[Closed] Talk to me about bikes

The weather is having an effect for sure. I'd go on road but it's also bloody windy.

If it's the drop I'm thinking of, then you can completely nosedive off it like a total idiot, land on your front wheel, and miraculously survive by nose-wheelieing almost to the bottom,

My concern is being able to land accelerating at 9.81m/s/s and then not having enough control to deal with the continued acceleration down towards the banking for the tunnel, hitting that at 70-80mph, soaring into the air and landing in the trees on the other side of the valley.

just unpacked from a week with basquemtb and can confirm my suspicions that 26 is alive and well, at least with me as it was being the only rider of 10 plus 4 guides on 26 inch wheels yet I still had the most amazing time. Now planning next years jolly with the lump of cash I'm not spending on a new 650b. And will be taking the 26r!

I can confirm that you can also nose it off the Cwmcarn drop and end up in a bruised, dusty heap a few metres lower down the hill, not quite sure how you ****ed it up.

😳

I'm preparing for a weekend of light touring in the Preseli hills with a friend.

It's my annual "me time" activity and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm taking my campervan (a T5, naturally ;)) so that we can book-end a luxury B&B stay on day 2 with some more down-to-earth-sit-around-the-campfire accommodation on days 1 & 3.

Yesterday I watched my 6 year old go round a pump track for the first time - massive grin on his face! He was on stabilisers at the beginning of the summer holidays.

Bikes are brilliant.

Going home to Weymouth for the first time since the schools went back. I'll be down from Thursday to Monday with the Jekyll. There will be joy.

Oooh... the forecast's decent for tomorrow so we're off to Hamsters- huzzah!

I've been really enjoying building up a nice bike for the missus, so as to encourage her to come on some family rides!
Got a nice little pinnacle ramin frame, had some carbon forks in the garage, along with some carbon bars...
Spent lunchtime cutting the bars down to a more feminine width, and also cutting a carbon seatpost down as it needs to be pretty low!!

Got some nice XR cranks with a 30t ring to pair up with an 11-46 cassette I ahd in teh garage - it'll give a decent gear range for her!

I can't imagine she'll ride it that much, but I really want to encourage her out with me and the lad - If I go on teh cargo bike i can take the toddler on teat (wee ride) as well as being 'handicapped' to a slowish pace!!

I'l lpost a little thread about it when I'm done - not sure if getting it resprayed a more feminine colour is pointless or not!!

DrP

Contemplating getting rid of the Yeti 575 and just having the Last FastForward 29er as my main bike.
As every time I go to ride I go straight for that and enjoy it more.
But I will probably want another full susser when it goes and I will probably make a big loss on it.
But the longer I wait the less it will be worth if I do decide to part with it, so at the moment it is in limbo, maybe if something breaks on my Last I will be happy to have it as a back up.

I also have an itch for the NS RAG+ but can't afford another bike, even if I do sell the Yeti.

Head butted a rooted tree stump (low speed Buffoon accident), true stump worse off than me, narrow escape I thought - 5 mins later stung by a wasp! Arm has swollen like a balloon!

I'm thinking about getting the CX bike down from the attic. But then again perhaps not, I'm to fat and unfit to race this year (again). But never mind there's always next season 😆

Fat and unfit? Good. My plan is to work hard at base training and weight loss over the winter, then start speed work early and as soon as it's dry I'll take that KOM off you.

molgrips

Fat and unfit? Good. My plan is to work hard at base training and weight loss over the winter, then start speed work early and as soon as it's dry I'll take that KOM off you.

Heads up to the attic to get CX bike down.........

Currently procrastinating on here rather than cleaning the road bike then sticking it in the turbo

I'm really enjoying riding locally at the moment, and building new stuff too. I sometimes think I actually enjoy building summit new or opening up some old track as much as I enjoy riding it.

I go through wee spells of not being arsed driving distances to ride, I'm there just now.

I'll change the record soon though, always do.

In a bit of a commuting malaise too, need to get back into that, it's good base miles through winter.

My closest riding buddies have gone quiet, hopefully they'll be back soon.

Nice idea for a thread Mol.

I was really enjoying local riding, but now the weather's turned cold and crappy I'm just put off. Need to get out anyway.

I was tempted to do my first ever bit of building a while back - there were some dips in a local flat trail on a hillside that collected water then silted up, creating clay pits that were really hard to get through. I was going to dig out the downslope side to let the rain wash it out. Well now the council have come and done it for me, filled the holes with rocks and surfaced them! Result!

May still need to get a billhook though for clearing some stuff. And some kind of saw cos we've got trees down.

nice thread....

and here is my little contribution....

the GF chauffeured us both down to the Alps on friday in the van. went for a ride into the valley. a 780hm bastid steep climb, but pleased i didn't have to get off and push (like last week). GF had a bit of a breakdown due to her work which meant niether her nor i were "in the zone" when it came to the descent. a wet, hankerchief wide path with a 70-100m deep drop to the left with lots fo tricky wet rocks and roots. (probably come back to it next year after a few days of sunshine.)

then drove around the corner to "our" spot and parked up for the night. BBQ, a rack of ribs for me, loads of roasted veg, the best part of a bottle of Pimms, some Moretti Rossa beer from Italy and a **** off big fire.

saturday morning we drove into Austria (a valley that is only accesible by road via Germany) and met up with an old friend, plus her hanger-on. nice, pleasant 990hm fireroad climb with a nice steady gradient. made it to the hut (Plumsjochhütte) to be confronted by loads of "Bike Verbot" signs that had obviously been strung up by the landlord of the hut.... a silhouetted downhiller in ared circle with a stupid ****ing saying beneath it... "Vernüftige Menschen fahren hier kein Rad, den anderen ist es verboten!" (Sensible people do not ride here, for the rest it is forbidden!). a right prick!

the girls got some moody threatening comments when they rode past the hut about "leave the trail alone". the guy stood on his balcony opposite watching us. needless to say we rode around the corner behind the next hut and then made our way onto the trail from there. great ride without any conflict with the walkers coming up.

kinda put a downer on the whole thing and i'm half tempted to contact the Austrian parks people to find out what authority the sign has. that or go up there one evening and remove them as well as make it clear to bikers that they shouldn't spend any money in the Plumsjochhütte!

Sunday wasa washout. went for a blast along the swollen river today and they practised my wheelies and manuals in the carpark for an hour or so. manuals are coming on well.... could regularly clear spaces 50-57, so if a space is 2.4m that makes it roughly 20m manuals....

tomorrow i'm riding to work for the first time since March (due to my mum being in and out of hospital i've been back in the UK for most of the summer and was away for five weeks holidaying in France). pumped my tyres up today and charged my lights. #backtothegrind

coming Friday is my B'day which is also meant to be the nicest day of the week. hopefully make it down south for ride with the GF.

Nice writeup Alpin. Still seems like a good weekend 🙂

Another fan of this thread!

I am slowly putting together a Bird Zero AM. It's the atomic blue frame, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Been on an On-One 456 Evo for a couple of years, and due to turning 40, managed to convince my wife that a new frame would be a fitting gift! Bought some Suntour Aion forks (150mm), DT Swiss E1900 wheels from the clearance section of Bird's website, and transferring my XT brakes and Zee mech from the old steel beastie.

I am currently getting it heli-taped up. After reading of other peoples woes with the stuff, I'm finding it reasonably easy to do. I am, however. no perfectionist, so there are a couple of little bubbles here and there. It is a bike to be ridden, so I'm not losing sleep over these.

All being well, it should be up and running within the next two weeks. I am very excited, even though it is a bike that far outweighs my ability!

Managed to get in 3x20km rides around my local trail centre over the last 10days. Had not been out for the last 5/6 weeks due to my fork being away for a warranty repair and being away on hols. Blowing out my asre a bit now 😳 after being off the bike and over indulging.

I did spend the down time putting my n+1 hardtail together ready for the winter, just need to find a cheap 120mm reba or 130mm sektor to finish it off. 😀

Was on a day off today but it is pi$$ing down so no ride. 🙄

Helped choose two mountain bikes for my nephews. After a family holiday at a Center Parcks they got into bikes, [helped by the older one borrowing Mr's Inkster's very nice bike] Two new Konas duly arrived on their doorstep within the week, last years models nearly half price. Feeling smug for getting the most out of Parents set budget.

Good frames with bits that weigh a ton. At least I've got somewhere to put all those blingy bits filling up the place. Carbon bars that grew to narrow, Fox forks that still work excellently and lighter wheels are all finding a new home .It's great helping others choose a bike or help them put it together, finding something to do with all that random knowledge you pick up from places like this.

I am starting to feel like Kona owes me a royalty though, my other half now has two, [couldn't part with first one] sister had one, [nicked] brother in law got one and now two nephews, that's six bikes I've sold for Kona! The end of season deals on Kona's might have something to do with that though.

I don't have, nor ever have had a Kona and I'm not quite sure how that happened.

I’ve realised it’s now been a year since I first decided to get a new 29er frame, to replace my trusty old Nicolai Helius AC, and I’m STILL ****ing procrastinating. The first bike I tried, last September, was a Cotic RocketMax (really liked it), and since then I’ve lost count of the amount of long travel 29ers I’ve ridden but I’ve always managed to find faults with most….too short, silly long seat tube, too heavy, not available as a frame option, too Orangey for crows etc etc.
The new Transition Sentinel is looking promising though…..well maybe 😐 . I really like the look of the Intense Carbine as well, but the price!!

Here in Hong Kong, we're coming to the end of the brutal summer heat and hopefully heading into the bit of the year where riding is a constant idyll of warm weather, dry-ish trails and cold beer.

It's coming up to a year ago that I picked up my wonderful [url= ]Pepto-Crush Chromag Surface[/url] on a brilliant trip to Whistler, and it's still my unchanged and unimprovable go-to (and only) mountain bike. It's not been used as much as I'd like over the summer, but that's changing as I've just moved to live (much) closer to the trails. My wonderful fiancee's bike should be with us fairly soon, and she'll be wanting to get into some trail riding when it does.

I've not bought anything for cycling for quite a while, and that's a happy thing. I kicked a temporary "looking for things to buy on CRC" habit, although I'll probably need some fresh shoes and helment after Christmas.

All is well. 🙂

I've not bought anything for cycling for quite a while, and that's a happy thing

Aye, me too, gotta be a good thing...

I'm trying to sell my Shand to cut my 29er fleet by 33%.
On the bright side I'm finally getting some miles in having spent April to July working hard. Got a few KoMs to recapture and the Giro Della Donna in November as targets.

Have a kid due in Jan so slowly rationalising the bikes and getting some decent riding in. Planning a couple of nights away in the depths of the Cambrian mountains, and some other jaunts.

Scandal 29er being retired, and will only have a HT 29er and do-it-all Arkose for all my needs (...plus the 26er inbred town/utility bike).

Have a kid due in Jan so slowly rationalising the bikes

Why on earth...?

Assuming i'll not have much time so keeping the number of bikes to an acceptable minimum, have my partner's bikes to look after so I don't need too much maintenance. Remaining bikes will be in tip top condition and ready to go when i can grab the time.

My skinwall onza canis tyres have gone mouldy. Just riding doesn't make the mould fall off it seems.

I never understood the more bikes = more maintenance equation. Surely fewer miles on each bike means the same amount of maintenance overall? Seems to for me.

I've just weighed my bike and it upset me. It's lighter than I thought at 30.58lbs , so further weakening my perceived justification for a new one.

I've had a couple of months off the bike in June and July due to illness, and lost all of my hard-earned fitness on the sofa/bed, so since the beginning of August I've had an agenda to get back to fitness. At my age (62) though, it feels like a long slow haul. So far I've just dropped into my usual habits of riding and am finding, surprise surprise, that I'm really slow, run out of what little energy I have quickly, and take ages to recover afterwards. Took on a big(ish) mountain day a week ago-up Dollywagon, over Helvellyn summit and descend Sticks, and I really suffered, not just from lack of fitness but bottle too, feeling weedy made me reluctant on the downs and so walked loads I'd normally ride.
However, this isn't putting me off, I'm just going to keep on keeping on, I'm at the use-it-or-lose-it time of life and my enthusiasm for biking is undimmed.
Great thread, I've enjoyed reading what others are up to

We had an awesome few hours over at Hamsters today, Pot Noodle at half time, then back for an awesome ham and cheese butty and an awesome cuppa. Bikes and vans and cuppas are awesome.

I built up a new bike last week.

It went smoother than any build I can remember.

Kudos to Nukeproof for the best cable routing I've seen in ages, not to mention sticking with a threaded BB and external cables.

Chin up, mildbore.

Most guys I know your age don't walk the length of themselves let alone hike a bike Helvellyn.

Kudos fella.

Cheers nobeer, always good to have a perspective, especially given I'm used to being able to take this sort of day in my stride. I was more impressed that I managed to stay off the booze the night before

😆

Mavic UST rim tape is rubbish, in fact Mavic rims are rubbish. Three sets of wheels converted over the weekend and these are the only ones that lose pressure

New hardtail arrived yesterday. I haven't ridden a MTB for almost 8 years due to location, kids, road bikes etc but now I live on the IoM and decided it was high time to get back into it.

Mildbore ..keep at it you have years to go yet !
Our group of riders has at its core 2x60yr(includes myself )1x 65yr 1×70yr 1x72yr..as well as some youth in their mid 50's..
Still out there doing Lakes, Yorkshire Moors & Dales ,North Pennines, Cheviots , Borders..and yearly trips up to the Cairngorms & North West Highlands ( Applecross / Torridon )..none of us ready for an ebike yet ( although I'm a huge fan !)..

Yep, I'll keep on biking until it's no longer fun, which hopefully will be years yet. Even in my current slow, unfit, inept state I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be than on a mountain with my bike. My wife comes with me on my jaunts and goes for a walk while I ride. She says she used to worry about me but now realises if I kill myself at least I would have died happy!(her name isn't Louise btw)

Winterizing my Solaris, need to get round to fitting mud tyres but as it's tubeless it's a minor faff so might wait a bit.

I've never been happy with the suspension on my 2016 remedy so sent the pike off for a custom tune at J-tech. Great result, it's like a different fork! Its addictive though, now I'm swapping out the Reaktiv shock for a monarch which is also tuneable.

Selling my giant lust as it is an in between bike and won't get much use.

Loads of riding as I'm off work - a trip to south Wales via Flipboard 417 on the cards for next week.

the pike off for a custom tune at J-tech.

What's that involve then, do you know?

@chakaping

I believe he modified the shim stack and used a lighter oil in the damper.

I'm 135 pounds and the pike compression tune was to hard for me. It's much softer of the top now and I'm enjoying riding my remedy again.

I can destroy bike components just by looking at them but I have just fitted a OneCompenents EDC to my steerer without to much damage being caused, I gave myself a wee little high five.
Been managing to get a good steady average of 50-60km per week of MTB riding over our savage Hong Kong summer so looking forward to upping the ante a little as our riding season begins.
To help me along with this, there s a MTB trip to Chiang Mei in late October and another to Rotorua early next year, that one is shaping up nicely with even a helicopter ride being organized (first for me).

I never understood the more bikes = more maintenance equation. Surely fewer miles on each bike means the same amount of maintenance overall? Seems to for me.

"the chances of having a fully functional bike in the garage is inversely proportional to the number of bikes owned."

I don't pretend to understand it, but there's more than a little truth in it...!

Have a kid due in Jan so slowly rationalising the bikes and getting some decent riding in.

Off out now. I was going to put on waterproof shorts but probably not necessary - just going to stick a guard on the Trek.

Mudguards 🙁

a trip to south Wales via [b]Flipboard[/b] 417 on the cards for next week.

This sounds like corporate hell! 😉

I had the most violent crash of my MTBing life a few months back. Lots of rehab and mostly physically functional again but it's really messed with my head. It was caused by a rather random factor at high speed and now I'm back on the bike it's a bit greasy, roots covered in leaves etc and I can't get the fear of random nasty accidents out of my head.

I'm hoping a few months of gentle high safety margin riding will give me a better perspective on things because it's very frustrating at the moment.

ChiefGG..hope you manage to get your head around that ..
I'm just returning from injury ..the worst I've had from mountain biking..but by the same degree not sounding like it's been anywhere near as serious as yours..
A few years back I had an off on an "easy" trail ( Lakeside Way , Kielder ) ..which is a fairly wide multi user track ..
I was taking a 45 degree turn at low speed when the front wheel just washed out ..I landed heavily banging the side of my head on the ground which my helmet took the full impact of ..a 1/4 of an inch the other way and I would have had a wooden stake embedded in my temple area.
The point I'm trying to make here is that shit sometimes happens with situations that are out of your control and totally unexpected ..get back to riding the way you used to as soon as you can ..the longer you leave it the harder it becomes ..
I went the other way to you on Sunday in only my second ride back when I probably posted ( don't do Strava ..so don't know !) my fastest time coming down off the Deadwater trails at Kielder ..the fact that I had my 14 yr.old son giving it " is that the fastest you can go old man " in my ear as he chased me down was a great motivator..no way is the student becoming the master just yet !
Hope it all works out for you..soon.

[i] I can't get the fear of random nasty accidents out of my head.[/i]

Yes! So frustrating how the brain can ruin your riding after a spill. Also the fear of aggravating an existing injury if you do crash, takes all the fun out of corners! Now it's getting damp too... I used to quite enjoy crashing 🙁

I succumbed to the marketing people and put my 26" Transition Bandit up for sale on the classifieds and was looking at long travel 29ers

Took it for a quick spin after changing the gear cable and realised it's awesome so I'm keeing it 😀

@chiefgg, +1 for taking it easy for a bit, hopefully by not crashing over the next few weeks you can reset your 'bottle' switch. Recently back myself and I'm finding simple lack of fitness makes me nervous. Been out today 6 weeks after my return and for the first time I had great legs and was hitting all the lines, just when I was wondering if it would ever come back. Take your time and take it easy, chap!

Not long back from the annual lads weekend away where we did a great loop round Danby. Probably quite popular as versions of it were in all the guide books I have.

Took the P7 as the Segment was not back from it's respray. Hardtail was great and now I have the FS back which I can't wait to build up and get back out on. Finally got two bikes I'm happy with and no real desire to change.

Currently at work with my mint 1992 Clockwork in bits in my locker but can't seem to find the enthusiasm to crack on with it.

The end.

Just got the kona honzo from the classifieds and am personalising it and getting used to it in Woburn forest. Trying to decide whether to renipple my dt Swiss wheels, buy new ones or put smaller tyres on my hope 35w rims for my gt sensor. If I use the hopes 35w then I lose my plus wheelset for my prime. I've bought the new nipples but can't stop looking at 650b wheelsets! My fat bike needs it's bb changed as it's creaking so I bought it then left it in the packet. I just bought a zealous Division frame and built it up with parts from my BOTE but have just stripped it after buying the kona and now have to rebuild the BOTE. I can't see myself selling the zealous as it rode amazing for the 3 rides I took it out on but i still bought the kona. So lots really.......

Started putting my Aeris 120 together, waiting on stem, mech, boost adapters and cables to arrive. Need to order a brake hose, some fluid and a new dropper post too, but haven't worked out how long a post I can get away with yet.....

It's looking promising though, 11-46 cassette is hyooooge! 😯

Oh, struggling to get the cane creek crown race seated though.

Looking forward to riding my cx bike around the back lanes from next week on and shedding some lbs.

Finally concluded that with my wife's deteriorating health I'm not going to travel to a trail centre anytime soon so my unridden Habit lefty is going up for sale and possibly my new CAADX also to consolidate both to a 650b/700c steel frame to build up to ride from home. So just spent today cleaning them and getting them prepared for selling 🙁