I broke my wrist in mid feb this year , had to have a metal plate fitted and 8 screws. i was back on the bike mid april and riding trails again by mid may, im still seeing physio and having ultrasound therapy to improve the movement ,im at about 65% strength /movement at the moment but that’s better than the original 5% I had in april:)

good luck with the recovery

you can see the shark in the water bottom right before he jumps in…. bloody scarey though lol

A full face should fit snugly ,feeling like it pushes your cheeks in slightly .you shouldnt be able to grab the chin and pull it upwards exposing your face , if you can its not a good fit. I ride chicksands twice a month and I wouldnt ride without a full face it has saved me quite a few times from serious facial injury:)

heres mine :)result was a broken wrist,5 weeks off work, surgery and a metal plate with 6 screws im back on the bike now though but im still taking it a bit easy lol.

broken arm video[/url]

Thule proride 591:)

Camelbak rogue for £ 8.98:) I hope they honour it lol

The raceface atlas stealth bar would look great im sure he had those last year when I collected my frame 🙂

Yep looks great:)

Heres my one and only bike, banshee spitfire v2 .ive had it a year and im still in love 8)

here is a copy of the latest Woburn sands facebook post from last night, hope it helps. some good work going in to getting the place up and running again from those involved:)

Update post meeting with Bedford Estate, Beds. County Council, Greensands Trust, Ian Tunnicliffe & myself.

Summary of meeting;

– Within the next 2-3 weeks all the fallen trees will be removed. A further meeting with then be held on site to discuss how the area is progressed.

– No commercial activities (this includes coaching) will be condoned / authorised by the Bedford Estate and Beds. County Council – this is with immediate effect.

– No vehicles are to be parked in front of the gates opposite the Bike Park entrance and as a minimum we can park in the mini lay-by (approx 10 cars). Please park in the big lay-by further up the road (which the Council kindly funded for us).

– Building of any illegal trails must stop with immediate effect and any current trails / jumps in non-permitted areas will be destroyed.

– Do not ride in the Quarry area- this has undergone replanting and needs sufficient time to flourish and mature. Also expensive deer fencing has been erected and it’s vital for the environment that this area is not disturbed.

Other points to mention;

– It was never the intention for the Bedford Estate or Beds. County Council to stop us riding at Woburn. The recent closure has been purely related to the interests of Health & Safety.

– An XC Committee will be formed so both areas are represented properly.

My personal thoughts;

I am actually buzzing like a bee right now, the vibe between all parties at this meeting was both positive and constructive. We do have a future @ Woburn, that’s for sure but it relys solely on us (riders) to keep it that way, this means,

– All digging of trails and / or jumps must be controlled through the committee who then will liaise with BE, BCC & GST and seek approval.

I would therefore like to ask that we all continue to respect the closure of the area, this is even more vital now as the BE need to finalise the tree removal operation and interference will only delay this process.

We have an opportunity to make something truly amazing here and I for one feel very confident about the future of the Woburn Biking community.

I really appreciate you all being so understanding and whilst it’s early days, I hope we can all pull together and ride again soon.

Further updates will follow ASAP.

Deano.

ive lived in Cambridge all of my life ,their isnt any decent trails for miles . there is only thetford which is ok for a day out but very flat or there is chicksands bike park (brilliant fun) which is where I spend most of my time. they are both about 45 mins drive from Cambridge in different directions. there used to be Woburn too hopefully it will be rebuilt.

basicly you either need a car to visit places or a road bike to join the masses…

got my frame from rob at bike active last year he’s really helpful, I got a great deal too:) its a great shop to visit now he has the new premises as well.

The spitfire is built like a tank its more a short travel enduro / all mountain bike rather than a trail bike imo its a very capable bike:)

Saw a prototype(or we think it was) cotic rocket fold in half at chicksands 2.5 months back both top and bottom tube. So im not suprised they have been put back , hopefully they are fixing any teething problems with the new production run because they do look awesome.

I ride a spitfire so would definatly recommend one:p

Might as well post mine again to add some variance in colour:) im going stir crazy at the moment as I still cant ride due to my broken wrist….

Had my spitfire 10 months now and totally love it .the bike is great at most things and loves pointing downhill. It is a little heavy although it certainly doesnt feel it when ridden, my build wieghs in at a smidge over 30ib. They are very playfull bikes and I would have another in a heartbeat.the reverb coller is now black as I got a new one through warrenty:)

Unfortunately I havent riden it in 6 weeks since I broke my wrist at chicksands and had to have surgery. Im so desperate to ride her again but ive got a few weeks and some physio at least till I can:(

I brought the new case for my as10 in december its great so much better than the original one:)

Im running the same shock on my banshee and also weigh 76kgs in the buff… I love mine .I use trail 1 and 2 most of the time but I also love decend on more downhill stuff , I would like to try a db air though……

It will be fine:) they are digging some new trails but the parks open and will be riding great. Im off there today too:)

I lost 685gms when I fitted mine due to removing the chain guide I had fitted as well:) bloody cheap wieght saving really and works so well!

Was using a spoon but just swapped to a raceface atlas which is basicly a sdg ti fly ,it suits my narrow sit bones better than the spoon so im finding it slightly more comfy even though its a harder saddle:) not that the spoon was bad it was comfy on shorter rides.

50mm:)

im 5 foot 7 in and mine is a medium which is bang on the size for me .if I was any shorter I would get a small im right on the borderline between the two. I would of thought you would be comfy on either medium or large but medium would be better, it depends on your reach and legs really. you should try to find one to sit on

smaller bikes always look better anyway:P

Im going there for thai on saturday , might ride my bike a bit too:p

cant comment on 650b as mines set up with 26s but you wont regret buying a spitfire ive had mine 8 months now and it still makes me grin from ear to ear ,such a great bike to ride, its my only bike and I use it for everything .mine wieghs in at 30 pounds 4oz now:)

Heres mine I use it for everything:) I dont change anything on it except for adding lights:p

You will love the spitfire great choice ! What colour did you go for? Ive had mine 8 months now and cant get enough of it ! after going1x10 it now wieghs 30.5ibs which is pretty good I think for a frame that isnt considered lightweight. The bike loves going downhill fast, pedals uphill well , has tons of traction due to the awesome ks link suspension and loves air time .since I built mine I havent looked at any other frames as I love riding it so much its my only bike and I use it for everything:)

Fitted the raceface one and a zee mech to my banshee spitfire on tuesday seems to work brilliantly and looks really nice. I went for the raceface rather than the works purely because it matched the rest of my raceface finishing kit. Im still to give it a proper test but so far so good

An older Giant reign would be a good bet for that sort of price. Nice bikes

Ive had my spitfire since may and I absolutely love it . I find it more of a short travel all mountain/enduro bike rather than a trail bike ,its built pretty burly and can take some punishment. Really really great on decents and lovely and balanced in the air , not the fastest uphill but perfectly useable I use mine for everything as its the only bike ive got room for and there is not much I would swap it for. Ive pretty much stopped looking at frames since I got this as it suits my riding perfectly

.loving this years blue frame! your bike looks sweet mmel:)

[Img]http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m634/dawes686/Uploads%20via%20Pixelpipe/2013-09-17175221.png[/img]

my banshee spitfire v2

Im using the links mids ,I absolutly love them they grip really well on my nukeproof pedals but still allow you to reposition your feet, they are well built , look much better in real life than in the pictures, pretty weatherproof and I got mine for £40.

Half the riders at this years redbull rampage were wearing them so they cant be that bad. Only gripe I have is there a little heavy but they are boots so I expected that but its nice to have ankle protection:) in my opinion they look better than the legions of 5/10 impacts and freeriders that you see everywhere

loving your rune mindmap3! looks great I bet its a blast to ride. how are you finding the raceface narrow wide ring without a chain device ? have you lost the chain yet? im thinking this is the next upgrade for my spitty once some more black 36t ones appear somewhere in stock

I brought the frame back at the end of may and built it myself . Heres the spec

Medium banshee spitfire v2 with the slack chipset installed and 12×142 rear axle
 Fox ctd trail adjust kashima shock(it took a while to dial this in properly but now im really liking it )
 Rockshox 150mm revelation with 20mm maxle
  Rockshox reverb 
Shimano xt brakes with 180mm rotors
 Shimano slx double cranks 22-36
 E thirteen trs duel chain guide and bash 
Shimano slx shifters 
Shimano slx 10 speed cassette 11-34
 Shimano slx shadow + rear derailleur
 Sram x7 front derailleur
 Kmc chain
 Hope headset
 Hope bottom bracket
 hope hoops with stans flow ex rims fitted with schwalbe hans dampfs (Tubeless)
 Raceface atlas 50mm stem
 raceface atlas kash money handlebars cut to 750mm
 raceface half nelson grips 
Nukeproof pedals
 Charge spoon saddle

I got the frame from rob at bikeactive he was really helpfull

Im considering going 1×10 with a raceface narrow /wide chainring and zee clutch mech in the near future

Ive got a 2013 spitfire with fox ctd and absolutely love it 🙂 its stiff , rails berms , likes getting air and loves going downhill but is easy on the ups too. The ks link suspension is great ,very plush but still gives a good platform when pedalling .I use mine for everything which includes chicksands bike park, cross country , commuting and this weekend im booked on the uplifts in the forest of dean. It gets alot of admirers too as you dont see many about:) mine wieghs in at 30.1 Ib .heres a couple of pictures

The fox ctd trail adjust kashima on my banshee spitfire v2 works great. The 3 settings feel significantly differant but I only really use trail 1 and decend . I have it in decend most of the time and it gives up most of its travel relatively easily really ramping up right at the end of the stroke, ive never bottomed it out In fact it feels bottomless.

It did take a while to dial in though, to start with I was running it too hard which made the ride harsh, but it still seemed to use the same travel as I do now .I dropped 20psi and now its much plusher and feels great. Im 13.5 stone and I run 180psi in it:)

Differant frames can make a massive difference to the feel of the shock though im sure, maybe it just works better with banshees frames rather than some other manufacturers

Unfortunatly not so I cant offer a comparison ,but as chicksands is local to me it was a no brainer to try him and im glad I did:)

Im going to throw another name in the mix . I had a 4 hr coaching session with tom dowie at chicksands bike park , he was very well priced for 1 on 1 tuition , clear and easy to understand, a really great teacher,very patiant and the course was tailored to my needs after he assessed my abilities and included a bit of everything.

tom is a top 4x rider and is off to the world champs next week to represent great Britain so you know your getting coached by someone who really knows how to ride:)

I learnt a huge amount and everytime I ride now I can see myself using everything he taught me , im quicker and much more confidant in my abilities especially in the air , I will definitely be booking a follow up session in the near future 🙂

I looked at getting a rune but ended up going with the spitfire after a test ride as its plenty bike for my riding .I loved the idea of a rune but realistically the spitfire suited me better. I still love the idea of a rune though lol infact I would happily ride any banshee I couldnt be happier with my bike its really solid, easy to pedal up , loves air time and fast as f### downhill.im sure whatever you choose will be brilliant especially if you go banshee. Heres a shameless picture of spitfire