If you’re ultimate destination is Oban, why not look at some of the Kinlochleven trails? Ciaran Path (from Blackwater Dam) and/or Devils Staircase?

What’s the reason to have Fort Bill “on the list to do”? It is brilliant, yes, but it’s on most folk’s lists because of the WC Black (which sounds like it might be beyond your comfort zone), or the Red (which includes a lot of boardwalk, which you’re not keen on).

Garda.
Brilliant mix of trails serviced by uplift http://www.bikeshuttletorbole.com/index_eng.php
Oh, and there’s a Liteville test bike centre now open in Torbole if they want to try a bigger bike.

marzocchi 44 rc3ti
+1

So far, in the almost 4 years I’ve had it now, mine has been on; a Meta 5, an Orange 5 and now sits on a 456EvoTi.
Just did an oil change on Tuesday night and it’s like new. Bombproof fork and supper-plush. Marzocchi’s separate dust & oil seal setup seems to last better than other manufacturers too 🙂

I’ve set mine by sag. (27.5/160 on Liteville 301) The pressure is a long way below what the chart recommended but that’s not an issue.
Initially set it up without any tokens. Currently got one token in. Will be fitting a second when I get around to it.
Getting almost full travel and not felt them bottom out yet 🙂
I do like the Pike, so much so that I’ve bought a second one from that French company, to go on my hardtail.

bottomless tokens are the plastic volume spacer thingies that screw under the bottom of the cap covering the air chamber. The reduce the compressible volume which makes the fork ramp-up more towards the end of the stroke.

They’re all man-made.
“purpose built” would be a better designation

I agree with Northwind, Hope sealing is poor, so it’s got to be grease for me.
I actually use a very thick calcium based waterproof (marine/water pump) grease, which stays in place and doesn’t wash out.
The trick with this heavy grease is to use very little of it, no poor than a greasy fingerprint covering on the springs and pawls.
Works well and they remain nice and loud 🙂

Smorgasbord went up really easily on Stans FlowEX rim with just tape and fluid.
They are very flimsy though IMHO. I’d say they are roughly equivalent to a Maxxis LUST carcase.

My experience is based on trying one the rear of my 456ti when I first built it up. It lasted only about 100m into the first rocky descent before pinchflatting. Perfect snakebite slices through the sidewall on both sides 🙁

I’ve reverted to Dual Ply Minions on the back end and not had the same problem since.

Still got a Chunky Monkey tubeless on the front though and I rate that very highly.

I keep the chain relatively clean and well lubed and swap between two (on the full sus) and three (on the hardtail) chains, always using whichever chain has the least ‘stretch’. I probably swap the chains every month or two. Seems to keep the cassette, chain ring and jockey wheels happy for much longer and if I do have a chain die on me I have a replacement which will fit without meshing issues.

^^^ Cheifgrooveguru +1

That’s exactly what I do.
Run 2 or 3 chains in rotation and grind the lot into the ground, then replace full drivetrain and 2 spare chains. Rinse and repeat.

I have Hope 203mm floaters with M785XT on my Patriot.
Rivets are VERY close to caliper where mounting bolts go through, so much so that I decided to shave a mm or so of material off the caliper with an angle grinder(and chamfer the square edge off too), just in case.

I have Superstar 180mm floaters with M785XT on my hardtail. Clearance is fine with those.

I have 180mm RT-76 floaters with M785XT on my Liteville. No issues with these. Will probably buy these next time I need rotors.

Me!
Driving down – arriving Sunday.
None of my mates were up for it this year either, so I’m going with Mrs and our Daughter (non-riders) and making a holiday of it.
Staying in AdH as managed to book a cheap studio place for 8 nights.

Riding a black Liteville 301, (or maybe a baby-blue Patriot for the quali).
Say hello if you see me!

oops – hadn’t spotted the word “road” in the title. 😳
Anyway, Shame on you for even thinking about uttering that word!!!

Four recommendations:
1. Strava segment search. The place is overrun with segments, so you can just join ’em up like a dot-to-dot.
2. Get someone to show you around. Happy to do this most nights except this week (already rides planned Mon & Wed) and next week (the Mega)
3. Join Rivington MTB facebook group.
3. Get yourself on the Monday night pub ride tonight!!! 😀

It’s not really something that you’d first discover by “checking out” though.

You’d more likely suffer bad shifting, notice a change in tone from the freehub, poor pick-up under drive, or worst-case scenario – total failure.

I should be able to make this one. I’ll try not to be a ####!

Rode it with Yoshimi back in March. Just had a quick check and Strava says 3h:47m moving time.
Bowderdale needs to be dry to be fun and I guess now is about as good as it’ll get.
I’d say mos’s comparison with Nan Bield is a reasonable one, i.e. not technical but a bit of fun and best done flat-out chasing your mates for the fastest time to the gate. 😀

I’m going to buck the trend of Antur Stinkydog worship here…
Yes, it is very good but… if I compare it with Fort Bill WC track, Fort Bill has almost constant rock gardens and drops, etc., whereas Stinkydog feels like an overgrown BMX track with fewer rocks and features and some big doubles that I don’t have the skills/confidence to clear.
You’ve got to be very confident on big doubles to enjoy Stinkydog to its full potential. If, like me, you can’t quite get those doubles, then you end up frustrated that you have to take speed off and put the wheels down between the two.
Whereas, at Fort Bill it doesn’t matter if you only make 50% of the distance accross any of the tabletops on the motorway section, you can keep trying and progressing. There’s not that progression option on Stinkydog, it’s do or die (I died).

The only thing I can find not to like on the Nomad is the 1x only constraint.
Everything else looks spot on.
Guess I’ll have to try a one-up dinnerplate on current bike and see if I survive that before I start thinking about the next bike.

Sounds like you’re planning on putting a lot of miles in and a lot of ascent, yet missing out all the best bits of two otherwise good rides, neither of which would be a “quick dash”.

If you do Helvellyn via the Dodds, the best bit is the descent of Dollywaggon and Grisedale.
If you do a Highstreet loop, the best bit is the Ullswater lakeside track.
You’ll miss out both on the loop you suggest.

Slightly worried that you may have underestimated the effort/time if you’re calibrating in terms of “how many ‘deglas?”

Here’s my analysis (just relating to a week for Mega)

Single person/single trip with Mega specifically covered:
Dogtag basic = £45 with a £400 excess. (other cover levels still have quite high excesses too)
Snowcard = £70 with £50 excess.

Top-up insurance with Sportcover direct was an attractive option in the past but less so this year = £67 with £90 excess

I’m going for Snowcard single trip. No point in being insured if the excess is excessive.

I’ve found Windwave to be really good on warranty claims for ‘zocchis.
When I sent my 44ti back after 3yrs 11 months of abuse, they came back with a new cartridge and serviced, inc new seals. Nice. 😀

You can have fast-rolling and fairly tough, but definately not light.

Larsen TT, Dual ply, 60A

It’s on for the Summer now (hopefully) and will be staying on for the Mega.

They’re not s’bad in general, considerin’ they’ve had to contend with being born on t’wrong side o’t Pennines.

Can you move the Lakes a bit further South please Tomaso. ’bout 50 miles would do.
As it is Helvellyn’s just a bit far for us southern softies so we’ll have to make do with Longridge Fell tonight.

16GB is still about £140 on Tesco payg I think.
ebay unlock code is about £2.

very happy with mine.

Bottle cage for Specialized Enduro 2012

.
.
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sounds like a reasonable enough swap

I would rather ride a rigid singlespeed hardtail than be forced to ride with tubes!
On the rare occasion that I’ve ripped a tyre open beyong the healing abilities of Stans fluid, so been forced to put a tube in, I’ve usually pinchflatted that too within the first mile.

Great event, really well organised and a good friendly atmosphere.

Homemade cake at feeding stations & finishing outside a brewery! What more could you want?

Time was just a whisker under 3:50 for me.
Fairly happy with that considering the delay from having to chase a thread through the crankarm to get the pedal to re-thread. It’d come lose soon after an off and the impact must have been enough to start it unthreading on the descent into Kentmere, to the point where it pulled out of the last few threads 🙁

Number 035 I think, if anyone’s got pics of pained expressions.
Back next year for sure.

Have you considered the Liteville 301?
XL is a nice fit for me at 6’3″
An XXL is also available.

[edit] 40 seconds too slow 😳 [/edit]

mincing is fine, but you’ll still be wanting a full face helmet and some pads at very least.

Go on Tom, you know you want to…… Liteville 301

Superstar etc, but I think those are just 10mm QR upgrades.

Correct, and they are very substantial and stiff as anything.
No scientific analysis, but I’d expect to get as much clamping force from the SS one as from the fancy DT Swiss jobbie.

Wired bead tubeless works fine for me on Maxxis tyres, but I suspect it will be very much dependent on what rims you have.
I’ve used wired single ply on Stans Crest and Flow (as a front tyre)
I’ve used wired dual ply on Flow and Flow EX (as both front and rear)

Current XT M785 is a big step up in power from previous M775 one IMHO.
I like ’em so much that I’ve got ’em on all three bikes, just the rotor size varies.
Weekend before last, we rode Fort Bill (10 laps of WC DH), Ben A’an, Devil’s Staircase/Cairan Path and the Dudes Enduro trails. M785 XT on a 203 rotor was plenty enough of a brake.

what buzz-lightyear said +1

I like a good mystery, so yes please, let’s see if it’s multi use.

scaled, try this for an alternative nightride route:
from barn;
up through Gardens and up to Pike;
Pike descent, then past dog kennels to top of Wilderswood;
Descent through Wilderswood (nice fast & rooty);
short road climb back to Georges Lane;
offroad climb from top of Wilderswood to Winterhill access road;
Winter Hill road;
San Marino down then reverse and climb;
Offroad traverse/slight descent from mast to Two Lads;
Dog Kennels descent;
Jap gardens – stairway from heaven descent;
turn left and climb short section of cobbled track to hairpin at end of gardens;
turn right and descend to left of lake then down LHS of gardens (nice techy line and bombhole – way better than ICR IMHO)
memorial woodland back to barn.

That’s my favoured route to link as many good bits as possible into a short ride.

We were up at Kinlochleven last weekend.
Tried to make a big day out by extending the track past Mamore Lodge, up past Loch Eilde Mor and then a circuit of Sgurr Eilde Mor before picking up the descent from Corie an Lochaine. The loooooong descent that you get from the Corie at 800M, right down to and including the Kennels descent to Kinlochleven, is epic… but I’m not sure it’s worth the 6KM of hike-a-bike that we invested in getting up there.
Also did Devils Staircase over from Glencoe as an afternoon ride and extended it from where it meets the doubletrack to include Ciaran Path from the dam down.

Which gives you the most issues at the moment?
1. Having to keep stopping to drop your seat
or
2. Repeated pinchflatting, snapping spokes and bending rims

I had both issues. If I could only solve one, it’d have been the wheels (tubeless)

everyone fits it upside down and back to front

except me… I fit mine on the right and over the bars. 😛

Tip: Shimano shifter mounts (9 spd slx and xt at least) can be reversed to allow shifter clamp to sit inboard of XT brakes, which gives at least an inch of free space after brake and before the grips, in which the reverb clamp will fit nicely.