Incoming... small boys bike, Specialized enduro S-Works.

[MingtheMerciless]

If it keeps happening maybe a new mech hanger, could be tired threads where its come loose and rocked on them

It's deffo at least the 2nd mechn hanger, maybe 3rd. Only seems to do it on this bike. None of my others.

Could be because he's quicker than you!.

ohhh look is that the ban hammer?

[weeksy]

If it keeps happening maybe a new mech hanger, could be tired threads where its come loose and rocked on them

It's deffo at least the 2nd mechn hanger, maybe 3rd. Only seems to do it on this bike. None of my others.

Could be because he's quicker than you!.

ohhh look is that the ban hammer?

It's cool, i know my place in the world. Lucky for him i'm better with a wallet and a set of tools than i am with a pedal.

[Taff]

I've had it once on my Cannondale. A dab of locktite and tightened to two white knuckles sorted it.

[weeksy]

Pre race season prep today, all bearings in frame checked. Seat post removed so we could fit a new cable as well as shortening the actual cable too as it rubbed on fork.
Good morning and hopefully the boy learned a bit too.

We did notice that his shock is maxed out on rebound, so debating a longer term plan on that side of things.

[weeksy]

Small child is a pain the the arse.

We were out playing in the woods this morning, trails he knows well. So first I got him to set his shock rebound to fully slow, test it. Then to fully quick, test it, then middle.
"All feels the same"

I then got him to try his mates G170 in a medium, guess what "feels mostly the same'

His mate who own the G170 gave about just as much feedback on the Sworks too.

I do despair at times.

[MingtheMerciless]

Ha ha that’s like me borrowing a mates Remedy a good few years ago and rattling down our local chalky death descent and getting a 4th overall and 2/3rds of the way down thinking the front was a bit jarring and when I got to the bottom realised the lockout was still on max! Cheeky so and so never deleted the Strava time either as it had his Garmin on the bars

[weeksy]

Hahaahahaha, nice.

[weeksy]

So the boy came in yesterday saying "dropper post isn't returning right", basically it wasn't reaching max extension. I thought initally it was down to the post needing a little Fork Juice on it... but it wasn't to be.

He'd also complained about a stiff lever... which irritated me as i'd only just fitted the cable.... but admittedly it was one from the spares box and we fitted it under pressure so was maybe not given a squirt of lube first....

So i set about both. Cable was swapped (still a crap job that) and i worked out the pressure in his post was slightly low, so not giving it that final shove. Put some more pressure in and away we go. silky smooth and nice.

Next job was one of the easier ones. The presta valve core was a bit wonky and stiff, so replaced that with a new valve core.

I then picked up and moved the bike, to find the rear brake was rubbish, stupid soft at the lever. He runs his quite soft anyway but this was daft. Don't know how this never got mentioned y'day in post-ride chat. So a bleed was required... however, it's irrirated me for nearly a year that the rubber bung on the end of his hose was missing.



The one bottom right.. I already had several in spares, so decided to completely disconnect the hose and do a full bleed after fitting it. Anyway, not the toughest job, but it's done now.

The one thing i do wonder is, "do other parents go through this level of detail and spannering on their kids race bikes" ? Or am i just really fussy ? Or do they just let them ride it ? Or do they just give it to the LBS and say "make it perfect" I don't know really.. but i do seem to spend a fair bit of time tweaking his.

[Taff]

I think everyone has different tolerance for what they consider acceptable.
Your tolerance for things not working 100% correctly is very low, probably much lower than lots of the population. But there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, you may just be changing out bearings and stuff sooner, and where it comes to boy's safety those couple of pounds don't matter.

I remember you telling me off for the creak I had on the Cannondale seat post, I didn't even hear it at that point because it was normal but Mathew was riding the bike the other day and it drove me nuts listening to it

My mate mechanics at Tredz, and the horror stories he tells me of the things he sees is really disturbing. Most of the bikes he sees are at the other end of the scale to yours so don't worry about it. It's all part of the hobby you enjoy.

[weeksy]

With the theory of trying some new faster rubber I grabbed some spare wheels from Crust as he's got non boost on his T130.
I've now fitted a set of WTB Trail Boss to them for playing round with. Needed a new 11sp cassette so that's been bought too.
Will be interesting to see how he goes with them

[lostboy]

I REALLY like the Trail Boss as a rear tyre for dry/damp conditions. Fast rolling, good edge grip and very reliable. (I have it on both the HT and the full sus). I have run it a front tyre on the HT when I was doing quite a bit of off road commuting but always went back to a Vigilante when I wanted proper grip and was doing more "gravity" orientated stuff.

[weeksy]

Well we've currently settled on 2 sets of wheels/tyres

Set1.
Maxxis Shorty Maxxgrip 3C
Maxxis Minion DHF 3C Maxterra

Set2.
Maxxis Minion DHF 3C Maxterra
Specialized Ground Control

The Trail Boss i had/have is struggling to hold air due to leaking at the sidewall, you can see all the pinpricks of tubeless fluid on both sides.

Set2 is the faster/hardpack rubber combo we're going to try for testing, Set1 is the day to day go-to rubber on his nicest wheels.

I've also picked up a Spare front for when the Shorty dies which is a Maxxis Assegai 3C Maxxgrip.

It’s been an interesting few weeks of discussions on the racing side of things.

The boy has kinda surprised me this week as the Southern Enduro at QECP has a clash with something that’s come up which is the Duke of Edinburgh. He’s stated “well i’m not likely to make it as a racer, so i may as well skip that round and do the DoE. I’ve not pushed him into either the Southern or the DoE as i want to give him the chances to make his own mind up on things.

We’re still fairly busy in Feb, March, Apr and May with racing, but after that it quietens up a little. So we’re unlikely to decide at this stage which events we do until we see how his enjoyment levels are in the coming weeks and months.

[lostboy]

The Trail Boss i had/have is struggling to hold air due to leaking at the sidewall, you can see all the pinpricks of tubeless fluid on both sides.

Wow, never had that with a WTB tyre - in fact I've found them just about the most reliable tubeless tyres across the last 15 years of using various manufacturers stuff. The biggest problem I have with them is getting the fuckers off as they seat and seal so well they tend to rather hang on the rim!!

[weeksy]

The Trail Boss i had/have is struggling to hold air due to leaking at the sidewall, you can see all the pinpricks of tubeless fluid on both sides.

Wow, never had that with a WTB tyre - in fact I've found them just about the most reliable tubeless tyres across the last 15 years of using various manufacturers stuff. The biggest problem I have with them is getting the fuckers off as they seat and seal so well they tend to rather hang on the rim!!

Little irritating as the tread is fab on it, but ended up putting in the pile for binning.

[weeksy]

Little bit of work needed today... bouncing it about yesterday after getting home i noticed a tiny wobble... thought it was wheel bearing, but seems to be linkage bearing, middle one on the 6 point link on left hand side. So that'll be whipped out and replaced today.... then we're out playing after school as it's early finish monday.

[weeksy]

Bit of bearing swapping.

2022-02-07_08-45-36 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-02-07_08-45-31 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-02-07_08-45-27 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr