Weeksy08 the ongoing racing trials and tribulations of a crazy teen

God his mates must be jealous!

God his mates must be jealous!

I went up to the woods with shock pump etc and tools to set levers and things, along with my G160. Which was ace for me as I’ve now discovered my broken scaphoid is healed enough to allow me to jump again. Which is exciting beyond words.

But one of his mates was that excited I thought he may wet himself. It was very funny and very sweet. The lads seem impressed. I think I got some brownie points as I rode their enduro line in a train with them.

Looking good, always nice to have something shiny to keep you going, next step some knee/elbow pads though, bigger jumps will mean bigger falls!

I think I got some brownie points as I rode their enduro line in a train with them.

You mistake enduro for endured you… You’re dad, as of age 9 you become less cool every month…

next step some knee/elbow pads though, bigger jumps will mean bigger falls

He does full armour and FF when doing anything bigger

You mistake enduro for endured you… You’re dad, as of age 9 you become less cool every month

Lol I bought him an sworks, I’m a bloody GOD at the moment

Very cool Dad!

My 9 year old is now capable of climbing some tricky hills on our property on the ‘new’ 1×7 Scott that he couldn’t manage on his 3×6 Trek. I can’t be bothered to work out the different ratios but i’m highly dubious that disc brakes would make it that much easier.
(Meanwhile the 6 year old is absolutely spewing that he doesn’t get to ride it, so for the next few months until I find a decent XS bike for the 9 year old and the little one’s slightly bigger i’ll be in the little one’s bad books)

wheel1 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

wheel2 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Went to Crusts and stole a wheel from him. But with the mis-matched rear and the fact i’ve got a spare XX1 rear cassette for the full setup, i went crazy and ordered a new (used) pair of wheels.
Not only do they match his paintjob, but they’re XD drive so i can use the XX1 cassette too. He’ll then get some XC/fast rubber on his current wheels and these new ones will get the more hardy and beefy rubber. Tyres these days he’s using in jump area are super grippy compounds and on CX rides you can really notice the difference.

I funded it by flogging his dropper, which more than covered the cost 🙂

We both test rode the bike yesterday and noticed the brakes were on the wrong side of rubbish, both in terms of lever, bite and actual response, being M8000 Shimano XT they should be awesome. So 20 mins with a Shimano bleed kit and a test this morning, the bike is 1000 times better on the brakes now, perfect. Pads look good, they’re Uberbike race matrix with heat sink fins and 203mm rotors, so should work a treat.

Wheels fitted and tubeless. Have to say they VERY much look the part, for not a lot of money at all. They may not be super light, but he won’t care in the slightest.

2020-10-21_12-03-28 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Nice, but why the long stem?

Didn’t think it was particularly long… I’ll go measure it.

edit 60mm

Stem length isn’t specified in specs.

But, good shout, i’ve bought a 40mm.

Bit more work required on those wheels, you have mismatched tyres, the logos aren’t aligned with the valve and the valves are different, you can’t take a picture without squaring all that away!

LOL none of them make any difference to me or him…. My mate pointed it out and i laughed at him.

Slight thread hijack, but if anyone happens to be selling a nice spec full sus, 140-160mm trail/enduro in a small – probably with 27.5 wheels suitable for my 10yr old I am in the market for one! Flexible on budget, don’t mind a project, £2.5k max…? Thanks.

weeksy
Full Member
LOL none of them make any difference to me or him…. My mate pointed it out and i laughed at him.

Ah, i get the same, but it is almost a standard now in some facebook groups!

So the 40mm stem arrived and has been fitted. Along with a bit of rotation on the bars as they were angled too far back. Re-adjusted the brakes and shifter/dropper levers and he’s ready to play again

2020-10-24_03-11-34 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Next Thurs is Katy Curd for i think his 3rd session with her. Between her teaching, Swinley Summit and him playing in the woods with his mates, his progress is absolutely astounding. Next time we’re allowed to go to BPW i’m going to be absolutely blown away i fear, i may be able to use some pedal power to catch some bits back, but on the trails, i think i’m in a world of trouble.

Looks good 👍, gloves on shelf need pairing and tidying 😉.

Lol they all go in a plastic box that’s about 6″ above shot, I’d just got back from a lovely leafy autumn ride.

More bike discussion with the boy today after him playing in the woods.
“Daddy I don’t like the brakes” he went into details and it came down to what’s essentially the free play and bite point on the XT m8000s. Basically the lever seems to drag a bit before the bite point.

So I grabbed a front SRAM Guide and stuck the lever on, bled it and sent him to test. His reply is 100% SRAM. So I’ll fit the rear tomorrow too.

Also moved the shifter inside the brake, closer to grip. He’s only got small hands so was too far to reach.

Next up was the Specialized saddle he wanted instead of the WTB one. He’s now all good.

His reply is 100% SRAM. So I’ll fit the rear tomorrow too.

He’s got decent taste in brakes….although it’s only a matter of time before Codes will need to replace guides 🤷‍♂️

weeksy, I’m available for adoption – pleeeease 😇🥺

Actually, even just a brake bleed woud do

He’s got decent taste in brakes

No arguments here, we both run Guides usually, although mine are guide RS, his are R. I think only one of his has replacement pistons at the moment, but I’ll do the other once the Alu pistons come in post.

I think we’ll keep the XTs though unless I find someone who wants to swap.

Will be fun spending my birthday bleeding his brakes tomorrow lol. Along with tubelessing his xc wheels.

Looks like he is getting used to the bigger frame.👍

Katy Curd coaching?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=200138901500980

That is correct. Not at that time, but earlier in the day. He and his mates love her training, they’ve been 3 times and their progression is immense.

Highly highly recommended.

Highly highly recommended

I’d second that, I’ve done a group course with Katy and her coaching really works for me.  Seeing the clip of your boy has me tempted to book a 1to1.

He’s done 3 sessions with her and will do more. Was very proud today either her comment of “he’s really talented your boy”. Which of course I do know, but it’s amazing that someone of her level thinks so too.

IMO, crazy as it may sound, jumping is not his forte, but trails are more him. But we’ve not yet gone up against the big guys in racing, so I can’t say how good or bad he is.
But he’s very humble, very polite and enjoying the riding massively, so from my perspective, I’ll just see where it goes. If he wants to race we’ll find something, but if not, I’ll just stand in awe of his talent and try not to embarrass myself too much trying to follow him.

Apologies if I’m gushing a bit, but I’m a little proud of the lad as you may have guessed.

You really deserve to be proud of him. Nice work mate.

Nothing wrong with being a proud parent.

I noticed yesterday how crappy the bearings were sounding when pushing up and down on his bike suspension.

As some of you will know, suspension in that context isn’t particularly complicated on pushbikes, so i whipped all the linkage bolts out this morning to check the bearings, some of it was just generic dirt, but basically we’ve got to replace the full set in the not too distant future.

It’s not an amazingly hard job, press it out, press it in… but it can be a little bit irritating as they’re obviously a tight fit and getting them in straight is never the easiest job, even with the correct tools.

They’re all 6802s which is a generic size for many bikes and wheels etc, so common to replace, but still £50 a set to buy… which is slightly irking. That’s the great thing about buying Whyte bikes, the bearing are free… but sadly they’re not that size hahahaha.

No massive hurry, they’re just a bit yukky, but he doesn’t even notice. But will get them done in the coming weeks though.

After watching the ladies DH race I was bored so decided to remove the suspension linkage and pivot and whip the seals off all the bearings and fill them with grease as an interim fix.
They were all fairly yucky and past their best in there, so I’ve filled all of them with grease and they’re obviously a lot smoother. So it’s now all back together for him to ride this week.

Did the ones this morning on the axle end at the back… I’m not sure what you techincally call them, chainstay pivots maybe… They’re a different bearing than the front/linkage ones being 6801s, but still obviously the same process. So they’re full of grease and the contact points all cleaned. I must admit i do enjoy this sort of thing… if only it paid better 🙂

Got the Shockwiz back from Couchie, i don’t think he was particularly impressed with it in honesty, but for me it’s a super piece of kit.

So it’s gone straight onto the Ohlins on the rear of the boys bike and we’ll see how he gets on with it playing in the woods.

2020-11-11_02-01-57 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

First baseline settings taken from playing/jumping.

2020-11-11_04-36-58 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

We’ve now made a couple of adjustments and we’ll see what’s next.

Style for miles!

sweeeet air.

Looks like they are all enjoying it 👍