Re-paid my subscription costs for the site the other day and realized I should probably make some use of it. Cue temporary bout of blog updates until the same time next year.

It’s quite frustrating not being able to drive my bike to various MTB trails, so I figure it’s about time to sort out some transport. I initially looked at getting a small van, something like a Fiat Doblo, or a Renault Kangoo. They have small enough engines, so low motor tax and plenty of space. It would be nice to be able to just throw the bike into the back of the van, no need to take off wheels or any fiddling. That was the plan for a while. I’m in the middle of changing my mind though, and am looking at buying a 4×4 with decent cargo capacity. I like the idea of taking it off-road. Part of why MTB is so much fun is being able to go places you normally can’t. 4×4 can offer the same and there are a few clubs around.  I can still fit the bike in, and also have the option of passengers in the back. My general requirements are:

• Cheap – I don’t want to spend over €5000
• Reliable - Obviously
• 4 wheel drive – Fun!
• Small enough engine – Motor tax above a 2 litre engine starts to get prohibitively expensive
• Easy to service – I want to do this myself
• Cargo space – Either with seats folded down, or just a large boot. Perhaps a commercial.
• Diesel – Appears to be able to handle a lot of miles, if serviced regularly.

When I started looking around for recommended 4x4s, the 4×4 forum on boards.ie was quite useful. There were several threads asking about secondhand 4x4s, mostly because of the snow over December. From these threads, the following were recommended:

• Range Rovers – Freelander, Discovery and Defender
• Toyota Landcruiser
• Mitsubishii Pajero,  Shogun
• Isuzu Trooper
• Nissan Pathfinder, Patrol
• Subaru Forester, Impreza, Legacy, Outback
• Suzuki Grand Vitara, Jimni

Out of those, what most closely fit my requirements are the Landrove Freelander, Subaru Forester and Suzuki Grand Vitara. These are all 2ltr or less, have good 4 wheel drive and decent size. The others have big, expensive engines or are too small.

Landrover Freelander

Suzuki Grand Vitara

Subaru Forester

I just don’t like the look of the Forester, it’s more like a station wagon/estate. The Freelander comes with a 1.8 petrol engine. I read that these engines are almost guaranteed to need major servicing within around 100,000 miles. There are two other engines it comes with, a V6 and a Diesel, but I haven’t seen these options on local secondhand sites.  The Grand Vitara seems to be the best option at the moment. I’m not in any major rush to buy, and with the weather as it is, 4x4s are selling for more than usual. I will most likely wait for few months, but will keep reading up on various options. I’ll put up more details that I find about the GV, just as a references for myself.

Still though, it’s great fun. However, not so great for road cycling. The road tyres are just a bit too thin for all that snow. Mountain bikes now, that’s the way to do it. So on Saturday, two weeks ago, myself and two others from the Cycling forum on boards.ie decided to see how far we could get into Wicklow.  We set out on our mountain bikes and one studded-tyre equipped cyclo-cross bike. I brought my Nikon D50 with me and got some good photos.

Studded Cyclocross

We set off from Dundrum, went out by Enniskerry and from there towards Djouce and Balinastoe. There was snow on the side of the road on the way out, but nothing too bad. Then we got to the turn off for Djouce/Balinastoe. The road was covered in compacted snow and ice.

After some slipping and sliding, it was off the bike and letting some air out of the tyres. Sorted, off we went. We stopped just before the hill going up by Djouce and got some photos.

Snow Fields

This was just a field, covered in snow, with the hills in the background. Fantastic. So on we went, the hill by Djouce wasn’t a problem like we thought it would be. On past Balinastoe and we got to the junction of the road going to the Sally Gap. One of the hearty trio departed and the two of us went on to see how far we could get.

Heading toward the Sally Gap

We encountered snow pretty quickly, but kept going. Once we got to the base of Luggala, that was when the snow really started to pile up ! Back off the bike, more air out of the tyres. Almost running on nothing at this stage.

Heading up Luggala

Unfortunately we got almost two thirds of the way to the top, but could go no further on the bikes.

Had to walk up the bikes !

We were determined to get to the top though and see Lough Tay. So we left the bikes and continued on foot. We bumped into some entertaining sights along the way

A guy just cruised down past us on his snowboard !

Eventually we got to the top and the view were just stunning. I’d never seen that much snow in Ireland before.

The view of Lough Tay

View over the hills

Back down we went then, skidding and slidding on the bikes, really great fun. A bit of a slog on the way home, but absolutely worth it. One of the best cycles I’ve ever been on

Manitou Axel Plus

If you have a Specialized 2004 Rockhopper, you may have a Manitou Axel fork on it. My basic Rockhopper has the Axel Plus fork. If one searches for this fork, one tends to find squat ! The Axel Plus doesn’t seem to exist. However, you may come across a service manual for the 2003 Manitou Axel range. The Comp, Elite and Super. I believe the Axel Plus is the Comp and the 2004 range seems identical to the 2003 range. As my fork started making strange clunking noises recently, I decided I better have a look at it. The fork would compress, but then not de-compress fully until receiving a whack. This de-compression was the clunk noise and tended to only happen when going at a bit of speed downhill. Slightly worrying.

I had a look at the service manual, bought some suspension fluid and also on a gamble, bought a softer spring for the 2004 Manitou Super. The manual said that my weight was just within range for the softer spring and I thought it might make a bit of a difference. So first off, remove the fork from the bike.

Fork Legs

To remove the lower legs, remove the bottom hex key bolts. The right leg (left side in the picture) takes a 2mm hex key. When this is removed, pull out the adjusting knob. Then use a 8mm hex key, inserted into the fork to remove the small bolt.

On the other leg, just use a 4mm hex key to remove the bolt. Grab the shiney metal stanchions in both hands and use your thumbs to push down the on the lower legs, pushing against the rubber seals. Keep pushing it down until the lower legs come off completely.

You should be able to clean the upper legs and the containing lower legs. I didn’t clean mine thoroughly as I didn’t have appropriate replacement grease for the inside. They were fairly clean anyway. It’s probably a good idea to re-attach the legs at this point as it makes things easier when replacing the suspension fluid and the spring.

To change the spring, unscrew the top left cap. (The one with the 2mm hex bolt in it.) Remove the bolt and pop the cap off. You can use an adjustable spanner then to open the 20mm knob (if you don’t have a 20mm socket). As this unscrews, the spring will pop out, attached.

Fork spring

You can clean and re-grease the spring. I tried to replace it with the spring I bought, but the spring appeared to be too small, and didn’t decompress the fork fully. I re-install the original spring.

Fork Fluid

To replace the suspension oil, remove the top right cap. Again, I just used the adjustable spanner. Pour out the old fluid. Take a long hex key or something long and push it into the open fork leg. This will force down the internal plunger and force the remaining fluid up. Pour this out. Pump the fork, pour out, push the internal plunger and pour out, repeating until no more fluid comes out. Pour in the correct amount, doing the same plunging technique to ensure the fluid goes everywhere it should. Re-insert the cap and tighten.

This is where I encountered a wee problem. The adjuster knob on the bottom of the right leg should screw in. Unfortunately I could not get the screw to remain attached after I screwed it in and then compressed the fork. Perhaps the internal plastic it screws into was damaged, but it didn’t appear so. The fork functions without it, so I just had to leave it.

Re-attach the fork to the bicycle. Be careful not to be a complete moron and put the fork on the wrong way around.

There are one or two drawbacks with it though. It’s not very easy to then display this data on ones website. There is an export to PDF option, but the graph quality is not as good as the original output and it also does not include the Google Map route tracking. The second problem seems to be with the script itself. It introduces spikes in the speed graph for some reason. Apparently I was cycling at 227km/h at one point. While this is certainly achievable for me on a flat stretch of road with my complete spandex outfit, and aerodynamic helmet, not to mention motorcycle, it’s not too feasible going through Dublin with its abundant traffic lights.

As a temporary solution, I have copied some of the graphs, and also have the original PDf available. Hopefully the author of the script will make it public or configure a nice way of including the HTML output on an external website.

Route PDF File