I had to cut a tough WTB breakout off a wtb st rim.

I reckon a big part of the problem was gorilla tape being thicker but also more rubbery than standard tape. I also had an issue with a maxxis tyre, again with gorilla tape. They were the only two times.

I won’t use gorilla tape again.

I run a 2.8 magic Mary on the front. It’s been brilliant. Not really found anything it’s bad at.
I had a rekon on the back but that’s been changed for a butcher which I got in the sale.
The rekon is great in the dry and rolls well but the bike will be my main bike over winter so I wanted something with a bit more bite as needless to say, show it some mud and it struggles. Been out today and to be fair the butcher doesn’t seem too draggy either which is good.

It’s hardly been used for schraeder. I think they rely on a see saw type seal inside which probably gets gummed up. Trouble is you can’t get to it to clean it.

I have managed to salvage an old black burn head which fitted the hose so it’s sorted.

Thanks all.

Cheers folks. Sounds like it’s a pretty standard hose size.

Got a 2.8 soft magic Mary. Great for everything. Don’t really notice the drag.

Wouldn’t fancy a purg on the front. Butcher would be a better option I imagine.
Maxxis minion dhf another option and I think wtb have brought out more 2.8 options recently.

Depends where you ride really but the Mary is a decent all round front tyre.

Not tried the 4 pot Deores but had zee previously to the guide re that I have now.

The guides have more power and modulation than the zee which likewise had more of both than the standard Deores they replaced.

I would definitely pay the extra £35. The guides are really good brakes.

They are what came on my whyte all be it in 2.8.
I replaced the high roller with a magic Mary on the front as I’m generally not keen on them but I find the Rekon rolls fairly well once you are off road and you don’t particularly notice the Mary on the front.

Needless to say on road they are horrendous.

I imagine maybe a trail boss might roll a bit better as the knobs are pretty closely spaced but on the whole the Rekon isn’t a bad general option for the rear and potentially the front as long as it was dry.

Looks great.

Be interested to see how you go on with them staying together where the zip ties go through the foam.

I made some myself very similar but they ended up splitting where the zip ties went through which in turn made the wheel pretty unbalanced. They also stuck to the sidewalls if the tyres. They worked well whilst together though.

On rimpacts now which seem pretty good.

I got some from a cycles. Think they were only £2 too but can’t see them on there now.

Peak cycles (never used them) have some: https://peakbikes.store/giro-pad-kit-fixture-fmly-black-one-size/

As does giro uk: https://www.giro.co.uk/products/detail/GIHSP7102182/pad-kit-fixture-fmly/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlJnPye_R4gIVwrHtCh0KkAZCEAUYASABEgKUZPD_BwE#delivery-returns

Found one. I’m happy enough posting it if you cover the postage. It’s no longer needed by me as I snapped the axle and if I ever get round to fixing it it will be bolt thru anyway.

Think it’s just over £5 standard (approx 7 working days) delivery.

I might have one. Il have a nosy in the morning and let you know.

I got a burley they axle adapter from amazon. Was £42 which was a bit cheaper than the Robert axle project from what I can remember.

You need to know the pitch thread for the axle you require though. It may be written on it.

I had the same dilemma recently after running out of Stendec easy glide.

Went with RSP Slick Kick kick from bike discount. £30 odd is a lot but 500 g should last ages as did the Stendec previously.
Would have got it from j tech but postage was showing as £9.

Bump for the evening folks.

Sherwood Pines. It’s much closer than Llandegla and even the red is pretty steady. Taken an 8 and 9 year old round the majority of it.

There’s a little loop at the start which gives a good idea of what it’s like and if that’s too much you can just head back to the visitor centre and stick to the fire roads / green route.

On the kindle app got to discover. Then prime reading (on iPad it’s an option in blue at touch down the page), then there’s a magazines available on prime reading part. Scroll through and it’s there available to download.

I think the debonair shafts are different between 2018 and 2019 hence the 2019 forks having debonair printed on the uppers.

2019 should have the new air shaft which you get in the upgrade kit.

I know my 2018 lyriks had the older shaft fitted. I fitted a 2019 and it made an improvement.

35mm internal (they say 35mm max).
They also say 2.6 Max tyre ideally but that it will still work with tyres wider than 2.6.

I would have thought with the rimpacts it’s more about rim width so the insert is wide enough to protect the rim.

Got rimpacts on the hardtail.

I’m a heavy old lump and they help to run reasonable pressures on the 2.8s without worrying about dinging the rims and causing any damage, which has tended to happen a lot on previous bikes non plus bikes.

Just ordered some for the full suspension for a bit of piece of mind.

I did make some from some closed cell foam whilst they did work for a bit they just tore apart form where they were joined and got stuck to the tyres.

I had issues until I cleaned the post off (shop had used grease) and added some carbon assembly paste.

Seems ok now.

But I imagine the narrower the rim and less flexible the tyre the harder it would be.

As usual getting the tyre well under the insert and into the well if the rim made the difference for me.

I can see how it could be tough.

It Was fairly easy getting a 2.5 exo aggressor on 35mm rim

Glad it’s sorted.

On my sommet there is a grub screw that keeps the nut in place (as per the first pic above on the dropout).

Is there not one on the Sentier? If not I imagine it would just drop off if the maxle was unthreaded.

XL.

I’m 5’7 and on paper the bikes look really long in comparison to a lot of other bikes but I’m on a medium and it doesn’t feel so at all.

I’m very tempted to get one of these to build up as a winter hardtail but I’m a bit torn between this and an ns eccentric alu 29 https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ns-bikes-eccentric-alu-evo-29-frame-2018/rp-prod165985.

the ns is a touch slacker and has a lower bb but other than that they are fairly similar figures. Obviously the ns is designed around 29’’ but will take plus size 27.5 too where as the 27.5 will only take 2.4s.

Planet X had a good few options for very little money when i was looking a few days ago. Vittoria (Goma I think) looked ok from what I can remember.

I have that exact model. It’s a great bike. Good value well thought out spec. Better suspension than the YT jeffsy it replaced, more active and better controlled but it also pedals well.

Where are you and what’s the intended use? Needless to say it’s not particularly light and like any long travel bike needs some rocky steep terrain to get the best out of it.

I would be surprised if all the frames other than the new Startline are going to be made in the uk. If that’s the case £700 for a uk made frame seems very reasonable. Would imagine they will all be Taiwanese made but different tubing and no yoke to keep costs down to make a slightly cheaper frame.

I have had a 26’’ slackline and a 27.5 Switchback which was hands down the best hardtail I have ridden. I would love a gen 2 Switchback for the versatility of different tyre widths as the original was tight on clearance but can’t afford/justify £700 for one.

Im interested to see if the 29’’ version of the new Startline would take fatter 650b tyres (say 2.6/8) and what the geometry will be.

Do they replace bushes or is it just a new set of lowers? I know on older forks they just put new lowers on.

Might be something to factor in.

Sounds promising.

There’s a few facelift just over a year old 1 litres at the price I’m looking at.

And a few pre facelift 2 year old 1.6 tdis.

1.4s are approx 1.5k more.

………..Took me a while.

Giro fixture for £36 if you get go outdoors to price match Merlinwho have it for £40 (only on the red colour).

Its a bit no frills with a fixed peak and unajustable straps but it one of the comfiest helmets I have had and is reasonably airy in comparison to a lot of trail helmets about at the moment.

We have one of the hammocks for the chariot. Works a treat.

I too have enduro front and rear. Rear rolls pretty well as the blocks are closer spaced but grips well too.

Looks to be wearing pretty quick though.

Think the part number is 141-34000  a few German stockists from what I can see.

theres a long thread on mtbr. It’s said to help reduce friction a good deal.

Never done it but contemplated it when I had some. Separate oil and wipers seems a bit much on a fork that takes from what I can remember 7ml of lower oil.

Just installed the new air shaft. Hard to say how much an improvement it is on stiction as I have obviously renewed the oil / grease but the fork was only 3 rides old. That said it definitely feels plusher with a lot less breakaway on the seals. Hopefully they that’s down to the new shaft rather than having hardly any oil in from the factory.One of the foam rings was pretty dry but a reasonable amount of oil came out of both the lowers.

I did notice a bit of a dead spot in the damper at full extension when cycling it so bled that and there’s much more of a difference in the way the compression feels (it did next to nothing before).

Will know now more when taken for a proper ride but pressure will have to go up at least 10 psi over the old air shaft and hopefully the damper will feel better for having no air in it.

New air shafts are now in stock. The circlip can be a pain, particularly to get back on the old style as it has a bit of a lip that you have to get the circlip centralised around but the new one no longer has this. Even then with patience it’s fine.

I bought some some cheap circlip pliers from China on eBay that are slightly serrated. They are great for getting the circlip off as the circlip doesn’t slip off them. Then I just use a standard pair to get the circlip back on.

Just got the 2019 debonair air shaft today (tf tuned).

Will update with how it is in comparison to the standard (Lyrik not Yari though) once it’s fitted and ridden.

Damper change would be simple (as would the air shaft change):

Remove lowers then it would just be a case of undoing the compression adjuster, undoing the compression top cap and taking out the compression damper. Pour the oil out. Take off the circlip from the bottom of the upper and remove the rebound piston. Give it a clean then screw the charger damper in from the top of the crown.

They look to come with oil and bleed kit so you might have to bleed it prior to installing though. Again it’s not hard with the bleed kit, just take your time to get rid of all the air.

Its easier to change the foam rings in the lowers than try and clean them and re use them. Depending how used / worn the seals are you might not need to change straight away.

Good thing about sram is that the service manuals will all be online and are easy to use.

All the the above said, I would be tempted to do one thing at once (it’s a bit of a pain pulling the lowers off again) but you might find that you are happy with just the air shaft change or vice Versa the damper change. And the damper is not at all cheap!