Mountain Biking

A mega day riding at Bike Park Wales today!
My son is loving his new Marin Quake :)


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I'm changing a few things on the bike for him

Shock spring - the standard spring supplied with the bike is a 450lb weight spring, and a lighter 350lb spring will move the sag closer to the recommended 30% for his weight.

Tyres - The standard Maxxis Assegai tyres are the full DH casing, super soft compound, weighing 1.5kg each. It's just too much tyre for his riding needs. Yesterday it was obvious the rolling resistance was an issue. Even on the steep down sections he had to pedal to maintain speed. You know it's a problem when you need a rest on a 20% downhill to recover from the pedalling :P
I tried pedalling the bike on a flat road and I was dead after less than 2 mins. We swapped bikes and he could easily overtake me on my 8kg heavier eMTB....with the motor turned off :cry: Schwalbe Fat Albert radials ordered, which he uses on his eMTB.
 
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SDK^ said:
I'm changing a few things on the bike for him

Shock spring - the standard spring supplied with the bike is a 450lb weight spring, and a lighter 350lb spring will move the sag closer to the recommended 30% for his weight.

Tyres - The standard Maxxis Assegai tyres are the full DH casing, super soft compound, weighing 1.5kg each. It's just too much tyre for his riding needs. Yesterday it was obvious the rolling resistance was an issue. Even on the steep down sections he had to pedal to maintain speed. You know it's a problem when you need a rest on a 20% downhill to recover from the pedalling :P
I tried pedalling the bike on a flat road and I was dead after less than 2 mins. We swapped bikes and he could easily overtake me on my 8kg heavier eMTB....with the motor turned off :cry: Schwalbe Fat Albert radials ordered, which he uses on his eMTB.
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DH casing and BPW is awful, I've used one there and it was hard bloody work.
 
I swapped out Assegai tyres for the same reasons, one thing to watch out for if you have got used to the grip go easy on the first couple of times out as the bike will be a lot more lively/tail happy. Great once you get used to it not good when going into a corner at 30mph sideways.
 
The tyres came quick - I only ordered them yesterday. Tredz have always been good service for me.

Schwalbe Alberts : 29" and 27.5", Radial carcass, Trail Pro casing and the soft compound rubber. He's also running these on his eMTB and loves them.


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Love my Radial tyres. Got Magic Mary Trail Pro Ultra Soft on my trail wheel front and Magic Mary mavity Pro Ultra Soft on my DH wheels front and back.
 
SDK^ said:
The tyres came quick - I only ordered them yesterday. Tredz have always been good service for me.

Schwalbe Alberts : 29" and 27.5", Radial carcass, Trail Pro casing and the soft compound rubber. He's also running these on his eMTB and loves them.


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Thought about the Airdrop Slacker Works Ohlins DH bike?
 
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Andrew Moore said:
Thought about the Airdrop Slacker Works Ohlins DH bike?
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Thanks - i wasn't aware of those bikes, will check them out :)

Our trip to BPW is probably going to be cancelled tomorrow, as it's closed today with a red weather warning due to the trails resembling an ice toboggan run
 
BPW on the DH rig is super hard work unless you are sessioning the jump lines or doing boomslang/50 hits.

I much prefer the Ebike there. Was there on Tuesday. Rode my DH rig for half then switched to my enduro. Really wished id taken the ebike.

I did Pearce uplift at Bromborough the day before. Not done it before. Only one trail really but a DH race line. Was ok.

Interesting about DH tyres. I switched my enduro bike to them as DD casing tyres kept getting rear punctures.

I am loving the Schwalbe radials on the ebike. I have a set of Alberts, Marys and Shreddas. Not had to use the shreddas yet as the Marys have been fine. I found the Alberts couldn't cope when it got a bit sloppy. I have High Roller 3s on my DH rig. They seem to sweat sealant through the sidewalls. They work and hold pressure but make me a little nervous. Very tempted to go radial on it.

I looked at the Airdrop but it was full 27.5" which i didn't want.
 
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CraigN said:
BPW on the DH rig is super hard work unless you are sessioning the jump lines or doing boomslang/50 hits.

I much prefer the Ebike there. Was there on Tuesday. Rode my DH rig for half then switched to my enduro. Really wished id taken the ebike.

I did Pearce uplift at Bromborough the day before. Not done it before. Only one trail really but a DH race line. Was ok.

Interesting about DH tyres. I switched my enduro bike to them as DD casing tyres kept getting rear punctures.

I am loving the Schwalbe radials on the ebike. I have a set of Alberts, Marys and Shreddas. Not had to use the shreddas yet as the Marys have been fine. I found the Alberts couldn't cope when it got a bit sloppy. I have High Roller 3s on my DH rig. They seem to sweat sealant through the sidewalls. They work and hold pressure but make me a little nervous. Very tempted to go radial on it.

I looked at the Airdrop but it was full 27.5" which i didn't want.
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Yes, I can see scenarios where I will need to take his Trek Rail (eMTB) and his DH bike as well. e.g. Going to Scotland to ride Fort William DH track, and then the other 7Stanes trails.

I currently load our bikes into the boot, with the front wheel removed but cannot get 3 bikes in, even with the large car I have.
Will probably have to get one of those tow bar bike carriers
 
SDK^ said:
I currently load our bikes into the boot, with the front wheel removed but cannot get 3 bikes in, even with the large car I have.
Will probably have to get one of those tow bar bike carriers
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I got a Buzz Rack e-Hornet 3 bike tow bar unit from the roof box company. Currently £355 but I think no you can find a discount code for UK camping club that gives 5% off on top of that price. I’ve had my Orbea Rise and a couple of analogs on it with no issue.

My mates got a Thule unit which is good but over double the price and he prefers mine rather than his.
 
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I wear a Troy Lee stage upper long sleeve shirt. Has D3O inserts for spine, chest, shoulders and elbows. Also have D3O shorts with hip protection. Of course I took the hit in the kidney area where I wasn’t covered.

I bought a van to transport my bikes. Got a Peugeot partner 2018. Was cheaper than fitting a towbar to my BMW!

I will probably get rid of both at some point and get a transporter or something similar.
 
Demo'd an Amflow today, and was very impressed with it. The motor delivers some serious power, each of the settings out performed the equivalent setting of my friends Specialized Levo. The battery life seemed reasonable using about 50% over 3.5hrs, which was equivalent to the Spesh.

Overall it is a great and more than capable bike, sometimes with a little too much power but once I got used to how it delivered the power, it really was a proper blast and a very good trail bike.
 
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ichabod crane said:
Demo'd an Amflow today, and was very impressed with it. The motor delivers some serious power, each of the settings out performed the equivalent setting of my friends Specialized Levo. The battery life seemed reasonable using about 50% over 3.5hrs, which was equivalent to the Spesh.

Overall it is a great and more than capable bike, sometimes with a little too much power but once I got used to how it delivered the power, it really was a proper blast and a very good trail bike.
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I ummed and ahhhd over the amflow for some time along with the SC Vala.

In the end i went with heart and got the Transition. The amflow is powerful but was something that I couldn't get on with. The sizing wasn't great for me either. I would have done what I did with the transition and bought the silver one and swapped everything. But in the end i wanted just a bit more than a trail bike. Depends what you use it for. Plenty of people sticking long travel forks on them and now even cascade links and doing laps in the bike park.

New DJI motor out next month or so. The amflows are starting to be discounted at a few places ive seen. If you want one I would hazard a guess they will drop a bit more if a new one comes out. No idea if there is a new bike, just know there is a new DJI motor.
 
CraigN said:
I ummed and ahhhd over the amflow for some time along with the SC Vala.

In the end i went with heart and got the Transition. The amflow is powerful but was something that I couldn't get on with. The sizing wasn't great for me either. I would have done what I did with the transition and bought the silver one and swapped everything. But in the end i wanted just a bit more than a trail bike. Depends what you use it for. Plenty of people sticking long travel forks on them and now even cascade links and doing laps in the bike park.

New DJI motor out next month or so. The amflows are starting to be discounted at a few places ive seen. If you want one I would hazard a guess they will drop a bit more if a new one comes out. No idea if there is a new bike, just know there is a new DJI motor.
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Totally agree with your summary it is definitely a trail bike, of all the eMTBs I have tried it is the closest to being an MTB with assist. Supposedly there are new bikes coming out with the new motor release in the coming months.
 
I've demo'd a few eMTBs recently and plan on getting the Amflow the new models are going to have the new motor and a 900Wh battery (if the dealer is correct)

Agree on it being a the trail bike, getting too old for full blown DH but will keep my Enduro bike for the rougher stuff.
 
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