Buying a Bike

You find yourself sitting in a well known large bike retailer trying on the shoes that are out of stock everywhere else. The Saturday staff is offering help on bike choice to another ‘sunset rider’.

A casual weekend rider wants to buy a replacement for a ten-year-old hardtail and wants to spend about £500. Well, £700 perhaps, but only if it provides something worth the extra cost e.g. shiny or carbon or something, and an absolute maximum of £1000 for something really impressive. If you were that staff member you would ask about the type of riding. Not here, the potential buyer is immediately shown a discounted race bike at £1200. Not sure? how about an even more expensive downhill bike that weighs about a tonne. Looks too heavy? Perhaps a discounted Freeride model of last year, which you could wind uphill before throwing down an Alp and may just cope with a bridleway trundle across the South Downs but at double your maximum budget figure. Want to buy it immediately? No? Oh…

The staff disappear and you smile reassuringly at the disappointed face under the greying hair. The day started so promisingly. Look for a new shiny bike that rides a bit better and makes you feel good every time you go to get on it. Without wishing to spoil all his hopes, you look towards the downhill monster and smile as you say;

“ride a lot?”
“Not really”
“Have you done any research?”
“None actually”
“There is loads of information available either in any of the magazines or online and at this time of the year there are lots of discounts available you know.”
“Yeah, I need to look up some stuff I think.”

Pass on the names of a magazine and a website to start him off and hope he remembers them. The staffer returns full of facts - XT, LX, dual control, float, bling this, techno that - the customers expression glazes over.

The mountain bike market is driven by product differentiation rather than product cost. For a manufacturer this means their aim is to offer a wider range of niche products that they hope will maximize their profit rather than offer the buyer better value. Therefore spending some time looking at the internet, reading a magazine and talking to a knowledgeable friend could help you find a bike that is suitable for you.

There are good bike shops staffed by well-informed people with good product to sell but they are not all like that so try visiting a few. There could be a good deal on the internet too but it is easy to choose cheap and end up disappointed with the wrong bike. If you are less experienced, the back up of a good shop or just the free advice may be worth a premium. If you work in a bike shop try remembering that you are there to serve and not offload inappropriate sale stock; find out someone’s requirements then suggest a few reasonable choices. And please do not try to pretend you are an expert if you only jump your BMX in the street. Go get the staffer who knows a bit and hand over to them. Then get me the right size of shoes from the stockroom because I do not need any advice just someone to go and get them before I die of old age waiting.

Sunset Rider

This is not a time of day it’s a time of life.

As we age we discover a whole new world of wrinkles, glasses, slowed reflexes and aches and pains. At first it takes longer to recover after a long ride then it takes longer to recover after the last hill. We need to pace ourselves better, eat and drink regularly, and harbour our reserves stringently because we will need all of them by the end of the day. Instead of wanting to ride every day it seems nice to have a rest day in between deluding ourselves that we are somewhat like an Olympic athlete peaking for a superhuman effort to reach for gold and all we need to do is keep up with the others or reach the top of the hill with at least one gear left. We could argue that with age comes wisdom and that we can employ our efforts more effectively but you still have less power, less strength and less endurance.

One of our few friends in this new arena is technology and perhaps we can afford lighter and faster kit more easily than the teenager with a restricted budget. Just as well really as they seem to have forgotten to get tired or slow up.Our other friend is bad weather. In the wind and the rain, or in the dark evenings of winter we rarely see a younger face. They don’t need to go out because they are young and there is always tomorrow.

For us though consistency is the key and regular outings seem to make a bigger difference as the years roll by, so with the evenings now light climb on your bike and fight the wind and rain for an hour. You will be tired and perhaps wet but you will have fought Father Time and my Nomad will not be the only bike on the trail.

Rego: Recovery Drink

As I get older it seems to take longer to recover from any physical exertion and more worryingly alcohol overindulgence, what was a couple of hours discomfort can now last a day or two. I am usually sceptical of the claims made for 'sports' drinks and used to view them as overpriced flavoured sugar solutions but not anymore. 6 months ago I tried 'Science in Sport' REGO recovery drink on the advice of friends who swore by the stuff, I am now also a convert.

REGO comes as a powder and is mixed with water, I use an SIS measuring bottle (tip; add the powder first then add 3/4 of the actual amount of water, this gives shaking space in the bottle, when fully shaken top up with water). The finished product has the consistency of a thick milkshake, I find the chocolate flavour is the best as it does a good job of masking any sign of a synthetic taste. I mix it before a ride and leave it in the fridge until I return, alternatively chill it and take it in the car in a thermos flask.

Does it work? yes. After a couple of hours riding drink a pint of REGO. The most obvious effects are: 1) later the same day I have significantly less aches and pains; 2) the following day I don't suffer stiff legs or sore muscles.

Saturday 28th April we did a recconaissance ride of the upcoming May Muddy@rse ride and followed this on Sunday 29th April with the Falmer & Kingston Muddy@rse ride. A pint of REGO after each ride and I'm going out again tonight.

Try it, it does work. Get it from Wiggle.co.uk.

In My Pack....

Most of us carry a backpack but what we carry in them seems to vary enormously. I use a Deuter super bike large pack that weighs about 3kg without food or water so on a long day ride with a sandwich, energy bars and 3 litres of water it can easily total 7 kg, approximately half the weight of a lightweight bike! It has a couple of large interior pockets and an elastic helmet strap; however the most useful feature as a reflective rain cover which I use constantly in order to keep everything dry and mud free.

On every ride I carry:-

Paclite Waterproof jacket

Lightweight windproof gilet

Glasses with 3 colour lenses

Spare tube (slime!)

Multitool Alien DX

Chain links, spare pin, sram power link, disc rotor wipe, brake pad spring

Puncture kit and levers

Magnet (or don’t you drop anything)

Co2 inflator with spare cartridge

Zipties

Small cloth

Latex gloves

Emergency lights

Wipes, tissue, giant plaster

Money

Padded phone case

Reading glasses

Occasionally I include a shock pump, mini pump, and spare gps batteries

Rim Tape

I remember the cloth tape and metal closures on the bikes of my childhood when drop handlebars and five gears were uber-cool, or groovy as no one used to say.

Elasticated rubber rim tape seems to be the ubiquitous choice today but in France, I found hard, yellow, plastic rim tape on a Michelin rack. I was unaware of this in the UK but I thought it could be worth an investment of a few euros.

It was a fairly tight fit as it had very little stretch but it seemed to grip better than rubber and hold itself in position firmly. It also seemed a slightly neater fit around the fat Schrader valve of a slime-filled tube, which might prevent water seepage.

Dry tubes seem to move easier in the tyre giving a supple feeling to the ride and if there is any water ingress the talcum sticks losing the benefit.

Occasional removal of the tyre and cleaning of the rim and the tube is needed to keep everything dry so anything that helps reduce maintenance is worth a try.

If anyone else has tried this type of rim tape it would be helpful to receive their use feedback.

Seeking New Trails

Riding familier trails is good fun however before a trail becomes familier you first have to find it.

Autmn and winter are the best trail finding seasons for us as we ride predominatly in deciduous woodland (it is much easier to find trails in pine woods as there tends to be less foliage). Our approach is to set out with the objective of discovering new trails and ride slowly along established routes scanning the sides for signs of a trail. Animal tracks are a good bet, just follow them. Also it is much easier to see 'outs' than entrances, if you find something that looks like an animal 'in' or 'out' follow it. Many hours can be spent but at the end you will know the area very well and be able to link trail together. Wherever there is in 'out' look directly opposite for an 'in'.

Mark all 'ins' and 'outs' on a map or mark as a way-point if you have a GPS. After a couple of navigating runs you can return for ride linking trails that no-one else has used. There is something special and challanging about riding along a narrow trail (often over woodland detritus, fallen trees and under low hanging branches) that has no sign of human interference.

Helmet Mounted Light

Citroen introduced the first swiveling car headlights when they mated the DS with a Maserati, by linking the steering wheel to the lights you see around the corners as you turned into them. Ultimately this feature proved to be an irrelevance to the buying public and was not adopted by the motoring industry. However, mountain-bikers immediately recognized the benefits of the Citroen system and it evolved into helmet mounted lights.

A helmet mounted light can complement your main light resulting in illumination of the trail in the direction of the bike as well as where you are looking. Using a small helmet light together with either a HID or Halogen main light greatly improves visibility especially on wooded or rocky singletrack. A Helmet light is also very useful for those times when you need a trailside repair or are searching for the mobile phone or the constantly ‘lost glove’.

Our sample here is modelled by the lovely Natasha.

Emergency Lights

At this time of year it is easy to underestimate the time needed for a summer evening ride and you find yourself returning when it is dusk becoming dark.

Small battery operated lights are an essential safety feature. They weigh next to nothing, do not take up much room, they do not cost much and they run for ages. A rear light is useful not only for the road it is also very handy off-road. The front light improves road visibility, especially in flash mode, and is a useful emergency light if your main beam dies mid-ride. If it clips off easily, it can be used when reassembling your bike in a dark car park or when carrying out emergency repairs at the trailside. Small battery lights are a great safety feature but in no way are they suitable for illumination when riding off-road.

Trail Side Bike Cleaning

It is always easier to clean mud off the bike while it is still wet and we have a simple procedure for this.

Get a hand-pumped garden sprayer from any garden shop or DIY store. Use water in the sprayer and pump until the water jet is strong enough to remove the wet mud. Ours has never leaked during transportation in the car and is an essential piece of kit during the UK winter months.

Garden sprayers are very cheap and hold enough water to spray mud from 2 or 3 bikes depending on how clean you want them.

Squeaky Disc Brakes

Squeaky disc brakes are the result of vibration on the rotor / pad becoming audible. We have found the two main reasons are most commonly the rotor / pad getting wet and secondly the pads become ‘glazed’ or worn out.

In our experience once wet rotors have dried (approximately 100 metres riding) the squeak stops. If the pads are glazed the problem is more complex to resolve. Remove the pads and re-dress them using a coarse abrasive surface (don’t be gentle), this solves the problem in the majority of cases. If the problem is constantly recurring remove the pads and put a dab (only a dab) of copper-slip on the piston surface then replace the pads. Loctite 8065 and ROCOL anti-seize are both suitable products.

If the methods outlined above don’t stop the squeak try new pads if this does not eliminate the noise reset the callipers on the frame and rotor.

Talc on Tubes

A good tip is to use talk when putting a tube and tyre onto a wheel, it does make a difference.

Use a dry wheel rim, dry tube and dry tyre. Liberally dowse the tube and inside of the tyre with talk and rub it around with your fingers, put the tube and tyre on the wheel and inflate. The ride does feel different, more supple and variations in tyre pressure are much more noticeable. Also, if you need to repair a puncture or change a tyre mid ride it smells much better than the usual trail detrius.

Latex Gloves

Don't be tempted to wear your riding gloves on for trailside repairs in the mud, cold and rain they will get covered in oil and crud. Carry some latex gloves with you, they are invaluable for protecting and keeping your fingers clean when undertaking trailside repairs ranging from puncture repair to fixing dirty and oily components. Latex gloves are very low cost, last several uses and can be stored clean if you turn them inside out.

Science-in-Sport 'Go' Drink

Being naturally cynical we were sceptical of the claims made for various ‘energy’ products whether drinks or bars, also the price is a little off-putting when we can buy a pack of six of our favourite choc-chip cake bars for the price of one energy bar. All this changed however after we tried the Science-in-Sport ‘Go’ drink.

‘Go’ is supplied as a powder and is very easy to dilute to the recommended 6% strength using the SIS plastic mixing bottle. Caution, if you make it too concentrated it becomes much more viscous, difficult to drink and basically doesn’t seem to work. I take water in the Camelbak and carry ‘Go’ in the plastic mixing bottle in the back-pack. After every 2 hours of riding drink 1/4 of a litre of ‘Go’. There is not an incredible Hulk transformation but 5 minutes after drinking it the hills are not as painful, and the levels of concentration for tricky trails are significantly increased, everything just becomes significantly more enjoyable. Basically you get a new spring in the step so to speak. The results last for 1.5 - 2 hours. Whatever is in it, it works and does exactly as claimed in the bottle; in addition it is pretty effective at helping to cure hangovers! A winner.

The Lemon & Lime flavour is our favourite as the taste is less synthetic than the others. ‘Go’ is now a regular sight on our rides. Well worth trying.