Mountain Biking general thread

[John]

Re the RRP Proguard, I’ve had them on previous bikes and although pricey they are very good. The Rockshox forks on this bike don’t have the pre drilled holes to mount them so it’d still be zip ties to hold it on. Plus I’m on a strict budget with this bike

[Rich B]

Whilst the mountain biking thread has come up again, it's time for my yearly recommendation for everyone to try night riding. We've managed to go out once every week for the last 4 weeks and it's been amazing.

We typically do 19:30 til about 22:00 and everyone comes back absolutely buzzing. We ride our local trails (that to be honest, can be a bit boring through sheer familiarity during the day) and even the featureless riding between the good trails becomes entertaining at night.

It takes a little investment (£150 will get you a set up that'll do the job well enough) but for old family men who can't always get out on the weekend, it's a small price to open up so many extra riding opportunities.

[Jobbo]

Since it’s getting lighter again now, could you issue that reminder maybe in November this year?

[Rich B]

Since it’s getting lighter again now, could you issue that reminder maybe in November this year?

to be honest, November and December were a bit wet for night riding last year. You really need dry(ish) trails and most importantly; no rain (torches have a habit of lighting up the raindrops rather than the trail!) the last month has been perfect - even the low temp has made it work better. its great being wrapped up well, but not actually sweating no matter how much you're riding.

We had one night where all the puddles were iced over the other day so we had plenty of fun trying to stay up doing burn outs on the ice.

Still a few months of dark left - and you can always ride later.

[Gwaredd]

I used to love night riding, but got bored of it as no-one in my group wanted to ride interesting trails, but stick to the fire roads and smash out 20 - 25 miles. It's OK now and again, but becomes deathly boring after a while.

I'm strictly a fair weather rider now. Wind and rain can get to fuck.

[Rich B]

I used to love night riding, but got bored of it as no-one in my group wanted to ride interesting trails, but stick to the fire roads and smash out 20 - 25 miles. It's OK now and again, but becomes deathly boring after a while.

I'm strictly a fair weather rider now. Wind and rain can get to fuck.

yeah, we've got no interest in doing big miles - twisty stuff, fast stuff and jumps as always.

[Gwaredd]

I need to find a new riding group

[simon_g]

Night riding is at least 90% of my riding. Also means you're incredibly unlikely to get caught riding somewhere you shouldn't as it's too late for the dog walkers. It's even better in the lighter months when you can start with lights off, see the sunset and sit outside for a beer after without freezing.

Rich, the most e-friendly roof carrier I found was this one, it does 23kg, doesn't touch the frame and doesn't need a wheel removing. I'd still need the battery out, but I think I'd need to do that anyway to lift it up there!

[Rich B]

Night riding is at least 90% of my riding. Also means you're incredibly unlikely to get caught riding somewhere you shouldn't as it's too late for the dog walkers. It's even better in the lighter months when you can start with lights off, see the sunset and sit outside for a beer after without freezing.

Rich, the most e-friendly roof carrier I found was this one, it does 23kg, doesn't touch the frame and doesn't need a wheel removing. I'd still need the battery out, but I think I'd need to do that anyway to lift it up there!

that rack looks good, I wish I'd asked on here before buying mine! - still pushing my luck on tyre size though (my rear is 2.8, that one says up to 2.7).

[John]

What a great day for riding, very little mud and the sun actually feels warm.

[Gavin]

Decided that after barely being on my bike since tearing my rotator cuff back in the summer, the cunning thing to do to get back on the saddle was to have a nice leisurely ride round Kielder... It was right up there with Baldrick's plans for cunning levels. Glad I did it but ended up doing the last 4 miles in the dark (dark skies area).

Took 3 and a half hours. To put this into fitness context a few years back I did a run bike run round Kielder and did it in 3hrs and 1 minute...

[GG.]

I can finally contribute to this thread…

Son received a Specialized Riprock for his 7th birthday (don’t think he realises how lucky he is).

Problem was without a bike myself it was realistically going to get little use. He has been cycling round the park whilst I go running on a weekend but clearly a bit limiting…

So I bit the bullet today and bought a Kona Cindercone (I’ve wanted a Kona since I was 12 - 25 years is quite a long time to wait )

I also then needed to get to grips with how to transport them round without filling up the entire boot… foldable Thule has allowed me to use the deployable tow bar that the RR had fitted - only downside is it cost nearly as much as the bike!

Anyway - looking forward to trying it out on some Oxfordshire trails tomorrow. Any recommendations gratefully received!!

[Gavin]

I so wanted a lava dome or cinder cone back in the day but they were way out my price range!

[240PP]

I so wanted a lava dome or cinder cone back in the day but they were way out my price range!

Same. Kona was the one

[Rich B]

Yeah, Kona was a pretty cool brand when I was a kid - I remember my older brother had a Cindercone in about 1990 that got stolen outside a shop. I remember telling the police about it and being able to describe every single detail of it!

I had a Kona Stuff in about 2002 when I got back into mountain biking. They lost their way in the 2010s a bit (like Marin, another massive brand of my childhood) but seem to be back building decent stuff.

Enjoy!

[ZedLeg]

Not gonna lie, the childhood want was a big factor in me picking a Kona when I bought a new townbike a few years ago

[John]

Do we have a road bike thread?

Sometimes the type of riding I do just doesn't need off road tyres and front suspension, mainly when blatting around country lanes. I tried a gravel bike a few years ago and it was "OK" but didn't do anything particularly well, compromised on and off road. So I decided to look for a road bike that would be a decent-ish spec, not easy with the prices of bikes now. I started by looking at used examples but soon became disillusioned with the prices asked and the choices available.

So new it is then and even harder to find a decently equipped bike for my self imposed budget of £1000. After a couple of weeks of searching I stumbled on a Vitus at Wiggle. It's their in house brand and I already have a hardtail mountain bike of theirs so know that they are decent value for money. The road bike is a Vitus Zenium with a carbon frame and Shimano 105 group set. Slightly over budget but after various sale discounts and codes the price was £1150, not cheap but good value compared to everything else that I looked at. It's the first road bike I have ridden so don't have anything to compare it to but it feels quick and once up to speed it's easy to hold it there. The only slight fly in the ointment was a slipping seatpost on the first outing but a liberal application of carbon grip paste seems to have cured that.

I seem to have gained lots of friendly waving roadie friends when out for a ride yesterday who would previously have ignored me on my MTB



That's Clumber Park bridge for anyone who remembers it from the Lombard Rally days.

[jamcg]

Yeah, Kona was a pretty cool brand when I was a kid - I remember my older brother had a Cindercone in about 1990 that got stolen outside a shop. I remember telling the police about it and being able to describe every single detail of it!

I had a Kona Stuff in about 2002 when I got back into mountain biking. They lost their way in the 2010s a bit (like Marin, another massive brand of my childhood) but seem to be back building decent stuff.

Enjoy!

My brother in law has the same thing with klein bikes- now he won’t stop buying them

[ZedLeg]

Just came back and saw GGs pictures, very similar to mines except mines is on 29s and I took the dorky reflectors and pedals off it

[Jobbo]

@John I still have a roadie, a Triban 500 from Decathlon. I won't get rid of it because it's quite a nice bike (albeit still on rim brakes, and I'm sure I'd prefer disks if I tried them on a roadie). But I haven't used it for a few years because I find it impossible to ride gently; the position just makes you push on. For me it only really works for an up to 10 mile sprint type ride. I'm also not a massive fan of the drop bars, though I had a Specialized Sirrus before it which is basically a flat-bar roadie and preferred the drops to that - the Sirrus wanted you to push on, but the flat bars felt totally wrong on it, like a massive compromise.

Might oil the chain and give the Triban a quick spin actually, so I can say I've used it recently