Dammit’s adventures in mountain biking

Daaaamn they're nice. I had a Kingdom Vendetta to go with my Full Squish and it was such a beautiful thing but it went to make space for a new roadie. :/

I think steel/Ti, agro mtbs are probably the best looking bikes in bike world. There. I said it.

I spoke to DMR customer service about the Deathgrips not gripping on my carbon bars and got a response that I will paraphrase as “we don’t care LOL”, which whilst it is par for the course in 2020 I will admit to finding somewhat disappointing

Anyway, Burgtec grips installed, seem to be firmly in place (I cleaned the bars with isopropyl alcohol before installing them). I'd forgotten that the discs need burning in, hopefully I'll attend to that this weekend.

I'd forgotten that the discs need burning in, hopefully I'll attend to that this weekend

If only you lived near a hill

It's not exactly replete with a surfeit of gnar.

I don't think gnar is a requirement for burning in your brakes

It's not required, no.

In fact, gnar is probably counter-productive given that what you really want is a high friction surface.

Sprints then anchors a few times on the road. To be honest I don't tend to bother with any of that.

Sadly, Neil had his road paved with gold, so no luck trying it there

Standard feature for the roads in London's famous London, innit?

Even south?

Not sure. I'm a North Londoner so I won't cross the river to find out.

London - pretty much gold and crimson checkerboard, with the odd green square.

Sprints then anchors a few times on the road. To be honest I don't tend to bother with any of that.

I've done this, and the brakes, they are not there. I'll squirt some water over them and zip down a big hill - which I find more effective.

@Dammit FFS sort it out

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I thought I had to get a VW van first?

I got a puncture at Swinley today, at the point furthest away from the car park.

Of course, I had no pump nor tyre worm, but the Rimpact insert enabled me to (slowly) ride the fire roads back to the car.

I did discover that my new pump was Schraeder only, which was annoying- anyone know if there is a way to convert a Topeak pump from car tyre to bicycle tyre?

Is it one of those where you can take out the rubber ring and bit of plastic from the pump head and reverse them?

I shall investigate when I get back from the vet- thanks.

Can you spot where I got the puncture?

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And back to Bike-Discount these go

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Interestingly I’m setting PR’s on the hardtail, on (for Swinley) downhill tracks I’ve ridden a lot on for e.g. a Santa Cruz Hightower.

It could also be gaining confidence and skill resulting in this.

Maybe. Tyre sealant did actually seal the hole- looks like I could just have pumped the tyre up and gone back out. Also appears that that pump does have a reversible insert, so that’s a win as well.

I had a lot of fun over the weekend on the bike. Whilst at home I noticed that the usual suspects on YouTube were all riding the new pump track and dirt jumps at Fleet BMX track- which looks a lot of fun.

I’ve been heading to Brockwell Park BMX track on the 529 but at 6’7” long and with 150mm of fork it’s not shall we say optimised for this activity. Still fun mind.

Would something like a YT Dirt Lover be a fun thing to add to the stable?