Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

I don't even run a 2.6 on my DH bike.

 

If I could be bothered to look for it, I've got a 2.8" Michelin kicking around that I want to stick onto the front, and throw the 2.6" on the back, for no other reason than to claim the bike a PFD (personal flotation device).

Great fun passing people on the trail because the mud is so deep/boggy they cannot move.

 

Just added some cheap (£5) toe clips from wiggle.co.uk to my mountain bike and can really feel the difference, once I'd got used to pulling up as well as pushing down could go so much faster on the uphills.

In the future might get some cleats if I keep on cycling quite a bit but it does cost quite a lot and require a fair bit of practice...

Planning to do the marlborough http://www.dynamicadventureracing.co.uk/ challenge race in 3 weeks, which is a 2 hour foot orienteer followed by another 3 hour one on a mountain bike, was wondering if anyone here had done something similar?

 

Much muddier than I thought it was going to be today. Good news though, confidence on the bike is improving rapidly, even had some foot down/slidey rear end cornering going on. Bad news, on the way home managed to get punctures in BOTH wheels. >.<







To be honest as much as it can be fun sliding about in the mud the novelty is wearing thin now, hurry up summer I say.

 

i bought this today

after cracking the seat tube on my old hardtail. i'm pretty friggin excited, can't wait until it arrives.

 

Woooo! First proper couple of really dry rides of the year and on the new bike. Even went out after work thursday and (rather irresponsibly with no lights) stayed out till 9pm we were having so much fun.

Now i'm back amongst the ranks of the unemployed again (hopefully only for a week or 2) i'm gonna try and get out every day. Really want to get my confidence up with high speed cornering, I dont mind going down steep hills without touching the brakes but I tend to choke up on the corners at the bottom, coming in on the completely wrong line, having to brake too hard too late. I know I can do it and I know the tyres can hold because theres been a couple of times when it's just happened, maybe I do need to just man up and throw it round the corner with a bit of lean and a foot down and suffer any falls that come from it till I find the sweetspot.

 

Proper cornering technique - Keep your feet on the pedals and keep the cranks level. Lean the bike over by pushing with your outside hand. Try and keep your body above the bike rather than leaning with it so you can catch the drift without having to put a foot out. Finally, make sure you look where you want to go.

 

Ok i need some advice on a sweet commuting ride, i have been out of the saddle for teh past year and looking to get back into it. I want something cool, understated but still have the ability to have some fun.

Some serious roadwork and maybe the requirement for some mountain **** with a change of tire. go!

 

Pretty much what i've been reading, except alot of riders say to push the outside foot/crank down into the ground while going through the corner to keep the rear tire digging in. Either way I had a good practice session today on some snakey sections, didn't cover near as many miles as I usually do but definitely grew more and more confident the more times I took the same corner.

Even took some footage on the mobile, gonna pinch the folks HD handycam and pay my mate in sausage rolls and beer to be cameraman in the week.

 

Where's the back flips?

 

Haha, that dip 'bout 40 seconds in the biggest jump we got round here.... well there is a some motocross jump hills close by but without an engine theres no way of getting any speed up for decent air.

 

Had the bike out over the weekend, could do with some help, when im pedalling hard usually in the later gears (6,7,8) sometimes it feels like the chain is slipping and i jolt forward, its ****ing annoying as i cant pedal mega hard, or rely upon my pedalling hard sometimes, has anyone got any ideas?

Also i strapped my HD helmet camera to the handlebars, uploading a short 1min clip (raw) right now to the interwebs will post the link when done.

Edit:
Andddd heres the video:
http://vholdr.com/node%2F81213

 

If the gears are adjusted correctly then slipping under pressure is normally down to chain stretch\wear, you'll need a new chain and cassette if it is. Easyest way to tell is see how far the chain pulls away from the front rings, anything more than 5mm ish and it's buggered. It's would be a good idea to check wear on the front rings as well.

Just don't pedal hard out of the saddle, you don't want to slip onto the toptube and dammage any "soft goods"

 

Or slip 1 foot off the pedals only for it to come back round and wallop your shin. >.<

 

It always slips, i am unfortunately very used to it now, catch it every time and no more bust shins!
Cant really pedal in the saddle as its a small-ish framed jump bike (a cannondale chase)

 

I've needed a work bike for ages and i'm also fed up with ruining bits on my Remedy after using it in wet cruddy conditions, so i ended up getting a Genesis i0 iD a couple of weeks back. Work is really close but I wanted something I could take on rides after work, I have a 15mile XC loop with a mix of tarmac\towpath\rooty mucky woods and and it's ideal. I also wanted something to ride in any conditions without having to worry about reliabilty or maintainance.

The Alfine hubgear is nice and smooth in any conditions and the bike takes a hammering and is quite forgiving without feeling twangy.
Had the first proper dry ride today so I went for an aggressive XC ride, tired but had that good ride feeling after .

Really enjoying it so far

Changed a few bits: Chris King headset, Thomson post, Fizik saddle, 80mm Bontrager stem, Wellgo Mag flat pedals.

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/mountain/io-ioid/

 

Nice looking bike, how different do the hub gears feel?

 

Supprisingly good.

Very smooth and direct, there is a very small delay before it engages but it's something you get used to. What I like most is that it feels just as good when in mucky crappy conditions, also on rough sections you can still put power down without chain\mech slapping all over the place. Only downsides that are noticeable are weight and gear range. It's low enough gearing for steap climbs but start to spin out at about 22-24mph (hit 30mph today but was on decent). The weight issue is only noticeable as a whole bike weight really, I worked out it's about 1.6-1.8lbs heavier than a 1x9 setup with chain device.

There is an 11 speed Alfine coming out sometime after September. It's supposed to be lighter with wider spread of gears but smaller increments and also oil bath rather than grease. I'm planning on building a harcore trail bike based on it next year, light strong and suitable for crap (our) weather. Should be able to stick to two mtb's then.

 

Great looking bike, though the frame is a little large for my tastes.

 

It's supprisingly raggable but big enough for a proper ride, but it's not going to be any good for dicking about on rougher stuff. Thats why I want to build a "hardcore hardtail" with Alfine 11speed, something that can take some proper abuse but keep the weight reasonable and be able to use it all year round with minimal maintainace. Allready started speccing it up but wouldn't be building it until next year. I'm going to strip my Kona Cowan for bits but want a steel frame with horizontal dropouts that has a good length TT.