Things get quite surreal pertaining to how quiet everywhere gets when temps notch up beyond 30. If you’re adept in the heat then it would make for a great ride. I was section hiking on the Cotswold Way yesterday and it was eerily quiet. Much slower than usual due to the heat but the light was exquisite.

Nope all good with the ti 8mm

Worst user experience out of all the forums I frequent. I have found that switching to an alternative browser made a huge difference. On Chrome the site is practically unusable.

Wanted to use old barb and olive. But the new xtr lever annoyingly has new shape rubber hood (if that’s what it’s called) and so I had to take off old hood. Which doesn’t fit past attached olive! I suppose I should be grateful old hoses fit in these times of ever changing standards!

Thanks. I cut it in the end. Hopefully hose is long enough. I tried pulling it out but it felt like I was pulling really hard and I worried about hose.

I’d sooner quit cycling than go back to tubes

It’s a great route to shatter ones romantic notions of bike packing. Really tough to find pitches. The best one we found outside of MK resulted in us being shouted at by a really angry farmer.

I’m running Absolute Black 6mm offset on my eeWings.135mm rear. Having said that it’s a single speed so chainline is a doddle. I went for ti colour to match. Can’t lie it looks beautiful.

Hesitant in recommending specific ratios as to the degree of variables at hand. I will say though that I’ve found picking a gear that doesn’t spin out too quickly on flat and accepting the odd hill walk works best for me. I also like bigger cogs for more chain wrap – eg. 34/20 is better than 32/18.

The Rockness Monstah YouTube channel has been going hard lately 🔥🔥🔥

https://youtube.com/channel/UCnJM5acua33lCUE9lJVM4BA

You say the brake is on a commuter- Is it perhaps the case the pads haven’t bedded in properly? I had squeaking brakes when I put new pads and rotors on and then only used them on flat trails. Thus glazing up the pads so to speak. Took the bike out on some steep muddy routes and the squeaking stopped. Lather up the disc with mud and grit and do some aggressive stops. This might work.

I’ve hiked and wild camped the Cotswold Way – In terms of finding suitable places to pitch up it’s not that easy. Beautiful countryside though.

Certainly heard less reports of Sram carbon cranks failing than Raceface – Wondering in what way the bonding process differs? One would have thought Raceface would have sorted this issue out by now or dropped the product line. The amount of times I’ve heard ‘not fit for purpose’ is perturbing to say the least..

I get local shop to order in parts – Prefer picking up things at my convenience as opposed to worrying about missing parcel deliveries. I’ll support local as much as possible. Nothing I buy tends to be available discounted elsewhere so cost wise it makes no odds. May as well give shops the trade.

Spank have done some silver rims I recall.

I window shopped for eeWings for two years – I dismissed XTR 9100 on the same premise as mentioned above – they’re going to de-bling rapidly. Carbon cranks with bonded pedal inserts not up for that.. Anyway I pulled the trigger on eeWings. I’m so stoked. Never had super posh cranks and I’ve lusted after some ever since I was a kid roaming the pits at BMX meets when I’d see American Pro riders with Redline flight cranks or Profiles – Cranks have to be silver with silver chainrings – Nothing looks as good !

You could try Uberbike – they list a comprehensive stock of shimano compatible hoses and fittings..

https://www.uberbikecomponents.com/category/434/Hydraulic-Brake-Hose-Kits

Orange nipples would be cool .. Or alternate with black ones ! Pertaining to spokes- Sapim or DT – no need to overthink..

Terrible news – Go Outdoors has been for many years one of the few shops I’ve genuinely enjoyed browsing – Spent loads in there.

What’s a good 135mm spaced rear hub for fixie mtb ?

Stooge meet up is a cool idea- even cooler though would be a rigid only downhill open ..

I think there is limited options- either go for a shimano – Wolftooth or Absolute Black- I’m not certain but I believe you need to run the proprietary shimano hyperglide chain also- Although it might be the case that this is due to the Shimano quick link as opposed to the chain itself- Disclaimer I don’t know based off experience just online research as I’m looking to run a Shimano direct mount crank set up on my single speed and Ideally don’t want to use shimano HyperGlide chain – I like strong BMX chains.

The only way to get to talk to someone at Virgin media right now is to select the ‘Im thinking of leaving’ option.. I had to resort to this tactic numerous times in order to get my new Virgin hub up and running.. I have my mobile contact with EE and I think they are much better than Virgin to deal with..

I also work outside – been a wet couple of months to say the least. Personally I find it better to accept wet hands – either go for a glove that stays relatively warm once wet or as I do when possible take your gloves of and keep the dry- Put them back on once rain stops- Also have a few pairs to change into- Waterproof gloved generally disappoint ..

Chest rigs are what all the kids who do wheelies go for ..

COLLECTIVE 'CHEST RIG'

I too was sceptical pertaining to EBBs but after getting my Stooge I don’t think I’d want a SS frame without one – Trouble free and I like being able to play with BB height – Which is useful if swapping between 29er and 27.5 .

Clear Gorilla failed for me – And I always use regular Gorilla with zero issues ..

If going for a cheap mat closed cell foam best for warmth – might be best to deal with the bulk- unisulated inflatable mats can be chilly.

Not sure if Stans is ‘best’ as I’ve only ever used Stans- Apart from the one time I used Orange which failed to seal – Too many variables ultimately- I just buy heavy tyres nowadays.

Update – Contacted Wolftooth – who informed me I can use any rear single speed cog with the XTR M9100 compatible chainrings so long as I use the Shimano HG+ chain .. Great ‘blingle speed’ option if you don’t want carbon cranks .

Threaded bb cups don’t really need to be torqued accurately- I’ve fitted them with a rag and mole grips – works fine .. It does seem pretty lame all these proprietary tools brands are now introducing..

What about one of those really expensive Fabric ALM saddles ? Not tried one myself but according to the spec the saddle is constructed out of one piece of carbon thus eliminating the usual rail / carcass interface- The bit does the creaking ..

ACS Crossfire are loud- under £20 @ Triton ..

Just put a pair of 2.8 Force Am on 27.5s and first impression is great – they set up tubeless ridiculously easy and there’s a ton of grip – rolling resistance is good also .. Really impressed.

Doesn’t sound optimum considering the price but I’ve already got the XTR race brakes and wanted to get the cranks too – Anybody know if there are any ‘normal’ chainrings compatible with the M9100 crank ?

Try using a smaller spacer? Could be the case that your a couple of mm over which might feel right when your nipping up the cockpit but could be just proud enough to put friction on headset bearings when you load the bars .

Gorilla black for me everytime from now on – Made the mistake of trying some cheapo Wilko tape – leaked like crazy through spokes – Next I tried some Gorilla Clear which was expensive – again it didn’t work (Grrrr) When I took the tyre off all the clear Gorilla had lifted up – Nothing more demoralizing than a third go at taping up a rim – Went back to standard Black Gorilla – It just works – You can tell during taping things are going as they should – I don’t worry about width – I use a fresh Stanley blade to cut it right into bead hook ..

I think I’ve neglected looking at small 26er frames – thanks for mentioning – As im building the two bikes I’d like the same frames thus second hand Ebay options could be limited.. Didn’t realise there was so little choice out there – Everything is complete bikes for kids with horrible components . .

Woke up to the news this morning – gutted – Skateboarding will miss you (: R I P . .

Little Harry 15 & Jake 100 on YouTube are doing a lot for the no handed wheelie phenomenon..