Mountain Biking

gettothechopper · 30 Nov 2015 at 21:53

whites level was great with the old climb, it wound through the trees and over streams

since they cleared the trees its just one open fire road to the top with a single corner in it, probably easier but less fun

its fun at the top but the dh is a bit short and sweet

the wall is the worst thing I have ridden, we did it twice and it nearly killed me
it was worse because we stayed in the lodge at the top of the last decent, so we started with the fun bit and spent the rest of the lap climbing back up

milko · 30 Nov 2015 at 21:55

Haha, Warpcow and friends are hilarious around Afan, a lot of whinging going on when they have to pedal for more than ten minutes

(Admittedly I've not been with Cow himself, only some of the gang.)

I think most people will probably enjoy the place but there is some proper climbing to do. It depends a bit on which trail and they've moved them about some since I last went. The old Skyline descent was immense fun, if I'm remembering name and trail correctly but I think I heard that's now a climb for some messed up reason. Or maybe I'm thinking of White's.

Cwmcarn hmm. The DH descents are a hoot but on the new XC I found the descent quite frustrating as you had to stop for those moto-blocking stile things a lot of the time. Every time we had some flow and fun going it was dismount, toddle through, climb a bit, get into good stuff, repeat to fade. So yeah, go up XC by all means but come down the fun way! It's about halfway round, big signposts into it with lots of warnings about danger and so on. MUST be what you're talking about, Cow? And then there's the old DH which is also a good laugh.

rhysduck · 30 Nov 2015 at 23:08

Did someone say XT? hnng.. it's gorgeous!

Gotta wait for payday for an invisiframe kit and a reverb tho

Supercow · 1 Dec 2015 at 07:59

I climb to get to fun bits. If there's no fun bits, or disproportionately less than the effort of getting there... then yea I'll moan like Danny too Milko, but he's a bit worse than me.

Cant recall all the CwmCarn tracks (other than the main old / tired DH run), but the descents on the old dragon DH (to which you can pedal / loop up to) is immense fun.

Lovely bling Rhys! Got the frame yet?

milko · 1 Dec 2015 at 10:56

Just yanking yer chain. Yeah I think it's the old dragon DH that the new XC at Cwmcarn goes to. Went past it and onwards on the XC once and regretted it.

Supercow · 1 Dec 2015 at 15:32

Danny is a fanny, so yank away!

6thElement · 1 Dec 2015 at 18:23

New Pike should be turning up today for the wifes trail bike. Not bad for ~300 quid in the sales. Especially as I'll recoup a chunk of that when I sell the Fox that's on there currently

It's not even her main xmas gift either :eek:

Begbie · 1 Dec 2015 at 19:32

$300? Or £ :eek:

Stonking value.

neil_g · 1 Dec 2015 at 19:53

If you got 2016 160mm solo airs for £300 I may cry.

6thElement · 1 Dec 2015 at 20:50

2015 model, at 300 quid the minor changes to the 16's don't concern me.

Begbie · 1 Dec 2015 at 21:05

Is there even much of a difference?

6thElement · 1 Dec 2015 at 22:21

A quick search earlier gave me this:
http://forums.mtbr.com/shocks-suspe...-2016-a-975954-post12117380.html#post12117380

I've been on mine for ~18 months without issue.

neil_g · 1 Dec 2015 at 22:31

Pretty much all i found too but the last post says:

new seal head to address oil migration from charger damper into lower legs.

rebound shaft has 3 ranges which can be configured by end user by moving some shims around to give further rebound adjustment range depending on rider weight and riding style. there is low/medium/high range and the fork comes set on medium range.

neil_g · 1 Dec 2015 at 22:33

Anyway going back to afan/Cwmcarn, cafall looks like it has some fun bits?

rhysduck · 1 Dec 2015 at 22:57

Supercow said:
Lovely bling Rhys! Got the frame yet?

Oh yes

milko · 1 Dec 2015 at 23:48

neil_g said:
Anyway going back to afan/Cwmcarn, cafall looks like it has some fun bits?

That's the one. It does have fun bits, but I got annoyed with the stop-start nature of it. Too many interruptions. But part way along you can drop into the Pedalhounds descent instead. Depending how happy you are about a DH-graded trail, I'd take that option.

neil_g · 2 Dec 2015 at 08:39

cheers might give that a bash in a few weeks then

rhys - pah common black bike.. (nice

)

Supercow · 2 Dec 2015 at 08:58

Stunner Rhys! Get rid of the decals off the rims imo.

rhysduck · 2 Dec 2015 at 09:19

Ha, mate suggested that aswell. Think I'm in agreement too!
just need a reverb and get it taped up. All the inner/outers came with the shifter this time (wasn't the case with my Zee shifter I bought for the Shan!) Is this an XT thing?

Cwmcarn: haven't been for a month or two but when I was there last Twrch was more or less closed in it's entirety due to logging or whatever it is they are doing. (I'll post up if it's any different - I'll ask on one of the lcoal MTB groups)
Cafall would be my choice and then pushup the bottom of Pedalhounds (which I'm yet to do). It's a good ride Cafall but the climbing is hard work, unless you take the fireroad "shortcut".

What you could do perhaps is up the forest drive to the top of the old freeride (airstream - but that was cordoned off last time I was there, doesn't stop you pushin up the road to the start of it if no one is about!), down air stream and all the way to the bottom of the Twrch, then up the opposite side of the mountain on the fire road to the middle or so of Cafall.... easier to explain with maps

Just go to Afan or BPW

Begbie · 2 Dec 2015 at 10:25

Looks awesome!

I took mine for some xc yesterday, works surprisingly well on technical climbs. Rocks everywhere and it just didn't phase it all. Mate on his Carbon FS couldn't keep up at all. Shame the route had what felt like zero reward :/