Giant felt rocket ship fast, like it was pushing you up the hills. Was great fun to play on, but would dump you if you aren't good enough.

Yes.

Only had one bad off so far (since Nov) and that was a comedy low speed one. HOWEVER, Anthem feels like it has very similar handling to the Airborne, ie sharp. Weight distribution, balance, braking etc need to be right. Get it right and the flow is brilliant, far better at descending that the LS – but get it wrong and it will go out of shape.

ETA – I went for the Anthem X3 so value was fantastic (especially as I had a pair of light wheels hanging in the garage 🙂

Black shoes with something stepped in brown ????

Can't comment on the Trek, but my AnthemX is gradually knocking out all the (longstanding, ie 3-4 years) route records that I had previously set on an Airborne Lucky Strike.

RealMan – I cant see how your argument is any different to mine…

Yeah, but that's about your power to weight ratio, where weight is what's holding you back

Power is defined as joules per second. Its near enough the same thing

So, as I am saying, it takes more energy to get a heavy object from 10m to 100m. And conversely, descending, a heavy object has more potential energy to convert to kinetic energy.

Regarding power:weight ratios, presumably that's down to the biomechanics of the human form.

IF the riders had the same power:weight then you might expect the hill climb time to be the same (but the heavier rider would still expend more energy). Human physiology being what it is, the heavier rider would normally have lower power:weight than a lighter rider, hence the longer climb

TJ explained it nicely, better then me.

Indeed,explained very well by TJ.

I edited to cover my ommision of air resistance. But, the climbing analogy is not just down to the power:weight discrepency.

As you have explained, a more massive body at a given elevation will have more potential energy than a lighter body at the same elevation – hence more energy required to get it there in the first place…

theflatboy – if you need convicing turn the argument around.

Who goes uphill quicker – heavy rider or light rider??

If I have to carry laptop and / or files on my commute, the climbs are significantly more strenuous, but the bike wants to run away more on the downs

ETA, which of course only reflects the energy required to get the heavier mass to an elevated posn – ie higher potential energy position, but ignores the air resistance effects encountered going DH, as very clearly explained by TJ…. which also explains a tandem's rapidity of descending!!

Never used to – but do now. Navy (almost black) trousers, brown shoes, brown belt.

A trip to our Milan office convinced me 😉

Seems like the BUFF won't be the only large noisy plane there…

Long lenses required, presumably 🙁

Interesting that people are mentioning gear ratios; I find that top speeds normally occur above the speed that you spin-out, so pedalling is irrelevent.

On my normal routes I have very little road space between spinning out the gears and having to hit the anchors…

Weight is like 80%. Getting aero is 15%. Type of bike 5% perhaps

That feels like it's all the wrong way around…!?

Certainly weight has a big impact on initial acceleration when you first point downhill. At 15-15.5st I really notice this, especially when skiing. I can easily out accelerate far better skiiers from start, and carry momentum easier / further across flat sections (if I get right down on the skis).

Type of bike and air resistance will be more important for sustained speed, surely?

I'm now very much looking forward to getting my old road bike up and running again…

53/39 on the front. The 20mm Conti GP tyres always felt quite skittish at speed though.

Did a very short test ride at the w/e and all seemed to work, although it was a very useful ride to tweak positions on bars / saddle etc. Hasn't got a working speedo at the mo. Waiting for delivery of a spare mount so I can use my mtb speedo on it.

Happy to do 40++ on a waterski, snow skis and the like

Never had any idea about how fast on skis, but have always been interested.

It generally feels much faster than mountain biking…

here is my willy, watch me wave it.

ive seen bike computers and gps units give very dodgy readings

Original post wasn't intended as willy waving – just seeing if mid 40s was some sort of cap based on mtb gearing etc.

… and yes, I've seen some pretty unrealistic data on bike computers, especially wireless ones subject to interference.

On the other hand, most of the replies here are in the same ball park (for "normal" conditions) – ie mid to high 40s

start to feel like death himself is standing over my shoulder.

Yes – there is a (psychological??) threshold speed of

"I couldn't stop now even if I needed to……."

where even gentle application of the brakes would be unwise 😮 particularly on gravel or wet tarmac

We used a Burley Bee – was very pleased with it. 2 kids side by side. Good resistence training!!

Yes, I know a few tandem riders who have said you can get some serious speeds going!!!

My highest recorded speed of 43.6 (70kph) was "offroad" (Skyline) on a light weight HT. That felt pretty fast!!

Can't better that with the mtb even on tarmac. The local lanes that I use to join up trail sections just don't have the "run" to them.

Agree with the 2.5-3 hours.

First bit of tarmac is pretty steep (!).

You'll do well to ride all the way up. IIRC the bits before and after Clogwyn station / railway overbridge are steep and steppy (as in walker erosion protection steps) – well beyond my capabilities to ride up those bits.

Thinking that mtb was a passing fad for poseurs

Gaurdian

Armstrong stuff on Wiki – nothing new, but I find it difficult to get the measure of Armstong's rebuttals. American I guess.

Just been reading some of the background stuff on Pantani (tragic) and Armstrong (shall we say, interesting)…

Tanking

Ah, I've found a pic of the wife

Really, is that verified??

My Google search turned up this….

TBH my last couple of cars have been bought at 1-2 yrs old. (well all actually except a couple of company cars in late 90s)

Wife's (small) cars have been bought new / pre-reg and then kept for quite a while.

I currently run a Ford SMax diesel which is great, and wouldn't want to replace (through choice anyway). Would have kept the Fat Max and swapped in mrs rkk01's Punto for a Giulietta – but not at that price…

Drop them a line to ask them what the philosophy behind their ad is – is it either

a) A genuine, but misled, concern for the environment, or

b) A cynical marketing crock of BS aimed at extracting punters money.

It would also be quite fun to ask them why they don't sell CO2 cartridges, and how they establish the environmental credentials of the products they do sell???

FWIW, I guess that they truly do revere the environment, but maybe just skipped a few of the details in their marketing hype…

This isn't limited to the US either – a UK bike shop was considering using eco servicing credentials to charge a premium for bike servicing that used eco-friendly products

Well, I initially thought Alfa had cocked up their pricing strategy – putting the Giulietta up against the BMW 1 Series (which is a munter anyway)…

… but according to one of the car mags it sits between the VW Golf TSi and Astra SRi – I was gobsmacked.

23k for an Astra, 21 for a 1.4 Golf !!!! – I thought the Golf GTi was still in that 22-23k bracket

(and re-badged Bravo is a bit wide of the mark at the moment… although future Bravos will use the same platform. Giulietta is the first car to make use of the Group's all new mid sized platform)

Analagous to XC vs marathon / enduro / 24hr in mtb…

Well, that shut 'em up.

BD – Thanks for the legal background. Puts some legal context to my layman's musings.

Good to know that such barbarism is legally regarded as outside appropriate behaviour, rather than just straightforward abhorrent

I reckon crikey sums that up pretty well.

Never had the time / commitment to join a club because of my line of work.

Not overly keen on manufacturer / team tops, but like my Marmite, Ardbeg and event tops…

… Got to wear something on the bike after all.

(Quite liked the Morvelo tops I saw at MM, but was keeping a tight reign on the wallet)

Would all the "live-and-let-live" types on this post feel the same if you went down to GT/Cannock/Afan/Whinlatter this weekend and found….

I'm not aware that it is about "how I would feel" or "live and let live".

My understanding (which could well be wrong), was that it was about the legal issues around liability / negligence for being in control (or not)etc.

I ride at Afan – I work on the basis that I am at least partly responsible if I hit another trail user through not being in control (ie not being able to stop / evade within my visible distance).

Whether they are a family having a toddlers picnic in the middle of Whites Level matters not a jot. Several times I have had stop for walkers hiking up the Wall final descent – bloody inconvenient, but (I believe) they had as much right to be there as I had…

"Right to Roam" is English legislation

Ah, @rse, it's Friday afternoon – but you clearly saw through my error….

Yes, it would be irresponsible, no I wouldn't take my dog to a trail centre, but the point of the thread – as always with these topics – no, they are not (legally) dedicated trails for mtbers….

And, seeing as the OP was on about Glentress,

doesn't "Right to Roam" come into it.

Just because someone has made a new trail path, designated a colour and given it a silly name – doesn't mean it's not available for all to enjoy…

…enjoy 😆

We all expect other bikers on a bike trail,

not on designated trails

All just a misunderstanding of our wonderful language.

I think you are getting "designated" confused with "dedicated"

oooh, double post

Lots of trail centre trails also offer excellent family walking access to areas of countryside that are otherwise difficult to get to. Some great bilberry, raspberry and blackberry picking off some of them…

I keep taking my dog out for walks an some **** cyclists keep spoiling the tranquil karma of the rural footpath network 👿

Their choice / responsibility???

Some "Gun Nuts" and other assorted components, earlier today

20. hammer spring strut nut

Decided to give it a test ride this weekend.

Got the indexing working ok, but think I'll dig out an old 8 sp mtb cassette to make life a little easier on the hills (It has huge chainrings on it).

My two biggest "safety" concerns are:

the brakes – do they just not work?? or am I too used to hydraulic discs and big grippy tyres?

and the tyres – haven't ridden 20mm Conti GPs for a very long time, and the sidewalls look quite perished 😮

Hmmm, That table is useful – if I want cut the frame up and measure wall thicknesses!!!! Pity it doesn't have the outside diameters…

It does allow me to rule out some tubesets – ie those that aren't all round section for the main frame.

Not sure about the forks though? Unicrown? – they definately aren't lugged into the base of the csu.

Need to take the bike apart to look at a few of the accesible tube inners.

An unimportant, but interestingly pointless little puzzle 😆