+1 for Ballo, spent a day there last year as a last minute change of location (Dunkeld was forecast for rain all day), easy climb to the top and every trail we rode was top notch, bit of everything. If it wasn’t 4 hrs drive I’d have been back but definitely on the cards next time I’m in the area. No idea about Alyth

There are so many variations of the trails on that hill its tricky to know which one you’re riding and almost all end by the car park, no need to use the red trail

I’ve re-used the olives in Shimano brakes before with no issues,

+1

Second dibs on those cranks please. I’ve been looking for some Shimano 165s for ages.

https://www.wiggle.com/p/shimano-slx-m7100-12-speed-crankset?crankLengths=165mm

I’m definitely guilty of having bad technique and very rarely race but…

Alpin

I’ll explain it by saying you drag the rear brake when you shouldn’t….. On-off braking. Don’t drag. It causes the pads to glaze, wears the rotor and is just generally shit technique.

Greg Minnaar

“Really? I drag my brakes quite a bit. I grew up racing motocross and it might work well there but I find I can’t find flow when braking late and hard on my mountain bike. That might work for some racers but it doesn’t work for me.”

I’m with Minnaar 100% on this one, that’s not what op asked about tho so we’ll just agree to disagree on that one

if thats the case, it’d be worth doing some training. the vast vast majority of your braking should normally be on the front

I’ve been told and read this many times over the years, I’d say it depends entirely on the type of trails you ride as to which brake does the most work. Last time I was told this was when I was buying a 200mm rotor for the rear (Hope tech 3 e4 brakes), salesman was adamant I shouldn’t put it on the rear as ‘the front brake does 80% of your braking’ but then couldn’t explain why I get through 4 sets or rear pads to every set on the front. I might not ‘need’ the bigger rotor but the bike is better than it was on a 180mm rotor, especially on steep off piste trails. I’d 100% say four pot both ends tho

Anybody watching on GCN+ via chromecast the audio always about 5 seconds out every time I’ve used it, it’s really annoying.

Click on the live icon on phone/tablet and it should be on time with broadcast, mine is ok after doing that anyway

I thought about it. But limited info on difficulty meant I decided not to.

This is the first one I’ve not entered, stages in past years have been VERY STEEP and technical, didn’t actually finish last time as I clattered into a tree on stg3. They’ve been digging new stuff for this years race, I wish I could have done it but already had plans 4 this weekend

I picked mine up fully built up so no bike box or shock pump , small box with fork and shock manual, bosch charger and sram axs manual. All reflectors and the bell were in the box as I told the shop not to fit them and it was £1700 off rrp

Black and white here and after the way Villa had our pants down last season I’d have taken a draw, I was surprised Tonali started today but that was the best debut I’ve seen for a long time and he will only get better (£110m for Rice/Fernandez makes him look like a bargain). Its going to be a long season ahead and afer the years of not trying under the previous owner any ambition would be a bonus but that was a welcome surprise, up the Toon!!!

Where the heck is the mens race on iplayer!!

Its just appeared on the iplayer

I’ll start by saying this is a personal opinion and many will disagree. I’ve got an E160 RSX (29er), it’s a really good bike (1st ebike) and I would definitely recommend one to anyone interested in an ebike, but riding it around flatter trail centres where you’re generally faster than the cutoff is not as much fun as its basically a very heavy mountain bike above 15mph. I’ve never been to Swinley but I believe its generally flattish flow trails, for somewhere like the Tweed valley it’s a no brainer but I’d be looking at a normal mtb if I was mainly riding trail centre reds. As I say thats a personal view but I would definitely recommend the Whyte based on mine

Rake and Ruin is a good trail,the overgrown ferns made it hard to see where you were going when I last rode it in August a couple of years ago

Burgtec

What happened with Bernard Kerr ? I’ve only just turned on and expected him to go 3rd from last ?

Crashed in the woods before the road gap

Bbc not live??

Its live on the iplayer now, bbc1 must be a replay because the top 10 women are on track now

Is it on TV anywhere?

Live on bbc1, commentary for the juniors was pretty dismal yesterday. Would love to see Bernard Kerr take it but I’m going for Bruni and Vali Holl

I wonder why the BBC saw fit to get a hospital radio DJ to do the commentary….

Me too, especially when Warner is up there watching, although to b honest I was half expecting Claire Balding and Gary Lineker to be doing it

SH Izzos are still around 2.5k on Pinkbike etc and that’s mostly 2021 bikes. Not paying that for no warranty..

YT’s warranty is a joke, I found a crack on the underside of the downtube after removing the plastic frame guard (which wasn’t damaged in any way) on a 5 month old Jeffsy pro race a few years ago, sent it back to Germany and was basically told tuff s**t, we’ll sell you a new front triangle for €1200 but no way is it covered on warranty. I’ve no idea how or when the crack appeared as Ifound it when washing the bike (no significant crashes or impacts) but I wouldn’t give YT another penny. I ended up getting the crack repaired for around £300

I haven’t been on either but these should hit the spot

Steep & Natural Innerleithen: Tackle steeper, technical trails

Steep & Technical

Carbon Mondraker Dune uses that size, but they stopped making the frame a few years ago. I’d guess all new frames are designed around metric shock sizes these days, last time I looked (for the mate that bought my old Dune) DVO were the only brand still producing 216×63 shocks

Not quite bits falling off but recently bought an ebike with gx axs gears, of 12 only about 5 were indexed properly, the rest were all over the place. I was going to take it back but thought it was something that would be handy to know so watched a few vids on YouTube and got it sorted myself, then refused the offer of a free six week check up by the shop where I bought it

Not sure what hub it is, but I suspect the end caps need tightened to take up the slack,

Had exactly this issue after changing cassette last week, 2 minute job to tighten the end caps

She was absolutely crawling along, but was then having some clearly very good riders overtaking her.

Just a guess, but from the vid they posted it was possibly because they both set off up the climb to the first stage with their ebikes on turbo/boost and caught/passed a lot of fast racers that weren’t on ebikes. They then started the stage with said riders behind them and probably p****d a lot of people off by holding them up

chakaping
Free Member
Is it really the “UK’s toughest enduro” as this lad and Guy Kes both say on their video titles?

I’ve done both and the Naughty Northumbrian is another level compared to Ardrock, stages are shorter and a lot steeper, its definitely a harder day out all-round and everyone i know thats done both has said the same

The whole western world has been bankrolling the Saudi regime for decades and without the vast profits they make selling oil the current situation wouldn’t have been possible. I’m no fan of the Saudi’s, their oppressive laws and customs or the radical version of Islam they have promoted all over the world for years (I am a lifelong Newcastle fan) but we’ve pretty much all had a hand in enabling them to get to this point

Ah, but did you do the mtbguides.uk start?

Yes, the lad who showed me around loves riding in the lakes and explained the alternative is riding along the road out of Keswick and its definitely a better option but I found the descent wasn’t in the slightest bit challenging or enjoyable, just my opinion tho

I plan to get dropped off at Whinlatter at some point. I’ll do some laps of whatever is there and pedal home again. Any cheeky stuff worth looking at that’s more interesting than the trail centre?

Last time I was there most of the off piste stuff was blocked off, some by storm damage and some on purpose with trail closed signs and fences at the entrance.
Personally I didn’t like Borrowdale Bash at all, with the exception of the descent into Rosthwaite (which is good)it was one of the dullest rides I’d done in years and you’d have to pay me a lot of money to do it again, especially on a hardtail

E Thirteen do a 9-46 cassette (11spd)but it uses an xd freehub and they’re upwards of £200, I’ve been using one (just replaced it after 3 n a bit years) with Shimano chains and xtr mech without any issues

crank bros mallet dh are unbeatable, the brass cleats are a stupid move and they need regular servicing/bushing & bearing changes but they are the best by far,

+1, I only use clips and currently using Shimano ME7 shoes with the Mallet DH. Ive used Shimano AM9 shoes in the past but prefer the stiffer sole of yhe ME7’S these days. As already stated it does help if you spend a bit of time setting the pins up and the brass cleats do wear out a LOT faster than steel, a bit of hike a bike and u’d be lucky to get 6 months
I don’t plan on switching

https://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/accessories-c11/bags-and-cases-c137/bontrager-rapid-pack-bag-p17780

One 750ml bottle on the bike and one 600ml bottle in this does the job for me for most rides

Last few times I’ve been to Glentress its been very quiet, think i saw about 5 other riders last time but the Golfie has been the total opposite, seems to get busier every time I’m there

I’ll start by saying I’ve had it less than a week and only ridden it twice so still getting things set up at the minute. Whyte e160 rsx (over 26kg) other bike is a Hightower cc with carbon wheels so the weight difference is VERY noticable as it’s very heavy, feels VERY sluggish above the cutoff and I doubt I’ll use eco mode very much. I personally don’t think it’s anywhere near as much fun to ride downhill as the Santa Cruz but so far I like it a lot, in a different way to a mtb. I’ve been riding steep technical climbs (on boost) that I wouldn’t even think about on a normal mtb, and really enjoying it so far, can’t see it taking the place of the Hightower any time soon but glad I bought it

Dynaplugs are spendy but excellent. Easiest to use and reliable long term fixes

+1

Anyone else seeing the Sur-rons?

3 of them on the black/red trails at Hamsterley yesterday, passed me on a fireroad with the old ‘u wanna get one of these mate, it’s much easier’ all 3 then got stuck trying 2 get up a not particularly technical singletrack climb, where I passed the 3 of them on a non electric mtb. F****n morons. Local woods where there have been unofficial trails tolerated for years, some pretty big jumps n berms etc have been torn to shreds by kids on them over the winter, and unfortunately I only see the problem getting worse in future

Mind you, also noticed that Tweedlove seem desperate for entries for their race next weekend

Already been mentioned above but no chance I’d be doing a full day at the Golfie whilst wearing a full face lid, and I personally know several lads who’ve said they won’t enter any more tweedlove events while they’re mandatory

Been using mallet dh for years and have no plans to change, always with Shimano shoes (me7 currently). They definitely do need more maintenance than other brands, the cleats are made from brass and will wear out faster than the steel used by other brands, and taking the time to set them up properly (shims under the cleats and getting the pin height set exactly in my case) makes all the difference. They were the only decent option of platform/clips available when I started using them but every brand out there has similar offerings these days

Just before the strikes but new one arrived in 10 days

FFS the first toon game I’ve missed in months. Went out on the bike cos I thought it was on at 4.30. 🤦‍♂️

Get ur lights charged, Thursday looks good for a night ride 😉

Get ur lights charged, Thursday looks good for a night ride 😉