Heatsink

£37.99 plus an unknown amount of postage cost will land you this: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx...odID=5300003485 It's turned my least favourite workshop task into the most enjoyable. So quick and easy to do with no risk of frame damage. Absolute peace of mind that you aren't going to flare the headtube, and you don't even have to concentrate, unlike using a hammer and a plate when you only know it's gone awry when it's too late. Steve

I would love to see some photos of the rear issues with the drop outs Wayne - Here's the other end that I was originally thinking of:

Hi Ian, This would be very useful I've had some PMs from riders with other 3D type dropouts who have had experiences with them getting in the way of tensioners. I'd love to widen the checking to various other frames too. Please feel free to PM me about what frame you have and if you let me know a postal address then I'll pick out a good selection to send cut-outs to. Candidates must have a working digital camera and know where the Macro button is! Steve

Hi, I've got a tensioner that I need to double check fits ok onto a 3D type dropout, and the Echo Control '04 is a perfect example of this. Is there anyone out there who could take a card cut-out of the design and take a side on photo of it fitted horizontally? I need to be sure that it doesn't interfere with the drop outs when mounted like this. Free pairs of pads would be made available if the reward of helping nail this design wasn't enough. Hopefully I can get this sorted out in the next couple of days - card cut out is ready to send. Steve

I won't be concerned about your insurance going up. I've been in a very similar crash where I was 100% at blame being the driver shunting from behind. I don't recall my premium going up my a large amount the following year. You've paid all that money on insurance so I would seriously consider using it. With the cost of sorting out crash damage, it could easily be £1000 a car in a crash like this, so paying your excess, using the insurance and taking a small future increase in future premium is the sensible thing to do. I wouldn't forget to try and put yourself in the shoes of the other driver. I personally would be feeling annoyed if the driver who crashed into me sounded like they we trying to avoid taking things through the right channels. I'd be wanting my car repaired speedily without having to deal again with the bugger that crashed into me! I don't think the victim would care about doing the perpetrator a favour by sorting it out personally. One of the great things about the insurance company taking care of crash is that you don't need any personal correspondance between drivers - they do it all for you. These sorts of incidences can bring the worst out in people. That £1400 you've already paid is the sort of figure that is basically expecting to cover a crash. These sorts of crashes are really common, and I was thankful that it was a relatively minor type when I had mine - A useful lesson in needing to be more aware at the wheel and always building in contigency for unexpected happenings from other drivers. It's no biggee really - one of those things that happens to us all. Steve

Another thing - that design is littered with internal corners. The CNC machining tool is cylindrical so it's impossible to make internal corners. You'll have to pop rads on them all and the bigger the better for optimum machining time. I'm sure the machining guys will assist you with this Steve

Front: Heatsink Red Vees + unbranded arms and Avid lever - simple but effective! Rear: Heatsink CNCed magura backing with red pads + Heatsink CNCed booster - Uber pimp! I keep saying I'll try a rear Vee set-up one day, but I'm really happy with my brakes and have no time to fiddle too much with my bike!

I built my new bike up on Friday night: Sidehop frame Chromo Forks D521 rear wheel with Hope XC hub + Intense DH tyre D517 front wheel on Shimano hub + Mythos XC tyre Cranks: 'Burns + spider + 'Ard Guard Prototype tensioner And for braking: Heatsink CNCed booster Heatsink CNCed Mag backing + red pads (rear) Heatsink Vees (front) Steve

What about a real old school steed! Note the same cranks, pedals, wheels, tyres, brakes, fork, grips and mech as my replacement Base! Phew, that BB looks like it's trying to bury itself into the flower bed. Steve

Here's a suggestion for you; What about the Base TA26? Steve

My new bike Sidehop frame with new Heatsink stickers (well, a paper preview whilst the actual ones are printed!) I'll get that chain shortened as soon as I find my chain tool! Steve

In the News item about Dominik joining the Heatsink team, if you read down you'll see that his video is mentioned and a link is given To answer the queation about his bike - Dominik rides a resprayed Coustellier frame with the UMF logo on it. Steve

Below is a link to the new Dominik Raab Vid. Dominik is an Austrian rider who I've recently started to support. Although you may not have heard of him before, judging from his riding I think that he'll quickly become very well known! I've heard some comparisons of his riding with TRA, which I'm sure will provoke discussion. The Vid is quite large at 103mb, but well worth checking out! It features some indoor as well as outdoor riding. Dominik Raab Vid + Info - (Please no lazy links!) I look forward to your comments Steve

New and improved ones coming in a few weeks All the info will be on my website nearer the time. Cheers, Steve

Great to hear your first impressions of the pads are good Jez Sorry there's a small lag getting some of the latest info on my website and not being able to get all the personal replies out via email promptly at the moment. I'm getting back on track now - picked up a new car today which is making more time since travelling is much more straight forward. I say new, but actually it's already 10 years old...2.0L Renault Laguna for less than £400 in part exchange for the Fiesta with the exploded engine The Vee arm angle is an interesting topic. With rims getting wider, and riders wanting to run top of the range Vee set-ups with CNCed backings and arms like Avid Ultimate and XTR, each element increases the distance from the boss to the braking face. For nice vertical arms for a range of set-ups, it makes alot of sense to run a 4 bolt frame and have some adjustability on the Vee boss position using suitable adapters.....Got something in the pipeline for this The Mod booster is still delayed - The CAD is sorted and thoroughly checked on various bikes, it's just a matter of cash flow and at present I have some other things that I'm prioritising. Steve

Usually £60 and 3 points, "SP70" is the classification of the offence. When I got caught by a police hand held camera accelerating up a hill in a seemingly non residential area, I was doing just over 40 in a 30, and I think for more than 10miles above 30 then it could be 4 points but the police man marked it down as 40mph. I've had 3 offences so far. All unintential and due to me being unaware that it was a 30 area, but that's a whole different matter! Steve

Unfortunately I did have an uncharacteristic delay with sending out pads. This was due to my wife and son being rather ill with this nasty bug that was going around. There is currently a very small delay with pads taking between 2-3 days to send out. I should be back to normal by the end of this week Thanks for your understanding! Steve

Hi there, Sorry I didn't get a chance to send out emails about the colour change on some of the pads. It's been a hectic week including amoungst other things my car being declared dead and having to be scrapped! My goal is always to offer the very best pads I have available. So for the Vee and CNC magura pads, these only come in red at present. I need to update the website when I can find some time. The reds are indeed a completely different compound to the blues. These CNCed backings are the premium items in the range so I'm happy to include the red pads with the CNCed backings even though these pads are more labour intensive for me to produce to the required shape than the blue pads. The Blue pads are quicker and cheaper to produce, so I pass this onto the rider by selling these blues at a much lower price in the plastic backings. The red vees offer indentical performance to the white pads, with the advantage that the build quality is very slightly higher (although the whites were pretty good I might say!) Steve

I found it on the American website - what an interesting find that site is even if the prices aren't much better! In the Shogun section: It's a cast version, that's clear from the finish. Interesting stuff!

BETD Hangers catalog - Loads of hangers! https://www.betd.co.uk/ftp/product/pdf/Hang...klet%201.01.pdf - PDF Note type 27 is the Base TA26 '04 one that also fits my old Saracen Xile/X-tort. Also known as the Supercycles Misc 4. Steve

I did indeed just speak to you at Supercycles Very helpful you were too It's just the mech hangers that are varied and difficult to track down it seems! Really useful to know it's a Supercycles Misc #4 aswell. Steve

This is the hanger on my Base TA26, which I've noticed is also exactly the same as the Saracen X-ile and X-tort frames I used to have. I was wondering if anyone else has this on their bikes? I'm in need of a new one, or even a few thinking of the future! The more options on where I can buy it from the better, and hopefully I can find somewhere that the price is nearer to £5 than £15! The only sources I have found for this hanger are Halfords (as a Saracen part) or www.betd.co.uk They have a list of hangers they can provide, and it's number 27 on there: BETD Hanger PDF ^ This is very useful to help identify your hanger, and which one it isn't too because some are similar. 1. I'd love to know if your bike has this same hanger because it gives me another possible place to buy replacements from. 2. Does anyone know if the www.mechhanger.tk guys are still around? A year or longer ago these guys were doing a great job supplying cheap hangers. If I could get in contact with one of these guys then that would be useful. Maybe there's scope to rejuvenate the cheap hangers service? Steve

If it doesn't work for me at the moment because I have QT V6.5 installed As soon as V7 is installed then I'll be able to have a looksie.