The MTB thread

wooo hooo! off to laggan on Sunday for a bike demo day!! I get to throw other peoples expensive bikes down the trails!!

Woo, I forgot about this thread!

Been doing a lot more riding in the past few weeks - I rode the North Face trail at Grizedale on Tuesday and that was ace, even if I did fall off on the last section of north shore and whack my ribs against a tree!

My fitness has improved already though, so as long as my injuries don't increase in proportion to my fitness level I think my plan is working.

I'm doing a 30-miler in July with a couple of mates - it's one of the Evans Cycles 'Ride It' days - see here: http://www.evanscycles.com/ride-it/dates-and-locations (we're doing the Thirsk ride), figured i'd post the link in case anyone else on here fancies doing one of them...

[northwind]

Built it:



Rode it:





Er, crashed it. I blame Cy Turner! This bike's evil, it was egging me on. Go faster, it says! Jump that rock, it says. Ouch, I says. What a brilliant bike though! First ride and already I'm more comfortable and confident with it than I ever was on the Scandal, it climbs so much better and it's almost as good on the downs (the weight is further forward and the fork angle is slightly less slack but it still works great) Largely unscathed though, I lost my footing on a really rough section and then couldn't get my weight settled again for a steep drop, managed to stay on, just, but I ran off the trail and caught a rock. Ow. Very glad I didn't land on my bad leg, also very happy I had my elbow pads as I took most of the blow on my elbow.

how high is that seat????

[northwind]

Quite high! It's a 400mm post. Though I'm not using it all now, the old frame was a small and I had to use almost the entire post. I think in the bottom pic it'd sunk down a bit, don't really like this hope clamp. How'd you get on at laggan?

Looking good Northy

I'm still impressed that you got the frame home on your SV!

Heh heh if I get a photobucket account sorted I'll put up some pics of my rat bike! It's, shall we say, "old school" and a bit "battle-worn" but still good for racing milk floats on my way to work!

well just back from laggan from a demo day. it was brilliant. orange, kona, merida, commencal, Santa cruz..... anyway I've decided I want (sorry need!!) and orange 5 in my shed! what a bike!!! it's just brilliant round the trails. good heading up and great coming down!!

I also had a go on a Santa cruz- nomad. it's a big hitting all mountain bike. it just soaks up bumps so well! I done a large (for me anyway) drop off and the bike just soaked it up. I want to go downhilling now!

Northy that looks superb, how much did the build cost you? Looking at the geo, it looks pretty racey?

[northwind]

I'm choosing not to think about it About twice the budget I originally had, anyway, but I got most of the parts either used or in sales so it's probably about 2/3rd the RRP of all the bits. Still too much! Enough for a nice full suss, FSR or something, but I like hardtails. It's actually fairly slack for a HT, 69 degree head angle with the 130mm fork sagged, so a bit tighter than my scandal was, but it was silly slack- I felt like I was sat behind the rear wheel.