Just buy a new slx mech, it’ll work fine with your current SRAM shifter, cassette and chain. I’ve just done the same and bought a 12s slx mech and it works a treat with an 11s cassette, SRAM 11s shifter and a SRAM 12s chain. The clutch is miles better and it was £45… The 12s mech allows you to use larger cassettes (I use a garbaruk 10-48) so you can get the same range as a 12s setup with your 11s shifter

I bought a Skyrc 680

The difference for me was that the batteries got warm and lasted ages! (It also tells you how much charge it’s put into a battery)

You can set discharge and charge cycles, to leave it to recondition batteries overnight

Best of all it does all types of batteries, NiMH, nicad, life, lipo, etc.

Well, I managed to get my car built up, ragged it a few times and then smashed it into our real car and broke the servo saver! Doh!

I found out that a decent modern charger makes a hell of a difference, cycling the batteries a few times and properly charging them means they last so much longer! I think the old deltaV charger I had was only putting 1000mah into a 3000mah battery!

This is just down the road from where I was brought up. Used to wait for my mate at the phone box

@stumpy01 and @clubby thanks for the advice. I’ve found a hobby set of 64 in 1 screwdriver+bits for £15 it does name the two JIS bits in there so should be good. The bearings have already arrived.

I’m a bit apprehensive about the painting, but at the end of the day it’s going to be scratched and battered within a few weeks so I don’t suppose it really matters.

Reading the tamiya forum, looks like you can pick up the shock shafts to use the various pistons with different holes in? It also comes with oil, 4 springs, spare caps and the red orings. Here for example

No idea if the springs/oil is suitable, but I love fiddling with suspension so I’ll probably give it a go at some point.

The guy on the tamiya forum you linked to previously has loads of good info, thanks for that. It also dawned on me who he is! Very knowledgeable about MTBs too…

I’ve been avoiding this thread as I thought it would end up being expensive! However a couple of friends and I have just purchased some buggys to mess about with. I’ve a Neo Fighter landing on Monday. I’m so looking forward to building it and ragging it about!

I’ve read that the springs are too weak in the rear shocks, so I’ve picked up a stronger set. I’ve also got a steel 17t pinion. It sounds like new front tyres might be needed?

Any tips you guys can offer on the build / painting and running?

Cheers

Using magura calipers increases the hydraulic leverage and increases power a bit above saints. I’m using M675 levers and MT5 calipers, with cheap Chinese brake pads (£1 a pair) and the power is immense.

Sunday’s

View this post on Instagram

The weather has been bloody brilliant! So glad we can enjoy it during these strange times. #bimbleonabike #lovingtheweather #bassenthwaite #roadbikes #lakedistrict #cumbria

A post shared by Peter Albion (@pete_albion) on Apr 19, 2020 at 12:52pm PDT

Today’s

View this post on Instagram

The bike to 'work' was nice this morning. . . . . . . . #workingfromhome #lockdownlegstretch #emptyroads #lortonvalley #lakedistrict #cumbria #cockermouth

A post shared by Peter Albion (@pete_albion) on Apr 21, 2020 at 2:05am PDT

Me too

You want something with 1 second recording mode or else your twisty trails in the woods turn into straight lines…

Bryton 330 here, the software is fine although I never use it as it uploads directly to Strava via WiFi/phone. A 35 hour battery life, uses a Garmin mount on the bars/stem. It was £70 new…

The original Superstar nanos were great, they lasted for years.

I’ve had a similar dilemma, my recent pedals (DMR vaults x2, V12s, superstar deltas, nano evos) seem to rattle really quickly through worn bushes. The sealing on them is rubbish. It is very wet up here in the lakes (if I didn’t ride in the rain then I’d never ride!)

I did loads of research and settled on the one-up composites. The sealing is significantly better then the other pedals, they are cheap and light. I’ve been impressed so far.

I had a similar problem in that phone socket was in a rubbish position for coverage of the entire house. I tried powerline access points however it’s a bit of a pain as if you set them to the same WiFi name, devices aren’t very good at switching between access points. So you be stood next to the upstairs AP while still connected to the downstairs AP with a rubbish signal. The powerlines would often need to be reset.

What fixed it for me was an old BTopenreach modem near the phone socket and a network cable to a decent WiFi router (although the plusnet one was fine) in a better position. Modem cost £8 on eBay and used a spare cat5 cable. I don’t think I’ve reset the modem in 3 years it just does what it needs to.

Does Friday count??

View this post on Instagram

Cheeky day off… . . . . . . #luckytolivehere #cheekydayoff #itsbeenawhile #byebyewinter #lakesmtb #west_is_best_mtb #cumbria #lakedistrict #bikes #coticbikes

A post shared by Peter Albion (@pete_albion) on Mar 6, 2020 at 8:31am PST

Here it is – Clicky

I bought the wife a hero 8 black for Christmas. Does the job nicely, mainly photos while out on the water, but the images are much better than a phone camera, so she tends to take it with her in the fells if there’s any chance of rain/water.

I was initially going to get the hero 7 black, but if you send in an old camera when you buy the hero 8 black, you get £100 knocked off RRP. So £280 for a brand new hero 8 black direct from GoPro. The camera I sent in was knackered and wouldn’t turn on… I still got the discount!

GoPro hero 8 black? Takes better photos than my tg4 tough camera. Obviously does the whole video thing too. It’s also tiny and fully waterproof without a case.

I bought my wife one for her birthday to take on adventures when the big camera just gets in the way.

Ah, nice one I didn’t find them through searching, my Google Fu is obviously lacking!

Cheers!

I’ve just picked up a Fiio BTR3 from eBay (£30 in new condition) I’ve been really impressed. Streaming 320kbps Spotify over LDAC @990kbps means it’s as good as wired, the DAC is better quality than my phone’s DAC so it sounds better than the same headphones wired from my phone.

Next job is to get the soldering iron out and to shorten the headphone cable.

Sounds obvious (surprised no-one has mentioned it yet?), but are you sure the gearing is exactly the same between bikes? Slightly different chainring or cassettes can make a huge difference in feel.

But the clock never lies, so you won’t know if it is actually slower until you measure times.

I was out yesterday early yesterday morning by myself, I’ve not done many sunrises on the bike, but loved it. it was chuffing cold to start with -4!

View this post on Instagram

Well that was awesome. #dawnraid . . . . . . #sunrise #mytoesarestillcold #frozencamelbak #backintimeforbreakfast #lakedistrict #cumbria #keswick #mtb #lakesmtb #west_is_best_mtb #mtblife #mtbpictureoftheday

A post shared by Peter Albion (@pete_albion) on Dec 1, 2019 at 3:12am PST

Nice one! Let us know how it goes!

That sounds about it. You can also customise the circles on the outside of the pistons to make them suit your bike if you really want to, although it’s expensive for 4 bits of plastic!

I think the hoses are different and you have to use the magura hoses. The banjo that fits to the caliper is the difficult bit as it will only clamp to the magura hose.

The calipers of the mt5 and mt7 are identical other than the pads which you can retro fit.

I was worried that they’d be too on/off coming from guides but they seem ok. I thought I’d have a few scary moments, but I noticed more how quickly I could slow down, braking late was fine.

I picked the lever up and it felt like a kids plastic toy, it felt awful. The caliper is the opposite, really heavy and sturdy. The standard lever blades looked uncomfortable so I just chopped off and replaced them with the Shimano levers I had.

The bleed was ok, I used the funnel on the lever with a syringe on the caliper and just push-pulled until the bubbles stopped.

I Google translated lots of the massive mtb-news.de thread about shigura to find any shortcomings. The only thing I could find was that the pads sit quite close to the disk, which to be fair is a magura problem and nothing to do with the Shimano lever.

The other thing is that the master cylinder in the Shimano levers is smaller than the equivalent magura, so when the pads are nearly worn out you can pull the levers to the bar (it happens gradually so you do get a bit of notice!) I thing to overcome this you can intentionally overfill the system or use thicker disks (the magura ones are thicker)

I bought the bike discount MT5s, €150 for 2 full brakes with massive hoses! (€190 with disks) I’m assuming they were 2018 model?

To be fair I’ve only used them for a couple of rides and I’m comparing them against an old set of SRAM guides (fully bled) but the power is a big step up. I guess I’ll see how they hold up over the winter

I just set some up at the weekend for the first time. Lots and lots of power and it’s not as on off as I was expecting. I like having the levers really close to the bars and they work well as the levers have a small amount of pull before they engage.

It was easy to do, magura hose, magura pin and Shimano olive. I used Shimano fluid to bleed (it ended up purple when mixed with the royal blood).

Old style slx M675 levers with MT5 calipers.

Do it!!

To confuse things even more… The 12s Shimano stuff works with 11/12s SRAM stuff.

The Shimano pull ratio changed to 1.12 from 1.4 for 12s and the SRAM 11/12s pull ratio is 1.1.

I still maintain that Labour are only still fielding Corbyn because they do not want to win an election at this point. The ones that are running Labour obviously want the tories to completely own the mess from start to finish.

I think the conservatives are going full no deal in the hope that someone steps in to stop them and give them an excuse. It’s a ridiculous situation to find ourselves in.

I didn’t, same chain length. Used GX vs new NX mech.

There was no damping, it felt just like a none clutch mech.

SRAM clutches are very much adjustable (at least they are on 11spd). Prise the circular black cap off and underneath is a T50(I think) Torx head. That lets you adjust the clutch tension. Its also reasonably easy to strip the whole thing down and give it a clean/service. I’m sure there’s youtube vids of how to do it.

I think the type 2 clutches on the original xx1 and x01 were adjustable, the type 2.1 and most recent type 3 arent as they infringed on the Shimano patent. There’s a little pin through the torx cap so that you can’t adjust it. I couldn’t remove the pin on my GX mech so couldn’t tighten it.

It was definitely the clutch, as soon as I replaced it with the brand new NX (with no change to the chain), it worked perfectly.

The lack of clutch is noticeable by hand tbh. It’s a shame it’s not adjustable like the Shimano clutchs.

It had a bit of play from new, but just at the hanger bolt. Now it has loads of play at the pivots, I’ll probably keep using it until I figure out what to do.

The 12s SRAM appeals, but the longer cage might be a bit more exposed. I always liked the previous xt mechs I used in the past, so I’ll mebbie give that a go.

It looks like the Shimano rear mech might work as well, I’m pretty sure the new XT is the same as XTR…. Any thoughts on that as an option?!

https://www.kustombikes.co.uk/article/6-shimano-xtr-m9100-rear-derailleur-is-compatible-with-sram-eagle-12-speed

Cheers

Mines great. It’s a brayton rider 330, it GPS tracks very well although I find the barometer a little variable (compared to Garmins) but I don’t often calibrate it.

I finish a ride, put the phone on hotspot and it uploads really quickly and syncs immediately to Strava. I never use the Bryton app unless I want to change the setup of the data fields on display during a ride.

The battery lasts as far as I can tell the claimed 35 hours (that’s a lot of rides out for me!)

For £70 or whatever I paid for it, it’s been good value.

I find mine a little small for big mountain days (lakes or Alps) where I need loads of food and wet weather gear. It’s been ok, just, for the past few years but I’ll be looking to replace it with a slightly bigger pack when it wears out.

It also sits a bit low for hike a bikes compared to others, the bike frame sits directly on shoulders rather than a bit of it on the top of the pack. Again it’s ok, but I’d be looking for a slightly taller pack.

It’s well built, dead comfortable and light. Also the waist pockets and helmet clip are brilliant. So I’ll probably replace it with another osprey when the time comes.

Hi Doug, it’s an Atera Strada DL 3 bike carrier on a VW T5. I’ve got to be a bit careful reversing down the drive, or on really narrow back roads. But it’s been fine.

I can get a large cotic rocket (longshot) with a wheelbase of 1254mm on my atera Strada bike rack. There’s a bit of extra room for a slightly longer bike. It does stick out both sides of the VW T5 though, so I have to be careful!

I think the inline uses the same standard bushes as it’s competitors, the dbair/dbcoil non inline uses different outer diameter bushes.

Your new shock should come with bushes already installed and the mounting hardware can be reused. So a direct swap

Cheap ones from AliExpress. £5 for 4 pairs!