theyre great bits of kit.. :)

If you’re using it to clean patios etc.. a turbo nozzle makes a massive difference!

https://uk.worx.com/turbo-nozzle-for-worx-hydroshot-wa4037/

I use the normal nozzle on the short lance and the turbo nozzle on the long lance.

the only time ive had issues with the ratchet slipping is when i used ‘normal’ grease instead of the DT swiss stuff..

UK Stock of the grease isnt great unfortunatley.. i had to order my last couple of tubes from Germany..

youll end up googling alternatives and discover a few places saying DT Swiss special grease is the same as molykote TP42.. then find it on ebay for sale in small tubs.. (its a sort of beige colour)

i thought id found the cheaper easier version of special grease in TP42.. as it works ok in summer.. but come autumn/winter when the temperature dropped it seemed to thicken up in use in the hub and i experienced one or two slippages.. cleaned up and switched to special grease.. and everythings working as it should again.. and had no issues since..
(had the same issue in a modern 240 exp hub with a 54t ratchet.. and an ancient specialized S-works hub (with DT Swiss internals) with an 18t ratchet.. and a 350 hub with a 36t.. so it was deffo the grease..)

im fairly sure the DT Swiss stuff is based on the molykote TP42.. but it definitley got something else in it that helps in lower temps..

Awww :( Sad times indeed..

i’m useless with words.. but..

Im going to really miss Amanda’s unique (in an awesome way!) fun adventure stories and artwork..
(and fresh good friday video hilarity!)

Yup.. recently built this back up as a SS after it languished on the turbo trainer for the past few years..

its wonderful!

i couldnt find anything official either when i looked a couple of months ago..

a google image search of rockshox monarch shim stack and then a trawl through a few MTBR threads gave me what i wanted..

eg..

https://www.mtbr.com/threads/rockshox-monarch-rt3-shim-stack.792842/page-11#lg=thread-792842&slide=3

I’ve just used a shimano threaded pin to tap the threads..

Was Really easy to do.. I remember thinking it was going to be a pain.. And it just screwed in and Tapped the threads:)

Did it on the other side of my XT 4pot caliper as well so the pin screws in the other way.. (commencal meta v4.2 frame That blocks the pin from the normal side)

Had a set of these on the ebike commuter thingy I built for a bit…

They worked Tubeless perfectly fine for me.. Just a single wrap of tesa tape and orange seal endurance. :)

As above.. youll probably need to build you own..

Weve got a 24″ Halo sub4 rim  (with a sturmey archer 3 speed hub) on our Tag-a-long..

it was light and hasnt come out of true since i built the wheel a few years ago… :)

But why isn’t your garage overflowing with all sorts of crap? Eerily tidy.

this is very much the just tidied up 37 Tonnes of sawdust and moved them into place calm before the storm.. :D

all the crap is behind me waiting to be piled on to the benches once theyve had a coat of varnish to protect the top a bit more..

Not up to the amazing standards of some of the sublime woodwork in this thread.. but i finally got around to making some work benches for the workshop this weekend.. :)

I run a 26″ 1998 Kona hot with 700c Wheels as a ‘gravel’ bike..

WTB Riddler 37 at the back
would probably squeeze a 40 in.. but it wouldnt leave more than a mm of clearance..

WTB Raddler 40 at the front in a Fox Float fork..
plenty of clearance under the fork brace.. but had to limit the suspension travel (with effectively a large bottom out bumper) in the float by 10mm or so as the crown hits the tyre at full compression..

just bought some 47 650b byways from the ribble sale to mount in another bike..
i dont have the wheels built up yet.. but mounted them on a rim to test and look at next to the 700c wheels.. and the diameter is a good 10-15mm smaller than the 700c wheels.. so they would easily fit in the front and rear of the Kona..

have tried to access these and failed..

entered email.. nothing came back.. (nothing in junk)

filled in the contact us form.. nothing has come back..

any ideas anyone?!

We’ve got a 2013 one.. Its great as a basic car with a massive boot..!

Can fit my bike and my Daughters tagalong in the boot..without issue..

It’s very basic.. But has been reliable for the 8 or so years we have had it.. Is economical.. Reasonably easy to fix and Spares plentiful as its mostly old Renault tech..

The 0.9 petrol turbo is probably the pick of the engines..

If looking second hand I’d look for one in a colour other than white.. That has alloy wheels.. (they were ££ options that to me would Imply the owners that bought it had a modicum of pride in the vehicle and would have looked after it a bit..)

Just had to replace an £8 seal on ours as it was leaking a small amount of coolant.. And also an air con pipe (£30 off ebay) as it was Weeping at the joint..

I swapped an exp freehub (and cassette) between bikes with a 240exp and old style 350 hub for a while..

it worked fine.. (but i don’t think is ‘officially’ supported)

It worked best if i used the freehub side of the exp internals (Ratchet, shorter conical spring, alloy spacer) with the 240exp hub..

and then when using the freehub/cassette on the 350.. use the older style internals (Ratchet, longer conical spring)

if that makes sense..

Vids..

Got a light steph?

Horrid. Horrid. Stuff.

Just in the process of ripping the previous owners (ice rink when wet) rotten planks and posts of doom out in our new House..

1 (thankfully old and unused) rodent nest found.
11.. Toads..!!? Found (and Relocated) under the horribly degraded plastic liner they’d put under it..

And sooooooooo much horrendous rubble under it..

Do yourself a favour and put a patio in instead..

(im really not a fan of Decking.. Can you tell?)

I have broken a hub before trying to get one of these awful things out!
zero success using the vice method, wood strapped to the wheel.. heat.. etc etc

but i found a succesful method last time i tried this..

the ‘bar’ i used, ended up about twice the length as the video with various extensions..
And It required quite a bit more force than in the video..
I also found I needed to apply the force, and then hold it for 30 seconds at a time before it eventually broke loose..

but its the only method i have found that works reliably..!

I wedged the bar under our mahoosively heavy bed frame.. which when assembled I can only lift up with a car jack!

(I have an old specialized s-works hub with the same sort of internals that uses a smaller bearing that you can just press out with the ring in place.. much better design from a service point of view..!)

We tried two of the battery powered flaps.. but our cat is.. well.. hmm.. :)

Anyway.. the battery ones ran out of juice after a week (even with good batteries) as the cat was sitting next to the flap / struggling to get it activated.. taking ages to come in.. and basically running the battery down.

ended up with one of these..

Pet Porte Cat Flap

the ‘roof’ bit contains the sensor and means the chip gets read every time.. (it only seemingly read it about 50% of the time with the standard looking catflaps!) and it is mains powered, so no worrying about it running out of battery!

off the top of my head..

John Ryan Mattress – horrible!
Columbia Omni Heat boots – excellent
Worx Hydroshot – excellent
BasqueMTB holiday – Amazing!

and no doubt countless bike bits..

i always add singletrackworld to the text when doing research before buying a product.. theres nearly always a review / advice!

Wonderful Article!

Nanduro.. im stealing that phrase! :)

frog bikes?

they all have non replacable 32t chainrings..

but theyre £19.50.. square taper.. decent quality alloy arms.. steel ring.. comparatively light.. and come in a load of different lengths.. :)

https://www.frogbikes.co.uk/spares/cranks-bottom-brackets/replacement-cranks

i fitted a set to my daughters tag-along.. and they’ve been great!

The new 27.2 posts have an air valve at the top..
I think the newer cartridges are retrofittable to the old posts? if they are, i would highly recommend just buying one of those.. as the old style is just a massive pain to deal with.. i have rebuilt a few.. and even when rebuilt properly.. they always slowed back down and started sagging slightly again with a couple of months.

with the old style posts..
It is possible to dissasemble the oil filled ‘damper’ and refill with lighter weight oil (to speed it up) without losing any air pressure from the finnicky air spring that needs a custom needle.. and masses of luck to refill properly..

A refill with oil will likely fix the sagging issue too.. one thing to note when reassembling.. is that you need to slightly preload/compress the air spring with the oil in the other part when screwing back together… if the air spring isnt preloaded/compressed slightly, the post wont return to the full 100mm height..

Ive done this without cutting springs..

you’ll need a rockshox tora spring though.. (can be found on ebay)
and a 20mm fork travel spacer.. (rockshox fit, i had one spare)

stick the travel spacer under the negative spring.. install the handilly 20mm shorter (and make sure its fairly heavilly greased) tora spring.. (without heatshrink or its a smidge too big…)

mine are running at 110mm using a firm spring.. had to cut 5mm off each end of the shaft under the spring to achieve this though without modding the spring.. (there was *just* enough thread in the shaft in my fork to do this without tapping the thread further down too..)

If i wanted a double bed frame.. but not the mattress.. (and had loose morals..) i’d turn up in a hatchback the mattress couldnt fit in and take the frame.. and never be seen again!

theres always a chance something has happened to them too.. or its ye olde paypal scam..

theres a few on ebay (resin mostly from my quick search..) not cheap tho compared to a new BB…

do a search for bottom bracket cup as opposed to sleeve..

id just buy a new BB and keep it for a spare looking at the prices of the ‘cups’

1998 Kona Hot

View this post on Instagram

Urban Pike Barking.. #konahot

A post shared by Ian Cotterill (@spodhopper) on Aug 31, 2020 at 9:33am PDT

I did similar with my Old 1998 rockhopper (best bike in the world..!) at the start of the year.. and absolutley love it for bimbling about on roads.. canal towpaths and even some XC type trails in the dry.. its really surprisingly capable! and it flies along compared to the 26″ wheels with MTB tyres..

running tubeless maxxis Re-fuse 32c Rear @ 45PSI (diamond patterned slick) and Rambler 38c front @35/40PSI (semi knobbly)

Awesome!

well done! :)

I tried to remove the drive ring from a 350 hub (not in a wheel) using some bolts screwed into the disc mount.. And those where clamped in a vice in a few different configurations.. Tried heating with a blowtorch.. And All manor of Other things..

Ended up writing the hub off when one of the bolts stripped and Deformed the mount itself!

I’d not go down that route again.. Unless you could maybe… make some sort of jig (bit like one of the boost conversion spacers.. Only thicker.. Solid.. And Made of steel) bolt all 6 bolts into that.. Then put that in an immovable vice and use an enormous lever on the tool..

As said, it takes a ridiculous amount of force.. And I’d go down the tool in a vice.. fully built wheel.. And an Enormous piece of timber strapped across it with a sacrificial old tyre (as I’ve seen in a few YouTube vids) if I where to attempt it again..

Though I’d be worried about what it was potentially doing to the spoke holes in the hub and Rim though given the force I used.. Combined with the fact I didn’t manage to shift it and eventual hub deformation though!

9 weeks ago…

rode a really high consequence and steep chute.. got to the bottom with no issues..

Was coming to a stop afterwards on a flat piece of ground.. weird comedy slow speed tumble.. got up and my fingers where somehow pointing in the wrong direction!

View this post on Instagram

#wonkyfingers oops..

A post shared by Ian Cotterill (@spodhopper) on Sep 7, 2019 at 8:12am PDT

I used one of the micro spline freehubs that are listed as 142/148 on my DT350 142 /12 setup and it worked fine..

the extra 6mm is on the non drive side with dt hubs..
you can get rear boost conversion kits for DT hubs with a 6mm longer non drive side end cap and 6mm 6 bolt disc spacer..

id bung some 2 or 3mm chainring spacers in and space the chainring in a bit if your frame has enough clearance.. and see if that fixes it..

after fiddling about for ages back in the days of 10 speed expander cogs with back pedal issues I run all of my 1X bikes with chainring spacers now as I find it gives me a better chainline for the gears i ride in most of the time..

I used a couple of Park self adhesive inner tube patches on one of our alpkit mats in a pinch..

They’ve been on for about 5 years Now without any further Problems!

i use a little Deuter bag on my hardtail with a dropper..

The straps keep it tucked right into the saddle so it doesnt poke out too much.. it used to work on my 26″ full suss but the new 27.5 contacts it at full travelwith the saddle dropped fully.. (small sized frame)

i use one of these style clamps.. (picked up a few on ebay for pennies) and chop off the protruding piece the correct saddle bag is supposed to clip on to.. so its basically just a ‘bar’ between the saddle rails..

this stops the saddle bag strap sliding forward too much and keeps it away from the dropper post and means it doesnt wear the post out..

why not use the just use a clip on bag?!

I find they stick out way too much.. and so look even gawkier.. and it also means its even closer to the tyre when the saddle is fully dropped… :)

I also bought one of the ebay magnetic clamp dial gauges from ebay..

The arms the gauge mounts on are easily removable from the magnetic clamp and have a threaded end and nut…

I worked out where i needed the gauge to be then worked back with the arms.. drilled a hole in my stand (park) and mounted it… ands its also easily removable for storage..

I bought two gauges.. one for truing side to side and one for removing hop.. i dont tend to use the side to side gauge as its easy enough with the standard arms to get the wheel true enough.. but the gauge for removing hop makes it sooooooo much easier for me!

There are packs of ‘dial gauge tips’ on ebay from china in a red box.. these dont fit the magnetic clamp stand gauges..!

gutted.. :(

the inspiration (and supplier of bits..!) behind my homebrew light build..

Cheers for the Beer dutch courage at the start of Ard Rock Stage 3 Mr Trout..

Ride in Peace sir!

Not sure what bolt pattern your Cranks Are..

But For mtb I think the only options for 2X oval are doval or Rotor

You can pick doval up on EBay from korea where they’re made.. And sometimes pretty cheaply.

I ran a set of dovals for a while and They where OK.. They’re not a pure oval shape though like most narrow Wide ovals are..

Rotor you can pick up from the European websites for the best deals.. But they’re certainly not Cheap!

thanks for the replies everyone! got a busy weekend of carpet shopping ahead now..

I did post yesterday… but it doesnt seem to have added the post!

I remember those adverts too… and the shop is only just down the road from us..!
I think the shop has had a big refurb recently.. and the carpet business in there now isnt run by ‘mike’ anymore.. though we wont be using them!