Mountain Biking general thread

[John]

Like that, John. 15kg is really light - what’s the battery capacity and range?

Battery is 248Wh so fairly small but it's not having to power a heavy MTB with draggy tyres. Claimed range is 30 miles plus, some owners claim 50 miles and above is fairly easy to achieve but terrain and mode will obviously have an effect.

[speedingfine]

Yeah same, I wear shorts all year. The only issue I really get is cold feet when they get wet, I usually put a plastic bag over my feet between 2 socks to try and counter this, but cold fingers, I just put up with.

Have you tried Sealskinz socks?

[KiwiDave]

When I was commuting on my Levo (5min ride, ferry trip, then about 20-25mins) I found I ran it in the second setting (approx 40% assist) and cruised to work almost always topping out the assist at about 30kph - was a really pleasant way to get to work. Route home included a big series of steps down through a park on gravel too so the suspension and brakes there meant I could really enjoy that too. They're awesome things EMTBs.

That said, that Orbea looks fucking sexy and almost exactly what I'd been dreaming up in my head without having to mash it together from lots of parts. Doubt I'll be commuting on a bike any time soon though - ferry trip is COVID heaven and they're clamping down on numbers of bikes allowed per sail after someone slipped and fell onto a pile of bikes last year while docking.

[Jobbo]

Interesting video - not very scientific but it doesn’t really need to be:

[KiwiDave]

Interesting video - not very scientific but it doesn’t really need to be:

Ours are 32kph - but it doesn't stop you going faster, just the assistance ends, if you wanna go faster you just pedal harder.

[Jobbo]

Same is true with our 25km/h bikes - but if you’re riding uphill on something weighing 24kg, you won’t be managing it

[Rich B]

Off road I set it at 32kmph, 25 is fine for most technical stuff and steep hills, but quickly gets annoying when you're riding between spots.
At bike parks it doesn't make too much difference - you basically just use it as an uplift service, so you're rarely riding up hill at more than 15-20.

[Jobbo]

I've definitely come round to thinking the US/NZ speed cap is more appropriate than the UK/EU one after seeing that video. The purpose is safety yet roadies with worse brakes and a riding position which makes visibility worse go faster without a motor.

[Ascender]

Made it back to Glentress for the first time in 5 years+. Went with a mate who was similarly out-of-practice so we took it easy going up and down, just enjoyed ourselves and didn't do anything stupid. Really enjoyed it, but did feel like I was quickly at the limit of my 18(?) year old hardtail. It looks positively like an antique now and its incredible just how much bikes have changed since then. Which sounds ridiculous now that I write it.

So, started having a quick look at mountain bikes... I feel like an old man shouting at the clouds about how expensive everything has got. I remember when £1000 got you a very nice bike.

Any value for money brands out there worth checking out or do I just need to swallow the pill of a 2.5-3K bike if I'm going to get back in to this lark?

[ZedLeg]

If you’re taking it easy then £700ish will get you onto something with a decent enough frame that it’ll be worth upgrading if you want.

The Kona Lava Dome I got for knocking around town is actually pretty decent. Could do with a nicer fork and the derailleur refuses to stay aligned but it’s fun to ride. If you’re like me you’ll be amazed by the speed you can carry on 29” wheels

[Rich B]

Made it back to Glentress for the first time in 5 years+. Went with a mate who was similarly out-of-practice so we took it easy going up and down, just enjoyed ourselves and didn't do anything stupid. Really enjoyed it, but did feel like I was quickly at the limit of my 18(?) year old hardtail. It looks positively like an antique now and its incredible just how much bikes have changed since then. Which sounds ridiculous now that I write it.

So, started having a quick look at mountain bikes... I feel like an old man shouting at the clouds about how expensive everything has got. I remember when £1000 got you a very nice bike.

Any value for money brands out there worth checking out or do I just need to swallow the pill of a 2.5-3K bike if I'm going to get back in to this lark?

what sort of riding do you want to do? There are loads of different styles of bike about these days that enhance different types of riding styles, everything from downhill, enduro/trail, XC, gravel bikes, ebikes, etc..

I went to bike park wales yesterday, one of my mates (who's a bloody good rider - fast/jumps well/etc) has a long travel hard tail Pace at the moment, that was entirely unsuited to the place and we left him standing on our 170mm travel bikes (especially me and my bro on ebikes). His hands were destroyed 2 runs before we were, just from having the wrong type of bike.

I'd always recommend a full sus these days, the benefits far outweigh the extra weight - and I'm shit on hard tails!

[Ascender]

If you’re taking it easy then £700ish will get you onto something with a decent enough frame that it’ll be worth upgrading if you want.

The Kona Lava Dome I got for knocking around town is actually pretty decent. Could do with a nicer fork and the derailleur refuses to stay aligned but it’s fun to ride. If you’re like me you’ll be amazed by the speed you can carry on 29” wheels

I think that’s maybe the bit - I’m notoriously lazy at upgrading components, so would rather buy something now that I can just used for the next 10 years+ I guess.

I have been wondering what these bigs with 29” wheels are like to ride! Some of the tyres look absolutely massive too, you must just be able to ride over so much assuming you have a bit of speed.

[Ascender]

Made it back to Glentress for the first time in 5 years+. Went with a mate who was similarly out-of-practice so we took it easy going up and down, just enjoyed ourselves and didn't do anything stupid. Really enjoyed it, but did feel like I was quickly at the limit of my 18(?) year old hardtail. It looks positively like an antique now and its incredible just how much bikes have changed since then. Which sounds ridiculous now that I write it.

So, started having a quick look at mountain bikes... I feel like an old man shouting at the clouds about how expensive everything has got. I remember when £1000 got you a very nice bike.

Any value for money brands out there worth checking out or do I just need to swallow the pill of a 2.5-3K bike if I'm going to get back in to this lark?

what sort of riding do you want to do? There are loads of different styles of bike about these days that enhance different types of riding styles, everything from downhill, enduro/trail, XC, gravel bikes, ebikes, etc..

I went to bike park wales yesterday, one of my mates (who's a bloody good rider - fast/jumps well/etc) has a long travel hard tail Pace at the moment, that was entirely unsuited to the place and we left him standing on our 170mm travel bikes (especially me and my bro on ebikes). His hands were destroyed 2 runs before we were, just from having the wrong type of bike.

I'd always recommend a full sus these days, the benefits far outweigh the extra weight - and I'm shit on hard tails!

I’ve been using my gravel bike a fair amount, I love it for stuff round here and did a four day trip on it a few months back too, just wild camping.

I like the fast swooping bermy downhill trails, some jumps and drops nothing too technical, that’s why a full sus bike is appealing. I had one years ago and it was great for that sort of stuff.

[Ascender]

So I see we're still suffering from a shortage of new bikes you can actually buy unless you want the XS or XL sized frames!

[Ascender]

OK, so what is a traditional mountain bike known as these days in terms of its style & what sort of geometry setup does it have? The more I look, the more I seem to be seeing bikes which appear to be for massive downhill stuff or enduro racing.

[Rich B]

Probably a trail bike. 120-160mm travel.

[Ascender]

I'm guessing if I set an upper limit of 140mm travel, I should get something which isn't too big & "slack" in terms of setup feel?

Are 27.5" wheels the sweet spot?

[Rich B]

I'm guessing if I set an upper limit of 140mm travel, I should get something which isn't too big & "slack" in terms of setup feel?

Are 27.5" wheels the sweet spot?

there's only really 27.5 or 29 these days (ignoring fat bikes and jump bikes) - I think it depends on the individual bike design and manufacturer which one is best. Thankfully with longer top tubes on modern geo, 29ers don't look quite as gangly as they used to.

[Ascender]

I narrowed it down to a few bikes from 2022 before finding I couldn't buy any of them anywhere until somewhere between June and October this year. I then looked at 2021 versions of these bikes before finding unless I wanted an XS or XXL frame, I couldn't but those either. For brands like Specialized it looks like a lot of bike stores have the same inventory checker on their website, so it started to become pointless checking yet another bike website for stock. I emailed a few smaller ones and then moved on to used...

I found some nice bikes secondhand on the local MTB FB groups, but as prices for decent bikes have gone up over time. so do the used prices. And then its a slightly less easy case to make to spend a couple of K on a 3/4 year old bike if I could get a new one for another K or so with warranty.

In the end I found somewhere selling a Whyte bike with a decent discount so went for that. Good old 0% finance with 50% discount means I don't think about the real cost of the bike. All sorted, just waiting for updates about shipping. And waiting. And waiting. Called, its all good, it should be out on Thursday. Except its not. Calls and emails get nowhere. So I cancelled.

Then out of the blue a small bike shop mailed me on Thursday night to say they got my email which was sitting in their junk folder and yes, they do have a single Specialized Stumpjumper in stock, in my size and could get it to me for Tuesday. Sorted.

All I need to do now is get fit and not push it too much on the downhills...

[Rich B]

You can't go far wrong with a stumpie- my wife has a 2016 stump jumper fsr and it's a great all round bike.