So…

What tyres for Mayhem?

Has the course been confirmed yet?

What coffee should I be taking?

What is your most useful tip for Mayhem – aside for don’t enter and take mud tyres?

Almost getting excited about it now.

What tyres for Mayhem?

If it’s dry: Furious Freds
If it’s wet: 1.5″ Black Shark Muds

Chance of needing anything in between is pretty slim!

Most useful tip – become friendly with the guys two teams down who have a petrol-powered pressure washer.

The course will invariably be dull with lots of climbing and not enough singletrack and your are likely to be held up by people who didn’t take mud tyres and get off and push in the limited ST

And it looks like you are going to be the weak link i.e slowest in your team 😉

Coffee why bother you’ll be better off asleep

That should make me number 3 or 4 in the running order!! Not bothered about that.

Need coffee for the drive home!

personally…

Racing Ralph for the dry and

Nobby Nic for the wet (but most tyres will not help as mushed grass and clay is never a great mix)

I reckon Kenda Slant 6’s should be spot on!

If it’s dry: Furious Freds Slicks
If it’s wet: 1.5″ Black Shark Muds Walking Boots!

Chance of needing anything in between is pretty slim!

FTFY 😉

I am running crossmarks in the dry and advantages in the wet. Only 40% will be really bad if it rains. Course is normlly designed the weekend before the event once the weather forecast is a little more accurate. Expect a wet one this year

I’m running Specialized ground controls wet or dry as they’re the only pair of 29’er tyres I have 😉

It looks like we may have fixed the weather by next week anyway
…
http://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/England/malvern/long.html

Top Tip: A brazier and firewood. Makes getting up in the cold at 3am much less daunting if there’s a nice fire to go and warm yourself up.

If it’s dry:

29er 2.1″ SB8s and a smiley face.

If it’s wet:

29er 2.1″ SB8s and anguish.

My only other tyres are some 2.2″ Nevegals, I stuck them on in the wet last year, they clogged up and stripped the paint off the frame. Don’t hugely think they helped to be honest, might stick one on the front.

Anyone know of any decent cheap mud tyres? £120 on 4x Maxxis Beavers for myself and the wife is looking a bit steep.

Most likely going rigid on a Scandal, might chicken out and stick the Rebas back on.

Edit: Oh and my tip would be not to fret too much about taking stacks of food, unless you’re riding to win. The catering tents have a good selection of sensible stuff for decent prices.

If it’s dry, lol

Last time I did Mayhem (2005 I think) it was filthy, managed to ride the entire course on Trailrakers, perfect tyre.

Last year I rode with swampthings as I just couldn’t be arsed to take them off, probably not the best idea as they were a bit hard work!

This year I’ve got Rocket Ron’s if its dry and Mud-X if its wet.

Course-wise I’d like to see the one they used two years ago, last years felt like it had too much climbing in.

Thanks for that Neil, didn’t go last year as i thought there was too much climbing in 2010 🙁

Team mate said there was less last year and i believed him…

I just think 2010 had a better balance, last year felt like more climbing with little to no reward. Everyones view will be different of course 😉

2010 was my favourite from recent years too.

Toasty, you can always get the wire bead Beavers for £22 each, might be worth getting one for the rear to give some traction. SB8’s will clog very quickly in Mayhem mud (but then so will most tyres). CRC also have the WTB prowler for £16 at the moment and i found them far better in the mud than i expected.

All irrelevant of course though as it’s bound to be dry and dusty. Mayhem always is…… 😉

Trailrakers, perfect tyre.

This has always been my experience. Used Racing Ralph / Nobby Nic combo, one year only…2005 or 6???

2012 – the weather gods have been in training…

Was camping on the Isle of Man last week. For some reason I just couldn’t get thoughts of a wet Mayhem out of my mind

I think it was the combination of:-
– defeaning percussion of intense summer downpour on the tent
– soggy, slidy, waterlogged grass and clay slime campsite

😀

What is your most useful tip for Mayhem

If it’s dry, knock off for the night after your first night lap, if it’s still dry, start again around 8am

If it’s wet, knock off about 6pm for a warm and some hearty food, if it’s still wet, start again around 10am

What is your most useful tip for Mayhem

As it seems it will be an absolute mudfest the best tip is to take a bike designed/built in Britain, the carnage from a few years ago with mechs ripped off and clogged frames showed that bikes like on-ones and oranges were the least effected (memories of the thread on here following the carnage) did my 5 laps on a 5 with trailrakers and it never clogged, mis-shifted or had any issues, will be taking that and my 456 so not too worried about the mud

Last year ran NN on front Ralph out back for 24hrs no real probs. yes last year had too much climbing, more than the previous 3 yrs I’ve done it. 17 laps got me 2 laps shy of climbing the height of Everest in 24hrs 😀 Ant Whyte went above and beyond Everest 😯 so yeah last year had lots of climbing.

Toasty, you can always get the wire bead Beavers for £22 each, might be worth getting one for the rear to give some traction.

http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/product/126624.html

These are my new plan I think, maybe 1 and a Nevegal if I’m being cheap, a pair if I’m not.

SB8’s will clog very quickly in Mayhem mud (but then so will most tyres).

My thinking was they’d clog into thin muddy discs, where as the Nevegals clogged up into huge fat tyres, getting stuck on the stays 🙂

There was only one part of last years course I found really bad, I can’t see any tyres coping hugely well with the clay type mud that built up there briefly. It did dry quick though.

considering some drastic changes to my Epic 29er,

what are peoples thoughts on CX tyres on a 29er? I take it they fit.
Beavers are the only worthy 29er mud tyres and i have a set, I don’t think the mayhem mud with clear well on them,

1×10 setup without a chain device? thinking XTR rear mech with new tensioner, thoughts?

2010 was my favourite from recent years too

me to

Racing Ralph/Rocket Rons if dry and Mud X – wet for me

This year I’ve got Rocket Ron’s if its dry and Mud-X if its wet.

glad to see your taking it more seriously this year 😉

Racing Ralphs/NN’s for normal conditions.
Medusa 1.8’s & Conti xc 1.5’s for normal Mayhem Conditions

grtdkad – Member
It looks like we may have fixed the weather by next week anyway

Hmm not sure that helps.

Whilst praying for a dry one, the woods round there take well over 2 weeks to dry out. So if that forecast comes true and it turns nice from next Tues on and the course goes through the woods, then it’ll make the choice of tyre quite tricky.

I did last year on Michelin dry II’s and probably lost a bit on the v few muddy sections but made up time on the grassy/dry sections. If there’s far more mud in the woods this year, but still plenty of dryer stuff too then I think the equation swings towards the thin mud tyres.

Looking forward to it, whatever the weather brings.

stop.

the best course was the first one after the move to Eastnor, that was cut down the following year cos a load of whinging jessies couldn’t ride up a muddy fireroad.

carry on.

…the best tip is to take a bike designed/built in Britain…

A belt drive Rohloff Lefty for example… 😉

I’d agree with Pedlad.

The course is due to get, according to Accuweather, 1.5 inches of rain this week and 1.1 inches over the weekend.

Next week is dry until Sat/Sun where it’s showers.
It’ll take more than 3 dry days to get a decent course.

Last year I did the first lap on Medussa 1.8’s and in the woods they were great but not for the rest of the course and the next rider in our team rode Ralphs and wasn’t really slowed down.

You need both mud and dry tyres and work it out when you’re there. Not taking both is a big mistake.

Also worth noting that the decent/pro riders have little problems with the mud it seems to me so the answer is to keep your speed and momentum up and shed the mud. Easy !

D

Anyone running a 29er found a narrow tyre suitable for mayhem mud? I’m thinking a 42mm cross tyre might be useful

whinging jessies couldn’t ride up a muddy fireroad

Whilst strictly true, “muddy fireroad” it is not how my memory recalls the LandRover tracks….

Just taken delivery of a small shelter to keep the sun off me up there…

in the car! by ciderinsport, on Flickr

Should have measured the car first 😕 doh!

Also worth noting that the decent/pro riders have little problems with the mud it seems to me so the answer is to keep your speed and momentum up and shed the mud. Easy !

I’m far from being a pro (or in any way half decent), but I think you’ll gain more elsewhere on a lap running dry(er) condition tyres than you will running full mud tyres. There’s perhaps 20-30% of the course where you’d benefit from Mud tyres, the rest of it is hard enough that whatever the weather, you can ride on almost any tyre.

Don’t get me wrong, it’ll be a slippy nightmare in the mud on dry(er) tyres, but as long as they’re thin enough they don’t clog your bike (will be taking a rigid fork for my HT too and assessing on the day) I think full on mud tyres won’t really be worthwhile.

If it rains every day from now until mayhem, and rains all weekend of the race though, mud tyres will be the order of the day.

As for the 29er boys thinking about CX tyres… Probably not a bad idea if you’re prepared for the pounding over the rough terrain. Speed + mud shedding ability are the desired factors here I think. I’m tempted to blag a 29er off someone for the race for that reason and sling some CX tyres on it!

Whilst strictly true, “muddy fireroad” it is not how my memory recalls the LandRover tracks….

nor mine.

my rear mech and mech hangar expired about 2/3’ds the way up.

on my next lap i broke a shoe.

at that point i gave it up as a bad job a drank beer/watched.

on my next lap i broke a shoe.

at that point i gave it up as a bad job a drank beer/watched.

Best anecdote EVER.

Although last year was never a clog-fest it was a good mix of wet, intermediate, and dry. I used Ralphs for all my laps and had no issues at all.

CX bikes are against the rules yes?

but 29ers with CX tyres are allowed?

My top tips for Mayhem (and all events really)

1. Make sure your bike is actually in a ridable condition BEFORE turning up to the event. Turning up with a knackered drivetrain or brakes is just silly. Yes it does happen, more than you would imagine.

2. Take a spare mech hanger. Bending one beyond being able to be bent back then breaking it as you try really is quite disheartening and could ruin your weekend.

3. Take spare brake pads. In fact take spare spares. And probably another set just in case.

4. Bring beer to bribe any mechanics to repair your bike while you clean up, eat, sleep or take a dump 😉