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

when I almost crashed into a badger.

Got a lot of 'Game' bred in the woods around here. They are dumb AF and regularly fly at my face. That's during the day.
Will report back on my findings for night riding during the coming days. If I make it back alive....

I can't imagine you being scary, Phil. Even in a dark forest

Especially after watching that gif

Bearings for the 07 Giant Reign are gonna cost me £50 for not-shit ones. Bike’s in pieces while I wait for the bearing shop to order them in. Hoping they’re coated in gold for that money.

In the mean time, set this back up and my knees are killing me.

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In the mean time, set this back up and my knees are killing me

From what I remember of those forks, probably your wrists too :-D

…yes!

After the plush full-sus, this was quite a shock. Ha!

Having Kangaroos jump out in front of you is almost default state here, when the sun is not up. Also deer in certain places.

Hey, ride your bike at night as much as you want guys. Just thought that with lights cheaper and everyone heading outside there might be an impact.
I am not saying that riding your bike is as bad as logging old forests or coal mining.

Night riding is class. Do a gravel night ride at least once a week and MTB at night is great.

Got a Magicshine Monteer 8000 which is anti-socially bright. Apologies to pedestrians.

Never even considered wild life, don't really understand why it would overly effect animals any more than daytime....short of being squished.

07 Giant Reign

ahh my first full sus! "upgraded" it to a Fox Van R coil.

Went back to air for the Trance X that replaced it

Of course it's fun.
I just imagine that cute deers dozing in the woods are quite affected by 1000 lumens crashing through their bedroom.
I know I would be quite annoyed by that.

I think if I was asleep and that happened for a split second I'd be more like "zzzzZZZZZZ wtf was tha...zzzzzZZZZZ"

What about all those nocturnal animals we are waking up during the day? Badgers must be furious.

8000 lumens mate, it is ridiculous actually.

Badgers must be furious

Now I have a name for the next Epping night ride

A lot nicer than on road!

Managed not to hit it.
Probably nicer to fall into the woods than on tarmac, but hitting trees is also not always nice.

I'd love a battery pack recommendation if possible too... My Nestling Cree lights from Amazon have lasted a few seasons but battery life is unsettlingly short recently so need to be replaced.

I've ordered a cheap 4 battery holder from eBay for £13 (the various pictures from various suppliers all looked the same, bought the cheapest one). Should arrive in the next couple of weeks. Will buy some batteries from these guys (loath to go eBay or AliExpress as there seems to be loads of fakes)
https://www.18650.uk/

Review to follow

The review for your light is apt..

Magicshine Monteer 8000 should be renamed the Monster 8000 because it literally scares off any wildlife wandering around at night!

9 times out of 10 im running it at about 1/4 power. But for proper quick MTB stuff its useful.

Can't beat a bar and helmet mounted light combo for night time singletrack. Neither have to be set at close encounters levels of brightness then :-)

Nightstick VistaLite

#pipebomb

Oh how we danced in the dark

Nightstick VistaLite

I've got one of those buried away somewhere in the shed :-D

Also its predecessor, which had a large lead acid battery which quickly died if you rode in freezing conditions

I have the Magicshine Monteer 3000 as well (talk about overkill) and that was the idea but I've not got round to it. Mostly used to lend it out to friends who haven't got good lights yet.

So do I, back in Oz. Used them for 24hrs. I think it was a 5W halogen on the bars and 10W halogen on the helmet with the pipebomb batteries in the camelbak and on the bottle cage. I have a vague memory of upgrading one to 15W or something and it not quite making my ~1hr lap times. I definitely pulled them apart as I was going to resolder fresh, bigger sub-C cells into one but never got around to it.

One is night ride ready.

My first time ever tonight. In the woods. Alone. Wish me luck!

Will share cool nighttime trail shot later if I make it back...

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