Surely that Kona with the belt drive can’t allow for chain growth – how does it work?

I’d highly recommend Andy Barlow at Dirt School. I’m sure the other Dirt School instructors are just as good.

Try riding round it next time.

I’m running a 70mm Hope AM/FR stem and it’s definitely plenty stiff – copes admirably with my lardy arse levering on 745mm wide bars. If I remember correctly it’s marginally lighter than the equivalent length Thomson stem. As mentioned, the Easton Haven is also worth a look. Not sure I’d trust the KCNC for anything other than pure XC.

the other day, i hate poached eggs, veg soup and tinned mackeral”

I imagine the increase in calories on that day was because you hated those things so much that you ate pie instead.

Surely this would just lead to more bike thieves stripping the bike for parts and selling those on ebay instead – much harder to identify a stolen rear mech than if the morons try to sell the bike as a whole.

I’d also fix up the hardtail and stick some slick tyres on it. At only 6 miles each way any speed benefit of the road bike will be minimal and you will feel more comfortable on the hardtail. Plus, with a quick change of tyres you will also have your hardtail ready for off-road duties.

Forgot to join the offers from people to ride with. I’m in West Yorkshire if you’re in the area and fancy a spin (i.e. slow winch + walk) over some hills.

All of the above posts have got it covered really. I’m a touch over 20 stone at the moment and have ridden mountain bikes at all weights between 15 stone and 25. I’m trying to lose weight again after an extended spell of greed and laziness. I also ride an Orange 5 and it has no problems coping with my bulk. Check out my blog (http://bulimicbiker.blogspot.co.uk) – it’s going to be covering my attempts to get fit again through mountain biking and hopefully will show you that, as many others have said, you’re not alone. There’s no better way to lose weight than by doing something you love – **** the haters because a) who cares what they think, they’re idiots; and b) they mostly only exist in your head!

Hope also do a step down headset. Not used it but have their 1.125″ headsets on all my frames which have lasted for years without any servicing.

Really? Why don’t you think about that for a few seconds and see if you can answer your own question.

I run a bash with 34/22 on my 2010 Orange 5. The chain fouls on the swing arm (on the weld by the pivot) when changing gear if the bike is unweighted (i.e. during maintenance) but it is not a problem when riding. I’ve not tried a 36 or larger.

Thanks headfirst, I’ll check it out.

Cheers for the info, much appreciated.

Any recommendations for a winter tyre for the Peaks then? I had been thinking of Mud Xs but given the above maybe something else would be suited to the half rocky/half boggy nature of the Peaks.

6′ 0″ riding an 18″ with 70mm stem – feels spot on.

You won’t be able to switch between the two unless you have a hub which is convertible like the Hope Pro II. You can’t just use a 12mm axle in QR dropouts (9mm). Even if you do have such a hub, it’s not a straightforward swap as you have to remove the axle and change one of the bearings (for the Pro II), which is not a particularly quick job. It’s the sort of thing you wouldn’t want to do on anything approaching a regular basis.

@riski4130:
Maxle Lite & Hope hub = tears
Old style Maxle with no dip in the middle & Hope hub = no tears
(at least in my experience)

Did it feel like the forks were softer before you checked? A good shock pump shouldn’t let any air out when removing it, but when you attach it the pump chamber will fill with air, and the pressure will be lower than before you attached the pump.

Hope Pro 2 hubs are the solution – everyone gets out the way if they think they’re being chased by an angry locust.

I’ve been on a couple of holidays with The White Room[/url] and would definitely recommend them. A great mixture of bike parks and amazing singletrack, top quality guiding, amazing food, and at a reasonable price.

I snapped two in a very short space of time (both replaced free by Hope) when I was using the original Maxle Light (the one that tapered in the middle). Since replacing with an original Maxle, which does not taper in the middle, I’ve been problem free.

You can get a new seal kit for less than £20 and it’s dead easy to change the seals yourself. There’s plenty of guides on how to do this on tinterweb.

they just enjoy being arseholes. There’s plenty of them on STW.

Found one!

Sounds like she needs to set up her brakes properly.
Set up the brakes so they bite well before the lever comes to the bars once she’s set her lever reach adjustment up.

Don’t think it has anything to do with bad setup, just that there’s too much reach on the levers. If the levers don’t have a reach adjuster then there’s nothing that can be done to set them up for smaller hands. Also, I don’t agree about your point of setting the bite point to well before the lever comes in contact with your bar. The closer you can get to making a closed fist when you’ve fully pulled the lever, the more control you’ll have and the less your hands will ache from braking.

thats right tucker, one for each brain cell

That’s one of the best comebacks I’ve ever heard. Almost as good as “no, but you are”.

Second the above, there’s no way the 2003 Kona Stinky has a 1.5″ headtube.

Sounds like you’d be better off with the Hopes with sealed bearings then.

5-10s with waterproof socks – job done.

I’ve never really had a problem with my 5.10s. I’ve got the old Rennie Impact Highs and they’re actually pretty waterproof. When they do get wet I just stuff them with newspaper and they generally dry overnight.

Completely fecked! I swear by Mavic rims and won’t use anything else. Currently I use XM 819s for trail riding and they cope fine with being bashed off rocks by my lardy arse. I use EX 823s on my DH bike and they are nonsense strong, buy heavy. The 700 series are cheaper as they are non-UST, and should be of similar strength.

I’ve been running Rapid Rise mechs for a while. It only makes sense if you use a thumb push for both up and down shifts, otherwise you can’t easily shift to a lower gear while braking (unless you brake with your middle finger and shift with your index finger). I find using my thumb for both is a bit awkward so I’ll be glad to see the back of my RR mechs – not sure why I bought into it originally, but after buying an XTR mech I got an LX RR mech when I got a second bike for the sake of consistency. Just replaced the LX one with a normal Ultegra mech so will have to live with my bikes shifting in different ways until I can afford to replace the XTR – could be annoying.

Love 1.5″ head-tubes. Allows you to use any type of steerer or to use head angle changing cups. Look a little out of proportion on some bikes but on my beefy Intense Uzzi VPX anything else would look weird.

Also love 135mm x 12mm rear axles, which I have on the Intense and my Orange 5, but they do limit your choice of wheels a little.

is Joe Barnes racing all the WCs?

Good point! A quick Google and I’m still none the wiser. Anyway, he’s only really in there because he was cheap and one of the few riders in that price range that I knew anything about. Same goes for R Jones. Might swap them out after the next round.

I’m in – Doc QT Racing.

Just had a reshuffle due to Troy Brosnan being out:

R Atherton
G Atherton
S Hill
J Barnes
R Jones

Grow a massive bushy monobrow – job done.

If you like the Yeti grips, why not get the ODI Yeti lockons?

Here!

You’ll need to undo the damper assembly rod (nut on bottom of leg) to get at the spacer, but no need to remove the lowers. You will have to replace the oil though. I’ve done this many times without bothering to replace the crush washers and have not had any problems.

Nice one, that clears things up. A bit of internet searching suggest that my confusion over incompatibilities between Dura Ace and other road groupsets is difference in the brake/shifter units, with Dura Ace units pulling more brake cable rather than any difference in the gear actuation ratio.

Thanks for the reply, but I think you’ve missed the point, but you may have answered my question anyway. I have 9-speed shifters and cassette. The cassette is a road close-ratio cassette so I don’t want to use an MTB mech.

From what you’ve said, it would imply that I can use any current 10sp road mech. However, I seem to remember hearing somewhere that Dura Ace 10sp was no longer compatible with other 10sp shifters due to a change in the actuation ration (and hence would also no longer be compatible with 9sp shifters) – perhaps I’m getting this confused with XTR. Can anyone verify this? Does this apply to any other 10sp mechs in the Shimano road range?