You can use the 35t ring on the middle of your SLX cranks, but you will need ‘short’ chainring bolts to account for the lack of a big ring. You can get these from CRC but IIRC http://www.hubjub.co.uk/ was cheaper for me. You won’t need to modify your granny tabs.

If you are going to be such a luddite about things why not make it out of wood, or rocks?

*joke*

Quite a few have got the one handed/ no footed wheelies sorted too.

How on earth do you do a wheelie without your feet on the pedals?!?

Does anyone notice high wear on these set ups?

Been using the same cassette for about 18 months now, about 10 months as 1×9, and haven’t experienced any out of the ordinary wear.

I currently use a 1×9 set-up but my bottom gear (32×32) would be the same as yours (36×36).

It should be fine as long as you are quite fit, but it depends on the length of rides and terrain too. If you ride all day to the point of exhaustion you might find yourself running out of gears at the bottom end, and if you ride particularly long, steep climbs you might also have problems.

I tend to ride flat-out ~2hr rides on hilly but not mountainous terrain and find it perfect.

If you ride like Greg Minnaar, yes. If you ride like Greg Wallace, no.

Pedros. In shocking pink.

For all you Pipedream owners, Bikeradar posted a very positive review recently:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/sirius-custom-10-39838

They didn’t give a flying fark about the weight and neither should you.

Get tougher wheels, bigger tyres or, er, MTFD?!

😯

And if you do need to put a tube in, make sure you have checked the tyre for thorns first! You could potentially have a few months worth of thorns embedded in the tyre.

It would probably be a good idea to use sealant though, even with a proper UST set up.

True, but not all manufacturers make such tyres. Maxxis, for example, come with a weight penalty for UST compatible.

But bear in mind that a proper UST setup is likely to be significantly heavier than, for example, a Stans conversion kit. This does depend on tyre choice though.

Suntour.

SLX Shadow user here of ~2yrs. No problems. Slightly heavier than XT (steel cage), slightly more robust.

I’ve got one of these:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?PartnerID=79&ModelID=8504

Possibly a bit over the top, as it gives you pressure to the nearest 0.1 PSI. It is light enough to chuck in your pocket if you feel the urge, and has a light and back-lit display option.

Stans website used to say that non-UST Panaracer tyres are not recommended for running tubeless. Doesn’t seem to say it any more, not sure why, but it might not be 100% safe.

FWIW, using the ill-advised hammer method the cups need to go in a fair distance before they stay straight.

I use a Ti one from Wiggle for the road bike. The colour probably doesn’t match that many bikes tho.

Admittedly it’s something I ‘heard from someone’, but I think Ti is weaker in terms of surface wear/fracture. I think this may be evidenced by the fact that only the larger sprockets on the XTR cassette are Ti.

Larger sprockets = less force per tooth

Of course it could be because it costs more money to machine Ti, so the smaller weight saving on the smaller sprockets might introduce too much expense with no weight gain.

but have convinced myself XTR will last 3 times as long

Really hate to do this but, IIRC, Ti will wear quicker than steel. It will be lighter though!

P.S KMC-X9L user here, like ’em lots.

Another point against the steel is the 27.2 seatpost

Do you mean because you can’t run an adjustable post? Otherwise skinny posts = more compliance. Sometimes more noticeable than frame material(!).

Pressure divided by rider weight is a much more useful number than pressure on its own.

Zoning out.

That part on the ride when you suddenly realise that for the last 20mins you were thinking of absoloutely nothing apart from where the next turn is coming from and balancing the pain.

I think a lot of why I ride is for the total mind-wipe! The world is so much better after a good ride*.

*philosophy applies to more than one activity.

Personally i’d get the Wanga. I’m not anti-Boardman (I have a Boardman road bike), I just like the spec more – I prefer the Raceface finishing kit and Geax tyres.

Stans recommend widening the valve hole on your rim whereas Joes do not IIRC. I currently use Stans but would be tempted to try Joes next time. Cheaper.

I think i’ll bow out now… been fun debating.

Okay then, let’s point out all the mild mannered, terribly timid super successful chefs of this fine country then.

Okay then, let’s point out all the mild mannered, terribly timid super successful chefs of this fine country then.

Well, neither of the other two head chefs who were on this week were quite as big A-holes for a start. Plus, don’t infer that because I thought Kitchin was a knob that I automatically think all chefs have to be the polar opposite. Thats quite a cheap debating trick…!

Kithcin got that balance wrong, in my opinion, but I also got the impression that he was acting up for the cameras.

+1

I think Ramsay does too to be honest.

Being succesful does not legitimise being a bully or treating people like poo however, i.e. ‘He’s successful, therefore everything he does must be great.’.

I would respect Ramsay a lot more if he wasn’t so aggressive and sweary. If anyone swore *at* me under anything less than exceptional circumstances in a job I would certainly take strong issue with it.

It’s like anything really, you can have all the money or success in the world but it doesn’t mean you have to be a nice person, and it doesn’t mean you’ve got class.

How are you falling off, is it the same ‘way’ each time?

Narrower tyres can be run with higher pressures. There was a thread about it a while ago, essentially they exert less force on the rim for a given pressure. For my XM719s Mavic give limits of 113psi for 1″ tyres and 48psi for 2.3″ tyres. You could try contacting Stans, but you might get a jobsworth response.

You can definitely run higher pressures, but I haven’t a clue what the limits might be.

STW in sort-of-agreement shocker.

For a cold that isn’t ‘too bad’ I still ride. In fact I find that the exertion/sweating often makes me feel better, even if I was a bit apprehensive beforehand. I probably wouldn’t go crazy though, that includes competetive racing, and I wouldn’t ride if I had more serious flu-like symptoms.

EDIT: I heard somewhere that over-exertion temporarily weakens your immunes system, which is probably not a good idea if you are already under the weather.

18 months on no issues, no truing either(!). V.good.

I’ve got a Titanium Seiko. Robust, light and surprisingly sexy (to me). Oh, and it tells the time too.

My name is GW and i’m a bikeaholic.

I like the Boardman. For some reason a light, fast carbon HT seems better suited to the Boardman tag than a trail HT. If it’s as competetively specced and as (comparatively) light as their other bikes I think I could get a bit of mild bike-horn for it.

Not sure how profitable it would be though, given how most MTBers are more into the overbiked mid-life crisis thing. 😉

Best off seeing if you can get a ride on a demo bike? Anything with 140mm or so forks?

I’m not really into big/dirt jumping but I think that longer forks might make it harder to jump as they tend to be softer around the sag/full travel zone. You could pump them up hard but then what’s the point in having them if you don’t get full travel?

I might be wrong though, so hopefully someone wiht more experience will be along in a minute…