yeah read that last night (his Sunday Times In Gear bit), was pretty surprised how pro-cycling it sounded too. Clarkson, though pretty funny most of the time, is kind of a professional troll. so this winds up some of his fans, and next month he’ll probably hate cyclists again.

also not sure cities can’t work with bikes and cars, not sure that’s helpful. London is a particular problem because of the all the narrow old streets.. Top Gear themselves found a bike quicker a few years ago remember that?

no i bet it rides great. i have an SC32 and only thing i don’t like about that is the flex.
shame maverick went bust.. anyway we’re going OT :p

forward layback clearly works as long as there’s enough tilt adjust.

yer maverick looks great – jealous of your DUC32s. weird thing is i cant even see need for that curvy seat tube. they could have gone straight up (from that point forward of the bb) and got a normal seat angle and the rear triangle would still clear it? just with slightly longer top shock mount.

also front triangle on OP’s bike looks horribly flexy. yuck.

maybe belt drive is the next big thing?

seems all the action is happening on his Rockhopper
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SPECIALIZED-ROCKHOPPER-SHIMANO-MOUNTAIN-BIKE-RETRO-OLD-SCHOOL-/260996981102

“RIDES GREAT QUITE LAID BACK BUT WAS A RACER IN ITS DAY”

yah not sure i’d want to hop any rocks on that. or jump any stumps on yours :p

one problem is often (with FS bikes) they size the front triangle but use the same rear triangle for all sizes.. so the chainstays etc are proportionally longer on the smaller sizes, so handle quite differently. not all makes do this i guess.

epic music.. it’s like Star Wars, with a bike as Jedi and Bus as the Empire.

hah, i used to bomb down butser back when they had a grass ski ramp at the top. nowadays that sort of thing doesn’t really do it for me but .. if it’s dry there’s a right of way at the back that’s great fun. lots of nice bridleways and BOATS around there if you can get a local to show you ;)

umm if one group is being abusive surely those individuals should be banned or something, not everyone on a bike. if one group of walkers or horse riders were mouthing off at soldiers, would anyone try to ban all walkers or horse riders from an area? this makes no sense. if i wanted to abuse a squaddy i could do that with a loud-haler and no bike. are there not existing laws about interfering with military or military exercises that would allow individuals to be prosecuted?

and.. which land are we talking about?

wrecker, that’s very sad to hear that some MTBers have done that. but which bit of MOD land has this happened on do you know? also “trespass” is a strong word when as yet there are no signs or anything that i’ve seen.

anyone have links to official MOD position? what’s changing? i’ve heard today about confiscation of bikes and £1000 fines. this makes no sense to me as i’ve passed dozens of soldiers/cadets and all sorts of other users for years in Longmoor and had zero problems, even some friendly hellos. so my plan for now is to continue and be wary, avoid exercises, respect instructions etc as i’ve always done. getting caught in fire (live or not hard to tell) isn’t fun anyway. nor is running over a landmine or something.
all this talk of who owns the land, who has guns etc is completely unhelpful. if i’m ever told i shouldn’t be there by someone who looks official, i will probably not go back. hopefully i get out with my bike.. as i said though this isn’t how it feels so far, fingers crossed. i’ve had way scarier encounters with farmers and weirdos in shacks near footpaths.

alex222 (lot of people called Alex here?!)
you’re kidding right? Hope use some of the best (stainless) bearings around and they’ve outlasted everything else i’ve used (Shimano, SKF etc.).
headset – never changed the bearings in 6 years, perfectly smooth. bb – never changed the bearings (this one is amazing, i’m changing my other external BBs all the time). front wheel – never changed the bearings, only slightly rough now after 4 years.

mbr article sounds a bit sensationalist. i ride on MOD land and the general rule seems to be we pretend not to see the soldiers and they pretend not to see us. unless you’re an idiot darting between soldiers you shouldn’t affect much. they ride the land on dirt bikes sometimes anyway.
don’t ride towards gunfire (duh), don’t go in when flags are flying. i’ve been directed away a couple of times perfectly politely and just got the hell out of there.
anyone know if there’s a website that tells you when exercises are happening? perhaps not for security reasons. it’s a pisser sometimes when you get there and find flags up, but remember it’s their land and there’s still unflagged areas nearby to ride.. i really hope there isn’t a massive clampdown coming because i’d be sad to lose some of my favourite “remote” feeling riding in the south east.

are there a lot of bikes being stolen right now or is this normal? not been on this forum long, it’s making me nervous :/

Northwind, i’d just run the replacement until it breaks then ask nicely and see if you get a new set of internals the 2nd time. i’m fairly sure others have got that but maybe you need to go about asking in the right way or get the right person. it’s not in hopes interest to keep giving you new axles forever, they aren’t usually stupid like that.

not a massive hope fanboy btw i just think their hubs are great value, and stems, headsets and bbs too mainly because they’re all better sealed than most and with stainless bearings so even when water gets in they tend to keep going longer than most.

Northwind, curious which axle you’re breaking? and why would they not give out an improved part if its a drop in replacement?

I’d love to be able to break a Hope hub.

Hope have a worldwide reputation amongst mtbers, and of course are less common in other countries, adding extra “cache” (i can’t do the accent). would like to know roughly what % of their output gets shipped abroad? the falling £ at the UK recession start also helped them at home, you probably all remember shimano etc went up hugely then.
Hope Hoops hardly cost any more if you shop around than similar spec budget wheels like Superstar, so in some areas Hope are clearly the best bang for buck around. probably not in all areas though, like brakes.

this is cool:

and this is not?

cool?

not?

wait..

Last 10 years ummmm.. shocks (platform and damping)? thin pedals? How about oversizing all the things?

only 2 ebay uk results for that courier, and one is this thread, other is ebay 12 years ago. doesn’t look good? unless its coming from California. keep us updated ;)

he made a couple of grand. thing that gets me is it should be so easy to follow the money. paypal can see which bank account it was withdrawn to?

yer muggomagic has actually been scammed. good news is you have a fairly high chance of getting your money back if you file a claim with paypal, they usually side with buyers in these cases. only can get difficult if he has proof of postage, say, and sent you a brick.

he enjoyed selling that Ribble Evo Pro Carbon Road Bike so much, he sold it three times. he even knocked £100 off the price for the last buyer! what a guy.
looks like mwamail actually got the bike in Oct last year..

it’s really one negative: bit more complexity/cost. i’ve regreased mine once in a year and running great. it’s not more often than you’d change normal bushes, and RWC sell the roller bearing for a few dollars to existing customers (you don’t have to buy whole kit again).
i’d say if you’re interested in suspension tech and don’t want offsets, try them, or try one first.
how much difference will depend: how tight your old bush was, how much rotation there is, how much pressure you run etc. all i can say is i can feel a difference and i usually like to call out bullshit tech when i see it.

disagree. i use them on a single pivot (one end only, the one that rotates more) and they make a big difference (i am light and run low pressures which may be relevant). def. not a placebo. they shouldn’t knock either, if you have right tolerance. talk to Chris at RWC or check the big mtbr thread. only negative i would say is they add maintenance, can rust. rollers can fall out when servicing. and you can’t use them with offset bushes.
the suspension feels plusher with it though, that’s a pretty big win.

yeah bouncing off means you didn’t read the ground properly – either not paying attention or reading it but not knowing how to time/move your weight.
i think jedi is saying put the pedals further back, in the middle of your foot, not under the ball as with SPD cleats.
Also, i like to imagine i’m curling my feet around the pedal. Like a monkey. ugg ugg.

Eggbox, you’re either really good, or you’re wearing too much Team Lycra ;)
either way i’d take that as a compliment.
Luckily fewer people know about off road riding than road riding so i dunno what they make of us (unless you were also offroad in baggies and massive suspension in which case they’re idiots).

sometimes one has a banjo and the other doesn’t. well, that’s how Merlin sold me some a few years ago.

had to read that 3 times to know what you’re talking about.

he just got a new bike (frame), i think.

yes, try not to ruin it before you’ve ridden it :)

i’m waiting to have a crash as a result of my own bad work (been putting mtbs together for 15 years)

seem to be getting sloppier though. recently had a bar rotate whilst manual-ling and a back wheel fall out when turning bike over. not good.

broke an avid washer at weekend forgetting which way to undo the caliper mount.

yes, servicing eats time. that’s also why it’s expensive, and an LBS is much more efficient with everything to hand.

the usual beginner mistakes are breaking parts during install. bike shops must get sick of this. broke a titanium bar 15 years ago (putting on bar ends.. must have been years ago) and that was painful financially at the time. don’t trust torque wrenches either.

hah, i once phoned ActiveSport (simple stock question i think) and yes he was as rude as everyone says. there are loads of great bike shops so why use them…

owch.

what was the fork btw?
had you locked it through the fork?

i’ve always thought risers make no sense from an engineering POV, you’re better getting the height from the stem and keeping everything straight (you can also use a long fork steerer but that’s slightly worse as longer path). that said, i run risers because i have an older frame and need the position, very few nice high rise stems around (Hope 25deg is one). also a riser gives a protected area in middle of bar for gubbins when you flip bike over or crash.

so risers are essentially a bodge fix for a frame geometry problem.
ideally, if you could custom make a frame for yourself, you want long steerer tube and the top of the steerer where the bars go?

note: all above is my own uneducated thoughts and could be bollocks.

you can try the 2p coin and lockring trick i saw on youtube.
put some coins on the axle end (take off end caps first) then screw the lockring in. should pull the freehub off i think. i didn’t need it ‘cos mine was new.

damn… i only ever rode that trail once, just after it “closed”, sneakily, in the fog. it was amazing. just two of us. tried again a year later and it was impossible because of teh logging. real sad to hear it’s been trashed :/

Wally is that really good or are you joking? it’s not full of holes ?

check which way round the lowers are before sliding them back on. otherwise you get a strange fork.

that’s my 2p.

you mean smooth off all the horse hoof holes..

yes insanely dry here too (south east). dusty bikes and gear. smoth tyres and soft brake pads. i love it!

£18? ‘avin’ a laugh. 7x the price of these. you could splash out £5 on Clarks or Superstar and be pretty confident in them too.

just had first ride on these cheap ones. not much power at first, took a while to bed in, now seem nice: quiet and lots of modulation vs the gold superstars i’m coming from.
good dry weather pads i think! durability/staying-on-back yet to be decided though.

yeah got mine too, not sure i’ll put them on front of FS bike right away.. way pads are attached to backs is not like usual, you can see the pad material through the back. odd?

you should also have greased the cups before inserting bearing, the threads of the cups too. basically grease everything then do it up tight (but not the preload).