Tuesday 8 December 2009

Gisburn Forest...

A week ago I was treated to a guided tour of Gisburn Forest by one of the trail builders (StumpyJon from Bikeradar).

It was bloody brilliant!

The trails were a mix of everything - technical climbing, technical decent, swoopy bits, rocky bits, muddy bits... I don't think it was lacking at all! I was left with a huge grin!

Met a load of friendly people on the trails, everyone on a different type of bike just enjoying the mud and wet weather.

So this weekend, i' back up there on Sunday to lend a hand with the trail building and am hoping to get there on Saturday for another ride!

If you haven't been, GO!

The P7 is on its way!!

So i've started a new build (again!).

I went up Gisburn and found that I needed a lighter trail friendly bike to attack more xc style routes, so the P7 should be a nice balance of lightweight whippet and strength, especially considering the NS weighs around 35lb!

 This time round, i'm trying to use different online shops and spending a whole load of time shopping around and finding the deals!

I've got the frame on order from SunsetMTB in Cardiff (who are excellent btw) and I should hopefully have it early next year when Orange release the new batch. Also got a free hope headset in red too!




I've also bought a set of 2010 Rockshox Revelation Race in white which are brilliant for the price (£350 from Rutland Cycling) and have just ordered a Shimano XT triple crankset + BB (from NoahsArkMTB).
I'm planning on matching the XT cranks with XT groupset (from Merlin Cycles).

I'll be getting my wheels from Chain Reaction Cycles again, and am going to stick with what I know and get some more Spank rims. This time i'm going for Spank Oozy rims built onto Hope Pro2 hubs with DT double butted spokes. Brakes are going to be Hope M4 with anodised red finishing and floating rotors.
Finishing kit is hopefully going to be from Easton in a red and black guise, so should match the scheme well!

Can't wait :D

Wednesday 21 October 2009

Depressing, but balanced out with a yay!

Everything seems to be breaking on me :(

My car's been in the garage for the past 6 week because it blew up in cardiff... costing me a fortune so all my idea of bike builds and new bikes has gone out the window.

I got news that It'd be ready on friday, so have been out servicing the bike, only to find that my forks are nakkered.... hopefully covered under warranty, but still thats gonna be a while before they get sorted.

On a lighter note, I was in MBUK!!

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Hardtail 'V' Full Suspension...

I'd been looking at a full suspension bike the past few weeks... to add one to my fleet.

But I just can't do it. I can't justify the price, weight or why I need the extra bounce.
The NS is so planted over any terrain, i'd probably just not ride the full suspension!

Take last weekend at Whinlatter forest for instant...
on the climbs it was only tough because I only have 9 gears and had the complete wrong tyres for the conditions...
on the decents however, the NS was super quick, super responsive, floated over roots/rocks/drops/jumps and felt totally planted.... even with shocking tyres on!

So.. instead of buying a full suspension, I have opted for some decent tyres and a big can of MTFU!
When I feel that the NS Surge is holding me back, then I might consider a FS again!

Sunday 4 October 2009

New plans!

Well.. the ScandAL has gone... it was gonna take too long to build and cost too much! So i've sold it and ordered a different frame!!

So, i've decuded to post up some riding photos from Glentress this year... bloody brilliant trail center and bike park!

Enjoy :)








Wednesday 16 September 2009

On-One Scandal 29er.

Well the plan for the new ride is just getting started. I have the frame, forks, headset and all the tools but now I need the parts!

The idea is to go back to basics with the Scandal but with a modern twist.

It's going to have a 29" wheelset along with rigid carbon fibre forks and singlespeed gearing. The idea is to make the bike as light and strong as possible so that it'll be a dream to ride and perfect for some epic trails.

The frame colour is British Racing Green, so i'm planning on using gold Hope parts (such as hubs, brakes, headset, skewers and seatclam) to really make it stand out.

Here is the frame -
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The carbon forks -
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The gold headset ligned up in the frame -
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The final spec should be something along the lines of -
On One Scandal 29er Frame (British Racing Green)

On One Carbon Forks
Controltech House Carbon Bars
Thompson Elite Stem
Thompson Masterpiece Seatpost
Gold Hope Headset
Gold Hope Pro 2 Singlesped Hubs built onto No-Tubes ZTR 355 rims
Middleburn RS7 Uno Crankset
Gold (limited edition) Hope Tech X2 brakset
17/18/19T Surly Cog on Hope Pro 2 SS Specific Hub
Gold Hope Finishing Kit

I can't wait!!!

Monday 14 September 2009

Llandegla 13/09/2009

Went to Llandegla on Sunday for the 1st time.... what a day!
A mixed set of emotions towards the trail ranged from boredom, exhillerating fun and bloody hard work!

At first the trail was very flat, wide and smooth gently climbing up the hills... at the time we were moaning about how boring it got, but in hindsight it was a really good warm up for what was to come...

The red route soon broke off into a valley, where we were greeted by a nice set of jumps and quick but fairly rocky singletrack down to the valley floor and up the other side.. The climb was ok on the heavy bike, with the seat raised it wasn't much of a challenge.

We then came across the black section at Llandegla that turned into one of the most enjoyable pieces of trail i've ever been on... it was too technical, however it was very very fast and had some superbly placed jumps and drops. There were a few climbs here and there that were really quite steep, however the downward reward was very enjoyable!
The high boardwalk was a great feature, we did it twice to have a go at dropping the end of it... this was spoiled somewhat by the two cocks that had decided to stop right at the base of the drop... WHAT WERE YOU DOING!!!

We then joined the red which turned into one of the hardest homeward sloggs i've experienced... it wasn't very interesting trail and  was fairly steep in places which lowered morale quite a bit.
A quick stop off at the dirt jumps and back onto the red, a few features such as a long boardwalk climb and very steep decent were enjoyable but other that that it stayed fairly dull.

All in all the day was great... just disappointed by the final leg of the trail!

I'll post some video's up that my Bro took with his helmet hero as soon as I get them on disk!

Saturday 12 September 2009

The ride-able rides...

The NS Surge..

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This is my baby, my own little creation that I've nurtured into life...... and then thrown off everything and anything I could!

I built her while I was at Uni - with too much work and nothing else to do, I started to build the NS as a project to keep me occupied and to stop me twiddling my fingers.

The idea was simple.... A hard as nails hardtail, that will enjoy any sort of riding that is on offer... I think I succeeded!

The spec includes Shimano Saint brakes, cranks, rear derailleur and shifter - Saint being one of the best hardcore bike components out there.

An E13 bash protects the lovely Saint chain rings - thins took a bit of modification to fit but its well worth it!

The wheels, stem, bars and seatpost are all made by Spank... a brand that seems to be coming more into the limelight with tough products for downhill and dirt jumping.

The forks are Rockshox Domain 319 160mm... they are bloody amazing. They can take the hits, yet are supple enough to take the bike on long rides without being too stiff.

To get the think moving I use a set of Gusset Slim Jim Sealed Pedals... they're wide, low profile and bloody grippy - what more could you want?!


The Giant Defy 3...

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This is a bike I know nothing about... its my little step over into the darkside.
All I know is that its light, fast and keeps me fit!
I ride this during the week, usually after work... just to keep my fitness up for when I ride the mountain bike.

I shall update with the progress of the On-One and Muddyfox soon......

TTFN!

Welcome!!

First off... Welcome to my little blog!!

I'm pretty crazy when it comes to 2 wheeled leg powered machines (bikes that is!).... so I though that I'd spare my friend's and girlfriend's ears and post all my rants, thoughts and lusts regarding mountain bikes on here!

I currently own 3 bikes, and am building another as we speak..

I'm currently riding-
A Custom Built NS Surge
A Giant Defy 3 Road Bike

I'm currently building -
A Custom On-One Scandal Rigid Singlespeed 29er

I'm currently restoring/converting -
An ooooold Muddy Fox Cro-Mo Pathfinder (turning into my my budget pub/commuter hack).

I'll introduce the bikes properly at a later date!

Anyways, this is all for now.... I shall be back!!