MikeT – you even made the Vito Sport blog entry! (They chose the pictures, not me)

http://biker.vitosport.co.uk/2011/06/08/mountain-biking-4/

Some of mine:

Full set: http://is.gd/GAGkKW

something designed to play around in the mud for a few hours

Or for doing big 6 hour + mixed surface epics!

Clive Forth works the Borders region and is ace: http://www.mtbskills.co.uk/

Lyras on 105 levers here. Find them really good but I’m only 75kgs. Also find they need to be setup just so. Pads need to be be literally whistling the rotors otherwise the levers pull right back to the bars with no power.

What lens would you be sacrificing?

I’ve gone through 3 bodies in 10 years, lenses are still here though and have got thousands of photos from them.

How will your setups vary at say the Afan round?

Unless they use some trails off the main centre that I don’t know about, I’d be looking to turn up on a 27-28lb 120mm bike, maybe a light 140mm build, try to minimise any loss on the Black Run (assuming they use it) and make it all back up everywhere else given Afan is very pedaly and a bit flat. Quickest I’ve ever been round some of those trails was on an ST4.

Just wondering if Afan fits what people have experienced at Ae and whether going ‘light’ might be a good tactic at Afan?

I’m assuming something not to dissimilar to the Mash Up course mind…

Chain slap or heel rub?

If it’s chain slap a bit of copter tape around the bottom has been more than adequate for the last 3 years without changing it.

Short version:

Do you notice the difference? yes.
Is it worth shelling out when your 9-speed stuff is in good working order? No.

Long version:
Closer rations between chainrings has a noticeable effect on front shifting both in cleaness of shifting but also closer ratios makes it more user friendly. The 36t cassette is nice but you gotta discipline yourself not to just ride in 32/36 when you’d normally manage in 32/32. Big ring gets used more often.

Interestingly, the front mech is 10 speed specific but the shifter isn’t…

Pro FRS are nice, sensible weight and money

Yeah, Kona Stinky or somewhat, saddle/post-less, Met Parachute.

Haven’t seen him in a while, might have moved.

I’ve seen a guy cycling through the town centre the last few mornings. Huge Kona with twin crown forks, no saddle or saddle post, and one of those met parachute full face helmets things with the removable guard.

Bristol??

For sure, if you’re shooting a video in the woods in April/May, it’s pretty hard not to feature bluebells 🙂

Nice effort! I think you could have gone a bit shorter though, been more short and sweet and a bit more selective with the shots you use.

This one got lost as the other thread was dying so I’ll repost – bit of CX action if you can all cope!!

Self-shot, hence no panning and tilting goodness, and a real ballache to shoot 🙂

Is Cyclocross allowed?

Canon 550D with EF 50 1.8
Edited in FCP
Bristol, Leigh Woods

DaddyJim: cheesyrider email is down, I’ll send you a forum invite instead…

So sad 🙁

Registering interest…

Roasted Bone marrow *droool*

I should have run for Pill and Gordano – two ran and they made next to no effort to announce themselves to anyone…

I’m not super hot on codecs or PCs but converting the footage could help perhaps?

My canon puts out h.264 and it’s a total dog in Final Cut Pro on a fairly well loaded Macbook Pro – premiere pro is just unworkable. But convert to Apple ProRes and it’s super fast.

Not a direct solution but might be something to research

Also, if you use a chain tool and catch a chain in time, I find a cassette will survive two chains and chain rings will generally survive 2 cassettes (and thus four chains) but it’s a rule of thumb that really depends on the exact components being used but I find it works for every day stuff like Deore/SLX…

Yeah it’ll be fine, middle ring takes the brunt of poor shifting and does more miles for most riders.

I’m no engineer physics type but it would appear to me that more teeth equals more spread of the load so less strain on individual teeth in bigger rings – but genuinely happy to be told I’m talking rubbish 😀

Mostly looks/vanity, comfort second, perhaps weight in some cases – I’ve used a Giro Prolight on the road bike and it’s certainly a lot more pleasant – it’s up to individual if it’s worth it.

If we’re talking Centaur and up, give me Campag anyday – far classier looking than any SRAM or Shimano group…

Are the Quarry trails actually closed now? I nipped by at around 5:30pm yesterday to say hello to Phil and found empty and open trails – so had a ceremonial one last blat, well ‘blat’ down Upper, hard to blat up lower!! 🙂

There are a lot of pivots on Giant’s full sus designs to be fair, which I suppose given poor British weather and a lack of maintenance would mean the Anthem for instance would be more likely to wear its pivots out quicker than a 5. But then again, my full sus stays in the Garage during the worst of Winter, when it’s that muddy underfoot I’m happy riding my hardtail the whole time.

To be fair, the mate in question is just about the most anal bike cleaner I’ve ever met. But ignoring that, I think you’ve hit one of the nails on the head as to why Five is so great.

I suppose it is quite subjective, but when I look at the quality of the welds, the level of hydroforming, the way everything is carefully butted in all the right places

We’ve already established that Giant make bikes for other people, so I guess what I’m saying is that there’s nothing unique in the industry about the specific quality in Giant over other brands if many of them are already Giants. Also confused how you can ‘see’ butting in all the right places, and surely if the butting is in the wrong place the frame would have probably failed at some point in prototyping… just saying!!! 😮

and the attention to even the most miniscule of detail on them is staggering compared to most other brands.

Can you actually quantify that though? And I’m not just on about compared to Orange here, just in general because it seems as unquantified and pointless as the guys claiming that handbuilt in england equals better.

A mate of mine loves his Anthem but he’s had his fair share of maintenance woes regarding pivots…

Otherwise, Loco Tuning is worth a look: http://www.locotuning.co.uk/

Last time I used him he was cheaper than TFT and Mojo and he does a cracking job – not heard a bad word about him.

What makes the Five so special is the fact that it simply does exactly what you ask of it. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn’t try to do anything for you or compensate for the terrain below you. You make inputs and it responds immediately and predictably.

The rest is up to you! It’s why people like Rowan Sorrell are so devastatingly quick on them!

And you can spin it’s weak points however you want.

You can argue the chain growth on a Five is like “Brain” technology, only smarter – it literally only firms the shock up when you’re pedalling – firm under power, open and active when you’re freewheeling.

Inactive under braking – true, true, but it does squat which means BB gets lower, angles slacker and it actually sets you up for the corner better. Also, Steve Peat seemed ot get round it by just staying off the brakes.

Poor square edge hit performance – hitting a square edge is still slow even if the bike deals with it well.

But for some balance…

It used to be bench-mark stiff but the swingarm is feeling a little flexy these days.

I also agree that the 07/08 geo was the sweet spot – the newer slacker ones are loosing their versatility IMO. What’s made the Five so great in the past is the fact that it was as an effective long travel xc bike (Paul Murrin even won Mountain Mayhem on a Five I believe) as it was a gravity sledge. I feel the latest ones have gone too far to the gravity end.

Cervelo S1 – needs a new set of wheels but not really got round to it.

When I did 24/12 last year, Rob Lee crewed for me and the one thing he told me is “if you can ride 3 hours, you can ride 24”. It’s all mental, nutritional and preparation after that…

Sad not to be riding 24 hrs of exposure but cost of getting up there and having a baby put paid to that… maybe in 2012!!

It strikes me that AV is only useful if, as a voter, you feel you have a viable second choice.

So do you assume that everyone like you only has one viable choice?

Luckily, we all get to vote on this for a change!

BMX finals, Men’s MTB and Men’s Road race. I’m a little skeptical about the games but better to go and risk enjoying it than regret not going after the event.

Canon 550D with 50mm 1.8 edited in Final Cut Pro, Bristol, Ashton Court

Whatever your mates/family have got… in my case it was Canon.

Wouldn’t swap the family for anything.

Yeah, I believe there’s two spacers, two makes it 100mm, one makes it 120m if memory serves me correct.