the cheap Chinese stuff is better made than Hope

Having seen the battery pack for the lights in the OP, I doubt that (though I’ve not seen the Hope one you mentioned – presumably you sent it back and they fixed it anyway?)

But my point was more about customer care and service than quality anyway.

Ah, but with the cheap chinese lights you don’t get a nice little “Hope” logo stamped on it, that stamp must cost a bit.

In defence of Hope you do get a bit more than just a logo – after 4 years of use my Vision 4 died last week, I posted it back to them Tuesday morning and it was returned Thursday afternoon fixed free of charge.

TimP – I’ve an xtracycle frame for sale if you’re interested, no bags or racks though advert here from few months ago http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fsxtracycle-freeradical-203mm-rotor-pc991-double-length-chain-xt-cassette-1 open to offers.
I’ve been crap and not got round to ebaying it!

you would be better off with a simple ice pack.

actionsports.de or bike24.com ?

Not sure that Blackburn is disc brake compatible, maybe something like http://www.wiggle.co.uk/topeak-super-tourist-dx-fdisc-rear-rack/

You can get a seatpost clamp that has the rackmounts attached

I’m not a great fan of the north of Cambs but Histon, Milton etc are OK.
I lived in Ely for a few years I wouldn’t recommend it.
Shelford/Sawston are good with plenty of shops,restaurants etc on your doorstop plus easy access to M11+A11 for when you want to get anywhere else in the country. Shelford is a 3 mile ride into Cambridge with reasonable cycle lanes or paths available – commuting by car into Cambridge is often slower than riding.

I’ve an xtracycle for sale http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fsxtracycle-freeradical-203mm-rotor-pc991-double-length-chain-xt-cassette
and yes I did snap my hybrid frame!
The big dummy is great though just a bit pricey.

I stopped 9.5 years ago after smoking from when I was 12 till I was 31, I reckon I’ve saved myself £15,000+

It might or might not be like this little film I made last year

Great Video – it really captures the true horror of 2010 :D
I’m not racingtaking part this year – but I’ll probably turn up to have wander about and shout encouragement at a few others.
Unless it rains solidly for the next week the course should be great.

Took my 6 year old round Thetford – she managed to crash about 1km out cut her chin, arms and knees
she then puked and fainted, she took 20 minutes sitting with her mum till she recovered enough to ride back.
All fine after an ice cream though and has being running around all the rest of the day.
She’s obviously being listening to me though as she reckons she needs a new bike now ;)

Here’s my Xtracycle in normal monkey child carrying mode.

It’s really saved me getting in the car too much since starting the 8 mile school+nursery+work commute.
It’s incredibly heavy (25kg+ on bathroom scales) but that’s not much of an issue in Cambridgeshire, I’d like to change the gearing to a road double plus close ratio cassette as it never comes out of the 42t ring currently and maybe switch to a frame with a lower toptube.
Build cost me about 1k but quite a bit of that was the exorbitant cost of the peapod seat and the centre stand.

The integrated stem/headset look is quite a nice design touch, spacers and a normal stem look a bit archaic afterwards

the 2006 P7 had sliding dropouts – I guess yours must be a 2005 model?
I think its was the 2008 P7 that had unreliable sliding dropouts – they incorporated the disc brake mount to the dropout but it still only had 2 bolts and they came loose.

Clobber – Member

I’ve got a holiday in Hunstanton next week.

wow – what did you do wrong? ;)

I’m not aware of anything out there – not even very many bridleways or anything, closest is Thetford and that’s 40 miles away.

27.2 with the original seat tube shim on mine (28.6mm outer).
Maybe someone has fitted a different shim?

The older P7s comes with spacers – so Orange would probably sell you some.
Failing that you’d need to get some made or for a bodge use a few washers together or some M8 nuts might do the job.

a friend had a similar problem – turned out it was the rear quick release being/coming slightly loose not the BB.

Ogg

I got the 'Ridgeback flight 04' Alfine,full mudguards SLX disc brakes on the CTW scheme last year, I've been pretty happy with it but had to have the rear wheel rebuilt on warranty.
It came to 999 including the rear rack mudguards and rear light.

Anybody know who any of the photographers were?

first time for me – I enjoyed it, a couple of the climbs were pretty hardcore but it was good to see a few people cleaning them.
I opted for the 50Km route and managed it in what seems a very slow time of 4:45.
Fell off 3 times, once not paying enough attention and went over the bars going thru a tiny rut :oops: and just slid off the other times.
The rain at the end was harsh, one of our lot had opted to do the 75K but he turned up after 6.5 hours soaked and grinning like a cheshire cat.
Oh and hello to the (russian or swedish?) guy on the Land Rover bike your comedy dismount lifted our spirits! :)

I've downgraded XT stuff (mech,chainset & shifters)on my P7 to SLX when it has worn out/broke,
the shifters were the only bit where I thought "hmm I don't like these as much as the old ones" but after a couple of rides I didn't worry about it.
The general feel and lever shape aren't quite as nice – they shift all right though.

yeah I gave up too – stupid questions and a crap interface

:) no worries Woody – I've filed the mount now and it's all good.

Cheers Cy.

hope this helps

Ah yes – I'll just file the adaptor down a bit then, I'll also email cotic just to make sure they are aware of the issue.

Thanks

looks like a "onguard locking skewer" from a quick google around.

Any roadrat owners have any insight to the brake mount issue?

Fixed – turned out I'd stuck the washer that goes on top of the balls on the drive side upside down so the cone was tightening up on that rather than the balls themselves.

I know (the theory of) how to adjust them (I've only ever done one before – but that was pretty easy), just in this case the point at which the excessive play starts to appear is before the wheel rotates freely enough.
I haven't got to the 'it feels alright before doing up the QR' bit yet…

Are there any other things which can cause an issue other than adjustment?

LH side +options click 'past year', 'sorted by date'

link

try this as a google search

site:www.singletrackworld.com intitle:FS inurl:"forum/topic" vanilla

Link

yes that sorted it, new pads and rolling the diaphragm on, brakes have been fine since.

@drew – ah cheers, no I didn't know that…

Right brake bleed#3 coming up.

everything looks ok but pads are a bit low and there wasn't a great deal of fluid left in the reservoir.
I may well rebleed, replace the pads and see what happens.
(or get them serviced at 18bikes for 45 quid inc pads… which is tempting as the price for pads+seals+pistons must be close to that!)

Has the bike been stored upside down by any chance

No it's been upright all the time – even when I was riding it ;)

It's the 2nd time I've bled them – I assumed when they went soft after the first time I'd just cocked up the bleed somehow so did them again on the Monday and they were fine 24hr later when I went to ride.

@Trimix I think my reservoir rubbers OK but I'll check it.

Are all hydraulic disc brakes OK stored vertically?

The SRAM stuff looks like a rip off at 12 quid for 250ml, Hope/Lockheed is 4 quid for 250ml, Unipart is about 5 quid for 500ml – Any dot 5.1 will be fine though.

Bottom of this page http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/BrakeFluidComparison.html has some spec comparisons

Castrol SRF seems to be the 'best' (40quid a litre though) doubt it's particulary relevant unless your brakes are boiling though.

You are more likely to need a shower if you wear cycling kit. all that synthetic material holds sweat and bugs and stinks

What utter rubbish.