Matt Burrows

Happy birthday Mark

As Adam, Matt Vandart and myself suggested it's not really an issue. The shape of the splines will help to stop the cog digging in. I imagine a lot of people would just run the hub and never have a problem with it.

The shape of the splines on the hub could be that way to try and stop the cog digging in too much. RB had a similar design on their hubs many years ago.

I'd say it is most likely one of the following things Compression ring or crown race missing (or you have them mixed up) Wrong crown race for the headset (have you changed forks and/or headsets?) A knackered starnut that is spinning or pulling up through the forks

I have felt a couple of BB5s that were awesome. I guess people just assume because they are cheaper and the pads are small they won't be as good. All the guys saying they are rubbish obviously haven't used both.

Either the pads aren't close enough to the rim, the frame is flexing loads or there is air in the brake system. When you pull the lever, do the pads make contact quite quickly but then the brake is really spongy and you can keep on pulling it to the bar? That would point to the brake needing a rebleed. What do you mean when you say the lever is fully tensioned up?

I found the best way to improve my taps, is to practice pedalling up to back wheel without a tap... It helps you to concentrate purely on the physical jump and leg power required to get up high walls. I've found when all I do is practice taps, I get a bit lazy with the jump and rely on the tap to get me up. That's fine up to about 4 ft but if you want to get higher you really have to have a strong jump. Also the full pedal technique helps as mentioned above, as does practicing with short run ups and watching videos of people who can tap really well. My taps have been stuck at the same height for 6 years now

It's a sad day when stock geo becomes so extreme that you have to use a mod stem

Yeah, I agree on the point that having a bit of flex at the lever is nice. I have found that a stiff booster has a much bigger effect on brake performance than metal backed pads though... so I've gone back to plastic backed pads. My frame already has an in built booster, but with a heatsink booster added the brake hold went up quite noticeably! Coupled with some koxx pads this has made for a pretty awesome set up

After you've said that, I'll probably be proven wrong I agree, somebody should try it to satisfy our curiosity, any volunteers with a Louise? Shame Magura brakes aren't serviceable, if it does damage the seals then the brake is pretty worthless

I'm pretty confident it would still cause problems with the calliper piston seals, as the pistons aren't sprung loaded like HS33s and rely on the seals themselves to pull the pistons back.

The problem is not that the water boils (although it would boil much quicker than Dot), but that the seals swell up causing the brake to seize. Pretty sure it happens in HS33s as well and is often the cause of sticky pistons (especially in the lever). But they have sprung loaded pistons which helps to overcome the added friction.

If anyone thinks that 900grams is heavy for a set of forks as strong and stiff as Trialtechs, you need a reality check! Nothing else comes close, apart from maybe the inspired forks

That was epic! Enjoyed that way more than the brakeless vid, it was fun, fast paced and stylish all the way through.

Oh the irony!

This^ Even slightly loose calliper or rotor bolts can lead to a lot of play in the front end. If that's not it then it might be worth stripping and inspecting the headset and bearings. It could also be the headset cups moving slightly in the frame? (that would need a new headset to fix)

Trialtechs are a steal at £100, buy buy buy! They have lasted me 3-4 times longer than the many sets of Echo forks I have used and snapped.

More importantly it would swell the seals and cause the whole brake to seize up pretty quickly. If its constantly spongy then send it back to Hope, it may need a calliper service which is an easy job to get wrong if your not an experienced mechanic.

Its losing fluid somewhere, and quite a lot by the sound of it! Rebleed it, then dry the brake all over with some tissue/rag. Make sure its completely dry especially around pistons/seals/hose fixings etc. Then refit the pads and test it, should be easier to spot where its losing fluid from then.

5mm is more then enough, if its a 1cm gap then the top stem bolt will just be crushing the steerer tube and won't be adding much clamping force. To the original poster, how are you trying to tighten it up? Are any components missing from the headset?

The next total solar eclipse is on 13/11/2012, maybe you guys know something I don't but I was hoping to live longer than that! I would love to witness a supernova in our galaxy, that would be epic. But it might be a few hundred or thousand years away As a more realistic dream, going into space is definitely one of the first on my list. As is raising a family and being in a good enough job to bring them up well (I'm getting old ).

Who it's done by is everything! It's very rare to see truly thorough and independent testing, which is why most product testing,reviews, magazine articles etc. are rubbish.

The worst of it was it was on my bike! Somehow he managed to break his bike earlier in the week (no idea how ) It was part of a section. You had to get on it and then roll it forwards onto the next object... I failed.

Yeah I tend to agree, mostly because of the extreme geo.