Another South Downs rider and the challenge of balancing rolling resistance and mud shedding is a constant struggle.

Easy if you just want more grip – Spesh Hillbilly or similar block tread, but I doubt I’d even run two Hillbilly’s on an ebike for rolling!

Bontrager Muds hold up well for me, for XC mud tyres. Narrow and light-ish though, if you have wide rims or damage tyres regularly.

There’s a middle ground like some of the Michelins, Maxxis DHRs etc which aren’t mud tyres but are widely spaced – might have to put up with them clogging in the very worst bits though.

he confirmed my worse nightmare… clipped in

Yeah certainly my finding and I’m a big fan of flats. For me, I think it’s weird but riding more FS bikes is what has driven me to it. Once you get used to riding fast on chundery trails where you need to pedal, it’s hard to accept the limitations that a HT brings. Clips help with that hugely if your main focus is to ride as fast as you can. I fully appreciate that there are other objectives in riding HTs or bikes generally ;)

Cheers Bob, good to know that exists.

I’d go for Reach >500, seat angle >75 and stack >635 (>650 on a HT) for my next bike. Good to know there’s an option to narrow the search.

If you could also add in a “mega-tough wheels as stock” criteria, that’d be ace ;) :)

Whereabouts are you OP? Perhaps someone on here could help with a suggestion/contact?

If it’s CycleScheme, with the blue logo etc and not one of those other similar schemes, I think this is covered in their FAQs (I signed up to an agreement in August).

I understood that after one year you could choose either the “own it now” option or “own it later”, but if you Own It Now you have to pay a fair whack, up to 25% of the certificate value whereas if you wait three years the payment is a few quid (ish!).

I also think you can re-enrol for a new package after the first year is complete and you’ve chosen an option.

You must really want to sell the bike!

You could try other non-FC landowners, or look where others coach? In the central South I see a few people coaching at QECP (Hampshire County Council owned) so they may well be receptive, as may other county-park-level land managers for site where bikes are allowed.

I think the B1ke park network also supplies coaches, not sure how it works to join in with them but I guess the private bike park thing could be an option – you might lose some control over what you do and when I suppose.

Genuine question, but is there any reason Orange couldn’t produce a world class DH bike? I mean, I know their bike line up looks the same and it’s part of their ‘thing’ to stick with the single pivot, but they’ve done linkage bikes before.

So is it basically impossible for Orange to do anything different due to manufacturing processes and a stated commitment to in-house etc, or could they go all Hope HB on something?

A bit of a random addition to the thread, but one little thing I have found as a taller rider is the DMR Defy stem. Additional front end height in a decent looking short stem which can be run above a good few spacers has saved me from needing weirdly high riser bars, if frame fit needs tweaking.

Clips are a must I think. I flip between flats and clips on full sus, but if want to pedal through rougher stuff, it’s clips on the HT.

In addition to looking at reach numbers, I have to carefully look at stack height and seat tube angle and I’m only 6’2″.

I have found that as more and more people want a longer reach, some bike companies have put really short seat tubes on bikes with low stack heights, so shorter riders can ride much longer frames. As a taller rider, this is bad news as the combination of a steep seat tube and a low stack height feels awful for seated riding, like holding onto your knees as you sit on a pole.

Something extra to consider, but long doesn’t always equal a good fit for taller people.

Looking at those vids, it’s a hefty leap but I am surprised a fairly modern DH bike catastrophically failed like that – I don’t think of 2015 bikes as “old”. So that’s unlucky and I’d be peeved too. Best outcome is Intense sell him a replacement frame for whatever the go fund me thing raises, bit of PR in it for them, if the guy still wants an Intense :)

I’m not going to donate but that’s because im tight and selfish and have no connection to it

Very fair comment.

TBH I don’t get the concept unless I am wrong about the range with the internal battery.

Well yeah I think that’s an understandable point of view. My Fazua motor has 60nm and only a 250wh battery, if I decided to head out for a big day in the lakes and set it in it’s highest support mode, the battery would be done in an hour! But I can ride it nearly all day if I’m careful, in the South East where I live.

So I guess that bikes like the SL force users to be economical by limiting some motor factors, others chase the more power/more battery/more weight and others, like Fazua or the Orbea, let you go for a full-on blast for a short period OR allow you to ride economically for more battery life, but you have to be disciplined and accept the limitations. Choices opening up I guess.

Yep could be a great feature to keep for wildlife as a dead wood stem if it’s in the right place and you can manage it.

Some good techy info Here on safety thoughts and what to keep or get rid of.

So for your options, going boost would mean a more expensive frame and fork, plus new wheels (and maybe cranks or chainring etc for boost)? If you are trying to be careful on the cost, boost wouldn’t seem to be a good route with your existing kit. If the only concern is that you won’t be able to get 142mm replacement wheels at some point, I reckon that’s a very low risk (although the choice of off the shelf wheels might be reduced).

I’ve got the Kinesis hardtail (also confusingly called the Rise) with a Fazua motor, I’m with HobNob on this. The bike is a hardtail, but a “hardcore” hardtail, I wouldn’t really want an XC emtb so the lightweight motors need to branch out from that category. From my experience there’s plenty of boost from lightweight systems to get back up the hill. If more power was always better, folk would ride all the time in the “turbo” setting or whatever, but I don’t think most people do.

I don’t think they’ll appeal to the sort of rider who “chips” their bike to not have a speed cut off, not sure how widespread that is now.

Yeah that makes sense Matt – for shorter courses, I’ve not really been aware of the “badge” systems. Either that’s because the sector I work in doesn’t use them very widely (Environmental – ecology), or quite possibly they have been used and I just haven’t noticed.

I guess I can see a role for the badge type system if you have lots of short courses that together add up towards a larger set of skills. But I suppose you’d need to go all in across all the courses for that to work, plus raise awareness of the value of the “badges” for people like me who don’t pay attention properly!

Classic STW answer for me “it depends” :)

Degree certificates and professional memberships (i.e. letters after your name) I value nicely embossed heavy paper.

Site-related qualifications where you need to regularly show random people you hold something, I’ll take a nice waterproof credit card type ID (NPTC, CSCS etc).

An online course for half a day saying I attended, yep all good with a PDF on email. Anything more would increase the risk of me losing it.

What tyre for snobbery?

Continental Baron / Kaiser, I’d presume.

Unless you want some inverse snobbery, in which case….Minion?

30 PSI in my Minions….

;)

If you were feeling generous you could follow an altered version of the red and blue, cutting out the sections you think he might really struggle on. It isn’t hard to link or skip sections in Swinley as the fire roads go everywhere. Wouldn’t be hard to take him around (e.g. Tank Traps) if you thought there was a real risk he was going to fall sideways into a ditch…Appreciate that might reduce the fun for others, but this outing sounds like someone is going to end up cross anyway!

Hot For Teacher

Wait, this isn’t the Van Halen thread!

I’m sticking with it.

Yeah plenty of technical versions – had them for ages, you need to wear something warm under a drysuit for watersports. Google “woolly bear suit” for loads of options. I never really thought of them as accentuating my natural curves, though.

Round profile all condition? I’ve had a Hans Dampf 2.35 on a 35mm internal rim and the tyre profile has been fine, not too squared off.

If you don’t mind me saying, the career thing sounds very important to you – your question is rather job-related but also very life-related. I think that’s especially understandable after a redundancy. If you can (financially), try to give yourself a break to think through your options. If you have a shortlist of things you might like to try, people on here are pretty good at bringing in some crushing reality dammit no I mean offering practical experience of said work area. If you get a few ideas having had some breathing room, perhaps coaching could help make that happen?

Scott Spark, Kona HeiHei…

If my expectations of a bike were the same as they were in 2004 and I wasn’t going to demand any more of it than that, and it was in great condition, then I’d be happy.

But I wouldn’t, because now inevitably I’ve been spoiled by more modern bikes, have become used to them and like most of the changes that have come in, so I expect I would find it frustrating, bits would likely break and then may be harder to replace. Some people clearly still ride the same stuff in the same way and can probably benefit from some 2004 bargains – but it won’t work for everyone’s riding ambitions even if it’s an amazing deal. And I say this with a lot of affection for my 2005 RM Slayer in the garage, dual control shifters and all :)

Haha give it a try (or at least ask for a linkage!) if you bought it new – I had two warranty Reign X frames out of Giant before I gave up (the one that broke in the Alps was a new warranty replacement for the previous one!). Fair play to Giant, they have always been good to me on warranty.

My 2010 Reign X snapped on the lower maestro link on the drive side in Les 2 Alpes, second day of a holiday. The link had a thin section to fit around the ISCG tabs and it completely sheared on that side. Couldn’t work out why my cassette kept skipping all over the place on the run down so that was the give away for me :)

No way was that getting fixed in a resort,and I tried to find a link without success – had to hire a bike for the rest of the trip. Giant replaced the whole frame and shock under warranty when I got back.

Yeah as above, seem to be a few of these companies that offer to do a “check and send” service for you (rather than doing the .gov submission yourself) and charge you for doing so. Seems to add very little except a surcharge. I’m not sure how secure details are when handed over, but understood that the main aim was to collect a high fee for submitting your info to a basically free service.

Age of bike is a determiner too – anything over 4 years old is unlikely to be long in the reach (with a few niche exceptions) but many will be longer in the equivalent “size” now.

188cm
2016 XL full sus 475mm
2020 “long” HT 510mm

For the OP – it might be a bit obvious, but as you are comparing your full sus with a hardtail, the HT will sag at the front only, so comparing static geo means you’re already starting out with a like for like real world lower front end feel. 29ers will probably start with an advantage here and longer travel forks will obviously sag more from the static figures.

I’m 6’2 and look for stack heights over 650mm – even then on 130mm forks I need a defy stem and 38mm rise on the bars. I’m on a Kenesis Rise HT and the geo fits the bill, but that might not be what you are after for other reasons!

Yeah I think you have your answer here – nothing wrong as such with your setup, but it probably isn’t right for you.

Nothing wrong with benefitting from tougher kit! I’m up to about 85kgs in kit on a hardtail and also can’t get away with things lighter folk would. Supergravity tyre on the rear for me, plus a ProCore insert. With that I can ride around 24psi on the rear without squirming or damage (35mm ID rims, but that isn’t as vital to me as the tyre and insert). 22psi in a light weight tyre would be a puncture and burp-fest for me – yep I’ve tried :)

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Couple of recent similar discussions there which might help, with various opinions / advice. None will likely directly compare to your own situation and ambitions, but might be generally of use in the thought process.

FWIW I think there’s absolutely nothing wrong with trying to find a more rewarding (in your own terms) job. But from those threads above, much realism on the trade offs is needed.

My dad went through a phase of “making” kids bikes, as in scavenging parts and frames and putting them together in different combos and sizes with variable outcomes. He enjoyed it and as far as I can tell they weren’t mechanical death traps, but many of the components were supermarket-level when they were new, so tip salvage expectations weren’t enormous.

In the end I just honestly told him that I appreciated the offers and effort but I also loved bikes, and I wanted to do the bike thing with my kids myself, even if that would end up costing me more – i wanted it as my thing. He understood and it hasn’t been an issue since.

If people know you are a “bike person” they should be able to understand that you want this as your thing with the kids and respect that role, even if they personally wouldn’t spend, or worry about, a kids bike as much.

Some good stories here of people taking a steady progression into full retirement. 30 years to go for me, if I assume state retirement age in principle (and it’s how all the finances are calculated). I’d much prefer to start reducing responsibility (assuming reducing income) before that though, rather than climbing the career ladder to the end and effectively collapsing over the finish line.

Faster / more continuously on my own.

But with mates I try more things, get out of the focus on getting round faster and think I progress more skills-wise than if I just hammer round as fast as I can. Not sure which involves riding “harder” though, that probably has more to do with my mood on the day than the mates / no mates aspect.

I’ve also got a mini cooper s for local & commuter duties. It is fun to drive. But at sub 3k you’d want to be pretty sure of its mechanical history – they aren’t the most robust, simple option. They also have a bit of a price premium second hand compared to other options. I’ve never even tried to put a bike in mine, it is really really small. Even our two year old barely has leg room in the back behind me.

I’ve gone back to a HT recently and know what you mean about the aching back! Funny where the strain appears.

If it’s the latest BFe I’d assume it is quite LLS. I have found really focusing on keeping my weight forwards in true “modern geometry” technique has helped a lot, as I’m riding with my hips further forward with more flex in my knees. I don’t think you can get away with old-school leaning back like you could (just) on an equivalent full sus.

I’d also check other things in bike setup like stack height etc that might contribute to soreness. If you are fresh back to HTs then it’s helpful to remember the front sags and the back doesn’t! Also for me, SPDs do help a lot with rougher trails.

Do the tallest riders find super low standover a help or hinderance, would a bigger increase in headtube length and more appropriate toptube be the way forward for XL.

I’m not the tallest on here (6’2″, mostly legs) and well over 100mm of dropper post sticking out of an XL frame, 170mm dropper. I don’t think an ever-increasing standover does help on my trail bike, beyond where things are now – I don’t think I need the saddle down at my mid-calf to feel I can move the bike (rather I think it’s counterproductive when too low, excepting dirt jumps and trials).

I do think this is a great time for taller riders though, the choice of bigger/longer bikes and long droppers is better than ever. I suppose if you are at either end of the sizing bell curve, the choices will be more limited as they always have been.

Not that it massively helps with the question, but I went with 2.35 HD on 35mm inner width rims as I was thinking the Schwalbe 2.6 might come up big (also in Supergravity, weight). The 2.35 fit fine on 35mm with a good tyre profile, so I suspect they might blow up a bit bigger than other brands still.