CTK: It already has suspension forks. I had thought about longer travel forks but that would be quite expensive. Plus when they compress he’d still have the steep headset to contend with.

Jonathan: Good call. My LBS suggested that yesterday. Got a 2.35 I can fit so will give that a go. Yeah, it does have an integrated headset actually. I hadn’t considered you might not be able to get an angleset in to an integrated headset frame. Will mail Superstart/works components and get their call on it.

Thanks

VC

Oh, thanks to all that replied. 👍

Black Stumpjumper with inappropriate tyres (for riding in muddy fields). :). See you there.

Vc

I’m 44 so veteran I think.

Mud? No-one mentioned anything about mud. 😀

Never even thought of Delamere. Ages since I’ve been there so didn’t know they hired ebikes. Thank you for the guiding offer. I may well take you up on it.

£100 for all day doesn’t sound bad until you factor in that Grisedale Mountain bikes will hire you a full suss for around half that for the day. And the bike shop at Whinlatter too.

VC

Checked out the Andy stand but it looked like it might be difficult to tune the gears with the arm coming in to the crank axel from the drive side.  I did see someone mention the Od-pod stand and followed that up.  That looks like it will work better for gear tunning so I think I’ll get one of those.

Thanks

Vc

Great, thanks for the suggestion. Keep them coming folks….

UCPA (goes to Google…..)

Cheap, well it’s all relative. However, I’m trying to see if I can get a European ski holiday for less than 3500 (two adults, two kids) The problem I have is that it seems from the reviews that unless you spend a fortune with a premier ski company it’s very hit and miss whether it’s any good. And I don’t want to spend that kind of money and be disappointed. We’ve stopped at YHA’s in this country and had great time. So I figure, there must be something similar around the ski resorts in Europe. Hence the question. The Gite Vagabond would be perfect if the kids were a bit more proficient, however Chamonix is hard graded in my opinion and so I think they’d definitely struggle. It’s there first trip away and I want them to enjoy it and want to go again.

Vc

Cool, thanks for your comments. Can’t beat real world reviews.

Vc

I can second what spooky’s saying. Took me a good two weeks to get used to the peripheral vision thing. All good now. Only notice it when I first put my glasses on. After 5 minutes I forget I’m wearing them.

Thanks for the info. I re-examined the geometry on the 20″ and found the stand over eight is a good 40mm higher that the 18″. A mate of mine said he once test rode one and the height was noticeable too. As a result I’m going to hold out for an 18″ I think.

Thanks

VC

It’s one of the early blue ones. Thanks for the replies.

Vc

It’s interesting to see that some people swear by it and some don’t think it works. My thoughts were I’d try the least “nasty” product and work up from there. If this doesn’t work for me I’ll try smidge. I don’t think I’ll ever get to the point where I’ll put something on my skin that eats plastic though. There’s no way that can be good for you.

Vc

I’ll give the dry oil a go and see how I get on.

Thanks

Vc

Magic, thanks.

Vc

MTBFIX: I’m after something of a more permanent than duck tape.

Matt: How long does it last? Have you needed to replace it ever? Are the patches coming up at the corners or peeling at all?

Thanks

VC

Thanks for the reply.

Anyone ridden it during the day when temperatures are above freezing? Are the sections like Bline rideable ? How about the free ride bits behind the cafe/shop?

Vc

Got to be my 93 Kona Fire Mountain. I rode it until the head tube came off a couple of years ago. Rest in pieces my trusty steed.

Vc

The manufacturer is selling them for £450 instead of £525 at the moment.

Vc

Thanks for the feedback.

Cheers

VC

Thanks for all your comments.

I’ve decicded to go for an Opium (due to it having bigger bearings than the Cobalt) and run a Hope lower bearing on the bottom and the Directset bearing on top. This should give me good seals where it really counts and the low stack height I really need. Also, with the bearings being identical, if it doesn’t last that long, I can always install the other one while the other is away getting replaced under warranty. :o)

Selling the old forks and buying new ones is too expensive an option at the moment.

On another note, I simply won’t buy second hand suspension forks as you never know what sort of life they’ve had. I’ve seen the results (twice) of a failed fork and it’s not something i am willing to risk. Only exception would be if someone i knew was selling some and I know what sort of life they’d had.

Thanks again

VC

A few people have mentioned rust. Surely this doesn’t apply to the stainless ones too?

VC

Actually, I’m doing alright. Just the Rig in bits at the moment and up until about 2 hours ago that too was ridable. It’s in “mid fettle” now, so to speak.

VC

PS. Can’t run 1 x 9 as I’m running a custom machined XT cassette (the lower 5 gears) on a Hope singlespeed hub. I’m trying to avoid having to buy a new rear wheel, whilest keeping the stonger wheel build of the SS hub (due to the wider flanges).

VC

The front mech issue is the crux of it.

Big n Daft has mentioned that he got more chain suck in some positions than in others, although that could have more to do with his shonky spannering than anything else. 🙂

I was after collecting a few “known good” positions from people who have actual geared one of these bikes up to kick off my own experimentation.

VC

It was a bit late to call and I thought if you were up you’d be on here anyway. 🙂

Well, were’s it at then?

Hiya 1×29,

The place is yours. I'll mail you in a bit with the details.

Chris

Appologies if these are already up there but there's far too many to go though. My top tip is don't buy a fancy high chair when the time comes to buy one. We did and when our son vommited all over himself, his highchair, and the carpet (which your child will do too while they're learnig to chew and swallow), the clean up operation took about 40 minutes because I had to take all those fancy harnesses and cushions off the high chair to get the little bits of puke out of all the nooks and crannies. Trust me, if you miss any the room will stink the next day.

The solution: Go to IKEA and buy a Antilop high chair with tray. They're less than £15 (from memory) and they take exactly one and a half minutes to hose down in the back garden.

While you're there, buy a pvc sheet to put under it. They come in all sorts of funky patterns and it's significantly quicker to hose this down in the back garden than it is to wipe, clean and Anti-bac your carpet.

One other thing, enjoy all your rides and sleep in's until your child is born. You're really going to miss them. Until they smile at you. 🙂

VC

Hi,

Thanks for all your replies. I'm pretty certain the frame isn't the cause, as it's been said, a bent frame would hold the chainring at a single angle and not cause tight spots. I checked the frame welds for cracks after the crash but I hadn't considered I might have bent the frame. I might get the LBS to check it’s in line next time it's in the shop.

I can't put the old crank on as it completely snapped off one of the tabs and bent another one. I've had a cursory look to see if the chainring is parallel to the frame but I will check it out properly.

I've also tried flipping the chainring over and even another chainring, but the tight spot remains in the same place, so I’m pretty sure the rings are straight.

Top of my things to try is the loosen-off-bolts-and-tap-with-soft-hammer plan. I don't think there's that much room to move it on the spider, but I'm willing to give it a go and be proven wrong. It won’t be the first time. :o)

I had considered just running the system a bit slack but I'm covinced the chain will come off. I don't really want to run it with a tight spot as I’m convinced it will wear all the components out quicker, particulaly the freehub and bottom bracket bearings. I’d rather run it with a tensioner.

They're bl00dy silly these singlespeeds aren't they! Still, I can't stop riding it though. :o)

VC

Looks like Singletrack published the wrong e-mail address. According to Carver, trev’s e-mail is rockstarracing@hotmail.co.uk, not hotmail.com.

That said, he’s still not got back in touch with me about a test bike.

VC