Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

In this video Brendan Fairclough and Olly Wilkins ride Swindon. Cool story bro'.

https://vimeo.com/143281988

I have been eyeing up a few slacktastic bikes recently. The BTR Ranger comes in a suitably long XL 29er ( not pictured ) as well....

Anyone been to Epping recently? Any sense on what it'll be like tomorrow?

I was there day before yesterday....it was very good considering, but there a few puddles, but not too many boggy bits.....there are a lot of leaves on the trails though, which make it hard to spot your lines at speed. It would lovely if the sun was out right now though!
I'm probably going to ride down there tomorrow for a blast round again.

Supposed to rain later. I guess if it's too heavy I'll give it a miss. Otherwise, sounds like it could be fun. Maybe bump into you!

A bit squishy but nothing that would stop you from having lols

I'll be on my new toy!

A bit squishy but nothing that would stop you from having lols

Moar squish, MOAR!

Anyone heading towards Epping today?

Could be up for that. Just feel like every time I go I hit the same old trails, and that I'm probably missing some very good stuff nearby.

Am staying 5 miles from coed y brenin right now. Leaving on Thursday morning. Have been feeling unwell so not as much riding as planned.
:-(

I'm there right now....just had a sausage doorstep at the bottom tea but....nomnom

a sausage doorstep at the bottom tea but

That has to be a thinly veiled euph?

Am in the cafe right now

I meant 'hut'... Pervy autocorrect!

I was at Epping though:0)

If you guys had about £500-600 to spend on an off-road bike, what would you do?

My girlfriend is looking for something within that budget, mostly just for occasional pootling around the trails in Epping forest with me - keeping both wheels on the ground kinda thing. Before @mmccarthy recommends the fully rigid Vitus, she's adamant on something with front suspension as she got on really well with my 26" hard tail in terms of stability and comfort.

I know sourcing something second hand would be the best bet, but I don't really have the time/patience/energy to hunt something down at the moment.

Any ideas?

Wiggle have got the 2015 Charge Cooker(s) on sale at the moment - the Cooker 2 and Cooker 3 both seem fairly reasonable. There's also On-One's Inbred.

Should I be considering anything else?

I thought Cookers were supposed to be shit? I had a 26" Inbred, and it was shit. Weighed a ton. Won't she want a women's specific one? Modern MTBs have long top tubes which accentuate the problems some females can have with fit.

Had a check on Evans, and there's a few to choose from. edit: Link doesn't seem to work.

Maybe something that doesn't weigh a tonne :-)

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m1b0s155p5709/CANNONDALE-TRAIL-3-29-2015

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cannondale/tango-4-275-2015-womens-mountain-bike-ec071452

Won't she want a women's specific one?

Nah

Modern MTBs have long top tubes which accentuate the problems some
females can have with fit.

Nah, just get a shorter stem. Never really seen the point in womens-specific geo.

But how would you get a shorter stem for the bike you posted up there ^^^^? If bikes are now sold with 80mm stem, you'll be wanting a 10/20mm to feel comfortable. I'm Trextastic so long top tubes are shit for me.

You could do worse than buying my F5 frame off me and building it up :)

Even the long top tubed slack geo jobbies are short compared to the XC bikes from years ago. Reach on my Stanton is paltry but it still handles sweetly with a 30mm stem.