Putoline HPX R 2.5 is what you want, gives a much better bleed without a wandering bite point.

Same. It works better than Shimano mineral oil – easier bleed, no bite point wandering, less change of feel in cold temperatures, cheaper.

If you have a charger 2.1 or 2.0 then this might be relevant if you do want to upgrade the damper. Reduced down to £75

https://www.pushindustries.com/products/hc-97

I think the latest air spring version add a bit of harshness as people complained with the previous version that they ‘lost’ a bit of travel. There are a few things you can do, drop back to the previous air spring (B version I think), remove the top out bumper to increase negative spring volume, replace with a coil spring (tf tuned, vorsprung),

Point is, it probably isn’t your damper.

Uberbike hoses worked well for me. Shimano fittings on one end and magura on the other.

On magura hoses the inner diameter is a little bigger so I’d heard that using magura barbs is a little more secure.

Both bikes set up as shigura, genuinely the best brakes I’ve used. But you may take a wee while to get used to the bite…

Or you could just buy products from companies that respect IP, adhere to environmental regulations and keeps money in local circulation rather than buying cheap Chinese future landfill tat.

But yeah it’s cheap.

I just see it the same as buying own brand, dhb, lifeline, Clarks, etc equipment. It’s exactly the same stuff, just someone in Europe has stuck their sticker on it, tripled the price and selling it as their own. Most of the stuff I buy is probably designed in china, so to a certain extent I am respecting IP and I’m keeping the money in local circulation, in china. I’m also paying more for it than the rebadge brands are as they’ll buy in bulk and negotiate a much smaller fee.

I’m happy to spend money on ‘local’ brands where there’s value added, but a rebadge and a UK address doesn’t count as far as I’m concerned.

Meant to say, I’m happy to post specifics of what’s worked well if people are interested.

On the hardware side, I’ve had more good than bad from AliExpress, from a clothes point of view definitely more bad than good, you can get better quality and a better fit for similar value if you just wait for the sales.

I’ve bought loads of stuff from AliExpress, it’s great!

But it depends your expectations, it’s very rarely amazing quality but usually good enough.

Consumables such as – rim tape, brake pads, chain rings, cable tidys, bottle cages, tyre repair things, tools, etc.

In terms of more expensive stuff, hubs from ztto have been great, cassettes from Sroad (now called spedao) have also worked well. I’m interested in a set of the hb-910 brakes as clones of trickstuff they look good.

I’ve also bought gray market genuine stuff, chainsets, derailleurs, brakes. During COVID times they were all that was available, everything was fine but not that much cheaper now.

A good site to look at Chinese bike things is https://chinertown.com/index.php there are lots of user reviews of (mainly AliExpress) Chinese sourced gear.

@bens

Slight hijack, how have the hubs been? Did you stick with the ZTTO freehub/ ratchet? Were they from AliExpress?

They’ve been great to be honest, I did have an issue where through lack of maintenance (about 2 years!) I finally took the freehub off and found that the alu splined ring that the star ratchets sit in had stripped, I bought the genuine DT Swiss steel ring and it went in fine and the star ratchets are still working well. The fact that DT Swiss original spares fit is really useful

When I ordered them, I asked for 36t ratchets rather than 56t they come with as I’d heard about reliability issues. The 36t have been fine.

For £80 for the pair of hubs is great value especially considering the weight (only 20g heavier than DT Swiss 240s)

I bought some BTLOS rims, 30mm id, with asymmetric spoke holes for £175 a rim direct from china. ‘Trail’ front and ‘enduro’ rear. They’ve been brilliant in the lakes for the last few years. They built up really easy on some DT Swiss inspired ztto hubs and they weigh 1600g for the wheel set. Which I thought was pretty good.

I understood it prevents creaking

Or causes it. If your frame and BB threads are within tolerance chances are the tape will just bunch up (especially as the BB threads are likely a much finer pitch than the plumbing threads the tape is intended for).

That’s an interesting take on it, I’ve not had any issues since I started using it, but that’s not to say it’s the perfect solution.

I’ve started using PTFE tape and grease which seems to work. I understood it prevents creaking and creates a better interface between cup and frame

Oko hi fibre for me too. The water soluble bit is great for cleaning it off the drive, garage floor, walls and ceiling after a tyre went pop.

It seems to work well for me. £10 a litre last time I bought it.

I get free Google one VPN, it doesn’t make anything slower so I’ve left it on. Not sure if Google is any better than other VPN suppliers though.

Two bikes with them on, best brakes I’ve had. Loads of power, easy to bleed. Cheap as chips.

I’ve started using 2.3mm rotors which has 3 benefits, 1-magura pads are closer to the rotor so thicker rotors stay straighter longer. 2-shimano master cylinder reservoir is a tad too small, as pads wear out potential to not have enough oil. 3-handles heat better

I’ve been using putoline hpx r fluid instead of Shimano oil/ magura royal blood. It’s much less viscous and so it is even easier to bleed and all the Shimano lever bite point issues go away.

I’ve been to the physio recently and to counteract poor leg position as you described, the advice was to use arch supports to roll the foot outward which moves the knees away from each other. Also doing more stretching of hamstrings and strengthening of glutes. There was lots more to the discussion, so best to see a professional and get advice specific to you, but the advice I got was really good.

I think the fixshox bushes look like a great idea. Prevents damage to shock from lateral loads and the revo ones look to be low friction too.

https://youtu.be/IwjtOTvjD8Q?si=kT3siwJ4AQPH_LEx

I read the rules before posting, but the 1 picture per person isnt mentioned, just one picture per post. So apologies!

Brilliant idea by the way, stuff like this is great fun. I love seeing other people’s pictures.

Hi, apologies I’ve not been following this thread enough. There’s been some good exploring going on!

I’ve been up red pike a few times, the last time was from the end of ennerdale, up herdus, great borne, starling dodd, over red pike, high stile and high crag before descending down gamlin end towards scarth gap.

I’ve always descended down towards scarth gap, the top from red pike takes much longer than you think due to the lack of a consistent path, severe exposed edges in places as well so worth doing it in good weather (the views are fantastic anyway so worth getting benefit) the drop down gamlin end towards scarth gap is probably one of the steepest technical descents I’ve ever done, the final drop to the top of the pass is full on too. Not trying to put you off as it’s a hell of a technical challenge and definitely worth a go.

Good luck and have fun!

I found a deal for a pixel 7 for £200 through O2, it’s ‘refurbished’ but not a mark on it and battery at 99% health.

You commit to £20 month sim, but can cancel at any time.

My shigura set up runs with a really small clearance between the pads and the rotors. The magura storm rotors (2mm thick) were better than the Shimano they replaced, but the TRP R1 rotors at 2.3mm are significantly quieter and very rarely drag on the pads.

The heatsink they provide is a noticeable improvement too

How much are they per rim? I picked up some 30mm BTLOS rims last year that have been great, built with chinese hubs and sapim spokes. Built up a wheelset at about 1400g which have been great. I’ve heard lots about light bicycle rims, but not recently in terms of cost

Shhh,don’t tell everyone! Mattoc pros are great, bigger brother the mezzer pros are also great. I also really like the mcleod shock, really simple to maintain and modify. I can only assume the mara and mara pro are the same.

The only let down is the UK distributer and lack of support if something goes wrong

I realised I never followed up this post..

I ended up selling my battered 2010 T5 for a healthy sum of money and bought a petrol Citroen Berlingo van. SWB, 2020 with 11000 miles on the clock.

I think it ticks most of the boxes, small enough to park easily in height restricted car park, better mpg than the old converted T5 (42 vs 37mpg), petrol vs diesel, really nice to drive, bikes inside rather than outside (can fit 1 big bike in wheels on, two bikes in with front wheels off), can still get changed inside if the weather is rubbish, practical for moving stuff, really nice but not enough to be too precious about it.

I just need to keep an eye on the timing belt.

I used a maxxis shorty, it was great in the dust and ok in the mud. Bear in mind when it’s wet it is absolutely lethally slippy, more slippy than you think is possible.

I had a cotic rocket that I really struggled to weight the front wheel, I tried loads of things to fix it. Dropping bar height was an obvious one to get more weight on the front. I only recently heard the downtime podcast with Si where he mentions bar height and the consequence of bar height being too low… Basically to weight the front wheel with bars being too low, you end up hunching over the wheel and pushing your bum out, which effectively pushes your centre of gravity back.

Bit of a light bulb moment for me, where your hands are isn’t directly relevant to weight on the front wheel (unless you are mega aggressive), it’s more a combination of front centre length and hip position. Obviously length of arms, torso, pedals type, bar sweep/rise all effect where the hips are.

The other thing is that riser bars are not the same as extra spacers under your stem. Extra spacers increase height but reduce reach, where riser bars increase height with no effect on reach.

The headline is wrong, it’s not goodbye to the world cup. The article refers to both the world series and next years dh world Cup. I’m reading it as the ‘world series’ is the collection of mountain biking events that includes the dh world cup, rather than renaming the world cup.

Bloody clickbait.

Dhr2 exo+ front and back, replace worn back tyre with slightly worn front and buy new dhr2 to stick on the front.

Separate front tyre with a shorty on for when it’s muddy. (it lasts years and years!)

Repeat.

It seems the most effective way of using tyres, I got sick of front tyres that were worn enough to not be suitable for the front, but the wrong tread pattern for the rear.

I had a similar problem and found the uberbike hose kit I had for a different bike had the adaptors for magura and it worked fine. So worth a look there

I think I’m up to 58 wainwright’s by bike. I’m not really actively seeking them out, think I was a bit bored at work a few months ago and totted them up. I do<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>n’t think I’ve done any that I’d not do again in the right circumstances. </span>

In terms of off the beaten track..

Atkinson pike is good, then down on the North side of the glendermackin and back up to mousethwaite comb.

I really like causey pike, up to the shoulder between sail and scar crags (to top of the rigg beck descent). The scar crags descent is good fun upto causey, bit of a scramble down the first rocky bit of causey then really technical before going flat out.

Ard crags North (Aikin knott) is the steepest little descent I’ve done in ages, was tempted to divert onto rigg beck, but noticed there is a little fell runners trail off the end. Really really steep..

High snockrigg is fun and flowy, we did it on a dry evening so Buttermere moss wasnt too moist. Off Dale head and across Little Dale Edge. Worth a go for something different

Outerside, stile end and barrow also good fun, techy in places and a bit off the beaten track.

Hindscarth is great until the last bit which involves carrying bike down. Real shame as its great until the end.

Why do you need a van at all?

I guess I don’t. But we’ve no kids and another car with seats / towbar if needed. It’s more for bike security while I’m at work and riding straight afterwards, bike security while I’m in the pub after a night ride. Useful for tip runs, white goods, sleeping in/camping, etc.

It’ll have a bike in it 3-4 times a week and parked in a height restricted multistorey carpark (with the smallest parking bays ever) in a dodgy part of town while I’m at work.

So a van, or van based car seems ideal.

If you are burning fossil fuels then why prefer petrol?

This is more to do with my driving habits, I live in the countryside an hour away from a motorway and rarely get into the dpf regen zone. Previous diesel cars (t5 included) have had replaced injectors, dpf, egrs etc. I’m also a bit concerned around all the added complexity of diesel engines to meet euro 6 regs, adblue etc. Something for me to look into though as my concerns are probably unfounded.

There is also that petrol cars warm up faster… Winter commuting 6am in the morning desperate for the heating to start up!

I’ve been running BTLOS rims for the last few months, noticed the weight saving immediately, acceleration out of corners, up hills, etc is great. £150 each for the enduro spec ones, built up to a 1600g wheelset 30mm ID rims. My thought was they aren’t that much more than equivalent dt swiss ex511 at £100 each so worth a go. Dead easy to build as already mentioned.

The carbon rims are ‘too stiff’ isn’t really true any more. Low profile carbon rims with a 6mm asymmetric offset build strong wheels with a bit of flex. This can only help carbon longevity.

I also have a fiio btr 3k and while the sound quality is good it’s not miles ahead of the earbuds. Both the wired headphones I use and the earbuds have 10mm drivers and the levels of bass are about the same. I find that the ANC of the earbuds adds way more quality to the sound in noisy environments than the wired headphones have extra.

I guess how you use them plays a part in this as well. Commuting and a noisy office means the ANC and lack of cables is a big help.

This is a good review website – https://www.scarbir.com/

I have the Earfun Air Pro 2 which get good reviews, lots of bass and the ANC works well. There is a new version that has a mobile app. Good value at £50.

As another alternative to m540s, the look x track are an option. Bit nicer looking, slightly larger contact patch and can go a little looser on the release mechanism if you want. Same cleats too.

I picked up a new Samsung s20 fe with a £200 discount for exchanging an old phone. The old phone didn’t have to work which was a bonus. So a new Samsung with a 2 year warranty for £300 seemed a good deal. Worth keeping an eye on hotukdeals.com for things like that.

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>If you go for the Samsung, there was something about the Samsung own brand processor being a bit rubbish, the snapdragon ones are the ones to go for. </span>