No deal @weeksy :lol:

I’ll see closer to the time if I can make it, have you invited @crosshair?

Can I borrow your FS? It’s more fun than my hard tail haha.

Felt like a race @weeksy :lol:

The tour race I did with you was too :)

I’ve made a makeshift anti movement wedge to stop the turbo from disconnecting itself in the future – seemed to work today!

Thanks @scaredypants

Yay finally: https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=116069

That was so frustrating.. just done the Tour of London Stage 5 with Weeksy. 200+ A riders started, my aim was to be in the top 10. The group was quickly narrowed down to 20 riders and individuals kept being shelled out. I was sitting very comfortably, legs working well with heart rate under control. On the second lap going up the initial bit of box hill disaster! While I was sprinting my turbo had moved slightly and pulled its plug out! Had to hop off and reconnect it, there went the lead group. So with 12km to go it was down to a TT. I had a gap of 80 seconds from the chasing group, this quickly dwindled down until eventually with 700m!!!!! to go I was caught. Sprint finish saw me cross the line in 13th, or 11th according to Zwiftpower. So annoying that without the plug coming out I could have got my top 10!!

https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=107842

I put pics on strava to prove it moved too haha: https://www.strava.com/activities/2027939650

Only done the road to sky race once, never again it was brutal! https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=66109

Curiosity got the better of me the other day, mainly to benchmark myself with a few carrots to chase as I’ve been trying (and failing) to stick to my TrainerRoad plan…

13th place and a new FTP of 317w https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=112927 Confirms I’m no where near this time last year…

So I’m now trying to rebuild for the BC Zwift races next year, anyone else looking to try them out?

If you’re purposely holding back to stay in cat C shouldn’t you just race in cat B??

Checking in. Not raced in ages!

Apologies if I don’t respond to anyone on Zwift, I’m usually running TrainerRoad at the same time as I use Zwift as a visual distraction/log the “miles”.

I just did an ftp test: 310w @ 75kg, 6w less than my previous test a couple of months ago. I’ve barely been doing any cycling but I’ve been religiously going to the gym mon-fri (hoping the 5kg is upper body muscle ready for mtb’ing Haha) so I’m happy at that, if I do any racing on Zwift though it’ll be TTs as I’m not sure I have any top end…

Got this kit from amazon for 9.53 with a damaged box https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009YDZOYG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Took 20-30 mins each end using just the rubber liner and went up easily with a track pump, easy :lol:

Bit of an update.

The guy had the fork at a crazy psi of 120+ and the tyres were 40psi (immediately changed to 20) – not sure it ever saw mud!

Played around with the fork last weekend and ended up at 83 psi with 28mm of sag (130mm travel), not had a chance to really test the fork yet as I’ve broken a few toes.

Got a Bedgebury membership so hoping to head there at least every other weekend, may go out on Saturday afternoon (gingerly) – anyone else around?

As for the FS Norco I’m not sure that I want to give Mr Ashley any of my money?!

Why is there double draft??

I’m so unfit right now so I’m not Racing at the moment, sticking to TR with Zwift as a visual distraction. :lol:

Oops @weeksy – Can’t actually download it yet…

CVR have just launched a new product: http://www.cvrcade.com

Going to download it later and give it a whirl, there’s literally 0 info out there at the moment other than you have your own island and can create/customise the road?? It looks like Zwift has met minecraft…

Cheers @rickonwheels – I went for an internal dropper, but figured it out now.

Trying not to spend anymore money on this temporary bike but I’m quite intrigued by making it tubeless now :lol: £30 for a stans kit…

Yeah I’m hoping it is @andreasrhoen – cheers for the tips will give that a go.

Need to buy some knee pads too :lol:

Did a few laps of Bedgebury yesterday – only fell off twice! I had my tyres at 25 psi and they were lethal on the rocks, especially the black run entrance (fall 1] :lol: So I adjusted down to 20 and avoided the rocks haha. The humps/jumps at the back of the forest are great!

https://www.strava.com/activities/1932275990

Bike size felt good, I went for the 18” over the 20” at 6ft so was a bit of a risk. Dropper was such a good addition!

I need to play around with the fork though, the guy I bought it from was a body builder, so I can only get the fork to move 65 out of 120mm with 0 sag. Shock pump is on its way….hopefully it’s a case of following the setup manual.

Thanks @ta11pau1

Cheers @sugar2

Think I need to play around with the Judy settings, they seemed a bit stiff…

@rickonwheels

How did you route your dropper on the bizango? Through the seat tube rubber grommet and under the BB up?

Ta

Will do @flange as long as you don’t mind going slow!!

haha @weeksy it’ll be ages before I progress from the blue sections, I basically didn’t want to trash a FS the first time out on it!

This bokor came up at a price I couldn’t refuse, I should get my money back on it and I’m an impatient man. I’ve got a 170mm dropper in the post :)

I think I’ll park up at Bewl water (£3) and cycle over to Bedgebury :lol:

Just bought a Voodoo Bokor, will be purchasing a dropper for it asap – Norco won’t be released until mid December…

Will be heading up to Bedgebury at the weekend if anyone’s around??

Got his old school 26 hardtail on loan until my bike shows up :)

Going to check out the local trails/ get comfortable on a mtb again…

Lol @weeksy it was a bit too small for me.

Looks a very nice bike @ta11pau1 but think I’m going to stick to the Norco Fluid FS4 or Sight A3 if I get really impatient….

It’s @weeksy ‘s fault for lending me a FS bike, I’ve seen the light!

Cheers @nobby on the parking tip!

Definitely up for a group ride once I’ve gained some confidence on the bike :lol:

I spoke to Evans yesterday who confirmed that the date being pushed back is at Norco l, not because of pre orders. They’re publishing the worst case date currently at 16th December. Feels too long to wait!!! :)

I started looking at the FS3 which has a quicker delivery date, but then found this: https://www.evanscycles.com/norco-sight-a3-29er-2018-mountain-bike-EV306570

:lol: :lol:

Cheers!

Norco release date seems to have been pushed back to December :( I think that’s the one I’m going for as I won’t need to add/replace anything for a few years.

In the meantime I’ve been lent a 26” boardman pro hardtail, so can at least explore the local trails while waiting for the Norco / if anything comes up second hand.

Yeah I think it’s between the Bossnut and Norco Fluid 4 at the moment…

Bossnut is 850 with discounts but will need a dropper +100:

Norco is 1100 with the trade in bike (next door neighbour has offered me his) has everything included and is a 29er, but are evans going to be around to use the warranty :/

Decisions :lol:

Yeah I want 1x – less maintenance :lol:

Cheers!

There’s a 10% off code and cashback which brings the Bossnut Evo down to £850

Work’s pushing back on C2W as they offer an interest free loan for 12 months instead – so may be the only realistic FS for the time being…

Looking likely to be a slow process getting them to sign up to C2W, if at all…

Are there any other circa £1200 full suspension bikes I should look at?

Norco Fluid FS 4

Marin Rift Zone 1

Calibre Bossnut

If C2W falls through then it will be back to the voodoo :)

Cheers guys!

Current thought process is waiting for the Bizango or Bokor to come back on offer/second hand at a decent price.

Meanwhile I’m trying to get my company to sign up to a cycle to work scheme, if they do I’ve got my eye on this:

https://www.evanscycles.com/norco-fluid-fs-4-2019-mountain-bike-EV337727

I went to Swinley today, think the non rooted sections would have been fine on a hardtail?

Nice to know the Bizango keeps getting positive reviews!

@Sugar2 Thanks for the review of it!

Nice that you’re local, what do you think of Bedgebury? Where do you think the weight is on it?

Cheers guys!

I certainly wasn’t leading though, I was on Weeksy’s bike :lol: Cheers for the tips as we went around, very useful!

CH and I thought you were all going for coffee after getting changed.

Huge thanks to Weeksy for lending me his bike!

Think I will purchase a MTB now :)

Looking forward to it!!

I think I’ll be sticking to hardtails, probably a bokor/bizango, maybe even second hand. See how much I use it before investing in a FS/better HT next year. I have my eye on the new S5 Disc though :lol:

Bloody house should be finished by the end of this year….

Sorry something came up, naturally, when you want to spend some cash on cycling life gets in the way. Had to slash my budget to £300ish this month so that rules out the bikes offered sorry.

Also out on @weeksy ‘s FS bike tomorrow so who knows what I’ll want after that :lol:

Not sure what’s happened here.

looking forward to riding your whyte @weeksy first time I’ve ridden a MTB in a longggg time and even then it was only hardtails so FS is going to be weird! :lol:

Bailing sorry, I’ve hurt my neck and haven’t bought a bike yet. Have fun folks!

@weeksy I’m asking about road shoes as I’m not sure if I’ll need to walk some bits? In which case I’d stand no chance in road shoes lol

@weeksy – if I’ve got a mtb by then I can be there on the 6th!

I’ll be turning up with a little bit of fitness and 0 skill.

I’ll be okay with road pedals & shoes, right??

@flange – I’m already in Tunbridge Wells, bought a house near the Pantiles late last year. Where abouts are you? Definitely up for a ride out sometime!

I’ve bought a store bike before, usually just change out the BB/Chainset (saved 1+kg on a road bike) and leave it alone. If I buy one this time around I will probably do the same + dropper.

I don’t think any store ones have come close to the bokor/bizango new so it’s between them and whatever comes up in the next couple of weeks. I will read up on the above bikes when I get a moment.