Second on the Stendec, have i900s on two bikes, one is two years old the other 18 months and both have regular service, the Stendec grease makes them smoother than brand new! Also have noticed no wear yet on the bushes or stanchion on either post, and they are running constantly in muddy conditions

I broke mine in December last year… Actually broke is not really the word, I hit hard pack rocky track so hard (over the bars, flat out on my SOCOM) that it basically exploded. There was no question of it healing naturally, so they operated immediately by wiring as many pieces together as they could and then a plate with 7 screws across the top. Happy tp say it all healed back together within 3 months, and I got full movement back in about the same time (by using it as much as possible from day 1)

My surgeon has advised against removing the plate, as he feels it will take many months for the bone to grow in the holes and he is worried about it fracturing again in the meantime. So looks like I am stuck with it for now, I like to flex my shoulder and freak the wife out as you can very clearly see all the screw heads!

Riding wise, I would say I am about 90% back in mental terms, although for sure I take things easier these days – mainly because I don’t really want to go through the pain again, and honestly last Christmas was a bit crap with two young daughters and me not even been able to hold them or open presents etc… Calmed me down a bit as this memory really stuck with me.

Having taken a couple of tumbles since and landed on the shoulder, I can say with the plate it feels a damn sight more stiff, the shock now goes directly through to me neck which I can really feel… Which is a bit worrying. Of course the collarbone is supposed to act like our natural crumple zone, so not sure it’s the best idea to have a mega strong plate there…

Maybe it’s obvious… But make sure you undo the bolt on the upper crown first, or you will never move the top cap!

Dog that barks doesn’t bite…

About 9 mpg… Ooops

You have no way of knowing what would have happened if you had no brakes

I have thought about putting 36’s or Lyriks on mine, but when I am climbing with the Pikes at 140mm it always lifts at the front, so this has put me off – I have a downhill bike as well, so this one I need to ride up and down!

Helicoter for a collarbone?

I walked almost 5 miles back to the road and then had 2 hours in the car when I did mine!

I have one of these on the seatpost mast:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=34152

Lets the cable slide through when the post moves down, but stops the loop of cable sticking out and catching on my legs!

My SOCOM pedals damn well considering how plush the travel is… Almost more like a trail bike with 8″ travel really!

How about considering an Intense UZZI which has same VPP suspension?

Where can I get my socom painted camo like that???

Panama City, Panama…

I had one, crashed badly on rocks, still have face intact. Have no doubt at all would have been a serious level of damage to my face without it. Only replaced with proper full face as my riding got more and more gravity based.

LOL at TJ, he knows better than all this real world experience, what a tool.

Heckler and Koch MP5?

Dengue fever, I knew I had it (google self diagnosis) but the hospital disagreed and sent me home, two days later my wife basically carried me to the car and took me back to the hospital, where they decided, yes, it was Dengue! By which point I was pretty much purple all over from capillaries breaking down, hallucinating, high fever with excruciating pain all over my body… Spent few days in hospital on drips etc then weeks and weeks recovery…

I have got an Intense Socom, which in riding terms surprised me quite a bit in that its basicaly a trail bike but with 8.5″ travel, great fun. With the VPP it actually climbs damn well compared to some 5″ travel bikes I have tried, as long as I can push the single ring up front.

Damn light too for its capabilities, probably 36lbs or so, wasnt a cheap build by any means though!

Socom is now discontinued, but if I was buying now probably would look at the UZZI?

http://www.open2.net/sciencetechnologynature/maths/icecoldinalex.html

Thks guys, of course wasnt looking for any suggestions on healing time in particular, will follow docs orders or at least try to!

Mainly just looking for overall recovery stories, which up to now you provided, thanks!

X-ray tomorrow so hope it shows some signs already of re-growth…

Shattered collarbone last week, gutted!

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/broken-collarbone-with-surgery

I had the Rampages but found them a bit strange to be honest, they seemed to squirm around somehow and didnt give me a lot of confidence. Also found the very round profile didnt give much grip when cornering.

Fire XC Pro I find great though, 2.1 size is my “standard” for XC riding. Loads of grip out on the edges.

Its kind of normal to feel like that, I was the same for both ours… just have to take comfort that your wife is in the hands of professionals, and be ready on-call when needed!

Another thing; I have found since getting a KS I900R adjustable post with remote, I hardly use the granny ring, I have found that I can run my seat higher for climbing efficiency than I ever could with a fixed seatpost, as I can now adjust the position down an inch or so for singletrack or slam it for downhills.

So in reality, I find myself using the seatpost remote INSTEAD of the front shifter, and its amazing what you can climb in the middle ring with your seat at the optimal pedaling height :wink:

The maid always seems to take care of cleaning my gear

yay!

Should be fine, it just screws right in places of the maxle, the 135mm fits perfectly. I have it on my Marin Wolfridge, but all Maxle dropouts should be standard size.

Also, when I asked BETD the same question before I bought it, they told me a LOT of people are buying them to replace Maxle Lites…

It is because the Maxle lite tapers in the centre and doesnt support the Pro II axle at its weakest point. Many cases if you search around on here and MTBR forums.

For what it is worth, I replaced my rear Maxle with a solid axle from BETD – the "Intense" axle:

http://www.mountainbikecomponents.co.uk/items.asp?CategoryID=185&Name=12mm+axle's

And have had no further problems, and as a bonus also noticed less play in the rear bearings, think the solid axle nips up tighter than the Maxle.

Good luck…

nowthen

The seals on the damper base are just o-rings, any motor factors or bearing place will have them for pennies

Omega Seamaster chronometer…

You let your credit card bill go unpaid to the point that the account was handed to a collection agency, and now its HSBC fault that you face the consequences? :o)

mainly because they look so damn cool!

RHSno2… agree to a point… but paying CHF thousands a month in rent gets old, and no getting away from the fact that even a very small house will cost millions…

And yeah, I lived with a tooth ache for weeks once until the next UK visit, as I could buy a new bike with the change compared to getting it fixed locally!

CHF 350,000 is about £220,000 for anybody watching in black and white…

We where in Geneva for over a year, and overall was a positive experience, and yes of course the mountain biking is amazing. Not to be too negative, but in the end the simply eye bleeding cost of living got to be too much, and we jumped at the chance of a transfer to cheaper shores…

I just couldnt quite get my head around the fact that despite earning serious money in shipping, along with all the stress that comes with that, we where living a very basic life and would probably never buy the kind of house we wanted, for example; where we rented, the next door neighbours had been given CHF 350,000 by their parents as a DEPOSIT on the house…

I have the Wolfridge 6.9 2009, which I bought last year after moving to Switzerland and realising that my XC bike would not cut it anymore in the local terrain :o)

This ticked all the boxes after some research, having U-turn Pikes, Maxle front and rear, and nice relaxed angles, but still be able to pedal up the hills and do more alpine XC routes (most of which can be considered more extreme than UK, admittedly)

Have now got it setup with Bash + Blackspire Stinger, short cage rear mech, Elixirs with Goodridge hoses – and I am more than delighted with it. I find that with 2.1" XC tyres and a few PSI more each end can do all day tough XC, but put 2.35" High Rollers and it is happy and capable of doing sessions all day at Morzine.

Highly recommended to bring out the hooligan inside you :o) – only thing it needs now is a remote adjust setpost!

Bloody brilliant thinking, well done!

Same experience here – some mates came out last year and a couple (relative inexperienced) hired bikes, didnt pay much attention until they started complaining of various problems during the day, and realised they where both completely shot!

Go to Havana, Cuba… we got some amazing acrylics for less than the cost of framing them…

*** Hijack ***

Grynch, you in Geneve? Fancy getting some riding in at some point?

Cheers

nowthen