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It’s barely been used.
No, no, mon ami!! You clearly need another bike too 😁
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Lots of discussions with the boy after his riding, it seems he really really likes the mullet feel. Which is interesting because currently it's 'wrong'
Why is it wrong you ask.. well, you don't but maybe you think it slightly.
The answer is that the previous owner didn't have quite the correct logic. He stuck in the 29er headset cup (we had loads of spare headset cups, including 3.5deg offset. That would have been fine if he'd put in a 29er back end and wheel too. But because he's running as a mullet with a standard headset, the back end is lowered and the head angle too slack.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52642415071_015660e7f2_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52642415071_015660e7f2_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2ocQ8Y4 ]2023-01-22_05-58-22[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52642889363_0ba154ed6c_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52642889363_0ba154ed6c_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2ocSyXv ]2023-01-22_05-58-07[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
The answer is that you get a 2deg offset headset
https://www.workscomponents.co.uk/20-degree-zs49-zs49-angle-headset---to-suit-1-18-steerer-tube-59-p.asp
Just like that. The boy actually seemed happy with the head angle as it was today.... but it still should be 'right' so i've got one of these ordered up.
Happily i checked the current headset bearing and they were knackered anyway
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52642414811_17a71a0035_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52642414811_17a71a0035_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2ocQ8Tz ]2023-01-22_05-58-13[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Apart from that, the Hopes are 'better' and stronger than the GuideR's.... Which won't be a massive shock to many but he does love the Guides... I think he may now love the Hopes more lol.. Oh dear.. we know where that's going.
So i think the long and short is that we're going to be running a mullet and getting the mulet bike setup next weekend not the 27.5 as we'd planned. It's also going to mean that the 27.5 Boxxer forks are going to be up for sale as will the 27.5 Xfusions potentially (although i may keep those for selling the bike longer term putting back to standard). But for sure the Boxxers will be on their way out and replaced by some 29er forks. I'll then need a 29x20 boost front wheel to match, but all of this is just something 'for the future', however as we know, in my world, things escalate and happen quickly at times... but it'll be a couple of weeks so he can test, try and practice on both bikes for now.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cntl-wyrBgC/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
impetuous
/ɪmˈpɛtjʊəs/
Learn to pronounce
adjective
acting or done quickly and without thought or care.
"she might live to rue this impetuous decision"
Deffo not me. Whilst it may look like it, these things, ideas, plans get a LOT of internal discussion before i jump in
By eck it's a bit bloody cold for working on MTBs in the garage today. It's deffo below 0, but only just at a guess, but the fingers really do feel it.
Went to fit the DMR bars, the boy wanted his bars narrower on this bike as they're at 810mm with grips, his race bike is 770mm with grips. However the DMR bars are 35mm and the stem is a standard stem not a DH stem, so couldn't fit the bar combo.
So in the end i trimmed down the Renthal bars to 770mm for him so he's got pretty much the same on both now give or take a mm or 2.
Got to wait now for the headset parts to arrive and the new shock spring though before i can do anything else particularly constructive to the bike. I also need to learn a bit about Hope brakes and bleeding, whilst they feel lovely at the moment, i'm guessing one day i'll need to do stuff to them.
Buy the Hope bleed kit. All nicely machined Alu parts and makes the bleed super easy.
Buy the Hope bleed kit. All nicely machined Alu parts and makes the bleed super easy.
Sounds good... I'll get on the case. I don't even know what models of what i have yet.. I'd guess they're Tech3/E4, but I need to do a bit more checking as i'll need some pads of course.
We've both just entered the Southern Enduro in March, which will be his first race on the Privateer, i expect the whole team will race there too.
His weekend coaching went really well and it seemed like KAty unlocked a few things in his brain. She was pushing all of the riders a little outside of their comfort zones with "right, follow me and do this".... "can't do that...." was both of their replies at times... "sure you can, get on with it".. LOL... they both did what she'd asked, but needed a bit of persuasion for the first time of asking. It was brilliant to see how she sees the lines that they don't necessarily see, the places to pick up speed/time they'd miss... The body position things that people like me simply wouldn't be able to pick out.
Yesterday we then went to the local woods and he was looking faster, better, happier again, even on the new bike with a new front end size and bars too big and a head angle of a Harley Davidson lol.... He felt the flow more. It just shows how the right person can make a massive effect on a riders head.
This weekend has now changed slightly i'd say, from riding the 27.5 and getting suspension setup, to likely riding the mullet and getting it set up. With the outside knowledge we have on various aspect coming in to advise on the setup of it as a mullet, we both think that this is the way forward for him. This weekend is a no pressure kind of race at FoD so will be perfect for him to test different things, from pedals to bikes. Admittedly it's the first ranked race of 2023 so would be nice to get off to a decent start in points... but it'll be a toughie as it's his first time in 'youth' which means he'll be racing all the fast strong U16s, along with his usual juveniles from last season... He's got i think 57 in his Cat this weekend !!!!
It’s also going to mean that the 27.5 Boxxer forks are going to be up for sale as will the 27.5 Xfusions potentially (although i may keep those for selling the bike longer term putting back to standard). But for sure the Boxxers will be on their way out and replaced by some 29er forks.
I thought you'd sold one of the 27.5 bikes? Did you have spare forks?
You're aware putting 29 front end on a 27.5 isn't the same as putting a 27.5 rear end on a 29er? Which is how i read the above?
I thought you’d sold one of the 27.5 bikes? Did you have spare forks?
You’re aware putting 29 front end on a 27.5 isn’t the same as putting a 27.5 rear end on a 29er? Which is how i read the above?
The GT Fury is completely compatible with 27.5 full, 29 full and 29/27.5 mullet using both headset cups, chainstays and flip chips. It's raced in mullet form at WC races using the configuration we'll be going with by both Ethan Craik and Wyn Masters. But yes i'm aware it's 'different' but it's completely 'correct' according to GT if you do it the right way of course.
So you run a non-stack upper and lower cup if you run 29/29. You run a 30mm lower stack cup if you run 27.5/27.5 , then if you run mullet you run non-stack upper and lower, but with a 2deg angle headset to bring the front end back 2 degrees to compensate for the difference from dropping the rear with 27.5 wheel.
The boy has the option using the spare 27.5 forks of course to run both bikes in full 27.5 mode.. But he wants to give the mullet a try, so that's where we're going. We sold the old 2018 bike, so he's got the purple bike which is running 27.5/27.5 along with a spare set of forks and spare front wheel. We'd need to fit the other headset cups to allow full 27.5, but that's no biggy.
Hope Bleed Kit in whichever flavour you need. I suspect Tech3 - the difference is in the reservoir caps (you replace the usual cap with the kit one, screw in the cup and then do the gravity style bleed).
I'm using T3 / E4s. I've found Galfer Pads to be good, green are really nice, but I've been using standard sintered ones for winter and they've been just fine.
Forgive me for asking but i cant seem to find any recent racing history for the boy. I check in from time to time to see how he is going but its all been taken over by talk of equipment and sponsorship.
Has he got a web page or somewhere listing his performances please
You'll find him on Instagram as @weeksy08
https://www.rootsandrain.com/rider111960/james-weeks/results/
Results are there.
Racing has been on the 'off-season' recently mate, so he's not raced since Oct as he also crashed and broke his collar bone (only missed one race though)
First race of the year is next weekend at Forest of Dean.
You could buy some boxxer 29 lowers to save having to replace the entire 27.5 fork perhaps, assuming the rest of it is good.
You could buy some boxxer 29 lowers to save having to replace the entire 27.5 fork perhaps, assuming the rest of it is good.
That is potentially exceptional information mate.. I wasn't even aware that was viable.. But certainly something to consider. But i think for now it'll be kept 27.5 until he's fully sold either way on wheel sizes.
Fantastic. Good luck younger weeksy
Lowers will come with new bushes and seals already installed too. A lot of the time they work out quote good vfm, especially if not fussed about colour/decals
There is this set of lowers.
the Germany ones are £320+ duties to import i'd expect.
Me and the boy spent another couple of hours in the woods last night and he's 100% sold on the Mullet setup. I think it just feels better to him, it'll also help as we'll be running a 29er front on the Privateer of course.
What that does mean is that we need another wheel to start with, so a quick call to Rotec Cycles and a Pro4evo with Fortus30 has been ordered and on it's way over.. That'll then mean he can run both Pro4s on the race bike and have the 2nd wheel for bike 2 (purple currently) so we've got complete compatibility between both bikes.
He's looking forward to the weekend now and apart from a gym session, he'll likely chill mostly and then we'll be spending the day in FoD on Sat to play on the race-track and then racing on Sunday 🙂
Id be tempted to go with the eBay ones with a cheeky offer assuming you have another axle. What you save will go towards the new wheel
Funny you say that @tracey They've been bought and are being fitted this afternoon LOL.
The new wheel is ordered and will be here tomorrow.
We've now got 2 headsets arriving instead of 1 headset. So by the weekend, both the purple bike and the blue bike will be mullet. The new spring has arrived for the Bomber, so that's good too... both done... Long-term project complete 😀 😀
Sounds good. Parents work is never done.
But for sure the Boxxers will be on their way out and replaced by some 29er forks. I’ll then need a 29×20 boost front wheel to match, but all of this is just something ‘for the future’, however as we know, in my world, things escalate and happen quickly at times… but it’ll be a couple of weeks so he can test, try and practice on both bikes for now.
24 hours later…..
They’ve been bought and are being fitted this afternoon LOL.
The new wheel is ordered and will be here tomorrow.
😂😂😂
Classic Weeksy!
More Boxxer 29s 😀
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52646933620_3cfb1f59e5_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52646933620_3cfb1f59e5_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2odeib5 ]2023-01-24_03-45-55[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
You need one of the old fork bags that Marzocchi use to supply back in the day.
Great for spare fork transporting
So as per the carbon frame issues discussion thread. We've now got 2 similar/same bikes. Both running mullet setup and both running in 'Lo' mode on the flip chip with the correct -2deg headset. This gives a head angle of 62.5 deg using an android angle measuring/bubble app.
I need to get some headset spacers and a front wheel that's on order to complete the purple bike, but it's back together with the new Works Components headset fitted at the same angles too. This also means with the shock in the Lo position that the BB and of course ride height sits slightly lower, which should in turn improve stability.
It's been a bit of a day the last 24 hours, but i think we're in a place where both bikes will be ready to roll for the weekend. The boy has been putting in plenty of bike time. Just a question of getting there, getting in some practice and seeing how the weekend goes.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52650208298_ebf0fbddb5_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52650208298_ebf0fbddb5_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2odw5C3 ]2023-01-26_08-11-27[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
New wheels now in the purple bike, both bike are happy with headset angles, ready to roll for race 1 of 2023.
genuine question, what do you do as a job? you seem to have th holy grail of infinite time and money
I'm in IT. I certainly don't have lots of money, we've decided we'll support the boy 100% in racing and at times that means we do without other things, like a family holiday abroad etc. But it's a struggle to fund this for sure, without some of the help we get, it would be a lot tougher. Time, i work it so i start stupid early and do stuff in evenings too, so have a little more time if needed during day. But i still do a 40 hour week, just some of it is at different times to other people.
maybe not lots of money but lots available at the drop of a hat 🙂
maybe not lots of money but lots available at the drop of a hat
I'm sure it looks that way but it's so not the case. The blue bike was bought with the funds from selling the other blue older GT, the wheel was bought with the money from selling the 27.5 wheel, the fork lowers came in from selling the XFusion shock... etc etc... It's money out and money in. I can see how it may look at times, but i can promise you it's far far far from the case. I really hope this thread doesn't come over that way, like a bragging thing. Well, not in terms of our finances anyway. Of course i love talking about the boys riding and racing.
There's times when we struggle to afford certain aspects and i sit there looking at the bank and thinking "oh... errrm"
https://m.pinkbike.com/news/introducing-the-katy-curd-youth-development-team.html
Well I'm not sure I have any words left to say ever again.
Well, not really lol.
So good!
Proud dad moment and well deserved 👏
Classic Weeksy!
I was thinking the very same thing 😂 would you like to be my dad too??? 🤔😂
would you like to be my dad too??
Sure, you beat him down a hill and you get his room too 🤣
Awesome!
you get his room too 🤣
Teenager's room?? I'm out. 😉
Wow, the last 24 hours have been a bit nuts from Privateer Bikes. With media frenzy and announcements on offroad.cc Pinkbike, wideopen and their own Instagram feed... I'm not sure the boy quite knows what to do or say right now.
I've been prepping the race bikes in the evenings, with the lunch-break today just completing the blue one for the weekend now and fitting some new grips, saddle and pedals.
Up and out the door at a reasonable time tomorrow for testing/play/coaching and practice. 🙂
Excellent news and well done to all the Weeksy family and friends.
Do Privateer offer bikes similar to the GT, which I presume is DH only?
Might be worth a few questions and conversations because when the team grows and James gets known in his own right, any sponsors to the main team (at the time) will likely want their riders to use their kit all the time, in case they are spotted out and about etc.
Not from a 'free bike' perspective, more to keep it commercial and also ensure your lad can at least feel comfortable on another bike if asked to ride it.
Excellent news and well done to all the Weeksy family and friends.
Do Privateer offer bikes similar to the GT, which I presume is DH only?
Might be worth a few questions and conversations because when the team grows and James gets known in his own right, any sponsors to the main team (at the time) will likely want their riders to use their kit all the time, in case they are spotted out and about etc.
Not from a ‘free bike’ perspective, more to keep it commercial and also ensure your lad can at least feel comfortable on another bike if asked to ride it.
That's the interesting bit.... No is the answer, they dont. However they are very much aware the kids are currently racing DH as their primary interest.
https://www.privateerbikes.com/blogs/journal/katy-curd-youth-development-team
They will all be on the Privateer 141 for training and enduro racing. The people behind the company have an amazing ethos to the company and are so keen to continually improve products and bikes. Its amazing to be a part of the family and the bikes ride so good! They all have their own downhill bikes and will be racing the downhill races on these.
There are some people, mostly in the US who've ridden and raced 161s on Dual Crown forks and loved it... Whilst obviously that's not quite a DH bike... it's a decent compromise. I do 100% get your point though and it's something we've thought about a fair bit.. We're obviously hoping to stay with Katy and the team this year, next year, as long as she wants, but obviously this is a youth squad and there'll come a time when all 3 of these move on and are replaced by other youngsters.
All 3 of them are going to be riding their Privateers in Enduro this season, maybe not as much as the DH stuff, but we'll be ensuring that Privateer do get as much of a share of their time as we can. But i'd absolutely LOVE Privateer to make and develop a DH bike, that would be so much the ideal scenario. But that said, you never know, he may fall in love with Enduro and ride less DH in coming years... Really, i just don't know.
This is all such a bonkers time at the moment it's honestly quite time consuming in terms of bikes, kit, hardware, media etc... I never quite grasped how it would all go. I've made some new friends and i've made a few mistakes and said the wrong thing at the wrong time once or twice. Hence you'll arguably see me going back to more "this is my boy" type posts rather than "this is the team/stuff" type posts...
there's so many little pit-falls, traps, and holes to fall into... we want to keep people who are helping happy.. but sometimes you think "oh, can I post...." and you end up finding you can't/shouldn't.... Then end up looking a bit foolish.
Another hard part is "pictures and videos" and the question of what gets created as content, why and for who.. My lad has VERY different thoughts on what's right and wrong here with me, i think of it from "does sponsor A want more or less content" and he's more about "how cool do i look in this video/photo".. He's also quite a shy lad so getting pics, images, videos with him in are also quite tricky.
This may sound a bit daft but i'm so so so much looking forward to this weekend, just to get back to riding, racing and having fun out there... it's what we both now class as 'normal' and a return to normality is what we both need i think. The world has become a little surreal at the moment for both/all of us..We're enjoying every minute.. but it's sure a bit strange.
So today was practice day at FoD, but also a riding day for me and Crust. We dropped the boy off and headed to Parkend to play on trails, leaving the boy being coached and then playing.
It all went wrong when I was bleeding a CodeR set of brakes for one of his mates as the boy came back and gave me the "oh I've broken my bike" story
https://flic.kr/p/2odSshQ
Arses.
I grabbed the spare rear mech from the box and went to fit it. Hold on, it's a SRAM rear mech and he's on Shimano. So we discussed the 2nd bike, which was also on Shimano. Why the flook do I have a spare SRAM 10 speed short cage mech!!!
So the next 2 hours the boy spend mechless and chainless. But still getting plenty of track time.
'why wasn't he on the spare bike' you ask, well as we'd taken my mate in the van too, we left the spare bike at home, after all, what's the odds of needing it lol.
I then had to fix another bike, as well as a pair of shoes/cleats and buy a kid some lunch as he couldn't find his dad lol.
So after practice we head home and I start stripping the Zwift bike, it has 10sp mech and shifter, but it's a long cage mech, which isn't ideal, especially on Mr Rooty, which is what claimed mech1 today, big root, right line, clunk. But he'll run the purple bike as race bike for tomorrow and the blue bike with ling cage mech will be the backup.
But he's ready to play and see where he ends up.
I had a superb ride on the Slayer in full Slack setting on the flip chip, bike felt ace! Happily, after sorting the mech hanger bolt, it was also silent.
Ppppp 🤪
You need to hire a mechanic, give yourself a rest. Lol
IT's OK, this is what we do. Early start today to get there for practice, well it's more the car-park we need to get there for actually lol.
The boy has 3 mins more in bed and it's time to fly 🙂
Good luck lad and competitive dad 👍😃😊
it’s a SRAM rear mech and he’s on Shimano
disappointing lack of bodging there, would’ve thought you could’ve just got him a gear or 2 using the Sram mech to get through the day/race (as you usually only need a couple of gears per track)