Stuck some beavers on my hardtail yesterday in anticipation of an early morning blast around local woods tomorrow.

What time was this, I was there on Sunday and had arranged to meet friends there at 1:30 pm.

But arrived early so was stood at the entrance to the main carpark after the horse box park hoping to spot my mates drive in. And as they were late I was stood there from between 1:15 and 1:45.

During which time a newish white crew cab transit tipper drove in with really high sides on the flat bed.
I was very suspicious at first but I saw at least one child in the back seat so thought there was no reason why they could not be there legitimately as there are plenty of panel vans there normally.

I did watch them drive all around the parts of the carpark I could see but then again it was packed so pretty much every who came in did this looking for a space.

I thought it look out of place but put this down to subconcios prejudice on my part as I associate such vehicles with travellers.
And there is no reason why someone could not of unhooked your bike and just rode out.

Halfords normally have a bike built for display purposes. The bikes shown In there stock levels are boxed still requiring a certain amount of assembly.
Which they will do for you once you place your order, normally for the next day, depending how busy they are.

There staff/mechanics can be hit or miss, I have had both good and bad experieces with them.
I think they know there stuff it’s just down to some having a poor attitude.

I am 5’9″ and mines 18 inch.
If you go to halfords they shoild have one built in either 18 or 20.
And you can have a test ride to see if that is the wrong or right size for you .

I keep my chain well mantained and it shifts no Better or worse than the xt set up I have on another bike.
The brakes stop very well, on my bike with xt brakes I can stop very quickly without locking them up where as the tektro brakes on the hoodoo do lock up easier if you are to heavy handed but on the whole are very good.

As I said earlier I was thinking of swapping out the crank for slx or xt but I think the only benefit would be shedding a little bit of weight as everything works great so I don’t see it being worth the expense until it wears out.

The only things I have changed on mine is the front tyre for a bit more grip, seat for flexier rails as I have a temperamental back and pedals as the originals one started clicking after 6 months or so as I smashed it up
a bit.

I have read some people saying the thought that the coils where a better option but I could not say as I have never tried them.

I have a voodoo hoodoo and I think it great for the money.

I think they have changed the fork from air to coil losing the remote lock out, so I could not comment on the new fork.
But the brakes work well and the alvio components work very well too.
I thought about replacing them but don’t see the point, I will wait for them to wear out first,

Same as that.
Oh well, saved myself £22, stopped me buying something I did not really need.

Would the ‘telling off’ be enough of a deterrent to him that he would go out and buy lights on the back of it?
If it was me after a telling off I’d probably think ‘yeah, got a telling off, but can risk that every 6 months to save me having to get some lights’.
But, if I got fined £50 I’d be thinking ‘bollocks, got stung for £50. Better spend £20 on a set of lights so I don’t have to spend another £50 next time i am caught’…..
Perhaps this traffic police bloke has seen the result of someone stuffed through a windscreen for not having lights on his bike?

^
What he said.

If not for the fine I am sure what ever was said would have been in one ear and out the other.
And you probably would not have heard about his brush with the law.

I am lucky enough to have many woods local too me but mostly flat and squeaky bum moments are few and far between. But I really enjoy riding them and generally will make a day of it spending five or so hours pootleing around them.

Where as swinley is more of a thrill and although is hardly redbull rampage is as safe or scary as you want to make it simply by how much you stay of the brakes.
I don’t see this army of mythical Audi drivers.
I see old, young, fat, thin, entire families.
Fives, enduros, hecklers, Carreras and appollos.

In the car park there is every kind of car from audis with roof mounted bling bikes, to battered Renault clios from which three yoots spring and then pull out three bikes in the some of there parts.

I see people padded up stormtrooper style In full face helmets and googles to Lycra clad chaps some as fit as a fleas others as fat as a butcher to yoots in baseball caps t shirts and baggy jeans with the waist band half way between there butt and there knees.

Basically I see people who have woken up and thought they would ride there bike.

Ambulance drivers must really love frequenting them too.
As I always see them either there or just leaving.
I’ve never seen an Ambulance driver.

See one yesterday at swinley.
One the last time I was there, and three there the time before, when there was also a fire engine in attendance, so there was defiantly a fire engine driver there too.

Ambulance drivers must really love frequenting them too.
As I always see them either there or just leaving.
And when they on on their way there they must be reet proper excited and can’t wait to get there as they come flying up the road on the centre markings a lights a flashing.

They must really love mountain biking.

Emily batty,
Now that is a lovely looking lady.
When I saw this image I thought helmet cam.

I have broken my Pervy rule,I’ll get my coat.

I hope someone warmed that top tube with a hair dryer before posing for that shot.

When ever I am in the company of a certain work colleague and we see a fetching young lady, one of us will turn to the other and say “out of ten”

To which the other will reply “I’d give it one”

Cracks me up every time,still.
Its more for comedic effect than anything else.
There’s nothing Wrong with appreciating the female form, just try not to be Pervy about it.

Maybe the op has a thing for the above young lady based on her skills as much as her looks and felt the need to share it.

Or maybe he just thinks she’s Hot.

Nice bike.

I stick my phone in the bag for emergencies along with just enough folding and leave the wallet at home.
It’s rare to have your car broken into on the off chance (nothing of value in view).

That said I know someone who had their window smashed because they left a pasty on the passenger seat,
I guess who ever nicked it must have been hungry.

First trip out on the boinger in a while.

If that was deliberate They missed a trick.
It would have made much better viewing if the man who was already in the field was also wearing a cam then the footage we have seen could have then cut to his view of riders raining down.

I have a Drift 1080 HD as well, Although I only ever use it at 720.
As at 720 there’s less of a fisheye effect and you can run it at 60 frames per second, Better if you want to view in slow motion.

Although as said above it really does make stuff look a lot more tame on playback, as you are generally looking in the direction you are going so it Makes it difficult to appreciate the steepness of the trail.

So when I do see head cam footage that looks steep, I think to myself that must be bloody steep.

I have never actually recorded anything that I have considered worthy of YouTube and every thing normally gets deleted after disappointingly viewing how unGnarr I am.

Even makes my crashes look far less spectacular than they appear at the time.
This not a reflection of the drift but my riding.

There is another thread called look before you leap where the rider has drift written on the side of his helmet so I am guessing that is the camera it was filmed with.

I fill with hot water and add two tablespoons of bleach.
Drain some through the tube them leave for half an hour or so before rinsing.

I have read of people using sterident although it leaves the bladder minty apparently.

Reminds me of this.
http://youtu.be/Fmb6OvejAC0

Some swearing.

The muckynutz rear fender is better placed on the top of the seat tube between the top tube and seat post clamp rather than on the post itself, enabling you to use more of the Velcro.

Also helps if you pull the strap as far through as it goes so the buckle is hard against the fender and hold it there with your thumb whilst pulling the strap tight.

Mine holds in place well, when its soaked through in the rain the friction is greatly reduced but still you have to knock it for it to move.

It surprises me how many riders I see with quit substantial knee pads but with just a t shirt and bare elbows.

My riding skills slowly grow at a natural progression.I don’t expect to fall off or ever attempt something My brain tells me i cannot do.
It’s just sometimes it actually turns out my brain was wrong, or I just cock it up.

I look at stuff and think that’s only going to end in pain and rightly avoid, but as I naturally improve and gain confidence to the point one day I look and think I could do that and give it a go.
Then after I have done it a few times, when I look i wonder how it ever appeared a problem.

Get yourself some light pads that will protect you from your general cuts and bruises and enjoy yourself.

Some Chinese fella had a load of his employees smash up his new Lamborghini in protest.
I would post a link to YouTube if I knew how.

Every time I go out on my mtb I wear Padded kneepads, Padded elbow pads on local trials and elbow pads with hard caps at trail Centers, and padded fingerless gloves.

I crash atleast once everytime out and apart from once always get up laughing without a scratch,
The exception being a recent crash at swinley where my front wheel washed out landing heavily on my elbow and shoulder leaving me suspected broken rib/ribs.

I am pretty sure I would have Broken my arm if not for my elbow pad.

Falling off means i am trying to get better and the day I stop falling off will be the day I achieve total mtb enlightenment.
Until then i prefer to look like a plank who gets up laughing.

I used to do a lot of running at night and regularly came across every kind of moron.

From people shouting abuse and throwing things from cars.
Drunken woman lifting there already tiny skirts and tops flashing everything at me whilst shouting sexually explicit language.

Even had a fella who was arguing with someone across the road run across and try and stick one on my chin for no apparent reason.

This only ever happened at night and always people in their late teens or twenties.

I wish I was an engineer, then I could afford an Audi.
Everything else guilty as charged.

I recently passed a couple walking there dog in the woods, where the gentleman referred to me as an Adrian, to which his lady friend found most amusing.
I was not bothered and quite happy to bring a little joy to there lives.

I run minion front/ HR rear on my FS bike all the time as this only gets used at swinley and the likes.
Where I have found although the fire roads can turn into a bog when wet the armoured trail when wet is more like well weathered concrete than natural, a solid tight packed mass of shiny hard flint stones without a trace of dust or mud impossible to even leave a tyre track in.

I also ran a highroller on the rear of my hardtail last year on general xc loops, but the right way around as by turning it round would give you more traction through the pedals but also less traction under braking.

Hopefully this winter/ spring is not as wet as the last.

Just bought a bender to try on my chainstay.
Hopefully it will keep the mud from building up on my front mech.
Only really an issue once the temp goes below zero causing the mech to freeze solid, which happened a lot last year.

He’s going to scratch that bike if he’s not careful.

It’s vids like this that compound exactly how pants I am.

cookeaa – Member
£4 for a bit of plastic and some zip ties?
Still too steep…
POSTED 2 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

You are looking at it all wrong

£4 for a dry arse or dog egg free face,

And the fact there is sod all to them is what make them so good.

Bugger.
Today I took delivery of two fender bender xl and one rear fender which I ordered a couple of days ago.
As I was really pleased with the rear fender I recieved a couple of days before that.

All payed for full price from muckynutz.

But on the plus side i am pleased with the guards them selfs only criticism being the instructions on the rear fenders were vague to say the least, so had to google some pics to work out how to bend.

They are not pretty, but what mtb guards are.
But they work, and weigh the same as a fag packet so well worth it.

Ordered a bender fender xl and rear fender from muckynutz today.
Can’t remember the last time I washed my bike, looks like that’s about to change to returning home from every ride with a bicycle shaped mud pie.

I went for my first night ride last week, in a series of three woods I am not particularly familiar with,alone.
I was convinced the whole time that I was about to be torn from my bike and savaged by either a werewolf or murderes goatman.

Which was not helped by the constant russeling of the bushes around me when ever i stopped.

Within five minutes of entering the last and by far the biggest of the woods I realised I was completely lost but as it was no epping forest if I kept riding I would eventually reemerge into civilisation sooner or later.

After 45 minutes I realised I had some how managed to go in a circle as I recognised some litter from earlier.
But a further half hour later managed to escape.

Not wishing to get lost again I skirted around the edge of this wood on road, then plucked up the courage to cut back through the second wood still believing I could be savaged at any moment.
Made it out no problem to then pick up the first (closest to home) wood.
When I suddenly recalled reading an old newspaper article about a young man being bludgeoned to death in that wood about 150 years ago.

And thought sod that I really don’t need to be chased by a ghost, especially one with his head staved in.
So bottled it and continued home sticking to the roads.

I am a grown man who was genuinely fearful.
But that said, I really enjoyed the riding, well the fast paced stuff anyway ( believe me I was not hanging about), but on the slow climbs, not so much, as I felt vulnerable.

And I soon learnt not to look any way but in front as even with a small torch on my helmet every time I look sideways into the woods I expected to see something leaping from the quit close darkness to drag me off in to the woods.

Bloody imagination, decided to really get out in these woods as much as possible during the day hoping that if I know my way around them it may help.

Also if applicable Gravel around area where bikes are kept.
It is very hard to be sneaky when walking on gravel.

Plus one judging from your last post , security lights.
Place them high enough not to be easily disabled.

Make sure the area is well covered by the motion sensors , and the brighter the better.
So as to alert you or neighbour.
No one will want to hang around to long if they know they are lit up like wembley stadium especially If overlooked by other properties.

Which sheep for bike park Wales?

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR – Member
I’m gonna fill mine with Charlotte Church’s trumps to really make the trails come alive

You may want to go tubeless as I don’t think Charlotte would be able to trump more than 20psi,
And even then you would need an exceptional seal around the valve.

And if I know rugby players, I doubt that very much.

Let all the air out before you leave.
Then fill with leek and potato soup on arrival.

Self healing so no more punctures, tidy.

I use some smith and Wesson shooting glasses I bought to use at a rifle range Where safety glasses are compulsory.
I had previously used cheap workwear glasses but found they suffered from distortion.

On occasions where I have not bothered with them in the past I have had nothing more sinister than insects fly in eyes but that said it always seems to happen at the most awkward of times which have meant descending with one eye closed.

Generally I find once on I soon forget I am wearing them.