got a picture for us?

psychle – How do you find the Hammerschmidt + Alfine setup in comparison to a "normal" 27 speed setup?
Doesn't it give you a massively wide range or ratios, most of which never get used?

You'd be mad to get one now. The next iphone will definitely be announced on June 7th. Wait and see what the deals are after then. Tesco are cheapest at the moment and probably will be then too.

+1 Middleburn cranks

I smashed up an XT rear mech at Afan and as the shop there wanted £70 or something for a new one I went for an LX instead as it was the cheapest they had in stock.
I was planning to replace it asap but it has been operating perfectly and to be honest I have not been able to tell the difference!
I am sure it weighs a bit more but other than that I can't fault it.

If you want a bit wider range you can use the 12-36 Shimano 9-speed cassette that came out recently.

Or even better go 1×10 – both Shimano and SRAM have 11-36 10-speed casettes in their new ranges.

I used them a while ago and they were fine.
If I remember correctly the courier cost was about £10 for a pair of tyres.

Yeah it's good but not that good – Roam is still my favourite of this style of film.

tracknicko – got any good BMX DVD recommendations?

P.S. any of you guys using alloy nipples too? Have never used them myself but thinking about it now.

I had not heard of the Super Comps before – thanks for the tip. Might go for those instead.

It's really annoying that there's such a limited range of sprocket sizes and belt lengths – it really limits what ratios you can achieve on what frames. Hopefully Gates will broaden their range in the future.

adstick – nope, rotors are nearly new.

JonR – That's sort of what I was asking in my original post. However after reading all the replies here and thinking about it a bit I think not. I think that I and anyone else in the same boat have to admit that however well we think we have bled our brakes there is still some air in there somewhere…

I used these guys for a boiler repair in london recently and I can highly recommend them:

http://www.wpjheating.co.uk

ro – I hear what you are saying, but bear in mind that this is the first time in the 4 years I have owned them that I've ever done anything to them, other than slip in new pads every now and again. That is pretty impressive I think as they have performed great, and even though I am complaining about them now they are still performing better than any rim brake I ever owned.

B.A.Nana – I feel your pain. However I refuse to believe that the LBS are going to perform any magic on the brakes that I could not do myself at home. I just need to find out exactly what that is…

retro83 – ah I see. Thanks – I will try this.

Wiredchops – thanks. I am really just looking at the way the levers feel when the bike is in the workstand right now. I will get to the pads once I get it out for a ride.

Do you mean that the bubbles popped out in the reservoir on the lever when you released the lever?

Thanks but that video is for different brakes which have a bleed nipple on the lever.

I found that I needed to use a syringe to suck all the air out the system on my SLX brakes

How did you do that exactly?

I used the offical shimano bleed kit which seems very good. It allows you to pump new fluid through the system from the caliper end so all the oil fluid and any air bubbles come out of the lever end.
It seemed to work extremely well.

There is no way shimano would sell a brake component like that which simply didn't work. They would be up to their eyeballs in legal cases if they did.

Definitely no oil leaks so I guess I can rule out the seals then.

How about brakes hoses? Can they lose their mojo and contribute to spongeyness?

If not I guess there must still be some air in there somewhere but god knows how I am going to get it out. The second time I bled them there were no visible air bubbles at all so I assumed I had nailed it first time.

So would you all expect 4 year old brakes to be performing as new after a proper bleed then? Or is that unreasonable of me?

These ones:

I'm not sure if spongey is the right word. What I mean is once the pads have hit the disc and are gripping it tightly the lever can still be pulled back further, although it is much harder to pull.
Is that what you would describe as "spongey"?

All I can find on there is he says shimano road doubles are 5mm apart. i think that is old info though – don't think he has anything relevant to current shimano cranksets, either road or mountain.

Someone must know the official measurement… anyone??

Genius! Works like a charm.

Great movie. I think Roam is still my favourite though.

I just measured this on my XT chainset and its definitely more than 5mm… maybe 6mm. Its hard to measure though so I'm not sure exactly.
Anyone know for sure?

Don't know the rider but I know the location – Slough Road, Datchet.

I'm pretty sure it's 5mm. Road double chainsets definitely are.

These are amazing value for money:
http://www.khsbikes.co.uk/bikes#XCT555

I can't stop looking at this:

In my experience Merlin Cycles are the cheapest around for all wheel builds. Plus they do a great job of it.

This is a no-win situation unfortunately I think.
London's roads are simply not wide enough to just suddenly start introducing nice wide cycle lanes everywhere.
Hence the cycle "super highways" only being 1.5 meters wide.

The only real alternative to what we currently have would be to ban all motor vehicles from certain roads and make them bicycle only, but I can't see that happening as the traffic congestion is already bad enough as it is – shutting down roads would bring the city to a standstill.

The bike hire scheme is another question… i think it could work if there are enough bikes and locations. My money is on total failure though :)

Ritchey is a good brand but they also make some cheap/heavy stuff.
Best thing to do is take bits off and weight them and see where the heaviest items are.
If you are on a budget then eBay is great for things like handlbars / stems / seatposts at knockdown prices.
If your saddle is a brick then there's plenty of cheap and light options around these days, e.g. Charge Spoon.

Yep I'm in. It's going to be a good one again I am sure!

I used to notice that I got black snot when visiting london for a day too.
Now I live in central london and get the tube regularly, plus cycle 40 mins each way to work and I never get it at all.
Why is this? How is it possible?? I have always wanted to know the answer to this question…

Yeah, maybe shifting wouldn't be good because of the odd number of teeth or something.
Where did you see a 21 tooth Boone listed?

I have looked at all the ratios I can get from different combinations of cassettes and chainrings, and i like the ratios I would get with a 23 tooth granny ring. Unfortunately it seems i'm not allowed to have one!

That is a good idea – could also get a 25 or any other odd sizes that way. Cheers.

Very odd that no-one makes them… can't seem to find any 25 tooth ones either. Must be a conspiracy!!