Incoming... NMTBD... The Slayer of trails.

[weeksy]

The random is a medium.

Won't fit you or him (in about 10mins given his rate of growth).

His P2 fits me perfectly

But either way, the reality is, the Slayer is ace so it'll be staying longer term. The Privateer had a few bits of logic, but none were that sound

[Mr Moofo]

Experimenting with bars today.. Looking at the other pics it could be argued they're a smidgen too close. So i've moved the flip-chip from 1 to 3, which makes it less slack from 63.8 to 64.5deg on the head angle but also adds 10mm to the reach.
Along with that, i've thrown on a 60mm stem. Which is slightly complex as it needs new bars, but we have them in spares box anyway. Right width but slightly higher ride than i usually run. The stem and bar combo are 31.8s, the Slayer usually comes with 35s... but i don't have any longer 35 stems in spares, only 40mm. (same as standard).
The plan all along was to run a 50mm stem, i just never got round to it. But i don't wanna waste £30 on a stem so borrowed this from a mate to test.

As always there is a random 'plan' as well....
https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/3539888/


Which also ticks the box of being a race spare... The only downside with it is the spec is really not my preference with Shimano brakes (I have spare Codes) and RS35s forks which i'm not massively keen on either... The rest is nice though.

That's a good price but...
I still think you will struggle on the P2 over any length of time (unless it is just a gnarr gravity beast.
I'm not that much taller than you - and the P4 feels small (other than wheel base)
You should look a a P3 (or perhaps ask Privateer - they know you better)

[weeksy]

That's a good price but...
I still think you will struggle on the P2 over any length of time (unless it is just a gnarr gravity beast.
I'm not that much taller than you - and the P4 feels small (other than wheel base)
You should look a a P3 (or perhaps ask Privateer - they know you better)

I think when we're down there i'll try and demo a P3 for an afternoon. (probably out with you )

Looking at the geometry and my preferences in sizing, i still think a P2 is right for me... But i'm happy to be proven wrong on this as i know the sizing charts say a P3 is more me.

[Mr Moofo]

That's a good price but...
I still think you will struggle on the P2 over any length of time (unless it is just a gnarr gravity beast.
I'm not that much taller than you - and the P4 feels small (other than wheel base)
You should look a a P3 (or perhaps ask Privateer - they know you better)

I think when we're down there i'll try and demo a P3 for an afternoon. (probably out with you )

Looking at the geometry and my preferences in sizing, i still think a P2 is right for me... But i'm happy to be proven wrong on this as i know the sizing charts say a P3 is more me.

You are a better rider than I am. But my XL / P4 is noticeably smaller that the Cotic

[Mr Moofo]

Just as an example the P4 is 2 1/2 inches shorter in TT that the FlareMax

[weeksy]

Well an epic day with the usual result lacking in glory.

11/12 in GVs.
I started off with Wibbly wobbly, a nice flowy red with then some tech. I ended up in the wrong gear for half of it but got down ok.
Then back up and onto Hot Stepper. This was more techy than I thought but I hit both the main drops and survived.
Back up again and over to Pandora's Rocks which goes down as a trail I don't really like. Just has no flow or fun for me. But bundled my way down.
Lastly, back up again to the biggy which was top to bottom with melted Welly into Groot, jeeeez Groot isn't fun. Wet rooty muddy rooty. From there you transition to Surfin Bird which I really enjoyed and into the tunnel for Bush Whacker back to cafe.

Overall I enjoyed my day out, I set a load of PRs on trails and felt I went ok. I think I've got more left on some, but not today. I could have gone back up to top for more, but the legs said no and I listened. As always, a bit disappointed but not exactly shocked

[Couchy]

Well an epic day with the usual result lacking in glory.

11/12 in GVs.
I started off with Wibbly wobbly, a nice flowy red with then some tech. I ended up in the wrong gear for half of it but got down ok.
Then back up and onto Hot Stepper. This was more techy than I thought but I hit both the main drops and survived.
Back up again and over to Pandora's Rocks which goes down as a trail I don't really like. Just has no flow or fun for me. But bundled my way down.
Lastly, back up again to the biggy which was top to bottom with melted Welly into Groot, jeeeez Groot isn't fun. Wet rooty muddy rooty. From there you transition to Surfin Bird which I really enjoyed and into the tunnel for Bush Whacker back to cafe.

Overall I enjoyed my day out, I set a load of PRs on trails and felt I went ok. I think I've got more left on some, but not today. I could have gone back up to top for more, but the legs said no and I listened. As always, a bit disappointed but not exactly shocked

Well done, you were out mtb racing the rest of us weren’t that’s a win every day

[weeksy]

2023-03-22_08-54-26 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[Numnut]

Well done, you were out mtb racing the rest of us weren’t that’s a win every day

What he said! Nice picture! - sounds like a good fun day.

[weeksy]

Being followed by the boy. Happily he never fell asleep

[crust]

Was that the trail we rode?

He could follow me and practice his track stands

There's not many people could stay ahead of him when he's on it.

[weeksy]

Was that the trail we rode?

He could follow me and practice his track stands

There's not many people could stay ahead of him when he's on it.

Yup, same trail matey

[weeksy]

randr-photo-10077948-2000px-by-c-jarman by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Race number on again yesterday, Southern Enduro series at Milland. Practice went fairly well with not too many mistakes, stalled on one section of stage 2 but it went fairly OK overall.
Racing, onto stage 1 and the track had been churned up by 300+ people hitting the first section and i lost my footing in turn 2 and stage 1 was a write off... Nightmare... lost 12 seconds or so... GRRRRR.
Stage 2 went worse ! i'm not even sure how.... but it did.. I went into a tight left hander, but there's a high line and a low line, i took high, but lost my wheel on the step which is the low line, dumped me on the floor, bent my brake up to over vertical, i got back on and struggled my way down. But stage 2 was crap.
I was sitting there thinking i'd completely lost any ability to sit on a bicycle, let alone ride it and debated chucking the towel in.

But onto stage 3, which ended up being decent and funny at the same time... You get a lot of hecklers, who've all completed their E-bike races, so there's about 40 of them on a jump or two... as i came to it, the cheering and bells ramp up and i hit this jump a bit faster, did it OK and nearly stacked it into a tree, went past them to a few "oooooh" comments but got to the bottom happy.
Stage 4 and 5 went fairly well and without any real incidents... A bit of cheering and heckling on 4 made me laugh again.

Spent most of the stages having laughs and banter with the oldies as i knew a couple of them from riding and previous days, so we were laughing about who'd hit what tree, clipped a root or had of course fallen over.

Got tot he bottom and had a couple of beers under the gazebo, i was spent.

29/31 (or 28th maybe) isn't exactly setting the world on fire, but the 2 mistakes seemed to cost me 30s which would have given me 2 more places. But that's how Enduro goes, you pay your money on the stages and sometimes you win, sometimes you hit the deck.

All in all, top day out with great organisation as always from Scott at Southen Enduro...

[MingtheMerciless]

IMG_9361.jpeg (480.18 KiB) Viewed 461 times

At least you went racing.

[Count Steer]

IMG_9361.jpeg

At least you went racing.

I'd count it as 28th out of the many thousands that didn't race - which is a fine result.

[weeksy]

Thought i'd experiment this week with 'air' on the Slayer. No massive reason other than the fact that coils while plush do slightly deaden trails as they track so well and lose a bit of pop compared to air. There's also the weight penalty, but i've not measured that just yet...

2023-05-02_08-35-56 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

Not a massive shock (see what i did there) on weight with the Float X being half the weight

2023-05-02_09-48-32 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2023-05-02_09-48-24 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Swapping it takes the bike overall weight to 15.7kg.

I'll see if i can find any legs to get out and test it today. Although i'm pretty fried after Peaks and BPW

[weeksy]

Slightly interesting (to me anyway) is that the bike seems slacker with the air shock on it. I'm not sure if that's because i've been riding the wifes Ebike lately. Measuring the sag in attack/riding position i'm seeing 20-21mm of travel which is 30% roughly, so about where i'd expect. But it seems surprisingly slack.

[Mr Moofo]

Why the change to air ?
( I was just about to change the Privateer to a RS super deluxe ultimate coil ...

[weeksy]

Why the change to air ?
( I was just about to change the Privateer to a RS super deluxe ultimate coil ...

1. Just to see if more poppy
2. Just to see if I can feel it
3. 550gr less

I sometimes feel coil deadens things in terms of what I can notice the bike doing.

If you wanna try 230*65 you're welcome to borrow this