The journey from small guy to teenager...

[weeksy]

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/review-dt ... grade.html

The mountain bike world, or at least the portion that dwells in online forums and bike shops, has been spending a lot of time on the topic of pedal kickback lately. Did something change in bike design that suddenly made this a hot topic? Not really, other than the introduction of devices designed to reduce the phenomenon.

DT has joined in with their new DF technology (DF stands for Degrees of Freedom). The system, which is retrofittable to any DT DEG hub, is elegant in its simplicity - it doesn’t add any extra weight, and doesn’t require any more maintenance than a standard freehub would. It still uses DT’s star ratchet system, but the inner ratchet ring has 6 protrusions that interact with the ring that’s threaded into the hub shell. That threaded ring has slots that allow riders to easily select from 0°, 10°, or 20° degrees of movement before the star ratchet system engages.
When coasting, the spring tension from the star ratchet system pushes the inner ring backwards to its starting position. When the chain is moved forward, whether from pedalling or chain growth, the system moves by that pre-set amount, and then the freehub begins to engage. The ratchet rings have 90 teeth, so at the maximum you're looking at either 14 or 24 degrees of rotation before engagement.

The upgrade kit is priced at $176.20, that is, if you already have the tool needed to remove the ring that threads into the hub shell. If you need the tool, the total price bumps up to $203.30 USD. The kits include two 90-tooth DEG DF star ratchet rings, two springs, the threaded inner ring, and a small tube of DT's special grease.

There's also an e-bike compatible version that uses a 60-tooth ratchet ring and is designed to withstand the higher toque put out by a motor. There are only two settings for that, 0 or 10-degrees.

Just ordered one of these, well a new whole wheel and upgraded hub. It's a bit messy as you can't buy the hub in a 157 and HG, so you need an XD then a freehub in HG and then swap the bits over and upgrade to the DF system

Doesn't the Trek have an idler pulley that's in line with chainstay/swingarm pivot?

Yes but the Atherton doesnt

[weeksy]

Final race (again) for 25 so a strip down in lunch today and check/clean/grease of all the pivot bearings, re-aligning the calipers, checking wheel bearings, cleaning chain and checking pads... I think we're all good to roll.

[weeksy]

Meh, front wheel/bearing had a tiny bit of play. I was just dropping the front end off the stand and thought "meh, that's not right".

Threw in the spare wheel and there's no play, so it was obviously the front bearings. Luckily they're a 10 minute job on there and i've got a few in spares, 20307LLB. So that's done and while i was there i swapped the front tyre on the spare wheel from an Argotal to a Kryptotal. 

Just need to do a spoke/tension check tomorrow and i think we're all good for weekend.

[Nordboy]

Out of interest, do you keep track of everything you have to replace before or after each weekend? It seems that something is always breaking or wearing out, must cost you a small fortune in bits and time?

Or do you not want to in fear of realising how much it all actually costs?

I'm not criticising what you do, I admire your drive and enthusiasm to support James, and the other kids as well. And I know it's not all about money, but the higher the level, the costs and commitment always seems to become many multiples of the previous level.

[weeksy]

Sort of yes, sort of no.

I try to go through things regularly but as you’ve gathered I’m pretty fussy. The jobs I end up doing 95% of people would ignore 99% of the time. But for me things have to be perfect, it’s like a little noise here, or a bit of play there and it’s getting sorted.

Just to give some clarity here, I rarely touch our trail bikes apart from a clean and lube. Because they’re not used in the same way, they’re just bikes and just ridden, this is the race bike that is hammered so it has to be perfect

In 4 years racing he’s never failed to complete a race due to a mechanical issue, that’s where I need to be with it all, I do my job, he does his.

Do I keep track of costs, fuck no lol. That would be honestly terrifying and lead to divorce, mostly kidding.
I could guess at costs per year, but they’d be guessing

In terms of time, heck I’d guess 4-8 hours per week on it. But when you factor in things like race weekends and driving, it’s loads. Most weekends in season we leave the house Fri and get back Sunday night, race weekends are fun but intense in terms of bike and effort. It’s hard to put into words what we all do.
Mrs Weeksy for example spends hours sorting his food and ‘Gazebo’ stuff from tea bag’s to nuts and bin bags to hand warmers, every detail is done precisely.

Then you add in social media, sponsor stuff, sorting deals, getting kit, parts etc that’s another job in itself.

[weeksy]

Well that's a minor one to ponder. Both the E-13 and the DT Swiss are coming in at £500 roughly built to a hub with new spokes and our own rim (brand new Reserve).

The Ochain and the Rimpact come in a chunk less than that, even with buying some SRAM cranks, especially as i can sell our Saints (new and used set)

So it all needs a little bit of winter thinking, especially as he already went fast on the Atherton without it.  Not sure, not sure at all.

[weeksy]

So many cool little things going on in the background, he's recently been asked to do some promo stuff for DMR which ended in this sort of thing which they're using on their website and social media



Some of these things really really sit badly in terms of his personality, but i think they're pretty cool myself. He's deffo making a name for himself and we've got some more sponsor things going on in the background for 2026 which again is really excellent for him.

[weeksy]

He Tried one of the lads Atherton A200 today.

Loved the bike but hated the Rimpact damper. We all had a play in field and no one greatly liked it.

He said it was properly light and fast on track.

[Nordboy]

Is that the same, or similar one that he's getting?

[weeksy]

Is that the same, or similar one that he's getting?

Mostly the same yeah

[weeksy]

The Pearce series as always was organised to perfection, they run so so well.

We set up in the paddock with our paddock mates, all are different and all are brilliant in their own way, everyone brings something to the paddock that completes the group in some way.
Beers, banter and XC Racing on the laptop was the order for Friday night.

Sat brought practice and loads of laps, by 11am he'd done 6 laps, but still had hours to play, a bit of lunch and then more riding and he was pretty happy. At times he wasn't feeling the track in a way, but he was getting down decently.
We watched the World Cup DH in the evening with a little bit of frustration at not being there, but it was epic banter with the crew and he was having a superb time with all his mates again.
The bike was awesome again, unlike some of his mates. I had 2 rear wheels over at the gazebo on Sat morning with "this doesn't seem right" and they were correct, using the park tool gauge on the spokes i had at least 15 spokes per where that regsitered <5. We usually run somewhere between 15-20 so they were honestly a joke. Many didn't even register a reading. Afterwards we were a lot closer and the boys both survived.

Sunday was SOOOO chilly, but we'd learned a lesson about hot-water-bottles overnight for sure, which made things a lot nicer

Practice went smoothly with 5 runs and he was feeling decent. I sent him off for run 1 and he was coming down fairly late on in the Cat due to his overall Championship position, but we as always had insane competition. I know i often say this, but again it was stacked with 7 who've had National Podiums and 4 who've represented GB at World Cups.
One of the MB Cyclery from Surrey Hills who we know is silly quick and races EWS came in early with a stonking time, we thought Nathan Diwell-Wilson or Tom Hawkins who both are WC racers would beat him but they never.. I was watching the split times and the boy was 0.8s off on split 1 and 1.7s on split 2, right in the mix and happy..
As you're watching you learn that when people come into the field/finish and their times they'll need to be at... The boy needed to hit the last ramp at 1.49-1.50 to be in with a chance of a decent result..
He came into the section at 1.55 !!! ARRGGHHHHH. He'd had a small off in sector 3 and this put him into P16 at the end of the running... Not what we wanted as Top 5-6 was arguably where he thought he'd be, as did i.

He took it really well, dusted himself off and got sorted in his brain over food and laughs. I was whipping his forks out as they were slightly twisted in the yokes, but that's easily sorted and a quick wash and we're happy.

Run 2 he went up really early to compose himself and work on his warm up..One of the other competitors dads commented that he loves how the boy does a full warm up while some of the lads are looking at him thinking "WTF is he doing" but even though he knows it and sees it, he still does it, week in week out..
THe times were tumbling and rider after rider going quicker... but not many were going that high, but 1 did who crashed on run 1, he went P2. Nice job kid.

I didn't want to see the splits but i saw the boy drop into the field at a 1.49 which put him in the mix and he came in with a 1.57.3
That's more like it and put him into P5... but with a chunk of riders who could go faster that was liklely to change.
However it never and he kept it in P5 to the end.
https://www.rootsandrain.com/event14065 ... /#h-17-18m

I was 1.3s off the WC boys which was awesome and beat a couple of other WC lads... So very happy with it. His main competition George and James both finished behind him so yeah he's a happy boy.

Sadly due to the injury at Bringewood he missed both races so couldn't get that back for the overall, but we're more than happy with his form and performance.

[Count Steer]

So, what's the plan for the winter break?

[weeksy]

So so so so so many things mate.

First one is getting his coaching hours up, starting this weekend. He needs 100 hours of coaching to be able to get his next qualification. As well as turning 18 so that's not till July.

In terms of racing it'll be a pretty quiet winter, over previous years we'd do the smaller races, but there's little point in them these days as they're not on tracks that'll push him hard enough. We may do 1 series at FoD but more just for the banter with mates rather than from a racing perspective.
So mostly it'll be 'training days' on uplifts, working on getting faster and stronger, lots of gym work and plent of turbo/Zwift work for him. He's still in a very good place in terms of attention of GB squad and i'm hopeful he'll at the very least make it onto the reserve list for the races, if not higher.

It's slightly up in the air how we play 2026 in terms of racing as the current pathway to WCs is to hit the Continental Series, finishing top 5 in the overall for that is a way to get a full pass into WCs directly without needing to be in the National team. As well as finishing top 3 in any of these races gets you 1 wildcard.
The problem with that is that every fast teen in Europe also wants and will do the same.... As well as the expense of racing in Europe in time and holiday...

So in truth, i really don't know how we're going to play this winter and into next year.

We've got the new Atherton arriving over winter of course, which is a big thing, throwing him on that could be a game changer, both in a good and bad way lol. We've got incoming sponsors that will support him and us, again that's a massive thing.

But it all needs a massive amount of thought... and currently, i just don't know.

If someone gave me an extra £20,000 and an extra 3 weeks of leave, the plan would be simple.... (but even then, not THAT simple as he's got his A Level exams in 2026)

[weeksy]

As always, winter brings changes, discussions and craziness. Obviously the first major one being the swapping of the bike to the Atherton A200 which is being built. 

But there's also the background stuff going on, some of that at times seems to be a job in itself. There's lots of if, buts, maybes, but sometimes things work out nicely. Part of it i can't get into yet, but part of it i just wanted to say a MASSIVE thank you on here to them and plug their products a little bit.

Anyway 2 years ago through our LBS Rotec Bike we got a message that Oxford Products and Mint wanted to help the boy out and have given him a tonne of help in the last few years, lots and lots, going over and above and even when things didn't quite work out they were more than happpy to help us out as much as they. I've been massively impressed with their bike wash, it's seemed less abrasive than others and doesn't affect anodising as i've seen some do so. Highly recommended.

There's other things coming in the future and other sponsors helping the boy out.. It's amazing what they do for him.

[weeksy]

Well despite my frustrations of not finding a house as easily as i want in FoD, we do have a few bits of good news. The boy has fallen into his role as MTB coach really well and is spending lots of hours at the moment learning his trade. Even though he's qualified to teach, being a teacher is more than just having done a course, so he's learning from his mentors and picking up skills, tips, tricks and observations. At the moment due to his age he can't be unleashed solo on the public anyway until he turns 18. So his learning is with another coach, which suits as he needs to build up 100 hours coaching to get his next qualification anyway.

With regards to other winter plans, he/we have had a couple of weekends of lack of pressure, just riding, playing and enjoying really. Bit of a post-season break from it all. He's been riding plenty and hitting the tech as well as the coaching, but not racing, we've skipped a race at FoD and are not bothering with the 100% race in 2 weeks time (first one we've missed in 3 years), so we'll be up at Dyfi and Llangollen as well as a bit of Afan, Cwmcarn, Barrys etc etc... Just honing the skills and getting the fitness.. 

With regards to other stuff, he's now been given Rider Team Athelete  stuff from DMR, which was always part of Katys setup but he's now a DMR rider within his own right, along with that brings a load of opportunites, sponsors, parts and 'stuff' that is currently on order. But it's also the people he'll ride with more next year and the places he'll be hitting. It's all different little aspects of making him into an all round rider and increasing his rider profile I guess. 

[weeksy]

"how do i straighten the bars, do i need to do both sets of clamps"

LOL... "how about we go back to the start of the story here boy" was my reply.

He's up at Tirpentwys with a mate today having some fun. Seems to have crashed 3 times when trying to find his speed
Tues was coaching the Welsh XC Development squad with Katy which is teaching him lots about his trade.

Sat he's coaching again and Sun we're at Dyfi.....

When you throw in the Zwift sessions, weights sessions, yoga sessions, he's certainly putting in a decent shift that's for sure.

[weeksy]

the overtaking bit was planned, the rest got sketchy

[weeksy]

[Dodgy69]

DH

[weeksy]

Untitled by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Untitled by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Untitled by Steve Weeks, on Flickr


Dead upper guide, new lower pulley and idler bearing and once it’s daylight I should be able to get it all running again