Couple of question re the Virsa:
How does the rear brake adjust when you slide the wheel?
What is the BB to top tube measurement, along the seat tube, for the 18"?
It gives a "C/C" size on the website, is that dimension I'm after?

I swapped my Pro 2 axle last weekend, it was comparatively easy. I found I didn't need any of the Hope tools which was lucky as I didn't have them! I used a metalwork vice, soft hammer and grease to help the seat the bearings and service the freehub pawls whilst it was apart. The hub service video on the Hope website was useful.

The only bearing that will come out during the swap is the non-drive side one. As I didn't have the correct drift to re-seat it in the hub I found an easy way around it:

Place the bearing on the open vice jaws and tap the axle (lightly greased to make it easy) through the bearing centre, until it is seated on the axle correctly.

Lightly grease the hub where the bearing should be (again to make it slip in easy) and tap the axle end until fully seated. Hey presto.

The free hub seal was easy to refit and I didn't need the Hope tool to seat that either.

That's not good! I'll steer clear 😉 of the Scandium ones then!

The Team is 7075 aluminium, so hoping it's ok, anyone?

There's nothing like seeing stuff in the flesh I agree. However, you are within your rights to send stuff back when bought online because it's the wrong size or you just changed your mind. Distance selling legislation is there to protect you. I've had no problems sending things back to CRC, for example, because I changed my mind when I saw it in the flesh.

Chain Reaction Cycles conform to the Distance Selling Regulations, which are designed to protect you when buying items by Mail Order. We offer a flexible returns policy and are happy to accept items back for a refund or exchange if they don’t fit, you’ve ordered the wrong things, the items are damaged or faulty upon receipt or you simply don’t like what you’ve ordered.

HTH

Otherwise there are Evans & Cycle Surgery etc all over the place. There's a Cycle Surgery in West Hampsted and both at Liverpool Street (Spitalfields).

Or Addiktion Cycles next time you're in St Albans!

The central knobs have a ramped leading edge to reduce rolling resistance, so this should be facing away from you when sat on the bike.

Yes I'm a fan of the sqaure taper too, but it's the HTII style I'm asking about. 🙂

Leaving brand loyalty, supporting a British company and being different aside is there something Middleburn external cranks offer that Shimano XT don't? Genuine question (not trolling!).

Apologies to one of my LBS, it seems they announced new opening times this week 10-7pm hooray!

This used to be my brothers LBS

We certainly made use of the Sunday trading and didn't miss Thursday. So it is possible (for some shops) to be smart with their hours. 9:30 – 6pm would've been even better.

Why should anyone put their personal, social and family life onto some second-tier footing in order to make a few extra quid. When you grow up, you'll realise that there is more to life than the pursuit of money – including enjoying life and good health while you have it.

You are right of course, bringing up millionaire retailers was silly, I wouldn't make those sacrifices, otherwise why aren't I running a successful business! It doesn't have to be more hours though, just smarter hours. But if 9-5 Monday to Sat is the only time experienced, skilled and knowledgeable people can work then so be it. If everyone else is putting family on a second-tier footing then I'll be sure to remind my wife when she finishes her shift and I'll call the policeman and fireman I know too.

Wish this place was my LBS

+1 for abennell
I've worked: in retail, split shifts as a chef, 6-2 2-10 shifts in a factory, run a small business and 8-5 in an office. My wife's worked in hotels (shifts) all her life. We are experienced, skilled and knowledgeable like many others with un-sociable hours / working for large companies.

If you're making enough money, then fine, no need to think outside the box. But look at most self-made retail millionaires, they'll tell you they worked all hours to get where they are and it wasn't by following the crowd and not adapting to their customers/carving a niche.

I don't think Mr 05five has a clue what running a small business is like

Quite an assumption.
Even if that were true, it doesn't hurt to consider another point of view, especially your customer's! Every shop/town is different of course and the clever retailer adapts to suit the area/sets up in the right place, but if the town's busy (like mine today), why shut? May be less hours, but at the right time would pay the bills when you're competing against the 24 hr shops and mechanics who are available for those that work 9-5. I know in my group we use a chap who is open in the evenings because we all work 9-5. I'd be in the LBS during the week if I could, weekends are for riding.

What exactly do you need on a Sunday that you can't buy on a Saturday?

Sunday lunch
pint in the pub
petrol to get home from the trails
B&B
bit's for the bike I just broke so I can get back to the car
to support my LBS instead of buying online
sunday paper
pint of milk 'cos the visitor drank it all

shall I go on?

Last time I looked banks were only open 9 till 5 and everyone uses them.

We don't exactly have much choice. How do you visit the bank when you need to if it's only open when you're at work?

What ever happened to the keep Sunday special campaign?

Yeah, I never use any service industry on a Sunday and I suppose you don't either 🙄

I often get asked why we don't open Sundays, I always point out that just because it's convenient for you because you don't have to work Sundays

Or put another way: I open when it suits me not my customers, if I'm shut when they want to come in, they can spend their money elsewhere, I don't need their custom.

My local town was busy today, but not at the bike shops, well maybe Halfords. Open when you need them….

Could you find the same number of hours to be open just at more sensible time for your customers, so they don't have to go to the online stores?

When do retailers find time to ride?

All the types of places you mention are well known for having staff who lack any knowledge and don't care about their job, maybe bike shops want staff who are experienced, skilled and knowledgeable but with that comes the inclination not to want to work un-social hours.

Except restaurants, pubs etc etc. Un-sociable comes with the job, top chef or not, maybe it should in many more service industry jobs.

By imaginative I meant rather than be open for the handful who can pop in during the week, be open for the majority who could pop in after the 9 to 5.

Would you want to work evenings

I'd love to be at home until 5pm: drop the kids off at school, go for a ride, sort my business afairs, collect the kids from school, go to work for 3hrs, sounds good to me, better than shift work.

The problem is we have no idea if they way that rotor was used would have warped any other rotor too. There aren't many products you can't find a scare story about. I've become a bit cynical about web stories: people like to have something interesting to post and no problems ain't that interesting! But I'm open to being convinced to swap them for some Hopes 😉

Are they Elixir compatible?

Yes, I have a 180mm on the front with Elixir. In fact, I didn't notice any pulsing, which I did noticed with the same rotor and a Hayes HFX 9 at the back.

I replaced mine with X7 jockeys – cheaper to buy than X9 and the lower one is bushed like the upper, rather than roller balls, so lasts much longer. So much longer I transferred them to a new mech when the old one died.

Stan's should sort that, even UST isn't perfect, can get small leaks like you describe:

stan's solution

You can pop the bead and pour it straight in, the small bottle is enough for one wheel and an easy way to measure it out.

You will need to top it up after a 2-3 months as it dries out gradually. Once the tyre is sealed you might not fancy popping the bead again and breaking that seal. So that's why the small bottle has a spout, to pour through the valve stem. You need to remove the valve core first with a tool or long nose pliers on the flats of the core if the Shimano ones look like those I've used before:

valve core

Did you get a valve tool with the wheels? My UST Mavic had a very small plastic key that unscrews the vale from the stem. Must admit not familiar with Shimano wheels.

Not me, must be one of the others

Why, you hungry?

I have a bloody good track pump, but I still use a CO2 cylinder to seat tubeless. Has worked everytime so far….

With respect, this isn't a thread about whether to go tubeless or not. You've made your choice and so has the OP. Have I been taken in by a Troll? 😆

EDIT: Don't confuse traction and grip. The heavier something is the more it resist changes in velocity, like braking or turning (conservation of momentum) Tyres grip by deforming around the trail, thinner tyre (i.e. no tube) = more flexible = more grip Doh! there I go again, good job I'm not a fish!

Friend of mine just got his X9 replaced under warranty – the pivots were tight and it wouldn't index properly. Could be the same, bad batch….

Does it return without the cable attached?

Anyone?

You're lucky you don't have the thorns we do down here!

But, if you'd been tubeless you'd also have had zero punctures in the last year too, so don't follow the more reliable logic. I ripped my tyres so on those four occasions, which would've been an issue with tubes too.

But what about the lower weight, lower rolling resistance & better grip?

What wheels do you have? More than likely they'll have removable cores in the valves – take these out and pour in the Stan's, in principle. You can get little refillable bottles to squeeze the fluid in through the small opening. Let me know and I can link to the info, or have a look at justridingalong.com

Edit
Sloshes about in there, waiting to seal punctures without you even realising you had one. Also, helps seal the tyre when you first fit it or stop it slowly going down due to less than perfect seal – which could be all your issue is, even with UST. You'll need to slosh it around so that it gets everywhere, especially into the side wall/rim junction.

Cheers

Too true. One of the points of my inbred is it doesn't get washed, so who'd ever see the blue!

No, fixing punctures and pinch flats on the trail is fackin rediculus. I haven't done that for 3 years! In that time I've had to fit a tube 4 times, in contrast to at least one puncture on most rides before tubeless, that's 2-3 per week down to 4 tyre issues in three years.

I am almost considering asking Ben to give them to me to sort it out sounds kinda fun in a very bikey-geeky kind of way.

Go for it, nothing geeky about the satisfaction of making or doing something for yourself. It'll remove the mystique and make maintenance easier, you'll be happy swapping tyres when he's not about.

Sorry dude 🙂

To the OP:
Check out Wheelpro.co.uk

Just remembered: Velo Solo do solid axles for XT hubs that are sized long enough for nuts, might fit XTR….

EDIT:
Velo Solo axle link

Should have gone for Stan's then 😉
355 rims weigh 40g less than 717 plus no rim strip for tubeless conversion, so another 40g saved

Stan's is great stuff, I've not had a puncture since.

Good tip.

Ah, Woburn 😀

Stan's sealant?

Just stick with it. Hold the wheel out in front of you with your arms at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock. Shake it back and forth with the wheel pivoting in your hands, about 20 times. Rotate it 45 degrees and repeat. And again until you have gone all the way around the wheel. If there's a particular spot that's leaking, try to fling the sealant so it come out and seals it. When your happy, fit the wheels to the bike and turn it upside down so the wheels are off the ground. Leave over night, they will probably go down, but just pump up again being careful not to unseat the tyre or break the rim seal – hence using the bike to keep them off the ground. Start the shaking again until you can leave them again. This could go on for a while (days?) until the side walls are fully sealed up (they are porous as not designed to hold air, only a tube, some are better than others).

Edit:
don't pump them up too hard, especially while trying to get them to seal, 30PSI or the pressure breaks the seal before it dries properly. You should be running them pretty low pressure anyway, especially at your weight. I run mine 30PSI at the back 25PSI at the front no problems. Most people I know run tyres far too hard.

Check my profile address, think we rode Bricket last time

Some 10mm skewer/through bolt options:

superstar 10mm skewer (out of stock!)

NC-17 10mm skewer[/url]

10mm specific through bolt

Hope bolt up Pro II single speed hub, has bolts that screw in to the axle rather than a skewer and a shorter freewheel so less spacers/stronger wheel.

or

Standard Pro II with 10mm bolt through conversion and use a 10mm skewer/saint axle, should be able to get that nice and tight. That way you will be able to buy some hope hoops with tubeless Stans ZTR rims within budget. Wheelpro would probably send them with the rear axle already converted to 10mm through.

Edit: what wrong with a chain tug, tart! 🙂

yes sorry, your post is quite clear and so are the regulations really. Shame thay don't explain as well as you though! Your post came through while I was typing.