from bike and have vertical with lever unit at top and caliper at bottom. I attached to an old set of handlebars to keep the lever unit at the right angle. Remove the pads and put the yellow block in their place.

Put tubing on one syringe, fill with oil and purge out any air bubbles from the syringe/tube. Then attach to caliper bleed nipple. A tip is top put a spare olive or small cable tie around the tube at the bleed nipple to hold it on as it could get popped off with the force of pumping through the system.
Open reservoir and remove screw. Lightly screw the other syringe into the resevoir opening thread.
Open the bleed nipple on caliper with the tube and oil filled syring attached. Pump oil up through the brake system. You can faff around here tapping hoses etc to move any air bubbles up the system. Check for oil flow into the empty syringe and pump until no air bubbles are coming through.

You could probably stop at this point. Tighten bleed nipple on caliper and remove syringe and tube. Remove syringe from resevoir. Pump the lever slowly a few times to see if any small bubbles rise to the top. Drop a few extra drops of oil in there so that it is filled right to the top. Put screw back in and job jobbed.

If you want to be super an4l then you can attach an oil filled syringe with the plunger removed to the open resevoir and use it as a hopper to pump through the system using the lever. I have not had to do this. My brakes have been solid and consistant with the lazy method but only been on the bike a short while.

In use the brakes are absoulte class so far. Tons of power and feel.

Don’t be scared of having a shot yourself as there is little to break and you will only learn more about maintaining your bike. Do it in a tidy area if you are ham fisted and drop screws etc.

fbk – Heading out with the Whiteroom who I think do some riding in that area as part of their singletrack week.

Not signed up for any racing yet. The Inners gravity enduro clashes with a stag do. Might do the Tweedlove enduro as it looks a little different and still relatively local. Can also be raced in a day as I am struggling to book full weekends between other commitments. Hope your keeping well and enjoy the events.

I was going to take the post off if it was an issue. Bike doesn’t go on car racks as it gets chucked straight in the boot. It is used to the inners uplift and making it’s own way down the hill without me so not too precious.

I run my hose along the underside of my top tube, will it get knackered?

Completely agree, I was showing the distortion from the lens that he was talking about using. The pancake is also nowhere near as sharp as the kit zoom in my experience but then it is bulky.

These are Nex-5 with pancake lens. Taken just after I got the camera. No idea on settings and I probably messed the colour up afterwards learning. All I could find on my account as I am at work. Closer up the more distortion.

Loco, are you doing reverb servicing? Mine has done a full year incident free and I would like to keep it that way but can not see an easy way to pack it back up with grease etc?

I’ve got a Nex-5 and have had it out on a couple of biking trips. Have not taken it out often as it is still bulky and I don’t want to break it. Auto Focus is not quick either so you will not get anywhere near as many good pics as a DSLR. I find you have to think about the photo to get a good one where as you can spray and prey with a cheap DSLR and get a few good shots.
It takes ace photos in most other situations though

I think you would soon get bored of the wide angle pics if only using the pancake to fit it in your bag. I hardly ever use my pancake lens.

The fall line trail thing was mostly gone last time I looked. It was very good fun at the top.

I use both and change them about between my stumpjumper and enduro.

Start of the year I usually run flats to get my technique neutral on the bike. Bunnyhop properly and get into good habits of loosening up my riding to stay on the bike on rough stuff.

As the weather gets better and I ride for longer in the day and dabble in the odd enduro race I go back to the SPDs. I feel they add a lot more for efficiency and traction for climbing and coupling for fast rough chattery descents. Sometime I use more body language than I should with the SPDs (may be taken as bad technique) so freshen up on the flats.

I enjoy riding both.

Big Al and all at the Wheelcraft shop are diamonds. Was up at the weekend for some work and parts and they tried to charge me £3! I obviously gave them a fiver as I appreciate friendly honest service.

Remember going up with a mates DH wheel. Al let me get on with some of the work and built it up for pennies on the spot. He said if the other wheel was built the same as the one I had brought in then it would not last. The other wheel exploded on my 2nd run down Fort Bill the next weekend. Straight back to Al’s to rebuild that one as well. Both wheels have since survived the Fort Bill endurance and a month in the Alps plus many other races and going strong on original hubs and rims.

As I said – diamond.

Do what alex says to fix the bite point to your liking. Never had an issue bleeding them apart from having to be careful with the caliper side o ring. They do have lots of power but mine also seemed to tire out a bit compared to new. They were 2006 brakes and I always wondered if the hose had gone a bit elastic with age robbing power.

Just put new XTs on my bike and they are as incredible as I remember the OROs when I first fitted them. The XTs are much more of a faff to bleed ime.

As said above. Looked up places and descriptions of type of riding etc then googled reviews and looked on here. We are trying the Whiteroom for my first Alps holiday. Fingers crossed.

Velcro in is the right way round on mine and the knee cup is profiled.

Thanks for the help. Have a good weekend 😀

Or tons of them:

http://www.thecyclejersey.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3

http://www.thecyclejersey.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=85

http://www.thecyclejersey.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=3

Suspension is about compromise and where you want to set it. This goes for more suspension, less suspension and how you set that chosen suspension up.

Booked on with Whiteroom for my first trip to the Alps this summer, fingers crossed for a corker.

Sounds like a return. I can do my seat clamp up as tight as it goes without it affecting the function. Could not imagine it feeling like it has a restriction as it pushes up with so much force. Yours may have poor pressure but I would send it back so that you know it is right as the “restriction” may create further issues down the line with wear.

Had one year on mine now and it works as well as the day I got it which is spot on…obviously it will fail now I have said that!

My aunt is currently fighting a throat cancer. She has had an op and currently getting intense radiotherapy with 3 lots of chemo over 2 months. Her positive attitude has amazed the whole family and she is still making it out to the shops etc between daily hospital visits.

Dan is looking very relaxed on that compared to the footage from last year – especially the DH footage. As his results at the maxi etc were still very good last year he may be right up there but the experienced enduro boys are no push over. He is a total tank to come back to the level he has in such short time. Respect.

Inside every time, road salt and alloy are a nasty cocktail!

Sorry – never read the hardtaily bit properly!

Last Herb FR is supposed to be good for your requirements and adjustable to different travel settings.

http://www.foxracingshox.com/fox_tech_center/owners_manuals/07/eng/rear_shocks/dhx_air_tech.htm

Bit of black magic explanation in there if you click on the different parts etc.

Still love mine.

I also have a VanR from TFT. Depends what type of feel you want. VanR is amazing for grip and tracking the ground and better on big drops etc giving ~165mm travel. The DHXair is nice for poppy trail riding and standing up pedalling with the PP turned up.

I will still have my old Lyriks for down time, if it happened…tricky.

Some good food for thought above, thank you for your inputs. It seems to be a tricky call. If your BOS work then it should be no bother but if it doesnt it is a PITA. The servicing intervals on Floats are a PITA no matter what if you follow the factory recommendations.

I personally am not a believer in the – user won’t feel the difference because thay are not a pro – type of chat. I can usually feel and enjoy the difference of a well performing product over a poor product whether it be forks, cars, TVs etc.

I read that BOS can give you more of a “going over” in the rough stuff although they stay very composed etc. Does this relate to getting sore hands on long, rough DHs compared to other forks?

I have friends who have had oil migrate past seals in their Floats causing travel restrictions – is this common? I find it hard to believe BOS are 2 year no service reliable although my Lyriks were after they were repaired on warranty.

I swap between my air shock and my coil on my enduro depending on the type of riding and what I am in the mood for. The coil does not like honking up hills but is fine sitting and spinning. It soaks up a lot more on the way down with very good big bump and stutter control. The air shock is better for pedalling and efficiently pumping the trail etc.

Usually choose air shock for trail centres and coil for uplift days. Depends what I feel like. For a week in the Alps I will be running the coil.

Unfortunately the trees that have come down in the plantation and voodoo are massive.

18bikes for top service

Mine wore out just like this. Started missing down shifts and got worse and worse until no shifts. Bike shop pulled it apart for fun but it was worn out and they did not have donor parts.

Saw the group out today at the riverside trail.

First time up there this year. I headed up to the plantation/voodoo hill and can say that it has been pretty much decimated by the recent winds. Headed up flux by the cow shed but would guess the other entrance is ruined with tree fall. All the good steep tracks on voodoo are covered in massive trees apart from the one at the end with the drop (still has one small broken tree over it but I will sort it next time) but none are easy to get to. Lots of climbing over stuff with my bike.

Other areas close to the top Mugdock moor are also covered in trees including quite a few trails. Someone has chainsawed a load of trees at the top of voodoo but it looks to be for safety and not access. It actually blocks the usual access to the top of the trails and where they link up with flux and cliff run…

Pretty much all the trails I enjoy riding have massive trees over them. 🙁

I will try to get to the first maintenance day. I hope to learn something and maybe meet some people that want to do something sympathetic with voodoo hill which may open up some fun tech riding in it again without causing conflict with users/owners etc.

Maybe working with the Mugdock rangers will lead to working with others in the area. 🙂

I think wiring them may be the ticket. I had used thin cable ties in the past but these cause a lot more interference than a careful wire job.

Thank you for the ideas people

Hairspray has worked for me in the past and the grips are solid to start with. After a few weeks with wet weather, bike washing etc they start to spin again. Always worked with alloy bars but seems to get slippy fast on the carbon bars. This includes buying new grips as I thought I may have streched the old ones.

I hate how fussy I am to grips etc 🙁

Which types of trail are you maintaining and in which area? I only ask as I do very little riding within what I believe is Mugdock park itself and am not clear of the boundaries of the park/ranger authority.

Wonder if it does feel more precise turning on the axis of the steerer instead of the stem distance out from it. You can’t tell if it is high from that pic as the headtube may be short to compensate.

Might be quite good if the frame is the right length and probably takes a bit of getting used to.