I used them, great in the summer months super fast rolling. But leathal in any form of slop of wet ground

I thought it was a great video. I liked listening to Tracey Moselys explanation of the differences. To be honest by her description an enduro spec 29er would probably suit my riding style. I love my xc 29er….got me thinking and looking at the bloody jeffsy or whatever it’s called now!

What wheels did you go for Northwind?

How very dare he ride a mountain bike in non standard uniform!!

Not at all, it was a comment more aimed at how poorly equipped he was with his arse practically hanging out. That can be a bloody quick trail and given he felt the need to try and whip everything insight perhaps he wasn’t dressed for the impending off!

I quite like the final Verderers descent but only after a long day in the saddle. I am guessing that’s just after they resurfaced it. But yes it is smooth and fast. If you have a modicum of skill that is. This chap seemed to want to impress the viewers with tail whips off every pebble. Hardly surprising he ended up in a pile with his Adidas t-shirt covered in mud.

Mikeys, I have a gpx route also which actually links in to the red route finishing on a different descent in fact it’s a bit of the old enduro route and several other bits. It’s a lovely ride, I am happy to share alternatively you are welcome to view the route on my strava as I rode it tonight (and Sunday)

I know the fast rocky descent your talking about. It wasn’t particularly technical but could of got you in trouble if not careful. The secret was to stay off the brakes and pick your line by looking well ahead. I was on a 29er 80mm travel.

Mine arrived today and I fitted it this afternoon to my spearfish. Just slacked it out to the new model 69deg head angle going to take the bike out for a spin tomorrow to see how she handles

Oh Planet X/On One are moving warehouse! Now there is another reason not to use them. What a massive ClusterF&ck that will be!

It was working earlier but seems broken to me and my buddy now!?

35 now and hitting bigger stuff than I ever have, but seem to of gone backwards in the balls and talent factor. I have come o terms with the fact now that I am never going to be a DH legend and always remember that on Mondays i have to get back in the car and pay the mortgage. Everytime I take a gentle lie down in the mud nowadays i dont seem to bounce anymore and things hurt for longer. I think as i have aged i have learnt my comfort zone and remember no nurses in the hospital will be impressed by my ability in casing a 10ft drop. More importantly neither would my wife or work!

I’m loving my spearfish at the moment. Its a fantastic bike. Perfect for 60% of what I do. Still love being back on my fatty or my Five mind! I have just ordered an Angleset from Superstars to fit it. Which will slacken the bike out to 69deg which is the same head angle as the newer ones. Hoping this will make things a little more forgiving on some of the downs. Without killing the fantastic climbing i’m enjoying on it currently. Next step will be to drill the frame for stealth dropper routing.

I have recently built up a Salsa Spearfish, currently absolutely loving it. It’s fast and comfortable and actually really fun to ride. its now my go to bike, unless I am riding something a bit gnar. One thing I want to do though is slacken it out slightly. Sure it’s an xc bike, but I like slightly slacker head angles. So I am toying with fitting an Angleset to it.

Great event, managed to avoid all of the bottlenecks this year by starting near the front. Really enjoyable as usual, feeling a little broken now though

Not so much test ridden, but the two bikes i have instantly bonded with are my Old Banshee Spitfire. Just an instantly awesome bike, never felt so confident on a bike before. Still gutted I sold it, would of bought another had I not bought the orange Five which is still a bit Meh in comparrison. My latest purchase a Salsa Spearfish is just a beautiful bike, just feels so effortless to ride! Still early days with it but I am in love!

My particular fav at the moment is the stump jumper frame for £1500 poster has had it pointed out that he is more money than can be bought for new with a manufacturers warranty. But still insists on reposting saying he is not bothered….eh?

I worked on the logic with my OOF that yes the wheels were goign to cost more than the bike (well nearly) but I was enjoyign the fat bike so much the chances would be that i would upgrade to a better frame and swap the kit over. I am now waiting for the Smokestone Henderson to be launched by Slam. Then will swap my kit over. Only a couple more weeks to wait!

Mine creaks like mad currently when pedaling. Pretty sure its the pedals or the BB. Its in with the LBS as i cannot be arsed to lose sleep over it! Creaks are the worse thing known to man!

Fitted the JJ i purchased from Northwind today! Blew straight up tubeless with no faff at all! Result! beaded perfectly and has shed some weight from the old girl too! Bonus.

I’m have been running mate upfront with a FBN out back for a while now. Great combo, I found Nate front and rear very draggy and like Made the bike feel very lethargic. The FBN rolls nicely but is heavy, I have just purchased a second hand Jim from Northwind to run on the rear which is lighter still. Hoping that will liven things up even more.

I have been clearing out loads lately. I just want to have a workshop free of clutter. Also trying to limit myself to 4 bikes. The amount of times I have bought something to only find already had it is/was starting to become an embarrassing joke!

You shouldn’t need to train if you are a regular rider. It’s a fun ride, nice and relaxed. Just make sure you bring enough fluid with you. I found the water stops some what sparse and at one point one had limited water. I’m bringing a larger camelback bladder this year.

Does anybody else’s Nano’s creak like mad? Mine are a couple of months old now and I’m going to strip and service tonight but boy oh boy do they creak!

I’m in again, entered full bore again but my mates are only doing the middle distance so may just ride with them

I find that chucking the bike in the boot and doing an after work ride once a week and getting up early on a Sunday promising to be back for Lunch works for my wife and kids. Admittedly my kids are much older now 6 & 10. Doing this i still retain enough brownie points for all day rides when I want. But like above I make riding a habit my wife knows that its important to me and not optional. Its an important part of my life now, keeps me fit and clears my head. I remind her I could go back to other hobbies which take the whole weekend or spend hours in the pub watching football.

Remember life is about balance!

I run 1×11 xt on my oof (original non trail) with race face cinch crank and absolute black oval chainring in the biggest cog the chain does get close to the tyre but doesn’t rub. This is with both 3.8 Nates and 4.0 Fat b Nimble tyres? Happy to take photos if it is any help?

I had a 650b pair on a previous bike. Great wheel set for the money, like others I lost rear spoke tension but fixed it myself easily enough. One thing I hated and have stopped me buying another pair is the rediculous stickers they fit to them under the lacquer. I had the stealth version which even then was too much! The standard decals are just bloody awful. They stopped stickpin the stealth ages ago in fact I’m told when they sell out of all the current carbon wheels they are replacing with something exciting….that’s from a Facebook message I was sent.

But for £300 I doubt you would find a better wheel set

I also have a Mobi, been using it for about 8 months now. Fault free, fantastic bit of kit!

I had the E-ten R on my old Kona, the post itself was bullet proof. However the actuator arm and pin always bunged up with crap meaning it would drop mid ride when muddy. A real problem in the UK. Easy enough to fix but in my opinion needs some kind of mudguard for reliable operation.

I have the same issue on my Fat bike, its made better with GT85 blasting every now and then, should really take back to the LBS for a warranty replacement. But its not too much of an issue and suspect its lack of maintenance my end and a horrid winter

Spray off with Mobi, chuck bike in boot…Eat Cake and drink coffee.

We have had a lot of rain over the lat 24hrs. It was running well Tuesday night, nothing to horrible. Off piste depends where you go, should be largely OK. If you want to stay on the marked trails you could probably fill a day with some lunch thrown in if you dont mind running over some of the same routes twice. Otherwise go and explore.

Pretty sure it was Lycra, but can’t remember now.

They are expensive, I bought one and the downloads quality is poor. Disappointed.

I did it on my XC 29er and thought this years route was great! Claggy mud, lots of long rolling fields. Just what i want from this type of event. This years route was much, much better than last years in my opinion. Albeit I like the last bit of Cleeve hill last year. The organisers are pretty clear its not an MTB event, it just happens to of developed into something that works well on a MTB. There is a real cross section of people entered so anything too gnar would likely change the event and the entrant. I should of really fitted the pair of cross tyres i have hanging in my garage knowing what the route was goign to be like. But you live and you learn, a Highlight for me was seeing a chap on a Cross Bike overtake me on the final gravel descent like i was sat still he was barely touching the ground and testament to how to ride a cross bike. I was half expecting to have to pick him up in bits he was moving that quickly.

Had a great time, really challenging but much preferred this years route to last years. Relatively happy with my time for 50k. Some of the open field runs into a head wind were killers but nothing to brutal hill wise.

Thank led to all the volunteers and organisers

Been raining on and off all day here in Tewkesbury….I have fitted my read mud guard!!!

I’m doing it again this year on my xc bike, planning on 100k route but may change if the weather is shocking. Expect lots of road sections, I think the off road bits are going to get cut up fairly quickly. We have had a bit of rain followed by glorious sunshine lately

Your LBS may not stock Madison kit but I’d be very very surprised if they can’t supply it as I can’t imagine an LBS without a Madison account

I know they can get hold of it (Christ there cant be many if any bike shop without a Madison account) so saying they don’t supply is wrong of me, however…I am not a geek when it comes to buying my MTB kit so have no idea whats cool or currently Enduro. Normally i take a mooch around a shop and buy something that takes my fancy. I very, very rarely order something in and can count on one hand the amount of technical clothing i have ordered online. I wouldn’t want my LBS to stock a shed load of kit just off my say so, As i appreciate i may be unique in my taste and approach. But if asked what kit I would want them to stock it would be Madison, i just find the quality, look and feel superb.

I got to say i have been super impressed by Madison kit lately, sadly my favorite LBS doesn’t seem to supply it. Luckily others do, including as mentioned earlier in the thread the Shop at Llandegla, I treated myself to another spring jacket over the weekend which proved excellent in use. Loved the look of some of the new Fox helmets they had in stock, will be top of the list when I buy another shortly.