Here’s my Kingley Valil trail map…

If you want to join up with other locals, try http://kingleyvalemountainbikers.ning.com/%5B/url%5D

QE was great today, as were most of the local trails – the one boggy area was Harris Lane (south of Ditcham Park School) as that does not drain well at all. I would also recommend Kingley Vale – there are plenty of trails there that are fine no matter how wet it is.

Today’s ride was all good – http://app.strava.com/activities/95680524

501b XM-L2 torch running on recycled laptop cells. £10 including shipping. A lockblock mount is about £1.50.

Yep, carbon bars (£60) and stem (£13)… very happy with them after 800 miles of summer use.

I don’t think MTBers (and the increasing number of roadies using cheap XML lights) are aware just how bright these lights are – and how unforgiving the beam pattern is. They are fantastic off-road, but not ideal as commuting lights.

I point my bar light right at the ground when I see oncoming traffic… and point my lid light into the kerb. Either that or I switch them to low power… depends what sort of road and how much traffic.

So a fair point, I think.

A good felony would be… a misdemeanor

you have earned the power of self respect

Sadly I don’t own a Pivot, and I’m unlikely to be able to afford one… but the Pivot Mach 5.7 is still the best bike I’ve ever demoed. I’m quite keen to try out a Pivot Mach 6 carbon sometime :-)

I am old enough to remember the Summer of ’12 when the trails ran like waterfalls, and the roads ran like rivers. It’s hardly rained at all in comparison… not enough enough to wash away the storm debris yet.

My reverb… and merino socks

My reverb is inboard of both brake/shifter clamps, and is perfectly reachable.

… now that I’ve got an SLX shifter with the window removed.

I’m looking for some aspirational ‘Gnar-core’… tyres, or was that music?

C8 XM-U3 (would probably go XM-L2 now) on bars (£15) and 501b XML-2 on lid (£8)… maybe with another 501b as a spare. Mounts about £1.50 each, charger £5 and cells free from old laptops.

11 year old – 13.5″ Rockhopper £230 from ebay… new bar, stem and grips (£45) to make it shorter, narrower and most importantly, lower. The old bar and stem may come in handy as he grows. Also new pedals – £10-£15, I think they were.

You can edit the GPX file to remove the wandering data points – I have some software that came with my GPS (@Trip) which shows the log alongside a map with the track on it so I just remove the datapoints recorded while I am actually down the pub (for example). In my experience, if you are stationary and under any sort of cover the GPS fix wanders all over the place.

13.5″ Rockhopper… 148cm tall 11 year old.

Slightly shorter stem with less rise and narrow flat bars… to keep the front low and the get the riding position right. He’s done a couple of 20 mile rides on it, with some serious climbs too.

I’ve just replaced mine after over 4,000 miles of use… and if it hadn’t been for using them on the odd dig day I think they might still be OK. The soles eventually cut up – but they are still pretty grippy.

I make sure my wheels don’t leave the ground on those features… unlike this chap:

Kingley Vale Mountain Bikers & QECP Trail Collective[/url]… not ‘a club’ but we have a forum to organise rides and trailbuilding – and we even have shirts for our racers.

It was on a hillside desolate…

… charming!

22nd Sept @ 14:50… after running tubeless for 750 miles my sealant had dried out, so I had to stick a tube in.

An XM-L2 501b torch is £8… I’ve got four XML-T6/XM-L2 501b lights as well as an XML-U3 C8 and they are all good, though it’s worth greasing the threads and tightening the tailcap internals.

The chances of running into a vampire on a night ride are slim to none. It’s there werewolves you need to worry about.

I just tend to watch videos of other people doing it on the internet.

But of course ‘real life’ is generally messier and more untidy than shown on the internet – and usually not as well lit.

An XM-L2 in a 501b body is about £8 from Lightmalls… you will need a cell or cells (I use reclaimed laptop cells, otherwise try Torchy[/url] on eBay), a charger (£5) and a mount (£2). I also have my charger on a timer just to be on the safe side.

On medium power this sort of light is plenty bright enough on the road and would need to be dipped (if you have the right mount you can just tip them) or switched to low power for oncoming traffic.

Personally I would always have 2 lights for ‘redundancy’ – and at £8 they are pretty cheap. I have one of these as my new lid light for MTB… though the XML-T6 501bs I have are still great lights.

now the nights are drawing in again.

With that Troute set up I’m surprised you can tell.

780 real lumens is a decent amount of light… easily equivalent to 1500 ‘chinese lumens’. If it’s enough light for you to see by – and I would guess that it is – then why worry.

My torches are nominally 1800 + 1770 max lumens. But to get that I’d need to be driving them at well over 3amps (maybe 5 or more) and the heat would kill them. I’d be very surprised if either of them was appreciably brighter than your light.

QE Red Trail was rebuilt/extended by our collective volunteers ‘for nothing’, though we did have access to a ranger with a chainsaw and some treated timber. But it’s mostly scraped dirt / bench cut, and any odd bits of surfacing and features (berms/tables) are built from chalk dug out by hand.

The Blue Trail rebuild will cost real money as it will need a digger and surfacing.

So you can build trails on the cheap – but not a sculpted all-weather trail centre.

I, on the other hand, have Nobby Nic TLR Double Defense and they go on my Crests without levers, even out on the trail and they inflate with my track pump.

It has to be both… my local ride always includes a climb to the top of the hill for views South over Chichester Cathedral to the Channel and the Isle of Wight – and North to the South Down Way. Then it’s down into the woods for some fun, over to the next ridge for a blast through the woods and then out into open fields for more fantastic views. it’s always a joy.

I’ve only once had someone tell me to ‘get a bell’… I just smiled at her as she and her group were walking in the middle of the road at the time and we’d just come up behind then.

Yep AM41s for me – with ordinary socks in summer and Sealskinz when it’s cold or very wet.

What sort of bike? I’m using a £13 carboncycles stem on my Anthem and it’s great.

If you come much further west towards Petersfield you can ride QE Park and then any sort of loop you like out from QE via Kingley Vale and the South Downs Way, and maybe over towards Goodwood. I would take OS-120 if you’ve not been here before, though!

e.g. some of this (ignoring the initial leg up from Southbourne to QE), and while you are at Kingley Vale there’s plenty of ‘diversions’ – including the DH and enduro runs at Stoughton (see Lambdown on this map)…

The Wiggle South Downs Epic started in Fontwell, East of Chichester and was a great loop.

There’s a recent thread about one of the new 2xXML units with external battery here. Personally I use 18650 cell torches… a charger and UK adapater is £5 from Dealextreme, mounts are a couple of quid, I have an abundance of free cells from old laptops, and the latest LED torches range from £8 to £15 each.

My current set up is:
501b XM-L2 from Lightmalls – £8 for a head torch on this mount
C8 XML-U3 also from Lightmalls – £11 as a bar torch using this mount
but you can now get a C8 XM-L2 for £12 which might be even better (depends on the driver settings)

But run them tubeless… it’s actually easier than running them with tubes, though you need to know how if you have a flat that won’t seal!

In the centre of your Crest rim is the ‘drop channel’ – you need to get the bead right into the middle of this to give you enough slack to get the final part of the bead over the rim.

And start opposite the valve… you won’t be able to get the bead into the drop-channel where the valve sits, so this should be the very last section you fit.

eXotic… £60

The last Nic I put on went on by hand with no levers… so I am hopeful that I will not struggle too badly if I ever have to do a trailside fix.

Well the day for a trailside fix was today… a rear puncture that would not seal (no liquid sealant left in the tyre… oops). Nic popped off with a tyre lever, tube in, reseated by hand – sorted. Big sigh of relief.