Mountain Biking

I had my first Surrey Holls epic on the E29 yesterday.

I managed 35km with 1100m of vertical over about 5 hours. The frightening thing is how tiring singletrack is compared to riding in the open. I am absolutely bushwhacked today!

The E29 is my first new bike in 15 years and I was shocked at how capable it is. I have been riding those woods on a singlespeed rockhopper with about 100mm of travel. 155mm of travel and 29er wheels just felt like cheating! The wheel size was surprisingly easy to copy with. There were only one or two places where I was going far to fast to make the turn and had to instigate emergency procedures.

The only thing I still haven't got the bottle to try is jumping.

I will be riding up there or Swinley every weekend to get ready for BC bike race in June. If anyone patient fancies coming along, I would welcome the company!
 
New Chris Akrigg video here: http://vimeo.com/124738576

What I really like about his stuff is that he shows his ridiculously good skills on the kind of trails and bikes I ride, rather than by (say) leaping million-foot gaps or whatever.

This one's showing how he'd normally go for a ride and see stuff to do crazy trials skills on apparently. Can't help thinking that if I got to ride with him, first time would be all "woo! look at that!" but by about the fifth time I'd be all "what, we're stopping again so he can mess around bunny hopping off a rock?".

While I'm here, this Team Robot article about mountain bike vids entertained me mightily
http://theteamrobot.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/die-freehuckers-die.html
Even though I don't necessarily think 'riders making a video look spectacular rather than just trying to go very fast' is a bad thing.
 
I love Team Robot articles - he really doesn't pull any punches.
Expect a lot in the upcoming week, as Sea Otter is a prime spot for some serious ****ging of the industry :D
 
He does run his suspension stiffer than anyone, however that might not be the reason, it's only speculation. It's as much proof as saying when he was not Gwinning, the reason for it was that he was running his suspension too stiff.

The issue with stiff suspension isn't just about the rider being able to hold on and fatigue issues, but traction is lost, likelihood of punctures and issues with your wheels comes into play. The dynamic geometry of the bike is also effected a great deal (for example, running your rear end really hard on steep tracks, will pitch you over the front)

Take Jared Graves as another example. Ive read and heard from those closer to the pros, that he runs his suspension significantly softer than what you'd imagine. Now, I agree that you can't compare DH to Enduro racing, but should be some indicator that there's no magic bullet and that everyone should run what works well for them. (which is why I always find it so strange when I meet riders who haven't played around with their bike set up at all, to find out what they like / dislike)
 
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Got some servicing questions in regards to a Trek Marlin 6 29er.

I want to change the gear cables and chain, the chain was seized up the other day, managed to get it loosened up with persistence, oil and skill for a 40mile ride! The bikes been Sat for a while so I want to strip it down a bit, clean the cassette, clean the bike properly, replace the chain and gear cables and build it back up again.

It's a bit of practice for when I do my main commuter road bike in a few weeks time.

Questions are..

Can you reccommend me the cables I'll need please.

&

Will this chain do the job? Mines a 24 speed, so that's 8 on the back so I'm assuming this chain is good enough?

http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/KMC-Z8S-8-Speed-Chain
 
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Gear cables are gear cables for the most part. I run jagwire as they come with boots to (supposedly) stop water and dirt ingress. But that's not a necessity unless you ride a lot of mucky trails.

Depending on how many miles you've put on the transmission you should really replace chain and cassette together as they wear at the same rate. So if you put a new chain on a worn cassette (or vise vera) you can get slippage. But like I say depends whether its worn. You could try just a chain and see if it slips under load. Do you know what gear set you have, SRAM or shimano?
 
neil_g said:
Gear cables are gear cables for the most part. I run jagwire as they come with boots to (supposedly) stop water and dirt ingress. But that's not a necessity unless you ride a lot of mucky trails.

You could try just a chain and see if it slips under load. Do you know what gear set you have, SRAM or shimano?
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I have a Shimano cassette, the only reason I'm changing the chain is because I had to unsieze it the other day after rust had attacked it, the cassette is fine, no rust at all but it's coming off at the weekend to be inspected properly and cleaned before going back on with a new chain.

I've been trying to find some cheap that I can have delivered for Saturday afternoon but I'm struggling, and if I'm paying postage I want both from the same place, I'm also looking local but even then I'm struggling.
 
chain reaction do that chain for cheaper. theyll have a selection of cable sets too.

you'll probably have to next day it though, unless you want to chance it coming in normal post (or not) saturday morning.
 
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My Bird finally arrived yesterday, shame it didn't turn up weekend before as I I've just come back from Glentress.

Got to sort out the hose length on Reverb and tinker with a few things but I'm very pleased :)
 
neil_g said:
Depending on how many miles you've put on the transmission you should really replace chain and cassette together as they wear at the same rate. So if you put a new chain on a worn cassette (or vise vera) you can get slippage. But like I say depends whether its worn. You could try just a chain and see if it slips under load. Do you know what gear set you have, SRAM or shimano?
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If the chain is replaced at the proper time you can easily get 2 or 3 chain swaps in on 1 cassette, providing you change the chain before its too late.
 
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