its probably been cold set (gooogle cold set sheldon brown) in for a 120mm track hub. You should be able to gently pry it out again to 135mm as others have said.

He does know most 4x4s only kick in when the front wheels lost traction now a days? You are looking at a thousand pounds to modify them to permanent awd on a lot of cars and you will lose even more mpg.

I do hate 4x4s in general but I just like to make sure people realise the disadvantages of them so their head can accept what their heart wants.

If you can find one a scout octavia would be good and is 99% as nice as a VW which is 99% as nice as an Audi.

I’ve used some formulas, shimano, hope and hayes. I LOVE my 3 1/2 sets of hayes stroker trail/carbons. They are very very cheap second hand and very easy to bleed. I believe its the same process as avid. Only problem I have had with them is the piston in the lever is prone to wearing and wobbling however this isn’t such a problem on the trails and carbons as opposed to the rydes. I use a set of trails on my MTB tandem with a 200/180mm rotor setup. They work great for a <300 pound team and a >400 pound team.

Hopes were okay but lacking in power (M4s), formulas are bonkers but very little modulation for me as they were probably to powerful. The shimano i’ve used were good and nice and reliable in terms of stopping power, feel etc but I hated bleeding them with a passion.

IME
Hayes – good power, feel, easy to bleed.
slight lever wobble.

shimano – pretty good power, reasonable feel.
hated bleeding.

hope – okay power, lots of modulation
never wanted to bleed them given how complicated my brother made it
sound

formula – crazy powerful
not much modulation but they were to big for my weight. easy bleed if i’m correct.

pour mud all over the brakes, do a few stops. Rinse repeat till they work. Usually takes 3 times sometimes 5. I’ve done this with some horribly contaminated setups.

don’t ask why…

MUD MUD MUD. get some nice wet mud and pour it on your brakes then use them a little bit for like 20 metres. Hose the mud off then reapply. Few times usually sorts it out pretty well.

For reference I did this on a set of pads/discs that LITERALLY were covered in mineral oil and it got them as good as new.

God dam MTB tandems are **** amazing. IF you are doign this next year I am definitely in. Unfortunately I just can’t make this year :(

If you are doing shorts journeys like that you don’t want a diesel. Deleting the DPF might cure that problem but the engine won’t be at full efficiency/temperature in that time unless its very small and useless for towing. Looking after a turbo diesel is not hard. You just have to make sure it gets warm every trip, once the engine is fully warm (AND THE OIL) rag the shit out of it pulling onto a motorway every now and then and also make sure you don’t park it then switch the car off straight away. Needs 20-30 seconds to let the turbo spool down and cool down.

Also DPFs are good for the environment. Atleast keep it in until it dies then get rid of it. Think of the children.

I use mostly hayes brake rotors because i got a bunch cheap…

Don’t think it really matters though, just get somethign that suits your riding. Lightweight rotors for racing and you’re light. 180f/160r for most xc if weights not an issue and floating rotors if you’re a heavy lard arse or drag your brakes a lot.

What a **** idiot. I find it amazing some road users are oblivious of the improvments made to the sport in MTBing. Yet most (NOT ALL) MTBers i know atleast have a grasp of whats going on with road bikes.

I explain to people how to use disc brakes with short and hard braking and they just don’t listen. After the fourth or fifth time I give up telling them.

I ride XC so I never drop my saddle. I am faster than most people who do drop their saddles and talk about how its gnarly and has drops.

Remember you are probably riding XC which is as much about the ups and flats as the downs. If you’re riding downhill or FR then of course drop your saddle.

I’ve used it a bit at work and there are some terrible UI choices in it that really aggravate me.

That said I am installing it on my laptop and soon my desktop. Although I do get it for free :)

You may aswell – in a few years it will be the standard and its got supposed performance improvements anyway.

I cracked the steerer tube on my exotics :( I weigh around 150 pounds dry so 155 wet. This was due to repeated bad drop offs with heavy front wheel landings. Only about a foot high though.

you didn’t have the bead of the tyre on properly. Just check it as you pump up.

for BB i ran an old steel BB shell through it first and that worked okay. HT2 BB was still tight but went in and came out again later okay.

Perhaps the bike just isn’t built very well and theres some drag in the system? Or its bad geometry.

I built a Scandal 29er a few months back and absolutely love it to pieces. Super fast, reasonably light and very comfy.

Brilliant post. I recently did the SDW in a day and am planning to do it at night with some buddies so this is a really interesting read for me : )Thanks!

Get some mud in your hand and slather it on the brakes. Do this a few times and it will sort any problem with contamination.

Trust me – my mate shimano deores were literally dripping brake fluid off the pads/discs. Put mud on and bang more powerful than before he decided to drain all the fluid out.

Theres a time and place for skids!

Also skids are best executed WITHOUT The use of the rear brake. Thats how you know you are super-hardcore-gnar.

I’m TJ.

My uncle decided to get married and have two kids in the home he 50% owns with his mother without ever really discussing it. Queue all sorts of petite back stabbing and passive-aggressive behaviour between the females of the household.

My advice is to talk it out and get “ground rules” set down now. I would also be telling the wife/MIL to sort it out and stop being ass holes to each other. Even if they don’t necessarily get on theres nothing to stop people being adults.

I use a pompino SS v brake for 11 mile each way 22 mile round trip commute. Two small hills to climb up and its bloody brilliant. So much fun. I’ve also got what I call idiot bars on it…aka the on one midge bars. Great stuff.

This is rubbish :( Its sad that this would happen.

Hi mate, I recently had this problem and it turned out the ENTIRE disc was bent. Completely impossible to spot by eye and would lay flat against another rotor. Put a new rotor in and didn’t even adjust the caliper. I had no rub ! That rotor went straight in the bin.

it was my fault it was bent. i tensioned the wheel to hard in a SS and forced the wheel round :(

Okay so what now…

I imagine carbon forks make a reasonable replacement for bombers. The idea of a carbon tube shattering into a million pieces around your face sounds suitably unpleasant 8O

Legend Pridds :lol:

Too much cutting sarcasm on here.

I would be asking how the car sustained so much damage from such a low speed impact. IF the front end is out of alignment like you say the car is almost certainly a write off and as such probably not fit for use after such a low speed impact. I live in the middle of a busy city and cars regularly touch when parking bumper bumper, I’ve not heard of a single one going out of alignment from this happening repeatedly. Just look at Paris !

My opinion – Someone, ie the boss, is pulling a fast one.

Once again – I’m not planning to ride them. My original question was whether or not there is any way to replace the steerer. Also I am well aware that a small crack will always propagate out into a larger crack and eventually failure hence why I said I wont be riding them. At the moment I have a horrible Steel fork I am using.

Unfortunately the crack is around half way down the headtube on an inbred….so if anyone wants a pair of carbon forks with an 80mm steerer tube I’m your man. :lol:

No its not a troll and I’m not planning to ride them as is. Hence why I was asking if there is a way to fix them. Whilst a lot of responses are very funny (and helpful) theres some big assumptions the crack is massive. Its not actually gone all the way through the tube even and never got worse in the time I had it before. When I had to use it (due to not having funds for new ones) I used a headlock so if it did fail it wouldn’t send me tarmac surfing.

I was wondering if theres any way to replace the steerer but as they are Exotics I doubt its possible.

I don’t really understand this.

I put 5 litres of SVO in the occasional tank of my 2003 octavia tdi and it smooths the engine out aswell. Doesn’t affect mpg and costs £1 a litre.

Awesome – I might use this to convert my tandem to a single sided drive as it will make my life a lot easier.

The problem is the parked cars and other blind hazards. In my opinion they should have been riding single file just to the right of the bike lane. I do this quite frequently and it works surprisingly well as long as you aren’t bimbling at 5mph. Cars can still overtake but realise they shouldn’t squeeze past you.

Other than the already stated that cycle lane is far to narrow. Small cars could get past okay in the extreme right of their lane but big cars and especially lorries will also try and go past which is far to close. The white line does NOT protect you from 30 tonnes of steel and hatred.

woof woof woooof…woof woof.

sorry a passing jack russell wanted to talk to you.

Anyway, why get an animal that could attack your child at any time? So you previous dog attacked your child twice and you want another? What if it attacks even once. Your child WILL remember it and what are they going to think about you as a result when they grow up? Wait a few years and get one then.

Ok Thanks Al. I have a SR Suntour mech on there at the moment that works with the 48 tooth so I always have that as a backup if the XT doesn’t work.

cynic-al. Its a MTB shifter AND deraillauer. The road part is the front chainset.

Its all a bit confusing.

I’m in the process of putting 3×9 on my tandem. At the moment an 8 speed road chainset is on the front. I have deore xt mtb derailleur/shifter and I was wondering if anyone can tell me if these will shift correctly on a Road 3×9 crankset?

get a reaaallly long carbon fibre post and you should be okay.

I think I took the same approach as you getting a semi-decent bike which was worth upgrading with mostly parts I already own. my big pitfall was I didn’t check what gears were on the bike so it has horrible gripshift + 8 speed rear. This means I’ve just bought 9 speed cassette + chain + 2 shifters which was more money than I really wanted to spend. Live and learn though.

Hi mate, I recently got an Orbit andromeda mtb tandem and all I can say is its quite a hoot. I would try and find yourself one that has full suspension. Remember the person on the back can’t respond to bumps in quite the same way a solo rider can. If you can’t find one at a reasonable price then getting something like a thudbuster on the back can be a suitable alternative.

Mine currently has shit forks/shocks/brakes and tyres. I have naerly all the bits I need to make it into a true offroad beast and I can’t wait.

I have Halo Aerorage wheels on my fixie commuter. I had literally no problems with and it was fairly well sealed. Note the best however but should be up to commuting in my opinion.

Obviously getting the Aerorage/track wheelset might not be your best bet btu the hub is solid.