Soldato
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Maxxis Crossmark II EXO TR's?
Mountain Biking
- Thread starter Zefan
- Start date
Demo Day question, how do they tend to work? MBR are doing 2 days on the 7-8th of April at Forest of Dean and have a few bikes I'm interested in, I've signed up for the Saturday. The booking form has nothing around pre-booking bikes at all, so is it just a case of first come first serve if you want to try a specific bike?
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There are generally a few ways they do it. I took part in a Nukeproof (and meant to do a Santa Cruz one but food poisoning decided otherwise!) where you could take a bike out for a couple of hours in the morning but had to return it by the afternoon as they had a ride out in the afternoon that you had to book a place on. It meant you got longer on the bike and got to take it further afield (Spooky Woods at Glentress from the Peel car park if you're familiar) to get a better feel of it.
I also did a Specialized day at Glentress where it only last for the morning where you got a half an hour spin on a bike but they had 5 or 6 to choose from.
I've signed up to the Saturday too.
Soldato
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I've also signed on Saturday, I'm pretty sure it's a case of turn up, have a wander round, pick out a bike you want to ride, if it's available then they set you up and off you go!
I've got a couple of Vitus bikes on my list and a Cube if they're there, it's limited to 250 people over the 2 days so hopefully there shouldn't be too long a wait for a specific bike.
I've got a couple of Vitus bikes on my list and a Cube if they're there, it's limited to 250 people over the 2 days so hopefully there shouldn't be too long a wait for a specific bike.
Neither of those brands are confirmed yet? The latest addition to the fleet was Nukeproof I believe.
Soldato
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No I know, I'm hoping Vitus are there, they were last year. Bit of time yet before so time for them to confirm.
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Sounds like it's quite casual then, I had figured there would be lots of pre-booking of bikes. But if it's just wandering up to a stand and saying "I want that one" then that's nice and easy! When registering I saw something around setting up the bike for you and fitting your pedals - do I definitely need to bring my own or is that just for people who are wanting specific pedals (ie SPD)?
Also... Post demo day OCUK meet?
Also... Post demo day OCUK meet?
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All the ones I've been to have said to bring your own pedals but they've always had a bucket full of pedals to use anyway if you don't.
Soldato
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Well I demo'ed a £5500 Whyte S-150C works, then a T-130S and finally a 905 hardtail today.
Verdict? Full suspension, all the way - the comfort is just too much to give up and they really don't climb worse than a hardtail.
Out of the S-150 with loads of carbon but 29 wheels and the heavier T-130 with 27.5 wheels I preferred the T-130.
Verdict? Full suspension, all the way - the comfort is just too much to give up and they really don't climb worse than a hardtail.
Out of the S-150 with loads of carbon but 29 wheels and the heavier T-130 with 27.5 wheels I preferred the T-130.
Anyone here own a SixSixOne lid? I need a new skid lid to replace my Bell Alchera which I put a substantial dent in after a bad crash at Glentress. Wondering what the sizing is like on the SixSixOne lids, i.e. are they made a bit big or small compared to their label? I usually buy in store and try lids on but there are some good deals online for lids. Looking at a SixSixOne Recon.
Out of interest, what was it you preferred? I'd guess it just felt a bit more lively and interesting - so makes simpler trials feel more fun. I know that's one of the things that's got me looking at mid travel 27.5 bikes rather than the current Enduro crop that can allegedly do everything hugely well!
Soldato
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Pretty much that - my fitness levels are... lacking somewhat
so that may have had a fair bit to do with it, and the place I tested it is pretty smooth, just a couple of man made rock gardens and some small drops, very pedally otherwise.For me the S-150 felt like it took far more effort to ride:, slower to accelerate, less responsive in the corners, the T-130 even though heavier felt much more responsive and much better in the corners. If my fitness was better and I was able to keep the S-150 up to speed I'm sure it may have changed my view slightly, but the T-130 was just a bit easier to ride and more lively.
Here's my full 'report':
S-150C Works – took a fair bit of effort to get up to speed and was quite slow to turn in to corners/berms etc – now my (severe lack of) fitness may have had a big factor but it was definitely more of an effort on this vs the other bikes. I would imagine once you’re up to speed and if you’re hitting some gnar then the 150mm travel 29er would come into it’s own, but it just felt slow and ponderous getting up to speed, and if you dropped off the boil you then had to power it back up to speed. It felt light, but not £5500 with a carbon frame, carbon wheels, carbon cranks, carbon bars light – I’m 6ft 3 so tested the XL size, it felt a nice weight – maybe around 29lbs, certainly a few pounds lighter in the hand than the…
T-130S – …which felt noticeably heavier, being an alloy frame and alloy rims (i29’s) as well as no carbon anything. I’d take a guess at 32-33lbs for the XL model I tested. However, instantly, on the first couple of berms I was like ‘yeah, this is much better!!’ – it was far easier to get up to speed, much quicker to accelerate and much better through tight berms and corners. Overall just a lot more flickable and eager to turn, and less effort to climb and get up to speed. Overall I was far less tired on the T-130 than on the S-150 – this may have been down to me being on my second run so it was less of a shock to the system but I did feel like it took less effort to ride. The revelation RC’s felt great, although I don’t think the sag on the pikes on the S150 were set right as they were much harsher. I’d be happy with the Rev RC’s on a future bike though, nice and plush.
Both the above bikes had GX or XX1 eagle which was awesome, the Hope rear hub on the S150 sounded amazingThe both climbed extremely well, no noticeable pedal bob when sitting and spinning and I kept both in the ‘open’ mode on the rear shock, really didn’t see the need for anything else. They gave no more than 5-10% away on the climbs to the…
905 – …which even though you could feel the bike surge forward with each pedal stroke, didn’t really climb much better than the 2 FS bikes. It handed similarly to the T-130, nice and quick to accelerate, quick and flickable in the corners, but then of course, there’s the comfort. I’m the wrong side of 35 now so this is a big factor, and even on the relatively smooth fire road climb and with 2.8″ tyres I could feel the bumps impacting my sitbones, when riding some rougher stuff it just confirmed one single fact.
I need a full suspension bike.
The S-150 is a much longer and slacker bike than the T-130 too which won't have helped the 'slow and unresponsive' feeling at the speeds I was going at, and as mentioned above the trails were pretty flat with just a couple of descents and a long draggy fireroad climb so a shorter travel bike will naturally be more at home there.
More bikes will be tested at the MBR demo day and the QECP demo day (QE cyclefest)
Oh and to add - modern FS bikes are bloody brilliant, this was my first ride on any modern FS bike, shocks left in full open mode and they climbed to within 5% of the 905 hardtail, couldn't feel a bit of bobbing although I'm a 'sit and spin' climber. They just float so nicely over the bumps with barely any reaction to pedalling, it's FS all the way for me now, maybe a HT when I'm a lot fitter in a year or so
My budget come April will be about £1600, which lets me get a Vitus Escarpe VR 27.5 or 29 - revelation RC forks, Deluxe shock, SLX groupset and a brand-X dropper, for £1670 from CRC. Don't know if there's anything else for that price with that level of spec, if there'ye at the MBR demo day and they ride well I'll just need to decide between the 27.5 and 29 models.
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Yeh Full Suss is definitely the way forwards. Even my 2014 Boardman still feels absolutely fine for climbing, only ever reach for the lockout when I'm doing a really long fireroad - and even then I'm not sure what benefit there is! Went around AshtonCourt and Leigh Woods yesterday, first time on a mountain bike since October or November I think so it was great to get out. Felt really unfit at first but then got into the rhythm and was keeping a semi decent pace!
Soldato
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I used to cycle when I lived in Bristol (Bradley stoke and a few other places funnily enough!) but not on a MTB, I had a fixed gear road bike which I used to get around most of Bristol, this was around 2009/10/11 so my fitness levels were really good then (as you can imagine riding a fixed gear round Bristol!), just need to get some more time on a bike again!
Did the red run at Llandegla at the weekend. Enjoyable but I need to up my fitness for the climbing sections. God that place is busy though, first time at an organised place, not sure what to make of it......
It’s also the first time I’ve seen e-bikes in action, looks like cheating to me!
It’s also the first time I’ve seen e-bikes in action, looks like cheating to me!
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last time I was at llandegla it was an e-bike fest... I've always defended them, thinking they're ace for more unfit or less-able people to get out on a bike and enjoy the outdoors, and I still believe that. But, after the 10th one buzzed past me on a climb I was ready to scream... It just makes it more annoying that you overtake them on anything technical, for them to buzz past on the next climb...
wish he could have towed me up!
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had several 661 helmets both FF and half-shell. TBH so long as the helmet fits there really isn't any difference in them.