Hey SOAP – I’ve PM’d you fella

Had Kryptotal front & rear for one run at FOD back in April, front suddenly deflated mid-run, after which the sidewall looked like this:

YMMV, but I found them incredibly stubborn when it came to getting them on or off the (Hunt Endurowide) rims. In contrast, I have no issues with Maxxis tyres on the same rims.

With the Turkish, for most people it works best to start with no weight at all and focus on getting the movement right. Some folks then try it balancing a shoe on the closed fist of their ‘kettlebell’ hand, just to focus on keeping that hand vertical – the tendency is to collapse forwards, especially during those transitions from sitting to standing. It’s just a drill to teach good movement but it works well.

The kettlebellworkouts.com coach is a Strongfirst certified instructor – there are a good number of those in the UK too, check out here: https://www.strongfirst.com/beginners-start-here/

The best answer I can give to your question is it should be as heavy as you can lift with good form and maintain good abdominal tension throughout the lift. For building strength, five reps per set is a popular pattern to follow.

+1 for Wolverson – I’d recommend the ‘competition’ sized bells rather than the cast ones. The competition bells are all the same size regardless of weight. Helps when learning the basics to have each bell the same size so wrist/shoulder angles etc remain consistent.

Swings and Turkish Get Ups are two of the most effective kettlebell movements out there, but they are complex movements to get right and therefore get the most benefit from. I’d strongly recommend getting a coach to teach you the basics – as mulv1976 says mobility is key and getting coaching through that and also the basic movements will pay dividends.

I’ve been training with kettlebells for 10 years or so and find them excellent for developing/maintaining not only core stability & strength, but also explosive power – all of which have direct carry over into our riding.

Another mtb-haunt location was Jelley’s Hollow in the Surrey Hills. The crashed ship scene in Episode 2 was filmed there.

I’ve got the Bluegrass armour as well – it’s very comfy, and pretty breatheable. The latest model also has a pocket for a water bladder which is handy. I’ve crash-tested it too – went OTB on a rocky red in Chatel Bike Park and it worked a treat.

– oh and the Pioneer SPH-DA120 head unit is a direct fit into the centre console, gives you Apple carplay, Bluetooth, etc.

We have a 987.1 Cayman S and bloody love it to bits. My wife uses it as a daily driver, and we’ve also taken it down to Morzine with the bikes on the roof. It’s fantastic GT car for long journeys, the 8 hour schlep from Calais to Morzine was a doddle. We use the Porsche roof bars with Whispbar bike carriers.

Renton – you’ll be fine, I’m the same size as you and no probs with room in the cabin.

We’ve had it for four years and have had a few things to do on it – cracked rear spring, air/oil separator, couple of coolant pipes. As someone said above, parts aren’t cheap but there are plenty of good indy workshops about.

100kg here – used to run 25/27 front/rear. I recently got some Rimpact foam inserts, and I’m now able to run 17/22. I’m now getting frankly ridiculous levels of grip, but with plenty of carcass support from the foam so very little (if any) squirm.

I demoed a Ripley against an SB130, an SB150, and a Megatower. Overall I didn’t find much to choose between the Ripley and the SB130. The Ripley rode really well at trail speed, but took more effort to crank it up there – compared to the Yeti which just wanted to accelerate all the time, everywhere. The Ripley had (for me) the best riding position – when seated pedalling, my spine was in the closest to a neutral position. I also found the BB height pretty low on the Ripley, I had quite a few pedal strikes on the Ripley.

Ultimately I ended up going for an SB130 custom build in a ‘Lunch Ride’ spec with 160mm up front and 136mm out back.

Not sure about the cassette, I usually remove that first, then pull out the end cap and then the freehub.

I got a pot of the recommended DTSwiss red hub grease, and it’s not cheap! You’ll need this if you’re putting new ratchets in (unless anyone knows of an alternative)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004KZY3I6/ref=pe_3187911_189395841_TE_3p_dp_1

Loic had a pretty mahoosive stack in quali – the damage to his face was apparently done by his goggles 😮

https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/crash-carnage-at-fort-william-wc-downhill-2019/

Pretty sure it was at the ‘hip replacement’ corner just at the start of the motorway section. We were just walking down to it when we saw a rider in white take a big stack, but then a huge cheer went out as he got back on his bike and carried on.

Dayum – I had one of these back in the day, almost identical but the rear half of the frame was red. I think the one in the photo is the following year’s model, so 1994? Nice stroll down amnesia lane 🙂

About 2011-ish I ran out of talent on the motorway section at the bottom of Cwmcarn, and landed sideways off one of the jumps. Picked myself up and went for a another run of the black which was – thankfully – uneventful.

The next day I dropped the forks out of my bike to send them off for a service, and found that the previous day’s crash had very nearly torn the steerer tube in half. There was a long crack running 3/4 of the way around the tube. Probably best not to think about what could have happened on that last run if my bars and bike had decided to part company…

I’ve got an Aeris L and I had the same struggles as you with the Thule carrier. I ended up going for a Whispbar WB201 which is plenty long enough and does a great job in holding the bike steady. It’s been down to Morzine & back and no complaints at all.

The guys at Bird recommended the Yakima ForkLift as it holds the tyres rather than the frame – unfortunately it’s too long for our car which is why I went for the Whispbar.

You mentioned he’s taking Graphic Communications. I’m not familiar with what the curriculum is for that, but if he’s got strong creative skills then he could always consider visual effects (VFX). Many disciplines within VFX require strong maths, programming & creative skills – i.e. creating simulations for building destruction or large-scale natural phenomena. I’ve worked in VFX for 15 years and it’s a consistently challenging & rewarding industry.

In the short term this may not be that helpful as most VFX studios are down in London. Long term, if it’s something he might be interested in, there are excellent degrees at both Teeside and Bournemouth Universities. This Q&A is a good overview of how technical and creative skills come into play in VFX:

http://www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/articles/3626

My E1700s have coped with repeat visits to Morzine without a problem. I’m not the daintiest of gents either, so I can vouch for their toughness!

I’ve had a Luftkappe installed for a few weeks now – so far so (very) good. Noticeable reduction in chatter over the small stuff. Haven’t really had much opportunity to test larger hits but I’m off to Morzine on Saturday so will report back on how that goes!

Have a look at the Trailforks app/website for a good overview of the main
trails in the area

https://www.trailforks.com/region/morzine-1455468655/

Another vote for the trail underneath the Seraussaix lift that Stoner mentioned (I think it’s called ‘Soylent Green’?). We used it as a warmup trail last year, for which it was absolutely perfect.

The Panoramic green run over in Chatel is another good un – it’s about 7km long, but nothing particularly steep or techy. It’s a good one to session too, as it drops you into Plaine Dranse, and you can jump on the Rochassons lift back up to the top. From Morzine you can get to it via the Chaux Fleurie lift from Lindarets.

Like the OP, I had TV & BB from Virgin. A couple of years back I cancelled the TV package and bought a BT-branded YouView box for £150. For our usage, I don’t think we’ve lost any of the functionality compared with the TiVo box. I can still record individual programmes and series – and it’s got a decent smartphone app.

I also have a NowTV movies subscription, which I can stream through the YouView box. All comes to just over £50/month for Virgin phone & BB, and NowTV movies. If you don’t use your phone line you could always get a broadband-only deal through Virgin, that saves another £10. It’s definitely a somewhat mongrel setup, but it’s an alternative to switching providers. 🙂

You may want to have a look at these:

https://www.saris.com/product/hatch-huggers

They’re designed for boot hatches with glass edges, but they may be useful in your situation. I’ve got a pair that have been sat in my garage for years, they’re yours if you want them. Email me your address and I’ll pop em in the post to you – my email’s in my profile.

Depending on whereabouts in Hampshire you are, Mountain Trax near Swinley Forest has them for hire.

Stunning day in Afan yesterday. We hadn’t been there for 5 years, and we tackled W2 for the first time. Tired but happy 🙂

I’ve had some great coffee from http://www.hasbean.co.uk (admittedly I haven’t used them in a while) and you can specify the grind when ordering.

I just flew back from Ireland with one in my hold luggage, no issues at all. Just made sure the valve was open beforehand.

I ran a HiLo for four years with no issues – worth checking the air pressure in the post occasionally. The remote lever is pretty crappy mind you, I ended up replacing it with a modified LH Shimano shifter and it was a huge improvement.

Picked up a 520 for £175 in-store at a Cycle Surgery last week – best price I could find anywhere. Bought it for exactly the same reason as you – just exploring local routes & trails.

Replaced the basemap with a higher resolution version from Open Street Map (free), downloaded a few GPX files, job done. It’s been utterly brilliant so far, so much easier than stopping to get map/phone out!

If you have a Natwest or RBS account, it’s worth checking out their travel insurance upgrade for ‘hazardous activities’. It costs £60 for a year, we just had to claim as my wife broke her wrist in Morzine a couple of weeks ago. Very easy process and no issues with them paying out.

I think Snowcard and Dogtag have been recommended on here as independent insurance providers.

Wow, I haven’t seen that on any of my sidewalls, they’ve had probably 100-120 miles of use so far. I’ll keep an eye on them though, that ain’t good!

Yup, I ran the DD Shorty up front and DD Minion DHF on the rear in Morzine when it was muddy, and it’s an awesome combo in the sludge!

For normal UK riding I run EXO High Rollers on the back and Minion DHF on the front. Given that I ran the DD tyres at 5psi less, they didn’t feel particularly draggy in comparison. With ‘Maxxgrip’ the centre knobs are (I think) 60a and the side rows are 42a, you can definitely feel the extra grip cornering!

I’m 100kg funkweasel – not the lightest of gents so I was surprised to be able to run those pressures & get away with it!

Just back from a week in Morzine running DD Agressor rear and Minion DHF front on the Aeris. Ran them 20psi front & 25psi rear – buckets o’ grip and no problems whatsoever. They’re not cheap but it was either those, or standard Maxxis DH tyres plus DH tubes, and the price worked out about the same.

Great edit! 20 years after moving over to the UK from Dublin, it did make me grin to hear someone say ‘f*ckin’ eejit’ on a Megavalanche vid 😀

Ah, never mind. Yeah, Orange were really great to deal with!

Hey Toomba,

My wife is 5’3″ and we tried a Five Diva back in 2011 and it was too short. However, Orange made us a one-off Five with a 2005 front triangle (in ‘extra-small’), and a 2011 rear swingarm. Perfect sizing – and VERY green!

Swinley is our local trail centre, if you’re around the area you’re more than welcome to come and try it out for size. Nic has just bought a Bird Aeris so might be tempted to part with the Five 😉

@BoardinBob – I have to keep my calluses trimmed down or I rip em in no time! I’ve found using a callus knife, straight after a shower while the skin is still soft, works a treat.

+1 on coaching. I was a regular gym-goer for years until I started getting some coaching. We’ve made lots of tweaks to my deadlift technique & breathing pattern – it’s almost doubled my 1RM.

This is the breathing pattern I find works best for me – it helps to maintain the right levels of tension needed for heavy deadlifting. Just before the lift, big breath in through the nose and into the belly – at the same time bracing the abs with maximum tension and using the lats to pack your shoulders down your back. Initiate the lift – and then exhale slowly but forcefully in a ‘hiss’ throughout the ascent.