Split 7 ways it was a bargain. Picked up in a nice clean van with a trailer on the back, driven for 45 minutes or so, guided for 8 hours onto stuff we would never have found, while 2 other people drove up to collect the van and take it back down. Obviously perceived value may depend on group size but everyone has to make a living!

I think one day is possibly enough as it is exhausting and there is a lot of easy to find stuff in Les Arcs itself to fill another couple of days.

We booked a guided day with http://www.thecoolbus.co.uk when in Les Arcs last year and it was amazing. Just did one day where we were driven up to Col de petit St Bernard and rode down into La Thuile on the Italian side. Without doubt the best day’s biking I have ever done. I’m guessing we did the best part of 60 miles.

Bri was our guide – he had recently competed at the Mega and was a perfect guide. Rode fast enough to push us without being silly.

We had a group of 7 and I think it was about €200 in total for the bus and guide for the day. Bargain!

I fitted an XTR one recently on my ML8 as the BB mounted front mech and lack of ISCG mounts means I can’t fit a chain device. Running 2×10 and it’s fantastic. Very quiet with almost zero chain slap. Had a couple of sessions at Aston Hill where it can be quite bump and it did what it says on the tin!

Proper test in Chamonix at the weekend so will report back.

Watlington (next Junction to Stokenchurch) is a regular ride for me as is Princes Risborough which isn’t a million miles away. Also a good ride starting from the garden centre car park at West Wycombe (where there is a great cafe too!).

Sounds good! Minion DHs going on tomorrow night for their annual outing!

Ran one on the front of my Epic last year and really rated it – haven’t got round to taking the winter Mud Xs off yet this year though! One comment is that they are big and I often got stones catching on the arch of my Rebas.

Great value too I think for a tubeless tyre.

brant – Member

I can confirm price increase is directly as a result of this thread.
Postage now free! Enjoy.

LOL!

My epic does this too! Never had the problem on any other bike bit however tight I do the qr it always slips down to the same place on the post. It’s the standard specialized post so has markings – I start off at 7.5 and it always slips down to 5. I has assumed it was a cheap post that wasnt completely straight or had a slight bulge at the 5 marking?

Correct – you don’t charge VAT. You produce a zero rated invoice and enter it into the relevant box on the VAT return.

Might be a daft question but how do I find my anaerboic threshold?!

cheers

Great info – thanks for that. One question – what do you mean by going into the red?

Will start in the morning!

I’m losing my big dog cherry and having literally not raced for
18 years would be interested in some tips! If I usually ride at Swinley, what sort of training should I be aiming to do there? I”ve entered the pairs with a mate who’s never raced before so we won’t be taking it very seriously but still want to do ok!

I’ll be on an Epic.

Great feedback guys (and great pics Nick!).

Is there any local guides who we could maybe book for a day to show us any hidden gems? Booked a guy from Coolbus last year in Les Arcs and he took us on the best day’s biking I have ever had.

My friend with the apartment there has suggsted the following itinerary – feedback and any suggestions welcome from any experts!

Friday 29th – Half day only, so new runs at La Flegere. Red, can be cycled to. Probably do twice.

Saturday 30th – Big day. Bus to La Tour. Cable car to Balme and ride over and down to Vallorcine. Black. Do again then back up and easy Red, Le Tour to Argentiere and up lift to Logan. Down our standard hard Red to Le Lavancher. If tired back to Chamonix, else do La Flegere again.

Sunday 1st – Full day. Les Houches: bike park, Black run (but looks like you have to cycle up). Prepared track from the Bike Park all the way down. Up again and the route under the lift we found last time. Up again and finally the long circuit around the back and down to Les Houches. Back to Chamonix

Monday 2nd – Half day. Bus to Argentiere, lift to Logan again. Down to La Lavancher and across to La Flegere again. Back to Chamonix.

Can get a lift pass for all lifts – except Les Houches- for €20 per day. Not sure about half days

Thanks for that – we go on the 29th so will get 2 days of free reign and then 2 days of restricted access (which looking at that map, still looks like enough to keep us entertained!)

My little lad did exactly the same for about 6 months – I was a little worried but my wife just made sure everyone ingnored it so he didn’t get concerned about it, and it just went away. He was a very early talker and has amazing vocab for his age so I think he was often just processing too much and his mouth was letting his brain catch up!

It was actually really cute looking back!

27, 30 and 34 (8 weeks ago!). It gets exponentially easier I find and although I think we’re happy with three, the prospect of another is quite appealing even at this stage!

How’s the Hammerschmidt?

No reason at all apart from it going flat. From memory, a typical 9v batter gives about 0.5Ah (amps per hour) so you could only give you 300mA (0.3A) for about 100minutes. You could parallel a few batteries together to increase this.

Thanks Paddy! The iPad control is a nice option, but is just a user interface onto whatever lighting system is fitted (we use Lutron, Crestron and Rako). They’re handy for browsing music libraries etc, but as a pure remote control they can be a little frustrating as there are no tactile buttons for the day to day controls such as volume up/down and broswing guides and planners etc.

hughjayteens, oh right is most of it do able for a novice or are there some bits that I probably wouldn’t be able to do or even want to try? haha

A couple of the drop offs and gap jumps are pretty ‘knarly’ but apart from those, it’s all quite nice and flowy!

I drive about an hour to get there and love it every now and then. If you pay the £5 for the bike park, you can spend half a day there without even trying. The DH runs are all rollable for a novice and the dual slalom and 4X are great fun too, particularly if with a similar paced friend.

Hi Mboy,
Thanks for your input. I have been contacted my some ex-maverick owners asking if I wanted to sell so I think you have a good point. I guess maybe it just shows how far ahead of it’s time the ML8 was at launch 7 or 8 years ago!

I used to have a hardtail but found that once the honeymoon period had worn off, it was just quite hard work (Whyte 19 with 120m Rebas) and the Epic can be setup to be almost hardtail like anyway with the brain shock just taking the edge off the nasty bumps.

When I just had the ML8 it was built to a light spec (27lbs ish) but once I had tried it in Alps mode with the big bars, Fox 36s and big tyres, I didn’t want to change it back hence the Epic purchase.

Don’t think a cheap DH rig would see enough use as even though I do a few uplift days and go to the Alps, I like to mix up the DH stuff with some singletrack so the 160mm bikes make the most sense for me.

I guess what I am after really is another ML8 but a brand new shiny one with new bits on it!! Maybe time to revisit that powder coating option I looked at and treat myself to some shiny XTR 10spd bits!

The Hummingbird Bakery also does a mean cinnamon square.

This place is nice

Quick update – took the mech off and the cage tension pivot had got a little corroded. Stripped and greased it and all is now fine!

Thanks

When I was 16, I had built a ramp out of pallets on a local car park and was convincing my mates to lie down so I could jump my Rockhopper Comp (complete with 150mm stem and 450mm bars!) over them. On one run up, some dog turd flew off my wheel and went in my eye! Managed to land the jump (7 people I think) and then rode a mile home in agony panicing whilst recalling that you could go blind from the parasites in it.

Several pints of optrex later I went back and managed to clear 13 (oh the joys of youth!)

A good friend has to fly from heathrow a lot and his company use Hertz for one way hire. They even deliver the car to his house which is nice!

The Maverick has an integrated headset can’t be slackened off sadly. It’s already been burlied up a little for the Alps last year with 715mm bars, a 65mm stem. The back end axle can’t be changed either but the design means it’s very stiff anyway.

The wheels are Bonty Rhythm Pro so quite wide but light, and tyres vary from Purgatorys for day to day use and Minion DHs for downhill.

I think some test rides are the best bet – Mountain Trax have an SB-66 and I think Cyclecare are Ibis dealers so may have a Mojo I can try.

Suspect when faced with a spend of £2k+ for relatively little gain I may come to the same conclusion as you cycl1ngjb but could be fun investigating!

Thanks Paul. Yours sounds lovely but I’m an xtr and talas whore so probably not worth it for me. Have you tried many other similar travel bikes? Do like the look of the new Tallboy LT I have to say.

A slope style might be a little bit too gravity focused but quite like the look of the Carbine!

No other opinions?!

nobbyq – Member
cool vid where was that ??

Unsure exactly which run but it ended up in La Thuile eventually!

Bump for the evening crew.

When I went with Coolbus, we were dropped off at Col de Petit St Bernard and then dropped down to La Thuile from there down some very off piste stuff – it was an epic day! My GPS tracker died at 2pm having done 70km already and we were out until gone 6pm when we rode back down into Bourg St Maurice in time for a quick beer and the last funicular!

Happy days!

No it doesn’t make sense at all, but if everything in life made sense it would be a dull place at times!!!

I wouldn’t change it for an alloy Nomad as it feels too similar, but a Carbon Nomad frame is 1lb lighter and would be slacker with Talas 180s on for the Alps.

I’d be after a large rather than XL so that’s no good despite being a bargain!

It poured down for 36 hours solidly in Les Arcs last July so I wouldn’t expect it to be any drier than anywhere else in the alps!

My sister has a place in Tignes – didn’t realise they had starting doing biking there.

How does it compare with Les Arcs/La Thuile?

ChunkyMTB – Member

La thuile, Italy is a right giggle. Awesome Ice cream too!

Best way to get to La Thuile is to ride down to it from the top of the St Bernard pass. Awesome fun. Stevo from the White Room guided us down that way.

Best days biking I have ever had was in La Thuile last year doing what sounds like the same route as you. We did run into a group from The White Room.

I had a POC Spine VPD Vest, which was very comfy in the Alps, and which I would buy again for this reason but there were a few quality issues. I ended up returning the vest, but to be fair the shop and POC were excellent.
I’ve also got a set of elbow pads which are great but the straps are not robust enough.

A friend of mine bought one for the Alps last year as took it back due to some quality issues. Does look like a premium product but am unconvinced it is premium quality from what I have seen and heard although again he had great service. I had a Range Rover which is another premium product with quality issues, but people still buy them!