I went with my wife on an Exodus holiday in 2007. Landed in Beijing and transported to Chengde ~ 200 miles NW of the capital and then spent 2 weeks cycling back towards Beijing.

We were cycling through villages that had never seen a westerner before, it was fantastic. Yes I ate some strange things, (dog, donkey, thousand year egg….), and got the runs one day, but overall it was an amazing experiencen that you have to jump into. If you can learn some basic chinese it will go a long way, even just saying ‘hello’ (pronounced ‘nihow’) will bring massive smiles to their faces.

We walked along 3 sections of the wall, the most spectacular being the Jingshanling to Simatai section. It’s a steep treck at times but it’s the classic wall section that literally follows the ridge of the mountains.

Other highlights were the Qing tombs, NW of Jixian, real ‘Raiders of the Lost Arch’ kind of stuff.

Within Beijing, there’s the normal well known stuff, but also search out the series of underground tunnel tours that were once the nuclear fall out shelters during the cold war, really interesting.

Also get tickets for the Chinese acrobats/Circus, it’s a permanent show in a theatre in the east of the city, (sorry can’t remember the exact location or theatre name). It’s ferkin amazing, you wouldn’t believe a human being could do things like that!!

The Olympic birds nest stadium is also worth a visit plus the chinese markets near the circus theatre.

You will get constantly hassled in Beijing by street sellers, but there are bargains to be had if you do want a bootleg Rolex, Brietling watch etc etc :wink: I got two for £20 and they are top quality, with full automatic movements and have kept time for ~4 years now 8)

As mentioned above, going to the toilet is a social event, especially in public places. It will literally be a line of holes in a concrete slab and the chinese men are not shy at checking your equipment out 8O. However, you will be relieved to know they are not too well ‘blessed’ in that department so even an ‘average’ westerner can swing it about a bit with pride – ha!! Try to save any ‘big jobs’ for the hotels which generally have normal type cubicles and you will be ok.

My wife is tall and blonde so she obviously was the centre of attention wherever we went from both men and women, although my ginger hair did cause some ammusement and I was once called an orangutang – ha!

Canadian Affair / Thomas Cook don’t allow them, I had to remove mine.

I find nuun to be a bit ‘gassy’ (make you burp!), Zymm are quite nice but expensive, best value and taste though are High 5 zero.

I used to have the same problem and sorted it out by purchasing a VAR tyre lever;-
http://www.cyclebasket.com/m5b93s281p92/VAR_Special_Tyre_Levers_/RS_GB

Someone failed their Physics exam :lol:

I bought Roger Mussons book for £9, http://www.wheelpro.co.uk read it for a couple of hours, bought hubs, rims and spokes dirt cheap off ebay for ~ 50% of lbs price and then took ~ 6 hours to build my first pair of wheels.

Had a mate who’s built a few check it over and he said they were excellent 8)

It’s not a black art as many people believe. I think the hardest part was calculating the spoke lengths required.

…also Mr Absalon is supposedly riding his in the Crankworx enduro this weekend so keep an eye on Pinkbike for more pictures.

Love it, looks just like what I am after, with one concern (as well as the rear shock needing a guard). Need to see one in the flesh as looking at the pictures, I’m not convinced about the open holes for internal cable routing – unless the production version comes with some kind of baffle or gaiter, the average ride would leave this full of mud. Not sure about lower headset bearing or BB life if it fills up with gunk!

The frame looks similar to the new V3 so I’m guessing it has the same arrangement whereby the BB is a totally sealed tube and the downtube is open at the BB end for crap to fall out coming from the headset holes. The only holes that are blind(ish) are the ones through the rear swing arms for the rear brake and mech. I taped and siliconed these up after threading the hoses through.

Also similar to the V3 there may be an option for a carbon mudguard that bolts onto the lower swingarm, but they weren’t in stock when I got mine so I just made up a ‘neoguard’ job from an old innertube from the lower swingarm to seat tube.

TBH I do let the air out of my WC Boxxers as the bike fits better in the bag with the forks compressed.

They’re available in Nth America in October, so thats probably March next year for the UK ;)

I know there’s no Need to and there is scientific evidence that you don’t NEED to, but all airlines say you do have to reduce the pressure in your tyres and they have generally always asked me if I have. Therefore I am not lying when I say I have :wink:

No need to take pressure out of shocks and I also just reduce pressure in UST tyres to 15 – 20psi so they will remain seated.

Also for the effort, it’s worth removing the discs just to stop them rubbing against something in your bag.

I hope you picked and ate them for your tea?
I carry a bigger back pack from now until Nov and my rides get about 30 mins longer as I dive off into the undergrowth to forage mushrooms – ha!

Well having sussed out all of the sneaky lines I then went and crashed on those stages losing all of the gained time and more, I suppose it’s Karma – ha!

Nice subtle link to get yourself some referrals :wink:

When in Whistler get out to Pemberton or Squamish for the trails there. In Whistler/Blackcomb try and find ‘Hey Bud’ and ‘Ride Don’t Slide’, both involve a bit of a push up but are worth it for the best natural trails in the area.

Go and see the boys at http://www.ticket2ridebc.com for shuttle run guiding on any of the trails at Pemby and Squamish, Pemby day is Tues and Squamish on a Thurs.

Been using these since they were first released as the Rain King and agree they are fantastic tyres that work in a really broad spectrum of conditions, they were even ace in icy conditions last winter.

They will run UST, beads are really tight so they inflate without problem on UST rims.

It you’re heavy on the rear brake and lock up, then you will trash a rear pretty quickly, otherwise I am still running a pair that I fitted 6 races ago and the rear is just about ready for a change but not actually trashed yet.

You can get a pair for £70 if you shop around.

Gee has been using, (and trashing), a new Conti prototype tyre this season, it’s a love child of a Minion and HR.

Probably, I had about 30 offers lower than asking and ended up with about 10 people in a dutch auction for it 8)

If you fly with Thomas Cook, (Canadian Affair, Air Transat), you can pre-book your bike onto the out and inbound flights here;-

https://yourseatyourchoice.thomascookairlines.co.uk/thomascookuk/login

Costs £30 each way for 32kg of ‘sporting equipment’ and you can book more than 1 bike onto the flight too :wink:

As Gravity-Slave mentioned above I fill mine to the 32kg max with body armour, helmet, riding shoes et al as technically that is sporting equipment too.

This is what you need if you want to buy the propper parts;-
http://shop.commencal.com/product_info.php?cPath=62_68&products_id=424

You can only buy a complete pivot kit, not individual ones.

I did the same on my Supreme DH and replaced with an M8 hex set and nut, think you need one ~40mm long, (basically 22mm bush width + frame support widths x2 + nut thickness). A far cheaper and stronger solution that the stoopid bolts they use :wink:

I found Snowcard to be cheaper this year when I went also Columbus Birect do cover, just check all three for best price.

If you fancy a day out of the park being guided, (Squamish, Pemberton etc) contact http://www.ticket2ridebc.com and say Steve sent ya :wink:

If it were total for the whole period D-W has been running it would muller the SDH figures.

you think?
[/quote]

I know, as the D-W site owner is a friend :wink: In its day it was world renown before Pink Bike and SDH took off.

SDH has actually been going for nearly as long as D-W in various guises, but was regarded in the same light as MBUK forum for it’s ‘knowledge base’ :wink:.

I could even tell you the reasons why everyone buggered off to SDH and Pink Bike if you really want to be bored silly :lol:

I’d certainly try out an Orange but they are a bit ‘marmite’, you’ll either love it or hate it.

Whilst I love the design of the Orange being an Engineer myself, I’ve always ridden 4 bar linkage and hate the ‘direct mount’ feeling of them. It’s all personnal preference.

Although I understand the comments refering people to D-W, tbh that site is dead these days and a lot of the people who used to post regularly on there are on SDH now. So if you filter the crap, (which is obvious as they usually start their replies “I’ve never had one, but I’ve heard…”!!), there is a lot of sound advice on there.

Also those figures quoted above aren’t the full facts as D-W had a total site re-build last year and everyone had to re-register so the count No’s went back to zero. If it were total for the whole period D-W has been running it would muller the SDH figures.

There are quite a few ‘mini DH bikes’ around these days too, like the Commencal Supreme range, which are plenty man enough for 95% of UK tracks and also enable you to pedal up them too, which is pretty difficult on a full DH bike.

If you Def want a full DH bike, for £850 I’d look at the following;-
1) Santa Cruz V10 (ver 2) – Rolls Royce of DH bikes in the mid to late 00’s. Need to check the back end bearings are ‘tight’ though and if not, negotiate discount to buy a new kit that is ~ £100 from Stiff.
2) Giant Glory – bomb proof DH bike,
3) Orange 222/ 223 / 224 – simple and cheap to upgrade.

Where are you and when are you going on Hol?

I have some brand new Fr Minions 2.5 Dual Ply Super Tacky @ £30 each, can be delivered/collected in the Stafford or Warrington areas, don’t really want to post.

Off to Glasto tomorrow until Mon so it will be Tues next week before I can sort out.

I love this;- http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/6625825/

Then again I’m bias since it’s mine :wink:

I’m entered

EVOC costs a ferking fortune though and IMO not ~£200 better than a Neil Pryde and all of it’s shop copies, CRC, Leisurelakes, the dhb one above etc..etc.

Been using a Neil Pryde for the past 7 years on planes and it’s still it great condition.

Was there last week and they may struggle to get Garbanzo open for mid July, lots of snow up top still.

Tell him to get up to Pemberton, Squamish and North Shore for some real mountain biking

The dates are correct, practice/seeding Friday, race on Saturday. It’s the Inners Highland Games on the Sunday so race moved so it didn’t clash.

Highlights from the DH races are also listed on Eurosport 2 on Sunday night.

I’d suggest the new road gap into the berms just below the forest will be a good place to watch.

World Cup @ FW is on Eurosport 2 Sat & Sun night.

I discovered another little gem on this trip too where you can pre-book your bike onto the flights;-
https://yourseatyourchoice.thomascookairlines.co.uk/thomascookuk/login

Costs £30 each way which is cheaper than paying at check in and also lets you book on more than 1 bike. Check in was so much easier this time, no faffing about walking between desks et al.

A similar ‘oldfart’ like yourself who rides for the T2R DH team :wink:

Canadain Affair have special offers for round trip deals;-
http://www.canadianaffair.com/en/round-trip-special-flight-offers/

If you’re flexible then there’s bargains to be had, plus you get an extra 10% off for booking with Ticket2ridebc.com 8)

looks like pic was taken on the drive of Edelweiss @ Nancy Greene Drive ?

You should know :wink:

Out there last week to pick it up, got a return flight for £289 which was cheaper than paying shipping,duty & VAT and a bonus holiday too to christen it 8)

Brought it home from Canada on Sat and I havent got a race until July – D’Oh!!

I’m doing the series on my Meta 6 with Hope pro 2’s on 5.1 rims, 2×9 set up, with bash guard and chain device. Gravity dropper post, fox 36 talas, Nobby Nic tyres. Weighs in @ 32lb.

At Ae after practice I put Continental Rain Kings on, (now called Barons), which worked great on stages 1 and 5 but where a major slog on the 3 other pedally stages due to their rolling resistance. That taught me a lesson as I lost more time on those 3 stages than what I gained on the other 2, so a fast rolling ‘do it all’ tyre is Def the way to go.

Eh, doesn’t make any difference what the rear is, fronts are either 2 or 3 ring mechs. I’m actually running a 3 ring mech on a 2 ring set up too just by winding in the travel limit screw.

To inflate his tyres I’m guessing, I put them on the plane in my bike bag.