Next step…. put seatpost in a vice, and use the frame as leverage to twist it.

Mine seemed to seize after a cold day, i’m sure some scientician can shed some light on rate of expansion/contraction of carbon and aluminium.

repack… sorry i used Tacx carbon grease, lovely stuff.

Go for special delivery at a decent post office – lots of insurance, and will cost about £25… i sent my E120 frame that way.

Or http://www.parcel2go.co.uk

Take the whole clamp out and try to twist it out. I had this loads on two e120s. The warranty guys at a2b are pretty cool… never bothered them with the seapost.

You’ll also probably get someone saying to grease it before, I always do… and mine proper seized after a few days.

+1 for kirroughtree, glentress is overrated IMHO, although the blue is awesome for hucking around on.

The beast at CYB is a must, and although given a black grade its technically easier than the red at dalbeattie or kirroughtree. Loads of singletrack, fast and flowy.

Although staying in cwm pennant you’re closer to the marin and penmachno, which are both well worth the 45 minute drive, plus you can stop off for cake and tea in the alpine cafe in betws, Nom.

Specialized spooge is ridiculous, i might as well have poured water into the tyre.

It’s not thin enough to plug small holes, or move around the tyre enough to help with sealing. Stans is awesome stuff.

It was the line:

"this is a well equipped bike and will suit all kinds of riding, from road to hard trails"

ROAD :O

My mate lives near Merthyr and rides about the Beacons all the time on his rigid… that said he's made of 853 steel tubing.

I'd prefer not to ride rigid around that way, personally – but a hardtail is sufficient.

It was amazing.

One of the best endurance courses this year, this event needs to be run again next year – with a higher attendance.

The course was 7km, a really nice road climb up to some moorland, which extended into a steep climb to the top of the moors – then a long descent down into woodland, with some absolutley amazing tight switchbacks and short steep climbs.

Myself and Wonny managed 30 laps and finished 3rd in the pairs, top two finished with 33 laps each about 7 minutes between them.

Luke Morris won the Mens solo with 26 laps.

Some amazing marshalling, more marshalls than at Twentyfour12, they were at all points that could be considered tricky or physically demanding and they stayed awake the whole night, shouting encouragement.

The whole community got behind the race, as it was for charity – with the Mayor presenting the cups and medals.

Tip-Top.

And well done Wonny, you had a great race.

Just in case anyone was following this with bated breath…

Had the bb shell retapped and it was fine, a lot of swarf came out so the threads must have been really gash.

Never not chasing the threads again.

Damn you Rob! I may see you tomorrow for a chase and face. I will not bring cake though, because of that comment. Maybe stale biscuits. But they will not be chocolate covered.

Awesome, well – you try buying a new race frame, that you can barely afford, strip down two bikes, and start building it up – knowing you've got a race next weekend… only to do something so ridiculously stupid that you've mocked people in the past for doing it.

It's all about perspective, and point of reference. At that moment in time, it was the worst thing ever. I can now see that its not the end of the world, but at the time i finally got the bb cup out and saw the swarf fall out i almost cried…. almost… but i posted on STW instead.

Bakes – i thin you can if you can knock out the bearings from the back… i've replaced mine – but i wouldn't do it against as the top hats are fragile to say the least. You should be able to push it out with a punch though i'd have thought.

Druidh – i agree. I even popped into my LBS and asked "is it worth facing the BB shell?" and stupidly didnt ask for a chase. IDIOT.

My virsa was actually fine, i'm going to pop to my LBS tomorrow and get them to chase it properly. There is still loads of threads left, the drive side looks fine tbh, its just the first few threads that dont pick up properly, the non-drive side also looks ok-ish, just not as high as the threads should be – they look a little 'flat'…

And it was only a few shavings that came out from the non-drive side, hardly anything from the drive side. but the non-drive side does look shiny now – and the bb cup itself looks very stripped – i think that took the worst of the damage.

I almost had to swing off my bb tool to remove the non-drive side, which i find incredible – as it was fine going in, hardly any resistence and as true.

I'm even more gutted as i take such care with bottom brackets, because of the horror stories i've heard. I'm never putting in a bb without chasing first now.

Hmmmmm… the frame is all shiny and new and cost a lot of noteage….. i might see about buying some long ferrules and crafting a way of doing it.

Why do a UK based bike design company come up with a non-fully enclosed system? it's bonkers.

third set in how long Mooter?

£130 Jonny, i'm gonna have some for my race bike i think… they're 170 though… you happy with that?

Plus they'll be fully warrantied, so any problems just get em replaced for free :)

Carbon Scandal? Do you mean the whippet? I thought the Scandal was named after being made from Scandium………

Whyte's (well ATB's) service has been fantastic, i cracked my E-120 in Scotland nd they replaced it without even seeing the damage. Proper good service from them chaps.

I did think that, but it's not very good value for money – you can buy a whole Whyte 19 C, and a set of XTR cranks for the price of a single Vertex frame….

Hmmm…..

If you want them fixed check out Loco suspension tuning:

http://www.locotuning.co.uk/

They'll do a full service, including the Loco Moco special seal upgrade for £69. It's a steal at that price, I'm picking mine up from them tonight – really nice chap that runs it too. He'll do a bit more than just a standard service, he'll inspect any manufacturing defects etc…

Personally, I dont like servcing my forks myself, I have done – but i dont have a super clean environment, and it only takes a bit of grit or dirt to get in the internals to do some real damage.

Cheers

Ricks

Bike Tart

Simply the best tape i've ever used, i wont use anything else. It's the proper 3M stuff, not the sh1te on eBay. (even though they do advertise on eBay)

ha, awesome :)

I'm not fully decided yet – but i really do like the look, and the reviews of the SIX. It ticks the boxes for me at the moment, and is a little under budget – and the SE edition would allow me to upgrade the wheels after the winter to something lighter and a bit more surging.

Feel free to tlel me i'm wrong and to go for the Cayo, or something else though!

Ergh…. wallet… coming… out…..

I might be a bit too much into my pimp, but I'd prefer something carbon for the beatuiful lines – i just dont like the stock look on alu frames. Which unfortunelty rules out the well recommended CAAD9 :(

Right then, Googled it myself. Seems like a decent way to buy then try a new bike, 30 days to make sure its the right bike is probably the length i'd need.

Hmmm… Focus 30-day trial…. how does that work? Is it like the Bontrager comfort period – trash the bike as much as you like within the 30-days, if it's not right, send it back for no cost?

Hmmm… SRAM looks a bit non-bling, and wont be ready til mid-september.

XDX = fast rolling and proper slippy, although i believe it is tubeless ready – so slightly thicker sidewalls – which IMO doesn't make any difference.

I'd just buy a better tyre setup, loads of info on the forums if you search about – I and a lot of other people use:

Front: Advantage
Rear: Crossmark

But there's a load of riders that love the Schwalbe setups, Nobbynics:Front and Racing Ralphs:Rear.

951 and 971 are the same but with a coating on the 971- the 991 is hollowpin I believe so will be slightly lighter. I ran 3 chains, swapping every two weeks and noticed no difference between them. The 951 is great value, I don't see the need to spend more for the coating tbh.

Osprey Raptors will hold a helmet on the outside with the Lid-Lock system…

Hang a left…

Link…

An answer to my own question – although not ideal as a bit weighty:

DMR Chain Guide Link[/url]

Looks good – but £50… :(

And i dont want to use a bash guard and a chain keeper – it'll add too much faff and too much weight – even though it would be a good solution for someone else.

(something like Paul's chain keeper and a cheap bash).

Spooky- probably me with the courtesy :) I've taken to saying, "rider behind, let me know when it's safe to pass". 1 or 2 seconds really isn't going to make or break a podium.

Had a great ride with one of the wiggle pairs, where we rode together from the start to the finish together… Only realising at the allotted that we were inthe same category. A slip in the woods gave him the lead and he proceeded to run as fast as he could through the woods while I stalked him on the bike. Awesome. Moments like that made the race for me.

Hi,

I'd be interested – can you email me to make contact please?

Cheers

Ricks

Nope, brand new seals. I'm just going to pop them onto the lowers first – i've always done it that way with my DT Swiss's – i was just following the Fox instructions….

Cheers for the info chaps, i'll give them a grease and pop them on with a large socket.