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@relapsed_mandalorian - how do you find the Cloud saddle? I like the look of them but haven’t seen many reviews. And which version do you have?
@zerocool I have the CR-MO rails moulded plastic base version. I find it comfy, took a little getting used to after coming of the WTB Volt, took a bit of playing to get the angle right but I'm happy with it.
Ace ride today and once again showed me that the Slayer isn't going to be an issue for me. I was out with one of the regular riding mates who's one of the faster ones compared to me. There's faster, but they're proper faster lol. But i've ridden with him enough to know where i sit in riding with him.
Bike was spot on, although i've not really ridden a decent downhill on it yet with twists and turns, the one decent section we hit today we came upon a pair of dogs/walkers so i had to brake and stop lol. But i'm still more than happy with it 🙂
I had the Fabric seat on today... it was better than the WTB Slayer seat that's for sure, although i do need to tilt it down just a bit.
I did just order a new rear tyre for coaching this weekend.
Considering it's an Enduro/AM bike, it has remarkably small clearances on the chainstay gaps on the back end. Both at the top and the bottom. It also seems the Aggressor isn't the best at clearing the local mud, so i've gone for a slightly smaller DHR for the back end, should give it a little more clearance and hopefully work nicer at clearing the mud and stuff.
First real proper ride will be this weekend at FoD for coaching with Katy Curd so i'm looking forward to seeing how it's setup in terms of suspension, spring rate, handling, it's been fine and happy for local riding, but FoD should push it a little bit more in terms of tech, cornering etc.
Dhr2 is my default rear tyre for winter on the Sentinel - I run a 2.3 in the maxx terra compound so it’s not big and draggy and the softer compound works nicely in the cold.
The 2.4” version is a chunk bigger and definitely gets more grip in slop - but you pay for that a bit with more rolling resistance. Swings and roundabouts. Surprised at the clearance issue there - the Sentinel takes a 2.6” rekon with miles to spare.
First 'proper' ride tomorrow with a couple of other forum members at https://www.katycurdcoaching.com/
Doing the 'descend' course. 10-4 Should be a long day and plenty of time to get used to the bike.
Also bought a new Shockwiz from a forum member so will be sticking that on the front to get it setup.
Whos the others weeksy? Looking forward to the meet-up although worrying a long way into the Gloucester beers already 😀
Bikes propped up in my Premier Inn room after a receptionist eye roll as I wheeled it in.
Long time mate of mine who I got into MTB.
He's bloody gone to bed. I'm drinking Peroni on my own
I’ll be over there tomorrow with my son and some of his mates. Will keep an eye out for you lot.
Nice one. I expect we'll be down for lunch at 12.30-1
I'll be in the RM, kryton in an Orbea, my mate on a Trek Eeb in Burgundy
Well that was excellent - thanks Weeksy for offering the invite to the course and good to meet everybody! I got quite tired toward the end and my head didn't want to do any more. I'm exhausted now - 5am yesterday, stress of work, too much beer and a heavy day on my wrists. But lots learned!
Crouchy wanted the Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/8141057223
I enjoyed the Forest of Dean trails very much and will plan a return to cycle the Blue and Red properly in the future. That was me tooting at you Weeksy in the White BM.
I was massively impressed with your commitment mate. It was easy to see how much of today was pushing your boundaries and what you need to focus on as a ride to get better, but you did it, time and time again. well bloody done sir
As for the skills compensator, it was quite simply astounding. Riding Corkscrew is a proper techy root fest and the Slayer made it mostly effortless. It enabled me to ride stuff I didn't think I was able to ride. Obviously I had to hold on and do a bit, but it was superb.
When I took it down launchpad, it was again just fab! Really impressed
Had a blast mate, great to see you
You coming on the next one? I'd guess Jan/Feb.
Yup enjoyed that, mostly 😃
Yeah that first technique really opened things up for me, I need to practice. But also how the Orbea took everything in its stride and with my weight now in a better place it felt super capable.
I’m definitely up for another one coached or not.
I’ve just watched the videos back, man they do not not do justice to the trails at all do they! Your point about us having under-whelming tech trails here in the SE is a good one, i think several visits a year to the FOD for skills practice is a must for me.
@Kryton, come North good Sir, some steep Yorkshire tech helps no end. 😉
Dunno mate, I've not seen the videos, but generally yes they really make trails look easy and riding slow. But some of the stuff we rode was proper tricky.
Relapsed, it was just exceptionally good. Some of the tech stuff I looked at and thought "have I got to ride that"
But it went well
Not got out yet this week, COVID vaccine has killed me off. So just been in the garage and installed the Shockwiz on the fork. Will be interesting to see it's report as I was really happy with how it rides.
Initial settings say "bit soft and fast"
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52520961103_f7a9925bf3_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52520961103_f7a9925bf3_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o26DW8 ]2022-11-24_10-56-39[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Shockwiz testing today.
Was going 'neutral poppy' instead of my usual 'soft poppy '
It's pretty close and was just 11psi off on the Lyrics and 3 clicks of rebound too fast. Although I guess 11psi is pretty much 10-12% overall so a significant difference. I don't think it was night and day out though by any means.
I may go 500 on the rear from the 450 I have in currently.
GRRRRRR i can't for the life of me get 12 consistent gears out of this setup
It's all Shimano which i don't generally run... but that said, the Trek was Shimano and worked sweetly.. I've checked and re-checked the B screw, indexed and indexed it... I can move the 'skip' higher or lower, but DAMN i can't completely remove it from all gears, i generally end up with gear 7-8 not existing unless i go back to them in reverse clicking.... it's not a disaster in any way, but it is a minor irritation that's for sure !
I may need to get a gear hanger alignment tool i think.
Gear hanger alignment is your first port of call. I had this with deore 11 speed with the new style mech and the hanger needed a tweak and it was instantly perfect. Before that I had what you had. I think there’s a cheap ish lifeline one.
GRRRRRR i can’t for the life of me get 12 consistent gears out of this setup
yep, hanger alignment issue most likely.
Cassette loose?
Another vote for hanger alignment here, and/or the mech is slightly twisted. I had the same issue, got the alignment bang on but it took a new mech to sort it even though the old one looked fine
Yeah it's a weird one as the bike was brand new. It's not been right since day 1.... I'll get one ordered up.
It's not rare for brand new bikes to have misaligned hangers. Or bent mech arms. Depends on which gorillas preparing and boxing them up.
-Check the cassette isn't moving on the axle.
-Hanger alignment, even new ones can be wonky.
-Shimano mechs are bent from new to improve the chain alignment, so be careful with that one.
Eldest_OAB's rocky had a touch too much paint at the dropouts - we cleaned up with sandpaper and the hanger sits in better.
Confirmed at LBS Rotec Cycles this morning as a bent hanger... We did have a little try at straightening but it wasn't going to fly and risked breaking, which as i can't get one before the weekend, wasn't a good plan.
So i've ordered a new one, but with postal delays i may not get it in time, so will suffer with 'most' gears most of the time for now 🙂
bollox and nightmare.. the Slayer let me down today... Was all going swimmingly at first... but then it seems i lost a bolt !!!
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52554310477_0a1b8c5261_n.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52554310477_0a1b8c5261_n.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2o53zxk ]bolt[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Funny shaped things so bike specific... game over... 🙁
Back on the Slayer today and trying to dial both it and me in a bit. I set myself a few tasks in bed last night for today's ride and went out to do them.
First was repetition on a log jump, carry a bit more speed, then more, then a bit of pop, then speed etc until I was getting it half respectable.
Then onto the Enduro trail which has 3 loams into a dad-gap. It's called that because to kids it's just a feature, but to dad's it's actually something that plays on the mind, I've not hit it for months, mostly blaming the weather, conditions etc.
Today I did 2 runs and chickened out on both. But run 3 I hit it, then 4&5 too. So felt I'd put that to bed, but despite that, I still do t go into it with a lot of confidence, so that's something to work on next
My lad followed me into the Log "you pre jump, you need to do your jump later" which is an interesting observation.
So again, something to work on. Getting that better and more confident.
I'm also debating swapping the brakes over and putting the SRAM Code Rs on instead of the SLX
I'll likely just do the front one today as a test and then the rear as that needs to go through the frame as internally routed.
I’ve got a trail with a couple of steep bomb holes in it that plays on my mind every time I ride it whether dry or wet. Ridden it loads of times - maybe 50 or so and yet it always needs my full focus. Same woods has a step down that I’ve done 3 or 4 times and yet it freaks me out still too. Just need some more confidence / bottle!
Messing around today with the kids
Had the Slayer out at the weekend at Bringewood DH track... It's not a friendly place lol. Tricky, rooty, steep in places, techie... I'm not sure what was worse, the ride down or the ride back up. I wasn't booked on the uplift as i was supposed to be at BPW the next day, so even though i could probably have snuck on the uplift van, i thought i'd pedal it instead... but it wasn't nice lol. It still shows that despite my progress as a rider, i'm so so far away from being anything like decent. 🙁
I'd not say Bringewood was either steep or techie myself.
What I would say though is that it can be slippy as **** this time of year so don't beat yourself up about it.
Did you ride any of the enduro trails?
Some brilliant riding over there and also on the hill the other side of the woods.
I’d not say Bringewood was either steep or techie myself.
What I would say though is that it can be slippy as **** this time of year so don’t beat yourself up about it.
Did you ride any of the enduro trails?
Some brilliant riding over there and also on the hill the other side of the woods.
I would.
No only the DH race track, i was on spanner duty as one of the kids broke a freehub so i repaired that which took up a chunk of time, then i was on pot-noodle duty lol. By then, it was afternoon and the trails had turned to slop so i didn't bother going back out. I also didn't know there were any other trails, but i did see a few when i was riding back up to uplift start/car-park.
You should go back and ride some of the other trails there.
Much better than the DH trail.
Was a regular for us when we lived down that way.
Park here and you have access to both riding areas.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Vinnalls+Car+Park/ @52.3502658,-2.8129842,13z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xeed16b74cd0828ad!8m2!3d52.3535687!4d-2.7725579
You should go back and ride some of the other trails there.
Much better than the DH trail.
TBH that's rarely possible, i'm not sure when we next have a free weekend. The lad is racing several different DH series along with multiple Enduro series this season.
There has been a fair bit of felling on the enduro trails at Bringe DH side, there is a lot more over the road in the other forest. Shout if you want showing round, need to get over there and do a bit of maintenance when it dries out a bit.
Thanks lots mate, but it's a 2.5 hour drive for us, the only reason we were there as it was pre-race-uplift day with Pearce Cycles.. we'll be there again for the race, but in truth, i'm not sure we'll get up there again outside of race weekend. Not because i think it was bad in any way.. but just a fair old drive and lots of other places we ride.
Tracing a creak, that's a heck of a job at times
Fitted new pedals, checked shock hardware, checked all pivot bolts, bearings, etc, then dropper post, saddle mounts, saddle, then headset (which is knackered it seems), then onto a spare wheel. It was then I thought "oooh that's the noise there" so maybe it's the wheel. Re-fit axle without wheel, there it is again. You can feel it's over on mech side. Loosen off the 19mm nut that the axle screws into (and secures hanger), yup that sorts it. Weird one that.
Been bugging me for the last few rides with creaking. Good as gold now
Trying to get a little better... Spent time working on a table and then moved onto the gap.... It looks rubbish in the video, but i found it hard to build up to it.
Luckily i had a small child teaching/telling me stuff.
https://youtube.com/shorts/gCbZ3y0z1B4?si=EnSIkaIECMiOmarE
Best part was that i hit it another 4 times afterwards, which is one of my biggest issues. Gap is 8' edge to edge... which i'm really pleased with.
I did the dad-gap-jump which Couchy did yesterday, I never thought I’d do, but managed it. Heart in mouth and pounding! Did about 5 goes on it trying to improve, but need to up my technique to get it nicer. It's not massive in terms of length, i've jumped further, but it's a steep entry in and just scared me... If it wasn't for him doing it yesterday, i wouldn't have tried it today. The thing is, when you do it, it's actually not too bad. The tough part though is going back next time and doing it again.
But that can wait as it's FoD on Thurs and then BPW on Sat. I've just fitted some wider bars for the weekend. After riding the lads bike yesterday i think i've maybe cut mine slightly too narrow... I've got a set that came with the Slayer that are about 20mm wider, so going to try them on Thurs.
Also very much debating a set of SRAM Code Rs to go on there. I'd like Hopes... but there's just not budget.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52686958921_039de5d1f5_5k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52686958921_039de5d1f5_5k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2ogLrit ]2023-02-13_06-10-07[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr