I have the same bike but last years model.

First thing – Tyres, get some nice light folding ones. Mud tyres (bonty mud x) are great in mud and nothing else. I run 2.35 kenda nevegals and I am pretty happy, they perform well in just about any terrain. I would give the Maxxis Advantage 2.25 a look, they are lighter than my Kenda and have more clearance. Tyres make a big difference.

I replaced the head set with a hope one – since it was poorly sealed. I would advise doing the same.

Same goes for the wheels, I haven’t replaced mine. But I want too, especially the rear since the hub is an alivio unit and therefore has rubbish pick up (how quickly the freehub catches when you turn the cranks) and the seals are terrible. I would replace with hope hubs because they have sealed bearings and a nice pick up, plus they are lighter. Weight difference is the most noticeable in the wheels.

The rims will depend on your riding, give it a few months and your confidence may grow and a set of heavier but tougher rims may be better for you, or if it doesn’t then light XC rims may be better. I my self am considering tubeless rims.

As for bars and stem, the stock is a 70mm stem and 680mm bars. I replaced them with a 50mm stem and 711mm bars, but I am back on the stock set-up, since I felt I was positioned over the back end too much, not good on a bike with no rear suspension.

Do a few press ups and measure the distance from each hand, that will be a good starting point for handle bar width. Über wide bars are a fad.

Everything else is fine, you may want to do this later on to your fork:

I would get rid of the TK compression damper on the forks and replace it with a Motion Control unit.

Get out and ride more, improve your skills, they make the biggest difference of all and put a bigger smile on your face than any shiney new kit.

Remember it’s all in the hips 😉

Sorry for the long post, but I have been riding a year and I wish somebody gave me the same advice when I started out.

Woodlouse spider I think

Loving the converse and Mini, nice too see an different take on things, instead of a suit and tie.

Congratulations

Ha! Agree on the tyre thing

New bikes always come with plastic tyres.

Either sell the bike without tyres or if you are going to but some on, make them decent.

Since if they are crap I’ll be binning them and buying new ones anyway (can’t sell maxxis OEM 102a super hard compound tyres either). It’s not like we have seasons in the UK so stick some high rollers on and everybody will be happy.

Same thing goes for pedals, the pedals that come with bikes are mostly crap too.

As for naming models, use numbers! Can’t go wrong with numbers. Do I want a kona stinky or a cove handjob, no. But a Orange P7, Ofcourse!

I mean look how successful the Orange 5 is, that’s not because it’s a good bike, but because it has a number on it 😛

The Heart burning Tuesday Question

FTFY

Why haven’t these been mentioned – sigh 😛

I want a refund.

We woz robbed

I am afraid due to budget cuts, it was either the Olympics or summer, the government didn’t have the money for both.

Did Autumn just sneak in?

Sneak in – more like smashed the door down, kicked summer in the face and urinated in everyone’s shoes, then decided to stay.

FE*CK ARSE

Wrong tyres?

enduro in the north in november !

What do you mean?

It’s grim up North, last time we had seasons Saddam Hussein was still in power.

So we are trying to find the length from the handle bar to the riders chest. The longer the length the more upright the rider will be.

Therefore I would get a broom handle or similar, mark off 630mm, then any other lengths you are considering say 710mm.

I would then hold the broom handle straight in front of me with my back against the wall and get a friend to measure the distance from the broom handle to my chest, I would then add the length of the stem to get my final measurement.

So for me with 630mm bars, the distance from my chest to the bar is 600mm.

with 710mm bars, the distance from my chest to the bar is 510mm.

If therefore I ran my 630mm bars with a 0mm stem I would require a 90mm stem to achieve a similar effect with the 710mm bars.

This is all a bit abstract and needs refinement but hey 😛

I think the top gear format would be great, since most cars are designed with a mundane purpose and TG makes them fun. Whereas all bikes are designed for fun, therefore having some guys and girls mess about on bikes would be good to watch, trying out each of the different aspects of bicycles. This week it’s 4X next week it’s CX and so on.

The thing about TG is that it fuses boring techy stuff with entertaining fun stuff. Like the episode where they build a caterham, that could have been a boring “blokes in a shed with spanners” episode, but it wasn’t because they were in a race.

I’m sorry but I’m going to have to face/palm

Does the general public really need to know the subtle differences between All Mountain and Freeride? I’m a mountain biker and I don’t actually care myself…

The thing is, that those acronyms/names will be used through the show (and the cycle industry) , so I think they should be defined first.

Like last night they said that Sam Pilgrim was a freerider, then showed him in action doing flips in a skate park. Now even I’m confused.

“star on a reasonably priced bike”

Every week send a famous/celeb/pro cyclist down a black run on a shopper. Time it and stick it on a board.

And a £100 challenge, each of the presenters have to buy Second hand bike or a Halfords special and do a series of challenges.

3. Get out of “look mum no hands”, it might be cheap but just looks awkward, get a studio or at least a top gear style hangar

I don’t get the point of the whole “studio in a cafe” thing, it just looks unproffesional and interviews are a ball ache because of the background noise. At least do it in a bike shop.

Fifth gear was filmed with a “studio in a cafe” thing and we all now how crap it was.

4. New tech – bike geeks love tech, show us some shiny stuff from the trade shows

I guess the show is more aimed at people new to cycling, talking about the latest dropper post will bore more people. However I think that up coming shows and events should be mentioned for those who are interested.

When Sam was teaching Anna, I though that segment would make a great opportunity to demonstrate what some of the MTB skills courses have to offer. Should have sent her to Jedi 😛

A map of where skills centres are located around the UK and use Anna as a demonstration of what you could learn.

I think going into depth about what each area of MTB is would be good:
So a thorough definition for XC, DH, DJ, AM, FR.

The presenters are quite good, I like them. So happy that they aren’t “gettin down wit da kidz, being stoked cos they’re sick init”

I would split the program into two halves 30 minutes of Road, 30 minutes of MTB.

And it is due to the red cars being faster.

The paint doesn’t fade in fact, it is just wearing away due increased speed of red cars.

The increased speed causes more air resistance on the paint surface, gradually wearing the paint away, this is most apparent of the roof and bonnet as these are areas that meet high resistance and turbulence.

😛

The last thing I can remember, is that slopestyle was about to take off in a big way; did it?

Doesn’t seem like it, also 4X is no longer part of the UCI world cup I believe.

What’s all this 29″ wheel nonsense?

Size matters and bigger is better, bigger wheels take more effort to get up to speed, but then carry it better, they also go over obstacles better (like 3″ really makes a difference 🙄 ) So all in all 29ers are faster. Least that’s what the marketing dep. say. Suck it and see is my opinion.

Do people on here still try to be incredibly niché?

Yep, only thing is that so many people are being niche, that being niche is no longer – niche

Normal is the new niche, so if you ride a 26″ wheeled FS with 3×9 gears, congrats your niche.

It’s all about road bikes and Bradley Wiggins at the moment.

Washing your car with washing up liquid doesn’t help. Saw vectra that had faded to a shade of salmon pink (especially on the roof).

Red generally fades more, my red T shirts fade faster than any of my other ones.

A red car may require additional waxing than another colour car. Silver is your safest bet 😉

64 @GeneCult

I follow a few random people from here, no idea why but I do…

Could I of inhaled to many hydraulic oil fumes or something else? I did it in the shed by the doors with them open.
Thanks
Andy

When I serviced my forks, I spilled some fork oil on my shirt. I would then, fairly regularly sniff the oil patch on my shirt – it smelt like GT85 but 20x better.

When I open the bottle of anything from brake fluid to fork oil I give it a sniff. 5.1 brake fluid smells mleh, but dot4 smells like the apple juice you would get at school.

And I feel pretty good 8)

Thanks Yunki 🙂

Lazy – yes 😳

Now then, I must get myself out there. 😛

Dubstep is popular with todays young generation, maybe not as popular as Hip Hop R&B.

I’d hazard a bet it’s more popular than rock music with the young generation.

Anything good coming up around Leeds mboy?

You’re just being defeatist now mate…

Oh yeah, I’ve virtually given up on clubbing.

What was that last time you had a good clubbing night out like?

To go for a night out and not hear a single song that is currently being played on 4Music atm would be great.

🙂

David Guetta-esque crap that have the queues outside… But it’s cheap drinks that draw the crowds in, and orange girls in high heels, not top name DJ’s!

Nail on head.

My reaction upon entering a club is eurgh not that shit again, when it should be: Wow that sounds amazing, I’ve never heard something so amazing before…

There are a few house artists about, but the best music is in the past… My generation seldom get anything original, underground or revolutionary. Dubstep… crap just crap, can’t even dance to it.

With no E, clubs are just like pubs with music.

Cheers your STW resident 18yo

I have an N8, recieved a new battery been though various software upgrades still crap. Think of it like having all the disadvantages of a smart phone without any of the advantages.

How much time do we think we have until the planet is uninhabitable?

It won’t be the climate that will kill us, but peoples incessant whining about it 😉

My handbrake failed earlier and I had to go back and forth a number of times to stop me causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage to the Audi behind me. I tried to control it as well as possible but it was hard with a guy in the rear view mirror looking like he could have.. jumped on my head or something. Angry sod so he was.

I think Bradford must have a serious problem, so many people people with broken handbrakes – I think a government scheme is required 😛

I can understand crap driving, when you cba to do something but this, this requires more effort, people put effort into being crap, be lazy stick the handbrake on and **** the world.

I think it’s just a fear of the handbrake, the whole of Russia has this fear, nobody uses a handbrake there.

My handbrake failed earlier and I had to go back and forth a number of times to stop me causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage to the Audi behind me. I tried to control it as well as possible but it was hard with a guy in the rear view mirror looking like he could have.. jumped on my head or something. Angry sod so he was.

I think Bradford must have a serious problem, so many people people with broken handbrakes – I think a government scheme is required 😛

I can understand crap driving, when you cba to do something but this, this requires more effort, people put effort into being crap, be lazy stick the handbrake on and **** the world.

I think it’s just a fear of the handbrake, the whole of Russia has this fear, nobody uses a handbrake there.

That and people who try to do that on a gradient and just end up edging backwards and forwards. I don’t know why, but I just want to rag them out of their cars and stamp on their heads.

That and people who try to do that on a gradient and just end up edging backwards and forwards. I don’t know why, but I just want to rag them out of their cars and stamp on their heads.

Any sport you’ve missed is on the bbc sport website 🙂

I think I am crying…

Crying from laughter, thank you STW

On a slightly more serious note, where was Mrs Queen, Mr Queen, Charlie and Wills?

They had insider info that it would be crap, so they didn’t bother coming.

I am my own example here, I stared riding last year at 17 now 18. XC just isn’t cool, you have DH with massive tail whips and clothes from the likes of troy lee; all supported by awesome films like Follow Me, showing riders fearlessly shredding the gnar.

But XC involves riding up hills a then edging down them on the brakes, where is the fun in that? Plus lycra isn’t cool.

But thanks to the BBC’s great coverage and the organisers of the Olympic events, I was finally shown what XC is really about; speed pure speed all the time, the competitiveness, oh and Fontana is cool.

Mind you though I have always liked sprinting and the odd techy climb so…

What I am trying to say is that XC needs to have much more coverage, and some cool personalities in the sport to inspire the younger generation.

Although most of the younger generation will be inspired by the BMX instead 😕

He needs to make his mind up on pressure, yesterday he said 5.0 bar today he said they run their tyres at 28psi 😐

Haha an advert about cake straight after the MTB ended 😀

Great race enjoyed it. Wanted Fontana to pull it out of the bag at the end.

Riding a 29er or a 26er makes no difference because, maybe, just maybe… it’s about the rider not the bike.

BTW love how this started as a thread about the time to record the MTB, then became STW’s official Olympic MTB thread (course bashing thread), and now looks to become a 29er bashing thread 😆

Would I be right in saying that the course was gravely to avoid a mud bath, if it rained?

oldgit –
Anyway, far more important. Was the winner on a 29er?

Nope 26, 29er was in second and 26 in third