I had to (didn’t have to but I didn’t have anything to hand to undo the master link at the time so foolishly in ignorance thought it would be ok to use chain breaker on multi-tool, I mean why else would there be a chain breaker on a multi tool if you weren’t meant to use it to push pins out with,😂

So obviously after doing that a small unease was growing inside me so I decided to dig around on the internet and it turns out you are never meant to break 12 speed chains and reconnect by just pushing the pin back through.

Is it general consensus then that my chain absolutely will not survive if I don’t get rid of that pushed pin and replace it with a SRAM powerlink. It’s a SRAM 12 spd GX drivetrain.

I’m waiting to get my hands on a powerlink but trying to work out whether it’s a stupid idea trying to sneak in a ride or two with that re-pushed pin chain before the powerlink gets here?

With the fabsil how does it affect the items original breathability?

Thanks for all the helpful and encouraging advice guys.

You’ve definitely helped me come to grips with the notion that bike setup isn’t going to stop me from learning the skills,

For a moment I was worried that my being on the shorter side of 5’7 with short legs was going to be a mechanical hindrance on a medium frame, I can always loop out if I focus and really go for it so I guess that’s my answer there

So apparently the only thing to overcome is my inherent sh17ne55!! Lol

As you guys were saying earlier. I’ve accepted that no point faffing with bike set up for sake of manuals. The most important thing is to focus on learning the technique with however the bike is set up. Today I seem to have made some progress mental progress by being reminded of the down and back again. By isolating the down bit for a while as per the gmbn video I think it’s helped somewhat. So just got to keep plugging away.

The stem issue is more to do with riding. I got taken to Haldon forest cafe side for the first time on Wednesday and I loved it. That’s the kind of riding I want to get better at. There’s a few jumps and drops I’ve hit up there but really I’m just winging it with no real technique. Which means the bigger stuff is a no go for me cos I know I will end up in a world of trouble.

The frame reach is 430 on my spectral, with the downward pointing rooty jumbly type of riding that way would I be better served with the longer or shorter stem.

Fair enough, just need to keep practising away, I’ve set myself a target of till end of this lockdown to get some sort of manual nailed.

So noone thinks that 60mm stem is a bit too long on a medium bike for short old me for general riding around?

@oikeith

It was a bit higgledy piggledy for me. I emailed info@Nukeproof.

And then a week or so later whilst waiting to hear back I decided to call Hotlines UK, as someone pointed out they are one and the same.

Hotlines actually said they can’t do anything to help me and that was the end of the matter which was fair enough. But the very next day I finally got a reply back from info@nukeproof with the offer.

Just an update for those with similiar issues.

As @benpinnick suggested I contacted Nukeproof directly via email to explain the problem I was having and the situation with my retailer.

I got an email back from James C at Nukeproof customer service and they generously offered me a free set of replacement pedals to be sent from ChainReaction Cycles. And to top it off it’s not even the plastic ones they offered to send me, it’s one of their Sam Hill Horizons.

I am totally stoked at how far they have gone to help me out considering I bought them from GoOutdoors originally and not from their outlets.

From my dealings with Nukeproof so far I can definitely say it’s making me more motivated to use more Nukeproof products in future, possibly a new handlebar order due soon!

(Anyone got any advice on rise, shall I keep it here or create a seperate thread for it?)

The Mega is one of the bikes I’m considering for my next bike purchase next year and having such great dealings with the company for me definitely pushes it nearer the top of the list.

So thanks Nukeproof and thanks singletrack guys and girls for all your advice.

I’m a happy bunny!

I recently came across some discussion about how with larger rotors the pads tend to get chewed up a bit slower, might be worth looking into if that’s an option. I can see how it might seem to make sense. The larger rotor radius means less force from pads required to get same maximum braking torque.

Though judging from my experience with my MT7’s I will say I definitely notice that it requires the braking system to warm up a bit before I start getting the full power of them. Which will only be exacerbated with larger rotors I imagine.

@ogri – did you experience the issue on the left side or the right side?

I’m wondering if this is due to precession. Anyway I figured another solution would be to get another end cap (reduce its height so it doesn’t poke out of the pedal body) and thread that in on top of the existing one. That will hold permanently.

As has been suggested prevoiusly. I Had a chat with Hotlines earlier today but not much joy there.

Nukeproof have a 2 year warranty but Go Outdoors insisted they only honour 1 year warranty. But Alex at Hotlines seemed to imply that the consumer needs to press Go Outdoors and point out that the product comes with 2 years.

He just suggested I complain again to Go Outdoors but there’s nothing Hotlines can do for me.

Does anyone know of the relevant place I can lodge a complaint? I sent an email to GoOutdoors customer service but they responded saying that they only deal with web orders and are not related to the physical stores.

I appreciate this forum is meant to be a little bit more mature so my apologies for the rant, it was too late to edit it out once I had gotten over my mild bout of irritation.

Thanks @benpinnick.

I suppose it couldn’t hurt to forward the email onto them as well then in that case.

While I was in Go Outdoors initially to report the issue the bike guy there told me I just had to re-tighten the inner locking nut a bit more.

I can confirm that is not a fix. In case anyone else gets suggested that as a remedy. The nut under the end cap is already firmly tightened and the slop on the pedal has nothing to do with that coming loose

Yes I am kinda throwing this Go Outdoors bike guy under the bus because instead of acknowledging that my pedal might have an issue but they can’t really help because I can’t meet their warranty conditions;

He decided it would be better handled by being confrontational with me from the outset and continuously insisting that his same pedals don’t display this behaviour at all.

Thanks for that great info ‘GoOutside and smack your head against a brick wall’ guy, have a medal mate and I guess that must prove my issues are all made up and if you aren’t having issues then I clearly made up my issues because I have nothing better to do with all that time that I have left over every week after working 72+ hours every single week for the last god knows how many months.

Erm sorry about that, don’t know what came over me just then, had to get that rant off my chest, lol

Thanks guys, appreciate all the input, seems like this is fixable and not such a big issue after all. I’ve wrapped a couple of layers of PTFE so will giv ethat a few rides and if that doesn’t hold well enough think I’ll have a crack at teh Tamiya Thread Lock.

Depending on how ok g it takes me to get enough ride time in I will report back with how each method I use works for anyone else who comes across this issue.

Just put of curiosity, everyone who has had this issue, do you find it only happens on the left or can it be either side?

@mashr

Can I ask what size feet you are please mate?
I’m a size 8 and wondering if platform is maybe a bit on the big side? I find it really hard to adjust my foot on pedal. And almost need to completely lift off the entire foot to adjust, which isn’t always possible as you drop into stuff.

Are hotlines the distributor or something for Nukeproof in UK?

I did email Nukeproof directly asking for advice but haven’t heard anything back yet. To be fair this all transpired last week so hasn’t been too many days since I emailed.

Thanks, PTFE tape is a good suggestion will give that a go

BUT turns out Loctite is a big NO on plastics

Fully serviced when the airshaft got changed with new SKF seals. So its probably 6-7 rides in.

A few weeks ago I did a session with Tony Williams @Evolve MTB and I’m intentionally attacking stuff a lot harder and faster than I was before, keeping off the brakes more seeing how much more I can ride out without slowing down. It could just be that is how these forks are and I’ve read too many reviews of spangly new forks and twisted my head with dreams of magic carpet plushness, lol

I can feel some amount of pushback from the terrain through my hands on the bars when hitting the bumps. hard to quantify.

So if Motorex 2.5wt is similiar to Fox R3 5wt that puts it around the 15ish cSt viscosity. So would switching to something at 14cSt (Maxima racing light 3wt) be a really noticeable difference or maybe even lighter down to 13.6cST (Silkolene Pro 2.5Wt)

or use a much lighter oil in the damper to compensate

Anyone know the cSt values for Fox R3 5wt? The usual sources of info don’t seem to list any of the Fox oils

You’re trying to fix a damping problem, by increasing the volume of the negative air spring…?

Haha you do realise that a lot of us have no idea what we are talking about and most of our ideas are derived from armchair engineering degrees! :-D

I agree that 150 is kinda pushing it on that 34. And I could be getting issues related to binding and increased friction from the twisting and flex. This bike is my training bike to push my fitness and skill level and of course boost my confidence levels. So my intention is to thrash it to pieces to get betterer and next year think about a shiny new bike purchase so I probably shouldn’t go around buying a new fork for it as I don’t know if next year I would want to go from a 27 to 29er. Whatever suits me is what I will get I’m not a die hard fan of any one thing over another. I will only know what works the more I ride.

My line of thinking with the negative spring increase was: I reckon the harshness is a function of rate of change of oil flow velocity through the ports (ie the force the oil exerts on the shim stack) versus the resistance it meets from the shim stack.

ie when the oil velocity suddenly changes up thats what we feel as harshness (sharp transition from lower force to higher force)? SO I was thinking that if I soften up the initial travel the oil is having less resistance to accelerate faster through the port which means its flowing that little bit faster (more force exerted) by the time it gets to mid stroke so there is less of a change of velocity (to higher force exerted) so a smoother transition into the higher part of resistance from the rest of the shim stack? which means slightly reduced harshness?

I accept I could be completely wrong in this way of thinking. which is why Im asking in this forum cos I need edumecating! I want to improve massively as a rider, my fitness and skill are two very important aspects so I got to just devote more time to that that but I also reckon learning to know and understand the equipment you are using is an important part of that. What changes have what kind of impact etc hence all these types of questions.

I probably will just re-valve when I get round to having the damper looked if the squishy sounds change but I’m interested in the conversation and other peoples thoughts on the subject so keep em coming

Don’t know how to follow this thread without posting, can’t see any option here on phone, but I’m interested in the answer too.

When working I do 6 days a week 12 hours a day continuously. And don’t have the time to do huge long rides. So at the moment I just find the steepest longest hills near me and hit those on the road bike for 45-60 minutes.

Admittedly I know nothing about nothing. But I’m wondering how the lowering and rearward shifting of the BB shell might affect Anti-Squat and the pedalling characteristics of the bike.

I haven’t had a single pivot bike since my 2004 Marin Attack Trail. So I’m pretty certain things have progressed a LOT since then. But aren’t they carefully designed to give the required characteristics?

True, if BB shell lowered then also your centre of gravity will be equally lowered so your 100% Anti-Squat intersection point (centre of gravity intersecting with front contact patch) moves proportionally down but I don’t have a clue what that means in respect of the new chain lines in each individual gear.

Also the new pivot position would have an affect on the leverage rates on the shock?

My non-hambini brain is ‘guessing’ that as the BB is now further away from the pivot your weight on the cranks is inducing greater torque around the pivot which when the rear wheel tries to move up away from the ground over bumps, added to your extra torque means a higher leverage to the shock? Possibly needing you to jiggery pokery with your damping?

But awesome idea dude, love it! and especially the fact that you have the know-how to even conceive of the idea, make sure to wrap yourself up nice and safe when you test it and when you have it figured out come back and pleas help me figure out a way to hack-bodge my 2016 medium spectral to have more reach too, haha

EDIT: TLDR: what honorouablegeorge said, their post wasn’t there when i started typing haha

Thanks so much for the feedback scoops. In that case I’m definitely ordering in a few Trickstuff Powers for my MT7’s then.

Unfortunately Magura are so nice when they sent me my brakes back from their service centre, they have me multiple spare sets of the Performance pads including the ones fitted in the calipers. So need to burn through the current newly installed pads before I get to revel in the glory of Trickstuf Power power.

Actually, what’s the thinking on removing pads that have already been bedded in.
If I remove them to try out the TS, because the rotors will now be bedded in with the TS’s does that mean if I refit the Magura 8.ps they will need to be bedded in again when reinstalled?

I get really persnickety about things like lever travel and bite point etc. I endlessly obsess about ways to manage it or change it. And then I start riding and find I just get used to whatever I’ve got and don’t mind it really when I stop thinking about it.

I have too much time to overthink minor things that don’t actually make that much difference, providing everything else is as it should be.

Not saying this applies to you also, but try just getting a few more rides in and see if you get used to it and dont notice it anymore.

…bite point…same place all the time…….seals….made of sugar paper?

Just out of curiosity, Ive never had Shimanos that did the wandering bite point thing. Is there an average time of useage you get out of them before they get posessed? Or is it just a random lottery?

A new deore caliper at 30 quid seems like a non-horrendous price to get four spare donor seals and pistons (2 large + 2 small)to keep you going for another 2 years at least if seal failure is likely a yearly thing and they dont all implode at once.

The old 2 pot ceramic shimano pistons that used to get chipped, I swapped out for the Hope HBSP235 pistons (they were a smidge taller so need to be careful) their surface was a lot smoother than the shimano ceramic so I imagine would be less stressful on the seal, which obviously weren’t the hope seals because those are for DOT fluid

…so tried the shigura bodge…

What saddens me about this(my) entire thread is that after spending all this money and effort on brand new Magura and then resigning ourselves to the fact of needing to swap back to Shimano levers.

Begs the question (for those looking for new brake setups, not implying for those who are happy with older setups) why didn’t we just go with the new Shimano 4 pots in the first place? If we are accepting the fact that we will be swapping out levers as they develop problems, ie throwing more money at the problem, whether you are shimano or magura user?

New Shimano 4 pots (2x16mm and 2x18mm pistons) compared to the Magura MT’s(4x17mm pistons) are within 0.3% of each other in terms of relative hydraulic leverage all other things being equal (seeing as we are going back to using shimano levers)

so where’s the advantage of the Magura caliper anymore?

And shimanos newer servowave shape and differing sized pistons seems to offer better modulation and progressivity than their previous iterations.

and at least with Shimano calipers if seals and pistons fail we can just cannibalise a cheap £30 Deore caliper for its parts if I wanted to keep the XT/Saint/Zee branding on the outside. Cheapest Magura 4-pot caliper is around £80 plus

This is the best case of buyers remorse I have had in ages, lol.

I’m not just whinging for the sake of whinging, I’m also genuinely putting this out there for others in a similar position looking at all the factors to help them make their future decisions.

I wasn’t anticipating on encountering the ongoing issues I have had with my brand new Maguras, through my experiences I’ve resigned myself to ‘shigura’ing’ when the time comes.

In hindsight if I had known I would need to resort to Shigura I would have just bought brand new XT 8120’s.

BUT I do actually love the look of the forged MT7 calipers and I kinda find the radial master cylinders growing on me design wise. Along with the opportunity to personalise the ‘7-shaped’ sticker on top and even 3d custom print the caliper eyelet thingamajiggies, not that i’ve done that but its a little bit of fun if you are that way inclined

uploaded by user Smiley88 on mtb-news.de forum

and I know there are thousands and thousands of very satisfied happy Magura users who aren’t here complaining. So they have made the right choice for themselves and are reaping the rewards of that choice. Maybe when I get my units back from Magura there is every possibility I will be entirely happy with the levers and they remain consistent for me. I would like nothing more than to be happy about the way the Maguras work.

This is NOT a Magura bashing thread. They are a good company with clearly a lot of experience and history behind them and their products are great and have a lot of thought put into their design that I wont comprehend.

ALSO Chris @Magura Bikeparts UK is awesome and always so helpful. This thread is simply my right to explore my personal preferences through the knowledge and assistance of other like minded individuals.

The Shigura is biding its time waiting for the right opportunity!

These MT7’s are brand new retail units. Doesn’t sit well with me to spend all that money and then end up swapping them out straight away for Shimano levers at a further additional cost.
But the minute a tree or the ground takes its anger out on and breaks the MT7’s, I’ll pony up for some Saint Levers for them.

@argee –

With your MT7’s, aside from the difference in feel which I appreciate is to be expected with the longer rear hose, do you also find that there is a significant difference in how much you have to pull the lever before the pads hit the rotor on each side.

thanks @Hols

…Trying to manually change the clearance is pointless because the pads will wear and you’ll get a wandering bite point…

That was a super important point I didn’t fully think through the consequences of.

I wrote incorrectly before. When I talk about adjusting bitepoint. Really I am referring to 2 things. Reducing dead-stroke (which theoretically is achievable at the lever side) and then reducing pad-gap-stroke, which can only be achieved at the piston/pad end but with a caveat…

@Neb
I totally understand that ‘bite-point’ itself is a mechanical function of gap between slave piston and rotor and the properties of the slave piston seals, how much it lets the piston extend and retract and how much extension of the piston beyond the seal is required before it slips through to assumes a new more outward seated position to self-adjust for pad wear.

I had to think it through but that last bit made realise its worthless manually reducing the pad-rotor clearance because it cant stay constant.

As the pads wear the gap will grow, until the pads thickness is reduced enough that the piston gets ‘slid’ further out through the seal to ‘take up the slack’ and that will recreate the default system designed gap

Which I see now is directly controlled by how much lateral movement is designed into the seal around the slave piston, so to do with seals material property (shape, thickness etc) and how its seated in the caliper.

SOOOOOOOO then does that mean that EVERY brake that has a ‘Bite Point Adjuster’ feature is just doing so by reducing dead-stroke?

@rickmeister
I knew there had to be someone out there trying the same thing, lol. Which brakes did you try it on? And what were mechanics of your solution?

I came across an article somewhere about the Outbraker Booster thats what got me thinking about a fix.

The problem I see with that device is that all it seems to do is just adding a secondary adjustable fluid reservoir within the hydraulic line itself. So when you turn its dial and reduce the volume of the secpndary reservoir you are pushing more fluid back down into the system again.

But then what’s stopping that fluid from just flowing straight back up through the compensator port in your brakes master cylinder straight back into your brake lever body’s reservoir? Nothing, unless you pull the lever slightly to close the port or you have stuffed your main reservoir full, in which case there is no more room for thermal expansion.

Also this is currently a thought experiment. I do understand that if I ever tried to attempt anything like this it would invalidate my warranty.

I’m seeking advice and info now in case of the worst case scenario where Magura cannot/will not fix this issue and say that this is just the acceptable range of operation for this brake and I have to learn to live with it.

Thanks for the videos paton.

Even after multiple bleeds and using the BAT adjustment as shown by Jude Monica in that first video you linked, the rear lever still has too much lever throw and free-stroke. and that’s why I’ve sent my MT7’s off to Magura to be checked out. The front brake is operating fine though with less lever travel up to the bite-point.

Lever travel up to bite-point shouldn’t be affected by longer or shorter hose so the front and rear in theory shouldn’t be so vastly different as the system isn’t under high enough pressure at that stage to cause the hose to expand significantly.

So the reason I’m interested in trying to investigate this modding option is if Magura send them back saying there is nothing wrong and its all operating within spec. I will end up with a rear brake that has almost 60% longer lever travel to reach bite-point than the front brake.

Why bother with the shim

The reach adjust only moves the lever blade closer to the bar, nothing else changes inside the master cylinder. When I leave the lever as far out as possible so full lever travel is available, the lever can still be pulled right down to the handlebar where the maximum braking force is. So if I only use ‘reach adjust’ to bring the lever closer (reduce lever travel by half for example) but the piston is still in its original position then it only gets pushed half way in and not fully in, so result is much less force being transmitted at the caliper.

Next: Part 1 of ???

@poopscoop
It woud be awesome if you would come back to let us know your thoughts on the Trisckstuff Power’s once you’ve had a chance to run them, to get a comparison to the Race Matrix.

I ordered a few sets of Race Matrix for Shimano’s a while back but sold the brakes so never got to try them out.

It’s good to know there are people who have experience of flats and tris and found them useful.
There are some of us whose general shorter rides dont really fit in with drops but to have the extended option that the tris give is a blessing in certain circumstances.

I ordered those China aero shaped flats to try with the integrated stem which gave a sort of platform for the forearms but that leaves you seriously lacking in control.

but for all that trouble I suppose it is easier to just stick to flat bar and bar ends.
To take ideas even further into the realms of the ridiculous sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have flats and tri bars, even if its just to have those arm rest pads for those slightly longer monotonous sections.

@colournoise getting parts to fit is a bit of a pain.
Not something I recommend people to do but if there are older suitable levers and shifters lying around, (disclaimer you are impacting the strength of the clamps by doing this, my logic is that I would never put them under that much strain as its always pretty measured braking and shifting) grind out the interior diameter prise apart a little and wangle them around the right angle on the bullhorns

…swapping the drops for a cut down set of flat bars and bunging some bar ends on makes more sense for me..

Bullhorns are quite a nice in-between option if you fancy going down that route. Just enough for you to get your hands forward a bit more and get your body that little bit lower when doing those long stints into the wind. plus something to grab to give it some welly up the steep bits.

I’ve never been a drop bar rider and converted to flats as I found myself on the top most of the time. My use case is mostly fitness stuff and steep hills around the city, I never use it for long 40+ mile jaunts. Couldn’t say how they work out in those situations

I would try backing off the gear cable tension a bit .

That’s something I probably should look into. I know when I’m in the 28 tooth and I try to go back down its quite a forceful push, I get a really hard solid click in the shifter back down to the next sprocket, almost like the tension has the shifter stuck. Is it possible the upper limiter screw on the derailleur could do with giving a fraction more movement so the cable isnt tensioning the derailleur tight against the limiter screw, therebey wedging the mechanism inside the shifter?

And how do we reduce tension? If I release tension in cable by screwing in the barrel, making the cable slacker wont that move the derailleur a little out of alignment? This bike is one of those old school Raleigh carbon frames, thats how old it is! The derailleur hanger has taken such a beating over the years I just have to look at if funny and everything goes out of alignment and I get wonky shifting.

I tinker with stuff on my bikes but honestly I’m a hack bodge man I really don’t know the fine art of it all. Im happy to take apart rockshox or fox forks and suspension but something about derailleurs and shifting I just don’t get on with

@garage-dweller
if you have that knocking about I could be interested in taking it off your hands.

@eddiebaby
on your flat bar which shifters are you using? I have the tiagra 4600 shifters and find them super clunky I started another thread for it if you care to weigh in with your experiences..

Jarring clunky shifts into smaller sprockets under power

I dont know when I’ll get round to doing the experimenting as I’m too cheap to go out and buy a decent set of disc wheels right now. Even though its just a training bike I use for hill sessions when I’m short on time (which is always so a quick 1 hour uphill stint daily does me good) I kinda like it being lightish, am going to put some cero ar30s on it and don’t want to fork out for another set of wheels just yet

fair comments, it does seem a little daft to go and spend on a new shifter, cassette, derailleur and chain when I can just change my pedalling behaviour and I suppose there is no guarantee that it wiil be as smooth as I imagine it should be even after the upgrades.