All the ‘right’ kids are riding road bikes. Road club’s tend not to cross over to mountain biking, so the kids don’t get introduced to MTB. They’re also a lot more likely to stick with road biking than cross over because the rewards available are greater, as said above, but also because for most it means going from a decent training setup with a group of riders riding a few times a week for fitness, to riding on your own through the woods.

We’d benefit massively from having a proper club structure in the sport, with good mountain bikers training together regularly with the goal of getting fitter and racing together.

At the moment what clubs there are are mostly about having fun with other people, not competitive riding and personal improvement. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it doesn’t help to produce young and fast xc racers.

No idea how you change that though. I suspect the first step would be to get British Cycling on the case, though they have run an MTB race series in Manchester the last few years that could be considered a start.

I haven’t any pictures, but I recently put the X-Lite carbon 15mm Maxle 29er forks on my TransAM. They’re amazing and sort the geometry out perfectly.

Only problem with them is that they’re so light the rest of the bike now feels heavy and One One are doing the Whippet at £250 and it’s 3.5lbs lighter than the TransAM, you can see where this is heading……

****. If they gravel it it’ll just get washed out and pile up at the bottom and cause a few crashes.

Hello, thanks for your input, yes the membrane is attached to the reservoir cap, but it’s a separate part, they’re only held together by brake fluid and the three bolts sticking through them. I wrote that so it was clear I’d removed both.

I read that the piston assembly doesn’t really come out, that if you take it out it won’t go back in without breaking it. I’m not sure that is entirely true as Magura put it together at some point without breaking it, but I couldn’t find any evidence that it was possible or how to do it.

So my next thought was that I should first see if it can be bled without using the bleed port, so I’ll give your suggestion a whirl….

I believe it is the same policy at Shimano. Not sure what the problem is given that it took me 15 minutes to strip and rebuild the caliper. Think I might have sorted it by re-seating the original seal, but need tog et the brake bled (see my other topic) before I’ll know for sure.

I’ve taken the lid off the reservoir and removed the bladder. The bleeding process is pushing fluid into the reservoir, but not out of the bleed port.

Looks like it’s the valve that is either not opening far enough or the bleed port is blocked somehow.

I’ve removed the lever, does anyone know how to remove the piston assembly from the master cylinder?

Ha ha, definitely not a problem with squeezing hard enough. It’s this issue that led me to exploding a piston out of the calliper by accident. I’m using a brand-new syringe and I’ve done three brakes already the same way, so I know that the pressure isn’t the problem.

I’ve tried pumping fluid through from top to bottom with the lever, that didn’t work either, though I’m going to try it again just to make sure.

I can’t see how the lever isn’t returning far enough, I’ve checked that too. The symptoms are the same though, so maybe there’s a problem with the valve that’s having the same effect.

I emailed you this morning Peter, check junk mail and let me know if you’ve not got it. Cheers.

So, not overly impressed with Magura’s Customer Support.

The replacement of a 10p seal will cost £130 for them to supply me with a new calliper, fit it to my brake and post it back to me. CRC are selling the identical model as a complete brake with the posh rotor for £110 at the moment!

Alternatively they can sell me a new MT2 brake at the same price as CRC are selling them for. This will ruin the aesthetics of the bikes, so I’d only end up buying a front brake as well.

Is it just me that think it’s a bit ridiculous that you can’t get these seals, given how easy it is to make a mistake when bleeding and pop the pistons out? The prices for a new calliper are ridiculous!

If it wasn’t for PeterPoddy’s kind offer, I’d be waiting for a second hand calliper to come up on eBay rather than considering either of those options.

Just AWESOME!

Has anyone seen the replay to confirm that that was the penalty?

I know BBC reported that was the reason, but they also said that it looked ok.

When Johnny finished the swim he touched his saddle before he put his helmet on. I’m fairly sure that that is a penalty as you’re not allowed to touch the bike at all unless the helmet is on your head and fastened. I thought at the time he might get a penalty for that and when it was announced I assumed that was the reason and it tallies with the BBC thinking his mounting of the bike was OK.

Anyone able to confirm one way or the other?

Yes please! Will email you shortly, going out on the bike now…..

Yep, Magura have offered to service them and say they don’t supply seals because they have a 5 year leak-proof warranty.

A bit useless if you buy them second hand, use non-Magura pads, or simply keep your brakes for more than five years.

I’m waiting for a price for the service, can’t say Magura are very good at replying to emails, but I suspect it’ll be cheaper to set up a search on eBay and buy a second hand caliper that doesn’t leak than it will to post them off to be sorted out…..

Now I look at the 6.1s again, they do look the same as the ones that I use on my Louise brakes, so I’ll assume they’re the right pads. Have made a note about the bleeding method, I did think the ports looked in an odd place for a good bleed, will see how they go when the hose connectors arrive.

They also won’t sell me a set of seals for a Magura Louise brake.

What do they do if you send the brakes to be fixed without any pads at all?

Just checked and realised that the pads for my Magura Louise (2010) brakes fit perfectly. Are these 6.1 pads?

Cheers

Ok, the pads I’ve got are 5.1s, the brakes I think are the newer ones. Will let the seller know I need different pads. There’s a bleed port grub-screw missing too, so I need one of those sending too.

How can you ride a normal chain on a singlespeed? I tried that once and it lasted 3 rides before it was destroyed!

I’m using a KMC half-link chain, but have to adjust the tension after most rides and take a link out every once in a while. Since it was fitted I’ve removed two links as the chain has elongated.

Does everyone else find this happens and is there a chain out there that will just stretch a bit, then stop so I don’t have to keep messing about with it?

I’ve done the same, with the x-lite 470mm forks. I fitted 440mm forks originally and rode them for months, they were ok, but the BB was painfully low and the head-angle a bit steep. Sort of OK on a SS as riding it is more about cranking up hills than quick descending, but the problem was obvious. I had to run 30mm of spacers as the bars were too low, so these came out and my riding position is largely unaltered.

Not ridden it yet, but looks like it will fly.

I’ve just fitted the x-lite 29er forks to a Transition TransAM for the sane reason. Had 440 forks on and 30mm of spacers and the bb was far too low. New forks are 470mm and no spacers, so bars are in the same place, but the bb is up and the head angle is back where it should be. Unfortunately I’ve not been out on it yet, but it should be a much better ride.

It’s very steep, some of it isn’t rideable. But its very good.

I’d be minded to take anyone’s advice that includes Haycock with a pinch of salt me. That route out of Wasdale is purgatory, it’s 80% unrideable and the grass is hard work just pushing through. The descent into Ennerdale is a mixture of grass, heather and hidden rocks and steep. It’s rideable but it’s not fun at all.

I think Lank Rigg would be more of the same, but I’ve not ‘ridden’ that one.

I’m not passing judgement on this case at all, but I do wonder whether the bus was indicating left before the cyclist decided to undertake. It seems to be typical of most drivers to sit at the lights with no indication then lights change, roll forward, indicate left and turn.

I’m sure that if drivers indicated their intention at the point that a cyclist is deciding whether to undertake or not fewer of these sorts of accidents would occur.

Given that the bus operators can’t do very much to stop cyclists riding however they choose, perhaps this is something they should be insisting their drivers do as standard practice.

It seems odd that there’s such a focus on aero, yet they haven’t used something like BB90 to avoid having a lump of BB sticking out of each side, or put the brake calipers behind the fork.

So ugly, hope we don’t get too many side shots on the TV!

I’ve just sorted a disc rotor. I bought some IPA on eBay for a few quid, soaked the rotor in it, scrubbed it twice with a toothbrush, then blow-torched the disc until it bronzed. And new pads.

I tried the same method on the pads, but they were sintered and the blow torch caused them to spit and they’ve bubbled, so new pads it is.

It will be featured in What Mountain Bike in the near future. It’s a great idea and the bus is a nice bit of kit! The obvious ride is to ride up Langdale, over Rossett Gill, past Sprinkling and Styhead Tarns and down Stockley Bridge into Borrowdale, Honister, Grange etc.

Alternatively you’ve got Stakes Pass, Easedale and Lining Crag that would fit in well too.

Thirlmere and over the tops to Keswick is generally too boggy to be worth it I believe.

I got one on eBay for about £90. Came from Hong Kong and has a few characters still in Mandarin apparently, hence the heavy discount. I’ve not used any of the functions that suffer from funny characters, but if it was a problem a chap could flash the latest English firmware.

That was for the device only, no sensors, which was exactly what I needed.

I usually go up Wythburn, you can’t ride much of it, but it’s the fastest way up to the summit because it’s steep. Then follow the ridge and descend Sticks Pass. Awesome!

I noticed that too. SRAM recommend a loop of 36cm for their rear mechs I discovered when I ahd a few issues with a brand new Trek. That looks about the right length based on that.

There’s always some on sale at CRC, usually about a tenner. I just buy them when they’re cheap and bin them when they’re worn out. They’re all much of a muchness when it comes to summer gloves.

BTW, there’s some really nice Syncros carbon forks on CRC reduced at the moment…..

Sam, what’s the length of the Swift forks please?

The adjuster has a length of hexagonal metal on it exactly like an allen key. Remove the adjuster, remove the length of metal and you might be able to insert an allen key and adjust it that way. I’ve done this before.

You might find that the socket that the allen key goes into is rounded, in which case you’ll need to re-assess your options. Take the fork to bits and have a look at the bottom of the rebound assembly to see if you can do anything with it. You can either work out a way of affixing something to it that’ll let you adjust it, adjust it with a wrench before you refit and just leave it, or buy a new rebound assembly.

The guy has an axe rack. Awesome.

Bike looks nice too. Extra points as it would have been so easy to make that look crap.

ON One 456 Carbon is what you’re after. Great frame and a perfect match to your description. Someone’s about to recommend you a BFe, as they always do, but they’re wrong.

HTH.

It hardware isn’t particularly complicated. I suspect most home engineers would fall down on getting it all sealed, but could put it all together.

Wouldn’t want to have to write the software for it though. That’s where the time and money has gone.

I’m not sure what the point in doing this is without going the whole way, there’s no reason why the rear rebound can’t be tuned to the bump frequency being detected at the fork and I’m sure an infinitely variable pro-pedal can be done too.

But no 20mm axle option on CRC, so not an option on any of my bikes, even if I ahd the cash.

It looks to me that Sky are leading Cav out to the 3km point to protect Wiggins. After 3km to go it doesn’t matter so much if there’s a crash that delays Wiggins as he won’t lose time, then they’re leaving Cav to it.

What other explanation is there for Wiggins being second in a long Sky train on the way in, then all disappearing when they get to the business end?

Ok, yeah sorry, having a blonde moment.

I think this is it:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/99111257

Though I thought it was Stage 13 I’d looked at, the one Thor won.

Go for it, what am I missing?