The biking thread

Hope it's alright to post photos in here of riding.

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This was from my first ride on the Yeti.

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GT xc bike. Was testing a mount I made but it spun around at around 60mph down the hill and filmed the ground.
 
So my torch turned up on Monday 19 days after I ordered it from Hong Kong which is an acceptable timescale considering the distance and awesome value for money. For such a small torch (AA Maglite size) I'm really impressed with how bright it is although the beam is quite narrow so it would be better to have another one mounted on my helmet for riding trails at night. TBH the high power mode is too bright for road riding but I had to laugh when I scared the poop out of a couple of other cyclists when I overtook them as my light lit up about 20m of road right next to them and one of them said "be careful wanker!", they must have thought they were about to be run down by a Prius :lol: The medium (30%) power mode is plenty bright enough to see where you're going and the low (2%) power mode is still brighter than the £10 1W LED light I bought a little while ago.

The build quality is great but the assembly seems a bit lacking as I had to tighten up a couple of the threads but it's easy enough to do and at least I know it's sorted know. If anyone is interested in buying them I got this UltraFire WF-501B XM-LT6 5-Mode 510-Lumen torch, these batteries which are a safe bet, this handlebar mount and this charger which will need a travel adaptor plug for non-US countries. Not bad for £26/$41 including delivery when a comparable light would cost at least £150 from a UK shop. If you do order form this website use a unique password and pay by paypal or credit card as I've heard stories of paypal accounts being used fraudulently after people have used the same email address and password for both accounts!

Anyways here is the torch and mount...minus bike.

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To give an idea of how effective it is here is a shot of an unlit road near where I live using manual settings on my camera for consistency.

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And the same shot with the torch on high power

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I'm off to Coad Llandegla trail centre for a ride this Saturday morning (not that the torch will be needed) which I'm really looking forward to as it's been about 6 weeks since I did and proper mountain biking.

Also great photos alpacaflip, that banked northshore (if that's what you'd call it) looks awesome 👍

Also Also Danny MacAskill, Martyn Ashton and Red Bull are putting on a show in Manchester this Saturday
 
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Nice find Neal, I'll be interested to find out from you how long the battery life is given just how bright the lamp is.

Also, where did you get the clamp from? I can't locate it on the website. :dunce:
 
The batteries are lithium laptop cells rather than nickel based AA batteries so they've got a fair bit of juice in them, it was still working after a 45 minute ride last night on full power and it's easy to change to the spare battery when it does run out. For road use on medium power you're meant to get about 3 hours which ain't bad. If it lasted 12 minutes I'd be feeling a lot less smug ;)

Edit: Just realised I forgot to link the mount :dunce: Well done finding it TB, that website is a PITA to search on 👍

Sorry, no bewbs here!
 
Here are my new wheels, Boardman Comp Hardtail 2011






Got some Bits for the Boardman:

Lights:

2x Cree Q5, mounts, charger, and 2x 18650 3000mah batts.




1x Cree 5W (Helmet mount)




2 Extra 18650 3000mah Batteries




And finally:
Lizard Skins Lime Green Jumbo chainstay protector





Some more Bike bling:

Superstar Grips




Fitted




The lizard Skin fitted:

 
Neal
All about a cool torch for night riding that Submerged is very interested in
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Oh wow! I'm super interested in this torch due to the brightness levels of it! Would love to do some night riding on the road but would like to know whether its actually usable for roughly 15 to 20 mph speeds on roads? Also, some expectations of how long it lights for as well would be ideal.

My issues is the same as Neal's, lights are insanely expensive here for some reason to get a nice, bright light that at least gives you an indication of dodgy roads and odd dips, while daytime isn't an issue to avoid, but at night-time seems to metamorph into a canyon with weak lights...

I did notice that UK road markings are tinted with some form of reflective quartz that seem to give a bit of a glow in the darkest of nights, which is nice to see the boundary of the road while on the bike!

I did wonder whether to get a row of lights on the handlebars, then kinda realised that it would be a bit difficult to actually ride with unexpected weights on the handlebars and the extra lightening may not actually be an advantage and could lead to a disadvantage....
 
The torch I've got is too bright for road use on full power, without exaggeration it is brighter than the headlight on my first motorbike! I wanted to see what the run time was like on full power but as it was a road ride I had to point it down at the ground to avoid blinding oncoming traffic. It was still working after 45 minutes and the batteries I've got are meant to last an hour so on the medium (30%) power mode it would last in the region of 3 hours for each battery therefore that's 6 hours run time for both the batteries if you took the spare with you. Also the medium power mode is more than bright enough to light up plenty of the road and show potholes at up to 30mph on a poorly lit road, when I can ride faster than that I'll let you know ;) Also also the low (2%) power mode is about twice as bright as this 1 watt £11 light.

For comparison both these lights are meant to be about as bright based on the lumen rating and in the sale they are £100 and £130.

If you do decide to get the torch I've got but don't want to wait a few weeks for delivery DealExtreme have it in their UK warehouse for an extra quid. You could then get the same charger with a UK plug from ebay (which is the one I've got) and order some 18650 batteries and a bar mount for the same ebay sellers shop (the £7.99 mount is meant to be good). His none ebay website is Torchy The Battery Boy.com so you can see he knows his stuff and only stocks decent kit.

Also if you're looking for a rear light the RSP Astrum is very good and very bright.
 
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Just got back from a very wet and very muddy ride around Coed Llandegla's black route. Clicky the linky for the GPS tracked route. It was raining and very muddy, so much so that it looked like I'd had an accident when I stood up in the cafe after finishing my well earned burger, but it was a bucket load of fun :D I managed to clean the whole route without pushing or using the granny chainring which is awesomesauce, in fact I would have got round a fair bit quicker if my mate had been on form but he needs to start riding at least a couple of times a week instead of a couple of times a month which is what he's doing now...just in case it's not clear and for the avoidance of doubt I won ;)

...the missus is going to be miffed when she sees the quagmire I've left in the washing basket :lol:
 
Very jealous mate! I was considering going out a ride today but the weather was gash whilst I was coaching so that idea quickly faded. :lol:
 
Did you get any pics Neal?

I'm quite interested in this mounting biking what a lot of you guys are doing. Chongqing is built on mountains so I'm sure I could find some sweet downhills. I do prefer riding road just for the buzz of the speed and my knee isn't cut out for jumps but once in a while I think hitting a trail would be nice.

:tadpole:
 
Nice Neal, I've not been to Llandegla in a while so it's high on mine and my dads list of places to visit again soon. Tomorrow it's meant to be getting warmer so I'm going for a blast round Cannock Chase before it gets too muddy again, the Monkey trail doesn't drain that well.
 
Neal
Just got back from a very wet and very muddy ride around Coed Llandegla's black route......... my well earned burger.....if my mate had been on form .......just in case it's not clear and for the avoidance of doubt I won ;)

...the missus is going to be miffed.....
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Sounds like a wicked ride!! well done mate 👍

What bike have you got btw?

I also had a very good ride lastnight, went out round Thetford forest with the Cree's fully lit up, the Boardman done great and it was a brilliant dry, clear night. I saw loads of Deer, Foxes and a chuffing Badger!

Awesomeness
 
Aldo
Very jealous mate! I was considering going out a ride today but the weather was gash whilst I was coaching so that idea quickly faded. :lol:
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I thought you lot were used to it up there, MTFU! ;)

T'was awesome, I even got air...intentionally! I will learn to jump even if it kills me...literally!

shem
Did you get any pics Neal?

:tadpole:
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I'm afraid not, the phone was in a plastic bag in the backpack under a rain cover. Also it was a grey sky with driving rain or dark muddy woods so pics would have been pretty grim. You really should give it a go, it's a ridiculous amount of fun and although you might go quicker on the road it feels faster off road.

:bottomfeeder:

Floats
Nice Neal, I've not been to Llandegla in a while so it's high on mine and my dads list of places to visit again soon.
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The trails there drain quite well but there are big muddy puddles in the dips but you'll just jump them so it'll be grand. They're building more trails including some tasty looking twisty and banked northshore but it's not open yet although is linked up to the existing trails. Have fun if you go tomorrow.

madmike1986
Sounds like a wicked ride!! well done mate 👍

What bike have you got btw?

I also had a very good ride lastnight, went out round Thetford forest with the Cree's fully lit up, the Boardman done great and it was a brilliant dry, clear night. I saw loads of Deer, Foxes and a chuffing Badger!

Awesomeness
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Thanks 👍

I've got a Carrera Vulcan '08 with RockShox Reba SL Dualair forks and Avid Elixir R brakes, not my dream bike but it's good enough until I can convince the missus it's a good idea to drop close to £2K on a Canyon Nerve AM rather than go on a 2 week all inclusive holiday....so I'll have it for a while :lol:

Glad your new lights are good, not sure when I'll get the chance but I'm looking forward to a night ride through the woods but won't see any deer unless I travel a fair distance.
 
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Carrera's are cracking bikes 👍

Thinking about it, a night ride through the woods around Liverpool probably isn't the best idea....unless you enjoy being mugged :lol:

Thankfully here in Norfolk it's relatively safe....

I've never been round the Welsh trails, iv'e only ever done the CRC MTB Marathon in Ruthin, North Wales, twice.

Really want to try Afan and llandelga
 
The bike is just about decent enough for what I need and it's down to about 13.5kg since it lost a kilo when the Reba's went on so is a bit more lively now. Not that I'm a weight weenie...that would be quite ironic considering how far off I am from my fighting weight :ouch:

Not another one taking the piss out of Liverpool, I need to delete my location :lol: It's not that bad but I'd still avoid the woods at night.

I think Floats has done the CRC MTB Marathon in Ruthin. Hopefully I'll have got myself up to that kind of distance for next summer and do some proper riding in the Lakes with my brother.

Not done Afan but have done The Marin at Betws-y-Coed, Coed-Y-Brenin and Nant-yr-Arian which is an amazing trail so definitely put it on your to do list.
 
Nah I've not done the CRC Marathon, I've done the Marin/Torq Roughride on the welsh border, it was a great event I'm sure to do again next year. I hope the Grizedale Mountain Bike Challenge is on again next year too, they didn't organise one this year which was odd considering it's been going for 10 years previously.
 
lol na Liverpool aint to bad Neil, only yanking your chain.

I want to try all these trails but they are very far away from here :(
 
I suck at riding bikes, been off it for a while then tried to come back at full speed. Nearly passed out and vomited after a few miles, I always push too fast even at full fitness but at the moment I've lost it all. I'm so disappointed to be riding like this right now.
 
I had fun racing some 🤬 in an Audi earlier down the highstreet... I bombed past him and managed to stay ahead for a while, then he pulled an outrageous manouvre to get past me! I could've got past him again bit it was much more satisfying cycling right behind him grinning like a maniac while his wife was giving him crap about it... :lol:
 
Floats
I suck at riding bikes, been off it for a while then tried to come back at full speed. Nearly passed out and vomited after a few miles, I always push too fast even at full fitness but at the moment I've lost it all. I'm so disappointed to be riding like this right now.
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You got to keep at it mate, I was off riding for a year and ended up 16 stone and couldn't climb the stairs without getting out of breath!

I have been back riding for 3months and am now just 15 stone and can ride 20miles off road no problems, ok not massively fast, but certainly an acceptable pace....

Stick with it 👍
 
Floats, you'll back up to speed in no time. Imagine how I felt trying to keep up with my super fit brother after being off bikes for 18 months and being just a little bit older and possibly just maybe a little bit fatter than you...I did taste Armitage Shanks but managed to keep it down....at least I'm not the only fat bloke biker here, cheers Mike ;)👍

Aldo, get a superawesome Hong Kong wonderlight so you can blind the bejezzers out of anyone who cuts you up even in broad daylight :dopey:👍


This weekend on fleabay I have bought my eldest son his first proper bike for his 4th birthday in December, I feel a bit pikey getting a second hand one but £140 is a bit steep for a new one and I didn't have a brand new bike until I was in my teens. He'll be made up with it because it's red and black like daddy's :D

This is what it looks like...

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