Bicyclist thread

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Ascender
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by Ascender »

How does the extra weight of the e-bike feel when you're doing technical/gnarly trails? I've never sat on one, let alone ridden one, but the assumption is that weight will make it more difficult on anything other than fast flowing stuff?
Cheers,

Mike.
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Rich B
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by Rich B »

Ascender wrote: Sun Jul 28, 2019 1:19 pm How does the extra weight of the e-bike feel when you're doing technical/gnarly trails? I've never sat on one, let alone ridden one, but the assumption is that weight will make it more difficult on anything other than fast flowing stuff?
I’ve ridden a Specialized Levo Turbo down twisty downhill single track with jumps - it’s just as fast as my capra round berms and no harder in the air. It helps that they have massive 2.8 tires giving epic grip to go with the extra weight.

I went to black mountain bike park last week and I reckon there were about 1/3 of the people in ebikes and that’s quite a technical place.
V8Granite
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by V8Granite »

Rich B wrote: Sun Jul 28, 2019 12:50 pm It went really well - the little chap stayed happily sat in his seat for about an hour and a half, then still wouldn’t take his helmet off for the whole way home (i had to put it on his panda toy to get him to go for a nap). I do need to adjust the helmet to sit better too.

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Id definitely recommend this style over the rear seats, which just seem to bounce around and give the kid a view of your arse. It was a little ungainly to ride at first, and you can’t go up steep hills because you can’t shift your weight forward, but it’s great down hills as you can hear and see how the kid is reacting!

I saw another guy with a shotgun child seat for when he’s a bit older which I should be able to fit to my carbon fibre Capra - which will make everything easier than my old clunker.
I loved ours, I bought it solely because if I had a spill I could protect him from harm.

We did hundreds of miles in it and the only problem was when they fell asleep !! It also means on days out you’re able to carry a rucksack.

We’ve given it to some friends now and the youngest now goes in a trailer.

Dave!
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JLv3.0
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by JLv3.0 »

Yep that' looks brilliant, just what I'm after in a few months tbh. Make and model please? Also how old was Sam before you installed him in it?
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Rich B
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by Rich B »

JLv3.0 wrote: Mon Jul 29, 2019 10:25 am Yep that' looks brilliant, just what I'm after in a few months tbh. Make and model please? Also how old was Sam before you installed him in it?
Sam is 21 months and its a weeride, there were loads on local selling sites so I just got a second hand one for £40 (though this one had been sat in a shed unused). I expect I could have got him on it earlier - but he’s not the sort to sit still for long usually. I needn’t have worried, he just sat and enjoyed it.

I liked this one because it has a lot of protection around the back and feet, and room for him to move, but that does make it a bit bulky and needs to be positioned well to miss moving bike/me parts.

There’s loads of different ones about, all have their quirks. The fixing of this one is onto a bar from head tube to seatpost so I wouldn’t put it onto a carbon frame or something that has no headtube above the top tube.

The “shotgun” one I saw will be great once he’s a bit bigger, but it’s a proper saddle so no good for a squirming kid I wouldn’t have thought!
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JLv3.0
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by JLv3.0 »

Thanks Rich, much appreciated 👍
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Rich B
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by Rich B »

Good luck with it, I really enjoyed it too. There’s been loads of weekend days where the Mrs is out and I’ve been trying to think of stuff to do with Sam. The default from now on will be going riding!

Another tip was I put him in the seat a few times before and carried him round the house in front of me, making it into a fun roller coaster game. by the time he got in the bike he was used to it, then at the carpark I put the seat on the bike and walked him up and down first.

There’s definitely no problem getting him to wear a helmet - getting it off however...

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JLv3.0
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by JLv3.0 »

Epic stuff 8-)
V8Granite
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by V8Granite »

Does it have a light on the strap adjuster ?

Ours does and they both make turning it on before a ride like the starting sequence of a 747, very very important haha

Dave!
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McSwede
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by McSwede »

The below popped up in my YouTube feed. Looks great!!!

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KiwiDave
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by KiwiDave »

I'm not sure I see the point. If it's to have a twin crown DH bike with motor, then for DH I'd rather have a non e-bike for the agility. If it's to ride everywhere, I'd rather have an EMTB that's more tailored to riding everything - see Turbo Levo or the more DH orientated YT Decoy.

And fuck having a throttle on any bike that isn't for commuting. That shit seems super sketchy on tricky trails, it'd have to be some kinda clever clutch/kill the power when you freak/brake etc. to be even vaguely worth trying.
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Jobbo
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by Jobbo »

Having a motor which can spin the rear wheel makes it more like this than bicycle riding, surely?
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dinny_g
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by dinny_g »

Brilliant Jobbo… :lol:

I bloody loved Kickstart when I was a kid...
JLv3.0 wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:26 pm I say this rarely Dave, but listen to Dinny because he's right.
Rich B wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:57 pm but Dinny was right…
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ZedLeg
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by ZedLeg »

KiwiDave wrote: Tue Aug 06, 2019 7:28 am I'm not sure I see the point. If it's to have a twin crown DH bike with motor, then for DH I'd rather have a non e-bike for the agility. If it's to ride everywhere, I'd rather have an EMTB that's more tailored to riding everything - see Turbo Levo or the more DH orientated YT Decoy.

And fuck having a throttle on any bike that isn't for commuting. That shit seems super sketchy on tricky trails, it'd have to be some kinda clever clutch/kill the power when you freak/brake etc. to be even vaguely worth trying.
All of that, those trails look brilliant though.
An absolute unit
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mik
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by mik »

What a great clip :lol:

And yeah -used to love watching (adult) Kickstart with my dad - constant amazement at what they could do. (The name Dougie Lampkin just crawled out of some distant memory bank 8-) )
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dinny_g
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by dinny_g »

yep...

And Eddy Lejeune… :)
JLv3.0 wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:26 pm I say this rarely Dave, but listen to Dinny because he's right.
Rich B wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:57 pm but Dinny was right…
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McSwede
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by McSwede »

Decided to take mini mcswede (5.5yr) to Sutton Bank today for a lap or two around their basic MTB trail. It didn't go quite according to plan as after about 200yds of the trail on a slight downhill run she got a bit of a speed wobble and missed a left/right/left kink and went straight into a tree stump with inevitable consequences. Lots and lots of tears!!!!

I could see what was happening and was shouting for her to use her brakes but she was like a rabbit in the headlights. Maybe have to leave it a little while before going back. She also refused to try riding the rest of it so we walked back up to the beginning and did a little road riding up there. We watched the racehorses out on the gallops which was nice and helped calm her down.
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JonMad
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by JonMad »

dinny_g wrote: Tue Aug 06, 2019 2:16 pm yep...

And Eddy Lejeune… :)
And can still remember the theme tune.
Left over crest; tightens.
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Carlos
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by Carlos »

Rich B wrote: Sun Jul 28, 2019 1:26 pm
Ascender wrote: Sun Jul 28, 2019 1:19 pm How does the extra weight of the e-bike feel when you're doing technical/gnarly trails? I've never sat on one, let alone ridden one, but the assumption is that weight will make it more difficult on anything other than fast flowing stuff?
I’ve ridden a Specialized Levo Turbo down twisty downhill single track with jumps - it’s just as fast as my capra round berms and no harder in the air. It helps that they have massive 2.8 tires giving epic grip to go with the extra weight.

I went to black mountain bike park last week and I reckon there were about 1/3 of the people in ebikes and that’s quite a technical place.
As a more sedate test I've pottered around on a couple of hardtails (Specialized, Haibiike and Giant) and can't really feel the additional weight which you'd expect given my bulk.

Trigger pulled and hopefully pick it up Monday or Tuesday.
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John
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by John »

I went out on my ebike last weekend with a couple of friends. We headed to Lady Cannings Plantation on the edge of the Peak District which is a little trail centre with a couple of runs, compact but good fun. Then over to Blacka Moor and down to Devils Elbow which is an extremely rough downhill section, the weight of the bike and the plus tyres make it much more controllable though. Then a long rough climb up to Fox House and over to Stanage Edge. The major plus point for me about ebikes is their ability to get to and from the places you want to ride without using up lots of energy on the journey between them.

On a separate note my Canyon Spectral is now five years old and I decided it was time to upgrade it to a newer version. Canyon have had a sale on for the last couple of weeks so that gave me an incentive too. Here it is just finished with a few tweeks still to do, cutting the bars down is one as they're 800mm wide!

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