How long has it been going on for? I got shingles last winter and the effected patches felt like that for a few weeks before the rash developed.

Just to throw in a differential diagnosis there

I don’t think it will but not sure.
SRAM front mechs are notoriously rubbish. From personal experience I don’t think they actually makes one that works well. Best thing you can do is swap it for a Shimano one. Even a 105 turned out to be better than the wife’s SRAM Force mech. The cranks, shifters and rear mech have all performed flawlessly I should add.

Tom KP

Had a few from you now Jeron and have to say im e been happy with them all and the service was brilliant t.

Cheers

Tom KP

I would like to edit my response. On further investigation it appears the DU bushings are trashed on mine which is accounting for the horrendous creaking/cracking sounds. And not the Burgtec Ti bushings. I still recommend http://Www.offsetbushings.com if you want to experiment as they’re well made and much cheaper than the Burgtec ones at £10 each

No Problems with the 2 Reverbs in our house

They’ve got to make a living and I reckon £6 is reasonable.

Their bars are good, had a set a few years ago and would get another one without hesitation

Spend a long time analysing what you ride and picking the right bike rather than just rushing into buying a flash bike

26+. Stop, you’re ahead of what the Bike Companies have planned. It was meant to be 650b 2 years ago, Fatties last year, 27.5+ this year and you have to wait until next year for 26+. You’ll start the craze early and ruin their master plan.

Specialized hit squad will be singing their way to you as we speak.

Super glue to start with (did something similar last week only up the nail not across it. Currently using clear nail varnish on it as the glue is a bit to inflexible

Park patches and duct tact have kept a few of mine going.

Knees and back protector for me. Last time I did it there was a lots on contact and ‘rubbin son, is racing’. The start was like a mass start 4X race. Great fun and always amusing when a small skinny European tries to barge you out of the way.

How did you manage to bend that?

Pretty sure I’m running avid rotors with shimano brakes without any problems.

Go with the wider ones. Try them for a while, decide you want to cut them down. Then don’t. Or get the Fat Bar Lights which are 740. 740-60 is a good size. I’ve got pretty broad shoulders and loved my 780s but made it a bitch getting in and out of the flat at the time. Currently at 750 and that 30mm makes it much easier not to wreck door frames and not a lot of difference on single track

I use a mallet and a bit of wood. Didn’t realise there were proper tools.

Was it the big group? With about 15 little ones, 2 medium sized and a big daddy pig? Bumped into them last week, eventually I gave up and bushwhacked around them.

Lovely sight to see. Just need wolves now

Hope Hoops, either Mavic rims, Flows or Tech Enduros. I’ve still not killed my 521s in 3 years of hard riding, casing jumps/sideways landings and generally battering them through rocky terrain.

Try MyProtein.comtheir basic protein is good. Cookies and cream is my favourite at the mo

The main problem with waterproof gloves (in mountaineering, climbing and cycling) is that by their nature no matter what they are made of they will always have a massive hole at one end to let the water in.

I’ve always found it better to have a pair that are warm and comfortable even when wet. Water resistant material is a bonus. For the last 2 winters I’ve been enjoying a pair by Madison. Think they were about 15-20 quid. Dryish, warm AND comfortable.

Tom KP

Rubber mallet or foot. Then regressed threads and reinsert

Going back to what Deviant said about progressively wound Moto springs, didn’t Manitou release a coil fork with a lighter spring in top of a stiffer one to produce the same result a few years ago?

Tom KP

I just use electrical tape. It’s been on my rims for several years now and still going strong.

Sent the Missus out to buy glue when we were putting our kitchen in last month. She came back with Gorilla Glue. Damn that stuff’s good. My top tip would be to make sure you glue it right first time!

Think I saw the narrower Gorilla tape in Tesco and or B&Q recently

Birzman make a brake alignment tool as well.

Now I’ve got one I don’t know how I managed with out a decent work stand (basic Park one).

I think it’s a good thing that McGarry and YT are willing to show the damage done. One year at a Rampage there was a reported 14 pairs of broken forks but no pictures.

I think it makes a nice change to show these things. It’s not like the paying public will be doing anything as big as this (unless it’s really foggy and you miss that alpine switchback).

I will admit now that I’m a Maxxis fan. But I would recommend a DHF for front or rear use. The only time I don’t run one on the back is for XC stuff. I’ve never got on with the DHR (although the Missus liked them on the back of her DH bike). They roll well and are predictable. As said above Sam Hill used to run them. Personally I think they’re the best all round gravity tyre out there. I usually run a 60a 2.35 on the rear and a 2.5 Super a Tacky on the front.

Currently waiting for the Minion Semi Slick to come out to replace the gods awful Nobby Nick I’m running on the rear at the moment for XC duties.

Did you try heating the end of the crank with a hot air gun or blowtorch? The aluminium crank heats quicker than the steel axle so expands first releasing the pedal.

Obviously don’t do this with Carbon cranks and remember you don’t need to heat it very much.

I had to do this a few times when sorting people’s bikes out as many of my friends are ham-fisted monkeys who shouldn’t be allowed near a tool!

Tom kp

The Mrs likes TLD jerseys, but it can take a bit of hunting to find one that is in a subdued, nice colour way as a lot of their stuff is pretty garish.

Try online Moto stores. Also Fox do some decent jerseys as well.

They’re nice vehicles, although most are pretty old now (but then most of my vehicles have been of similar age), people that have them love them. Pretty sure they’re all Mazda/Ford underneath so parts are cheap and easy to sort out.

They even do a V6 version. Plus they have one of the best names of any motor vehicle (gotta love that generation of Jap vehicles).

Tom Kp

Triscombe is pretty awesome on a DH bike and there’s the availability of an uplift at weekends there as well.
I think the Capra is enough bike for anywhere in the UK apart from actually racing DH, but most of the local guys I know from Triscombe area own a DH bike and a 140-160 bike as well.

And you’ll ride the Capra more often as it’s much more versatile

Oh, and Maxxis tyres, not found anything that works as well or as reliable over the years

Hope Hubs.

Forward Geo is a myth. If you look at the Reach and TT length of Mondraker bikes they aren’t any longer than other brands (shorter than quite a few)and 35mm stems are nothing special. They’re good bikes and ride well, especially if you’re aggressive with them much like any slack bike.

No experience with the the Canyon.

I’ve had mine for about 6 years and it’s not shortened the lifespan of any of my bike components. As said above, many OEM bearings are often pretty cheap/rubbish quality as its a place to save money on the build with out having visible crappy kit on show.

Also even on full power you’d have to be blasting it under the seals of bearings, forks, shocks etc. I’ve also used full power jet washers to clean my bikes and they’ve never caused any problems (although with them I am pretty careful when cleaning anything with a seal. Seeing as they can remove car paint if you’re not careful.

The Yeti 4x is a really fun bike. Also look at the long Meta 4x as well. The difference between these and the Ellsworth is they’re good looking bikes whereas the Ellsworth looks like a turn of the century Stinky

In 2008 i swapped out a set of 670 for 780 bars on my 07 Mongoose and loved them. The only problem was that we kept trashing the door frames when wheeling it into the house. Cut them to 750 and that made it just narrow enough to not be a problem. Both the wife and I are currently running 750-60 (hers are wider as I got her old ones) and now I have a garage again I’m saving to swap to 800mm wide bars as I prefer the width, she’s significantly narrower so is keeping hers.

It’s all about what suits you and your style, my Orange Alpine is my do it all bike and rides better with wider bars – for me. My little bro still prefers narrower bars 690-710) and they’ve never slowed him down. But that might just be cos he’s a grumpy cheapskate and hates new things.

Tom KP

Marx are not going out of business, just the Moto side of things. Mob is still going strong.

I’ll only condone this if he was a- parked in a cycle lane. Otherwise it’s just just vandalism.

Personally I think there’s a good chance that the car belonged to him or someone he knew and got permission first. Especially as he filmed it so now the evidence is all over the Internet.

If it was my car I’d be pissed, so to not car about someone else’s is a bit hypocritical

Tom kp

This month’s Trail magazine has a good article about Ben Nevis including routes and advice.