The journey from small guy to teenager...

[weeksy]

Enduro is a weird weird sport. Basically if you end up doing all your stages quite early in the field, your time shows as where you were when you crossed the line (kinda obvious) but then until people come down later (up to a couple of hours potentially) then they can obviously drop you down the field. It's the same of course in DH but over a very short time period, not hours.

It looks from the results like he ended up 5/43 which is pretty darn good. The kid in P1 was head and shoulders quicker than all of them. The rest was a bit of a battle. But i think he can be pretty pleased.
Seems to be 6.5s off P3. Which over 20 mins worth of stages, is really damn close.

There's a LOT more good than bad to come out of the weekend as it seems from chatting to the wife he's really happy and really enjoyed the whole weekend, chatting to people, riding bikes in the woods, all the good stuff.

Whether or not this will cost me £5000 i don't yet know

[Nordboy]

That's great that he's enjoyed another type of MTB'ing.

And sounds like he did really well. Nice to have a choice of events, something different?

[weeksy]

I'll get told more in the coming weeks, will be interesting to see where this takes him

[weeksy]

So the debates are underway at the moment, partly in my head and partly outside of it

He's got another Enduro in 4 weeks, this time he's racing in Mixed Pairs cat with his mate Katie. They'll not have many in their Cat, but he'll get to play and have some fun for sure

The question for the week is "Frame or Supension" what makes the difference at the sharp end.... or a combination of both... ?

We have some options through TFTuned for better bouncers, but are we then holding him back due to having a slightly basic frame... or does the frame not matter if you've got the right bouncers...
Obviously to some extent as with all bike stuff, with and without motors, the bike doesn't matter in a way, the cream will rise to the top... but he's already the cream... so it does matter to an extent as well.

We're potentially discussing a race in La Thuille in Italy for his 18th birthday in 6 weeks time.. But whether any of this would be in place by then, i don't really know.

[Nordboy]

Haven't you any contacts by now that can give you the definative on your question? Or are most of them downhillers?

[weeksy]

Haven't you any contacts by now that can give you the definative on your question? Or are most of them downhillers?

Well i chatted with the boy this morning.... He says "100% better suspension". I'm waiting for replies from 2 others but they're both suspension experts, so i'm curious to get their reply too.

As the boy is 100% convinced that pretty much seals the plan, i just need to discuss and work out how to facilitate that part of the plan.

[superstu]

Enduro is a great format. However it’s gone way past its peak and I can’t figure out why.

I was checking your lads results on roots and rain and was quite surprised how few racers there were in some categories.

As a grassroots sport I would have thought it’d stay and get bigger because anything from a hardtail to an ebike can partake, it’s a lower barrier to entry compared to a DH race. I guess taping four or more stages is more difficult than a single DH course, and of course at the sharp end most enduro teams have slimmed or been slashed and the fast boys moved back over to DH.

[weeksy]

I thibk it was mostly sold out.

Don't forget there was the ebije race as well as manual. There were fairly decent queues so im not sure they could have more people. If you're giving every rider a 20s gap and theres 300 riders, that soon stacks up and ends up with queues

[GingerKen]

I thibk it was mostly sold out.

Don't forget there was the ebije race as well as manual. There were fairly decent queues so im not sure they could have more people. If you're giving every rider a 20s gap and theres 300 riders, that soon stacks up and ends up with queues

Been following a while, as we are on a similar journey (albeit with an 11 year old). We were there for the Enduro and whilst this one didn't have 705 entries like 2019 it still managed to pull in 100 more than last year at 514. The best bit, is it catered for everyone. My lad did the four stage mashup on Saturday whilst there were e-bike categories, five stage short course, six stage full course, MTB pairs and e-mtb pairs. We've done plenty of downhill races and I think my lad enjoyed this one more as it was more chilled and he could ride with friends. The most problems with enduros, is it isn't very spectator friendly and the World Enduro Series or whatever it's called is testament to this, although grassroots is still very much alive!

[weeksy]

Good luck with the journey mate, as you've hopefully grasped, its a heck of a ride

[Noggin]

We're potentially discussing a race in La Thuille in Italy for his 18th birthday in 6 weeks time.. But whether any of this would be in place by then, i don't really know.

Is that La Thuille near Courmayeur?

[weeksy]

We're potentially discussing a race in La Thuille in Italy for his 18th birthday in 6 weeks time.. But whether any of this would be in place by then, i don't really know.

Is that La Thuille near Courmayeur?

Correct. But its already full anyway

[Noggin]

We're potentially discussing a race in La Thuille in Italy for his 18th birthday in 6 weeks time.. But whether any of this would be in place by then, i don't really know.

Is that La Thuille near Courmayeur?

Correct. But its already full anyway

That's sad (that it's full ! )

[superstu]

Been following a while, as we are on a similar journey (albeit with an 11 year old). We were there for the Enduro and whilst this one didn't have 705 entries like 2019 it still managed to pull in 100 more than last year at 514

2019 was the year I entered, so those numbers confirm my hunch. Scott at Southern Enduro does a great job and it’s great to see him continue, although I know some rounds he struggles to sell out. I was also more generally thinking about the WC and events like Tweedlove going.

Back on topic, what forks is James running at the moment on the fuel?

IMO frame choice will be tough as there’s some in the southern series which are quite mellow and others much tougher, so hard to have one frame that will suit it all. Not sure what any enduro series closer to home for you are like? The fuel does allow some adjustability at least to change the feel?

[weeksy]

So, to answer he's running a very basic Fox 36 Rhythm Float Grip. Which is what came on the bike as stock. He's got a 25' Vivid Ultimate air on the back end.
Thoughts are between a Zeb Ultimate or Lyrik Ultimate, but i'm still slightly torn as to which to go for.
The Zeb Ultimate will be stiffer and more air to move as it's a 38mm chasis. The Lyrik will be slightly lighter of course and maybe more responsive. Looking on Pinkbike on a recent "who's riding what in EWS", a lot more are riding the Zeb over the Lyrik... MAybe the weight aspect isn't such a massive thing?

Regarding Enduro series it's really Southerns for us, or Mini-enduro. None of which are massively difficult for him in terms of tech... Although clearly he needs to ride them faster but that's not quite the same thing. If he continues with the Enduro stuff then there's a shit-tonne of options of course like Scottish and even then things like Skyline Bolly things but i'm trying to let him decide on things rather than me pushing him into things. It's got to be what he wants to do rather than what i think he should do.

I do also find it a bit weird that people are struggling to fill Enduro events, maybe it's just the current financial climate that's affecting it, maybe it's an Ebike thing, maybe it's a time/distance thing... Not really sure. After all, Enduro to a great extent is what many of us do week in week out, so you'd think it would be more popular. You'd think it'd be the most popular actually.

The fuel he could tune with flip chips or even 1deg headset cups, but in truth, he won't.... he's not that kind of rider.
Once we throw a fork on there, that'll be him, done.... he'll just ride it as it comes.

[weeksy]

This gives a good idea about the Enduro stuff he's heading to.

Its a long watch but I certainly found it interesting

[weeksy]

The boy was playing yesterday and said "someone has hit the triple here, i rekon we can do the quad"



Mostly

It's soooooooo much bigger than it looks !

[weeksy]

Lots of chatting with TFTuned recently regarding Enduro stuff and we've ended up with them sending us a set of Zeb Ultimate.

https://www.tftuned.com/zeb-ultimate-ch ... 2-29/p4440

These are the MY27 version with the Linear XL air spring which closely simulates the feel of coil... It's a new design with fangled internal magic going on. I'm not sure yet if we've got red or black.

We have the option to run these for 2026 and give them back to TFTuned or keep them at heavily discounted price afterwards.... It'll depend on where things go for him and how he's feeling.

[Mr Moofo]

I really like my Zebs - but they probably don’t have all the bells and whistles that yours will

[MingtheMerciless]

I’ve got the previous iteration of Zebs on the Epocalypse and I really like them.