Weeksy08 the ongoing racing trials and tribulations of a crazy teen

@weeksy how about the SRAM Mavens?

Fingers crossed his wrist isn’t too bad.

@dirkpitt74 they are worrying with a fair few horror stories.

We do have an option with another company for sponsorship on their brakes, but I worry we’ll be in a position where he hates them and that really complicates the world

Actually paying for stuff does give you a lot more flexibility.  There’s no point getting free stuff that you hate.

Actually paying for stuff does give you a lot more flexibility. There’s no point getting free stuff that you hate.

Yeah absolutely that, it’s great getting free stuff and we’ve been amazingly lucky that everything we’ve had he loves, but brakes he’s deffo very picky with and something obviously really important to have correct and happy.

We lost £30 on the Hopes which I’m completely fine with, it was worth that to find out the answer with them.

Re the Hopes, it’s hardly testing them if you ride them for 300m, proper performance testing needs to be done over a period of time, against the clock etc, but I know you know that and am surprised that you’ve given up on it so soon.

We do have an option with another company for sponsorship on their brakes, but I worry we’ll be in a position where he hates them and that really complicates the world

Lewis?  They seem to be having a sponsorship push at the moment, that would really get STW frothing!

Anyhow, good luck at the hospital, at least it’s come in the off season.

the boy has a ‘buckle fracture’ as he’s young the bones bend/distort rather than breaking. 3 weeks out of action in a split, no plaster…. That’s not a bad result all things considered.

Lewis?  They seem to be having a sponsorship push at the moment, that would really get STW frothing!

Can’t really get into who, but i doubt anything we do would have much reaction on STW 😀

it’s hardly testing them if you ride them for 300m, proper performance testing needs to be done over a period of time, against the clock etc, but I know you know that and am surprised that you’ve given up on it so soon.

I agree, but sometimes with riders you just ‘know’ when they’re instantly ‘out’. We’ve had it with various riders and things in the last few years within the team and outside of the team, things like DH casing over an Exo casing, 1 run and out…. Crankbrothers vs Shimano pedals, 1 run and out. (Neither were my lad). But we can sit there and debate with the particular rider all day that they’re wrong… but it’s them on the bike and them having to put down the laps at race speed.

Better news than what you were both expecting.

Right decision on the Hopes. Been there and done it and as you say riders decision and preference is a must when racing

Sending healing vibes

Not much going on at the moment really, the boy has been resting his Radius apart from some roadie riding, which weirdly he really really seems to enjoy. He’s been doing 50km rides mostly and getting a decent pace on.

We did go see Gee Atherton doing his talk which was cool, made even cooler as he won himself a pair of tyres.

Krypto Enduro soft, so they’ll go nicely on something next year, although it may be my bike lol.

@weeksy, saw these and thought of you…

https://www.onyerbike.com/components/brakes/sram-disc-brake-maven-ultimate-stealth__19517

Thanks mate. Very nice thought but we already have a set of brakes being shipped soon from someone to demo over winter. I’m hoping they’ll work out but can’t get into too much details at the moment.

I sometimes wonder if I come over as a bit ridiculous with some of the things I can’t always mention but honestly you wouldn’t believe how complicated it can get with sponsors, potential sponsors, incoming, outgoing, product development etc etc. I sometimes ha e to really hold my tongue as a sponsor can get grumpy (rightly so) if you get timings and announcements wrong.

Add to this I was told I’m on a last warning from STW and I don’t know if I’ve been forgiven for that lol.

I remember suggesting brake experimentation a few months back.

As it happens I was calculating hydraulic leverage ratios for top brakes last week. The other part of total leverage is lever length, and of course there’s more to it than just leverage.

Also enduro mag have a recent big group test including lab data https://enduro-mtb.com/en/best-mtb-disc-brake-can-buy/

Also enduro mag have a recent big group test including lab data

That’s exactly why we bought the Hopes as our mate at Rotec.bike supplies them, loves and recommends them too. So we jumped on them, but they didn’t work out. He’d already read a lot of reports and chatted to others in LBS work/pro-pits who’ve been having issues with Mavens, which wiped them out along with the Loam Wolf reviews.

I’d be tempted by a set of Hayes Dominions, but weirdly (well, not in my opinion, but in many opinions) he LOVES the Code RSC and i’m loath to spend money on more brakes to try and not get on with. There’s a lot of factors with brakes for us when racing if he has issues, like spares, bleed times, setup times, etc. We can’t have a set of brake that takes 45 mins to get perfect when he’s only got 10 mins before the race. This is where the RSCs just work for us.

The plan was/is still to try different things over winter, but obviously that’s slightly scuppered at the moment as he’s Roadie only for another couple of weeks yet.

Why not stop farting about and stick with the brakes he likes and work? Lots of procrastinating for zero gain

Why not stop farting about and stick with the brakes he likes and work? Lots of procrastinating for zero gain

What an utterly daft statement. That’s like saying he should always run the same tyres, the same pressures, the same settings on forks/shocks. This is 100% what winter is for, for testing, trying, setting up, making the rider or the bike better.

We’ve run Assegais this year, DHRs, Magic Mary, Argotal, Kryptotal and Hydrotal, for varying conditions and seeing if one of the other became preferred for him. Out of interest the Argotal on the front and Kryptotal on the back is the answer for him.

Over the season you try different grips, different rise bars, different width bars, different pressures in the forks, different rebound etc… It’s all a bit of a try and see if you prefer this

If we can even gain 1s on a DH run by changing ‘something’ then that’s potentially half a dozen places in a race run at his level. Yes it’s actually that close in many races.

It’s not like we’re throwing his favoured set of brakes in the bin, with the Hopes he was back on the SRAMs very quickly with minimal loss of track time. So there’s really nothing to lose. If the Code RSC were winning every field test out there, then maybe you’d have a point. But they’re not, they near the bottom in terms of performance. If he can brake fractionally harder, fractionally later, then why wouldn’t we ?

I’m not saying brakes can or will turn him from top 10 in Nationals to podiums, but at the National Champs, 1.5s quicker would have taken him into the Top5.

If you say so then that must be right – I bet he will be running rsc’s as that’s what kids are like. Logic out the window, stubborn, know what they like, regardless of marginal gains.

Testing is one thing as long as it’s thorough and analysed, riding a at of brakes that aren’t even bedded in and then getting them off the bike asap isn’t testing it’s a stubborn kind knowing what he wants.

Lol ok sweetheart ?

I’m pretty sure I agreed with the people who said it wasn’t a proper testing. Not sure what else you want me to say here

Some things on bikes he cares about, some things less so. On the 141 he goes equally well on whatever rubber we fit, on the DH bike his saddle has to be mm perfect height. His brake ever positions are measured to precision and he’s really fussy, but suspension and even tyre pressures he can take or leave.

We try stuff and I know with him whether it’s worth continuing with testing or not. Last winter we did 3 months on different pedals, eventually going back to CB Mallets, but he tested a lot, swapping between both on given days.  We’ve done testing with different wheels, bigger and smaller rotors

Nothing would be lovely ?

Nothing would be lovely

Lol the format of the thread hasn’t changed for 3+ years mate, if you’re not enjoying it don’t open it. But I’ll keep writing it as some seem to enjoy the journey.

But it’s easy enough to ignore and not open it.

Why not stop farting about and stick with the brakes he likes and work? Lots of procrastinating for zero gain

Marginal gains. Ask any race team in any sport.

Bit more power, bit more confidence to brake later, bit less fatigue…

suspension and even tyre pressures he can take or leave

That sounds like an unexplored area of optimisation, leaving gains on the table. Get bracketing.

That sounds like an unexplored area of optimisation

I presume weeksy means they’ve been through a process of optimising suspension and tyres and it didn’t really make any difference to the boys speed?

I certainly remember them strapping loads of suspension datalogging kit to the bike.

It’s definitely worth trying new components, even if they don’t result in an improvement, at least you know what works then, and you’re not left thinking what if…

I’d be interested to hear which one component change had the biggest positive effect on his speed, I’m guessing chnaging frame, but then after that what was the next largest impact?

Also what change has had the most detrimental impact to speed so far?

Hmmmm deffo the frame yes from the GT to the Session was night and day for him.

Second to that was Air Shocks on both the session and the Fury, but more so on Fury as we barely rode air on the Session. The GT though he rode for ages on multiple coils and then in a discussion with Rich Simpson he was telling the boy how Ethan much preferred the X2 shock on his Fury. Rich also had one there and that went on and (after setting up) went instantly quicker. Went went straight to an air shock on the Session but he has tried coil from his mates bike and instantly went for air again.

The second question is really hard to answer as that’s more ‘him’ than it is a particular component. He can be flying one day and rubbish the next with nothing having changed. A vast chunk of that is belief and confidence, he is finishing top 10 in nationals now but still believes the lads in 20th are quicker than him. Then some days he’ll be on a particular track and come down with “I’m going to win this” , he doesn’t often, but those days he goes well generally.

We’ve had days he comes down either almost or actually in tears and “can’t ride the bike” at 10am, but then by 3pm I’m greeted with a beaming smile and “I’m flying today”

If I could unlock that we’d be onto a winner.

His massive weakness (IMO) is reading tracks. He takes longer than his peers to learn how to go fast on a particular track and even though he knows the way down, still can’t quite get up to speed. It something we’ve tried to work on with the coach and something we’ll be working on more over winter.

Sorry that doesn’t quite answer your question but is about the best answers I could think of.

Thanks weeksy, interesting stuff

If buying a win isn’t working and it’s about unlocking pshyche then I genuinely suggest getting in touch with sally

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Lol come on, have a word, buying a win. Seriously.

Trying different brakes is buying a win, lol. Jeez.

He wins races, podiums races and does top 10s in Nationals because of his riding. If we were buying wins he’d be running Trickstuff and the highest end suspension out there, but he’s not, he’s running a stock Session we bought in a sale. It’s a great bike and he loves it, but ‘buying a win’ please.

He’s had a sports psychologist this year but thanks for the suggestion. As far as inspirational coaches goes then we’re both massively attached to Katy Curd, she’s been quite frankly incredible for him as a rider, coach, friend and mentor. The amount of time, energy and effort she’s put into him (and others) is nothing short of immense.

We are both 100% convinced he wouldn’t be at the level he is currently without her.

Buying/tryingparts to make marginal gains then ….

I suggested Sally as she is a winner, she’s someone who has achieved, she has a fantastic mindset. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Bigham#:~:text=She%20won%20in%20the%20British,ranked%20second%20in%20the%20world.

But I appreciate that you have Katy and you have your affiliation.

Buying/tryingparts to make marginal gains then ….

I think it’s time to step away from the internet fella, or at the very least this thread. You’re being rude and it’s not a good look.

You are completely missing the point but ok I’ll do as you say

It doesn’t feel like I am. If you’re not, then feel free to clear it up. I’ll happily apologise if I’m taking it wrong but how it sounds is that you think we’re just throwing money at it to buy wins instead of using hard work.

He’s sitting there with a broken arm and planning a 100 mile road ride on Sat just to keep up his fitness because he’s not allowed on dirt.

We’re trying parts simply because there’s no reason not to. I’m waiting for a pair of the new Schwalbe tyres to arrive to try for examole, because they may be better. Or they may not and they’ll come off again.

Sat was FoD with team mate Katie and our buddy Isaac.
Isaac was on my Trek Fuel as his van was dead and couldn’t get his bike, but both of them were hauling and enjoying their day, Katie looked great as well.w

Sun brought a DNS from Katie but James and Isaac were out racing

The boy only took 2 practice runs as he knows the track well and wanted to check out conditions.
He has a decent run and came down with 3/81

Top performance that, awesome!

Run 2 had dried a little and changed conditions a bit but not much. The boy felt good but there were top national racers both ahead of him and behind him.

The kid in 5th came down and went 1st, he races for Specialized development team, then the guy in 4th went 2nd. So the boy was sitting in 5th now as he came down.
He smashed his time from run 1 and went 2nd, 0.04 behind the leader.
Kid in P2 crashes so he’s still in P2, then the leader came down (races for commencal) he went P1.

So in the end he finished P3.

Awesome.

And that ends 2024 for racing it seems. We did have an option for a small race next weekend but his preference seems to be to go do some tech laps elsewhere and not racing this one. I completely get that and i’m happy with it as it means a more relaxing weekend for me too 😀

2024 highlights…
Well, he’s managed to stick it on the podium 6 times
He’s managed to race the European Championships
He raced in Europe multiple times
He’s stuck it in the top 10 in a National
He’s finished top 5 in the overall at Pearce.
Final placing in the UK rankings is 16th overall.

I’m not really sure how we top that… but you can bet your arse we’ll try our best as a team and a family to do so 🙂

There’s stuff in the background we can’t talk about, but 2025 is going to be exciting that’s for sure. When he moves to 25 he moves to ‘junior’ that’s the 17-18 class which has all the fast lads from last years juniors who’ve gained experience on the big stages, so he’s going in as a small fish again (as every 2 year cycle).

We’ve had SO much support in 2024 from various suppliers, bike companies and of course his coach, it’s been an amazing year.

On that note we had a new arrival this weekend

Which quickly turned into this

So the spec is 2024 Canyon Sender CFR (Large)
Rockshox Boxxer Ultimate forks.
Rockshox Super Deluxe DH shock 250×75
SRAM X01 crankset
SRAM X01 7 speed DH mech
SRAM 7 speed DH cassette
SRAM X01 7 speed DH shifter
SRAM Code RSC brakes front and rear
Hope Pro5 Fortus 30 wheels
Continental Kryptotal 29×2.40 Supersoft DH
DMR O’Dub bars 35dia
Burgtec 35dia stem
DMR Deathgrip2s
DMR saddle
DMR Vault pedals

There’s 2 phases to the plan at the moment, 1 is that i’ll run it at places like Dyfi/Hopton/Antur and the boy will put in some runs on it to see which he prefers over winter.

Congratulations on a great season.

Good season that, congratulations

Do like the look of those canyons, they just seem ‘right’.

Sorry if I misread it (probably me being thick) but is he in a new age cat next year?

Yes he’s in Junior next year. It’s often a strange Cat as youth is stacked with numbers but then when they get to Junior the numbers drop dramatically. I don’t know if it’s beer, girls, uni, school or just get bored with it. I’m really hoping this bunch stick in juniors though next year and make it awesome for us all.

Either way, we’re still going racing until he tells me differently.

I took really like the Canyon and building this one hasn’t changed that much. Apart from the rubbish plastic Acros headset which is no longer in there. The rest though is lovely. It has reach adjust headset cups, +8 -8 and 0 as well as chainstay length adjust and progression change for the shock.

Although weirdly none of these change allow it to be run mullet, that requires new hardware. But he’ll run 29/29 as that’s his preference anyway.

I can’t wait to give it a run or 4 at FoD this weekend before he gets his grubby paws on it, although we’ve got Dyfi and Hopton in Dec and I’ll be riding either the Canyon or Session then too.

We’ll see if I grow a pair and race it too.

Apart from the rubbish plastic Acros headset which is no longer in there

That nasty little compression ring was the first thing to go when we had our Sender! Btw the -8 headset cups won’t work with Boxxers.

Preferred set up here was 0 headset, with a 350 spring and the shock in the low setting, long flip chip out back (mullet model). Rider weighs 56kg.

Preferred set up here was 0 headset, with a 350 spring and the shock in the low setting, long flip chip out back (mullet model). Rider weighs 56kg

I’ve currently got it set at 0 headset as we can’t run -8

500 spring for me

Short chainstay

Shock in high.

There’s not a massive logic other than the high setting seems to suit coils best and the chainstay is the same as the Session (1mm). The 450 spring gave him 20% sag so the 400 for him should work at the weekend well. Obviously with this setup/adjustment it’s going to take a little bit of getting used to and adjusting. But he doesn’t HAVE to use this bike, the Session is staying and can/will be used any time he wants it. It can happily be his primary bike without worry. So we’ll see how it progresses.

Great that this thread is still going, even enjoying the little scraps on the way, but mostly the charting of the young Weeksy’s progress. Great stuff  *thumbs up emoji*

Apart from the rubbish plastic Acros headset which is no longer in there

One of the worst pieces of shit I’ve ever come across. I thought it was a joke when I saw it for the first time, I actually burst out laughing I couldn’t control it. Up there with them wire frame jockey wheels that last about about two pedal strokes before they fold in half, an absolute piss take of the highest order, ****!

Anyway well done to younger Weeks, he’s done gud. You’ve obviously put a lot of effort and money into making sure it went off as well as possible. He’s a lucky lad to have a parent so committed to his success!

Another year of progression for team weeks. Top work all 🙂

Enjoy the ride in 25.

Thanks all… it’s been a blast this year and will hopefully continue to be so. Thanks for the kind words, we’ll keep doing our best.