A selection of some of the weird and wonderful emails you have sent us this month.

Taken from Dirt issue 62, May 2007

Send your comments, letters, viewpoints, complaints, compliments, and photos to us here Dirt Magazine. What do you think about racing? What do you think about your scene? Do you have any good riding spots? What do you think about the mag? Basically, send us anything you want, it’s all welcome.

I was disturbed and confused by issue 62 of Dirt, enjoyable as ever though it was. The sight of Geoff Gulevich dressed up looking like a pink gym bunny was disturbing in itself, but the sudden and unexpected vitriol towards table tennis was even more shocking.

Having been an avid ready of Dirt for some years, its nice to feel that in some small way by mucking about on bikes, doing a few DH races (even if I am never going to get in the top half of the pack) and reading up on the latest news in Dirt, that I’m part of the scene. But now I’m not sure and feel that I might be a complete outsider after all. What’s wrong with table tennis? Some of my best friends play table tennis and I even had some experimental table tennis experiences when I was a teenager. There I’ve said it. Is that such a terrible confession? More terrible than the sight of Geoff Gulevich’s knees or a Specialised Epic in Dirt magazine?

Maybe this outburst seems more weird given the changes that have gone on with Dirt and the increasing coverage of bikes that are do–it–all making me think that Dirt had somehow mellowed in its views, and like me got more comfortable with not being a kid any more. Perhaps I am still part of the fold, you even gave an On–One 456 a good review. I’ve got one of those and I love it too!

Now I’m not suggesting the new inclusive Dirt should start to cover table tennis as well as reviewing bikes like the Epic, pointless as it is, but perhaps you should complete your transformation by banning all negative thoughts towards minority groups from your marketing spreads? Or maybe not, who cares…but please tell me I can still subscribe despite by table tennis experiences?

Yours confused

Tim.

Dirt: I suppose you can, just keep it quiet, it’s not really cross-training is it.

Come on lads sort it out the grammar and spelling in last months mag was apalling mainly in the first few pages. What was it bring a dyslexic to work week? I don’t normally mind but since i am now doing a journalism degree at uni we are taught the importance of double checking our work so unfortunately that means we are taught to instinctively notice others mistakes in publications. Could the pressure of going monthly be getting to the editor? anyway other than that another great issue keep them coming and i love the cover photo.

Samuel Connor

Surrey

Dirt: All I can say to that is that at least none of us spent however many years at uni studying journalism, only to then write a letter into a magazine complaining about spelling and grammar, which contains a spelling mistake and a non-capital ‘i’. I’ve left the spelling mistake for you to spot.

Great latest issue, tech tech tech, gimme more tech. As a man who wonders why tweaking his gears or bleeding his brakes still doesn’t seem to bring in the top race results, it was fascinating to read in depth how much development has gone into some of the top race bikes, plus understand some of the restrictions that even the top race teams work under. But I still reckon there’s room for more, you devoted two pages to Cedric Gracia’s bike but there looked to be so much more to know, new back end, lower linkage, rims with no paint on, my crap racer mind cries out to know what these things mean! You could do a whole issue on that bike and I’d buy 10 copies. More tech please, I can’t be the only one who wants it? Anyway keep it up, the winter months can be lean but you still keep pumping out the good stuff.

Cheers, Benoit

Hemlock, Nottingham

Dirt: No, you’re not the only one, it’s just that there’s a lot more to bikes than just ‘tech’, for example you can actually ride them. We’ll try and keep you happy, but in the mean time get out and ride your assembly of technology, it’s much more fun.

I was wondering if you knew anything about the SKF bottom bracket range? I want to chance the BFR600 with some RaceFace Prodigy ISIS cranks, in an attempt to end the short–lived, clicking, creaking ISIS BB saga, but I don’t know if I should just excavate my pockets and fully switch to either the X-Type Saint, or the Truvativ Howitzer system. The only good thing at the moment is that I don’t need to fit a bell, what with the racket my hardtail makes, it sounds like a full susser with knackered pivot bearings!

The idea of a bearing manufacturer bringing out a range ISIS bottom brackets sounds promising but I have not heard any reviews about them since they were featured in issue 56 (it sounded all good!). I am most keen to know whether they actually do outlast the current crop of ISIS offerings, which as I’m sure you will all agree can only be described as being a f–kin’ joke (in fact that’s probably an understatement). Maybe you could feature a brief report if at all possible, I’m sure there are many others that would appreciate this. By the way, keep up what is a great mag.

Mr B

London

Dirt: Here’s the brief report;

The first thing I can tell you is that of all the ones in bikes that I own (or know of), not one of them has failed as yet. I’m sure if I’d been running any other type I would have had to replace it at least twice, so from my experiences I’d say they definitely outlast anything that’s previously been available. The second thing I can tell you is that of all the units that Pace have sold, only a tiny percentage have been returned for warranty (unlike the bucket loads a day that some other people receive), and the vast majority of these were returned due to one of the cups cracking, and not bearing failure. I wouldn’t worry about that though because it turned out to be a faulty batch, and all were replaced under warranty. My advice would be to definitely give your ISIS set–up one more chance, it’ll save you a load of money, and from my experience once you’ve got an SKF BB in there it’ll work a treat. One last piece of advice would be (and this applies to any bearing on your bike) not to get any form of degreaser/GT85/Muc–Off/etc. anywhere near the thing. It doesn’t matter how good the seals are, these sort of products WILL get in there, and when they do they’ll cause havoc.

You guys must have really good eye sight. What font size are you guys using? 6.5? And grey letters on a white back ground. Help me out here, I love your mag, it’s the best, but what’s the use of trying to read it, if in fact, you can’t read it? Make the font a little bigger…PLEASE!

Besides that, your mag is wonderful, keep up the great work. By the way, I have 20/20 vision, or a least I think I do, after reading the 10 years of Dirt, I think it is slightly off now.

Isaac Guerrero

Dirt: I don’t reckon it’s Dirt that’s buggered your eyesight, have you been working out one arm just a bit too much? Anyway, one day we might get around to giving out a free pocket magnifying glass to all you poor afflicted souls, but until then you’ll just have to buy your own, because the font’s staying the same.