I’ve re-used barbs and olives from Shimano hoses a couple of times when I haven’t had a spare, though my favoured technique for retrieval involves the gas hob in the kitchen and some pliers. This is likely to work less well on braided hose.

I converted a KS 9something (now long deceased) to 30.9 from 31.6 using the method you described, if the 30.9 lower post is compatible it’s yours for £10 posted, drop me an email to the address in my profile and I’ll take a photo of the part later.

My girlfriends one (27.2, ~4 years old at this point) runs ok with a 2 monthly regrease, but is fairly sensitive to seatpost clamp tension

My 56 plate Trafic is going strong at 186000 miles. Nice to drive, tiny bit narrower than the Transit (2002) that I had before, so easier on Cumbrian lanes. 38mpg from a mix of motorway and pootling.

Mine has eaten a couple of powersteering pumps, apparently it can be an issue if you start the engine with the steering over near lock on either side.

The best bit is that unlike the Transit before it, there is zero body rust.

I got one of the Process from CRC as a get well present for myself, since the Cotic Rocket doesn’t seem to be happening, awesome bike, after I spend a chunk on a CCDBair and the mission control damper for the Lyriks. The shock and fork as spec’d are very basic.

I have been using 36-22 + bash with a 34-11 on the back for years, fast enough on the roads/downhill and low enough to winch up lakeland climbs.

I’ve been type I since I was 4. I’m excited by this, but it’s tempered by the cynical voice in my head which points out that a cure for diabetes has been “5 years away” since I was old enough to read the news.
Follow the money I guess, Drug companies must love diabetes, its the ultimate razor-blade business model.

Complete with @aol email address. It’s like looking back in time.

My Dad took great pleasure in pointing out that any of these things individually would likely have been fatal pre-1860 or so. I think he was trying to cheer me up.

I did have an ACL rebuild back in 2010. Took a season off racing, came back way stronger. Was frustrating, but once it was fixed I felt pretty positive about the physio etc.

Fractured my hip socket in 3 places at a DH race in the middle of June. 12 weeks on Crutches, no driving, summer written off, get the all clear from the doc for starting to get off the crutches on Weds 10 Sept. By the weekend I am walking short distances without them. Go for my first (very slow) (road) ride since June, with my girlfriend in the sunshine on the Sat morning.
Monday feel a bit rough at work, bit of stomach pain, centralises over formerly fractured hip, assume is me being a bit overeager. Ignore, go home, take painkillers, vomit them back up. Chunder up dinner too. Head to GP Tuesday morning. Appendicitis. Bugger. Off to hospital in Whitehaven. “It’s definitely appendicitis, we can’t do the op, so ambulance to Carlisle. “Its urgent, we will operate on you today, you are on the emergency list”. 3 days of fasting before I get a laproscopy to remove what little is left of my appendix. Frustrating, in a lot of pain, eventually escape. Home from work for the next week, feel much better, scars start to heal. Went back to work on Mon, 1st Oct. Had invitation to wedding in Somerset, so set off on Tuesday night planning to head there the scenic route and drop in on some family.

Where am I now?
Tuesday night near Preston I got a bellyache. By weds morning this felt like appendicitis all over again. Dropped into Ormskirk hospital to get checked out. Sent to Southport Hospital. Since last Weds I have been in Southport with a post appendectomy infection. They fitted a tube via a very hairy process involving a CT scanner, no pain meds, what looked like bike gear cable, and about a metre of garden hose last thursday and drained some super disgusting looking goop out of the space where my appendix was meant to be.

I want to go home, eat some salad and fruit and ride my bike. This summer has been a total wash.

I seem to kill the rear calipers every 18 months or so, SLX, XT or Deore, it makes me think that they are fairly susceptible to heat, might be why Shimano are pushing the ice-tec rotors and finned pads.

That said, I live in the Lakes, and weigh a lot, so can boil any brake on a 160mm rotor on most rides. Am on 203mm both ends on all my bikes.

Even with these issues though, easier to bleed, less toxic fluid, easy pad changes and no grief from them in between, I wouldn’t use anything else anymore.

My Zee’s were pretty good out of the box, the Saint’s before them had a leaking seal and so would give no power at all even on brand new pads, as they would contaminate each time. Took ages to figure out.

Rough the discs up with sandpaper?

It sounds like contamination. If the pads are fresh I would wonder about the o-rings/seals in the caliper.
Try this:
-Pads out
-wheel in
-put some bogroll/kitchen roll over the rotor, and rotate so that the covered section is inside the caliper
-zip tie the brake lever to the bar, so that the brake is “on”
-leave it overnight

If the tissue has any oil on it the next day, you need new calipers.

I secretly upgrade my girlfriends bike while she isn’t looking. Her getting into biking about 5 years ago was a great excuse for me to buy a hardtail so that I wasn’t overbiked compared to her. She has much nicer bikes and kit than me, though mine get more abuse, more often.

Out in interest anyone know if its solo air/DP air only for future Lyrik/Pike travel forks? Airsprings don’t seem to work for me (92kg in kit, and shifting). Killed 3 forks air springs in the last 2 years, converted 2 of them to coil, but it is a bit of a worry if this is going to become hard.

I create a simple receipt and get them to sign it too with date and time. Had one sold car caught doing 56 in a 30 half an hour after selling it, and another taken into the London congestion charging zone the day after it was bought without the correct ticket thing being paid for. V5 posted off, but it can take weeks for the new one to arrive. Having a signed receipt can make life a lot easier.

So did I, the one currently cheap on CRC is the 26″ version

I’ve had a sit on it, compared with an 18″ Orange 5, the large is longer and taller, it reminds me most of my 2009 era Meta 5. Im 6’0 with a 34″ leg.

I’ve been looking for a much longer bike, compared with the Morewood Mbuzi I cracked in March, and it most certainly is that. Until I get healed up enough to ride it off road I won’t know.

I just bought one of the cheap 2013 ones from CRC as the Cotic Rocket doesn’t seem to be happening soon. Fractured hip nearly fixed so haven’t tried it yet.

It seems neatly specc’d etc, wide bars, shortish stem, 2.4 HR2’s and i23 rims though changed the Elixirs out for my XT’s (anyone fancy a pair ofElixirs for 30 quid?) with the annoyance that it was set up with a matchmaker, so had to get a doofer to adapt from ISPEC to Matchmaker to undersling the SRAM shifters from the brakes. Crank Brothers dropper post, not sure how long that will last, but the frame has a stealth routing hole, and the cable guides to suit, so that is a likely upgrade down the line.

Another neat touch is that I ordered the large, and it came with a Firm fork spring. It’s the little things.

Brilliant, I have grand plans to get a splitboard built up and go up into the hills with the dog.

I thought that El Niño tended to be associated with cold but drier winters in Europe?
Ice climbing fun.

I always, without fail, get my bike out from the garage before every ride.
I can’t seem to break the habit

I used to, then I had ACL surgery and spent a lot of time on a turbo trainer.

I had a similar issue with a £160 Jaguar XJ6 (that “only” cost £120 to fill with fuel 10 minutes after picking it up). Bought to allow me to drive after knee surgery, but the crippling fuel bills and rotten firewall finally convinced me to get shot. Was amazing to drive compared to the unbelievably dull £400 1990 Toyota Corrolla that finally replaced it 6 months later.

Felt a bit cheeky sticking a muddy mountainbike on the leather rear seat.

Yes. Probably. I have. I didn’t die. Yet. Well, on a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero, but avoid getting your brakes bled in a shop where the mechanic is called Tyler or Chuck and it should be all good.

The easy way would be to wander around with your mobile phone and log a track in an app like Strava or My Tracks, then overlay the data (as a GPX file or similar) on a map either online using Google Maps or offline using something like QGIS.

Fair enough, thanks for the advice. Does Eurosport still show the WC?

I was under the impression that the OEM Fox stuff that comes fitted to bikes tended to be not so hot compared to the aftermarket parts, even for the same “spec” models?

If I was willing to spend Fox money, I’d probably get the pike and with the money I saved, upgrade to the avalanche damper.

Having said that, I love the avalanche dampers so would probably pick the ones with the stiffer chassis and upgrade the internals in that.

See that’s interesting. I have a Boxxer with an Avy cart, and have been wondering about trying out one of the Charger dampers out. I thought the main thing that was awesome about the Pike was the Charger damper? If you are going to change the damper anyway would you not get a Lyrik and keep the 20mm bolt-through?

Superstar Nano is basically identical to the Nukeproof Neutron (iirc both share a lot with the old Kona WahWahs?)

Same experience with one pedal being way looser than the other.
I got a set cheap, and won’t buy another. Not terrible, just not as good as other stuff.
I don’t rate the platform/pin as being as comfy or grippy as either the Nano/Nukeproof equivalent or my beloved Hopes.

Adding the additional pins and removing all the little pin spacers helped, but not by enough to compete.

Broken hip, so been mucking around with some Mindstorms stuff, hooked up to a RaspberriPi using the BrickPi board.

This bot rambles around the kitchen trying not to crash into things, looking for a specific colour.

Any resemblance to Wall-E is annoyingly accidental.

To be clear the letter said that the Rocket26 (which makes the other wheel sizes appearing soon seem likely) would happen, but that they wouldn’t take orders on it until they were boxed up and ready to ship.

I’m sat with a fractured hip at the moment so not urgent, but am in a similar situation, pile of bits, and shock ready to fit. Nothing else new looks like its going to tick all the boxes (long, slack, 26″), the only potential option I guess is the Banshee Rune/Spitfire. I picked up an Orange 5 frame to race the EWS on (it turned out to be really fun, it’s a shame they don’t sell a 26″ version any more), so I guess I can keep riding that once I’m fixed until the Rocket is ready to go (launch?)

You going full sus andy? Better warn the ambulance!

14th June at 11am was the abrupt end to my last ride. Currently stuck on the sofa building lego robots trying not to be grumpy about 3 fractures in my acetabular.

I have been loving “Better off Ted” for a geekier(ish) Sitcom. Only two series though :(

Yeah, it works, but it takes a while

Borrowdale bash and a few extensions, depending on how techy you like it. Hawes Gate on Catbells has to be one of the hardest bridleways to descend clean in the Lakes?

I thought that the forks bit of Pace became DT swiss a few years back?

Sounds fiddly, whats the failure rate like? Do I need to start ordering spare bearings?

Why yes, I do really like hammers.

For those of you that are packing the bearings with grease, what are you using to lift the seals without damaging them?

I never got far past just smearing a bit around the outside of the occasional hub bearing during replacement.

There was a guy from one of the valley bike shops, with a pitch in the main square in Alpe-D’Huez who did suspension servicing during the race buildup the 2 times I was out there for the Mega.