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

Dorset, Wiltshire & Somerset

Got a route by any chance?

With helpfully modded start point of a NT carpark :)

Left hand side there are plenty of fire tracks etc for exploring - that's where the bike photo was.

Right hand side (Mere) are where the Downs start - the second pic.

Heading north to the Devrills it get's pretty lofty, that's the 900 footer.

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• Afternoon Ride.gpx
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Lovely, thanks

@sacredhart you can run an SLX front derailleur from road shifters (105 etc), but you have to run road derailleurs. The only current clutch rear mech is GRX (good luck finding one!).
I'm running 105 shifters and rear mech, SLX front mech and chainset/BB on a Genesis Vagabond frame, it all works very nicely, so your Surly should be fine if that's the way you want to go.

Ultegra RX also had a clutch and a similar availablity to GRX.

Would anyone be interested in a 2020 Norco Torrent S frame (size large) before it goes up on STW? Bought it back from Canada and can't see myself ever getting round to building it (house stuff seems all-consuming at the moment). Chased & faced, never ridden (maybe a few small marks from storage). Think I have the FSA headset and even a spare mech hanger too. Lovely sparkly paintjob. Someone please do it justice...

https://www.norco.com/bike-archives/2020/torrent-ht-s-frame/

https://www.norco.com/cmsb/uploads/bikes/bikes/2020-torrent-steel-assembly-service-parts.pdf

Was thinking £350

I’m stuck on what bike I want, partly due to lack of test rides. Marple/ Peak District area mainly, very occasional trail centres but not into jumping or big drops. I guess our local trails are fairly steep and rocky but not Lake District standard!

Currently I have a Scott scale- this is fine for local xc races and marathons and does ok on local trails.

After riding a mates canyon full sus I liked how the back wheel gripped more and let me push on the rocky stuff more. But does riding a full sus eventually get boring/ take the challenge out of local stuff?

Is the answer basically have 2 bikes?

Swap frame for something with full lockout?

Current frame is rigid, but the fork has lockout albeit it’s a suntour fork so a bit shit. I did think about getting new wheels and forks for the scale but it’s a lot of ££ to still have a slightly out of date bike. Hence thinking about new. Just can’t decide if I want a full on xc full sus, a slightly more trail/ marathon like trek fuel, or a more trail hardtail like cotic

XC races in the south, does it exist? What are the entry requirements? Can I troll it on my CX bike?

But does riding a full sus eventually get boring/ take the challenge out of local stuff?

I think it depends on how much travel the bike has, and how it uses it.

For e.g. riding an 8" travel DH bike on mild stuff will be funny at first, then dull.

Trail bikes seem to start at 130mm rear travel then go to around 150, beyond that you're into Enduro - Santa Cruz Megatower type thing which is (IIRC) 160mm both ends.

Unless you're hitting Innerleithan/similar or head to the Alps regularly I'd stick with something a bit smaller - I think most UK stuff sits between the Tallboy and the Hightower tbh. And can be done on a hardtail if you're feeling like it.

https://www.gorrick.com/

Don't see why you wouldn't be allowed to race on a CX bike.

Get a short travel trail bike. Something like spur, izzo, tallboy, or ripley. Best of all worlds.

At this time of year there is Gorrick

28 quid a race! plus 1.5hr drive.

Why race?

Zwift is free

Why race?

Yes, I recall asking myself that about an hour in

Dont you need a monthly fee? I’ve never used it but that was my impression?

yeah I was semi trolling, I dont use zwift

racing is very 'inaccessible' money, distance and faff wise

You'll also need a bike and some kind of static trainer. I think you can get away with cheap rollers right?

racing is very 'inaccessible' money, distance and faff wise

Riding off Road from London can be like that sometimes

Nah, how much did your smart trainer cost you?

Erm

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To be fair to Gorrick, a lot of the venues they use are private land that you can't otherwise ride on.

okay fine, riding on college road is free