Mountain Biking

Quick PIC from my first trip to bike park Wales last week

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In short it was bloody awesome

Nice :D. I did vallassen bike park in Sweden on Saturday, was awesome but my back tyre kept sliding out on me in the thick mud esp in berms, which was a ****** pain and led to me hugging a tree stump... I was supposed to have 2 high roller 2 on the bike but on inspection commencal have cheated me out of a back and put an ardent on instead which is s!!!.

Thinking of a minion, is there anything grippier?
 
I took my first trip to Sherwood Pines on Friday, even with the rain and mud it was fantastic and now I'm trying to work out why it took me 32 years to do something beyond trundling around the flat woodlands of Lincolnshire.

I'm looking at taking the bike up into the Peak District in the summer. Anyone know any good routes, for an relatively inexperienced beginner of course?
 
I took my first trip to Sherwood Pines on Friday, even with the rain and mud it was fantastic and now I'm trying to work out why it took me 32 years to do something beyond trundling around the flat woodlands of Lincolnshire.

I'm looking at taking the bike up into the Peak District in the summer. Anyone know any good routes, for an relatively inexperienced beginner of course?

All I know is that going from sherwood pines to the lake district cost me £1200+ as i loved it and bought my own bike. Altura south trail (red route) in the lakes made sherwood pines red route seem like a blue

I too would be interested in peak district routes as im pretty close by (in leeds)
 
I'm not knocking sherwood as i quite like it, but compared to virtually anywhere its more like a green/blue route, theres virtually no obsticles bar the couple half arse rock features. Its great for fitness as it has hardly any flow, you have to pedal all the time to acheive any speed.

If you hit it hard on the pedals you can do the whole "red" sherwood in 35-40 minutes. Much more fun on a hard tail than full susser.

Cannock chase is more of a real red.
 
I'm not knocking sherwood as i quite like it, but compared to virtually anywhere its more like a green/blue route, theres virtually no obsticles bar the couple half arse rock features. Its great for fitness as it has hardly any flow, you have to pedal all the time to acheive any speed.

If you hit it hard on the pedals you can do the whole "red" sherwood in 35-40 minutes. Much more fun on a hard tail than full susser.

Cannock chase is more of a real red.

This. I was blowing out my arse after the Sherwood pines red with no stops. Definitely more a family red as you say. If you put kids on Altura red trail in the Lakes they would probably start crying or die on the way down
 
So I am pretty new to mountain biking, got introduced to it by my mates (I also do road biking). Got myself a Scott Scale 760, last weekend went round the blue and red route at Forest of Dean which I enjoyed. On the final descent on the blue I made a mistake and ended up going over the bars, unfortunately it seems I have bent my front derailleur shift lever! It still works but you have to pull it back to position yourself. Now I have found I can replace with the same lever (Deore M610) + some cheap gear cabling for £16, instead I found that I can swap both of my gear levers with SLX M670 for £30 which includes all cabling I need.

Does it seem worth while upgrading to SLX? Anyone know what I would gain from doing so?
 
Trail difficulty ratings vary so much from place to place you can't really compare one red or black trail with another somewhere else. Best use of blue , red and black grading is to determine which is the easiest or most difficult trail at that particular venue.
 
Normally better shifting, better quality of materials used and lighter for every step up in the Shimano products. Not a bad price for two shifters though.
 
Got a Boardman FS Pro with a Maxle at the back, it used to have a red end bolt/cap but I've just noticed it has disappeared!

Am I right in thinking this just sits on the end for show as there was no way of actually spannering it on in the past when I've removed the rear wheel. The Maxle itself wound in and tightened up on its own, then the end cap/bolt just screwed over. The wheel itself has always been secure and I've only ever hand-tightened this bolt/cap (when I had it...)
 
Trail difficulty ratings vary so much from place to place you can't really compare one red or black trail with another somewhere else. Best use of blue , red and black grading is to determine which is the easiest or most difficult trail at that particular venue.

Exactly this. Rode some reds out in Morgins, that certainly would not be considered red at Sherwood :p (not that I've ridden Sherwood, but I can take a good guess at how it's like :D )

think im off to aston hill in the morning

cow - you been there this weekend ? drying up?

Just spotted this - did you go?
Think it dried OK towards yesterday, though I wasn't there
 
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Really looking forward to the new World Cup season this weekend. A couple of riders with new teams, how will Ratboy get on after his injury?

The new track in Lourdes certainly looks a good addition to the calendar.

 
If I'm thinking right, it's just a dust cap and the maxle screws into the frame itself. Right?
Yeah that's how I understand it. The axle has to be wound in once it gets through the wheel and hits the frame/dropouts... the wheel itself is secure once that's done and the lever locked into place.
 
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