I was always a Renthal Fatbar fanboy and then when I built a bike up in 2020 I went with DMR Defy stem and Wing Bars, they were lovely, really recommend them. Very nice sweep and good stiff bars with a little compliance, very reassuring to ride with. Also nice and simple, plain black with some nice logos – as long as you avoid the camo crap.

You’re fit as a butchers dog and ride all the time, you’ll be grand!

Go to geometry geeks and compare the geo to as many similar hardtail frames as possible, then you’ll see what you can get with the same properties.
probably won’t ride exactly the same but it’s a good starting point.

No it’s definitely a Tora, and if it isn’t it should be.

Tora it is then, beautiful creations.

I think you should get an Atherton dh bike because you seem to buy nice bikes.

I had a 2019 Reign back along, was a superb bike – not what I’d call nimble though. With 170 front and 160mm rear travel and 27.5/2.6 High Rollers it was like a mini DH bike, incredibly planted and sure footed, but not nimble.

loved it, should probably get another one really.

The Jet race bikes are pretty good value on Source BMX if you wanted a new one to go racing. Similar spec to my Mongoose (rrp about £300) so you’d probably want to replace the freewheel, that’s the only bit on mine that I wouldn’t want to race with because it seems to skip/jump sometimes under pressure. Otherwise they’re ready to go out of the box for a beginner.

I have this Mongoose, it cost £90 from house of Fraser in March, think they’re £150 if you can find one now. They’re light, twitchy and very fast, great fun at the pump track! Probably should have got a Pro XXL with 20” wheels at my height but the cruiser won out, it’s maybe not perfect but is great fun.

you should get a bmx if you want one.

@keefezza well I for one will not be buying ANY of your items, though this is largely because of the advert on the bottom of the page blocking my link to the classifieds.
is this an issue for anyone else?

I once used hammered green hammerite on an old cruiser a long long time ago, looked alright tbf. Because it was a burly as hell frame the hammered finish suited it – and of course it was self smoothing so it looks right, I wouldn’t do it with “smooth” rather than hammered finish.

That said, enamel and hammerite type paint can be a real bitch to remove so if you’re anticipating a bad job which means redoing it, just do it the better way the first time.

That was rapid on ski run!

I sold my mountain bike the other day, I’m not sure if I regret it yet or not.

Built it last summer in the CRC sale (Vitus Sommet 29) and rode it off road once. Yes once… and that was august.

popped it on marketplace for what was seemingly market value and had little interest for a month but a local guy offered me alright money for it and collected within 2 hours. He even said he didn’t want to rob me, such is the value of Vitus right now!
he wasn’t robbing me though, riding it once in 9 months, other than the odd trip out to town with my son was a pathetic life for that bike so on that basis I don’t regret it. I hope he enjoys it.

Ridden my new cruiser every weekend since I got it, wonder if I regret going so cheap on that – should have bought a jump bike like @joebristol did seeing as I’m on it so often!

I’m loving the more recent updates, such a huge change in confidence and comfort on the bike.

He always looked so awkward back a few years with his bars too wide (say what you want, but he was a young teen, he didn’t need it), elbows out because he’d been coached the fundamentals of weighting but was still learning his way into fitting that stance and I was never particularly impressed with his riding style – not something I’d have commented in the past because it’s just plain rude to someone trying so hard – but he’s through that now and on the other side so sod it, it’s great watching him ride in his vids now he’s got bigger, older, stronger. And he looks bloody brilliant in those photos. Trusting and following the process has clearly worked.

I’m so pleased you started this thread, what a journey for you to go on with him, it’s awesome to see the bonding!

As someone who like the more aggressive/enduro’y side of things, and historically a dirt jumper I wouldn’t recommend the scandal – I had a big dog and thought it was ok as an mtb, not a good at the fun stuff.

I ran a Dartmoor primal a few years back, light, solid and stiff, great fun – not too slack, not too long but a whole bunch of fun in both 27.5 and 29” setup (I rode both) and infinitely better than the on-one.

Are you anywhere near BPW? If so, ride Popty Ping at a reasonable pace and you’ll teach yourself how to jump in a few runs. Such nicely crafted lumps you can’t fail to enjoy them and get airborn.

If you’re not near BPW get a coach, most do drops and jump courses. I fancy doing a coaching session this year because I think my bottle needs reminding I can do the stuff that my body forgets it’s done millions of times.

also if you go to BPW then the first bit of flat landing (is that it?) has some lovely drops with never ending slopes to land on, go as fast or slow as you like – pretty sure you can roll most of them by pushing down into the drop – and again you’ll be smashing the rest in no time.

drops and jumps are ace, best bit of mtb riding, I look forward to reading about your progress.

That bike is a tool, man.

That’s a good result and on a pretty decent length track too by the look of it!

Where were you proposing to build it? There’s an element of flat ground between Welsh Street and the park in the Dell – around the old water fountain that could fit a pump track.
also Piggy’s Hill was donated to the town years ago for use by the town by the Phelps family I recall (might not be Phelps but it’s not “council” land as such) which is why the skatepark was built there – that took a stack of local support work when it was built at the height of the late 90’s early 2000’s skate and BMX pomp but given it’s all RC it probably costs comparatively more than a tarmac pump track.

what are the other options, other than having them tagged into new build development estates?
Tutshill park used to have some jumps on the side nearest the river, is there a pump track there or in Sedbury?

Grew up in the town and was active in local ish track building (worked in 559 Bikes when it was still there) so I’d take a keen interest if something was proposed as my parents still live there and I’d bring the bikes over when I take the kids.

Whilst I’m sure the engineers involved know what they are doing

Speaking as a civil engineer, I wouldn’t guarantee it!

Best bit of advice I can give you about FOD is not to go too hard in the cafe at lunch, it is NOT conducive to a successful riding afternoon. Delicious as it is.

This might have been posted already, but seeing the growing desire for punpntrack riding here thought it might be of interest.

£90 for a cruiser! I’ve just bought one, but you can also get a 20” bmx for the same price

https://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/brand/mongoose/title-pro-24-bmx-bike-930719#colcode=93071908

I’ve seen the photos, you’ll be flying high soon enough.

Personally on mine I’m going to trim the brake hose as there is literally no danger I’ll ever be jumping well enough to do a bar spin 🤣

@joebristol you want to keep the hose long for when you case just a bit too hard and spin the bars around as the bike cartwheels off into the distance :D

I don’t recommend the Bird for pump track use, this is the result of me riding like I was young again on a bmx.
Might have been the speed, might have been the damp, might have been the tyres (definitely the tyres btw) might have been laying it too flat too low in the berm but I have a sneaky suspicion it was the Bird.

You can have fun on anything when riding a pump track but something shorter, stiffer and with fast rolling tyres will always be better.

FWIW I rode the pump track at FOD on my Primal hardtail with 29” wheels and 160mm forks, it was terrible, but rather than buy another bike I just didn’t ride it again so there’s other ways around the problem.

Wow, who knew they could make bikes with wheels so big and frames so small!!

I’d get her whichever she likes the colour of then, they look grand.

This was my son just after his 7th birthday at 140cm tall, that’s a 24+ and he’s got scope to grow on it.

It’s definitely worth considering bikes still aimed at children as opposed to small adults if she is only 132cm at the moment.

there’s a lot to be said for making the most of bikes that are slightly too small as opposed to struggling with something a little cumbersome.

My daughter is 155cm and is marginally too tall now to ride her 24” “Wild” from go outdoors comfortably (bike pictured below with my son at 6 and about 137cm when I couldn’t be convinced he needed to size up to 24” just yet)

Just food for thought, as pictures paint a thousand words.

When you say she’s tall, how tall is tall comparatively?
My son at nearly 8 is at least a head taller than all the kids in his class – he’s approx the average height of a 10 year old and is more than comfortable on a Vitus 24+, he wouldn’t be anywhere near right on a 27.5 bike even if we’re just considering how high his arms would be in comparison to his seated position and the weight of the bike.

My daughter is a tall 11 and seems “reasonably” comfortable on my wife’s small 26” Hardrock.

Do consider BB height, handlebar height and the weight of the bike, but ultimately if you’re comfortable sizing up and keeping it longer then go for it, I’m a fan of buying right (in my opinion, not suggesting you and the bike shop are wrong!) even if it’s for the short term – the wrong bike means not riding it and that’s even more of a waste than a short term purchase that they get use out of.

When my son went from his 18” wheel we bought him a Kona Makena, which whilst it fit him nicely it weight a metric f%#k tonne so he never rode it – learnt from that mistake.

Anyway, hope she enjoys whatever you buy.

Loving that!

I was banking on 2. to be fair :)
Must have been quite the thing watching him with Dan Atherton on the Oakley drops.

Errr, distinct lack of videos here…

For what it’s worth, the 2019 Giant Reign I had rode like a Dh bike in how it sucked the bumps up and inspired confidence, they do an SX version with dual crown forks so if you didn’t want to go full on you could look for something like that.

I’m a reformed downhiller, I grew up on single crown hardtails in the 90’s until I got my first full sus in 2000, I was immediately slower in many places – who knew a 50lb bike would be so slow on the relatively flat DH tracks at FOD…

Anyway, I haven’t had a DH bike since about 2016 when I had a Kona Operator, I’m not joking when I say I was faster down most of the BPW trails on the Production Prive hardtail I borrowed for the second half of the day. If everyone is riding DH bikes it makes sense that the winner will be on a DH bike, but if it’s split 50/50 it comes down to the faster rider on the fastest bike, remember when we saw Pietermartizburg and Cairns WC tracks being ridden on enduro bikes? Wasn’t the whitewash people expected with Graves doing very well indeed in SA.

I’ve never been a 13 year old girl, but I’ve probably been as strong as one in the past and I agree with those above who say it’s difficult to get a long and low bike up to speed when you’ve killed said speed on a UK DH track, so get a long travel burly but light FS bike for her.

Dual crown forks aren’t always that heavy though, so if the frame can take them I’d install them – nothing gives you more confidence riding downhill than being sat behind a set of dual crown forks.
Dorados, BOXXER air (35mm) are not heavy forks and can be tuned down to 180mm travel – trust me, they won’t impact her riding in a negative way like a whole DH bike might.

Swaps can work pretty well, first one I did was my On-One Gimp for @WYSIWYG (from here)’s Haro Backtrail 24 in about 2003. That one worked well, I met him in the car park at the NEC during the Bike Show and we both went away happyx

Since then I’ve swapped all sorts, most recent was my SC Hightower with moderate spec that was too small for me for a much better spec Giant Reign in the right size. That was during the middle of winter so the market was on its arse and selling was very difficult.

If you both know what you’re getting into then it’s all good, obviously it’s not going to work if you want a like for like swap and someone else wants to give you a shopping bike and a PS3 with a broken disc reader.

I definitely get the hand thing Joe, I always put that down to not getting enough rides in so never getting used to that sort of thing – but you don’t have that excuse so I don’t know what might cause it!

I’ve improved in the past with thicker softer grips, softer and better damped forks and running my brakes really close to the bar so I don’t need to stretch my fingers and increase tension in tendons and muscles. It’s definitely helped but I’m still a broken man after most rides.
Might slack off work one day next week seeing a I’m nearing my departure anyway and have a few hours at FOD just to see if I can still ride and survive.

@joebristol nah seriously, the short trails at Rowberrow flatter me, I’m so unfit I’m genuinely gassed about 1/3 1/2 the way down the mountain at BPW because I’m such a softie so I can barely hold on through the berms!

Hopefully this new strength programme I’m on will help, look out Mountain, I’m coming for ya!

I’m pretty terrible at fast berms, I’ve always put it down to not being very strong in the leg so I can’t hold my position.
Not really sure about small berms, you can show me next time we ride.

Bloody feel it at the moment too!

Anybody else getting adverts of old boys riding having read this thread about the over 50’s?!? Top work advert targetters, although I’m only 41.

@joebristol

” Maybe I’m just not loving the Kona full suss bikes…… ”

hardly surprising given what you’ve just built up!