My 2009 Lyrik coil u-turns are the absolute bollocks. HTH.

http://www.meetup.com/manchester-mountain-bikers

Rides on around Stockport on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I might put something on for Thursday too.

I care because it’s slightly too tight now, if it isn’t going to loosen then I need to add a half link back into the chain, if it is then I might be ok. Though I will ruin my bearings.

What do you mean by not 100% true?

Actually, I just remembered that I need to reattach the chainring with some longer bolts as it’s not quite central on the spider, that might make a difference.

Bought some tugs that look like they’ll be ok, but hard to be sure until they arrive. Can’t find anyone that can sell me the proper ones without shiping them from America for lots of cash.

Will be a pain putting that half-link back in!

Have you searched the internet for a solution? There are usually ways of doing these things, but probably not an automated batch process. I have a program to convert the otherway, but you have to do it one file at a time. Only takes 30s to a minute, but it’s a pain if you forget for a week or two.

It’s a ll pretty piss-poor isn’t it though?

I’ve been converting my files to Polar, but that’s a pain in the arse!

Ok, following on from this, would you rather have 3 year old XT shifters or brand new Deore or SLX?

Bump?

It’s a formula hub not a DT Swiss on this set. They’re Rythm Comps that I think came from a 2009 Trek Remedy.

I’ve dismantled most of the hub, but need an 18mm Cone spanner to complete I think. The axle is 10mm and it runs through 3 cartridge bearings at each hub flange and in the freehub thing.

The axle itself has atleast one internal flange that sits up against the inside of the cartridge bearing. I need to get the axle all the way out to see if there are two flanges.

What happens if I were to replace the flanged axle with a straight axle? What is the purpose of the flanges? When the bearings are installed, are they installed to a position in the hub, or the axle?

Thanks.

worraboutthisone:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=39200

?

It’s for a single speed, so I don’t want a 10mm QR I don’t think. I do have one of those already, so I suppose I could try it and see.

I should probably take the hub to bits and see what’s what.

Thanks, will that one definitely work? It looks very short and fat and it’s labelled for a different hub, so I’m a little sceptical; convince me?

Pastcaring; Bos Forks, CCDB, SLX cranks? Curious mix!

It’s not getting over the rear wheel that’s a problem, it’s getting back on again that I struggle with. Especially if my shorts hook up on the seat as well. Nightmare.

Always messing about with saddle height, might get a dropper eventually, but they’re expensive. Especially as if I get one and I like it, I’ll need one on the other two bikes as well. Also, it plays merry hell with your matching finishing kit!

Mine is brilliant too, you won’t be disappointed!

I’ve had a few friends Commencal’s bend out of alignment. As far as I’m aware the problems were sorted for 2010. For additional reassurance, they were all treated brilliantly by Commencal, new (2010) frames all round.

I think the Super 4 is a little slacker than you’d expect of an XC race bike, it’s the sort of thing I’d consider if I wanted a fun bike that was a bit more comfortable than a hardtail, but not a skill-compensator. It’s a bit of a racebike for someone that doesn’t race competitively and wants to be able to have a bit of fun on rides with.

I haven’t ridden one, or any of the others mentioned, but I like the concept of 4″ non-race bikes like this.

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Clearance+Section/MTB+Clearance+Section/Clearance+Commencal+Super+4+Frame+2010_C-META4.htm

£400 Commencal Super 4 frame.

Yep, annoying, will get onto it….

This is the ring I bought:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=17275

Looks perfect for what I want it for, though I should have checked the size of it. So this would only work on XTR cranks then. Great. Why would $himano do this?

I was going t suggest that too actually, not ridden one but have been looking at them. There’s one on Pink Bike for £650 that has forks, headset, stem. Looks like a good deal. Bear in mind it’s a 1.5″ headtube, so while it might be a good deal if you need forks (Float RL 120s), if you’re thinking of selling the forks, there isn’t a market for them, so it’s not as good a deal.

If you’re going in a straight line, keep the bike upright and stay still. If you’re going round a corner, you know which way the front end will go, so be ready to turn the other way. Use the back brake to make sure it’s the rear end that spins out first, so you don’t hit the deck. Not a lot else you can do!

Depends whether you want to use it for transporting bikes or use it when you go biking, ie to live out of. Once you’ve worked that out you want to work out what the biggest van you’re happy driving around is, and what options that leaves you. A T5 is quite a small van and ideal for carting bikes around, but you might want something bigger if you want to live out of it and definitely if you want to sleep in it.

How many bikes do you want to transport and do you want to be able to just chuck them in or are you happy to take wheels off and have them take up less room?

I want to do a Transit LWB medium roof type van with three seats up front, three in the back facing the rear, with a table. Bikes suspended from the ceiling at the back without wheels and bars turned, then storage for a lot of stuff everywhere else, but nothing down to the floor, so there’s room to put a mattress in. The idea would be to carry a tent usually, but would want to retain as many options as possible.

From there you can start adding as much or as little stuff as you like, depending on budget and use etc.

The Carbon 456 is available with slidey dropouts as the dropouts are bolted onto the frame. Good deals at the moment for £400 for the frame plus various bits.

Still bastards though.

I don’t find that the 2.4″s are any worse to pedal than the 2.2s, probably they are slower, but I’m not racing, so it doesn’t matter so long as they don’t feel slow.

Rudedog, if one of your wheels is going to slide it won’t be the rear because it’s got a smaller tyre on. Which tyre slides will depend a lot more on the exact trail conditions under each tyre, steering angle, angle of the bike and your weight balance between the two wheels. You should be able to control your bike much better by shifting body-weight than swapping tyres.

One of the major benefits of the 2.4″ on the rear is that it has a high profile, so on a hard tail at low pressure it can take a massive amount of sting out of the trail, compared with a smaller tyre.

RQ 2.4s front and back. Frame limitations aside, also don’t see the point in running smaller at the back.

I did a highly recommended by STW ride in Northumberland a while back and to be honest, it was a bit shit. Road, hacking across a grass moorland, slow descent, a bit of wood, more road.

I was told that was one of the best routes, but it really wasn’t a patch on anywhere else I’ve ridden a mountain bike, so I find it difficult to believe that Northumberland is worthy of a mention in this thread.

Lyriks would be fine on an Anthem, pick your travel between 115mm and 160mm and have the head angle you want.

I wasn’t actually recommending them, just pointing out there was another for the list. My policy is roughly speaking, get Lyriks, if the frame doesn’t suit, you’ve got the wrong frame though.

It doesn’t look as good as mine, but not too far behind :-)

Intrigued by your weight though, seems overly optimistic, compared with mine anyway. No idea how accurate my scales are though.

You missed Lyriks out, the fork of choice.

rad.

PS – You don’t want the titanium one, it’s really not as good.

Yeah, you should definitely do that.

STW hates the look as much as they bum the Orange 5, but they’re wrong on both counts. Mine looks awesome and rides even better. It’s stiff at the back, but somehow compliant when you start to hoon it. Though probably a lot of that compliance comes from running large tyres at low-pressure. Anyway, it’s rare that I’ll be going down some rocky mess and be conscious of being on a hardtail.

I love mine and you will love yours. Make it so.

Integrated headsets can be had pretty cheaps on CRC. I don’t know why there are so many ever so slightly different diameters of headtube though. Would have made sense to me for all the integrated stuff to us the 1.5″ standard?

I probably won’t tell the parents I’m going up Skiddaw tomorrow evening

do tell someone, though.

I just told you, do remember to come and look for me if I haven’t posted for a while!

I won’t be on my own, so I’ll be fine.

But does anyone do a 20mm rigid fork yet?

Pro FRS is 35mm, looks good, strong and light. I don’t have one to sell you, but can highly recommend it.

Remember that you need a few mm of slack in your stack height so you can tension the Headset without the top-cap hitting the top of the steerer. I’d be happy to have a 5mm gap when you fit the stem, which would give you a bit more to play with.

Alternatively, a Crank Brothers Cobalt Headset will give you more height to play with still, assuming you have a normal headset.

I don’t have a problem with being economical with the truth when it comes to these sorts of things. Not the missus, but my parents wouldn’t understand at all, so what’s the point in trying to discuss it. But it comes down to the persons involved really; there’s no way I can explain to my parents what a bike costs, or why I want to spend that much money, because they just don’t understand what I get from riding bikes or that as a hobby it’s fairly cheap so long as you’re not changing bikes every 5 minutes. I save money in other areas; going out, clothes, cars etc so I can have nice bikes, but spending on things like that is never questioned.

Along similar lines, I was in trouble with my Mum last night for going out on a night ride because it was minus 5 and there might be ice. There’s no way to explain that what we did was safer because the uncompacted snow was grippier than damp grass, or that 1000 lumens and snow = perfect vision, or that I’m actually reasonably skilled at not falling off bikes. Even on ice. So I probably won’t tell the parents I’m going up Skiddaw tomorrow evening to avoid the inevitable unwinable argument. I’m nearly 29 FFS. It’s odd that they trust my judgement on anything except biking because I fell off and cut my knee once.

Anyway, I’m rambling now, so to conclude; if you can’t win the argument, don’t get into it, use whatever methods necessary to avoid. Just don’t get caught!

It’s possible that SC set a price based on selling the Heckler for x years that included their development costs in with the production costs. After x years they’ve said that development is paid for, so we’ll price only based on production costs now.

He’s just landed a massive drop to flat, you can tell by his face.