..........where, when and why............?
in 25 years of MTB......
Ti456 coming off Falla Brae onto the road.....
Both wheels drifting for a couple of seconds, time stood still, picked it up and chilled out to the cafe......
Dusty, fast and blue sky's.....
couldn't be better 🙂
you ?
ridden
you have
Zesty or my 456 can't decide 😉
yo mamma
What is
A friends Intense Uzzi for a run down Corkscrew at FoD. Made it pretty effortless compared to a hardtail and I'm not sure whether I preferred it.
orange sub zero.
fantastic bike fitted with 1st gen 36's.
then it broke, went back to orange who refused to weld a gusset on it where the toptube and seatpost meet.
the year later they brought the sub zero out with a gusset welded there.......... 🙄
The last one
I've only ever had one bike really- my now much upgraded Apollo Transition from when I was about 11 I think.
Favourite ride probably from sheffield to York last feb. A covering of snow on the ground made it even more bizarre than the time before- its all so barren and odd. I keep wanting to do it again though.
Picture from outside the disused Earth Centre in Conisbrough
[url= http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4125/5206840338_8c7a8302b6_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesagain/5206840338/ ]IMG_8224[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/jamesagain/ ]James F Shaw[/url], on Flickr
My nicolai helius am
Bultaco Frontera....
The prototype Cotic Soda, round the car park at Sherwood Pines about 6 years ago now at a Cotic meet - my Soul was in it's initial light weight bling build and was so much more bike than my pathetic skills could justify, and then I tried the Soda and realised that there was a whole world of AGNI I had still to experience......
My Nicolai Helius CC
Nicolai's are so [b]OVER-RATED[/b]....... LOL
when , where and why though ?
16yrs of Bontrager Privateer 😆 😆
trekster - props 🙂
This is a difficult one as I've had several bikes that have had particularly good qualities, but not quite made it for others.
My old RM Blizzard was a wonderful thing to ride. it was nice and supple, kida made sense of those old MTB mag anecdotes about what a steel frame should ride like. Unfortunately the sizing was a little off for me so didn't quite handle right.
Similarly the geo was off for an old Fisher Procaliber OCLV from 1996. Climbed liek a beast, really nice ride, but short short so had to go.
near perfect was my Mk1 Cotic Soul. Slight sniff of the ride characteristics of the blizzard, but such sorted geometry, way faster than I should have been.
again, another near perfect was my cannondale Prophet, a possible good un before it's time there as everyone seems to be doing a 140mm FS bike now, but it seemed to be met with confusion as to what to do with it.
Really nice ride, steep seat angle meant it behaved well on the ups and soaked everything on the downs. Possiby too much bike for my skills though...
🙂
Still a cannondale addict though, I think I've owned about 10 of them!
@wookie - brand fascination's not a bad thing if the brand deliver 🙂
quite, I've only broken one of them, and that was down to my wonky feet rubbing through the chainstay!
Hummer chainstay / chainsuck & re-welded twice here too 🙁
My Hemlock, during our week in france, because it was happy enough to go up the ridiculous climbs but good enough to stop me dying on the ridiculous descents
Kona Pahoehoe on Slickrock at Moab, the second time, when I actually had a clue about how to ride it. Moments like that make you realise why you do this ridiculous sport...
Riding a Mercian "King of Mercia" (touring bike) over a col in the Pyrenees. Overtaking cars on the way down - and listening to Stravinsky on my walkman.
Other than that - my Jones.
[i]orange sub zero. fantastic bike fitted with 1st gen 36's.
then it broke, went back to orange who refused to weld a gusset on it where the toptube and seatpost meet.
the year later they brought the sub zero out with a gusset welded there..........[/i]
Same thing happened to me, its one of the reasons I will never buy Orange. Anyway best riding bike was my Intense SS.
nThe first bike i remember thinking "this is ****ing awesome" was a GT LTS2, it did everything well, climbed like a mountain goat and went like a rocket on the way down. In truth by todays standards it was probably a pile of sh*t but it made me smile around 17 years ago!
My metallic blue Raleigh Grifter,bought on the never never by my mum from Empire stores catalogue,i loved that thing it did the best skids,and i kept it till it died,once snapped the forks and took it to my local lbs who welded em back on while i waited outside 😯 ,they broke again the next week! Happy days
The new (*insert bike here) that one of your mates bought and you had a go on...
No, [b]my[/b] Nicolai Helius CC. 😉
My Orange Alpine 5 😀
My totally under-rated Nicolai Helius CC - looks like it's Nicolai for the win
my 2003 cove hummer 🙂
my pomp for 3 months/3,000miles through europe. so comfortable I would look forward to throwing my leg over and get pedaling every morning. So simple I never had to think about the mechanics, just keep the wheels going round.
my Zesty when i had it on Whisky and Rye in Le St Foy.
For 30 seconds it was the most surreally amazing time on a bike.
My Intense Tracey VP
Sorry, Tracer VP
I've ridden quite a few bikes, but the eye opener was a 2008 Marin Wolf Ridge, which was an absolutely fantastic bike. However, the frame size (medium) was too short for me and even on gentle climbs I kept smacking my knees on the bars, so it was a short range trail weapon only.
I sized up and bought a Wolf Ridge that felt inert in comparison and has only begun to realise it's potential with 160mm forks fitted.
I gave the Rock Spings to my missus...
The best bike I ever rode has changed over the years, pretty much every bike I owned seemed like the best bike ever made in my opinion 🙂
Saracen Terratrax (1995-2006)
Merida Transmission Speed D (2006-2008)
Scott Spark 10 (2008-2010)
On One 456 Ti (2010-present)
I had so many accidents learning to ride (too fast) on the Saracen that it now feels like a part of me. The Merida was my first bouncer, people loved just looking at it, never mind riding it, although the brakes (Hayes HFX 9's) were poor and very hard to adjust, refit pads. The Scott was an amazing bike and my first carbon adventure. I bought it at short notice when I was packing to fly to West Virginia when I noticed the frame was cracked on my Merida. I nearly went for a very exotic Storck hardtail also in carbon rather than the Scott, but opted for the Scott at the last minute. Currently riding the 456 and Titanium makes for an exciting and comfortable ride. Love this bike!
I have only been doing this lark a few years, so as I get better, I think the bike is better. Just a few days ago, in [i]exactly the right blend of mud[/i] I found my low-spec-second-time-around Meta55 drifting around all over the place and giving me my biggest grin yet.
'07 Giant Reign with Van 36s, over a couple of days in the Dark Peaks riding Jacob's Ladder, The Beast, Mam Tor and some other descents I don't know the names of. Magic.
orange sub zero.
fantastic bike fitted with 1st gen 36's.
Ton, bit like this one?
[url= http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2651/4061240629_4735af309c.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/gingerfox/4061240629/ ]DSC00167[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/gingerfox/ ]Ginger F0x[/url], on Flickr
Kit..............the very same mate.
Dekerf Team SL
Probably the first Colnago I ever rode in the seventies, today everything seems good.
As for mountainbikes, it would have been the Sugar Team with Black Ops V's and those cut out rims that were only on the market for a few months.
Ti456 is my favourite hardtail as for bouncy bikes?
That'll be this one at least until I get another new one to replace it.
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my 1999 Cromo custom build sunn.
2005 Turner 5-Spot. Bought it new, still have it, and haven't ridden anything significantly better, though I have spent a bit on upgrading the suspension. It was a total revelation compared to anything else I'd ridden at the time, and coming from a Specialized Enduro it was night and day.
[b]My[/b] Nicolai Helius CC 8)
my first bike in 1970 - built like a Tonka BMX with fat white tyres and a coaster brake.
I learnt how to ride over a couple of days with several bleeding noses then I was off and soon leaving monster white stripes down the tarmac 😀
Currently it's the mud-Fuquay'er build; disk brakes and an SA-3speed chopper hub but it'll only take some warm weather and hard trails to put the Blur back in top spot.
Maxlight XCPro3 🙂
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Closely followed by new Tarmac 🙂
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My mate's Proflex Animal in about 1998, or maybe another mate's Giant ATX 990.
The first suspension bikes I'd ever ridden.
Possibly my Patriot when I did my PB at Cwmcarn 🙂 Gosh that was two years ago now... 😳
My 853 kona explosif. Why oh why oh why did I sell it?? After a couple of borrowed British eagles it was my first proper mtb. Remember following a far faster and more skilled rider down a descent and really pushing myself to stay with him. I kind of understood how fast and good the explosif was that day.
I managed to do the longest jump I'd ever done that day and spectacularly bin it on another descent. Quality day out 🙂
blue universal bmx.
campsite near whareham.
1990
first ride without stabilisers. it took me sooo long to get to that stage (i had balance problems as a kid!)
The first ride on my Dean Colonel, custom built to mimic my old '93 Orange Clockwork. It was a 45 minute scoot through local woods on a cold drizzly day five years ago this week and after six months waiting it turned out to be everything I'd hoped it would.
A blur 4x on a test ride 3 1/2 years ago, I knew I had to own one, a change in circumstances meant that I wasn't able to buy one then. Fast forward to last year and I finally picked one up second hand.
Out riding on Saturday, I had one of 'those' moments when everything just seemed to go right, coming into a right hand slightly cambered corner and the bike just changed direction so quickly, it left me grinning ear to ear for the next few minutes.
momo - exactly the reason I ride - defining moments 🙂
foes xct5 with coil curnutt shock and 130mm coil revs, demo bike about 5 years ago on a dusty dry Newnham Park. Great fun.
Mid nineties kona explosif (the columbus bi axial tubing one) with xtr/xt and bombers on route 403 and 401 in Crested Butte Co. The day my riding came together 🙂
Closely followed by Porc Rim Moab about a couple of days later.
Would love to be able ride that well again
Really loving my Carbon 456 at the moment, just seems to fit really well with my riding and has rekindled my interest in XC.
Also my Cube Fritzz is a stunning bike to ride. I've spent a while trying different bikes but feel like I've finally worked out what I need/want and I'm loving it.
Now normally I would say my old and now sadly broken 5 Spot with the Horst Link rear end. A damn fine bike that gave 5 years of loyal service.....excpet I tried a Giant Anthem X 29er on Sunday for an extended spin round Loch Bhac near Pitlochry. It was a tad too small for me with the seatpost at maximumum height but dear Lord, it was a revelation to ride. It rode just like a mountain bike - except I felt faster on trails I've ridden for years, it spun along effortlessly on the fire road sections, the baldy back tyre seemed to cut through deep mud with ease and in the twisty turny singletrack along Loch Faskally, it felt as easy to ride as my Turner....but quicker. Even drop offs and stairs didn't seem to fluster the wagon wheels. It was like having the speed of my cross bike coupled with my Turner. 😀 I'd previously tried a Niner Air 9 and a Gary Fisher 29er hardtail but this was a whole new ball game. When I got back to Escape Route in Pitlochry who kindly let me demo it for the day, Kev in the shop gave me a knowing wink and a told you so smile. If this is how 29ers ride, I'm mightily impressed.
@ sanny ... blimey 😯
My Rock Lobster, the first time I ever rode it on a sunny autumn day at Glen Tanar.
Never had a bike as a kid and took up moutain biking late(ish) in life and the sheer euphoria of that first time hurtling down a hill hasn't yet been beaten.