I’ve looked into this a bit (most recently at upgrading a Boxxer Race with the Team/WC compression and rebound, I have ordered an Avalanche Cartridge from the US for less cash).

Where stantion diameters are similar there are issues with the lengths of the rebound/compression dampers in different models, and the potential for them to run out of space at full travel.

Try it and see basically, I stuck the damper from some 888 RC2X into a blown 55 a few years back, mostly for the challenge. Worked OK.

whats the difference between swampthing and wetscream?

Swampthings for when the mud sticks to your frame
Wet Screams for when it falls off again by itself

I do a bit of DH racing. I used to own both Swampies and Wet Screams. Now they sit gathering cobwebs in the back of the garage.
A set of Dirty Dans. So good they almost feel like cheating. Huge spikes dig in like a wet scream, but are thick enough to work on roots without getting all squirmy.

It’s pretty soggy up here atm (North Lakes), I can’t imagine Longsleddale would be a very good idea at all, its super boggy in my experience, I rode with a guy who got whiplash disapearing into a (fairly) innocent looking puddle up there last year.

Borrowdale Bash should be all good, nice and rocky, Grizedale Bridleways?

I went to Loughborough 01-06, and echo what is said above, was involved with the climbing mob, but got to know quite a few of the bikers.

On the MTB front it isn’t as bad as portrayed here. 15min ride the the local dirt jumps, there is some decent, though cheeky trail around in the local woods (Beacon Hill and further out), and a 90 minute car trip has you in the Peaks or Cannock.

Access to high performance sport nutrition/physio/training facilities is great, and pretty cheap, even if you aren’t a “proper” athlete (like me).

And yes, Wednesday night has some excellent banter/pulling opportunities.

I picked up a Zhota (fits me, dog and girlfriend at DH races and occasional mountain adventures). It compares admirably with the Terra Nova Quasars and Mountain Hardware kit I used to borrow from people to go mountaineering in Chamonix. It has a lot of nifty little features inside like hanging loops that make life easier.

One complaint: When trying to put up the tent in the pissing rain and semi darkness the colour coding on the poles (light grey, dark grey, dark goldish grey) are very hard to make out.

Prezet, pack some lights, come join the keswick lot for a Tuesday night ride

Me and my Nukeproof Scalp, filmed by GavGas back in the winter. Rides like an absolute dream (previous bikes: Morewood Izimu, Specialized BigHit), the CaneCreek DB is amazing. Have chopped down the slightly scary steerer since this was filmed :D

Does Hamsterley run mid-week? Failing that its a road bottom to top, so you could potentially self-uplift?

sam69:
From one of these:
http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=Zenithink+ZT280+C91+&catId=0&manual=y

Pro once bitten tip: Filter the sellers by “Assurance Plus” and spend a while working out the total price (Item + Postage to the UK), it varies considerably.

It took me about 12 days from pressing order to holding the thing in my sweaty hands.

I recently (last week) took delivery of a Zenithink ZT280 C91. Its a 10″ android 4 tablet. Total delivered cost around £100 from China via Alibaba.

Brilliant, great screen, stuck a 32gb sd card in, filled with vids, music and have loaded lots of games from the Humble Android Bundles and the Market/Play store.

edit to add: A “killer” feature is that it can act as a USB host, eg, can just plug in a USB stick, keyboard, bluetooth dongle and have it use them like a PC would. Sticking a USB SD card reader in and browsing pics from SLR Cameras memory card on a big(ger) screen then and there is all kinds of awesome.

footflaps, I know where you are coming from, I lived in South Africa as a kid, and we travelled around the rest of Africa a bit on holiday.

I remain gobsmacked at being able to get clean drinkable water from basically any tap in the UK.

I went to Uni at Loughborough a few years back, there is some half decent singletrack kicking around in around Outwoods and Beacon Hill, though it rates between quite and fairly on the cheeky meter depending on the time of day.

There were some dirt jumps/pump track type bits around near Shepshed too, though I think I heard they got bulldozed.

Dan

Just read this thread: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/forgive-me-single-ply-maxxis-tubeless-stronger-than-tr-nobby-nics

Snakeskin Evo… hehe

sorry.

Dan

Just to be clear, looking for loop type “all mountain” (ugh, sorry) rides to do as we road trip around the bit of Scotland between Fort Bill and Oban. We are going to be in a van with 2 DH bikes and two biggish trail bikes. The sort of thing where we can park the van somewhere and piss off into the mountains for a couple of hours, then end up back at the van. Cake optional, but prefered.

How gnarly is the Devil’s Staircase?
Loch Etive to Taynuilt sounds like fun

Awesome, thanks!

bump for the Monday crowd.

I loved my Commencal meta 4x. Ran it with some 140mm Pikes, was wicked.

We (GF and I and our new (2 months) rescue dog) rode Mabie yesterday. I took some footage, was loving it, the first berm acts more like a wallride. Though the whole descender bender section is now very smooth, I have a feeling it will get nice and bumpy again soon enough.

In STW style though, what tires GoPro mount for capturing trail dog action?

I’m not (Racing Bringewood next weekend though :D ), it’s this one I think:
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/77430/North-West-Mtb-Series-Round-1

your “mate”?

I run doubles because everytime I don’t (when zooming around singletrack on demo bikes mostly) I end up taking some teeth off the outer chainring on a rock/log/wall that I am riding over. This is expensive and tedious.

So yeah, ground clearance+able to run a bash to avoid chainring tattoos.

Done.

Two more from Cockermouth area. Does anyone know when the Dudes of Hazzard film is supposed to be out?

My Cove Stiffee, 150mm fork pictured, actually prefer it with 140mm pikes, 9″ rotor on the front for the “Alpine party trick” of rolling stoppies round switchbacks

I worked at a place where I was the Grand Poobah of Shiny Things. Had business cards and everything.
The generic small business IT Guy/Department by the way.

Dan

Sorry to hear that, what specifically is the problem?
I have had type one since I was 4. My control is generally pretty good, HBA1c hovers around the 5.5-6 mark, but some weeks I just can’t keep my blood sugar under control.

For me it seems to be weeks where I do much more or much less exercise, or have even a slight cold (insulin seems to stop having much effect).
Im on injections rather than pump, and very occasionally during the summer leave my insulin in the car or in the winter put my rucksack next to the radiator for a few hours, which buggers it, takes me a few hours to notice (then I change the cartridge and all is well), could something similar have happened? I haven’t seen one of the pumps up close, is there a cartridge? Have you been hugging radiators?

Demoed a BluePig with a set on, bit of a squishy feel, sensible feeling power at carpark testing speed, but utterly useless at fastish trailcentre pace (lots of noise, not a lot of change in speed).

Compared to the SLX brakes on 200mm rotors on my trail bikes and Saints on 200mm rotors on my DH bike, or the Hope M4/Mini combination I used to have they were useless, I would go so far as to say borderline dangerous.

The Bluepig on the other hand was a hoot, just a shame that ragging it into corners was a bit fraught with speed control issues.

I liked their “mine is longer” bike rack

The Keswick mob are riding out of Glenridding tomorrow night, 6:30pm start from the carpark, if you want some company.

As for alternatives, Grizedale Pike? Coachroad + Ullswater Lakeshore?

The legit descent down Skiddaw is rubbish. Its the summer holidays, so the fun alternative is unfortunately out.

hth

Dan

xiphon: Careful with that, it had a non-commercial license last time I checked?

I have the pre-HD version, and that spits its dummy out if the card is not properly wiped before use (try formatting it, to FAT?32? rather than anything else (NTFS)).

I crashed my DH bike in practice back in August last year….

After the swelling and stuff went down, the consultant in Whitehaven told me I would never ride again, and that I would walk with a permanent limp. This made me a bit grumpy.
I paid to get a private MRI down in London, and paid for a consultation with a knee specialist down at Oswestry called Mr Simon Roberts. I was referred to him by my GP, saw him quickly and got a much better answer, it would appear that my cruciate had been gone for a while, since a crash at Bucknell in a Pearce Race near the end of the 09 season, and when I crashed at Alwinton I dislocated my knee and ripped up some of the meniscus a bit.

I got the ACL rebuild surgery done by Mr Roberts in late January with the NHS. Was discharged the next day, saw the Physio the day after that, and did lots and lots of physio over the next 3 months. I got to spinning on a roadbike on a turbo trainer with no resistance 7 days after the surgery, and got on a road bike outdoors 2 months after the surgery. Have been recovering really well, I have as much extension in my operated knee as in the other one, started riding mountain bikes again at the start of May.

Upsides of surgery:

Dont overflex my knee when I stand up too fast.
Can crank out of the saddle without feeling unstable (it’s made a big difference).

Downsides of surgery:
A tiny set of scars from where my hamstring was harvested
Lots and lots of physio (Cumbria NHS physio is pathetic, so £30 an hour at the private one)
No racing for me this season :(
I lost 8kg of mass in 7 weeks, I now have no power when riding uphill, its a wierd feeling.

It definately feels worth it, Simon Roberts did an amazing job, and my physio Neil was a lot of help getting me up and going again, and pushing me to improve.

At DH races a few people have a setup that looks like a rail between two a-frames like this: /\-/\ with the rail just high enough to hang the nose of the saddle on.

I use the back wheel stands to hold bikes up in the garage, and apply lube by backpedalling.

I bought a 1990 “Classic” XJ6 for £160 when I needed an automatic after some knee surgery.

Was wicked, but yeah, the rear tyres took a pounding, and the first gen back wheel only ABS was a bit twitchy on wet roads.

The only car I have literally doubled the value of by filling with fuel

I find that Whinlatter is best when it is actually raining, or when it has been dry for months.

At all other times there is an “exciting” amount of grip. Its ace.

earplugs, earplugs, earplugs.

especially on a daily commute.

Pardon?

It seems like a pretty solid unit, got it mounted with velcro straps on the Giro pisspot I use for XC riding, reckon it would work ok on a more lightweight XC lid

I picked up a Tunebug Shake to stick to the back of my helmet for riding on the road. Works pretty well (loud, half decent bass) and you can still hear traffic noise/whats behind you.

find a bike shop that stocks them and try them on?