What wheel size & hub spacing…? Maybe interested in taking them off your hands if you do :lol:

Not InvisiFramed? It’s keeping my 5010 looking new :D

John Lewis Specialist insurance has been good for me.

Yep – starts just below the old entrance. Check out the Tweed Valley Bike Patrol FB page for a photo / comment.

Had real problems streaming all day :-/

Had Hope X2s for years and not a single issue, worth every penny and the best reliability, modulation and adjustability imo. Worth looking at SRAM Guides or Levels – much improved from days gone past; changed from Shimano’s to these for a test and not gone back. Wouldn’t touch Formulas after really bad experiences in the past.

Stick this in the Wanted bit, you’ll probably get more interest trauty.

Yep; got exactly that with an absoluteBLACK oval ring on the front. Always run the same brand chain to cassette I have found is the only ‘rule’ :-)

I use the Trail Boss and like it but, as you say, slides early. A friend is using the Maxxis Aggressor and that looks great, he’s definitely impressed.

FunkyDunc – Member
What the hell is MIPS ? Is my helmet I have had for the last 2 yrs now useless ?

http://www.mips.technology

Doesn’t mean your helmet is useless, just something else to consider when the time comes to get a new one. This technology started in the equestrian world before moving into the snow then bikes industries.

There is good science behind what MIPS achieves, and they are not the only ones that think it’s important – http://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/sea-otter-2016-6d-helmets/%5B/url%5D

I for one will believe the scientists (not the marketing blerb) and protect my brain in any way possible. This is just a sensible option for me, if you don’t want to spend the extra there are a lot of good helmets without MIPS. The critical point is you are wearing a helmet!

Shorty/DHR2 for 11 months of the year! Shorty clears way better in my experience. If dry then a Vigilante/Trail Boss combo works really well up here.

I have been using the Guides for a while now and prefer the predicability over the XTs – I have had several issues with variable bite point on the Shimano’s that have caused some hairy moments! Still miss not having an effective BPC like the Hope’s.

Sweet Protection Bearsuit Light – absolutely brilliant, don’t even know I’m wearing them and have taken some fair knocks too!

Find a hill and get used to climbing it; a short enduro here in the Tweed Valley will be a good 1100m climbing. EWS last year which i expect the International will be similar to was: day one 55km/1400m, day two was 20km/785m. The Scottish Open was 40km/1300m. If you do practice and race its tiring..! 8O

The Bike Lodge

BoardinBob – Member
What camera are you using and what settings.

I have always had the best results on any POV video cam when set at the highest possible fps, even of that means dropping the resolution.

Icycles in Innerleithen may well have one, give Steve a ring.

Bet there might be some rapid tyre changes going on tonight / tomorrow night…. :lol:

AbsoluteBLACK do a 30 day trial offer; if you dont like the oval then they will chamge for a round. I am well impressed with the quality, worth the cash imo.

Absolutely love them; running absoluteBLACK rings on two bikes and can notice the increase in traction straight away. Also feels much more natural when I ride a bike with a round ring. No issues with dropping a chain and run both 1×10 and 1×11.

Worth giving absoluteBLACK’s 30 day money back trial a go!

AimUp response to council press release: here

Council press release (note no plan, just words such as ‘continue’, and announcing that more holiday cottages is the answer to our already under-filled local accommodation providers): here

Keep the discussion going; there is an impending press release I am led to believe that will outline the next workstrands and a public meeting in the near future that your attendance, points and discussion will be much needed and appreciated.

mt – Member
the FC can’t even run forests properly these days let alone a bike park.

Can I please say that this IS NOT a go against the FC – they are under-resourced with basically no funds for recreation – so please don’t focus on that.

The lack of vision, from the government level down, to regenerate a whole community whilst also increasing employment, income and reputation within a great area for mountain biking is the issue. The FC is only one voice in a stakeholder group that was tasked to deliver a plan for improvement, of which AimUp / the uplift was a possible solution. Unfortunately the seemingly chosen (non funded to date and still to be formally issued) solution is the potential for more trails (good but no plan and no money allocated) and ‘improved facilities’ in Innerleithen and a new car park, cafe and self catering lodges at Glentress. To me that does not say ‘game changer’ to bring the Tweed Valley back as a global mountain bike destination and compete against Wales and other rapidly developing areas of the UK.

scotroutes – Member
Because over 300,000 visitors per year is a sign of failure.

I am assuming you have read some completely out of date promotional propaganda number from several years ago. This figure is used to try and justify the multi-millions spent on a cafe and car park they now want to demolish and replace with…. a cafe and car park. If you look at the real figures for number of parking tickets issued it doesn’t equate to 300,000 visitors a year…

bigjim – Member

In terms of the Glentress Masterplan I think you are referring to, I’m get the impression it was developed privately by consultancy for the Borders council, with FC as the owner of the land being developed, rather than it being an FC led initiative, however I’ve only skimmed it once so could be wrong.

I thought Bike Park Wales was a private venture rather than FC (which doesn’t even exist in Wales any more anyway) but could be wrong?

Correct – a consultancy delivering to those same bodies that will benefit from the land lease income and business rates, the sceptic may think the answer was before the question. BPW is a private venture that has rejuvenated an area and bought jobs/income to the area. The biggest point is BPW was built around (ever growing) trails, it’s the trails that are the draw. There is no trail PLAN for the Tweed Valley. Lots of words and expensive stakeholder groups but no funded plan that details any how, when, where, who for etc. even though considerable work has been done by a legend of a local trail builder.

Sooner you can replace the hub with Hope the better :lol:

Use Parcel2Go for prices, usually MyHermes 2 Day is awesome value!

I have done a whole, grim, scottish winter in a pair of 5Ten Freerider Elements with a pair of knee-length waterproof socks – the way forward!! They dry overnight with the soles taken out, stuffed with newspaper and left near a radiator :-)

I’ll stick it up Bob with a linl to this chat

Can you post that on the Tweed Valley Bike Patrol FB page please slaneybob as that reaches over 3700 folk? Ta

I wouldn’t bother with either tbh, far less things to go wrong (and better performance) with solo air forks imo.

I have experienced no issues ordering straight from the website, arrived quickly and answered an email quickly. I have now done 300+km on an aB oval 30T cinch through a Scottish winter and it still looks good, wearing well, not dropped the chain and makes a massive difference in rear wheel traction and reducing leg fatigue.

Try making contact through FB and always worth checking your spam/junk folder in case your email platform thinks it is such.

Chipbutty – Member
Fed up with my rear XT and dropping wheel out to pump pistons out to allow for pad wear! Tried bleeding but still comes back. Just ordered Hope E4s last night!

Pretty much how I remidied the issue! And Shimano/Madison still refuse to acknowledge there is an issue even after 5 pages on this thread alone!!

Shop around for a Keela Saxon – absolutely brilliant.

Ace.

You are by far not the only one to have this. I sent mine back under warranty, Madison re-bled them (said oil was black and I had only bled them a week prior!!) and they are ok now. Apparently there are ‘tricks of the trade’ that you now have to do to really make them work consistently. In the end I solved the issue by replacing them with a different brand!

I run mine at about 30% sag and rarely use all the travel and that’s hammering some of Innerleithen’s steepest tracks (not landing big drops though). The beauty of the VPP is that it does feel bottomless. Not wanting to suck eggs, when you set it up make sure the blue lever is to open/descend or whatever Fox are calling it this week.

Some of it does come down to rider preference, I hate a shock that wallows and sits too deep in it’s travel hence the 30% sag maximum.

Gave up on garmin in the end and got a TomTom GPS watch and never had an issue!

Don’t confuse modern oval chanrings with biopace…, there is a fundamental difference. If you are sceptical, try absoluteBLACK’s 30 day trial…

Difference from Biopace vid

http://absoluteblack.cc/mtb-chainrings/%5B/url%5D