2007 Kona Caldera. I’m only riding that because my 1996 Kona Fire Mountain (rebuilt from the frame up in 2006) got stolen.

Fair play to you, sir!

Cannock Chase is also fairly near, awesome riding there.

I used to do a lot of riding in Allestree park and up at Little Eaton woods as a yoof, also the Chevin trail between Belper and Duffield.

For road cycling you need the lightest saddle you can get, otherwise your bike will look awful and you’ll be carrying around at least 100g more than you need to.

Really? 100g? Really? Oh come on, you’d save more weight by going to the loo or having your hair cut. I’m a big advocate of light weight, within reason, but I’d defy anyone to truthfully notice a gain or loss of 100g.

Mavic EN521s are £32.99 each ate CRC and EN321s are £26.99 each.

Mavic EX721

I’m just about to go and buy (bring?) a bottle of tequila. :D

Try Mojo. When you send your forks to them for servicing they replace the decals, so they might sell you a set.

Evans and JE James definitely do them.

You’ll not go far wrong with EBC Greenstuff.

I’ve always liked WTB Velociraptors. About £25 each for Kevlar beaded from Chain Reaction.

They are fitted to a 2007 Kona Caldera and are original to the bike. I have to say I’m surprised by how soft they are, the bike is a 20″ so you’d reasonably expect that most people buying a bike that big would be on the heavy side. I’m about 12 stone wet through and can bottom them out easily. They do have a lockout, which stiffens the fork significantly rather than locking it solid, but I’m not sure if I should use that off road. I’m worried that if I hit something too hard with the lockout engaged, it will damage whatever internal mechanism it engages.

The listing says 21″ (the frame).

I’ve just got a set of Deore (M596) brakes and, comparing them side by side with an old M525 brake I have, both the caliper and lever are positively anorexic. They’re only £60 per end too, oould be worth a look.

Asda, Waterlooville? Small world!

I went shopping at Asda tonight and BOUGHT a bottle of Grenadine, some Bacardi Breezer, a mojito mix, a bottle of cloudy lemonade, a carton of orange juice, some cheese filled paninis, a pack of ciabattas, some chilli beef bites, a sponge pudding and a tin of custard. Oh, and a bottle of Fairy liquid.

Whilst I was at the till paying, the fire alarm went off and the whole store had to be evacuated. This was both exciting (as it was the most eventful happening in Waterlooville for quite some years) and annoying (as by the time I got home, I’d missed the second half of Watford v Tottenham).

The major difference is in the pins that hold the links together. SRAM use conventional pins that can be pushed out with a chain tool to split the chain, then aafely pushed back in to rejoin it (aswell as usually having a ‘Powelink’ that enables you to split the chain and rejoin it without the need for tools). Shimano chains have a pin design that, once pushed out with a chain tool, enlarge the hole they sat in. You then have to use a special, larger diameter pin to securely rejoin the chain – mucho faff.

What’s the worst that could happen?

The worst that could happen is that the chain could snap. Annoying but not exactly the end of the world. I’d invest in a SRAM chain (I’ve only ever used these, right back to when they were Sachs-Sedis) and either change it over now or, if you don’t mind doing these things at the side of the trail, pack it in your daysack/Camelbak/seat pack/whatever you use along with a chain tool and swap it over when the Shimano chain gives way.

What a strange thing for your LBS to say! I ran a 180mm rotor on an IS mount on my old bike for years, on a Fox F80 RLT fork and before that a RockShox Judy 100. At the time of purchase, a 180mm rotor was considered large, with 160mm front and 140mm rear rotors being the norm. Post mounts were still a brainwave waiting to happen back then, so I’ve no idea why your LBS should say suggest that IS mounts require dinnerplate rotors. Unless, as you say, it was an attempt to steer you into a purchase.

That depends what size IS adaptor you have (I’ve just re-read your post a couple of times and can’t see a mention of that). If you have a 203mm adaptor then yes, you will need to run a 203mm rotor. If you put the caliper on a 203mm adaptor and use a 185mm rotor, the caliper will sit too far from the fork leg and the pads will not meet the braking surface – kind of like putting a 26″ wheel in a road bike and finding the brakes don’t meet the rim.

If you want to continue using your 185mm rotor, then you’ll need a 185mm IS adaptor, usually a cheaper option than buying a new rotor.

As to whether you need a 203mm rotor, it depends on your riding, how big you are and how powerful you want your front brake to be. I run a 180mm front rotor for XC and it’s as much as I’d ever need.

Interesting… might try popping them in the mother in law’s dishwasher next time we’re up that way!

I think EBC CFA730 look like the right fitment. Happy with that, I always used EBC greenstuff on my old Hopes (and on my car for that matter!) and was very satisfied with them.

Cheers, I’ll give that a whirl. So the current crop of SLX, XT and XTR brakes all use the same pads as eachother and my Deores, have I understood that correctly?

Fox
Kona
Hope
Mavic
Easton
Shimano

I’m liking that a lot…

Are you looking for a high end, off road night ride type light or an LED commuter light?

For the former, I’d say something like a Hope District, for the latter the Cateye TL-LD610 is good.

I’ve been away from the scene for a while (see my ‘Everything’s changed!’ thread) but I always thought the ideal to be an arrow shaped tread on the front for steering and a paddle shaped tread on the back for drive traction – much like the Panaracer Smoke & Dart in themanfromdelmonte’s picture above. Indeed, if I could find somewhere selling a kevlar beaded NOS set of these I’d snap their arm off! A more modern tyre (but probably still considered Jurassic these days!) is the WTB Velociraptor, they are front and rear specific and have a very similar tread pattern to the Smoke & Dart.

they also have this new stuff called full suspension, its crazy, it makes riding on rough trails like riding on the road, its the future…

I have no problem with suspension, I just like it to be on the firm side and on the shorter end of the travel range.

I’m quite prepared to move with the times and embrace new standards, I just want to be sure those times HAVE actually moved. I like to buy something then keep it and care for it for as long as possible. It may be something to do with being a tight arsed Northener, it may just be that I’m of the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ school of thought. As I said, I’d like to know if 29″ is now the established standard for XC bikes and not a flash in the pan. Is the general concensus that 29″ is here to stay, or is a return to 26″ more likely?

So what’s the deal with them then? Is 29″ now the established norm for XC bikes, as in here to stay with 26″ being dead and buried? As you may guess by my OP, I’m not the kind of person to buy a new bike every couple of years or so. OK, the current Caldera is an interim as it’s heavy, too slackly angled, too softly sprung (Marzocchi MZ Race that I almost bottom out just by applying the front brake) and too big for me at 20″. It’s purpose is purely a cheap method of keeping me on wheels until I can afford something decent again. When I get that something though I dont’t want to A) buy a 29er then find they all disappear or B) buv a 26er (is that what 26″ wheeled bikes are now called?) and find it’s obsolete.

Hi guys. My bike was stolen today, from within a block of flats that supposedly has an electronically locked security door that requires visitors to ring a doorbell and be ‘buzzed in’ by someone from within one of those flats. What I now know is that theres is also a ‘trades’ button that opens the door anyway and renders the whole system useless.

I came on here looking for advice on what to replace my beloved Kona with, after looking aimlessly at manufacturer’s sites for hours and seeing nothing that really ‘does it’ for me. I stumbled across this thread and thought I’d share my pain a little :(

FWIW, the bike is (was?) a Kona cromoly hardtail (originally a 1996 Fire Mountain and owned by me since new), custom painted white, rear canti bosses shaved, IS disc mount brazed on and support strut brazed between non-drive seat stay and chainstay, FOX F80 RLT forks, XT cranks, mechs and shifters, silver Hope hubs, discs (Mono M4 180mm front, Mono Mini 160mm rear), ti skewers, stem and headset, Mavic XC717 disc rims, Easton EC70 carbon flat bar, X-Lite Enduro Stubbie bar ends and USE Alien carbon seatpost. Stolen in Waterlooville at around 3.30pm on Mon 28 Nov 2011.