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

Clipless.. let looking away be my only negation

Get some industrial deanodiser and it'll be a 5min job. Just don't do it in your bathroom, it took few days for the fumes to fully clear.

Today was my second day riding with flat pedals - am starting to realise how often my weight isn’t on the pedals which is interesting and relatively easily addressed. Loads more pedal strike so will need to work on pedal timing over roots etc.

The last few times I have been to FOD I have started making use of the skills area. It has been really productive to improve cornering and drop offs. But I am becoming aware of different schools of thought around drop offs. ProRide teach it with a manual whereas Lee Likes Bikes teaches it with his rowing and hinge approach. I think I prefer the latter as it doesn’t require manual skills.

Had an odd moment when I saw a squirrel that looked like someone had put one of those hats used on falcons on its head. It was green and spiky with feathers sticking out. I was wondering what kind of twat would do that until it became clear it was just carrying a conker with case and leaves still attached.

Then on one of the descents I was rather thrown by a load of crashing noise behind and to the side of me, until a deer leaped out across my path just a few meters in front of me.

I used caustic soda crystals dissolved in water and bathed the crank arms. I used a small brush to help it all off. It’s potent stuff though and has real potential to fuck your cranks. As pit says it also gives off some fumes. I had to do in the kitchen with the back door and windows open.
It’s fair bit of faff tbh. But there are coating places you could send the arms to and they would remove the anodising for cheap. For example there’s a place in the UK I can send the arms to and they will do it for less than £20.
Getting them to a mirror shine takes a lot of effort with various fine grades of wet and dry paper then you need access to a bench top polishing wheel.

All in all probably not worth the effort but the shiney is nice

Speaking of shiny shiny bars has anyone come across the Nitto For Shred mtb riser bars?

They're 750mm wide and 31.8mm but I can't help but feel a slight reluctance due to the generally non-mountain bikey-ness of Nitto under normal circumstances?

I'll probably default to Surrey Hills, but quite fancy something that will give the suspension more of a workout - anyone got a suggestion for a day out on the trail bike?

quite fancy something that will give the suspension more of a workout

Ride faster?

;-)

Nothing in the Surrey Hills is long or steep enough to get that fast, that I've found anyway.

If you're testing a new suspension setup, isn't it better to compare it on trails you're familiar with, before hitting anything bigger?

I'm debating maybe Redlands or Peaslake for Saturday, with the former being far easier to get to.

Talking of suspension. I had a go on this the other night. Apparently the springy things at either end are rather good, can confirm they worked. Boing boing bounce bounce etc.

Also had those electronic shifter things and a distinct lack of wires. I don’t like the shifting sound.

Mullet innit.

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SRAM. Pass. Hard pass.

I’d be driving from SE23

I have these and they have been great on my ssmtb. I just swapped them because I needed more rise. If you need more comfort, Hunter Cycles Smooth bars (or whaatever they are called) are also made by Nitto.

Hunter Cycles Smooth

Oh boy! Wider too at 780mm which I'm currently running. These might be the ones alright!

I want a pair of silver high rise ones sooooo bad I just can't justify it for a bike never actually ride but just own because I can't get myself to selling it

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I can't get myself to selling it

Surely that is justification for buying the bars?

I'm now in turmoil as I suspect those Hunter low rise ones might be a bit more swept than I'd like which leads me back to the For Shred ones or two other possible choices...

Buy another Truvativ BlackBox Stevie Smith bar but hope I can find the silver one this time.

Wait until Chromag release another polished finished bar and hope I can buy one before they sell out.

I don't have a build to put these on at the moment and I'm getting stressed about it :(

That GT is absolutely bloody superb by the way, don't ever sell it!

Wait a minute... are these the low rise bars you've got on your GT at the moment? If they're uncut I could take them off your hands if you wanted to get the high rise ones instead?

I am on some blue Sunline 745... which are too narrow and I am a little fed up with all the blue so I've extended some Funn steel bars (bottom ones) to 800 which I'll mount when I have a minute. I am also going for a different saddle I think as I am passed the colour concept bike and just want a more beatery version of this... Also the red stem seems be crack on the inside so a new stem is needed...

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I've promised @simba the bars, but if he isn't keen you can have them for what I paid on here

Going for slow pootle around Swinley tomorrow. Will be at Martins Heron at 10:20 if anyone wants to join in.

Hi,
any help to determine the first stem length for my first ever 29er mtb?

I bought my first ever 29er MTB with this M/L size geometry: https://nordestcycles.com/en/product/sar­dinha-2-kit

I am riding a custom road bike with 535 virtual top tube + 100 stem.

Which can be a suitable MTB stem length I can start off riding? I might start with one cheap so not a big risk if we are way off... the handlebar I plan to use is a Surly Moloko.

Thank you in advance for your help.

You’ll probably want to go a bit shorter than 100mm
Anything between 50mm and 80mm as a rough guide.
Like you say just get a couple cheap ones and experiment.
You’ll probably find that you prefer the shorter end of the spectrum.

shorter end of the spectrum

I've got a 40mm stem on the Capra...

Thanks. I’ll try with a 50 then