“bar for wheel ” yeah could well be stolen, that’s the main issue here. who knows enough to assemble a bike but not what an axle is? methinks this is someone who has only disassembled bikes 😉 caveat emptor.

Scott signs might be better for anywhere that’s no obvious why someone shouldn’t be going.. could you pass this (end of S&L meadow) on to our Sign Guy? 😉
don’t want Pile of Logs wars 😯

Salsa? is that a salsa lever?

geddit, it’s a QR/sauce pun.. oh n/m.

matt normally i’d agree it’s just here this one small place the wiggling felt forced and unnecessary like trail is just being lengthened for the sake of it. (of course it is, but not enough height to justify it?) other people i’ve ridden with have said same and laughed at this section.. only an idea, and we might be thinking of different bits! i’ll take pics next time i’m there. don’t worry you did right thing to block any blatant shortcut for now thanks.

ok we want to block off the higher line across meadow, so everyone goes down fireroad to the S&L start and right up bank?
edit: ok gotcha, meadow bit needs blocking until grass grows back over it.

some idiot (?) had blocked off the new exit to lumberjack weekend before last, by moving the logs from the old exit. i was ahead luckily so cleared..

and great work on new lumberjack exit btw whoever traced that, even better than i imagined 😀

yeah the trail is riding amaaazingly atm, i was in there yesterday and it was weirdly quiet :/ almost too dusty i said to my mate hehe. he said it’s bedded in really well. big grins all round.

there’s a funny little shortcut on first climb, near road up where it wiggles a bit more than necessary (after the boards), someone (strava?) has cut across. tbh, i kinda like this shortcut because the trail wiggling was a bit OTT and feels a little silly imho. can we have a group meeting about this some time and pick a line or make it official?

what happens after S&L is some people like to take a higher line (which was the Race line) into NeverSeenIt and miss the first bank (it offically goes from right at the start of S&L, meaning anyone not feeling up to the drop in at S&L has a nice skip section option!). needs more signage where you come out of S&L? can we keep two routes in or is that a no-no for the park?

well the laps are a bit harder now right 😉

in the dry you can ride anything with enough volume no problem. in the wet nothing grips well, but some are def. more lethal than others! small treads clog with clay, but too big tread can be dodgy on hard wet chalk. this is why i go in with super soft single ply DH tyres in winter. i started riding there in the late 90s and it’s hard to compare since everything was different then, trail, bikes, tyres, riding skills.. amount of lycra 😯 , etc.

surprised to hear cafe complaints, the few times i’ve eaten there (baked potato and chilli, bacon sandwich) it’s been excellent. i miss the outside tap a bit..

i have a weird perception of time.. maybe everyone gets this? often when riding well time seems to slow down, or i feel i’m riding really slowly. but strava might say otherwise (or not).
on bad days though everything seems to come at me really quick, like today, when i got hit by all sorts of branches and brambles, that i never even saw coming 😐

i like Minions, or any soft rubber for the winter, and summer too, but not mud spikes as they skate on hard chalk (MudX are ok, Trailraker probably not?!). tends to be either fast or slippery, falls can be serious. what i don’t like is when it’s drying out after being really wet, then it gets sticky! you feel really unfit. this was how it was when Scott shot the trail opening video – the only conditions there i don’t really enjoy, you have to be “on it” to survive & enjoy.

tyre choice is really crucial in QE, and i’m always squeezing people’s tyres and asking them to let air out 😉 had a guy go around last weekend after dropping from maybe 50 to 25 psi and said it was so much better 2nd lap 🙂

i’ve been slacking over the summer also, will get back into things hopefully over winter when it’s less fun to ride and easier to work the ground. thanks for all nice comments, Scott downplays his role btw he’s done a lot, of all the unpaid volunteers/mtb-ers so far.

we’ll work something out for that area, good/sorry to hear because obviously not enough news of these accidents was getting back to us 🙁 guess you don’t go all running to the visitor centre/council, which is appreciated, but still. don’t want to put anyone off!

pads are a good idea also, soft knee/shin pads so you can still climb.

yeah we’ll have to do something about that Scott, it’s the lack of runout AND bindness on approach that’s scary. not much margin for error there. it’s not that it’s too hard, it’s that it’s so unforgiving if you get it wrong – you end up over the berm and kicked into the final fence!

all options are quite hard – move bottom berm to the right (remove small left kicker), change angle of steps, make steps much wider at top to give different approach, putting a whole new line along around (there is some spare bank further along?).

i presume this is everyone’s problem? (with that bit i mean).

that’s exactly what i was getting at, chicken lines should not be shortcuts for strava users, they should be there for less confident riders?

deviant, that’d be (unavoidable) drop in Snakes & Ladders, or maybe in the gully just above the old snakes where it’s fast and loose and loads of people crash. and i agree more small log drops and maybe fewer tables (just because i still can’t ride tables properly haha).

edit: maybe you mean the blind lip after Big Berm going into the Left-Right-Left, yeah i love that bit 🙂

serious Q though: does having a chicken line reduce your enjoyment of the course? if the more techy line is still there for you, even if that takes longer to ride, does that feel silly somehow? or is this “pandering” to strava users? (i use strava btw, but it comes 2nd to making a fun course). i feel the danger is “hey, we can all ride it, what’s the problem”, whilst half the new riders are hurting themselves. on the other hand, can never please everyone can you.
do you want the rest of the course harder? 😀 perhaps if/when a blue is there this would make more sense too.
if there’s a stake in the way that needs chopping/padding/moving.

i just spotted my terrible pun above, sorry.

😯 yeah see this is not what we want. feeling dangerous = fine, being dangerous or having rider after rider stacking – not fine. it was passed by inspection (CTC inspection?) so really not sure.

would like to set a video camera up and really see what’s going on heh. maybe sit by end on busy day and watch. are you hitting the last fence, going over the little left hand kicker into fence?

headsets are basically a “solved” problem, as the principle hasn’t changed for so long, they all work.
I usually buy Hope for the stainless bearings also, but cheap CC or FSA are really fine.

BBs on the other hand (external HT2 type)..

that’s what happens when you build the berm first! you are not crap, in the wet, it is tight, i still can’t decide if this is a “bug or a feature”. it forces you to slow down at the end (good?) but feels like it suddenly needs a bmx to get around (bad?) hehe.

burt you’re not the guy with the red bike and really hard tyres are you?

wisepranker there are lots of wise to extend this trail, next time you’re down get one of us to show you! someone will probably be around at weekends. both inside and outside the park with quite short links too. not going to say too much here obviously, maybe some day they’ll even become official..

Gunz, that’s exactly what most of us said. most of my ideas create more problems than they solve? just secure the bank as best we can and leave it?

here’s us right after building that bit whenever that was, April? So some of you can see how it’s worn in already. You wouldn’t think such a little thing could get panic breaking and fear, but it does!

(Scott on left looking concerned, Craig, Rupert, me on right looking smug).

bigyinn, fair enough, sounds like you did it wrong order though, very much designed to start at visitor centre and end at the steps, please give it another go that way some day! yeah not planning to surface the red trail, but a fun blue may be coming with a chip surface.. it doesn’t really get boggy as little soil, bits fill up with water though! drainage is ongoing problem as the clay soil clogs the pipes.

mattbee most of my post was aimed at you and your OH i guess?

hi! nice feedback. those rock steps were originally by Fergus and myself with Scott and others too of course. i pushed for a chicken line then, but decision was made that it’s ok without. i am still worried about accidents there and would feel bad about any (er legally it’s at ridden your risk yadda yadda).

in our defence, i’d say 90% feedback has been positive about that area, you are right we want to slow people down and give them a challenge. getting that right is hard. this is anecdotal but my brother who hasn’t ridden off road for 10 years rode it first time last weekend (on a good bike, dry) if that means anything! in wet on a hardtail, with slimy clay in your tyres, it can be very different i know.

the white chalk we put alongside the rocks (intended more as a lane marker, not to be ridden) has been pushed away so we have a muddy bank alongside. also riders tend to brake on it, not as i say to people, brake before and after, like any tech obstacle. so we do have a problem. #1 is it’s only real tech feature without a chicken line!?

So a few ideas i’m mulling over (just my personal thoughts not representing the group here!)

1) more (properly embedded) rocks to widen the top part and give a straighter line into the last berm?
2) anchoring trail (stopping riders going off line) by fencing/blocking in the right hand side??
3) an alternative ending to trail that comes off earlier to the carpark missing the last berm. problem with this is first time riders may not know about steps until they get there and it’s “too late” 😉 and it creates a new exit facing the existing one.
4) Originally i thought about going further along from top of steps, around a tree further on the bank and joining back to final straight, problem then is rejoining the berm colliding with others coming down fast over rocks.
5) perhaps just a better way to walk down the bank for those who don’t feel up to riding it yet?

the ground here is thicker (for QE) soil, we can’t put chips or something small down it’d get washed off. we’re not supposed to surface the trail anyway (red, natural as possible), the rocks were just intended to solve a problem of having a muddy steep bank at that point!

i’m not sure if i’m supposed to do this here and can’t guarantee your ideas will be taken up but if anyone has suggestions i’d be interested to hear.. i’m not sure what’s best!

oh wow that could really dominate the <£1500 market?! long travel 26, highly upgradeable.

sorry not sure what an XM440 rim is, i meant lighter than the Mega which comes out at 15kg in medium i think.

do it please brant, you might have another customer! and as his will get nicked, a repeat customer 🙄

edit: added please. 🙂
edit2: and slightly lighter wheels please? he’s even skinnier than me. er wheel options would be cool not sure how difficult this is logistically.

haha so my brother took one ride on my EG and wants a new MTB.. can anyone suggest something that rides something like an EG, but costs about.. £500 less? (i.e. £1200-1600). doesn’t need as much travel, simple maintenance (coil fork?, not adjustable seatpost, no fancy parts) might be good too.. i dunno this might well be a silly question since the £2k EG is already a great deal yes. i don’t look at full builds normally plus it’s end of 2012 season so..

similar sizing and geo to a medium EG basically.

firs thing i checked was this
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=75658

basically King think (10 years ago) that headsets that don’t need cups are Very Bad.

haha well, it’s important to think of footwork, but i guess hopping is not like cornering where you really need to learn both ways. to me right forward feels wrong, but works better, if that makes any sense.
sorry about the jeans and arse.

which foot have you got forward? could well be a case of switching your forward/back foot so your hips face the other way.

yeah Pierre, thought of that, but i think i’d have stripped the bolt. i also use a Hope head doctor instead of a star nut, which btw i find brilliant 🙂

setting up a proper press with fork off the bike would have been the best way, and/or reaming the tube. headset press i use for cups may even have fitted.

good to know my instinct not to cut this race may have been right bikewhisperer. beware internet experts, well meaning but without the parts hehe 😉

you don’t think i can patent the combined crown and reamer then?

honestly i bet most bike shops would do what i did and no one’s the wiser. not saying you would Ben. like the time i bent an alloy hanger and they used some fancy heat treatment to set it. like hell, they used a mole grip.

you have a feel for this stuff and get away with it, or you don’t.

ok so i did it roughly right. i call it a “self-reaming” 😉 makes me feel a bit better.
apart from first hitting it against the fork suspension and wheel, which.. sometimes works.

i sometimes wonder why instructions never give practical tips, just say things like “seat the crown properly”. or “this race can/not be split”.
so when you mess up, they can just say you didn’t.. thanks.

hello, thread still going? i realise this reads like a masterclass in how not to solve this type of problem. a few things in my defence:

1) it seems whack it hard is fairly common solution. nor have i heard of anyone getting a crown really stuck, but no doubt it’s happened..
2) being a big piece (space to put tools with fork upside down), greased, and going back out the way it came, i expect to have a good chance of getting it off. maybe even “split it off” with said dremel. carefully.
3) i’ve no way of knowing why CC supply it like that, i’m having trouble visualising whether splitting this kind of race (30mm steerer in 52mm i think bearing) is ok or not. and split races normally have a continuous seal, which i’d have to cut.
4) i’m tight. in the jewish sense.

TL:DR basically i should have split it yes.

sometimes a guy wants to stick a thing in a thing and go ride.

look out for a thread from me in a year or so, asking how to remove. hehe.

yeah thanks, it’s well on. just needed a bigger hammer. great tip with pipe, that’d never have worked any other way. pvc is surprisingly strong and doesn’t damage anything else.

i got it. needed to shape the bottom of pipe so i can control which side i’m hitting. and hit harder, with a lump hammer this time. slow big taps, not lots of little ones.

so i’ll be using CC headsets forever now i guess.. hopefully their lower cup can also take a taper fork, with a different crown race?

cheers guys ah bloody hell, stress. hate this kind of thing.
hope the cup ain’t this tight 😮

it is slowly going down by hammering pipe. not really happy, might never get it off..

good tip with polypipe, found some, fits just right. still won’t go.

i have a hacksaw.. any reason not to cut the reducer race? it’s a big brass thing, would take pic but can’t find camera..

concern is that it’s structural because it’s a reducer – may twist.

i guess sanding inside of race isn’t likely to work as i’ll never get it even.

now have fork supported actually on steerer so no danger of damaging csu.
is it possible the CC crown is undersized? my shitty caliper won’t help. could practice on an old fork actually..

hah well, haven’t really needed a bike shop in years.. might feel like a failure.. but you’re probably right.
so how do they do it then?

you better take a course in electrical engineering/programming if you want to continue tuning shocks post .. about 2020? haha 😉 it’s going to be like cars, plug a laptop in and diagnose. has anyone seen what they’re doing with rear shocks, using sensors on fork? how will fork sense, using 3d cameras? Nooo.

basically, DNA is cheaper than BB and more reliable. similar results? LoCo probably knows more..

RCT3 fine unless you like remote lockout.. maybe they should figure a way to make the 3 position remote controllable. but seems like RS are going into electronic controls for rear shock, so probably front too, maybe 2014? me no likey :/

uh, “stupid screw” i meant was the brake hose guide, not the cable grub, you’d be a muppet to mess that up.
so is the Rev “done” as far as RS is concerned? don’t really have any complaints about 2012s.. so far.
btw those on 2010, i think damping is quite a bit better with “dual flow”.
using too many “” today sorry.

advanced: side hop without slowing down. practice going off things before going up.
intermediate: slow down, front wheel up, back wheel hopefully follows if you unweight it.
beginner: get off, lift bike out, get back on 🙂

best thing is not to fall in them in first place, always go across them, never at a shallow angle.

SDW is worst for this, when i did it they’d get me all the time. if you’re tired it’s really hard to avoid.

he looks so chilled, like he’s on wires, he does this all the time, man.

hmm ok so 2012 is the one to have, that’s what i have 🙂 they really didn’t improve anything performance wise? chassis? stupid little screw holding cable on that everyone strips?