plain strong coffee won't help?

not yours then?

I'm running a KMC X9 Silver chain at the moment, I think it's worth the money.

it's a day off at TdF, darksiders are going nuts.

I'd changed the internals. If it's 756 or 765, then it's possible to buy a rim brake LX rear hub for practically nothing and put all the guts into the XT one, INCLUDING the freehub. If it's a 775 model then things are that great, 775 guts are compatible only with 975 hubs.

MRanger, you can try to open it from the drive side or just saw the sheared nut off and have a look inside.

Obviously they tend to get holes faster than thicker tubes
Which rather negates their point IMHO.

Well, for this season I've got only two snake bites and no punctures from broken glass. Last year two snake bites (both of them very stupid ones, landed on a railway rail) and again no punctures from broken glass. Quite consistent results for the pressure I run (30-ish psi) for a 80 kilo person.

back to the topic: maxxis flyweights are fine, 93-95g on average. I've been running them for some years. Obviously they tend to get holes faster than thicker tubes (maxlights or ultralights? the ones that weigh 120-125g) but installing new and checked tubes before a race helps. They can have holes straight from the factory.

PS we don't have any rocks here, only roots and glass roots and glass.

someone, please put a Kylie pic here.

er, where's the pic then, er?

Old square taper XT BBs were the best. Other square taper BB like LX/Deore lasted long enough not to worry about them as we do now about modern ones.

Any octalink BBs are fine too. Being an octalink user since the very beginning of 2000 I has not found any differences between low- and high-end octalink BBs.

or … you can buy a Deore v-brake hub (or any discounted shimano hub like LX 570/580 or XT 750/760) which is cheaper than cheap and take all the guts out of it.

read the model number of the mech and go to http://www.shimano.com to find out for which cranks it fits.

i’ve got an OEM recon sl with alloy stanchions and steerer. it weighs 1610g with 200mm steerer, even a bit lighter than my reba race.

what a beaty! I mean the RED one.

That 5mm could easily come from a slightly different position of your foot in the shoe

Not exactly true. When a foot is in the lowest position its fore/aft position doesn’t matter. In case of shorter cranks one needs up the saddle for the millimetres of cranks length difference too.

it depends on the length your legs. I’m 179cm I’ve always been on 175mm cranks. I gave it a try last year (had taken the same but shorter cranks from the wife’s bike). When I spun I felt like I’m spending some of my effort for nothing and lap times were worse.

aphex_2k: yep, I only treat them right.

when I said gone I meant dead :)

3 different frames, all gone: Zaskars gone[/url]

the newest one is:

no one’s mentioned schwalbe RR/NN yet. Aren’t they great or what? :D

PS I still like the Explorers.

Kenda Kharisma – heavy sticky non-rolling non-gripping shite.
Maxxis Workdrive – only if you like punctures.

I like Conti Explorer Protection, very supple tire, never had troubles with punctures (why would I?). not a fast roller but good when wet or on snow.

Genetics is still the key. 2 years and jump to elite: that’s genetics and some dedication.

I’ve been watching local racing scene for quite a long time (not in the UK) and the guys who have THE ability can get reach their limit in 2-3 years and then they practically plateau for years until their mid 40s (some can maintain the same speed practically up to their early 50s). I’d say that any adult reach their limit in 2-3 years of consistent (or rather VERY CONSISTENT) training. Ive been training and racing for years, my fitness level stalled years ago, nonetheless every year I still make tiny incremental gains just due to improvement in skills and experience. The older and more experienced I get the better I am at endurance races.

steel in sram cassettes is carp. shimano cassettes always last longer and shift better.

I’ve got a 12h race in 5 weeks and everything that is planned to the moment is one epic off-road ride, 7 hours I hope, this Thursday. Every other sessions will be shorter just because after this ride I won’t have time for such long distance. I’m very fit at the moment though.

If I had time I’d go for another 6.5-7 hr off-road ride and do back to back days off-road for 3-4 hours every other weekend for the next 4 weeks and then taper for 1.5-2 weeks. Some short races prior to the start should help too (I’ve got a short race and a marathon scheduled before my race).

Everything you can really do can only be fitted within the next 4 weeks. For the last 2 weeks before the race – you can only rest, hope and pray :)

I was confused my numbers on CRC. They say 1.45. If it’s per one battery then with the spare one it’ll be enough I guess. Thanks.

burn time seems too short, I need at least 3.5 hours without changing batteries for a 12h race.

100mm is fine, GT’ve been installing 100mm forks on stock bikes for about 5-6 years after they had switched to integrated headsets in 2004. Carbon frames have the same geometry as al frames.

I’m running the fourth frame now, broke two of them. I like the stiffness, hence responsiveness, and the looks.

The warranty lasts forever for their alloy frames and I’ve been abusing it since 1999.

I break them since I’m a heavy xc racer and frames undergo lots of beating. I had some issues with the frames’ stiffness before I started to work on my upper body.

ah, frames are a bit heavy, since the triple triangle. My M sized frames weigh between 1620-1680.

are here any heavy xc racers who race on 355s? I’m 175lbs and a bit of scared of ztrs’ low weight and lack of eyelets since I’ve destroyed lots of rims (and all rims without eyelets got cracks around holes) except for mavic maxtals.