Mountain Biking

So new stem and new (2nd hand) fork combo fitted for a trial run. Got a full service kit en route for the fork which hopefully will be here for Sunday to get that done. Got a few spare volume spacers too to get it set up right. Expecting the jump from a Suntour fork to a Fox will be pretty significant in feel. Lighter too, for sure, and it's not QR so should be stiffer too.

Also required a new wheel due to being 15mm thru axle rather than QR, could have bought a hub and relaced it but for the sake of saving £30 or so, just grabbed a new Nukeproof wheel.

Need some orange Fox stickers now to keep the theme, the blue is a bit out of place!


 
rhysduck said:
I think what the guys are saying is that Bikeparks are graded a lot differently to trail centres and the like.
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Trail gradings across the country seem arbitrary at best, one trail centre's red can be like a blue or a black at another. Be careful when chosing trails to ride, always take it easy on first run down a trail. Use colour grading as a guide to difficulty/technical on that specific trail centre bike park. dont assume because you have done a red/black/orange somewhere else that you will be capable of the same grading elsewhere. Just use caution and common sense!
 
mrk said:
It's got trails but of course is a DH focused park, they seem to cater to all skill levels and you can progress at your own pace: https://www.b1ke.com/b1keparks/rogate/

The videos on youtube look excellent and exactly what I am after really!
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It's not far from me but I haven't been yet. I'm currently practicing getting air at a dirt jump track near me. My son on his BMX puts me to shame though.
 
BMX is what a few KG and your son is likely lighter too hah - Physics in action :D

That's one reason why I've been looking at saving some weight here and there and have already seen how much better the bike feels navigating forest routes on tubeless vs when I had tubes. It's not a huge difference weighing back to back but the rotational mass is multiplied by about 3x in motion so that's where I have noticed it.

I see what you guys are saying though to ride with caution and hadn't thought about grading systems being different between places too rather than there being a national standard. There are some public bike circuits with jumps nearby so will be spending some time around those leading up to the first bike part day to get some practice even if it's just really basic stuff.

In the meantime though I wanted a bar with a better rise so took advantage of chain reaction's 18% off a Nukeproof Horizon v2 carbon bar at £89 which looks really cool. Doubt I'll notice any difference in practice of the weight but it's half the weight of my alloy bar which is 466 grams cut to 750mm but the biggest benefit of a carbon bar I've read is how they absorb small bumps to give better ride feel and avoid hand fatigue so I'm looking forward to that as some of the rides are 2-4 hours of local terrain circuits.
 
mrk said:
I see what you guys are saying though to ride with caution and hadn't thought about grading systems being different between places too rather than there being a national standard
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It's about as far away from a 'national standard' as you can get! :D

Bedgebury is a 'Red', but compared to a red at BPW, there are zero similarities. Bedgebury also has a 'black' section which consists of a upwards rock roll to of abut 4ft to get into it, then 4 drops of 1ft which are fully rollable. |If you rode that and thought you could then ride a black trail anywhere, you'd be in trouble!!
 
TallPaul_S said:
It's about as far away from a 'national standard' as you can get! :D

Bedgebury is a 'Red', but compared to a red at BPW, there are zero similarities. Bedgebury also has a 'black' section which consists of a upwards rock roll to of abut 4ft to get into it, then 4 drops of 1ft which are fully rollable. |If you rode that and thought you could then ride a black trail anywhere, you'd be in trouble!!
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It's interesting that you're familiar with Bedgebury as I took my first trip at the weekend. I saw that black entrance but stayed away as I'm still a rookie as far as trail centres go. it was good fun doing the loop of red trails there though, although I have to say that the reds there were easier than I was expecting, having never done graded trails before! Do you go often?

I popped over to Pembury woods the other week as I was told there were a couple of trails there and I did find a couple of DIY set ups. Good fun but very tight and my first experience of any sort of air time!

mrk said:
BMX is what a few KG and your son is likely lighter too hah - Physics in action :D

That's one reason why I've been looking at saving some weight here and there and have already seen how much better the bike feels navigating forest routes on tubeless vs when I had tubes. It's not a huge difference weighing back to back but the rotational mass is multiplied by about 3x in motion so that's where I have noticed it.

I see what you guys are saying though to ride with caution and hadn't thought about grading systems being different between places too rather than there being a national standard. There are some public bike circuits with jumps nearby so will be spending some time around those leading up to the first bike part day to get some practice even if it's just really basic stuff.

In the meantime though I wanted a bar with a better rise so took advantage of chain reaction's 18% off a Nukeproof Horizon v2 carbon bar at £89 which looks really cool. Doubt I'll notice any difference in practice of the weight but it's half the weight of my alloy bar which is 466 grams cut to 750mm but the biggest benefit of a carbon bar I've read is how they absorb small bumps to give better ride feel and avoid hand fatigue so I'm looking forward to that as some of the rides are 2-4 hours of local terrain circuits.
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Cleisthenes said:
Trigger's broom :D
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:p
 
I don't really like replacing whole products if it is not necessary but rather upgrading parts, plus I did say I would slowly upgrade stuff as I start to find out the riding style I prefer and my riding skills improve and where components get limiting ages ago remember :p

Aside from brakes and rims, it's a custom bike now hah, looks really mean too all black apart from the frame colour and livery. Never gonna get rid of this until upgrade parts are no longer compatible!
 
mrk said:
I don't really like replacing whole products if it is not necessary but rather upgrading parts, plus I did say I would slowly upgrade stuff as I start to find out the riding style I prefer and my riding skills improve and where components get limiting ages ago remember :p

Aside from brakes and rims, it's a custom bike now hah, looks really mean too all black apart from the frame colour and livery. Never gonna get rid of this until upgrade parts are no longer compatible!
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PICTUTRES PLEASE! :D

Thinking about learning how to service my forks, they're SR Suntour XCR34 Air's, anyone serviced Suntour forks and have any advice on where to start researching?
 
How often should someone service forks? Or is there no interval and simply when they start to be a little rough on compression etc?

As for pics, here you go!

nukeproof-carbon_profile.jpg


nukeproof-carbon_top.jpg


nukeproof-carbon_riser.jpg


nukeproof-carbon_front.jpg


SRAM-NX_rear-angle.jpg




I took off the chainstay protector as the frame already has a thick wrap piece on there it seems that I didn't notice before. The rear mudguard has come off too because we are in nice weather season now :p
 
Shiny carbon, tasty! Would like to try carbon bars but seeing as I'm very happy with my current Nukeproof alloy bars it seems pointless to swap.

Is it bad that I'm almost getting irritated looking at the bike now since it has different wheels front and back? :rolleyes: Replaced the front stock Vitus/WTB one with a Nukeproof Neutron to take the 15mm thru axle of the new fork, so the rim has more subtle graphics and the spokes are black now.

Speaking of fork servicing, I'm going to give these new ones a lower leg service on Sunday most likely. Not sure when they were done last so best keep them running as well as I can, then I'll send them off for a full spring and damper service after the summer. Bit too specialist tool wise for me to be attempting in the shed!
 
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Could have sworn you could get adapters to convert 9mm QR to 15mm through axle? Or was it the other way round :p TBH for that reason alone you mention I'd have just re-spoked a new hub if an adapter wasn't available lol. Bit of faff for less future visual agro!
 
As said above its best to not compare black to black and red to red etc at different bike parks and trail centre's. Simply use the gradings so you know which are the easier and harder trails at the place you happen to be riding.
 
mrk said:
Could have sworn you could get adapters to convert 9mm QR to 15mm through axle? Or was it the other way round :p TBH for that reason alone you mention I'd have just re-spoked a new hub if an adapter wasn't available lol. Bit of faff for less future visual agro!
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Thru axle hubs can be converted to QR, yeah, but that's it usually. Makes sense as the QR skewer is 5mm whereas a thru axle is 15mm.

To be honest the rear wheel will no doubt be replaced at some point. Manufacturer says there's no spares available for the freehub which I expect will die at some point so I'd probably look at getting a decent wheel when it does go. I can put up.with spoke colours until then!
 
Ah that makes sense :D

Change up the rear wheel then! I am dreading the day I need a new rear hub/wheel because the sealed freehub has worn out assuming parts are no longer available for that either but I imagine if I keep things well oiled then it should offer years of service.

Here's a bit of light comedy for today, I've been busy but a mate across town also got the same carbon bar, he also has the Horizon stem (mine is 45mm his is 50mm something) and as my bike was in pieces already as I'd prepped it the night before, I said no to going round as my bike was already in bits and so he said he'd just get on with it after work which he did.... I get a message later saying this:

q8hUY40.jpg

Bants :D

Here's the offending fitment:

DMq6Mzr.jpg

Needless to say, I won't let this slide for quite some time :D
 
mrk said:
Ah that makes sense :D

Change up the rear wheel then! I am dreading the day I need a new rear hub/wheel because the sealed freehub has worn out assuming parts are no longer available for that either but I imagine if I keep things well oiled then it should offer years of service.

Here's a bit of light comedy for today, I've been busy but a mate across town also got the same carbon bar, he also has the Horizon stem (mine is 45mm his is 50mm something) and as my bike was in pieces already as I'd prepped it the night before, I said no to going round as my bike was already in bits and so he said he'd just get on with it after work which he did.... I get a message later saying this:

q8hUY40.jpg

Bants :D

Here's the offending fitment:

DMq6Mzr.jpg

Needless to say, I won't let this slide for quite some time :D
Click to expand...

Hope he didn't go crazy with the torque to get no gaps. So many stems are no gap at the top these days.
 
I have mentioned that these are finger tight and then a general nudge turn to lock it in which by my finger gauge estimate is as close to the rated 5Nm as can be. But I imagine if he wasn't on the ball because of distractions etc he may have gone... a bit much :o

Will find out soon I guess :p
 
Had my first ride out on the clash this evening. I ran out of patience yesterday afternoon, and just went at the build, had most parts required to get it up and running.
Bit of a temporary setup as I've struggled to find the forks I want at a reasonable price, so running a borrowed 160mm 29 fork/front wheel. Was a bit dubious about running mullet, but current setup will likely keep it in the same ballpark as a 27.5 at 180mm when I pick one up in the next few weeks. Part of me secretly actually likes the mullet, but I dunno, I've been down that road before back in the early 00's and that didnt last long back then. we'll see..
Still a lot of work to do on spec, this was literally thrown together with spares, a few parts ordered and a couple of borrowed bits. Priority is the forks for now so I can return the Lyrics to my mate.
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Feels SOOOOOO good to get my leg back over a full sus. Once I sorted out the suspension settings and pressures I felt instantly comfortable with the bike, straight in at mach 5 over the steep and tech, bike didnt miss a beat nor thankfully did my riding.
 
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