Post a pic of your non trials bike

[Luke Rainbird]

Sounds like a cool addition to the stable, gives you optionsssssssssss

[Tom Booth]

Gotta have optionssssssssss.

[Tom Booth]

Wheels, tyres and forks and drivetrain have turned up over the last few days, 150mm on 29s is going to make for a tall front end  

[Luke Rainbird]

Shame you're such a shortarse, Tom.

[Tom Booth]

Shame they don't send out the yellow pages still to mount this stallion.

[Tom Booth]

The Cotic turned up about 3 weeks early, really impressed with it! Built it up this morning, the brake hose for the rear is too short from the Orange so just waiting on a BH90 kit to turn up then I can get that sorted. Been a quick pedal around the industrial estate though and it's lightening fast, I can see the appeal of a 29er! Doesn't feel quite as playful as I was hoping, but I think that's because I'm used to loose goosey carbon with abit of flex, not rigid Reynolds. Tempted to try some 50mm rise burgtecs on there though to see if it livens it up a little..

[Tom Booth]

I'd forgotten how fun hardtails are pinned downhill Such a laugh, I don't think my knees were ready for a hardtail though.

Cotics wild fun, I picked up some 50mm rise burgtecs from leisure lakes last week and tried them on the bFe, wasn't a fan so pinched the 35mm from the 5010 and put the 50mm onto the 5010, such a nice improvement on both bikes! The cotic has a fun poppyness about it even with long stays, and the 5010 was playful before, but with high bars its a riot, look forward to heading to the jumps with it soon!

[MadManMike]

9 hours ago, Tom Booth said:

I'd forgotten how fun hardtails are pinned downhill Such a laugh, I don't think my knees were ready for a hardtail though.

Cotics wild fun, I picked up some 50mm rise burgtecs from leisure lakes last week and tried them on the bFe, wasn't a fan so pinched the 35mm from the 5010 and put the 50mm onto the 5010, such a nice improvement on both bikes! The cotic has a fun poppyness about it even with long stays, and the 5010 was playful before, but with high bars its a riot, look forward to heading to the jumps with it soon!

They're nuts aren't they!

I'm quicker on a hardtail, but my wrists tend to hurt much quicker. I did enjoy the Cannondale, but building up the Dartmoor was fun and it's a more rewarding ride as you get chucked around a lot more.

That said, I've not hit a trail in about a year, I really need to get off my arse and ride again.

[Tom Booth]

14 hours ago, MadManMike said:

They're nuts aren't they!

I'm quicker on a hardtail, but my wrists tend to hurt much quicker. I did enjoy the Cannondale, but building up the Dartmoor was fun and it's a more rewarding ride as you get chucked around a lot more.

That said, I've not hit a trail in about a year, I really need to get off my arse and ride again.

Yeah everything feels tonnes faster, the last hardtail I had was my OnOne456 summer season which was a slack steel pony but was 26 and super heavy. This is light and fast rolling, absolutely love it.

I only hit some local stuff, the trails are steep and about a minute long if you pin it down them, plenty of roots and jumps so it's a pretty fun thing to have locally. It's a bummer when you forget at the bottom of the trail is a sharp 90* right hand bend otherwise you're into the stream that runs across the bottom of the woodland .

[Jere_h]

Last year's bargain build now updated with second hand 2021 Fox 34 factory Grip2 forks at 140mm, over the previous RS Pike that never seemed to work well (sticky bushings on every RS fork I've ever had, got enough).

- Heavily discounted Tallboy 4 CC 2021 frameset with Fox factory dps shock.
- Raceface ARC30 rims because the shop sent me these instead of the cheaper AR that I paid for...
- Dartmoor Reel V2 hubs, 102poe, seems to work fine so far. Pretty much everything else was out of stock at that time.
- Then some other boring parts from the previous build such as my 5 year old Magura Trail Sports still kicking like new.
- Renthal bars for life, because of my moto background and most importantly their mild backsweep works better for a trials rider.

Some would think that my drivetrain choice is pretty interesting on this level of bike. Yes it's the cheapest little Sram cassette there, with 10 speed shimano Zee groupset that has seen over 5 years of riding and still going strong.
People raving about Sram Eagles and other "must have" bling, but honestly I don't value drivetrain luxury that much (I don't race though). I rather use my calves to get up the hills anyway (seat down of course) and 10spd has proven to be enough for everything so far. It could be faster and more reliable to shift, but other than that I don't really see a reason to update. Lighter gear means more pedal strikes and difficult timing on techy stuff, and loss of momentum.

Weight roughly 13,5kg (I'm not a weight weenie though).
 

[DJEHB]

25 minutes ago, Jere_h said:

Last year's bargain build now updated with second hand 2021 Fox 34 factory Grip2 forks at 140mm, over the previous RS Pike that never seemed to work well (sticky bushings on every RS fork I've ever had, got enough).

- Heavily discounted Tallboy 4 CC 2021 frameset with Fox factory dps shock.
- Raceface ARC30 rims because the shop sent me these instead of the cheaper AR that I paid for...
- Dartmoor Reel V2 hubs, 102poe, seems to work fine so far. Pretty much everything else was out of stock at that time.
- Then some other boring parts from the previous build such as my 5 year old Magura Trail Sports still kicking like new.
- Renthal bars for life, because of my moto background and most importantly their mild backsweep works better for a trials rider.

Some would think that my drivetrain choice is pretty interesting on this level of bike. Yes it's the cheapest little Sram cassette there, with 10 speed shimano Zee groupset that has seen over 5 years of riding and still going strong.
People raving about Sram Eagles and other "must have" bling, but honestly I don't value drivetrain luxury that much (I don't race though). I rather use my calves to get up the hills anyway (seat down of course) and 10spd has proven to be enough for everything so far. It could be faster and more reliable to shift, but other than that I don't really see a reason to update. Lighter gear means more pedal strikes and difficult timing on techy stuff, and loss of momentum.

Weight roughly 13,5kg (I'm not a weight weenie though).
 

Really liking that, always fancied either a tallboy or an SB130. If the cassette works for you then fair play, I’m a fat granny ring athlete.

[DJEHB]

Whilst I’m in here, may as well show my latest bike build. It’s a weird fixed gear tracklocross thingy. It’s an absolute hoot around town though.
 

Poseidon f+f

King headset

Gravelkings

Hope X2 front brake

Thomson layback post

Thomson stem

Try-All carbon bars

Hope RS4 front hub

Halo rear hub

Brooks C17 

 

[Tom Booth]

19 hours ago, Jere_h said:

Last year's bargain build now updated with second hand 2021 Fox 34 factory Grip2 forks at 140mm, over the previous RS Pike that never seemed to work well.......

Looks super fun, bet that's an absolute flying machine.

[Jere_h]

Definitely a fun bike! It completely changed my mind about 29ers.

The biggest issue for me has been carrying speed on flat natural sections with roots and chatter (like 90% of the trails here). This bike is significantly easier to get over the boring parts than anything that I've ridden before, including a 27,5+ hardtail.

But down the hill you have to be active or it will rattle the water bottle out. Part of the fun too I think.

 

[Tom Booth]

Nice! I had the same reaction when I rode the cotic for the first time, 29's are still fun bikes! You just have to pick your paths a little differently.

[Davetrials]

Ripping the shit out of this thing, absolutely loving it 

[Tom Booth]

A few changes since it was last posted, Burgtec ridehigh38s

Minion DHF F+R (the Aggressors left me face down in a berm a few weeks ago )

Oneup components 240mm dropper, its a long way down but makes for an awesome do it all bike.

I love the 5010 so much, its really pushed my riding over the last 10 months. Super fun playful bike, loves a berm or jump.

The Cotic BFEMAX on the other hand is an absolute jekyll and Hyde story Sails up climbs super delicate somehow, just at the top before you know it but descents are like a run away train, just hang on and let it rip haha. I love it for that, I've even got the hang of jumping the barge, it's pretty nice once you get your eye in!

 

[Mark W]

Those tyres make it look like a 26" for some reason! Looks fun though.

[Tom Booth]

It does look a weird size in photos haha, I dunno if it's because the proportions are better suited to a medium/large frame, then stretch it to an XL and it looks abit gangly.

[AdamR28]

Ha, was just thinking that. Must be the XL frame making the wheels look out of proportion! Bike looks ace though and kudos on the colour coordination 

 

I've also joined the Santa Cruz club, courtesy of a bargain Tallboy CC frame that had somehow never been built despite being over 4 years old!

I'd rather not have bought another frame and built it up as a bitsa from the spares pile, but because CRCs warranty process is rather slow (over 5 weeks now... and they say 2 more weeks until they inspect it... its good to know the score, but it is quite frustrating) and they wanted the full bike back due to a frame defect (facepalm), I thought sod it.

Figure I'll not ride whatever replacement gets sorted out because 1) they don't have any more stock of the frame to replace it with, 2) I'd just break it again anyway (cracked within two months of XC riding) even if they did and 3) I don't want to support them or Vitus given this most recent palaver, so time to move on...

Fitted a Slack-R today (not in the pic) to give a bit less OTB feeling on the steep stuff, which brings the geo a bit more up to date - now around 66 head angle. The bike pedals incredibly well even when standing up and mashing (set up singlespeed at the moment as some random courier currently has temporary custody of all my 12 speed drivetrain components hanging on aforementioned bike), and it definitely feels like it has more than 110mm of travel which is cool. I love the details such as proper moulded tubes for internal routing and the additional seals on the lower link bearings. Looking forward to getting my 'proper' bits on it!

 

In other big bike news... had a go at the singlespeed UK champs the other weekend. Pretty brutal course, with over 5000ft of climbing in 32 miles, but had a great time anyway despite a pretty big first lap crash  oops.

Also met @grant wildman who was there with his sweet Stanton, so we spent some time chatting oldskool trials bikes and nerding about tyres!

The highlight though was that I ended up finishing 4th (of 123 riders), which I was totally blown away with considering its my first half season of racing and I was on the home made bike! PS: excuse the lycra...

 

The SS race was a couple of weeks after taking on the Deadwater 100, which was shortened to 83 miles (and 13000ft of climbing!) due to the heat that weekend (Garmin clocked 32 degrees at one point).

Had a couple of mechanicals that lost me about 10 mins and a finishing place, but still came home in 5th (sounds better than it is as only 32 entered and 11 finished - though perhaps that's an indication of the brutality of the event!). Again, really chuffed with this one as simply completing this event was what I'd been working towards this year, never mind finishing strongly and towards the front of the field. PS: more lycra, sorry 

And I'll throw in a photo of the bike so you can take the piss out of my 'spokes' and inverted stem... ha.

 

With events over for now, its nice to be back out riding for fun with mates a bit more as opposed to churning out big miles building fitness. First ride this year with lights yesterday though... winter is coming, yuck! Do you guys carry on through the winter evenings, or give it a rest?

 

On another note... would there be any interest in a TF MTB ride sometime? Perhaps a weekend, somewhere central-ish... Cannock Chase?

[Tom Booth]

They're some awesome results Ads, nice one!

The tallboy looks great, there's a hughe following for the tallboy, stick a 120/130 pike on there and it's an awesome 29 fun ripper. The new v4(?) I think just came out with the vpp lower link, I'd love to try one but the bank says too much money has been spent this year

What's happened with the Vitus? That's a shame to hear as a few of my friends ride escarps and have built some awesome bikes from them.

 

Cannock chase sounds a win, I'd be well up for it. Especially if you come in that lycra...

[Tom Booth]

Forgot to post this  for a few months now Jennys been wanting to get back into cycling, she used to come with me some evenings to ride pines or local single-track, she got very good at one point and super competent with body positioning and keeping speed/line choice, but she had an OTB when pines changed a section on red route, she wasn't expecting to comeout a corner and be looking at a rock slab rolldown.

She did it all on £500 worth of rockrider 8.1 which was an awesome bike for the money, Sram x7 gearing, SLX brakes, RS Toras and most other bits deore. Recently she's wanted to get back into it after a few years off, got on the rockrider and it looked like a child's bike for some reason, just didnt fit well. She's always wanted the ability to get her feet down if she panicks which the rockrider being a big old square XC style bike didn't really allow with the saddle set properly, so got thinking and built her this with new parts/parts from my old Orange  5.

Ragley Mmmbop in large

RS revelations 150mm (super impressed with them!)

Deore drivetrain, XT shifter, Saint pedals

Hope Pros2 on mavic 319s

Maxxis Aggressors (yes the same tyres that left me on my face ^^^ up there )

Renthal fatbar @760mm, nukeproof horizon stem

M7100 SLX brakes

Since the picture its had a 150mm brand X dropper, Sam hill enduro saddle and nukeproof Nuetron 38mm ride bars.

Its way too much bike for the riding she does, but the geometry lends it's self to her so well, long low and slack so the saddles outta her way, the slack head angle gives her loads of confidence on the descents aswell as the room in the front triangle giving her space to move around.

Shes never gonna be an XC champion, or a steezy jumper, but it fits what's she wants to do perfect.

 

[forteh]

On 9/22/2022 at 11:26 PM, AdamR28 said:

On another note... would there be any interest in a TF MTB ride sometime? Perhaps a weekend, somewhere central-ish... Cannock Chase?

 

On 9/23/2022 at 8:24 AM, Tom Booth said:

Cannock chase sounds a win, I'd be well up for it. Especially if you come in that lycra...

Another cannock vote as I'm 11 miles away!
But ONLY  if you come in that lycra

[Tom Booth]

On 9/23/2022 at 8:24 AM, Tom Booth said:

The new v4(?) I think just came out with the vpp lower link, I'd love to try one but the bank says too much money has been spent this year

The bank found some money

Sold the 5010 and a load of spares I had, Cotic frame wil be up for sale too. Sold some other hobbies I don't get time for or choose to go biking over.

Its not quite a Tallboy but it's slightly bigger brother, an XXL Hightower V3. After riding the cotic for a few months and realising 29 is my bag, I kept going back to the 5010 and absolutley loved the amount of grip and speed it offered over the cotic. Not saying the cotic was a slouch by any means, but 100% can push the full sus harder and far more fun in the corners. The hightowers slightly longer in the reach and taller in the stack, but top tubes slightly shorter then the cotic so I think it's gonna puffer more for my long legs/short torso frame. Really excited to get on it (and have 1 bike that does it all ).

I'm away for a week in Wales and it's waiting for me when I get home (holiday with the inlaws so no time for a bike staying about 20 minutes from Dyfi bike park too!) But building it as soon as I'm home!

[Mark W]

To be fair, I really enjoyed riding my hardtail but full sus does open up more trails to be fun in some ways. There's a hill down here which is a local favourite that I hated on my Meta, but is really fun on the Swoop. It's in a fairly old forest and has been ridden in a lot so there are a lot of awkward root clusters to deal with. On the Meta, it felt like it was impossible to not get hung up on a lot of them and just bleed speed. With the Swoop I can carry more speed over it which in turn means that there are some gaps to try and hit, and just a lot more fun to be had really. There are some tech trails which are kind of rough that you can pick a smoother line through that are workable on a hardtail, but ultimately there are some that are just going to be harsh no matter what. 

I'm definitely glad I had a couple of years on a HT to get used to picking lines properly and working out how to ride steep stuff without just relying on a bike to get me through it, but full sus really opens up some doors! It is a hindrance in some ways, but I think that's more to do with the suspension on my bike rather than anything else - the Swoop is 170mm front and rear, so on the flatter/smoother stuff here I'm fairly over-biked. I've got a decent amount of air and all the tokens in the shock to try and firm it up a bit so it isn't as wallow-y, but it's still not going to be as sprightly as a shorter travel bike.

It'd be fun to try out a 140 or 150mm-ish bike and see what the difference is like, but that's one for another day...