Own a Nicolai AM. Tha replaced a Nicolai FR I also own a CC

Superb bikes.

I like the way they look (many don’t) but they are just superb to ride. When I first bought the FR I test rode many alternatives but Nicolai was the best IMO.

The AM descends brillaintly and though harder work on the climbs it will get you up most stuff no problem (Mine is built on the heavy side – ie focussed on the downs)

Are they signifciantly better than other bikes? Of course not. Totally customizable, not that common and a 5 year transferrable warranty that also covers racing speaks volumes.

My next bike will be a Nicolai 🙂

To the OP

Either 140 or 160mm will be fine, As said before Dual Ply tyres are essential, dropper post very helpful and any low and slack bike will work (much more important than travel). A Zesty with angleset maybe so you have bike for home??

I found that board walk section much easier BEFORE they removed that boulder. I was lucky enough to be out the week before so got some great practice runs in with no traffic. Used the boulder as a ‘berm’ to catch me after the drop and it worked great. The wheel sized hole the boulder removal created was a much trickier beast that needed speed and a leap of faith to navigate.

Broken chain / mech meant no traffic issues for me on the race day 🙁

Will be back next year. As will most of our group 🙂

OP – Just do it. I seriously doubt you will be any where near the bottom of the skills list (huge array of abilities) and with a year to prep your will be in great shape 🙂 The hard section is maybe 4 mins of riding the rest is not much diffrent to your usual trail centre riidng (maybe on the tougher end of that spectrum though)

All worked up again now. 🙂 11 months and counting 🙁

MSP – Good point I had not thought about the noise thing. You’re right, I bet that is a factor

Will check out the Deviant also

Thanks guys

Was looking at the Urge Enduro model.

The descents are not the issue it was the climbing that these enduro races make you do :-(. Do wonder if it is in my head but think it is more than just that TBH

Will maybe go try on some Urge helmets at the LBS

Mate phoned the timing guys last night, apaprently, and they have confirmed they made an error so will be reposting his time

Big thanks for the help Steve. Maybe by the end he was hullucinating about a guy that T boned him earlier 🙂

Thinking about the qualification lines. Given the seeding it is probably a bit misleading how many row 1 & 2 guys make the cut. The seeded guys should by definition be more likley to get to the big race

Big thanks Steve

Apparently you past him right at the end of the fire road along by the river. It stuck in his mind as it was such a late pass 🙂

If easier you can send the memory stick to me as mate is still in France

I will drop you an e-mail

Cheers

That is very interesting. Another mate had a front row position and basically was affinity 2.

He had 8 chain offs (knackerd chain guide) but we tend to forget that when mocking him 😈

Great Mr Frostie. My mate will be delighted if you could prove him out

Many thanks

Top man Simon – thanks

Could Steve confirm that he passed rider 284 just before the end 🙂

Anyone know of any other timing issues, either this year or in the past?

Looks like his time includes his original scan time to the actual race start which was around 40 mins. He arrived at 9.50 ish and the start was delayed until 10.30. If you add those to the ride time it is pretty close to his ‘official’ time.

He is querying it but as a sole voice he is unlikely to have any luck. We saw him in so know he did not have a 2hr plus run and definitely was not 2nd last finished.

He finished just behind no 82 ( he remembers him passing him right at the end) so knows he was 1hr 23 47s. However it is
annoying when they get this stuff wrong TBH. Said I would check with the STW participants

Hi guys

Had a mare also. Got a dream start and was in the top ten or so by corner 3 on the fire road. Went to put a few pedal Strokes in to discover a missing chain and a mangled mech :-(. I ran the qualifier flat section but finally gave up when I realised I was about to get amongst the fast guys from the next round and I feared sending one of them flying

Really enjoyed the affinity with a few mates. It is such a fun route.

Mate did the amateur. He finished in 1hr 23m. His recorded time is 2hr 2mins??????? Anyone else have similar issues?

Agree the lifts for the qualifier really need sorting. We got there in good time but only because we left early to see 3 mates in heat 2. They just made it after pushing in ahead of the 1000+ numbers at the front of the queue.

Likely I will be back next year. Fear I may have missed taking advantage of the best start I could have hoped for 🙁

Looks like I am on 2nd row of race 6.

Oh well one less excuse 🙂

Certainly not recommending a DH bike and agree ulimately unless you are Remy or Jerome or equivalent you will be in a train in all likelihood.

Very excited 😀

Good advice from Mike there. Ultimately it is just a bike ride so aim to enjoy first and foremost 🙂

Hob Nob – keep us posted on how you do. Rooting for you :-). Maybe we will do a STW results thread in a weeks time 🙂

andeh – The first proper singletrack on the qualifier is pretty hard but not stupidly so (It is officially a black DH run). It is basically relentless for about 5 mins. My guess is that for this section most folks would be faster on a DH bike. For the rest a trail bike is perfect and a DH bike would be a disadvantage, which should give you a slight sense of what to expect? Nowhere on the qualifier requires mandatory air though lots of opportunity if you so desire.

LOL Cheers Hob Nob.

Will get a few more runs in over ethe next few days then my family go home and the mates arrive. Should be a great few days riding regardless.

Will be very happy to make the 2nd race and delighted to make the top event.

Thanks both

Yes did think that the blue road side section would be faster just pedalling like heck rather than jumping

Hob Nob – that is fast.

Guy in bike shop told me there wa a lot less snow last year (big chunks of the initial fire road are still covered this week) but still – fair play indeed 🙂

Hopefully find out what row I start from soon. Mate has confessed that he ‘manufactured’ a few results when he enetered to boost his start point. I wish I had thought of that. Fear I may be nearer the back than the front 🙁

Thanks mike.

That helps. Just did the run yesterday and was down in about 28 or so and was cruising on the flat. I know the race will be very different and luck will play a BIG part but nice to know that a goal of 1st or 2nd race is not pie in the sky

This is a big help. Was sure this was the case but good to have it clarified. Think teh 50Kg total limit is new but that is managable

Thanks Robin

Ok if I cut and paste into a word file? WIll take it along with me to airport just in case

Hi Carlos

I think if you read the tone of almost every post on hear you will see that they are overwhelmingly positive . Your post does come over as being a bit defensive. I guess if I had put all the effort in that you have obviously done maybe I would be defensive as well 🙂

This is a new series and it does have some teething issues (no surprise there). I think in a nutshell some folks had routing issues on stage 1 (I did not). Stage 2 had to be cancelled to many folks frustration (not least yours) Stage 3 had some marking issues at the end (I also went straight on at the end like many others did)

I agree timings can wait at the price. No issues for me there at all

As for the ride it blind – great concept and great leveller.

I for one will be at Aldershot and will continue to tell folks that this is a GREAT series. I will introduce myself in person if I can

Thanks you so much for the effort to pull this together. Love having a southern gravity series

Think it was good to nullify satge 2. The rules were not well explained beofre hand.

I thought I dabbed twice. However as I moved to reposition myself and restart they both counted as 4 dabs. Seemed harsh. Sounds like most folks had a similar experience

Looks my ‘getting lost’ on stage 1 and missing the final corner on stage 3 were not as costly as I had feared 🙂

Wonder where the photos will be posted

I have not but I will do Kimbers – thanks

Saw you (at a distance) on Sunday BTW (met you at FoD) By the time I got myself oraginsed to come over and say hi, you were gone.

Will maybe see you at Aldershot

Thanks jambalaya

Yes. With hindsight the flights to Geneva were not a good idea 🙁

That said your link is much more promising than what I had found

Seems like 1 change in Geneva. Can handle that (or the kids can)

I have BOS Deville 170mm

The first set did pretty much the same as Dirtbiker100’s

Service from R53 was excellent though.

Had them fixed and back in 3 days. Happened again about 1 week later and they sent me a new set before I even returned my old set (had to give a credit card as security but fair enough). Fine since then

Great fork in terms of performmance

Maxxis High Roller ST cost that each (give or take)

Thanks – Get great reviews so worth a punt

Cheers Scott

Will get myself signed up then 🙂

Thanks Scott

So more like stages 1,3 & 8 from Salisbury?

Never ridden at Swinley so cannot use that as a reference.

Daft question is Swinley forest where the race is held? Was actually hoping to meet up with a mate from London and he suggested Swinley as a ‘half way’ point. Could be a good recce ride

Anyone know what type of riding can be expected at Aldershot?

Agree with xterramac. Being suitable for ‘once a week novice riders’ is clearly very misleading and potentailly dangerous.

I think the timing delay is a pity. From stage 5 onwards I waited until my 2 mates came down and we comapred times recorded by the marshals. As most folks I only really care about how I did versus my mates.

But hopefully as the event grows the timimg sophistication will also.

Got to say I thought is was another great event and made the most of the area

Stages 5, 6 & 7 were definitely a challenge ‘blind’. I am fairly confident in the air so not a huge issue for me, but certainly had me buzzing hitting large drops purely on trust. Would love to have walked them before hand but at the same time half the challendge is riding blind.

The marking does need a bit of sorting. Very glad to hear I was not the only one to be tonking it down stage 3 just to go straight on / left at the end and cost myself 30 plus seconds. More tape and a big right turn pointer would surely be an easy fix?

I messed up stage 1 as I aimed for the wrong gates at the and had to circle back. As I waited for my mates and looked at the tape / markers it was so obvious that I only have myself to blame on that one.

My mate also got ‘lost’ on stage 1. Still not sure how TBH (Was not at the bomhole)

The link from stage 1 to 2 seemd to create a widespread sense of humour failure.

The rules of the no dabs stage should be clarified. What I though was 1 dab cost me 4 as I manouvered my bike to get started again. Really wish I had known that.

OK – need to end on a positive note. It really was a great event and with constructive input will just get better. I certainly plan on going to Aldershot. 🙂

Done 2 with Andy Barlow at Dirt School

1st one – Jump School. Got me back jumping & dropping after a bad stack killed my confidence

2nd one – All Mountain peronalized for me and a few mates preparing for Mega this year. Learned heeaps and still trying to implement the learnings into my daily riding

Both were great and would happily recommend. Will do it again in the future. All of my mates would echo that.

A day of skills coaching & practice is very, very worthwhile and better VFM than any shiny bike bits IMO.

Love Rapid Rise. Changing to easier gears under load really works for me

Will hang onto 9 speed as long as I can for that reason

Yep

Going again. Loved round 1

Is Salibury going to be a mud fest then?

Swampthing will be looked out (again)

It was a great day all round and we were very lucky with the weather. Felt sorry for the Sunday guys having a shortened day. Seems like the BBF team had no option and in fairness it was probably a good call given the potential for camp site chaos

It was a really cool and chilled atmosphere and passing is no where near the issue you would fear it could be with that level of singletrack. Almost everyone is polite when passing or being passed.

The start was a bit of a farce though in fairness I doubt it matters to any great extent

Anyone know where the official photos can / will be found

Neil – sorry about your break in. Glad nowt was taken. You at Salisbury this weekend?

Cheers

Will try the syringe first then (have plenty of those 🙂

Just to add to the comments

Had these pedals

Loved them until they fell apart after a few months. Only one side (forget which)

Very annoying as they were the best pedals I had up until then

Now on Burgtec. Not nearly as light but great platform, very grippy. Hopefully much more reliable. We will see

Never know if I should laugh or cry at these threads

The trails are great for the crappy Bristol Winters (July to Arpil 🙁 )

They are also fun as part of a much bigger and challenging route in the better weather. Flashes is right the ‘off piste’ now holds up soooooo much better as well.

The AC edging is a bit of a blunt instrument no doubt but blame that on the lazy muppets cutting all the corners.

Do wonder about the BBF though. Passing was hard at the Oktoberfest. Will be very tricky in the BBF 😕

Anyway. Seriously doubt any major city comes even close to rivalling the Bristol set up.
Fast & flowy – Yer Tiz & Nova,
Flat & rooty – 50 Acre & top of Leigh Woods
Steep & Techy – Leigh Woods Gorge

Good thread (or maybe good timing) Was just about to splash for Flow rims. May well still go that way.

Would prefer to run tubeless. What would be the best Mavic alternative. Strong, tubeless compatible and lightish in that order of priority?

Sorry for the (slight) hyjack.

Agree 100% for the need for Dual Ply tyres

If you are planning on getting anywhere near race speed you will pinch flat on single ply’s almost definitely (4 punctures on first run on my first time out – dual ply bought at bottom. No more punctures rest of week)

Think air shock is ok but coil would be better.

Dropper post definitely would help

8 of us going and staying in the Altiport this year 🙂