noSno bolt break-down

Diagram showing the order of items normally on a noSNo Bolt:

From inside out:

• Large Washer
• Split washer
• Hub comprising bearing / spacer / bearing
• Split washer

Storing everything on the axle keeps everything safe whilst the hubs are away doing other things...

Hillbilly Repairs

One benefit of being home with small baby (and a not so small toddler) is the opportunity to get stuff sorted.  In this instance, general repairs to my Hillbillies.  This certainly isn't a moan about Hillbilly - these gloves are around 18 months old and have regular weekly use with plenty of ground contact.  With 90% of the glove in good condition, it makes sense to repair where possible, particularly as cash isn't flush right now.

Being made of leather, Hillbilly are very easy to restitch, in this first case along where the strapping was coming loose.  Good, strong, tough string should keep this in place for a while but I've no idea what string I've used here - it's some my Dad got for me for repairing my shorts a while back.

On the other glove, a section of leather, again sourced through Dad has been used to provided thumb protection.  In this case the leather has been cut to size and then glued into place.  Araldite seems to do the job nicely.

Not a bad evenings work and makes a nice change from stinky bearings.

Lets Get Going!!

Lets say that either you've crashed out half way down a slope, or alternatively that you've simply stopped half way for a breather and an admiration of the local scenery.  No need to unstrap as you'll be setting off in a mo...
Trouble is that you can't go because try as you may, you can't get back up and onto the board.

The reason for this may be because you're attempting to get up from a sitting position where your current centre of gravity is relatively far from where you need it to be (i.e. directly over the board).

[It's hard to get back on your board from this position]

No need to unstrap at this point.  Simply roll over onto your knees with the board on the downhill side of the slope.

In this position, it far easier to position your centre of gravity over the board, stand up and ride off and looks far more dignified in the process.

Now ride on and try not to fall off this time!

The Ultimate Mountainboard How-To Video Guide!

Sometimes it's easier to copy than to describe, so 'do as we do, not as we say', is the premise here.  There a quite a few videos on-line where people have taken the time to produce quality short films showing you exactly how they would repair their mountainboard or tweak a shifty or something...  All that I've done is compiled a list of some of the better ones and linked to them below.

I'll update this post as and when more videos are found so hopefully it should be pretty comprehensive.  Feel free to suggest further links either covering more subjects, or if there are ones that are better than the ones below.  Alternatively, feel free to make your own and show the others how it should be done.  If there are videos that you would like to see, but can't find, then shout and we'll see what we can do here!


Set-Up / Maintenance

'Bindings Tutorial'  by JDiurba
'How to change a tire' by munroboards
'Changing Griptape' by munroboards
'Painting Your Board' by Terrainriders
'Filling and Bleeding a HS33 Rim Brake' by Magura 

 Egg-shocks
'The 'easy' method' by AdeMcC
'Second Spring'  by enotramone
'Changing Truck Springs'  by munroboards


Riding Technique

'How to Tic-Tac' by Jasper James
'Scrubbing Speed' by Jasper James
'How to Drop In on a Hill' by Jasper James
'Nose Control Tutorial' by JDiurba
'Jumping Tutorial' by JDiurba
'One Foot and Backflip Tutorial' by JDiurba
'Frontside 180'  by agline27
'Noseroll 180'  by munroboards
'How to Drop In' by munroboards
'Power Slide' by boardoffroad

ABS Brake Repair

After breaking the brake hose a couple of weeks back up in Allestree Park, the hunt was on to either get new parts and repair, or find someone else to do the honours for me.  But what was the bit that was broken, and where to get new parts from?

Pretty soon, I had a pretty good idea of what was required though it was looking likely that buying a kit and bits to refill the hydraulic fluid and bleed was going to be reasonably costly.

However, things we looking good in that I had received a response from Nick, the man behind Alpine Brakes who did have the relevant parts in stock and would be happy to give my system a once over if I were to post it out to him.  This was great news and meant that in a worst case scenario, I knew something could be sorted.

But another option presented itself.  A suggestion was made on the Surfing Dirt forums that I should try one of the local bike shops and see if they did repairs.  I got in the car and went on the hunt.

Shop 1 gave me a straight 'no', but pointed me in the direction of another bike shop a mile down the road.  Fair enough.

Shop 2 initially looked good, but then changed their mind.  I asked if they they'd have a look anyway to give me an indication of part numbers.  They said 'no' and suggested I contacted Magura direct (the brake is essentially a Magura brake with custom bracket to attach to front axle).  I couldn't be arsed with this, especially if it still meant that I'd have to do the bulk of the work.  Shop 3 was suggested on the other side of town.

Shop 3 looked promising.  I was sent to the rear carpark to the service department who were happy to take a look; make enquiries on my behalf; and assuming they could get the right part, refill and bleed for me.

Three working days later, and success!  I have picked up the brake, and apart from reattaching to the front axle (five minute job), is ready to go.  All for £18 (£8 parts and £10 fluid and fitting).

And that is why we recommend using Samways, Ashbourne Road, Derby for all your hydraulic brake repair requirements.

Mountainboard Maintenance - A Beginners Guide

Fair-weather rider looking to dust off the board ready for Summer?  Or all-year-round rider looking to maintain the board after a wet Winter?  Then now is as good a time as any to do a complete board maintenance session!

In a nutshell, my advice to you is to do the following to all items:

1. Clean, 
2. Investigate,
3. Tighten,
4. Repair/Replace.

Clean the muck off so that you can clearly investigate all items for wear and tear.  Tighten nuts, screws and bolts and then repair or replace any items where required.

Read on though if you want a more in-depth guide.

Note that this guide is written primarily written for an MBS board, mainly because the photograph collection comes from my own workshop. Contributions for other systems are most welcome!  Note that whilst provided in a step-by-step guide, there isn't really an order to any of this; just do the jobs that you have the time for and look like the most fun.

Do remember that however much maintenance you do on your board, that due to the nature of what we do, that things will break and things will wear out.  This normal wear and tear can be anticipated to a certain degree and by keeping the right supplies in stock, shouldn't prevent a days riding.

More importantly though, by knowing your board, and the condition that it is in, you are far more likely to prevent an accident brought on by sudden equipment malfunction.  Even if you are lucky to break equipment and remain unhurt, through knowing your board, repairs are that much quicker and you can be back on the slopes that much faster.  Bonus all round!

But anyway, the wife is in front of the telly watching a evening of soaps, so lets get dirty!

Sticky bindings? Check the ladder strap...

Top tip from Mark Sewell regarding sticky bindings.  I thought that my sticky Rage toe binding (rear foot) was due to wear and tear on the ratchet.  To remove my foot from the bindings involved removing my glove to manually lift the ratchet in order to allow it to disengage.  Mark pointed me in the direction of my ladder strap which had misshapen as seen below:

The advice was to file down these divots and all should be well.  In the absence of a file, I carefully chopped them off using a Stanley knife (too much off and I guess the bindings could slip in future).

Result: one fully working toe-binding that stays in place during riding and disengages at the bottom - woohoo!

So...check your ladder straps for wear and tear, it could save you some bother on the slopes.

Using an ultrasonic cleaner to clean bearings?

Londonskaters.com seem to thing it's a good idea...

http://www.londonskaters.com/review-ultrasonic-cleaner-cleaning-skate-bearings.htm

but if you have to do it the old fashioned way, then they also have a guide...

http://www.londonskaters.com/article-speed-skate-bearing-cleaning.htm

But then maplin are doing some cleaners for £25, might be worth a punt?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=223108

hmmm.....

Jon Diurba's most Excellent Jumping Tutorial

Jumping, ollies and nollies - just three of a few things that don't get mentioned much on this blog, mainly due to me preferring to stick to good old terra firma.  But they are useful skills to have in the arsenal, particularly if 'baby unicorns are running amuck' (JD's words, not mine).
Probably the best mountainboard tutorial video I've seen in a while so please forgive the lack of downhill this time round.



And if you like that, be sure to check out more videos from Mr Diurba here.

Allen Keys - noSno

Following on from a previous post regarding the use of Allen Keys for standard MBS boards, I said that I'd do a similar thing for noSno.

Simples!

An extra tool may be a small screwdriver to insert or remove the grub screws, but apart from that, that's it!

Edit: Okay, so you may want to change a flat tyre, so will probably want a 5mm Allen Key for this part (assuming a Primo Compsite hub), but apart from this, that's definitely everything!

Allen Keys - MBS

Allen keys are one of those necessities when mountain boarding, be it to tighten your bolts generally to prevent bits from falling off, or to make adjustments to the spring tension. Occasionally Allen keys will be used when the whole thing needs stripping down for maintenance.

But which Allen key where?  MBS do some nice diagrams here and are reproduced throughout this post for ease of use.  Although it looks like a lot of tools are required, in reality, most of them can be covered by a cheap set of allen keys in conjunction with the MBS Spanner that may or may not have come with your board??   If not then a set of spanners or single adjustable spanner will do the trick.

 The MBS Spanner

Whilst this really isn't a maintenance post regarding full pre-ride checks and all that, I'll just say that personally before leaving the car I'll make sure that a) the wheels aren't going to fall off, b) the top hanger is attached to the deck nice and tightly, and c) the bindings look secure.  All the tools then stay in the car apart from a 4mm Allen key which I take to make adjustments to the spring tension en-route.

The very handy Ikea 4mm Allen Key

Useful tip - Ikea furniture very often comes with a 4mm Allen key to assemble their furniture.  A handful of these in the car means I can afford to loose a few here or there without problems.

For completeness, below are the tools required for some other MBS boards.  I've no idea if the newer models have different tool requirements, but seeing as they are all based on similar components, I imagine that they don't.

Anyway, that's all I can think to say on Allen keys...... to be followed by Allen Keys - noSno

MBS Top Hanger Replacement

After last Wednesdays fun session up at Hemlock Stone as mused about here, got home to discover a big crack in the front top hanger.  Having not any problems with them since buying the board in late 2006 despite pinging plenty of rocks off them, but not having the cash to fork out on the new MBS Matrix Pro trucks as discussed here, I got straight on the blower to ATBSports to get a couple of replacements.  (£16 for a pair plus £2.50 p&p.)
Turned up very next day at which point I remembered that I needed to order some new tyres too.  Hey ho, next time perhaps and you certainly can't fault them for getting things posted quickly.
Making the most of the good weather, got the tools out today in the garden and took a couple of photos to document the whole thing....

MBS Top Hangers: 2006 on the left, 2009 model on the right.

Only a couple of differences I could see between the old and new hangers.  Firstly, the plastic ring that holds the bearings appears to have been reinforced.  This is fair enough as I've certainly noticed a little bit of warping on the older model, probably from the strain from both springs.  A picture showing this is shown below:

Despite this, apart from muck and grit getting in between the bearing and top hanger, I've not seen any further damage occur to either component.

The other difference is the lack of thread included in order to place the top hats/springs/shocks in the 'inner' position.  This again isn't an issue since I've always ridden with springs in the 'outer' position, and the board is only drilled to allow the adjustment screws to fit in the outer position anyway.  But it may be an issue for younger/lighter riders or those that want far less turning resistance.

I suppose the biggest change was the option to have a choice of not just black, but black, green, white or yellow.  But hey, I like black - hides the dirt.

Maybe just a few words regarding the installation of the Top Hangers.....?

Firstly, note that MBS Top Hangers are symmetrical, but only from left to right and not from front to back.  This is to say that if you screw a Top Hanger to a deck the wrong way round, then the adjustment screw holes will not line up correctly.  Shouldn't be a problem normally, but is worth noting to save time during reassembally.

Second thing to note is that I've had issues in the past screwing bolts to attach the top hanger to the deck only to have the inside nuts pop out of their plastic housing.  A dollop of super glue holding the nuts in place for this part has stopped my frustration levels getting too high.

On a final thought, many people joke* that MBS stands for 'My Board Squeaks'.  It's been pointed out by a couple of people (including IIRC EvilC on the ATBSports forums) that the squeak is due to a flat Top Hat making contact with a curved deck and the resultant slight movement that occurs.  This certainly makes sense, and attempts in the past to tighten the bolts have resulted in temporarily less squeak-age. 

Hope the good weather continues, I'd like to get out early tomorrow but I know the misses has a list of jobs as long as the back of the envelope she scribbled on earlier.  Wish me luck!

* - many other people are deadly serious....