Maxxis Ardent 2.4 – FANTASTIC TYRE!!! With EXO casing, good grip, fast rolling, big volume, not too heavy, good puncture resistance. Not amazing in the mud but not too bad. Might be a bit OTT though.

Looks like an on-one?

Yeah looking at the tourney 6 and 7 speed shifters, I think I’ll try that first and then go for the whole 7 speed upgrade if it doesn’t work.

Orange 5? Does everything.

It amazes me how quickly the washboard bumps start to appear once the trails open, but usually July is OK and then there are a few big thunderstorms and before you know the whole place is as rough as heck. But some places are better than others, Morzine and Les Gets main lines get ridden to destruction. Any maintenance that is done is quickly destroyed. You just have spread out a bit more.

I’m not trying to say one is better than the other, just thinking aloud about why we (UK) don’t any top elite XC riders.

Druidh – I’m not close enough to the scene to know. As I said I get the feeling that DH has a more organic support network to support and nurture top level junior racers and you can probably do better and get results without such a high level of cardio fitness and therefore if you have the talent and skills (which you can develop while mucking around in the woods with your mates) you can do well enough to stay motivated at DH and progress. I think you can still race DH at a high level and have lots of fun, while to get to a top level in XC it is more about suffering IMHO so personally if I had to choose I’d rather be a top DH’er than a top XC’er. Its chicken and egg with the media side, but DH is always going to look better in a video or a still image perhaps?

If you want a UK all-rounder you will have most fun on a 5 I think, great fun bike if you like the single pivot ride. If only they made one long and low I’d still have one. Perfectly good down most stuff you just need to see how fast Joe Barnes goes on one to know they are a good bike.

Really interesting thread this, I have raced in the past XC, DH and Enduro (including the Mega) in all cases badly but have still enjoyed the experience. FWIW XC racing was for me the least enjoyable if I tried to do well, because it involves pushing your heart rate into the red and then trying to keep it there until the race ends. But then a great feeling once you have completed the course and managed to overtake a few people who went off too hard.

I have found both skill AND fitness to be a limiting factor in all formats, if you want to have fun fitness helps, if you want do well you have to have both. Obviously DH fitness and XC fitness are not the same once you get to a high level, DH requires much more explosive effort and more upper body strength, but the fitness base is the same.

It doesn’t matter if you are racing DH or XC if you can’t corner well and carry speed you will be slower and use more energy.

As for why we have so few top XC racers I’m not sure, we have many top DH’ers with no huge BC support so why no XC’ers I don’t know. Probably because no-one champions XC and its it is not pushed by the MTB media.

Most sports have lot of people who do it just for fun, most people who take part aren’t trying to conquer the world. It doesn’t mean you can’t have a successful elite level but it requires focus. DH focus comes from within I would suggest with people like Peaty and the industry nurturing talent, does this happen as much in XC in the UK? I don’t think so.

I’m not affected by you falling out of love with mountainbiking at all. Does your family see more of you now?

First I was afraid, I was petrified.

Never go shorter than 200mm on the first cut, you can always takea bit more off but you can’t add it back.

Plus I normally cut it all wonky and end up having to do it again.

Go for it, well done. Its amazing what you can achieve in a year to quote a well known scottish band that I can’t remember the name of at the moment. The View, that’s it. Same Jeans On. What a good song, might have to listen to that now. Good Luck! 🙂

What do you do?

Calling Twistywizard to the thread…. 🙂

But little and often is easier to get away with isn’t it?

But for the avoidance of doubt…

twistywizard@gmail.com

Paypal details…

Sent to:
Sharon Hallett (The recipient of this payment is Non-US – Verified)
Email:
S.HH1984.SH@GOOGLEMAIL.COM

Looks a bit dogdy now I look at it again, der….

Seems like I need do no more! 🙂

Chris King headsets. My oldest I have had for 10 years, never serviced it, still works perfectly. I can’t think of any other headset that would keep working like they do.

I moved to the French Alps 2 years ago, and I still miss Swinley Forest! You don’t get braking bumps there… 🙂

Here’s mine, its a 2009 frame that has been resprayed I think, works a treat.

It is very easy to drink at home every night, I have to make a real conscious effort to force myself to take a night or two off each week. Perhaps that could be a good initial aim, be alcohol free for one night a week and work up from there? Get some interesting soft drinks in so you have something different to drink and just have one night a week off. It would be a start. Good luck, don’t be too hard on yourself drinking every night is an easy habit to get into and difficult to stop.

I Ache you’d be surprised what kit a top DH racer will use for one run only to get an advantage. They don’t need their kit to last after all.

In my experience of doing things like this its the raising of the BB height that really makes the difference. Slack head angles are great but only if you can keep the BB low. Otherwise it makes the handling in corners completely barge like, not fun.

Around 800 mins her week I reckon, hour and a bit of bike commuting a day on average plus snowboarding / biking for a least 3 hours each weekend. When my ankle isn’t broken that is. Don’t count walking around and doing stuff in the garden etc…

Wow thanks all, looks like my injury is pretty simple in comparison! Fortunately I’ve pretty much given up riding hardtails anyway. So hopefully I’ll be in the pool, hiking and then back on the bike commuting to build up for heading offroad again this summer. Cheers for the input its really encouraging.

Yes so I hear – so have you just done it then? I’m one week in, have been told I don’t need surgery as its a clean break and not displaced. So fingers crossed if it knits OK I should be fine, but interested to hear anyone’s experiences. Put me right off snowboarding!

So that’s no-one then?

Hence the specific question.. 🙂

Yes this has happenned to me recently. I think its a combination of a loss of confidence, riding the same old trails and bike technical problems just killing it a bit for me the second half of this summer. However I know it will come back, cos I’m sorting the bikes and I’m finding new stuff to ride… 🙂

Don’t touch the front brake, let the bike run, don’t turn on them. Unweight the front wheel, and if you can as mentioned use the first one to hop and unweight, the faster you are going the less you’ll touch. Super tacky tires are good too!

I don’t see the point in spending the extra on new XT vs new SLX (10spd).

Not sure if it helps but I’m massively impressed with the SLX gear on my latest bike, and the SLX shifters do feel very smooth its true. My XT is more clonky I think but very positive shifting.

I have a similar problem but with a crank bolt that I cannot shift, do you thinking the hot water trick could work? I assume that the steel bolt expands less that the thread in the axle, freeing it up? Or just the expansion contraction has a loosening effect?

My Mojo has gone a bit recently, mainly due to a bit of frustration at my own lack of bottle and loss of confidence. I’ve never lost my motivation through, so I have a plan to get it back and a great ride last Sunday really helped, so now I’m champing at the bit to get out there again and try some more stuff. I have my eye on a nice gap jump too so when I clear that I’ll feel much better about my riding I hope. I need to MTFU a bit.

wwaswas the voice of reason I think… 🙂 Clearly I need to do some research – I will report back. Cheers all.

Hmm yes good point about the Zocchi’s, I could get some original Z1’s and mod them, this could be a lot of fun! I’ve been bit bored in the evenings recently, PROJECT!!! 🙂

Oh that BMW is fantastic isn’t it? I’d get but I don’t want to turn my child into a spoilt brat!

Big tyre run soft and modding are good ideas, I’ll look into bigger volumes tyres for sure as its a hardtail that he rides anyway. Perhaps I could swap out the elastomer for a soft spring or dril some small holes in the elastomer to give a bit more inital compliance?

Hmmm! Sounds fun….

Twice, sort of… Both times I had a plan before taking the plunge, so both involved an element of risk but fingers crossed things have worked out well so far. So go for it, but have a plan, Stan.

The boy in the striped pyjamas – not a lot happens but it does built very well to the inevitable ending which I thought was all done very well – subtle but shocking none the less. 8/10 but a bit depressing.

On my 22nd birthday I came very close to going over a cliff into the river Chandra in the back a lorry while hitching a ride in the Himalayas. The driver was bombing up a mountain road with a sheer drop off one side when he fluffed changing down and stalled his engine. The brakes couldn’t stop the lorry and it started rolling backwards towards the edge. Just when it was about to go over he turned the lorry in reverse back into the wall on the inside of the road to stop it, rolling the lorry onto its side in the process. Cue 10 fellow students, half a ton of sacks of chickpeas and a few other locals coming down on top of me!

Managed to get out and then it was a matter of helping a couple of injured / people going into shock, and hiking back down to a refuge / chai shop to re-group. Hitched a ride out of the mountain the next day in the back of a 6 wheel drive Indian Army lorry, with the weather deteriating and landslides starting to happen.

The party we had upon making it back to Manali was pretty good!