We had a day on Glencoe about a month ago now.
The black was in a poor state of repair and whilst not specifically closed, they’d tried hard to discourage you from riding it by placing a makeshift barrier where it leaves the red.
As a result, the red was getting a LOT of use and it was suffering a bit.
I haven’t ridden there previously, so can’t say if anything was “new” but it all looks well bedded in.
TBH, it’s just a lumpy rocky blast, with very little in the way of features. We sacked it off after a few hours and rode the Devil’s Staircase over to Kinlochleven instead.

Rode Fort William WC track the next day and thought that was 1000 times better.

Hora,

I picked up an old steel Harry Hall a couple of years ago for peanuts.
Columbus SLX tubing with chromed fork and seat/chainstays.
Mavic rims, Duraace hubs, mixture of Duraace & 600 with some later 105 bits.
£80 will spent! 😀

acehtn

Also worth checking out Glencoe mountain ski resort down the road, chairlift, the fearsome DH track double black diamond, and a not so steep red run….. must go back and try that myself

The Glencoe black was in need of some repair when were up there at the end of May. They’d made a half-hearted attempts to fence it off to discourage riding but no-one had actually said anything to us about it being closed so we rode it anyway. Quite a few lips of drops etc were starting to collapse and it had seen very little trafic.

Armour:
Full face absolutely essential.
As you’re obviously going to be using the lift, there’s not really much inconvenience in wearing a pressure suit, so I would personally.

Spares:

Spare organic/kevlar brake pads..

I only had sintered left so had to put those in. OMG, they howled like a banshee and didn’t half get warm!
Plus dual plys, downhill tubes, mech and hanger, tools & some LOCTITE!!!
I managed to shake the hanger clean off the frame after about 6 runs of the black. Headset also took a hammering and needed tightening up by mid day.

It was my first time up there at the end of May. I’m absolutely smitten with that course now. We were on mostly enduro type bikes and you certainly don’t NEED anythink bigger to enjoy it but I can imagine it would be even more fun on a full-on DH bike. Also had a go on the red too but was not impressed with that TBH. Can’t wait to get back for another day up there asap.

This has gotta be a troll thread, shirley.

Somebody says they’ve travelled to the Peak to ride, did a few miles of bridleway mile-munching stuff and say it’s a bit rocky 😆

The irony of that basic Hope triple 8 is that it goes tantalisingly close to a lot of decent stuff but then suddenly gets itself all politically correct wrt redsocks and avoids the best descents 😆

Speaking as a southerner, there’s nothing in the peaks either up or down that’s particularly difficult to ride. Straight lining little rocks on a long straight descent really isn’t as hard as you all seem to think it is.

P****n C****h anyone? A classic case of “Straight lining little rocks on a long straight descent” if ever there was one 😈

two scoops of stans in a normal (2.3″ – 2.5″) tyre

We did a single day in 2Alpes last Summer, as a change after a few days at the Mega, but were quite impressed with the resort.
We were riding a mixture of 140 to 180 bikes and these coped fine. There are a few lesser-ridden, slower, techier trails like Satan & Super Integrale which are marked as “black” but are ideal for trail bikes.

We only scratched the surface in a day though and if I was going there specifically, then I’d have preferred a bigger bike than the 140 that I was riding.

I do find most Champagne a bit hmm well… nothing special really.

Prosseco on the other hand, I’ve often found quite refreshing and enjoyable. Sometimes even the 3 euro a bottle stuff can be quite drinkable.

Each to their own I suppose.

My experience:

Fox & RS (air) = very needy, demanding constant attention.
Will run dry and eat the stanchions within 6 months unless you’re dropping the lowers and changing oil every couple of months or so.

Marzocchi (ti coil) = would probably run forever without much attention but I still drop the lowers, clean the seals and change the oil every year or so.

[edit] I’ve not bothered with rear shocks other than DU bushes and a few drops of 90wt gear oil in the air can. Just buy a spare whenever CRC have a good sale on. RP23BV for about £130 new IIRC sounded a better option than servicing one.[/edit]

KMC X9 chains seem to have been the least trouble for me. Usually a good price if you buy qty 3 from CRC.

Run two or three in rotation (fit the shortest chain every few weeks/months) and just run the whole drivetrain plus all chains into the ground.
That’s probably the “easiest life” solution TBH.

Front is unchanged.
Pretty sure that I’ve swapped QR and 15mm adaptors between old and new.

Garda is much more orientated towards riding natural rocky trails than manicured downhilling.

http://bikemagic.com/mountain-bike-trails/mtb-travel-guide-lake-garda-italy.html

If anything, I’d say there’s a greater probability of the insurance company placing blame on the moving car.

Importantly, is it that he opened his door into the side of her car (i.e. her car was already occupying the space into which he opened the door (damage on the side of hers)) or is it that he opened his door and she ran into the open door (damage on the front or rear of hers)?

[edit] too slow, sbob already there [/edit]

The unofficial DH stuff below the leap of faith has been closed as of yesterday after an official FC inspection found many of the jumps to be dangerous (from a construction point of view rather than riding).

🙁
That’s not good news at all Stumpyjon. Do you know if there is a plan to repair and re-open anytime soon? They were some of the best bits.

[edit] is there an opportunity to get involved with rebuilding those bits? [/edit]

I passed a school last month with the flag upside down

Shame on you Shep for passing by and not enquiring as to the reason for the distress signal. 😉

I’m sure he’d be OK with a ground speed of say 40mph, just so long as he gets the mid-air 180 right first 😉

[STW pedant] Aerodynamicist [/STW pedant]

“Swoopy” is the new section I take it. I don’t remember a drop anywhere on that. Sounds like I’ve missed a bit out.

So it looks like we’re going with this proposition…
Min air speed
Moderate Headwind
Maximum acceleration off the rear-facing ramp
Perform 180 before landing

Simple. Anybody got Danny’s number?

It’s a good survival story but makes a lousy film IMHO.

I’m not really following what you’re driving at with the ‘degla and kirri’ comparisons.
IMHO they use the label to mean different things:
Black at kirri’ translates to not technical but a lot longer.
Black at ‘degla translates to fast+jumpy = opportunity to hurt yourself.

Gisburn’s black sections are only short deviations off the main red loop, so they don’t add any real distance. They’re mainly just ever-so-slightly more technical balancy bits, certainly nothing that will get you airbourne ‘degla style.

The Hope Line is worth a few circuits in its own right and there is a more jumpy/droppy section a few hundred yards along the fire road from the top of the Hope Line that’s fun too.

I’m just looking at the options now. Terminology seems a little confused as the term “accessories” has been introduced and there is no suggestion so far as I can see that this necessarily equates to “Safety equipment”.
It might equally mean components ❓

Previously I’ve had to buy a cheap bike, like a hardrock for £300 but there was never any issue with spending the remaining £700 on wheels, tyres, chainset, etc.
Might be that I can just buy components now… I’ll go and find out what they are prepared to do.
(Halfrauds)

Mine seemed to take about a year to get to the point where they were too sloppy and kept releasing randomly, which was a contributory factor in deciding to swap to flats.
Not sure if it was the cleat or the pedal that wore most TBH.
(basic Shimano M520 pedals)

Yes it depends where/what you’re riding.

I wouldn’t like to be without the Reverb on my Five but I don’t have any plans to put one on the Patriot.
1. Remote is too fragile
2. They don’t drop far enough to get the saddle properly out of the way. I’d like to have something with a range equivalent to a 410mm Thomson post dropping from min insertion line to “slammed”.
3. If the terrain warrants a bigger bike, then I expect to be going downhill for a while before having to resort to pedalling up anything.

M785 XT on all three bikes here.
No complaints

As above, mine turned out to be the saddle/clamp area, rather than the post/seattube area. Strip – grease – refit.

Organic or kevlar, not much difference between ’em.

You’re on holiday for a short while only, live with the fact that you’ll go through a few sets and be glad that you’ve saved your ears from the constant screaching that you risk with sintered.

My slowest ride of the year so far. Averaged less than 3 miles per hour!!!

… but that was over the 4 passes; Honister, Scarth Gap, Black Sail & Sty Head and did involve a leisurely lunch and brew at Black Sail Hostel.

Great route. Good descents but some serious hike-a-bike too. Wouldn’t want to carry a 35lb bike on my back much further than that though.

ah, there’s the problem ^^^ right there.
That trail is a climb, no good as a descent 😉

Esme/PTR are correct as to location of that pic.
I didn’t know that it had been resurfaced though.

Hope Mickolas mends soon.

takisawa2, ygm 😉

picolax and a 007-style GPS transponder so you can find where they’ve gone

I think I can guess where they might have gone…

Hey thats a first. I’d never experienced the infamous double post glitch first hand

Please send your unwanted picolax to….

oh, I forgot to mention that there’s a canopy over the front door from which I could always rig up something to drop.

I know a freindly vet, how about a ketamine and picolax cocktail ? 🙂

wysiwig, I’ve always wanted to hand someone a big pile of handgrenade pins.

… although I’d rather not get close enough to witness the combined effect of picolax and that poacher alarm.

What do you think the combined effect of picolax and that phenibut tranquiliser might be, besides “messy”?

Two or three chains in rotation and run the whole lot into the ground.

THIS looks like it has potential too. 😉