Gaffa tape lolly sticks (the ones with jokes on are best) to your cheeks for the same effect

I got 3rd fastest on spooky woods descent the other day (no walkers, dogs or oncoming traffic to be seen)

Whenever I’ve been to a bikepark in Germany, there have been loads.
Apart from the goppin colours, they look like great value, especially the wicked 160 ltd with BOS suspension.

Dasnut bins it.
Lesson learnt, Don’t land with your brakes on 🙂

dasnut crashes on vimeo clicky

Still got the metal plate and 7 pins in my wrist to show for it…..

Being able to climb quicker proves one thing. Faster descending proves so much more…..

Faster climbs = fitter (unless its a particularly techy climb)
faster descent = more skill, more balls, more control, more awesome!

Racing uphill, great.

The downhill KOMs are providing great entertainment for me at least.

Always happy to lose a KOM to Neil Donoghue. (b-line 2nd part at Llandegla linky)

seems some people are bulk importing old data, which, imo isn’t really cricket as a trail may have significantly changed in a year. Still, got 2nd on cutgate langsett descent (linky) and a few others….

Anyone want a virtual race?

this is a cause for celebration how?

merlins a good bike shop. the other guys a ****

depends on how many numbers.

decimal, hexadecimal etc.

assuming you mean a 4 digit lock: 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 for decimal (10000)

gravity dropper. simple and effective. also the original and best.
awesome after sales \ warranty service as well.

and as for all this ugly stuff, what do you want in a seat post?????

form over function – its the stw tag line

simple fact is that the more you push your heart, the greater the risk

linky

The last thing on my list of things to do is try dying, if you wanna live forever then you will die trying….

you are about 7x more likely to have a heart attack when you are exercising (although being fit reduces your overall chance of having a heart attack)

linky

on the other hand, you’re going to die anyway so it may as well being doing something you like (assuming you like bike riding)

chainguide wise, I’d use something with no moving parts
straitline silent guide looks ok

for those wanting to stay 9 speed, this is the 12-36 9 speed cassette:
Shmano HG61 Cassette

bars 42″ off the ground, trail bike and DH bike.

that is all.

loads of jumps to flat. Looks ace 😉

probably should have bought BOS

just sayin.

there will no doubt be lots of stuff there, check the web.

I stayed for a night in a crappy hotel last year on a road trip – but Pila itself is only really good for a days riding IMO, the DH tracks are very rutted, the Pila-Aosta freeride is the best part

(been there 3 times btw)

haha the very worst of singletrack, right here.

i’ve got 2 of the top 5 trail bikes (as voted for by what mountain bike and mbr) I can’t decide which to sell

on a lighter note, i’d try losing a grand or so selling the 5 as the zesty doesn’t want to go.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-zesty-514-2011-model

or try selling it for a decent price.

oh christ who let him in?

good summary crag

its probably about 40lbs I guess.

Had the 450 before this, but that is really a dh race bike, the 250 is much shorter and generally more fun, and goes almost anywhere I could on the 450

i run it with the shortest wheelbase and slackest head angle atm

good spot on the tea bags senor j, was waiting for that one 😉

Where are you going to ride that?

well, so far this year, Lipno, Spicak (czech bike parks), Geisskopf (German bike park), Sauze d’oulx, Bardonecchia,(alpi bike park Italy), Les Arcs, Montgenevre, Pila, Chatel, Morgin, Morzine (+rest of Portes du Soleil)

hoping to do all that again and add whistler next year. Things to do when your 41 🙂

FWIW best bike I have ever owned and I’ve had a few. BOS Idylle SC forks are unreal 🙂
Only issues are inability to get to the shock rebound control due to linkage, and crap bearings in the linkage.

flats rented, and its a long way to take the recycling (6th Floor rooftop flat in Prague)

The kettle is pretty good for a tenner, prefer to spend on the finer things in life

i’d start with the rebound, sounds like its way to slow.
And the new spring won’t feel great until you have a few hours on it

have the Idylle SCs.
Much less stiction than the n’dee (I also have)
Redesigned lowers, not weighed them, so unsure of real weight difference

stoy will be going on the tr250 next

Saint-Genis-Pouilly, 10km from Geneva

I’m not an alcoholic, I’m a alcoholist

old one head angle is listed as 68.5 vs. new one of 67 so don't see how geometry is the same
like saying the old 5 is the same as the new one.

bleh

most pointless, Ill informed post of the day?

Like I said I've ridden the old version and the new one doesn't look like such a radically different model to the one it replaced.

and just because you read about "brake jack" doesn't mean you have a clue what it is.
Take a look at the world cup downhill bikes, quite a few different suspension designs eh? see many of them suffering with brake jack?
Think it makes a difference to you on your trail bike?
pseudo science half wits on stw shocker

oh dear.
no rim tape required (why would you need rim tape because you were running tubes? rim tape is to stop the tube being damaged by the holes in the rim, and on deemax there are no holes because they are PROPER tubeless rims)
sounds like user error to me.

no, they will be much more fun than that

you're always going to get trail erosion, unless you concrete it.
If you want biking to be an inclusive sport (rather than a sport populated by middle aged men with too much money) then the skill level is always going to vary from nil upwards.
In France, I believe a large problem with trail erosion is down to bad grading and hence high traffic on the wrong trails, not trail design or maintenance (and if you don't think they maintain their trails, you should have seen the state of Chatel bike park after a large storm when most trails got almost completely washed away, they fixed that in a couple of weeks)
For instance, in Sauze D'Oulx (not France I know!), there are about 10 red graded trails and about 500m of blue. So all the trails get mullered. Make that 3 red, 5 blue and 2 green and suddenly the traffic is going in the right place and the trails hold up better. (the reds will still get wrecked by the DH boys with no skill on their big rigs, but at least the blues will be mint – exactly the case at Chatel bike park)
And again, in France (altitude 1200m+) big weather can wreck trails pretty quick, so why build them like they do in the UK? Mountain biking is only a small percentage of their income when compared to skiing after all.
So, they don't spend money on it until it makes them money. Wow the French are human after all.
As for braking bumps in the UK, never noticed any on the downhill tracks at Innerleithen (the great unwashed don't venture there), no surprise trail erosion is being seen at seen at other high traffic areas.
Sorry to disagree with Harry but trail design (that is the exact layout of a particular trail) is not the answer. Plenty of different graded trails is, IMHO.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ragged-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life

5 year old bike snaps shocker

always worth a look, me breaking both wrists…. enjoy….

got a job in Geneva through it, so not all bad 🙂

I've got a T5 kombi for sale, with pop-top, air-con, electric windows, but needs an interior

some great riding (nearly 2000m of descent) on 3 or 4 trails near Montreux (about an hour from Chatel), not lift assisted, but train assisted. And thats not even the alps.
Reminded me a lot of La Varda in Les arcs.

If you go to the area on holiday, get a decent guide who knows the off piste stuff, otherwise, you'll just be doing pleney run after run, like the majority of UK bikers in the area.

T5 2.5 issues are:
water pump failure
breaking drive shafts\diffs due to the power

If I was getting another T5, it'd be a 1.9.
2.5 good in a T4 though

you don't 'need' a tapered steer with this bike, you just use a different lower bearing\race if you want to use standard 1-1/8" forks.

all about choice, see?

still hate the 5 myself though

geetee, you could have descended through the chatel bike park anyway you wanted
personally, I like serpentine, great to race friends down, taking different lines in those big corners you mention.
the bottom bit was a little muddy, and I was a little tired by then, but all good.
the champery red was up there as the best bit of the day, nearly came flying off on the dusty rooty corners more than once 🙂

as for the course, it hasn't changed much over the years – don't forget who it is amied at….EVERYONE (mountain biking is inclusive in France) – not just gnarlcore UK riders on their Oranges 5s