they work well initially, but I have yet to have had more than 9 months out of any rear avid before having to bin it, that includes one juicy 3, 2 elixir R and an elixir CR. I’m off to shimano, I cant afford to spend £10 per month on brakes

want to buy some CR SL? rear is a bit spongy…..

colournoise – you just need to seal the rim bed with stans yellow tape, you dont need the rubber rim strip. you need the wider of the 2 sizes of yellow tape for the flow rim.

when you get a bottle of stans sealant it comes with a red cup thing on the top, one of those full should do it. an awkward tyre may leak a bit initially and need 2.

edit – oh yes, and an olympic valve

I used the clear coat lacquer from my car touch up kit, worked well for me. several coats, patience and very fine wet and dry needed.

human timing is fine for me, but then I will be slow so Im not really assed

I am getting disappointed with Avid. Seems like they are constantly needing sorting

so, these shimano brakes, is it easy to get cheap pads for them or will I be locked into expensive shimano ones with silly fins all over them ?

also want. I’ve got 9 speed, and no intention of moving to 10. but if I could get 10-36 spread or more I would think of moving to 1 chainring for sure

I managed to get my bike working reasonably well over the weekend, I haven’t dared ride it all week in case I broke something again before the race!

there is camping at the venue for this right ? I hope so otherwise I’m sleeping in the car

just checked the weather report. putting the winter boots away and packing some suncream. and beer.

I’m looking forward to this! the memory of Coed Y Brenin still makes me shiver

I’ve got hope minis, had a set for 10 years. and I can tell you, those rotors are on the wrong way round

if you are north of peebles I wouldn’t pass innerleithen without riding it. it’s joint favourite for me with dalbeattie but that is further away for you

2 of my mates have had similar incidents and the police took it really seriously. If you can identify the vehicle particularly it is easy for them to actually do something. go for it. call the police

enduro with 2 sets of wheels here. Pedals really well for longer rides and I just put the heavy wheels with 2.5 sticky tyres on for visits to the downhill tracks

damn, someone must have seen the post and turned it off! its not working now

on the plus side PC991 chains are half price at £18!!

you can buy a lot of uplift days for 3k, would that help?

wharnecliffe on a hardtail. brave.

what were the trails like after the month of rain we’ve had?

I find the opposite. wire bead maxxis normal tyres have worked fine for me (minions and highrollers of various sizes and compounds) but I have found that folding bead, non UST maxxis are prone to exploding off the rear rim with a huge bang after a heavy landing

property is theft. fight the power. etc

seriously though, if he was farming it or something I could understand

good on em. showing initiative, teamwork, stamina etc to build these trails. If all of the youth in this country showed the same characteristics it would be a good thing

what a great event. Partucular thanks to the marhsalls who were stood at the start of stage 4. I was there for about 5 minutes and almost froze solid! No idea how those guys managed to stand there for 2 hours or so

yes you can. you will need some form of rimstrip to do it properly. stan’s make them, silly expensive for what they are though. I think you would need the olympic rim strip for that size rim but I’m not 100% sure.

I’ve got 36 \ 22. It gives a great spread of gears but you can end up spinning legs comically when dropping from the big to the small ring

evening dude

yes, if you have the standard alloy ‘soft as cheese’ freehub body you will want as many of the rings on an alloy carrier as possible. At least xt, that leaves 3 rings loose. I think SLX has more loose ones. If you go for SRAM you want the 991.

when you have chewed the freehub body up in a few years you can replace with a stainless steel one and go back to running cheap cassettes

if you aren’t used to rocks under the wheels something around 2.3 in size might give you a bit more confidence. dont worry too much though, its all rideable, tbh i would just go with what you have rather than making last minute changes.

ignore the nonsense above, its good fun and there is a good mix of riding there

fairhurst – you should definitely get someone to show you the ‘proper’ downhill tracks on the other side of the road if the one in Greno is too tame for you. There is some really good, technical stuff.

A lot of it is beyond me and has been responsible for smashing up several wheels, helmets, ripped knee pads etc

I had a scratch just there (it was worse though) on my Pikes, in the end it ended up ruining the fork as dirt kept getting dragged behind the seal and it wore the anodising off.

I managed to put a huge scratch on a set of brand new lyriks. I was heartbroken but I managed to patch them up OK. I used clear coat lacquer from a car touch up kit, and very fine wet and dry used wet. after 5 or 6 applications \ sandings it was pretty smooth

as above, both loops are fairly easygoing with some fun bits and not too technical. I really enjoy riding them, the climbs to the top are great, there is a bit more of a natural feel than a lot of trail centres

I would definitely echo what joao3v16 says, the best riding is in the dark peak and there is more of it. start in Edale and you cant really go wrong.

the new track is brilliant, I spent a couple of hours there last week. Hope the rain stops though otherwise the flat corners in the middle muddy section are going to be interesting. I was 2 wheel drifting off the track last week and that was before about 3 inches of rain

both of these features were OK on a bike with 160mm at both ends and the seat down. anyone who does it at race pace on an xc bike with the seat up gets massive respect from me, I couldn’t do it.

OK, I just bought the Evoc on the strenght of this thread. I hope you lot are right!

eyes are wincing from the cost but hopefully thats the last time I will have to leave the bike in some rickety shed at a B and B that claimed to have secure bike storage

I like the braking bumps. surely they also put off the youths in caps and tracksuits hanging around in groups of 15 smoking fags and trying to look hard.

I still run an original set of hope mini, and I tend to use the hope pads. they are only about £10, even less in multi packs. Its not like avid that want £20 for a set of pads which I just refuse to pay

brilliant! surely this can’t be remotely safe, must do crazy things to front wheel grip having that big bike all the way out past the back wheel.

nice Enduro though!

Pitcherpro – I’m creak free again now after some work with a piece of wet and dry and a pot of grease. Hopefully it wont keep recurring. If I manage to find out where to get those headtube adaptors from I will drop you a line. from looking up the headset tube it looks like a simple split sleeve, should be easy enough to get out. Whats the better Specialized will want ~ £50 for one?

depends where you are in Sheffield mate. If you set off at 6 even at warp speed you wont be in Glossop until 6.25 and the traffic will be starting to die down. M67 / M60 will be ok by the time you are on it.

depends where you are in Sheff though and where you are going to in the lakes. If you are in north Sheff and going to Keswick I would go M1 / A66

+ 1 for minions. I have both front and rear. I think they are around 750g for the single ply 2.35 versions, I’ve not found anything that offers anything like as much grip for such a light tyre

this is the best thread for weeks. Pitcherpro – thanks for the headset tips. I’m hoping I can get away with the new 1.5 bearing for the bottom of my 2010, I cant find anywhere stocking the specialized specific headtube adaptor that the bearing sits against.

All the pictures of the 2009 Enduros make me remember how much I wanted, still want, the carbon version…might go and have a little look on ebay

great thread!

+ 1 question about the headset by the way. I had mine apart this week to inevstigate the creaking and there is loads of corrosion around the cups and bearings.

what have people used as replacements? I am hoping that a Hope mix and match headset will fit …..

good work. I liked that you got back up and had another go every time you crashed.

video looks stunning as well