Regular quill stems are not under permanent tension (caused by the preload effect of ahead design). That aspect combined with the rotational loads is what causes them to come loose more often. It's also worth pointing out that the end of the steerer tube MUST protrude from the top of the headset if you are going to use one of these. If the join between the two is inside the headtube that would make matters even worse…

Christ, i bet even George Bush could spell better than that!

On a side note, those steerer extenders are notorious for coming loose! After the first few uses you should check the quill is still tight. After it has settled a bit it will be ok. I still wouldn't use it for mountain biking…

The market value of most of the cyclescheme bikes i see is around zero, as they are the most neglected bikes i have seen in my life…

You won't regret a Blur Ltc… I love mine!

edit, billyboulders beat me to it with Taken by trees… Me and my slow typing.. D'oh!

as part of a quest to find new music i have listened to every one of those links lol!
I'm surprised neither of these have been said yet…
Sweet child of mine – taken by trees
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dqVDQ-lF4Q

Numb – Jamelia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLF_RphAv5Q

Also, already mentioned. "Running up that Hill" by Placebo and "Man who sold the world" by Nirvana are both superb…

Excellent thread! 🙂

On One

I think Lorenzo will walk it… I can't wait! Laguna was the first ever MotoGP race i watched (three years ago maybe – the one with the famous Stoner/Rossi battle). I have been hooked ever since!

Seconded for the Canon 550… Far more camera than i can make the most of, but i would recommend buying just the body and a decent lens as the 18-55 kit lens that canon group with it is pretty basic.

Looks good homes…. Now i know where it is i'll need to pop in some time 🙂

Spacing out the chainring isn't a great idea… Best to run the chainring flush on the tabs and deal with the chainline being a little off…

The grub screws push tiny ball bearings onto the shaft to hold the lever on. Best bet is to carefully loosen them (evenly) and remove the lever, clean and lube with something light like chain oil. During re-assembly evenly do up the grub screws just to the point that there is barely any play in the lever (the rebound dial will remove the remaining play when it is fitted)

I wonder how many bikes are written off each year in the TDF. There must have been thirty or so just yesterday!

Cheers, that's reassuring! Oh, and i should have asked are they mac compatible?

The old M800 saint used a threaded axle through the hub to attach the mech. It's the same hub you would use a RWS style 10mm skewer with. The others are self explanatory. I'd go 10mm QR with a DT RWS skewer. I've been running them for a few years and it's far stiffer than a regular q/r

Fwiw I run a monarch on my Blur LTc and it has been tremendous!

Sram (Rockshox) stuff has a two year warranty too, so it will be a close call once that becomes available!

I quite like using it actually! It's great to see your local trails overlayed on google earth and your overall stats for a ride. It really hammers the battery of my HTC magic though… Plus it once reckoned i did 135mph on my singlespeed… That may or may not be accurate 🙄

I love my 2.2 mountain kings! I always hated contis but these came on my Genesis and I thought i may aswell try them. I haven't been to a trail centre with them, but they are excellent for proper mountain biking 🙄 I use the rain kings too, and they are tremendous!

SLX front mech on my carbon blur as there's no such thing as a direct mount XTR and the XT one looks horrible. 🙄

Trek EX8 easily… They show up a lot of more expensive bikes!

I WOULD have previously said High Roller, Minion blah blah blah BUT I would have to say that the new generation of Continentals are superb! I just put some "Rain Kings" on my DH bike and they are mental grippy, a lot lighter than the maxxis that came off, have super sturdy sidewalls, and feel like they will last forever!

Gore Contest Bibs definitely, i have a couple of pairs and use them all year round both road and mtb. I even wear them on my dh bike with knee armour over the top. Perfect for stopping mud form going down your ass crack!

5'10"
15" (Small) Orange 224
19" (large) SC Blur LTc
17.5" Genesis io
17.5" Ridgeback commuter
54cm Trek Madone

The suntours are coming OE on a lot of bikes, and they are ok! The only problem with straying from a mainstream manafacturer is that servicing will be more difficult, and spares are nigh on non-existant…

They are far comfier than they look! I didn't think i'd like it till i borrowed one, now i have two.

The S-3 is great, but i splashed out on a XX headset and it seized solid after three rides… I've never had a headset do that before… Learned my lesson and got a king

"Squeezing in" one job bumps another one, so un-fortunately jobs take however long they take… If they are conscientious then they'll probably get the wheel done sooner than 2 weeks. That should just be an estimated maximum time…

yeah, shame they don't do tyres with both… i have some "rain kings" on flows, but they're non-ust and wont hold air overnight…

If a retailer is found to be "bending" the rules, they will have their contract with cyclescheme terminated. The amount of business shops do through schemes like this, they would be taking a huge risk!

That would drop the travel to 147mm, so it would be a reasonable match for a 140mm fork. The BB would drop nearly an inch… Maybe shorter cranks would be an idea whilst you're at it? It's gonna get quite expensive for an experiment!

Blur LTc? A little lighter than either and a whole lot stiffer! Love mine to death! 😆

Sounds like a result of aggressive cleaning to me

misunderstood the title…

This drives me mental! Working in a bike shop, I daily get people in with bikes that are held together with muck. Seized front mechs, stiff chain links, brakes that don't release, worn rims, seized headsets, seized nipples and shot drivetrains. Then they go berserk at ME for telling them it's humped? People that don't bother cleaning their bikes deserve everything they get!

What about one of these? Stiffee anyone?[/url]

This would be my only dilema… I've been lucky enough to try a GT3 RS and a standard Gallardo in anger and they are both mental. I WOULD like a Desmodicci, but you can't sleep in a superbike when the mrs throws you out for spending all of your time with your new car/bike…

till the neighbours complained about the smell

I'm looking for one too with a similar budget. It looks like pretty much an even split between an EOS-450 with a decent lens and a Nikon 5000D with a basic one for that budget. I've been recommended to look at warehouse express, but have found that Jessops are pretty close to that in terms of pricing also.