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

Argh, tried to fit an expansion 42t cog on my 10s cassette but it's offset towards the spokes so the chain rubbed on the tyre and wouldn't stay in gear. Tried flipping the chainring but apparently that was too much in the other direction as then I couldn't backpedal. Back to square one. Could get a chainring with less offset or flip this one back and space out the DS bb cup I suppose but no time to do it, the whole point was to get me a spinny gear for a race on Saturday... Ah well.

Just get a deore wide range 10 speed cassette. These expanders never work as they should.
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-deore-hg500-10-speed-cassette/rp-prod162566

Live and learn... Thanks very much for the link, ordered. Let's see if they manage to deliver before the weekend!

Bikes- what a pain in the arse.

Put a saddle on and it'll go away.

I can highly recommend Morzine as a place to ride bikes.

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A few more. You get the gist: nirvana.

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Not enough food pics

Ha. I know you're taking the Michael, but here's a couple anyway. Didn't take many food pics.

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That meat board is preposterous.

Also where all the natural singletrack at?

That was a starter. But it was for a chalet of 14 hungry MTBers.

Yeah there's xc and singletrack aplenty. There are all sorts of way marked xc/enduro routes, which seemed to be largely frequented by ebikes :)

We got a lift from Linderets up into Switzerland so that we could try out the Swiss National DH track. We did a few of the trails in that area but then found that there were no obvious [all DH] routes back to Linderets. So we ended up on a beautiful trail which was mainly natural singletrack. Plenty of down, but more uphill than was optimal on my DH bike. Regardless it was one of my fave parts of the week.

Looks awesome

Sounds fantastische

Oh and there was a Harley Davidson gathering in town too. 20,000 hogs apparently. Made for good mullet spotting opportunities. And plenty of market stalls if flick knives, knuckle dusters, skulls etc are your thing. There was also a wall of death demonstration and a festival like stage pumping out dubious euro metal.

We had a great time. Not sure my hat helped me fit in with the leather waist coat vibe.

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Hah yeah Morzine is amazing

The tweetie sun hat amongst all that biker leather is priceless!

Best of all its a kids hat so perched pretty high on the bonce. I think alcohol played a significant part on my insistence to wear it all evening.

Ha!

And your right Morzine is fantastic, although I've not been there since 2004 on a first gen VP Free

I booked my hotel in Morzine yesterday, staying 16th-23rd of August.

Any recommendations on where to hire a bike, and what bike to hire?

Also, anywhere in London now that Soho bikes is gone to try on knee and elbow pads?

If you’re not riding til Morzine wait til you get there. The shops will be very well stocked and have a greater variety than what you’ll find anywhere in London.

I found elbow pads the hardest to find the right ones to fit properly without slipping as soon as I start riding

That makes sense. I was just a little worried that everything would be mega expensive there.

I think I am going to hire a Megatower

XL Megatower booked, they include the helmet in the hire and I can get pads from the same place.

I might still buy a helmet as rentals are, erm, rentals.

If you're hiring a bike then they'll normally include a full face helmet, knee pads and body armour (with built in elbow pads) in the price of the hire.

Are you planning on riding the trails there ie using the uplifts, or more xc type stuff? A good single crown enduro bike (160-180mm travel) will tackle all that us mortals can throw at it there and be loads of fun. I used my DH bike but TBH had more fun when I pinched my son's 160mm enduro bike for a few runs as it was just more playful but still perfectly capable on all the gaps, drops and jumps etc I tackled.

I found the enduro bike popped higher, jumped further and allowed more "whip" (for want of a better word) than the DH. But the DH bike does look cool 8-)

The Megatower would be ideal, but I think there are a lot of Bronsons for hire there (which would also be ideal).

I'd try to pre arrange a hire before you get there though as they tend to sell out of the better hire bikes quite quickly. And you're right, everything you'll need bike wise is avaliable to buy there, but expect to pay full price.

You'll have a blast.

Full face?

Is so and I guess you’re going to be riding up as well as down? Go for a vented enduro style rather than a DH one. Fox, TLD, Bell amongst others do them

^^I wanted to rent a Hightower, as that's the SC I might buy, but it's clearly too small for the rental places so I've booked a Megatower for the trip.

The chap in the Santa Cruz showroom has said that he might have his own Hightower by the time I'm out there, and I'm welcome to sling a leg over it if that's the case - which is nice of him.