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

I basically have that in the gravel bike (and the Inbred when I get it sorted) so my next bike will almost certainly be a hardtail so I can ride some of the gnarlier stuff without vibrating my eyeballs into 2001 Space Odyssey Vision™ before ruts and corners and stuff. Also thinking longer duration stuff front suss might saves arms/hands and flat bars mean I can try out bar roll packing which will give me more capacity for camping gear and solo (or paired with the missus) trips into dirt world.

paired with the missus) trips into dirt world

Oh my.

The whole thing is filth
Inbred
hardtail
vibrating
ride
ruts
bars
arms/hands
solo
missus
dirt world

The Orange has arrived!

Pedals and mudguards fitted.

Not too sure about the mechanic who put it together as the drop shifter and gear shifters were mounted on the inside edge of the brakes. Easy fix and now my hands fit on without knocking into the levers.

Now to find somwhere in Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire borders that's not a total mudbath to ride it!

Anyone nearby?

Is there any point in buying an MTB if I don't drive and live in South Ldn?
I've never owned one, zero experience.. don't think my VO Piolet in commute mode counts.
I was going to build a gravel/allroad bike but can't stop thinking about the Stooge Scrambler and where it could take me. Maybe I'm approaching this all wrong.

It’s fun this off-road lark. Just went for a first spin

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You can get the train out to fun places.

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What are the least terrible looking MTB guards? Have bought a new hardtail which I need to immediately make ugly but functional for the soupy mud

See above, and judge them as you like. Mudhugger rear and RRP front.

I'll second RRP, also if you got a Fox/new Marzocchi - Syncros do a neat little guard.

I have some low use zee calipers that were removed by a bike shop. Tried to reinstall them today and they're both leaking, so badly that when I remove the lever bleed screw the oil flows from around a piston out under gravity. All pistons looks to be in great condition, calipers worked well before removal.

Any ideas what has happened? Conscious the seals aren't user serviceable.

Are people in London travelling out to mountain bike trails? I rode (road bike) from central out to past Richmond park and felt a bit guilty, but saw people driving around with muddy MTBs on the roof. I'd love to head to Surrey for some mud but feels like that's a bit of a stretch.

I'm really sad about not mtbing at the moment but I'm telling myself the trails will be muddy/need a break anyway.

I think they are, yes.

Can’t say for London and the Surrey hills but I rode through and around Cwmcarn today and police were set up at the entrance to the car park and fining anyone that had traveled over 5 miles to get there. No warning/go home, just a straight fine.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see this spread to more trail centres (if it hasn’t already) to enforce the current lockdown.

It might actually be illegal in Wales though (sorry, given up keeping up with the constant changing of laws across uk).

In England there is no law on how far you can travel for exercise, but the guidance is to be local. At the same time some guy got fined for driving to a maccie d's 100 miles away, so I don't really know what the score is.

I went for a local off road ride today and it was a bit of a bog fest.

Well macD definitely isn't travelling for excercise OR essential shopping really!

Essential nutrients

I spoke to the police and they said the policy changed yesterday from turning away/advising visitors, to straight up/no way to avoid fine.

Is there any point in buying an MTB if I don't drive and live in South Ldn?

I rode my mountain bike plenty in London without a car. Just don't make the mistake of getting suckered into a trail bike that'll only be fun in the Alps. Loads of places out South where a bike like that Stooge will be perfect.

Best value mtb groupset in you guys' opinion?

Best? XTR

Best value? Deore

Shimano over SRAM?

i went for Sram NX Eagle, mainly because i couldn't find SLX in stock anywhere

Always found XT - being roughly aligned with Ultegra as the good stuff you can afford - great value compared to XTR. How much better it is than SLX though...eh. Same as 105 vs Ultegra.

This is basically what I wanted to ask - what is the Ultegra equivalent of MTB groupsets - but that sounded stupid in my head! Thanks for the info