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  • A Spectator’s Guide To Red Bull Rampage
  • RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    They’ve been used to harass me over the past couple of years. A local group whether religious or cult or other I couldn’t say has been encouraging the residents of properties to install them and their kids (who think it’s funny), co-ordinated via social media (privately presumably) have been setting them up to trigger well beyond the property boundary. The houses round here are close to each other so these cameras give the impression they can see right into the house opposites windows. More blinds have been going up for sure. But I was vocal on a local FB group some years back about some local issues and with these new camera going up when I would ride past properties lights (installed on some cameras) were going on, synchronicities would occur to give the impression I was being watched wherever I went. It seems to have calmed down a bit now since presumably the parents got pissed off with the motion activation but it shows that a whatsapp group of malicious people could be set up with these cameras and other cctv being used as a tool in their armoury. Could be used against children / councillors or people they wanted out of a community.

    It seems people want security over freedom these days. Those that want security and are perhaps a little paranoid / voyeuristic are imposing their will upon those that simply don’t want to feel they (and quite possibly are) being watched all the time.

    1
    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    You have two choices. Rotor round chainrings with a bcd of 110×4 or Praxis Works Buzz chianrings that are 110×5 bcd. The spiders will need to be SRAM 8 bolt and can be obtained from Aliexpress, possibly ebay. Stone is a brand to look for that manufactures both of these BCDs. Alternatively buy an XCadey powermeter: https://xcadey.uk/shop/xpower-s-sram-8-bolt-110bcd-4s

    Both chainring options are expensive but both have been designed to work with the flattop chain which is completely different from other chains. I can vouch for the Praxis chainrings that change from ring to ring very smoothly indeed.

    You will encounter a problem with your front derailleur. It is only compatible with the 48T chainring since the block into which the braze-on hanger screw screws into, is too low. I circumvented this problem by drilling and tapping an additional screw hole lower down, below the original screw hole which allows the derailleur to be raised enough to work with the bigger chainring. This was with a Force derailleur. Your Rival derailleur will be the same. I don’t think even the Red has an additional hole. There is an easier way around this….purchase the Rotor QXL Bracket (Front Mech Extension Kit).

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    The new E4s will work aswell. Confirmed this with Hope. I prefer the E4s as you only need one Bore Cap Tool and they have the new pistons which don’t stick as much, if at all. And yes as stated SRAM is dot based and so are the E4s.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    These are the original version Rx4s presumably; not the Rx4+ (the later versions)? Not sure what the differences are but do yours have two different bore sizes? I ask as I could sell you my larger Bore tool sent out 24 hour recorded, but even then would that get to you in time on a Saturday….not sure. I’d send it out before 5pm today anyway. It’s brand new, unused and only recently acquired ready for when I needed it. But I’d sell it as it’s not an emergency. I’ll buy another.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    If he’s an ex-tory mp then you might be looking at around £10,000/30 which is £333 day rate approx.

    When I worked for a company I was earning national average of £30,000 a year, after tax and national insurance that’s £15 an hour. Which is all well and good when you’re earning that consistently with the guarantees and certain level of protection that working for a large business offers. However, being self-employed, he will have to pay national insurance, tax, overheads, e.g. materials, fuel etc, etc. and he’s work will fluctuate.

    Consider when telling him how much you’re paying him; does he own a house / flat or pay rent, how much rent does he pay, does he have a swimming pool that he needs to heat, does he eat a lot or not very much, does he live alone or have a partner he’d like to share the bills with, does he have a pet to feed and take to the vets every once in a while, does he own a car that he needs to keep running or does he cycle every where, etc, etc…

    My point is everyone’s different and it’s for him to set the rate and learn from his errors. If it’s too low he’ll know because he’ll become homeless and starve. If it’s too high he’ll know because you won’t want him to work for you. What are you happy to pay? You could always go on Gumtree call a few painters/decorators around to give you a quote (at their cost of course) and then use those quotes as a baseline and then haggle him down or you could simply say to him, “£5 an hour, happy with that? I am your mate after all.”

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Might be worth having a pair for winter use only and glueing 2-2.5mm foam to the outside faces of the batteries, similar to lagging round outside water pipes.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    You could do but you would have the adaptor sticking out a long way. You’d still be relying on the strength, or lack of, the micro-usb connector if any pressure is applied to the adaptor.

    Remember we’re talking about bikepacking here where weight, lack of faff, space and generally reducing the number of items you’d need to carry are factors that are important.

    At home it doesn’t matter so much. The AXS battery charger is great in that you can actually charge your AXS batteries from a bicycle dynamo if you wanted to as it’s 5 Volts. The same cannot be said for Shimano batteries as they charge off a different voltage, 7.2 Volts I believe, and there is not regulator converting the dynamo output to 7.2 Volts as far as I know whereas all regulators output to 5 Volts. So to take advantage of this benefit it helps when you can have a more robust connection whilst simultaneously reducing the items you have to carry.

    The photos are here as I cannot see them above…

    View post on imgur.com

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    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    You’re right it is, at least in the short term.

    The purpose behind this conversion was to reduce things to carry on a camping trip.

    With that adaptor you’d need to take it off if you were using the same cable to charge other devices that had usb-c, unless you carried an additional cable.

    Additionally micro-usb is more fiddly to use. Works one way only whereas usb-c works whichever way the cable is inserted. Micro-usb is also more fragile. This matters on camping trips when you’re likely to be tired at the end of a long bike ride.

    The effort here is in the conversion but the long term benefits in convenience are where the gains are to be made. Although it’s more effort trying to post up photos to help people on this forum than doing the conversion. Not sure why I bothered lol.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    I was caught selling an Oregon with his maps on eBay. You can use ‘saved searches’ in eBay to send an email when a listing contains key words.

    I quite like the looks of the Hammerhead. Only thing is, I like the Garmin Explore 2’s charging connections which allow watertight charge functionality which would be really useful when charging off a dynamo. The Hammerhead just has the usb-c.

    One of the most powerful apspects of the Hammerhead is te ability to side-load android applications so it might be worth trying to install OsmAnd. It’s a really powerful app now and just recently has added the ability to connect to some ant+ sensors with bluetoooth sensors on the roadmap. Hopefully they add Garmin radar to the list of ant+ sensors too.

    If you do try side-loading OsmAnd let us know how it goes. I’d be really interested.

    Also regards talkytoaster maps you might be able to get them working with one of the other android mapping apps. Orux maps for instance works with a range of different map sources.

    Quite some learning curve for you, not just to learn how to side-load but those two applications are powerful, but complicated for the newby.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    This is something I was interested in when I had 11 speed (currently 12 spd) but couldn’t find an answer. I rode my bike with a worn aluminium sprocket for ages until I discovered SRAM had eventually released the XG-1150 to market with a full set of steel sprockets.

    My suggestion would be to buy one of those now…get it from eBay or Onbuy.com, there it’s around 90 quid which is not much more than it cost me three or four years ago. The smaller sprockets wear quicker and then you’ll be left with a barely worn steel large sprocket which you can then (possibly) transfer to your old XG-1195 that you’ll have laying about.

    Alternatively you could try these guys who are in Italy:

    https://www.aribike.it/eng/pignone%20mtb%20inglese/ari%20cog%20for%20sram%20xx1%20cassette/ari%20cog%20for%20sram%20xx1%20cassette.htm

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    I’ve got Praxis BBs on both my mtb and road bike so 73mm and 68mm. MTB’s M24/GxP threaded and road bike’s M24 push fit but the older bb without the new rubber compression ring. I’m using GXP cranks on both mtb and road bikes so the road bike’s using the Hope GxP conversion spacers whereas the MTB is using the bottom bracket with the GxP sized bearings.

    I’ve just recently replaced the bearings on the road bike but retained the bottom bracket itself. Admittedly the rubber seals are looking tired and could do with replacing but it seems nigh on impossible to get replacement seals outside of the USA. But, I used high quality replacement SKF bearings which already have very good seals on them. The original bearings lasted seven years so I’m expecting the same from these. Can’t remember the cost of the bearings but they were cheaper than a new bottom bracket so in my opinion it was worth retaining the old Praxis bottom bracket.

    My advice to you would be buy high quality bearings and swap them out. If they fail in 6 months then get a new bottom bracket.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    I used to have SKS Bluemels on my Spesh Diverge. They were thin aluminium coated with plastic I think. I ran them for 7 years but then bought some PDWs earlier this year. Installed them a few months later and they are vastly superior to the Bluemels. Don’t know why I procrastinated getting them fitted.

    The twin strut stainless steel stays of the Bluemels looked ugly in comparison to the PDWs single strut black aluminium stays. Plus, whilst not only looking much, much nicer they are vastly more rigid. I’ve taken them on some fairly rough terrain without so much as a scrape against the tyre or any of the wobble I had from the Bluemels. I’d even be confident fitting a dynamo light to the front fender as the tip is so rigid I’m pretty certain the light beam wouldn’t be adversely affected.

    Additionally the PDWs are easier to fit and all the spare parts are available.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Some of this

    lubricant

    and..

    slide it in

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    I made the same mistake in the past. I don’t like having any thread showing and I like to have a consistent nipple length throughout all my rims. 12mm for me is the default even though with the deep blacktek rims that Lightbicycle produce 14mm apparently is the recommended. I coughed up the extra expense and bought longer spokes. The exposed thread would piss me off forever and you don’t want that with wheel builds that you really don’t want to have to return to if necessary. To me a wheel build is a one off event. Get it done right the first time and never look back.
    Also, what weighs more…two extra mm on 16 spokes or having to replace all 32 nipples with nipples that are 2mm longer. Additionally what about your other wheel? You’re going to have a different set of nipples unless you replace those too. Spokes every time.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    I’ve got too many bikes…

    but have you got space for a fold up trailer?…

    Y-Frame

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Judging by what Carbon Repair Works have done for me, that’s definitely repairable, but, expect to pay £250 min (without paint)!!

    Don’t bother getting it painted as it’ll cost a huge amount with them. Or do if you can afford it. It’s why I will only buy a black carbon frame from now on as any repairs are barely noticeable.

    You’ll also have shipping costs to factor in. It’s a lot of money but less carbon waste in landfill so you’ll be going heaven when your time is up : )

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    One of the most memorable parts of the Transcontinental Race I did 7 years ago was the descent to Kotor bay southbound along the E80, around the bay and then the climb up the Kotor Serpentine on Mt Lovcen to Restoran Nevjesta which was a race checkpoint.
    The view overlooking the bay on the E80 was stunning, the descent was grin inducing, the bay was busy but then it’s a holiday destination, and the climb up the Serpentine was great. Some welcome local encouragement as I made the climb too. I can’t remember how many but there’s something like 20 hairpins I think. I’d imagine the descent would be pretty fun. I climbed it in the dark so found it pretty easy. No really hard gradient but then it’d be different during the heat of the day, although I think there was plenty of tree cover.

    I’d imagine there’s some good MTB’ing round there somewhere too. Memory’s a little hazy as by that point I’d ridden a thousand odd miles with only a few hours bivvi kipping between rides.

    Oh, the view down on Kotor was southbound on the E80 sort of around here…

    https://www.google.com/maps/place/42%C2%B032’26.3%22N+18%C2%B041’27.7%22E/@42.5406469,18.6888403,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!1m6!3m5!1s0x0:0xddab76d01aa4ede0!2sTvrdjava+Unter!8m2!3d42.5488748!4d18.7077189!3m5!1s0x0:0x1ae552351f351f12!7e2!8m2!3d42.5406435!4d18.6910295?hl=en-GB

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    I’d sooner die on my own vomit than go back to tubes.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    The SCS frames had very short chainstays. My medium 56cm model has 415mm stays and makes the bike very fun to ride. But, annoyingly the axle, whilst being 12mm thru-axle is 135mm O.L.D. so similar O.L.D. to the 9mm QR axles, this meant finding a spare wheelset to fit was a problem. The non-drive side hub shell needed its disk brake mount shifting over towards the drive side by 2.5mm to avoid having the brake disc rub the frame.

    The drive side of the SCS compatible hub is no less compatible with bikes running 142mm rear ends as any 142mm hub.

    For anyone that’s interested I’ve got a set of carbon 40mm deep wheels for sale on eBay that’ll fit the older Diverge SCS version. This sets particularly niche as it has a 15mm thru-axle dyno hub up front, but they’re 12 speed compatible so will work with all the latest 12spd road groupsets. They’ll also fit 142mm axle rear ends such as the newer Diverge model as I’m supplying a 2.5mm spacer for the brake disk and a 142mm thru-axle. They will need redishing for 142mm which I can do on request.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    They do exist. I had this same issue as yours and for my Specialized frame I was able to order part #S159900016 which was round and straight I think and #S150700003 which is an round and angled blanking grommet. MY2015 frame so getting on a bit now.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    I’m using QuadLock but think in many ways SP Connect is better, although what ultimately made me choose Quadlock was the marginally better quality phone case. I think Quadlock may use higher quality materials as the finish looks better but SP Connect seems to be a more flexible system. Their little adhesive microrails are great. I have three stuck on my helmets for helmet light/battery and GoPro. They’ve also got a phone mount with a shock absorber in it for off road

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    A bit like one of those moles where you always get a thick black hair growing out of it…or even a cluster of hairs.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    I’ve built and rebuilt dozens of wheels using the frame they are to fit in and two cable ties. I don’t have the space for a stand so I have had to make do and it works just fine. I don’t have a tension meter either. I just give all the nipples a couple of extra little tweaks once the wheel is trued. I always think before hand maybe I should buy a stand but once I’ve built the wheels I forget about it. So, there are cheap and effective ways of completing your wheel builds for the space and cash poor amongst us.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Just inverting the base on the bottle will allow this, no need to pop magnets

    Popping the magnets can be useful if you have something like the universal mount and you want to retain the BOA dial on the same side of the mount (whilst it’s loaded) as originally designed.

    Although If you share bottles across bikes, be prepared for confusion unless you swap all of them

    This would be an issue

    May mean twist left instead of twist right, if you invert the base on the bottle.

    You can only twist one way whatever the configuration. The lower and the upper openings would need to be facing the opposite direction. The manufacturers won’t release a mount that twists in the opposite direction, although I wish they would….at least for the universal mount anyway.

    There are cheaper bottles on Aliexpress under different brands with exactly the same system if anyone’s interested. Not the range of items Fidlock has though.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    https://mountskidmore.com.au/shop/adapters/bottle-cage-adapter/

    But I prefer the Wolftooth ones. They’re really nicely made.

    Alternatively you could pop the magnets out and swap them over, which then allows you to mount the mount so that the ‘up’ end is pointing down which moves the whole system up a bit.

    This will mean that if you have multiple mounts then they will all need to be mounted this way and that all bottles will need their magnets swapped so that they can all work on each mount.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    There’s also these…

    https://www.twonav.com/en/gps-cycling

    available to buy from bikeinn

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Looking at the new DT Swiss 350 hubs (2021 model I think) there has been a lot more material removed from those bolt mounts in comparison to the previous model. I think they did the same to an even greater extent to the latest 240 hubs too. Hope Pro4 hubs have about 2mm extra material at the top of the bolt mounts but the same (~10mm) at the bottom of the bolt mounts as the 350 hubs.

    In an effort to save weight the tolerances to user error are slightly less forgiving with the DT Swiss hubs. I don’t know what model of DT Swiss hub you have, I’m almost certain it’s neither of those, but if DT Swiss have applied the same weight saving changes to your hub then that too will be less tolerant of loose bolts which would cause vibrations and twisting forces leading to catastrophic failure. Cold weather would make aluminium more brittle too I should have thought although I’m no materials expert.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Using a mixed bag of Sram AXS components here. This winter I’ve been getting around 400 miles of riding before the rear derailleur battery needs charging. That’s always the first to need charging but I do carry a spare too. Quick and easy to change over. Useful feature is that if you have a dynamo hub and a rectifier such as Igaro then these batteries, using the 5v charger can be charged using your own leg power. Can’t do that with Di2.

    AXS paddles are great with thick gloves on.

    AXS rear derailleur is massive, so is the front too actually but the rear is very vulnerable in a fall. I had Shimano Dura-Ace mechanical before and when I slid off onto my right hand side, the derailler suffered only a light scratch because of its low profile. The AXS derailleur would likely have broken the hanger and suffered a lot of damage.

    AXS front derailleur is a little slow in my opinion. Shimano have addressed that with their latest hybrid wireless groupsets apparently.

    Main problem with Sram I find is that the transition between cogs is not smooth at all on my 30T cassette. I really have to take the power off when changing gear. The ramps are poorly designed. Shimano must surely win there with their improved Hyperglide. I do however like the XDR system so long as copious amounts of copper grease is used.

    I think given the choice I’d have gone for the new Shimano Ultegra Di2 but availability dictated my choice to go AXS. However I do prefer AXS to my old cable groupset.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Normally when I change to summer tyres I’ll pull out the anchovies in my winter tyres and patch up the holes with tubeless patches.

    For this I use patches similar to these…

    Motorbike Tyre Repair Patches

    They come in different sizes so check the size first but these should be okay.

    and I use this vulcanizing fluid…

    Rema Tip Top Cement SC-BL

    If your anchovies don’t work use one of those patches rather than disposing of your tyre. The vulcanizing solution needs pressure applied for a while to bond though. I use a vice but it’s extremely strong when set. Squeeze the solution through the crack (making sure it’s clean) and then it’ll help strengthen and seal the outer face of the tyre so it’ll be ready for another season.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    What sealant are you using? I’ve been running 28c road tubeless for 7 years now and have always used Stans with consistently successful results. Never saw the need to try anything else although I was going to try and make some homebrew to save money. The faff stopped me though.

    I also wouldn’t recommend anything other than yellow Tesa tape. It’s quite rigid and bonds well even with sealant flowing around it. Certainly wouldn’t use duck tape not that I’m suggesting you are.

    Check the tyre’s seated properly checking to see if raises and lowers around the rim. I can’t imagine Pirelli having poor QC but that’s another factor.

    When getting the tyre onto the rim try and avoid using levers if possible. They can damage the bead edging. The sealant should eventually seal any defects that are caused by levers but it’s good to avoid another possible cause of air leakage when setting up for the first time.

    I think turning the wheel round in the bath should reveal the problem though. You could also try a sponge in a really soapy bucket building up a nice lather such that when you wipe it round the tyre the white residue remains long enough to show where the air’s leaking from, but this won’t show a leaky valve hole…it’ll just show leaky sidewalls or areas around the bead seal that are leaking.

    That’s quite a drop in pressure you had so it could be as you hit a bump air blew out from a particular area and I would imagine most likely around the valve.

    If it’s the sidewalls that are leaking you’ll need a lot of sealant to solidify to stop those tiny air bubbles. It’s the mark of a poor tubeless tyre in my opinion and would encourage me to buy an alternative.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Are you certain they are the tubeless versions?
    Pro-ones come in both tube type and tubeless type as do the P-Zeros.

    Consider adding between 30ml and 60ml of sealant to each wheel.

    Do the tyres pop over the rim bed as you inflate them? If they don’t then add another layer of tape until they do.

    On the initial inflate pump to around 70-80psi. Once inflated and filled with sealant grab hold of the tyre with each hand on opposite sides of the wheel, holding the wheel horizontally with the valve closest to your body and wag it up and down two or three times, rotate the wheel so the valve moves away from you in a clockwise direction and repeat the wag, continue this process until the valve comes back round to your body. Do this to both wheels.

    Tyres should stay inflated. Go for a quick ride round the block anyway to swish the sealant around some more and then leave them to see if they stay up overnight.

    If the tyres deflate then submerge in a bath of water to determine where leak is. If it’s the valve seal then valve isn’t tight enough or the hole wasn’t cut neatly enough through the tape.

    If it’s the tyre walls consider using a hairdryer to lightly warm up both tyre bead and the cold aluminium rim to help the bead seal. Pump up and repeat the wagging process.

    Leave overnight and if they stay up reduce the pressure to whatever you prefer as 70-80psi is (too) high for tubeless tyres.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    LB do a Flyweight version of some of their rims. I’ve got one on order for the front wheel of my road bike as I’m undergoing an upgrade to wider and deeper with less spokes on front and rear. I wouldn’t use an Flyweight version on the rear wheel. It might be one of these that people are damaging. In my experience carbon rims are pretty strong and dead easy to lace. Not sure if I’d use them on a downhill rig but for xc and road I do and they’ve been great. Rotational weight savings are pretty handy. Plus you get exactly the spec you want. My front wheel will be a flyweight version 38mm 28 spoke laced with DT Swiss Revs to an SP dynamo hub. I went for a 50mm Standard on the rear. Currently run 32 spoke on the front as that’s all SP supplied their dynamos in six years ago. SP dynamo bearings inevitably fail so the less spokes to re-lace the better which is why I am now changing to 28 spokes, plus it balances out with the rear which is currently 28 spoke.
    If you want carbon just get them. LB will build a whole wheelset with a dynamo hub built in at a pretty good price.

    P.S. you’ve just missed a sale which from memory was 15% on their higher priced rims.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    I tried the Diablo SYNC. In my opinion having a remote is almost an essential feature on a helmet mounted light. Means you can switch through various modes without taking your hands off the bar on tricky terrain and simultaneously extend the battery life whilst getting a beam to meet your needs at the time.

    The smart features allow you to customise the modes to avoid having to cycle through superfluous flashing beams and the like.

    So the Diablo has a very beta implementation of a remote I think. It looks like a prototype. The buttons are small, significantly smaller than the square remote which doesn’t look like it belongs on the handlebars.

    In the short time I tried it the buttons were too small to operate effectively with my full fingered gloved hands and I couldn’t tell which mode I was in, so I ended up running a higher beam than normal and running the battery out on what was quite a short road ride. In fairness the beam effectiveness would have been affected by the wet road surface and the slightly misty air but the run time wasn’t good enough for me.

    The light, like all Diablos was a well constructed, small and light (in weight) package but the remote was what I bought it for and I was disappointed. I was peed off the phone app needed to ping out some Google analytics too which is unnecessary. Lupine avoided that but then German software companies respect user privacy more in my experience.

    Ended up paying significantly more for a Lupine Blika in the end. It’s better all round for usability and functionality. Both the software and the hardware are better. It’s not as integrated as the Diablo but I don’t regret my purchase. It cost a lot more in price so should be better really.

    If you can forgoe the integrated aspect of the Diablo then perhaps look at Gloworm. They were the alternative before I went for Lupine. Otherwise the Lupine Piko would be a very good one to get.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Tom’s argument seems good reason to match what I have on my MTB.

    Number of potential wear points on the frame seem to be the same whichever way I have it set up.

    Personally I found it intuitive to adapt with each bike having a different setup. Road bike was originally set up euro fashion despite the shop retailer (based in Belgium) saying he’d set up my bike up UK style especially for me. I never changed it, just adapted. I self built my MTB a while ago and since I’ve ridden motorbikes which have right lever front brake set up I think I used that as justification. Something about the different shape of the bars adapted my brain to the various set ups I guess.

    Lawnmower are easier for right handed people if that’s import to you.

    Not when I’m riding my bike

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    This is where to look.

    Novatec 772

    Lots of parts available. If you’re finding the freehubs too soft then it might be worth considering using SRAM XD freehubs.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Many gardeners seem to rate the Makita backpacks. I think they’re four stroke so will take normal petrol. I’d be looking at battery now and probably due to the range of 18v I’d consider going for the Makitas and if they do a twin 18v then I’d get that. The duration won’t be as long as petrol before requiring a recharge but they’d be quieter.

    As it is I have a handheld Stihl BG-86 which is noisy but pretty effective. It has vacuum and mulch mode too which can be useful in some cases.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Just my opinion. Whilst advocating bridleway clearance if the local council are too lazy to do it themselves I certainly wouldn’t advocate using heavy machinery nor herbicides. In fact using herbicides is one of the dumbest things I’ve read on this forum in a while.

    As far as I know minimum widths should be maintained. Footpaths are landowner’s responsibility, bridleways are council’s responsibility.

    Felled branches blocking the paths could be cleared by you (though shouldn’t) but the hand tools that you carry could land you in deep water so be prepared. Secateurs are pretty much useless for the scale of work involved in bridleway clearance but very much more discreet than slashing away with a brushcutter.

    You have to think about liability cover for flying debris when brushcutting and pollution of nearby waterways for herbicides, not to mention drift (what a **** daft idea).

    Personally, if I was paid then I’d love to hack away at some of the bridleways near here (I have the tools and some of the tickets) but the local council will already have their ‘favourite’ contractors and it’s not a level playing field with respect to competing for small contracts. In fact if you merely express an interest to find out what the contract involves then they’ll think you’re a terrorist, but that’s another (s)tory :)

    It’s dumb (not the idea of clearance). You’re willing to provide a public service and, if it’s for free that’s great both for the council and local tax payers, but it’s not legal and if someone has a grudge against you then you’re potentially ****.

    I just put up with the scratches and stingers and jump everything else. Virtually immune to them now.

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Cheers for the link. Seems to be the case for Rival and Force too which doesn’t bode well for longevity. Shimano use steel on their Ultegra and GRX derailleur cages whilst using aluminium on their XTR and Dura_Ace, and their cable Dura Ace which is what I have is Aluminium but with a replaceable plastic pad which is wearing away on mine.
    Why can’t these brands offer replacement cages if they’re going to build them in a soft metal 🤔

    RAGGATIP
    Free Member

    Not quite as refined as a webapp that I frequently use but JGPSTrackEdit is the best from all that I’ve tried, and since it’s built on java it’s platform agnostic.

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