Another day, another change to the bike

I've changed a variety of bits on my Blue Pig recently, some successful, some not.

Grips
My old grips were wearing out so I replaced them with some thin ribbed Lizard Skins lock on grips. Not entirely successful as I now get some hand pain. I fancied trying the Ergon grips, the one's with the added flange for the palm of your hand to sit on. Not successful. I'm not convinced they are any comfier and because your hand can't wrap round the grip as well they don't feel secure downhill.  Luckily I didn't buy these as Stuart had a pair I could borrow.

Next up is a pair of Charge Skillet sponge grips. They should be in the post by now.

Saddle

Back in the day, as teenagers say, I had a Selle Italia Flite and I remember it being light and comfy. Well, they've started making them again and they are as good as I remember, very comfortable despite what you may think when looking at them. Unfortunately they don't have any reinforcements on the edges and it's already displaying signs of wear.

Forks   

My Rock Shox Revelations went in for a service after they came back from our Alps trip rather the worse for wear. The cost of the service plus parts would have been well on the way to the cost of replacement forks. After much research and badgering Stuart for advice I ended up buying the same forks but in 150mm guise, with a remote lock out and Maxle axle, cheap because they were from an On One show bike.

The extra 10mm, whilst welcome on the descents did actually make it a bit too light at the front on climbs. Dropping the stem down the steerer fixed that. The Maxle has had a noticeable effect plus it inspires more confidence and normal QR skewers always seemed insufficient for a modern mountain bike. The remote lock out is a bit pointless really, it's not exactly hard to reach down to the top of the fork and I'll be converting it to a poploc soon following some instructions I found online.

Brake clamps

The XT shifters and Hope Race X2 Evo brakes (who came up with that name?) don't quite sit together the way I want them to. Cue the Hope Matchmaker clamp which allows you to attach your Shimano shifters to your Hope brakes, and indulge in a hell of a lot of faffing. The basic palaver was as follows:

• Order clamps from Wiggle for XT shifters, seeing how that's what I've got.
• Receive clamps and excitedly fit them. Hmm, they don't fit!
• Back to the internet to discover that there is more than one model of 10 speed Shimano XT shifters and mine aren't compatible! Bugger.
• Order new XT shifters.
• Receive shifters and excitedly fit them. Hmm, they don't fit! Turns out there are two compatible XT shifters with two different clamps.
• After lots of searching on the internet for the correct Hope model number (impossible to find on the Hope website) I return the clamp with a request for the other model number. Wiggle can't do it so I get my money back.
• Do what I should have done in the first place and ask an expert. Thanks to John at JD Tandems who got JD Cycles in Ilkley to order the correct part.
• Receive the clamps and excitedly fit them successfully! Shifters now in the correct place and my bars look tidier.

This is the elusive information that you'll need.

I am currently going through the same faff as above trying to convert my rear Hope Pro2 Evo hub to accept a 10mm through axle. I've got the correct axle from Superstar Components but the Hope conversion kit looks suspiciously like it's for a front hub. Hopefully a visit to another expert will fix this tomorrow. Hello Stuart.

Clothing

Gore hat, brilliant. Fits well, covers my ears and is thin. 

Pearl Izumi soft shell, awesome. It's a really good fit and has some nice features. The cuff has some internal thumb loops that provides extra warmth for your hands although if you don't take care when putting on your gloves then this bunches up and becomes annoying. For some reason they also work better on a road bike handlebars. The outer cuff is longer on the top than the bottom and nicely overlaps your gloves. 

It has one breast pocket big enough for money, a credit card and maybe a phone, no hood and popper at top of the zip which is difficult to close one handed.

The best thing about it, apart from the fit, is the lack of useless extra features. Lots of kit nowadays has stuff added that isn't needed but is there to make you think it's better than the competition. Hand pockets on a cycling jacket are a perfect example. Why does anyone need hand pockets on a bike jacket?

I've used it for a few winter road and mountain bike rides and it's great. Soft shells are perfect for inclement weather and cycling. Just warm and waterproof enough and very breathable. They aren't as warm as a similar thickness fleece when stationery though so don't expect to be able to hang around for long and stay warm. Sold to me by the countries best cycling clothes salesman at Biketreks in Ambleside.