Cheers. Tor5, would be good to see how you find it

stuartanicholson – yep my tyre choice was not the best 🙂 cheers for the info. As Northwind said the day was not for me but in no way was it a criticism of the event or trail choices. I am maybe a bit annoyed with myself for a few reasons. Nobody likes their weaknesses exposed for all to see 🙂

I was just curious buddy, in all honesty i love these events and all the conditions that come with them. I don’t have any complaints in the slightest in how it was run or trail choices. I was just wondering how decisions like that were made really. My wimp-o-meter was in the red this weekend so take what i say in that light. 😀

hels, genuine question here and not a dig. I know you have to get permission from the forestry commission to run these events and part of that process is having routes authorised.

Was the general thinking on the run up that stages 1 and 2 would be ok in the wet after 300 people had practiced it or was it too late to put alternates in. I know in Scotland in October its in the hands of the weather gods so thats out your control.

Oh and hats off to the marshalls and organisers, as much as this round was not for me it is very much appreciated all the hard work that goes into these events.

Schwalbe both ends, Hans Damph on the rear and Magic Mary on the front. Not a good choice

Northwind, good to meet you yesterday and put a face to a forum username.

On the way up to top of stage 1 🙂

MTBR Thread

I cant find the specific info about TF Tuned /Cane Creek after a brief read. I was sure i read it in here though. If in doubt give them a call 🙂

rickon, my apologies as you could have had my place, i am currently in bed with tea and toast because those trails were really shi!e yesterday. I hated with a passion stage 1. There was so much mud in my tyres the rear could not spin round. Had to mimmick a tripod all the way down as it needed the skills of a grade ten ninja to get down without constant dabbing. Took me ten minutes to get the bike sorted to get up to the top 2 which was marginally better but not much.

I absolutely love the tweed valley natural trails but the rain and traffic has killed a fair few for the time being.

Just got a text off a mate i was riding with yesterday and he pulled out after stage 1. Not fun at all was his final comment which for me was the same.

No they don’t chrisc777, according to TF Tuned they may lack some rebound damping when run at higher pressures. Mainly over the 210 psi i believe. I am 85KG with my riding kit on and again TF Tuned were very happy to sell one to me but not to a mate who is 95KG As his pressures would put him over that limit.

Also Cane Creek do not agree with this, there is a massive thread over on MTBR about it but i trust TF Tuned and am happy to take their advice.

When i was buying my bike this year i had a few models in mind, had a go on most of the ones i wanted and went with a Banshee Spitfire. 2 reasons really. 1, i could use all of my existing kit and transfer it over from my 5 spot and 2, interchangeable dropouts so i could run either 26″ or 650b.

I am very surprised there are not more companies offering this type of frame where you can run whatever wheel size you want. Plus there are also 3 geometry settings which are so easy to change to and from.

But yea OP. Its that time of year i reckon. 🙁

Awesome, i usually spend a weeks wages alone on those venison burgers. 🙂

How’s the weather down your way hels?? been pissing down here in Dundee all day. Biblical proportions 🙁

A baron on the front?? they are the same width as a string of spaghetti 😯

Popped one on the back as it was sitting on the shelf dong bugger all else. Might regret it though. Might not. Hmmmmmmmmmmm 😀

I was down at inners playing about on the DH tracks on tuesday. They were running so well. Autumn colours put me in a great mood as well 🙂

Aye, ill be there. Expecting a bit of a mudbath on Sunday 🙁

Rickon, I may have other plans forced on me but i won’t know until wed evening. My email is in my profile if you drop me a line ill reply on Wednesday with an answer one way or another. Cheers

Ok, my 2p worth.

I have been running X01 on my full bouncer for about 10 months now. I changed the chain out at 600 miles and did that again with the second one. So i now have 3 chains in rotation. When i change to a new chain there is considerable suck as the front chainring seems to not not want to let it go but that only lasts for 1 ride then its smooth operating as usual.

My 11 speed does not like muck, the tolerances are too tight with the NW chainring and the jockey wheels. Thats the only time i have issues with my shifting though. Also there is a horrible grinding noise when there is muck involved.

I run a 32 front ring as that gives me a good climbing vs normal running ratios. I very rarely use my 42 cog as i treat it as a get out of jail gear.

I am a bit anal about keeping it clean though. When you pay so much for that type of kit then 10 minutes after every ride is well spent cleaningthe drivetrain. So far it seems to be working for me. No abnormal wear and tear. And i have never dropped a chain yet 🙂

I think ill call the DVLA in the morning, i have been on their website for the last 20 minutes and its not really any clearer.

Thanks guys 🙂

How about these Rail with these housing.

It does get pretty expensive though id you have more than 1 bike. I also cant make out how the rail attaches to the van floor.

Twodogs – Member
I get the feeling that the pottery place wouldn’t be too happy with muddy biking gear being worn in there….whereas on site cafes generally don’t mind.

She was quite insistent about us signing the visitors book which seemed odd at the time

Haha, thats exactly what she was like when a couple of us popped in a few months back, very loud and vocal about us being mountain bikers and the planned centre at Laggan. Put us off going back to be honest

Awsome, thanks for taking the time to type that info. 🙂

Thekettle drop me a line nearer the time if you want, email in profile. I live about an hour away from Glen Doll and an hour and half from Braemar. If the weather is reasonable ill happily take you round some big routes up that way.

Joe Barnes absolutely smashing it.

Maplin have some decent passive movement sensor alarms. My bikes are both secured to a ground anchor and the only other security i could manage was 2 of these alarms in different places in the garage. They make a hell of a racket.

Odd, i’m on my 3rd chain. I have 3 which i am rotating through. So about 1200 miles as it stands. Cassette and front chainring are in good condition and original. Nothing even close to needing changed as yet.

Why didn’t i enjoy it? yes the event takes place in fantastic scenery and i loved that side but bimbling around 60 odd Km of landrover track is not my idea of mountain biking, no matter how amazing the scenery. A couple of great descents were included but in all fairness its just not my type of riding.

For the rear the smorgasbord is a fantastic do it all tyre. I banged one on tubeless about a month ago and have ragged it round Torridon, Fort William and local stuff and it has done it all with aplomb.

Chunky Monkey again is a belter of a tyre for the front. I had one on for most of last year and it never let me down.

Yep, i did it and i doubt i will do it again, nothing against the event particularly but i am not a big fan of riding 60km on fire roads. Really loved the descent to Kinlochleven but not much else. 😉

Oh can anyone point me in the direction of the results?

coolhandluke – Member
I really thing the government want the Scots to go it alone, it wil be well cheaper for them. They just need to go through the motions to make it look like they want them to stay.

HAhHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA good one 8)

I do 🙂 good news. Ill get one ordered.

Doug, do you get many problems with sharp rocks? Im only thinking with the small blocks being so close to the outer walls.

Cheers 🙂

I am a bit of a fan of Schwalbe tyres, especially the Hans Dampf which goes against the grain on here sometimes, i popped on a brand new a Magic Mary for a week in the Alps and have run it since i got home for about 5 good long day rides since then and it looks like it has been in the wars. There were tiny hairline cracks after the first ride along the outer nobbles but to be fair there seemed to be no damage while riding. The nobbles are all slightly damaged with chips out of them.

They are grippier than a grippier thing in gripsville but their longevity is definitely in question at the moment.

These are Trailstar compound so maybe not unexpected. Ill run them for a while longer just to see how they hold up.

Yes, yes, yes. Fantastic do it all bike. Just finished a loop of Cairngorm today and yet again it blows me away just how versatile this bike is. I have done all day xc type riding regularly on it, Trans Savoie was done on it this year and regularly big mountain days out in Scotland and it handles everything so well.

My build is as follows and rarely changes (except the front tyre).

Pikes 150mm.
X Fusion 02 shock
Magic Mary up front with On One Smorgasbord out back. In 26″ 🙂

I have not fiddled with the chips in the rear yet but i have an Enduro at Innerleithen next month and i might just try the slack angle and see how i find it.

Did the classic Torridon loop 2 days ago and the Annat descent/climb had been battered by some storms a few weeks ago. What used to be a fun descent is at the moment an eroded mess. Its in no way unrideable but its really not fun.

Stevie, mine arrived yesterday, a thing of beauty. Thanks 😀

Awesome, cheers for that. Ill go for a large then 🙂

hora – Member
No. Rosberg is a spoilt dick trying to manipulate what really happened.

Ha, spoilt dick, good choice of words but mainly leveled at Hamilton through the years.

I think you are all missing out the star of the day, Daniel Ricciardo is showing how amazing a driver he is. That pass on Vettel had me laughing for ages 🙂

Stevie, do you have any of these left, if so ill take 1.

Email in profile 🙂

Ta

😀 for a bit of balance i have run a fair few Hans Damph and so do all my mates and we have never had this problem. I put a brand new Magic Mary on a few weeks back before an Alps trip and after the first day there wee tiny cracks along the outer nobbles but after 26,000m of descending they still look exactly the same as after that first run.

Im not too sure if there are bad batches out there or not but ill keep running them for a bit longer.

I use a Topeak Morph Turbo Mini, its a great bit of kit. It has a hose to attach to the valve and a mini pump floor stand thingy that gets rid of that daft mid-air pumping 🙂 Its fairly long but i wanted that so i could get as much air in there in a short period of time.

Pump

But there are other variations that are shorter. Oh and the one i have has a gauge 🙂