Not much help but I’m 23 and am in a similar boat (though have a few good bikey mates). I’m going back to uni as even though I’ve got a decent job, it’s mind-numbing and the only other jobs available at the moment are even more menial, require an engineering degree or are high staff turnover sell!-sell!-sell! type affairs. Therefore I’m taking a change of scenery and the opportunity to engage my brain again.

I would agree with cinnamon girl that trying to meet some new biking friends is a good idea, gives you something to luck forward to each week as well as the mood boost from exercise.

Spending some time in the Alps might be a good idea or it might not be, you won’t really earn anything, will have to work silly hours possibly be obsequious to ****holes and might find all your resort mates are merely airheads. Then again, you might make life-long friends, maybe some job connections and have a right old laugh.

TEFL might be a better option, any time spent working in a different culture is useful from an employment perspective and you’ll likely have a better disposable income (in real terms) and work better hours, allowing you to see and do a bit more. If I’d have had my time again I’d have done a TEFL straight from uni, lots of friends had a great time while I just applied for jobs and got depressed.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do, and remember you’re still extremely lucky in the grand scheme of things!

I fail to see how this is properly ‘dangerous’. The weight to surface area ratio of a plastic bottle means it wouldn’t carry it’s (very limited) momentum very far. The only problem might be the lid getting a direct hit onto your eye but seeing as that’s attached to a hose and is heavier than the rest of the bottle it seems unlikely. Just wear safety goggles, gloves as some generic clothing and I reckon you’d be fine in an ‘explosion’ of a pop bottle.

Rode it yesterday before Cadair Idris, all open as far as I’m aware. Not even that wet considering the rain on Saturday night.

the legs will be walking through corners and twanging backwards and forwards everywhere else.
They’re light for a reason.

Not in my expereince either. I had 150mm revs with 20mm axle and tapered steerer. No discernible flex even when braking heavily at enduro races or riding big, rocky terrain in Torridon or Skye. Maybe a little bit if you hammer on doing 30mph on the road but what’s the problem?

I haven’t noticed much difference since moving to 36s and lyriks.

Disagree!! Spooky Wood was so much fun just like a roller coaster!!

A very flat one though. That’s my beef with GT the trails are great, just too flat.
It depends on the riding you want really, Inners has a better variety of downhills but the climbs are pretty uninspiring. My one world of advice is stay away from AE!

Disagree!! Spooky Wood was so much fun just like a roller coaster!!

A very flat one though. That’s my beef with GT the trails are great, just too flat.
It depends on the riding you want really, Inners has a better variety of downhills but the climbs are pretty uninspiring. My one world of advice is stay away from AE!

Canyon AM? Zesty? Something light and responsive but fine for more technical riding.

I currently ride a Firebird around Surrey.

This image makes me sad.

I can definitely see this as a great replacement for things like Uzzis and other 1 trick 180mm bikes. Much more versatile, significantly lighter and more efficient etc but couldn’t see the fun/point in hauling round a trail centre or average trails unless you were winching up a push-up track. Having said that, if you only have one bike and you’re gravity orientated I can see it as a nice compromise.

that notch further on from the likes of the Spicy/Nomad.

Those forks share the 180mm chassis (like the enduro evo) so are a good 300g or so heavier than 160s or even 170 lyriks and will have a commensurably longer axle to crown too. If you’re getting such a bury bike you’d really want a wind-down/ TALAS system for climbing.

I’d still love one like.

I love my Orange, but because having a bike that can climb, descend and take a beating is very tempting

(I’d never buy a five like but surly the five’s likely a better all rounder? Doesn’t the fire bird have over 170mm of bounce? Those forks will be fair hefty!

I’d recommend a Dune as a halfway house, replaced my remedy with a (heavier) 2010 one and never looked back. Prefer it to the spicy I tried and much better than a cube fritzz I’ve ridden a few times.

Did Rebecca Romero not swap from Rowing to cycling and Gold in both?

When I was at uni we had a competition at the freshers’ fayre each year. The person who could get the fastest speed on the turbo trainer got a free membership: Invariably a rower.

I think Sunline recalled a load of their carbon bars a while back. I saw a pair snap in the alps.

I was intrigued by the exotic bars but don’t want to be a test pilot. Easton’s CNT jobbies should be nigh on unbreakable.

Thanks guys!

52mph coming down Hartside on a yr2001 marin east peak with xc pros while doing the C2C a few years back. I would hate to think of the speeds possible on a road bike coming down there!

Expensive, relatively heavy, relatively flexy for qr15 forks, probably likely to suffer from fox syndrome. If you’re a light rider take a look at manitou’s tower pro in 120mm guise. Check out biek discount.de, some cheap 29er forks there.

Boom!! I’ll take that gladly!

Not if they didn’t ride down footpaths.

Aye, but I’ve ridden the track a lot and never seen anyone walk it, the ground is soft in places with visible tyre marks and never seen a footprint and it has ‘built’ features that have been there years and never been removed so it would follow that it’s not realy used as a footpath all that often. The path in question just spits you out at a main road with no adjoining rights of way, the bridleway lower down takes most of the traffic up the hill.

The track’s very open so any approaching walkers can be seen well in advance and it has a fairly gentle gradient so you could stop pretty much instantly; I’d definitely class it as a ‘safe’ footpath.

A night ride through swoopy forest singletrackFire road death march? Or watch some people in London waving flags? Its a no brainer really

FTFY.

Can’t really see a pootle around Ae being worth missing such a big show: maybe a ride at Kirroughtree but not the seemingly endless fire road climb that is Ae.

Les Gets gulley/canyon run

+1
Some of off piste stuff on the Super Morzine side that finishes in Montriond is great too, very steep and rooty with nice tight corners.

I would be looking at a canyon, ghost or new norco. Orange fives are just awful value for money. I’ve ridden a prophet, remedy, 5, dune, norco fluid and cube fritz and the 5 comes bottom of the pile. Then again I have friends who can put seasoned DHers to shame on one so they can’t be that bad and just look at Joe Barnes’ exploits for instance!

Cheers guys, they all look pretty interesting!

Yeah, 95% hike a bike up a footpath. Top bit’s alright but it’s very steep for the most part

Ae

I’d rather give up mountain biking than ride there ever again
+1

I wouldn’t say so, there are good bits but it’s a fair climb for the massive decent at the end.

Lost in thick fog/rain and 70mph winds on top of Helvellyn. -17 with wind chill and I was in a synthetic top and a paclite top. Not fun.

Difference in weight is very marginal, indeed sids and rebas share the same lowers for 2012. Sid has the motion control dna damping whereas reba use standard motion control. Sids have a machined alloy piston whereas rebas have a steel one (saves c.30g IIRC). The sid’s decals are also underneath the lacquer wheras the reba’s are plain, poverty-spec stickers.
I’ll most likely buy rebas from here for a lot less.

Aluminium nipples are the devil’s craft.

Been to the Alps a number of times including the Mega and have never had a problem with bog standard tyres.

In terms of Tyre choice I tried a muddy mary for my last trip and found it excellent in all conditions.

Seems very well-defined for a trace fossil. No idea from me though, the fact that it’s perpendicular to the bedding of the rock doesn’t help me guess either.

avoid (and think of the birds)

Nae bother to birds, in the whole of the U.K. turbines kill about 800 birds a year (compared to 1-3million by cats and cars). Indeed your average power station kills 3-5.5 birds per TWh wheras wind turbines kill 0.5-1.2 for the same amount of power (offshore being a fair bit worse than onshore ones).
The only issue is that some species don’t like breeding near them (Curlew especially) so if they are put in an area with protetcted habitat it effectively reduces teh utility of that area for some species.

The noise characteristics depends massively on the type of turbine. The two-bladed WES ones are very noisy but fixed RPM ones are pretty silent within 200m.

Orange 5 pro is awful value for money. I’d go for one of those cheap mega frames that are around at the mo (<£650) and build it up pimping (or just save a wad of dolla for other endeavours.

Yeti to the Meta would be the SB-66

from what I’ve seen/ read the SB66 is a bit of an odd one, very taught and not very gnarr-focussed. That pivot it has makes it very unwilling to give up it’s travel in any rush.

Only thing I would say is teh 575 is more of a ragging trailbike, teh meta’s definately a descent’focussed machine. Maybe look at the 150mm meta if you’re after like-for-like replacement. In which case check out the Remedy and canyon am

New meta sx looks lovely, I don’t rate yetis much.

Cheers for the clarification Mark, the extra weighting to the DH sounds good!

but surely you aren’t taking it so seriously you would cheat at an event like this?

It’s a race innit, I’m pretty scared of the tyres I’ll be using for xc (rocket ron) for hitting gravelly corners and don’t really fancy muddy mary’s for the xc race. I’ve got no problem with the rule if it’s black and white and strictly enforced and the same for everyone (it does after all amplify the ‘all-rounderness’ of the event). I’d just rather not be holding back because I’ve got jeycore rubber and seeing others are running big tyres when I could have too.

So does anyone know ho much of a difference the trials and downhill make? and how long the xc ride is?

I’m going to sign on on the day. My only functional bike at the moment in a mondraker dune so I’ll (hopefully) be borrowing a 80mm kona pahoehoe (with modern components). Cant see the point in a full susser or anything with >120mm bounce at Lee Quarry.

How strict’s the no tyre change rule?

I’ve found mavic rims to be pretty tough compared to other brands. But, alas, they are very narrow. If you’re going to be running big tyres I’d look for something with at least 21mm internal width but preferably 23mm or more. Spank’s new evo alloy rims are a similar material to mavic’s and seem to be garnering a reputaion for been pretty mighty for their weight. I’d try the Oozy if you’re light or the Subrosa or race 28 spike if you’re not or riding rocky DH often.

Kielder 100 if you’re feeling fit or Tour de Ben Nevis if you’re feeling slightly less fit. Don’t think you can enter as a team though.