Splash-man, does that mean you haven’t found the 20ft gap they have made in that new trail that cuts across the little long jump one? Somebody has been very busy up there. There is now a new entrance into No Brake challenge further up, which launches you into it a high speed from a kicker. I love jumps, but just hope the builders haven’t pushed it to far. I think land owners were happy with us using deer tracks, but gaps and kickers are a different thing all together.

Cheers guys. There was a shoot going on further over the downs and the land rovers were coming back from it. The trail is years old and is well used. We did question what the guy said, but he insisted we moved off the land.

Cheers guys. Deanfbm – although I love my Bronson, it’s not as good on the bigger stuff. I had a Nomad 2 before this and lovely the way it jumped. It was also 35lb, so you couldn’t do 30k rides on it. The N4CC comes in at under 30lb.

We had a 2006 S line for 2 years. Lovely car. Only fault was the same as above with a leaking rear washer pipe. Luckily, I manamged to dry the info system computer out with a hair dryer and it worked perfectly. The pipe wears with the opening and closing of the boot. We cut out the section and replaced it with better pipe.

We brought a golf GTD 2013 privately 8 months ago. Even though it has a VW warranty covering the car, VW are being less then helpful as we didn’t buy through a dealer. If we brought it from a dealer then we could return it. We will never by private again as you have no comeback. We are now looking at taking legal proceedings against VW.

I was in Samoens last week (6th year in a row). Plenty of riding to be done with only the bottom lift open. Follow the path around the building sight and you’ll find the blue, red and a number of blacks. Very few jumps, but plenty of extremely steep single track. The top half of Chick run is closed, but is still one of my favourite trails. About 100yards from getting off the lift, you will see a small hut on your right along a gravel track. Go passed this and over the new ski run. Chicken run is 100y down the run on your right. It’s sign posted just inside the woods. We also rode from Samoens to Les Carroz then onto Flaine and down to Sixt. Just before you get to Sixt, we peel left and join the Samoens Blue trail. 60k in all, but a great ride. You will see nobody from the top of Flaine until you get into the tree line and meet hikers. I will send the Strava Relive video to your email as I can’t put on here from my phone. Enjoy!

My parents have just de commissioned their pool as a pipe cracked under the concrete after 30years. They have turned the deep end into a sunken garden and have put a hot tub in the shallow end. It looks amazing. I’m going there after work and will take some pics.

I met one of the land owners a few weeks back (not while on my bike) and we had a really good chat about the issues mentioned above. He was a really nice guy and along with his father who I also met, are happy to try and make thinks work so that everybody is happy. They realise that most of us are extremely grateful for riding on their land, but he is also aware of a few people who think it is their right to do what they want. Apparently, it’s not just individuals but has something to do with a bike mag digging for photo shots too.

Have always carried mine on. Never been questioned so far.

We’ve just brought the BT system that uses the power lines. It’s on sale in currys and comes with 2 x extenders. Really impressed so far. Wifi everywhere and really fast too. Very easy to set up.

Yeap, full body grade 5 every time I cut my hair, so every 3 weeks. It keeps the wild grey ones back too. Haven’t found it itchy as yet.

I’ve done the Samoens decent a few times now and the route we take goes pretty much straight into the town centre. I’m rubbish at remembering directions as I’m usually hanging on for dear life and not taking in where we are going! I do remember heading off the peak toward Samoens and heading left after 100m or so. The trail takes you under a bent tree (scar to prove) and then into switchbacks. It follows the road down pretty much and crosses a few open gardens at the bottom. As mentioned above, Steve from bike-alp maybe able to give you some directions but had moved away or Jamie from Ride the Alps is still local.

We had a few trials closed last year, but it’s only the start of them. We spoke to the locals who gave us directions on how to join onto them. We rode all of them with no problems. This is due to Club Med building a hotel Just below the mid lift station. The Blue and red trails had a slight diversion and the top of Steepy Black and Chicken run were closed, but only the start.

From Flaine, you need to traverse over to the top of Morillon and ride the 3 black runs to the bottom to meet the road. It’s about a 25min ride ride back to Samoens.

We’re heading out on the 15th for hopefully another awesome week. This will be our 6 year and still not bored!!

I brought a X2 recently and although it felt amazing with a bit of tinkering, I stuck a Shock wiz on it. Wow, it’s now way better than I could have imagined.

Well worth the £35 hire for the day.

My sag was set correctly, but I needed more HSC and more LSC. Rebound was already spot on. I went For the PLaY tune as I have the climb switch for climbing.

We have the Vango Eclipse 600 air beam and it’s amazing. Up in 10mins. It’s also massive, which is what we wanted. When it rains, the kids have plenty of room in the living area to do what they want.
Weight wise, it’s a little heavy, but I can still lift the bag (just ) above my head to place on the racking in the garage, but remember, the bag contains the tent inc groundsheet, pump, peg and a hammer.

In France last year we had some really strong winds hit us and it was as stable as anything. They have a storm system inside that you clip across to stop it from folding in if the wind gets too high. Ours came with footprint and carpet for £850 which was nearly half price, but I’ve seen the 2016 for £719 last week which is a bargain. (That’s £300 less than a set of Fox 36!!)

It’s transformed the way we camp as normally the kids go mad while waiting for us to get set up. Now, I put the tent up and my wife sorts the kids out. They can be inside within 10mins of getting to the campsite.

I feels really robust and so far, it hasn’t got any battle scars even with the kids falling out of the doors constantly. The zips are really well made too. They also do a sun canopy which we have and a extension for the front, but that makes it nearly 10m long!!

Just had a meeting with the service and customer service managers, and they don’t have a clue what is wrong with my engine. The service manager was starting to get a little angry that I asked to see him. He became all defensive saying that they tested it fully and it was fixed, so they had done everything and that any more investigation work was to be charged to me.

I mentioned the porous head, but they told me that it was impossible as the coolant would leak internally and it would happen all the time and not just on motorway trips. They want to remove the head, but at my expense if they don’t find anything. That’s 8hrs at what? £90/hr??

Apparently, the head test is carried out cold, so it wouldn’t show our fault anyway.

I called VW UK and they are investigating what is going on.

Fingers crossed!!

Stuey – Yes, exactly that. When the car went in, we complained of it taking ages to get any heat out of the blowers and I meant 20miles or so. On our trip to the lakes earlier this year, we left home at 5am and we covered 100miles with freezing cold air being blown out all the way. I stopped and topped up coolant and it went hot straight away. On the way home, the opposite happens. The cabin heating was sooo hot, that the air burnt my wife’s hand. We could not turn it off. The fan was turned to off and we tried aircin on full. The only way to stop it was to pull over and stop the engine for 20mins. Vw said this was not connected, but couldn’t find a fault with in the heating system.

Again, not that I know of. Would that cause overheating or could a closed thermostat cause a increase in pressure? I’ve never seen the coolant blow, but have seen it when it’s 10mm from the top of the expansion bottle and it’s not that hot. It’s like it’s over pressurising somehow hence my stab in the dark at the HG or crack.

Seeing that my son left his in his jeans pocket and my wife washed the jeans, we need all of them!! Haven’t told him yet!!

+1 for Slovenia. Been twice now with my eldest. first trip he was 5. Really cheap, great ski school for kids. We did 4 nights including flights, car, lift, ski hire, 10hrs ski school for him, hotel food and drink for £800 all in for both of us.

Definitely not going down the ‘bodge’ route on a 15k car. It’s a fault than can be fixed, I just need to find the right VW garage to fix it! Oh, and the warranty to pay for it!

Thanks guys

They have told the water pump was replaced, but being a warranty job, no paperwork was handed to me. I will confirm tomorrow with the service manager. I’m gutted as the car would be amazing if it didn’t drink water like me on a 50k ride!!

Pacerc200- you don’t work at a south coast VW garage do you??? You seem to know more than all the mechanics at our local VW branch put together!! They did manage to replace a non working speaker correctly tho!!

Oldnpastit – not that I know of, but they don’t tell me much when we lick the car up. It’s more of a ‘it’s all fixed’ and that’s it. I’ll ask tomorrow when I go in.

Cheers flower power, yes, porous heads are a problem with VW, but the Coolant goes internally into the engine. Ours is coming out externally. VW said they had a porous car in the same time as ours.

Wobbliscott – that’s exactly what I think is happening. I’ve spent 20 years dealing with pressurised heating systems, which are miles away from cars, but work in a very similar way with similar components. I did tell them this on its first visit, but I was told that VW HGs don’t go!!

When we last collected the car, the service lady said that it’s a good job the head of not faulty as they can’t remove the head in shop and would need to send it away. I think they are trying everything else first before heading down that route.

We have used a independent VW garage before and I spoke to them after the water pump was changed and they laughed. They said it’s pretty much unheard of, but sounds like the HG!!

No overheating what so ever. We drove to the Lakes a few weeks back 500miles and water temp was spot on along with oil temp. We had to stop 4 times to fill up with coolant. When it comes out, it’s hot but no where near boiling. I can easily put my hand on the bottle. According to VW, no blockage either!

Somebody mentioned that, but the coolant is coming out of the expansion bottle. It’s visable running down the sides and under the bottle. Could the cooler cause that or would a faultly cooler leak itself?

I’ve just brought the Guardzilla from Argos. £100 down to £52 I think. Really impressed so far. Great night vision too. Texts, emails and sends a push when activated along with recording to SD card or iCloud.

I have just this minute come back from a lovely ride there. There are plenty of trails on both sides of the road. My email is chris_ellis33@hotmail.co.uk
Ping me a email and I’d be more than happy to show you around. I’m away over the bank holiday, but free most other times. I’m in Fishbourne and either start from the Goodwood road car park or from Whiteways car park. Chris (email also in profile)

Can’t wait either! First ever race for me!! I rode the red and the blue on Wednesday and it was super dry and slightly sketchy in places. Hope this rain had dampened things down a bit.

The Spec enduro is a possibility, but his vouchers don’t stretch to a Santa Cruz unfortunately. I’ll take a look at shock stroke on some tomorrow at QECP. For the type of riding he does, I still think a Crush is a good buy.
Cheers guys

I’m not sure my Bronson with a X2 fitted would take the weight either. They have a Max 250psi after the recall.

QECP has a massive demo weekend this weekend along with the day and night enduro, so I might tell him to try some there. At least if the shock does go, it won’t be mine! He sat on a Whyte T130 yesterday and it looked like it was going to break. I take it single pivot are also out as the weight is directly on the shock.

I live in Chichester and have never been to Sheffield, but we love it here. Yes the traffic in the summer is bad, but that is only because people follow the sat navs and use the by-pass. If you know the area, you’ll very rarely get stuck in it. Yes, house prices are pretty high, but you are surrounded by the South Downs national park and Chichester harbour. Great schools, great shops. Fantastic eating, direct trains to London, A3 20mins away. As for riding, I can be on top of Kingleyvale in 30mins (riding). QE park is 30mins away. Rogate 30mins. Lots of local stuff on the Downs with regular shop rides. Surrey hills are 1 hour away and we have 2 wake boarding lakes and some of the best beaches on the South Coast!! Did is say that we love it here!! Lots of country lanes for road riding if that tickles your fancy too. Plus a bike shop with a coffee shop in!(the riders guild)
Edit: also 3mins from Goodwood motor circuit and race course.

Going to advertise our 2010 Audi A6 avant. 2.0L S line Le Mans 170 next week. If interested? Near mint condition. 98k and going in for service and cam belt on Monday ready for sale.

I’ve done just that. Swapped my RS pike RTC 3 to Fox 36 RC2 2017 on my 2016 Bronson V2Cc. Yes, they were nearly £1k, but the difference is night and day. I never really got on with the Pikes and felt that they let the bike down slightly. I went for the 160mm RC2 with H/L speed which makes a huge difference. They stay up in the travel better on hard hits and fell much stiffer. The Fox are slightly heavier than the RS, but that’s a small sacrifice IMO. Extremely plush straight out of the box. I use the bike for 50k rides and Dh uplifts and the 36’s are at home on either. You are more than welcome to try mine if you are local to West Sussex. The RC2 don’t come in Qr, but have 4 bolts to remove the wheel. The FIT4 does come with 15qr, but you loose the H/L adjustments .

Had our 2.0l Audi done a few weeks back. It takes about an hour and we’ve noticed no difference at all. They did however tell me my rear pads were low and wanted to change them along with the rear discs for £399.00 + VAT while I was there! No thank you very much!!!

I have a new one (mark 8?). Double tap the light or helmet to turn to low from high, or single tap to Med. You can set the sensitivity too. Ample power for road on low and it’s never turned off or even down on DH tracks. The extra support cell is worth the money if you want longer burn times.

OP, you’ll love it. We have been with Steve at BikeAlp in Sameons for the last 5 years. He is a fantastic guide and rider. We are just about to book for next year at the new venue in Briancon. Enjoy!

I would agree with Paul B. We’ve done 5 years with Steve now and the riding is the most technical I’ve ever seen. Ultra steep and far more challenging than Morzine/les Gets in my opinion. We’re off out again in 2 weeks, but Steve has moved Bike All to another part of the Alps, so we are riding the trails alone and I’m slightly nervous!! Saying that, Samoens is a great base as you can access Flane, Morion etc if you know the way (which we can only just remember between us). It’s also an amazing town for a family to stay with plenty going on in the town square.

My new Santa Cruz Bronson Cc came spec’d with a DHR front and back. Even in the wet it works really well. I usually run minions all year round anyway.

I took one for a demo in the Surreh hills on Saturday. I’ve come from a 180mm Nomad and I couldn’t believe how well it climbed even in far from ideal conditions. I also couldn’t get over the way it descended being only 150mm. I agree that pedal strikes seem more common but I think the BB is the same height as my Nomad. As a result of the demo, I’ve ordered the CC X01 which should be here for the end of the month.

The weather was atrocious on Saturday and normally I would have cancelled the ride, but I braved the weather and still came back with a massive smile on my face.

I’ve also ordered a 160mm air shaft for the forks, so hoping that helps with the pedal strikes!