Then he'll send that spanish bloke to talk to the press

Queiroz is Portugese in any case

What he said….too heavy for lid use

you dont want to grease the LH crank arm threads or preload cap (unless ya want them coming loose ) but make sure the BB threads have tons stops creaking

always greased mine and never had them come unintentionally loose.

Me neither

Awesome. Bright, simple, stylish, four different modes.

Buy one

I'd rather have a tight tyre than have the fookin thing burp and throw me down the road on my face…..

My old man reckons i've got a razor blade as a saddle…does that count? :-)

Pop a bit of chain lube on the spokes where they cross

I bumped in to him and his family on their ski trip to Val Thorens this winter and took the liberty of telling him that I 'Loved his work' as I walked past whilst he sat outside The Frog having lunch. He bumbled a typical: 'Oh, yes, well, er, umm; WHY THANK YOU…..AS DO I'

You can't help but like the man, what a star :D

Mushroom Picker, Bike Village, France.

Steep, flowy, technical, one of those where you're pretty happy to clean it at all and when you manage to piece it all together at speed, you feel like ten men.

Fookin love it

There's no circlip in a Pro II freehub, just two identical bearings at the pawl end, then a spacer, then a larger bearing at the end cap end. You have to more or less butcher the two inner bearings to get them out. Do this by getting a punch or similar object and tapping the inner bearings out. You will need to push and prod the spacer to one side to get at the inner races to push them out. Once they are both moving, they wioll come out pretty easily. You can then get a drift for the larger, outer bearing. Putting it all back together just involves pressing them all in using sockets/drifts. DON'T FORGET THE SPACER! Also, once all is in, take any preload off the seals by tapping each bearing a couple of times until it all settles and everything spins freely.

…like what the rest of them said….god damn ugly but very functional indeed. The resort is well spread across several satellite villages also so don't expect a buzzing centre like in Val Tho/Courchevel 1850 etc. I've done three seasons over the hill in VT and would recommend Les Men to anyone if you can cope with the down sides.

Skiing-wise it's a good area, the main side of the hill is south facing and it's only two chairs/two stages of a bubble up to the top of the Mottaret/Val Tho link and the same up to above St Martin and Meribel. The area across the road, called La Masse is also sweet with loads of quieter (though more difficult) pistes and back country areas a-plenty.

If it's cheap, then get involved

Get a Nomad!!!!

Ronhill Bikesters and a pair of sharp scissors

Cheers chaps, much obliged

Step 1: Remove wheel and old pads and pad spring

Step 2: Lube outer surfaces of pistons with WD40/GT 85

Step 3: Push pistons back in using the ring end of an 8mm spanner with the ring over the retention pin so you don't snap it off.

Step 4: Clean all from inside of caliper with break cleaner. Leave to evaporate.

Step 5: Fit new pads. 'Bent' tabbed pad goes towards the inside of the frame.

Step 6: Replace wheel without pressing lever. Pump pads back up to the rotor.

Step 7: Centralise caliper by backing off caliper bolts, jiggling spacers around, pressing and holding brake then nipping the bolts back up. Sometimes a few goes to get ot all centred.

Bosh

anyone had any problems with their headset creaking?

Yes, one of the £25 Cane Creek S3s mentioned above. It did it from new on a Stumpy FSR. Swapped it for a CK and funnily enough it's still running buttery smooth, 3 years down the line. You get what you pay for, got mine from Aspire Velotech in the States half UK RRP but I imagine the deal isn't so good since the pound has devalued

Give it time…….

They haven't ditched the HAWG, i've just bought one. They do two versions: the regular and the non-sweaty-back 'NVIS' version. Both are excellent.

Great capacity, excellent stowage, integrated rain cover…what else do you want?

Buy one here:

HAWG CLICK HERE

Does anyone have any views on which MTB winter boots are better – the Northwave Celsius ones or the Shimano Goretex ones?

Think about the Spesh Defrosters, i've just got a pair and they're toastie warm and have the BG soles to boot. I had the Shinano ones before this but found that I got terrible 'hotspots' on the soles of my feet in them so ended up buying some Specialized BG insoles for them.

Next choice of winter boot was therefore a very easy one

I'm with IHN – you'll tear a couple of pairs up over the course of a few months' sh1tty riding then buy some Spesh Defrosters or Shimano winter boots and barring unforeseen podiatry deformation use them for the next 10 years

Nice choice…..

I'm a big fan of Queens of the Stone Age 'Go With the Flow'

Anyone else?

Another vote for the Gore Windstopper with mesh back. Brilliantly durable, warm and practical. My whole riding gear collection is progressively becoming infiltrated by Gore products. It seems like a big outlay but it's brilliant stuff, as my old stuff wears out I will always look to buy Gore to replace it. Very practically combined with a jersey and a pair of Windstopper arm warmers too

No chance

I use one on my helmet to compliment my Maxx D. They're not bad, nothing breathtaking but solid enough to use to look round corners/aid with mechanicals etc. I chose it because of the QR bracket that swivels 360 degrees to be honest; most non-helmet specific lamps from the likes of Cat Eye won't attach to a lid using the bracket provided but this one will. I can certainly feel the weight difference when i've got the unit on my lid so take it off when it's not required, that's how I intended it to be so it does the trick.

It's a cheap alternative until I can afford a Joystick

Check outer cable lengths.

Replace end caps

Replace shifter. The indexing comes from there, rear mech is just a big spring. If it ain't cables then it must be the shifter

Spesh Deflects, still great feel through the grips and levers, ulna nerve padding included, anything else is too warm. If it gets mega cold/wet, I consider wearing a pair of surgical gloves underneath but rarely does it get that bad

After drinking, blow the water in the hose back in to the bladder and lock the mouthpiece, the water in the bladder will struggle to heat up in comparison to the rate at which it will do so in the hose

No toold required for existing QR adaptors, should just pop out.

Notice use of the word 'should' 8)

I also like to wear glasses when riding as I wear lenses and have had a couple of occasions when braches, mud etc have smacked me in the face and i've lost a lens.

Mine steamed up constantly for years and years. I tried everything, spit, fairy liquid, potato, the blood of an unshaven virgin….but nothing worked.

Do you know what I did?

I bought a pair of prescription Oakley Radars with a vented, clear Path lens and clarity was achieved. Sometimes, unfortunately, there's no substitute for buying the correct product. Buy well:buy once

I had a mahoosive one going down some whoopy moorland a couple of years back, the type with plenty of step ups/downs in through erosion, but hit them right and you can leap from lip to lip on them. Sadly I didn't.

Egged on by my mate on a Nomad, early summer sunshine and dry ground and a new Stumpy Expert underneath me, I went balls out trying to keep up.
It was going well and i'd got a nice rhythm of splatting a couple of the holes at a time then jumping every third one. Then I hit one too hard and it kicked me back out of it at what can only be described as a 'jaunty angle'. It got worse and worse and I got more and more out of control whilst accelerating. Eventually parted company with the bike doing about 30mph and god knows how spat out of my SPDs so didn't tangled up with it. Did a full somersault and landed on my back in the heather, friction burns a plenty and a torn riding jersey as I slowed down from warp factor 5. The bike didn't fair so well: I caught glimpse of it as I landed being speared on to a rock on the other side of the trail and catapulting about 15ft in to the air. Knackered derailleur, snapped bars, heavily damaged rear shock and scratches/full on graunches a plenty.

Count myself very lucky considering it was about ten days before the start of the alpine guiding season, the bike got plenty of hammer that summer so the aesthetic damage wasn't too big a deal. Managed to break my thumb on an innocious bit of trail about two months later though. BUM :(

I have had exactly the same problem with my Thomson Elite 27.2 x 410mm in an Orange P7 frame. It was fine when I first built the bike up and was amply retained in the frame with the supplied QR clamp. However, come July this year, it started to slip through however tight I had the clamp up. I tried a non-QR clamp but it still slipped. I managed to shear the bolt in the clamp, trying to stop it slipping.

I made sure it wasn't just me who was going mental and tried a mate's 27.2 post in the frame with the QR clamp and it didn't budge a millimetre. Upon further investigation I discovered that the diameter of the post wasn't 27.2mm at any point (measured it with a pair of recently calibrated calipers). The inch or so around the clamping area was actually a good .1mm out. Doesn't sound a lot but it was enough to allow the post to move from side to side in the frame. Not much good when it's supposed to be an interference fit.

I phoned Merlin (the original vendor) and they told me to send it back to them. Frankly, Alan, the manager there was most unhelpful and dismissive of my problem. He tried to tell me that 'all' of the 27.2 posts they had were at least .1mm out. I was told that there was nothing further they could do and that they would not provide a new seatpost under warranty. I insisted that the post be sent back to Jim Walker (UK importer) who were much better to work with. They turned my claim round within a couple of days and got a brand spanker out to me no questions asked. Unfortunately it had to go back through Merlin so took another 5 days to get to me.

In short, it's not unheard of so insist it goes back to the importer for a claim. Hope that helps.

*and relaaaxxx*

It's bloody ace, I bought a Trek 1.5 off ebay last year for £400. I commute 60km (there and back) two or three times a week to save on fuel bills.

Tonight I got in from work at 6pm, threw my kit on, did my local loop up on to the moors and back down in just over an hour and smugly tucked in to my tea with a massive glass of red wine without an iota of guilt.

The bike gets it's chain oiled every so often and has had a new set of brake pads and inner cables in over a year's steady use. I've just treated it to a set of Crud Road Racer Guards also, which, so far, have been faultless.

I sternly recommend the dark side, it's crackin'

3:39 here 56th overall, beat my PB in 07 by 4 mins, well chuffed.

Cramp from two thirds distance and some chronic jogger's nipple were minor hindrances!

The biggest and best yet, roll on 2010!

ps. massive respect to Bonzo for 4:04 on a singlespeed

I had a similar problem at the start of the summer. After much investigation, I managed to isolate it to the drive side end cap.

Basically the end cap had become worn in such a manner that when the wheel was then clamped, the inner race of the end cap was pushed up against the exterior bearing race/seal surface and causing the whole freewheel assembly to rotate along with the axle. Spinning the rear wheel would drive the cranks and back pedalling would cause the chain to suck in to the chain stay….sounds like a similar problem to yours.

I solved it by machining the inner race of the end cap away in the lathe so that it only contacted the appropriate area of the outer freewheel bearing.

Buying a new DS end cap would obviously achieve the same feat if a lathe isn't available, however.

Hope that helps 8)

The man is a self indulgent @$$ hole, there's no doubt about it

don't forgot your bike locks for the hold in the boat

The bike thieves are hardly going to get far though are they? :lol:

New forks with an OS axle and converted hub would….a different QR is unlikely to. The QR skewer only serves to clamp the wheel, the stiffness is defined by the properties of the end caps (which effectively are the acting axle) rather than the skewer itself.

If it's knackered though, it can't help! :wink:

<Sits back and waits to be well and truly shot down in flames>

They don't issue confirmation emails, you're best off checking whether your card has been debited or whether your cheque has been paid in. I nearly fell foul of it as there is are two of me!
Say, for example, there was a balls up and your entry hadn't been accepted. The organisers aren't going to stop you riding having come all that way, one extra out of 1100 entries is going to make knob all difference.
Signing on is from 2pm on saturday at the Villa Marina, Central Prom, Douglas. See you there

TMB: don't think you'd get a journalist's job with grammar like that in any case :D