It’s such a shame that it is such an issue. Just a little bit of rain and the woods turn to a slippery, diahorea like mess. I’d love to say it’s fun sliding about in the wet but more often that not you end up reduced to a crawl with a blocked up frame.

There’s obviously a few out of the way trails that aren’t generally so bad. But the general Bristol rule is; “It’s raining, I’ll give it a miss”!

I did a long weekend staying with Alpine Elements a couple of years back. Got lots of riding in and had a great time. Flew out after work on Thursday, rode all day Friday, Sat, Sunday and Monday morning. Flight back Monday afternoon. Back at work Tuesday.

Twohats, yup it might be great bashing all that way down in one go, but how many crashes did you have on the first day! My mate bust his shoulder up form lack of concentration after driving for so long. Some people can do it, but many can’t. Just worth thinking about?

You seem to have dug small two lumps! I hope Episode 2 feaures something a bit more exciting.

Gooner, your old style Heckler is in fact a new style Heckler!

I’ve had two paris of Forensic, first pair i lost but were still going strong after a year, I’ve had my currnet pair nearly a year now as well.

Great gloves, maybe even better than Tryo Lee XCs! Certainly tougher.

The only problem i have is that the thumb is a little short (or perhaps i’m well endowed), so i’ve had to cut a slit between the thumb and forefinger to get them to fit well. This has caused no problems though and the fabric hasn’t ripped at all where i’ve cut them.

Overall, briliant gloves. And look spangly too!

I’ll have you tyres after you’ve used then.

2.5 Supertacky High Rollers please.

Get an old stylee Santa Cruz Bullit.

Cheap, pedals pretty well, solid. Also the geometry is pretty good for beginners to the world of crazy…. nice high BB, fairly short top tube and high front.

I love the way he manages to ride out the crash for about 20 metres. Watch the slow mo…he’s got both hands on the bars, steering the bike in some crazy drift until he finally goes opver the bars…brilliant.

/ catnash – Member

Yeah, waiting to hear from him on face book, but for now have a look at where he crashed. How did he mis-judge that? Looked like he lost it before the drop-off.

I think he was trying to do a Bubba Scrub off the drop, i.,e. get his wheels down as quickly as possible. Looks like he just over rotated and landed front wheel first.

Nothing on in the near future but keep an eye on:

http://www.kustombikes.co.uk/events_list.php

Or head to Gawton to watch some riding, no racing though. Not yet anyway.

I’m a stress engineer able to understand very complex non-linear behaviour of aircraft structures.

But my van’s just bust and i don’t know what’s wrong or even where to start.

Practical and theoretical knowledge are not the same thing. Although I’m shit hot at fixing bikes!

I’m based in Edinburgh.

I’m Bristol, other end of the country. Downhill Stress Engineers are obviously few and far between!

Work as a stress engineer, prefer going downhill to uphill.

Downhillers are normally designers and not stress engineers. I though i was the only downhill stres engineer, but aparently not. Where you based?

Lots of interesting replies. Some of you chaps are very funny?

But as suggested earlier it would be great to have a pie chart quantifying the jobs done by mountain bikers. Perhaps even three charts: One for XC riders; one for DHers; and a total.

Anyone up for the task?

Doh!

Digging sounds great……unless i get a better offer!

Sorry, post perhaps wasn’t clear. I know where all the riding in Bristol is…I want to go somewhere else and was hoping to tag onto someones ride.

I just need someone who lives in Bristol as i haven’t got my van!

The old D521s, now EX721 can’t be beat really. Cheap, strong, light, look good in silver, easy to build. Peaty likes ’em!

Something with a lot steeper seat tube would make pedalling much easier?

Or a pair of Talas to drop the front and get the same effect?

Or a longer frame, if you’re 6’2″, it’s a pretty piddly frame.

This post has made me think.

I run 2.35″ Single Ply High Roller on my XC/Trail bike. Excellent, but they are bit heavy and draggy. But if i put anything lighter on I just get flats, even with 40psi.

I mostly ride DH so tend to hit things pretty hard. Most of the other DHers i know run big heavy tyres on their XC bikes.

When i was more of an XC whippet i used to run some Hutchinson Pythons, in the dry and they were unbelivably fast. But when i tried these last year they just flatted as i bang into things.

So i would think that the suggestions of thinner tyres is all good and well, but not if you hit things hard they flat all the time.

Don’t anybody say just ride smoother, that no fun!

So the best solution, with less compromise (other than money!) is a lighter wheelset?

Bollox! travel has nothing to do with it, it has enough travel for many DH tracks but the Geometry’s all wrong for a DH bike (too high (BB) and too steep (H/A))

My Patriot is built up with 7″ Boxxers and the shock shuttle pushed way up front (with 10mm taken off the shock stroke to allow this). This results in a sub 13″ BB and 64deg head angle. I’ve ridden 224s and my Patriot and the geometry is very similar. I owned a 222 for a couple of years and the Patriot is a better DH bike. The Patriot has just a bit less travel and is a bit lighter. Much better for UK tracks in my opinion.

Bu i totally agree with your point. What makes a good DH bike is angles and quality of travel. And big tyres!!

At least Mr Smee has gone quiet the f………

Sorry peeps didn’t mean to start up an argument. Mr Smee is a bit antogonising though!

Good job you know what you’re talking about! I’ll remember to go a bit slower next time just in case by bike explode or something.

What bike you ride and for what type of riding?

Mr Smee, where does Orange say that?

Do you have any experience of riding DH bikes. Can you give us a quick summary to qualify your statements.

I hope you’re only trying to pass the time. I’m a bit bored and happy to take the bait.

What defines an out and out DH bike. The Honda RN01 and Last Generation Commencal DH Supreme both had 7″ of travel, same as my Patriot. We’re they not DH bikes? Gracia and Minnaar would probably disagree.

That singlespeed Patriot is mine.

Mr Nutts, my Patriot isn’t a DH bike Eh! Well I challenge you to a race down a hill then. With a pair of Boxxers, slackened angles and big tyres it’s perfect for all but the roughest tracks. Certainly perfect for our little island.

You’ll also find that the average DHer will whip any XCers butt around the trail centres. Not only are we fit and strong, but we also know how to gain speed from the terrain. Something your average spindly legged, lycra clad……… Sorry! Got a bit worked up there.

We’re all biker. Some like pedalling, some like adreniline and fear, some like a mix of the two. Some DHers are super fit and strong, some fat and lardy. Some goes for XCers.

Lycra shorts though, there’s no excuse for!

Any other ideas you clever people?

Kinda trying to avoid Hopes. Yup, they work good, but they drown out the sound of the birdsong when you’re pushing back up the hill in the woods!!

No the Hope can’t be converted.

Forgot to say, see page 3 of thread.

I single speeded my DH bike, see here:

http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/topic,148606.0.html

Remember that we do all this stuff for fun!

Unless you do it for fitness and then you be better off in spinning classes.

So ride whatever is the most fun for you.

Drop your saddle, I know it’s got nothing to do with flats but…the amount of XC riders i see riding technical terrain with their saddle up their arse, it’s hilarious. Drop your saddle and give yourself some room to move around the bike. Then start riding steeper hills. Let off the brakes. Let those tyres drift. Get a bit raggedy!

Then get some flats, you’ll need them. Get you foot out for balance, a little saving dab and to look cool!

The Sprint Race is a proper DH race, but the track is amazing. Its so steep and fast and rough…Excellent! But a proper DH rig is needed for this race.

The riding around Alp D’Huez is excellent. So much more natural and rough than Morzine.

I’ve ridden the Mega twice. In 2007 i was just outside the top 100 which i was chuufed with.

I was riding my DH bike which wasn’t ideal really. As long as you’re a reasonable rider you should be able to keep up with the pace on the downhills. You seem to end up with people of your speed anyway. Where i got nailed was the uphill/flat sections. I was probably top 40 after the snow but lost all my positions to fit guys on XC bikes on the ups. Partly due to a heavy bike, partly due to poor fitness (but i’m no porker).

Practise your snow technique a lot, you can make a lot of places up here and it sets your position for the first twenty minutes. Also, if you fall on the snow, you’re knackered. My mate fell, dropped hjis bike then took five minutes clawing his way back up the hill to his bike.

As far as a bike goes; rock hard tyres, 60psi in qualifying to reduce pinch flats (note however that pressures vary a lot at the top of the hill compared to the bottom), adjustable seatpost, single ring up front with a comedy 12T-34T cassette.

And finally, get a boxxers hand strengthening thingy. Squeeze this everyday for six months and you might be able to hang onto the bars most of the way.