Hardly ever need to clean mine as i leave it full of water in the fridge. Ocassionaly i fill it with Milton solution(baby bottle steriliser)& leave it overnight.

Never.. used them for years….about 20yrs in various incarnations! Is it a frayed cable? ..maybe the cable come out of frame slots? Maybe outer cable end is resting on side of a guide slot on the frame…that would artificialy increase tension…Its probably something simple but the new XT shifters are top kit

I dont really think you missed that much. In terms of red runs some of the other highland trail centres' red runs are more demanding skills wise IMO. I rode the red on my Cove STD FR/DH bike but only did it once as it was quite dull on that. The red is best ridden IMO on a trail bike & my DH bike was overkill. The big danger is just going too fast & getting out of controll on the boardwalk. If you go off the sides in some bits it looks bad. Even so the boardwalk is quite wide. The rest of it was not very exciting.

If you are looking for gravity fun at Fort Bill I still think the DH course, is superb and a real classic. That rides well in all weathers(good grip even in the fairly common rain), but definitely one for big bikes if you want to enjoy it. My favourite highland trail centre is still Golspie.

Great thing with coil shocks is reliability. Since they are full of oil the internals stay better longer, rather like the old Marz oil-bath forks.

If you have a few bikes you dont need to fiddle around checking air pressures when you ride. With air shocks especially where high pressures are used they can be prone to loosing air when stored.

I use a ti spring as its lighter and looks bling… saves a bit of weight but not a lot!

Ive had a few air shock bikes. Although TF managed to make them better I never found the shock reliable and changed to coil.

I dont think there is that much weight difference between Coil and Air shocks either if you compare like for like.

If you buy a new Fox & get it custom valved or Pushed it will be "heaven". My new Fox (2010 middle of range model) I bought from TF and had pushed is absolutely brilliant. Its on my old favourite '05 Enduro SX Trail. TF recommended that I go for the vanilla as after their work I wouldnt need the pedal pro adjustments. I still went for the model with pedal pro adjustments just in case. TF were right though. The platform is so good they set i never need to adjust it, and the Push tuning makes it feel "bottomless".

Not much fun riding a rigid on an alpine DH course. It will raise your voice a few octaves i guess! A lot has happened both to courses, bikes and the way we ride in the last 15yrs!! I remember my first "MTB" about 20yrs ago…rubbish in todays standards…I suppose that was ok as my riding wasnt that good then anyway. Im deinitely an advocate of having more than 1 bike!

You should change the name "do it all" to "all i do". Most of us do different mixes of riding thats why we all differ in opinion.

My "do it all" at the moment is an "05 Enduro SX Trail with Lyric Ccoil forks & Rear Pushed Fox float ti coil shock. Can ride that up everything I need to, and have fun on DH courses in the Alps which im doing now. I tookit to Glentress & Inners a few weeks back too.

Ive left my Cove STD at home cos although its mega brilliant on DH I cant ride it up . I also left my dialled Alpine at home cos I prefer full sus comfort in the Alps. I am trying a bit of singletrack up here in Saalbach now so i need to be able to climb too.

Cheers FBK yes the riding is still fun and v.challenging. We had a very rainy 1 week out of 2 in Les Gets a few years back. Family still is smiling though!! Off to the outdoor pool now!! :)

This thread is a classic case of why we need our LBS's. I use mine all the time. On the main I get a lot of things cheaper than CRC etc. too.

As I buy all my stuff at the LBS I get a discount and excellent service from Marshalls in Welwyn. They often have to order me stuff they dont stock but it arrives easily as quick as CRC, and if the stuff is no good they sort it out for me too…

Agreed with above . It works fine, the ramped stuff is a bit smoother and good for racer's suferfast shifting. If you apply steady pressure and are not "brutish" about shifting non ramped stuff makes little difference.

I thought of that bike(to replace my Cove Handjob) but went for a Dialled Alpine fitted with 140mm Pikes. Can do it all. I like the Alpine as it suits my short legs as its got a very low dropped top tube…Im about same height as you 5'7"/8"and went for the smallest one.. ..Not silly weight & if u want it more hard core it will easily take Lyrics/36s without spoiling geometry. Climbs great with Pikes and never need to wind them back. It descends very well as you would expect. Cheaper than a Cove Stiffee too.

Dont try taking unbagged bikes on airlines now! They will refuse carriage!

I used to do that (& "flight prepared bike with pedals off & low tyre pressures etc)until Easy jet refused my bike a number of years ago. I had to leave it in the car at the airport… :(

I always use Shimano DX. great bearings that can take XC grinding mud & wet aswell as FR use.

Servicing is amazingly easy too. Just unscrew, wipe with rag & put fresh grease in, then screw back up. They are designed so when you screw them back together the fresh grease forces the old stuf out.

Servicing takes about 10mins per pedal max. If you do that once a year they last for ages.

That lad really made me laugh. His front brake pad had fallen out half way down too. I offered him a new tube where he had stopped halfway down but he had a bolt thru axle on the front wheel. He just said never mind "i dont relly need the front…I advised him to walk down but the way he rode he obviously didnt need to…amazing rider on a beaten up old Big hit.

Make sure your brakes are bled and work well too

about 20yards apart i guess. Drop is about 4ft max probably less…so they are not big its just that near the end of the course you can be tired(im late 40s so definitely tired and not that fit). There are a few rocks behind the lip too, so speed is needed. Its worth having a look before you ride the course as it will spoil the flow if you stop. The jumps into the finish are really good fun "showing off" bit!…When I last rode there a young lad who had ridden down with a flat front tyre did them both superbly staying in a nice manual on his back wheel!

big tyres help a lot!

Another tip is to make sure you keep your speed up going over the 2 jumps into the finish area too. If you go fast they are smooth. A few years ago when i first rode the course i damaged the rear hub on my SX Trail by going to slowly over them…its a flat landing if you do that! as said worth keeping plenty of air in the shock if you are using a shorter travel bike to stop bottoming out.

As said Push industries just make the tuning parts. TF are authorised agents for them.

I had my Pikes Push Tuned and they were lots better. Makes a big difference on multiple hits like riding long rough rocky rooty sections. Before they were Pushed my Pikes dived through the travel too fast and didnt recover quick enough. Definitely worth it for trail riding.

I also recently had a new rear coil Fox DHX4 shock Pushed and that also is great.

A BIG problem for me I hear is that you cannot refit 10 speed chains with a quicklink?

I often remove chains in the winter with the SRAM quicklink to give them a quick wash with muc-off in and old milk bottle. The 10sp chain joiners i understand to be non removeable.

That kills 10speed for me. On my road bike I happily use Shimano 10 speed and despite being a bit more "sensitive" to accurate set up, has proved quite reliable over the last year. On MTBs I think 9 speed with the 11-34 sprocket option gives all the range I need…I'm sticking with it..

Thanks for that…Already looking forward to it!

Cheers I guess we will be happy doing the trail centres if thats the "best" stuff around there. Last time I went (2-3yrs ago) I thought Glentress was great fun…hopefull Aye & Inners will be easy to find too.
I know that in some areas a guide really opens up the riding which may be hard to find…certainly my Portes du Soleil day with a guide was a highlight of my biking years!

No not for some time ..at least another year…IMO

You did well …that moron & 5 others to back him up…they still didnt get your bike…

5:10s v.good as above. Don't use them with too gnarly pedals or foot repositioning is very hard as the Captain says. Agree that 5:10s can get a bit wet. In winter I use the sealskin socks or old ski socks! Maybe i should get my old shimano shoes resoled with the 5:10 stealth soles??

Sorry to hear that. Good thing is he didnt succeed. He would have tried to mug anyone so don't take it personally. The sad individual that tried that on you has probably had an even worse day in his druggy world. Good to hear you are ok. Any way good thing you reported that.

Stay loose…keep body & legs relaxed & dont do max lean on corners

Here is my experience of my Lyric coil 2008 model(Bought in early 2009 from a shop)

Fork felt "ok" when new but developed more stiction over a few months. I always carefuly cleaned & oiled it after rides & it didnt get any wet weather use.

I tried turning the low speed compression damping right down to see if that made any difference(forgot i had done that on the next ride and went over the bars on a small rock drop!!). I heard bushings on this model were stiff but hoped it would improve…eventualy they became so bad the forks wouldnt extend to full travel on their own…only 145mm…a bad case!!

I then got them serviced by TF Tuned 2 months ago. Massive improvement. They said the bushings had been inserted out of line in the factory. They resized as best as possible and removed an oil wiper (or something similar?) to make them plusher too. Now they are fantastic. Totally different fork. If I was buying Rockshox again I would buy straight from TF as they sort all the stuff out in the beginning.

I did just that & bought from TF Tuned when I got my new FOX DHX rear shock for my SX Trail & got it Pushed at the same time..I'm very pleased I did that, its amazing!I think you save time and money buying straight from TF in the beginning.

It annoys me to think I "wasted" almost a year on a sh*t Fork before TF sorted it out for me. The Lyric is a superb fork when it is put together properly!

I Recently bought a FOX DHX4 coil shock with "Push" tuning from TF Tuned for my 2005 SX trail. Absolutely great climbs well and feels "bottomless" on drops. It was either upgrading the shock from the old progressive coil shock or getting a new frame. I always liked the Enduro geometry so i just bought the shock. I'm very pleased I did. The ride is superb. TF Tuned were very fast sorting it out and it fitted with no problems at all. Im now using the Enduro as my 1 bike on our 2 week holiday in Saalbach this summer, so i'll be needing it to climb aswell as descend! Ps My left chainstay cracked a quite number of years ago and Specialized replaced the chainstay unit with with no fuss. The frame has been fine since…I think the new chainstays are the reinforced type.

I dont know …u definitely need to check your symptoms with your doctor.

Mine started as very itchy points of redness then went into a tracking line of blisters with clear fluid…very yuck. Neither antibiotic or antifungal creams cleared it. I had it for some time..

All i would say is that if I had the choice of getting the drugs again or waiting to see what what would happen …i would get the drugs immediately

this is what it looked like on its journey round my ankle…was a pain walking to work!!

I've Had shingles twice ..not good. It does seem to get brought on by stress. Second time round what started as a strange "fly bite" on my back that wouldn't heal progressed to my ankle and slowly worked its painful way round "tracking the nerves" in my foot.

Shingles doesnt always hurt a lot but it does feel "strange" in the area. The doctor that first diagnosed me was good and put me on antivirals for a week. That seemed to start clearing it up. However he later referred me to a "skin specialist" after 2 weeks, who told me to stop taking the drugs…that made it worse!! Anyway I lost confidence in the skin specialist after he mixed up my blood test(he wouldn't admit it of course). Luckily it went away on its own. I suffered from Aug to late Jan a few years back and am still **issed off with the useless skin specialist..

My advice is to get good medical advice and try to get them to give you the drugs even if it is "too late"…for me they certainly reduced symptoms

I went for a different but a bit more expensive solution…a Gym quality Schwinn spinning bike. Hardly any noise and totally solid "industrial" strength. I find turbos on bikes a bit wobbly and a faff.

I use it in the winter and have a fan in the room plus some music!! I find using a HRM keeps the training a bit more interesting… I made a special spinning compilation from my I-pod. Even so I rarely go over 40 mins!but in rotten weather in the winter its better than nothing and for me easier than going to the gym..

Im a bit "tyred" now got to go for zzz! on a lighter note I must say I do like the new RR Vogue …massive money but a great car…got a lift in one a while back..i do agree though some "motorsport" type drivers are total nuts on the road…have been nearly knocked off bike loads of times by them….G'night all..

I believe it does as I understand if you use the wrong type it can damage seals and create lots of extra stiction…worth getting the right stuff for.

yes footflaps…hate sells well!

Firstly…I dont have a RR sport!! Funny after a bad experiences how people start clasifying others with stereotypes… I guess thats just human nature. Anyway thats where a lot of our other nasty habits and agressive views get justified…racism being just one obvious one… Please live and let live and try to judge people as individuals…that is much harder!

Wow looks about 15ft +? Big drop and nasty rocks if u get that wrong…very impressive..well done Ton.

Only thing i would add is to make sure your bike is well serviced before. Especially a brake bleed plus new pads & a fork service. With a nice set of big tyres that will make a huge difference.

500-700 quid seems to get you up to a 50" telly on offer at a few retailers …a few years ago that would have been quite a few grand… I have an old 26 LCD that I am tempted to upgrade especially as the new ones are all HD with built in Freeview