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

build cross bikes.

indeed.

"Is it easy to get to good riding with public transport? I live in Brixton so it might be easier. I'd be up for trying both Surrey and Epping"

train from balham or clapham junction to dorking takes areound 35mins then you can ride off-road or on road to the good bits, train from clapham junction to martins heron(for swinley) is 50 mins but you are straight into the trails after a 5min road ride.

Caspar, see you saturday, think neil may be there too.

I wanna get a cross bike too, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

That'll be the line I flew passed years ago, why have 1 when 10 will do?

Hammo I guess this isn't too far from what i'm planning. Perfect for a ride into the forrest.

Me to - cross check with drops and knobbly tyres. I'm using cantis so can't help on the lever issue. I think the only drop levers that work with vs are the dia compe ones that I presume are on that bike. Otherwise you can use a travel agent. I've heard that neither the levers or travel agents are that great and you still need the pads pretty close to the rim. Otherwise you could use risers and mtn bike levers?

MrSmith

train from balham or clapham junction to dorking takes areound 35mins then you can ride off-road or on road to the good bits, train from clapham junction to martins heron(for swinley) is 50 mins but you are straight into the trails after a 5min road ride.

Nice one - that sounds pretty easy. Now I just need to get a bike sorted and develop some idea of what I'm doing with it.

A canti on the front it is then.

New set of wheels, at least the excuse to build a new set of wheels and larger tyres... wiggle here i come.
Luckily i bought a whole set of NOS stx canti's for £1.99 over the weekend. Bargain!

I'd be up for some of this - heading down Surrey way anyhow...

Have done a bit round the Epsom downs & would like to head a bit further afield.

I've ridden out from Balham, taking in various commons & parks on the way, but the train is more sensible!

Momentum has finished his 29er / cross bike (monster-bike) and I wanna get the GT knobblies muddy.
On Saturday we are gonna head to Dorking - anyone up for it?
Sorry I know it clashes with thhe Aussie night antics.. can't have it all!

i have a geared mountain bike that is gagging to be ridden...

Ha! I've got a steel Gt MTB with White industries ENO that has seen FAR too little use since I built it up man.... and its also too small for me at 18". I will put the word out to my MTB mates though.. (If anyone wants to buy my bike for £250 I'll buy yours Scott - okay?)
I know it's old news but do Keep persevering with singletrackworld classifieds. someone will bite your nads off for that full bike for £350...even if it is brown. You just need to post every 2 days. and bikeradar.com and cyclechat.co.uk, and...

Hell yeah - took it round the BMX track in Brockwell park yesterday. I think eight years away from mountian biking and the last three and a half on fixed gears means that I've got a lot of adjusting to do!

Do I need to fit some clips and straps or am I gonna be okay on just flatties (DX copies)..
(Those using spds need not answer.. ;-) ) It's been so long!

i know...i'm not looking forward to the adjustment period.i am going to enjoy the maintenance part though
:)

You coming aiden?

yep! if i can sort my piece of shit out..

i might be up for this
it is a shitfest out on the hills though

Coolio - if you needs mudguards I've got a spare. haHAhaHA!
Soft landings at least... :-D

Momentum Hell yeah - took it round the BMX track in Brockwell park yesterday. I think eight years away from mountian biking and the last three and a half on fixed gears means that I've got a lot of adjusting to do!

what God-awful state is the track in now?

RPM

what God-awful state is the track in now?

Pretty rubbish at the moment (although the large pond at the far end makes for a good water hazard), but I think they renovated it over the summer. To be honest, this is the first time I've been on it despite living in Brixton for about seven years cos it's the first time I've had a non-road bike, so I haven't got any comparison point.

It was fucking weird to be going up and down little hills on dirt and being able to freewheel. I struck a pedal on top of one of them cos I forgot to stop pedalling! This Saturday should be fun.

Hi folks, What's the riding/trails like at Dorking?

Momentum [quote]RPM

what God-awful state is the track in now?

Pretty rubbish at the moment (although the large pond at the far end makes for a good water hazard), but I think they renovated it over the summer. To be honest, this is the first time I've been on it despite living in Brixton for about seven years cos it's the first time I've had a non-road bike, so I haven't got any comparison point.

It was fucking weird to be going up and down little hills on dirt and being able to freewheel. I struck a pedal on top of one of them cos I forgot to stop pedalling! This Saturday should be fun.[/quote]

yeah it's been under "improvement" for about a year now..

I really miss riding there, it's too bad.

the "little hills" are jumps! you've been riding on the road too long.
but I don't reckon it's that easy to jump or manual them if the whole thing is a wet, skiddy mess

RPM

the "little hills" are jumps! you've been riding on the road too long.

Hahaha! They would be jumps usually but the slow, cowardly way that I went round meant that they were little hills. I stopped on top of some of them to plan my descent. To be fair, it was dark and raining. But overall I was being a big pussy.

well they are a fair bit bigger than they used to be!

even on a good day, I wouldn't be able to clear most of them, the condition of the track doesn't help

Does anyone have any gearing advice for Dorking (MrSmith?).
I read on 63xc that 32x16 is a good ratio anywhere. I am currently running 40x16 SS and 40x17 Fixed on 26x2.1. Is this crazy? (65/61 Gear Inches)
Should I swap my beautiful solid 40t chainring for a flimsy spinny 32T?

i use 34/17 (i think?) whatever the gears are it's just under 2:1 so traditional 32/16 is fine. i can keep up with geared riders going down hill by spinning and pumping through stuff to keep the momentum. i have done the tower climb which is a real bitch so never really need to get off and walk only if grip is an issue it feels like you are pulling a wheelie all the way up. apart from the tower never really need to get off and walk only if grip is an issue.
any road sections are really tedious so i ride off-road to leith/pitch/holmbury hills from dorking