Mark Leadbetter Professional Cycle Mechanic

25/08/2026

Ohh yes another one that has me baffled / perplexed 😂 🤯😵‍💫 as to why bother anodising the BB axle a lovely blue colour 😳. No one sees it when it’s fitted 🤷‍♂️. You’l notice the wear lines on the axle - these caused by the rear brake hose and gear cables !! Why anyone wouldn’t realise how stupid and dangerous ⚠️ this is to have these things sitting against a rotating axle I’ll never know !!!! 🤯😱A cover or other method of keeping these away safely is obvious 🙄

07/08/2026

Another corroded / stuck seatpillar extraction to add to my 99.98% unbeaten record ( no one is perfect 😬). This one an alloy dropper post with the internal getting in the way working parts adding to the fun 😂with a steel frame . Different methods 🧑‍🍳 are used depending on the combination of materials - steel / aluminium alloys/ carbon fibre / titanium 😃 , most importantly never one of these silly frame destroying jack devices that someone dreamt up 🤯🤷‍♂️

23/07/2026

Yet another pair of custom built gravel wheels , my favourite combo when using alloy rims - DT Swiss XR 391 rims , Hope 🇬🇧 Pro 5 hubs .A suitable recipe 🧑‍🍳 of DT spoke types and patterns to suit this 🧐75kg rider who is often the envy of his peers for only needing a couple of hours of riding in a week and 💥 he’s suddenly fit 🚀 💥 🪓 🚂

23/07/2026

Another transplant job , snipped out this ridiculously poor quality chinese rear hub with the blue freehub -I always wonder 🤷‍♂️ why have a coloured freehub 😂 as no one sees it when a cassette is fitted , all I can think 🤔 it’s to make it attractive 🤩to possible gullible buyers 😂 .
Rebuilt using original rim - wheels for disc brakes often the rims last very well as no braking surface , new DT spokes and proper brass ni***es with a DT Swiss 🇨🇭 hub about a million times better than the original 😃

20/07/2026

20/07/2026

Thanks Dale 🤩 your commission 👛 💰 is in the post 😋.
Built this wheel the same way as last one ( cross 4 spoke pattern ) knowing Dale will go down these steep rock strewn enduro tracks faster than a bullet 😂.
Some purists / engineers/ boffins 🤯( probably the same folk who think they need tension meters and silly dials ) could argue that you shouldn’t really build a 29r 32spoke wheel in this pattern !
IMO there’s too much technofuddery 🙄in the bicycling world these days ( bring back the 1980s 🤪 ) and prefer to go with 46yrs of lived experience in the real world of wheel building & repairs 🙂

08/07/2026

08/07/2026

This video I’ve just posted in my usual technofuddery style 🤯 was sent today by Dieter Visser , I’d forgotten about it - about 10+ years ago on one of the 6 Indian Hymalayan 🇮🇳 ⛰️ trips that have all just blended into one in my 🧠 which was all fuddled up with the Altitude here on the worlds 2nd highest road ! much fun and a lot of Grim times 🥴 and near Tears 😭 from mr Visser 😂! One thing that remained constant was the reliability of the bikes in such a punishing environment 😬

27/06/2026

One of last weeks more interesting jobs - this extremely light Bontrager rear wheel had previously been rebuilt with a new rim by someone who didn’t think it was important to replace the old fatigued spokes 😂 🤷 🤯 , I’ve Rebuilt with the Sapim bladed spokes , also had a read of the comedy 🤪blurb that comes with the original wheels- mostly made up of irrelevant sizes and info ! One thing jumps out 😵‍💫 spoke tension- look at my previous posts for my opinion on Nonsensical tools and equipment like tension meters , 205Lbs min and 305Lbs max 😂 so somewhere in between very slack and proper tight 🤓