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Thank you kindly
Thought i'd post this in here rather than the main section, mostly because i don't want to drag someone out who isn't really 'into' this little game we're playing, but hopefully someone reading fancies a day out on say the 27th.
We're thinking Barrys, Risca, Tirp, somewhere like that... something with a bit of tech/complexity.
The lad will likely be on the Ebike so he can session more trails and get more tech in without killing himself in the legs. But it is only a 130mm bike.. so be slightly aware of that... However he can probably ride more than most even on the 130mm. lol.
If anyone fancies guiding we'll provide lunch etc 🙂
Well that was slightly interesting. The boy has been saying "they still feel too soft" in reference to the Boxxers
.
Maybe I'd been too used to standard generic air forks being roughly 1psi per kg. So we started at 55psi, which was silly soft. Eventually moving to 81 and the Shockwiz pretty much agreeing on air pressure. However the lad still felt the front felt softer than he wanted on his last ride.
I was thinking about it earlier and asked myself "I wonder what Rockshox say"
https://trailhead.rockshox.com/en/tuning/FS-BXR-SEL-C2/200/DEBONAIR
For his weight, 96psi as the start point. Hmmm
So we'll be out tomorrow if his legs work after a 'leg' day today, but would be nice to see.
If not, we're at FoD on 27th and Hopton on 30th to play.
Just been catching up on this thread & I'm sorry if I missed it but I think this needs some appreciation,
"Massive thanks to Charlie and Hannah at STW towers. The boy has a load of new kit to wear......"
Well done STW for getting behind the fledgling Team Weeksy, it's this sort of thing that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling & keeps me coming back year on year & paying my subs.
It's been amazing the support we've had from many places and it seems according to Katy, more places to come.
The first of the Privateers is ready and the boy decided last night on his colour scheme as Black is out of stock in P2.
So he's gone for the pale green version.
Once that arrives we've got multiple non-riding videos for the first installments with the Privateer, all will become more apparent when we get the bikes delivered.. but it'll be cool and fun 🙂
There's 10,000 other things Katy is working on with the boy and in the background, everything from nutrition, to training to riding and many many other aspects. I doubt the lad quite grasps how lucky he is in all of this and the chance he's getting, but i do hope so.
One of the minor curveballs in there is some of the Enduro racing, but whilst the lad hasn't quite got the Enduro bug, he'll be putting the time in to get there. One of the surprising things in there relating to that is Katys acceptance of Ebikes for this. The logic being 20 runs of practice is better than 5... Which of course does make sense. So we've got a couple of Xmas break days out planned where he'll be on the Bike and running multiple sessions to my slow manual bike sessions. But with the recent massive outlay to get a Transit Custom for next year, there's simply not budget to get an Eeb for myself... Not happening. But the lad even when he's not that keen on a bike (as with the Liv Eeb) he just rides it hard anyway and seems to have fun.
I'm borrowing a camera from a mate today, just to see if we can get better media pics, he's got a new super GoPro arriving at the weekend for videos too, so we'll be boring the beejaysus out of everyone by the 27th with videos and pics lol, apologies in advance.
Don't forget to add him on Instagram 🙂
there’s simply not budget to get an Eeb for myself…
There's always enough budget for bikes; bike bits; bike stuff; more bikes...
Well, that's what I keep telling Mrs Fazzini...so FTLOG don't anyone tell her the truth 😬😂
Looks like some really exciting times coming up for the lad - great stuff. (oh dad too 😉)
But with the recent massive outlay to get a Transit Custom for next year, there’s simply not budget to get an Eeb for myself… Not happening. But the lad even when he’s not that keen on a bike (as with the Liv Eeb) he just rides it hard anyway and seems to have fun.
Sell the mega heavy liv ,and get a lighter weight ebike, orbea rise type thing.
You both might actually enjoy riding it then
Sell the mega heavy liv ,and get a lighter weight ebike, orbea rise type thing.
Not mine fella... it's the wifes and TBH it's not really worth much. We only paid £2500 for it, so i'd guess it's worth less than £1500 now being 2-3 years old.. But the reality anyway is that we'd really need 2 bikes so we could both benefit from it in that sense. However, i'm OK with manual biking my bits and him Eeebing his bits... it's not the best solution of course, but i'm not seeing any other currently.
It's only about 10% of the time anyway as many of his days at the moment are uplifted, we've got 4 uplift days in Jan for example.
For some reason, my recent videos don't even grace Instagram
"nah, they're rubbish, no-one would watch them" seems to be the answer..
https://youtube.com/shorts/BCeiviRUjr0?si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE
I like this one though myself.
Not the most exciting video for today, it was wet and horrible out there. But he stayed for nearly 5 hours so must've been fun.
Next up is Hopton for testing/practice. He wants more grip so the Assegai has come off and a DH22 thrown on the front of the purple GT Fury.
https://youtube.com/shorts/mW2sxHRPsiY?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/AKZXlS60uWA?feature=share
Yesterday the boy met up with one of his team-mates and they continued with building their friendship and getting to know how eachother ride. Drew is 15 months older than my boy, but shorter and indeed lighter. But also interesting faster... However there's really not much in it so they can both push eachother and on various terrain both out-ride eachother. It was epic to see as they also had another mate of ours there to push them too.
We also noticed Drew had a load of new parts fitted which then means we're able to discuss their final sponsor for 2022 and into 2023 which is DMR. After some discussions with Upgrade Bikes a month or so ago they have a new Marketing Manager who was massively interested at first in getting weeksy08 onboard with DMR, but then moved on to sponsor the whole team with box upon box of components 🙂 lets just say, we've not fitted ours yet, but there's a lot of STW mega-sack bits that are remarkably similar 😀 😀 but it really is brilliant to have DMR as part of their team.
Riding in earnest starts on the 8th, we're currently booked at Bucknell with Pearce Cycles, which funnily is 2 miles from where we spent yesterday lol. But we're having some little debates on that as both his team-mates are at Dyyfi as it's one of their birthday trips. We were all supposed to book Bucknell, but mails got missed and Dyyfi ended up getting some instead. So we're in the discussion of "team-mates or track we'll be racing on"... Mmmmm tricky one.
The boy has been testing the GoPro Hero11 mini he got, so i'll see if i can pull some footage from it and get it up onto YouTube later on today.
More exciting and excellent news for the lad. Grand stuff. Now I know folks were wisely not for stickering the van, but I reckon a 'Dad's Taxi' needs putting in place 😂
And I really was Taxi yesterday! I was also booked on for Hopton, but seeing his mates enthusiasm for riding when we were out the other day, I gave him my place at Hopton. So I was just the logistics yesterday. I was ok with it though as the boy gets more out of riding with his mate than me due to being closer matched in terms of speed and ability.
This morning, I'm on spanners/cleaning lol
For what it’s worth, if it’s at all viable I’d go and meet his teammates. He’s 13 and has all the time in the world to improve race results by learning the tracks he’ll ride on - relationships are much more important in my opinion.
14 now. He has met and ridden with both multiple times now, but I'm inclined to agree.
2022 mega edit
Final frame made me wince... 😳🤢
I've not actually watched it 😃😂
I'll watch in a bit, but I've a reasonable idea what it must be. I was on the other side of the camera 🎥
Edit. Ha ha. That was funny actually. He was complaining about it for hours
For what it’s worth, if it’s at all viable I’d go and meet his teammates. He’s 13 and has all the time in the world to improve race results by learning the tracks he’ll ride on – relationships are much more important in my opinion.
otoh I’d say go where the team boss is asking you to go, it’s what they’ve signed up for
He was complaining about it for hours
Bloody kids these days and their invulnerability. I'm still complaining about it 37 years after I stotted my clems off the stem of my 5 speed racer.
Another vote for going with the team
We've booked Dyfi.
😃
So we're off to Dyfi this weekend. I'm still not convinced he's massively in love with the air Boxxer forks. So i'm probably going to take the XFusions and swap them over at lunch to see if he prefers the coil over the air.
Of course, some of this could be simply from accidents, crashes and an overall lack of grip at the moment due to wet/mud. Sometimes he goes out and i think "Yup, he's back on the pace" and it seems not. Not a lot I can do to support him other than more bike time and more fun.
The Privateer 141 is due in about a weeks time, all the DMR parts for both the DH bike and the Privateer are already here and ready to be installed.
I've just put up the blue DH 'spare' bike for sale as it's getting a bit too small as the boy continues to grow, whilst it's a lovely thing, it doesn't have a lot of point in the world if it can't be used. So it's up for sale now and we'll see what happens from there.
Happily even if we're inbetween bikes and it's sold, the Slayer is compatible with dual crown forks so we could run the Slayer with his spare forks in it if needed for a race weekend.
We've got a fair few little adventures coming up with Bringewood with Pearce, then BPW and finally a race at FoD all before the end of Jan. We'll potentially hit either Afan or Surrey Hills when the 141 arrives to get some bike time in, he's due to race it in early March and obviously we've not even seen it yet. As much as 'he' wants to concentrate on DH Racing, we do have a requirement with Katy and Privateer to do things for them, so he'll have to split his time between both.
Following his mate down 'sharkfin' in our local woods. I say local, it's 3.5 miles away
This is my most common trail to ride over there
Does Tidworth still have the crossover jump on the lower section, or did that get removed?
I've been the "under" guy on that, you do need to duck.
Wet as heck at Dyfi! But he enjoyed it
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnKSXFhuMAg/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
ooh nice, what cup holder will he be using 🤪
After yesterday that cup may become the 'little bits holder' we had a bit of a bloody farce in the morning actually.
Arrived and it was wet...wet and yukky... Got everything ready, kitted up, bikes sorted and set off to the uplift "ping"... he'd snapped his chain. Which really really irritated me as we only fitted it new on Friday lol. We used a Shimano pin type, which i've used plenty before in the past, but usually we go for a quick link, but as it came with a pin, i fitted it and yup, it snapped on the pin.
Still raining, i took his bike back to the van and sent him out on the Slayer.
I then found the chain splitter/tool, the quick link and started splitting the chain correctly to fit the quick-link.... In the meantime i'd once again lost the quick-link...
So i grabbed the spare KMC chain instead and fitted that, it was brand new... I then realised it was about 4 links too long so wouldn't work... So went to split it again to shorted, but i'd thrown the chain tool at the tool box in frustration earlier and i'd now not only lost the quick-link, but lost the sodding chain tool too ! All in a SWB Transit !!! really !!
So i grabbed the spare race bike and went up to meet him, sent him out on that... (which has now brought a whole new world of potential complexity as it's not terribly keen on the Blue bike any more lol).... That worked fine and once the rain stopped (for a bit anyway) it gave me a chance to find the chain quick-link and the chain tool and repair his purple bike. Both bikes were then thrashed by him and his mate who fancied trying the DH bike, for the rest of the day. But i do REALLY need to work on a better plan when working on the bike...
It also dawned on me as to why my usual plan wasn't in place and it was because we'd not taken the gazebo. Normally i'm under the gazebo, working on a fold up table, with the bits in the right place etc.. I didn't even think about the gazebo for yesterday... but i reallly should have done.
It didn't spoil the day for him, but it did for me as i missed a couple of runs.
DMR parts to fit
Ooh!! New stickers 😉
Yeah but they can't go on the DH bike, however we'll find a space on the Privateer for them.
He got some clothing too, but it's actually a struggle to get him out of his STW camo hoodie these days.
Next weekend we've got off from plans, so not sure if we'll head out anywhere as at times the driving gets a bit much.
21/22 is Pearce and bpw, then 100% race on the 29th with teammates.
https://youtube.com/shorts/StYTrBblpLc?si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE
https://youtube.com/shorts/C7iKJbWIyj0?si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE
But i do REALLY need to work on a better plan when working on the bike…
Proper sorted toolbox and spares box. Everything should have its place!
https://www.instagram.com/toolboxwars/?hl=en
My effort:
Underneath the top pallet tends to change depending on where I'm going and what bike I'm taking. Spare mech lives in my kit bag. This was when I was spring faffing with the KSL.
Very nice mate 🙂 Lovely bit of work.
The tool stuff has taken a bit of a side-swipe by the van getting sorted, which as you may have seen in the other thread, i'm still working on 🙂
I have started a very vague process on the tools though of getting a 2nd tool box which has an organiser shelf and a compartment. It's the same as the one i have already, but that one is getting a bit full, so i'll get things better with a 2nd box for now.
I have to admit i do love this GT Fury. Everything is just built 'right' , nice easy bearing covers, big meaty bearings, everything just nicely put together.
I'm even tempted if i can't sell his blue DH bike that i'll buy a used later frame like the purple one and swap most of the bits over from the blue frame onto it
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52621127300_305c8c8c95_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52621127300_305c8c8c95_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2oaX2Rw ]2023-01-11_11-17-18[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
As always i got a little carried away yesterday and have thrown a minor curve ball at the lad 😀
I've re-fitted the XFusion front end. As i've said he's still not fully on his game at the moment and there's only 2 things that have changed.
1. Crash
2. Forks
So i've taken it upon myself to swap back and remove the forks from the discussion for this weekend, all we have planned for this weekend is messing about riding, so a good chance to just get out and do some testing out there. Bit of fun, messing about and seeing how things feel. We could even take the Boxxers along too and swap between sessions to see how it feels from one to the other.
I wonder if the preference for the boxers is a "fear" of the xfusion after they were the ones he crashed on and broke ?
Nah, deffo not that (he says.... )... I honestly don't know if he prefers the Boxxers... We fitted them while the XFusion were getting repaired. The plan was in theory to give them a test then swap back and decide... but we never swapped back.
But the boy is struggling in his head with 'feeling stiff on the bike' however from what i see it's not affecting his speed, although he thinks it is. He's running with his mates/teammate OK and gapping him in the bits you'd expect and losing in the bits he struggles usually with. So it seems to me the 'stiffness' is in his head more than his speed.
So really i'm just trying to see if i can get back that little bit of confidence and self-belief for him the easiest way possible. He always loved the XFusion setup, but we felt the Boxxers have more adjustability and settings, so with his feel and the Shockwiz we thought we could be OK on them... but maybe not.
Worst case scenario, he tries the XFusion and says "Can we fit the Boxxers" and he simply has to find his confidence in his brain again. As with all of this, i don't always know the answer, i just try little things to make it better. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. We're still trying to keep things fun and happy without too much in the way of pressure, but it gets tough at times as we're heading to some pretty techy places this year and i'd really like his brain in the happy place. Sometimes it's just time on the bike for that, but the sodding weather and drenched trails don't help there !
We'll that was interesting. He felt at home quickly on the Coil XFusions and said "feels more poppy".
He did say on one it was all over the place but that's part of playing on muddy winter trails I guess
Tomorrow has now changed to a coaching day for him at FoD which has changed my plans a bit too and I'm taking my injured mate on a very gentle ride over for cake and coffee while the lad gets coached. But that'll be nice as we've not ridden together for months.
Hopefully the lads will grab some footage tomorrow
Are the Boxxers air?
Spring type can make a huge difference, and damping does too. I’m a rockshox guy, never really been a fan of Fox, I know they’re good forks and World Cup winning equipment but I feel at home with RS. Even from the very first pair of Van 125’s I had in 2003 or whenever they came out.
Maybe he’s the same with X Fusion, his confidence and skills grew with those forks and that’s the “feel” he needs to be comfortable.
I’m sure (not sure, sure, no money back guarantee) that Boxxers are “better” in most ways, but if they feel different that won’t actually matter. Racers are a weird bunch 🙂
Yes sir, the Boxxers are air and the XFusion coil.
Tbh I don't much care which ones he uses, the only difference it makes is which front wheel he has in there as the XFusion are non boost 110*20 and the Boxxers are actual boost. But it's just a wheel, we've got Hopes in both styles.
I think the better terminology comes from the Boxxers having LSC and HSC etc. But of course that's only useful if you can take advantage of them.
The XFusion were setup using full on data logger equipment, the Boxxers done with a Shockwiz and the boys feel.
We'll see what FoD brings today in terms of smiles for him, if we have time I may even take the other forks for a final back to back run.
I've read this through as time goes by and whilst your son is doing great and clearly has a passion for riding, I believe you are in danger of swamping his young head with too many options and too much detail.
As a young teenager, no matter what you think and he tells you, he can't yet comprehend, deconstruct and make educated decisions on what to do and change to make best use of the information (and kit) he is being fed.
This isn't a criticism, and I hope you don't take it as such but, to have so many options and changes kit wise, for him to be asked 'What is best' is probably some of the reason he feels stiff as he isn't able to relax properly with 'his' bike in the same way a similar aged child would do whilst playing out with his/her mates.
Maybe just ask him what he likes to ride, without then saying 'Ah but this XXXX should be better because of XXX' (in doing that, he will tend to agree with dad, again whether you think he is or not)
He likes the X-Fusion forks, let him ride them without you trying to justify why the Boxxers may be better in the scenarios where he perhaps didn't get the result he wanted or they felt 'odd' etc'.
It's human nature to try get perfect all the time and with so many options of kit at your disposal, it is very easy to fall into the trap of instant change upon a slightly negative result or experience. For adult professionals who can cope with this and digest the reasoning etc much better than a young teenager that is fine but, for the most I suspect it is confusing and not letting your lad relax into his riding.
By all means justify why certain rides may feel rubbish or he didn't feel the flow, just do it in a way that points to conditions on the day or something other than - that's the forks , tyres, wheels, etc and we can change it.
Give him time on what he loves riding and see what happens.
This isn’t a criticism, and I hope you don’t take it as such
I try not to, especially if it's constructive comments made with good intentions.
I'm not offended with your above post ☺️
To offer something in reply, this is pre season testing really in that context. We've got so so many things to try, test and play with. Both in him and in his kit.
He's obviously got the new incoming Privateer 141, but also things like bars, grips, saddle, then there's an additional one of shoes and pedal (unannounced sponsor lol)
Add that to trying different coaching, different tracks and different riding then yes I'll 100% agree he gets a lot of things thrown at him.
But honestly, we do a lot of days of just 'messing' on the bike, Dyfi was one, so was yesterday in local woods, just messing, no timing, no pressure etc.
But there are times when he has to give a bit of thought to different aspects of himself and kit.
The one constant I keep though is "it has to be fun" and whilst there's complexity, we try and keep it as fun as we can, with where, what, how he rides and indeed when.
In a bike context, he's been on the purple GT for 6 months and very little has changed apart from trying the other forks, ok so 6 months isn't a huge figure, but he's grown a lot and outgrown other bikes quite quickly previously. But he'll be riding this one all year in DH that's for sure.
I don't always show it I know, but I do appreciate input and advice in all ways.
Given that he's being coached now, what does his coach say, suggest?