I rode Swinley on Sunday and enjoyed it a lot… Yes a shame the stickler trail wasnt open. I have had fun riding it fast in the past, and like the tight berms which are a challenge at speed. The Labrynth was great fun though. Top marks there. I only ride Swinley occasionally as I live in Herts but I do appreciate the efforts of the trail builders there..Im certainly not complaining and it was well worth the fee..IMO

I’ve had some fairly bad ones like fractured eye socket with compound nasal fracture, but not really as painful as when i tore my hamstring. Then I was sweating with the pain. TBH pain is such a subjective thing and not real so everyones perception and again grading of pain will be different. A few time ive had abdominal cramps and couldnt stand …that hurts a lot too.. I think the worse pains can be tooth ones as TJ says above….where you can feel the root nerve transmitting into the brain..sinus also bad as it lingers…..very hard to mentally block that one!!

Cheers Kaesae I will do just that I think. My neighbour next door has Virgin but they served me up all this hogwash. I believe its just that they are keeping their costs down and trying to lump installation jobs together. Anyway i’m back with my old provider and the kids are happy!

Thanks Simon. I did call OFFTEL. unfortunately the time elapsed was too much and I had also applied to my old provider to get the line back so they could not help there. They did put me in touch with the telecoms ombudsman CISAS who mediate in financial disputes. My problem with CISAS is that they are there to resolve financial disputes in services you have paid for. Cleverly Virgin are charging me just for the mobiles I believe at the moment so there is not a legal contract that CISAS could help arbitrate!! CiSAS is funded by the Telecoms industry…it just seems to be a way of getting back fees paid rather than proper compensation.

On a positive note….wow Apple greeeeeeeaaaaat. Not being a real IT geek it took a liitle bit of time to get used to but I honestly think it blows away my old PC. The Photo stuff is AMAZING :)

Cheers guys . Thanks for replies. This thing has been really eating me up. I would like to sue them. However as a guy at work says it may end up taking your life over. When S*it like this company gives so much grief its best to not hold on to it but move on. If I persue them it will just make me hold the anger. My line was cut by an “unsolicited cease” which was instigated by Virgin. If I was running a business from home using them I would be bust! BTW our families have relations all over the world and we normally contact each other at Christmas. This year was spoilt by that rubbish company!

Marshalls cycles

On another matter…if you get good at “spinning”, big gears are less important. Its a good time of year now to practice a bit of spinning in the gym or at home ! Full suspension bikes generally work better with the “spinning” low gear technique as it creates less bobbing and will climb more efficiently

I have been using double and bash for many years normally 32/11. My new Carbon Nomad has 36/11 which i may drop to 34/11. I find i do not miss a big ring unless im riding tarmac… if you have a lot of fire road to cover or need to do road sections its probably worth having the big ring but i think its just extra hassle and another way to drop the chain. Totally agree on the danger factor for unguarded big rig setups. It can inflict bad damage. Bash rings are important if only just to prevent calf injury.

well done…looks superb…i cant wait to have a lesson…hopefully some time off work in next 2 weeks..so i’ll try to get something in the week,,,im late 40s too so no beginner, and definitely the mental side will be a help for me too!…some of Tony’s tips just in passing when we met have helped me a lot, so i cant wait to get a decent session with him. i just wish i had more time to ride…just sundays at the mo…

The reason that neither party picked up on it in a big way is that nearly all politicians are full of murky practices(in all parties). Every time Mr Brown was asked about political expenses scandal his immediate reply was one of banker bashing…classic diversionary tactics…it a good job they focussed public opinion there. People would have eventually realised how the UK and indeed the US governments actually helped engineer the property bubbles and associated lending crisis with it, and were too scared to ever slow things down despite warnings from central banks…. anyway thats now history and the politicians with their big property portfolios have now left power…

good on him. its a good feeling helping people out.

V1 finish is good and lots of space in control area to run brakes well inboard. I run the O/S V1 711s and the low rise is great and helps a lot in cornering. Weight is “reasonable” too without being silly light, so I would think them tough enough.

The “Jimmy Saville” gold look, and bend on the Renthal put me off those. Hows about that then ;)

I think you probably need to play around with the pressures a bit, but the minions should be fine in mud although not mud specific. I use minion DHF 2.35 60a on my Dialled Alpine front and back for all conditions. On the back I turned the tyre round to help climbing.

I find like all tyres they slide a bit but thats part of the fun in mud! They at least dont seem to subddenly break out.. I find about 30-35psi best for me. (Im about 80KG).

well done anyway I hear that its looking great in Herts now with lots more new bits you have added.. Im gonna have to hit the sack ..back to rat race soon :(

Cheers Mr T .. I love em. just wish I had more time to ride…must have been great today.. i like sun in winter and a bit of frost…seasons..well appreciated on the bike

GT regarding the SX trail frame. Its now sadly in a bike bag and I think i’m gonna have to sell it. I did once get a hairline crack on the rear end and I had that upgradeed and rear end replaced by Specialized warranty, but I agree that my riding on it wasnt hard enough to crack the main frame …that part seems very tough! I did bust a rear hope hub on it once though :) that was due to rotten landings at Fort bill..not rad stuff.

A new product! try FINISH LINE FIBER GRIP. Grease with grippy stuff in it. Designed for carbon bikes but works on Alu & Steel ones. Stops slippage and corrosion. I bought some for my carbon bike but now use it on the steel & alu ones too

Thanks all..Nice to see another Nomad and yes Mr Hei Hei Adam’s Custard colour(sorry ;) ) His Mojo will be interesting to compare. i did give the nomad a fair “shakedown at Woburn in the End..approx 4hrs. Did a few drops and the XC riding there too. Its now resting in the garage covered in filth…yes i dont mind getting the bike mucky! The rider isnt keen on going out in horizontal rain though!

It’s much better on climbs than my SX trail. That might be the weight, or “new bike euphoria”. I managed to get up first go a steep tech climb first go that I failed 3 times a few weeks ago on the SX despite its more “climb friendly” 32 front ring vs the new Nomad’s 36. When you ride the bike you dont feel a great weight difference to the SX its more noticable when you pick it up. I believe it did make me faster uphill. The VPP suspension may also help. I understand that it “digs in ” a bit. The grip was noticibly good on the uphills. (I am using same tyres and wheels as on my old SX.

In terms of handling my ’05 Sx was a small frame size and the new Nomad is a Medium. I was told the Medium suits my 5’8″ size. I agree. The SX was a little small in comparison. The Nomad feels more stable in the air and going downhill. One thing I appreciated was the new style low rise bars and low rise headset i fitted it certainly handled fast singletrack very very well and I would even say better than the SX which was a bit more “twitchy”.

The DHX RC coil shock is great. I added a bit of low speed compression damping and there is no “bob”. It feels great on the drops too with no perceptible bottom out yet despite hard flat landings.

Regarding the Lyric forks. Mine (2008’s) were rubbish for the first year of ownership and suffered from lots of stiction. However I finally realised that it “wasn’t me” and sent them to TF for a service. They found the bushes had been put in out of line from new, like on many Lyrics I hear…GRRRRR!. Since TF sorted them they are fantastic and work as they should.

I cant wait to take it to Fort Bill. I think that will be the real test.

My SX trail was so good last Summer in Salbaach/Hinterglemm/Leogang that I thought i wanted to try something similar, but was a bit easier to climb on as I found myself doing quite a bit of “off piste” trails there that needed climbing..

Cheers all ..Nomad is very good for coil shocks as it has enough room in the frame for a big shock with a low stroke ratio and doesnt need massive springs, like on the new Spec Enduro coil versions. The forks are coil 08 Lyrics off my old bike and are now v plush after TF tuning earlier this year. This bike will be fine in wet and has easy service pivits with grease ports. U even get a grease gun with it!

Cheers i think i will be taking it out whatever. I swapped the wheels and quite a few bits from my favourite ever bike (05 Spec Sx Trail) to build this. The position on this feels fairly similar so should ride well. It feels a lot lighter though so should be a help on the climbs!!

Dh is just biking as is XC Dirt Jumping and Trials. An all mountain bike can do all of these happily and is a “jack of all trades”. Its the bike you would take for a couple of weeks in the Alps where climbing will be involved too. I dont think its just a marketing ploy. The fact it means different bikes(and different types) for different people is just down to taste riding syle fitness and skill levels…luckily we dont all want the same bike!

would think their cost is in US dollars(made in China/Taiwan??) £ has rallied from 1:45 vs the Dollar in May to 1.60 now. The Euro has weakened versus the US dollar from 1.20 in May to 1.37 now. Sterling is faily steady versus the Euro at 85 pence/Euro now, and was about the same in May.(hi and low between now and May are 88.9p and 80.9p).

Seems so stupid that on EU country has it and another doesn’t … and we are talking 3months not just a few weeks difference…Rock shox should think about getting a proper distributor for all of Europe. They are throwing away UK sales to other products if they wait till winter..or maybe someone will launch a better post??

Agree with Hope Sintered …and buy in Batch. I have found “freak” conditions at swinley last year (constant wet sand) for the whole ride to kill whatever pads i chose(even well bedded in ones), however in “normal” use sintered Hope last a long while. I dont think it a good idea to buy “cheapo” pads….!!! They can xxx!!!!! your ride…

If you get the Van R pushed it will pedal very well. I had a Pushed DHX4 build for my 2005 Spec SX Trail by TFT and it pedalled superbly…no “bob” but on top of that felt limitless on the big hits. TF Tuned advised me to go for the plain Van R shock as after they set it up they said I wouldn’t need the “pedal pro adjustment”. They were right. It was great…the bike had good work out in Glentess Innerleithen and Hinterglemm this year. I am getting a new Nomad soon and that is going to have a coil shock too. I think they are more reliable and easier to set up. The damping unit on a coil shock is full of oil(same as on an air shock)BUT the weakness on an air shock is the air can and seals which are obviously not full of oil and rely on grease left around the seals when the shock is stripped down…thats the bit that is vulnerable to mud grit and grime. The damping rod on a coil shock is far smaller diameter and presents much less area for the muck to work on…Coil shocks win for me…if you dont ride a bike for a bit you dont find yourself having to remember the air pressure or checking it then pumping the darn thing up! With a TI spring the weight difference is not much. Best thing would be to get advice from TFT/Mojo as they will be able to tell you about set up and spring weight in detail.

I was not impressed with king front hub on a friends new bike… he had to file his front disk mount on a brand new Fox 36 fork so the disc rotor would clear it!!

Apparantly King front hubs(certainly the model he had) have a wider disc spacing…nasty!!

Hope would be my first choice. I understand there is nothing wrong with King rear hubs and in terms of pawl engagement Hadleigh (spelling?) hubs are great too. In my experience though Hopes are very good. If you want super heavy duty pawl engagement you can upgrade them to a stainless steel freewheel. I have done that on my FR/DH bikes. Lots of hubs now come with aluminium freewheels including Hope King etc to keep weight down. For maximum reliability if you are a real “masher” its worth getting the stainless one.

Oops you said for a Cotic Soul… sorry for going OT. For that I would keep a standard pro 2 with Aluminium freewheel to keep the weight down. I use the pro 2 aluminium freewheel version on my trail bike and its fine despite going through losts of wet winters.

Brake boosters did improve braking performance quite a bit on the rear of flexy frames. In the good ol’ days you had to really pull on the v brake levers especially in the wet and mud and you could visibly see the stays moving. Thats partly why frame builders introduced inwardly curving seatstays to stiffen them up. I have the old shimano carbon thingy too…it worked quite well but i remember it as another thing for mud to collect on. Disk brakes were such a big step forward!!

Still using my Hope M4s from 2003!! As good as new!

Shimano stuff is good in fact excellent when new, and super mass produced. Its part of the use and throw away 2010 “eco consumer culture” that thinks recycling is better than repairing.

Hope stuff is repairable and lasts almost for ever…a bit like the good ol “dualit toaster”, but with a bit more tech. Trouble is that many people dont have the basic skills to understand how things work let alone repair them!

Dont get me wrong though I use shimano gears, but it saddens me when we have to chuck out a mech that cant be repaired or a casette that just has the small cogs worn..in my view a waste.

Great stuf dr_death on those proprioceptors i wondered why my ankle stayed “wobbily” for a bit after injury. Very useful post! I have done quite a bit of “DIY” treatment of both ankles over the years as it is so hard getting to see a doc.

i would buy one

Im 5′ 8″ an ride the new small model Alpine with Pikes and find it to be a great all round trail bike. For me the big selling point is the dropped top tube design as it has LOADS of standover clearance. The angles seem “spot on” and its relatively cheap compared to many other frames. Some people say its just for “big stuff” but I find it great for general riding and having fun on :)

The SLX plastic bashguard has a nice honecomb design on the inside which will hold lots of “nice grit” and muck just near the chain!! Honey comb design is nice and strong but mr shimano should have put it on the outside like on E13s.

I have an SLX bash but am swapping it for a nice aluminium Race Face light

Had good experience using Rock n Roll Chain lube in the alps this year. I made sure i went overboard wiping the chain off after lubing. I had a load of rides in wet and gritty conditions and the only thing i did was use the lube to “clean the chain” as per the instructions. I checked chain wear when I got back and it was minimal..

Finishline XC lube is good stuff but as said you dont want to put too much on and also make sure you wipe the chain well. I think Rock n Roll stays on better though..

I had a 2003 Enduro with Z1 bombers! and had a great race in the 2003 Roc D’Azur…I didnt win but I had a brilliant time! That was a real game changing bike in its time..

Ive had a couple of Enduros and they have been great bikes. Im just now going to upgrade my superb 2005 SX trail enduro to a Santa Cruz Nomad, really mainly to save weight and get a bit easier climbing.

One slight concern on the 2011 Evo Enduro Coil shock model is that the shock length isnt that big. This is because there is not that much room with the double diamond main frame design. I like coil shocks so if I had an enduro it would mean a much bigger spring than the one i’m going to use on the Nomad. I did look at the “Evo” model but the spring size and shock stroke put me off a bit although I know they are still great bikes. A friend of mine has the 09 Air shock version and really rates it.

HOWEVER the whole thing is down to caliper pad and brake combinations so some set ups may be great, but others not good… as said theory and practice are different things..

I would think these disks they would provide worse braking than a standard rotor.

The scientific theory quoted above for friction is between two totaly inelastic and perfectly rigid materials eg smooth glass!! It doesnt apply to disk brakes as the pads are soft and the disk hard!

If disks with more holes in would give the same stopping power &lighter brakes then the manufacturers would use them…drilling extra holes doesn’t cost much!

Amontons’ 2nd Law is an idealization assuming perfectly rigid and inelastic materials. For example, wider tires on cars provide more traction than narrow tires for a given vehicle mass because of surface deformation of the tire.

Brake pads are not totally hard for this reason. The most important thing in disk braking force is obviously disc diameter and braking pressure, but a soft pad like the ones used in DH will give you more braking power at the expense of pad wear. Longer soft pads with more rotor contact will give more braking force than short soft pads…