jonba – Member
Seem durable but not sure how much they’d handle being crashed if that is a risk.

Got a Scoop Radius and it generally takes it well. Cracked the plastic shell a bit in a really fast crash once, but it’s right down near the edge on the lowest part, so not noticeable. Hasn’t started falling apart in the couple of years since, and the fabric has stayed welded to the shell.

The armourgel is pretty soft. Here’s a photo of it being squidged:

I believe Leatt are licensing the dual density shell design from Kali (who also put similar armourgel inserts in some of their helmets) and following similar design ideas in that a thinner shell exerts less leverage on your head.

project – Member
are you sure he was /is a magistrate,lots of strange people pop out at christmas some with made up jobs and a chip on their shoulder.

dannyh – Member
Agreed. I’d forgotten about having to tolerate the ‘got a new pair of jogging trainers and a New Year resolution’ brigade for the first three weeks of January.

I’d never thought of this, but in retrospect it makes so much sense.

I’ve been riding a Morf since July. I’ve found it more fun than the new Bfe (one ride on a demo day) or my old Blue Pig Mk 2 (three years of riding) – shorter forks feel more suited to this kind of bike. Stif have sold out of most sizes of the frame now though.

My experience was that I could sneak on with hand luggage that didn’t quite fit in the thing, but we waited an hour on the tarmac for a take off time.

pigyn – Member
You see I would say that looks amazing, although the tyres are too narrow

As the reviewer, I agree :D

It’s a great bike, but 2.3 DHFs are shit as soon as it gets muddy.

benpinnick – Member
nach I think you’re easy to please: http://www.wtb.com/products/rangerplus

I’ll be wanting something beefier than a Ranger, but it looks like Maxxis will have me covered by April :D

Northwind – Member
in theory 9Point8 have a 200mm but in practice it seems like the entire production line is committed to keeping the 20 people who’ve bought one in warranty replacements

Oh dear. Hadn’t heard about this, and it seemed so promising.

26+

I’m not joking.

Reinstalling cranks, but at 90 degrees to each other.

Straight after putting on a brand new tyre, using a knife to remove the zip ties on a front mudguard, while a chatty mate is distracting me. FWOOOSH.

dufusdip – Member
Not tightening the rear skewer after building a new frame up. Taking off up the hill after showing my mate the rear wheel popped out and bent the rear triangle.

Oof. Done this one too :(

You might want a bit of leccy tape on the bars – I’ve found the two part clamp doesn’t grip that well otherwise.

Pretty much the same as above. Got Switch Ultras on one bike, they’ve taken a few years of abuse, replaced freehub with steel after an alloy one cracked last winter.

Get extensions for the back and sides.

I’m probably not far beyond your experience in trailbuilding, but I’ve been doing a bit of trail fairy work in the past year. Everything Northwind and JoeG say sounds like stuff I didn’t know last winter. I’ve learned:

Doing small experiments in trail repair here and there will only take an hour or two for each, and if you then watch them through a few seasons it’ll teach you a lot about making effective changes.

Drainage alone might not do much if you’re leaving a potentially boggy trail surface, but it depends on surrounding grades. A well placed drain can make a positive difference, but that trail surface is still catching and retaining water.

The more rock you can put into a trail surface, the more you’re reducing its capacity to carry water. As well as giving it structure, it will also radically change the rate it dries at in wind and sun, and consequently how much of the year it stays dry for. If it’s not loads of tiny angular crushed up rock like JoeG says, then go for the biggest rocks you can. Anything you can lift with one hand is likely to just float around in the mud, getting kicked out by back wheels, horses, motorbikes, etc. The biggest rocks you can lift or roll safely are much less likely to move once you’ve put them in place, especially if you dig out a bit for each one and assemble them like a jigsaw.

A folding saw and an entrenching tool fit in your pack and can solve some trail problems in minutes.

If you build from scratch, the IMBA trailbuilding guide has some good advice, particularly on drainage and grade reversals. There’s a video series on youtube covering the basics. It’s a good foundation but won’t necessarily build fun trails. If you think of even your favourite trail centre runs, chances are they don’t follow it to the letter.

If you’re on Chapel Bar, the Hand and Heart is just up the hill. It’s the less well known pub in caves in Nottingham, and it doesn’t pull in all the tourists like the Trip does.

Joystick is passable, but I prefer the higher output of the Diablo off road. It’s not particularly heavy.

Probably a bit overkill for commuting.

As Tom_W says, the HC levers are single finger but they’re a pretty expensive after market upgrade.

I have MT7s and my experience with them matches Binners. They’re the most powerful brakes I’ve used and my riding style changed when I realised how much later I could brake. Hope M4s on the other bike, and have ridden plenty with XT or Guides.

I’m bang on medium in most glove sizing and can set the standard levers up for single finger braking. They do flex though and it takes some getting used to. If you have weak or small hands, they probably won’t be much fun.

Ah, thanks Rubber Buccaneer! I thought it might be like that.

Northwind – Member
Yup, it’s not cheap on the reverb (I think both have similar brass keys too? Older KSs did but I’ve never had a lev on the bench)

They do. I kind of like the RS approach of etching keys to indicate slightly different diameters, so that rotational play can be eliminated. With KS, they’re all the same and if there’s any rotational play, you either live with it or make your own keys.

I’ve been putting of servicing a knackered Reverb I’ve got, but thanks to a few friends who’ve had sinking ones as well as my own posts, I’m getting fast at dismantling and fixing Levs.

The bushing is more easily replaceable in the Lev than the Reverb. If you want replaceable bushings on a Reverb rather than a £35 top cap assembly, then you have to make them on a lathe.

KS Levs have the same sinking issues as Reverbs, and a DIY fix has been extensively documented, but KS/distributors/etc. don’t like users servicing damper cartridges because when they’re dismantled with internal pressure built up, they make a vey loud bang and you’d better have it in a vice.

150mm posts seem about right for me, but despite only being 172cm tall, I could easily fit a 175 in a Stif Morf as the standover’s absurd (edit: I did have a quick measure. 170mm reverb almost certainly, but maybe without the connectamajig).

Milkers, recommended to me by a gardener as much more durable than most nitrile gloves.

With the added bonus that you’ll easily be able to test yourself for mastitis.

nickc – Member
see also Fermi’s Paradox…

There’s also the idea that we might be in a simulation. If we ever get to the point where we can simulate a universe, we can be certain we are, because it’s mathematically improbable we’re at the top of the stack, so to speak.

In which case, the rest of the observable universe we’re in might simply be decorative :D

A month of working late followed by nine straight days of event work on a festival: early mornings until midnight or so. Last night runs until 3a.m., then I’m bundled into a taxi home.

It’s paid for and the driver knows where to go. Bliss. As it leaves me, I look at my front door and realise my keys are in the office, about five miles away.

Next time you give it a full service, strip all the components off and spray ACF50 in the frame if it’s worrying you.

Gorilla/duct tape will conform more easily to odd or fiddly rim profiles, but if you ever have to retape, it’ll leave a load of annoying residue that Stan’s doesn’t.

Stan’s is Tesa 4289, but only Stan’s seem to sell it above 25mm width.

I once knew a guy who did skydiving, surfing, motocross, all kinds of stuff. He had a massive surgical scar on his elbow, and when I asked him how he did it: “I was standing in a gravel car park, my girlfriend shouted me, I turned around, fell over and smashed my elbow to pieces”.

I opened this thread thinking there’d be a load more interesting posts about CAD, but it’s just two guys having an argument. Oh well.

Both of the ones suggested above are great. Draftsight if you’re just doing 2D/2.5D stuff. It has some brilliant (but sometimes poorly documented) features that let you draw stuff very fast. The PDF tutorial Dassault put together felt a bit weird to me, because I was picking the software up to send designs to machines, but they wrote it as if you’re going to be printing out a big drawing to send down to an engineering department.

Fusion 360 is a bit more complicated, but will handle 3D and parametric design. It’s easily the closest free thing I’ve seen to SolidWorks.

I’m going to give it a miss as I’ve work to finish before heading off for a few days tomorrow, but thanks for the offer Brennak :)

I’ve previously sorted out contaminated sintered pads by putting a blowtorch on them for a short while. Not sure if the same would work for organic, kevlar etc.…

Growing up in Nottingham I never heard “bread and lard island”. It is a bit like the story says though. If you carry on south to Edwalton, you get to streets where houses were built with gardens much bigger at the front than the back.

Shame, Nottingham used to have an amazing homelessness charity that achieved a very low number of rough sleepers at one point. I think it was 2011 they were handed a 50% funding cut, and probably more since.

Split link pliers, and a set of bearing pullers like these:

orangespyderman – Member

You jizzed in your jeans and you are :
a) talking about it on the internet
b) saying it only really shows when they get a bit, well, minging?

You misread.

I’ll be there. Been out already today and the trails are running great!

molgrips – Member
Soak clothes in bath asap. Latex will never come out if it dries, but you also don’t want to agitate it either as it’ll turn into rubber.

This, or you end up with Schrödinger’s jizz stain. I have a pair of jeans that I didn’t quite get it out of fast enough. The stain doesn’t show when they’re freshly washed, but it does by the end of the day.

How is the sole on those Vaudes? Never been that convinced by vibram, but it’s that big flat patch that catches the eye, on a winter shoe- is it not slippery death on mud?

Here’s Hannah’s review of the waterproof mids[/url]. I’m riding the non-mid, non-waterproof ones, and they have the same sole.

The first ride I went on with mine involved a steep, snow covered section of hike a bike – too steep to push up, easier to carry. They were great for that and have been great ever since. Not perfect on mud, but better than my AM41s or any other flat soled shoe I’ve ridden – you just have to get your weight into your toes and heels for it.

As GeoffJ says, depends very much on local branch staff. That goes for setting accounts up, not just counter service/etc.

For me, RBS were a lethargic trombone-soundtracked nightmare, but HSBC were really good and efficient. A friend in a different city had exactly the opposite experience with both.

I’ve used Alienware gaming laptops for an event before.

1. They’re enormous and heavy. If you’re carrying one around all the time it’ll break your shoulder.

2. Might be isolated to the ones I worked on, but the driver support/installation was pretty poor. They were packed with the wrong discs in the boxes, and the website also directed me to the wrong drivers for the actual GPU in that model of laptop. It took about four hours work to find the right display drivers and update them. This is not typical of most PC manufacturers.

PC Specialist are worth a look – might not be the cheapest, but the developers I know who’ve bought from them have only had good things to say.

I got to compare a Diamondback to a few others this morning, back to back. The DB is actually good! The cheap Suntour air fork on one of the others compared terribly to a Recon.

Thanks for all your suggestions, some great options here. The Mantra looks very upgradeable.