Lots of things could be happening here.

Could be over training, you’ve only recently started back, ease into it…it’ll come in its own time, if I’ve had a lay off I’ll only run a mile or so when starting over again.

Depleted/low sugars post exercise…don’t go overboard but follow exercise with a small shake or meal consisting of carbs, protein and fat….then about an hour later do the same again, small though!

Bring your water back down to 3 litres a day, see how you feel.

Mix things up, are you doing any weights?…people get obsessed with cardio when trying to lose weight and hammer themselves into painful joints, fatigue etc….go easy and fit some weights in there too.

May also be getting the headaches from the carb reduction in the same way people who cut out coffee get headaches, think withdrawal but not as dramatic as drugs obviously!

It looks like you’ve put in place loads of good lifestyle changes but done them all at once and potentially to an extreme for you.
Try some of the above and see how you get on.

Use resistance exercise to increase your muscle mass too.

Nothing burns through calories like lean (muscle) tissue….even at rest muscle tissue needs an ungodly amount of calories to repair, maintain and grow.

Throw in a gym session when you perform some of the big exercises like squats or deadlifts and you’ll be great, it’ll probably help with cycling too.

Don’t worry about ‘getting too big’….this almost never happens, actually trying to gain muscle mass to the point your clothes don’t fit and you look like a body builder is a lifelong endeavour for most people who are into it….it doesn’t happen by accident when weights are used as supplementary exercise to something like cycling.

Used the old Nic on a 27.5 bike last year and thought it was crap, used a new Nic on my 26 HT recently and really liked it!?

Ralph on the back will be fine until it gets muddy, that’s the combo I used too.

I bought as a frame only as the complete builds obviously cant compare with the online retailers….and i hadnt built a bike up myself in ages so looked forward to speccing it to my wishes.

I bought it for the versatility, as above it can run 140mm travel, is very light and can make a good fist of being an easy to pedal, all day trail bike….but put 160mm forks on (as Giant sell it in the SX guise), the head angle goes out to 66 degrees and you have a great bike for smashing through things downhill.

The DW/Maestro link suspension is very plush and hard to bottom out, any concerns over how it handles rough stuff should be put aside when you realise the Giant Factory team were using them in the Enduro World Series until the new Reign came out this year.

Our American cousins are fond of swapping the rear shock (200 x 51) for one with a longer stroke: 200 x 57, giving more rear travel, about 155mm i believe and i have a shock with this longer stroke waiting to go on mine.

I love it and happily recommend it to anybody who asks and if you can get a good end of season deal then crack on….that said i’m also a fan of the direct sales models and Bird, YT, Canyon, Commencal, Rose etc all offer better build kits and components if you’re buying the whole bike….choice is great but can also be a bugger with so much of it around at the moment!

I’d say if you’re buying frame only and want to enjoy putting together a custom build for just you then buy a Trance frame….if you want a complete bike to get out on the trails with straight away then go down the direct sales route with your budget, only caveat would be to note delivery times before hitting the ‘buy’ button as some of them take months to get a bike to you and it that case its often easier to just walk into a Giant dealership and walk out again 30mins later with your new bike ready to hit the trails.

Went OTB and concussed myself at one of the inaugural UKGE rounds in 2011, my fault as I was new to the sport, had no idea what I was getting into and took a short travel XC type hardtail to ride….with no dropper post to boot.

Made me think about my choice of bike and the events I wanted to enter.

Replaced with slacker angled full suspension bike and started brushing up on skills with YouTube vids, gradually pushing myself at ‘safe’ venues like BPW, FoD etc until I started to feel confident with steep stuff, drops, jumps etc….

Still far from polished with my riding but happy to try most stuff now, it’s been a four year process…..these things can’t be rushed!
Loads of things I still won’t ride but with breaking the theory down in my head and starting small I get there in the end.

Mary in Trailstar compound on the front of mine, great at earthy places like FoD, not so good on hard packed trails like BPW where I prefer a Minion instead.

Chose Trailstar as it doesn’t wear as quickly as some of Schwalbe’s compounds but still grips enough for front tyre use.
I’ve yet to use it in proper winter slop when I tend to switch to a Dirty Dan anyway for max mud clearance!

……..and this is why I don’t run tubeless!

Sod all that faff, just whack a tube in there and be done with it.

Like it, shame it’s in carbon though. All the threads on here recently of cracked carbon, BB housings that have debonded from the carbon frame etc have put me off….give me Alu and a threaded BB any day of the week.

If it came in metal I’d buy one. Love that they’ve kept the square section tubing design of the old metal Turners, shame the ‘milled from solid’ BB area/pivot point of the old bikes is missing though.

Looks like a Trance, Reign or Glory now.

The Geax stuff from On-One is really good, the Datura moto style tyre makes an excellent winter/mud tyre and the DHEA is essentially another Minion clone for s fraction of the price.

Both folding bead, both lovely tacky rubber compounds and I believe the DHEA is dual ply too but I’d have to check that. Either way the folding Datura is currently £15 and the DHEA is about the same….I bought some this week in anticipation of winter riding already.

Also their own brand stuff is Maxxis by any other name (made by the same people I believe) and the Chunky Monkey front, Smorgasbord rear seems a popular choice….never got on with Smorgs myself, they’re like an Ardent IMO (crap) but the CM up front is decent, reminds me of a Trail King/Rubber Queen tread.

I think their stuff is just a tenner at the moment?!…so stock up.

re. High Rollers, you’re right they’re holding their price. They noticeably dropped when the HR2 came out but when people realised it was no different/better they went back to buying cheaper original High Rollers….I did anyway….and I think that has kept prices high.

Both the Minion and High Roller are classics for a reason, hard to see where to go from there!….if it isn’t broken and all that. Schwalbe tried something different with the Hans Dampf but it clogs with mud easily…..moto/intermediate style tyres like the Mary and Shorty seem popular with the Enduro/DH crowd but can be a bit much for general trail riding.

Got loads in my loft, where are you?

Yes and no.

Someone on a different thread wrote about buying a bike costing several thousand pounds for ‘a season’….with people around who have this kind of cash the manufacturers do alright I reckon.

Personally 2k is my limit on a whole bike and YT, Canyon, Rose etc facilitate this for me and even then I expect to get 4+ years from it….my personal budget in my world is around £500 a year on MTBing, that’s less than £50 per month in finance terms….any more and I may as well buy another motorbike instead.

Only exception would be a credit card build I would keep indefinitely.

Warner’s a right boy eh?!….that blow air thing looks more fun than ebikes, where do I sign?

The wheel size thing has really cocked things up the more I think about it….yes YT bikes are cheap new so they’ll be naff all second hand but the change in wheel size for trail and DH bikes to 27.5 made 26ers look old instantly.

I ride a 26 inch HT and love how it rides and my next bike will be a DH bike built with the aid of finance and my credit card!….it’ll be my last hurrah before I’m 40 and I’m looking forward to it….or I was until the bloody wheel size debacle.

I know it’s irrational to fret over something I’m going to be building to my spec and for me only, resale value is not part of the consideration…..but the frame I really want is a brand new Turner DHR….and it has takes 26 inch wheels only….so despite that being my dream bike I’m ludicrously looking elsewhere in order to get 27.5 wheels on my DH bike….why?…I have no idea!….the industry played a blinder with 650b, suddenly rational grown men who should know better will spend more and buy new in order to get 27.5 wheels even if they make bugger all difference to the ride!

Flats are pretty much all the same at the sub £50 mark, all based around the Kona Wah Wah, Superstar Nano design….more important are the shoes you’ll be wearing.

Spend the money and go for something with the proprietary ‘stealth’ rubber sole, 5:10 used to have sole use of this nice grippy/soft compound but I saw some Adidas shoes with ‘stealth’ soles recently so whether 5:10 now licence it or Adidas have bought them out I don’t know?

…..anyway, get the sticky rubber shoes first and most flats will be fine from there.

Some people prefer longer or shorter pins and eBay is full of sellers offering replacement pins in varying lengths for most well known brands.
I’m using Nukeproof Electrons (the plastic ones) with longer pins I got from eBay fitted around the outside edge of the pedal together with 5:10 shoes I got for £50 in a CRC sale, I’m chuffed to bits with how they work together.

Worth mentioning that the ‘stealth’ rubber also comes in a ‘marathon’ compound which is harder wearing and typically used by brakeless BMXers and skaters, it has less grip so avoid for MTB use, it should say in the sole which rubber it is.

Adidas Terrex look good and the new ones are using ‘stealth’ rubber soles and often come up cheaper than 5:10

As other replies have said already, the BOS suspension is a turn-off for lots of buyers despite good reviews (fear of the unknown, reliability, cost of servicing etc), add in 26 inch wheels (which wouldn’t bother me at a cheaper price point) but if I’m paying more than 2k for something I want it bang up to date….a lot of people suggested the direct sales firms would harm the conventional MTB manufacturers but apart from slightly more realistic pricing from Spesh, Giant and Trek etc I don’t think that has happened….what has happened is that the arse has fallen out of the 2nd hand market due to YT, Canyon etc….after all why pay 2k for a used bike when you can now buy a brand new one for less?!….it’s a no brainer really.

Keep it, ride it, enjoy it….its a truly great DH bike in 26 or 27.5 variety, enjoy the attention the BOS suspension gets and enjoy cheap wheels, tyres etc in 26 inch guise….I’ve managed to bag wheels, forks and loads of tyres recently as CRC, Wiggle etc seem to be scared of unsold 26 inch stock!….ridiculous really, 26 inch bikes didn’t become crap overnight.

A few years ago your bike (if wearing the Specialized moniker) would’ve been about 5k brand new meaning your asking price of around 2k second hand would’ve been about right….blame YT Industries, you got a cracking bike brand new but with their entry level stuff starting around £1800 you’ll have to swallow hard and think about pricing it below that to sell.

This isn’t a criticism of the direct sales companies, I flipping love them, they’ve opened up top draw specs, suspension, wheels etc to the masses for average money but it doing so they have virtually no residual value when it comes to selling stuff on…I was eyeing up a YT Wicked-150 frame on eBay the other day that was going for literally a couple of hundred quid, couldn’t believe it….26 inch wheels too and I’ve got forks, wheels etc in the attic….only thing stopping me was space and an imminent house move, shame as someone got a great deal.

It’s a buyers market now.

They are coming but the nay-sayers needn’t worry about them taking over as in sporting and competition terms people want to see who’s the best cyclist not who can steer an ebike the best.

National champs, WC, even regional XC, Enduro etc will all be human powered in terms of rank of achievement. There may be a category for ebikes but it will always come with an asterisk or carry less prestige than the ‘elite’ class results.

Certain high achieving ebike riders may pick up sponsorship from ebike manufacturers but I can’t see the mainstream sponsors deviating from elite level human powered cyclists.

Like has been said, eBay the forks and wheels….

….buy some new Rebas

….buy a set of wheels from Superstar

….shorter stem

….new tyres

That’ll be great once done, the Caldera frame is a decent short travel HT.

There is space in the sport for all of these types of riding.

Perhaps as a local you are losing sight of that?

I did say its good that both BPW and FoD exist as they give different experiences, try both to see which one you like best and revisit that one….seems easy to me.

I’m not local to FoD, its a 3 hr drive for me…..but with the FlyUp guys getting in close to 15 runs a day during the summer its easy to find pretty much everything on that hill.

think there’s probably a gap between how you see it, and how it’s now presented to the outside world. Because honestly, how else can you describe it as off the beaten track? I’ve been off the beaten track, they don’t have a website, a bike shop, a hog roast, an uplift, and a massive sign saying WELCOME TO OFF THE BEATEN TRACK! ARE THESE TRAILS FOR YOU?

I was comparing it to places like BPW where it’s fully booked 3 months in advance, on private land, fully signposted, groomed trails, no chance of taking a wrong turn, everything strava segmented etc etc…..and then you have FoD where the trails are left to deteriorate/wear/bed-in, there’s a lack of mapping and signs, uplifts can usually be booked only a week ahead etc.

Obviously I’m not suggesting that booking with FlyUp is like going into the wilderness in Snowdonia but when comparing uplift venues BPW and FoD are poles apart.
BPW is fun but attracts a certain type of rider who seems to want everything handed to them on a plate with little to no effort on their part, FoD is a little more rough and ready and I prefer it….for me it’s ten times the uplift venue BPW is which is probably why I jump on this thread and get defensive about the place.

There is space for both kinds of venue and I think it’d be a crying shame if FoD went the way of BPW where trails are like footpaths and there is no off piste riding.
If you don’t like FoD don’t visit again, I’ve no great desire to go back to BPW….horses for courses and all that, it doesn’t enter my head that I might not be able to accurately guide an ambulance to my location at the FoD….I think if that was my primary concern when going out for a ride then it’s probably time to take up golf.

You’re paying for the uplift only….the trails (including signage) is volunteer labour.

Probably best to stick to BPW if something this trivial ruins your day at FoD….also means less traffic there for the rest of us!

rockhopper70 – Member
just applying pressure/ psyching him out as we are going on 11 September.
Mates race etc etc

Ah I see….I would shorten that stem though!

Looks very nice but would you take that down a trail centre, in Wales, on an uplift day, at a place that rhymes with half a sting dog.

Yep, slack angles and mid/long travel forks are great fun at those places….haven’t touched my FS since building my hardtail late last year….no problems at BPW, FoD, Black Mountains Cycle Centre etc etc…all uplift days, all great fun…haven’t tried Antur yet but only because North Wales is a pig to get to from mine.

At my skill level the limiting factor is me not the bike.

oldtalent, its not a trail centre, its funded by donations and hard work. Hopefully you dropped a £10 in the tin

….and that’s the crux of the matter, cosseted MTBers have got used to the government/EU funded Welsh projects and can’t figure it out when they go somewhere off the beaten track!

Those who have a problem with the signage put yourself out and map the trails one day, then spend an evening knocking up some signs, buy some posts to hammer in at the trail heads and hey presto….or leave well alone and accept it for what it is, a natural more challenging day out than the usual trail centre riding.

Robd, is that the one with dual crown Boxxers?….been eyeing up a DH bike as my next machine but keep being drawn to the 180mm Ohlins equipped Spesh Enduro instead, might make more sense for UK type downhill courses….what are the angles? Is it DH slack or have they just whacked some big forks on a bike with trail geometry?

I did find out that the 2 & 3 orange dot signs near the mound at the start on the left should have been removed a while back, as they dont go anywhere.

Strange, I’ve been there loads this year and I’m booked to go back this month, those two starting points on the mound are a popular spot to start a run from….I’ve certainly started runs from there this year.

I think people find the natural state of the place confusing. Go to BPW and even if it wasn’t signposted you’d get down the runs ok as they look like a well kept stone/gravel driveway….there’s no mistaking them as ‘trails’….although the blues there have gone too far in terms of grooming and the manicured state they’re in.
Whereas FoD is through the woods, dirt trails that at times blend in with the surrounding environment and I think that throws some people.
I think people also get confused that each trail at FoD usually has another one or even two alternative routes branching off it…I love this, some don’t and seem to want to be guided down a perfectly signed trail they can then compare notes on with their mates!….I like that I can seemingly start the same run in the same spot but end up popping out at a different place along the access road halfway down and can then choose to pick up a different run for the second part of the trail.

The only well signed part is the jump trail (launchpad) which is typical trail centre fare and much like BPW in that it’s about 4ft wide, billiard table smooth, root free etc etc….please don’t ever let the rest of the FoD get like that!

The best way to look at the FoD is that you’re essentially free to put your own DH runs together, the uplift is great, loads better than BPW….and it’s a day where you can mix and match trails as you see fit instead of being constrained to marked runs like at other places.

People will buy it in the same way they buy ‘prestige’ German cars that continuously fall behind Japanese brands in reliability tests.
For some the feel good factor is in the buying and posing not the riding and performance….style over substance.

It won’t be an issue.

The Dirt-Orange WC DH team do ok on their ‘flexy’ Orange bikes…if anything for real world numpties like ourselves It will help with traction and take some of the harshness out of the trail that the suspension can’t deal with when loaded laterally.

Where, exactly, are you drawing the line?

Solely human powered would seem a logical line to be drawn.

As soon as you get into the realms of pedal-assist, e-bikes etc they are no longer solely human powered….its that stumbling block that is massive for me.

I don’t doubt they’re good fun and if it gets couch potatoes out on the trail and can help them transition to normal bikes eventually then that’d be grand…..but to have a load of industry apologists simply state “it’s gonna happen” is depressingly symptomatic of a society that craves instant gratification.

I enjoy a good hard climb on the bike (not at the time!) but the satisfaction at the top is awesome and I know the knock on effects for my strength and fitness will benefit me on other rides….I think e-bikes have the potential to take that away and lead to a group of riders who never really see any health/fitness/weight loss benefits from cycling.

Sad really, like when you see a fatty using a mobility scooter in the supermarket when they should be doing all they get to walk around more….modern life, path of least resistance and all that unfortunately.

140mm Revs in 26 variety are great on my HT and not so much travel for them to become ‘noodly’ or flexy like long travel Fox-32s used to get like.

I even ran a 150mm Rev on a 27.5 Trance last year will no probs….only went for larger diameter stanchions when I upped the travel to 160mm at the front…I used X-Fusion Sweeps which can be internally spaced down in 10mm increments for your needs, lovely fork too. Requires about 20psi less for my weight than the Revelation that was in there before, plush is often overused with suspension but in this case it’s all true.

X-Fusion stuff sits in its mid travel far more than previous Fox and Rockshox stuff I’ve used but has an uncanny knack of never getting overwhelmed or bottoming out either.

hmm interesting. have you compared it to a modern linkage bike?

I have…test rode one back to back with Giant’s DW/Meastro link….settled on the Giant (Trance) for no other reason than the deal was too good to pass on financially….i have no problem with single pivot designs having had a Saracen Ariel in recent years.

The Orange design is good in that when you brake and/or the suspension gets working the bike lowers itself (squats) and the rear wheel path is up and out…in other words the wheelbase lenghtens which gives great stability, it becomes longer and lower when used in anger….whats not to like?!

I’m not good enough that the design will ever hold me back when compared to more ‘refined’ designs on the market….i ride for fun and the bike was fun, massively so….so much that my DH build will be based on their new 324 frame.

Lovely bike, I do prefer the original 26 Stanton but they’re all good, typical UK aggro bike for riding down inappropriate stuff!

Yep, cod liver oil, glucosamine and a multi vit seems to keep my clicky shoulders under control….whether there’s any actual science in it or not I don’t know?!….I do know when I’ve run out and haven’t taken any for a while though, noticeably more sore.

Really like that, God I love hardtails!….I’d have a house full if I could.

(Is the stem from the old Trek!?)

Budget £500 ish.

In that case get a new set of forks, Rebas can be had new for around the £200-250 mark…then get some new wheels from Superstar on new hubs that have SKF cartridge bearings, that will also be around the £200-250 mark.

You’ll notice those upgrades more as they directly affect the way the bike rolls, rides, steers etc rather than some blingy carbon tat adorning the bike elsewhere.

Chainline, i’m really liking that.

Much more in line with the kind of riding i enjoy….the long wheelbase makes sense on long travel slack angled bikes, i should imagine its awesomely stable at speed/descending…quite why the industry is obsessed with short chainstays is baffling to me?!….its mixed messages, “here have this long travel, slack angled Enduro/DH/Gnarpoon weapon that we’ve stuck the shortest possible stays on limiting your tyre choice and making it twitchy at speed just when you want maximum stability”….yeah nice one designers.

Treat the forks to a service/refresh at TFtuned, custom wheel build from Superstar, dropper post, Renthal lite bars…i had a Caldera back in 2010, mine was aluminium but they still managed to keep the delicate 27.2 mm seat tube and it had stays as thin as pencils…lovely to ride and with its standard 100mm fork (mine was a Recon Gold) it had a relatively slack (for the time) head angle of 68 degrees which was great fun given that it had a short fork in there….wish i’d kept it, it was a great singletrack blaster.

I use dropper reverb posts on my full suss bikes but make sure I have spare seat posts handy when away, as I have found reverbs are still far too unreliable especially in very cold weather. No way would I want a reverb stealth and have all the faff of taking that off. Press fit bottom brackets also seem a retro step to me as is internal cable routing which is really a time trial aero thing.

You read my mind.

On a remote ride with out the chance of nipping back to the trail centre carpark id use a spring loaded Gravity Dropper seatpost every time….or not bother and manually raise and lower accordingly.

MTBs are getting like cars where there is so much tech stuff that can go wrong and leave you in the lurch on a decent ride.

Agree with your thoughts on internal cable routing, mechanics hate it so why are we doing it?!….style over substance yet again, driven by the marketing dept and lapped up by posers.

Agree on pressfit BBs too, simple money saving for the manufacturer who no longer has to spec a threaded tube and ensure it all works, just weld in a smooth tube as the BB which may or may not have the right tolerances and may or may not squeak like a bugger when used….seems to be entirely pot luck as to whether you get a good one!

Oh how the engineering dept must have laughed when the marketing guys at Spesh presented the idea of a flippin’ lunchbox in the downtube of the new Stumpy….and how quickly the smiles must have vanished when they realised it was a serious suggestion.

Seriously, bikes should be simple.

Give me good quality suspension, good tyre clearance, brakes that could stop a runaway train and build it from something that wont break within the first few years of abuse.

I can happily do without internal cable routing, stealth droppers, pressfit BBs etc etc….its probably why i like hardtails so much.

I also swapped a HD on the rear for a RR and surprise surprise, there is no grip on when braking with the rear.

Racing Ralph or Rock Razor?….if you mean Rock Razor then i agree entirely, i got lured in by a glowing Dirt review and put one on the back with a Mary up front for a local level DH race…oh dear, no brakes whatsoever!….went off course into spectators, ran wide on every bend….disaster, threw the bike in the car and drove home after practice even though i had a Minion with me if needed (and it was needed!)….no tyre i’ve used has been as bad as that, i suppose on rocky, hard trails it makes sense but for UK riding the window of opportunity for that tyre is narrow to say the least.

Now Racing Ralph on the other hand is ok as a rear, i used a Nobby Nic up front and the Ralph out back on a hardtail a few years ago and it was great through the summer.

Very nice….just waiting for my current HT to fail in some way so i can buy a Dartmoor Hornet!

Keep the updates coming.

Mary is a front tyre only unless riding DH all day long…put the Hans Dampf on the rear.

Butcher and Baron have similar treads so i’d just stick whichever is the wider of the two on the front.

That leaves your Panaracers to be run as a pair.