The volume spacer can be removed – you’ll find it on the inside edge of the aircan, at the threaded end. The first thing I would try is to deflate the shock, set it to open mode and then compress – the o-ring on the shock body should go almost to the very end.

What weight are you and what psi are you setting the shock at?

Big thumbs up for 2 bucket method, use a micro-fibre or lambs wool mit (definitely not sponge) and to save time finish off with Autoglym Polar Seal – gives a waxed look without the hard work.

Had the same ‘conundrum’ last month when trying to plan a long weekend of mtb…

Cheap flights – IME forget ‘cheap’ once you factor in the bike as even to the cheapest locations it was coming out around £350 return. Considering all factors it came out best for me in the end to drive and I rode Alsace/Black Forest for 3 days, with some bikeparks/lifts thrown in – the cost of the holiday was half of flying. Previously I was pricing up 3days of riding in Slovenia and with guided riding, flights, transfers etc it was coming out at £1100 minus food and lift passes.

Le Tour is good fun but will only keep you entertained for half a day. You also have the lift/trails at Les Houches – again, good for a half a day or so. Col des Posettes, accessed via the Le Tour lift is great fun, but I think bikes are not allowed July/August. Download the TrailForks app to get more info on what’s around.

3 days of fantastic riding – here’s the debrief:

Friday – Ride 1/rode Mollau area in Alsace and rode the ‘Les 2 Cols’ trail and finished on Marathon line. Les 2 Cols was fantastic – you are riding on a ridge through trees with singletrack twisting through rocks and down drops. It’s a brutal climb to get up there but worth it and reminded me of some of the off-piste trails around PDS/Morzine area. Marathon line was a bit disappointing – it’s not maintained and it breaking up in many places. Ride 2 was at the La Bresse-Hohneck bike park – fantastic little park and got 6 runs in thanks to the lift.

Saturday – Todtnau bikepark – 2 trails down from the top and got 9 runs in. Nice little park to keep you entertained for half a day plus a swim in lake Titisee on the way back.

Sunday – Rode from Freiburg and first ride was down Canadian trail then second ride down Borderline. Great trails with dedicated uphill routes to reach them.

Freiburg was fantastic and is very geared up for cycling as a whole with a vibrant mtb scene. I would definitely go back but you have to be prepared for climbs to reach the trails. Some may hate the following but I now get the e-bike thing in that they alow you to do the climbs and then feel good for the downs AND allow you to do more. Example – I met a rider on a Spec Levo at Mollau/Alsace who was riding a 60km circuit – that’s a real mission there and an e-bike just opens up so much more potential. Also yet again TrailForks app proved indispensable and just makes scoping trails so much easier.

Thanks yo everyone who gave me tips and advice beforehand :-)

Update: there’s a rigid black plastic box on top of the pump which has electrical connections – when the pump fails to kick-in a small smack on top of the box makes it start up. No idea what this part is or why a smack makes it work – anyone know?

Thanks to all who replied. Decided to spend a day riding the Vosges area, West of Colmar then 2 days over at Freiburg.

I’m not sure if the complete pivot kit includes the shim washers? The IGUS bush kit definitely includes them. Points to add above:

– the shims, if needed, are added to the bushes on the rocker link
– get the Rapid Racer Products bearing kit (you can just get the RRP press kit adapters and use a threaded bar instead of the RRP tool) – this makes life SO much easier on removal/replacement
– I’ve read in numerous sources and told by Scott UK not to spray anything on IGUS bushes and they are self-lubricating
– in my experience the rocker link bearings wear out faster than the main pivot bearings – nothing you can really do about this other that use decent bearings
– with the rear shock bolted only to the mainframe (and not bolted to the rocker link) there should be no side-to-side play visible on the trunnion bolts but a tiny amount of wiggle when you rock the top end of the shock from side-to-side

Are the microswitches housed within the pump OR are they the black boxes (also Myson – code FSVR-3) that run inline on 2 of the pipes and have a powersource to them?

correction! it’s a Myson Aquaboost

Yes, will be taking my bike and planning to fly.

Which model/engine E Coupe are you considering? They are great cars but they need to follow the maintenance regimes set (as with all expensive cars). A friend who is head-tech at the local MB dealer tells me over 50% of cars which come in with issues are due to neglect and owners trying to run them on-the-cheap (typical scenario is skipping the minor A service which is essentially only an oil change). I’m not saying they never have issues but looked after they’re great cars and reliable. The main thing I would always look for is full history – either from a main dealer or a specialist independent (and do check it’s not just one of many ‘German car specialists’ out there!). Avoid a manual which means it’ll likely be a 7-speed auto and DO check the gearbox oil has been changed at around 70K.

It’s a small, rural town and is what it is. It has it’s issues which are no doubt mirrored in countless other places in the UK – some of the comments above are the normal rubbish which people repeat 2nd-hand, having no personal experience. Prices are cheaper and not everyone has Ely-area budgets (a place where property prices have spiraled over the past 20years with all the normal patterns of what comes with rising prices). Yes there’s crime there but tbh a lot of it is actually within the E.European community and it’s not, selflishy, going to effect you in general. For every place someone hates there’s another person who loves it. Go and take a look, see what you think, have a drive around and then go from there.

You can route the rear hose and dropper outer without removing the BB, granted the dropper cable is a bit of a faff.

When I rebuilt my Spark 900SL last Autumn and replaced all cables, I made a note of the outer lengths for future ref. – do you want them?

+ personally I found no issue with having the BB fitted, but it will make life easier if you’re running a dropper.

Thanks for the replies so far. I have Prizm Trail already (superb) so am sold on the Prizm idea. I did look at the Photochromic but have read mixed reviews, main negative being I’ve read they can be slow to lighten and also that the lense coating is on the softer side.

It’s been painted with a solvent-based grey floor paint and the screed will be no thicker (at max) than 5mm. The garage is for storage/working on bikes and will see very occasional loading from a parked car.

2 spots coming on together, controlled from 1 (new) switch.

Seems a good deal but put-off by 1.5Ah batteries…. I’m going to be using it for DIY ie screws, drilling and some masonry. How long do the 1.5Ah batteries last if pushed hard and what’s charge time?

howsyourdad1: thanks, good point on the smaller OD coil-wire.

duckers – I have one of the NA2 type 32 top-caps (no blue spacers as they’ve since been sold) for sale if you want to it? I also bought it for my 2013 32’s to cure the linear spring rate.

Yep – had this on both Hope ceramic threaded bb and press-fit bb (which was worse) and a mate also had it on his threaded bb. Drove me mad and in the end I replaced it with a SRAM PF92 BB and have never looked back. For me it’s been the one exception in 20+ years of mtb where cheaper was better.

Drop the lowers and remove the air-spring to check it’s not over-greased (and thereby decreasing negative-spring air volume).

The list of closures via the BikeBiz link is a year old – I wonder how many more are now on the list?  Stand-out shop on that list was Simply The Bike in Torquay – that shop had been around years.

Another vote for Tune – on my 2nd set of King/Kong hubs now > no issues at all on either set of hubs.

I’m not going to use them but I still need to find out their fees for some comparison purposes.

and all of those phone numbers take you to the same reception, who then ask for your details and promise a callback from ‘the relevant team’…..

Also a relevant post for me.  Morzine is hard to beat for the overall package but also consider using it as a base as well e.g.

– take a drive to Samoens, via Les Gets and spend a day there (approx. 30-45minute drive as I recall) – from Samoens you can also explore Lez Carroz

– or you could ride/take lifts from Morzine to Les Gets, then descend to Samoens, ride there and book a taxi to take you back up to the top at Les Gets.

– if you’re really adventurous you could drive down to Chamonix from Morzine to ride some very different terrain for a day.

– try going out to the fringes of the PDS area and explore Switzerland.

Reading through previous posts and my favourite unknown has popped-up > Dakine

“Da-Kyne” or “Da-Keen-ee” ???

“I always assumed that Schwalbe, being German, should be pronounced Shvalbuh”

Spot-on! “Shwolbee” annoys me….as does saying ‘Kartch-er” (it’s “Keer-sher”).

And for German ‘V’ is pronounced as an ‘F’ and ‘W’ pronounced as a ‘V’ – so VW would ‘Fow-Vay’.  Not sure why Germans, when speaking English, change a V to a W – typical example is ‘Wisitors’.

Thanks for the feedback so far – on the basis of no sell/no fee, I’ve booked an appointment with HouseSimple for today.

beicmodur – thanks! That’s exactly the sort of feedback I was looking for.
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I would go for strip foundations with brick/single-skin walls.  I’ll never be parking a car inside the garage and essentially it will be used as a workshop/shed.  I’ll also source a 2nd hand PVC side door and up-and-over door to keep costs down.  No windows orskylights so as to keep security to a maximum. Also keen on a pitched/tiled roof for the extra storage room in the rafters.  Size-wise I’m think approx. 5m X 3m.

I too had this on several occasions with my Reverb Stealth A2 – I was told by 2 independent service centres that it was a common issue without any long-term resolution.  Not sure if the issues are sorted on the B variant.  Doesn’t help that the bolt flats are very small and it’s alloy i.e. easily mashed.  Part of the reason both of my bikes now run Fox Transfer posts.

Get a length of silicone tubing (available on ebay), slice it along the length of the tube then place it over the hydro hose, inside the frame > job done.

You could use a silicone-based grease instead. Failing that you’d likely be fine not applying grease to the olive but put something like anti-seize grease on the threads of the compression nut.  As for tightening the hose, I always keep going until the compression nut comes to a stop – a fraction of a turn each time and you’ll know when it’s tight enough.

And if you don’t have one, purchase the specific Park tool spanner to do this next time > perfect!

Kula72-where was your photo taken?  (look epic!).

“People who hate T5s are far more vocal about them than whose who have one and just gen on with their lives… ”

In my experience, it’s more a case that many Transporter owners can see NO other option than a buying a Transporter when someone wants a van and are completely blindsided by the whole Transporter ‘lifestyle’ and buying in to wider VW brand image in the UK.  I tire of the usual reasons such as ‘Transporters hold value better’ (more expensive in the first place in many cases), ‘the T5 and T6 will be future classics’ (yeah right oh) or reason not to buy a Vito being ‘all Vito’s suffer serious rust’ (before 2006 ie 12years ago, prior to triple galvanising).

Enjoy your Transporter if that’s what you like but other viable options do exist.

Pretty much as tight as you can go on the cranks with a standard-sized socket driver i.e. approx. 30cm in length.  The good thing on the GXP BB is that you can not damage the BB bearings through over-tightening.

SRAM availability in the UK for the last 2years or so has always seemed patchy….  I’d check out some of the German sites (bike-discount.de, R2, bike-components) as availability and price has always been better in my experience.