P2's? they do a 700c version. with disks, tabs etc:

i sometimes log my rides from my phone… and i know pretty much all the trails you'll find round these parts. So, if you mail me, i can always send you a link to 'log-my-ride' where you'll find them.

:-)

helmet.. yes
snug, good boots…. yes
good goggles….. yes
good gloves…. yes

the clothes bit is a little down to how comfortable you can afford. I first went in a plastic mac, and some combats sprayed in water-repellant stuff. Yep, i was cold and wet occasionally, but laughed my head off too! So, if you can afford, then buy, if not then blag.

wristguards… Nah!
expensive board…. nah! (not for a beginner anyway, although i'm sure my Burton Carbon Custom makes me closer to Terji Hakenson Someone)
Board lock, would be wise, and they are real cheap.

have fun, and prey for the POW…

Got a little mini in the lounge for surfing etc: and running iPlayer to the big TV (with a DVI splitter box). Used as a backup server, and digital photo dump, video archive (through extra drive attached)

Whole thing works a treat, and is running 24/7 with no issues/noise/heat problems.

1 Gig of RAM was the only upgrade when i bought it.

Got mine as a re-furb from the mac store (like all my macs) and it was only £300 with the extra RAM.

and that's because I'm a dyslexic/uneducated/creative/fool.

x

so, i just rented some lovely 'L' glass…

50mm f/1.2 L
24mm f/1.4 L
85mm f/1.2 L

I cant wait til they arrive.
Thanks for everyone's advice.

ok, thanks for your responses…

– woffle –
I have got quite a few nice old FD lenses, which i use on a video camera with a 35m adapter. They are great on the movie camera, but i bought an adapter for the EOS, and the quality of image was badly affected. So, which adapter are you using? (mine was a £30 Ebay cheapie)

– MrSmith –
I do need a fast lense, as i'm doing a shoot in coventry in the concrete jungle there. No lights, no flash, as we're doing a gritty photo/documentary piece.

– _leon_ –
I'm using the 5D11 for video mainly, and have only just got it. I'm using the lense from my old 450D for the meantime, as buying the 5D was enough outlay for this month eh!

– crazy-legs –
I'll do just that i think… give me a good idea of the difference.

Because i don't normally do editorial content, I've never needed the sharpness element. I mostly do web/motion stills content. These are going out at A4+ in B&W. proper press run.

thanks for all your responses.
Lee.

40, Creative Director. Doing most types of advertising type thingyness.

mines on a 'mudplugger' and although the gear spread is not perfect, it's better than 1×9. So far its been great. Ride around in the mud, hang the bike up, and a few days later… ride it again in the mud. Haven't cleaned it in ages.

it's an SX trail…. with international standard mounts 'n all.

Heavy i dont mind. I'm heavy, my bike's heavy, i can accept these things in my life.

Crap, fiddley, weak, and dis-functional i DO mind tho'

lovely.. good work
mister_chunkAThotmail.com

Well…. not sure about the RV hookup stuff, although most ski-resorts have hook-ups and will be mostly empty in that period. They may be worth a bet. closest resort to Downiville is 'North Star' in Tahoe. about 30mins drive from there.

There are lots of other hook-up parks for RV's, but i dont know any specifics. Maybe a call to Downieville outfitters may help.
clicky![/url]

I lived in San Fran for a couple of years, and raced/rode the whole area a fair bit.

You'll want to spend at least 2 days in Downivillle, better to have 3. There are lots of trails, some uplifted all the way, and some you can have a lift about halfway.
The great Divide trail at DV is amazing. Long, dusty, tricky, and beautiful. In fact, now i think about it – 'you bast*rd' i'm jealous.

Look out for the 'flume' trail, in east Tahoe. You can car shuttle the road bit, and still have plenty of uphill too!.

hope this helps…

If you're in Northern Cal…
I can help.

Downieville, has got some amazing riding, maybe some of the best i've ever ridden. Dont miss it if you are in the Lake Tahoe area. Tahoe also has some other great riding areas too!

Mammoth also has some good areas to ride.

There are some lovely areas on the main highway 1 on the coast. Big redwoods state park is worth a shot.

If you are in the San Fran bay area, i can suggest some more local trails worth a look. Mount Diablo in the East Bay has some great singletrack, and despite the restrictions on trails available there are some terrific trails in Marin County. Further north from Marin, is Samuel P Taylor state Park which has some lovely trails too.

Above all…. dont miss out on Downivillle. It's stunning.

Giro Zen covers my otherwise unmanageable head (and hair).
No other helmet has been big enough for my bonce from any other brand.

after a standard route night ride a couple of years back, one that i did regularly, the farmer had (for the first time ever) closed the 5-bar gate at the bottom of a long descent, and i hit it quite fast. Bike stopped, headtube removed, i continued over the gate for a number of metre's before touching down.

Winded, and bruised, i suddenly realised how remote it feels when you are smashed up. 2 mile walk, took 2 hours with broken personal bits.

From then on, i've use alot more caution on solo night rides than i did before.

still do it tho'

this….

has been a wicked trail/jump/all mountain HT for me. And cheap.
slot drop-outs, and alfine'd up.

hmm…18st fat bloke now rushing off to check my 3 sets of Hones.

In my experience of the Kevlars… they are pretty weak. Got six pinch flats in Penmachno on one ride running the sorts of pressure i would on my normal 'non kevlar' version of the same. The side walls are much thinner than normal rollers.

I used all my patches, and cos it was raining they didn't stick to the inner tube, and i had to walk a fair bit of the way round.

Grip, and tread the same tho'. Just prone to pinching. So, on a tubeless, i reckon the distortion in the wall of the tyre would cause some nasty rolling sensations in the corners.

Mind you… that's where i like to push it hard….

i went back to single ply front, and double ply rear.

Nah, hardtail it is. Better bike control if you start on one of those, and in a year or so, you'll have a much better idea of what kind of FS you'll want. Big travel trail bike, or racy cross country flier.

Spend any extra on good winter gloves, tyres, and clothing. You will have more fun, dry, and warm on a cheap bike than the other way round.

An Alfine can only give you the range you'd get from one of your chainrings on a derailleured setup. How's that going to work for moderately fit somewhat overweight biffers like me somewhere with some steepish ups like the Qs?

Not really true about the Alfine, as you get a lot more gear spread than just one front chainring (on normal setup).

There are a few compromises, in terms of jumps between gears, but the Alfine will cover enough ratio's for most situations.

I'm a biffer too, and the Alfine is great IMHO

Now, although i don't usually like argumentative, and obnoxious people – i am beginning to like Mr SFB, because he appears to have integrity in himself, and is happy to be just what he is.
consistent, persistent, and unashamed of it. Off forum he might actually be a nice bloke.

Still, on forum he come across as a t*at, but never mind that.

:twisted:

well done to those who aplogised to Derek. I find it tough to apologise for anything, so nuff respec' to ya.

Plumber… after seeing the pic, i now see the comedy you were using in this quote

I didn't post a pic of that incident even though I am extremely good looking.

hmmmm…..

that was good…. very funny.
:P

Hey Mr starship…

I too have a bit of a belly, and can most likely out manoeuvre, and out ride half the stringy little whippet morons on this forum. Both on, and off the bike.
So, don't let it get to you, just use this forum as a place to find out more about what you enjoy doing, or talking about in the bike world.

I wouldn't post injury pics on here, as there are too many to list in the 20 odd years i've been riding off-road. But, that injury would put a lesser person off… so dont let it do that.

Most of the people on here post quite infrequenty, and are cool enough people (on the digital face of it) But the ones that responded so quickly with insults are the usual kind of rats that hang about in every sewer just waiting to bite.

plumber, BoardinBob, roper, and anyone else who are only here to insult people, just hope you dont meet my FAT ass on a trail, as i will take great pleasure in squashing you all….

With ease.

peace/love/happy trails etc:

didn;t do any cycling when we were there (honeymoon) but these guys were brilliant, and very flexible when arranging our itinerary.

pura aventura

We said what we wanted to do, and set a timescale, they sorted flights, transfers, hotels, guides, river trips, and horse-riding etc:

small outfit, and very attentive to you needs.

err… that should have been 5.1 rims, and minions

Unless youre fat and corner hard, you will love it.

shit…. i'm a big fat b*stard, who corners real hard, and was just about to go 'tubeless'

what's the deal then?

4.2's and minions both end's.

keep us posted…. I'd love to see that set-up for my Alfine hardtail, as i have the mounts on the frame and was looking to see if it worked.

Also let us know where you find the tool for the facing bit….

quite a few years back, when i was into my BMX snap starts…. i was track-standing at a set of light, and when they went green i pulled up on the bars for a flat-out start…. when snap went my Bullseye cranks, and sheared right off.

Result, was me faceplanting over the bars HARD into the road. I was not gonna let those drivers think that i was hurting, so i jumped straight up, and went to get back on my bike. BUT, for some reason i fell straight over again, right in front of the waiting vehicles.

My crank arm, and SPD pedal were still attached to my shoe, and i just could not get to my feet, so had to sit in the road and take my shoes off first.

plonker.

thanks for al the posts people..

I'll give the CYB another try if i have time to get there too! As long as it's not like the truly dull gravel track of Llandegla. I used to have to be careful when riding the trails at CYB, as they were challenging enough for me to have to use the brakes a bit. Llandegla is NOT the kind of trail that i find fun, or challenging.

I have such limited time that i always try to ride somewhere different if i can.

Looks like i'll try the Climachx as i do fancy session-ing the last descent a few times.

I'll also try out Nant yr Arian as this sounds like a bit different.

thanks for all the pointers.

nope.. not ridden Nat-y-Arian. I might check it out. Thanks chakaping.

ok, ta for that Daisy_duke.

Anyone ridden the Climax (agreed… stupid name)

ahhh.. right.
Shame as that's what i went there to do.
next time maybe.

i rode the whole red the other day, ignoring the diversions. There was no sign of anyone working there. No lorries, no loggers, in fact… no one else at all for the whole way round.
It could have been the constant torrential rain, but i did not think it was all that. It was the first time i'd rode there, and i would not make a special trip to do it again.

Maybe i'll try the black next time, but when i want there were no signs/maps/directions to the black at all. Only when i got to the last descent on the red did i see the Raven trail markers for the first time.

i ran a pair of Lawill Leaders for about two years, quite a few years back.. i thought they were very good. The action was very supple, and the constant steering angle was noticable, and welcome.

The links were always a bit sloppy, so wheel tracking was poor on cambers, and once the entire fork imploded whilst steaming along. The upper shock mounting plate was twisted free of the shock. (masive wheel lock, highside, superman to faceplant)

I machined up some new shock bits and got two extra inches of travel out of it, which did start to do strange things to the handling. Mert Lawill designed this as a flat track racing fork where there were few bumps, and little in the way of sharp steering changes, and this is where they would still work well.

i now like the steering angle changes on my long travel bike, and use the action for pinning sharp corners, and berms etc:

pics here…..

Les Arc is good for loose rocky washed out DH (which i did enjoy) but did not see huge amounts in the way of nice flowy singletrack, through tree's etc: Some, but not much.

Trailaddiction know the area very well, and make for a good holiday tho'

it's a great place for about 3-4 days. Porcupine Rim is an amazing trail. Just don't look down.
Slickrock is good for a day blast, and there's lots of technical bits to keep you entertained.

Fruita is not far, is suposed to be a great place to ride as well.

do it.

if you're a DIYer they should be fine. Even a serious one. I have an Erbauer Kango, and it's still kickin' asss after a couple of years of good use.
For the price, you could replace them more regularly.

Batteries for a cordless are a different matter, the De Walt and other good makes, have great batt's, and the cheapo's DONT.

For corded tho' not bad i reckon.

two fluffy balls of trouble

I hope that thing does not belong to you Jo.