Since when has criticising been immature? I was actually questioning your justification – which is plain for everyone to see.

Unfortunately, it's not just you that you are making descisions for though is it? What about the other potential victims of your actions?

Anyway, the wife (an aussie) says it is illegal in Oz and lets face it, wives know everything!

Edit: she still does it though

Since when has lots of people doing something been a mature or intelligent justification for joining them 🙄

Tiboy: YGM

My 3rd hand Surly Singulator is still going strong after 12 months (thanks Si). It's been ridden a lot through filthy conditions and generally neglected – no problems at all. Seems like a fit and forget solution to me: no adjusting brakes/chain tugs/dropouts/EBB as the chain "stretches", easy to get the wheel in/out and no tight spots from slightly imperfect sprockets/spider/chain-ring bolts. Looks bad, eh? It's just a bike – you should be thinking about the ride not the tool. My SS stays covered in mud anyway, so it's well camouflaged. Chain length is an issue though. I like a stainless chain and the half links I've used have been short lived/unreliable. Now using an Excentiker as well as the tensioner so no half link required. Yeah, I know, but I want a bike I can completely neglect inbetween (frequent) rides and swap ratios easily.

Oh joy, another Conti tyre thread. Yawn.
Is this really going to reveal anything using the search function wouldn't? Some rate them, some hate them, ad infinitum.

(guess who's grumpy today)

Looked earlier but no M760, unless I'm having a moment.

Or maybe the fork is on backwards??? 😆

Edit: Beat me to it!

Interesting, tell me more….

Sure will. 104BCD and 4-arm are the important details.

Kenda Nevegal 2.35 DTC/SWS (Side Wall Shield) 730g

Don't know if they'll be OK without the Stan's rim strip though – I'm running the 2.1's version on an Arch rim, but with the rubber strip (40g) not just the yellow tape. Sealed up very easily with Stan's sealant and stayed that way at 30 PSI at Cwmcarn last weekend. Pleased so far and the 2.1 is a proper width too, 55mm IIRC so the 2.35 should be suitably large.

Only downside is the SWS has glitter in it!

Second that.
Avoid the Tacx ones as well, how they get away with claiming they fit a Sram mech I don’t know!

Stick to genuine Sram to get the JW with eccentric mounting you will need for the guide pulley. Just don’t bin the metal mounting parts from the X9 if you do try to fit X7 JWs. Otherwise you will need to open out the holes in the X7 ones, no drama, just can be avoided.

x7 no

Why not?

I’ve done it. The mech died before I had a chance to prove it but I hoped the X7 bushes would last longer than the roller ball bearings from the X9 (as well as being cheaper).

I didn’t like Mountain Kings (black chilli 2.2) in anything remotely slippy so can’t imagine speed kings will fair any better – for me.

I think any bike is a compromise so you have to weigh up what suits the riding you are actually going to be doing the majority of the time. If it helps, my thoughts:

As long as I can scare myself (but not hurt myself) on a descent then I’m having fun. I can do that on my five just as easily as on a Alpine or even my hardtail (all be it at different speeds/terrain). But for me there’s no fun in riding a heavy bike all day for no reason. Of course if your riding priorities are different you may make a different compromise.

More than a passing resemblance to a Motolite

Question to those who say Stan’s last longer before drying out, as I’m thinking of swapping from JRA Wheel Milk:

Do you visually check inside the tyre or just shake it and listen? The reason I ask is JRA seem to be claiming that Stan’s drys out into balls which could be misleading when you shake the wheel. They obviously wont seal much but will sound like there’s sealant in the tyre when you shake it/spin the wheel. Is this true?

Unfortunately, it’s not crashing that knackers the splines on the DT Swiss RWS it’s just using the thing! Sod’s law it’ll go when you have a puncture miles from home too.

Try a Truvativ XR stem for a cheap way to see if you like it shorter and and be able to take your time over it. Oversize and available in 75mm & 60mm for around £10. I went from 90mm to 60mm and you can’t fail to notice the difference IME.

FWIW I bought one to try out the length before tacking the plunge on a Hope or Thomson but can’t see the point of spending the extra now. It ticks all the performance boxes, weighs around 150g (60mm length) and even looks OK, at this length.

Second that – comparing Nevegal 2.1 on 717 to Fire XC Pro 2.1 on 717 rims, the Nevegal looks much wider plus they look like they have a better volume too.

As for Maxxis sealing better on a Stan’s rim I had no trouble rim wise with either 2.1 exception High Rollers or the 2.1 Nevegal on an Stan’s Arch rim (same size as the 355).

Where I did have problems was the side wall of the HR’s – they seemed very porous and weeped sealant for weeks.

Nevegals with the SWS (Side Wall Sheild) have sealed up very well. I think the shield helped as no sealant has weeped at all, which is a first for me (compared to Bonty Mud X, Maxxis HR & Conti Mountain Kings which all weeped wheel milk). Also, when I first inflated the Nevegal, sealant jetted out from the join line in the SWS but no-where else. A bit of shaking soon sorted the spurt and no further issues after 2 weeks and lots of hard riding. I would deffinately consider the SWS as a rip in the wall of tubeless can be a big problem!

Agree the Nevegals are a knobbly tyre but I like the protection the knobs offer the carcass over rocks etc and I’ve lost count of the number of times already this summer I’ve been riding in unexpected mud!

I used Bontrager Mud X Tubeless Ready (i.e. UST bead) on 717 rims with an Eclipse rim strip all through last winter without any problems.

To all the people who say they don’t fall off their bike: if there are no risks, why do you wear a helmet?

Shortened one just recently. I suggest you shorten from the lever end and you’re correct about the olive not being reusable. But they are only £1.99 from CRC (you may want to buy 2, see further down my post):

olive

To fit:
make sure you have a neatly cut hose end
slide the the plastic cover back down the hose as it won’t fit over the olive once that is fitted
push the olive in to the hose end
fit in the lever and just tighten to compress the olive

I’ve heard the Hayes bleed kit is poor and you’ve probably got most of the stuff anyway if you’ve been bleeding your Hope’s#

I used:
1. a syringe (20ml ish) available from vets/pharmacies
2. short piece of hose to connect syringe to the calliper nipple
3. ring spanner for the bleed nipple on the caliper
4. Dot 4 fluid (same as already fitted)
5. More tubing and a bottle to catch the fluid flushed out of the lever
6. Metal bleed port connector to fit to the tube above and push into the bleed port on the lever. My LBS had a selection of metal fittings that did the trick, but I’ve read it suggested to use a spare olive.

Flush upwards from the caliper to the lever (which is rotated on the bars so the bleed port is uppermost).The bleed port plug is just a push in type, don’t unscrew the whole cover. There are fairly good instructions on the Hayes site if you need them. My LBS complained that it is inevitable that when you refit the bleed port plug some air will be trapped behind it. I don’t agree. I just got a friend to push the plug in whilst I pushed a little fluid (via the syringe still attached to the calliper) out of the port so no air gap at all, worked 1st time.

Like my Inbred, for example. Hence the £15 outlay for the Deore HTII chainset – bought one new and sold the rings straight on.

Thank you!

Sweet!

I’ve got a surly one, but it’s not 1/8th.
Are there other thicknesses available through Ison? Because Surly don’t list an 1/8th 104BCD chainring on their website only an 8 speed compatible one (which is 3/32nd I think).

OEMs usually specify and purchase cartrdige bearings from a catalogue of standard sizes. Look for the code on the seal, 6805 on the ones from my Excentriker. Don’t know the original manufacturer but as that’s a standard size you could use an SKF double sealed 6805 2RS1, for example.

My experiences with an Excentriker
It is fiddly to align the two halves. Not least because as you tighten the cups they slip (due to tightening on a taper).

Then when I loosen the screws to adjust, I find the cups are locked, due to the taper. So I need to tap gently on the “nuts” with a screwdriver and hammer. Not as bad as it sounds once you have the routine sorted, but add in mud and you get the idea.

I have also dimpled the surfaces by tightening down hard, which could limit positions for future adjustment. Am I tightening it too much? Probably, but I found the cups slipped if not locked down tight. They haven’t slipped since.

FWIW
I made my own tool to tighten the cups in the BB, from a piece of srap metal and two screws.
I have used 34:16 and 34:17 without a half link
I cut the inner lugs from a deore HTII crank with a junior hacksaw and a small file – no scuffs or damage if you take your time and have something to hold the cranks steady.

Glad you had a good day njee20, no offence meant.
You gotta forgive me for misunderstanding though:

I don’t see the point, yes we all know you ‘shouldn’t’ go big/big or small/small, but why make it impossible to do so for virtually no benefit!?

Perhaps I should point out that I use a short cage mech…

Long cage mechs exist for a reason, if medium cage worked well enough, we’d all be using them!

which is solely because of my medium cage mech!

Ignore my rant, sounds very patronising but it’s more for benefit of others reading who may be new. All I’m saying is all my gears work plus I have a shorter mech so more clearance and better tension/less chain dropping or slapping. The combos that are theortically less than perfect (22-11 and similar) are only selected by mistake/poor users anyway, but they do work.

True but strange point to make? If I understand you correctly you’re saying if you set the mech up incorrectly you can break it. Don’t think I can disagree with that!

But who uses small-small or big-big (and I can if i need to/by accident so what’s the issue). I don’t need “theoretical” gears when I’m riding just usable ones and a chain that doesn’t drop/ mech that doesn’t flap about. Hey each to their own. Personally I don’t use the gear combo’s that are slack anyway (who uses 22-11?) and would advise anyone not to. The same ratio (or close enough) appears elsewhere anyway without crossing the chain and where do you go from 22-11, up to the middle ring and than up the cassette because the jump in ratio would be too large: very inefficient – I’d get left behind faffing like that!
Hey it’s time to get out in the sun!

Sorry but you’ve got it all ar5e about face.

If big-big rips the mech off it’s because the chain was too short, nothing to do with cage length – I can use all my gears beacause I made the chain the correct length. The long cage length is to take up more slack, not to add length to the chain (how could it?).

Did you read the linked thread? I think you may have missed the point slightly. The “issue” with the medium cage (as shown on the table above) is the chain is too slack in certain combo’s not too tight. The “unusable” gears are in the small-small combo’s. But I use can use them if I wanted to/by accident.

Read this

Sorry njee20, but I disagree – I believe a long cage is un-necessary for the combinations most people actually use on a triple and 9 speed cassette. Have a look at the combinations that are too slack in Zaskar’s table above or read the article I linked to – who uses 22 to 11? IME of a long cage, to get enough tension in the chain (to stop it dropping on rocky descents) I had to cross the gears so much (from the big ring) that the gear was too low and not doing great things to the chain either. Switching to a medium cage has improved this. Plus the secondary benefits of increased clearance, reduced slap and possibly snappier shifting – non of which I can back up – are an added bonus, if they are true.
I use medium cage Sram X9, a triple and an 11-34 cassette.

Er, cynic-al, did you read Daffy’s suggestion?? From both your posts I guess not! A tube and some cardboard to stop it bulging out the slit is what was suggested. The patch is an alternative to the cardboard which, yes, I have used with sealant, and a tube – pretty messy but it worked! Had to scrape the sealant off to get it to stick, better than a long walk.

Don’t let the presure get too low (min 35 psi?) or you’ll loose the tyre off the rim unless using UST. I’ve lost a converted tyre like that but the CO2 pump I carry let me re-seat the bead and carry on, would never have worked with a mini pump!

Or a tyre patch like this[/url]

They’ve saved me a long walk on more than one occasion.

njee20 = another STW armchair expert 🙄

You wore them for nearly a whole year!!!

The Dryline shorts that I have.

Does anyone know if the 3/4 will fit over knee pads

I definitely use mine when it’s wet out, wether it’s actually raining or just the soaking you get from wheel spray. They work well; keep the important bits dry but you aren’t boiling within minutes and can use knee pads as normal. Handy to have pockets that keep things dry too. Plus they dry quickly (as they’re non-absorbant) so if things clear up or you’ve no spares for the next day you’re not left with heavy, cold shorts rubbing at you legs. I do tend to save them for when necessary though as they can get sweater than normal shorts if worn when it’s warm (as you’d expect). Mud grinding into the bum doesn’t seem to have ruined the waterproofing either, but like I said I don’t wear them unless its wet out.

Good article. Basically says for the gear range you actually use, a long cage is unnecessary. Who would run 22T to 11T on a triple anyway? So go for a medium cage for all the benefits it gives. Quote from article:

Benefits of a shorter cage length?
– snappier shifts
– better chain tension
– less chain slap / greatly decreased drivetrain noise (!)
– better obstruction clearance / improved spoke clearance.
– slight weight loss — but you gotta be a real weight weenie to appreciate this one