Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

Oops. Sorry, mate.

Urgh. Looks like i'll have to go Ealing Broadway -> Reading -> MH.
Assuming you are somewhere between Richmond and Ealing (you all got on at Richmond before?), it might be easier to get the train from Kew, Barnes Bridge, or Brentford according to which ever is closer. You will need to change at Staines and it might be a bit of extra riding to get to the station but it's got to be quicker than going all the way out to Reading and back!

Back home, man that was tiring.

Swinley mud was slippy, but James and I found out that 25 psi (in his case 20 on the front) gives awesome grip regardless. Go tubeless!

No really bad crashes this time, but a few minor/funny ones.

I need new brake pads, checked them when the mud was washed off and I have about 1mm or less pad material left. Lasted since last september (3 months off in the summer though), so not so bad.

After my move is sorted out i'll see if I can invite a bunch of you up to sample the trails around hereford.

Slippy, slippy fun indeed. Glad you lot made it through the afternoon without major upset.

Thanks for putting up with my general girliness today. Much HTFU needed on my part. I think I just need to become inured to low level injury.

On the contrary, girliness is to be encouraged when Brokeback Mountain-biking. Just don't let your moobs slap you in the face :-p

A vid I shot a few years back at Chicksands, points for spotting furious tiles.

http://vimeo.com/9183015

couldnt see him, they were going too fast...
great film man, lovely to see summer.

Nice vid, Pony. Some of those guys were really flying.

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/save-our-forests#petition

Any takers for more mud pies this weekend? Anyone still got working brakes after last weekend?

PS: What happened to the splatter pics? I thought someone was going to post the evidence on here?

Any takers for more mud pies this weekend?

I'm out this weekend but should be back in for next.

Anyone still got working brakes after last weekend?

Funny you should mention it, I was just about to post something as I seem to have lost all power in my front brake. Everything seems to be in the right places but no power at all (can barely lock the front). I've also got the pad engagement point set outwards (ie. smallest lever travel) as far as it can go and I get nothing at all until the lever is just past parallel with the bars. Can't be right surely?

PS: What happened to the splatter pics? I thought someone was going to post the evidence on here?

You mean this one? Sorry, don't have everyone's email and then got slack.

http://i51.tinypic.com/2rxcfgi.jpg

Check your fluid level.

Check your fluid level.

Yeah. That's the only thing I can think of. There's no visible leakage but who knows. I might just take it into a shop as I'm getting a bit frustrated with my apparent inability to produce a satisfactory brake. Brixton Cycles are Avid specialists according to SRAM's website...

I kept getting recurring leakage both front and rear. The slightest knock/off/brushing with the local foliage appeared to fuck the hoses/seal. I upgraded to braided hoses and have not had a problem since.

Could be that. I've just gone and had another close look and I still can't see any evidence of leakage. Can't think what else would give me these symptoms though.

A vid I shot a few years back at Chicksands, points for spotting furious tiles.

Summer 4X on Vimeo

Fuck me, that seems like a long time ago.

G, if your heading up there anytime soon let me know, I'd love to see if a few years of absence enables me to grow a pair and hit that damn tripple.

Nice shot of me freestanding btw.

What type of fluid are you using? My hopes run on dot 5, it evaporates very quickly.

Dot 5.1. Surely there should be no (or almost no) evaporation from a closed hydraulic system?

How old are all of your seals e.t.c?

Dot fluid tends to cause more problems than mineral fluids on this front. Note I say tends to not dose. Some thing I picked up off of a very experienced mechanic.

Brand new brake. Only installed 2 weeks ago. So, on the front end of the bathtub as it were I suppose.

I presume you have checked the pads to see if they are glazed? sorry it's I'm teaching my gran to suck eggs here. What are you using to clean your bike, are you careful around the disks? Tried filing the pads up?

Or is it squishy and I've missed something in your posts?

Haven't checked for pad glazing but (AFAIK) that wouldn't give me engagement point issue as well, correct?

Clean the bike with normal Muc-off stuff. Supposedly safe for disc brakes so I don't make any special effort to keep it off them but don't apply it directly to them either. Once again though, if it was that I would expect it to reduce power but not mess with the engagement point (unless it's totally dissolving the pads obviously).

Muck off should be ok. What do you mean by engagement point?

From you post number 1737 I understood that you had seemed to have lost power, as if something was not gripping correctly. Am I understanding correctly?

Two symptoms: Almost no braking power and the engagement point seemed way too close to the bars (in the lever's travel). The brakes I have have an engagement point adjuster which does not move the pads but just controls whereabouts in the travel it grabs, I have this adjusted all the way "out" (that is, there should be almost no travel before engagement) but I was still not getting any bite until the lever was just past parallel with the bars.

It all seems to be moot in any case as I've just pulled the pads to have a look at them and they're completely shot: sub 1mm of pad material left on one side and the other is unevenly worn but almost as bad. Have I really gone through a set of pads in just two weekends of riding?