[Closed] Swapping, adjusting, experimenting vs. just ride it

I'm guessing this was about my Bird Aether7 🙂 Thanks 🙂

But anyway, i'll jump in here. Time is something i have plenty of, it seems way more than most... So i tinker and play, i fiddle and spanner, both these bikes and motorbikes that me and the wife use on tracks. I don't want to flame people, but it's not my fault i have more time than them. "i use my time for riding" i hear them say, well there's only so much riding someone can realistically do isn't there... I was riding yesterday, i'm riding today, how much more can i take LOL.

Next weekend we've got an enduro race in Wales, i know with absolute certainty my bike and my boys bike will be 100% ready to go racing, we'll have everything spare apart from a complete bike, everything will be immaculate, everything will be 100% prepped and ready... Why, well, why not, give ourselves (him really) the best chance possible of a good result. It's been dialled in through testing, riding, tweaking, adjusting, from pedals to levers, to bars and to riding shoes.

It's not necessarily about ultimate speed here, it's not about just experimenting for the sake of it, it's making the bikes the best they can be (within a budget of course otherwise i'd just spend £8000 and buy the best).

But most importantly, i enjoy it... enjoy it lots, from swapping pads, to changing a shock, to setting up tubeless and everything inbetween, it's enjoyable. A garage, a beer, a bit of music, i'm right in my happy place.

Just to entertain, my mate brought over one of my spare shocks yesterday he'd borrowed, i may actually fit it today for some testing, even though i love the DPX2... why.... well, why the heck not... 🙂

I'm in the bracket of people who tinker and upgrade mericlessly when they aren't riding, but as soon as they go for a ride realise that actually all that needs to change is a new set of brake pads as the bike is fine and that more time should be spent organising riding trips.

A lot of that comes from historically being very poor, and so trying to slowly buy/sell my way to nice things rather than just buying what I want like other people who don't have those compunctions. I mean, right now I just want one of the new Scott sparks. I have the money. Its just sat in the bank, but it won't get spent.

It's also because I have more hobbies and things in my life than riding bikes - and so generally a choice to tinker on my bikes is a choice not to go surfing, or climbing, or ski touring (if winter), or trail running, or lifting, or do a turbo session, or planning a trip for any of these, or even the admin that comes with life - house, money, work.

I am in the tinker/fettle camp. But I always have been ever since I moved on from bmx. Early mtbs were shocking and everything broke with alarming regularity so fixing, upgrading, bodging were part of the sport.
So nowadays, getting a bike dialled for an event, trip etc...well just wouldn't be right if I didn't. 🙂

I'm firmly in the 'just ride it' camp.

Not a serial bike/parts swapper. Have never bled a set of brakes; as long as they stop me I care very little about how they feel. Tyres get pumped up to 40psi cause thats what i did in the 90's and only get checked again when they feel too squishy. Always promise myself I'll adjust the gears but always forget, which is fine providing I can get in one.

Did care far more when I was racing years ago though.

I'm both time and (relatively) cash poor, so probably not best placed for tinkering!

However, I have and do experiment with most of the things OP listed. I'm not really sure why you wouldn't to be honest: a lot of the free changes are literally a few minutes with some tools. And things like tyres can make such a major difference to your riding.

This said, as a bit of a noob I have to confess some things I don't really find especially obvious when tinkered with. As an example, all the flat pedals I've used have been fine when combined with 5:10s. All the saddles I've ridden have been fine. Brake pads? So long as they're there and working, they're fine (actual brakes and rotors sizes I can detect differences!). Grips? I've had rubbish ones, but so long as they're not rubbish they're fine! 🙂

I suspect that as you ride more and think about things more you start to be able to differentiate things like e..g pedal thickness, and therefore have preferences in that area. I'm not there yet though!

I’m in the middle I reckon. I like tinkering but only have so much time to do it because of work and family. Plus I prefer to be riding than tinkering in my limited hobby time.

That said I did build 2 bikes for people over lockdowns in my spare time - 30 mins here and there. Love that.

Just picked up a shonky bmx for £50 for pump track use and spent some time changing the press fit bb / new chain / new chain tugs / new back brake / cut out the seized seat post etc. Not even ridden it yet but it looks quite nice!

Got a trip to North Wales for 3 days in August so the bike is getting a good strip down and rebuild before then. Check the frame bearings / at least an aircan service / new brake pads / top up of Stan’s / new BB / gears tweak / maybe a fork lower leg service etc.

I like my bikes to run perfectly silently and smoothly so constant tinkering / maintenance and also like a fiddle with bars and seat position to make it comfy.

But suspension set up and the like its get it about right and forget about it

I used to upgrade more than I do nowadays. The last few bikes to come my way, I've picked the specs to not need upgrades.

Contact points have to be right but I've been moving my Burgtecs between bikes since 2017. Brakes, I have my preference of brands but I'll ride anything that doesn't try to kill me but I'll swap out to big rotors front and rear. Drivetrain, I'm on a mix of 11 speed XT and 12 speed GX between my enduro bike and eMTB (and not the right way round); run 'til broken.

Suspension. I've done aftermarket upgrades over the years: Push tunes; Bos Deville; Vivid Air. I've done tweakage: tokens, bands, settings etc. When Shockwiz came out I bought 3 to run front and rear simultaneously and to also have one on another bike. Tweakage galore. But the bikes I've bought since 2018 have been on Lyrik/Super Deluxe combos that don't take much setting up but work phenomenally and reliably.

Wheels. I've got a nasty habit of dinging them. Treat them as a wear item.

Tyres. No right answer. Probably where I'm tweaking most at the moment. Combining low rolling resistance rear with Rimpact vs a heavier carcass tyre . Even on my eMTB I'm trying fast rolling combos so I can chase Strava descent segments at >25kmh.

Set it up and just use it, My bikes are maintained meticulously and regardless of cost, suspension is set up how and then a tweak here and there for different conditions and terrain. I’m not particularly time rich, but have still managed 2,210 miles with 205,000 ft of elevation this year (all on 2.5” tyres and no Zwift, approx 30,000 ft of Gondola/uplift, the rest all pedal up)

Used to tinker about quite a bit, but over the last 10-15 years or so, certainly drive-trains have developed to the point that other than changing cables, they seem to be able to stay in tune pretty well, so don't need the sorts of constant adjustment they used to.

I like swapping tyres about and trying different combos but I don't really monitor how the perform against each other , so it's just messing about for the sake of, I run coil suspension so, once the spring rate's done, it's only really a matter of tuning the compression and rebound which once you've sorted, is really only ever a click either way to suit the days riding...

I'm not heavy on kit, so I'm not constant changing worn out stuff.

all about competing priorities here and somewhat jealous of weeksy. If i had more time/money, i would ride more (first) but i do love a bit of bike work.

as a result, i know what i like
anything that is about 'fit' is fit and forget, so a few tweaks to get it right, then leave it
but ive had both my MTBs nearly 10yrs (new one coming.....)

I don't bother tinkering with things liek suspension, mainly because I've not got a clue what I'm doing. I put some air in my forks when I built the bike up at the start of last year and haven't touched them since! Things like the Shockwiz look like a great idea but even then I'd imagine that I'd find the right pressures etc for the fork and just leave it at that.

The bikes are all running either Di2 or eTap so nothing needs tweaked there either.

If Weeksy or others have the time and inclination to tweak their bike set-up then why the hell not? Everyone's different, some prefer the climbs to the descents, road to MTB, tweaking/building bikes to riding.
Whatever the case, it's all dicking about with bikes so it's all good 🙂

I’m not an experimenter, i know roughly what i like and I stick with it.
I am a fettler though, everything has to work perfectly.
Tyre pressure is checked by hand, saddle position by feel, bar position visually at first then by feel.
Once I’ve got the contact points ‘dialled in’ I tend to not move them.

As I’m now on my tenth Cotic frame (had a couple of other manufacturers in that as well) since 2007 i probably fall into the serial swapper category.

Most of those bikes I’ve built up myself using a tried and trusted set of componentry the only real tweaking I have is for fit (roll of bars, seat rail position, stem length, spacers, etc). I seem to fallen into the large size actually fitting me properly now 🤪. Which is nice.

Suspension I spend a bit of time overgetting it sort of right and then very little thereafter (my bike-packer forks were set up from new and after a couple of rides the only thing I’ve changed in 4+ years is the occasional rebound tweak). Spent a fair bit of time trying to get my Helms working the way I thought they should (gave up after a while and just ride them now). I’d a set of McQueens that I could never get on with (too much chatter) so they got moved on.

My latest FS frame was driving me nuts (couldn’t sort the pedal strike) I even phoned Cotic up to get it sorted out. Turns out Cane Creek sent out shocks without the volume spacers and it was blowing through the mid travel too fast. Seems to have sort that out, but still needs a bit more tweaking until I forget about it again. The FlareMAX only took me about three rides...

I've a good idea what I want and like and if possible will by frame only and then move across what I want.
All the bikes are regularly serviced, forks and shocks are usually sent off.
We have lists of our preferred setups and so it dosent take long to sort out and easy when we swap between bikes.
Chart for tyre pressures and Stans top up dates.
Once the bike is set up, Usually after a couple of fine tunes that's it.
We have enough spares, usually bought when there's an offer on, to keep the bikes running and when Abigale is racing we can sort everything out from the camper including a full bike if needed. We use a digital pump for shock and tyre pressures which are recorded so its easy from bike to bike.
I know which tyres and compounds work well for us in where we ride and the conditions we ride in and only swap out when worn or damaged. We have tried most brands out there and never found an alternative to suit us.

Nothing wrong with tinkering, my dad's a tinkerer as is my brother, with old cars and motorbikes. They have full workshop facilities to make or repair stuff.

I think its passed down to my eldest daughter who bought a Eunos MK1 last year and spends here spare time working on it. Yesterday she needed a hand lifting the seats out so she could remove the carpets to clean them. The bonnet was up and I glanced in it, the engine and bay were immaculate.
I cant remember ever looking under my bonnet since my first Mini that my dad, brother and me built up when I was 17.

I knows what I like and I like what I knows.

With a new bike I'll spend the first few rides getting everything set up how I like it and then it stays that way, about the only thing that gets regularly adjusted is tyre pressure and even then I have series of preferred pressures for differing conditions.

I'm meticulous with maintenance as I'd rather fix things in the comfort of the garage than 50km away from home, and tools, at the side of the road/trail. I generally don't swapped part out until they need replacing and then I have preferred parts or brands as I tend to favour proven reliability.

I do like my bikes to have as much cross compatibility as possible as it means I need to hoard fewer parts, so all my bikes are 11 speed for example.

This thread is like a view into a totally different world. I've always been firmly into the riding side, and loathed anything that resembled fixing/maintaining bikes.

F'rinstance my first few MTBs never had the forks serviced or lubed. I just used them till they stopped working. Then used them some more. When I did Cavedale 8 years ago it was only when Simon pointed out that my front fork wasn't moving at all that I cottoned on. Sent it off for a service and didn't really notice much difference afterwards.

When my son's brakes were " making weird noises" and then "not working" in the alps I just told him that's what bikes do, just get on with it. Was only 3 weeks later when I did my first ever brake bleed that I realised that he'd worn through the pads and the backing plate and the piston and all the fluid had leaked out over an alp ....
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When my gears stopped shifting properly I just make do with whatever gears are left. My hybrid currently only has two, though I can get off and kick the rear mech back across if there's a particularly steep hill.

I've always loathed DIY and bike machaniching. Combined with the fact I've always wanted to maximise the time doing sports. Life is too short for pissing about with spanners. But I now realise that attitude was partly because I was shit at it and didn't know what I was doing, or have the parts. Nowadays I have loads more tools in my beautifully arranged box, and more knowledge and so do occasionally do some fixing.
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I'm also old and decrepit and so can't physically spend all my spare time exercising.

Suspension. I’ve done aftermarket upgrades over the years: Push tunes; Bos Deville; Vivid Air. I’ve done tweakage: tokens, bands, settings etc. When Shockwiz came out I bought 3 to run front and rear simultaneously and to also have one on another bike. Tweakage galore

When I read this, and some of Weeksy's posts, I genuinely don't believe them. I just can't comprehend that someone would have the time or inclination for this shit. As far as I'm concerned, a fork is a discrete piece of matter. There is no inside to one. There are no parts that can be swapped, taken out or otherwise fannied about with... just get put and ride the ****ing thing.

The first time I discovered STW, I was amazed and appalled. Took me a while to realise that it wasn't a Mountain Biking forum at all, it is a Mountain Bike forum. Some days an absolutely tiny proportion of the MTB threads on the front page are about riding, most of them are about buying or tinkering.

I remain completely gobsmacked by what complete Gear Freaks most STWers are. Look on an equivalent skiing ( OK, perhaps not Snowheads, I'm persona non grata over there) kayaking or climbing forum and only a tiny proportion of threads are about kit. They don't obsess over every minute detail like we do and spend such inordinate amounts of money trying to buy themselves more performance.

BUT; having said all of which, I realise that I have now become just like that. As I approach my 50th birthday, and gain weight as I lose fitness, I too am spending phenomenal, embarrassing amounts of time and money on kit to try to make up for my lack of talent and fitness. I've started loads of threads recently about carbon wheels, new bikes, upgrades and all that toss. And I know why it is.... because the less time you spend riding, the more time/money you spend on kit.

Gotta say though, I do respect Weeksy's first post above. Sets it very well. If he has the time, the inclination and the skill then why the hell not?

because the less time you spend riding, the more time/money you spend on kit

For various reasons I don't ride as much as I'd like, and spend a lot of time thinking about upgrading, researching, buying new kit etc. When I do get to ride lots apart from pumping up my tyres and changing worn brake pads I don't do much to my bike at all. I change things when they break or wear out, I don't usually upgrade for the sake of it. I guess I'm somewhere in the middle of the scale.

I also kitesurf, when there's no wind I spend time looking at & talking about new kit. When it's windy my kites are perfect and I just get out and ride them.

Unfortunately not for me certainly don't have the time or skillset, I usually buy higher specced bikes just for this reason. I can only do standard maintenance everything else LBS or friends at times.

Tinkering doesn’t actually take that long on bikes and I enjoy learning how to do stuff. I also find it therapeutic; if work is stressful and it’s been a hard week, it’s nice to do some late night tinkering, very relaxing. With a selection of parts built up, it also reduces any bike downtime so we can ride whenever.

I tinker mainly for reliability, comfort and above all, fun. 🙂

I think I fall into the “just ride it” camp. I’ve no interest in fettling or maintenance at all other than I am quite meticulous about cleaning and lubing my bike where it should be and having the gears indexed correctly but that’s it.

I switched to road biking from mountain biking purely because it meant less maintenance. Part of me thinks you need to be somewhat mechanically minded to really get the most out of mountain biking as a hobby.

I deliberately bought a rim brake road bike and run it with tubes even though it’s tubeless ready just because I find In both cases they’re easier to maintain despite being not as good performance wise.

I don’t know anything about bike geometry and bought my last one without even trying it for size (so shoot me), seems fine.

I try not to tinker too much with it, if it’s running ok then it’s all good, I’ve lost count of the times I tried to do something on my bike and made it worse 🤦‍♂️

Horses for courses though, despite being a mechanical novice I can see why people would find tinkering therapeutic or relaxing or whatever if that’s your bag.

All 8 of our bikes are maintained well.
They're set up when new or again if something major is changed.
I have almost limitless time to spend on them but don't bother constantly changing stuff.
Partly because I got into MTB as I was sick to death of having to spend all week in the garage working on my MX and Enduro bikes just for a race on a weekend. Partly because I can set up a bike pretty well pretty quickly and since I'm no longer racing at the point end realise that it doesn't matter.
There seem to be some people who constantly mess about with stuff but never really get to grips with their bikes because they're always changing stuff.
There also seem to be some folks who instantly think the bike is wrong if they're struggling to ride something.
IMHO 9 times out of 10 it's the rider not the bike. I include my self in this hence not messing with setting for the sake of it.

If I'm struggling with an aspect of my riding it's me not the bike that's the problem.
With that in mind I'll spend more time riding to try and sort it.

On the other hand I love to change big stuff like head angle/BB height/ wheel size/combo of wheel size.
Again within a few rides its pretty obvious if I like it so then either change back or stick with it.

Even with the spare time I have on my hands I'd rather be riding than in the garage.

Is it just me that gets silly ideas to tweak things while trying to force myself out of the door?

I've barely been out for a road ride this past month, but while looking at the dark clouds looming above, I'm once again thinking of "quickly" swapping my 110mm -6 stem for the 110 -16 stem currently on the out of action fatbike, to lower the front end of my aero brick road bike by 2cm. 😆

Try to buy what i want off the shelf but routinely end up changing stuff. Just because i know what i like on my bikes. One sorted i tend not to tinker too much and just ride it

I'm lucky in that I get just as much enjoyment (and frustration) out of the tinkering side as I do the riding. I'll happily go out for a ride that just sessions a section of trail so that I can adjust a fork or shock, go for a flat ride to help fine tune saddle position or do a repeated short loop while switching a component over like a stem. A good evening wielding the spanners, allen keys and lubes is fun for me too, especially when it's awful weather outside.

I'm actually struggling to think of a part of the biking hobby I don't like in some way!

Only thing I tinker with is tyre pressure as my bike is running 29 plus tyres. Other than that I just ride. Maybe adjust bars a bit, controls, saddle etc when needed. One of the reasons I prefer rigid and HT is because when I’ve owned full suspension bikes I spend way too much time messing with the shock

I don’t have much time (the joys of three small children!) but I wouldn’t say I’m a tinkerer anyway. However, I like my bikes to feel right and I’m very sensitive to them not feeling right, so I get forced into a certain amount of tweaking and maintenance.

If something is feeling wrong in terms of tuning (tyres, suspension, bars, seat etc) I tend to assume it’s user error/perception and second guess myself before I change anything. I think I’m pretty good at spotting what’s really going on now so I waste less time being puzzled.

With my current bikes, my Levo’s suspension just worked with very little tweaking. The tyres needed inserts to get a decent pressure window between squirm and boing and then a narrower rear tyre worked better. And it needed a stiffer stem. When I had the suspension serviced and the rear travel increased from 150 to 157mm it took some fiddling to get it right again but my LBS put a volume spacer in because I wasn’t finding the time to do it!

My hardtail took a lot of messing to get right, bar width and height, stem length, anglesets, air spring changes. Literally took a few years to get it to work best for me!

I guess I don’t do a lot of fiddling without having already done it in my head first - I’ve got a weird ability to visualise how technical changes will change how something behaves, which is what also makes me good at designing audio equipment. Unfortunately it’s also my undoing when a lack of confidence makes me think about riding the wrong way!

To add another layer, if you do tinker then do you do it at home or out on the trail? I do a reasonable bit of tinkering at home but on the trail it will be dropping a bit of tyre pressure at most. I also tinker mostly with what I have whereas others may constantly change parts rather than adjust what they already have

@thegeneralist

When I read this, and some of Weeksy’s posts, I genuinely don’t believe them

What don't you believe exactly ? My enjoyment or how much time i have or how much i enjoy tinkering ?

There's a 57 page thread about my Yamaha XSR900, the tinkering on that
https://revtothelimit.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=577

My ZX6R thread is a fair bit shorter, but that's mostly because it's Mrs Weksy who rides that, but it's had a fair bit of tweaking, fiddling and spannering thrown at it.
https://revtothelimit.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=26

When i got back from todays ride i had the shockwiz removed, then some volume spacer changes, pressure, the bike was stripped, washed, cleaned and lubed, it looks brand new once again. It gets every bolt checked (They're marked with yellow paint from Milwauke), etc then it's dried, lubed and put away ready for it's next ride.

I like to swap things about and learnt the skills at a very young age how to maintain my bike. Then moved on to cars.
Back to bikes, I don’t have the spare cash to just go and buy a bike, having two teenagers means that at times money is tight.
When buying I tend to do a lot of research and buy the best I can afford in one go. Then it’s just a matter of changing things when money, time and opportunity allows.

I have found that I like to the first and to do that properly I have to do the second.

To add another layer, if you do tinker then do you do it at home or out on the trail?

Bit of both. Every new bike or suspension component gets a setup/shakedown ride where I don't stray far from the car and have tools in the boot like a shock pump, top cap spanner for changing spacers etc that I don't normally carry on a ride. Regular rides I will do minor tweaks with dials or a quick adjustment of a lever, the bars or the saddle. If I'm riding with friends I'll limit my fiddling to dials only as no-one likes the rider who spends all ride getting the spanners out at every stop! The vast majority of rides though I'll just make mental notes while out and look at stuff when I get home.

I'll adjust tyre pressure alot depending on where I'm riding. Also like to try new tyres every now and then. Everything else I'll leave until it needs adjusting.

My old bike was fiddled with until it rode perfectly and was pretty near silent (I have noisy bikes), it was an Orange Alpine 160, my pride and joy. I tinkered and fettled with gears, brakes, shim stacks (usually for worse). I couldn’t afford nice fancy things so had to try to eek out marginal gains for as little money as possible. Luckily I had access to my father’s workshop which has pretty much every tool and machine you could dream of short of CNC machines, so was able to use lathes and machine/modify stuff if needed.

Now I have 2 young kids who take up all my time and I run a hardtail for fun and simplicity. I barely get much time to ride now let alone tinker, but I do find myself being drawn to the garage late in the evening now and again to adjust stuff here and there.

Really interesting to read all this.

I’m not an experimenter, i know roughly what i like and I stick with it.
I am a fettler though, everything has to work perfectly.

It was specifically the tweaking and experimenting aspect I had in mind, rather than maintenance.

As far as I’m concerned, a fork is a discrete piece of matter. There is no inside to one.

That's an interesting point, I guess many people will be the same about a car or their laptop. No idea how it works even, just use it.

Took me a while to realise that it wasn’t a Mountain Biking forum at all, it is a Mountain Bike forum.

🙂

because the less time you spend riding, the more time/money you spend on kit.

Absolutely true for me. Lockdown, travel restrictions, weather, injury ... I'm on the hunt for new/improved/interesting things, even if in most cases I don't actually end up buying.

For various reasons I don’t ride as much as I’d like, and spend a lot of time thinking about upgrading, researching, buying new kit etc.

I guess I don’t do a lot of fiddling without having already done it in my head first

Yes the pre-buy (or not-buy) and pre-tweak stuff is interesting too. Comparing, reading what other people think/do etc.

I also kitesurf, when there’s no wind I spend time looking at & talking about new kit. When it’s windy my kites are perfect and I just get out and ride them.

Absolutely, bike and gear needs to be ready on standby to ensure no opportunity is missed or incurs a mechanical.

Tinkering doesn’t actually take that long on bikes and I enjoy learning how to do stuff. I also find it therapeutic; if work is stressful and it’s been a hard week, it’s nice to do some late night tinkering, very relaxing

Yes.

I try not to tinker too much with it, if it’s running ok then it’s all good, I’ve lost count of the times I tried to do something on my bike and made it worse 🤦‍♂️

Verschlimmbesserung is a German noun word for an attempted improvement that only makes things worse.

If I’m struggling with an aspect of my riding it’s me not the bike that’s the problem.
With that in mind I’ll spend more time riding to try and sort it.

I always have to (and generally do) remind myself of this. Smaller chainring, shorter cranks, thinner pedals... try fitness and skills first.

To add another layer, if you do tinker then do you do it at home or out on the trail?

If it involves removing something or more than a multi tool/pump, then at home. Sometimes I'll ride a section and be unsatisfied with what my suspension/tyres did, I'll tweak and repeat, even if I then revert it back.

If there was some kind of parts pool to allow this in a more cost-effective and less waste/hassle way, I’d probably do more.

Nobody had anything to say about this... I can't see some shop/club kind of demo day for components being practical or economic (though I have no expertise) at an entry fee which consumers would pay (relative to component prices). Say at a trail centre or popular natural destination, you'd pay £x a day or £y per thing to participate. Or by post, though delivery fees and trust would be more of an issue. Then you'd have access to all kinds of tyres, inserts, coil springs, pedals etc. Or even properly expensive things like forks and shocks. The logistics of it, wear and tear, damage, theft etc. would probably be a nightmare. Maybe if you packaged it up as a "factory team test day" complete with advice for small numbers of middle-aged wannabes at £xxx it might work, I have no idea.

Tend to pay attention to setup for the first few rides, then stop worrying about it.

Tend to only do upgrades if there’s a real step change in performance (or at least the promise of it) and that’s not very often, as I try to start with high end kit. I’m not going to upgrade from 11 speed X01 to 12 speed X01 or XX1, but I will change from cable to AXS.

Obviously starting high spec reduces the what-ifery and upgrade-itis too.

I’m also at a stage where I’ve been riding long enough to know what works for me and what kit I trust, so there’s very little swapping once a bike is built and finished.

That said, if I see something that makes me go ‘Corrr!’, all bets are off.

Simple maintenance I do, but anything involving hydraulics or suspension, I’ll send it to someone who knows what they are doing.

For me it's just another part of the hobby- I like messing with bikes, trying new ideas, thinking about parts combos etc. It's obviously complementary but if I wasn't into it I wouldn't do it

And done right it does improve the riding part too, for me at least- I just did a change, replaced my frame with a larger version of the same bike to add a bit of length, and immediately I'm enjoying steep stuff more and attacking a bit harder, wish I'd done it ages ago.

Build up my own bikes, set them up and then it's just ride/maintenance as needed so kind of in the middle.

To be honest though my current choice of bike is a simple rigid 29er which I ride because it's fun, not because it's fast. Some people love chasing the marginal gains, some don't.

a wet week in Verbier was suboptimal because the OE Rubber queens that came on my new bike were actually tyres off a hotwheels car and made of very hard plastic. awful awful things, mounted on 19mm rims.

30mm rims and Magic Marys now, much better.

If you dont tinker, you could be missing out on a lot of fun and satisfaction, i think its quite important to try a few things and get your bike dialed in.

however, once youve got it dialled in, Measure it properly and WRITE IT DOWN.

That's my biggest recent revelation. If youre tweeking tyre pressures and shock pressures, spending a few rides getting them spot on etc, i would invariably damage something and have to take a tyre off or service the shock or fork and not know where the sweet spot was once i had fixed the issue. If you know what the setup was on that one ride you really felt the bike was running well, you can go straight back to it.

I tend to build a bike and ride it, tyres get the basic squeeze test to check they're still up and that's about it. I did mess about with a few different bar heights recently to try and alleviate a bit of neck/right shoulder pain which I think has worked ok but other than that stuff gets left alone- probably explains my preference for hardtails and single speeds!

I'm in the "set it once then maintain it" camp - no serial upgrading or fannying about for the sake of it. Don't change tyres for conditions or any settings whether I'm here in Scotland or roadtripping abroad. Maintained enough that my bikes rarely let me down.

I fix stuff when it breaks and replace things when they wear out. Maybe upgrade things if I fancy a change.

Tyres I just go for a happy mix of grip/rim protection and that's it really, I don't change them pressure for different trails/conditions.

Contact points were all adjusted long ago and don't change.

Can't remember the last time I turned a knob on my suspension other than the CTD lever on my shock, even then half the time I forget.

I’ve another couple of days work in Scotland beginning of next week, a mates coming with me, and after finishing the job on Tuesday, will be heading to Ft William for 2 days, then 2 days uplifting and Innerleithen, and a pedal up the Golfie, Saturday morning, before driving home. Will be stopping at Wharncliffe as usual on the way up. I’m stick of puncturing and buckling Maxxis tyres, so after about 15 years of running Minnion’s, I’ve ordered a pair of Michelin’s, DH22 for the front and a DH34 for the back.

My son is a just ride it type… thats why his crank arm fell off. Thats why 2 of his spokes fell out of the back wheel. Thats why his shock settings are the same as when he was a skinny 16 year old and now he’s a chunky 18 yo. I say the same, but likely they’ve actually lost air over that time! Embarrasses me how good he is on that bike 😂 BPW trip coming up, we’ll check the sag I guess.