Dayshift bump 🙂

Curious as to “what really happened” any photos, english interviews cropped up yet anywhere ? haven’t seen anything myself yet.

Did Fontanas seatpost
A)snap off ?
B)work loose and fall off ?

From the race footage i watched, i saw the post fly off and bounce on the ground. Followed by several shots of Fontana carrying on standing up, and appeared to be sitting on the top tube as he rode through the tech area without stopping. From that i will assume he didn’t have a jagged hole reamer, and i didn’t see him stop and fiddle with the clamp or remove/drop jagged remains into the seat tube.

🙂

Did wonder if i was watching the same race as the commentators…..

Fontana was ace, cheeky little whips over the boardwalk rock garden jump, testing attack on lap 5, then go for it last lap, and lose the seat post like that.
Top marks for carrying on and holding 3rd 🙂

🙂
had a peak at the bids, bike withdrawn from sale reserve not met, only got bidded up to £10,300 only 5 bids.

(i would have taken 10k for cash 🙂 )

The village pub then ? 🙂 handy to know as the village shop keeps odd hours, always the selworthy tea room for summer season only as well if your on a cake tour of minehead/dunkery/porlock area.

good reason for sleeping in the car there qwerty 🙂 in case of little night time showers.

Coming soon “SingletrackDownhillWorld” 🙂

Northwind i flayed the outer layer off my waterproofs instead of skin off my sack and crack, that granite sand gets everywhere. Waterproofs are knackered but i am not walking funny.

Chipps, good go old chap ! did you break anything on the loaner bike 🙂 (bet your already planning next years…)

i forgot you had the Last, Northwind

in case of suspension failure i will have stashed a 10pack of beer in my tool/spares box, feel free to join me if it all goes wrong

(see how confident i am, to late to re build the hardtail now 🙁 )

bit more flash than ours Northwind.

i found the odd ticking noise and fixed it so mine should now make it out of the carpark, might have to tweek the rebound a bit or i will be hanging out of a tree.

Be surprised what people get up into there cars in traffic jams, the things you see when sat up high in an HGV….

Thats pretty grim on public transport mind.

well as it’s a guessing game 🙂

Staged photo.

I would have tied the bike to the tree, wound off the fork compression/softer springs for the sag effect, the rear tyre appears to be hooked up as well, i can only see one brake lever so assume one wheel is locked off as well.

Lots of detail, but not enough, no front tyre compression, no dust or flying stones/gravel/dirt, rider appears well balanced.

Perhaps a viral marketing ploy from the camera company, in which case they have done rather well as this photo has cropped up all over the place 🙂

Riders choice on armour.
Have they removed all the rocks from the wall ride down ? 🙂

Could leave the armour in the pit area and then lose time riding in to grab it and suit up on the gondola ride.

Armour is strongly reccomended, i don’t bounce very well so suffer from heat retention and pad up, quite a lot prefer the t-shirt/shorts/knee pads/maybe a neck brace. Down to the rider to choose what suits them best.

waves at xiphon 🙂

Rigid raider was allright in the lower woods and motorway, but i don’t think Frazer would let me do it 🙂
It will most likely do GlenCoe again, maybe with disc brakes.

Curious as to what it’s going to be like on a susser after 4 times on hardtail, having a year off, was eyeing something up to race, but a shaky start to the year and i need to take things easy for a bit longer 🙂

Chipps, well done for having a go, none of the dirt staffers have made it up yet 🙂
A downhill bike is an excellent choice. Get hold of it as soon as you can and practice, get it dialled in, be comfy on it. Some take airsprung enduro bikes most use a DH rig….a handfull of us race hardtails, be carefull of them, lively bunch, Jesse Wigman managed to get 4th overall.
I will be taking a bouncy bike this year and joining Vets myself (must email frazer)
Get there early and you normally get access to the track in the morning, you really want to get up there and have 1 or 2 slow roll downs to look at lines, drop offs etc etc, the big world cup gap jump is not a feature, and the hip jump and Tissot jump can be ridden round.
If possible get up there a day or 2 before. If you have a practice day, take it easy, you may have trouble walking if you over practice. You really don’t want to try and race with out looking at the track.

The start, not so manic, take your pick, try to sprint a DH bike uphill in full armour for a couple of KM with out bonking/puking or just womble up at a nice pace. The uphill start is designed to spread things out, and it will. Orange225 (and many others now)have a habit of turning DH rigs into a hardtail for the sprint (zip ties, wood wedges)last year was way too hot for me and i nearly puked in me helmet on the way up, year before that i zipped past 50 riders on the hardtail on the ride up.

Racing it self varies, the real contenders are knocking out 5+min runs over and over again, the rest of us are trying to survive 6 hours so take it a bit easy, however the faster you go the smoother it is, slower beats you up more.
Expect to be passed maybe a few times a lap, so far rider conduct has been excellent, some sections do not allow overtaking they have to wait, NEVER look back ever you will crash, get over hold your line and shout the overtaker through when safe to do so, large sections of the track have minimal pull over space or run off.

The spares you take in to the technical area are what you have, no nipping back to the van mid race.
Gears are only needed for the sprint start, Orange225 (and many others) ditch rear mechs and chains mid race, shed some weight go faster, save energy by not pedaling.
A spare set of wheels is a must, if you can set up with rotors and cassette and inflated tyres ready to roll for an instant swap, have a pump and tube on you anyway, and master the art of DH bike wheel removal. It may be faster to roll on a flat or try to fix it. I managed to run down from the top in 38mins when the tyre bead let go, this was quicker than trying to get back and take the gondola down and i still bagged the run (crap time but a run)

Riders drop out from run 1, bikes let go, suspension fails, wheels break etc etc etc
I belive the outlaw riders will be on heckle duty again, this can vary from being manhugged by a drunk in a ginger wig, to being flashed by 3 young ladies (can email you a photo of that if needed)

It’s late and i am tired as i have been out having my first ride on susser for many years, pre race getting to know my bike, i have done write up’s for all the previous races, so a quick google search should bring up lots of ramblings and photos (mostly on dirts webber)

Fantatsic event, killer mix of riders and racers and some mental racing.

P.S. what bike you picked ?

followed Kayaks link, interesting little read. Out of stock right now, but UK source £4.99+pp for a twin pack, “as used by the french police” 🙂
(wonders how much halfords charge)

Yeah them french cars design flaw, jack it up, remove the front wheel to access the hatch that goes to the back of the headlamp 🙂 think i watched them try to change the bulb on 5th gear.

Curious about these breathalysers, going on the price are they like the old ones, straw full of crystals and a poly bag ?

was there 2 weeks ago in the sun.

Sea kayaks are on the loch side. I grabbed some fuel on the way over and was surprised to find an automated credit/debit card fuel station there, 2 small pumps, £1.49.9 then for petrol (did find it dearer elsewhere) public toilets, nice pub, few miles down the road is a small village shop, carrying camping gas etc etc, campsite looked nice. Only stopped for a few hours, but fairplay to the bloke who rode up over the steep side of the pass and back down to Applecross on a knackered hardtail 🙂
Really nice spot, will have to go back.

I reckon Jesse Wigman from Alpine bikes should have a crack at it, best he has done with the Fort William Downhill Enduro is 4th overall on an old spesh P3 with manitou forks.
🙂

Will look for it when i go back up to Scotland, anything not as unpleasant as Deet is worth a look.

excellent thread this one 🙂

Shouldn’t be a problem on 140mm, make sure it is in full working order, give it a service/oil change.

A few have run Pikes, most hardtailers tend to make do with what they have, don’t think any one has used triples yet, but seen all sorts of forks in photos.

I haven’t raced it, from chatting with those that have and watching the headcam footage the worst is at the start, that then becomes more like a rubble fireroad, then rolling meadows and woods.

I would be more concerned about getting a good start then getting T-boned by an out of control frenchman 🙂

waves at xiphon 🙂

A scouting mission, the plan was to have Charlie Bikemonger on his moonlander as well, but dates clashed with SSEC, so i had to slay the mountain on my own.
Immense fun, and hard work on any bike, might be some fat bikes next time….
Damage is 4 brake pads, 2 have metal backing plate showing, scored rims, burst the lower headset bearing in seeding, freewheel didn’t like the cold and packed up for seeding so had to coast/scoot it down and i broke me bell, think it’s just full of bog mud.
Might do it again next year on the Monkey.
As i was up there i lobbed it down the motorway section at Nevis range as well, brakes got a bit hot doing that 🙂

🙂 waves at Northwind from way down south on exmoor.

Undecided on this years Enduro, getting old, should have joined Kem and Alistair last year in vets, quite excited about trying a susser out, but being tempted by a bagger288, not sure if my ankles and neck muscles can cope, and i belive the outlaw drinking support team will be showing us how many midge bites they get on there boobies again this year.

Might try a rigid 29er just for giggle 🙂

To the OP, if you can get down the Alps ok you will be fine, riding down a world cup track is quite different to trying to race down it, the top section is sweet and smooth, when you exit the last boardwalk you are into rock gardens, it gets a touch smoother after the deer fence crossing where it is a custom to pull off track and have a little rest, you are heading into the woods and down to the wallride, bit choppy through here with nice rocks here and there, then table top exit the woods onto the motorway and speed, i mostly am holding on by here in the Enduro and just aero tuck and enjoy the speed, taking care not to hit the “wall” too fast and lift off 🙂 when racing i keep to the right, by the fence for the final 2 jumps, these can be rolled, due to amount of high speed traffic in the race i keep out of the way so i don’t get landed on by Guy Martin or another Orange pilot doing 40’ish 🙂

Just to add,

Jesse races on a beat up 04’ish Spesh P2 with knackered manitou shermans, last year we had me on a Atomlab Pimp2, a dialled Alpine and a on-one456 steel frame, and a Evil sov, all with a mix of 140-160 forks, also raced it on a Superfly styler (twice cos it was nice) deluxe 853, and a Charge Blender (not so nice, didnt like the motorway) some one raced on a stumpjumper FSR last year and didn’t die.

So a well built and looked after 6″ AM bike should be quite nice 🙂

Yeaaa outlaw riders flashing action 🙂

Hardtails race the six hour Enduro there so far Jesse wigman has placed 4th overall (and top 20 the other 2 times 🙂 ) the dirty great gap jump from last years world cup, along with a part of the woods is world cup only so don’t worry to much. Few spots on the top section (rockgarden) need carefull line choice, if you know where to roll over then fine, don’t assume you “will” roll, some will faceplant you, if in doubt, get off track and look first.
The motorway jumps are all rollable (unless they have changed over this winter)go slow first run. The motorway is easy to pick up lots of speed, be carefull for the first few runs.

Expect to be beat up the next day. I loves passing people in the enduro having a “ache & shake break” at the deer fence crossing on big travel bikes 🙂
It’s a lot of fun, but while not overly technical, it’s a very lumpy rough track that does break bikes and smash wheels….and riders, armour is good.
Lots of people suffer after around 5 runs, some can get up to 22 runs in a day ? (mental)

Also drop in to Glencoe ski resort on the way, shorter steeper fun track there as well, with chairlift and i highly reccomend the fry up they do.

Be sensible, and early season is much nicer than late season, i walked the track the week before it opened last year….it was almost smooth in places, not the rutted holes of wheel smashing doom that i chuck a hardtail down in the DH Enduro 🙂

So just to confirm then…it’s tomorrow at 12 🙂

I am free and get to go for the first time, as 4 year olds are in charge of tills can i pay in easter eggs 🙂 or is sterling required.

Looking forward to this, most likely buy a stack of crap i don’t need, that may come in handy one day, or just some cranks.

Edit.
just found the other jumble thread with added agency-scum 🙂

Evil kit is not in the 2012 silverfish product guide.

If no joy with silver fish, then check out wheels manufacturing, they make after market cnc hangers they only do 100+ variations, good chance Evil use one they make. They import via Madison and can be ordered through any bike shop that sells shimano gear (madisons again) or even take your Evil mech hanger down the LBS they may well have a wheelsmfg wall chart of hangers in the workshop.

Oh and they are good quailty hangers, unlike the oem jobbies you get on most bikes these days.

Happy hunting 🙂

Big Dave, “get up to speed they tend to stay there” 🙂

Kinda like turbo lag, thats how i would try to describe it, found that out at last years SSUK, get the thing wound up and it would just go, i could back off the power and maintain speed with ease.

However, not being able to find my bike at the start, then being stuck behind 100+ mincers, by the time i wound it up i had to brake/stop/ride over a bikemonger etc etc, nearly killed me all that extra excercise. Was nice when up to speed though.

Got some old aero bars for when i ever get round to drops, bit of fixed wheel time trialling as well 🙂

It has been done many times.
http://www.mtbr.com has a good subforum for Surly and pictures crop up there. They have been set up as SSCX’ers or road use commute/race.

I may venture there myself, got a riser bar V brake set up right now, all i need is a new drop bar, V brake hooded levers with cable runs attached and i can swap bar set ups at my lesiure.

At the moment i run SS, if/when my knees decided i need gears then a thumbshifter or rapidfire pod that has a hinged bracket will come into play as well.
I could keep my 40mm stem riser bar set up for off road use, and just unbolt the brake cable at the caliper/v brake, remove riser combo and then just swap to a longer stem, drop bar brake lever set up all pre-cabled.
Why i hear some of you cry out ? i can’t have a bike for everything so make what i have fit what i want to do. It can be done.

Ask charlie what year the frames are ! 2011 spec frames have canti studs frame and fork. 2012 spec frames are disc only but the fork is ment to be not as harsh (i reckon the 2011 is why on special)

Back in 2005 you couldn’t get a coil with the right I2I length to fit an Enduro.

Mojo did rework DHX5 coils by putting a spacer in to shorten the stroke to the correct I2I the main problem was the air adjust valve couldn’t be used, so to adjust air pressure for ramp up & bottom out you have to remove the shock from the bike.
However, it now being 2012, shocks have moved on lots and you might be able to find the correct size off the shelf.

The coil sprung SX trails had a DHX 3 or 4 with factory fixed air pressure and no valve for adjustment. Only a service centre could make adjustments.

cheez0

I will assume you are after a 25.4mm post, as you haven’t stated what size you are looking for. Most BMXs are 25.4mm

I had the same issue but could only find 200mm posts in 25.4mm.

They are out there, finding a long one in stock is another thing though.

I got a Thomson 330mm 25.4mm which is holding up fine, and quite comfy.

dont know if they operate midweek, but http://www.woodlandriders-racing.co.uk down at Tavistock might have something going on. Also there is a quantocks service via facebook, look for triscombe uplifts, again unlikely for midweek but maybe worth a look. I know Kustom bikes dont operate midweek unless you prebook a group special day for avill or coombe sydnham.
Cant think of anyone else in the area.

oh well singletrack dont allow direct posting of photos, only from bucket sites.

Last few years i have raced in south wales and fort william and the south west.
Spesh 04 P3 stock bike, great fun, about 37Lbs in DH mode, could be lighter but who cares i dont do xc races.
Charge Blender, with 05 Z1FR2 forks, great fun on steep tech tracks, bit nervous on the high speed motorway at fort william, crap for anything flat or xc with the fork set up at 150mm.

Superfly Styler Deluxe 853, bit more of an all rounder even with the Z1FR2 up front, think it weighed in around 34Lbs for DH (thats quite light) well sorted for Fort williams WC DH track and south west/wales/dragon tracks, loads of fun, raced it for 2 years.

This year i got loaned a Atomlab Pimp2 frame, run with same parts as above and the Z1FR2 fork, compact frame, horizontal dropouts, stacks of fun at fort william, havent weighed it but floating around mid 30’s, should be making a race on Gawtons super Tavi track later this month, mostly been running singlespeed. A touch small for me but very chuckable and comfy triple butted steel frame.

I would post some piccys but HTN and dirt i can direct load without a host site. The DH HT mob are out there having fun and ripping tracks a new one 🙂

Love that Nicolai, not sure if my legs could cope with it at the fort, 🙂

Charlie, if i can get my monkey close to the weight of your SIR9 i shall be a happy bunny. I might be wrong getting sunstroke and all that but is your 9 set up with 33×17 as i recall it went uphill quite well, well better than i can go uphill on a strange bike.

Aidan, this brutal bit, are we talking brutal like the fort william world cup downhill track, or brutal like lots of climbing in 30o heat 🙂

Yep coming.

trying 34×18 this time (over 42×18 at FOD) so slower on the flat and coasting downhills this time, but able to ride uphill when stuck behind a load of slowbies.

Got some WTB Bronsons to play with, on board in flight whisky catered for. I am told that Surly KM forks are a tad stiff, so 2.2 tyres and malt whisky should take the edge off things. 😀

I know Charlie the bike monger has a demo Pugsley down south in Swanage, think there might only be one or two other demo bikes elsewhere in the UK.

Look loads of fun, it’s just getting to try one out first as they are a bit specialist on the wheels, although nothing to stop you running normal 26″ wheels or skinny 700c/29er tyres. Still lurking in the back of my mind that i should have got a pug over the Karate Monkey, maybe i can blag a go on one at SSUK 😀

Bought mine back in 2006.
It got good reviews at the time, it is cheap and lived up to the reviews.

Unless it has changed much, heres my thoughts on my 5 year old set of upper body armour jacket.
Cheap but well made has lasted well and seen me through lots of crashes.
If you intend to run a neck brace, it may not play well with them without modification. A neck roll should be less hassle (and cheaper).

In time i decided to get something cooler.. the brand x use’s a lot of foam padding, this keeps you safe but retains heat. I swapped to an AXO jacket which weighs about the same, it has more coverage of hardshell armour and the foam/rubber padding is smaller in coverage but thicker. In other words the armour is where you want it. It is still warm to wear (all body armour is) but not as hot as Brand X.

For a starter on a budget the Brand X is good gear, the extra coverage of padding may be a good thing as there is a black art to crashing. The more you crash the better you get at it, and you can get away with less padding.

I did look at at the 661 assault jacket for my first choice, lots of neoprene rubber padding to cook you, the X is well worth looking into.

Measure yourself up for it, then get someone else to re-measure you. I bought mine from CRC without trying it first, i went on mag reviews, mine was spot on, cheap quality bit of kit, now my spare/loaner jacket.

P.S.
all body armour gets whiffy real quick, lob in the shower or washing machine, and some febreze…hmmm the funky smell of stale armour in the summer on the cwm carn uplift…minging 😆

Another WD40er here as well.
If the bike has been subjected to a long wet event or dunked in a river then whip out the seat post and BB to let it dry and drain.

Whenever i have the frame stripped down (fork off/BB off)then it gets a healthy dose of WD40 in all the tubes, leave it for a few days then mop up excess and rebuild.

Done this with 853 Superfly styler, Sanko 4130 Charge blender, Daytona Atomlab. Not much effort involved, just common sense really, if you have a steel frame and it gets wet inside, just take parts off and dry and spray.

I tend to have the frame stripped a few times a year so its no problem to just spray then. I think i am overdoing it, but hey a minute of time to WD40 is nothing. Some people have steel frames for years with never doing a thing to them. Theres lots to choose from, and Coastkid has been riding a steel pugsley on the salty beachs of scotland for a few years and his frame hasnt died.

Looked at Surlys 1×1 or Troll ?

I went with a Karate Monkey frame because it has v-brake bosses, i have a set of rim brake 700c/29er wheels already, for me it was cheaper to buy v-brakes than a new wheelset disc ready and new discs.

i dont know….set screws ? 😀

I have been talking about the Single ring DH device, which uses a jam nut to hold the roller in place and you can dial it in for chainline.

You never said you had the dual ring device with a set screw.

Mine has got better since it seized up. Frist i filled it with oil for a few months then just filled it with grease. It spins better than it did new now. Although i reckon better quality bearings in the first place would have been better. (china ones in mine)

A cup of tea and get lubing it will spin again. 😛

did you fix it ?

The seals should lift off with bolt in place, you may have to tease the front seal off around the circlip prongs. I got mine off ok, but they may have changed the design.

oldfart you still there ?

(nips down to garage to get gamut for a chat/looksee)