Man of Honour
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- 14 Aug 2005
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- 5,284
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- York
They have a new fleet of Vala's at Dalby so well worth a hire, I hired one recently.
Mountain Biking
- Thread starter Zefan
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Jun 2004
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- 5,167
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- Blackburn
That's perfectly fine to try it out. My post was aimed at Quad Channel who is suggesting people just hire bikes rather than own.
Associate
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2026
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- 25
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- West Cheshire
I think I should clarify my position I am not against bike ownership
I do still own a number of bikes and my shed and loft has the frames and parts of a number of abandoned builds because I haven't got any room left at my place to store the full bikes after finishing the last 3 projects.
If you do a lot of Mountain Biking and can get to a place to bike regularly then yes ownership makes perfect sense more so if you can service everything that most would need an LBS to sort out, more so if you can do the advance jobs on wheels which will almost certainly be an LBS job for most home bike fixers and if you can service the suspension yourself you are in the god tier because the vast majority of LBS won't service suspension, they send your forks and rear shocks off to a suspension service specialist.
If you are the type of person that buys a mega expensive MTB and
only uses it a few times a year and can't service it yourself and has to transport it on the roof of your car or back of your camper van etc
and then put up with it your way in the kitchen, shed or garage for
350+ days of the year that you don't use it then maybe you would save hassle and money by hiring a good MTB when you need it.
People buying bikes and doing naff all with them was probably far less of a thing before Halfords existed and it no doubt it puts a lot of money into the economy but if its not going to be worthwhile for you then maybe you would be better off spending your hard earned money
on Ram and a GPU
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Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Jun 2004
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- 5,167
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- Blackburn
I'd say the people who do what you said are the more money than sense type and don't really care if they've wasted the money or not. Certainly not the type of person who would be posting on an obscure MTB thread on a pc website.I think I should clarify my position I am not against bike ownership
I do still own a number of bikes and my shed and loft has the frames and parts of a number of abandoned builds because I haven't got any room left at my place to store the full bikes after finishing the last 3 projects.
If you do a lot of Mountain Biking and can get to a place to bike regularly then yes ownership makes perfect sense more so if you can service everything that most would need an LBS to sort out, more so if you can do the advance jobs on wheels which will almost certainly be an LBS job for most home bike fixers and if you can service the suspension yourself you are in the god tier because the vast majority of LBS won't service suspension, they send your forks and rear shocks off to a suspension service specialist.
If you are the type of person that buys a mega expensive MTB and
only uses it a few times a year and can't service it yourself and has to transport it on the roof of your car or back of your camper van etc
and then put up with it your way in the kitchen, shed or garage for
350+ days of the year that you don't use it then maybe you would save hassle and money by hiring a good MTB when you need it.
People buying bikes and doing naff all with them was probably far less of a thing before Halfords existed and it no doubt it puts a lot of money into the economy but if its not going to be worth while for you then maybe you would be better off spending your hard earned money
on Ram and a GPU
New bike is hopefully arriving this week. Cost nearly £6k, only ridden once in the last 18 months.
Associate
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- 28 Feb 2026
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- 25
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- West Cheshire
HA ha Spud fair play thats quality
I stopped looking at Ebay and Gumtree because the itch to do-up still nags me even though theres nowhere left to store anymore bikes
Soldato
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- 23 Jun 2004
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- 5,167
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- Blackburn
Not got the bike yet but already upgraded the wheels....HA ha Spud fair play thats quality
And I have an excuse for not riding, just wanted to see if spending so much and riding so little would trigger you
.Broke my collar bone in Summer 2024, NHS took forever to fix me, 3 months before they decided I needed an operation. Then 8 months waiting for op with my collar bone not attached so no strength at all in my shoulder. Finally got the op, recovered and regained strength or figured I deserved a new bike
Not sure how to attach images anymore, all sites I tried wouldn't work so check out the Pinkbike link below to see my new hardware.
Dont think id be using a £15 bike for my type of ridingSchwalbe 'SmartGuard' top Level protection. I've never had puncture with Schwalbe's but for folks that do not ride often Hire your MTB's deffo the posh E-Bikes.
Felix Dennis said in his book 'How to get Rich by Felix Dennis'
"If it Flys, Funk's or Floats Hire it" (I changed the the 2nd one to funks because its a family friendly forum) he only kept his Rolls Royce because he used it a lot and one of his friends who loved Rollers
happily fixed it for free )
He did settle down with a Girlfriend in his later years
My run around bike was £15 off Gumtree, fix issues were easy and I shoved a set of Schwalbe Marathon Supreme on and they are still going strong.
After my last good MTB got wrote off I decided If I do any off-road biking I will just hire a E-MTB.
Thats a nice Bike, I really like that they went back to the classic Logo it looks soo much better. As a rule of thumb what ever the bike cost spend around 10% of the value of the bike on a good Lock and insist he always locks it outside shops, the kids where I live just dump there nice bikes outside the shop doors without a care in the world.
I never got over having my 1st bike stolen.
That's the way to do it, unless you live close to a trail and ride a lot
its not worth buying an expensive E-MTB that you will only use a few times, just hire one when you need one.
Dyfi has a downlift too!
got fed up of eating these maxxis tyres. Ive done 3 rears (DH casing) since October. Bought a pair of Kryptotals will see how they fair at revs next week
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Associate
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2026
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- 25
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- West Cheshire
Crikey that metal thing looks menacing on the Xray Spud
you deserve what ever brings you joy fill your boots bud
I was out of action for years with one of my legs the worst part
was the pin removal, did not go well.
When all I had was basic kit I craved the good stuff, when I got
the full XTR,XO,Race Face and HOPE gear I loved it and still do
but I often worry about breaking it, so it rarely sees daylight
anymore, tbh my XTR wheels are nowhere near as durable as my
hope builds but they sure look good.
Na Craig your right but you'd be ok with my Giant Team though but the 30 year old Carrera (£15) would beat it on tarmac.
Dyfi bike rental brings up OnePlanet adventures
As well as rentals theres try before you buy
I'd try this one if they'd lend it to me
you deserve what ever brings you joy fill your boots bud
I was out of action for years with one of my legs the worst part
was the pin removal, did not go well.
When all I had was basic kit I craved the good stuff, when I got
the full XTR,XO,Race Face and HOPE gear I loved it and still do
but I often worry about breaking it, so it rarely sees daylight
anymore, tbh my XTR wheels are nowhere near as durable as my
hope builds but they sure look good.
Na Craig your right but you'd be ok with my Giant Team though but the 30 year old Carrera (£15) would beat it on tarmac.
Dyfi bike rental brings up OnePlanet adventures
As well as rentals theres try before you buy
I'd try this one if they'd lend it to me
Only place i have ever done a DH level tyre in was at Dyfi, a Schwalbe Big Betty SuperDH. Managed to plug it half way down SuperSwooper though, ill always carry plugs and C02 there now.Dont think id be using a £15 bike for my type of riding
Dyfi has a downlift too!
got fed up of eating these maxxis tyres. Ive done 3 rears (DH casing) since October. Bought a pair of Kryptotals will see how they fair at revs next week
this was at the bottom of flowstate, had to walk all the way down then all the way back up to the uplift road to hitch a lift.
no plugging this huge slash. Been very unlucky there
I'll be there again for the owners day. I just sessioned Lovey Dyfi and Super Swooper. Need to try another trail this year.
Yeah, i wonder if they have a facility to charge e bikes there but i doubt it, i might take my own bike the 2nd time and just do the 12 miles on eco mode unless its really steep hills getting there
Soldato
- Joined
- 20 Jul 2009
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- 4,914
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- Midlands
For those who smash on tyres or tear them a fair bit, the specialized cannibal mavity T9 is seemingly bullet proof. I’m yet to even have a puncture with my set and they seem to work very well for the most part given the bargain basement price they come in at. Food for thought.
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Soldato
- Joined
- 23 Jun 2004
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- 5,167
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- Blackburn
Not ran Maxxis for years but Schwalbe have served me well. Ultra Soft on the front and Soft on the rear seems to work well, Super mavity casing.
Maxxis come on the new bike so we'll see how long they last.
3 n half hour op, bone graft and metal hardware. Surgeon said if they did op when I broke it, it would have been about 20 to 30 min op. Sucked so much at the time and waiting so long for the op but thankfully it's all behind me now.
Maxxis come on the new bike so we'll see how long they last.
3 n half hour op, bone graft and metal hardware. Surgeon said if they did op when I broke it, it would have been about 20 to 30 min op. Sucked so much at the time and waiting so long for the op but thankfully it's all behind me now.
Associate
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2026
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- 25
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- West Cheshire
I really liked the Maxxis they grip well and look great but puncture too easily, I have tried a few brands but once I found how good the top grade Schwalbe's are I doubt I will ever buy another brand, well not
unless somebody comes up with something even better, I did find the Kojack slicks roll slow, people said that in the reviews and I thought they can't be that bad but yeah they are much slower than the Marathons, probably why they had 50% off deals on so often.
Harsh Spud Its a miracle what they can do nowadays it really is
and it's hell and depressing in the early stages and hospital sucks
even though the staff were nice, I dislocated my hip it was soul destroying and more so when you're a young lad.
The 1st op went pretty well I was in hospital for about 8 weeks I think maybe a bit longer, the guy over the other side of the room was in for a while before I got there, he swerved around somebody opening their car door into the road and hit a phone box breaking both his legs both his arms and maybe more but I felt so sorry for him, he would get an itch inside his plaster casts and it drove him bonkers, mine was bad enough but I could shove stuff down mine in places.
The op to remove the pins was supposed to be pretty quick but ended up taking many hours leaving my hip in quite a state, young bone growing big around the pins.
Took years to get to the best it could heal and 5 years later I got ran over in work
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I’m running schwalbe radials on the eeb. I love them. As I push myself don’t trust the casing to run them on my Park bikes.
Il try the contis. I tried them before and dint get on with them but if they last then il give them another try.
Maybe il look at the non radial schwalbes again.
Il try the contis. I tried them before and dint get on with them but if they last then il give them another try.
Maybe il look at the non radial schwalbes again.
What don't you trust/like about the radial tyres.
I have a Super Trail and a Super mavity Magic Mary and both are incredible.
The Super mavity is actually the only the I haven't flatted at Dyfi. I like that for park I can run higher pressure while keeping the same grip.
I used to be a die hard Maxxis fan, been such a long time though I've forgotten all they're naming conventions.
Schwalbe mostly, but I do like the new Continental tyres as well, got a Kryptotal Rear and a Trinotal, both are excellent.
I don’t trust the casing enough to ride places like Dyfi.
If they made them in DH casing I’d jump on them.
I have a set of Albert’s, shreddas and Mary’s on the bike atm.
I had one puncture on my enduro bike. Since getting the DH rig it’s gives more confidence and I’m killing tyres. Il try the contis see how I get on. I might use my radials on the DH bike in Morzine. If it’s less rocky and more hard pack.
If they made them in DH casing I’d jump on them.
I have a set of Albert’s, shreddas and Mary’s on the bike atm.
I had one puncture on my enduro bike. Since getting the DH rig it’s gives more confidence and I’m killing tyres. Il try the contis see how I get on. I might use my radials on the DH bike in Morzine. If it’s less rocky and more hard pack.
Soldato
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- 20 Jul 2009
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- Midlands
I’m running Argotal or Kryptotal and they’re fantastic however, if tyre wall and puncture resistance is your goal, yes they hold up better than the radials however as mentioned, they don’t hold a candle to the specialized cannibal mavity T9s. The grip isn’t far off either and they’re predictable, they also put Maxxis wear time to shame.