So the nights are starting to get darker and riding home is going to be getting slightly more risky over the next month or so, so i guess i’m going to need a set of lights for my Dawes XC 1.6.

Now i’ve seen £200 plus lights working like the Hope Vision 4 LED Front Light, that is one bright light. but since its a tad on the expensive side (lol) i don’t think i’ll be getting it.

Also its only like a 5 minute ride for me to get home and the roads aren’t particularly dark so my visibility isn’t to bad.

I didn’t really want to get cheap lights well because they are shit usually use huge battery’s and well they usually aren’t much good.

One my last bike a few years back i opted for some cateye lights in a set that cost around £30/£40, and they where ok and better than cheaper brands.

This time i’ve taken a slight gamble, not knowing how good this front light will be but it cant be any worse lighting wise than a cheap light.

I’ve bought a CREE XM-L T6 LED which is kind of a torch but you can mount it on your handlebars. it claims that its 100LM compare to the 1000LM of the ope light above. LM is short for Lumens it basicly how bright a light is the higher the number the brighter it is.

A car 60w light bulb (kinda a stand bulb on cars) is 800LM but its apparently not focused.

It only has one small but bright LED in the torch. there where some 1600LM lights but they where slightly more money and my thought was i know that the hope is bright at 1000LM so do i really need 1600LM

Maybe if i’m really impressed by the 1300 LM Cree T6 light that i get, then i might just upgrade next winter, thats if i’m still riding daily.

Anyway i’d do bit more of a detailed report when i get the light.

When i bought my new Dawes xc 1.6 i never bothered giving it a ride before i bought it and it turns out that the front brake disc catches on the caliper. don’t worry about trying to alter the caliper itself although there is movement to do this i found this took longer than my current method.

Basically if you turn the bike upside down and spin the wheel to which ever disc is causing issues. and you see which way the warp / bend goes, all you need to do is stop the wheel and push your disc the opposite way and then ride the bike to check if it still rubs.

I’ve found out that the discs are pretty soft and will bend easily back to another position so a slight push with your hand is usually enough to stop and excess rubbing noise or vibration.

So i’ve just got my new Dawes XC 1.6 2011 mountain bike and i must say that i’m really impressed with it. the only things i’ve altered is the saddle which is now way more comfy and put some downhill handlebars on which have given the bike a wider stance which makes it handle better.

I’m really suprised how solid the bike feels even though some of the Shimano componants are at the lower range of the scale. whether this will hold up or not is yet to be seen.

The Shimano brakes all though not a branded level like Deore or XTR, still offer an amazing amount of stopping power and feel. Ok they aren’t as nice feel wise as my old Hope M4′s but they aren’t £120 brakes. The back rotor is taking slightly longer to bed in over the front, but after a week of riding its starting to get there.

I’ve never ridden with wide tyres like 2.1′s i’ve usually had 1.9′s. but in honesty i’m pretty suprised that they aren’t that hard to push round and are offering a good amount of grip on loose surfaces, also in the wet they didn’t seem to throw much standing water up at me.

I’m going to have to order a frame protector for below the chain as it does slap a bit when dropping of kerbs, but what bike doesnt.

The front forks are RST Gila with mechanical lockout. so i guess they aren’t going to be the worlds best fork but the abilitly to alter the amount of bounce on the go is pretty good, since i manjorly do road work then i’ve got them set pretty hard with just a bit of bounce to soak up kerb drops, over all they aren’t that bad.

I’m really please with my Dawes XC 1.6 2011 which is a 22″ frame the laergest they do

When you get your new mountain bike with either mechanical or hydraulic disc brakes you might find that they aren’t very good and have a lack of stopping power, don’t panic they just need bedding in.

Ever manufacture give different advice but as a rule of thumb a mixture of slower gentle stop at first and then a few harsher stops from a high speed will soon see your disc brakes working well within around 10 minutes you can have them bedded in fully.

There is such a great difference in stopping power. I’ve just bedded in my front brake and its now at the point where it wants to stop you compared to the back brake which is still very shit. and it just feels like its making contact but not working.