Rain rain go away...

Woah wet wet wet through today!

I picked up Kev at an unearthly 8am this morning in damp but fair weather. As we headed for North Wales a few spots of rain and even on arrival at Gwydwr still looked ok. I think it was about 3/4 of the first climb when the heavens first opened - and it continued to repeat the cycle all day.

So damp (and muddy) conditions, what about spirits?
Not a chance.
Awesome fun today - bags of grip and hella fast. Tony and Kev's first ride at Gwydwr - both really enjoyed themselves. We made decent time doing the loop in 3/1/2 hours, even with some filming. Props to Kev for managing all day, well more than managing, whooping Chris's arse by the end of the ride, on a 4X bike with short seatpost and small selection of gears - despite this he found a setup that worked.

So back to the roots of Fearingout, and all smiles. Good to see Chris back out on a bike - and nice to be in a group again. It's been too long. Inevitably talk turned to 2010 - and calls for Scotland in April and Spain in September are still ringing in my ears... personally I think we'll be in Scotland before then! Peebles is calling...

Gwydwr 15/11/09

Gamut P30 chain device

Thanks to the lovely chaps at Madison a Gamut P30 arrived in the post today.

First impressions are good, solid feel, quality finish and simple fitting. This is the P30, a dual ring device, and one that'll be fitted to the Cotic Bfe when it arrives in the new year. Brief first look in Wideopen Issue 11, out before Christmas.

RRP £114.99
www.madison.co.uk

James
Producer / Wideopenmag.co.uk

Sent from my Three mobile

Llandegla on haloween...

Kev and I headed out last Saturday for a blast around Llandegla - it's over a year since I was last there and I wondered if things had improved further. It was certainly popular, with a full car park at 9.30am!! The climb was nice and steady, but when we got to the top we were greeted with an area of the forest completely cleared - so where the trail used to snake through the trees you find yourself railing down an exposed hill side. This part was never amazing, but the exposed nature had taken it's toll on the trail with heavy braking bumps in the corners (from poor riding on full sussers by the BMW driving Specialized riding weekend warriors). I was worried that the popularity of the trails was going to have caused heavy wear on the following sections too!!

Although the first black was quite worn in the berms (making it a bit hairy on a hardtail) things weren't too bad and improved the further we went - the trail really quietened down too! The black sections really are superb, great flow and pump. The climb back out to the start though is still a slog.
When we got back to the visitor centre the pump track was being ridden by chavs on full sussers (oh dear, it won't last long) and the skills area was a little tame in most parts and then the jumps were at each end of the extreme - dead easy (but hella fast) or dead hard (but just rollable!).

So all in a good day out. Nice to be out on the hardtail. Can't wait for the Cotic.
Gwydwr next in November. See you all soon!

Llandegla 31/10/09

Wideopen Longtermer - Ragley and NukeProof first look...

First report in from Jon aboard the Longterm test bike - the new Ragley Blue Pig, built up with a selection of tasty Nuke Proof parts courtesy of the lads at Hotlines...

A nice new build to suit my need for a slightly longer roomier hartail without loosing the fun factor of my Orange SubZero comprising:

16" Ragley Blue Pig in Skwosh £259.99 www.ragleybikes.com
Billed as a Revolutionary Steel long travel hardtail, featuring a very distinctive 3 finger chainstay allowing massive tyre clearance whilst providing enough space to run a 36 tooth mid ring with no issues.
Bridgeless seat stays and chain stay mounted IS disc brake give a very clean looking idividual rear end. A key feature of the frame are the bolt on cable guides providing flexibility in cable routing choices.
My initial impressions of the frame were 'WOW' an amazing looking paint job with custom placeable sticker set.
During the build the bolt on cable guides fought all the way but the benefits in looks and flexibility outwayed the dificulties.
The paint job, however didn't please during the build, a coating of paint around the top of the seat tube and along the clamp slot required removing before the seatube could be fitted.
The paint reared its increasing ugly head whilst trying to fit the rear wheel, I have ended up removing the paint from the non-drive side dropout to allow ease of wheel fitting.
Once the build was complete the Ragley had impressed me no end with a great ride and resonsive handling it climbs easily and descends with a smoothness that it's length can be thanked for, but showing it a rocky rugged track shows it is no bland ride it was flickable, chuckable and most of all fast!
Here's to a winter of muddy, rocky and fast trails around the Peaks, Wales and Scotland to fully test the Pigs gravity desceding and brutal ascending attitude.

Nukeproof: Warhead 27.2 x 400mm seatpost £44.99, Warhead 50mm 31.8mm stem £59.99, Warhead SL 1 1/8" headset £39.99, Warhead 760mm 20mm rise Bar £44.99. www.nukeproof.com
What can be said for initial impressions of cockpit parts and seat posts? well with the Nukeproof kit a quality finish and attention to detail springs to mind.
The surfaces and fit were flawless with great quality graphics. The Headset is smooth and compact and time will tell its durability. Lets see how things run and how they cope with a winter of grit and mud!

Nukeproof Neutron Cromo Axle Pedal £69.99 www.nukeproof.com
After many pedals requiring adaption after first ride (get the grub screw box out) I was pleasently surprised to feel comfortable straight off with the Neutron pedals. They are noticeably thin whilst still featuring a deep concave design. From the specs the seals, bushes and bearings indicate a good lifespan should be expected and the finish still looks as good as new even after a few gritty rides and a couple of comedy crashes.

Nukeproof Generator all mountain wheelset £299.99 www.nukeproof.com
Featuring: Nuke Proof Generator hub set and SunRingle MTX 29 rims. New in built up but not yet ridden, can't wait as they look and appear the part.
The sticking Glass yellow hubs are a bold statement wihich actually go well with the Orange of the Blue Pig, It's nice to have an individual looking hub which isn't an anodised show piece.
The build of the rims appears spot on with good spoke tension and no obvious abnoralalities. Sealed bearing front and back should see a long life with minimal maintenance which works well for me and my favourite mud and grit.
A few rides over the next week will give me an initial opinion as to there performance.

Overall the build has gone well with minimal problems and a continued long term test will let the bike prove itself, here's to seeing you on the trails as you can't miss me on the orange and yellow beast!

Jon will give us a more in detail look in Issue 11 (out Christmas), with a wrap up article in Issue 12 out in 2010.