The attitude of some of the traders is unbelievable.

The attitude of one of the Hope team was unbelievable….unbelievably nice, helpful and awesome in fact. He completely rebuilt my hub and provided a new axle whilst covering himself in mud from my filthy bike. Utterly brilliant service.

Thank you so much Mr Hope Man :D

My bike after one lap…..and I had stripped the mud off it soooo many times on the way round.

Post up! There are lots of ladies here I think, they just don’t bother posting as they are mostly too sensible to get involved ;)

Plasticine mud at it’s best today. I had to stop 10 times (TEN!) just to get my wheels to turn.

I can now definitely tell you what tyres NOT to run for MM :lol:

Thank goodness I have been lent some more appropriate tyres for tomorrow.

All in all though, quite possibly some of the most fun I have had on a bike. The descents were mostly awesome….foot out, like riding in snow. Brilliant! And as always the crowd (albeit smaller than I have seen it before) are really supportive and cheering/heckling people through the camp.

Just glad I like close enough to come home, clean the bike and sleep in a comfy bed before doing it again tomorrow!

Oh :|

What about Heydon Common/Heydon Hill way – looks like it has potential, on the OS map at least?

EDIT: Thanks for the linky fuzzyfelt :)

I don’t want kids. And got sterilised to make sure it never happens ‘by accident’

Why? Not because I’m too selfish to give up my lifestyle….although that is a bonus of the situation, for sure. More because I’d be a crap mother and think it is far better that the gene pool stops right here.

I’d never want to subject a child to having me as a mother.

EDIT – as pointed out by rewski!

Ah, nice to hear a decent conclusion for once!

Definitely spending too long in relationships hoping that they would get better/work out…….

…..you don’t always know when it’s right, but you do always know when it’s not.

All men should be bald. Or at least sporting a shaved head…….FACT !

Lynch and Kubrick – can’t go wrong. I love them both in equal measure.

Twin Peaks is utterly stunningly brilliant.

Tracey really does a huge amount for mountainbiking on both a national, and local, level. Awesome lady, and a proper role model.

Great pic too! :D

I love the big-huck bikes!

Mustn’t forget this HT baby:

Not sure it’s huckable, but looks frickin awesome :D

mboy – it’s no big deal, she’s clearly not the right one for you (as, if she was, you’d not have even noticed the riding) and, no doubt, she’ll be happier with a guy who’ll tolerate her riding as slowly as she likes…

Life’s funny – things normally work out for the best like that :)

Riding in the rain is good for the soul……….FACT !

Cellulitis is nasty, and once you’ve had it, it’s all too easy for it to crop up again. Hope it’s on the mend now.

Normal prescription is fluxcocillin and pencillin – double dose, every 6 hours. I’d be surprised by a flux only prescription.

thank goodness for ed n annie

Healing vibes indeed. Awful to hear of the paralysis, really hope it isn’t permanent.

Air ambulances = invaluable.

I have serious fatbike envy – looks like sooooo much fun. :D

Braving the angry walkers in Malvern today

It’s gonna be nice to show some friends round for the first time in the sunshine :D

davesmate is so correct there ^

I don’t know what they are like.

I really REALLY wanted one but Trek are refusing to supply my LBS with a 15.5″ demo for me to try.

Thus they have lost out on a sale and I am currently in the process of finalising a spec for an Orange Five Diva.

Well DOH! Keep the chammy of course!

I don’t understand the worry over a ‘ban’ on mountain bikes in the Wyre when all the decent trails are ‘cheeky’ anyway.

Surely it wont make an ounce of difference and everyone will just continue to ride there until the Government sort their idiotic access laws out?

Great vid btw, thoroughly enjoyed that…..just wish I knew how to find the trail ;)

I’m gonna go with black-as-black-can-be and name her ‘missy’

Thanks all

I’m gonna have to go with full bike I think because it needs to go partly on credit.

I’ve made the decision, despite pondering the 150’s to stick with the 140 mm upfront. In reality I rarely get to the AM stuff any more, and the 140 mm will be better for trail centres. If I was to suddenly have a decent bit of luck and end up living in the lakes then I’d reconsider the fork choice, but I’m betting the bike rarely leaves the undulating Midlands. I’ll still have the big bike for the DH stuff which will remain my focus anyway.

The bike shop are pretty helpful and have said they can be versatile with the spec, even if it means swapping bits out of their stock.

So now it’s just the colour decision…… ;)

Thanks :)

Wibble89 – Member
I may have missed something above but are you sure that you need a short? A long one is only 2cm longer in effective TT but would put your saddle rails in a sensible place. Also the long diva is just a normal 14 inch five with different spec parts unless I am mistaken.

Yes. I have sat on the long and it definitely feels too long. It was awesome being on the small, I could really move my weight around and just felt 100% at home with the size.

skywalker – Member

Don’t buy one with 160mm forks until you try one with them, its totally different. I personally don’t like 160’s on a Five.

Thanks for the input skywalker, this is what I am most worried about. I am used to riding stupidly-slack, but the whole point of getting this orange is so that I will have something that handles a little better on normal trails than what I have at the moment.

I am, however, wondering about the Float 150’s (FIT-RLC)…seem like the best of both worlds?

SammyC – Member

Glad to hear the X2s are good Jo as I’ve just bought some for the HT!

What shock did it come with Jo? My Pat was rubbish with the DHX Air but I think thats a problem with that shock on single pivots, I thought the Five was meant to work with air shocks?

Hey SammyC, fancy seeing you here ;)

It came with a Fox Evolution RL

I have spoken to a man-that-knows-his-oranges and it turns out he had similar issues with blowing through the travel on his new five because its been specced with the larger air can which doesn’t work with the single pivot…which was sorted with a J-Tech revalve.

Dashed – I’ve read VERY mixed reviews on the CC air and wouldn’t want to risk it tbh.

So I finally got a test ride on the short Diva and it was a real mixed bag, but overall I did indeed fall in love with it and am gonna get one….when I have decided on spec. Input welcome!

The short is a perfect size when out of the saddle. Sitting and spinning it was small, but fine with the saddle back on the rails.

Some things were componentry issues that would be easy to remedy (wider bars, get rid of triple set up, run SRAM, put on some proper pedals as the flats the bike shop put on were the worse I have ever ridden). ADvantage tyres performed much better than I was expecting. Loved the X2 brakes – I’ve always run M4’s and was surprised at how good the X2’s are.

Was crackingly accurate with the 140 mm on the front, like, the front wheel went where I put it (a novelty for me). Went round bermed corners like (for want of a less cliche saying) it was on rails.

Wasn’t as great at climbing or on the flat as I was expecting (but then I’m not great at climbing so I suspect I was expecting miracles and it still hurt!). Pedalling over rough stuff wasn’t great, but I suspect that may have been a lot to do with the awful pedals.

Absolutely came to life on the descents, more than I imagined it would, but the air can on the back was poor. The bike shop set it up and said I might need to let a bit more air out, I ended up putting an extra 20 PSI in and was still blowing through the travel, even on the relatively tame verderers. The air fork performed better than I expected, although I did have to run it hard to stop it diving.

Felt a little undergunned with the 140 mm up front on more DH orientated trails, took it down the DTV race track for Sunday and it struggled on the steeper bits. Ski run is hardly full-on DH either…but saying that it was fine for 90% of it.

Best thing of all – felt awesome to jump on. Well balanced and responsive.

So, I’m gonna get one but have NO IDEA how to spec it.

160 mm up front or stick with the 140 mm?

Go with coil forks even though I promised myself what I needed was a nice light 140 mm trail bike?

The CCDB doesn’t fit so I’m likely to keep an air can, but maybe get it pushed.

And then the hardest decision of all……what colour scheme to go with?!!

10-15 cups a day here.

It’s good for you anyway, there’s antioxi-whatits in it apparently.

I’ve worn a fullface on a green route before….AND on the Verderers.

Oh, and once I even pedalled round the roads with it on!

He’s a troll! Stop feeding him and he’ll stop typing nonsense ;)

Pic taken by a mate of mine, of a riding buddy having a not-so-successful jump session. Makes me wince everytime I see it, but also chuckle, because I know he walked away with nothing but a bit of bruising!

Pics taken by FBK on ‘ere:

and a few taken by me:

He was a bit dirty tonight so not as beautifully gorgeous as normal:

Erm……..

CaptainMainwaring – Member

£31.99 at Next Day Tyres for the 60a folding, and in my experience they do actually deliver next day, even to Highland Scotland

Yup, I have had nothing but good service from nextdaytyres. Unfortunately I needed one same day this time (well, not now I have a tyre on loan) but will be ordering from them if this ADvantage isn’t what I am after :)

I hope so! Will save me a packet if I do, and the hassle of getting the roller sorted :D

It’s the 2.1 – but looks pretty wide for a 2.1

Cheers ta :)

I have an ADvantage on loan for the moment – I’ll just get a 60a on order online unless by a miracle the ADvantage works better than it looks like it’s gonna. The minion up-front roller back combo works well for me and I’m scared of change (even if it does cost me an arm and a leg)

Properly wet weekend in the Midlands!

Riding through floodwaters in the Severn Valley on Saturday followed by a very wet and muddy Racer’s Guild at Stile Cop on Sunday.

Soooooooooo much fun sliding about in the mud!

Midlandstrailquestgraham braving the floodwaters…

Swampy finish for timed practice at Cannock:

So awful – RIP Alex :(

Haha that makes me feel better!

Thanks for the pic :D