I use V2's on both my bikes. 203 rotors on my big bike and 183 on my trail bike. If you were going to go for the V2's I'd say all you need would be 183mm rotors. They are super powerful brakes and I love them!

Oops. Yeah I meant do NOT!

On the video it says to align the disc in the centre of the caliper, there should be a line on the caliper to help align it accurately with the disc. Once its centralised by eye tighten it up and pump the brake a bit. One pad will contact the disc first, so like mentioned you need to gently push the offending piston back into the caliper a bit. Do this as onzadog mentioned. Push the pad that contacts the disc second against the disk and other pad, this should push the 1st contacting pad into the calpier a bit. Pump the brake again and repeat if necessary. It may take a bit but its worth getting right!

Hope specifically say do use the loosen the caliper, pump the lever to engage both pads onto the rotor and then tighten the caliper bolts method of alignment.

It took me while to get mine sorted out but once they are they are fantastic brakes.

I wouldn't either. A friend's carbon swing arm cracked recently and even after the shop he bought agreed that it was a warranty issue the part was refused for warranty by the import / Yeti.

They claim the tyre sawed through the swing arm, my pal and the shop say it wasn't the case. Whatever happened it was not good and I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole which is a shame as they look fantastic.

Unfortunately my bank balance doesn't like titanium and ultimately its the boss, its marginally more accepting of 2nd hand though!

What I want is something to ride to work on, take out and hit the trails when is really wet and miserable, and when the trails dry out something I can happily jump and drop and mistreat. I like the Chameleon as it has always been refered to as a good do it all frame. You can ride XC, Trails and dirt on it.

Whatever I end up building isn't really going to be an all day riding in the mountains kind of bike, it will probably be more hard trail riding orientated with a 120-130mm fork. The frame is the important bit though as I can chop and change bits as and when I like!

I just had a look at the Dialled bikes website and they look nice too. The Prince Ablert and the Alpine looked great!

Yeah I think a Chameleon is the one I really want, it will be a case of trying to find one going for a reasonable amount (ie cheap as possible)!

I do quite like the look of the Cotic!

Some one was selling a Santa Cruz Bullit frame recently. That can be built into a very capable DH / hard riding trail bike, perfect for a lot of UK courses and great if you want to go out to the alps!

So if I cancel my orange contract, then say go to a high street phone shop I can re-sign up with Orange on a new number and similar tariff and pick up a free laptop (as I need a new one)?

I got some UFO shorts from MDracing products recently. I think they were only £35 and they are good quality.

I have one of those in small too! Mine's blue but I much prefer your white one!

They are amazing bikes.

I'm a giant 5"6 and ride a medium new shaped heckler. I often wondered if a small would be better, but to be honest the medium is fine. I run a 50mm stem on it and the reach is pretty much right.

I think the small may have been just a bit too small for all day riding. I also have a small size bullit and that is prefect for its intented use.

Maybe my description of poor for the stopping power is a bit harsh, maybe dissappointing would be more approriate. I think for some riding styles they are great brakes. Its probably my poor braking technique but they don't deliver what I want from a set of brakes and that is, I suppose, more on/off power.

I know its a bad comparison but I really like the power my V2's give. I understand that they are bigger brakes, but they wouldn't be out of place on my heckler and I know that they will stop me very quickly should I want them too. Thats what I am going to replace the K24's with!
Anyone got a set going cheap?

I think that they are good brakes, they give a lot of modulation and look fantastic but they don't suit my riding style. I think they will be repaced with Hope V2s soon so if anyone is in the market for some K24s watch this space!!

I though about the ones but they seem to be very expensive. Merlin are doing a full set of Saints for £300 so that seems ike an ok deal at the moment!

I may replace them with Shimano saints as they seem to be the kind of thing I'm after. I run Hope V2s on my big bike and do really ike the power they give. I will consider my options!

I run 180mm discs with sintered pad up front and semi metallic on the rear at the moment. I have thought about going for a 200mm disc up front too to try and boost the power. To be honest it could be that he brakes are fine but don't suit my riding style, or that if I did try X brand of pad then the power they provide could be mind blowing!

The modulation is fine, you can scrub a bit of speed off very well but I find inorder to stop at speed you really do have to apple a lot of force to the levers. I just don't understand where the opinion of masses of power comes from!

Is that 10psi more pressure than the positive in the Negative chamber?
I read that the 60/60 set up was good.
Set the +ve to 60% of your weight and then set the -ve to 60% of the positive pressure!

Thanks very much for that.

Were they good and reliable? I’m not too concerned about the weight so long as tehy work well!

If you want the use of a forumla Oro bleed kit drop me and email (rhid14@hotmail.com) and you can borrow mine.
I have had a fair few problem with my k24s stuff like getting hold of spares and the brakes not behaving. After a lbs service (when they were 10months old) they seem to be better.
I can understand why someone would want something more powerful. They don’t seem to have the stopping power of some brakes I have tried, they do however have a lot of modulation!

I want one of those too. Good price and a good frame I think!

NYA Pendam trail would be pretty good, the Summit trail isn’t that taxing either if you take it easy!

Does anyone exceed the included £4000 maximium for bikes (or un-specified collections as the policy states) on M&S?

With recent price rises my two bikes come in at nearer £5000 now so I was wondering how much that would increase my premium by?

Have a look at the Santa Cruz UK website. THere were some Shmano LX on DT swiss non disc wheels for about £90, they seemed to be a good deal.

The Marin, Penmachno and the whole of Snowdonia are very close by! There is some fantastic riding to be had!
I live in Bangor and have to travel to the Sankey area of Warrington regularly, its about 1.5hrs easy.

I have a new one built up for playing round on DH and the like. I have used it for longer pedally rides but to be honest it a bit heavy. However it is tremedous fun going downhill.

THanks for that.

Rhid

That 70-80 is a rough figure inlcuding a new rim. I could reuse the old one but if I have to pay for it myself I may as well get something a bit lighter and stronger!

Even reusing the old one its going to be around £50 for a rebuild.

I see! Well I have emailed them stating my unhappiness with the situation and I will see what they have to say about the subject.

So ultimately its down to the LBS to decide the fate of my bank balance by either charging me for a new wheel build (minus the Hub) or not?

Or as an act of good faith and reassurance that the product that they have sold me isn’t a pice of junk destined to continually fail the hub manufacturer covers the cost or provides me with a new wheel!
Either way I would be happy!

The wheel build issue is something that needs to be addressed. I don’t see it as fair or right that I should have to pay for the new wheel. I bought it from Santa Cruz pre built onto a hope hub. The hub failed through no fault of my own now I am stuck paying £70-£80 for something which shouldn’t have happened! I’m sure you will agree that the costs shouldn’t be passed on to the poor devil who bought the wheel in good faith thinking it was going to last for a fair few years.

I have no problem with either Hope or Santa Cruz at the moment. They do, however, need to stand by their products and come up with a replacement for me (and anyone else with this problem!). I’m sure Hope will replace the hub, but the issue shouldn’t have arisen anyways and since it did they should incur the cost of the total works involved.

I am going to take it up with the bike shop and see if they can get something done about it. Wish me luck!

That is spooky, the same bike-exactly the same problem! I did look at my front too but couldn’t see any problems there.

A friend who works in a bike shop said he has just seen one Pro 2 hub do exactly the same and it was just over a year old! What are the chances!

I spoke to the shop the bike came from and they are going to sort it, it doesn’t seem to be an issue with replacing the hub itself. It is still going to cost around 75-85 for a new wheel to be built round the hub though.
I will let you know how I get on.

Rhid

I was going to talk to the shop i got it from first. The hub is 14 months old but it was trouble free til today!

Mine did this too. I endlessly fussed around with them changing pads, blleding them and eventually changing the pistions! Nothing seemed to work!
I eventually sent them back to the shop they came from and they replaced the internals on the lever. I know some of the older K24s were recalled due to issues with the seals in the master cylinder, so it could be worth checking with wherever you bought them to see if they can be returned under warranty (it should be sorted out for free then). The LBS fix seems to have worked as thay do feel pretty good now.
Bleeding them isn’t too bad but you do need a bleed kit and it takes a bit of time.
The brakes do seem to have a lot more free lever movement than other brakes I have used, and the FCS adjuster doesn’t do much in eliminating the excess movement. When I got mine back the adjuster seemed to work better than before but its not as good as the one on my Hopes.

In all honesty send them back to where they came from and ask them to be checked under warrenty. Its a bit rubbish that expensive brakes don’t even last a year. Alternatively call propel the distributor and ask them to sort the issue out.

I listened to the first Elastic album and It Girl by Sleeper the other day and they both still sound good!

I sent them back to the shop they came from and they replaced the master cylinder seals and they work fine. So thats that really. I’m not massively impressed that the seals needed replacing after under a year of use but the brakes do work very well so I suppose I will have to live with it.

I have Mantiou shermans 170mm on my 08 bullit and they are pretty good. I can ride the bike a up and down stuff nicely. Its no XC bike on the climbs but its easy enough to grind away even technical climbs!