Forest of Dean Mini DH 26/01/14

Hey guys,

I've had a little bit of time to test the bike now and I'm really getting on with it! Over the weekend I raced a Mini DH at the Forest of Dean with the AberMTB crew. Having never been there before, I wasn't really sure what to expect. The track which was used was Sheepskull which was apparently one of the more pedally tracks there. This turned out to be a little bit of an advantage on some sections of the track although overall, the track was still more suited to a 180mm - 200mm downhill bike.

Practicing on Saturday was a good day of riding. It was very hard to learn a full track in a day and half which meant some of my racing lines were questionable to say the least. My main problem was the roots section towards the top of the track. There was a few different ways to go with the high line up and over some slightly off camber roots being much faster. I found this section the most difficult part of the track because I just couldn't seem to remember any markers which would aid me to point myself at the right line.

My mega was pretty faultless over the whole weekend which I was really pleased about. I had put some dual ply Maxxis Minion DHFs on in preparation for the weekend and it was the right choice. The track was really wet but not greasy so luckily I wasn't jealous of all the folk on spikes. Other than changing tyres, tyre pressures and fork/shock pressures, my bike was setup the same as how I ride it everywhere else. I ran the fork a little softer than usual to help cope with the ruts and braking bumps.

So by now you're probably wondering how I did in the rankings? Well, I shall tell you. My first run earned me a 1.43.89 which I was fairly happy with. It was consistent with a good pace all the way and no mistakes. I remember considering not doing a second run when the weather turned worse but after a long wait I pushed back up the hill to do another run. The track was in a similar condition to how it was on the first run. Very wet, but with a surprising amount of grip. On the second run I was a bit more aggressive and on some sections it payed of but I made some minor mistakes which gave me a time of 1.44.70. My placing was 46th out of 93. Overall I was 101st out of 296. Although I was not completely happy with my result, I understand that the Mega TR is a 130mm bike made for trail and all mountain riding. Taking this into account I think I can be happy with my result.

I really enjoyed the event but I'm not too sure whether I'll enter another. I want to concentrate more on Gravity Enduro as it is more suited to my bike and it doesn't involve as much standing around which is something that niggled me at this Mini DH event. Cheers to the event organisers for putting on a good show and the AberMTB crew for helping with lifts, accommodation a food!

New Bike! Nukeproof Mega TR 2013

Back again!


After monitoring eBay, Singletrack Classifieds and Dirt Classifieds for just too long, I finally found a new frame which I was happy with to replace the Reign. The decision to start saving and looking for something new came when I tried a variety of bikes at a demo day at Stainburn, Yorkshire which was put on by Stif Cycles. Before I rode any of the sparkly bikes (which were way out of my price range) I was relatively happy with my Reign. I thought, apart from many scratches and scuffs, it was still a great bike!

The first bike I swung a leg over was an Orange Five Pro. My dream bike. It rode very well. The geometry was spot on for me. It felt like I was in the bike rather than on it. This gives you much more confidence when railing corners because you don't feel like you're having to put effort into staying on the bike! I also like the fact that it has a little bit of lateral flex which helped me grip in corners. I'm not a heavy rider so this didn't become a problem but I can imagine if you've had a few too many pork pies your not going to get on with the flex. I could really feel the 650b wheels when it came to the rocky bits they sail over things much more easily. Some people say by using bigger wheels you are just dumbing down the trails for yourself. This is sort of true but you just need to ride and build gnarlier trails!

The second bike I rode was a Santa Cruz Blur TR which is a short-ish travel 26" trail bike. This was probably the most fun bike I rode that day. It was maybe not as fast as some of the other bikes over jagged rocks but in corners it was very flickable. On the demo day I scored a Strava KOM on one of the popular segments (500 people on the leader board) and I think it was on the Blur TR. I tried a frame size: Medium but I think I think I'd need a Large if I was to buy one.

I also rode a Santa Cruz Bronson and 5010 (Solo). The Bronson was alloy and felt very stiff. To me it felt like a pure enduro race bike. It wasn't as fun as the Blur but it was very fast. Cornering on loam was difficult because it was so stiff that you couldn't tell how much grip you had left. Maybe this was just something to get used to. The 5010 felt like a cross between a Blur TR and a Bronson. It was a little longer in the top tube than the Blur and as a result didn't feel quite as nimble but it was still a very flickable bike.

My conclusion was that the shorter travel bikes were more the sort of thing I was looking for. They seem to be able to handle rocky stuff almost as well as a 150/160 bike you just have to hold on tighter. It's the cornering that makes me really love shorter travel bikes. They just seem to control their travel much nicer and don't wallow in corners meaning you can really rip out of them!

When a 2013 Nukeproof Mega TR came up on the Dirt Classifieds within budget I went for it! I knew I could take the majority of the parts from my Reign and bolt them straight on. I only needed a new headset, wheel adaptors and a seatpost shim. I've only ridden her twice and on the first ride she shed her mech and a few spokes out of the wheel :( Luckily I had an old wheel with the same length spokes so I used them to build the wheel back up. I also bought a new Shimano XT Shadow + rear mech from the great folk at Westbrook Cycles. The second ride was ace! It was very windy and muddy, a few trees had come down that night which prevented me from going full pelt but it was great fun. The main issues I had with the reign are no more. The seat tube angle was too slack which made climbing difficult, the head tube angle was too slack which made it difficult in tight turns, but worst of all, the bottom bracket was too high! This made cornering and balancing on slow trialsy stuff very hard.

The mega has fixed all of this, I just need to be more careful not to bash my cranks/pedals on trail features now. I shall report back when I get some more riding on the bike done.

Here are some pics of her!

 

Cheers!

Any questions about the build or how it rides, please ask!

1 x 10 is the Future of All Mountain (Bike Update)

Hi Guys,

Doing these long 25 mile rides around Aberystwyth has really taken it's tole on my drivetrain. The chain had snapped as I rode to the meeting point for an AberMTB Llandegla trip and the jockey wheels had worn out from the countless times I had ridden Nant Yr Arian in gritty conditions.

Coming up to Christmas I had saved £400, mainly from not going on as many nights on the town as the average student. Initially, I was going to order new wheels while at Aberystwyth but I was then convinced to wait until I got home. I wasn't too sure about spending allot of money on a new pair of wheels and then having them delivered to student accommodation.

A few days before I left Aberystwyth I order a pair of Superstar Switch Stealth hubs laced to Stans Flow rims in black. Superstar have them on offer for £200 which left me £200 for the drivetrain. my initial thoughts of the wheels were amazing. The rear saved 225grams over my old Formula/Alexrim DP20 wheel! The engagement seems to be faster which will be great for getting the odd crank in after a berm on twisty trails.

Along with the wheels I ordered a Superstar Plasma ISCG Old chain device as my plan is to run a 36T single ring at the front with an 11-36T cassette out back. I wanted to order the chain device before any of the other gear because I knew how hard it would be to fit to the Reign. The suspension linkage layout makes it very awkward. I didn't want to take the plunge and buy everything in case I couldn't get it to fit.

After fiddling around with it for a long time I finally got it lined up in a way that I was happy with. Fitting this involved cutting down the bolts which hold the back plate onto the adapter, I also had to file down the adapter plate quite a bit to stop it contacting the bottom pivot. If anyone wants any close up pictures of the setup, please just ask.

When ordering the rest of the gearing I went for an SLX cassette in the 11-36 flavour to keep the weight down and to give me reasonable climbing abilities and a Zee freeride derailleur because I wanted one with a clutch mechanism. It was about the same price as an SLX Plus mech but I thought the Zee would be a little more durable. I bought a Hope 36T single ring and some Brand-X narrow chain ring bolts to mount to my existing cranks. I went for a cheap KMC X10-93 chain and an SLX shifter. I went for the SLX shifter over a Deore unit simply because I like to remove the shifter windows. The less clutter on the bars, the better. After skimping on outer cables in the past (and my gear system suffering as a result) I chose a two meter length of Goodridge outer gear cable. A friend at uni runs a full outer cable and he doesn't seem to have any problems and so I thought it would be perfect for the grim conditions back home.

Mounting all this to the bike was surprisingly quick and simple. My test ride would involve a quick six mile loop over Little Roseberry and round the side of Roseberry Topping. I chose this route as the descent down Little Roseberry is rocky and fast; the ideal test of the new Zee Plus derailleur and chain device combination.

Climbing up the rock garden on the way to Little Roseberry was only slightly more energy sapping than usual but this was to be expected. The descent down Little Roseberry steps was incredibly silent. All I could hear was the tyres bouncing over the rocks and the suspension sucking up the bigger hits. It was so confidence inspiring knowing that the chain wasn't going to come off or slip into the granny ring when I went to throw a crank in. The ride round around the side of Roseberry Topping was pretty calm. The adverse weather that has fallen here over the past couple of weeks hasn't seemed to have had much of an effect on the top section of the woods below the Topping.

When I got home it turned out I had stolen the KOM for 'Little Roseberry Steps' back from one of my friends who had taken if from me while I was away. I had not given the drive train an easy first ride then. I also noticed one of the spokes on my rear wheel was very loose, I knew about Superstar wheels being a bit iffy in the build department but after five minutes with a spoke key they are fine.

Here's some pictures and a video from the AberMTB Llandegla trip....

AberMTB Llandegla Trip from Jack Reeve on Vimeo.

Ride safe :)

A New Riding Location

Hello Again,

Now that I am going to be spending most of my time in Aberystywth I need to go and explore in order to find new riding. There are three main locations which the bike club regularly use. Clarach is the nearest, it's a small forest which has lots of downhill trails and a few tamer cross country style ones. I can get away with riding most of this on my Giant Reign.

Capel Dewi has another forest which is a little bigger than Clarach although it is less developed. It has one or two full trails with one including a pretty big road gap which I am determined to do one day. There are many trails which are still being built but they look like they will turn out sick when they are finished.

Nant Yr Arian is the nearest trail centre which caters for XC. It's not very well known considering it has a few good red routes. It's about a 10 mile ride there but it's all quiet roads so you can just chill out. There's also a few natural trails on the outskirts such as White Fridge or Secrets. It's not like other trail centres in that the trail surface feels natural, it's rocky rather than this gravelly stuff which they are using to dumb down other trail centres. Don't get me wrong, the trails are not technically demanding it's just that the surface is a little closer to how things would be on a natural trail.

On Saturday while my friends back home were inside watching the snow and rain fall, I was out filming on the Mark of Zorro section of trail at Nant Yr Arian. Enjoy and ride safe!



Nant Yr Arian - Mark of Zorro from Jack Reeve on Vimeo