Mine came yesterday. At first glance it seemed o.k. to me, although not a stellar issue.
I read the ride guide, as I've not long come back from a week in the North York Moors, but that's it so far.
I'll have another nose tonight.

Oh yeah, avoid sunny weekends if poss. (No problem there, then at the moment!)It gets rammed.

It has been discussed a lot on here.
For what it's worth, I've been twice and enjoyed it. Would go again.
Very "man made" indeed, but a good laugh for a couple of hours, rather than a big ride in the hills type of thing. 🙂

Hmmmm.
You may think you suck, but you're still a lot better than me. 😥 😉

I started in my teens but gave up in my late twenties because I got to a point where I stopped improving and got bored and frustrated.
I've been dabbling again for a couple of years now, but again seem stuck at the same level.
Not too fussed as I only play for the therapeutic value, but it'd be nice to make some progress.

Thanks for the link.
Staggeringly good photos!!!

I think Coldplay are pretty good, tbh. Love the latest album, there are some great melodies on there.
I've never got why some people dislike them so much. Is it the Chris Martin thing? I dunno.
There are plenty far worse bands IMHO.

Chaos AD still sounds superb today.

My brother filed his front tooth down after he'd chipped it.

I've got one of Missy's albums actually DezB. Bought on the strength of the singles. Unfortunately most of the rest of it was pretty much filler, but I'll concede that she does some very good songs!

You can dismiss whole genres of music as being "The worst song you ever heard"?
FAIL.

😀 Fair dos!

I didn't really mean it 100%, but I can't relate to and don't enjoy those genres and I hate the fact that I'm subjected to the horrors of local radio at work, where the majority of music played is R&B / Urban stuff. It annoys the hell out of me that stations broadcast such a narrow spectrum of music, when there's tons of new, cutting edge music form all manner of genres that could be getting an airing!

Many of my most hated artists have been mentioned already, but I particularly loathe any of that Celine Dion, Whitney Huston, Beyonce Knowles wailing crap.
Jesus! There's a melody there – stick to it ffs!!!! Save the showing off for auditions!
I've no love for R&B / Urban either and the sexist, status craving, bling bling attitude it promotes. WTF is society coming to?

I also hate all Motown, Soul & Country & Western,

And Franz Ferdinand…
And Razorlight…
And Level 42…
And Mika…
And Morrisey…

I could go on and on.

Better stop now as I'm getting wound up! for someone with a really broad taste in music, I certainly seem to detest an awful lot of it too…

There's no way I could pick one worst song, although the Titanic theme and I Will Always Love You are right up there!

Hardly cutting-edge techno. I don't know why these Detroit guys never moved with the times and still champion the same old sound.
A bit on the weakass, old school side for my tastes and I'm not into the jazzy stuff played in the middle.

Nevertheless, some nice tunes in there.

I've got quite wide feet and my Gaernes fit me very well in my normal shoe size.

Fantastic programme!

Apparently Cy offered his opinion on some lines for that bit out the back of the car park, hence the Cotic logos up by means of gratitude.

That's one of the better sections IMHO! 🙂

I spent a few days last week staying with my bother near Mansfield and we rode out to Sherwood Pines a couple of times via Thieves Wood and other places.
It was the first time I'd been since the new trails have been built and tbh, I don't think they're too bad.
Better use could have been made of the (limited) height and some sections seemed very tedious and slow, but combining the Kitchener Trail with the downhill tracks and a spin round the blue trail made a reasonable ride.
The corners, as mentioned already are not very impressive. I found myself right on the edge of the camber many times and they are getting ripped up in places. A few berms would add to the flow no end.
There were a couple of sections I really liked, but oddly – some of the downhills on the blue route were faster and more fun.
The downhill courses were enjoyable, but more of an xc skill level tbh. I had no worries on a rigid ss, but you could get some decent air on a more suitable bike if you're that way inclined.

Not too bad in summary, but could have been better executed.

I didn't know Cotic sponsered the xc trail. Did Cy and the AQR peeps have a hand in the design too, I wonder? I know they know the forest well.

Another Genesis io owner here.
Great handling and fun to ride, although I seem to be having trouble staying on board of late. 🙁

I commented about the skidding mtbs to my other half.
Not the most responsible images to sell mtbing to the masses. 🙄

My brother’s V-Max:

I deliberately avoided the term “mincer”, Grumm! 👿 😉

it should match your riding style, not dictate it – if you’ve already found one you like then stick with it

I’d agree with that.
Highrollers seem to suit people who ride and especially corner like a DHer.
I seem to get on much better with rounder profile tyres that allow a progressive lean, rather than encouraging you to dive into bends.
I’m more of a finesse type rider than aggro /shredder and they don’t work for me.

Hi Votchy.
Must say my experience of 2.35 Highrollers was the same as yours.
I bought them thinking I’d be happy to sacrifice a bit of easy rolling ability for extra grip on nadgery trails, but found them both painfully slow and poor gripping front and rear in a range of conditions.
I’ve ridden them at Afan in the bone-dry, The Dark Peak in mud and ice, Cannock (not tried them over the Wyre,)in all weathers and just don’t get on with them at all.

Got some 2.1 ADvantages on now and they wipe the floor with the Highrollers in all conditions, as far as I’m concerned.

Excellent stuff, I thought. Kept me guessing, too.

I’d agree that it could have done with being a bit longer. It felt a bit shoe-horned into the three episodes. Needed a bit of breathing room.

Quite a novelty for me, cuz I’m usually annoyed at how padded out TV dramas are and that they’d be better running for half as long!

Sounds a nasty one. Hope he recovers quickly!
That jump looks easy, but catches loads of people. I’ve come close to binning it there myself.

It’s never good when you can’t all fall about laughing following a crash.
Luckily it doesn’t seem to happen too often.

My bro. has got some on his new bike and thought they were the dog’s to start with. A few rides later he’s going to ditch the front, as it’s let go suddenly and he’s crashed several times when pushing it hard into corners.
I suspect they’re great as an xc tyre in dry and loose conditions provided you don’t chuck your bike into the bends like a downhiller.

Out of interest, why take reflectors off a bike? Do they make it work worse or something? Or is it just a fashion thing?

I can see why you’d take off pedal reflectors, just because you change over the pedals, and the back one might go if you have to fit a mudguard (I guess that’s why a lot of mudguards have reflectors on), but other than that, why not just keep them on?

Joe

In this case, the rear wheel reflector broke, so I took it and the front one off to prevent jamming the wheel or breaking spokes.
The front one was sticking up from a bracket in the middle of the bars and I thought it could potentially cause injury in a crash.
My daughter doesn’t ride at night, so I don’t envisage a problem.

Wheel reflectors are particularly bad if you’ve got a nice set of wheels. How are you meant to have a sweetly tensioned, balanced wheel with a big piece of plastic wedged in the spokes? (Obviously not very important on a kid’s bike.)

My daughter is taking her CPT at the moment too.
Just out of interest, I’ll have to ask her what was said about the condition of the bikes and if anyone was refused.
There was no problem with hers, but I’d hope not! I gave it a good going over and although the front and wheel reflectors were removed ages ago, I left the rear reflector on.

You’d have thought the requirements would have been sent out in a letter, so that you could put right any “failings” before sending the child to take part. Some parents wouldn’t have a clue.

There’s a guy in the States working for our company, who goes by the name of Randy Beaver. 😆

Panaracer Fire XCs, dump you on your ass at the first sniff of mud. Clog in seconds and then offer no grip whatsoever. I can’t understand their popularity, as they really are one of the worst performing tyres in wet conditions that I’ve ever used. (And there’s usually at least a spot of mud to be found on rides in the UK.)

Conti Mountain King 2.2. As above, except they don’t really clog so badly, just afford no grip.

Highroller 2.35. Slower than a very slow thing and I’m yet to find the surface they work well on.

All IMHO, naturally.

My bars were 27″ when I put them on. The bike felt very stable descending, but I found I couldn’t steer properly on really steep techy climbs, I couldn’t hold a tight enough line to remain where the traction was available.
Lopped an inch off overall and they’re perfect for me now.

Try ’em wide. You can always cut them down if you don’t get on with the extra width. It’s a personal thing, I reckon, depends on your physique too.

I was a massive Metallica fan until after Master Of Puppets. They’re too mainstream metal for me now. Still pull out a few ace tunes though.

ACDC – absolute garbage IMHO. Formulaic rock for your great-grandad.

Led Zep – their earlier stuff is still stunning. Their influence is still so obvious on many bands.

well they wouldn’t smoke weed in the house again.

😆

tankslapper – are you for real??!!??

Education is the only way to deal with drug use / abuse.

Gordon Brown claims today that the country is turning away from a celebrity culture

If only that were true!

I only liked the first terminator movie. (And that’s still one of my favourite films.)

The liquid metal terminator and Arnie’s superstar status ruined the second one for me.
Third one was a joke. I’ll probably watch the new one when it makes it’s way onto TV.

Remember it well!

I’ve got nothing against motorbikers in general. I’m not even bothered about their excessive speed – if it’s done on a road well away from built-up areas and with good visibility.
What I do object to, is the way some bikers behave in traffic. Especially the weekend warrior types in big groups on spotless machines with matching leathers, roaring up to sit right behind you, before flying past at the slightest opportunity to sit behind the next car until they can get round.
They make car drivers nervous and that can obviously lead to accidents.
There’s a time and a place for letting rip. Why some people can’t ride responsibly until they get a clear stretch of road is beyond me.

Henney’s Frome Valley cider is my favourite at the moment. 😀

I almost never get punctures on the mtb. (Jinxed myself now, surely!)
When I do it’s usually thorns. I think I’ve had one pinch-flat in the last 10 years.
I still run normal tyres and tubes with no sealant or nuffink.

Amazes me too, the number of people fixing flats at the bottom of enduro event downhills.

hora wrote:

Who listens to Techno now?!

Me, for a start. 🙂
Good stuff to be found still. Cocoon & Minus are my current favourite labels.
Atomic Jam (techno night)is still going strong in Brum.
I’m getting more into psytrance at the minute though…