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

I’ve decided to build up an MTB after many years without

That boggy ride through Epping really put you off, eh ;-)

Haha, Well it’s hard to clean the muck off when you live in a 2 bed first floor flat. I’ve moved back oop North so I have bigger house. Lots more mud though thanks to a perpetually damp climate.

A fantastic couple of days in Wales. Long overdue. BPW was running perfectly yesterday. Rescultped A470 has stepped things up a notch. Cleaned the first 4 but cased the 5th and therefore every single jump thereafter. The main thing was it was just nice to ride with a few friends again and in the warm/dry.

The official photographer was lurking on Sixtapod and my brother got his phone out on Popty Ping. Can you tell which is which? 🤔

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Bottom is Sixtapod

Spent the morning riding a route that @Landslide kindly shared with me (thanks again!) up into blacka moor. Punctured halfway down the devil’s elbow. No bother, stopped and fixed it, ate some lunch. About 30 metres further down my front brake exploded - looks like one of the pads fell out (thanks guy who serviced this last I guess). Had to limp the short way home without a front brake. Bullshit. Fortunately I have the bike booked in for a service tomorrow morning, so shouldn’t be out of action for long.

Did a shakedown of a few new bits on the Mary Townley loop. Done it before on the gravel bike but fancied it on the hardtail as there is a few class descents. Did it clockwise this time and included stoodley pike. Descent off stoodley was great but forgot to unlock my fork...

New grips. Ergon ga3, felt good to replace stock grips and noticeablely comfortable.

Cargo cages jubilee clipped up, rock solid with a 2 litre bottle of water in either side ( drank quite quickly as was roasting) - can't decide if this is a terrible idea or not as you don't see many MTB rigs with fork packs. Didn't catch them on any ruts so not sure what the downside is?

Came with Hans dampf / magic Mary 2.6". I feel these might be more aimed at wintery boggy conditions ( could be completely wrong) Any suggestions for something abit better suited for rocky peak District riding?

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Did a write up of the ride I didn't think I'd bring myself to actually do when back in Northumberland:
https://www.lfgss.com/comments/16020860/

Thanks for the write up. My wife has family in Wooler and we have friends in Hawick so if restrictions stay lifted we'll be visiting again this year. It was my first time up there 2 years ago and regretted not taking a bike.

It’s running great ain’t it. Good work by the trail crew throughout lockdown!
Fair play for nearly clearing the first 4, the do get progressively bigger and think* you’ve got to commit and gather a touch more speed for the next.

*I only took a look last Friday and didn’t commit to any of them and stayed on trail closer to my comfort zone.

Gutted our paths didn’t cross, I’ve gotta try harder next time.

Don't forget I still have a day pass that belongs to you. Hopefully we can meet up when you cash that in. Seems to be booked up for a while though.

The first 4 felt superb, they just flow so nicely as long as you land on the down ramp each time. I dabbed a brake for #5 which was the start of the unravelling. Really wanting to head back to see if I can't find the steel to trust my jumping ability with a death grip ie stay off the brakes.

Black Mountain Cycle Centre is somewhere I really want to try. Perhaps do a double header for the next trip...?

Ha! I had entirely forgotten. In fact I’ve asked everyone else I’d been booked to go with over the last year as I was certain there was a booking for me missing.

Other places near me I reckon you’d enjoy.

https://instagram.com/wylliebikepark?utm_medium=copy_link

https://instagram.com/tirpentwys_trails_c.i.c?utm_medium=copy_link

Reminder for a bimbler. Thanks @pdlouche

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Nice!

Popped up to Ballater, Aberdeenshire to ride some trails, including the famous Heartbreak Ridge which has been worked on in the last month and even the traverse is bone dry. I'm lucky enough to have lived and ridden in the French Alps and in BC. When the weather is great and the trails are dry (happens sometimes) Scotland matches both of 'em.

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Single pivot hardtail. The future is now.
https://youtu.be/2a3HJwRSS_I

cool as fuck. want one

"Single pivot hardtail"

Huh?

I'll be getting one as soon as they become avaialble in 2025.

Would anyone on the forum be interested in an endura mt500 ii one piece suit size Large that I bought from @Dammit?

Theres small nick on the right knee but, very easy to repair but I haven't bothered since it doesn't really affect its function.
Other than that it's in great condition and I've just washed and re-proofed it with Tech wash.

Nice. Will be megabucks.

~11K for the top model. Wonder if they'll be selling the frameset only. Or frame even. The Mara with remote would be perfect for this frame.

I'll be getting one as soon as Aliexpress offer a copy

And here are the perfect cranks to go with that nice copy:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353503003494

interesting

The 970 new spark is same price as the old one, £2200. Not cheap but not mad. They tend to only do frame sets for the top carbon frame