Isn’t a good idea to find out if a bike is a duffer before you buy ;-)

So come on then, is it an exclusive club or can anyone that is weird take part ;-)

When I said ‘fairly serious’ I just meant not a bunch of teenage scallies on £75 Halfords specials ;-)

Leave the solvent to dry out (it will evaporate pretty quickly in air alone) and then get some decent lube like Finish Line XC to soak into the gap between the moving sections. Its a ratchet so I don’t think you necessarily need grease, just a good rust inhibitor/lubricant.

White spirit is oil based anyhow, not sure about MEK. Worth a shot to prolong the life of it, if it is knacked?

Andy, I’d agree though as per your first post, it may have been a frozen free hub rather than a clogged up one with the snowy weather especially.

If you can get hold of something called ‘MEK’ (I think) and take the free hub mechanism off the hub (with a 10mm allen key I think), leave to soak over night. It should dissolve and degrease any sh1te on the ratchets, making it usable again. Failing some MEK, white spirit, petrol or some strong degreaser should do a similar job.

Also, whilst shimano freehubs aren’t supposed to be able to be dismantled, I have seen it done, although it was on an older Exage hub. And it also went back together fine.

Why not just buy some lightweight tyres and/or a few other lightweight bits (carbon bars?)?

Don’t think an Inbred frame would be massively lighter than a PA. Kinesis and Reba’s would be quite a bit lighter.

Seems like a lot to change for something you ‘may’ do. Why not just see if you enjoy the duathlons first?

I’d prize the seal covers off with the blade of a stanley knife, flush with degreaser and then pack some more grease in. I got a good couple of months more out of mine by doing that.

Or if its not squeaking/creaking/wobbling etc then ride on till it does maybe?

Apparently not. They look similar but the truvativ one has some kind of floating bearing that is nipped up when the crank arm is bolted up.

They are very easy to get the seals off and repack with grease though if its not totally knackered.

I’d agree with DavidT, a Tora won’t be any kind of upgrade at all and the Recon only marginally better than what you’ve got. MX Comps are good forks and last much better than modern forks I’ve found. People sometimes confuse ‘simple’ with ‘not very good’. Oil change and seals, set up properly and all will be well.

Get some new tyres or some lighter wheels instead!

Just note, the inner chainring for non-HTII chainsets might not fit around a HTII bottom bracket. The tabs where the bolt holes are – these are longer on non-HTII and won’t fit over the bearing cup without some serious filing. And being heat treated they’re as tough as a T-2000 on steroids ;-)

Why not use it and find out? A scored rotor might wear pads out slightly faster but I wouldn’t have thought they’d affect braking performance unless they’re really badly scored. Might even be marginally better as it gives the pads an edge to grab hold of.

I’ve ridden disc pads through to the backing pad and beyond before now, and not noticed any deterioration in performance afterwards. New pads. Sorted.

It does depend on what you want to do on it but I’ve found the original Giant Trance, Mongoose Teocali fun to ride. Both in rather budget guises, but decent suspension and a lot less than £1000 on places like Pauls Cycles.

Also, the old style quad link Marin Riftzone is available for £899 at some places and I sometimes wish I’d never sold the one I had.

One thing I would say is don’t necessarily get taken in by the hype of “all mountain” bikes.

I’ve used their pads and they didn’t wear out any quicker or slower than anything else. I have no more confidence paying £15 a pair for ‘original’ Avid/Shimano/whoever pads and definitely don’t think paying double gives a comparable double length lifespan.

Of their bottom brackets, I’ve had a cheapo one that wasn’t that good, an SKF one only marginally better. The ceramic one has been fine.

Smee, are you looking to buy something specific or just want some random infighting and ranting complaints like a stuck record ;-)

A GT i-drive 4 or 5?

Nice colour, classy!

Cannondale Prophets get good reviews and are very similar 140mm ish travel single pivot, and much better value.

And if it has to be Halfords then the Boardman FS range are getting good reviews, are a well proven horst link design and are quite light for the cash.

If you run it yourself then doesn’t your company have to stump up the cash up front (i.e. make the loan to you). The other ‘middlemen’ that run the scheme often provide the loan funds and take 10% out of the money the bike shop gets?

If you measure the axle to crown length of your 100mm forks and then deduct maybe 25 – 30mm sag, perhaps a touch more and you get to somewhere the acceptable length of a rigid fork length that would give a similar ride.

For every 20mm or so each way the head angle will slacken or steepen, around this ‘sagged as riding’ setting.

My cheapo XCM 100mm fork seemed to have quite a long axle to crown of 490mm ish.

Araldite or the epoxy stuff they use on model gliders or glass fibre car bumper repairs maybe?

So you’re pre-empting the kick the bike will give? It ain’t gonna be pretty is it…

So what’s the technique with fixie skids? Only time I’ve ever stopped pedalling fixed the back end went on a jollie and I nearly lost a testicle ;-)

I was told you don’t have to buy the bike at the end of the loan period. If you’re still at the company and still using it for biking to work as I’m sure you all are ;-) then you don’t need to buy it off the company, just keep using it.

Then after 6 months or a year later on from the end of the loan its worth even less and it might just be a case of signing for ownership.

Soma_rich you got mail

Cheers

watches on with interest…

Daft question but is it done with a spray gun or from a can or some other way? Looks pretty good!

I have a frame and am debating the best/most satisfying way to give it a new paint job. Its not worth a lot so even paying £65 or £30 to £40 for powder coating might be silly.

Anyone got decent results from a ‘real’ diy job??

Greasing square taper axles can allow you to push the cranks onto the axle further than their meant to be more easily, thereby enlarging the hole in the crank and eventually leading to a sloppy (and wrecked) crank. Grease obviously stops creaking however.

Its still possible to overtighten cranks without grease on the tapers though.

Is being serviceable not a step backwards from the sealed fit and forget cartridge units?

People seem to be accepting they’re ‘serviceable’ as a mitigating excuse for the inherently poor design. Just another thing to have to service on your bike. Some people must spend more time ‘servicing’ than riding ;-)

There is a proper tool you can buy, like a block with a circular shaped blade on it. You clamp it in place then tap the block with the hammer. It was in mbr. Probably by ice toolz or BBB???

Hang on, why was I reading mbr…:-(

My alpkit gourdon whilst good value does seem to sit quite high on my back and obscures my view when I look round.

A similar but pricier option maybe one of those Ortlieb ‘messenger’ bags. (and before anyone comments, its actually a proper rucsac with two straps) Got a good write up recently in ST mag.

Or, even though its been done before, something out of an ‘alternative’ material??

People have made bikes out of bamboo before now, just using headtube and bb shell from a donor frame.

Why don’t people use glass reinforced plastic rather than carbon fibre? (I have a fair idea why, but if you want to go down a ‘Jeff jones’ route then it needs to be different)

Plus, anyone can glue, but there’s still a lot of work and preparation in making a mould (probably a lot of wood work or sanding dense foam like what they use on model gliders maybe) and preparing the materials, choosing the right epoxy etc.

Again, wood should be rideable if you do it right. Maybe not to huck off a building or even for trail use but it’d could be a fair demonstration of dt practical skills and something really sweet to hang on the wall when you get your own house one day (assuming a fair lady friend who understands ;-).

Or as Brant said make a hub, also what about an up/downy seatpost? Its ‘only’ the same technology as office chairs but I can’t believe it can’t be done better or differently to the current crop?

Excellent bike.

Light, low maintenance, good fun. Be prepared for a lot of pain initially if you’re not used to singlespeed ;-)

It doesn’t help but I thought all the Marin linkage bikes after their single pivots use the Quad system. The late 2007 is Quad II isn’t it? The magazines said the 2008/09 frames have lost a bit of weight since the 07 ones were introduced.

Out of interest what’s the weight of the frame on your Wolf Ridge? There’s a few deals about…

That’s nice.

However I don’t think the frame I’m doing warrants the price Argos would charge.

Gil_m?

Thats it! Where from and do I need to provide the font or do they have a number to select from?

As per diglover really…also…

There are a lot of tips on the commencal owners website, but its very difficult to drift off the bearings that come out attached to the shaft, as the remaining large flat headed allen bolt will be covering them. The bolt is also quite soft alloy, so if you get it wrong you’ll mark or bend the large flat head.

The ones I did, I got the shaft out and then clamped up in a vice and then undid the remaining allen bolt, but it takes a huge amount of leverage and an extremely tight vice. The bearings can then be tapped off easily. Some pentrating fluid might help before hand.

The Spicy Hut just down from Edinburgh Bicycle Coop on curry mile (Manchester/Fallowfield end)

A big second vote for http://www.Rivierabike.co.uk.

We went in the second week of July this year and the weather was perfect. Warm enough for t-shirts but not sweaty hot on the climbs.

They’ll taylor the week to suit the group and wherever they take you its awesome, flat out no holds barred singletrack descending, rocky sections, exposed sections, steps and alley ways through quaint little villages, switchbacks, van up lifts or xc climbs, hour long descents, Italian coffee…..second everything Gingerflash said, deserted untouched trails…

6 course meals back at the hotel, with a bar across the road. Based in a proper countryside Italian village with friendly locals even if you can’t manage any more than ‘ciao’.

Brilliant!

Trailaddiction are also good, but more ski lift orientated and the weather in Les Arc can be variable (snow in July…). Would also recommend Freeridespain if you want some serious rocky xc, up, down, along but it might be a bit hot in July.