NBD. The mullet is BACK !!!

[weeksy]

Out on the Status today, i'm cruising along the local fun bits (what bits there are anyway) and get to the next hill... some fella overtakes me... !!! WTF...
Well i wasn't having that was I so kept him in check and then closed back to level with him by the top of it Boys.... they just HAVE to !!!

IMG_20240501_100413 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Bike feeling sweet and the fitness isn't too bad.

[weeksy]

Nice ride today. Lovely weather and a beer afterwards

IMG_20240508_173146 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

Out at Antur Stiniog yesterday on the Status. It's just an epic thing to ride, I can't see how anything gets near it for the price.

IMG_20240530_151131 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

Was bored this morning and doing some random thinking "i wonder how a 29er rear would fit in there and how it will affect things"... Well it seems to fit in there perfectly well and has enough clearance for the tyre with a High Roller on the back and a Hunt trail wide (Just wheel and tyre i had lying round).

Bike feels good, so i'm going to give it a run at lunchtime (or once a new set of garden furniture arrives)

[weeksy]

The mighty Status hit Antur Stiniog this weekend, with it doing REALLY well out there for sure.

I also rode a CUBE DH bike of a mates and we were both quite complimentary about eachothers bikes, he felt some benefits in my small bump compliance and i felt some benefits in his bigger impact hits. But overall the Status was far from out of it's depth.
The rider though had a few out of depth moments as i got talked into Black Powder, which is as you'd expect a black route. It's the course (mostly) the boy raced on last year at Antur. Rocky, techy and i had to 'check' a couple of bits before hitting them, they were right at the border of tech for me and it was a stop, look, ride jobbie. But the Status ate it all up.

There's a section of rocky stuff where the Status wasn't exactly right at home, but it's a fairly longish section and it couldn't really cope, or i couldn't lol... but it was fine.

Still very happy with the bike

[weeksy]

Well that was somewhat bizarre. for weeks now i've had a rotational squeak on the Status.

I'd fitted a new wheel (Spare Hunt wheel) which made it go away so i knew for sure it was that bit.

So I removed the rotor... still noise...
So i removed the caliper... still noise.
Stripped axles, inners, greased bearings... still noise.

I then pedalled outside and stopped as i could work out where the noise was in the rotation. It was right at the valve. It seems a little tiny bit of air was escaping out of the valve at times on rotation and that was causing the noise.

New tubeless valve installed and the noise has gone away. Ridiculous one that i've never seen or heard before.

[weeksy]

Well i've gone slightly nuts this week. I was debating a coil for the Status at Morzine (and other places). There's 2 things that ended up putting me off the coil.
1. Specialized's Yoke system means very few coils work and are accepted by Specialized as compatible.
2. The Specialized 'tuning' within the shock is somewhat 'different' due to the above, so getting a coil to work may not be easy.

With all this in mind and with some other thoughts in my head i've booked a session with Rich Simpson https://www.rsrbikeworks.co.uk/
As you know, we've used him in the past for setting up the boys bikes and he's a proper pro. Having a massively well respected reputation in the WC paddocks etc. Now i'll be the first to admit i'm not a WC rider by any stretch. But i'm genuinely curious as to
1. How my setup is currently
2. Can i notice any changes made
3. What can i learn about setup and suspension from this/him.

I'm pretty sure i can take some of the knowledge gained and move it onto other things as well, so i think it'll be time and money well spent, even if i can't notice the difference massively as a rider. I have my way of setting my bike up and that currently works for me, but it's entirely possible that my way is the wrong way and i can get more out of the bike in a better setup.

I'm really looking forward to it

[weeksy]

Had to laugh, a couple of months ago the Fuel I swapped this for was still for sale, 4 months after swapping

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305571533263 ... R5i6vbiUZA

It's STILL there now for sale. 7 months after we did the deal.


IMG_20240711_075609 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Out fairly early on the Status today

To make it even more amusing, my Slayer is on eBay too

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276528981151 ... R8yGjbmUZA

[weeksy]

I hit Dyfi this weekend. Although it'd be more appropriate to say Dyfi hit me.
Started with the luvi Dyfi and super swooper runs, my lad wasn't impressed but his team mate seemed surprised and pleased I was half competent.

IMG_20240713_124743 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

A bit later we did El Hippo, which is where the day unraveled a bit.
First run was ok, but I made a mistake on the same section I've never made cleanly, it's steep tech and this one part always gets me. A foot down and I was moody with it.
So this time I went on my own for a few runs, first one stacking it 3 times and the run after stacking it 2.5.
I'm delicate but not broken. Pretty pissed off about it but did some more runs on other tracks afterwards to help.

Dyfi 1 - 0 Weeksy

[Mr Moofo]

I hit Dyfi this weekend. Although it'd be more appropriate to say Dyfi hit me.
Started with the luvi Dyfi and super swooper runs, my lad wasn't impressed but his team mate seemed surprised and pleased I was half competent.

IMG_20240713_124743 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

A bit later we did El Hippo, which is where the day unraveled a bit.
First run was ok, but I made a mistake on the same section I've never made cleanly, it's steep tech and this one part always gets me. A foot down and I was moody with it.
So this time I went on my own for a few runs, first one stacking it 3 times and the run after stacking it 2.5.
I'm delicate but not broken. Pretty pissed off about it but did some more runs on other tracks afterwards to help.

Dyfi 1 - 0 Weeksy

But you tried it!

[weeksy]

I hit Dyfi this weekend. Although it'd be more appropriate to say Dyfi hit me.
Started with the luvi Dyfi and super swooper runs, my lad wasn't impressed but his team mate seemed surprised and pleased I was half competent.

IMG_20240713_124743 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

A bit later we did El Hippo, which is where the day unraveled a bit.
First run was ok, but I made a mistake on the same section I've never made cleanly, it's steep tech and this one part always gets me. A foot down and I was moody with it.
So this time I went on my own for a few runs, first one stacking it 3 times and the run after stacking it 2.5.
I'm delicate but not broken. Pretty pissed off about it but did some more runs on other tracks afterwards to help.

Dyfi 1 - 0 Weeksy

But you tried it!

That's how we hang isn't it I'll be trying it again next time at Dyfi too, this little track has become a bit of a nemesis now, so we'll be back again and looking to beat it.

[weeksy]

I'm having a debate, not on the Status staying as such as this won't affect the Status, but this weekend at Dyfi did nothing at all to make me think this idea wasn't a decent one

https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/bikes/mou ... VEQAvD_BwE



I'm not looking for life-changing as i don't see that being possible, but a bit 'more' may give me a bit 'more' in a way.... possibly, potentially.

[weeksy]

Yesterday was honestly one of the best bike days i've had.
Me, @crust and @Weeksy08 rocked up to FoD for some pre-Morzine testing and riding. I've never done an uplift at FoD as i'm usually the person driving the van
But Crust wanted to get some time on trails on his new Status 160 and i wanted to have some fun.

The day worked out better than we could have thought/planned. Crust went from a riding Dog to a riding God in one day ! Straight out of the crate on the Status 160 he was flying !!! I got to one section to wait for him and he was within 2s of my wheel. WTF. I wasn't exactly cruising and it was remarkable to see him right there with me.
We were also putting the Shockwiz on his bike which admittedly we didn't change much on, but it did affirm our settings and how it felt, we needed to add a couple or 3 clicks of rebound on the back, but the front was pretty dialled once we dropped some air out of the forks on it.

We then moved onto faster, swoopier tech, again he was right there, maybe 4-5s behind after a 1.30 trail, but right in the mix. He seemed to be really enjoying it and i was having lots of fun, so it's all good.

The only bit he struggled on was super techy roots. We ride Sheepskull which has a rooty drop onto the fire-road and has become more gnarly over the last few year. And one bit on Ski-Run which has become a LOT more tricky since i last rode it. (Weirdly i hardly ever ride these trails at FoD), It was a decent droppy, step-down into tech and through techy roots and rock....I looked at it and thought "hmmm not sure" but risked it and managed it..

It was then a bit more riding and a few beers to end the day... All in all, brilliant, just a brilliant day.

Sadly, no pictures but i think i can safely say, we both love our Status 160.

[weeksy]

Out on the beast today. Impressed that the bouncy bits felt great on local stuff after recent setup.

IMG_20240803_111310 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

Was over Greenham way with mates, golly it was a ride. The boy have been training and I found that the Status and me are not pushing hard enough at times. Bit of a lesson there, less calories, more sweat, more pace. Ouch

[weeksy]

Sadly i didn't really get to thrash the Status as much as i wanted as my hand was giving me trouble.

Day 1 though we hit Pleny, blues then blue/black. The black part was as you'd expect a fair bit more on the interesting/tech side and had a few tricky features that really made me think. The Status though was completely awesome and flying on it... Really impressed with it. I was a bit disappointed i didn't hit 1 particular line but i was easing myself in for the week so the plan was to hit it later.

The other days i was riding with a spannered hand and whilst it didn't completely wipe me out it was holding me back a little and stopping me pulling/pushing/popping, so i was mostly just rolling stuff that i'd be trying to attack. But again, the bike wasn't the issue.

Really love this thing and we're having a lot of fun together.

[weeksy]

Cruising out on the trails today

IMG_20240904_105518 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

[weeksy]

I've de-mulleted it for this weekends ride. It's a 55km trail type gravel/Downs ride around Andover area. I thought i'd see how one of the Privateer 141 wheels went in there and the simple answer is, pretty well, loads of clearance. It's a fairly non-tech ride so i may as well take advantage of full 29er setup, it'll also steepen the head-angle slightly which should make it pretty decent to pedal as well.