Lucky number 13

Looks fun!

looks great - where is that?

I'd love to see a tricked out adventure motorbike Dammit build with ohlins and all the accessories

Queenstown New Zealand, specifically the start of McNearly Gnarly, a blue jump trail (which I cruised down, I admit).

Stunning. I thought it was the PNW.

First I’d need to learn to ride a motorcycle

Must say I’m green with envy seeing the pics at Queenstown.

How are you finding the squish of 200mm travel? Looks like you could be running the forks a bit softer, you’d expect to use close to full travel even on blue runs.

Also, I can’t believe you don’t own a GoPro?

I do own a GoPro, but every time I think about putting it on I’m struck by the thought that I’m not a good enough rider to record what I’m doing.

I suspect the fork is too stiff and the coil is too soft, I forgot to pack a ruler so tbh I just pumped the fork up according to the table on the fork leg and sent it.

I’ll do some fiddling when I’m back at home and can order another coil.

In terms of overall performance the bike will go over any terrain/features that are on or adjacent to a trail here, I actually struggle to believe it will simply roll over huge nests of roots with rocks in, and then I’ve tracked in a straight line down through them and am at the bottom.

I’m entering corners too slowly some of the time and the bike wants to fall inward, which requires a bit of a nervous correction - more speed would solve this, but it requires a degree of confidence that I have not yet built.

I can see why if you lived here you’d be extremely good on a mountain bike - the scale of the trail network, the terrain they’re built in and the sheer volume of pro’s (lots of Redbull helmets on the lift at Coronet yesterday) I think demonstrate why.

Of the Jibb, Madonna and Yalla my favourite remains the Madonna- I suspect because I’m not able to get the Yalla into its sweet spot in terms of speed (I can just about do that with the Madonna), but that means I just need to keep learning to ride better.

Ended up in the same gondola as Mic Williams of WRP, but didn’t say “where is my centre hub?”, as it felt a bit rude.

Ended up in the same gondola as Mic Williams

Ha, an opportunity missed!

I suffer the same self doubt with my GoPro. I tend to only use it when I’m on the uplift. No one will ever see how shit I am but I found recording and watching back some runs helped me get faster through particular sections.

The forks seem like you can go down a black hole of adjustments. I’m intrigued by the three chamber air spring system.

Like wise my 170mm travel bike remains as my favourite. But I think the dh bike always feels like the most fun, the child in me just like all that travel.

If/when you move on from Singapore, would NZ/Aus be tempting?
Having that sort of riding on your doorstep, like you say, it’s inevitable for any one riding there a lot ends up being shit hot on a bike.

I took 20 psi out of the fork which got me to the correct sag, but I didn’t use anymore total travel- which means it’s the ramp up chamber. When I inflate the fork again I will drop the ramp up chamber pressure and we shall see if I get more of the available travel.

Having grown up in one of the best riding spots in NZ, I can affirm that it is not inevitable that one does become shit hot on a bike, sadly.

I think you have to want too ride that terrain. But if you do having it there makes a massive difference- speaking as someone who lives somewhere very, very flat.

I hit 55km/h on the Skyline green, for example.

Maximum speed on the black trail (well, any trail) in Singapore- 42km/h

Next time, make a trip to Nelson with the trail bike. It's the sort of place where locals do black diamond trail rides on their lunch breaks. And with no gondola or chairlift riding, and poor road access to a lot of the DH trail heads, everyone is surprisingly fast at climbing as well (well, until e-bikes came along, now they're even faster).

You're totally right though, when I was there I wasn't as actively seeking out the gnarly stuff as I would now, as I was mainly riding/racing XC at the time.

If i could ship bikes over without it turning into a tax/import nightmare I’d have sent something a bit more sensible along with the DH bike (and it not be horribly expensive).

With that said next time I go I’ll probably take the Enduro bike as that covers the most types of riding.

I don’t know what to do about the Centrehub, I’m getting close to asking my credit card company to get the money back.

And I just got a DHL email saying “DEAKIN University” has sent me something, I’m assuming that is the Centre Hub. Roll on tomorrow I guess and we will find out.

I wonder if they also ignore anyone who'd ordered one of the Trinity frames. Not a great look.

I think I'd be more accepting if Mic wasn't so active on social media - but he is, so it's clearly a case of him prioritising what he wants to do, rather than responding to his customers.

If I'd bought an O-Chain I'd have likely had it in 48 hours and at a third of the cost, with (?) support that I could actually get hold of. But, I guess there's (sadly) often a penalty for going for the one man band with interesting ideas.

The suspension on the Yalla is very active, so you definitely feel a big difference when cornering over chunky stuff with some confidence-brake applied vs YOLO'ing it.

Happy face

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