Pretty clear video here that explains what will happen

I can’t give you a certain answer but apart from what you’ve written the graphics card spec is probably relevant too.

We were there for the Hope women’s race last October and did as Danposs suggests, you might get a bit more wind up there but what a view! Isn’t that what ‘vanlife’ is all about? ;)

Reckon you’re giving us the whole story.

I shouted again “oi, there is a queue mate” only to be met with a load of verbal back from him.**** In the end he moved

****What happened here?

Some examples of what we’ve been building
(We’ve used wood as support it plenty places ;) )

I think if you’ve got the opportunity to own it then it is a great asset to have, then even if you don’t build trails or start and get bored you’ve still got that land to do so at some point. It won’t take that much management in my opinion apart from keeping the forest floor roughly clean of fallen wood which you might well do anyway to keep you log pile stocked?

I’ve spent the last two years building a lot of trails around our house in Norway, sometimes fixing old trails up and sometimes building completely new, we started an mtb holiday business up here so we’ve been developing trails for that. I think a lot of the motivation comes from knowing we’re going to make a living from them but that might not be the case if i really thought about it..?

I’ll try explain how I feel about the trails, building and riding them, it might be a bit rambly as thoughts come into my head though, sorry. We’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of hours trail building, if you want to do it properly, then it takes a long time! You can do quite a lot with 70m drop, after doing some trail building courses I was surprised to learn that around 7 degrees inclination makes the ideal trail! Things like A-line, Skyline in Queenstown and maybe stuff at Glentress will all be around 7 degrees (overall) as it means you can ride without really pedalling or braking. This of course means your trail will be longer and take a long time to build, making a proper berm for this trail takes days for example.

I feel like trail building is super satisfying but I think it also needs a point to give you the motivation, or rather to keep that motivation going after the initial excitement. In that I mean something like I mentioned before, we do it for our business but if I just did it for me then I reckon I would get bored quite soon. So maybe it if it a project with a bunch of mates, or for the local club to come use or if you have kids who can learn on them etc. I’ve also found that because you spend sooo much time building the trails and you often ride them over and over testing stuff when building then by the time it comes to ride them properly it is not that exciting, you maybe get a little sick of them. It is WAY more satisfying at this point to take other people or see other people ride your trails, so point above applies to that, if you just make it for yourself I reckon you might get bored quickly but if you have a group of people coming to ride them then it feels more satisfying.

As for maintenance – If you build down under denser forest you’ll have way less maintenance as less can grow. We’ve build stuff in dense pine forest and there’s no maintenance but we’ve also built in areas where they’ve recently cut down the trees and man stuff grows fast there, especially brambles as mentioned above! It’s not so bad for maintenance though, like I’ve been up to strim the trail of brambles maybe 3-4 times this summer, so every month or 2, not every week. If you want trails to last and be less maintenance then it usually takes longer but build. Thing of drainage and where water will go, use rocks to build up the base of the trail instead of wood (it will rot in a couple of years).Don’t use the first layer of soil, dig the more ‘black’ looking organic stuff off the top and use the proper soil underneath.

I enjoy it for 99% of the time, I can’t remember too many times I’ve been out there and though screw this, I’m having a crap time, probably mostly because I can do it on my terms and work as much as I decide. I think it is often mostly enjoyable because you can see results immediately, you put your spade in the ground and move dirt and there you go, you’re making a tail. On the other hand you will often have moments of wtf am I doing? I’m out here in this forest in the middle of nowhere hitting this ground with a mattock, why the heck? Who even cares haha. When you think of it completely objectively, it’s such a random activity, maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, point is I think it is worth it and you’ll enjoy it if you’ve got other people to enjoy it with.

Told you I was good at rambling!

Off topic but another couple of pics from that trip, can you spot the bike in the first one?

Looking down to our house in the tiny village on the left there

Some of these blues are definitely tickling my fancy, not too sure about the metallic sort or sparkly effects though. Think my favourite so far might be the teal (is it a Stooge?) bike in Kayak’s post.

Twonks – I like that but maybe with yellow instead of white, there’s actually a few British racing green bikes on Starling’s Instagram and one with the Öhlins yellow details looks lovely –

Found something similar to what you’re talking about on the Stanton Instagram though Twonks – https://www.instagram.com/p/BzaV8Zanz2B/

My favourite colour is Orange, a load of my kit is orange but I think it often looks a bit naff on bikes. Another thing worth noting is I’m in the market for a new shock and probably going for one of the Fox DHX2s with the orange coil.

Timbog – the photo is on a mountain called Grimsnuten in Hardangerfjord, Norway. We actually run a MTB holiday company up here. Give me a shout if you’re interested in riding up here, happy to give you some info even if you don’t want to join on one of ours trips! A whole host of photos like that on my own Instagram or an album from that particular trip on my Pinkbike.

p.s. how do you post a direct Instagram pic? The Forum help page doesn’t suggest anything.

Kayak – do you own all those bikes now? If so, that is ridiculous! I do like your teal/turquoise examples though.

British racing green sounds cool and with some sort of sleeve on one tube in another colour I really like! Something like this

I also like the idea of a light pastel colour, anyone seen the colour they made the last Defenders in? Brendan Fairclough had his worlds bike painted that colour and it looked great!

Some sort of blue I like but my girlfriend’s is a light blue so can’t get too close to that ;)

Riklegge i’ll mail you! I know how to fiddle about with Photoshop so will probably end up doing it myself too :)

Hahaha! Let me just address some of those bike complaints. Cables are a mess, yes, I’m sorry :( but they came that long and I’ve not had the tools to fix it (only been a year now), bought the kit now though so I’ll get it done!

The saddle angle – Have you seen how steep the hills are here? You need it that angle here when going up to stop sliding off the back! No but seriously, it looks weird but if you live somewhere where you’re riding up some decent hills regularly then try it. It is way comfier and you don’t get any pressure on your gooch.

It’s called a krafse here by the way

can you buy these anywhere in the UK? Never seen one until I moved to Norway but it is a pretty standard tool here. They are the best for trail building. Spikey ends for digging up stuff, you can use the whole crescent to make big chops into the ground or just skim bits off the top, then they’re great for dragging dirt about. Lightweight as well!

Is that the case across the whole of the country?

I know what it is like with fines, I used to live in Slovenia, same things there! Police stopped us once and tried to claim we were all not wearing our seatbelts. It was pitch black and they were driving about 30m behind, how the flip they could see that I don’t know, wanted us to hand over our passports and go pay a fine the next day. Much arguing later they gave up on trying to find something to fine us on.

Anyway, where in Croatia do you live?

Just come visit our place in Norway ;). You’ll be fine here.

Cheers for the replies.

Let’s add another layer of complexity. I live in Norway but will be heading to the UK to visit family for Christmas and New Year. That means we already own a full set of winter (studded) tyres fitted to a 2nd set of wheels up here. I won’t be driving far with those! So we’ll be driving to the UK with the summer tyres of course.

To change tyres in the UK would mean leaving behind a fairly new set of summer tyres and I don’t especially want to buy another set of winters because we already have some. Plus if I can avoid spending a load of cash moneys on a new set of tyres that would be great.

I was wondering if it might be the case that you can travel on normal tyres but must carry snow chains/socks or something similar that would allow us to get through the alps?

I know about the vingette in Austria and Switzerland and about the 90 day thing, that is the case now anyway, any longer and you must register to say you’re living there.

Have you explained to her why? I reckon the child in her is unwilling to be told what to do for no good reason. If you explain why, without being antagonistic or sarcastic and explain that you actually care you might get a reasonable response?

The way you’ve written it sounds like you’re both just trying to wind each other up now but maybe you’ve not written the whole story word for word (which i’m not blaming you for, I just mean I don’t know the whole story)

I reckon there’s a few in Portugal open through winter. Lausa for example, Wheeler’s MTB hols might be worth a look?

Oo! i’ve got a good one for this! Do you drink coffee? Filter coffee or made in a Moka pot or something? Keep the old granules, which if you’re me are always lying around anyway because I can never be arsed to clean the pot until I make the next coffee, and use those mixed in with your soap. It feel likes you’re making a total mess and getting dirtier hands but it cleans them up really well.

Clean, green and free! :D

What is a hammer hitch exactly?

Heat won’t work as aluminium expands much faster than steel. Would try to cool the post but I don’t really know how to get a cooling element ‘into’ the post since it is a dropper.

Anyone else dare to post this photo? I’m dying to know what this bike looked like now!

Tomhoward – you must know a lot of careful carbon bike owners. I have lost count of the amount of people I know or have met that have replaced carbon frames because they’ve either totalled it or found a tiny little crack in it.

I think it is a little bit about your will as well. The most environmentally friendly option is not to buy a new bike/new parts at all, but we all want or need a new one every now and then don’t we…

I thought about this somewhat when buying my last bike and I ended up with a custom made steel bike. Theory being that I will keep this bike for years to come, not wanting the latest and greatest each year, hopefully the bike will last 5-6… 10 years without me needing to buy a new one. If it should break I would hope that I can get the steel repaired pretty easily. I had a Mondraker Foxy XR before, replaced the rear triangle 3 times. It was all on warranty so no fuss from me buy I didn’t like the fact I had used 3 rear triangles on 1 bike. I bet you most carbon bike owners would tell you the same story.

The other factor would be to buy 2nd hand instead of brand new, meaning you’re not asking someone to produce a new thing.

Yo! I actually have one of these you could have. I cracked the bit that clips onto the light but the two cups that screw together onto the helmet are fine. Is that any good to you? Happy to post it but i’m in Norway so it might cost you a couple more £ than from the UK. Is that any good to you?

Tuboflard – I’m not sure if i’m allowed to do this but it is I, Will (scuse the username), as mentioned earlier in the thread. We’re pretty new in this land of mtb holidays but I think we can probably offer what you’re looking for… Big mountains, fjords reaching out into the distance, sweet singletrack, little wooden houses and i’m sure we can sort out a boat for you to the start of a trail at least one day! Oh and we don’t charge anywhere near the prices of the other places ;)

Here’s Cathro’s vid to give you an idea of what it is all about, enjoy :)

p.e. olaa – who are you in real life? Have we met?

The riding at Jamnica itself is not ‘that’ good, the better riding there is up the valley around a place called Črna (Koroška valley). You should contact Jon at Ride Slovenia or if he is too busy speak to Jani at Ridgeline Trails. Jon is based about 45m away from Črna in a place called Luče and often rides over in Koroška, he does week long or long weekend type trips with everything included so it is a bit more ‘fixed’. Jani is involved in the organisation of the Black Hole Enduro (what was the EWS race last year) and spent a lot of time building that ‘the ridge’ stage. He also has his own guiding company there and is quite flexible so you can contact him and he’ll probably be able to sort you out with some guiding in the valley.

I used to work for Jon at Ride Slovenia and guided a lot around Petzen and Koroška and absolutely love it, there’s some fantastic trails to be found in those hills outside of Petzen and Koroška! Enjoy!

Snowing down there today, blazing hot up here in Norway today, just sayin

Xiaomi phones, choose your budget, pick the one that suits. Or as previous said Moto G7, reviews seem to suggest the standard G7 is enough, no need to go for the G7 plus.

What was your last phone and what is wrong with it?

Some friends of mine travelling down from Hexham (Northumberland)

The logic used in that fight 4 brexit post is astounding

Submarined – I 2nd your recommendation for S-Town, really fascinating story about that fella and plenty of turns that you don’t expect. Listened to it a lot whilst driving.

If you like true crime then have a listen to The Teacher’s Pet as well, it was produced by The Australian newspaper and covers a murder that happened in Australia in the 80s. Teacher has affair with student and kill’s off his wife but he was never charged with it.

Aside from anything else, the fact I’ve spent the day on the phone trying to sort out exactly the same problem is bizarre having never ever seen a similar thread on here!

Our results read

E.Coli – 1
Kloroform – 14
Enterococci – <1

But we’re supposed to be serving paying guests at the house this coming summer so needs to be fixed!

Try a bit further west around Sospel, search for ‘Ride Sospel’ and you’ll get access to a bunch of self guided trips then if you want uplift you can contact Cool Bus Mafia. Otherwise try Ridgeline Trails in Tuscany? I’ve only seen some riding online, never been there but there would surely be good riding in Croatia at that time of year, outside tourist season and not too hot. Around Omis there is a bunch of riders called Coastal Riders that offer guiding and are developing some trails down there. I don’t know too much about the latter two but some places to start looking, I could write about how good around Sospel is all day but maybe it is a bit too similar to Finale for you.

When you set yourself up with such arrogance, people are desperate to see you fail.

I don’t think it is a scam, I think it is pretty wild to say so, just very badly managed. Unless my idea of a scam is quite different to yours.

I think, myself included, that a lot of people on here and across social media have it in for them and believe they deserve everything they get. Mostly because of their poor attitude towards anyone who didn’t wholeheartedly support their ideas. It feels like their ‘public relations’ from the outset have opened themselves up to a lot of public criticism and discussion. Hence this huge thread when something has gone wrong, people love it, yes it is childish but you just have to go back and read some of their social media posts and comments on here to understand where that comes from…

The comments on Pinkbike haven’t been taken down guys, if a comment on Pinkbike gets enough negative props it goes into the ‘hidden below threshold’ section at the bottom of the comments and you need to log in to see those.

I was getting ready to write about how much better my penthouse is than everyone else’s…

Oh go on then I’ll post another pic since this thread has resurfaced ;)

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Silence. With a single pivot design this bike may lack some of the fancy suspension technology of others however one of the things I value most in a bike is silence. When there are no rattles, knocks or clicks it just gives you more confidence to go faster and ride better without worrying if everything is working properly. One of the best sounds in the world is riding with only the sound of tyres on the ground! . . . #starlingcycles #singlepivot #silence #silentbike #starlingswoop #enduromtb #steelisreal #steelmtb #steelisrealmtb #mtb #vtt #terrengsykkel #helvellyn #hopetech #dvo #maxxistyres #burgteccomponents #lakesmtb #mbuk #mtbuk #mountainbiking #mountainbike #cumbria #welcometonature #outdoorsisfree #hikeabike #pinkbike #singletrack #trail #anyexcusetoride

A post shared by Any Excuse To Ride Norway (@_any_excuse_to_ride) on Dec 6, 2018 at 12:00pm PST

and me riding my OHs almost identical one

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What should you expect if you come here? Remote singletrack, technical tails, big fjord views, hairy moments and probably a drop or two of the wet stuff. #Cathrovision following me down the hill high above Hardangerfjord here, just 20mins from the house. Ben had a big pole-cam on his helmet if you’re wondering what he’s going on about a ’tail’ for. Must remember to go back and clear that fallen tree when the snow melts! . Video – @ben_cathro . . . #mtb #enduromtb #hardangerfjorden #hardanger #anyexcusetoride #ridenorway #mtbnorge #starlingcycles #steelisreal #pov #santacruzbikes #santacruztallboy #onlywhatsnecessary #norrona #welcometonature #singletrack #trail #rideyourbike #landscapesofnorway #video #sickskills #hopetech #mbuk #vtt #outdoorsisfree #neverstopexploring #getoutandexplore #mountainbiking #ridemoremtb

A post shared by Any Excuse To Ride Norway (@_any_excuse_to_ride) on Feb 2, 2019 at 9:51am PST

Hazzar! It worked!

Testing it out for the first time…

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Silence. With a single pivot design this bike may lack some of the fancy suspension technology of others however one of the things I value most in a bike is silence. When there are no rattles, knocks or clicks it just gives you more confidence to go faster and ride better without worrying if everything is working properly. One of the best sounds in the world is riding with only the sound of tyres on the ground! . . . #starlingcycles #singlepivot #silence #silentbike #starlingswoop #enduromtb #steelisreal #steelmtb #steelisrealmtb #mtb #vtt #terrengsykkel #helvellyn #hopetech #dvo #maxxistyres #burgteccomponents #lakesmtb #mbuk #mtbuk #mountainbiking #mountainbike #cumbria #welcometonature #outdoorsisfree #hikeabike #pinkbike #singletrack #trail #anyexcusetoride

A post shared by Any Excuse To Ride Norway (@_any_excuse_to_ride) on Dec 6, 2018 at 12:00pm PST

We went around Rijeka when we went on a bit of a Euro road trip in our van in October/Novermber just gone, it was a really nice area. It was a bit chilly and windy when we went but we were asking about the summer with some locals and they were saying it is pretty hot! Also a lot of people in that area in the coastal villages and towns. First place I’ve been in years that you’re still allowed to smoke in bars/cafes and you forget how much it honks, that was the only negative I had. All the people were super friendly and nice in cafes/bars/shops etc.

Some suggestions for places to visit…

Opatija – Austrians used it as a bit of a seaside getaway when the Austo-Hungarian empire was still a thing so it is a weird, interesting town full of grand ‘Austian Riviera’ style buildings.

Lovran, Moščenica and Brseč are all little ‘village perché’ style towns like you get in the south of France, super compact little villages that you can only access by foot and are interesting to visit.

If you want to go biking you’ll find some trails on Trailforks, there’s a bunch of trails marked in the Učka national park which are absolutely fantastic! Supposedly you are not allowed to ride on trails in the park and there are rangers about, we did but then we were there in the off-season and maybe it is more strict in the summer. My guess is if you keep away from the busiest areas you’ll be aight.

You are also not far from Lošinj (where the had the DH world cup the last couple of years), it costs about £12 to go over on the ferry with the car. The town of Mali Losinj looks real nice although I’ve not been. Some of the Islands could be interesting to visit but are just a total rock landscape. They get some of the strongest winds in the world there so the islands between Rijeka and Zadar, and the coastline on the mainland, are pretty baron as nothing can grow (look up the ‘Burja’ wind).

Paklenica national park also looks really nice but that is a bit further south!