Spode's Goings On, Including Magura Experience, Axle Snapping, And

[spode@thinkbikes]

For some reason I wanted to write a semi-blog type post about some stuff that's happened recently, in case any of you wanted to know, or could learn from the lessons (yeah right!). However, I imagine it to be particularly boring. So unless you've got nothing better to do, don't read it

I've just moved back to Tonbridge, Kent (from Egham, Surrey) and I'm now living with Tall_Rob. Which is cool - I've never lived with another rider, and it's great as I've always got someone to go riding with. I'm hoping for a house of fun!

However, after a London ride recently, which was fairly large, I spent about about an hour trying to bump-tap this wall near Tower Hill. Eventually my Pro II hub started skipping and decided to call it a day. I then went for a small ride on the day I moved in to Tonbridge to celebrate, about 10 minutes in, I noticed things didn't feel quite right and the wheel was a little shaky. I looked at it, and the freehub body had come out of the hub slightly.

So I took the thing back to the house and decided to take a look at the hub myself, instead of just sending it straight off to Hope. I was also curious to see how they compared to the inside of the XC hub. Unlike the XC where 3 pawls engage at the same time, the Pro II engages two at a time, but they are offset, so instead of the whole length of a pawl needing to pass before it engages again, only half the distance of a pawl needs to pass before it engages again. Which is why it feels so much nicer than the XC. However, in theory it's weaker than the XC because of one less pawl engaging. I'm sure all of this has been discussed somewhere, but it's news to me.

Anyway, after having a look inside I saw that one of the leaf springs had snapped and the bearing cartridge had come out of the hub slightly. Light tap with a rubber mallet and a bottom bracket removal tool and the cartridge popped back in to place nicely. I then e-mailed Hope and they sent me down a couple of spare leaf springs (thanks Hope, that's why I love you .

So I cleaned all the grease out, gave it a clean and put the new leaf spring back in. Put the hub back together and it was clickeriffic. In the meantime, my KOT is away at the welders so I don't have time to test it. It was cracked in four places. If anyone knows the KOT MS2, it has a brace on both the drive side and the non-drive side. And it had cracked at the top and bottom of both of these braces. Although a new batch of frames are supposed to be on the away to us (you'll notice Tarty have been out of stock for a while..), I needed a frame in the meantime. Dave, being an aircraft engineer, knows some damn good welders and he did a lovely clean job of the frame.

So Saturday night, I piece my toy back together, being nearly 2 weeks without a bike (although I have been playing on Rob's KOT, despite his huge stem - but then he is 6'6”). I get on the bike and think "that feels wrong". I look down and the freehub has jumped straight out of the bike again. Upon dismantling the hub, it all falls apart in my hands, revealing a snapped axle! Which would explain the loud noise in my 10 minute ride in Tonbridge.

I have had a lot of Hope hubs in my time, and I've never snapped an axle on one. So I'm really surprised at that. So I need to send that off this week. I do love the Pro II, and Hope's service means I'll never have to worry. It's not skipped once either. But I do wonder how strong they are. Perhaps it's just that I'm one of few people running a rear disc on it and that I weigh over 13 stone.

However, I really wanted to go riding this weekend, so I managed to get my hands on a Monty 221 bike. 20", with Maguras front and rear. So quite a change from my 26" dual disc bike. I really really really really really hate Maguras, but then I haven't used them on a bike since 1999 with Kool Stop pads, and things have really moved along. The number of accidents on the "Auch" videos I've seen due to Maguras slipping kind of iterate some of my reasoning behind preferring discs.

The Monty has a light grind and Koxx Blue pads front and rear. The front brake lever was the old style Magura lever with the hard edges, which I didn't get along with as it hurt and the TPA was broken (I like my brakes to pull in near to the handle bar). But the rear brake had the newer rounded design, which I must admit wasn't bad at all.

At first I struggled to get the rear brake to lock at all, even on pedal hopping. So I used the TPA to pull them in to the bars a little bit more, and then adjusted the angle of the levers a bit and this made a huge difference. Compared to the Hope Trials Disc, you have to pull the lever really hard and there isn't a lot of give (which feels horrible). While the Hope Trials are spongy, which saves your fingers and you don't have to pull hard unless you really need the extra power. For pedal hopping, you can pretty much feather the brakes and they have enough power to keep you on the back wheel.

But once I'd learned to pull a little harder, I'll admit it did lock on okay, but I still didn't trust it. If I hit a ledge even slightly wrong, where a disc would hold and I could possibly correct, the Magura would slip right down.

So I took the Monty to Chatham and actually had a damned good ride. It was a very different experience, but towards the end of the day I was feeling quite comfortable on it. I was tapping to get to back wheel (which has a much lower chance of rear break slipping through that just throwing it to the back wheel). And for the higher objects, I was just throwing it to the sump plate and then keeping the momentum going and chucking it to the back wheel.

However, in side hopping, I managed to fall off and caught the crossover hose of the rear Magura on the wall. It started pissing oil. A quick snip with some side cutters, some pressure and a cigarette lighter, and I was going again, without losing much oil (I realised it had leaked and didn't pull the lever any more). Then, just to annoy me, towards the end of the day while sidehopping, I unknowingly caught my foot on the hosing again, and this time split it on the opposite side. However, because the hole was so much larger is pissed out a lot more oil and I decided to call it a day.

Now, I'm the first to admit that my sidehop technique is not great. I can do about 40”, with the rather old school (circa Tricks & Stunts) land on front wheel and then let the back drop in to place, rather than the new school tuck to two wheels (circa Damon Watson etc.).

I have my left foot forward, and have traditionally side hopped to the right. However, while on that London ride the other day for some reason I went to the left side and my technique was almost perfect, straight to two wheels with a nice tuck. Odd. On the Monty today, I was getting just above its handle bar height, in either direction. But I was feeling much more confident in my “wrong” direction and I think I was even getting a bit higher. Something I'll have to experiment with more on my KOT. When talking to Matt Staples about this, he was saying how he discovered the same phenomenon, and by practising to his “wrong” side, his technique eventually carried over to his “correct” side. So here's hoping. I'm not all that fussed about getting huge heights (that's definitely not my motivation behind riding) but I'm all for better technique.

So overall, I did enjoy my ride on the Monty, although I still didn't really trust the brake enough to do any gaps, and the double hose splitting did kind of put me off.

I still prefer discs, for more reasons that I want to go in to (I don't want to start a Disc vs Maguras argument). However, I've just got myself a second bike (another KOT – I want to stop taking my Demo bike out for street rides..) which I'm going to stick a Magura on the back to give it a go. Then when I've decided that I prefer discs (which I'm sure I will), I'll put a disc on it But expect a definitive argument for and against both forms of braking.

[Broomer]

you should sell this as your autobiography

[Egg Fried Rice]

jeez spode, are you bored or something lol

great post though lol

JK

[Janson]

However, after a London ride recently, which was fairly large, I spent about about an hour trying to bump-tap this wall near Tower Hill. Eventually my Pro II hub started skipping and decided to call it a day. I then went for a small ride on the day I moved in to Tonbridge to celebrate, about 10 minutes in, I noticed things didn't feel quite right and the wheel was a little shaky. I looked at it, and the freehub body had come out of the hub slightly.

I have had a lot of Hope hubs in my time, and I've never snapped an axle on one. So I'm really surprised at that. So I need to send that off this week. I do love the Pro II, and Hope's service means I'll never have to worry. It's not skipped once either. But I do wonder how strong they are. Perhaps it's just that I'm one of few people running a rear disc on it and that I weigh over 13 stone.

?

[oakley]

didnt even bother reading it, sorry!

[spode@thinkbikes]

?

Good point, I meant didn't skip up until that point But that was because the spring had obviously snapped.

I wasn't really bored, just i quit my job as a Journalist at the end of the December, so I've had itchy writing fingers Plus I'm tired from riding and don't want to get off the sofa.

[Christophe']

hmm. it has be said ,,,,i dont think hope has got it right this time

they skip like a b*****d

my m8's is locking up at totaly the wrong time ,,,,

has put him in casualty once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

not impressed

[spode@thinkbikes]

hmm. it has be said ,,,,i dont think hope has got it right this time

they skip like a b*****d

my m8's is locking up at totaly the wrong time ,,,,

has put him in casualty once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

not impressed

If it starts skipping, send it back straight away. Or take a look inside. Mine was only skipping VERY rarely, yet one of the springs was snapped. I guess the other pawl was enough to engage the bike.

I haven't had any issues when it works, it's a lovely hub. I'm just suggesting they are a little weaker. But as you can send them back to get to warrantied - is that so much of an issue? And at just a shader over £100, hell, build a spare wheel for when it's being repaired

[Ben Cox]

didnt even bother reading it, sorry!

so why did you bother posting then dipshit!

i on the other hand read it, and am very dissapointed i didnt get to see spode on a mod hehe

[spode@thinkbikes]

so why did you bother posting then dipshit!

i on the other hand read it, and am very dissapointed i didnt get to see spode on a mod hehe

Fine... I'll get a picture. I'm sure I'll be riding it this week while my axle is repaired.

[Tall_Rob]

Ha ha... i annoyed Spode by tapping higher than he did on the little monty we got.

It's all fixed now and we're both playing on it as both our bikes are out of action.

I used to hate 20'' as i was too big but am getting more confident and managed to tap smooth than on my KOT.... crazy!

Big bike will back soon but will still play on the Monty (childs bike)

Rob

[Davetrials]

didnt even bother reading it, sorry!

you anger me.

tw@

[spode@thinkbikes]

Ha ha... i annoyed Spode by tapping higher than he did on the little monty we got.

It's all fixed now and we're both playing on it as both our bikes are out of action.

I used to hate 20'' as i was too big but am getting more confident and managed to tap smooth than on my KOT.... crazy!

Big bike will back soon but will still play on the Monty (childs bike)

Rob

How do you know! We've never tried tapping the same section on the same day.

Robert Larkins - I CHALLENGE YOU.

[Tall_Rob]

How do you know! We've never tried tapping the same section on the same day.

Robert Larkins - I CHALLENGE YOU.

Challenge excepted Mr Spode

(but you know i'll win ha ha)

[TheChai]

i am tooo tired to read it properly tonight! i will edit when i am ready lol

zzzzz\\\zzxxxxxxx

brake hose split twice on the same ride!! i am curious as to how u repaired that! teach me the magic.. i give up half the time!

Edited February 16, 2007 by TheChai

[spode@thinkbikes]

Challenge excepted Mr Spode

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/excepted

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/accepted

i am curious as to how u repaired that! teach me the magic.. i give up half the time!

Well I didn't bother the second time as I'd lost too much oil. But the first time, I didn't pull the lever again as I realised I'd lost oil. Then went back to the car. Snipped the hose above the split. Used a knife to get the hose off the barb. Then we pushed the hose over the barb using a combination of a cigarette lighter and a pair of pliers...