The MTB thread

[mattSV]

Nor me - I keep lifting my feet off the pedals

Bugger, I havent got anymore above the stem and i have 3 below it. Its already got risers on it. The seat is higher than the bars which it seems is unusual now as I've seen a lot of MTBs with bars higher than the seat or at worst level with it.


Definitely will get some SPDs to see how they are.

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by robchester

Bugger, I havent got anymore above the stem and i have 3 below it. Its already got risers on it. The seat is higher than the bars which it seems is unusual now as I've seen a lot of MTBs with bars higher than the seat or at worst level with it.


Definitely will get some SPDs to see how they are.

Most XC mountain bikers normally prefer the bars lower than the seat - my bars are 4" lower than the seat on my mountain bike, and the top of the drop bars on my road bike are 5" lower than the saddle!

If you can't move any more spacers, and you already have riser bars, how about getting a riser stem?

[northwind]

Yeah, bars higher than the seat is something you see but it's pretty horrible IMO, for DH sure big high bars are an advantage but for normal bikes it's more led by fashion, I reckon. (Sometimes fashion over form, my Kraken came with big high bars and the end result was the front end wandered everywhere, very little weight on the front.) And also Fork Inflation, which has been pushing the fronts of bikes up higher and higher. Big mad high risers seem to be on the decline though.

The main question is just, is it comfy, and does it handle well?

Erm, those that were interested in my MTB weekend idea, I haven't forgotten, but it's not likely to happen in September now cos a) I might be moving and b) i will be skint...

I might try & resurrect the idea sometime in the near future if folk are still interested though.

cool, i did remember about the proposed plan, also hoped it could be delayed for a bit due to impending skintness/holiday!

really not been out on the bike anywhere near enough recently. need to get my ass in gear and get the legs back into working order!

[northwind]

That's cool El Saxo, if you decide to get it back on track let us know (edit- but not 16th or 17th October, I'll be at Kirroughtree and Drumlanrig!)

[northwind]

It's all gone very quiet! Nothing interesting happening in mtb land?

Since the last post, I've been off to the new "red downhill" at Nevis Range, which is 550m metres of vertical descent over just 6.6km of trail, with added gondola uplift. Paradise! Very tough- it's a red, apparently, but only in the same way that cola is red- if you hold it up to the light you can see it's red but the rest of the time, it's just plain black... And proper hard black at that, I spent a considerable amount of time trying not to s**t my pants.

I spent 3 days up there, 2 days riding, so as well as 8 runs down the red downhill I also did the world cup XC a couple of times (great, but lots of fire road) and Ten Under The Ben route (terrible, 9500 metres of fire road and 500 metres of actual trail. Also got in some (but not all) of the world cup downhill route- the Nevis Red ends unexpectedly before it reaches the bottom, you're supposed to descend by a fire road but you can get onto the downhill at that point if you're feeling lucky...

All in all... Best weekend's riding I've ever had, don't think it can be beat in the UK. It needs more variety of trails, and the existing standard red routes really need a lot of work to bring them up to scratch (terrible signposting, and fireroad descending you can f**k RIGHT off) but still, the skilift uplift makes it. It's in the middle of nowhere obviously but the caledonian sleeper train service goes right from London to Fort William, and there's regular trains from Glasgow, which means anyone can get there from anywhere. Only about 10 hours from Paris







Then, I came home, and randomly fell off on a p*ss-easy cross country route 10 miles from my house and broke a rib

Hmm, what else... Oh, bought a new frame, for reasons I'm still unsure of, a lightly used GT I-drive 5 full suss. Going to build it up with the sweepings off the garage floor and see how that goes. Very badly, I suspect, but it was cheap.

Very jealous mate, my knee is still buggered so not riding at the moment. I'm going to see the GP about it on Monday & see if I can get referred to a physio...

Originally Posted by northwind

Hmm, what else... Oh, bought a new frame, for reasons I'm still unsure of, a lightly used GT I-drive 5 full suss. Going to build it up with the sweepings off the garage floor and see how that goes. Very badly, I suspect, but it was cheap.

Not bad frames those mate.
They make qute a good allrounder Ive just dug out my old cannondale super v for a few winter hacks round the local woods