Just found the Niner Encyclopedia. Page 41 has all the headset specs.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/NinerDocs/NIN_OWNERS_UNIVERS.pdf

The one that came with it. The Niner headset is on the bench at the moment, there is nothing marked on it. I’ll be dropping the fork out of Stumpy later so I’ll compare the two, hopefully the Specialized one will have something marked on the bearings.

The crown race from my Niner is currently fitted to my bouncy forks. The crown race from my Stumpy hardtail is currently fitted to some rigid forks. Sometimes I use the bouncy forks in the Stumpy with no problems, so I assume the Specialized and Niner have similar headsets.

Wifey has got one on order. It’s a brilliant car to drive, just enough power to be entertaining, the ride isn’t harsh or crashy and it copes with potholes as well as the standard one but it handles well. Just all round fun.

The downside is the potential wait. The car is so good we were prepared to wait for the quoted 42 weeks when we ordered it. However we’ve been lucky, ordered on April 9th, notified a couple of weeks ago that the build week would be June 11th but notified yesterday that the car was built and waiting to be shipped.

There’s a 90 page thread on the VW Up forum where people haven’t been so lucky. There seems to be no logic to VW’s build allocation with plenty of people who ordered in Feb and haven’t heard anything. People cancelling orders and just generally being messed about by VW.

Having driven a recent Landcruiser I’d buy a Jeep Wrangler if I was going to use it off road or a Volvo XC90 for on road.

I got a Revolut card last year. I tested it in Ireland, put some money on it a couple of time, withdrew cash, paid for a few things. It all went tits up a couple of months later in the US when the bank (RBS) flagged loading money on it a fraudulent transaction.

The remainder of the story is about just how crap RBS are. £80 of calls later the plank in the RBS call centre told me I’d need to visit an RBS branch, I was in Montana at the time and he knew this. This is the one and only time I’ve ever abused a call centre operator, if he was standing in front of me I would have used anything to hand to club the idiot to death.

I had other cards but Revolut was by far the cheapest one to use. Luckily the RBS account is joint with my wife and she was able to put money on the card from the UK.

C. Google “unsolicited goods”.

If you do return them it’s up them to arrange collection that suits you.

Advice on the EGR valve is not to remove it unless you’ve also removed the DPF. Removing the EGR increases the amount of soot produced which clogs the DPF, probably to the point where it won’t regen so you’ll need to remove the DPF as well, and get the software on the ECU changed.

Removing any part of the emissions system is illegal and an MOT failure.

My advice is to get the car fixed properly ASAP so that all the emissions stuff is working as it should. The EGR fix won’t be cheap, add the cost of a new DPF and it’ll cost more to fix than the car’s worth.

If you want to watch cars jumping traffic lights go the junction of the A120 and Little Hadham in Herts. It’s a cross roads with each of the 4 sides taking a turn. If you get stuck at one of the village sides it’s an 8 minute wait at peak times. I stop at the red light and am regularly overtaken, I think the record is 6 cars, all turning into traffic on a fairly narrow bridge on the A road who have a green light. It’s quite normal to get a green light but not be able to go because off the stream of cars jumping the light on the other side. In the 17 years I’ve been using the junction I’ve seen Police there twice, there are regular accidents.

I got one last year. Used it on a trip to Ireland, topped it up, bought some stuff, withdrew cash, tested it thoroughly.

Next trip was in the US, tried to top it up and the bank refused to do it, just a message to call their fraud department. Two calls costing £80 later the fool on the phone said I’d need to come into a branch (he knew where I was). I’ve never been abusive to call centre staff before but used every sweary insult I could think of. To cut a long story short it finished with wifey having to top the card up from the UK.

I got my call charges refunded then changed banks, it was RBS if you’re interested. Apparently their automated fraud detection system doesn’t like these sort of cards. I had a couple of backup cards which I was reluctant to use because of the charges they attract. It’s probably worth checking with your bank before leaving home with the card to make sure they’re systems are happy with it.

Riding between Lincoln and Helena in Montana looking for somewhere to wildcamp one evening, mummy bear and baby bear appear from nowhere onto the trail a couple of hundred feet in front walking towards me. I started shouting and they dived off the trail where mummy bear stops a little way off and stands up to get a good look at what all the noise is about. I kept shouting and they scampered off down the slope.

Nearly hit a Coyote when it ran out and stopped on a trail in Colorado.

Bloke I was staying with shot the head off a rattlesnake in New Mexico in his garden one evening.

The joys of the Great Divide.

Re the Oz posts, I got zapped by a cop with a speed gun riding my motorcycle across the Hay Plain. He was hiding behind the car and jumped up as I got there. I hadn’t seen any other vehicles for some hours and it was unusual to see a car stopped off the road so I assumed it was someone in trouble and was slowing down to see if they needed help. I was doing around 5mph when he got me.

What do you call a fish with no i?

fsh

My favourite is “front centre”.

Nokia 8. I bought one a couple of weeks ago to replace a dead Nexus 5x, £350 in Carphone Warehouse.

I had one on hire for a few days in the US last year, I hated it. Incredibly thirsty, slow, poor handling, some very complicated controls (switching from low to high range for example), not as much room as you’d imagine with the seats folded down. I can’t think of good word to say about it.

Given that you can get a bike onto just about anything, I’d say stretch the budget ever so slightly and get a Lotus Elise. After 06 they come with Toyota engines and are totally reliable. I ran one as a daily driver for a couple of years and would have another in a heartbeat. I had the 111R with the touring pack. 189hp gives a sub 5 second 0-60, it’s happy cruising or thrashing, I found it as good as anything else I’ve owned on long journeys (I regularly do an 800 mile trip to my folks in Ireland). One of the cheapest cars to run I’ve owned as well. Fully comp insurance was £200, dealer servicing is Toyota prices, cheap tyres if you ignore the Lotus branded stuff (I ran Toyo Proxes).

My current drive is a Caddy 2.0 Highline. Chipped to 180hp, lowered and bigger wheels.

Thanks for the replies, I’ve asked to join the Facebook group.

I’ve tried several different grips on my Jones bars, last year I rode the Divide using £4.99 (for 4) Clarks grips. They had a bit of wear and needed replacing at the end but had been on the bike for around 4000 miles.

I’ve also used ODI Longneck XL’s. Cut the flange bit off, they’ll need shortening when they’re on the bike. I’m back to the US this year and might use these.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/clarks-sports-cycle-handlebar-grips/rp-prod71543

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/odi-longneck-xl-grips/rp-prod74835

“johndoh

So could I just walk into a shop and buy a gun + ammo? Would I need any firearms certificate or anything or could I just get a gun? Genuine question (been to the USA twice but never even thought to check this out).”

Unlikely as you’re probably not a US citizen. The only place I enquired was in Montana and was told they had to do a security check. This takes about 10 minutes for Montana residents and 24 hours for people living out of State.

The shop I asked in was a gas station/grocery store/gun shop/booze shop and anything else the locals needed to buy.

I’ve been thinking about getting the steel frame out of the loft for this summer. It’s could do with a respray, but that could wait. I’ve been thinking about for downtube shifters too, I’ve got some Campag 8 speed ones somewhere which should be able to take the 11 speed index cog assuming it’s the same as previous versions.

I think this Valentines day is going to be like all the others. She get home from work and says she hasn’t bought me a card then makes sure I haven’t bought one for her. I have of course, I always do. The card will be on the kitchen worktop when she gets up in the morning, she feels guilty and buys me a card in the day. We’ve been going through this routine for 35 years.

I’d park at Brandon then follow the map above to the orange line then follow the marked trails to High Lodge (the cafe/visitors centre). From there take the Beater Trail then follow up with the Lime Burner trail to bring you back to the start of the orange line on the map. You can then either retrace your route back to Brandon car park or cross the road where it says “bottom of beast” on the map and take the first trail on the right up through the trees to get back to the car park.

I use Looks on my “best” road bike. I’m not sure why, I think it’s because I’ve used Looks forever, since before SPD’s were invented. I’ve even got special shoes to go with the Look pedals. All my other bikes have SPD’s. If you’ve got some money to spend buy a nice pair of SPD shoes, something with a nice stiff carbon sole and not too much tread, top end Specialized’s or something. Double sided pedals are soooo much easier to clip into and nobody really cares what you use except you.

Sausage and mash with peas and gravy.

Most of my stuff is a mix of Blue Point (cheap SnapOn) and an Aussie make called Mogy that bought when I lived there around 1990.

Saw it this evening. Best film I’ve watched in ages.

Every Transit I see has some sort of light problem. The driver puts an indicator on and the brake lights flicker for example. Every scenario of a vehicle lighting fault is played out in Transits.

You can legally camp on the foreshore (the bit between high and low water marks) on a beach or tidal river in England and Wales. You might want to check tides before doing so.

How about buying something like a Niner top cap that takes bottle caps and get some bottle caps printed to your design?

Looks like custom bottle caps are £5.99 for 50

https://www.yourbrew.org/products/create-your-own-design

Niner caps are £12.99, I’ve seen cheaper alternatives.

https://www.stif.co.uk/mtb/product/niner-yawyd-headset-cap/5715?OPID=391927&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyszSBRDJARIsAHAqQ4qM45b3JrXqL9PdYEAoeg27dIy0n4tS4rVfXOGIy61f_pyOal_q78oaAhn0EALw_wcB

A mate at work took his life 13 years ago. The day he did it we’d chatted for around 30 minutes after work, he spoke to another colleague in the car park for a few minutes, went home and hung himself. His wife found him when she got home from work, thank **** she arrived before the children.

He was 47 and had be diagnosed with early alzheimer’s, he’d been on medication for a couple of years and I suppose had decided enough was enough. He left behind a 14 year old daughter and 12 year old son.

I thought about him daily for a long time afterwards. Now he comes into thoughts from time to time. When I meet with people from that time at work he’s always remembered, typing this I see him like it was yesterday.

I think what I’m saying is the upset goes away but the memories stay with you, but in a nice way.

Esme – Member
Interesting article on the different approaches to women’s bikes.

Interesting that the author dismisses the long legs/shorter torso as “for the most part, a myth”. They clearly haven’t met my wife.

She’s always struggled to buy off the shelf bikes and as mountain bikes have generally got longer it’s become almost impossible. She’s more of a roadie and to give you an example of how extreme her bike fit issues are, she has three custom frames all with a 52cm effective top tube and 56cm seat tube. Basically the height of a typical large frame with the length of a small.

With mountain bikes the “womens” range seem to be the mens frame painted pink with some flowers stuck on. Specialized used to import stuff like the Fate (which she owns) but that’s been dropped the last couple of years.

I ride with a few women and most seem to get along fine adjusting the fit of mens bikes. There does seem to me to be a significant minority who benefit from women’s fit frames though.

Singlespeeds ready in the garage for a quick spin tomorrow morning. It’s thick heavy clay here and the only thing that works after a few feet is a rigid singlespeed.

Wookster

Ritchey Swiss cross steel frame carbon fork!

Ever thought you should have bought the next size up?

Last job interview I had was 1983. I got made redundant earlier this year and will start job hunting in the new year. I’m not really looking forward to it.

I bought my “good bike” a Scott CR1 with 10 speed Campag many years ago, it’s still mint and still nice to ride despite many thousands of miles. I’ve been through several winter bikes in the that time. Just saying.

I got made redundant in May. I was “working from home” (I hadn’t actually had any work for 12 months, I just had to sit tight and wait for the payout). When they told me over the phone I put a bottle of Champagne in the fridge and went out on the bike. I arrived in Canada late July, rode the Divide then holidayed with wifey in Arizona. I’m thinking about looking for a job but only because wifey is on my case.

I took redundancy in May this year. I flew to Canada mid July and set off down the divide, easily the best thing I’ve ever done. I was away for three months. There was no shortage of wifi so easy to keep in touch with people at home, I also carried a Spot tracker.

muddyground – Member
Just sold something to a really nice guy. He casually mentioned he’s trying for a cycling world record, helped make 25% of the Bloodhound SSC, and has worked on Apache helicopters worldwide. Oh.

Do you think he was in a pub one evening and someone asked him if he fancied doing some cool stuff or do you think he went out and made it happen?

I own five mountain bikes, 2 carbon 29er’s, 2 steel 29er’s and the good old alu Stumpy. All are hardtails.

The carbon frames are a Niner Air 9 RDO, the older one with QR rear and a Stumpy with thru axle. For comfort the Niner wins easily, it’s way more compliant than any of the others, steel included. I’m not sure if the thru axle contributes to the stiffness of the Stump, I suspect it partly does.

The carbon stumpy is the stiffest by a long way, it’s got a rigid Niner fork as well just to add to the joy. Brilliant fun though and very different ride to the Niner. I’ve used it bikepacking, day rides, racing, it’s just good fun.

The steel frames are rigid Niner Sir9 that I run singlespeed and Jones with a truss fork. The SIR9 is a nice ride but it’s not as comfy as the Air9. It’s my muddy winter ride.

The Jones is now my bikepacking ride. The short top tube and high front end give a very different, much more all day comfort.

The alu Stumpy was my race bike, it’s head down arse up but not as harsh as the carbon 29er version.

I used to own a Solaris but sold it. Handling wise it wasn’t a patch on the SIR9 but this was with a 100mm fork, I think it needed a 120.

If I had to sell everything and just have one bike it would be a Ti Jones with Ti truss fork, failing that I’d keep the steel one over the rest.

In short, it’s not the frame material it’s whats been done with it that affects how a bike rides.