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

I ride my SS up a chewed up mountain track from 0 to 450 meters over no more than a couple km. I do this a couple times a week at the moment. Enjoy is not the right word of course. The track at the top is just swingy , and undulating, enough to keep me below the speed when I would spin out, and start wanting gears.

I have a rolling 60km road ride I do frequently. I can just about get up the climbs, and down the hills on my fixed. Again its on the limit of me feeling I could go faster with gears.

There is also local roads I just could'nt do fixed, and local trails I'd struggle too much on to enjoy SS.

So more bikes is the answer. ......as usual.

Full sus, long travel, so much more fun. End of. Oh, and no-one mentioned 27.5 wheels. They make sense, if you're a bike company and most of your punters are morons.

I'm short though, and undecided between 26", and 27.5". When will the 26.75" standard be coming out!

32.5" wheels please!

So more bikes is the answer. ......as usual.

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Been watching those Bikepark videos - that place looks great!

I'm also very excited about this.
Bikepark Wales - Episode 3: Go for launch - YouTube

this, is one of the reasons i would like to pursue an MTB interest...

Fixed off-road is just dumb, unless you're talking about riding gravel roads. Other than that, it's just a case of the owner wanting to be different, or having some strange monastic sadism by removing all fun from their worldly pursuits.

Full sus, long travel, so much more fun. End of.

I'm pretty sure no one actually rides fixed off road in real life.

It all comes down to where and why you are riding.

I was doing a pretty tough mountain climb, on the road bike, over the weekend. A motorbike overtook me, and I instantly thought 'what fucking point of doing this on a motorbike?'. The lass on the back glanced back, and could see she was thinking 'what sort of idiot does this on a push bike'.

Horses for courses.

I would say that riding a SS MTB, with proper off-road gearing, on long stretches of flat path/road. Is mind numbingly boring. So if the trail isnt right behind your house, or you dont drive right up to the trail. Get some gears.

I'm pretty sure no one actually rides fixed off road in real life.

Except those nutters at CX races.

i was doing a pretty tough mountain climb, on the road bike, over the weekend. A motorbike overtook me, and i instantly thought 'what fucking point of doing this on a motorbike?'. The lass on the back glanced back, and could see she was thinking 'what sort of idiot does this on a push bike'.

csb.

32.5" wheels please!

I think you mean 36"

I'm pretty sure no one actually rides fixed off road in real life.

I rode my HHSB on a canal path once, does that count?

I got lost on the BJ once. Fixed, with 20mm tyres on a dirt and rock ridden mess of track for 2 km.

Should have turned around. But kept thinking id join the road soon. Nasty.

I got lost on the BJ once. Fixed, with 20mm tyres on a dirt and rock ridden mess of track for 2 km. Should have turned around. But kept thinking id join the road soon. Nasty.

I took my crit bike (23mm slicks) on about 35k of offroad ride across rural nz once. 4 punctures and tired legs.

I got lost on the BJ once.

How? If your chin touches the balls, you're too far down, if it pops out of your mouth you're too far up. Hard to see how you could get lost.

How? If your chin touches the balls, you're too far down, if it pops out of your mouth you're too far up. Hard to see how you could get lost.

Rep.

I just received GF's Fox forks and shock back from TF-Tuned. They were very good, called me before going ahead with anything, asked about her weight (the cheeky devils), type of riding that the bike's used for, bike make and model etc. The dude who called me up said that the air can was damaged (I thought this was the case as the seal was all wafty, exactly as he described) and we discussed the total 'over damping' problem that meant that the adjustment had to be set to only 2 clicks. He seemed very knowledgeable and competent and also explained that he'd 'custom shim' it for her as she's at the very light end of the weight range that the stock shock functions well at.

Then they returned them to me, after only a day or so, which was nice. I've just refitted them and bloody hell, the forks are supple as a well dunked biscuit and the rear end is now sitting nicely within it's damping adjustment. The bike rides really nicely again and you'd never know that it was 6 or so years old and had a hard life in Scotland.

Well done TF Tuned. A full service including all the above for about £230 including collection and delivery.

TF Tuned are always awesome.

He seemed very knowledgeable and competent and also explained that he'd 'custom shim' it for her as she's at the very light end of the weight range that the stock shock functions well at.

Custom damping piston shim stacks. Rad voodoo.

I believe this is what SF is referring to when he said setting up sus is a faff ;)

Hardly a faff when someone else does it for you ;)

Custom damping piston shim stacks. Rad voodoo.

I believe this is what SF is referring to when he said setting up sus is a faff ;)

Very much this.

But I also find rebound to be a weird one. Air pressure is pretty much rider dependant. But rebound depends a lot on usuage. I never feel its 'just so'.

I get a bit OCD with shock/fork settings and spend far too long faffing with it all.

Possibly one of the reasons I don't bother with suspension anymore*

*that and teh internet arguments

I'm finding the Lefty expliots my OCDs. Plus I'm varying my Tyre pressure silly amounts at the same time.

You all need to calm down about the custom shim stacks. I was impressed that tf tuned seemed to care, nothing more. Suspension setup is easy. Pump it up, adjust the damping so it feels nice, go and ride. There's plenty of forks out there with no damping adjust that ride just fine without all this faffing.

So far as building a Mtb up goes, it's just the same as a road bike, hit YouTube or park tools website if you get stuck aligning your calipers as that can be a bit tricky, but no harder than balancing a v brake or whatever.

And don't stress over brake bleeding or shock servicing, leave that for the shop, it's messy and unrewarding.

Servicing your own forks is messy...but very rewarding.

I'd prefer the pain and reward of DIYing it than having to post the darn things off, but then I like to tinker.