RepacK & Count: not come across the Casco before but just had a look on CRC. From the pics the styling looks a wee bit ‘Power Rangers meets Battlestar Gallactica’, especially the blue one, but as I’m sure you’re both people of impeccable taste, I’m sure it looks great in the flesh. I’ll definately go and track one down at a LBS and give it a go as a replacement for the Switchblade. Thanks.

Rob

Sandy & I also use Switchblades when riding the tandem. A proper full-face would be OTT, and way too hot. The Switchblade offers that bit extra protection, especially for Sandy if I forget to warn her about a low branch in the face! The poor stoker also gets very little warning we’re going to stack!
Shame they stopped making them. We’re desperate for some new pads for ours, just incase anyone has some sitting in their drawer at home?

Rob

In defence of the parachute, my daughter had a big stack in the freeride park at GT on Sunday. Headfirst off the lemming drop, landing shoulder & chinguard first. The shoulder didn’t do too well, clavicle now in 3 pieces. The parachute did better. The chinguard took a major impact which broke the helmet around the attachment point. Nothing came loose, nothing snapped, it just absorbed the impact and deformed within the helmet structure. Had she been wearing a normal XC style lid I’m sure she’d be missing teeth and have other facial damage.

As always it’s horses for courses, but even though she’s not an extreme rider, she liked the extra protection and confidence from wearing the parachute. Looks like she was right. Although off the lemming drop she’d actually have been better wearing a proper parachute!

Rob

Still written on my helmet:
JMC – Ride & Remember.

Legend. Was at the NEMBA at Bingley on the weekend he died. He should’ve been racing there and the whole place was numbed. Make way for another on the soapbox!

And DIRT still takes my vote as the best biking video ever!

Rob

Might be a bit retro, for which I may get a thrashing, but I’m thinking of getting my DCD out of the spares box!

Had a few chain problems at GT yesterday, nothing drastic but don’t really want to worry about trimming the front mech to get the chain back on while trying not to die on a berm.
Ran a DCD for many years and it always kept the chain under control, never caused a shifting problem, and made a cool (if slightly 90’s) rumbling noise!

They might not be ‘in’, but I always found it did the job brilliantly.

Rob

Yep, happy partnership here. I’d been riding for 10 years when Sandy & I got together. As there’s a 15 year gap between us, she started riding at the age of 40. As I had a 10 year headstart, and she’s got a fair list of medical issues to fight too, it soon became apparent that the best way to ride together was to get a tandem.
10 years later we still love it, and still have lots to learn. And after many years on the Cannondale, we now have the bike Sandy wants – the Ventana ECdM, so she doesn’t get a thrashing from the back wheel any more.

Captain Rob & Stoker Sandy

Have you tried Newcastleton red route on the tandem yet? I rode it on the solo a few weeks ago and think it’d make a great wee tandem ride. I’m pretty sure all the singletrack would be rideable. Tight in places, but not too tight, nice twisty trails, some optional wee steps/jumps and not too long.

Ah, keeping up with a group is tough on a tandem. That’s how we were at K’tree. The line the solo’s use is sometimes a bit misleading too, the long bike needs a different approach. So I won’t write-off Dalbeatie, just save it until we’re feeling fit and got time to experiment on each section!

@ boxelder; JD Cycles will have everything, and know pretty much everything too! Not used their online service but we did get our Ventana from them plus the odds & sods we needed to convert from the Cannondale. Highly recommended.

Rob

As far as I’m aware, the only ridable way to cross from Loch Long to Lochgoilhead is the waymarked red route via the Dukes Pass, which is damn good. I’ve not explored it myself, but local riders that have tried it tell me that the path that goes across a bit further north is hike-a-bike.

Having said that, there is forest harvesting there at the moment, so it could get improved/destroyed/surfaced or anything.

Rob

Sounds like a killer TJ. Reckon you could get round now you know where the obsticles are?
We usually only take the tandem to rides that I’ve done on the half-bike, so I know if its do-able. However we did Kirroughtree blind, and we had a similar experience to yours. Like you we find GT red is fine by tandem, but Kirr’ was too technical. Our bashring earned its money on that day. We got round, but not sure we enjoyed it, more like we survived it!

Rob

Seatpost very impressive. Got one for the P7 and liked it so much I got another for the tandem, highly recommended.
Rob

I’m still running the same Ti-glide with the spider mounted disc and did a bearing change last week. I’m guessing you’ve taken the freehub body off first, so it is just tapping the axle through as you describe. There are no grub screws.
Bigger hammer??

Rob

Dunoon is home to the worlds largest highland gathering, the Cowal Games.

You’d better like bagpipes to live here!

I’m Nottingham born and bred, though now living west of Glasgow (Dunoon actually). Lived in Beeston, worked in Derby at RR in Sinfin. 14 mile bike commute on minor roads and riverside paths.
And where to live? Well the best thing about Derby is the A52 to Nottingham (ducks beneath parapet!)

Rob

Had been thinking the same. Got a club night ride week tues, but not sure how many more we’ll fit in. The light nights are nice, but this year I’ve done more night riding than ever before. That’s partly due to the P7 torches, so big thanks to all the STW recommendations. Will be sad to put them away until next winter.

Rob

santacruzsi, you just beat us. I’m 36, wife is 51 next week. Been married for 10 years in August. Wouldn’t change a thing.

Rob

I made my first visit there on Friday, and was unfortunately disappointed by all the diversions. 3 whole singletrack sections are missing, so you end up doing loads of forest road miles. Between posts 20 & 21 you spend 5 mins carrying your bike through a quagmire in the trees. Felt like the ride never got going. Would certainly go back but only when it’s all open, which I think is end March.
Great people in the shop & cafe though!

Rob

Here’s my old one in the classic colour scheme, photo taken around 1991 on Dartmoor.

Proper old skool, silly narrow Answer Hyperlite bars, monster bar ends, Accutrax forks, and even homebrew titanium brake boosters.
Still got the frame in the garage, even though the seat tube cracked after 7 years of abuse. Ridden Oranges ever since, just love the ride.

Rob

Another thumbs up for JD, they even look after your greyhound while you go for a test ride! The staff & customers spoilt him rotten while we were out riding their Ventana, he didn’t want to leave!

SSS, you’d love that Ventana, you know it makes sense……….

Rob

Well I’ll stick my head above the parapet and say that I’m happy with flying snakes mudlovers. Been on for 8 months of grim scottish weather and still super smooth, never touched them.
Ran Gore before, one set lasted 7 years, yes 7 years, even transplanted from one bike to another.
Rob

Ventana solo or ECdM tandem? When we built Nancy the tandem I took the Hope Ti6 brake and Hope/Mavic back wheel from the cannondale and swapped them onto the ECdM. Only change was going up to 203mm disc, but we now get a howling from the back brake that was never there on the ‘dale. Only when braking though, no problem freewheeling.
Have read via the Double Forte tandem forum that this is a common problem, seems to be a harmonic issue in Ventana rear triangles.

Rob

I bought (and still have got) the first copy of MBUK, and was messing around on a Raleigh Mustang with a 23″ frame, so that must be 1988. First proper MTB was the special edition red Muddy Fox Courier (19″, the right size)that had Exage kit and a seatstay U-brake.

SSS, glad you both had a good first outing. I remember ours, in Clumber Park, Notts. We were so stoked just to navigate it through a 4ft gap between two logs that when we got back to the carpark we forgot ‘dismounting ettiquete’ and both toppled over in a big heap of legs,arms and bike. Couldn’t stop giggling for ages, think all the onlookers were going to call the men in white coats to come and take us away!
Happy tandeming.

Rob & Sandy

Ah, TJ’s secret to being good at riding down steps!
My solo used to live in my bedroom at my mum’s house, bikes in sheds in Nottingham don’t have a high life expectancy. Fortunately had a garage to house the tandem ever since, and am very, very grateful for it.

SSS, yes unfortuately they aren’t cheap, but they are a beautiful work of art. We were fortunate to benefit from an inheritance to buy ours, hence she’s called Nancy.

Getting her on and off the car roof is managable, but the loft????? Riding back down the stairs could be fun though!

Rob

Using the highly advanced technique of standing on the bathroom scales, then picking up the bike, Nancy the Ventana comes in at 49lbs.

Never weighed her before, and I never weighed the cannondale before we stipped her, so can’t compare. She rides much lighter than the ‘dale, even though I’m sure she’ll be heavier due to rear shock etc.

She does have a very hefty build spec though. We’re not the lightest team so the wheels are burly D321’s on Big Uns, and the ‘zochhi 66’s must add a ton on their own. Now we are full suss a slightly lighter wheel spec would probably be ok, though it is reassuring to be able to bash over things without worrying about a mechanical failure.

Rob

Did mine a few months ago. As everyone above has said, it is pretty fiddly, and if yours are anything like mine and full of crud, it’s not too easy at first to see how it all comes apart.
The 8 allen bolts that hold the black cage are pretty soft and are loctite’d, so use a good fitting allen key or they’ll round out easily.
Once the red end plate is off, there is a cap pressed into the end of the axle. This is where the ‘pop up’ spring locates. Clean the crud off and you’ll just see two tabs where it rebates into the end of the axle. A fine screwdriver should prise the cap off. Then you’ll get to the bearings as whyter describes. Think 11 each end IIRC, but they are tiny so beware of fridge suck.
Just take your time and have a clean work area so you can find all the bearings when they fall out.

Good luck!
Rob

I hate ruts! Any why do they all have some strange powers of magnetic attraction that draws you into them?
TJ, impressed you’ve got the hang of lifting the front wheel, that’s one trick we’ve still not mastered. We resort to brute force, ignorance, and the lord Marzocchi to get us through.
I always find my arms are much more tired after a tandem ride than a solo ride and it hadn’t dawned on me why that was. It is different steering.

SSS, one problem with techy uphills is that on a solo you know exactly where yr back wheel is, when to put the power on and when to unweight it, eg over slippy roots. Doing the same on a tandem is far trickier.
We ran an normal QR front wheel for nearly 10 years until changing to bolt-through 18 months ago. Huge improvement.

Just a thought, I know TJ is in Edinburgh, and we’re west of Glasgow. Where is everyone else? How about a gathering at Glentress sometime to share techniques? And cake, obviously!

Rob

I’ve had a pair for approx 2 years, very happy and no issues, though I recall a number of posts from other STW riders who have had problems.
The std spring is a fraction too hard for my liking (I’m almost 6ft, 13 stone)but there is a lighter spring option, which I’ve never got round to buying.
Can’t compare to RS rev’s as not ridden them.

Rob

Ditto FSA

I run one on the bars and one helmet mounted, but only on really fast stuff do I use both on full, so 2 almost overkill. I bought them following the rave reviews among the STW bretherin and am very impressed. They outshine my mates Lumicycles, nuff said! Your dosh has been very well spent.

Rob

SSS, nice one, look fwd to seeing the pics. And yes lots of learning to come, but its damn good fun!

Lobby_dosser, nope not us, mainly due to 1) we’re not that fit, and 2) north shore on the tandem scares the life out of me! Hats off to them.
PS- it was me that bought your old P7 🙂 You’ll be glad to know she’s doing well.

Rob

i hope you guys know the person at the back of that tandem to be slating them like that

Thanks for that Jedi. No they don’t, and I think it’s a bit of a cheap shot at a fellow rider. Who said you have to be a size 10 to enjoy mountain biking? Think what you like, but consider others before you post it.

TJ, I agree, riding that seesaw is bonkers. I bottle it on a solo so nae chance on the tandem. On my solo I’ve struggled to keep up with Paul & Nic on the red route singletrack, they are awesome.

Rob

singlespeedstu, what tandem did you go for?

Orange5, here’s another airborne tandem….

Rob

The Oak Framed House is across the Clyde from us on the Rosneath peninsula. Can see it from the Dunoon-Gourock ferry. Awesome outlook!

I found the weight on top made my lid drop forward over my eyes, especially on rocky DH’s. Try the dealextreme one above on the side of your lid, just above your ear. Personally find the lower CofG makes it much more comfortable.
Rob

I took a 205mm hope disc down to 203 by putting the wheel in some old forks in a vice, then spinning the wheel while holding an angle grinder against the edge of the disc. Kept it nice and round and did the job in no time 🙂

Oh, and please don’t use cost as your deciding factor. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.

If instructors are offering ridiculusly cheap lessons, ask yourself why they are having to. I’m the most expensive instructor in the area but get all my business by recommendation, including many moving from cheaper instructors because they talk to their friends and realise they aren’t progressing as quickly.

Rob

Rudeboy, best bet is to ask around and get recommendations. The independant Vs big company debate has pro’s & cons. I’ve always been inde, and it means you have to give 110% to every pupil, there’s no company to hide behind.

The DSA stats suggest approx 40hrs professional tutition plus similar private practice for a first time pass, though obviously everyone is different. Remember a decent instructor will give you a skill for life, not just try and scrape you through the test.

My pupils find a minimum of 2hrs a week gets them progressing at a reasonable pace. I try to discourage just 1 hr a week in the early stages as the knowledge doesn’t stick from week to week so the learning process takes longer (and costs them more).

Just my thoughts, there are other instructors in the STW massive that I’m sure will be along to share their views.

Rob