of course if the foresty commission realised that the their website could actually be used to provide useful information to people no one would have to ask

the red xc route is pretty badly waymarked and some bits of it have trees felled over it at the moment. and some parts are quite muddy. The downhill tracks are in surprisingly good nick at the moment though so might add a bit more variety to your day. Do you have far to travel ? If you were having to travel a fair distance and definitely only wanted xc I would probably look somewhere else

question answered. cheers

sigmaF – good luck with the new venture. I think you should do well. You can take customers off JeJames just by being helpful. I don't like hanging around the door to the mechanics area while some surly so and so hides down the other end eating chips! As long as you have somewhere to park I would gladly take a trip out to Dore

Ive just replaced mine, thought I would try SRAM for a change, I usually use XT. Seemed that the 980 SRAM cassette was more or less equivalent on price so got that. Its not as good as an XT though and has less (only 5?) of the cogs held by the ally spider. Will go back to XT or look for a 990 next time. Check out Merlin for good deals on chain + cassette

you want the Lezyne one. Lovely, tiny, light, made of Ally and best of all has a double end valve connector so the air actually goes in the tyre (no shonky press on rubbish) and about £20 I think. best mini pump I ever had

thanks for confirming, its a compatibility nightmare!

is that redmires upper before it was emptied? great photo

I find that SRAM is much less picky, easy to set up and works better through mud. having said that Ive had problems with some x9 stuff, bearings in the jockey wheels seizing and generally the mech returning slowly on its spring, disappointing given the high price.

I think the 1:1 pull design of SRAM is better but Shimano is probably better value for money overall

do you mean that block of metal they use to drift the bearings in ? I did a front bulb without that tool but for the sake of the £10 or so it costs I would probably buy one next time, saves the risk of damaging the hub or bearing. I'm sure you could knock something up if you have a lathe, but I dont

James – funnily enough I've had the same experience on that very bridleway. I was stopped by an irate ranger at the bottom. The muppet was in fact stood in front of the wooden post that said bridleway on it ! which I pointed out, obviously. Laughable standard of knowledge.

Nice photo by the way, funny how much steeper that roll in looks from the bike!

Big Earl 2.35, hook up really nicely in all but the worst mud (at which point they are unrideable but hey ho). Wet compound on the front, dry on the back. Lovely big fat but light tyre and proper tubeless so you don't need a rim strip

I run single ply on the front and dual ply on the back, the dual ply is a big fat beast. I would agree, about 400g heavier. I've never had a single flat though, pinch or otherwise.

I think if you run tubeless prob OK with a singleply as long as you avoid those silly LUST things or the eXception that have the thin walls.

I'm going to stick to dual on the back of the hardtail as I am heavy and have little talent for riding smoothly. on my full sus I seem to get away with a lighter tyre on the back

I bought a 2008 pitch and spent a lot of time deciding between medium and large. Eventually went for a large (I'm 6 foot) and dropped to a 40mm stem. Its a great bike. If I have one disappointment it's that the wheelbase is so long that I think a set of Fox 36 would probably ruin the bike by making the wheelbase even longer. l_ache is right, the wheels are crap and mine lasted 6 months before I put a nice set of pro2 \ ZTR arch on it

Ive not ridden it recently but when the weather is bad I often do a loop around stanadge pole and houndkirk moor, I think it's a little lower than cutgate. I can't specifically tell you if it's good now though

for the sake of £25 from screfix you can get one that goes down to 5nm, seems good enough to me. A desk jockey I may be but I've overtightened less stuff since I've had it

did anyone see that someone got banned from driving for walking the dog out of the window of a car? Wonder if some sort of similar sanction would apply to holding a dog lead on a bike…..

Ive made kevlar ones stick when they are new, but then struggled to get them to seat when they are a bit old. too floppy I think like you say. younggeoff – are your HRs brandspanking new ? if not you might be onto a loser

I bought a tiny (6 litre I think) wolf compressor from screfix for about £60, is that the same one that Aldi do ? It's been fine for inflating tubeless tyres which has been it's main use.

when you say you tried with a compressor do you mean a 'proper' compressor with a tank or one of those tyre inflator devices that you plug into the mains or 12v supply in the car? I've never had any problems using a 'proper' compressor with any highroller, I suppose the fact I've got a wider rim could me making it easier though (D521)..

Its an alright way to spend an hour or 2 but if its the main focus of your trip then I can't help thinking you might be disappointed compared to your home trails. Its much less technical and not as varied.

Pick out a nice natural route for your main blast and then knock out Altura in the morning before you drive home would be my advice

£580

yes, that counts. jealous

richie – I did the same on a bulb hub years ago and shat myself, fitted a new cassette and its been fine. check if its causing you any problems before you bin it

and merlin are doing good deals on xt cassettes with chains (also similar SRAM, I think the 970 up has the alloy spider but could be wrong)

Gore stuff from tredz online. I just got a gore path II jacket at £94, thats £40 off!

maybe I will try Llandegla instead seems to be quite resistant to mud

I'm not sure, took me about an hour and 15 to get to Lee Quarry and I reckon about another 30-45 mins from there. Were you going to go around the Manc ring road and then M66 or up the M1 and cut across country ? I was thinking M66

at this rate I'm actually going to have to check the offical website…which is rubbish

I really noticed that the superstar sintered had started performing like blocks of wood as well on some juicy 3s, another reason that I went off them. I might give disco a try. If I do got with EBC I will do another post to let you know if they are any good. thanks for the advice everyone.

gravityslave used to sell some blue ones for about £10, can anyone remember what those were?

done, good thread, thanks for bringing this up. I agree with spooky, it's always a shame to see some idiot damaging the reputation of cycling. Clearly though most injuries on the roads are caused by cars so it would be a waste of money to focus more police resources on cyclists.

its my favourite shop. Nice to find someone who has time to give advice and generally help you out with things. worth the price premium in my view, especially for wheels where you may just want someone to fix a dinged rim or replace a broken spoke at short notice.

In fact its a massive shame that they only do wheels. it would be so good if they were a 'full service' bike shop

Ive been stuck with a pedal before. I know it sounds simple and you have probably thought of it but ……you can't beat an absolutely brand new spanner with a totally straight face. I tried a new spanner once just out of desperation and managed to get it free

gravity slave – I can actually demonstrate that your wife is in my office, can you do the same?

sorry – I thought you were saying my wife was in your office!!!

back to work for me…..

thanks.

goog, are you always so talkative?

pieface – I used to work in that building. hot in summer. cold in winter. but you can see the fish in the canal through the floor.

I'm about 400 yards away looking at your building now.

spooky

thanks goog.

good experience or bad experience?

If you stay at the labybower in you are nice and close to my favourite ride – cutgate, it is marked on OS maps and takes you from the far end of Derwent reservoir over to the woodhead pass. Also + 1 for the stuff around Edale, possibly working in Jacobs Ladder that comes down the side of kinder. either ascending or descending or both depending on what kind of nutter you are. sorry for the vague descriptions, I'm at work so away from my maps

I know someone who that happened to on a square downtube using a proride 591. I actually think the cheaper 530 is a bit safer if you have a funny shapped downtube, it is fiddlier but I think that the fact that the clamp is fully around both sides of the downtube is much more secure. and they are cheaper, bonus. On a 591 move the crank arm so that it is behind the clamp and then fix it there with a little strap, seems to work

I usually stay at the kipford holiday park

http://kippfordholidaypark.co.uk/output/home.asp

either taking a tent or renting a one of the lodges (like a static van basically). They are a good option if you have left your booking a little late. Main advantage though is you can ride out of the park and join the dalbeattie red about 300 yards away

my experience has been less happy. Most of the tyres I fixed didnt last long after that. Typically cuts of 2cm or more though. Question is do you want to have something fail when you are 20 miles from your car and ruin a precious ride? if not it's wallet out time

funny you shoulf say that tom. I moved from Leics to Sheff so I could ride wharnecliffe and the dark peak! Its only an hour up the M1 you know….