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Nothing too deep matey, it all stemmed from some discussions with a few people and came up as a deal we couldn't resist... but then decisions changed for him and he's racing the Session.
The Canyon does look like a lovely bike - if I were in the market for a DH bike, it would definitely be in the list.
stealth ad.
It's on Ebay.... i'd take £2700. It's basically brand new 🙂
So was the canyon to replace the session or compliment it?
Where does the trek fit in, where the old (assume too small judging by the fast our lads grow) privateer was for trail fun?
1. Canyon was going to replace it, but sizing didn't work out
2. Correct, the Privateer is too small for him, so has gone back to where it came from. Shame though as he had some epic days on it and in 2 years we changed 1 bearing and it's still immaculate. Trek will be his day to day riding bike.
The privateers are great bikes
Absolutely, the 141 was a cracking thing, it's been to Dyfi, bpw, Morzine, hit road gaps, raced enduros and DHs and never missed a beat. The only reason I've not kept it is because it's a bit slack and heavy for my riding, otherwise he'd have had my Fuel and I'd have kept that. Certain tracks he was only 1/10th slower on it than his Session.
But it's always nice to get a new bike and he loves Trek (as do I), as well as that it matches his teammates Fuel and the have matching Sessions lol, mostly through coincidence than planning.
The new 'Continental Series' has now been announced. This is what the UCI are considering to be the Gateway into World Cups.
There's 2 events in Europe in the DHI cat
Portugal - Santiago de Besteiros - 4th April to 6th April. (This is also an IXS round)
France - Les Menuires - 22nd to 24th August.
If i'm being completely honest, i'm not seeing year 1 of Junior as being a realistic option for him as he needs to find speed, experience and knowledge before being ready to even think about WCs. It's more likely that an IXS round and the European Champs round would be more of an option. It's great having 'dreams' and goals to hit, but i don't want to wipe out the fun factor by having him drag his bike down in 50th+ place every weekend. You've got to take the smaller stuff and get faster before thinking bigger IMO.
There's an IXS in Fort William (along with a National and the National Champs) which could be a good option for him.
But that's the information as we have it 🙂
I have this image of Weeksy’s garage wall akin to a Police incident room, with calendars, photos of bikes and a map of Europe all dotted with pins with strands of thread between them.
Lol you wouldn't be a million miles off in some ways.
I've been looking into time and cost to drive to Portugal, ferry to Portugal and how we can integrate a family trip with Les Menuires. Along with 3 trips to Fort William and everything else we've got going on.
If I actually sat back and looked at all of this from the outside I'd probably put me in a straight jacket.
But when you're doing it, it sort of makes sense. The reward and feeling when at Rhyd Y Felin for example and he snapped his cranks, to then finish the weekend inside the Top10 at National just seems to make all these things seem worthwhile and actually make sense.
I can completely see why others would see it differently
I'm patiently waiting to see which other continental series races are confirmed before we commit ourselves. Portugal falls on the same weekend as Lourdes (albeit regional DH cup) which is awkward.
Fwiw, if I were to pick one French race in '25 it would be Les Orres. The track is streets ahead of Menuires in every aspect, but I guess if that fits into your summer holiday dates it's fully understandable.
Interesting updates Weeksy, and fair play for actually posting on here as its a pretty quiet place when you aren't around!
On this:
It’s great having ‘dreams’ and goals to hit, but i don’t want to wipe out the fun factor by having him drag his bike down in 50th+ place every weekend. You’ve got to take the smaller stuff and get faster before thinking bigger IMO.
...I've only entered a few races for a bit of fun, so will be the first to say that I don't know what I'm talking about, but would he not benefit more from a tougher challenge (and ignoring the result, which I know is hard) vs. simpler races he knows he is competitive on? Just a thought. I know you don't want to knock his confidence but not sure if there is a half way house, but maybe that is exactly what the IXS series you mention will do.
I always found this time of year exciting planning everything with Abigale. Getting the entry's in and then planning all the logistics by the end of January. I like to think we were well organised. The only variable were injuries which over all I think we were lucky with.
If you get the chance then Les Orres is well worth the visit. It was on our plans for last year on the way back from Italy but the weather wasn't in our favour and unfortunately it doesn't fit in next years plans
but would he not benefit more from a tougher challenge (and ignoring the result, which I know is hard) vs. simpler races he knows he is competitive on?
Yeah deffo, which is why we've done both in 2024, with Champery and Bellwald. But there's only so much we can realistically do in terms of school, finances and family. The bigger events span Thurs to Mon in terms of logistics which makes it tougher.
He'd race 7 days a week in world cup tracks if he could. Lol. But that's not really viable.
The IXS series is indeed that slot between WC and UK races, it fits perfectly in every sense but not in terms of finance. Every time you leave the UK due to train/fuel it's £1000+ even if sleeping in the van.
We do this out of our own pocket and whilst we get a tonne of help from sponsors which is amazing, it's still £1000 out of my account to head to Germany, Switzerland etc.
They announced 5 DH races for Europe just the other day, one at a shared venue (Les Menuires) so there are three races yet to be confirmed. At least that's how I've decrypted their posts, I'm going to stay optimistic for now.
nine events in Europe (four Olympic cross-country, four downhill, and one combining both formats)
I’m glad to see that there continental series Iin Europe America and Oceania announced with the changes to WC at least it’s encouraging to see that mid tier starting
It's this what he's aiming for?
weeksy
The new ‘Continental Series’ has now been announced. This is what the UCI are considering to be the Gateway into World Cups.There’s 2 events in Europe in the DHI cat
Portugal – Santiago de Besteiros – 4th April to 6th April. (This is also an IXS round)
France – Les Menuires – 22nd to 24th August.
So 2 events - at either end of the season. Is that it or "so far"? Not much of a "series" is it?
I'd argue it's not a series anyway as all they're doing is adding a UCI tag/rank onto an event already created by someone else.
It's like picking a Premiership match next week and saying "that's a new UK superleague event"
No it's just an already scheduled event you've just given ranking points to.
Interesting that Fort William doesn't for part of the schedule for the 'European' continental series.
Perhaps they'll get their act together for '26...
I’d argue it’s not a series anyway as all they’re doing is adding a UCI tag/rank onto an event already created by someone else.
That’s all I ever expected it to be certainly for 2025. If the organisers of the events are happy to run them as uci ranking events, presumably hoping that will attract more and a higher ranked riders, then why not. I never expected another whole series f events to be created from nothing
Me too. But time will tell if that's good or bad. If it ends up being just 2 races tagged as UCI points and then the claim glory for creating a continental series that will be somewhat laughable.
Fwiw I don't think they need to create a new series as such, but if you want to do it, so it properly.
So an IXS, UK, Germany, France Spain, Italy, Portugal etc. Give all a decent chance.
What they've got above is just a half arsed approach. I hope that's not it.
So 2 events – at either end of the season
The press release says 5 of the IXS series make up the Continental series for Europe. 5 of the U.S. mister series make up the American series and 5 in Oceania. That seems pretty good for a first attempt. It also strikes me as a lot cheaper for privateers to try and do the whole series. I know it still won’t be cheap but it will never be cheap.
New bike day but won't be ridden just yet as it needs brakes and some frame protection, so he's busy hitting Dyfi and Bringewood
Great wife, great bike!
Well, I expect it'll be a great bike.
How are you finding it?
The stock pictures of them look really odd imo. Looks really good in your pic though, and ditto mine in the kitchen!
He's not sat on it yet mate. Today he was on the DH bike all day and I was on the Orbea.
Got home and I've now fitted the RSC brakes, the Mudhugger on the front and set all the pressures.
Tomorrow it gets frame protection and then on Monday it'll get ridden. It's been a busy week as we've been up at Dyfi as well etc.
Apparently it's amazing.
Looks good to me too.
https://youtube.com/shorts/gnd_UYvti_M?si=c9YfE9zwAmN9PBub
Well that was interesting... To me anyway.
The boy mentioned last week his bike was rolling really slowly. The only reason i could think of was we'd fitted the standard Bontrager wheels. Now i know they had new bearings only recently but they deffo spun slowly. So i fitted some more at Dyfi (from Kinetic) and they too were really slow.... Way way slower than the Hopes.
So i bought some Trek ones...
https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/equipment/cycling-components/bearings/bontrager-20307-llh-replacement-hub-bearing/p/39513/
I can only assume this is because the bearings are 20307LLU whereas the others are LLB
the Trek ones spin lovely.... I don't think there's anything wrong with the others, but due to the fill/balls/cages they may be pivot bearings rather than rotational bearings ? Possibly anyway.... Either way... they roll lovely.
In other news, the Canyon Sender looks to be sold, a decent enough price but does mean that i have the complexity as it's sold as a whole bike that i've got to replace all the spares. So i've started the process and picked up a standard Bontrager rear wheel to give full swappability.
We/I'm having a few debates on brakes... Really not sure what to run in 2025. The Code RSCs have been great but not without a few minor niggles at times but happily never really over a race weekend. It's been the internal seals on the master cylinder piston usually, or the usual sticky pistons in the caliper.
I was tempted to try some new items and obviously we'd tried the Hope Tech 4 recently and didn't bond... he's also tried and not liked the Magura MT7 due to the lever feel. He's never been a fan of Shimano and the way they ride, so we're kinda running out of options here.
What is tempting me though is the SRAM Mavens. There's some reports of them needing a bit of TLC with piston massaging (pushing in and out a few times) and some issues getting them to bed in but overall they seem incredibly powerful.
We/he do like the RSC side of the brakes, he's quite fussy with brakes (no 5hit) and at times will dial in the pad bite point as the pads wear over the course of a weekend. We run Galfer green pads which don't last the longest ever but do work really really well.
The Mavens can be had for £189 a side on the Silver (non-Ti bolts)
The Code RSC can be picked up for £125 a side
We do 100% need a set of brakes though as we're a set short after fitting to the Canyon. I liked the look/idea of Hayes Dominion A4/T4, but i don't know a lot about them, apart from the fact they're supposed to be incredible.
I thought you had something in the pipeline for brakes, I sent you a link to some cheap ones and you said that there was a plan b in the offing. Did that not come off?
I might be tempted to take any RSC off you…..
We did have an option but due to him being so bloody fussy we didn't push it any further. The problem can come that if we'd taken the brakes discussed and they'd not worked out then we'd end up offending the company and we'd have to think of how to smooth that over.. If he wasn't so fussy it'd likely be less of an issue, but i know him so i know he'd be potentially a nightmare. Lets face it, they Tech4 should have been spot-on, but i took a £40 hit on that and i'm OK with it.
There won't be any RSC left over mate, i've got Codes on one of mine so either way there's a bike to fit them to.
Forest of Dean today and proper Techy stuff for the Fuel. I have to say it was brilliant.
Yesterday I went to do some tyre swaps as I wanted something a bit grippier than the XR4, but it was easier to just swap wheels, or so I thought.
Rear was simple, a nice Soft Enduro Kryptotal was on the spare, so boom that went in.
The front I had a Mary and a trail Argotal, so went Mary, but that wheel is running torque caps for Fox 36 which meant it doesn't fit my Fox34s and I don't have standard ones.
So out came the Orbea wheel, but that had a 180 not 200 rotor, not a big problem, until it's a center lock one FFS
So it stayed XR4. But I shouldn't have worried , it was spot on and flew down the reds, blue and blacks. Spending time mostly on the techy Sheepskull track. I was quicker than all my riding crew, apart from the boy who's just honestly ****ing ridiculous. I couldnt even keep him in sight for 2 corners. He just let's go of the brakes and he's gone. In a 5 second period he's pulling out a 4s gap lol. Wtf.
He was sessioning the roots before the fire road as there was a gap he wanted to line up. He asks me "what do you think" and I looked and thought it was into a particular drop, but no, it was another 10' on he was thinking of clearing lol. We had a few people standing watching who were commenting "he's a nutter" etc each time he came through the roots.
We were then chatting with Sam Copp who happened to have a set of Mavens installed, oh wow, boy are they strong!!! Like wipe the floor in power with anything else type strong. I don't know if that equals speed or better, but heck they really work. So spent 10 mins chatting brakes to him and put my mind at rest on reliability of them for sure. I think a set will be coming in.
Awesome day
what are you using to clean bikes ?
I see a lot of issues with people using bike cleaners and they do no end of damage to the brakes from corrosion
We use Oxford Mint. Partly through them sponsoring him but mostly because we've had no side effects from it. It works really well.
We use a Mesto foam sprayer to turn it into a snow foam, the bottles are good but the Mesto has a bit more push and foam.
We get a 5L concentrate which lasts a fair while even when cleaning 2 bikes 3-4 times a week.
I fear that the Fuel is going to be far more bike than I am rider!
Still waiting for a swap to the M/L to be sorted. Bike is sat in my office and it's killing me now seeing it whenever I go in there!
He's only ridden his a couple of times, but absolutely loves it. As you've seen above I'm slightly in love with my Gen5s, but next weekend I may take his out at FoD while he's teaching and do some comparison runs on the Gen6. I'll have a couple of hours spare so could be fun.
I have no doubt that even my Gen5 could do things I'd never even consider but it hits the right middle ground on everything I think.
He's on the ML and is exactly 6'0 I'm arguably an ex6'0 and now more 5'11 lol and his Gen6 fits me sweetly. We both prefer our bikes a little smaller.
My mate had a broken brake yesterday and is 6'0 so used my Fuel ML Gen5 for a couple of runs and was totally fine with it
It'd be interesting to see how you feel they compare. The one thing that doesn't thrill me about the Gen6 is the weight! I do enjoy my pedalling!
Exactly why I kept the Gen5. But hanging the Gen6 up in the garage it feels fine and doesn't seem ridiculously heavy. But it's deffo heavier than mine.
He's not complained about the weight in a riding context
Today escalated!
Spoke to Rotec and ordered
1 pair SRAM Maven silver
1 SRAM GX 7 speed DH derailleur
1 SRAM GX 7 speed shifter
1 SRAM GX 7 speed cassette
1 Hope pro 5 front wheel, black.
1 crankset, Saint
You will need that just giving page reopening soon lol