Time to sell your current wheels I’d have thought (don’t think bulbs are convertable to 15mm) a set of pro 2s should be absolutely fine,
321s are a bit heavy and OTT for a Soul build anyway so depending on what you weigh and how you ride you could go a lot lighter.
strong and stiff and not too heavy at 570g (ish) – Mavic 721
fairly strong and reasonably stiff but 100g lighter – Stans flow
but TBH if you aren’t going to be landing sideways, riding rocky trails fast or need a stiff rim for hard cornering you should be able to go for something around 400-450g like a 717/719 or another stans choice.

I guess racing makes me realise my own technical ability isn’t anywhere near as good as I want it to be….

it’s not so much about the riding/skills, it’s about the fact that I really want to become a ‘racer’ but just can’t seem to get my head around it.

All good DH racers are not just very good riders they are also very confident of their own ability.
You at the moment sound neither.
You need to work on improving your weaknesses. Gaining riding skills/speed/experience will all help your confidence which will in turn allow you to push your skills further again. The more you improve (riding and/or results) the more confident you’ll become.

I’d also try to find the time to ask yourself why you feel you need to be a “racer”

Becoming “good at DH racing” is something that needs to be learned IME.. having someone experienced around should make it easier for you to learn what you need to do, from fitness/skills training to pre-race preparation to travel, to walking the track, spotting/choosing lines, managing practice time efficiently, optomising bike set-up for track/conditions etc. so everything can fall into place on race morning and you’re prepared for that last full practice run to be close to a clean fast race run (but prossibly still holding back a little for the final). then it’s upto you to use everything you’ve learned that weekend confident in the start hut to put it all together against the clock.

I’m never going to be a pro/elite, but I can hold my own in an amateur field

This statement confuses me ^^
Why do you want to pay a sports psychologist if this is really what you think? what level are you aiming for?
The reality here is that you’re lucky if there are 10 women over all categories (junior/senior/Elite/master/vet) racing at a UK national DH race (and often less than half that at many regionals) it really isn’t all that difficult if you have the money to achieve an elite womens racing license for DH in the UK, you just need to use your head and chase points at the right races.

That will work but I’d always do it the other way around.

try this..
First drop your saddle right out the way, then rolling along at about walking pace on a flat firm surface while stood up, push down as hard and fast as you can through your thighs while simultaniously hanging back off the bars (arms straight) so your arse is over the back as you push down. repeat and lower the pressure in the shock until you can just feel your shock very lightly bottom out.
if you are strong and co-ordinated enough (with the push) the point at which your shock lightly bottoms will only be very slightly soft for a smooth rider to only achieve full travel on the hardest/fastest hits. use this pressure as a starting point, go for a short (but typical speed/terrain of your usual rides) ride and fine tune by adding 5psi increments to reduce bottoming til you are happy.

You’re probably already aware that pedal strikes are mostly down to rider error?. Low BB heights can improve stability and improve cornering ability but the reduced pedal clearance is def not everyone’s cup of tea but once you get used to bikes with less BB/pedal clearance your skills at reading the terrain ahead, timing and planning of your pedal position should improve. Even if at first you find the BB so low there are many more situations where you simply can no longer pedal at all, if you do stick with it your riding style will adapt and techniques other than pedalling to manage/gain speed/momentum should also develop further.

Just shortened my hoses

Really?
Are you planning on barspinning or tailwhipping it?

Tragedy bakes! Just recieved a warning for argueing, so with that, yes I now see the error of my ways and vow to agree with everyone contradictory/dishonestly or not.

Wrecker – I’m brutally honest in real life too, luckily most people I talk to are intelligent and tough skinned enough to accept a good humoured dose of reality when they deserve it.

swearing, insultting me and bringing my mother into it is your idea of a respectful and pleasant reply grum?

Oh. And thanks buzz :)

Perhaps you are actually just rude, insulting and offensive? No need to reply as I know you appreciate my honesty

abrupt, brutally honest and realistic is how I see it.
I find folk who constantly ask advice and never say thanks far more rude than anything I ever type. Each to their cotton wool filled own tho, eh?

Spot on hugor :)

I’m just back from yet another ban myself. This time for apparently insulting another member.
Can’t actually remember how many times I’ve been banned in the last year or so (loads) but each and every time it’s been as a result of me being 100% honest. I’m not sure how anyone here finds honesty so hard to deal with. Funny that my honesty on here was fine for the first 11years.
This place has changed! :(
The negative use/trolling rule here is a complete cop out. if my honest opinion is difficult for some to deal with so be it.

With full freedom of speech the forum used to pretty much self moderate through user opinion.

Other than spam or adult images I honestly can’t think of a single occasion where the “report post” button would be required. How do post reporters cope with the rest of the internet or indeed real life?

Lower your saddle an inch or so and tilt the nose upwards (like a jump bike) and get on the bike from behind.

Weeride fits my 14″ hardtail fine.

Wise words as a suspension tuner ;)

Slacker HA on it’s own won’t actually help. I’ll happily ride a vert roll in or overhanging drop to near vert chute etc. on mtbs with anything from 71 to 63deg HAs.

1deg steeper makes next to no difference. If you are struggling to ride steep stuff it’s YOU that’s the limiting factor, not your choice of telescopic fork.

Can anyone tell me what I’ve got wrong?

most of it ;)

long travel forks will squish down when your weight goes over the front on slow techie stuff.

why are you pitching your weight forward in this situation? keep your weight centred, as the terrain gets steeper this involves moving your arse (COG) behind the saddle

Therefore, would it not make sense to keep a lock out or limiting the travel on a longer travel fork in order to preserve that precious head angle keeping things nice and slack?

Not really unless we are talking about a very smooth grippy surface (in which case a BMX with a 74deg H/A would be a good choice). Most riders that don’t spend much time riding steep descents or jumping run their fork far too softly sprung.

for low speed technical stuff, head angle is more important.

No it really isn’t. the way the entire bike is set-up is far more important
the most important gain in handling from a slacker H/A is added stability at speed.

Rad!

Pity it has a stupid bent seat tube so you’d actually need two seatposts to run one like that. ^^

a rather badly thought out bike easily marketed towards mugs it would seem.

5’11” and ride small frames with a 40-50mm stems.
I can’t ride big/long bikes.

well how else would you define a sport where player are made of sugar and each time they get push a little too hard they fell on the floor and cry because they are hurt.

for plenty riders that also describes mountainbiking.

to answer the OP..

I ride a bike almost every day and pretty much always have a bike nearby ready for me to just get on and ride at will.
I also kick a football every day and pretty much always have a football nearby ready or me to just play with at will.
there’s a football in my car at all times (I wish a bike was also as convenient to stash)

Playing with a football gives me a lot of the same type of enjoyment/freedom/sanity riding bikes does.

I also really enjoy watching the odd game (but wouldn’t go anywhere near a big match anymore) and appreciate the massive amount of skill, talent and time the best players have put into their sport (much the same as watching the best bike riders) but I don’t support any team (even my national team). I honestly can’t really be arsed with supporters.. any big Football club is just massive business to me and I feel the supporters are taken for mugs believing they are somehow part of “their team” when they are simply consumers.

oh.. and lol at the noobs taking offence to Juan using the term “wendyball”

Pity this place has become so PC it’s no longer on the swear filter :(

It’s only really through competition mtb becomes sport. This whole thread concerns the sport rather than the past time.

Cheers Njee.
And I agree. There’s a massive range of difference between difficulty in DH tracks ranging from super steep super tech to fast and rough right down to xc style singltrack with the odd ‘feature’
Some XC race course descents are brilliant but usually much shorter.

Kimbers – yes, plenty of both discipline.

I won’t be racing DH or XC. Especially at Cwncarn ;)

A typical DH race run is 2-5 minutes. But I wasn’t talking about DH practice or DH race runs

Out of interest, What Cat do you race Njee?

Molgrips, what duration do you think the typical DH racers training rides would be? (Same cat/level as Njee)

However, I think that if Njee entered DH he’d do better than if a typical DHer entered XC

how strange? WTF is your idea of a ‘typical’ DH racer?

I really struggle to see how DH can ever be more accessible than XC for folk new to riding, as in accessible than XC for folk new to riding, as in properly new to it. People don’t walk into their LBS and buy a bike which will be well suited to DH. XC you can do on anything.

Why do you struggle with this? Plenty folk get straght into DH or jumping without even entertaining the thought of ever trying XC first.

Cheers duf :D

What would be the easiest way to post pics without having access to a camera or computer?
Can it be done straight from a smart phone? and if so, how?

Got tons of stuff I really should sell but CBA with the hastle of taking pics and uploading them somewhere.

Shame :(

ignoring the fact your lock-ons will be half as secure and the end 12mm will be unsupported, depending on the style of lock on you may also cause wear to the plastic interface causing a loose grip defeating the purpose of running lock-ons in the first place, depends how you ride tho.

No zippy. Dirtworkers ok for trail centre puddlespray but not proper mud.

I hate dirtworkers. The pathetic power means if you actually want to shift mud with one you’ll be there for ages and more than likely klll your bearings whereas a proper jetwash/hose on full power will shift mud quickly and if used properly won’t

Hose attached to kitchen tap. Nozel on end of hose.

Al – the very first straight at Caddonbank has a long tabletop at the end.

agree ^^

just learn how/when to brake.

Yes.

If you’re going to ban perfformance enhancing drugs it shouldn’t really matter when the athlete used them, if they used them to enhance their performance, those gains still helped them get where they are today.

I’d happily watch an alternative drug fueled olympics where they had free reign on whatever they use tho.

mrmo – Member

GW serious question, novice level is it reasonable to do well, win without spending money? beyond the obvious helmet, etc.depends what category you are racing and which race series. (there isn’t really a true “novice level” even in local DH races tho.
over the years I’ve witnessed an Elite, a Junior and a v.fast master rider all manage to come second on a hardtail at national level (SCU/WCA).

From where i sit i see the entry equipment hurdle being pretty high. i don’t see many on cheap hard tails, I know back in the day steve peat was winning on a hard tail but that was then not now, just looking at the coverage etc it suggests Full suspension bikes, lots of pads etc.

Yes. these days the standard is so high it would be very difficult to come anywhare close to a win on a hardtail against top end DH bikes even in local races, that said, if you had the talent you could win on 3 or 4 yr old a S/H DH bike you bought for £500-700.

The most expensive part of DH racing is the fuel/entry costs, depending on location each race can easily cost you around £200 for the weekend all in.

I do wonder what the equipment entry level is for DH racing.

Any mountainbike and a full face helmet, protective equipment requirement changes from series to series (and even country)
There’d be nothing stopping you racing a £100 mtb and wearing a fifteen quid helmet.

No. DJ. I meant right and left from the riders perspective.
no jump in the berm.
the section I’m talking about had no jump in the berm and staying left through one very short section of rock would have made it practically a straight line.

Muddyfunster – Don’t be silly, the top 3 today could have gained enough UCI points to compete at WC level turning up to nationals with £500 bikes.
if johnny beginner couldn’t also manage that he’d be a no hoper at the Olympics anyway.
the top guys (who were actually in with a shout) were all riding equipment of similar cost/standard, whether they bought them or were given them is irrelevant. ;)

again Ton? really?

what was wrong with the answers you were given last month when you asked the exact same question? :?