AdamR28

Cheers guys. Quite a lot of stuff for Tarty Days is in there too, bugger!

Hi guys, Our converted XLWB Extra high roof Crafter was stolen last night, at 00:42hrs from PR5 6FN. Reg is BL57 VVX. Also has a tow bar and a load of our demo bikes in the back! If anyone sees it, I'd be most grateful if you could let me know where and when! I have a feeling all the graphics will already have been removed, but it's pretty distinctive with the roof vents, awning, TV aerial, rust down the sliding door and the tow bar on the back. Cheers, Adam

Probably. I know that's not very helpful, but don't have a lot to make an informed opinion on at this stage...

Four things that I can think of immediately: - Made in Germany (vs Taiwan) - Kevlar bead (vs steel) - More advanced compound - Produced in smaller quantities (and tooling cost affects unit price too)

There is.

Enter Ben Travis... (Not in a sexual way.)

Obviously you do care, hence the 'how the hell can you buy a house' thread not long ago Everyone's different, some people like to save money to buy something tangible, others like to go out drinking, on holiday etc.

All grinding/cutting discs will perform pretty much the same, the key is to get rid of the sharp edge off a brand new disc, that's what digs into the rim and takes big gouges out of it. If you have any random old bits of concrete or metal you can happily chop into that should get the disc nice and blunt. Edit, if you mean you have a knackered stone cutting disc that will be perfect.

The frame is +20, so you need a 200mm rotor with that adaptor, or an adaptor F

I'm the same Alex, really struggle to sit still for more than a couple of days! We tend to do all inclusive hotels with plenty of free sports on site, so there's always stuff for me to do - football, tennis, archery, boules, table tennis, high ropes course, diving/snorkelling etc. - while Claire can sit in the sun and read and relax in a more regular way

Got a view from the top of the caliper? Pads knocking on the caliper won't be solved by new ones unfortunately, sand the paint off the back then use them for a while, that usually does the trick.

My guess would be too harsh a grind, makes most pads work rubbish, wear down quickly and give the other characteristics you mentioned. You often get this witha brand new disc. Don't use white spirit, it'll pretty much leave oil on your rim! If you can, find a really old knackered cutting disc and just give the rim a tickle, should work much better.

Point 4 is a 'covering their arses' comment, they couldn't be bothered to take the cover off to check underneath, so of anything turns out to be awry is not their fault. Had the same thing with the sump guard on my Skoda.

Little bit of friendly advice (genuine)... Let someone who's very experienced with brake pads try a set before you spend a lot of money on tooling.

Take the lever blade off, it falls out. Should be in Monday.

Hoses off and piston out the lever would be good, but not essential.

Pull the brake apart and put it somewhere warm and dry for a days, should do the trick.

Track dayists... I'm going to book Anglesey for Saturday 28th June if anyone fancies it.

Should work. Pics?

Is it a 185 Avid adaptor?

Yep! What i heard I'd that Federal have two manufacturing plants, one for 'race' tyres and one for road tyres. There were a load made at the race plant then production issues meant later ones were made at the road plant, meaning different compound and less tight tolerances... These were cheaper to make hence all the discount places chopping them out cheap. Half tempted to try and find a 'proper' set, will gain me quite a lot of time for no effort!

Means it's working well.

Alex, modifications are very limited, yeah. There's only one track all season where we use 5th gear, haha. All we can do for power is skim the head, cut valve angles and change the exhaust (but not the manifold), standard diff, standard gearbox, standard brakes (pads are 'free'), we all have the same shocks, wheels and tyres (more on that later), maximum camber limits, minimum ride height of 100mm, minimum weight of 970kg... makes for close racing and less about who has the fattest wallet (to an extent). Yeah, I try to keep it smooth to protect the tyres. They go off towards the end of the race - everyone finds the same and lap times typically go up about 1 second per minute (if that makes sense). The person in the yellow car won the series last year and by getting past her in that race it puts me level on points with her so far this season... so maybe that's why I was pushing a bit 'too hard' and getting tense at the end (plus combined with the tyres giving up makes the car get a bit loose giving the impression of wrestling it around). I have a logger but encoding the video with the data takes ages so I don't bother any more, but speeds are pretty low - maximum all weekend was about 107 with a massive slipstream! G forces peak about 0.95 in braking and 1.3 for lateral. Tyres is a bit of a complicated subject at the moment - we generally only have one control tyre, which last season was Federal RSR 595s, but they were found to vary a LOT (like... 2-3s a lap) between batches so we have now switched to Nankang NS2-Rs. However, there's a year crossover for those who have stockpiled Federals to allow them to use them up, meaning we have cars on different tyres. They are pretty close in terms of lap time overall but some people find the Nankangs faster and others find them slower - all depends if you are comparing them to a 'good' Federal or a bad one! For example, I found about a second on the Nankangs over the Federals, but the person in the yellow car was 1-2s slower on the Nankangs. I can't wait til we're all back on the same tyres, at the moment it's a variable that shouldn't be there in single marque racing IMO.

Why? Echo make more of their own parts than most (as in, they have their own manufacturing facility) but certainly won't be making those bars in house, they'll probably be made in the same place as *insert your most trusted carbon bar brand here *

That's one of the lowest amounts of force the steerer will see, stop stressing and just ride them They are designed to have some flex, as all parts are, else they will break.