Just as a follow on from the Previous Dyfi post.

Questions:

1. What was your tyre choice and was it a good one?
2. Bike Choice – good or bad?

I was on a Black Orange Five with Maxxis Advantage 2.1's 70a – 40psi front and back and tubless – sl draggy up the wetter climbs but spot on for the descents _ FANTASTIC !!!

For the rest of you who didn't make it to the Dyfi – Move along, Move along and no yawning posts 🙂 😉

On-One 456, Bonty ACXs (2.35 & 2.2), I minced a bit downhill (as usual) but it went up hill no problem.

UST Conti Vert Pro's 40psi rear 35psi front, gripped everywhere and rolled really well.
Dialled Bikes Morning Glory my second choice as I'd cracked the frame on my first choice, but in hindsight it handled the descents brilliantly and was not too much of a chore on the climbs.

Orange ST4 with Rubber Queen 2.2s at 40psi. Fantastic combo. Loads of grip on the wet rocks and 100mm up front proved more than enough to pass the mincers. Fast rolling too so the climbs were fine too.

Orange 5 with Kenda Blue Groove run tubeless up front at 28psi, Kenda Nevegal run tubeless out back at 32 psi, worked up and down hill for me, just had a crap engine 🙁

Both 2.35

Bald high rollers, made for some fun descents, sliding sideways past people squealing like a girl.

Aspens were ace …no idea of pressure…go by squidge factor 😆 best tyres I've tried for all round quick stuff!

Nobby Nic's F&R on my Cotic Soul.

Brilliant tyres and machine for both climbs and descents, shame about slashing the rear sidewall on some of that Welsh slate and on the best descent IMO of the whole course (did it half way down, so had to walk the rest as I would have been in the way trying to repair where I was 😥 ) – energy gell sachet did a good job of a "get home" repair though 😀

Cotic Bfe with Kenda BG (front) and Karma on the back. Paranoia about punctures led me to blow them up to about 55psi which probably explained why I was sliding about so much. No complaints about the bike, it performed a lot better than the rider! Some rear suspension may have helped though on the final descents.

Giant trance, Racking 2.2 on the back, and Mountain king on the front (Team "Faff racing" all ran the same tyre combo) worked a treat.
zipped up the climbs, and as much grip as was availible on the descents (though two wheel lockup while the slate itself was sliding was less than reassuring)

The key is not to brake or steer 😉

Cotic BFe with high rollers (2.35), super tacky at the front. stuck like s**t to a blanket down the hills which made for an awesome day out. dragged a bit up the techy ascents but worth it for going down the other side. 😀

Trek Fuel EX9 with Smart Sam on the front and an Albert on the back, probably about 30/35psi, no issues anywhere when grip was available, fun on the very muddy 3rd (or maybe 4th) descent from the end.

The bike made me ride much better than my ability 🙂

Ibis Mojo SL with 2.2 black chilli rubber queens run tubeless at 28 psi. Great grip on all the off camber rock on the descents and not too draggy on the climbs :). Bike was awesome as always 🙂

Trek Fuel EX8 with Maxxis ADvantage 2.1 – perfect choice for me. Did the Dyfi on my Scandal last year (also with ADvantages) and felt pretty sore at the end…this time round I felt much better afterwards. Full suss was definatley a good choice!

Specialized Hardrock with 2.3 Panaracer Rapages

Bike itself was fantastic (except the forks which were a spare set I had to borrow off a mate as my Revelations are currently waiting for a new dust seal and Fishers sent the wrong bits to my LBS who were furious), apart from that it didn't let me down and remained solid and mechanically dependable, not even a snakebite! The forks did however push my head angle down to the point that the rough descents were scary and threatened to throw me over the bars every time I hit a rock 😯

Rampages were fantastic, they gripped well generally everywhere and are the fastest rolling tyre I've found. I got them off a mate as he was chucking them out a while ago and they're defo staying on!

First year out of 6 on a full sus for me (Cannondale Rush) with Maxxis Advantage 2.1 front, Crossmark 2.1 rear. Seemed to be a good choice all round.

Voodoo wanga (1×9 setup) with 2.35 high roller rear and minion front….beasted the downhills and kept at high pressures for the ups.

verdict:spot on. no punctures 😀

singlespeed chameleon with 2.2inch intense system 4 on front, really worn 2inch kenda blue groove rear. great all rounder combo for me usually but punctured the rear on an early descent, unfortunately i forgot to take a spanner for the rear wheel as it was first time with a bolt up hub/i was pretty battered from saturday night so was stuck trying to fix a 10mm snakebite with 3 old leaky patches till the feed station… 😳

Orange Evo4 hardtail with Panaracer Fire XC 1.8's at 40psi.

Was always going to struggle a bit on the descents, but the thin tyres cut through the mud well in order to find grip, cornered very well for a narrow tyre and made the (never ending) climbs dead easy.

Both tyres had Panaracer FLATAWAY tape around them and it's always worked for me with no punctures for yonks.

The Dyfi combination of long climbs on smooth surfaces and technical slippy/rocky descents is always going to be a compromise of some sort.

orange sub 5 (antique) ,
kenda blue groove front,nevegal rear.
both 2.1.
I thought they did everything perfectly.

Jones Spaceframe rigid SS, Panaracer Rampage 2.35 rear at 25psi, Surly Larry 3.8 front at 7.5psi, felt great, really enjoyed it.

WTB Weirwolf f&r rubbish! Not the tyres- me!

Chainline, was it you on the side of the back road fixing something on the way to the woods?

Brown/cream Robin Mather rode as great as usual. Fire XC 2.1 rear and maxxis 2.35 super tacky front… fabulous grippy front tyre, really egged me on to ride a bit quicker on the descents. @rsed a few up by bad line choice or the chap in front bailing just as it got interesting. Have to admit bailing the first steep section of the WC descent. Mainly due to the people stopping and looking at it, causing me to do the same. Rode the rest, and wished I'd carried on past them and rode the lot. Don't look at it, just ride it!

Only gripe is the pathetic specimens who think it's ok to drop litter – those energy gel wrappers. You're not racing round a field now, no-ones going to clean up after you. Stuff it back in your pocket or down your shorts. not on the trail. The locals are brilliantly suportive of this event, show them some respect and don't rubbish their backyard.

s-works enduro sl(08), fox 150 rl. maxxis ardent 2.25 ghetto tubeless with stans strips and sealant. extra travel was welcome but smooth rolling tyres and lockout more important for those blooming fireroads that went on forever it seemed. At one point i thought we were so high we were in a volcanic ash cloud and I hoped we would get turned back! no flatties for me though!!!!

Still no Cotic Souls, which is surprising given the number I counted (or rather lost count of). At one point it seemed like every other bike was some flavour of Cotic.

Supersessions9-2, twas indeed me. My chainring bolts had come loose! I was sure I had thread locked them, totally my fault, I have been riding it for a couple of weeks with no ill effects, checked every bolt before riding except them as well!

I was riding with ilikebikes and we were sharing carrying duties, he had the tool and we got temporarily separated at the start, not where I expected to have any trouble!

I must have asked the only guy in the whole field to help who had a pin spanner, how lucky was I, big up and thanks to them, they knew JohnClimber and so stopped to help a wounded Jones.

Only gripe is the pathetic specimens who think it's ok to drop litter

+1

Chainline it was me and Davydonn off MBNW that stopped to help you. It made for some interesting riding catching everyone up again later.

Ragley Blue Pig with Pikes.
WTB Stout "2.2" in soft compound flavour front and WTB Mutanoraptor "2.4" at the back, the Stout is wider than Mutanoraptor though. 😯

The bike was superb, it was the first Wales jount for it, it allowed me to speed past the mincers on the downs and was better than me on the ups.

Maxlight XCPro2, Fox F80RL
Front – Nobby Nik 2.1 30psi,
Rear – Racing Ralph 2.1 35psi.

Worked pretty well, gipping better than expected on the slippy slate and the Nobby Nik on the front helped keep some ability to steer in the muddy bits! Wouldnt have minded a bit more travel on the day!

Sunn SS rigid 2.2 Rubber Queens UST pumped up to about 50psi then let them down to about 30 psi after the climb upto the cheerleaders twas a nice spot to let a bit of air out 😀
Perfect setup for the long fireroad climbs and short sharp close your eyes descents.
Chainline that tyre looked daft get a Rubber Queen 2.4! 😉

Saved my day Russell, much appreciated, I completed the rest of the event with no ill effects, well to the bike anyway 😉

We looked out for our better halves and so took a little longer than we hoped but we had a great day and did the full course thanks to you, cheers.

Ti456, with a revelation up front. Captain 2.0 front and rear. Tyres were a bit slippy in the muddy stuff later on, but were OK overall. Rolled well up the climbs and gripped in the rocky sections.

Rider was a bit lacking, mind you. Manged to pass a few people on the descents, was passed by a few more in turn.

Orange St4 + Super tacky Minions = steady grind up the fireroads + canning it on the descents.
Felt harder than singlespeeding it in previous years. Way more fun than having fast rolling/climbing tyres that are sketchy on the descents.
Bike was perfect, as it often is 🙂

SS IF, fantastic bike choice
Pacentti Neo Moto's as its a 650B not a lot of tyre choice but should have gone for my kendas instead I think.

Black Sheep Ti singlespeed Egochariot. Brilliant bike for any event. 😛

Tyres. Yes it had some tyres. Propper mansized tyres. 😉
Oh and the back one now has two huge patches with no knobs on after pulling two skidz than went on for eva over the cyclepath bridge on the way back.

Front: Maxxis High Roller, 2.35, 60a single-ply
Rear: Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1

Both at 50psi.

Bike: Specialized FSR XC

Tyre choice was spot on, not draggy on the ups, and I was definitely the limiting factor on the downs, not the tyres.

Lynskey 29er ss, nevegals also at 50psi. No flats, no cuts, no lost knobbles, no worries.

Mal-ec I was looking around for fellow ST4 riders all day and saw none! Must have missed you.

Likewise. Enjoyed riding it, up + down the technical stuff.
It doesn't excel at fireroad grinding especially with sticky tyres, but as I wasn't going to beat Mr Craig, thought having fun was the priority. The ST4 always seems to give you an extra helping of that.