The bike is a Nukeproof Scout 290

Grannyjone

Thats what I like about Gisburn it is packed with features, there aren’t many rides where nearly every climb, descent and flat section has got tech on such a consistant basis. All too often you see trail centres where only the descents are on techy singletrack, everything else on fireroad or featureless track.

Quickest, without an ebike, was 4m 30 iirc

Just checked my Strava, fastest I’ve done it is 3 min 50, slowest 6 min 12, so yes not that long really for the longest section of pure boredom on the entire route. It just feels longer.

<span style=”display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: ‘Open Sans’; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;”>I’d say that April, early May is the best</span>

April was not a good month this year. It was muddy. May was definitely good.

There have only been 3 good months this year where bike cleaning after every ride has not been required: May, June and July

On average there seems to be 3 to 4 months where it’s trails are very dry, it is not always the same months every year, can be any from April to October.

I think November’s worse: crap weather and you still have shorter days to “look forward” to. At least in Jan and Feb things are brightening up.

I wouldn’t say November is the worst because the next 4 months that follow it are (on average) colder

I was going round with 10 other bikers earlier this week in a club ride and nearly half of them were manualling at every opportunity, it looked great. Especially when it’s Fat Bikes.

I’d really like to do it but can’t. I find the Car Park sessions very dull.

About 10 minutes is about the longest I can spend in a Car Park trying to do tricks before I really get very bored.

I can sometimes do a Wheelie but can’t hold it for long.

With manuals I’m useless, very rarely does the front wheel lift off the ground much and when it does I can never keep it there.

I tend to mix the Biking with a bit of Hiking in Winter, as cold weather seems much less of an issue with Hiking as it does with Mountain Biking.

To make it interesting, I will Hike trails that I don’t bike on, otherwise it’s boring as hell (like seeing the same old stuff but in slow motion and with no chance of crashing!). Plus there’s some great trails that are only accessible by foot, with much more techy terrain.

Combine this with a few mountain biking trips abroad and there’s probably enough to keep things interesting through Winter. It must be said I still get more than sick of it by the end of it though and more than glad when its over.

I don’t bother with turbo training, zwift, street running, road biking, etc which I’ve seen a lot of mountain bikers start doing when Winter comes.

Not looking forwards to the Coldness, the Ice and the Snow.

As for the Mud ? It’s already here! At least in the North West, it’s constant rain since early August. A dry 2nd half to the Summer it certainly has not been.

One good thing about Winter, it’s a good excuse to take a couple of mountain biking trips to Spain. During the other seasons I find it hard to convince myself its worth going abroad, because the weather in the UK isn’t that cold for riding, but in the Winter, I don’t need any convincing.

Done loads of group rides. Leading or just following. Had it as low as 4 to 5kph with a big group on hillier than average terrain with some very low level of ability riders at the back, and a couple of mechanicals thrown in. Had as fast as 14kph average with a small, more skilled group on very mixed terrain.

So basically it’s hard to say, because the difference between the slowest and the fastest group rides has been 3X!!

The slowest group ride I’ve ever “heard” of, or seen on Strava in my case, was one in the Peak District which averaged just 3kph (!)

Are these “DH Courses” a lot harder than the trails at Antur Stiniog ?

At least the hardest stuff at AS is avoidable. e.g. the 15 foot cliff drop on the Double Black

Favourite so far has been the Singletracks Podcast.

Based in the USA however, so any talk of “Local Trails” is quite irrelevant, but the Podcasts they do pertaining to more general mountain biking stuff are far more interesting.

I managed without Knee Pads when I was a beginner and didn’t have a clue what I was doing and was crashing regularly on any tech. Plus riding a £300 bike.

5+ years later  I crash a lot less often, have got a lot better, and got a £2800 bike, it makes me think If I managed without them back then, why do I need them now ?

Maybe I just got lucky when I was a complete beginner not to break anything. Going straight into trail riding at places like Gisburn without any training or practice and on a cheap hard tail and with no protection other than an XC helmet and gloves.

Maybe I need to try some other knee pads out, the ones I’ve got aren’t comfy.

The ones I’ve got, I find them uncomfortable for constant hours of pedalling and only use them if Uplifts are involved.

Also forget to mention, it’s the 2017 Stumpjumper not the 2018! The Original Post said 2018 by mistake.

The Hope Tech Pro 4 looks like a good replacement.

Compatibility reduces other options. It’s a 12×148 through axle, XD Drive, 29er.

I’m thinking of getting the Hope Tech but not sure whether to get the XC or the Enduro.

The Specialized Roval Traverse rims have stood up well within that year I was riding them. I’ve done the Pennines, Peaks, Lakes, and  a few DH Days at Antur Stiniog,  and a weeks DH / All-Mountain in Malaga, Spain. The Roval Traverse was Okay on all of that. It wasn’t 100% true at the end but it wasn’t badly buckled.

I could get the Hope Tech Enduro rear wheel but it is heavier. 200g heavier than what I’ve got now. I do a lot of climbing, the uplift holidays in Wales and Spain are in the minority, the majority of the time I have to ride up the hills. 1000m-1500m of climbing per ride typically.

It looks like the Spindle has snapped and the Freehub only has 2 Pauls instead of 3!

Some Pictures of the failure:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipN197UCOII9lI-0g3sdi05hfuOSAKJvbBr-Gd3RIwI1nSX5d22t4fHXoyH1hFS-7g/photo/AF1QipPTwf6qIbAJnEBqQL0HZw7JhWJF8PQT29Ht8N3K?key=UkxHTC1iQWZvdktIRGxCc2dseE5pWmFlb2g3cmZR

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipN197UCOII9lI-0g3sdi05hfuOSAKJvbBr-Gd3RIwI1nSX5d22t4fHXoyH1hFS-7g/photo/AF1QipMXO1syHdhKhUrsLxeWI_5FYQeUV_1_5GFWNIyR?key=UkxHTC1iQWZvdktIRGxCc2dseE5pWmFlb2g3cmZR

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipN197UCOII9lI-0g3sdi05hfuOSAKJvbBr-Gd3RIwI1nSX5d22t4fHXoyH1hFS-7g/photo/AF1QipPYVVNzErCXTBJ28_lD6h3uZtkWOHwybFWe2leo?key=UkxHTC1iQWZvdktIRGxCc2dseE5pWmFlb2g3cmZR

It’s hard enough to get up Jacobs Ladder on the Hayfield side and that’s nothing compared to the Edale side!

I’ve yet to try the Edale side uphill, and never will if I’m planning the route.

There are claims that Jacobs Ladder has been ridden uphill all in one go

My rear mech is a Shimano SLX 11 Speed. The Shifter is a Shimano 10 Speed.

The Cassette is a 10 speed Sunrace 11-42.

The Chain is a SRAM PC1031.

The bike mechanic said I need an 11 Speed Rear mech as the 10 Speed one wouldn’t cope with the large Sunrace cassette, and that the 11-speed Rear Mech is still compatible with the 10 Speed Cassette as long as the Shifter is 10 speed.

Shifting is still poor. ESPECIALLY Considering the Drive Train is brand new.

The chain It doesn’t slip, it’s just sluggish at changing gears and doesn’t always go into gear properly, requiring another shift to get it to stay in gear.

I’ve ordered a Shimano Chain to see if that solves the issue.

Walking up any hill with a bike sucks. It’s even slower than walking without a bike, and by quite a long way as well if the terrain is tough enough.

Is that even possible ?

Surely not all of it!

On an Ebike  it would be a blast

I went on the bike a lot in June and July but in August I found it hard to get out much due to the constant rain, worst of all, 3 out of 4 Sundays were heavy rain during that month. Plus a lot of mechanical problems have recently come, which always sets me back.

It was an online order from somewhere miles away so even if they agreed to fix it and I posted it off it wouldn’t get it fixed any time soon

66km in the Peaks I’d be doing well if I did that in 5 hours

I can’t believe that someone’s averaged 20kph over that course, I was thinking the top level would be around 15kph the peaks just isn’t bike friendly. Jacobs Ladder and Mam Tor are killer climbs. I’m not so familiar with the other side of the course, so not sure if it’s any easier.

I’ll have to get an Ebike that’s the only way I’d be averaging 20kph on the Dark Peak trails

<span style=”display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #555555; font-family: ‘Noto Serif’,serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;”>Really nice course apart from the walk up Jacobs ladder!</span>

I really don’t know why they’ve done Jacobs Ladder that way round

I’ve just found out that the reason my mobi V17 jet washers have all failed is that the charging port has corroded.

The problem is entirely the charging port. Not the battery or the charger.

Anyone know how to prevent this from happening ?

I’ve ordered a new one for £80 as there doesn’t seem to be a suitable alternative (I’m sure I’ll end up making a warranty claim and end up getting two Mobis for my £80 but that will probably only get me through a year and a half, going offthe current rate!)

I’ve ordered a Cone Wrench set from 15mm to 20mm. I think I have most of the other stuff already. I can certainly take the cassette and the disc brake off.

I’ve yet to find out for sure what the hub is, but I’ve done some reading into this and read that the Stumpjumpers use the Hi Lo hubs ? I’ve also heard that they are non-serviceable, but it is possible to replace them

I’m going to wait until the Cone Wrenches arrive first then see if I then have the ability to take it off and put it back together. I also need to find out what type of hub it is for sure so that I can order a replacement.

I hope the forecasts I was reading recently are right about the heat and dry making a return in September

3rd shit Sunday in a row in the North West

Having owned one of these Racks, mine uses straps for everything, it’s pretty slow getting the bike on and off, takes about 2 to 3 minutes.

Which rack is the quickest for getting the bike on and off ?

This is a really important consideration to make when choosing a rack, sluggish loading/unloading times cause a lot of aggro in the long run. Especially when trying to get away from bad weather or Undesirables at Car parks.

Speaking of moaning about Uplifts – The Uplift Bus at Antur Stiniog is always absolutely filthy whenever I’ve been. Do they ever clean it ?? It’s not like the trails around there are even muddy anyway, it’s all rock and slate

The same Full Suspension Bike, With Dropper Post, All year round.

There’s only two extra things to maintain compared to a HT. Rear shock and pivots. Probably only adds about £200 a year to maintenance compared to a Hard Tail and that’s paying for the labour, not doing it yourself.

Also, suspension wears out quicker in dry and dusty conditions than muddy and wet. The seals keep wet mud out, while dust gets through the seals much easier. Through some of Winter, most of the mud is frozen anyway.

I ride a lot less in Winter than Summer anyway, mainly because it’s cold and the amount of faff and cleaning is too high to be worth doing it more than once a week. In Summer I’ll be out 4 times a week.

I wouldn’t want to ride a crappy bike for some of the year. I’d rather just use my best bike all year round and if there is going to be more maintenance bills just pay them. I don’t do biking because it “can be done cheap”, I do it for fun.

I actually tried running a cheap Hard Tail for Winter rides for a while, I didn’t work, it cost more money in the long run because it had all the same maintenance bills as the Full Suss except Pivots and Rear Shock which is only a small % of the total maintenance bill anyway, plus, as the bike was cheaper quality, parts were breaking on it that wouldn’t have broke on my best bike!! In the end I sold the Hard Tail and made quite a loss on it (Lost at least £600 and only did 1,200 miles on it – 50p a mile!)

It appears that Mountain Biking is discouraged in England (outside the Trail Centres).

Everywhere else is just there for the grumpy walkers really.

The fences really annoy me, when you have to lift a bike over a fence to ride a section of trail it really does spoil things, a lot. If a good section of trail gets a fence put through it, that alone puts me off riding it.

I have an unwritten rule I set myself when I plan a route: 3 Gates/Styles to lift the bike over is the MAX on any ride in a day.

This was most apparent on my last ride, I had already reached my maximum of 3 and was getting near the end, the shortest route back involved 2 styles, but I choose the longer route with more climbing (even tho I didn’t feel like it) because I’d already done my 3 maximum carries…

Would anyone say the number of decent trails is on the rise or the decline these days ??

Are Mountain Bike routes in decline ? Are the top routes getting worse ? There seems to be more sanitisation than ever before, and the number of Gates and Styles being implemented into Trails which used to flow well throughout, has been on the up, during the 4 years I’ve been doing it.

Thank God we’ve got trail centres to fall back on, but really don’t like restricting myself to just these. There are so many good rides that aren’t at Trail Centres and they don’t all involve as much Driving to get there.

Speaking of running on 10% mode – Does this really speed things up much ? I’d think you’d need 10% just to overcome the extra weight of the bike on the climbs – Is 10% mode any faster/easier than riding a normal bike ?

All those who say its cheating are laughable. To me I feel DRIVING to a ride feels like “cheating” a lot more. But its essential in my case, otherwise I’d be stuck with riding same route all the time! But I get some sense of achievement when I’ve set off from my house and done a big ride, which I don’t get if I’ve driven there.

I want to get an Ebike, as having Fun is the main objective to my Biking rather than Fitness. I don’t have much Fun in my life apart from Biking.

I do however have a lot of money. I’ve got £25K spare at the moment.

I have no problem getting up hill – on my regular routes I am in the top 5 to 10% on Strava on most segments. However I feel that an Ebike will allow me to have much more fun on my rides, by going uphill at 25kph and having just as much fun on the climbs as on the descents.

Riding into a headwind will also no longer be a slog.

How many times will a modern Ebike get round the Llandegla Black before the battery runs out ? I’m talking when going fast on every uphill, not going round slowly in eco

Not that Llandegla Black is my favourite trail or anything, but I’m using it as an example because nearly everyone knows it.

I can understand doing this to sections of trails which turn into a bog fest, but rocky trails which have nothing wrong with them such as 3 rivers makes no sense to me

It doesn’t even benefit Walkers – They are capable of getting over far more technical terrain than us – So don’t know why a Walker would want this ?

To me I find walking boring unless the terrain is extremely severe

It is very hilly, slow-going and hard. The climbs are much more difficult than the descents.

At least it’s on the climb side and not the descent side!

If the descent side of Garburn was like that, there’s no way it would be worth that climb

What are E Bikes like maintenance wise ?? Are they basically the same as a normal bike unless something goes wrong with the motor ?

Make sure it’s going down Jacobs Ladder towards Edale not going up it from Edale like some routes I’ve seen

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