@meesterbond. Where did your mate crash on Surfin Bird? I can imagine the surface being fairly unforgiving for most of it.

To be fair on Sunday they had a sign at the top of Bonneville/Surfin Bird (and also at the top of Blue Belle which is shut) telling people how to get to Willy Waver so that they could do a blue. No idea if it was there before but perhaps they put it up in response to concerns.

@Sir HC. I saw one chap lift his sons balance bike down the qualifier on Vicious Valley once. An easy enough trail on a full sized bike I’d imagine it’s terrifying in a balance bike

I was there on Sunday. Didn’t see any serious accidents but did see a few people who had skinned elbows and knees etc. Not sure why people ride without pads there as some of those trails have a seriously tough based with plenty of rock in it to abrade your skin.

I’d also agree with the point about the dust making it slippery – I’ve ridden there in the snow and had more grip that on some sunny dusty days although that could be down to tyre choice.

BPW do always post new videos on YouTube when they rework the trails and I always make sure I watch them before going to see what has changed. It’s saved me from a few unpleasant occurrences I’m sure. I can ride the blues no problem, red (and some of the black) tech trails but tend to avoid the + trails as I’m not that great at jumping so I ride to my strengths as I’m there to have fun not damage myself but then I’m heading rapidly towards 50 so it takes a long time to recover from anything.

And yes, fatigue is probably the biggest cause of offs there – as soon as I find myself making multiple mistakes per run with near offs I take a rest or call it a day.

I think the new Hightower does away with the flip chip and is 29 only. However the Bronson andthe 5010 get a flip chip and can run + tyres now – I’m pretty sure that’s what I read anyway.

**EDIT** It looks like they still list the Hightower in the “both” section but don’t seem to supply 27.5+ builds now. Having said that they list the Hightower LT in that section and that’s 29 only apparently so it could just be a website issue.

Oh, and isn’t the tallboy + compatible as well.

@RicB – excellent tip. I’ll try that on the one I’ve got in the workshop when I get back from the peaks.

Yep. I’ve done one (DHF 2.5WT) By Lansing in a rock garden. When I posted about it someone mentioned that even slightly sideways landings can cause it….

I think Rockin Bikes (Yelverton) have one they hire out as well.

Just out of contract on my 7. XS for me. Max is too big for my liking and I’m not waiting another month for the XR. Well, I say I’m not waiting another month – I guess only pre-order day on Friday will tell.

Be sure to let us know as no one else seems to go there now judging by the lack of responses. I’m thinking of going up next week.

I’ve done the logical progression course there which is the one before drops and jumps (and features both). Sensibly delivered by really nice, easy to understand people. I’d do another course with them again.

I’ve got some. I haven’t broken them yet. They are round and have ticky ticky i9 Hubs. They don’t seem overly flexy but they aren’t jarring to ride. They’ve been to Bikepark Wales a few times as well.

If you can find anything that repels horse flies short of napalm I’d be very interested to hear about it!

Avon skin so soft repels them brilliantly. Believe it or not I learnt that on a skills course – cheers Windy!

The first slot (at the front) on each trailer will take much wider tyres

@munrobiker – I’d agree – mine was obviously a later 5 as it came with suspension forks from the off (Machete, horrible things) – swapped them for some Magnum Pros and it will handle most things. I use mine for winter, some sandy areas locally, and generally messing about in the woods like it’s a giant BMX.

Go to the main site rather than Clyncorrwg and ride the Penhydd. 2/3 of the way up the fire road climb you can branch off and do blue scar if your legs are toast. The climb is a boring smooth fire road but the down is pretty good on either.

http://freeprintsapp.co.uk/

The farm I live on has a resident family. They make a mess of everything but it’s pretty cool to have badgers living “in the back garden”. They are even pretty tame and largely just ignore people. They no longer come into my actual garden as the cats tag team them and end up annoying them enough that it doesn’t seem worthwhile to them.

You could always borrow a back protector to help with your confidence? Worked for me.

All spacers present and correct and sized ok as far as I can work out. I’ll give it some more torque and see how it goes.

What festival? Makes a big difference to what I’d take!

Terrys Belly etc. are open now according to the website. It lists Melted Welly (and hard shoulder but that’s been shut for ages) but doesn’t list off grid and forest bump as shut so I guess they must have shut it further down.

Has anyone been since they’ve shut Melted Welly? Is it shut all the way or can you still get to Off Grid and Forest Bump? I’ve only ever ridden them when muddy so wouldn’t mind another go this weekend.

@deadkenny. When was the last time you saw the VV qualifier? They’ve filled under it now so you’re wheel can’t go backwards no matter how slow you go. If you stand to the side of it then it looks big but from the top it actually looks ok and is rollable which is handy as there’s bugger all space to build up speed

There’s also a workstand on the right but you can’t see it in this photo

Grips have now been replaced by black but I couldn’t get the ones I wanted in black at the time.

Tons of them at home, but then there are also a lot of horses…..

The only bite so far this year was at the Eden Project last Saturday during the Dreadzone set – little bugger.

Avon skin so soft works for most flys but not them. Oddly this was suggested to me on an mtb skills course :lol:

I always found that Ardents weren’t too bad when new but by the time they were 50% worn then they would be practically unusable. Not like the Advantage which had a nasty grip, slip, grip again thing going on. I now use various combinations of Minion DHF/DHRII/SS and Highroller depending on which bike and terrain.

3 pints of New Lion Brewery Pandit IPA last night whilst chatting to work colleagues. Lovely beer.

How about gig trepidation instead of anticipation? I’m off to see Slamboree tonight but given the festival it is at it will just be full of Ketamine fuelled teenagers shuffling around looking like zombies. I’ll also be looking like a zombie but that’s my natural state because I’m old and tired.

Sugar Hill Gang tomorrow though and that should be good.

@martymac – perhaps you should have driven the pigeons round the block for 50 miles then bring them back that way hopefully when they got out they would think they had to fly off somewhere :lol:

Bikepark Wales posted that AC/DC is now open 50 minutes ago? Maybe they’ve fixed the issue with a judiciously places rock or something? Either that or the memo didn’t get through that they had closed it again?

I watched a video of it earlier and though it looked like they had smoothed the last bit before it joins Melted Welly out a bit and maybe added berms. Last time I was there they were filling holes in the very last section down to Bonneville/Surfin Bird.

@Hob Nob – Cheers. I’m off up again in a couple of weeks and VV is one of my favourite tracks so I was hoping they hadn’t made it a bit mad.

Did you do Vicious Valley at all (other than to get to A470) of course? What’s the revised road gap like?

I did something to my back on Friday at the Forest of Dean and it hurts like hell to lay still, move, sit, stand or basically anything.

@johnw1984 – be careful. I found a reasonable amount of horror stories about buckled tyres exploding shortly afterwards. Mine is in no way rideable – had to stick a Highroller II I had hanging around on as a temporary fix.

I’m wondering if it’s something to do with the WT versions now I’ve read this. I’ve used DHR II for ages without issue but my first 2.4WT lasted about 10 miles before it “buckled”. Side walls look noticeable more damaged than tyres of the same spec but not WT that have done hundreds of miles on the same rocky terrain.

I’m running them on my hardtail. They are quite short but decently padded and do damp vibrations. Personally I prefer the gd1 which aren’t as fat but are longer.

Hands like shovels here BTW