Anyone got any comparisons with Spesh Captains, particularly on the back?

I’ve gone from a Captain to a Ground Control on the front – I’ve also gone from 26 to 29, which may affect my assessment, but I think that the GC is like the captain but better: just as fast rolling (although it doesn’t look like it should be), and better grip especially when cornering at shallow angles. I guess that this would make it good on the back.

Seems to shed mud slightly better (although this may just be the 29er not picking as much up, and I hardly ever ride in muddy conditions).

Le Grand Bornand tourist office has (or had a couple of years ago) a map of marked XC routes around the valley – a couple of them start from the top of the village lift. A friend and I did the longest one, which we made even longer by riding up to join up with the track. A few of the routes use fireroads and tarmac, but there are some nice bits of trail too.

I don’t think I’d recommend Grand Bornand as a destination for XC riding, but there’s enough for at least 3 or 4 good rides.

For road biking there’s a lot of choice – it’s one of the rare Alpine villages that isn’t stuffed up the end of a valley so you can head off in different directions. You might end up on big roads when connecting up cols on the other sides, but from the village is pretty quiet.

The rims look the same, but the hubs are different.

I suspect that the only way to really find out if the supplied wheels are tubeless ready is to have a look at a pair and see if they’re pre-taped with blue tubeless tape or the red fabric stuff.

Having said that, I recently converted a pair of Specialized Carve wheels to tubeless using one turn of gorilla tape without too much drama, so even if they’re not ‘official’ tubeless they will probably work.

hs is correct – there are so many possible combinations of tyre & rim (and variations in manufacturing) that it’s best just to give it a go –

Try a split tube if you’ve got old small tubes hanging around, try taping the rim if you’ve got a roll of Gorilla Tape, try one of the proper kits from Stans/Joes/DTSwiss, try with a floor pump, try with a 9p home-made compressor (there’s a thread on here somewhere), try down the garage.

All you have to lose is your patience…

Good work, except that i think you broke Strava – I can’t connect now!

Do Time cleats come with a shim?

A friend of mine had a similar problem with CrankBros pedals – the rubber grips on his shoes hit the pedal before the cleat could click in, so to clip in he had to stand on the pedal with all his not inconsiderable weight (this compressed the grips just enough). A thin metal shim between cleat and shoe raised the cleat away from the sole just enough.

I use Elite custom with Camelbak podium bottles on a hardtail and I haven’t yet lost a bottle (cheap decathlon bottles bounce out pretty easily so I know that it’s the combination of cage and bottle that works)

There’re some interesting cage modifications from the teams at Paris-Roubaix:

Sky were using Elite Ciussi Gel cages with added grip tape
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/photos/tech-gallery-paris-roubaix-2014/301310

United Healthcare were using plastic Tacx Tao, with added zip ties:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/photos/tech-gallery-paris-roubaix-2014/301307

Actually I think that looks better than the catalogue shots.

Front mech looks very neat, not sure how the front cable entry would work with typical hardtail cable routing, with a stop on the seat-tube?

Rear mech appears to have the clutch switch the other way round, so it’s tucked out of the way when on.

Older angular xtr chainsets looked much better, but it looks like the curviest parts of the new one are plastic covers over the chainring bolts.

Morris Dancing, the world’s least stealthy martial art

Ah yes, that’s the other thing – the pinkbike guide suggests pulling the tape tight when going round, then smoothing down into the recess afterwards.

This video from ENVE (who supply Gorilla Tape as their preferred tubeless tape for their $$$ carbon rims!) suggests pressing down in the middle as you go:

I did the front as pinkbike and the back as ENVE – the tape seemed to go on better using the ENVE method, so I’d go with that.

You really need to see someone about the back pain – could be anything : pulled muscles, herniated discs, compressed vertebrae.

Then you should consider a bike that matches your username : http://www.orbea.com/gb-en/sites/occam-29/ :lol:

If you’re looking for more XC stuff closer to Toulouse then you can get an idea of where to go from the GPS traces here : http://www.utagawavtt.com/gmap/carte-generale-topos-vtt

You can find Randos here : http://www.vetete.com/ (non-timed rides where a local club marks out a route and provides food stops for a few euros)

And you can usually find some locals on the forums at velovert (like this : http://forum.velovert.com/topic/163709-oh-toulouse/page__pid__5513099#entry5513099 )

Gorilla tape can be cut to width if you buy the standard wide rolls – as here: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Tech-Tuesday-Gorilla-Tape-Tubeless-Conversion.html

I was planning on doing this before I noticed that my rims are exactly the right width for the narrower Gorilla Tape “To-go”.

I’m in no rush to upgrade to the new version.

It’s jumped in size from 9MB to 19MB and I don’t have that much spare space on my phone!

Didn’t Sunn go into administration last year? That would make me avoid the charger (unless the equipment was way, way better than the Rose)

If you import rides from gpx files or other devices there is actually a “Commuting” checkbox (or there used to be) – but it doesn’t seem to do anything!

My commute is a bit short: only 4.5km. So I apply a “Fun kms only” rule and only turn on Strava for commutes where I go the long way round, or real rides.

I think I was looking at your Whyte frame yesterday – if it’s the one with gear outers still in place.

Considering a new S or XS hardtail frame, but it needs to be OK with 26″ wheels and fork.

From ukc : http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=576862&v=1#x7665253

Unfortunately, it is looking unlikely that we will be able to offer any mats for sale this season as we have had a real problem with our manufacturing partner. The factory closed down in August 2013 leaving us high and dry without a factory to make our products for 2014. We have been sampling with new factories but have yet to find a new reliable manufacturing partner. We hope to have them back at some point but have no definitive information at the moment.

Ashleigh – Alpkit Customer Service

Those things just look mental. It’s even more deranged when there’s a flock of them:

I don’t think there’s a limit for offline rides in the Android app. I’ve certainly recorded 4 or 5 without any problems.

I almost always have data turned off anyway.

Rebas for 229€ ??

http://www.alltricks.com/mtb/forks/forks-26-/rockshox-reba-rl-2013-fork-100mm-26-1-18-axis-9mm-pushloc-white-131-135875.html

Nice looking bikes, nice team kit… but the mismatched helmets?

For me, the designs that really stand out well are the ones that use strong geometric shapes and asymmetry. Morvelo and Cervelo/Garmin are particularly good at this:

However, cofidis are not:

One thing that bothers me about FSR – if it’s so good for everything, how come Specialized need to add the Brain inertia valve on the XC race bikes?

Most French bikers (“motards”) drop the right foot. I guess because the right hand’s on the throttle?

looks a bit daft when someone on a scooter does it though.

I also run my ht saddle height about 2cm lower than the road bike.

This is not because i’m a top xc racer. it’s because i’m too lazy to stop and drop the saddle all the time!

Non-adjustable leg loops on the harness, so it needs to be the right size for your thighs – you need to try it on, and hang in it whislt weariing the same thickness of clothing as when climbing.

Hold on, 2 weeks is not much time at all.

If you train hard for the next 2 weeks, then on the day of the race you’ll still be tired and actually do worse than if you’d done nothing.

How about doing a week of pretty hard rides or turbo sessions then spend a week tapering (maintain intensity but drop duration by 20% each ride), eating well and getting to bed early?

I can see that being able to shift more than 2 gears at a time would be a real advantage with 1×10 or 1×11 systems – where I ride there are lots of short, sharp ups and downs and I’ve got the habit of dropping between big and little ring at the front.

The equivalent in a 1x setup must be to change about 4 gears at once. With triggers shifters that’s a lot of clicks.

Anyone gone from 2×10 to 1×11 gripshift?

Strava privacy zones aren’t quite as static as some of you seem to think – the centre always stays where you put it, but the zone size varies randomly from day to day by a couple of hundred metres.

I was trying to set a privacy zone that covered my office, but not a nearby segment end and this drove me nuts for a couple of days!

That’s not going to help if you live in a really small village though.

On the “My Account > My Orders” page, http://www.alltricks.com/mon-compte/mes-commandes.html there should be a column for “Tracking” with a link in it – clicking on this opens the chronopost page (parcel number is in the URL)

If it says “Not available” then they’ve used some other delivery method I think.

Happy Royaume says “Bonne Année”

Guess I’m the only one who’s had a less-than-brilliant experience.

I’ve had 5 implants that all failed – there isn’t enough bone where the teeth should be (adult teeth missing since birth). Attempts to build up the bone using bits of coral and bone from my hip were only partially successful, and the implants later fell out before capping teeth could be put on.

However, the implant process itself was pretty quick and relatively painless. If it’s a straightforward implant then go for it, but if any surgeons start talking about bone grafts, or the “limits of their skill” then stick with dentures. There are shiny titantium ones with colour-matched teeth that work really well…

Patch the inside, or keep riding on it and carry an anchovy-style tubeless repair kit to use if it keeps leaking (although 2mm sounds on the small side for this kind of repair – the sealant on it’s own might work).

Like this: http://www.justridingalong.com/weldtite-rapid-tubeless-repair-kit.html

I can’t watch the vid (geo-restricted) but if they’re talking about doing the Quebrantahuesos cyclosportive then I doubt if any of them will finish.

It’s 198km and 3500m of climbing. If the weather’s bad then it can be Dantéesque on top of the Somport and Portalet. At the front end then it’s ridden as a race by thousands of Spanish and French cyclists, so everyone goes off like a rocket.

Hang on there – if ukelele versions are in, then Gus & Fin must be considered:
Gugug – Blitzkrieg Bop

Guessing he’s in the Tarn. The departement (No.81) not the river, obviously

How did you guess that? Amazing! :lol:

Oooo. Actually this is quite good.

Thanks STW. Happy New Year to you all!

Been a while but Arico was really good, lots of easier shorter things in the upper gorge and longer harder stuff in the lower, I don’t remember many cracks though – mostly pockets and edges up steep slabs/walls.

Las Canadas is also really good. The routes aren’t as high quality as Arico, but it’s an amazing place. The crag looks like dodgy piled up mud but it’s iron-hard lava. You might feel the altitude though, it took us a couple of visits to get used to it (staying at sea level). Mind your bags and cars, it’s more touristy than around Arico so can be “visited”.

El Catedral is supposed to be good for multipitch routes, but I think there might be some access restrictions (maybe not though).

We also visited a couple of smaller crags, which were OK for a change but a bit scrappy and limited compared to Arico/Canadas.

Have fun, enjoy the warm sea and drink Ron-Miel

Got a semi-warranty replacement new bike. I’ve gone from a too-small 26″ hardtail to a just-right 29er hardtail (Specialized Crave).

First couple of rides have confirmed that it is faster, smoother, climbs better, corners better and descends better.

Should be a fun year!