Mountain Biking

Bedgebury does my head in. They have neutered it to the point where 95% of the "red route" is not even a green and whenever they go in and fix a section they literally just fill holes and dump a **** tonne of loose stone on it. The very centre line of the track gets bedded in but anything off line is loose as hell and like skating on marbles. Most people who ride there are not very good so they ride the bottom of the berms and anything above that is loose and gets looser the higher up you go.

I gave up paying for parking at Bedgebury a few years ago because they give zero ***** about anyone but their yummy mummy crowd who bring their kids down in the SUV and sip coffee or go for a gentle stroll to one of the play parks. I only live 20 minutes away but I would rather go pretty much anywhere else if I want to do anything more than have a quick ride for fitness.

I understand making it accessible but its just boring now. There is only one section that I think is genuinely good. Maybe starve turkey? The one where you get up a lot of speed on more natural features and hit a nice little lip into a half circle berm. Even that is over in about 30s though. The epitome of their trail building is at the top of the climb on the aforementioned section where they have put a bunch of pump humps after you have just knackered yourself on a punchy climb. Don't get me started on their "jumps" either :rolleyes:

Stop dumbing down our trails Bedgebury! :mad:
 
fez said:
Bedgebury does my head in. They have neutered it to the point where 95% of the "red route" is not even a green and whenever they go in and fix a section they literally just fill holes and dump a **** tonne of loose stone on it. The very centre line of the track gets bedded in but anything off line is loose as hell and like skating on marbles. Most people who ride there are not very good so they ride the bottom of the berms and anything above that is loose and gets looser the higher up you go.

I gave up paying for parking at Bedgebury a few years ago because they give zero ***** about anyone but their yummy mummy crowd who bring their kids down in the SUV and sip coffee or go for a gentle stroll to one of the play parks. I only live 20 minutes away but I would rather go pretty much anywhere else if I want to do anything more than have a quick ride for fitness.

I understand making it accessible but its just boring now. There is only one section that I think is genuinely good. Maybe starve turkey? The one where you get up a lot of speed on more natural features and hit a nice little lip into a half circle berm. Even that is over in about 30s though. The epitome of their trail building is at the top of the climb on the aforementioned section where they have put a bunch of pump humps after you have just knackered yourself on a punchy climb. Don't get me started on their "jumps" either :rolleyes:

Stop dumbing down our trails Bedgebury! :mad:
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Agreed with all that - I'm 45 mins away and might ride it a few times a year in winter if everywhere else is unrideable due to mud, but it's nothing special. I always park in the A21 layby.

I've also had an off due to resurfaced berms, was riding fairly quick then suddenly a load of gravel on one of the berms, front washed out.

Those rollers on the climb, 100% they're there for ebikes. They've also neutered the final climb, it used to be mildly interesting now it's just a gravel track. I sold my gravel bike a while ago but I meant to do a lap on it, I'm fairly certain I would have been faster than any of my previous laps!

Oh and the 'black' section, haha. 3 1ft drops that you can roll. It's a blue, at best.

There's about 2 good sections, the ones you describe - shame they're right the way at the top of the trail.

I have both Covert woods & Surry hills within an hour so bedgebury doesn't get much of a look in. Friston forest isn't much further either.
 
umboma said:
I'm new to MTB, picking up my first bike tomorrow, Anyone in Medway that can recommend a beginner place to go to get started.
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I'm local, Maidstone based - if you're on facebook join the Kent Trails group, they regularly have rides locally.

If you're brand new to MTB, although we moan about bedgebury it's ok for a beginner and will get you used to riding some mellow features (small rock gardens, berms) and you won't have any issues navigating. Park here -
maps.app.goo.gl

A21 Bedgebury Layby 1 · A21, Goudhurst, Wadhurst TN5 7PP

★★★★☆ · Car Park
maps.app.goo.gl maps.app.goo.gl

Capstone park has a short MTB loop, again not that interesting but fine for a beginner.

Outside the marked trails, you have monks wood on Bluebell Hill, Ranscombe has a few trails, but you need to know where they are, and they're more intermediate level. One tip, don't ride the north downs if it's been really wet, it's a chalk base so is lethal as chalk is like ice when wet.
 
TallPaul_S said:
I've also had an off due to resurfaced berms, was riding fairly quick then suddenly a load of gravel on one of the berms, front washed out.
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I've ridden it enough that I know what the berms are going to be like so I am super careful. Still feels sketchy at times though. Just ridiculous that they have neutered it so much but make it fundamentally dangerous for anyone riding it fast and properly.

TallPaul_S said:
Oh and the 'black' section, haha. 3 1ft drops that you can roll. It's a blue, at best.
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Yeah the less said about that section the better. Its completely ****** a lot of the time because people ride it who want to say they have ridden a black section but ride it awfully and create huge brake bumps on the tighter corners. I guess if you don't know any better the ego massage is nice at Bedgebury but its basically dangerous. If someone went to bike park wales or similar and thought "hey I ride red trails" they would probably hurt themselves.

Its the same in climbing though. Most people climb grade X and if you tell them that they have just climbed a route that is way out of their grade range they are super chuffed. They don't think "hmm, perhaps that grading is way off". People love an ego massage.

I asked the guys in the shop there why the trails have been so neutered and they said its hard to get out and help people if they get injured and they basically don't want the aggro of people potentially hurting themselves on better features. The irony being that the way they build the trails just makes it more dangerous for better riders.
 
Quick question about running tubeless.

I've got a Vitus sentier, I decedied to go tubeless with it and I am using muc off valves (lost the vales that came with it) and caffelatex sealant. Anyway, it all went well, or at least I thought, but I'm losing a tiny amount of air. Over night, both tyres lost about 2-3psi (using digital tyre gauge to measure).

Having never used tubeless before, is that fine? I see a lot of posts saying they normally need a ride of two to bed in (I guess for the fluid to coat everything), others saying couple of psi lost is fine in general, but others saying should lose 0.

So fine to ride and see if they seal up 100%? or need redoing?

Thanks.
 
Armadillo said:
Quick question about running tubeless.

I've got a Vitus sentier, I decedied to go tubeless with it and I am using muc off valves (lost the vales that came with it) and caffelatex sealant. Anyway, it all went well, or at least I thought, but I'm losing a tiny amount of air. Over night, both tyres lost about 2-3psi (using digital tyre gauge to measure).

Having never used tubeless before, is that fine? I see a lot of posts saying they normally need a ride of two to bed in (I guess for the fluid to coat everything), others saying couple of psi lost is fine in general, but others saying should lose 0.

So fine to ride and see if they seal up 100%? or need redoing?

Thanks.
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Completely normal if you've just gone tubeless.

I've just done a wheelset and I didn't give the rear wheel a proper side to side/up and down movement to get everything coated so overnight it lost all the air. After a few rides and a proper shake it's now fine, but most tyres will lose a few psi over the course of a week or 2.

If it keeps on losing a lot of air, give the wheel a proper shake on its side, both sides etc so all the insides get coated. Once you've done a ride or 3 it'll be fine, any tiny holes will have been sealed.
 
They shouldn't lose air even without sealant inside, well apart from minor leak through porus tyres.

2-3psi is a flat tyre in a few days. I'd check the valves, and maybe pump up to 50~ and leave over night and make sure it's really properly beaded to the rim. Most of the time it isn't properly on the rim.

Though, cafe sealant is the worst I've ever used but that was 5 years ago.
 
Hi Gents

Brink are going to have my Marin SQ 3 ready for collection by the end of this week I believe :D :D :D :D

I want to upgrade the pedals and handlebar grips, are there any recommendations I should be looking for please?

Thanks
 
Best thing to do with tubeless is go for a ride straight away soon fills all the tiny gaps and seals them up. After that I lose next to nothing maybe 1psi a month, but that could be burping.
I use Stan's Race sealant which is by far the best I have ever used. It doesn't turn into those balls of sealant and it seals absolutely huge holes, including your valves if your not careful.
 
iMacMart said:
Hi Gents

Brink are going to have my Marin SQ 3 ready for collection by the end of this week I believe :D :D :D :D

I want to upgrade the pedals and handlebar grips, are there any recommendations I should be looking for please?

Thanks
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I really like my DMR V12 pedals, haven't changed the grips so can't comment on that!
 
iMacMart said:
Hi Gents

Brink are going to have my Marin SQ 3 ready for collection by the end of this week I believe :D :D :D :D

I want to upgrade the pedals and handlebar grips, are there any recommendations I should be looking for please?

Thanks
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I have Burgtec grips on my FS which are grippy and comfortable and ESI silicone grips on my HT which are a bit more grippy in winter.

The FS has Burgtec Mk5 pedals and the HT DMR Vaults both are very low profile and offer a really planted feel I would recommend any of these.
 
I have the Nukeproof Horizon Enduro Sam Hill pedals or whatever they are called on the dh bike. Great pedals. Got the Burgtec Mk4 composite pedals on the trail bike, not quite as gripping at the Nukeproofs but more that enough for the trail bike. My shins and calfs prefer the Burgtecs though :p
 
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