Test the gag reflex… deep throat a king size mars bar.

Bonty Rhythm Rim strips work brilliantly with them. Well worth an extra few pounds for a simple no faff with tape set up.

I cracked my rear at the Trans-Savoie but I “might” have had quite a brutal impact in a rock garden and would “probably” have damaged whatever rim I was running :twisted:

Torq wrapper inserted to stop the carbon rim damaging the tyre.

I did this on day one and rode it hard for the next five days 8O

I will almost certainly replace it with another as they do make for very special feeling wheels 8)

I like that 8)

A-plan

MacAvalanche two weeks after mine :|

The chainsaw bike is my choice for the zombie apocalypse.

Bring on the flesh eating hoards.

do you live in a cave messiah?

I use my cave for all sorts of things :mrgreen:

CRC made me do this.

It didn’t take much effort.

I liked the Travis forks I had with the TPC+ damper. I would use Manitou if they ride well.

As I’ve posted elsewhere my Avy fork kit in a 55 RC3 Ti fork performs much better than the similar kit in my Float 36… could be a problem with my Float fork or an air spring thing: Craig at Avalanche did tell me the coil fork would feel better.

Shock wise I would do what I did and buy a DHX Air and get Craig to work his magic on it… much better than the coil CCDB I had.

Alternatively (and contraversially) get a frame with a decent length top tube, lower bottom bracket and slacker head angle :wink:

Since your in Sweden you should check out what the Kingdom Bike guys are up too with the Hex 275 as they are available now[/url]

Cube Stereo is another option.

Those parts above that scotroutes shows a picture of are welded together to make the chainstay and seatstay bridges hollow.

Hi Scott and Jeff 8)

michaelcc – the carbon rims are the light bicycle ones I’ve been riding at home for a few months with no issues; the terrain I ride here is little different to the alps other than in scale! I was unlucky/unclever in how I damaged the rim… I would have damaged any rim of any material by “screaming into a rock garden way too fast” and was possibly unlucky/lucky in that it lasted out the week (chap with an ENVE rim did the same in the same rock garden… ). I would (and probably will) run carbon rims again for the same type of riding… if you ride kit you sometimes break it; such is life :twisted:

And yes… brake pads worn out :roll:

1350 euros is only 51 euros more than an Argon AM :-)

Once you’ve seen a Nicolai in the metal you get an appreciation for why they cost what they do; they may look like other bikes from a distance bit nobody else builds frames like Nicolai do.

That was ace.

Yup, I know who Straightliner is now after reading your blog, and dexter I think I have sorted… but could be wrong.

Haha dexter, nobody was hunting anyone… we were all worried about losing out on the last stages by missing the cut-off time so it all got a bit harried on that road section. It all calmed down after the omelet and coffee at the restaurant though :wink:

I’d love an Ion 16… in 26″ or 27.5″ flavour.

Anyone want to buy a three year old Helius AM… one careful owner :mrgreen:

Not many people will have tried one let alone two of the above.

Something I have written before about my experiences with Bos vs. Avy.

Hey stim, good to ride with you, I’m impressed you got something on your blog before eurobike! I’ll post something on mine eventually.

My rear wheel felt horrible on the road but once on the special stages I forgot about it and got on with having fun.

I see we both have parts to play in the final vid clip :mrgreen:

As lucien says. Great in the dry and very fast on hardpacked trails (for a big tyre); but I found them near lethal on wet Scottish rocks and roots so binned them ad went to Rubber Queens which I love despite the expense.

I estimated it was a 50/50 split of fullface vs XC/Enduro lid. Everyone had kneepads and most folk took them off or ankled them for the long liason stages. Only maybe a quarter of people wore more armour like elbows etc; and probably three quarters were on SPD’s vs flats.

Bike wise 6″ travel AM type bikes were the most popular with a few on shorter travel. There were a few 27.5″ and 29″ wheel bikes. Everyone I spoke too was happy with their choices; although there were a few cracked frames and other problems over the six days… keep an eye on the cracks after each stage and keep riding 8O . Gearing wise I was on XX1 with a 32 front which was great. There was quite a lot of XX1 about but many folk were on 2×10 and there a few hardy souls on 1×10.

My tally of broken kit for the week was…
1. A cracked rear carbon rim on the first day after screaming into a rock garden way too fast (I had a buckled wheel but the rim held out for the rest of the week; although it did destroy my rear tyre in the end). I rode a bit more cautious after day one :roll:
2. Broken seatpost quick release on day two which I repaired with 2 zipties until I found a replacement in a shop that night.
3. Brake pads x 4
4. Sidewall of a rear tyre due to my damaged rim cutting through the tyre near the bead. Bodge repair involving a buff and some gell wrappers got me throught the last two days.
5. Complete death of one SPD shoe on the second last day. Fixed up with some electrical tape, zip-ties and swearing.

If you look at the results most riders were very consistent in where they finished… your as good at riding as you are good at riding and not much changes that. I snuck into the top thirty on the last day and I’m very happy with that result 8)

There were five ladies racing.

Results are here[/url].

Messiah how bad was the climbing

*smart bottom answer*

Depends how fit you are :wink:

*smart bottom answer*

To be able to enjoy an event like the Trans-Savoie requires a good level of fitness. Some of the individual big climbs where ~20km/~1000m of granny ring turning at altitude (often above the lifts) which often took about two hours… the payback for these big efforts were 20+km (30+minute) timed special stages passing from high alpine trails into forest switchbacks, then meadows, then lower forests and often right down to the river at the valley bottom. Riding (let alone racing) thirty plus minute doonhalls themselves are tough on the body so being fit and keeping enough back on the climbs to enjoy the descents was part of my strategy. The stats for the race explained well what would be required so we all knew what was expected; so it was sensible to get prepared by knowing how the body would fare on long rides. We did a few ski area blue/red runs and these were the less tiring “easy” stages compared with some of the big high technical special stages.

Personally I went out in my best shape for years and was able to enjoy the event knowing I had done all the preparation I could; but still there were occasions when I struggled mostly due to the effects of heat and altitude.

To have a big event like this as a “goal” for the year and to work towards it by getting more miles than usual in has helped me enjoy my riding this year. I commited to do the event, and then commited to be in my best shape… to have done any less would have been a waste. Nobody was expecting anyone to race the climbs and there was no disgrace in walking parts or resting, but there were time cut-off’s on some stages so as not to miss closing lifts; and getting back to camp late effects how tired you would be for the next day and limit the important bike (and body) repair time!

I’ve probably not really answered your question very well… *cliche alert* only you will know if you have what it takes to do the preparation and the event :mrgreen:

Cheersmin, that was a brilliant six days and the fabulous movies show how much fun we were having. My hands are aching the most at the moment but its followed closely by my face from grinning so much… the event was better than my expectations. The riding was hard with some monster climbs and long days in the saddle, but getting to race all those fantastic “mostly doonhall” special stages was something you don’t get anywhere else. A truly fantastic experience and something I would very much LOVE to do again.

Looking forward to the movie 8)

Same bike as the rest of the year just covered in crap :oops:

Yes – I would do it all again.

At the time I saw going to Uni to study engineering as something I was destined to do. It just made sense as I enjoyed it and was good at it despite being a lazy fecker who just wanted to ski and ride bikes. It was my safety net in case the skiing and biking didn’t work out, and as such I worked for a pass rather than a distinction which did annoy my tutors who knew I could do better.

I took a year out to work and go to evening classes before I started uni as I failed one of the subjects I needed, and another year out in the middle when I failed one subject, bonus was my summer job was too fantastic an experience to have left anyway… and when I did leave it was to sail halfway round the world in a tall ship.

After leaving uni I ski’d and biked for a few years living hand-to-mouth and travelling before getting tired of the hobby/job thing. Thanks to my safety net engineering degree and experiences travelling I walked into a fantastic opportunity in the oil and gas industry and have been using my uni studies on an almost daily basis since then.

Started paying back the student loan after a couple of years working when my salary was high enough.

There is almost no way I would be where I am now without my degree; so I am very thankful that I did it. I enjoy my life even if its not quite worked out how I had planned it.

Nice one Stim.

Thanks for the correction… sorted now :oops:

I’ve started a blog[/url]

I’m rather excited :oops:

I’ve thrown some money at mine to drop it from the heavyweight devision to being more of an all-rounder.

XX1, carbon rims/bars/saddle, custom tuned shock and fork.

It was a great bike before but now its awesomez!*

*rides great but its a stranger to the sponge.

The 64.5mm Battery Heat Shrink (Linky) worked a treat. It looked just like the original stuff after a wee blast with a heat gun and slid into the fork no bother.

I’ll have a look inside the fork in few weeks and post back what it looks like, but for now the fork is virtually silent again as the rattling noise it was making has gone away… chuffed 8)

*swoon*

Linky to owners thread.

Tonight I will be packing my bags… two more sleeps 8O

:mrgreen:

There really is very little to them. They are easy to wear and offer some protection, but they will not be as effective as larger more padded (bulky) armour if you do end up hitting something hard.

Hi Sanny :wink:

Many of my favourite rides are up that way. That Morrone loop is a good start and the climb is a fair test. Some people add in a loop up to Loch Callater first and use the obvious loop to the right down to the road before the hell climb to the mast.

The Ecurie Neep website has info on other routes up there including the Green Mile at Ballater and the big mountain Beinn a Bhuird and Loch Muick loops/epics.

Loads of other stuff if your willing to explore. Some searching on here should be inspiring; such as Sanny’s mountain thread or the epic Cairngorm thread from a few years ago.

I’m a 44. I had 46’s a few years ago and they were great even in the worst wet and snow because I could wear very big socks; but they were too big and my foot would move around when wearing thinner socks so I went for 45’s last year. With the 45’s I can’t wear the thickest of socks and therefore get cold feet on the really silly days… but the rest of the time I’m happier as my feet don’t move about in my shoes.

I think the 45’s are a better compromise for me although if I was to be riding in snow a lot I would buy the 46’s.

The Marine Hotel Stonehaven.

Been enjoying these Six Deg. North beers[/url] here recently.

Brewdog Aberdeen – the Flagship.

This has been fine since 1995… but its not creased like that.