bike + me = crash

Good luck to them! and alpin your a b.end

I was hoping Alpin would have come back and replied by now 🙁

A troll, or bitter?

My money is on one of them being Alpin

Good call ST – and wouldn't that be funny if true, given some of the posts 😆

Enjoyed the vid. Good fun

By extension, we can deduce that it is not a commonly held value system that spending inordinately large amounts of money on something that you are not suitably good at is just fine.

So it would be better to buy a 300£ bike sell it 100£ then buy a 450£ bike sell it 180, buy a 600£ then sell it 300£, buy a 850£ bike sell it 400£ and finally buy a 1000£…
Hum I fail to see the logic of that being cheaper…

It would seem Mr Alpin has rather shot himself in the pedaling device considering he is a guide .

The vid was entertaining and I guess under the helmets were grins

Hell I have a bike which I will never outskill and just bought some forks to make it even more outskillable, And as I am now skint I now have more skill than money 😳 and a nice bike I will have to ride in a burka so no one laffs at me .

God knows what you people are going to say when I take my £6000 Nicolai to the Alps to mince my overweight arse down

I hope alpin and co don't spot me out on my new (to me)Triumph and apply the same criteria. The important bit to me is I grin like a cheshire cat when I look at it let alone ride it, and it's the same with my mtbs. So nyah.

I like to think that my £1.5ish hardtail is pretty well aligned with my modest level of riding prowess. With the exception of a 3-second segment of the first official video Hit The North video, all video of me riding (a) is dull and (b) makes me look pretty lame.

The issue is not that these guys are over-biked and a bit crap, it is that no-one should bother watching film of anyone riding unless the rider is a living god and the cameraman and editor are pretty handy. 🙂

I don't understand the "overbiked" arguments myself.

I can't ride very well, never have, but as a kid, I saved hard and had money for xmas/birthday for a spanky Diamond Back Silver Streak. Best bike in the village, worst rider on it. But I loved it, not for being "the best" but it was such a lovely bike to ride, light, good kit that didn't break, beautifully made (fab welding from the Koizumi factory). I did't care that kids on burners were better than me, thats just the way life turns out, that I was lucky, and appreciated it.

Ditto with my first mtb, a clockwork orange, back in ooh, mid to late 90's when spending £600 on a mtb still seemed an extravagance. I was low paid, but bought this out my annual bonus, as my "treat" to myself, as it was patently a better ride than the £400 specialised rockhoppers/marins. I still couldn't ride it very well, but hey, it's my money and how I spend it, and the assumptions you make are yours.

To be honest, to get to the point where you go on a cycling holiday, and filmyourself, means these guys have "enthusiasm" – remeber that? Their skills may not be the very best, but they are "enthusiastically" following cycling to a level much higher than most outside a forum like this.

They're having more fun than I am this bank holiday weekend – I salute their endeavour. More to the point, the op seems so sour, that I'd certainly avoid having a "chippy" guide like that, if I had the time and money now for a skills course.

Well said jujuuk 🙂

I think they were being ironic.

In actual fact, these guys are hardcore elite riders. Normally they ride this kind of stuff on a rigid single speed, they are so good, but just for a laugh they made this video.

About being "overbiked" – just imo that they had bikes that could ride dh on trails that looked like you could ride on a fairly normal xc bikes (didnt one of the guys have a fork with a triple crown?)

Still, great looking trails & quite a nice tune with it as well!

Just had another look – its really nicely shot actually..Quality vid – so what if they crashed!!!

what sort of retard thinks they know how good a rider is (or should be) by the price tag on the bike they are sat on.

nice vid, couple of great comedy dismounts, thats my kinda days riding.

I think we need to look at this from the other side……

Would you be as annoyed, frustrated, and generally inconsolable if someone on a shonky, v braked, plastic pedalled single-speed with elastomer forks came bounding past you on your local DH run, leaving you to eat their dust?
At the bottom, when they were tying up their running shoes (running shoes dag-nammit!!) and pulling up their jeans (just regular, wear to town jeans), would you tell them they need to ride a much more expensive bike because they're "breaking the rules" and can't possibly be having fun on the "pile-o-shite they currently own….??!!

Unlikely….

Live and let ride I say….

DrP

Looks prety good riding to me and that is a lot steeper than it looks. A bike don't flip down the hill like that if its not.

Alpin must be a god.

I actually thought they were pretty decent and they certainly had more balls than me to do that drop. There does seem to be a bit of bike snobbery on this board , how often have you heard of posters quoting phrases like weekend warriors and such like. One of my mates rides with us on an old diamond back and another on an old gt avalanche with v brakes and rock shox judys they still enjoy themselves. Equally if your not short of a few bob and enjoy biking at any level then why not treat yourself to an orange 5 or zesty dosent mean you have to use it at Inners black if your skill set is Glentress green.

They're riding stuff me, and I'm sure a fair few others, wouldn't. Fair play to them.

And my bike was (to me) expensive, and I'm shit. Still have fun on it though, so who cares 😀

Wait, isn't it better to be overbiked than underbiked? Otherwise your steed will hold you back, and people will laugh at you for riding a rubbish bike on youtube.

Tell you what alpin. I'll give you a forum posting skills lesson* if you give me a cycling skills lesson.

*I'm not very good at it though.

About eight years ago, i used to 'dabble' in a bit of dirt jumping, the loacl 'yoofs' has some OK trails and some had much nicer bikes than me, most were pretty good, but then one day a kid turned up on a POS 18" wheeled bike, that had no chain or brakes, and made the rest of us look like we should start collecting tie pins or something useful like that,he didn't care, just loved riding.
Its not what you ride…………….

I took my Patriot to the Alps last year and maybe I was over biked. But I did so as I didn't want to break anything and then on the PDS my Fox forks rebound destroyed itself.
This year not sure if I should risk being over biked or under biked on a Prophet. The film is not that bad. It just looks like they are not very used to slippy trails.

GEDA – you going with the same bunch? Fancy meeting up again?
We're staying in Chatel this year…

DrP (full face, meta 5.5 etc…)

How can you equate money with skills?

to be fair, video footage always makes trails look flatter and less technical than they actually are.

we took some footage on the black at Stainburn a while ago (which if you haven't ridden it, it's pretty bloody technical!).

Even when we were clearing some of the trickier sections, it just looked tame on video.

Same with the Blue Pig in Hebden Bridge. If you are familiar with the run and take a full suss (I know some will chirp in about it being just as quick on a hardtail, but that's just nonsense when it comes to the cobbled sections), you can absolutely scream down the entire length. If you pick the right lines it's eye wateringly fast in some sections, but again, video footage makes it look flat and slow.

My friend has a speedo on his bike and we clocked 34mph on the top section of the blue pig. That's very fast when you are having to pick lines on a fairly technical trail, but it looks mince on film.

I reckon in some sections those lads were probably going a lot faster than it appeared on film, and that the trail was more technical and steeper than it looked.

Anyway, who cares, they looked like they had a right laugh. I'm sure there's a few commenting on here who rarely venture outside of military tracks and trail centres, yet would happily spend a months wages on a bike.

Wait, isn't it better to be overbiked than underbiked? Otherwise your steed will hold you back, and people will laugh at you for riding a rubbish bike on youtube.

no, they will mock you for refering to your 'steed' though!

Can't decide between 2nd hand pikes for ~£180 or new rev's for ~£310 (and 400g lighter!), will I be a better ride on the Pikes?

no, they will mock you for refering to your 'steed' though!

everyone knows it's called a whip.

who gives a damn anyway. there's far to much snobbery, whether it be inverted or not, in this game. too many people think they're top coddy, when we are actualy all one family.
the attached quote is all you need to know>>

Wow…

I checked in on the post before going away to visit a friend down south and there wasn't even one page worth of responses. I didn't expect to see quite so many responses; my posts don't usually generate much interest…

I wonder if I would have received so many responses if I had worded the title and the content differently…

Firstly, I'd like to apologise profusely and will in future always think twice and double check before clicking "Post" just in case I happened to have struck an 'e' before the 'n' when spelling 'money'.

One of the reasons I posted it was because I think it is a half decent vid, but with lots of comedy errors. Some of you saw it as such, others not so.

But… there seemed (to my eyes) to be so many elementary mistakes.

The guys trying to make it around the hairpins with their feet all wrong sums it up to me.
They appear to be the pinnacle of "all the gear……"

If I rode like that (I don't) on trails like those (I do), I, too, would buy every item of protective equipment available.

The trail itself isn't steep or particularly technical. The surrounding is steep. If you stay on the trail it wouldn't have been a problem for them.

I'm not blowing my own trumpet here (I can't reach; I've tried 😉 ), but I've ridden trails a lot steeper and a lot more technical than that seen in the video.

It appears to me, and not just in that vid, that people buy 'big' bikes not because they know how to ride 'big' bikes, but because: it's cool; it's what they see in the mags; and the idea that more is better.

I don't begrudge anyone spending their money as they wish, but don't expect that someone won't question the fact that you have done so.

I went for a ride a few weeks back with a student of mine. She was there on her Cube carbon FS thingy, her man on his new carbon €6k Scott Genius, another lady (who later told me where she was and wasn't shaved – gulp! – and invited me back to her's for a sauna) on some funky FS and an older man on his new €6.5k Cube or Focus thingy. We rode 70km, of which about 200m was singletrack. The rest of the time we were riding along fire roads and tarmaced cycle paths. I was left thinking that I could have taken the fixie.

I just question what people are doing. Are they buying a bike or an image?

I think there is a fair amount of self-righteous bandwagon-jumping going on here. Be honest with yourselves…..

When you see the school mums on their way to the supermarket or to pick up the kids from school in their VW Toureg, do you think "that's a sensible choice of car!" or "more money than sense"?

What do you think in summer when you see all the wanna-be roadies pootling around with their beer bellies after the TdF? Perhaps "good on ya!", but more likely "look at that prat".

It's great news for the bike shops (and the consumerist society in general) that such people exist.

And as for me being a guide, given the amount of love I'm feeling from some of you I won't as yet tell you for whom I'm working. Although you'll probably soon suss it out once I post a few pics from my summer for you all to gawp at. 🙂

Myself and others I ride with have given pointers to friends and others out on the trail as, like others have said, you have more fun when you can do something better.

I don't think I come across quite so condescending in real life. Although, I am quite outspoken with my opinions.

chakaping – Member
I enjoyed that more than most videos posted on here, seeing people fall off is interesting

I'd agree. You can see where people went wrong and try and avoid making the same mistake yourself.

Dave Vanderspek – Member
So is "Freeride" just riding regular xc trails, but with full face helmets & a load of padding?

as far as I understand it, no. Partly why I posted. If it was a few XC saddle-up race whippets I may not flagged it up on here….

I think Oli B shares the same views as me on this subject……

Drac – Member
OP – please post a video of your riding skills. Ciao
He has in the past it was a dull video, staged to hell of him doig endos around switch backs and dragging his back wheel.

I'm off in the next few days for three weeks of biking in the Alps.

Have fun. 🙂

you are so cool

Some decent riding. Will keep in mind your awesome tricks, but you would be better on full suss, yea baby … just like that!

Why learn to endo turn before you can even do a sick skid?

How many cameras do you own?

@ yossarain… thank you.

skidz is for kidz….

i used two cameras. one on a mini tripod, the other on a grown-up sized tripod. both filming the same section.

Eh? What am I missing here?

Some guys make a pretty well produced little vid with some nice artistic touches and some fun looking riding, the OP criticizes it then posts a vid of doing some endos (I learned these on a BMX when I was 8 ) and clunky riding then another one with a crash. Both pretty badly made.

Can someone fill me in here?

I'll now go and laugh at anyone who produces a surf vid that doesn't contain a top pro doing 360 grab airs then post one of myself on a Swell board falling off a lot…

What is it with you and surf, Surf-Mat?

Gotta be honest alpin you dont look so hot..Got anything better cos Im not that impressed..From those vids I dont really think you have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to taking the p1ss out of others. Sorry bud just my opinion..

Though I agree w what you say about 6k carbon FS & then doing 70ks on fireroad – seems a waste but hey ho its their money..

@ Repack,

i don't think that first vid is so bad.

not trying to be something other than someone riding down a section of trail. not labelling it as "freeride" or "downhill". just riding along. biking, as it were.

with regards to the second vid, my mates crarppy camera was zip-tied to the crown of his forks. found out afterwards that quality setting wasn't on its highest, hence the crap quality. it did spur me to buy some knee pads, though.

but thanks for taking the time towatch them both…. 🙂

Yup as dull as I remembered it at least the other guys were trying.

thanks Drac!

😥

No problem.

I'm not sure if I still have any videos I once made. They're nothing exciting either but think I'll look for them.