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

I think I might go Swinley soon. I just seen some guy on Youtube with full face helmet and full pads, I presume this is not necessary. It did look a bit OTT for his mincing.

Not required for the official trails. Unless you are going crazy in the jump gully.

Your mileage might vary for off piste.

Anybody with a reasonable level of skill could ride the blue trail on a road bike :-)

Haaa.

Curious question to ye knowledgeable folk. How ridiculous would an off roading precursa be?

With a ~1:1 bottom gear on a 1×10 rig, you can ride up anything unless it's so steep that you'd be faster walking.

My Trek is running a 1x8 setup, lowest ratio is 1:1 with a 32 up front. I can haul my bulky ass round Surrey hills like this all day.

Keepin' it hard since '69

Curious question to ye knowledgeable folk. How ridiculous would an off roading precursa be?

How big a tyer can you get on it?

If it will take a 30mm tyer swinley is a goer - I rode my cross bike around there a lot last year. Just got to pick your lines well.

How big a tyer can you get on it?

If it will take a 30mm tyer swinley is a goer - I rode my cross bike around there a lot last year. Just got to pick your lines well.

Apparently you can get away with a 32 if you play around a bit. I was thinking a disk brake since I can't have anything on the back. Would the geometry matter much?

If you just want to have fun, not really. I'd try it out somewhere a bit slower like Epping first if you are worried about that kind of thing.

If you just want to have fun, not really. I'd try it out somewhere a bit slower like Epping first if you are worried about that kind of thing.

Will do. Should be an interesting build. Any recommendations on a cheap/functional first venture into disks? I remember Hope Minis used to be all the rage. This was yonks ago.

Flat bars? Could do worse than Shimano SLX.

Or Avid BB7 if you don't mind a cable.

I have a 1 1/8th disc fork going spare if you need one.

I think I might go Swinley soon. I just seen some guy on Youtube with full face helmet and full pads, I presume this is not necessary. It did look a bit OTT for his mincing.

When I see people in a full face helmet, body armour and on DH bikes at Swinley I think they are just lost. Very very lost. Even in the jump gully or down runs like Baby Maker etc.
Swinley is the tamest "mountain" biking you could ever do.

Saw a bloke on a Intense M6 there once. Totes ridic.

Swinley is the tamest "mountain" biking you could ever do.

You've not seen my Jubilee River loop then? :-)

As tame as it is, I'm pretty sure everybody is faster at Swinley on an MTB than they would be on their road bike

If you think it's too easy, just ride faster.

Flat bars? Could do worse than Shimano SLX.

Or Avid BB7 if you don't mind a cable.

I have a 1 1/8th disc fork going spare if you need one.

Right, so this is going to be far more interesting than I expected. What do CX bikes use when they run disks? Is the rim or the hub the weak point in a 700c wheel?
Any chance you PM me the pics of said forks? Quite interested actually.

Deore brakes are awesome and cheap, pretty much identical to slx and xt but with allen key adjusters rather than twizzly knobs.

Curious question to ye knowledgeable folk. How ridiculous would an off roading precursa be?

You'd have more fun on this.

http://direct.asda.com/Activ-Atlanta-Mens-Bike---26-inch-Wheels/000945914,default,pd.html

silly idea.

Right, so this is going to be far more interesting than I expected. What do CX bikes use when they run disks? Is the rim or the hub the weak point in a 700c wheel?
Any chance you PM me the pics of said forks? Quite interested actually.

I use TRP Sypres / Novatec / Stans Iron Cross at the moment on my cross bike. When you say the weak point do you mean the thing most likely to fail?

Forks are at the end of my for sale thread.

Actually there's an MTB version of the Spyre that might be worth a punt if you like cable pull brakes but not static pad designs.

When I see people in a full face helmet, body armour and on DH bikes at Swinley I think they are just lost. Very very lost. Even in the jump gully or down runs like Baby Maker etc.
Swinley is the tamest "mountain" biking you could ever do.

There's a drop off / jump on the now off piste Camel Trail that could justify it, but yeh, broadly agree.

You'd have more fun on this.

http://direct.asda.com/Activ-Atlanta-Mens-Bike---26-inch-Wheels/000945914,default,pd.html

silly idea.

Care to elaborate?

I use TRP Sypres / Novatec / Stans Iron Cross at the moment on my cross bike. When you say the weak point do you mean the thing most likely to fail?

Forks are at the end of my for sale thread.

Actually there's an MTB version of the Spyre that might be worth a punt if you like cable pull brakes but not static pad designs.

In essence yeah. Since the wheel goes through more jarring ride, what is most likely to fail in a larger wheel i.e 700c.

Reading some reviews on the Spyre shows some good stuff. Disks have come a long way since 2001.
My main issue at the moment is I'd basically be polishing a turd, which doesn't justify spending anything on it but basic stuff. If it doesn't work out with dirt, I'll just switch it over to a polo bike.

I'll pm you about the forks.

What makes a track bike? Big frame, Steep head angle and tiny clearances
What makes an Mtb? Small frame, Slack head and and big clearances

The brakes/gears/tyres/saddle make little difference, it's frame geo that you've got to consider to begin with, it's the one thing you cannot change and it's the major thing that's wrong with your off-road-pre-cursa idea.

Unless you want to ride towpaths. There's many different levels of off-roadness

Longer fork though relaxes angles and sorts clearances (at the front at least)?

Lest we forget Thuekr's Dolan...

I forgot about crossbikes. Thought you wanted to create a Mtb from a pre cursa. Cross = towpath, not mtb

The brakes/gears/tyres/saddle make little difference

Are you sure? I'd suggest that any sensible approach to bike selection starts with the tyres.

Longer fork though relaxes angles and sorts clearances (at the front at least)?
Lest we forget Thuekr's Dolan...

Not sure if worried or interested. What's Theukr's Dolan?

I forgot about crossbikes. Thought you wanted to create a Mtb from a pre cursa. Cross = towpath, not mtb

I'm too lazy and pretentious to go for a proper MTB. I just want to ride into some mud and pretend its North shore. Max clearance is apparently 32mm so not much I can do more than light dirt riding. That should be doable methinks, even with track geometry. If not, get slicks and use as polo bike.