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

Tea and Biscuits

https://youtu.be/f9xfr8hRs5I?si=OU1RKEonlqWXs_YV

Trailcross GTX work for me- but I wish they were warmer.

I've sized up, and added wool insoles.

how cold and wet their feet were

Baa baa socks plus Sealskinz should solve that?

I still know nothing about mountain biking, but I’m on the verge of buying a trek procalibre 9.6/9.5 to cycle the southern upland way. This thread reliably tells me I need a dropper post but I now need you to tell me which one…

I’m looking for something good value middle of the road sort of level. Think whatever the equivalent of 105 might be.

OneUp?

watched this last year, enjoyed. Found the 500to1 (or something) video today, similar vibes. the pinkbike chat had a lot in it about a swastika apparently painted on a table, which i totally missed

I had to pause it to see what they were on about. It's their lightening bolt logo painted badly four times in a circle, which some guy on PB sees as looking like a Nazi symbol but no-one else does at all

Anything with Phil Atwill in it is excellent though, man has the best style

Looking for recommendations for a 29er MTB tyre for my old but good condition Hope Tech XC wheels. 19mm internal width so presumably can't go super big. This is for riding off road trails around Bristol and the South West/ Wales on a Genesis Vagabond and possibly some off-road touring/ bike packing later in year e.g. Traws Eryri.

Maxxis Ikon or Vittoria Barzo are pretty good all-rounder all-conditions

Has anyone seen a better deal than the specialized Stumpjumper evo alloy (on leisure lake), if I’m looking for a bigger travel end of a trail bike new bike for around £2.5k mark?

Ideally 150mm ish front travel 29er and slightly more trail than enduro. I can’t see a comparable deal on a nukeproof reactor or a canyon spectral for comparison.

Looks like the Bike Factory has it for even less (£2k), not sure what size you need.

I have the prev gen Evo but in 27.5, have to say, it is a pretty good bike - can't complain about the geo even if the BB is a bit low, and things like the SWAT tool and frame storage are actually so useful. I think the one you're looking at has more progressive leverage ratio which is probably an improvement, I decided to swap out the (standard) coil for an air shock.

Start Fitness have some killer deals on Ibis Ripmos, if that's the kind of thing you're after, with DVO suspension.

The bontrager ones aren't bad. You buying from a trek store?

Ah thank you - and yeah need a S4 so is £2600 there.

Good to know that the storage stuff is useful.

I’ve just seen the carbon 2023(?) is available for similar money - so I will sleep on maybe getting that.

If you can stomach giving Mike Ashley any money, there's some bonkers cheap FiveTens on here:

https://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/mens/mens-cycling-shoes

Had been contemplating sizing up my trailcross for a while now, pretty stupid not to at that price, cheers!

Have done the same. Got some mid top ones in a half size up for winter thick sock duties

Aye, there's the rub. Brilliant deals but I'd rather ride barefoot than line that shitebag's pockets.

I havent posted in this thread for a while, because I have been too busy adulting to ride my mountain bike. I managed to get out to Kilburn (north yorkshire) a couple of days ago and had a big day on the trails there. It is crazy how much your ability drops off in 6 months of no practice.

There was a lot to ride in the White Horse woods, all of which was hand built unofficial short course downhill stuff. Super slippy, super sketchy and totally not what you find in the South East. I came off, fairly uneventfully, 4 times on the first run as I completely failed to find the required pace or any grip and thought I was in for a very long day.

I live in London, but am from the North East and my two riding mates up here get out every week and are completely used to trails where there are no built up features and no thought of drainage or chill sections!

By the end of the day I was finding some grip and stringing some good turns together in the steep mud and some confidence was coming back. I had a really good time. Moral of the story, it can be intimidating if you havent been out for a while, but if you get out with some people that will help you commit to the day, you will have a good time.

Has anyone else been out on their mud bikes over the festive period? Where did you go?

I had a similar experience yesterday at Peaslake. I hadn’t ridden there since the Summer and it’d been a few months since I’d ridden MTB at all. The last time was actually at a a coached session.

Severely lacking in energy and talent, I foolishly tried to some new (to me) trails to begin with, which I bottled. Ended up slowly rolling up and down the familiar stuff and felt a bit more comfortable by the end, although knackered. Called it a day before something stupid happened.

Still left feeling like I’d had lots of fun (and lots more to learn). Going to try to get to The Summit @ Swinley next weekend to get my head back into it.

Called it a day before something stupid happened.

Smart choice right there

Never found Peaslake to be particularly enjoyable in the winter. Swinley is a better bet I think.

I had a blast at Peaslake yesterday! Got there after a terrible night's sleep, not ridden in a month, really not feeling it or the weather. But two trails in and found it super grippy, and even the sloppy bits were funny AF sliding round corners sideways. It was so busy there, honestly don't think I've seen it as busy even in summer, but weirdly hardly saw anyone once on the trails.
I concede, I did spend a lot of the day jealous of the other 99% of people on big e-bikes...

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It was so busy there, honestly don't think I've seen it as busy even in summer, but weirdly hardly saw anyone once on the trails.

this! where was everyone actually riding?

I concede, I did spend a lot of the day jealous of the other 99% of people on big e-bikes...

also this

where was everyone actually riding?

To the cafe, if the queue was anything to go by