Mountain Biking general thread

[dinny_g]

whereas I'm happy to pay £10 a day for a well built and maintained bike park thats closed to walkers.

This.. very much this.

[John]

I suppose where the local trails are located can depend on the number of walkers about. Very rare to come across anyone walking on the trails here as they are well away from paths and bridleways etc. I'd agree with the legal stuff though, part of a local woods has recently been sold and the new owner is very nervous/jumpy about the trails that run through them.

[Jobbo]

Went out cycling with a friend yesterday, my old cycling buddy. He doesn’t have an e-bike so I cleaned off my Specialized Crosstrail. That still felt like my ‘new’ bike before but it’s around 10yrs old, so it was pleasing to find it in pretty good order - other than the chain lube spurting everywhere and contaminating the front brake disk Sorted that out with some degreaser. I hadn’t appreciated how much better my e-bike brakes are before, though. 4-pot calipers and bigger diameter disks will do that.

It was a bit of a shock when I first test rode the Crosstrail up the drive though; I’d been spoilt by the motor. However it became obvious very quickly that e-MTB riding has already improved my fitness; we did 23 miles after which I felt I could happily have done the same again whereas he seemed utterly finished.

I’ll definitely still be using the unpowered bike, anyway; it’s light and feels nice and easy-rolling even over bumpy towpaths. I won’t be taking it up any big hills though. Both it and the e-MTB have their place and serve different purposes. My Brompton is also still used regularly. It’s my road bike that I never bother with. But won’t get rid of because every time the TdF is on, I can imagine riding it

[Zonda_]

Can anyone tell me if this is a decent spec or not, I’m not up to date with current bikes.

https://www.haibike.com/gb/en/electric ... d=45022147

[Rich B]

Can anyone tell me if this is a decent spec or not, I’m not up to date with current bikes.

https://www.haibike.com/gb/en/electric ... d=45022147

what do you want to do with it?

[Zonda_]

Can anyone tell me if this is a decent spec or not, I’m not up to date with current bikes.

https://www.haibike.com/gb/en/electric ... d=45022147

what do you want to do with it?

Ride through local woods and the local forest trails when it reopens.

[Rich B]

Can anyone tell me if this is a decent spec or not, I’m not up to date with current bikes.

https://www.haibike.com/gb/en/electric ... d=45022147

what do you want to do with it?

Ride through local woods and the local forest trails when it reopens.

it would do the job - fairly small battery and motor, but cheap.

but... I'm not sure I get the point of e hardtails unless you're a big hardtail fan? Ebikes hide weight so you can have big suspension with little penalty.

And Haibikes are ridiculously ugly, but that's subjective.

[Jobbo]

That’s the lower spec Bosch motor - you should be able to find the CX version for not a lot more. That ups torque to 85Nm.

While I agree with Rich that full suspension is worth having, I suspect you’d need to increase the budget a fair bit.

Cube e-bikes seem about the best value so are perfect to compare prices and specs with.

ETA: the Cube Reaction hybrid is a hardtail and comes with Bosch motor. The cheapest (Performance) is £2299 with the same 65Nm motor but 625Wh battery. The next one up is £2599 and gets the CX motor and 625Wh battery. Get the Timculator out

[ZedLeg]

I'm going to do some bike servicing this weekend but I need to get a new workshop stand. Anyone got any recommendations?

Preferably under £100 and foldable, unless anyone's got any better ideas I'm going to get the cheap Lifeline one off Chain Reactions site.

[Jobbo]

I've got the Aldi one from a few years ago which looks exactly he same. It's solid enough but I never actually use it. Was much less than £69.99 though. Having said that, I see Decathlon are charging £70 for their basic workstand too now, so the price gouging on cyclists continues. Worth looking at what a little bit more gets you because I bet it's only the cheap bottom end items which have gone up 3x in price, so it might be cost effective to get the next one up now.

[ZedLeg]

Yeah, it's only going to be used occasionally so I'm loath to spend a lot on it. Might go for the £90 Lifeline one as it has a mat and I'll be working in the spare room while my partner's out, against her wishes

[Rich B]

I just got one of the £30 ones from eBay, it's plenty good enough for occasional use - I used it for invisiframe'ing my ebike too with no problem.

[ZedLeg]

I never think to check ebay, cheers Rich.

[dinny_g]

I just got one of the £30 ones from eBay, it's plenty good enough for occasional use - I used it for invisiframe'ing my ebike too with no problem.

Darth Vader's bike...

Love an all black bike...

[Jobbo]

I just got one of the £30 ones from eBay, it's plenty good enough for occasional use - I used it for invisiframe'ing my ebike too with no problem.

I bet they're identical to the Aldi ones and basic Wiggle one. If they're still £30 that's become a bargain

[John]

The Aldi stand is on their website again, listed as "coming soon".

[Jobbo]

I had a walk of shame today - only about 2 miles from home I noticed a funny noise. Took me a while to realise it was a front puncture. Always prepared with a puncture repair kit, I couldn’t get the tyre off the rim, the CO2 pump pierced the first canister too quickly so it discharged in my hand, then the head broke off as I screwed it into the second canister. So I couldn’t pump up the tyre anyway. Only when I got home did I realise the tube of rubber solution had been open a while and totally dried out

My wife came to pick me up once I’d got out of a field onto the road. Turns out a Yeti fits a bike with the front wheel off, but has lots of crevices for collecting mud.

Anyway, tubeless? My tyres and rims are suitable but are they less puncture-prone from things like thorns? As far as I know, they’re better for running low pressures without causing pinch flats.

[Rich B]

Lots of people swear by tubeless, it just seems a load of faf to me. Hassle to set up, needs an expensive pump/compressor, needs maintaining, burps out air on hard corners, etc...

If I lived somewhere thorny like American hot places, then I'd probably see the benefit more. Even though I currently carry 2 tubes because I ride a mullet.

Try it though, your bike will be ready to convert.

[Jobbo]

Since my tyre now has a hole in from the thorn, I wasn’t planning to try it.

Will be buying a small pump to take with me though. The CO2 canister idea didn’t work very well

[dan]

Lots of people swear by tubeless, it just seems a load of faf to me. Hassle to set up, needs an expensive pump/compressor, needs maintaining, burps out air on hard corners, etc...

If I lived somewhere thorny like American hot places, then I'd probably see the benefit more. Even though I currently carry 2 tubes because I ride a mullet.

Try it though, your bike will be ready to convert.

I’ve never struggled to seat tyres with just a track pump so you definitely don’t need any expensive gear. Until I tried it I thought it was a gimmick but couldn’t go back now.

Last time I had a tyre off it was full off evidence of punctures I didn’t get, it’s awesome.