New Bike Day.... the powder blue girls bike

[weeksy]

Today it got well and truly shown the Berkshire mud !
2022-03-12_01-12-14 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2022-03-12_01-12-23 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

It was laughable more than a few times..just mud on mud on mud on slop !

The bike though, well that was an interesting one for sure. I was out with the boss on my old G170 and he's usually slightly off my pace, but today he was all "wow, this feels tough" and coming to terms that the G170 doesn't roll as well as his T-130 did.

But then, the EX9.8, well that thing just motors along at a fine pace ! Uphill, downhill, along, road... heck, i'm even tempted to take it to Wevelgem in 2 weeks time LOL. It's a sprightly thing that's for sure.

Certainly no complaints here.

I forgot to take some pressure out of the forks, so they were still a little stiff for me, but i've done that now while cleaning the bike after the ride.

A bunch of the fellas are off to Bike Park Wales on Monday... i wasn't booked as we were racing this weekend at Twisted Oaks, but after that got canned i could arguably have gone.. however it was full. So i never booked the day off. Today, they seem to have released 40 new spaces lol... But i still don't have the day off and booking Monday off mid-afternoon on Sat, i'm not sure that flies.

[weeksy]

2022-03-22_01-52-06 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Still not ridden anything particularly technical on this yet i'm afraid... another fairly gentle one today though

[weeksy]

First proper ride today, well I call it proper, but only because it has turns, all the rides count.

I came back from Belgium very very heavy legged but my lad wanted to head out, who am I to say no. I then had to do a quick 20km to pick up a bottom bracket. I say quick and I'm not kidding. It averaged 25.5kmh on the way there, even with the heavy legs.

After that I did "Enduro line" as it's known in the local gang. Yup, I loved it, it flew down. I honestly can't think of anything bad to say about it. Fab fab thing for sure.

[weeksy]

Raised the bars yesterday by 8-10mm, I'd have to measure to be sure, probably 10mm I guess. But feels way better.

Had a gentle ride but hit one DH section hard, took 3s off my best ever out of lots of attempts, but not quite at Kom speed.

[irie]

Raised the bars yesterday by 8-10mm, I'd have to measure to be sure, probably 10mm I guess. But feels way better.

Had a gentle ride but hit one DH section hard, took 3s off my best ever out of lots of attempts, but not quite at Kom speed.

Also raised my bars, felt much better especially downhill.

Also cut them down to 760mm.

[weeksy]

OUt at FoD on this the other day, it was epic... Not as plush at the G170 but fast as heck and destroyed my PBs on trails... by enough that it wasn't just down to me or the conditions.

One thing though was that i did on one run drop the chain. Which didn't please me as i was trying for a fast time lol. But also because of the potential for damage.

I fitted a chain guide when i first got it, but the angles were all wrong and it rubbed on the guide/chainring. So i scrapped that... but i knew it was just a slight bit out so fitted it again this morning with a 1mm spacer between the bottom mount, which moves the angle at the top by a couple of degrees and now sits perfectly within the range on all the gears.

2022-04-15_08-40-06 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[irie]

... One thing though was that i did on one run drop the chain ...

Shoot me if this is a stupid question, but was the derailleur clutch "On"?

[weeksy]

... One thing though was that i did on one run drop the chain ...

Shoot me if this is a stupid question, but was the derailleur clutch "On"?

It's a SRAM. They dont run an on/off system on their clutch mech, it just exists on SRAM

[weeksy]

Today we were out jumping. I spent some time setting up the bouncy bits.

We had the Shockwiz installed on the front end of the Mullet Status which I found was 100% correct from the poppy/playful setting in the Shockwiz as we'd set it before heading off.

Anyway it kinda reaffirmed to me that when it comes to setting up air, I can get it pretty much exactly how the Shockwiz wants on my own.
So much so that after tweaking my own settings I didn't even bother fitting it to mine.

I'll probably get it chucked on for bpw on Thurs, but in honesty I don't see it being far out.

[weeksy]

As expected, I'm not miles off what the Shockwiz likes to see. That was my forks this morning over at Afan. I've changed slightly and will be back out after lunch

[weeksy]

Afan and indeed bpw were ace on the Trek. The suspension was better than I'd hoped and the shorter travel wasn't really an issue. Sure, a couple of times in the rocky parts it got a bit 'eeek' but that was rare.

I can't say theres anything really I don't like about it.
If being picky the bars feel a bit low, so I picked up some 38mm rise bars in the shop at bpw just before we came home, but they're not fitted yet. My thoughts are that they'll make it just a little more playful. But it's just an idea really.

[weeksy]

Failed today... I'd fitted the new Burgtec riser bars which by the way feel GREAT !!!! So went for a test on a section i know well.... it's a bit pedally and a bit swoopy, but a good gauge of where i am and where the bike is. The bike felt great but the legs and lungs were a little lacking. It's about a 2mins segment and i finished 1s off my PR from 2019... but i think in 2019 i was deffo lighter and clearly a bit faster.

So a fail in setting a PR... but overall, it was ace !

[irie]

I also have riser bars, they're far more comfortable. The crazy thing is that you have height adjustable dropper seats but fixed height bars! Bikes should really be shipped with full length steerer tubes so that least the first owner can get ideal bike cockpit set up. As it is you now have to muck about with stems and risers, it's bluddy silly.

[lostboy]

Bikes are designed and shipped with their optimum set up - according to the designers and months/years of R&D. They can't be expected to cover the bases for a bunch of old farts who want to ride an armchair rather than the geometry and weight distribution that they so carefully crafted over all that time.

[weeksy]

Bikes are designed and shipped with their optimum set up - according to the designers and months/years of R&D. They can't be expected to cover the bases for a bunch of old farts who want to ride an armchair rather than the geometry and weight distribution that they so carefully crafted over all that time.

I hear ya.... but for me, the slightly higher bars do feel nice.. I'm still debating whether i trim them down as obviously it's a 1 way trip.

[weeksy]

It's easy to forget sometimes just how stunning the local stuff is.

Took a lunch bimble up to se my mums grave today.... wasn't lovely weather, but there's no-one for miles when you're up there.

2022-04-29_01-42-30 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[irie]

Bikes are designed and shipped with their optimum set up - according to the designers and months/years of R&D. They can't be expected to cover the bases for a bunch of old farts who want to ride an armchair rather than the geometry and weight distribution that they so carefully crafted over all that time.

Absolute nonsense If that were the case then just for starters seat heights would be fixed as are bar heights, and everyone would come in standard sizes and ride in identical terrain!

[weeksy]

Well despite its BPW speed, I honestly love the bike. It's a quick and easy bike to destroy the local trails.

Several fast and long slightly downhill trails today and it motors. But it's also perfectly in control. I was holding back a bit as they were thin narrow trails and 30+ is fast enough on them weaving down there lol. Stable and smooth though.

Just need to work on rider weight.

[weeksy]

Was interested to ride the Trek this weekend.

2022-05-29_05-32-13 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Over at forest of Dean, Parkend and Rubber duck area.

Was massively impressed with the Trek, it rides, jumps and trails really well.
Ended up riding some fairly tricky tech trails and was pleased how well it coped.

[weeksy]

Rogate today on the Trek, I wasn't expecting much in honesty as it's been a crazy week with lots of riding and Donny yesterday, I really needed a day off, but it was holidays so we went.

Last time there on the Status I got my time down from 1.08 to 1.06 on the flowy bottle rocket trail.
First run I matched it, same again on run 2.
I then did a few other trails and went back later and managed a 1.04 and a 1.02
Itay not be a massive improvement but honestly I'm trying. You can tell it's quicker as you clear the bottom 2 tables without casing them lol.

Bike has been stripped as I'm getting an annoying creak at times. Not sure yet but I'm working on it