@tomparkin that’s really good feedback, thank you! The seat angle I think can only be a good thing, as it’s not super-steep in stock form so you won’t be in danger of tipping it over into “too steep” territory.

I think I have ~10-15mm spacers above the stem currently, so plenty of scope to play with that or higher bars if I need to later.

Cheers!

@Tomparkin what travel fork are you running on your BFeMAX and how do you like it compared to stock? I’m looking at running 130/140 with an angle adjust headset to get me essentially the 160mm head angle but without the big travel.

Cotic were helpful in pointing me in the right direction of the headset variant, I just haven’t pulled the trigger yet!

From my experience you won’t be able to use the existing derailleur when changing shifters to road style (without one of those travel adjuster jobbies). What I’ve had work as combinations previously (all Shimano) is:

Road 10spd shifters, MTB 9spd rear mech

Road 11spd shifters with road 11spd rear mech & extended hanger (goatlink)

Road 11spd shifters with GRX rear mech – this is obviously the ‘proper’ way to do it.

I don’t think there’s a Shimano option of road shifters that’ll work with a 10spd MTB rear mech unfortunately. In all of those combinations above, keeping the MTB cranks, cassette and hydraulic calipers works fine. It’s just the shifting side that’s a bit more annoying.

For what it’s worth I really enjoy big tyres, rigid forks and drop bars on a ride. But I also like rubbish old cars that are objectively worse than newer ones so maybe I’m odd! :)

Have you seen the Kinesis FF29? It was re-launched last year and they do Aluminium bikes very well on their Road/Cyclocross models so I’d imagine this is great too and currently 34% off on Merlin if they have your size:

https://www.merlincycles.com/kinesis-ff29-mtb-frame-294484.html?utm_source=PHG&source=PHG&utm_medium=Affiliates&utm_campaign=genieshopping

Radical All Mountain do two frames, I think the 130mm travel one looks really good and in the ballpark pricewise for a steel hardtail compared to their UK longer travel one but only the regular size in stock:

Grim Ripper

I have a Brother Big Bro which is ace and very versatile but sort of ride it more like a beefy gravel bike than a MTB (although you can fit suspension forks if you like).

I don’t know what stock is like now, but Ragley Trig is a nice but relatively budget (probably similar price to Planet X/On-Ones) all nicely finished and ride really well with their carbon fork.

Very cool, I like the idea of these as they’re a bike built for smashing down hills on a (relative) budget with the priority being on solid components rather than fancy trick bits.

Unfortunately I’m nowhere near #rad enough to justify one :D

I had what sounds like the same issue on my Pike Ultimates (2021/2) at 150mm travel, weighing ~75kg with kit.

Unfortunately I can’t help as for the price of servicing/upgrading/tuning them I ended up buying some very discounted Fox 36’s which were instantly fantastic and sold the Pikes to a friend who’s super happy with them (but 20+kg heavier).

They were stiff/chattery on rocky trails, great on berms, roots/drops and woodland trails but then never achieved full travel on bigger (for me) features. So although that suited my local riding, it really caused me issues on Alps/Wales trips etc which was right where I needed the confidence of the fork working for me.

Whoops, just ordered a Lyrik Ultimate…

Less than a service and damper upgrade for my current forks!

I followed this one last year for my Trail Ultra, went from being fit-ish but having a bad bout of Covid in late March to running a 50k Trail Ultra in the first weekend of July. The main thing I found it help me with was when it told me to take a day off, I did. Especially in the early stages where running 4 miles on Saturday and resting until Tuesday seemed utterly pointless but I did the whole thing with zero injuries and pretty good motivation throughout the whole 12 weeks:

Couch to 50k Training Plan (8, 12 and 20 Weeks Out)

I really enjoy the Banff ones, they do a Red and Blue itinerary and go everywhere on the tour with both sets of films a couple of months apart.

They seem to get a good balance between 2-minute action-fests and some longer more thought-provoking films. Some of it though is so outside of ‘normal’ that it almost loses its impact, I guess that will apply differently to different people and their respective sports/experiences of them though.

I assume there’s no legitimate way to download any of these for later viewing? It’s been my main viewing fodder for turbo trainer sessions, watching someone do something actually difficult/impressive makes an hour on the turbo seem less grim!

I haven’t been, but I liked the look of Livigno for a similar type of weekend. Seems a bit more relaxed/less hardcore (at least in its advertising!) than most others:

https://www.mtblivigno.eu/en

That’s an absolute belter, good work!

I would say similar to above, it needn’t be a super-expensive boutique build but a modern geometry hardtail (again not necessarily super-slack/hardcore) would be a big step up in my opinion, and a good part of that reason would be the switch to 29″ wheels and high volume/low pressure tyres with modern tread patterns and compounds.

It will be more stable, more grippy and as a further positive you’ll probably be more confident & relaxed on it which will mean you’ll be less likely to crash from being a bit on-edge/reactive to losing traction.

Not that I’m one to discourage a fancy bike, so it’s up to you if you want to spend £1-2k on a very capable hardtail or double that on something really top-notch/desirable. There’s no right answer on that one, but good looking bikes do ride better (and make you want to ride more) in my opinion :D

There are some real bargains around at the moment too…

@the-muffin-man I missed them when they were ~£3000 at the bottom end of the market as I couldn’t afford to insure one, paid double that ~5 1/2 years ago and it’s been steadily rising since. Not an investment as such, but enough to be essentially ‘free motoring’ outside of fuel costs for the most part. Plus it makes nice noises!

@sharkattack that’s a lovely car, my friend has just purchased the same age BBR185 (so slightly tuned engine/suspension by them, but not the turbo conversion) and absolutely loves it.

Cabriolet versions of what are already boring/rubbish vehicles I think are generally awful looking things. Anything actually designed to be a convertible/sports car from the outset has a much higher chance of looking good and driving well. I never really ‘got it’ and then I bought an S2000 about 6 years ago and I was fully converted, it’s great fun and I don’t care if I look cool or not.

My main worry even ignoring potential ICE bans moving/changing and broader issues would be the impending obsolescence & subsequent depreciation of whatever particular EV/Hybrid you chose and being stuck with an expensive paperweight.

Given the pace of advances in battery tech, infrastructure etc. if I had the need for an EV it would be one of the few times where I would absolutely lease rather than buy when it comes to cars.

They’re one of those vehicles that could easily become almost worthless overnight if things change with regulations or technical advances (or the battery dies out of warranty and costs more than the value of the car to replace) so if that can be someone elses problem that would be preferable! If it costs you ‘x’ per month and saves you ‘x’ or acceptably close to that per month in fuel and it fits into your journey requirements, then it’s a winner.

Argh I’d forgotten about that one.

Also Gregg normally says Tumor-ic instead of Turmeric which conjures up some pretty disgusting images.

Does anyone else get irrationally angry every time John Torode says “Pusta” rather than “Pasta”?

Blacksmithing does look fun, I think that could be favourite at the Forge mentioned above or West Dean. Maybe combine it with a night staying nearby somewhere swanky for a bit of contrast/to see the look on everyones face when I turn up covered in soot and grime!

@FB-ATB that’s actually my main concern too on the welding courses, I did learn to MIG/TIG/ARC weld about 15 years ago at college so I know the theory I’m just out of practice. Like you say though, practice/tuition is maybe less relevant if it’s completely different to the way you’re going to apply it. The RB course does mention that if you have welding kit you can take that, and they’ll teach you on your own equipment which seems more handy though.

I picked up a pair at the weekend of the Superghiaia Gravel bars for my road(ish) bike. Seemed rude not to for £80 rather than £315!

Worth mentioning (as I’m not that clued up on road/gravel stuff and didn’t realise) that they’re for internal routing through the bars, although I’m sure it’s no issue to run the cables under as normal but there’s no recess.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far!

I did think about Blacksmithing/forging as I’ve seen people make a knife or axe which would be a nice thing to have/use/keep forever. I’ll look into that as I’m fairly close to Singleton (of ‘Repair Shop’ fame) and they run a few courses.

Barista school could be fun too, I do have a nice Espresso machine that I’m probably wasting by making average coffee in!

I use the free version of ‘Strong’ and really like it, you can only have three workouts saved without going for the paid version but that’s fine for me as I rotate three sessions week on week and then change things up periodically. I particularly like being able to set auto-timers of different lengths against particular exercises so when you complete a set it always has the correct rest time countdown to the next set/exercise.
Also easy to substitute exercises for a one-off if someone ( @DrJ ?) is hogging the machine you want while playing on their phone, and at the end of the workout it asks if you want to make it a permanent swap or revert to original for next time.

Thanks @theotherjonv that’s good to know!

Caesars camp I used to ride a lot, but haven’t been back since it got super busy with walkers/families during lockdown. It’s between me and my riding buddy though, so a good option for a quick blast around without much/any travel time.

With what you have, and trying to buy as few new tyres as possible I think your initial plan is OK unless you’re riding anything super muddy. But if you can find them for a good price I’ve changed from a DHF to Assegai on the front instead and it’s approximately 1 billion times better for me (Alps trip in the summer, plus local rooty/chalky/sticky clay trails).

Just seems to offer so much more grip at every angle than the DHF.

@hooli if you do fancy the steeper/more off-piste end of the spectrum, the Southern Enduro trails are *ahem* definitely not there to enjoy all year too with a bit of research on Strava/Trailforks.

But even ignoring those, it’s well worth half a day exploring and riding regardless if you’re in the area.

My friend had a trio of GTV’s, the Twinspark snapped a cambelt (not its fault!) and then a couple of V6’s that decided they didn’t like having a differential. They looked and sounded fantastic though, and the seats on his last V6 with the baseball leather were the best I’ve ever sat in.

He didn’t learn his lesson though, he replaced the last one with a Maserati 3200!

Sounds good, thanks! We have ridden around there a bit on the gravel bikes, but now he’s finally caved and bought a Hardtail I think we can have plenty of fun like you say just heading down anything that looks interesting!

He’s not a jumper yet, but is fairly up for giving most things a try and already quite confident on rooty/natural trails with small drops etc

@hooli the off-piste stuff gets very slick, lots of chalky sections which are super-slippy when wet/once the top layer of summer mud/loam/whatever gets rinsed away.

The official Blue/Red hold up pretty well, with plenty of roots to keep the heartrate elevated and you do get some puddling in the bottom of berms/compressions. I actually really enjoy it for an hour or so blast in the winter around the main trails, I’m not brave/skilled enough without a bit more acclimatisation to ride the cheeky steep stuff in the winter without sliding down half of it on my backside.

If you’re more Guildford than Cobham based, you could head South instead down the A3 to Queen Elizabeth Country Park? The Red and Blue there I find a lot more fun than Swinley and probably only 40 mins from Guildford? Easy to find and navigate the trails and you can do anything from 4 miles (one lap of the blue) upwards and still have fun.

Better cafe too!

Surrey Hills is great if you know where you’re going, but can be a slog if you don’t piece together the trails in a sensible way.

I’ve just been talking about riding here with a friend who’s new to MTB and lives in Ash Vale, does anyone have an idiots guide/best bits route or some pointers? If not we’ll just go for a pedal about and see what we find!

Couldn’t agree more with everything you’ve said, it’s great!

I went a bit burlier on the brakes (Guide RE 4-pots) as I had them on the bike I was swapping across parts from, and managed to piece together an 11-speed XT groupset in various sales for comfortably sub-£200. I’ve only had steel hardtails previously and this is a totally different, but I love it:

Yeti by James Fabian[/url], on Flickr

I’ve got Barzo front and rear on my Yeti ARC and it’s a flippin’ fast tyre but surprisingly grippy. I know some people stick a Mezcal on the rear for the summer but I haven’t felt the need! I’ve actually just bought a pair again in 2.6″ to replace my 2.25’s as it’s a hardtail and I like a bigger tyre. Will run them for a bit and then stick with one or the other, I’m hoping it won’t be noticeably slower.

I went to these from Jones and then Ritchey Kyote as I found those just a bit too “cruisy” and it made the bike feel a bit too lazy on climbs due to lack of leverage and a bit wandery on singletrack. Really happy with them but as said, everyone will have a preference. These let you ride it like a MTB on trails but are comfy/useful when just riding along;

Sonder Confucius

I use to run mine with 27.5 x 2.2 no problem at all, Continental X-Kings I think it was with a cheap rigid steel fork just for cruising about on.

That actually looks significantly less janky than the Switch 6 that was in #FGF last week. I quite like it in an industrial way! Unfortunately I’m not interested in buying an eBike for a significant number of years yet so my opinion doesn’t matter too much on this one..

Buy the one you like the look of the most, and it’ll ride better/you’ll ride more often as a result.

For me that would be the Reactor, I expect it’s only a faster set of tyres away from stopping it feeling heavy/draggy.

There is a type of superglue (vulcanising glue perhaps?) which doesn’t dry hard and crystaline like regular superglue which is meant to be perfect for this situation, I keep meaning to buy some whenever it’s mentioned but always forget.

Personally I’d grab a tube of that or just leave it if it’s less than about ~3mm or isn’t an actual slice and it’s sealed.

A good spread of answers! I’ve found the non-matchmaker ones for £6ea now, which does narrow the gap to just lopping the side off and it would be annoying if I need these down the line for actually mounting something to…

If I notionally pay myself minimum wage to cut them off I reckon that’s a couple of quid each by the time I’ve found my hacksaw, but I am at least not lining the pockets of the capitalist consumer machine by doing so.

If I wasn’t at work I’d probably already have sawn the sides off, but unfortunately I didn’t bring them with me (which is the reason I’ve started this thread instead of just launching into them and regretting it later).

Now I’m off to good compatible shifters/dropper levers as it is payday after all..