New MTB day. The one that should have stayed.

[weeksy]

Proper fitting kit installed and shock on for testing this week. First impressions on kerbs around the close is that the rebound is a little too fast, but obviously that's a simple fix.
But in truth, i'm pretty happy with the stock shock really. But we'll try the coil for a few days riding.

20260601_122034 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

20260601_122040 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

[weeksy]

Got an offer this morning for the coil and felt it was too good to miss out on for a well used unknown history shock.

Especially as i can get a Super Deluxe for £5 more.



Which is obviously new and with warranty as well as being a very very good shock.
https://www.merlincycles.com/rockshox-s ... 04232.html

So the coil has been boxed and shipped off and the new one is winging it's way over.

If you're asking 'why' well the simple answer to that is that i like to have every eventuality covered in terms of downtime/issues. Shocks can and do break and need servicing time etc, so having a spare is important for me.

[weeksy]

20260604_111327 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

Installed, but it's raining... so not yet tested. Set pressure to 200psi which should be about right.

[weeksy]

Windy out there, but remarkably dry considering some of the recent rain we've had.

20260605_101041 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

Good little test ride for the Super Deluxe, slowed down the rebound by 2 clicks, but need to dial it in on some more interesting trails

[weeksy]

Out today on what will be known forever as Taffs trail. The ride itself went well enough but i was getting a bit of chain type noise, which as you can imagine isn't acceptable for me, so i thought, "i'll check the bottom bracket"

20260609_095433 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

Now this is where it gets slightly trickier as it's a GXP Press-fit. So you can't just whip it out, try another and see if that resolves things. But i'd bought a cheap Shimano one last week as i was planning longer term to run the Shimano cranks i have here anyway. In for a penny in for a pound, "i'll just whip the GXP BB out and throw in a new one"

The removal was more complex and took a bit more persuasion than i wanted.. but it was out and i pressed in a new one. The Shimano one went in nicely enough with the press kit and i threw the cranks on. It was only when i put the chain on that i saw the chainring is bent to buggery !!! You could see it using the chainguide.... eeek
Fortunately i had another crankset in the spares with same chainring setup and i threw that on... well i would have if it wasn't a different chainline, so i had to remove the chainring and swap it over, then re-fit the cranks.

Anyway it probably took nearly as much time to write it as it did to swap

[weeksy]

Tough night of racing for me... Well, wasn't really tough in a lot of ways, but i'm just nowhere near the pace of the people i'd like to be near

I did manage to go faster and faster on each run, knocking 1.5s off even on my last run compared to the one before, so it does get better... but still a loooooooong way from where i'd like to be.

I enjoyed it though that's for sure.... but DAMN, how to get faster !!!!

[Taff]

Taffs trail

I guess that's the one I had a little sit down on?

[weeksy]

No, the longer one where I was a little confused, came out at the big house then the 200m down road to where crust crashed

[weeksy]

Well interestingly i fitted the 65mm rise bars after getting them back from a mate at the weekend.

I was surprised to find, they don't really work on this bike. Not sure if it's the slightly shorter stem, or the more trail based geometry, but the standard 28mm rise work great and the 35mm DMR worked great too.... but the 65mm.... Not so much. Front end felt all over the shop even up and down.

Swapped back after the ride to the 28mm carbon Bontrager.

[weeksy]

Tricky riding at the moment as all the trails are SO overgrown where we are. Anything that's interesting is a mass of nettles and spikey things... My legs are being shredded just about every bloody time i go out. Having to pick my routes with care now.

Rode with the stock Fox on the back today, it was really night.. it's a bit harsher than the Super Deluxe, but works well in truth.

I'm still flitting between bars, with sometimes a narrower DMR 35mm rise, then onto the 65mm DMR and then again onto the 28mm rise Bontrager carbon... The Bontragers are wider and feel better, i didn't really bond with the 65mm rise..

[weeksy]

20260625_081215 by steveweeks59, on Flickr


It was a toasty one out there !!! Wasn't going to go out but i'm sick of Zwifting in the shaded garage, so needed a bit of outside time.

[weeksy]

Cracking evening over at FoD last night. We were there to celebrate the boy turning 18, so was a bunch of his mates, a bunch of mine, and of course bicycles

I was racing on the Fuel, it did really well.... Better than me that's for sure I've got the thing set up really nicely actually and it did me proud to the bottom of the bunch . That's where i live when racing, so i know it's coming anyway... but was fun trying to chase my mate.. I got closer by the last run, which was my main goal.
I also did an untimed run on Crusts Trek Rail... Oh my.... In so so many ways.
THe climb we were using was impossible on a manual bike, but oh so easy on the Rail, i wasn't even breathing hard...But sadly his suspension settings and tyre pressures left a little to be desired... the bike was a bit wallowy.... but it sure gets a move on.

These sort of things leave me with a massive massive dilemma on what to do for the future.

[Couchy]

Ride a well set up or lighter e-bike, my rail with its smaller battery feels a lot different to the bigger battery and that’s only 1.2kg different. Also feel better downhill being derestricted as there’s not that drag above 15mph which affects them a fair bit.
Of course the avinox bike is much lighter, there’s no dilemma you’ll be having an e-bike soon

[weeksy]

Of course the avinox bike is much lighter, there’s no dilemma you’ll be having an e-bike soon

That doesn't mean there's still no dilemma. There's the choice of what motor, what chasis, what performance etc. I can see merit for a Bosch SX bike like the Dune, but that still means i'm only lapping that particular hill 4-5 times on a ride. But i get the benefit of a nice handling semi-light bike... Or there's the CX motor which gives me 'more' but will that mean more in terms of speed, laps or indeed enjoyment.

There's no world in which an Avinox based bike makes sense to me, but that's a lot of personal preference and percieved reliability/warranty as much as anything else at the moment. Never mind the discussions on power and 1500w.

There's little doubt that if i'd been on an eeb last night i could and would have lapped more... but i'm yet to be convinced i'd have enjoyed it more.

The reality at the moment is though, i'm looking more at next years Enduro bike for the boy instead of my own purchases, his race bike is more of a priority and will decide whether i get anything myself.

[Couchy]

An avinox can be set to behave like a Bosch sx but you get the big battery and virtually no weight penalty. As pretty much every manufacturer has an avinox bike you can choose the bike you prefer. I get the SX motor if you want a light bike but why you’d buy a heavier CX motor bike I don’t know.
Only time will tell if avinox are as reliable but the ones I know have been ok so far. Maybe not Bosch levels although mine has had a new motor at 4 years old, tbh that’s acceptable to me with the use it’s had.

[weeksy]

An avinox can be set to behave like a Bosch sx but you get the big battery and virtually no weight penalty. As pretty much every manufacturer has an avinox bike you can choose the bike you prefer. I get the SX motor if you want a light bike but why you’d buy a heavier CX motor bike I don’t know.
Only time will tell if avinox are as reliable but the ones I know have been ok so far. Maybe not Bosch levels although mine has had a new motor at 4 years old, tbh that’s acceptable to me with the use it’s had.

i'm against Avinox for many reasons, partly what they've done to the sport, which is to basically wipe out freedom of choice and force people and manufacturers onto their bikes. But apart from that, reading the forums, their support is fucking rubbish with people being left without bikes for weeks and months at a time due to issues. I like the support from Bosch and the backup of them, they seem to really be on the ball for getting people back out on the trails.
I understand you can turn down the power, of course... but i still am not convinced that a motor tuned that way can have the reliabilty of the Bosch for example.
The CX bike is just a steam roller, it's the Transit Van of ebikes for me, hence the appeal. I don't think in truth i'd go any faster downhill on bike A over bike B and don't see it making much difference in that sense.

But the one thing i don't think you'll ever grasp is the difference between riding a manual and an eeb, just something about the riding is completely different, is it the reward factor, is the the grim determination factor, i don't know, i can't fully relate it. But pedalling is just a completely different activity to me than eebing.

[Couchy]

I think because we ride different places we have much different bike use, my local is very much fast xc and as such I can take the manual bike or the eeb and get the same cardio workout over an hour. On the manual though loads of it is boring flat ish terrain but on the eeb the whole hour is exciting as the extra speed makes it so.
When I go to FOD I use the e-bike as the uplift and for that it’s great which is prob how you use it and in this use the motor or power is irrelevant. I’ve no interest in slogging up the hills so wouldn’t take a manual there.
I also prefer the eeb downhill it’s more stable and that suits me especially as I don’t do anything too techy or difficult as my ability doesn’t allow that.