remove brake
replace with shimano
ride bike

that rockgaurdz thing I bought to protect the downtube has taken a good couple of knocks and the frame is still OK. I’m not sure how long it will last but I’m reasonably sure I would have had some dents without it.

then again it cost me £30 and a piece of old tyre is cheaper than that

good work! I was debating where to ride this weekend, think I will give that a go, haven’t been there since the dry spell in January

I want that. And if I cant have it I want to go 1 x 11 on my 2010 enduro. except that it has a standard QR rear wheel so I bet I cant

:-(

maybe in 2 years time there will be one at a bargain price on bikscene

TINAS – I got one of these to protect the downtube, it works really well (though I did have to re-drill the holes so it fitted right)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MTB-Carbon-Fibre-Rock-Guard-for-Specialized-Enduro-2010-2012-/140777940642?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item20c704e6a2

Avid brakes. Seem OK at first, especially when they are on sale but they never seeem to last 12 months before needing something major doing to them. I bought a new rear brake every 10 months for about 4 years and worked out I was spending £7.50 per month on brakes for my bike.

I dont mind shelling out for things but I wish they would last a bit better. I’ve got a 10 year old set of hope minis on my hardtail and I’ve never even bled them

I wish these things were on sale. Once I clipped a mech on a downhill run and snapped 10 spokes and gouged a big lump out of my hub. I dont know why people take them off

when I sold mine for £400 it had a dent in the downtube, usual place in front of the bottom bracket. It had the stock Pike forks that were a bit worse for wear, but on the plus side it had a really nice brand new set of DT swiss wheels of an enduro expert, xt chainset with gamut, chris king headset.

to be fair yours is nicer spec with those lyrics on

I got £400 for mine, that also had a lot of upgrades but also had some frame damage

stumpy evo if you like long days out the best, new enduro if you want to go faster next time you go to Hamsterly

i would say you have the perfect bike, tbh a downhill bike would be overkill

nice, good to have another option in Sheffield. I’ve also had similar excellent service from Just Riding Along, but they only work on their own builds

i love my xt, but i have to admit that they aren’t easy on the eye

thanks kevj for the number

thanks to to bushwhacked for the route, I will use that. The descent from the big aerial thing is superb (I assume thats the one called transmission?).

i did the gravity enduro there recently, I thought it was great, some excellent tracks and the route above looks like it ticks some of the best ones.

I fancy going back to try the uplift, does anyone have a link to this ? If I google descend hamsterley I just get a list of adverts, which is confusing

lay off the beers the night before

welcome dude

dont buy a tt, you will never get your bike in it. an RS4 will go faster and its got rails for the roof bars

If you are into general xc and trail riding tbh I wouldn’t bother from where you are, you will pass better stuff on the way that you can get stuck into for a couple of hours

if you want to ride some great downhill tracks there is everything there from really good starter stuff in greno woods to really advanced technical downhills. great fun.

everyone is friendly, get to the car park and ask for directions

what do I expect from my LBS?

I expect everything that I want or need to be behind a small hatch
I expect to be ignored when I go to the hatch while staff hang around behind the hatch with their mates or eat chips
I expect phone calls to be answered with a surly huff that implies I am a total t*** and I shouldn’t be calling
I expect to be told things I have ordered are in the shop to find that no one knows who I am or what I am talking about when I arrive

but that is because my LBS is JE James

JRA aren’t the cheapest, but the builds are good and you get great service for repairs etc if needed. It is worth considering especially if you are local

you can get a set of xt 785 for £170 from Merlin

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/mtb-parts/brakes/disc-brakes/shimano-disc-brakes/shimano-xt-m785-disc-brake-set-front-rear-silver.html

my octavia used to do 60mpg was well. Only note of caution is that the electrics can get a bit dodgy, particularly in the doors etc.

hi pal,

I have had the same thing with mine, the little thing that actuates the drop under the seat isn’t pulling back to its return position properly and is sitting on the edge of where the seatpost can come up and down (alarming when it rises over jump, makes for a fun landing!)

I think it is due to the cable being hard to pull back. when I clean the cable and lube everything it works again. I’m not sure if that is the only problem though, I’m thinking of asking my local spesh dealer to take a look.

did you try taking the cable out and cleaning the inner?

the uplift service at FOD is excellent, I got 13 or so runs in during my day there and all the tracks were rideable on a trail bike

there is nothing wrong with the dot 5.1 included, except it is a small pot suitable for maybe 2 bleeds. for about £2 more you can buy about 10 times as much from a car parts shop.

you have to keep in mind though that this stuff absorbs air and doesn’t keep well for long periods so if you only plan to bleed your brakes and then put the kit away for a year it doesn’t make any difference

I had exactly the same problem, with CR SLs! thats how I know. now loving my xt 785s

there is a set of CR SLs on ebay with a very honest description for anyone who knows the correct avid procedures…

I used it. seemed OK, the syringes fitted well and everything. If i bought one again I would get the version without the dot 5.1 and just by a pot from the car shop

sounds great, have you considered some sort of bonus scheme for people riding with a hangover?

because it is made by Avid

+ 1 for the Tyn y, its only about a mile away. The rooms are basic but the beer is ace and they have a place you can store bikes

so lets get this straight, the NHS is being asset stripped, we are sacking all of the police that we spent the last 10 years training, schools are falling apart, and meanwhile the government is still involved in a pointless foreign occupation and their main budgetary priority is cutting tax for millionares.

and you want to sign a petitition about paying 20p more for a gel?

just had a service done at Edinburgh cycles in Sheffield, helpful, knowledgable, prompt and reasonable

(and their mechanics didn’t hide in a corner of the shop behind a half door trying to ignore me while eating chips which is basically my experience of the other Specialized dealer in Sheffield.)

there are a couple of possibilities here. Does the lever feel spongy ? If so there is probably air in the system and you haven’t bled them properly – time to have another go.

does the lever feel good with a relatively solid feel when you pull the brake? If so the problem might be a contaminated disc. You need to clean the disc, you might just get away with a totally clean rag and then getting your brake nice and hot, but more likely you will need some disc brake cleaner or some alcohol.

worst case is that the pads are contaminated now as well, sometimes this improves with use but they might need changing.

had the same from JE James in Sheffield, its 3 weeks now! I could tell from the moment the phone was answered that the guy didn’t want to speak to me.

phoned the specialized concept store in birmingham instead who talked me through what I needed, ordered it, received it and posted it to me within 24 hours.

I really get on with my specialized command post, though I have had to upgrade the lever to the blacklite version as the original was rubbish. I really like having the 3 set positions, though I think the new Fox DOSS does that as well

could be slightly boggy after the last 2 days of rain we have had

if you can find a cheap second set of wheels with the same hubs then re-centering calipers shouldn’t be a problem. And if you use both sets of wheels regularly so that the cassettes are wearing then I think you should be fine to leave a cassette on your spares.

I’m not saying dont get a spare bike, but IMO you cant have too many wheels. If you ever do buy a road bike then they would be handy to have a set of mud tyres on instead

before you give up on the DT swiss \ rim strip combination try inflating with a compressor, with lashings of neat fairy liquid around the bead.

I’ve never managed to get any tubeless system except proper tubeless rims and UST tyres to seat reliably without a compressor

cringe

morrisey would liven this up a bit

my 9 year old p7 is starting to rust worryingly about the chainstays and chainstay bridge, to the point it will need fixing or replacing soon. it will put me off buying another steel bike.

obviously I should have painted it or something, but never mind