Mountain Biking

[Andrew Moore]

When rotors get contaminated brake cleaner won't always do the job sadly.

I've tried boiling mine before, it was definitely better. But the only option was new discs and then new pads (if your discs are bad enough your new pads might also be contaminated again).

It was very very minimal and the rotors were brand new without any use on them.

I have however tested this theory of yours by installing one of the old one piece rotors I had, it’s made no difference. It’s either caliper or hose related as this point. I have a spare hose and the weekend is coming so that’s my last Hail Mary before I send it back as a complete kit for investigation and hopefully a replacement.

 

[Skynet5]

Just getting into biking on trails with an old hybrid.

Need a proper MTB. Starting out doing casual trails so spec me a bike. I’m happy to spend 3-4k on a full sus, but thinking this might be a waste on me unless I’m doing serious fast biking or lots of rutted tracks. Doubt that will be me. Just some Delamere tracks and elsewhere with the lad.

We’ve sold his frog bike and being 13 I’m hoping he can make do with my 15 year old Marin Lucas valley. Too big, but he can ride it comfortably and I’m sure with in a year he will be fine size wise.

Thoughts?

 

[Kelt]

Just getting into biking on trails with an old hybrid.

Need a proper MTB. Starting out doing casual trails so spec me a bike. I’m happy to spend 3-4k on a full sus, but thinking this might be a waste on me unless I’m doing serious fast biking or lots of rutted tracks. Doubt that will be me. Just some Delamere tracks and elsewhere with the lad.

We’ve sold his frog bike and being 13 I’m hoping he can make do with my 15 year old Marin Lucas valley. Too big, but he can ride it comfortably and I’m sure with in a year he will be fine size wise.

Thoughts?

I'd be looking at a gravel bike personally.

Preferably with an electric motor.

 

[Skynet5]

I'd be looking at a gravel bike personally.

Preferably with an electric motor.

I’d looked at them. But delemere trails does have some parts that look like if you’re fast enough there are some fun but small jumps to make things a little more exciting. I don’t do them currently with my rigid. My lad would have to roll over them like I do now.

I’m pretty fitz. Not felt the need for an electric motor yet. Although some people in delemere seem to have them. I just pedal and get my heart pumping a bit more.

I’m sure e-bikes are good for some folks and some tracks irrespective of their fitness level but don’t think I’ll bother with them.

 

[Begbie]

Just getting into biking on trails with an old hybrid.

Need a proper MTB. Starting out doing casual trails so spec me a bike. I’m happy to spend 3-4k on a full sus, but thinking this might be a waste on me unless I’m doing serious fast biking or lots of rutted tracks. Doubt that will be me. Just some Delamere tracks and elsewhere with the lad.

We’ve sold his frog bike and being 13 I’m hoping he can make do with my 15 year old Marin Lucas valley. Too big, but he can ride it comfortably and I’m sure with in a year he will be fine size wise.

Thoughts?

Plenty great bikes for 3-4k, if your not planning on doing anything else than delamare di you need a full suspension?

This really depends on how much you want to advance yourself.

I see it all often, people riding xc trails on 160mm full suspension bikes which imo can really sap the fun out of them.

If that's all I was riding I'd be looking at a fun 130mm hard tail for half your budget. I've used a 130mm hard tail at places like bpw on red runs and still been plenty of bike.

So really it depends on what your going to use the bike for.

 

[Hedge]

sag is set correctly as is pressure. Tried setting it higher and it was not pleasant. Not being able to control compression at all means I have no control other than to put more air in.

Have fitted my fox 38's to the bike already. Ordered a 24 float X2 to try. Going back to FOD on Monday to do the same stuff to test it out.

I want to get it comfortable and have confidence in it before I attempt Dyfi.

Volume spacers would help it ramp up towards the end of its travel but still be subtle off the top. Maybe try that. I run a few spacers in most of my stuff

 

[bloodiedathame]

Bike Park Wales next Thursday, not done any proper MTB for 3 years since I broke my wrist.

 

[Teknobry]

Bike Park Wales next Thursday, not done any proper MTB for 3 years since I broke my wrist.

Take it easy then don't get too carried away! Love it there.

 

[CraigN]

got the hump so just fitted my fox stuff to the merida, new stem and bars too. Took it to Dyfi today. What a place, didnt try any of the double or tripple blacks but all of the reds and some of the single diamond blacks.

Merida did well until the end and i think ive killed the bearings in the SLX hub

finally got my ebike back after nearly a month. New controller and motor replaced under warranty after 5 months!

 

[aVdub]

I see it all often, people riding xc trails on 160mm full suspension bikes which imo can really sap the fun out of them.

While I do agree in part, if that is all Skynet5 intends to do biking wise, but will throw in that I went from a 29'nr Specialized full sus XC bike to a 29'nr Trek Slash 8 full sus Enduro bike and not only broke my 40km record (set on the XC) three months running, but also beat many of the XC times I had also set on the Specialized.
I did question if I was doing the right thing to start with, heavier bike, longer travel (rear lockout) and the like but am now glad I did so.

 

[bloodiedathame]

It was wetter than an otters pocket on Thursday, but plenty of people still riding! I stuck to blues because I'm just an absolute noob with no confidence. My hands ached after riding the Kermit down... So I decided to make things worse by then doing Terry's Belly (had to stop halfway to stretch my hands). On Terry's Belly I noticed my brakes fading pretty badly too. On the way to the uplift for run 3, my crank came loose so I went and tightened it. Then I did Melted Welly on the third run but my crank came loose AGAIN, so I nursed myself back via Blue Belle, but came across a downed rider who had hurt his back and was being stretchered away. Luckily I was right next to the fire road, so I dropped into Norkle and went in for another rest. At that point the rest of the group were suffering from being cold/wet. My son had also blown his rear shock on A470 on the second run so his day was effectively over too.

Glad I went but need to get the bikes prepped better next time.

 

[CraigN]

It was wetter than an otters pocket on Thursday, but plenty of people still riding! I stuck to blues because I'm just an absolute noob with no confidence. My hands ached after riding the Kermit down... So I decided to make things worse by then doing Terry's Belly (had to stop halfway to stretch my hands). On Terry's Belly I noticed my brakes fading pretty badly too. On the way to the uplift for run 3, my crank came loose so I went and tightened it. Then I did Melted Welly on the third run but my crank came loose AGAIN, so I nursed myself back via Blue Belle, but came across a downed rider who had hurt his back and was being stretchered away. Luckily I was right next to the fire road, so I dropped into Norkle and went in for another rest. At that point the rest of the group were suffering from being cold/wet. My son had also blown his rear shock on A470 on the second run so his day was effectively over too.

Glad I went but need to get the bikes prepped better next time.

That sounds like my experience last year.

I have been doing coaching and am now so much better/more confident.

For me the arm pump and brake fade was lack of confidence/ability to carry the speed. Coaching help me fix my body positioning. The result was now try and hardly use the brakes. The fatigue caused by being so tense and grabbing the bars brakes all the time is really exhausting. Especially on terrys belly, its so long.

I'm now working on pumping and trying to do big berms faster.

Purchased a picture photographer took of me at Dyfi.

 

[bloodiedathame]

I think some coaching is a must. It's funny how I did notice myself loosening up on the third run and carrying my speed better, but then I had the fear that my pedal was going to come off... frustrating but positive that I managed to get out there and get some laps in, the last time I rode properly on that bike I went over the bars and broke my wrist... I'm a big fan of flowy stuff so I'll be back there again soon.

 

[Andrew Moore]

Does anyone have any experience with CUBE EMTBs?

I’m looking at the one77 HPC SLX 800.

It runs XT everything, a CX gen5, is carbon frame + alloy triangle, and rocks at 170/180 front fork and an 230x65 rear shock.

I’ve got an Factory DHX2 230x65 sat ready to go on and an Zeb built out to RC2 3.1 Ultimate spec (essentially 38 factory) as well as my preferred MT7 brakes to go on it.

As I’ll be getting rid of my status and returning it back to stock, it’ll mean the m8100 gear would be a welcome upgrade to the m7100 (slx) on my hard tail. It would also mean I’ll have GX wireless group set to go on the ebike.

For context, I could literally sell everything I have and get the cube with the factory parts as standard and the better brakes as well as a wireless group set but I’d be paying around £2.5k more so would rather just spend a day being a bike butcher to get the same thing.

My question is, are Cube frames robust? The rear doesn’t look as beefy as what I am used to and that’s putting me off. Outside of that, it’s the perfect platform to get me on the CX gen5 and with the spec of bike I actually want. Nothing else really comes close.

EDIT: I went and had a look at one, it seems nice enough and has an "ok" spec all things considered. The frame has a rating of "4" which rules out bike parks basically so thats not ideal. I did however see the Merida e-one-eighty and that's rated 5. It has the CUES drive train and comes with either an 9/10 or 11 speed cassette and seems to be HG. it looks to be thicker than say an Eagle cassette so should be more durable but it just looks cheap and when your spending up to £7.5k thats just wild..

Any suggestions on a CX Gen5? I may just bin off the idea of transferring some of my parts now as I am struggling to see the value in half of these EMTBs. The Canyon Torque:ON CF 7 looked "ok" until I read the specs and realised I would eb spending about £7k on a bike with a similar spec to an £4.5k cube.. The Merida spec just screams pig iron. Whats going on with EMTBs?

 

[Begbie]

Does anyone have any experience with CUBE EMTBs?

I’m looking at the one77 HPC SLX 800.

It runs XT everything, a CX gen5, is carbon frame + alloy triangle, and rocks at 170/180 front fork and an 230x65 rear shock.

I’ve got an Factory DHX2 230x65 sat ready to go on and an Zeb built out to RC2 3.1 Ultimate spec (essentially 38 factory) as well as my preferred MT7 brakes to go on it.

As I’ll be getting rid of my status and returning it back to stock, it’ll mean the m8100 gear would be a welcome upgrade to the m7100 (slx) on my hard tail. It would also mean I’ll have GX wireless group set to go on the ebike.

For context, I could literally sell everything I have and get the cube with the factory parts as standard and the better brakes as well as a wireless group set but I’d be paying around £2.5k more so would rather just spend a day being a bike butcher to get the same thing.

My question is, are Cube frames robust? The rear doesn’t look as beefy as what I am used to and that’s putting me off. Outside of that, it’s the perfect platform to get me on the CX gen5 and with the spec of bike I actually want. Nothing else really comes close.

Not long term, but I had a shot of one from some random guy in the woods.

Felt very similar to my wild, and I would've happily bought one if I didn't own my wild/got a deal on one.

 

[Andrew Moore]

Not long term, but I had a shot of one from some random guy in the woods.

Felt very similar to my wild, and I would've happily bought one if I didn't own my wild/got a deal on one.

Just updated my post but this fills me with some confidence. Ill have another look.

 

[Andrew Moore]

Took the plunge. The spec isn’t all that bad really to a point where I might not swap much of anything out and just keep the status as it is for the uplift days where a hammer is required.

Once it’s here I’ll replace the bar, grips, stem, the seat, wheels and the dropper post +lever. I think I’ll leave the m8120 brakes and the m8100 (shimano XT) group set parts intact as the e-bike will be purely for use on trails etc and getting a nice 30 mile blast out without feeling like I’ve been run over.

So for £4.5k I’ve got an Bosch Gen5, XT group set and brakes, an 800wh battery with a carbon frame and an alloy rear triangle. It’s a Float X performance (I may swap it out to an Float X2 factory) and there’s a fox 38 rhythm both with 170mm travel. It’ll do the job that’s for sure.

Sad times though, the Nukeproof Scout is going so that’ll get stripped for parts. It’s not getting quite as much use and it’ll sure as hell not get any now so needs must ultimately. Any ideas where I am best binning it all off?

 

[SDK^]

I converted my sons Trek Rail to a Mullet setup : changing the 29" rear wheel for 27.5" wheel on the back. He's only 13 years old and found the larger wheels trickier to handle, so hopefully this helps him a bit.
A fairly simple change - the flip chip set in the high position, I also changed the cranks from 165mm to 155mm to reduce pedal strikes and added a new Schwalbe Albert Radial tyre

 

[Andrew Moore]

So today is a sad day.

I stripped the Scout down to nothing more than a box of parts and a frame. It just isn’t getting the use I thought it would and as nice as it is to have and as fun as it has been to tinker and build up something enjoyable to ride and for the most part reliable, it’s just not got a space in the collection any more.

I shall be doing the same with the Status and reverting the bike back to stock so I am glad I kept the Codes and the original shock and fork as that would have been an expensive mistake!! All of the parts from the Scout will get sold, the status will get sold as a complete back to factory spec bike with any parts not to be kept as spares or upgrades to the next bike sold too.

Then we have the great day rolled in for good measure.

Here is my new Bosch Gen5 based Cube ONE77!! It’s currently rocking a make do with the Roval wheels as the ones that came on it were the worst cheese I’ve ever encountered. Terrifyingly cheap!

I’ll be adding the DHX2 to it, the Zeb Ultimate and the MT7 Pro HC3s although I have to admit, the XT 4 pots aren’t that bad at all really so I could end up keeping them!

I’ve got an GX AXS wireless to go on so I can use my old wheels, cassettes and rotors properly (this came with centerlock and Shimano XT m8120 with XT m8100 group set).

https://forums.bit-tech.net/index.php?media/img_7407.65327/


As part lists go it’s actually quite the eye opener.. there’s also the full Status 160 to consider with that and the Charge cooker although I’ll be keeping the charge cooker 1 for a while yet as my 3 year old still can’t ride a bike and if she could it would be very limiting for a day out.


Now a job for an evil-bay and some bike forums I think..

MT5 Pros, MDR-P 203 rotors
SLX cranks and 32t chain ring 170mm
SLX derailleur
SLX cassette
SLX shifter
Burgtec carbon bars
Burgtec stem
Burgtec grips (various)
Evosid DUB crank and 32t chainring 160mm
XT 4 pots with 203 centerlock rotors
XT shifter
XT cassette
XT derailleur
One up V2 dropper post and lever
Renthal 35/35 stem
Scout 290 M frame in black with headset
RockShox Dominion 140
Random mullet wheel sets…
Random saddles

the list goes on.

 

[Andrew Moore]

I decided I’m going to keep the status as it is and use it as a bike park bike as it’s a tank. Zebs will stay on, dhx2 will too and so will the MT7s. All the Burgtec stuff can stay on it as well.

I can fit the child seat to the status if I need to so that’s helpful.

The Charge Cooker 1 will be handed over to my dad. He’s a road biker and his mountain bike is a 1992 Raleigh something or other that’s about had it. This way he gets the same sort of rigid experience and easy of pedaling that he is used to without the need to go out and buy something he doesn’t really need.

I’ll be down to two bikes anyway so the missus will be happy, win win!!

Oh and I did a thing…

Fox 38 Factory Kashima 170mm fork (arrives next week).
Fox Float X2 Factory Kashima 230x65 air shock (arrives next week).

Both for £999.98 delivered

And I also may have bought some Hope TECH 4 V4 with rotors to set the bike apart from the other. I’ll use the Magura as spares as I’m bound to smash bits up this summer as I did the last.

nom.