Thanks for the Tesa tape recommendation, my roll should arrive tomorrow.

Having removed the Hunts rim tape I think I now have an understanding of the problem.The tape has an adhesive backing which appears to work well enough to isolate any leakage to its immediate vicinity. What appears to have happened is the sudden influx of Co2 has forced the somewhat rigid Hunts tape hard against the spoke aperture and in doing so has caused the tape to tear/shear against the sharp aperture edges.

In the case of the spoke that was leaking at a fast rate the pressure has cut a hole through the rim tape in the exact shape and size of the spoke aperture. I find this surprising but the evidence is crystal clear so I am going to give the Tesa tape a go and see if there’s a softer way to inflate the tyres.

Theres a lot of stuff in this thread that has me shaking my head but the thing thats currently puzzling me most is how the hell did that Ian chap get the top job at Giant UK ? I still hold the opinion that submitting a small claims court claim would sort this out PDQ but I know first hand from a cultural perspective Giants executive team back at HQ would be very embarrassed and disappointed the matter was not resolved long before this thread became such a saga. I think this thread should be brought to their attention.

You would win a small claims court, in fact I will go so far as to say its a certainty.

As for Giant, they will never get another penny out of me, shabby & stupid customer service

Given you have a frame that cannot be used and as you have in my opinion (and it seem a lot of others) unfairly been denied the warranty that came with the bike when you purchased, I would simply focus on following to the letter, the small claims court procedure and once its in motion I would be absolutely amazed if the dealer or Giant did not miraculously have a change of heart.

FWIW I have been on both sides of a small claims court process although it was many years ago. In the first instance the online retailer I had a hand in was taken to court by some loon. Because he submitted the claim I had to travel from Manchester to Scarborough (the claimant’s nearest small claims court). The claimant and I sat side by side at one side of a big desk and some old chap sat the other side. The old chap read out the claim and then asked the claimant if there was anything he wished to add, he spouted some lies, the old boy asked if he had any proof of what he said/claimed and the loon said he had forgotten to bring it with him. I was then asked if there was anything I wanted to say, yes I have few questions which I was then told to put to clamant sat right next to me. He muttered some nonsense, the old boy asked a few more questions and then said he was rejecting the claim and told the claimant he had to pay my travel expenses which he never did. The whole thing was a complete waste of a full day plus a good few hours of prep.

When I submitted a claim I made sure it was crystal clear backed by evidence. Within a week I had been given a full refund without having to go to the trouble of a court hearing.

Great thread, its been 14 years since I have been in the area but this year I going back on my bike so this is all wonderful info

A tent is only heavier in theory, theres a good choice of solo tents circa 1kg, a good hammock like a DD superlight weighs over 1.5kg and thats before you take into account a tarp cover and the need for two air mattresses when its cold, one under your sleeping bag and one under the hammock.

I really enjoy hammocking on shortish social bikepacking rides but thats there only use from my perspective.Big UK trips its always a light weight solo tent and trips to warmer countries its an Outdoor Research Helium bivvy bag.

Thanks Clubby. My gut feel was always the Shape it up link however occasionally my gut feel has been wrong and there are far wiser riders on the forum than me so I will always seek feedback. If anyone else has a view on this please chip in. All contributions are welcome.

@pb2 Is the Shape it link what you need for the Whyte? https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0127/9963/9610/files/Shape_It_Chart_UPDATED.pdf?v=1638459780

Phil I am indebted to you, thats a great example of why this forum is so good and to my amazement at £70 its not silly money. I will order one in the morning ~~ thats January’s paper round money blown away 🙂 Thanks Paul B

I am sure I will get flamed for this but thats not going to stop me. On a serious Gwin chainless win is breathtakingly brilliant

Thanks for that, I really wished the S150 CRS had a flip chip,I think that’s a must have for any new bike for me. What tyre combo’s were you running on your S150 ?

@pb2 the S150 is “supposed” to be 29 or 27.5+ isn’t it and I assume you’re currently riding it as a 29er?

Are you planning on running normal size non plus tyre on the back?

And yes I am interested and no I don’t have more interesting things to do 🤓

Yes it is and I am currently running 27.5 wheels with 2.8″ Nobby Nics front and back. This is a good combo in dry and damp conditions but sketchy as hell in wet or gloppy conditions – my last high speed “off” has forced me to rethink the whole wheel/tyre combo question and this in turn became the catalyst for this thread.

Well my decision has been made, credit card has been battered. New Hunt mullet wheelset has arrived, DHR2’s and foam cores onroute. If your interested I will be happy to post up my feelings after a few roads. Then again if you have more interesting to do well that’s fine by me 🙂

I am sure I am closer to outrageously unskilled than to even moderately skilled but last time I looked there were no specific tyres for the “outrageously unskilled” 🙂

” Modern bike geometry and the marketing surrounding it might lead some to believe that we are all solely riding downhill, but I suspect I’m not alone in spending more time going up and along than down, and wanting tyres also appropriate for such riding.”

Thats 2 of us then. My pleasure comes more from the flow and its difficult to get my flow mojo when the tyre/wheel combo weighs too much and the tyre drags. Obs this is a subjective discussion but I struggle with the heavier sticky tyres.

With a 30mm internal rim do the DHR2s & DHFs come up true to size or are they continuing the Maxxis tradition of coming up short on the width ?

Nice bike. How are you finding your Minions front and back ?

If you wait long enough “fashion” will always repeat itself 🙂

I have taken the plunge and ordered a mullet specific wheelset so my next challenge is to decide on what tyres to buy for riding typical wet/damp Welsh & north of England trail centres. I much prefer tyres that are a bit lighter with lower rolling resistance than sticky downhill jobbies and I already have good 27.5 wheelset and fat tyres for the drier months.

Happy Christmas Nige and to all you other forum bods. Fingers crossed next year is a Thunderbirds are go type of year 🙂

I also have one the early Canfield Yelli Screamy’s built up more for XC style riding that could also benefit from a mullet experiment as its now being used by my grandson who is too small to be ideally suited to a full 29″ rig.

I’m 6′ 1″ so I am plenty tall enough but I want a different feel, a feel where the bike flows better through interlinked turns/berms.

Back in the dreadful Thatcher era I got lumbered with Kenneth Baker who was at that time Home Secretary, nowadays he is Baron Dorking 🙄. We were a big computer sales & service organisation (forerunner of Computacenter) and I had to explain all of our cutting edge business systems and processes. He didn’t even pretend to be interested, he just focused on the large number of under 30 female staff and then said in a serious tone ” I don’t know how you can concentrate surrounded by all this beautiful totty”
I didn’t bother replying,I simply moved him on to the next person he was scheduled to be with. To be fair to him, what I was highlighting was to some degree, boring and you could tell he was bright enough to be bored by it. I was left with the impression of meeting someone who had that easy calm charm that comes from knowing they were always destined to have a privileged life. Some time later I got a very brief official letter saying how much Mr Baker had enjoyed his visit.

I like Tidal, I pay £20 a month for the hi rez service and push it in to my set up via an Activo CT10 DAP, sounds really good – I also use it in the car via my Moto moby, that and a decent audio book would soothe any big road trip

Room treatment? Watch some of the many vids on youtube and you can open up a whole new world of audio pain and uncertainty 🙂

Amen to that, theres a bunch of acoustic software out there that you need to be beyond geeky to use. Hifi can be a simple relatively inexpensive hobby or hugely complex, mind bending waste of time and money.

I openly confess to being a complete and utter hifi gear head. I don’t think there has been a single month in past two years where I have not tried to improve my set up. I stopped counting how much I have spent on because there’s no point. My quest is to get the best for my money, I rarely buy brand new and to better understand how everything works I am now making my own interconnect cables, there not cheap, parts costs between £70-85 per 1m pair but they are equal to cables costing over £200/300. There are so many very low cost ways to improve your set up and even set ups costing >£15k sound awful in the wrong room or set up badly in a decent room. The possibilities are endless and so it seems are the frauds seeking to take your money for less than decent kit. Bottom line is if your system makes you smile, makes you your feet tap, makes the hairs on arm stand up then that’s it, mission accomplished

Intense 6.6 original frame was black, lasted less than 3 months, replacement frame took 10 weeks to arrive, equally shit, but this time silver as waiting for a black frame would have added months to my already long wait. Quality control was non existant, rear triangle flexed so much under hard cornering that I learnt how to fall off using the 6.6. Total build cost was over £3.5k back in the day when you couldnt spend £5k on a mountain bike. Sold it for less than grand 20 months later, it was and remains my biggest waste of money. Intense are triumph of style over substance.

Give me 24 hours, there’s an outside chance I have a new one somewhere- if I do it’s yours for the postage cost

Based on my limited experience of my DD hammock, it was a better nights sleep, than a)bivy bag, b)bivy bag with tarp, lightweight solo tent and I have got a decent range of experiece with the above.

Yes, back a while ago, kit in wash, bike to fettle after the large chain ring came adrift. Blowing a hoolie in the Clywds last night/this morning. Photos to follow after a soak.

Thanks for asking 🙂 Still here 15 years on, thankfully I did eventually get the hang of it all and my trips to A&E have all but stopped. Still got more bikes, bits, kit than I will ever use and my riding now is more for the craic and exploring with my bivy kit. Onward & upward
ps what about the post from some dude wanting to know the best way to remove arse hair, that was left of centre

I went crazy and offered £25 plus postage – surprised to see my offer automatically rejected Oh well theres always the Paul Smith signed £20 note he is selling for £20,000 to mull over 🙂

I have a history of thinking thats just what I need to satify my curosity on X-Y-Z Buy the book and by the time it arrives I’m on to something else which is why I have the SL book but have spent no more than 15/20 mins scanning it before the next to be neglected subject pops up. What I really need is therapy 🙂

Not the best

Got to agree that the Chris Porter video left me totally unconvinced by his words. It all felt a bit hippy/dippy and I think the contributions on this thread are far more informative so thanks to all the forum suspension geeks

If you want to share the ride I would be happy to join, also got new Tripster that needs some testing miles and the your not a million miles from me plus I know some of the area quite well

What is it that compells Hi-Fi loons to become mega verbose when discusssing equipment ?.

I really like good kit but for the life of me I can’t be arsed waded through reviews like these, the third of the reviews is not a even a review of AKG cans but a review of three others brands that goes on for fffing ever. What a knob

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AKG-Closed-Back-Reference-Over-Ear-Headphones-Black/product-reviews/B0799LZ729/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_show_all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews

Thank you all very much. I am sure this info will be put to good use as I am going to spend the majority of 2019 bike packing with the eventual aim of a 3 or 4 month ride

Given the full TA route is the best part of 1250 miles even the TDF guys wouldn’t do that in a week so does any one have any thoughts on which of the 8 sections I should go for. I would prefer to do it on my Tripster and would also prefer to avoid a hike a biking if at all poss, if the Tripster is a no no then I would opt for my Canyon Dude fatty. Thnx Paul

@sajama  Thanks – you sound the man in the know. How much should I budget for accommadation and food per day, happy with cheap and cheerful accommadation and food simple and wholesome, thanks Paul B

Lush is a big bonus, we have slept in bus shelters, ditches and all manner of iffy places in the UK when the weather has taken a turn for the worse or a mechanical has scuppered our plans