Dammit’s adventures in mountain biking

I realized only after I bought a service kit that I needed a special tool also, after destroying the bushings in my v12s in few months commuting.
Still haven't got round to it, crap quality from dmr. I don't understand how companies treat their customers like this. They must get so little repeat business.

If you'd like to borrow the tool to fix your V12's then give me a shout.

You'll be a mobile mechanic yourself by the time the years out!

Another one of my Tyre-Wiz sensors has borked. I don't think they're that well made.

Were all the Maxxis MTB tyres on the Evergreen?

Another one of my Tyre-Wiz sensors has borked. I don't think they're that well made.

SRAM, innit. Designed and built to fail.

Well, it just means I have to keep sending them back to where I bought them from (Sigma for these ones).

I'm also trying these SKS ones, which fit between the spokes on these wheels in a way that the Quarq units did not.

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And they report like this:

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Do you wear a single air pod pro to monitor the tyre and shock sensors whilst sending it?

I have not used the shock sensor on either of the new bikes, just not got round to it.

I do check my tyre pressures before every ride, so the sensors make that significantly faster, and whilst the SRAM app is total shit the ConnectIQ app for the SKS is meant to be much better, so you can scroll to its page on your Garmin and see at a glance what your pressures are during a ride. Possibly also whilst sending it, but I imagine not without risks.

Comment not in jest as I need to attend to my Pike. Drops all fine but high speed low level compression is not right. Fiddling beckons...

New MT7’s worked well on their test ride/shakedown. Slight feeling that the bite point on the front changed slightly, but may be imagining that. Windhill tomorrow.

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I was right - an hour or so at Windhill saw the front brake lever heading to the bars, and I don’t fancy bleeding it in the car park whilst it pisses down, so that’ll do for me.

Tbh not feeling it today, keep jumping nose heavy and unable to correct my form.

I’ll hit Rogate for a while before I come back to Windhill I think, call me a weed but the bigger jumps are intimidating rather than inviting currently.

Windhill

Welcome to 'down here' :)

There are plenty of trails around Windhill in much of the surrounding woods which are pretty established. Usually park up down at Shearwater lake then just head north.

And I don't think Rogate has authentic lion roars... a truly unique experience that!

True. They also added to the “two of each animal” feeling that the day has had.

How did you build your confidence on the jumps? I'm starting to get into the air but find it terrifying! Trying to find time for a coaching session but difficult with work atmo.

Yesterday I didn't have any, I don't know if that was because of the speed, the weather, the unknown terrain, the lack of sleep or a combination of all of these things.

Thinking back on the day I suspect that I was subconsciously moving my weight backwards (literally moving back from the thing scaring me) which unweighted the front wheel and made it get less lift from the lip, whilst the reverse was true of the rear wheel, sending me into the air in the first stages of an OTB.

I think it's just practice and familiarity really, I will go back - hopefully when I'm not pushing up via what appears to be a stream.

I just tried this on my front brake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtqwQB8wtYQ

Took a few seconds and seems to have worked, which I have to say I didn't really expect.

new brake?

Not quite. I collected my new Raceline MT7's from Herne Hill Bikes last week, fitted them, my bleed kit syringe self-destructed midway through bleeding the front brake but the lever felt firm so I basically YOLO'd it, did a quick lap of Bedgebury to test that I had some brakes (I did, but the front seemed to soften off very slightly toward the end, but I slightly doubted my own senses there). Then I headed to Windhill and found that I hadn't been imagining things and the front brake definitely had a bit of air in it that the rather more challenging terrain had shaken free.

The fast-bleed, being basically just applying a vacuum to the master cylinder removed some impressively large bubbles when maximum vacuum was applied.

Preparing for summer.

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The rear brake feels very solid and the bite point is nice and far from the bar.

The front brakes bite point is closer too the car than the rear brake - which is the reverse of what I thought would be the case, as I assumed that hose expansion would (all else being equal) always make the rear slightly baggier than the front.

Therefore today I did the fast bleed again, which released another couple of bubbles, but didn't seem to change anything else.

Should I do a full bleed?

Should I do a full bleed?

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, time and a very small amount of mess.

I don’t think I’d make it worse, and I might make it better. With these brakes air in the system doesn’t seem to present as sponginess per-se, but more a bite point that moves or is otherwise where you don’t want it. Ideally the bite point for both brakes would be the same distance from the bars for each lever.

I’m just wondering whether I should ride the bike a bit more before bleeding again to shake any air loose (as Windhill did).